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{{Short description|English politician and writer (1726–1772)}}
'''Thomas Whately''' (1726 – June 1772), an English politician and writer, was a [[Member of Parliament]] (1761–1768), who served as Commissioner on the [[Board of Trade]], as [[Secretary to the Treasury]] under [[George Grenville|Lord Grenville]], and as Under- secretary of State under [[Lord North]] (1771–1772). As an M.P. he published a letter on the reasonableness of the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act, 1765]], which earns him a place in the events that led to the [[American Revolution]].
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}


'''Thomas Whately''' (1726 – 26 May 1772), an English politician and writer, was a [[Member of Parliament]] (1761–1768) who served as Commissioner on the [[Board of Trade]], as [[Secretary to the Treasury]] under [[George Grenville|Lord Grenville]], and as Under-secretary of State under [[Lord North]] (1771–1772). As an MP he published a letter on the reasonableness of the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act, 1765]], which earned him a place in the events that led to the [[American Revolution]].
==Observations on Modern Gardening==
Among gardeners, Whately is largely remembered as the author of ''Observations on Modern Gardening, illustrated by descriptions'' (London, 1770), written while living in the Mansion House in [[Nonsuch Park]]. Close on the heels of [[George Mason (1735-1806)|George Mason]]'s<!--not the Virginian patriot--> ''Essay on Design in Gardening'', Whately's ''Observations'' provide the most comprehensive work on the theory and practice of English [[landscape gardening]] in the naturalistic taste before [[Horace Walpole]]'s brief ''Essay on Modern Gardening'' (1782) and the writings of [[Humphry Repton]]. The [[picturesque]] landscape style in the manner of idealized landscapes by [[Salvator Rosa]] or [[Claude Lorraine]], had been pioneered by [[Charles Bridgeman]] in the 1720s, improved by [[William Kent]] and eventually dominated by [[Lancelot "Capability" Brown]], but neither had put their thoughts into print.


He is probably best remembered for his ''Observations on Modern Gardening, illustrated by descriptions'' (London, 1770), the most important and successful contemporary book on the [[English Landscape Garden]] style, translated into German and French by the following year.
By 1783, [[polymath]] [[Thomas Jefferson]], the future third [[President of the United States]], already had a copy of Whately's book in his library at [[Monticello]].<ref>Thomas Jefferson Papers, [http://www.masshist.org/thomasjeffersonpapers/cfm/doc.cfm?id=catalog1783_174&mode=lg 1783 Catalog of Books, [circa 1775-1812], p. 174]</ref> During his [[Europe|European]] years as Minister to France, he also visited England. Eager to explore and gain practical knowledge for his own garden designs, in April 1786, Jefferson set out for a tour of English gardens in the company of his close friend and future second President of the USA, [[John Adams]].<ref>{{cite book|ref=harv |last=Adams |first=John |last2=Adams |first2=Charles Francis |year= 1851 |title=The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: Autobiography, continued. Diary. Essays and controversial papers of the Revolution |volume=3 |series=The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States |publisher=Little, Brown, |page=[http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=lWcsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA394#v=onepage&q&f=false 394]}}</ref> Whately's [[treatise]] guiding him every step of the way, Jefferson's near contemporary statement attests to the accuracy and reliablity of Whately's description:


==Life==
<blockquote>Memorandums made on a tour to some of the gardens in England described by Whateley in his book on gardening. While his descriptions in point of style are models of perfect elegance and classical correctness, they are as remarkeable for their exactness. I always walked over the gardens with his book in my hand, examined with attention the particular spots he described, found them so justly characterised by him as to be easily recognised, and saw with wonder, that his fine imagination had never been able to seduce him from the truth.<ref>The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Digital Edition, ed. Barbara B. Oberg and J. Jefferson Looney. [[Charlottesville]]: [[University of Virginia Press]], Rotunda, 2008, pp. 369. [http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/TSJN-01-09-02-0328 Online edition] accessed 14 Aug 2012.</ref></blockquote>
He was the eldest son of Thomas Whately of Epsom, Surrey and educated at [[Clare College, Cambridge]] (1745). He entered the [[Middle Temple]] in 1742 to study law and was [[called to the bar]] in 1751. He was an elder brother of the cleric [[Joseph Whately]] of [[Nonsuch Park]], Surrey, and thus the uncle of [[Richard Whately]]. For many years he was in the close confidence of George Grenville, to whom he passed the political gossip. He also corresponded with [[Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple|Lord Temple]], [[Lord George Sackville]], and [[James Harris (grammarian)|James Harris]], M.P.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Whately, Thomas}}</ref>


