British general election, 1784

British general election, 1784
	← outgoing members elected members →
All 558 seats in the House of Commons ; 280 seats needed for a majority
	Scarlet represents Government supporters (Pittites), buff Opposition supporters (Foxites, Northites)
Prime Minister before election; William Pitt ; Pittite	Appointed Prime Minister; William Pitt ; Pittite

Last updated March 16, 2019

The 1784 British general election resulted in William Pitt the Younger securing an overall majority of about 120 in the House of Commons of Great Britain, having previously had to survive in a House which was dominated by his opponents.

William Pitt the Younger was a prominent British Tory statesman of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. He became the youngest UK Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24. He left office in 1801, but served as Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer for most of his time as Prime Minister. He is known as "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, called William Pitt the Elder or simply "Chatham", who had previously served as Prime Minister.

The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of the Parliament of Scotland, as one of the most significant changes brought about by the Union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Background

In December 1783, George III engineered the dismissal of the Fox–North coalition, which he hated, and appointed William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister. Pitt had very little personal support in the House of Commons and the supporters of Charles James Fox and Lord North felt that the constitution of the country had been violated. The doctrine that the government must always have a majority in the House of Commons was not yet established and Fox knew he had to be careful.

The Fox–North coalition was a government in Great Britain that held office during 1783. As the name suggests, the ministry was a coalition of the groups supporting Charles James Fox and Lord North. The official head was William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, who took office on 2 April 1783.

Charles James Fox, styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger. His father Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, a leading Whig of his day, had similarly been the great rival of Pitt's famous father William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. He rose to prominence in the House of Commons as a forceful and eloquent speaker with a notorious and colourful private life, though his opinions were rather conservative and conventional. However, with the coming of the American War of Independence and the influence of the Whig Edmund Burke, Fox's opinions evolved into some of the most radical ever to be aired in the Parliament of his era.

On 2 February 1784 Fox carried a motion of no confidence which declared "That it is the Opinion of this House, That the Continuance of the present Ministers in their Offices is an Obstacle to the Formation of such an Administration as may enjoy the Confidence of this House, and tend to put an End to the unfortunate Divisions and Distractions of the Country" by 223 to 204. Pitt remained in office, and government supporters ensured petitions and resolutions of borough corporations were presented to Parliament to encourage members to back Pitt, and slowly Members changed sides.

A motion of no-confidence, alternatively vote of no confidence, or (unsuccessful) confidence motion, is a statement or vote which states that a person in a position of responsibility is no longer deemed fit to hold that position, perhaps because they are inadequate in some respect, are failing to carry out obligations, or are making decisions that other members feel detrimental. As a parliamentary motion, it demonstrates to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government. If a no confidence motion is passed against an individual minister he has to give his resignation along with the entire council of ministers.

By 1 March, Fox's motion which concluded by "beseech[ing] His Majesty, that He would be graciously pleased to lay the Foundation of a strong and stable Government, by the previous Removal of His present Ministers" was carried but only by 201 to 189. A week later, a more strongly worded motion threatening the withholding of supply was also passed—but only by 191 to 190. Fox thereafter declined to push motions, as his base continued to crumble. Pitt meanwhile decided to go to the country and on 24 March, Parliament was prorogued and on the following day the Parliament first elected in 1780 was dissolved.

Course of the election

The election was fought very much as a national campaign around the questions of the fall of the Fox–North government and whether or not Pitt should continue in office, rather than a series of local campaigns, which was more common for 18th century British elections.

Thanks to a combination of patronage and bribes paid by the HM Treasury, many small pocket boroughs returned Pitt-supporting MPs as widely expected. Additionally, in the constituencies decided by large electorates there was massive support for candidates who backed Pitt. Many of Fox's supporters were forced either to withdraw or to make deals with their opponents to avoid electoral defeat. In the county constituencies only one Fox supporter was elected in a contest, although others returned due to local electoral pacts. Those Members who had remained in opposition, refusing to go over to support Pitt, who failed to return to the House of Commons as a consequence, became known as "Fox's Martyrs" in reference to John Foxe's Book of Martyrs (although the majority were supporters of North).

Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists such as musicians, painters, and sculptors. It can also refer to the right of bestowing offices or church benefices, the business given to a store by a regular customer, and the guardianship of saints. The word "patron" derives from the Latin: patronus ("patron"), one who gives benefits to his clients.

Her Majesty's Treasury, sometimes referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is the British government department responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and economic policy. The Treasury maintains the Online System for Central Accounting and Reporting (OSCAR), the replacement for the Combined Online Information System (COINS), which itemises departmental spending under thousands of category headings, and from which the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) annual financial statements are produced.

John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of Actes and Monuments, an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the 14th century through the reign of Mary I. Widely owned and read by English Puritans, the book helped to mould British popular opinion about the Catholic Church for several centuries.

The first day's polling, 30 March, saw thirteen government supporters and four opponents returned. By the conclusion of the fifth day (3 April), there were already more than 150 government Members and a lead of fifty over the supporters of the coalition. The government achieved an overall majority on 15 April and the election ended on 10 May.

Notable contests

The contests involving both Pitt and Fox attracted particular attention. Pitt had long wished to be a Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge and had failed to be elected when he stood for the seat in the 1780 general election. Now he was returned at the top of the poll and would hold the seat for the rest of his life.

Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the British House of Commons, from 1603 to 1950.

Fox was one of the two sitting members for the constituency of Westminster, which had the largest electorate of any in the country and a great deal of prestige. His position there was central to his claim to be representing the people. He stood against two Pitt supporters for the constituency's two seats; both sides spent heavily, campaigned bitterly, allegedly libelled and slandered their opponents relentlessly and resorted to all kinds of tactics, including Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, touring the streets and, according to the opposition, kissing many voters to induce them to vote for Fox. Even George, Prince of Wales, campaigned for Fox.

Westminster (UK Parliament constituency) former parliamentary constituency in the Parliament of England

Westminster was a parliamentary constituency in the Parliament of England to 1707, the Parliament of Great Britain 1707–1800 and the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801. It returned two members to 1885 and one thereafter.

George IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover following the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his father's final mental illness.

At the conclusion of polling on 17 May, Fox had narrowly succeeded, with 6,233 votes to Sir Cecil Wray's 5,998. However, Pitt's supporters then demanded a scrutiny of the votes and the Returning Officer therefore did not make the return. A scrutiny in a constituency as large as Westminster was an enormously time-consuming process; Fox, suspecting this might happen, had already arranged for his return for the Tain Burghs, which had elected him on 26 April, so that he would not be out of the House during such a scrutiny. The process did not show unexpectedly large numbers of unqualified voters and as the months went by it looked more and more like a political delaying tactic; on 4 March 1785 the House of Commons finally put an end to it by ordering the Returning Officer to declare the result.

A London constable, Nicholas Casson, was killed during the election.

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References

Laprade, William Thomas (1916), "Public Opinion and the General Election of 1784", English Historical Review, 31 (122): 224–237
Lock, Alexander (2010), "The Electoral Management of the Yorkshire Election of 1784", Northern History, 47 (2): 271–296
Lock, Alexander (2016), Catholicism, Identity and Politics in the Age of Enlightenment: The Life and Career of Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 1745–1810, Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, [esp. chapter 3]
McAdams, Donald R. (1972), "Electioneering Techniques in Populous Constituencies, 1784–1796", Studies in Burke and His Time, 14 (1): 23–53
Namier, Lewis; Brooke, John (1964), The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1754–1790, London: HMSO, 3 vols
Phillips, N.C. (1961), Yorkshire and English National Politics 1783–1784, Canterbury: University of Canterbury Press
Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael, eds. (2000), British Electoral Facts 1832–1999, Farnham: Ashgate, [For dates of elections before 1832, see the footnote to Table 5.02]
Worthington Smith, Robert (1969), "Political Organisation and Canvassing: Yorkshire Elections Before the Reform Bill", The American Historical Review, 74 (5): 1538–1560

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