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Composition of the House of Commons after the election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1802 United Kingdom general election was the first general election after the Acts of Union 1800, held from 5 July 1802 to 28 August 1802, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of the new Parliament of the United Kingdom. The first Parliament had been composed of members of the former Parliaments of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland.
The Parliament of Great Britain held its last general election in 1796. The final election for the Parliament of Ireland was held in 1797.
The first united Parliament was dissolved on 29 June 1802. The new Parliament was summoned to meet on 31 August 1802, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. (The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament, before its term expired.)
Tory Prime Minister Henry Addington led a war-time administration of pro-government Whigs and Tories, collectively referred to as the "Addingtonians", [1] in office during part of the Napoleonic Wars.
The previous Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, had been out of office since 1801. King George III had forced Pitt to resign by refusing to agree to Catholic emancipation (allowing Catholics to sit in Parliament) following the Union. His faction in Parliament was generally supportive of the Addington ministry, but was semi-detached from it.
On 25 March 1802 the Treaty of Amiens brought about peace with France, with which Great Britain had been at war since 1792. The international situation remained uneasy and a renewal of war was still possible.
In the election the combination of the followers of Addington and Pitt comfortably defeated the Opposition Whigs of Charles James Fox.
At this period there was not one election day. After receiving a writ (a royal command) for the election to be held, the local returning officer fixed the election timetable for the particular constituency or constituencies he was concerned with. Polling in seats with contested elections could continue for many days.
The election took place over a period of almost two months. The time between the first and last contested elections was 5 July to 28 August 1802.
Monmouthshire (1 County constituency with 2 MPs and one single member Borough constituency) is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England.
Table 1: Constituencies and MPs, by type and country
Country | BC | CC | UC | Total C | BMP | CMP | UMP | Total MPs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
England | 202 | 39 | 2 | 243 | 404 | 78 | 4 | 486 |
Wales | 13 | 13 | 0 | 26 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 27 |
Scotland | 15 | 30 | 0 | 45 | 15 | 30 | 0 | 45 |
Ireland | 33 | 32 | 1 | 66 | 35 | 64 | 1 | 100 |
Total | 263 | 114 | 3 | 380 | 467 | 176 | 5 | 658 |
Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country
Country | BCx1 | BCx2 | BCx4 | CCx1 | CCx2 | UCx1 | UCx2 | Total C |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
England | 4 | 196 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 2 | 243 |
Wales | 13 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
Scotland | 15 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
Ireland | 31 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 66 |
Total | 63 | 198 | 2 | 42 | 72 | 1 | 2 | 380 |
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdom of Great Britain and created the parliament of Great Britain located in the former home of the English parliament in the Palace of Westminster, near the City of London. This lasted nearly a century, until the Acts of Union 1800 merged the separate British and Irish Parliaments into a single Parliament of the United Kingdom with effect from 1 January 1801.
The 1832 United Kingdom general election was 10th general election, held on 8 December 1832 to 8 January 1833, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was the first held in the Reformed House of Commons following the Reform Act, which introduced significant changes to the electoral system.
The 1831 United Kingdom general election was the 9th general election held on 28 April 1831 to 1 June 1831, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. It saw a landslide win by supporters of electoral reform, which was the major election issue. As a result, it was the last unreformed election, as the following Parliament ensured the passage of the Reform Act 1832. Polling was held from 28 April to 1 June 1831. The Whigs won a majority of 136 over the Tories, which was as near to a landslide as the unreformed electoral system could deliver. As the Government obtained a dissolution of Parliament once the new electoral system had been enacted, the resulting Parliament was a short one and there was another election the following year. The election was the first since 1715 to see a victory by a party previously in minority.
The 1830 United Kingdom general election was the 8th general election, held on 29 July 1830 to 1 September 1830 to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. Triggered by the death of King George IV, it produced the first parliament of the reign of his successor, King William IV. Fought in the aftermath of the Swing Riots, it saw electoral reform become a major election issue. Polling took place in July and August and the Tories won a plurality over the Whigs, but division among Tory MPs allowed Earl Grey to form an effective government and take the question of electoral reform to the country the following year.
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.
The 1826 United Kingdom general election was the 7th general election after the Acts of Union 1800, held on 7 June 1826 to 12 July 1826, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. It saw the Tories under the Earl of Liverpool win a landslide victory over the Whigs. In Ireland, liberal Protestant candidates favouring Catholic emancipation, backed by the Catholic Association, achieved significant gains.
The 1820 United Kingdom general election was the 6th general election, held on 6 March 1820 to 14 April 1820, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. Triggered by the death of King George III, it produced the first parliament of the reign of his successor, King George IV. It was held shortly after the Radical War in Scotland and the Cato Street Conspiracy. In this atmosphere, the Tories under the Earl of Liverpool were able to win a substantial majority over the Whigs.
The 1818 United Kingdom general election was the 5th general election after the Acts of Union 1800, held on 17 June 1818 to 18 July 1818. It saw the Whigs gain a few seats, but the Tories under the Earl of Liverpool retained a majority of around 90 seats. The Whigs were divided over their response to growing social unrest and the introduction of the Corn Laws.
The 1806 United Kingdom general election was the second general election after the Acts of Union 1800, held from 29 October 1806 to 17 December 1806, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament.
The 1807 United Kingdom general election was the third general election after the Acts of Union 1800, held from 4 May 1807 to 9 June 1807.
The 1812 United Kingdom general election was the fourth general election after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, held on 5 October 1812 to 10 November 1812, taking place at the height of the Napoleonic Wars.
Buckinghamshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.
In the first Parliament to be held after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801, the first House of Commons of the United Kingdom was composed of all 558 members of the former Parliament of Great Britain and 100 of the members of the House of Commons of Ireland.
The 1796 British general election returned members to serve in the 18th and last House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain. They were summoned before the Union of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. The members in office in Great Britain at the end of 1800 continued to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom (1801–02).
The 1761 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. This was the first Parliament chosen after the accession to the throne of King George III. It was also the first election after George III had lifted the conventional proscription on the employment of Tories in government. The King prevented the Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle, from using public money to fund the election of Whig candidates, but Newcastle instead simply used his private fortune to ensure that his ministry gained a comfortable majority.
This is a list of the MPs for Irish constituencies, who were elected at the 1802 United Kingdom general election, to serve as members of the 2nd UK Parliament from Ireland, or who were elected at subsequent by-elections. There were 100 seats representing Ireland in this Parliament.
This is a list of the MPs for Irish constituencies, who were elected at the 1806 United Kingdom general election, to serve as members of the 3rd UK Parliament from Ireland, or who were elected at subsequent by-elections. There were 100 seats representing Ireland in this Parliament.
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.