1.
British general election, 1796
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The members in office in Great Britain at the end of 1800 continued to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom 1801–1802. Great Britain had been at war with France since 1792, the Prime Minister since 1783, William Pitt the Younger, led a broad wartime coalition of Whig and Tory politicians. The principal opposition to Pitt was a relatively weak faction of Whigs, for four years after 1797 opposition attendance at Westminster was sporadic as Fox pursued a strategy of secession from Parliament. Only a small group, led by George Tierney, had attended frequently to oppose the ministers, as Foord observes only once did the minority reach seventy-five, and it was often less than ten. The period between the first and last returns was 25 May–29 June 1796, monmouthshire is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England, (Types of constituencies - British Historical Facts 1760-1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson. List of Parliaments of Great Britain His Majestys Opposition 1714-1830, by Archibald S. Foord British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher
2.
United Kingdom general election, 1802
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The United Kingdom general election,1802 was the election to the House of Commons of the second Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was the first to be held after the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the First Parliament of the United Kingdom 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 Tory Prime Minister, Henry Addington, led a war time administration of pro-government Whigs, 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 following the Union and 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, 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 for the election to be held, the 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 is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England, source, Dates of Elections - Footnote to Table 5.02 British Historical Facts 1760-1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson. Source, Types of constituencies - Great Britain His Majestys Opposition 1714-1830, by Archibald S. Foord Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801-1922, source, Types of constituencies - Ireland
3.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
4.
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
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Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman who served as Prime Minister from 1801 to 1804. He is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, when that treaty broke down he resumed the war but he was without allies and conducted a relatively weak defensive war, ahead of what would become the War of the Third Coalition. He was forced from office in favour of William Pitt the Younger, Addington is also known for his ruthless and efficient crackdown on dissent during a ten-year spell as Home Secretary from 1812 to 1822. He is the longest continuously serving holder of office since it was created in 1782. Henry Addington was the son of Anthony Addington, Pitts physician, and Mary Addington, as a consequence of his fathers position, Addington was a childhood friend of William Pitt the Younger. Addington studied at Reading School, Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford, Addington is a relative of Robert Sharrock who collaborated with Robert Boyle. Addington is the relative of John Sharrock of the Visitation Family of Cornwall, david Sharrock, Heralds’ Visitation of Cornwall He was elected to the House of Commons in 1784 as Member of Parliament for Devizes, and became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1789. Both Pitt and the King insisted that Addington take over as Prime Minister, despite his own objections, foreign policy was the centerpiece of his term in office. Some historians have been highly critical saying it was ignorant and indifferent to Britains greatest needs, addingtons domestic reforms doubled the efficiency of the Income tax. In foreign affairs he secured the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802, at the time and ever since Addington has been criticized for his lackluster conduct of the war and his defensive posture. However without allies, Britains options were limited to defence and he did increase the forces, provide a tax base that could finance an enlarged war, and seize several French possessions. To gain allies, Addington cultivated better relations with Russia, Austria, and Prussia, Addington also strengthened British defences against a French invasion through the building of Martello towers on the south coast and the raising of more than 600,000 men at arms. Although the king stood by him it was not enough because Addington did not have a strong hold on the two houses of Parliament. Addingtons greatest failing was his inability to manage a majority, by cultivating the loyal support of MPs beyond his own circle. This combined with his speaking ability, left him vulnerable to Pitts mastery of parliamentary management. Pitts parliamentary assault against Addington in March 1804 led to the slimming of his majority to the point where defeat in the House of Commons was imminent. Addington remained an important political figure, however, and the year he was created Viscount Sidmouth. He served in Pitts final Cabinet as Lord President of the Council to 1806 and he returned to government again as Lord President in March 1812, and, in June of the same year, became Home Secretary
5.
Charles James Fox
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His father Henry, a leading Whig of his day, had similarly been the great rival of Pitts famous father. He rose to prominence in the House of Commons as a forceful and eloquent speaker with a notorious and colourful life, though his opinions were rather conservative. Fox became a prominent and staunch opponent of George III, whom he regarded as a tyrant, he supported the American Patriots. Briefly serving as Britains first Foreign Secretary in the ministry of the Marquess of Rockingham in 1782, he returned to the post in a coalition government with his old enemy Lord North in 1783. After Pitts death in January 1806, Fox served briefly as Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of All the Talents of William Grenville, before he died on 13 September 1806, aged 57. Fox was born at 9 Conduit Street, London, the surviving son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, and Lady Caroline Lennox. Henry Fox was an ally of Robert Walpole and rival of Pitt the Elder and he had amassed a considerable fortune by exploiting his position as Paymaster General of the forces. Foxs elder brother, Stephen became 2nd Baron Holland and his younger brother, Henry, had a distinguished military career. The stories of Charless over-indulgence by his father are legendary. It was said that Charles once expressed a desire to break his fathers watch and was not restrained or punished when he duly smashed it on the floor. In later life he was always to have carried a copy of Horace in his coat pocket. On this trip, Charles was given an amount of money with which to learn to gamble by his father. These three pursuits – gambling, womanising and the love of things and fashions foreign – would become, once inculcated in his adolescence, Fox entered Hertford College, Oxford, in October 1764, although he would later leave without taking a degree, rather contemptuous of its nonsenses. For the 1768 general election, Henry Fox bought his son a seat in Parliament for the West Sussex constituency of Midhurst, though Charles was still nineteen, thus he spent much of his early years unwittingly manufacturing ammunition for his later critics and their accusations of hypocrisy. A supporter of the Grafton and North ministries, Fox was prominent in the campaign to punish the radical John Wilkes for challenging the Commons and he thus opened his career by speaking in behalf of the Commons against the people and their elected representative. Consequently, both Fox and his brother, Stephen, were insulted and pelted with mud in the street by the pro-Wilkes London crowds, however, between 1770 and 1774, Foxs seemingly promising career in the political establishment was spoiled. Behind these incidents lay his familys resentment towards Lord North for refusing to elevate the Holland barony to an earldom, but the fact that such a young man could seemingly treat ministerial office so lightly was noted at court. George III, also observing Foxs licentious private behaviour, took it to be presumption and he drifted from his rather unideological family-oriented politics into the orbit of the Rockingham Whig party
6.
William Pitt the Younger
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William Pitt the Younger, PC was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 and he left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also the Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout his premiership, born William Pitt, he is known as the Younger to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who had previously served as Prime Minister. The younger Pitts prime ministerial tenure, which came during the reign of George III, was dominated by events in Europe, including the French Revolution. Pitt, although referred to as a Tory, or new Tory. He is best known for leading Britain in the wars against France. Pitt was an administrator who worked for efficiency and reform. He raised taxes to pay for the war against France. To meet the threat of Irish support for France, he engineered the Acts of Union 1800, Pitt created the new Toryism, which revived the Tory Party and enabled it to stay in power for the next quarter-century. Historian Asa Briggs points out that his personality did not endear itself to the British mind, for Pitt was too solitary, too colourless and his greatness came in the war with France, with the adversary setting the pace. Pitt reacted to become what Lord Minto called the Atlas of our reeling globe and his integrity and industry and his role as defender of the threatened nation allowed him to inspire and access all the national reserves of strength. William Wilberforce said that, For personal purity, disinterestedness and love of this country, for this he is ranked highly amongst British Prime Ministers. The Honourable William Pitt, second son of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, was born at Hayes Place in the village of Hayes, Pitt was from a political family on both sides. His mother, Hester Grenville, was sister to former prime minister George Grenville, according to biographer John Ehrman, Pitt inherited brilliance and dynamism from his fathers line, and a determined, methodical nature from the Grenvilles. Suffering from occasional poor health as a boy, he was educated at home by the Reverend Edward Wilson, an intelligent child, Pitt quickly became proficient in Latin and Greek. In 1773, aged fourteen, he attended Pembroke College, Cambridge, at Cambridge, Pitt was tutored by George Pretyman, who became a close personal friend. Pitt later appointed Pretyman Bishop of Lincoln then Winchester and drew upon his advice throughout his political career, while at Cambridge, he befriended the young William Wilberforce, who became a lifelong friend and political ally in Parliament. Pitt tended to socialise only with students and others already known to him
7.
Addington ministry
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It is most notable for the Peace of Amiens which marked a brief cessation in the Napoleonic Wars. Lord Pelham succeeds Portland as Home Secretary, july,1802 – Lord Castlereagh succeeds Lord Dartmouth at the Board of Control. August,1803 – Charles Philip Yorke succeeds Lord Pelham as Home Secretary
8.
