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1790 election

'1796 election'

1801 co-option

The 'British general election, 1796' returned members to serve in the 18th and last Parliament of Great Britain to be held before the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. The members in office at the end of 1800 continued to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom 1801-1802.

Contents

Political Situation

Dates of Election

Summary of the Constituencies

See also

Reference

Political Situation

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, led by Charles James Fox. 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".

Dates of Election

The period between the first and last returns was 25 May-29 June 1796.

Summary of the Constituencies

''Key to categories in the following tables: BC - Borough/Burgh constituencies, CC - County constituencies, UC - University constituencies, Total C - Total constituencies, BMP - Borough/Burgh Members of Parliament, CMP - County Members of Parliament, UMP - University Members of Parliament.''
Monmouthshire (1 County constituency with 2 MPs and one single member Borough constituency) is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England.
Table 1: Constituencies and MPs, by type and country

Country	BC	CC	UC	Total C	BMP	CMP	UMP	Total MPs
England	202	39	2	243	404	78	4	486
Wales	13	13	0	26	13	14	0	27
Scotland	15	30	0	45	15	30	0	45
Total	230	82	2	314	432	122	4	558

Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country

Country	BCx1	BCx2	BCx4	CCx1	CCx2	UCx2	Total C
England	4	196	2	0	39	2	243
Wales	13	0	0	12	1	0	26
Scotland	15	0	0	30	0	0	45
Total	32	196	2	42	40	2	314

Sources:
(Dates of Elections) Footnote to Table 5.02 ''British Electoral Facts 1832-1999'', compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000).
(Types of constituencies - ''British Historical Facts 1760-1830'', by Chris Cook and John Stevenson (The Macmillan Press 1980).

See also

★ List of Parliaments of Great Britain

★ MPs elected in the British general election, 1796

Reference

★ ''His Majesty's Opposition 1714-1830'', by Archibald S. Foord (Oxford University Press 1964)

★ ''British Electoral Facts 1832-1999'', compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000). (For dates of elections before 1832, see the footnote to Table 5.02).