William Blathwayt, Imperial Fixer
From Popish Plot to Glorious Revolution
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3401499 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen Saunders Webb (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1968 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 3 |
| Publication date | 1968-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The William and Mary Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-5597 • E-ISSN: 1933-7698 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1920803 |
| OpenAlex | W2335338523 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
O N June i8, i687, John Evelyn had dinner with one Mr. Blathwayt, whom Evelyn described as at War, Clerk of the Council, etc., having raised himself by his industry, from very moderate circumstances. He is a very proper, handsome person, and very dextrous in business; and, besides all this, has married a great fortune. His income by the Army, council, and Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Plantations brings him in above 2000?J per annum. Plainly, William Blathwayt had become a notable pluralist since entering office eighteen years previously. And Evelyn's et cetera included Blathwayt's seat in Parliament and the auditor-generalship of the colonial revenues. The diarist would not be surprised at Blathwayt's future service as secretary of state to William III or his decade of dominance at the Board of Trade. Translate William Blathwayt's responsibilities into contemporary terms. He was minister of defense; secretary to the cabinet; permanent undersecretary of state in the colonial office; member of Parliament on the government front bench; auditor of imperial accounts; and, subsequently, acting secretary of state for Europe and America and the leading member of the expert, standing commission for the export trade and commonwealth. Subtract the distortion of such a translation and still there remains an impression of Blathwayt's enormous responsibilities and power. This impression has been muted naturally by time and artificially by the scholarly habit of considering Blathwayt's roles individually. Such consideration obscures Blathwayt's integration of his offices and conceals
Archaeology · Cabinet (room · Colonialism · Commission · Commonwealth · Economic history · Economics · Management · Parliament · Political science · Politics · State (computer science · History · Law · Scottish History and National Identity
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 1980 - 2002 (23) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |