1st Parliament of Great Britain
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The first Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain was established in 1707, after the merger of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. No fresh elections were held in England, and the existing members of the English House of Commons sat as members of the new British House of Commons. In Scotland, prior to the union coming into effect, the Scottish Parliament appointed sixteen peers (see representative peers) and 45 MPs to join their English counterparts in Westminster.
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[edit] Legal background to the convening of the 1st Parliament
Under the Treaty of Union of the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland it was provided:
| III. THAT the United Kingdom of Great Britain be Represented by one and the same Parliament to be stiled the Parliament of Great Britain.
... XXII. THAT ... A Writ do issue ... Directed to the Privy Council of Scotland, Commanding them to Cause ... forty five Members to be elected to sit in the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain ... in such manner as by a subsequent Act of the present session of the Parliament of Scotland shall be settled ... And that if her Majesty, on or before the first day of May next, on which day the Union is to take place shall Declare ... That it is expedient that the ... Commons of the present Parliament of England, shall be members ... of the first Parliament of Great Britain, for and on the part of England ... and the members of the House of Commons of the said Parliament of England and the forty five Members for Scotland ... shall be ... the first Parliament of Great Britain ... |
Queen Anne did declare it to be expedient that the existing House of Commons of England sit in the first Parliament of Great Britain.
The Parliament of Scotland duly passed an Act settling the manner of electing the sixteen peers and forty five commoners to represent Scotland in the Parliament of Great Britain. A special provision for the 1st Parliament of Great Britain was "that the Sixteen Peers and Forty five Commissioners for Shires and Burghs shall be chosen by the Peers, Barrons and Burghs respectively in this present session of Parliament and out of the members thereof in the same manner that Committees of Parliament are usually now chosen shall be the members of the respective Houses of the said first Parliament of Great Britain for and on the part of Scotland ..."
The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence on 1 May 1707.
[edit] Dates of the Parliament
Election: On 29 April 1707, the Parliament of Great Britain was proclaimed. The members of the last English House of Commons had been elected between 7 May 1705 and 6 June 1705. The last general election in pre-Union Scotland was in the Autumn of 1702. The Parliament of Scotland met between 6 May 1703 and 25 March 1707.
First meeting and maximum legal term: Parliament first met on 23 October 1707. The Parliament was due to expire, if not sooner dissolved, at the end of the term of three years from the first meeting of the last Parliament of England; which would have been on 14 June 1708.
Dissolution: The 1st Parliament of Great Britain was dissolved on 3 April 1708.
[edit] Party composition
The concept of party was much looser than it later became. Neither contemporaries or subsequent historians could be absolutely certain of who belonged in which category, however some estimates can be made.
Ambitious noble and gentry families formed themselves into connections of relatives and hangers on. Connections grouped themselves into factions, usually supporting a prominent public figure seeking royal favour and office for himself and his associates. Factions were usually of a Whig or Tory tendency.
Cross-cutting the Whig and Tory division was the Court and Country one. Court Party supporters were those who tended to support the Queen's ministers. Country Party men were inclined to oppose all Ministries.
The party divisions in Scotland were similar to those in England and Wales (although more inclined to Court and Whig than Country and Tory attitudes). Scottish politics also included the Squadrone Volante. This was a group, named after a type of cavalry formation, which had first opposed the Union but developed into moderate supporters of it.
An estimate of the composition of the Parliament of England, after the 1705 election, was Tory 267 and Whig 246.
[edit] Summary of the Members of Parliament
Key to categories in the following tables: BC - Borough constituencies, CC - County constituencies, UC - University constituencies, C - Constituency (election by Parliament), Total C - Total constituencies, BMP - Borough Members of Parliament, CMP - County Members of Parliament, UMP - University Members of Parliament.
(Here Scotland is being counted as a single constituency.)
Monmouthshire (with 1 borough and 2 county members) is included in Wales for the purposes of this article, although at this period it was often regarded as part of England.
Table 1: Constituencies and MPs, by type and country
| Country | BC | CC | UC | C | Total C | BMP | CMP | UMP | Total MPs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 202 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 243 | 404 | 78 | 4 | 486 |
| Wales | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 27 |
| Scotland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| Total | 215 | 52 | 2 | 1 | 270 | 417 | 92 | 4 | 558 |
Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country
| Country | BCx1 | BCx2 | BCx4 | CCx1 | CCx2 | UCx2 | Cx45 | Total C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 4 | 196 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 243 |
| Wales | 13 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| Scotland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 17 | 196 | 2 | 12 | 40 | 2 | 1 | 270 |
[edit] Speaker and Government
On 23 October 1707 John Smith (1655-1723), MP (Whig) for Andover since 1695, was elected the first Speaker of the House of Commons of Great Britain. Smith had been the Speaker of the House of Commons of England since 1705.
When this Parliament took place no office of Prime Minister existed. The Lord High Treasurer was then a leading and important minister of the Crown.
The Lord High Treasurer, throughout this Parliament (in office in England since 8 May 1702) was Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin. Godolphin was a Tory, but the 1702-08 Ministry included both Tory and Whig members (see Coalition Ministry for some more information). After a political crisis in February 1708, Secretary of State Robert Harley was forced to resign and Godolphin remained in office, in a reconstructed Coalition Ministry.
[edit] Members of the 1st Parliament
See List of members of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain (for Scotland and Wales) and List of members of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain, part two (for England).
Notes on lists:
(1) Background colours vary with political association.
- Court Party: blue.
- Independent (Anti-Union): dark grey.
- None (ie no information as to party currently available): light grey.
- Squadrone Party: green.
- Tory Party: red.
- Whig Party: yellow.
(2) In the constituency column, for members from England and Wales, BC means Borough Constituency, CC stands for County Constituency and UC for University Constituency. Members for Scotland have 'Scotland' followed by a number representing their alphabetical order in the list of MPs from Scotland.
| Preceded by: New Parliament |
1st Parliament of Great Britain 1707–1708 |
Succeeded by: 2nd Parliament of Great Britain |
Source:
The Treaty of Union of Scotland and England 1707, edited by George S. Pryde (Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1950)
British Historical Facts 1688-1760, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson (The Macmillan Press 1988)
