Lewis George I., king of Great Britain and Ireland, first sovereign of the Hanoverian line, born in Osnabri'ick, May 28, 1660, died near that place, June 10, 1727. He was the eldest son of the elector Ernest Augustus of Hanover and the electress Sophia, granddaughter of James I. In 1681 he went to England to pay his addresses to the princess (afterward queen) Anne; but immediately upon landing he received his father's orders not to proceed in the business, and returning home, he married in the following year his cousin Sophia Dorothea, daughter of the duke of Celle. He served in the armies of the empire against both the Turks and the French, and succeeded to the electorate in 1698. In 1700 he led a force to the aid of the duke of Holstein against Denmark and Sweden, and raised the siege of Tonningen. He held to the English alliance throughout the war of the Spanish succession, and in 1707-'9 commanded the imperial forces against the French; but he did not approve the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, standing out with the emperor till the peace of Rastadt in 1714. By acts of convention and parliament of 1689 and 1701 the succession of the English crown had been fixed as follows: James II. and his son being excluded, the next heirs were: 1, the princess Mary of Orange, eldest daughter of James II.; 2, the princess Anne of Denmark, his younger daughter; 3, William of Orange, son of Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I. After the decease of Mary and William without issue, the crown should descend to the princess Anne, and on her decease without issue to the heirs of William. In the failure of such heirs the succession was further limited to the electress Sophia of Hanover, passing over nearer heirs who were Roman Catholics. By the treaty of union with Scotland in 1707 the same succession was secured for the crown of Scotland. The Hanoverian succession was guaranteed by treaty with Holland in 1706, 1709, and 1713, and by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The electress Sophia died May 28, 1714, and her son George Lewis became heir apparent, and succeeded Queen Anne at her death on Aug. 1 of the same year.

In spite of schemes to place upon the throne the son of James II., the accession of George I. was without disturbance. He arrived with his eldest son at Greenwich in September, and was crowned the next month. The ministers of Queen Anne, Bolingbroke, Oxford, and their associates, were impeached, and a whig ministry came into power, Viscount Townshend and Sir Robert Walpole being its most influential members. The opposition broke out into rebellion in Scotland and the north of England, but was overcome in the battle of Preston, Nov. 12-13, 1715; and although the pretender landed in Scotland in December, 1715, his presence did not strengthen his cause, and he soon fled. The leading rebels were captured, and some of them punished with severity. The dangers of this rebellion led to the repeal of the triennial act, and an act was passed allowing parliament to sit for seven years unless dissolved by the crown. On Jan. 4, 1717, a triple alliance was formed with France and Holland against Sweden and Russia. The Swedish ambassador was arrested, and among his papers were found evidences of a plot for an insurrection in England, and an invasion of Scotland by the king of Sweden. In the preparations for defence, jealousy of Sunderland led to a schism in the ministry, and Walpole and others resigned.

Stanhope now took the lead of the ministry. In 1718 a quadruple alliance was formed with Holland, France, and the emperor. In the short war that followed Admiral Byng annihilated the Spanish fleet at Cape Passaro, Aug. 11. There had long been hostility between the king and the prince of Wales, on account of the prince's mother, the unhappy Sophia of Celle. This lady had been suspected of an intrigue with Count Konigsmark, who suddenly disappeared and was supposed to have been assassinated, while the princess was divorced in 1694 and imprisoned from that time till her death in 1726. The prince of Wales was attached to his mother, and the enmity with his father broke out into open hostility at the end of 1717. The prince left St. James's palace, and his residence, Leicester house, became a rival court. An important event of 1718 was the passing of a bill for the relief of Protestant dissenters. At this time arose the financial enterprises which culminated in the South sea company, of which the king was elected governor. Among the companies of the time were many of real value, but the principle of financial combination was extravagantly overrated; and when in 1720 the great South sea bubble burst, the general panic was overwhelming.

The ministry was held responsible, and it was even expected that the king would abdicate. Lord Stanhope, in replying to an attack in the house of lords, was seized with a fit and died; on the following day (Feb. 5, 1721) Craggs, secretary of state, died pf the smallpox, and Sunderland left the treasury. Walpole came to the front again, supported by a house of commons strongly whig. In 1722 a new Jacobite plot was formed, but was detected, and Bishop Atterbury was banished for complicity in it. A patent was granted to William Wood, a proprietor and renter of copper mines in England, enabling him to coin farthings and halfpence for Ireland. This lucrative privilege was secured through the duchess of Kendal, the king's mistress; Walpole guarded against fraud, and Sir Isaac Newton, as master of the mint, approved the contract; but the issue caused immense disturbance in Ireland. Dean Swift wrote a pamphlet which raised a furious popular clamor, and the patent had to be withdrawn. In 1723 the regium donum, the grant to Presbyterians and other dissenters, was increased, and in 1724 the king founded professorships of modern history at Oxford and Cambridge. In 1725 the lord chancellor Macclesfield was impeached for malversation.

There were many schemes for the overthrow of Walpole; but that sagacious statesman showed as much ability in disconcerting his private enemies as in his management of the national affairs. He kept the nation at peace, and secured a season of prosperity and progress. War was rekindled in 1725 by the alliance between the king of Spain and the emperor, and the treaty of Hanover between England, France, and Prussia, and subsequently Sweden. The siege of Gibraltar was begun by Spain in January, 1727; and a British fleet was sent to the West Indies, but accomplished nothing. Preliminary articles of peace were signed at Paris, May 31, 1727. In 1726 the King's unhappy wife died at her place of imprisonment. He is said to have been warned that he would survive her only a year. On June 3, 1727, immediately upon the agreement for peace, he set out for his beloved Plan-over, accompanied by the duchess of Kendal and Lord Townshend. On the 10th he was taken with a fit in his carriage, and died before he could reach Osnabruck. He was buried in Hanover. He was a man of moderate faculties, a cruel husband and a bad father, with gross vices, yet by no means a bad sovereign.

He did not attempt to interfere with the liberties of England; the ministry of Walpole was singularly able; and the policy of union with France, upheld by the same party which had been the war party of the preceding reign, was wise and statesmanlike beyond the time, it being for the interest of the nation as well as of the house of Hanover that the union between France and the house of Stuart should be broken up. By his queen Sophia of Celle George I. left a son, George Augustus, who succeeded him, and a daughter, Sophia Dorothea, who was married in 1706 to Frederick William I. of Prussia.