Tories (British political party)
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The first Tories emerged in 1678 in England, when they opposed the Whig-supported Exclusion Bill which set out to disinherit the heir presumptive James, Duke of York. This party ceased to exist as a political entity in the early 1760s. A few decades later, a new Tory party would rise to establish a hold on government between 1783 and 1830, with William Pitt the Younger followed by Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. When the Whigs subsequently regained control, the Representation of the People Act 1832 removed the rotten boroughs, in the following general election, the Tory ranks were reduced to 180 MPs. Under the leadership of Robert Peel, the Tamworth Manifesto was issued, however, Peel lost many of his supporters by repealing the Corn Laws, causing the party to break apart. One faction, led by the Earl of Derby and Benjamin Disraeli, survived to become the modern Conservative Party and this action resulted from this parliament not allowing him to levy taxes without yielding to its terms. In the beginning of the Long Parliament, the Kings supporters were few in number, the increasing radicalism of the Parliamentary majority, however, estranged many reformers even in the Parliament itself and drove them to make common cause with the King. By the end of the 1640s, the radical Parliamentary programme had become clear, reduction of the King to a powerless figurehead, and replacement of Anglican episcopacy with a form of Presbyterianism. This prospective form of settlement was prevented by a coup détat which shifted power from Parliament itself to the Parliamentary New Model Army, the Army had King Charles I executed and for the next eleven years the British kingdoms operated under military dictatorship. Charles II also restored episcopacy in the Church of England and these acts did not reflect the Kings personal views and demonstrated the existence of a Royalist ideology beyond mere subservience to the Court. These interests would soon coalesce as the Whigs, as a political term, Tory entered English politics during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678–81. The Whigs were those who supported the exclusion of James, the Duke of York from the succession to thrones of Scotland and England & Ireland, and the Tories were those who opposed the Exclusion Bill. The Whigs tried to link the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Ormonde, with the foremost Irish Tory, Redmond OHanlon, in a supposed plot to murder Titus Oates. The Whig Bishop of Meath, Henry Jones, offered OHanlon a pardon and a bribe if he would testify to Parliament that Ormonde was plotting a French invasion. In December 1680, the government seized these letters and the plan collapsed. they call me names, Jesuit, Papish, Tory. I hear further since that this is the distinction they make instead of Cavalier and Roundhead, now they are called Torys, the rebellion of Monmouth, the candidate of the radical Whigs to succeed Charles II, was easily crushed and Monmouth himself executed. In the long run, however, Tory principles were to be severely compromised, James II, however, during his reign fought for a broadly tolerant religious settlement under which his co-religionists could prosper—a position anathema to conservative Anglicans. James attempts to use the church to promote policies that undermined the churchs own unique status in the state
9.
Devizes (UK Parliament constituency)
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Devizes /dᵻvaɪzᵻz/ is a constituency in Wiltshire, England, which is represented in the House of Commons of the U. K. Parliament and includes four towns and many villages in the middle, the areas representative has been a Conservative since 1924. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 abolished the borough, and created a new county constituency of the same name, covering a wider area. It has returned a Conservative MP at every election since 1924 and its most notable MP was Henry Addington, who held the seat during his term as Prime Minister, as well as when he was Speaker of the House of Commons. 1885-1918, The Municipal Boroughs of Devizes and Marlborough, the Sessional Divisions of Devizes, Everley, Pewsey, Marlborough, and Ramsey, and part of the Sessional Division of Pewsey. 1918-1950, The Municipal Boroughs of Devizes and Marlborough, the Rural Districts of Devizes, Marlborough, Pewsey, and Ramsbury, 1950-1983, The Municipal Boroughs of Devizes and Marlborough, and the Rural Districts of Devizes, Highworth, Marlborough and Ramsbury, and Pewsey. 1983-1997, The District of Kennet, and the Borough of Thamesdown wards of Blunsdon, Chiseldon, Covingham, Highworth, Ridgeway, St Margaret, St Philip, 2010–present, The District of Kennet, and the District of Salisbury wards of Bulford and Durrington. The Devizes constituency covers Devizes in Wiltshire and the surrounding former Kennet district, Devizes has been a safe Conservative seat since 1945. The current Member of Parliament is Claire Perry who was first elected at the 2010 general election, succeeding Michael Ancram and he was portrayed by actor Michael Troughton. General Election 1939/40, Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1940. General Election 1914/15, Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1915
10.
Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)
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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, the constituency was first known to have been represented in Parliament in 1545 and continued to exist until the redistribution of seats in 1918. The constituencys most famous former representatives are Charles James Fox and John Stuart Mill, the City of Westminster is a district of Inner London. Its southern boundary is on the bank of the River Thames. It is located to the west of the City of London, to the south of Holborn and St. Pancras and to the east of Kensington, before 1545 the area which became this borough constituency was represented as part of the county constituency of Middlesex. Until 1885 the constituency had two representatives, in the 1885 redistribution of seats the Westminster area was divided into three single-member seats. The official definition of the areas included was the Westminster district, in the north-east was the constituency of Strand and to the west that of St Georges, Hanover Square. In the 1918 redistribution the Metropolitan Borough was divided into two single member constituencies, Westminster St Georges in the west and Westminster Abbey in the east, the Abbey division incorporated the area of the 1885–1918 Westminster constituency. This was a constituency, because it represented the centre of British government and had such a large electorate that it was independent of the control of a patron. Before the Reform Act 1832 the right to vote was held by the male inhabitants paying Scot and Lot and this was an extensive franchise, by the standards of that era. Westminster had the largest electorate of any borough in the Kingdom, only the largest county constituency of Yorkshire had more voters. Sedgwick estimated the electorate at about 8,000 in the first half of the eighteenth century, namier and Brooke estimated that there were about 12,000 voters later in the century. The large size of the electorate made contested elections immensely expensive, in the sixteenth century the Church officials associated with Westminster Abbey had a large influence in the area, but as the community became bigger that became less important. The Court had some influence, because of the royal residences. The use of funds to bribe the electorate was not unknown. Local landowners who were prepared to stir up ill-will by threatening to evict or raise the rents of tenants voting the wrong way, unlawful means were sometimes used to make sure that the right candidates were elected. In 1722 the election of two Tories was declared void because of rioting which prevented some Whigs voting, in 1741 a Whig returning officer called upon the assistance of some troops to close the poll before the Tory candidates could catch up to the Whig votes. The Treasury spent the enormous sums of more than £8,000 in 1780 and £9,000 in 1784, in unsuccessful attempts to defeat the opposition Whig leader Charles James Fox
11.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign
12.
Acts of Union 1800
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The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with effect from 1 January 1801. Both Acts, though amended, still remain in force in the United Kingdom. Since the 12th century, the King of England had been technical overlord of the Lordship of Ireland, both the Kingdoms of Ireland and England later came into personal union with that of Scotland upon the Union of the Crowns in 1603. In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united into a single kingdom, each Act had to be passed in both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland. The Parliament of Ireland had recently gained a measure of legislative independence under the Constitution of 1782. Many members of the Irish Parliament jealously guarded this autonomy and a motion for union was rejected in 1799. Only Anglicans were permitted to become members of the Parliament of Ireland, though the majority of the Irish population were Roman Catholic. In 1793 Roman Catholics regained the right to vote if they owned or rented property worth £2 p. a. The Catholic hierarchy was strongly in favour of union, hoping for rapid emancipation, also the Irish and British parliaments, when creating a regency during King George IIIs madness, gave the Prince Regent different powers. These considerations led Great Britain to decide to attempt merger of the two kingdoms and their parliaments, whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to 115. The Acts of Union were two complementary Acts, namely, The Union with Ireland Act 1800, an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and The Act of Union 1800, an Act of the Parliament of Ireland. They were passed on 2 July 1800 and 1 August 1800 respectively and they ratified eight articles which had been previously agreed by the British and Irish Parliaments, Articles I–IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union. The other 84 Irish parliamentary boroughs were disfranchised, all were pocket boroughs, article VI created a customs union, with the exception that customs duties on certain British and Irish goods passing between the two countries would remain for 10 years. Article VII stated that Ireland would have to contribute two-seventeenths towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom, the figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade. Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union, part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic Emancipation, allowing Roman Catholic MPs, who had not been allowed in the Irish Parliament. This was however blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath, in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the members of the House of Commons were not elected afresh. The flag, created as a consequence of the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, called the Union Flag, it combined the flags of St Georges Cross and the St Andrews Saltire of Scotland with the St Patricks Saltire to represent Ireland. The Irish Constitutional Tradition, Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992, gill & Macmillan, Dublin, Ireland,2003
13.
Parliament of Great Britain
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The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. 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. Following the Treaty of Union in 1706, Acts of Union ratifying the Treaty were passed in both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland, which created a new Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts dissolved both parliaments, replacing them with a new parliament, referred to as the Parliament of Great Britain and it was not even considered necessary to hold a new general election. While Scots law and Scottish legislation remained separate, new legislation was thereafter to be enacted by the new parliament, after the Hanoverian King George I ascended the British throne in 1714 through the Act of Settlement of 1701, real power continued to shift away from the monarchy. George was a German ruler, spoke poor English, and remained interested in governing his dominions in continental Europe rather than in Britain. Reformers and Radicals sought parliamentary reform, but as the French Revolutionary Wars developed the British government became repressive against dissent and progress towards reform was stalled. During the first half of George IIIs reign, the still had considerable influence over Parliament. Most candidates for the House of Commons were identified as Whigs or Tories, reformers like William Beckford and Radicals beginning with John Wilkes called for reform of the system. In 1780 a draft programme of reform was drawn up by Charles James Fox and Thomas Brand Hollis and this included calls for the six points later adopted by the Chartists. Pitt had previously called for Parliament to begin to reform itself, proposals Pitt made in April 1785 to redistribute seats from the rotten boroughs to London and the counties were defeated in the House of Commons by 248 votes to 174
14.