Whately sat in parliament from 1761 to 1768 for the borough of [[Ludgershall (UK Parliament constituency)|Ludgershall]] in Wiltshire, and from 1768 until his death he represented the [[Castle Rising (UK Parliament constituency)|borough of Castle Rising]] in Norfolk. From 5 April 1764 until its dismissal in July 1765 he held the post of secretary to the treasury in George Grenville's administration, before going into opposition.<ref name="DNB" />
Whately's work was many times reprinted.


On Grenville's death in November 1770, Whately attached himself to [[Lord North]], and acted as the go-between for his old patron's friends. [[Identity of Junius|Junius]] denounced him as possessing "the talents of an attorney" and "the agility of Colonel Bodens" (who could scarcely move), and for deserting Grenville's cause. He was appointed a commissioner on the board of trade in January 1771, the keeper of his Majesty's private roads in January 1772, and under-secretary of state for the northern department in June 1771. These appointments he held for the rest of his life.<ref name="DNB" />
==Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare==
Whately's ''Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare'' was left unfinished at his death and published posthumously by his brother, the Rev. Joseph Whately, in 1785. Whately's analysis of several of Shakespeare's principal characters applies to them the principles of [[psychology]] and motivation of Whately's own [[Romanticism|proto-Romantic sensibilities]].


Whately died unmarried and intestate on 26 May 1772; his brother, William Whately, a banker in Lombard Street, London, administered to the effects.<ref name="DNB" />
==Hutchinson Letters Affair==
:{{main|Hutchinson Letters Affair}}


==Political writings==
After Whately's death, correspondence directed to him from [[Thomas Hutchinson (governor)|Thomas Hutchinson]], governor of Massachusetts, Lieutenant-Governor Oliver and other British colonial agents was leaked to [[Benjamin Franklin]]. They were later published in [[Boston]], causing great scandal, and eventually involving his brother William Whately in a duel. "These letters, though not official, related wholly to public affairs, and were intended to affect public measures. They were filled with representations, in regard to the state of things in the colonies, as contrary to the truth, as they were insidious in their design. The discontents and commotions were ascribed to a factious spirit among the people, stirred up by a few intriguing leaders; and it was intimated, that this spirit would be subdued, and submission to the acts of Parliament would be attained, by the presence of a military force, and by persevering in the coercive measures already begun."<ref>Jared Sparks, ''Life of Benjamin Franklin'', [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/biography/chap07.htm Chapter VII: the Hutchinson correspondence]</ref>
Whately was the author of ''Remarks on "The Budget," or a Candid Examination of the Facts and Arguments in that Pamphlet'' (1765), rebutting [[David Hartley (the Younger)|David Hartley]]'s attack on Grenville's financial schemes, and he also defended his chief in ''Considerations on the Trade and Finances of the Kingdom and on the Measures of the Administration since the Conclusion of the Peace'' (3rd edit. 1769).<ref name="DNB" />


Whately has sometimes been credited with the authorship of a pamphlet on the ''Present State of the Nation'' (1768; appendix, 1769), but it was drawn up, under Grenville's supervision, by [[William Knox (pamphleteer)|William Knox]]. A second pamphlet, ''The Controversy between Great Britain and her Colonies reviewed'' (1769), attributed to him and included in [[John Almon]]'s ''Collection of Tracts on Taxing the British Colonies in America'' (vol. iii. 1773), was also written by Knox.<ref name="DNB" /><ref>{{Cite ODNB
==Other notable facts==
| title = Knox, William
At the insistence of Hutchinson, then acting governor, the town of [[Whately, Massachusetts]] was named for him when it was set apart from Hatfield in 1771.<ref>[http://www.co.franklin.ma.us/whately.htm Whately] Retrieved August 16 2007</ref>.
| last = Bellot | first = Leland J.
| id = 15793 | date = May 2008
}}</ref>


==''Observations on Modern Gardening''==
Whately was great-great-great-great grandfather to the actor [[Kevin Whately]] through Whately's nephew, Archbishop [[Richard Whately]] (according to research broadcast on [[Who Do You Think You Are]] - [[BBC One]] 2 March 2009).
Among gardeners, Whately is largely remembered as the author of ''Observations on Modern Gardening, illustrated by descriptions'' (London, 1770), written while living in the Mansion House in [[Nonsuch Park]]. Close on the heels of [[George Mason (1735-1806)|George Mason]]'s<!--not the Virginian patriot--> ''Essay on Design in Gardening'', Whately's ''Observations'' provide the most comprehensive work on the theory and practice of English [[landscape gardening]] in the naturalistic taste before [[Horace Walpole]]'s brief ''Essay on Modern Gardening'' (1782) and the writings of [[Humphry Repton]]. The [[picturesque]] landscape style in the manner of idealized landscapes by [[Salvator Rosa]] or [[Claude Lorrain]], had been pioneered by [[Charles Bridgeman]] in the 1720s, improved by [[William Kent]] and eventually dominated by [[Lancelot "Capability" Brown]], but neither had put their thoughts into print.

By 1783, [[Thomas Jefferson]], the future third [[President of the United States]], already had a copy of Whately's book in his library at [[Monticello]].<ref>Thomas Jefferson Papers, [http://www.masshist.org/thomasjeffersonpapers/cfm/doc.cfm?id=catalog1783_174&mode=lg 1783 Catalog of Books, &#91;circa 1775-1812&#93;, p. 174]</ref> During his European years as Minister to France, he also visited England. Eager to explore and gain practical knowledge for his own garden designs, in April 1786, Jefferson set out for a tour of English gardens in the company of his close friend and future second President of the US, [[John Adams]].<ref>{{Cite book
| chapter = II. Diary
| last1 = Adams | first1 = John
| last2 = Adams | first2 = Charles Francis
| title = The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States
| editor-last = Adams | editor-first = Charles Francis
| year = 1851
| volume = 3 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWcsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA394 394]
| publisher = Little, Brown | location = Boston
}}</ref> Whately's [[treatise]] guiding him every step of the way, Jefferson's near contemporary statement attests to the accuracy and reliability of Whately's description:

<blockquote>[[Memorandums]] made on a tour to some of the gardens in England described by Whateley in his book on gardening. While his descriptions in point of style are models of perfect elegance and classical correctness, they are as remarkeable for their exactness. I always walked over the gardens with his book in my hand, examined with attention the particular spots he described, found them so justly characterised by him as to be easily recognised, and saw with wonder, that his fine imagination had never been able to seduce him from the truth.<ref>The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Digital Edition, ed. Barbara B. Oberg and [[J. Jefferson Looney]]. Charlottesville: Univ. of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008, pp. 369. [http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/TSJN-01-09-02-0328 Online edition] accessed 14 Aug 2012.</ref></blockquote>

Whately's work went through several editions. Translations in German and French appeared as early as 1771.

==''Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare''==
Whately's ''Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare'' was left unfinished at his death and published posthumously by his brother, the Rev. Joseph Whately, in 1785. Whately's analysis of several of Shakespeare's principal characters applies to them the principles of [[psychology]] and motivation of Whately's own [[Romanticism|proto-Romantic sensibilities]].

==Hutchinson letters affair<span class="anchor" id="Hutchinson Letters Affair"></span>==
{{main|Hutchinson letters affair}}
After Whately's death, correspondence directed to him from [[Thomas Hutchinson (governor)|Thomas Hutchinson]], governor of Massachusetts, Lieutenant-Governor [[Andrew Oliver]], and other British colonial agents was leaked to [[Benjamin Franklin]]. They were later published in [[Boston]], caused great scandal, and eventually involved his brother William Whately in a duel. "These letters, though not official, related wholly to public affairs, and were intended to affect public measures. They were filled with representations, in regard to the state of things in the colonies, as contrary to the truth, as they were insidious in their design. The discontents and commotions were ascribed to a factious spirit among the people, stirred up by a few intriguing leaders; and it was intimated, that this spirit would be subdued, and submission to the acts of Parliament would be attained, by the presence of a military force, and by persevering in the coercive measures already begun".<ref>Jared Sparks, ''Life of Benjamin Franklin'', [http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/biography/chap07.htm Chapter VII: the Hutchinson correspondence]</ref>

