Hey everyone,
Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory. Today,
we’ll be discussing the history of the British Ministry of Magic. Of course,
there are A LOT of things that took place there throughout the Harry Potter series. But today,
we’ll be focusing on what happened PRIOR to our dear boy Harry showing
up on the wizarding scene. So, without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?
What is the Ministry of Magic? Formed in 1707, the British Ministry of Magic is
the main governing body of the magical community of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was created
to preserve magical law within Great Britain and represent these countries to the larger Wizarding
World. Its formation came as a direct result of the previously created Wizards' Council.
“Prior to 1707, the Wizards’ Council was the longest serving (though not the only) body to
govern the magical community in Britain. After the imposition of the International
Statute of Secrecy in 1692, however, the wizarding community needed a more highly structured,
organised and more complex governing structure than they had hitherto used,
to support, regulate and communicate with a community in hiding. “
This, of course, led to what is now known as the Ministry of Magic.
Employees of the Ministry are largely unelected,
with the exception of the Minister, who is voted in by Great Britain’s wizarding community.
As seen in the Fantastic Beasts films, many other countries in the Wizarding World have
their own Ministries of Magic, including France, Germany and Bulgaria. The United States also has
a magical governing body, but as we learned in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,
their government is called the Magical Congress of the United States of America—or MACUSA.
The location of the Ministry and how to access it The headquarters for the British Ministry of Magic
is located well beneath His Majesty’s Treasury building in central London,
deep underground. Witches and wizards employed by the Ministry can enter by
Floo Network or Apparition. However, during Voldemort’s rise to power in the 1990s,
employees of lower rank were forced to enter the Ministry by way of a toilet network.
Visitors to the Ministry can access the building from above ground through a
nearby disconnected red telephone box by dialling the word MAGIC.
Ministry events of the 18th century As mentioned earlier, the British
Ministry of Magic was founded at the beginning of the 18th century in 1707. Upon its establishment,
the former Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Ulick Gamp, assumed the role of the first-ever
Minister for Magic in Great Britain. For those of you who may not recall,
the Wizengamot is Britain's wizarding high court of law and parliament,
which predates the Ministry. In any case, during Minister Gamp’s term,
he founded the Department of Magical Law Enforcement—meaning that this department
has existed since the early 18th century! It was also during this time that the Ministry guided its
citizens through the wizarding world’s adjustment to the International Statute of Secrecy of 1692.
The years to follow were formative in the Ministry’s foundational operations. For example,
in 1717, the Ministry officially classified the Imperius, Cruciatus, and Avada Kedavra
curses as the Unforgivable Curses. And then, sometime during the next Minister for Magic’s
term between 1718 and 1726, Azkaban was made into the official wizarding prison. This idea
came from Damocles Rowle, the Minister at the time, who chose Azkaban as the location for the
jail over the remote Hebridean Island, despite much protest from the wizarding community. The
next Minister for Magic, Perseus Parkinson, attempted to pass a bill which would’ve made
it illegal to marry Muggles, a law which, as we know, was enforced in the United States. However,
the bill never passed in the UK and Parkinson was voted out soon after.
Sometime between 1747 and 1752, the Ministry faced a Goblin and Werewolf
rebellion, which apparently was rather mismanaged by the Minister at the time,
Albert Boot. Quite unfortunately, his successor, Basil Flack, did little
better—as he was only in office for a mere two months before being removed from the position.
Flack is the shortest serving Minister to ever hold the position with the Ministry.
Fortunately, the Ministry was able to quell a number of revolts after this time during the rule
of Hesphaestus Gore. Gore also led the Ministry’s renovation of Azkaban’s prison facilities.
In 1782, the Ministry secretly convened with the Muggle government to support the
Prime Minister at the time, Lord Frederick North,
with King George III’s ailing mental health. Unfortunately, this connection only served to
call Lord North’s sanity into question for his rumoured “belief in wizards”.
1798 then saw the induction of the Ministry’s first female Minister for Magic,
Artemisia Lufkin. During her 13 years in office, she established the Department of International
Magical Cooperation and held the Quidditch World Cup for the first time in Britain.
19th century ministers and events Following Lufkin’s time in office,
Grogan Stump served as Minister from 1811 to 1819 and led the Ministry’s
establishment of the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
Then, under the rule of Ottaline Gambol, sometime between 1827
and 1835, the Ministry saw the creation of multiple committees whose purpose was to
investigate Muggles and their intelligence. These Ministry committees uncovered that
many Muggles were indeed smarter than the wizarding community had previously believed.
The Department of Mysteries was almost closed down sometime between 1835 and 1841 due to the
reactionary nature of the Minister at the time, Radolphus Lestrange. However,
Lestrange was outed from office before he could officially instate the closure.
