1796 British general election
Election in Great Britain
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The 1796 British general election returned members to serve in the 18th and last House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain. They were summoned before the Union of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. The members in office in Great Britain at the end of 1800 continued to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom (1801â02).
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25 May â 29 June 1796
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All 558 seats in the House of Commons 280 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Composition of the House of Commons after the election Tory/Pittite: 424 seats Whig/Foxite: 95 seats Other: 39 seats | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Political situation
Great Britain had been at war with France since 1793. 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".[1]
Dates of election
The period between the first and last returns was 25 May to 29 June 1796.[2]
Summary of the constituencies
Monmouthshire (One County constituency with two members 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 Members, by type and country[3]
Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country
Results