==Other notable facts==
At the insistence of Hutchinson, then acting governor, the town of [[Whately, Massachusetts]], was named for him when it was set apart from Hatfield in 1771.<ref>[http://www.co.franklin.ma.us/whately.htm Whately] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060110075607/http://www.co.franklin.ma.us/whately.htm |date=10 January 2006 }} Retrieved 16 August 2007</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist|35em}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29177 Biography of Thomas Whately] in the [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]
* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29177 Biography of Thomas Whately] in the [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]
*Thomas Whately, [http://www.skidmore.edu/~tkuroda/gh322/Thomas%20Whately.htm ''The Regulations lately Made concerning the Colonies and the Taxes Imposed upon Them, Considered''] (London, 1765): Whately's observations on the [[Stamp Act]]: "this Mode of Taxation is the easiest, the most equal and the most certain that can be chosen; The Duty falls chiefly upon Property; but it is spread lightly over a great Variety of Subjects, and lies heavy upon none."
* Thomas Whately, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050223013854/http://www.skidmore.edu/~tkuroda/gh322/Thomas%20Whately.htm ''The Regulations lately Made concerning the Colonies and the Taxes Imposed upon Them, Considered''] (London, 1765): Whately's observations on the [[Stamp Act]]: "this Mode of Taxation is the easiest, the most equal and the most certain that can be chosen; The Duty falls chiefly upon Property; but it is spread lightly over a great Variety of Subjects, and lies heavy upon none."
*Thomas Whately, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HooCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false} ''Observations on Modern Gardening'']
* Thomas Whately, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HooCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false} ''Observations on Modern Gardening'']
*Thomas Whately, [http://www.19.5degs.com/author/ebooks/thomas-whately/224/0 ''Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare''] (e-books text)
* Thomas Whately, [https://web.archive.org/web/20051219201415/http://www.19.5degs.com/author/ebooks/thomas-whately/224/0 ''Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare''] (e-books text)

*{{worldcat id|id=lccn-n50-14984}}
;Attribution

{{DNB|wstitle=Whately, Thomas}}

{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Whately, Thomas
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = British politician
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1726
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = 1772
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whately, Thomas}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whately, Thomas}}
[[Category:1726 births]]
[[Category:1772 deaths]]
[[Category:1772 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies]]
[[Category:1726 births]]
[[Category:British MPs 1761–1768]]
[[Category:British MPs 1768–1774]]
[[Category:English garden writers]]
[[Category:English garden writers]]
[[Category:English Landscape Garden style]]

[[Category:British government officials]]
[[de:Thomas Whately]]
[[Category:18th-century English lawyers]]

Latest revision as of 18:53, 3 June 2024

Thomas Whately (1726 – 26 May 1772), an English politician and writer, was a Member of Parliament (1761–1768) who served as Commissioner on the Board of Trade, as Secretary to the Treasury under Lord Grenville, and as Under-secretary of State under Lord North (1771–1772). As an MP he published a letter on the reasonableness of the Stamp Act, 1765, which earned him a place in the events that led to the American Revolution.

He is probably best remembered for his Observations on Modern Gardening, illustrated by descriptions (London, 1770), the most important and successful contemporary book on the English Landscape Garden style, translated into German and French by the following year.

Life

[edit]

He was the eldest son of Thomas Whately of Epsom, Surrey and educated at Clare College, Cambridge (1745). He entered the Middle Temple in 1742 to study law and was called to the bar in 1751. He was an elder brother of the cleric Joseph Whately of Nonsuch Park, Surrey, and thus the uncle of Richard Whately. For many years he was in the close confidence of George Grenville, to whom he passed the political gossip. He also corresponded with Lord Temple, Lord George Sackville, and James Harris, M.P.[1]

Whately sat in parliament from 1761 to 1768 for the borough of Ludgershall in Wiltshire, and from 1768 until his death he represented the borough of Castle Rising in Norfolk. From 5 April 1764 until its dismissal in July 1765 he held the post of secretary to the treasury in George Grenville's administration, before going into opposition.[1]

On Grenville's death in November 1770, Whately attached himself to Lord North, and acted as the go-between for his old patron's friends. Junius denounced him as possessing "the talents of an attorney" and "the agility of Colonel Bodens" (who could scarcely move), and for deserting Grenville's cause. He was appointed a commissioner on the board of trade in January 1771, the keeper of his Majesty's private roads in January 1772, and under-secretary of state for the northern department in June 1771. These appointments he held for the rest of his life.[1]

Whately died unmarried and intestate on 26 May 1772; his brother, William Whately, a banker in Lombard Street, London, administered to the effects.[1]

Political writings

[edit]