The next sitting Minister, Hortensia Milliphutt introduced more legislation to the Ministry
between 1841 and 1849 than any other witch or wizard who's held the position. Evidently,
much of what the Ministry pushed through was indeed useful—however, a bit of it was
rather “wearisome” and is likely what led to the end of Milliphutt’s term in office.
During Queen Victoria’s reign of England,
the monarch unknowingly befriended witch and Minister for Magic Evangeline Orpington. This
friendship may have been what motivated Orpington to—allegedly—get the Ministry
involved in the Crimean War, an act which would’ve been quite illegal at the time.
Then, between the years of 1858 and 1865, the Ministry experienced a welcome period
of peace under the governance of Minister for Magic Dugald McPhail.
Immediately following McPhail’s term, the Ministry then saw its longest-ever
serving Minister, one Faris "Spout-hole" Spavin, who served for nearly 40 years,
from 1865 to 1903. Spavin was 147 when he finally left office, at which point
he had survived an assassination attempt from a centaur and attended Queen Victoria’s funeral.
During Spavin's term, the Ministry once again faced the rise of a Goblin
rebellion in the late 1800s, led by a Goblin named Ranrok.
20th century ministers and events During the Muggle’s First World War,
the Ministry passed emergency legislation which made it illegal for the wizarding community in
Britain to involve themselves in the warfare. This was done under Minister Archer Evermonde,
who feared participating in The Great War would risk mass infractions of
the International Statute of Secrecy. This legislation was largely ignored,
with thousands of witches and wizards defying the law in order to help their Muggle neighbours.
The Ministry was then wildly unprepared to meet the growing threat of Gellert
Grindelwald in the 1920s and ‘30s due to the Minister at the time,
Hector Fawly, not taking Grindelwald’s rise to power seriously. As a result,
the Ministry ousted Fawley to pay for his insufficient action and ineptitude.
While Winston Churchill was in office, however,
the Ministry enjoyed a good working relationship with the Muggle parliament,
primarily thanks to the Minister for Magic between 1939 and 1948, Leonard Spencer-Moon.
In large contrast, about a decade later, the Minister for Magic between 1959 and 1962,
Ignatius Tuft, attempted to institute a controversial Dementor breeding program.
Fortunately, the Ministry forced Tuft out of office before he was able to
turn this terrifying program into a reality.
In 1962, nearly 250 years after its formation,
the Ministry of Magic inducted its first-ever Muggle-born Minister for Magic, Nobby Leach. His
appointment as Minister caused many pure-blood Ministry employees to resign in protest. And,
in the late 1960s, while Eugenia Jenkins was in office, the Ministry dealt with a
bout of pure-blood riots, which took place during Squib Rights Marches.
Then, in response to Lord Voldemort’s first rise to power in the 1970s,
the Ministry attempted to bolster its protection against the dark
wizard with efforts such as placing more Dementors around Azkaban. Fortunately,
Voldemort’s first defeat by Harry Potter occurred in 1981, making additional security unnecessary.
The Dark Lord’s disappearance led to a mass celebration among the wizarding community in
Britain. These celebrations caused a number of breaches against the International Statute
of Secrecy, leaving the Ministry to defend the actions of its citizens against the International
Confederation of Wizards. Apparently, the Minister for Magic at the time, Millicent Bagnold,
responded with the now infamous statement of: “I assert our inalienable right to party.”
It’s known by many among the wizarding community that the Ministry wanted Albus
Dumbledore to assume the position of British Minister for Magic after Bagnold’s retirement
in 1990. But of course, he turned it down and the job went instead to Cornelius Fudge,
who was the Minister in power at the start of the Harry Potter series.
Much of what took place at the Ministry after Harry Potter’s arrival at Hogwarts,
you likely know well…but as a brief recap of events…
In 1996, the Ministry of Magic was breached by Death Eaters and Hogwarts students alike,
including Harry and his friends. This breach led to what would become known as the Battle of the
Department of Mysteries, sometimes also referred to as the Battle of the Ministry of Magic.
Rufus Scrimgeour was the Minister to serve after Fudge was forced out
of office due to his refusal to believe that Voldemort had returned. Tragically,
Scrimgeor was then murdered by the Dark Lord himself while still in office.
Pius Thicknesse then served for only a year, operating under duress of the
Imperius Curse. His term has therefore been omitted from most official Ministry records.
Since the second defeat of Lord Voldemort, the Ministry has experienced a time of relative peace,
with Kingsley Shacklebolt serving until 1998, and Hermione Granger taking over in 2019.
And, with that, we’ve come to the end of another video! What did you think? Did I miss anything
about the British Ministry’s history? Please share your thoughts in the comments below! And,
as always, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like it and subscribe to the channel!
Until next time…remember
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."