Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (1729 to 1797) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher and politician, widely credited as the founder of the cultural and political philosophy of conservatism. Born in Dublin, he studied at Trinity College Dublin, moved to London, and made his living by writing before sitting in the House of Commons as a Whig from 1766 to 1794. He criticised British policy toward the American colonies, supported Catholic emancipation, and led the attempt to impeach Warren Hastings of the East India Company. His Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) argued that the revolution was destroying the fabric of good society and traditional institutions, and made him the leading voice of the conservative Old Whigs against the pro-revolution New Whigs. He stressed the role of manners, inherited institutions and religion in the moral stability of the state, and defended organised parties as a principled opposition able to check abuse of power. Both conservatives and liberals praised him in the nineteenth century, and he remains a major figure in conservative thought.