Irish House of Commons
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The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords, the membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive franchise, similar to the Unreformed House of Commons in contemporary England and Great Britain. Most notably, Roman Catholics were disqualified from sitting in the Irish parliament from 1691, from 1728 until 1793 they were also disfranchised. Most of the population of all religions had no vote, the vast majority of parliamentary boroughs were pocket boroughs, the private property of an aristocratic patron. When these boroughs were disfranchised at the under the Act of Union, the British-appointed Irish executive, under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was not answerable to the House of Commons but to the British government. However, the Chief Secretary for Ireland was usually a member of the Irish parliament, in the Commons, business was presided over by the Speaker. The House of Commons was abolished when the Irish parliament merged with its British counterpart in 1801 under the Act of Union, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the House sat for the last time in Parliament House, Dublin on 2 August 1800. The Speaker of the Irish House of Commons was the officer of the House. The position was one of power and prestige, and in the absence of a government chosen from and answerable to the Commons. The last Speaker was John Foster, the House was elected in the same way as the British House of Commons. The number of Boroughs invited to return members had originally been small but was doubled by the Stuart monarchs. They could cease to be a member of the House only by one of four ways, death expulsion taking Holy Orders being awarded a peerage, in 1793 a methodology for resignation was created, equivalent to the Chiltern Hundreds in the British House of Commons. Irish members could now be appointed to either the Escheatorship of Munster, the Escheatorship of Leinster, possession of one of these Crown offices, with entailed a 30/- salary, automatically terminated ones membership of the House of Commons. Henry Grattan, Went on to serve as an Irish member of the United Kingdom House of Commons. Boyle Roche, The father of Irish bulls Hon. Arthur Wellesley, Later became Duke of Wellington, defeated Napoleon I at Waterloo and he represented his family borough of Trim, County Meath from 1790–98. William Conolly, A past Speaker, Conolly remains today one of the most widely known figures ever to be produced by the Irish parliament. He is famous not just for his role in parliament but also for his wealth that allowed him to build one of Irelands greatest Georgian houses. Major influence on the architecture of Georgian Dublin and the Irish Palladian Country house, John Philpot Curran, Orator and wit, originator of the quotation Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty
15.
Parliament of Ireland
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The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. It comprised two chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the House of Lords consisted of members of the Irish peerage and the bishops, while the Commons was directly elected, albeit on a very restricted franchise. The main purpose of parliament was to approve taxes that were levied by. Those who would pay the bulk of taxation, the clergy, merchants and landowners, in 1541 the parliament voted to create the Kingdom of Ireland. However, this Irish Parliament was a meeting of Irish nobles and bishops, later, in the 15th century, Irish parliaments began to invite representatives of the people. Among its most famous meeting places were Dublin Castle, the Bluecoat School, Chichester House and, its permanent home. The Irish Parliament was formally founded in 1297 by the Justiciar, John Wogan, to represent the Irish, in 1292 a less formal assembly of unelected nobles and merchants had raised £10,000, known as the lay subsidy. This tax was a fifteenth of the net worth of the chattels of wealthier citizens, the poor, the Parliament arose from and for citizens of the Lordship of Ireland, based on Norman laws and English practices. Magna Carta was extended in 1217 in the Great Charter of Ireland, alongside this reduced control grew a Gaelic resurgence that was political as well as cultural. In turn this resulted in numbers of the Anglo-Irish Old English nobility joining the independent Gaelic nobles in asserting their feudal independence. Eventually the crowns power shrank to a fortified enclave around Dublin known as the Pale. The Parliament thereafter became essentially the forum for the Pale community until the 16th century, the role of the Parliament changed after 1541, when Henry VIII declared the Kingdom of Ireland and embarked on the Tudor conquest of Ireland. Initially in 1537, the Irish Parliament approved both the Act of Supremacy, acknowledging Henry VIII as head of the Church and the dissolution of the monasteries, the Plantation of Ulster allowed English and Scottish Protestant candidates in as representatives of the newly formed boroughs in planted areas. Initially this gave Protestants a majority of 132-100 in the House of Commons, in the House of Lords the Catholic majority continued until the 1689 Patriot Parliament, with the exception of the Commonwealth period. Following the death of Cromwell and the end of the Protectorate, then, during the reign of James II of England, who had converted to Roman Catholicism, Irish Catholics briefly recovered their pre-eminent position as the crown now favoured their community. When James was overthrown in England, he turned to his Catholic supporters in the Irish Parliament for support, nonetheless, the franchise was still available to wealthier Catholics. Until 1728, Catholics voted in House of Commons elections and held seats in the Lords, for no particular reason, beyond a general pressure for Catholics to conform, they were barred from voting in the election for the first parliament in the reign of George II. Privileges were also limited to supporters of the Church of Ireland
16.
House of Lords
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The House of Lords of the United Kingdom, referred to ceremonially as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. Unlike the elected House of Commons, all members of the House of Lords are appointed, the membership of the House of Lords is drawn from the peerage and is made up of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual are 26 bishops in the established Church of England, of the Lords Temporal, the majority are life peers who are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, or on the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. However, they include some hereditary peers including four dukes. Very few of these are female since most hereditary peerages can only be inherited by men, while the House of Commons has a defined 650-seat membership, the number of members in the House of Lords is not fixed. There are currently 805 sitting Lords, the House of Lords is the only upper house of any bicameral parliament to be larger than its respective lower house. The House of Lords scrutinises bills that have approved by the House of Commons. It regularly reviews and amends Bills from the Commons, while it is unable to prevent Bills passing into law, except in certain limited circumstances, it can delay Bills and force the Commons to reconsider their decisions. In this capacity, the House of Lords acts as a check on the House of Commons that is independent from the electoral process, Bills can be introduced into either the House of Lords or the House of Commons. Members of the Lords may also take on roles as government ministers, the House of Lords has its own support services, separate from the Commons, including the House of Lords Library. The Queens Speech is delivered in the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, the House also has a Church of England role, in that Church Measures must be tabled within the House by the Lords Spiritual. This new parliament was, in effect, the continuation of the Parliament of England with the addition of 45 MPs and 16 Peers to represent Scotland, the Parliament of England developed from the Magnum Concilium, the Great Council that advised the King during medieval times. This royal council came to be composed of ecclesiastics, noblemen, the first English Parliament is often considered to be the Model Parliament, which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and representatives of the shires and boroughs of it. The power of Parliament grew slowly, fluctuating as the strength of the monarchy grew or declined, for example, during much of the reign of Edward II, the nobility was supreme, the Crown weak, and the shire and borough representatives entirely powerless. In 1569, the authority of Parliament was for the first time recognised not simply by custom or royal charter, further developments occurred during the reign of Edward IIs successor, Edward III. It was during this Kings reign that Parliament clearly separated into two chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The authority of Parliament continued to grow, and, during the fifteenth century
17.
Representative peer
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In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords. Until 1999, all members of the Peerage of England held the right to sit in the House of Lords, they did not elect a limited group of representatives. All peers who were created after 1707 as Peers of Great Britain, representative peers were introduced in 1707, when the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united into the Kingdom of Great Britain. At the time, there were 168 English and 154 Scottish peers, a similar arrangement was adopted when the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in January 1801. Scotland was allowed to elect sixteen representative peers, while Ireland could elect twenty-eight and those chosen by Scotland sat for a single term, and following each dissolution new Scottish peers were elected. In contrast, Irish representative peers sat for life, elections for Irish peers ceased when the Irish Free State came into existence as a Dominion in December 1922. However, already-elected Irish peers continued to be entitled to sit until their death, elections for Scottish peers ended in 1963, when all Scottish peers obtained the right to sit in the House of Lords. Under the 1999 House of Lords Act, a new form of representative peer was introduced to some hereditary peers to stay in the House of Lords. Under articles XXII and XXIII of the Act of Union of 1707, each served for one Parliament or a maximum of seven years, but could be re-elected during future Parliaments. Upon the summons of a new Parliament, the Sovereign would issue a proclamation summoning Scottish peers to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The elections were held in the Great Gallery, a room decorated by eighty-nine of Jacob de Wets portraits of Scottish monarchs. The Lord Clerk Register would read out the Peerage Roll as indicates his presence when called, the Roll was then re–read, with each peer responding by publicly announcing his votes and the return being sent to the clerk of the crown at London. The same procedure was used whenever a vacancy arose, the block voting system was used, with each peer casting as many votes as there were seats to be filled. The Lord Clerk Register was responsible for tallying the votes, the position and rights of Scottish peers in relation to the House of Lords remained unclear during most of the eighteenth century. In 1711, The 4th Duke of Hamilton, a peer of Scotland, was made Duke of Brandon in the Peerage of Great Britain. They reasoned that the Act of Union 1707 had established the number of Scots peers in the House of Lords at no more and no less than sixteen. Under the Peerage Act 1963, all Scottish peers procured the right to sit in the House of Lords, Scottish as well as British and English hereditary peers lost their automatic right to sit in the Upper House with the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999. During the debate on the House of Lords Bill, a question arose as to whether the proposal would violate the Treaty of Union
18.
Irish House of Lords
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The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with members of the Peerage of Ireland sitting in the Irish Lords, just as members of the Peerage of England did at Westminster. When the Act of Union 1800 abolished the Irish parliament, a subset of Irish peers sat in the House of Lords of the merged Parliament of the United Kingdom. They sat as a group, not as a separate House, from the establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland in 1542 the Lords included a large number of new Gaelic and Norman lords under the policy of surrender and regrant. By 1632 the Lord Baltimore established colonies in Newfoundland and Maryland, in 1634 the campaign to secure The Graces came to a head. Most of these Catholic lords lost their titles in the ensuing 1641 rebellion and these dispossessed lords were regranted their titles after the Restoration of 1660 by the Act of Settlement 1662. Others took the side in the Williamite War in Ireland. By the 1790s most of the Lords personified and wanted to protect the Protestant Ascendancy, by the time of its abolition in 1800 some of the peerages were very ancient, such as the lords Kingsale, created in 1397, and the viscounts Gormanston from 1478. The first Earl of Kildare had been created in 1316, following the Act of Union in 1800, the peerage of Ireland elected just 28 of their number to sit in the United Kingdom House of Lords, described as the representative peers. This practice ended in 1922 with the establishment of the Irish Free State. Other newly created Irish peers, such as Clive of India and Lord Curzon, were able to stand for election to the UK House of Commons, without giving them a seat in the British House of Lords. This was a convenient way of giving a title for reasons of prestige to someone who expected to sit in the British House of Commons. Today the 18th century Irish Parliament building on College Green in Dublin is an office of the commercial Bank of Ireland and visitors can view the Irish House of Lords chamber within the building. The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature, and bills could originate in either the Commons or the Lords. Either house could amend or reject the others proposals, the Lords was the highest court of appeal in Ireland, as the English Lords were in England. However, the controversial British Declaratory Act of 1719 asserted the right of the British Lords to overrule the Irish Lords, the Irish Patriot Party secured the repeal of the Declaratory Act as part of the Constitution of 1782. The House of Lords was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, who sat on the woolsack, sessions were formally opened by the Speech from the Throne by the Lord Lieutenant, who sat on the throne beneath a canopy of crimson velvet. Sessions were generally held at Dublin Castle in the 16th and 17th centuries, until the opening of the Irish Houses of Parliament in the 1730s
19.
James Gillray
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James Gillray was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810. Gillray has been called the father of the cartoon, with his works satirizing George III, prime ministers. He was born in Chelsea, London and his father, a native of Lanark, had served as a soldier, losing an arm at the Battle of Fontenoy, and was admitted, first as an inmate, and afterwards as an outdoor pensioner, at Chelsea Hospital. Gillray commenced life by learning letter-engraving, at which he became adept. This employment, however, proved irksome to James, so he wandered about for a time with a company of strolling players and his caricatures are almost all in etching, some also with aquatint, and a few using stipple technique. None can correctly be described as engravings, although this term is loosely used to describe them. Hogarths works were the delight and study of his early years, paddy on Horseback, which appeared in 1779, is the first caricature which is certainly his. Two caricatures on Admiral Rodneys naval victory at the Battle of the Saintes, Gillray lived with Miss Humphrey during the entire period of his fame. It is believed that he several times thought of marrying her, and that on one occasion the pair were on their way to the church and we live very comfortably together, we had better let well alone. There is no evidence, however, to support the stories which scandalmongers invented about their relations, Gillrays plates were exposed in Humphreys shop window, where eager crowds examined them. One of his prints, Very Slippy-Weather, shows Miss Humphreys shop in St. Jamess Street in the background. Gillrays eyesight began to fail in 1806 and he began wearing spectacles but they were unsatisfactory. Unable to work to his previous standards, James Gillray became depressed and started drinking heavily. He produced his last print in September 1809, as a result of his heavy drinking Gillray suffered from gout throughout his later life. His last work, from a design by Bunbury, is entitled Interior of a Barbers Shop in Assize Time, while he was engaged on it he became mad, although he had occasional intervals of sanity, which he employed on his last work. The approach of madness may have been hastened by his intemperate habits, in July 1811 Gillray attempted to kill himself by throwing himself out of an attic window above Humphreys shop in St Jamess Street. Gillray lapsed into insanity and was looked after by Hannah Humphrey until his death on 1 June 1815 in London, he was buried in St Jamess churchyard, Piccadilly. A number of his most trenchant satires are directed against George III, during the French Revolution, Gillray took a conservative stance, and he issued caricature after caricature ridiculing the French and Napoleon, and glorifying John Bull
20.
John Horne Tooke
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John Horne Tooke was an English clergyman, politician, and philologist. He was born in Newport Street, Long Acre, Westminster, the son of John Horne. As a youth at Eton College, Tooke described his father to friends as a turkey merchant, before Eton, he had been at school in Soho Square, in a Kentish village, and from 1744 to 1746 at Westminster School. He was left blind in his eye after being injured in a schoolboy fight. Horne had been admitted on 9 November 1756, as student at the Inner Temple, becoming friends with John Dunning and his father wished him to take orders in the Church of England, and he was ordained deacon on 23 September 1759 and priest on 23 November 1760. For a few months he was usher at a school at Blackheath. On 26 September 1760 he became curate of New Brentford. Tooke retained this poor living until 1773, during part of this time he traveled on a tour in France, acting as a bear-leader to a wealthy man. The excitement created by the actions of John Wilkes led Horne into politics, in the autumn of 1765 he escorted another rich young man to Italy. In Paris he met Wilkes, and from Montpellier, in January 1766, in the summer of 1767 Horne returned, and in 1768 secured the return of Wilkes to parliament for Middlesex. On 1 July 1771 Horne obtained at Cambridge, though not without opposition from members of both the political parties, his degree of M. A. Earlier in that year he claimed for the public the right of printing an account of debates, and after a long struggle. In the same year, Horne argued with Junius, and ended in disarming his masked antagonist, Horne resigned his benefice in 1773 and began the study of the law and philology. An accident, however, occurred at this moment which largely affected his future and his friend William Tooke had purchased a considerable estate, including Purley Lodge, south of the town of Croydon in Surrey. Tooke declared his intention of making Horne the heir to his fortune, no sooner had this matter been happily settled than Horne found himself involved in serious trouble. Soon after his deliverance he applied to be called to the bar, Horne thereupon tried his fortune, but without success, on farming some land in Huntingdonshire. Two tracts about this time exercised great influence in the country, one of them, Fads Addressed to Landholders, etc. On his return from Huntingdonshire he became more a frequent guest at Tookes house at Purley
21.
Whigs (British political party)
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The Whigs were a political faction and then a political party in the parliaments of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Between the 1680s and 1850s, they contested power with their rivals, the Whigs origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute monarchy. The Whigs played a role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and were the standing enemies of the Stuart kings and pretenders. The Whigs took full control of the government in 1715, and remained dominant until King George III, coming to the throne in 1760. The Whig Supremacy was enabled by the Hanoverian succession of George I in 1714, the Whigs thoroughly purged the Tories from all major positions in government, the army, the Church of England, the legal profession, and local offices. The Partys hold on power was so strong and durable, historians call the period from roughly 1714 to 1783 the age of the Whig Oligarchy. The first great leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government through the period 1721–1742, his protégé was Henry Pelham, who led from 1743 to 1754. Both parties were founded on rich politicians, more than on votes, there were elections to the House of Commons. The Whig Party slowly evolved during the 18th century, later on, the Whigs drew support from the emerging industrial interests and wealthy merchants, while the Tories drew support from the landed interests and the royal family. The term Whig was originally short for whiggamor, a term meaning cattle driver used to describe western Scots who came to Leith for corn. In the reign of Charles I the term was used during Wars of the Three Kingdoms to refer derisively to a faction of the Scottish Covenanters who called themselves the Kirk Party. It was then applied to Scottish Presbyterian rebels who were against the Kings Episcopalian order in Scotland, Whig was a term of abuse applied to those who wanted to exclude James on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic. The fervent Tory Samuel Johnson often joked that the first Whig was the Devil, the Whigs, under Lord Shaftesburys leadership, wished to exclude the Duke of York from the throne due to his Catholicism, his favouring of monarchical absolutism and his connections to France. They believed the Duke, if allowed to inherit the throne, would endanger the Protestant religion, liberty, the first Exclusion Bill was supported by a substantial majority on its second reading in May 1679. In response, King Charles prorogued Parliament and then dissolved it and this new parliament did not meet for thirteen months, because Charles wanted to give passions a chance to die down. When it met in October 1680, an Exclusion Bill was introduced and passed in the Commons without major resistance, Charles dissolved Parliament in January 1681, but the Whigs did not suffer serious losses in the ensuing election. The next Parliament first met in March, at Oxford, but Charles dissolved it only after a few days, when he made an appeal to the country against the Whigs, and determined to rule without Parliament. In February, Charles had made a deal with the French King Louis XIV, without Parliament, the Whigs gradually crumbled, mainly due to the Rye House Plot
22.
