About: Charlwood Lawton

Charlwood Lawton (1660–1721) was an English lawyer and phrase-making pamphleteer, a Whig of Jacobite views. He invented the term "Whiggish Jacobite", used to point out the difference between those who shared his opinions (who included Sir James Montgomery, 4th Baronet and Robert Ferguson), and the nonjuror faction. After the Battle of La Hogue of 1692, the exiled James II of England became more receptive to Lawton's range of arguments. Lawton promoted "civil comprehension", i.e. the removal of all religious tests for the holding of public office. He was a prolific author of subversive literature, to whom some uncertain attributions are made. He is credited with the concept that the Glorious Revolution was a constitutional charade that fell short of its ideals.