Whately was the author of Remarks on "The Budget," or a Candid Examination of the Facts and Arguments in that Pamphlet (1765), rebutting David Hartley's attack on Grenville's financial schemes, and he also defended his chief in Considerations on the Trade and Finances of the Kingdom and on the Measures of the Administration since the Conclusion of the Peace (3rd edit. 1769).[1]

Whately has sometimes been credited with the authorship of a pamphlet on the Present State of the Nation (1768; appendix, 1769), but it was drawn up, under Grenville's supervision, by William Knox. A second pamphlet, The Controversy between Great Britain and her Colonies reviewed (1769), attributed to him and included in John Almon's Collection of Tracts on Taxing the British Colonies in America (vol. iii. 1773), was also written by Knox.[1][2]

Observations on Modern Gardening

[edit]

Among gardeners, Whately is largely remembered as the author of Observations on Modern Gardening, illustrated by descriptions (London, 1770), written while living in the Mansion House in Nonsuch Park. Close on the heels of George Mason's Essay on Design in Gardening, Whately's Observations provide the most comprehensive work on the theory and practice of English landscape gardening in the naturalistic taste before Horace Walpole's brief Essay on Modern Gardening (1782) and the writings of Humphry Repton. The picturesque landscape style in the manner of idealized landscapes by Salvator Rosa or Claude Lorrain, had been pioneered by Charles Bridgeman in the 1720s, improved by William Kent and eventually dominated by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, but neither had put their thoughts into print.

By 1783, Thomas Jefferson, the future third President of the United States, already had a copy of Whately's book in his library at Monticello.[3] During his European years as Minister to France, he also visited England. Eager to explore and gain practical knowledge for his own garden designs, in April 1786, Jefferson set out for a tour of English gardens in the company of his close friend and future second President of the US, John Adams.[4] Whately's treatise guiding him every step of the way, Jefferson's near contemporary statement attests to the accuracy and reliability of Whately's description:

Memorandums made on a tour to some of the gardens in England described by Whateley in his book on gardening. While his descriptions in point of style are models of perfect elegance and classical correctness, they are as remarkeable for their exactness. I always walked over the gardens with his book in my hand, examined with attention the particular spots he described, found them so justly characterised by him as to be easily recognised, and saw with wonder, that his fine imagination had never been able to seduce him from the truth.[5]

Whately's work went through several editions. Translations in German and French appeared as early as 1771.

Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare

[edit]

Whately's Remarks on Some of the Characters in Shakespeare was left unfinished at his death and published posthumously by his brother, the Rev. Joseph Whately, in 1785. Whately's analysis of several of Shakespeare's principal characters applies to them the principles of psychology and motivation of Whately's own proto-Romantic sensibilities.

Hutchinson letters affair

[edit]

After Whately's death, correspondence directed to him from Thomas Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts, Lieutenant-Governor Andrew Oliver, and other British colonial agents was leaked to Benjamin Franklin. They were later published in Boston, caused great scandal, and eventually involved his brother William Whately in a duel. "These letters, though not official, related wholly to public affairs, and were intended to affect public measures. They were filled with representations, in regard to the state of things in the colonies, as contrary to the truth, as they were insidious in their design. The discontents and commotions were ascribed to a factious spirit among the people, stirred up by a few intriguing leaders; and it was intimated, that this spirit would be subdued, and submission to the acts of Parliament would be attained, by the presence of a military force, and by persevering in the coercive measures already begun".[6]

Other notable facts

[edit]

At the insistence of Hutchinson, then acting governor, the town of Whately, Massachusetts, was named for him when it was set apart from Hatfield in 1771.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f "Whately, Thomas" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  2. ^ Bellot, Leland J. (May 2008). "Knox, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15793. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1783 Catalog of Books, [circa 1775-1812], p. 174
  4. ^ Adams, John; Adams, Charles Francis (1851). "II. Diary". In Adams, Charles Francis (ed.). The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States. Vol. 3. Boston: Little, Brown. p. 394.
  5. ^ The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Digital Edition, ed. Barbara B. Oberg and J. Jefferson Looney. Charlottesville: Univ. of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008, pp. 369. Online edition accessed 14 Aug 2012.
  6. ^ Jared Sparks, Life of Benjamin Franklin, Chapter VII: the Hutchinson correspondence
  7. ^ Whately Archived 10 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 16 August 2007
[edit]
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain"Whately, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.