The 1754 British general election returned members to serve in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
of the
11th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...
and the
Parliament of Scotland
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in 1707.
Owing to the extensive corruption and the
Duke of Newcastle's personal influence in the
pocket boroughs, the government was returned to office with a working majority.
The old parties had disappeared almost completely by this stage; anyone with reasonable hopes of achieving office called himself a 'Whig', although the term had lost most of its original meaning. While 'Tory' and 'Whig' were still used to refer to particular political leanings and tendencies, parties in the old sense were no longer relevant except in a small minority of constituencies, such as
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
, with most elections being fought on local issues and the holders of political power being determined by the shifting allegiance of factions and aristocratic families rather than the strength or popularity of any organised parties. A small group of members of parliament still considered themselves Tories, but they were almost totally irrelevant to practical politics and entirely excluded from holding public office. The 106 seats they held at this election is the fewest they have ever held in history. In seats percentage terms, the Tories held 19% of the seats - the lowest proportion ever until surpassed by its successor
Conservative Party's 18.62% (or 121 of 650 seats) won
270 years later.
The resulting eleventh
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...
was convened on 31 May 1754 and sat through eight sessions until its dissolution on 20 April 1761.
Summary of the constituencies
See
1796 British general election for details. The constituencies used were the same throughout the existence of the Parliament of Great Britain.
Dates of election
The general election was held between 13 April 1754 and 20 May 1754.
At this period elections did not take place at the same time in every constituency. The returning officer in each county or
parliamentary borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
...
fixed the precise date (see
hustings for details of the conduct of the elections).
Results
Seats summary
See also
*
List of parliaments of Great Britain
*
11th Parliament of Great Britain
*
List of MPs elected in the 1754 British general election
*
Oxfordshire in the 1754 British general election
References
* ''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).
{{British elections (1707-1800)
1754 in politics
1754 in Great Britain
1754