The 5th Parliament of Great Britain was summoned by George I of Great Britain on 17 January 1715 and assembled on the 17 March 1715. When it was dissolved on 10 March 1722 it had been the first Parliament to be held under the Septennial Act of 1716.[1]
The dominance of Townsend and Walpole caused discontent within the party and by early 1717 both had been forced out of their positions. Townsend was replaced by Lord Sunderland, who was also Lord President of the Council and who in March 1718 became First Lord of the Treasury, effectively consolidating his position to that of a Prime Minister. For the next three years George I's ministry would be led jointly by Lord Sunderland and James Stanhope, with Townshend and Walpole in opposition.
However by 1721, with Sunderland now in the House of Lords, Stanhope dead and the crisis caused by the South Sea Bubble, both Townshend and Walpole had been able to get back into power, Townshend as Secretary of State and Walpole as First Lord of the Treasury in place of Sunderland.
Before the first session closed, the Septennial Act was passed, lengthening the life of Parliaments to seven years. An attempt to restrict the royal prerogative to create peers was defeated in 1719.
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first British monarch of the House of Hanover.
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford,, known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons, is generally regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope was a British Army officer, politician, diplomat and peer who effectively served as Chief Minister between 1717 and 1721. He was also the last Chancellor of the Exchequer to sit in the House of Lords.
Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, KG, PC, known as Lord Spencer from 1688 to 1702, was an English statesman and nobleman from the Spencer family. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1714–1717), Lord Privy Seal (1715–1716), Lord President of the Council (1718–1719) and First Lord of the Treasury (1718–1721).
Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, was an English Whig statesman. He served for a decade as Secretary of State for the Northern Department from 1714 to 1717 and again from 1721 to 1730. He directed British foreign policy in close collaboration with his brother-in-law, prime minister Robert Walpole. He was often known as Turnip Townshend because of his strong interest in farming turnips and his role in the British Agricultural Revolution.
Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, was appointed Secretary of State for the Northern Department by George I of Great Britain in September 1714. Until 1717, he held the position of Northern Secretary and was the de facto leader of the Whig administration. However, he was later demoted to Lord Lieutenant of Ireland when he was outmanoeuvred by his rival Whigs, who formed the first Stanhope-Sunderland ministry. This led to a split within the Whig party that lasted until 1720.
Robert Walpole and Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend were removed from their positions in the government, and were replaced by James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope of Mahon and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, who cooperatively led the first Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. The two Whigs remained in power from 1717 to 1721, although in 1718, Lord Stanhope exchanged positions with Lord Sunderland to form the second Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. Upon Lord Stanhope's death, Robert Walpole, widely considered the first true Prime Minister of Great Britain, returned to head the government.
The second Stanhope–Sunderland ministry (1718–1721) was a continuation of the British Whig government headed by The Earl of Sunderland and The Earl Stanhope. These had taken power in 1717 to form the First Stanhope–Sunderland ministry, and in 1718 they interchanged positions, with Sunderland becoming First Lord of the Treasury. The ministry terminated upon Stanhope's death in February 1721.
The 2nd Parliament of Great Britain was the first British Parliament to actually be elected, as the 1st Parliament of Great Britain had been drawn from the former Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland.
Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the royal household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household; the term being first used in 1718. The duties of the Lords and Gentleman of the Bedchamber originally consisted of assisting the monarch with dressing, waiting on him when he ate, guarding access to his bedchamber and closet and providing companionship. Such functions became less important over time, but provided proximity to the monarch; the holders were thus trusted confidants and often extremely powerful. The offices were in the gift of The Crown and were originally sworn by Royal Warrant directed to the Lord Chamberlain.
John Wallop, 1st Earl of Portsmouth, of Hurstbourne Park, near Whitchurch and Farleigh Wallop, Hampshire, known as John Wallop, 1st Viscount Lymington from 1720 to 1743, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1720, when he vacated his seat on being raised to the peerage as Viscount Lymington and Baron Wallop.
John Griffith (V) was a Welsh politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1740.
William Clayton, 1st Baron Sundon of Sundon Hall, Sundon, Bedfordshire was a British Treasury official and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1716 to 1752.
The Atterbury Plot was a conspiracy led by Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, aimed at the restoration of the House of Stuart to the throne of Great Britain. It came some years after the unsuccessful Jacobite rising of 1715 and Jacobite rising of 1719, at a time when the Whig government of the new Hanoverian king was deeply unpopular.
In British politics, a Whig government may refer to the following British governments administered by the Whigs:
Thomas de Grey of Merton, Norfolk, was an English landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1727.
Samuel Tufnell, of Langleys, Essex, was a British lawyer and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1715 and 1747.
The Whig Split occurred between 1717 and 1720, when the governing British Whig Party divided into two factions: one in government, led by James Stanhope; the other in opposition, dominated by Robert Walpole. It coincided with a dispute between George I and his son George, Prince of Wales, with the latter siding with the opposition Whigs. It is also known as the Whig Schism. After three years it was resolved by a reconciliation between the two factions. Walpole went on to serve as Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742.
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