Elections in the Kingdom of Great Britain

Elections in the Kingdom of Great Britain were principally general elections and by-elections to the House of Commons of Great Britain. General elections did not have fixed dates, as parliament was summoned and dissolved within the royal prerogative, although on the advice of the ministers of the Crown. The first such general election was that of 1708, and the last that of 1796.

Elections in Great Britain
1707–1801
Territory of the Kingdom of Great Britain
Territory of the Kingdom of Great Britain
CapitalLondon
Common languagesEnglish (de facto official), Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Norn, Welsh
GovernmentParliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
Monarch 
• 1707–14
Anne
• 1714–27
George I
• 1727–60
George II
• 1760–1801
George III
Prime Minister 
• 1721–1742
Robert Walpole
• 1742–1743
Earl of Wilmington
• 1757–1762
Duke of Newcastle
• 1766–1768
William Pitt the Elder
• 1770–1782
Lord North
• 1783–1801
William Pitt the Younger
LegislatureParliament
House of Lords
House of Commons of Great Britain
History 
1 May 1707
1 January 1801
CurrencyPound sterling
ISO 3166 codeGB
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Kingdom of England
Kingdom of Scotland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Today part ofUnited Kingdom

In 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland replaced the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. For the period after 1801, see Elections in the United Kingdom.

Elections

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For details of the national elections of Great Britain, see:

Political factions

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Politics in Great Britain was dominated by the Whigs and the Tories, although neither were political parties in the modern sense but loose alliances of interests and individuals. The Whigs included many of the leading aristocratic dynasties who were most committed to the Protestant settlement of the throne, with later support from the emerging industrial interests and rich city merchants, while the Tories were associated with the landed gentry, the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.[1]

Members of Parliament needed to appeal to a much smaller electorate than is the case today, especially in the boroughs. In the case of the rotten and pocket boroughs, a majority of the votes was usually controlled by one person, or by a small group. This gave less power to organized political parties and more to influential individuals, some of whom had themselves elected in the constituencies they controlled. Such seats were also sold for hard cash. Thus, many members were fundamentally Independents, even if they attached themselves to one party or another during their parliamentary careers.[1]

Parliamentary constituencies and seats in the House of Commons
Country Borough
constituencies
County
constituencies
University
constituencies
Total
constituencies
Borough
MPs
County
MPs
University
MPs
Total
MPs
England[2] 203 40 2 245 405 80 4 489
Wales[2] 12 12 0 24 12 12 0 24
Scotland 15 30 0 45 15 30 0 45
Total 230 82 2 314 432 122 4 558

Local elections

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There were few local elections in the Kingdom of Great Britain as the concept is now understood. Local government existed only in rudimentary forms. Much of the civil administration of rural England was carried out by informal, unelected parish councils known as vestries, with criminal matters dealt with by Quarter Sessions and magistrates, and similar arrangements in Scotland. In the City of London, annual elections were held to the Corporation of London, but on a limited suffrage, and some improvement commissioners were elected by ratepayers, if not co-opted, while the borough and city corporations elsewhere were generally not directly elected.

For further information on local corporations during this period, see the reforming Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and History of local government in Scotland.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Keith Feiling; A History of the Tory Party, 1640–1714 (1924), online edition Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine; The Second Tory Party, 1714–1832 (1938), online edition Archived 16 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Monmouthshire, with one county constituency represented by two members and one single-member borough constituency, is included in England. In later centuries it was included in Wales.