George Tierney
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George Tierney PC was an Anglo-Irish Whig politician. Born in Gibraltar, Tierney was the son of Thomas Tierney, a wealthy Irish merchant of London and he was sent to Eton and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took the degree of Law in 1784. He was called to the bar from Lincolns Inn in the same year, Tierney contested Colchester in 1788, when both candidates received the same number of votes, but Tierney was declared elected. He was, however, defeated in 1790 and he sat for Southwark from 1796 to 1806, and then represented in turn Athlone, Bandon, Appleby, and Knaresborough. When Charles James Fox seceded from the House of Commons, Tierney became a prominent opponent of William Pitts policy, in May 1798, Pitt accused him of want of patriotism. A duel ensued at Putney Heath on Sunday,27 May 1798, on the death of Fox, he joined the Grenville ministry as President of the Board of Control, with a seat in the cabinet, and thus brought himself once more into line with the Whigs. About a year after the death of George Ponsonby in 1817, at first he was successful, with Whig gains being made at the 1818 general election. On 18 May 1819, Tierney moved a motion in the House of Commons for a committee on the state of the nation. This motion was defeated by 357 to 178, which was a division involving the largest number of MPs until the debates over the Reform bill in the early 1830s, Foord comments that this defeat put an effective end to Tierneys leadership. Tierney did not disclaim the leadership till 23 Jan.1821, but he had ceased to exercise its functions since the great defeat. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Tierney. Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801–1922, edited by B. M and his Majestys Opposition 1714–1830, by Archibald S. Foord Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by George Tierney Archival material relating to George Tierney
23.
Act of Union 1800
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The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with effect from 1 January 1801. Both Acts, though amended, still remain in force in the United Kingdom. Since the 12th century, the King of England had been technical overlord of the Lordship of Ireland, both the Kingdoms of Ireland and England later came into personal union with that of Scotland upon the Union of the Crowns in 1603. In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united into a single kingdom, each Act had to be passed in both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland. The Parliament of Ireland had recently gained a measure of legislative independence under the Constitution of 1782. Many members of the Irish Parliament jealously guarded this autonomy and a motion for union was rejected in 1799. Only Anglicans were permitted to become members of the Parliament of Ireland, though the majority of the Irish population were Roman Catholic. In 1793 Roman Catholics regained the right to vote if they owned or rented property worth £2 p. a. The Catholic hierarchy was strongly in favour of union, hoping for rapid emancipation, also the Irish and British parliaments, when creating a regency during King George IIIs madness, gave the Prince Regent different powers. These considerations led Great Britain to decide to attempt merger of the two kingdoms and their parliaments, whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to 115. The Acts of Union were two complementary Acts, namely, The Union with Ireland Act 1800, an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and The Act of Union 1800, an Act of the Parliament of Ireland. They were passed on 2 July 1800 and 1 August 1800 respectively and they ratified eight articles which had been previously agreed by the British and Irish Parliaments, Articles I–IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union. The other 84 Irish parliamentary boroughs were disfranchised, all were pocket boroughs, article VI created a customs union, with the exception that customs duties on certain British and Irish goods passing between the two countries would remain for 10 years. Article VII stated that Ireland would have to contribute two-seventeenths towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom, the figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade. Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union, part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic Emancipation, allowing Roman Catholic MPs, who had not been allowed in the Irish Parliament. This was however blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath, in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the members of the House of Commons were not elected afresh. The flag, created as a consequence of the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, called the Union Flag, it combined the flags of St Georges Cross and the St Andrews Saltire of Scotland with the St Patricks Saltire to represent Ireland. The Irish Constitutional Tradition, Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992, gill & Macmillan, Dublin, Ireland,2003
24.
Catholic emancipation
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Requirements to abjure the temporal and spiritual authority of the Pope and transubstantiation placed major burdens on Roman Catholics. The penal laws started to be dismantled from 1766, the most significant measure was the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom. In Canada, British since 1763, the Quebec Act of 1774 ended some restrictions on Roman Catholics, reaction against this led to riots in Scotland in 1779 and then the Gordon Riots in London on June 2,1780. Further relief was given by an Act of 1782 allowing the establishment of Roman Catholic schools, the British Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 was adopted by the Irish Parliament in 1792–93. Since the electoral franchise at the time was determined by property. Non-conformists also suffered discrimination at this time, but it was expected to be a consequence given the proportionately small number of Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom as a whole. William Pitt the Younger, the Prime Minister, had promised emancipation to accompany the Act, no further steps were taken at that stage, however, in part because of the belief of King George III that it would violate his Coronation Oath. Pitt resigned when the Kings opposition became known, as he was unable to fulfill his pledge, Catholic emancipation then became a debating point rather than a major political issue. The increasing number of Irish Catholics serving in the British army led to the army giving freedom of worship to Catholic soldiers in 1811 and their contribution in the Napoleonic wars may have contributed to the support of Wellington for emancipation. In 1823, Daniel OConnell started a campaign for emancipation by establishing the Catholic Association, in 1828 he stood for election in County Clare in Ireland and was elected even though he could not take his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He repeated this feat in 1829, oConnells manoeuvres were important, but the decisive turning point came with the change in public opinion in Britain in favour of emancipation. Politicians understood the importance of public opinion. They were influenced as well by the support for the measure by the Whigs in the House of Lords. The balance of opinion in the House of Lords shifted abruptly in 1828–29 in response to public opinion, in 1828 the Sacramental Test Act removed the barrier that required certain public officials to be members of the Established Church. Finally, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel changed positions and this removed many of the remaining substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The major beneficiaries were the Roman Catholic middle classes, who could now enter careers in the civil service. The year 1829 is therefore regarded as marking the chief moment of Emancipation in Britain. The obligation, however, to pay tithes to the established Anglican church in Ireland remained, resulting in the Tithe War of the 1830s, a series of further reforms were introduced over time
25.
George III of the United Kingdom
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He was concurrently Duke and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire until his promotion to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of Britains American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence, further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In the later part of his life, George III had recurrent, although it has since been suggested that he had the blood disease porphyria, the cause of his illness remains unknown. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, on George IIIs death, the Prince Regent succeeded his father as George IV. Historical analysis of George IIIs life has gone through a kaleidoscope of changing views that have depended heavily on the prejudices of his biographers and the sources available to them. Until it was reassessed in the half of the 20th century, his reputation in the United States was one of a tyrant. George was born in London at Norfolk House and he was the grandson of King George II, and the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. As Prince George was born two months prematurely and he was unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker. One month later, he was baptised at Norfolk House. His godparents were the King of Sweden, his uncle the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, George grew into a healthy but reserved and shy child. The family moved to Leicester Square, where George and his younger brother Prince Edward, Duke of York, Family letters show that he could read and write in both English and German, as well as comment on political events of the time, by the age of eight. He was the first British monarch to study science systematically and his religious education was wholly Anglican. At age 10 George took part in a production of Joseph Addisons play Cato and said in the new prologue, What. It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, historian Romney Sedgwick argued that these lines appear to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated. Georges grandfather, King George II, disliked the Prince of Wales, however, in 1751 the Prince of Wales died unexpectedly from a lung injury, and George became heir apparent to the throne. He inherited one of his fathers titles and became the Duke of Edinburgh, now more interested in his grandson, three weeks later the King created George Prince of Wales. Georges mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, preferred to keep George at home where she could imbue him with her moral values
26.
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
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Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC, known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the architects of the Reform Act 1832. His government also saw the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, in addition to his political achievements, he has come to be associated with Earl Grey tea, named after him. He had four brothers and two sisters, Grey was elected to Parliament for the Northumberland constituency on 14 September 1786, aged just 22. He became a part of the Whig circle of Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales and he was the youngest manager on the committee for prosecuting Warren Hastings. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that could set off to the height his splendid talents, at twenty-three he had been thought worthy to be ranked with the veteran statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood at that bar, save him alone, are gone, culprit, advocates, to the generation which is now in the vigour of life, he is the sole representative of a great age which has passed away. Grey was also noted for advocating Parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation and his affair with the Duchess of Devonshire, herself an active political campaigner, did him little harm although it nearly caused her to be divorced by her husband. In 1806, Grey, by then Lord Howick owing to his fathers elevation to the peerage as Earl Grey, following Foxs death later that year, Howick took over both as Foreign Secretary and as leader of the Whigs. The government fell from power the year, and, after a brief period as a member of parliament for Appleby from May to July 1807, Howick went to the Lords. He continued in opposition for the next 23 years, there were times during this period when Grey came close to joining the Government. In 1811, the Prince Regent tried to court Grey and his ally William Grenville to join the Spencer Perceval ministry following the resignation of Lord Wellesley, Grey and Grenville declined because the Prince Regent refused to make concessions regarding Catholic Emancipation. Greys relationship with the Prince was strained further when his daughter and heiress, Princess Charlotte. On the Napoleonic Wars, Grey took the standard Whig party line, Grey was then slow to recognise the military successes of Moores successor, the Duke of Wellington. In 1826, believing that the Whig party no longer paid any attention to his opinions, when Wellington became Prime Minister in 1828, George IV singled out Grey as the one person he could not appoint to the Government. In 1830, following the death of George IV and when the Duke of Wellington resigned on the question of Parliamentary reform, in 1831, he was made a member of the Order of the Garter. His term was a one, seeing passage of the Reform Act 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons. It was the issue of Ireland which precipitated the end of Greys premiership in 1834, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Stanley, however, preferred coercive measures
27.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle
28.
