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John Locke was a pre-eminent English philosopher whose radical theories about the relationship between government and people helped change the nature of society across the world. His writings not only inspired political change in England, but also the emergence of the enlightenment in France, and, ultimately, the development of the American Constitution.

Described by J S Mill as the unquestioned founder of the analytical philosophy of mind, John Locke's influence and authority as philosopher was unrivalled in England during his lifetime and well into the eighteenth century. He was born in Somerset and educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, where he attained his Masters Degree in 1658. He began his career by lecturing in Greek and Rhetoric, but, feeling constrained by the ‘old’ model of academia and Aristotelian philosophy, soon left to pursue a career in medicine. His main patron was the first Earl of Shaftsbury, sometime Lord Chancellor, whose resident physician and friend he became in 1667. He flourished under Shaftesbury’s patronage and enjoyed a number of administrative posts in Government, amongst which was writing the ‘fundamental constitutions’ of the new colony of Carolina. But after Shaftsbury's imprisonment and subsequent flight to Holland, Locke, as a fellow Whig, came under suspicion of collusion as the reactionary Tories, in support of the future James II, gradually assumed power. He was suspected of involvement in the Rye House Plot, the 1683 attempt to assassinate Charles II and James, Locke was forced to flee to Holland.