The 3rd Parliament of William III was summoned by

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

on 12 October 1695 and assembled on 22 November 1695. It was the first election to be contested under the terms of the new Triennial Act passed in the previous Parliament which, amongst other things, limited the duration of the Parliament to 3 years. Its composition was 257 Whigs, 203 Tories and 53 others; Paul Foley, a Country Whig and member for

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

, was installed as

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

. In the first session of 1695–96 there was deadlock between the main parties over the issues of the value of the coinage (due to

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and the adverse rate of exchange) and the proposal to set up a Council of Trade. A sudden threat of invasion unified the Whigs behind the First Whig Junto and enabled the Whig-dominated ministry to effect the recoinage on its own terms and establish a crown-appointed, rather than Parliament appointed,

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

. In the second session a major event was the attainder of the Jacobite conspirator Sir John Fenwick. The proceedings were expedited when Fenwick threatened to implicate leading Whigs in the plot and the Attainder Bill was passed with a small majority in spite of there being only one prosecution witness. Fenwick was beheaded on 28 January 1697. His horse ''White Sorrel'' was claimed by the King and later stumbled and unseated him, hastening his death. Other debate concerned the Chancellor of the Exchequer's efforts to raise money for the war effort. Although he successfully got approval for an extension of the Bank of England's privileges until 1710 in return for a new loan of £5 million, he was defeated in his efforts to impose new duties on wine and textiles. By the time the third and final session started in December 1697 the continental war had ended with the signing of the

Treaty of Ryswick The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, which included the Dutc ...

. Although the King wanted to maintain the large army as a deterrent, the Commons forced him to reduce it to 10,000 men.

Notable acts of the Parliament

* Corrupt Practices Act 1695 *

Parliamentary Elections Act 1695 The Parliamentary Elections Act 1695 ( 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 25) was an act of the Parliament of England regulating elections to the English House of Commons. Provisions Section 3 of the act required that an election to a county constituency ha ...

Parliamentary Elections (Returns) Act 1695 The Parliamentary Elections (Returns) Act 1695 ( 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 7) was an act of the Parliament of England. Legacy The provisions as to procuring returns in sections 3 and 4 ceased to have effect by virtue of section 74(5) of, and sche ...

* Plantation Trade Act 1695 * Quakers Act 1695 * Security of King and Government Act 1695 * Treason Act 1695 * Administration of Justice Act 1696 * Attainder of Sir John Fenwick Act 1696 * Bank of England Act 1696 * Blackwell Hall Act 1696 * Coin Act 1696 * Escape of Debtors, etc. Act 1696 * Blasphemy Act 1697 * Civil List Act 1697 * Correspondence with the Pretender Act 1697 * New Forest Act 1697 * Poor Act 1697

References

* - ''Note:3rd Parliament considered the 2nd by History of Parliament'' 1695 establishments in England 1695 in politics The Restoration William III of England {{England-hist-stub

Notable acts of the Parliament

See also

References