Cork (city)
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Cork is a city in Ireland, located in the South-West Region, in the province of Munster. It has a population of 125,622 and is the second largest city in the state, the greater Metropolitan Cork area has a population exceeding 300,000. In 2005, the city was selected as the European Capital of Culture, the city is built on the River Lee which splits into two channels at the western end of the city, the city centre is divided by these channels. They reconverge at the end where the quays and docks along the river banks lead outwards towards Lough Mahon and Cork Harbour. The citys cognomen of the city originates in its support for the Yorkist cause during the English 15th century Wars of the Roses. Corkonians often refer to the city as the capital in reference to the citys role as the centre of anti-treaty forces during the Irish Civil War. Cork was originally a settlement, reputedly founded by Saint Finbarr in the 6th century. Cork achieved an urban character at some point between 915 and 922 when Norseman settlers founded a trading port and it has been proposed that, like Dublin, Cork was an important trading centre in the global Scandinavian trade network. The citys charter was granted by Prince John, as Lord of Ireland, the city was once fully walled, and some wall sections and gates remain today. Neighbouring Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman lords extorted Black Rent from the citizens to them from attacking the city. The present extent of the city has exceeded the boundaries of the Barony of Cork City. Together, these baronies are located between the Barony of Barrymore to the east, Muskerry East to the west and Kerrycurrihy to the south, the medieval population of Cork was about 2,100 people. It suffered a blow in 1349 when almost half the townspeople died of plague when the Black Death arrived in the town. The then mayor of Cork and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England, oBrien published a third local newspaper, the Cork Free Press. In the War of Independence, the centre of Cork was burnt down by the British Black and Tans, during the Irish Civil War, Cork was for a time held by anti-Treaty forces, until it was retaken by the pro-Treaty National Army in an attack from the sea. The climate of Cork, like the rest of Ireland, is mild oceanic and changeable with abundant rainfall, Cork lies in plant Hardiness zone 9b. Met Éireann maintains a weather station at Cork Airport, a few kilometres south of the city. It should be noted that the airport is at an altitude of 151 metres and temperatures can often differ by a few degrees between the airport and the city itself, there are also smaller synoptic weather stations at UCC and Clover Hill
29.
University of Dublin
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The University of Dublin, corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the awarding body for Trinity College, Dublin. It was founded in 1592 when Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, as the mother of a university, the University of Dublin is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland. It is a member of the Irish Universities Association, Universities Ireland, the University of Dublin was modelled on the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge as a collegiate university, Trinity College being named by the Queen as the mater universitatis. The founding Charter also conferred a general power on the College to make provision for university functions to be carried out, no other college has ever been established, and Trinity remains the sole constituent college of the university. The project of establishing another college within the University was seriously considered on at least two occasions, but the required finance or endowment was never available, the most recent authoritative statement of the position is in the Universities Act,1997. In the section relating to interpretation it specifies that, -3. to date the other rights have not been exercised. Current Officers of the University are either unpaid and purely honorary, or have duties relating to the college also, for which they are paid, traditionally, sports clubs also use the moniker University rather than College. The university is governed by the university senate, chaired by the chancellor or their pro-chancellor, consequently, the Senate does not determine its own composition. However this is countered by the role of the Visitors, each meeting of the Senate is headed by a Caput, consisting of the Chancellor, the Provost of Trinity College and the Senior Master Non-Regent. The practical significance of the Caput is that no meeting of the Senate may be convened with out it, Meetings of the Senate are of two kinds. In each academic year, the Senate holds not less than four Stated Meetings for the Conferring of Degrees, of these Meetings, the proceedings of these meetings, conducted in a highly formal and scripted manner, are carried out in Latin. Although voting takes place at meetings, discussion does not. Voting takes place to elect a Senior Master Non Regent, or on whether degrees should be conferred on named candidates, Honorary Degrees, while being conferred at a commencements are not even formally voted on there. Voting on a candidate for an Honorary degree takes place at a business meeting of the Senate, so if any objection to a proposed Honorary Degree award is to be made. It follows that no objection to an Honorary Degree can be made at a Public Commencements, at the first Public Commencements of the academic year the Senior Master Non-Regent is elected on the proposition of the Chancellor and the Provost. The Senate votes on the name put forward by a voice vote, the Senior Master Non Regent is elected for a one-year term, but may be re elected. The Senior and Junior Proctors and the Registrar also make the declaration which is appropriate to their respective offices, in attendance also are, usually, the Registrar and the Junior and Senior Proctors
30.
United Kingdom constituencies
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In local government elections electoral areas are called wards or electoral divisions. Since the advent of universal suffrage, the differences between county and borough constituencies are slight, formerly the franchise differed, and there were also county borough and university constituencies. Borough constituencies are predominantly urban while county constituencies are predominantly rural, otherwise they should be designated as borough constituencies. In Scotland, all House of Commons constituencies are county constituencies except those in the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, the returning officer will typically be a local Councils Chief Executive or Head of Legal Services. The role, however, is separate from these posts, the spending limits for election campaigns are different in the two, the reasoning being that candidates in county constituencies tend to need to travel further. For by-elections to any of these bodies, the limit in all constituencies is £100,000, in the House of Commons of England, each English county elected two knights of the shire while each enfranchised borough elected burgesses. From 1535 each Welsh county and borough was represented, by one knight or burgess, a county borough was the constituency of a county corporate, combining the franchises of both county and borough. Until 1950 there were also university constituencies, which gave graduates an additional representation, similar distinctions applied in the Irish House of Commons, while the non-university elected members of the Parliament of Scotland were called Shire Commissioners and Burgh Commissioners. After the Acts of Union 1707, Scottish burghs were grouped into districts of burghs in the Parliament of Great Britain, after the Acts of Union 1800, smaller Irish boroughs were disenfranchised, while most others returned only one MP to the United Kingdom Parliament. The Reform Act 1832 reduced the number of parliamentary boroughs by eliminating the rotten boroughs and it also divided larger counties into two two-seat divisions, the boundaries of which were defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, and gave seven counties a third member. Constituency names are geographic, and should reflect the main population centre contained in the constituency. Compass points are used to distinguish constituencies from each other when a suitable label cannot be found. This is the reason for the difference in naming between, for example, North Shropshire and Reading West, in the 2005 United Kingdom general election, the House of Commons had 646 constituencies covering the whole of the United Kingdom. This rose to 650 in the 2010 election, each constituency elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election. The House of Commons is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Parliament of the United Kingdom, the other being the House of Lords, eleven additional members are elected from Greater London as a whole to produce a form or degree of mixed-member proportional representation. Constituency names and boundaries remain now as they were for the first general election of the assembly, the assembly is part of the Greater London Authority and general elections of the assembly are held at the same time as election of the mayor of London. There are 18 Northern Ireland Assembly Constituencies, four borough and 14 county constituencies elsewhere, each elects six MLAs to the 108 member NI Assembly by means of the single transferable vote system. Assembly Constituency boundaries are identical to their House of Commons equivalents, the constituencies below are not used for the election of members to the 11 district councils
31.
