John Trenchard (writer)
Encyclopedia
John Trenchard English writer and Commonwealthman, belonged to the same Dorset
family as the Secretary of State Sir John Trenchard
.
Trenchard was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
, and became a lawyer. As he inherited considerable wealth, Trenchard was able to devote the greater part of his life to writing on political subjects, his approach being that of a Whig and an opponent of the High Church party. With Walter Moyle
he wrote An Argument, Shewing that a Standing Army is Inconsistent with a Free Government (1697) and A Short History of Standing Armies in England (1698 and 1731). He developed anticlerical lines of argument in The Natural History of Superstition (1709), and The Independent Whig, a weekly periodical published in 1720-21 with Thomas Gordon
. From 1720 to 1723, Trenchard, again with Thomas Gordon
, wrote a series of 144 weekly essay
s entitled Cato's Letters
, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the British political system and warning against tyranny. The essays were published as Essays on Liberty
, Civil and Religious, first in the London Journal
and then in the British Journal
. These essays became a cornerstone of the Commonwealthmen tradition. From 1722 until his death in 1723 Trenchard was also a member of Parliament for Taunton
.
John Trenchard died on 17 December 1723.
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
family as the Secretary of State Sir John Trenchard
John Trenchard (Secretary of State)
Sir John Trenchard was an English politician belonging to an old Dorset family. His father was Thomas Trenchard of Wolverton , and his grandfather was Sir Thomas Trenchard of Wolverton...
.
Trenchard was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, and became a lawyer. As he inherited considerable wealth, Trenchard was able to devote the greater part of his life to writing on political subjects, his approach being that of a Whig and an opponent of the High Church party. With Walter Moyle
Walter Moyle
Walter Moyle was an English politician and political writer, an advocate of classical republicanism.-Life:He was born at Bake in St Germans, Cornwall, on 3 November 1672, the third, but eldest surviving son of Sir Walter Moyle, who died in September 1701, by his wife Thomasine, daughter of Sir...
he wrote An Argument, Shewing that a Standing Army is Inconsistent with a Free Government (1697) and A Short History of Standing Armies in England (1698 and 1731). He developed anticlerical lines of argument in The Natural History of Superstition (1709), and The Independent Whig, a weekly periodical published in 1720-21 with Thomas Gordon
Thomas Gordon (writer)
Thomas Gordon was a Scottish writer and Commonwealthman.Along with John Trenchard, he published The Independent Whig, which was a weekly periodical. From 1720 to 1723, Trenchard and Gordon, wrote a series of 144 essays entitled Cato's Letters, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the...
. From 1720 to 1723, Trenchard, again with Thomas Gordon
Thomas Gordon (writer)
Thomas Gordon was a Scottish writer and Commonwealthman.Along with John Trenchard, he published The Independent Whig, which was a weekly periodical. From 1720 to 1723, Trenchard and Gordon, wrote a series of 144 essays entitled Cato's Letters, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the...
, wrote a series of 144 weekly essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s entitled Cato's Letters
Cato's Letters
Cato's Letters were essays by British writers John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, first published from 1720 to 1723 under the pseudonym of Cato , the implacable foe of Julius Caesar and a famously stubborn champion of republican principles....
, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the British political system and warning against tyranny. The essays were published as Essays on Liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
, Civil and Religious, first in the London Journal
London Journal
James Boswell's London Journal is a published version of the daily journal he kept between the years 1762 and 1763 while in London. Along with many more of his private papers, it was found in the 1920s at Malahide Castle in Ireland, and first published in 1950. In it, Boswell, then a young Scotsman...
and then in the British Journal
British Journal
The British Journal was an English newspaper published from 22 September 1722 until 13 January 1728. The paper was then published as the British Journal or The Censor from 20 January 1728 until 23 November 1730 and then as the British Journal or The Traveller from 30 November 1730 until 20 March...
. These essays became a cornerstone of the Commonwealthmen tradition. From 1722 until his death in 1723 Trenchard was also a member of Parliament for Taunton
Taunton (UK Parliament constituency)
Taunton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors from 1295 to 2010, taking its name from the town of Taunton in Somerset...
.
John Trenchard died on 17 December 1723.
Further reading
- Jonathan Harris, 'The Grecian coffee house and political debate in London, 1688-1714', The London Journal 25 (2000), 1-13
- Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans (London, 1981)
- Caroline Robbins, The Eighteenth Century Commonwealthman. Studies in the Transmission, Development and Circumstance of English Liberal Thought from the Restoration of Charles II until the War with the Thirteen Colonies (Cambridge MA, 1959)
- Lois G. Schwoerer, No Standing Armies!' The Antiarmy Ideology in Seventeenth-Century England (Baltimore and London, 1974)
- Lois G. Schwoerer, 'The Literature of the Standing Army Controversy', Huntington Library Quarterly, 28 (1965), 189-212