The English Party was one of the three informal Early Greek Parties

Early Greek Parties

Early Greek parties were not features of the provisional and regional governments that were set up between 1821 and 1832. Nascent political parties were organized around a variety of interests and backgrounds, but regardless of these various factors, the political formations were named after one of...

 that dominated the early political history of Modern Greece, the other two being the Russian Party

Russian Party (Greece)

The Russian Party , one of the Early Greek Parties, was an informal grouping of Greek political leaders that formed during the brief period of the First Hellenic Republic and lasted through the reign of King Otto...

 and the French Party

French Party (Greece)

The French Party was one of the three informal Early Greek Parties that dominated the early political history of Modern Greece, the other two being the Russian and the English Party.-History and party development:...

.

History and party development

The creation and evolution of these Parties was the effect of the interest that the three Great Powers (the United Kingdom

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

, France

July Monarchy

The July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...

 and Russia

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

) displayed for Greek affairs. As a result, they counted on the hope that Greeks had, that by supporting them those countries would also help the Greek Kingdom

Kingdom of Greece

The Kingdom of Greece was a state established in 1832 in the Convention of London by the Great Powers...

 to fulfill its expectations for economical progress and territorial expansion.

The establishment of the English Party should probably be considered the action that some leaders of the Greek War of Independence

Greek War of Independence

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

 took in June 1825, urged by Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos

Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos

Alexandros Mavrokordatos was a Greek statesman and member of the Mavrocordatos family of Phanariotes....

 and Georgios Kountouriotis

Georgios Kountouriotis

Georgios Kountouriotis was a Greek ship-owner and politician who served as prime minister from March to October 1848. He was born in 1782 on the Saronic island of Hydra to an Arvanite family...

, to compose a letter, whereby Greece applied for protection to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

The party lacked support in Central Greece

Central Greece

Continental Greece or Central Greece , colloquially known as Roúmeli , is a geographical region of Greece. Its territory is divided into the administrative regions of Central Greece, Attica, and part of West Greece...

 but was very powerful among the Phanariotes

Phanariotes

Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...

, the landholders of the Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

 and the wealthy shipowners of the Aegean Islands

Aegean Islands

The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast...

. During John Capodistria's period lost much of its influence due to the establishment of the other parties, but it regained most of it after the arrival of King Otto

Otto of Greece

Otto, Prince of Bavaria, then Othon, King of Greece was made the first modern King of Greece in 1832 under the Convention of London, whereby Greece became a new independent kingdom under the protection of the Great Powers .The second son of the philhellene King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Otto ascended...

, since the political sympathies of the principal Regent, Josef Ludwig von Armansperg

Josef Ludwig von Armansperg

Josef Ludwig, Graf von Armansperg served as the Interior and Finance Minister and Foreign and Finance Minister under King Ludwig I of Bavaria in the government of Bavaria...

, lay with Britain.

Its unquestioned leader was Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos

Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos

Alexandros Mavrokordatos was a Greek statesman and member of the Mavrocordatos family of Phanariotes....

, and the party quickly started to decline in influence after his death in 1855.

Sources

1. Clogg, Richard; A Short History of Modern Greece; Cambridge University Press, 1979; ISBN 0-521-32837-3
2. John A. Petropulos; Politics and Statecraft in the Kingdom of Greece; Princeton University Press, 1968