The 1690 English general election occurred after the dissolution of the Convention Parliament summoned in the aftermath of the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...
, and saw the partisan feuds in that parliament continue in the constituencies. The
Tories made significant gains against their opponents, particularly in the contested counties and boroughs, as the electorate saw the
Whigs increasingly as a source of instability and a threat to the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
.
Following the election,
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
continued his policy of forming a coalition government around non-partisan figures. The nominal leader of the new government was the Marquess of Carnarvon, though the Tories were able to use their greater numbers in the House of Commons to increase their share of government positions. Contests occurred in 103 constituencies, 38% of the total.
Party strengths are as estimated by the History of Parliament, though division lists for this parliament are not available and so a precise count may not be possible.
[Cook & Stevenson, p. 24]
Summary of the constituencies
See
1796 British general election for details. The constituencies used in England and Wales were the same throughout the period. In 1707 alone the 45 Scottish members were not elected from the constituencies, but were returned by co-option of a part of the membership of the last Parliament of Scotland elected before the Union.
See also
*
2nd Parliament of William and Mary
*
List of parliaments of England
Notes
References
*
*
* Horwitz, Henry. "The General Election of 1690". ''Journal of British Studies'', vol. 11, no. 1, 1971, pp. 77–91
online
External links
History of Parliament: Members 1690–1715History of Parliament: Constituencies 1690–1715{{English elections
17th-century elections in Europe
1690 in politics
1690
General election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...