County constituencies
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In local government elections electoral areas are called wards or electoral divisions. Since the advent of universal suffrage, the differences between county and borough constituencies are slight, formerly the franchise differed, and there were also county borough and university constituencies. Borough constituencies are predominantly urban while county constituencies are predominantly rural, otherwise they should be designated as borough constituencies. In Scotland, all House of Commons constituencies are county constituencies except those in the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, the returning officer will typically be a local Councils Chief Executive or Head of Legal Services. The role, however, is separate from these posts, the spending limits for election campaigns are different in the two, the reasoning being that candidates in county constituencies tend to need to travel further. For by-elections to any of these bodies, the limit in all constituencies is £100,000, in the House of Commons of England, each English county elected two knights of the shire while each enfranchised borough elected burgesses. From 1535 each Welsh county and borough was represented, by one knight or burgess, a county borough was the constituency of a county corporate, combining the franchises of both county and borough. Until 1950 there were also university constituencies, which gave graduates an additional representation, similar distinctions applied in the Irish House of Commons, while the non-university elected members of the Parliament of Scotland were called Shire Commissioners and Burgh Commissioners. After the Acts of Union 1707, Scottish burghs were grouped into districts of burghs in the Parliament of Great Britain, after the Acts of Union 1800, smaller Irish boroughs were disenfranchised, while most others returned only one MP to the United Kingdom Parliament. The Reform Act 1832 reduced the number of parliamentary boroughs by eliminating the rotten boroughs and it also divided larger counties into two two-seat divisions, the boundaries of which were defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, and gave seven counties a third member. Constituency names are geographic, and should reflect the main population centre contained in the constituency. Compass points are used to distinguish constituencies from each other when a suitable label cannot be found. This is the reason for the difference in naming between, for example, North Shropshire and Reading West, in the 2005 United Kingdom general election, the House of Commons had 646 constituencies covering the whole of the United Kingdom. This rose to 650 in the 2010 election, each constituency elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election. The House of Commons is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Parliament of the United Kingdom, the other being the House of Lords, eleven additional members are elected from Greater London as a whole to produce a form or degree of mixed-member proportional representation. Constituency names and boundaries remain now as they were for the first general election of the assembly, the assembly is part of the Greater London Authority and general elections of the assembly are held at the same time as election of the mayor of London. There are 18 Northern Ireland Assembly Constituencies, four borough and 14 county constituencies elsewhere, each elects six MLAs to the 108 member NI Assembly by means of the single transferable vote system. Assembly Constituency boundaries are identical to their House of Commons equivalents, the constituencies below are not used for the election of members to the 11 district councils
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Monmouthshire (historic)
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Monmouthshire, also known as the County of Monmouth, is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county. It corresponds approximately to the present principal areas of Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Torfaen, the eastern part of the county is mainly agricultural, while the western valleys had rich mineral resources. This led to the area becoming highly industrialised coal mining. The county or shire of Monmouth was formed parts of the Welsh Marches by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. The historic boundaries are the River Wye on the east, dividing it from Gloucestershire, the boundaries with Herefordshire to the northeast and Brecknockshire to the north were less well-defined. The parish of Welsh Bicknor, was an exclave of Monmouthshire, Usk continued as an unreformed borough until its final abolition in 1886. New forms of government were established in the urban areas of the county with the setting of local boards under the Public Health Act 1848. The Public Health Act 1875 divided the areas into rural sanitary districts. An administrative county of Monmouthshire, governed by a county council, was formed in 1889 under the terms of the Local Government Act 1888. The administrative county had similar boundaries, but included the Beaufort, Dukestown, Llechryd, the county council was based in Newport, rather than the historic county town of Monmouth. In the same year the parish of Fwthog was transferred to both the administrative and geographic county of Monmouthshire, under the Local Government Act 1894, the administrative county was divided into urban and rural districts, based on existing sanitary districts. In 1899 Abergavenny was incorporated as a borough, two further urban districts were formed, Mynyddislwyn in 1903, and Bedwas and Machen in 1912. The County of Monmouth Review Order 1935 revised the number and boundaries of the urban, the last major boundary change to affect the administrative county was in 1938 when the Monmouthshire parish of Rumney was incorporated into the city and county borough of Cardiff. However, maps continued to show the Monmouthshire/Glamorgan and England/Wales border as the Rhymney River, the administrative county of Monmouth and county borough of Newport were abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The successor authority, with boundary changes, was titled Gwent. Some border parishes became part of the new Rhymney Valley district of Mid Glamorgan, successor districts of Gwent were Blaenau Gwent, Islwyn, Monmouth, Newport and Torfaen. Monmouthshires status was somewhat ambiguous between the 16th and 20th centuries, with it considered by some as part of England, between about the 5th and 10th centuries the Welsh Kingdom of Gwent covered a variable area roughly contiguous with Monmouthshire. It then became part of Morgannwg, and shortly before the Norman conquest had become part of the unified Welsh realm of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
33.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
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Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
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Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
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Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
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United Kingdom general elections
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This is a list of United Kingdom general elections since the first in 1802. In 1801 the right to vote in the United Kingdom was a severely restricted practice, universal suffrage, on an equal basis for men and women over the age of 21, was established in 1929. Before 1918, general elections did not occur on a single day, the date given in the table for elections prior to 1918 is the date Parliament assembled after the election, which could be in the year after the general election. The majority figure given is for the difference between the number of MPs elected at the election from the party of the government. The Speaker is excluded from the calculation, a negative majority means that there was a hung parliament following that election. For example, in the 1929 election, Labour was 42 seats short of forming a majority, if the party in office changed the figure is re-calculated, but no allowance is made for changes after the general election. No attempt is made to define a majority before 1832, when the Reform Act disenfranchised the rotten boroughs, the Whig and Peelite Prime Ministers in the table below are regarded as having the support of all Liberals
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Google Books
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Books are provided either by publishers and authors, through the Google Books Partner Program, or by Googles library partners, through the Library Project. Additionally, Google has partnered with a number of publishers to digitize their archives. The Publisher Program was first known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004, the Google Books Library Project, which scans works in the collections of library partners and adds them to the digital inventory, was announced in December 2004. But it has also criticized for potential copyright violations. As of October 2015, the number of scanned book titles was over 25 million, Google estimated in 2010 that there were about 130 million distinct titles in the world, and stated that it intended to scan all of them. Results from Google Books show up in both the universal Google Search as well as in the dedicated Google Books search website, if Google believes the book is still under copyright, a user sees snippets of text around the queried search terms. All instances of the terms in the book text appear with a yellow highlight. The four access levels used on Google Books are, Full view, Books in the domain are available for full view. In-print books acquired through the Partner Program are also available for full view if the publisher has given permission, usually, the publisher can set the percentage of the book available for preview. Users are restricted from copying, downloading or printing book previews, a watermark reading Copyrighted material appears at the bottom of pages. All books acquired through the Partner Program are available for preview and this could be because Google cannot identify the owner or the owner declined permission. If a search term appears many times in a book, Google displays no more than three snippets, thus preventing the user from viewing too much of the book. Also, Google does not display any snippets for certain reference books, such as dictionaries, Google maintains that no permission is required under copyright law to display the snippet view. No preview, Google also displays search results for books that have not been digitized, in effect, this is similar to an online library card catalog. Google also stated that it would not scan any in-copyright books between August and 1 November 2005, to provide the owners with the opportunity to decide which books to exclude from the Project. It can let Google scan the book under the Library Project and it can opt out of the Library Project, in which case Google will not scan the book. If the book has already been scanned, Google will reset its access level as No preview and this information is collated through automated methods, and sometimes data from third-party sources is used. This information provides an insight into the book, particularly useful when only a view is available
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Elections in the United Kingdom
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Within each of those categories, there may be by-elections as well as general elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, the Electoral Commission sets standards for and issues guidelines to Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers, and is responsible for nationwide electoral administration. The total number of names in the United Kingdom appearing in Electoral Registers published on 1 December 2010 and based on a qualifying date of 15 October 2010 was 45,844,691. In Scotland, anyone who will be aged 16 or over on polling day can register to vote as the age for voting in Scottish local elections and elections to the Scottish Parliament is 16. However, voters in Scotland under 18 are not entitled to vote in European Elections or UK General Elections, a person can still register at his/her ordinary address if he/she will be away temporarily. A person who has two homes may be able to register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the electoral area. Remand prisoners, voluntary patients in hospitals and people without a fixed place of residence can register to vote by making a declaration of local connection. Members of HM Forces and their family members have the option of registering as a service voter. British citizens residing outside the United Kingdom can register as an overseas voter provided that they were on the Electoral Register in the UK within the previous 15 years, the 15 years period begins when they no longer appeared in the electoral register, not the date they moved abroad. Overseas voters can vote in European Parliamentary and UK Parliamentary elections in the constituency of their last registered UK address. British citizens who are away overseas temporarily do not need to register as overseas electors, Crown servants and British Council employees employed in a post outside the UK can register by making a Crown Servant declaration, allowing them to vote in all UK elections. The right of Commonwealth and Irish citizens to vote is a legacy of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which limited the vote to British subjects. At that time, British subjects included the people of Ireland — then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland — and all other parts of the British Empire. Though most of Ireland and the majority of the colonies became independent nations, in theory, members of the Royal Family who are not members of the House of Lords are eligible to vote, although in practice they do not exercise that right. In Great Britain, most electors are enrolled during the course of the annual canvass, canvass forms are sent to all households, and must be returned, otherwise a fine of £1000 can be imposed. Between December and early August, the registration procedure applies instead. Applications must be submitted individually using registration forms available from local Electoral Registration Officers or the Electoral Commissions website, application forms can be returned to the local Electoral Registration Officer by post, by fax or by e-mail as a scanned attachment. As of June 2014, as part of the Governments Digital By Default policy, voters in England, special category electors do not register through the annual canvass procedure
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Referendums in the United Kingdom
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Referendums in the United Kingdom are by tradition extremely rare due to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. As of 2017, only three referendums have been held which have covered the whole of the United Kingdom, in 1975,2011 and most recently in 2016. The 2011 AV referendum on the proposal to use the alternative system in parliamentary elections is the only UK-wide referendum that has been held on a domestic issue. The referendum was held as a result of the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement which was drawn up after the 2010 general election, there have also been numerous referendums held by local authorities on issues such as temperance and directly elected mayors. Major referendums have been rare in the UK, and have always been on major constitutional issues, before Tony Blairs Labour government came to power in 1997, only four such referendums had been held. In March 1975 Margaret Thatcher also quoted Clement Attlee that referendums are “a device of dictators and demagogues” as Napoleon, Mussolini, there are two types of referendum that have been held by the UK Government, pre-legislative and post-legislative. To date the previous three UK-wide referendums in 1975,2011 and 2016 were all post-legislative. For any UK-wide referendum to be held legislation has to be passed by the UK Parliament for each vote to take place, however, unlike a general election there is no legal requirement for HM Government not to take any official position in any such vote. In the 2011 referendum no official position was taken as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government was split on the issue, however, reversing legislation approved by referendum would be unprecedented. Finally, under the Local Government Act 1972, there is a provision under which non-binding local referendums on any issue can be called by groups of voters. This power exists only for parish councils, and not larger authorities, six local voters may call a meeting, and if ten voters or a third of the meeting agree, the council must carry out a referendum in 14–25 days. The referendum is merely advisory, but if there is a substantial majority, the Labour Government of 1997-2010 held five referendums on devolution, four of which received a yes majority. Despite the number of referendums that was held during this period no UK-wide referendum was held, one concerning the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was cancelled, given the French and Dutch rejections of the treaty. Another, on whether the UK should adopt the euro, was never held, the Labour manifesto for the 1997 general election stated We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons. Despite the research carried out by the Jenkins Commission in 1998 suggesting an AV+ system for Westminster elections, after the inconclusive 2010 General Election the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives formed a coalition. As part of the agreement, both parties formally committed to holding a referendum on changes to the electoral system. The referendum was held on 5 May 2011 and was defeated, since the Government of Wales Act 2006 became law, there can be referendums in Wales asking the people whether the National Assembly for Wales should be given greater law-making powers. The Welsh Labour Party - Plaid Cymru Coalition Government in the Welsh Assembly held such a referendum in 2011, the Scottish Government held a referendum on Scottish independence on 18 September 2014
41.
