General election of 1747

Great Britain general election, 1747

← 1741 26 June 1747 to 4 August 1747 1754 →
Members elected →
All 558 seats of the House of Commons 280 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Henry Pelham Watkin Williams-Wynn Party Whig Tory Opposition/Patriot Whigs Leader's seat Sussex Seats won 338 117 94 Seat change 52 19 37 Popular vote - - - Percentage - - -
Prime Minister before election Henry Pelham Whig Elected Prime Minister Henry Pelham Whig

Henry Pelham
Whig

Henry Pelham
Whig

The British general election, 1747, returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw Henry Pelham's Whig government increase its majority and the Tories continue their decline. By 1747, thirty years of Whig oligarchy and systematic corruption had weakened party ties substantially; despite the fact that Walpole, the main reason for the split that led to the creation of the Patriot Whig faction, had resigned, there were still almost as many Whigs in opposition to the ministry as there were Tories, and the real struggle for power was between various feuding factions of Whig aristocrats rather than between the old parties. The Tories had become an irrelevant group of country gentlemen who had resigned themselves to permanent opposition.

See British general election, 1796 for details. The constituencies used were the same throughout the existence of the Parliament of Great Britain.

The general election was held between 26 June 1747 and 4 August 1747.

At this period elections did not take place at the same time in every constituency. The returning officer in each county or parliamentary borough fixed the precise date (see hustings for details of the conduct of the elections).

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