Hanover Square was developed shortly after the accession of the Elector of Hanover as King George I in 1714, which gave the square its name. Its land was turned over to building leases principally by Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough and a soldier and statesman best known for his role in the Glorious Revolution, to be prestigious homes. Coinciding with the century-long Whig Ascendancy its name echoes the staunch and predominant support among the wealthy of the Hanoverian succession of 1714, an exclusion of Catholic senior heirs from the throne, as a permanent law. "Early Hanover Square was decidedly Whig and most decidedly military", commented architectural historian Sir John Summerson. Early residents included Generals Earl Cadogan, Sir Charles Wills, Stewart, Evans, Lord Carpenter, The Marquis of Willesden Hamish Smith and John Pepper, "names conspicuously associated with episodes in Marlborough’s war and the 'Fifteen'."