ABSTRACT

Political organizations were to the fore. As well as republican clubs in London before and after the Restoration, Whig and Tory clubs orchestrated party mobilization during the Exclusion Crisis, and following the Glorious Revolution party clubs became an important ingredient of borough politics, and linked with the petitioning movement contributed to the evolution of a national political space. Non-political clubs were drawn into political agitation like the Masonic, pseudo-Masonic and social clubs which supported Wilkes against the government in the 1760s, just as other societies lobbied Parliament and politicians on national issues. After the start of the English Civil Wars and the collapse of censorship, clubs and societies multiplied, including political clubs, debating clubs like the Rota, and county societies which proposed public works. The decades after the Glorious Revolution saw the take-off of associational activity in England. The dissemination of political news and all kinds of gossip was a basic function of many types of society.