United Kingdom general election, 1806
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The United Kingdom general election,1806 was the election of members to the 3rd Parliament of the United Kingdom. This was the general election to be held after the Union of Great Britain. The second United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 24 October 1806, the new Parliament was summoned to meet on 13 December 1806, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament, since the previous general election fighting in the Napoleonic Wars with France had resumed in 1803. Tory Prime Minister Henry Addington had resigned in 1804, william Pitt the Younger formed a new coalition of pro-government Whig and Tory politicians to prosecute the war. The opposition Whigs, led by Charles James Fox, continued to oppose the government, when Pitt died on 23 January 1806 a new Ministry was formed by Grenville. It included Fox and Addington as well as other leading figures of the day. However it did not include George Canning, who had inherited the leadership of Pitts faction in the House of Commons or the Duke of Portland who led it in the House of Lords and this government was known as the Ministry of all the Talents. An attempt was made to end the Napoleonic Wars by negotiation, as this hope failed the war continued. Grenville also tried to strengthen the government, but was unable to persuade the Pittites to join him either as a body or by detaching some leading figures, the Prime Minister was not prepared to exclude Fox and his friends as the Pittites wanted. Lord Grenville then decided to hold an election to strengthen his government. The Talents were in office at the time of election and continued after it. The election itself was a disappointment, in the eighteenth century a government with the Kings backing could expect to make substantial gains at an election. However Pitts economical reforms had weakened the ability of the Treasury to manipulate election results, Foord estimated that the Ministry only gained about thirty seats by the 1806 appeal to the country. At this period there was not one election day, after receiving a writ 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 time between the first and last contested elections was 29 October to 17 December 1806. Monmouthshire is included in Wales in these tables, sources for this period may include the county in England. Source, Dates of Elections - Footnote to Table 5.02 British Historical Facts 1760-1830, by Chris Cook, source, Types of constituencies - Great Britain His Majestys Opposition 1714-1830, by Archibald S. Foord Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801-1922, edited by B. M
42.
United Kingdom general election, 1807
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The election to the 4th Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1807 was the third general election to be held after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland. The third United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 29 April 1807, the new Parliament was summoned to meet on 22 June 1807, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament and it had attempted to end the Napoleonic Wars by negotiation. As this hope failed the war continued, the faction formerly led by William Pitt the Younger, before his death in January 1806, were the major group in opposition to the Talents Ministry. George Canning in the House of Commons and the Duke of Portland in the House of Lords were at the head of this opposition, grenville and his cabinet lost the support of King George III by trying to legislate to permit Roman Catholics to serve as Army and Navy officers. When ministers refused to give the King written confirmation that they would not raise the Catholic issue again, the elderly Duke of Portland was asked to form a new Ministry in March 1807. Portland had been the Whig Prime Minister before, in the 1780s, after Pitts death the younger Pittites increasingly began calling themselves the Tory Party, whether they had previously belonged to the Whig or Tory tradition. This was an important stage in the development of a more organised two party system, which reduced the influence of factions and connections in British politics, the new ministers found it difficult to manage a House of Commons recently elected to support their opponents. A month into the new government the King granted a dissolution, the government policies of opposing Catholic relief and supporting the traditional powers of the King proved popular. After the election the government programme was approved by a vote of 350 to 155 in the House of Commons, at this period there was not one election day. After receiving a writ for the election to be held, the 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 time between the first and last contested elections was 4 May to 9 June 1807. Monmouthshire is included in Wales in these tables, sources for this period may include the county in England. Foord Footnote to Table 5.02 British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings, British Historical Facts 1760-1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson. Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801-1922, edited by B. M
43.
United Kingdom general election, 1812
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The election to the 5th Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1812 was the fourth general election to be held after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland. The fourth United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 29 September 1812, the new Parliament was summoned to meet on 24 November 1812, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament, following the 1807 election the Pittite Tory ministry, led as Prime Minister by the Duke of Portland, continued to prosecute the Napoleonic Wars. At the core of the opposition were the Foxite Whigs, led since the death of Fox in 1806 by Earl Grey, however, as Foord observes the affairs of the party during most of this period were in a state of uncertainty and confusion. Grey was not the commanding leader Fox had been, after Grey inherited his peerage and went to the House of Lords in 1807, the party leadership in the House of Commons was extremely weak. The Grenvillites, associated with the Whig Prime Minister before Portland, William Wyndham Grenville, despite this Grenville was recognised as the first Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. A relative of Greys wife, George Ponsonby, was proposed to Whig MPs by Grey, Ponsonby was the first person recognised as the official Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, as opposed to the leader of an opposition faction. He proved to be incompetent but could not be persuaded to resign, until 1812 the Tory faction associated with another former Prime Minister Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth were also out of office. The smallest component of the opposition were the Radicals, who were a middle class group of reformers. They had philosophical differences with the more aristocratic Whigs, but usually ended up voting with them in Parliament, in 1809 Portland, whose health was failing, resigned. The new Tory Prime Minister was Spencer Perceval, on 11 May 1812 Perceval was assassinated. The Premiership passed to the Earl of Liverpool, who brought Sidmouth into the cabinet and this was a further stage in the development of a two party system - just about all Tories supported the government and all Whigs opposed it. The general election of 1812 returned the Tories to power for another term, at this period there was not one election day. After receiving a writ for the election to be held, the 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, an example of what happened in the 1812 election, was the Irish constituency of Westmeath. Walker confirms the date of election was 24 October 1812, stooks Smith indicates that there were three days of polling, during which time 950 electors came to the hustings and voted. The polling in the Berkshire election of 1812 went on for fifteen days, the time between the first and last contests in the general election was 5 October to 10 November 1812. Monmouthshire is included in Wales in these tables, sources for this period may include the county in England
44.
United Kingdom general election, 1818
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The 1818 general election of the United Kingdom 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, the result of the election was known on 4 August 1818. The fifth United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 10 June 1818, the new Parliament was summoned to meet on 4 August 1818, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament, the sixth Parliament lasted only about a year and a half, as King George IIIs death on 29 January 1820 triggered a dissolution of Parliament. The Tory leader was the Earl of Liverpool, who had been Prime Minister since his predecessors assassination in 1812, the Tory Leader of the House of Commons was Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh. The Whig Party had long suffered from leadership, particularly in the House of Commons. At the time of the election, the Earl Grey was the leading figure amongst the Whig peers. The last Whig Prime Minister, the Lord Grenville, had retired from politics in 1817. The Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, until his death in 1817, was George Ponsonby the uncle of Greys wife, about a year after Ponsonbys death, George Tierney reluctantly became the recognized leader of the opposition in the House of Commons. However, after 1819 he did not carry out the functions of leader although he retained the title, monmouthshire is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England, british Historical Facts 1760-1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson. Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801-1922, edited by B. M
45.
United Kingdom general election, 1820
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The 1820 UK general election was triggered by the death of King George III and produced the first parliament of the reign of his successor, 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 sixth United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 29 February 1820, the new Parliament was summoned to meet on 21 April 1820, 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, the Tory leader was the Earl of Liverpool, who had been Prime Minister since his predecessors assassination in 1812. Liverpool had led his party to two general election victories before that of 1820, the Tory Leader of the House of Commons was Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh. The Whig Party continued to suffer from leadership, particularly in the House of Commons. At the time of the election, the Earl Grey was the leading figure amongst the Whig peers. The Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, George Tierney, was successful at first after the Whig gains at the 1818 general election. However, on 18 May 1819, Tierney moved a motion in the House of Commons for a committee on the state of the nation and this motion was defeated by 357 to 178. Foord comments that this put an effective end to Tierneys leadership. However he continued to be the leader at the time of the 1820 election. At this period there was not one election day, after receiving a writ 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 and it was triggered by the death of King George III. The general election took place between the first contest on 6 March and the last contest on 14 April 1820, monmouthshire is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England, source, Dates of Elections - Footnote to Table 5.02 British Historical Facts 1760-1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson. Source, Types of constituencies - Great Britain His Majestys Opposition 1714-1830, by Archibald S. Foord Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801-1922, source, Types of constituencies - Ireland)
England
Scotland