11th Parliament of Great Britain

The Eleventh Parliament of Great Britain was the parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain that sat from 31 May 1754 to 20 March 1761. It was assembled following the general elections held in April–May 1754.

11th Parliament of Great Britain
← 10th 12th →
The Duke of Newcastle was prime minister during most of the Eleventh Parliament
Overview
Meeting place	Palace of Westminster
Term	31 May 1754 – 20 March 1761
Election	1754 general election
Government	Newcastle I Pitt–Devonshire 1757 Caretaker Pitt–Newcastle
House of Commons
Members	558 MPs
Speaker of the House of Commons	Arthur Onslow
Leader of the House of Commons	Thomas Robinson Henry Fox William Pitt
Party control	Whigs
House of Lords
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal	Earl of Northington
Leader of the House of Lords	Duke of Newcastle Duke of Devonshire
Sessions
1st 31 May 1754 – 5 June 1754 2nd 14 November 1754 – 25 April 1755 3rd 13 November 1755 – 27 May 1756 4th 2 December 1756 – 4 June 1757 5th 1 December 1757 – 20 June 1758 6th 23 November 1758 – 2 June 1759 7th 13 November 1759 – 22 May 1760 8th 18 November 1760 – 19 March 1761

History

As with its predecessor, the Eleventh Parliament was an overwhelmingly Whig parliament. Traditional Whig–Tory party alignments had little meaning in the course of this parliament. Instead, political competition ran primarily between different Whig factions, such as the "Old Corps", Bedfordites, and Patriots.

There were several changes of ministries in the course of the Eleventh Parliament. Newcastle's "Old Corps" Whigs assembled the first ministry, but had to accommodate the rise of the Bedfordite faction in late 1755 with several cabinet posts. Newcastle's ministry fell in late 1756, during the parliamentary recess, and the third session began with a new Bedfordite–Patriot Whig coalition in control. However, King George II could not brook them and fired them before the end of that session, placing the government in the hands of an interim caretaker ministry. More satisfactory to the king, Newcastle returned to power in coalition with William Pitt before the beginning of the fourth session in late 1757.

The Seven Years' War was fought for the duration of the Eleventh Parliament, and much of its legislation addressed the financing and conduct of the war.

Officers

Arthur Onslow was Speaker of the House of Commons.

Surrey MP Arthur Onslow was Speaker of the House of Commons for the three prior parliaments, and had been re-elected to serve as speaker for the entire Eleventh Parliament.

In the Cabinet, the Secretary of the South served as the Leader of the House of Commons. The "Old Corps" Whig Thomas Robinson held that office until late 1755, when the Bedfordite Henry Fox replaced him. In 1756, William Pitt took and held that position until the end of the parliament.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain was Leader of the House of Lords during this parliament, namely Newcastle from 1756 to 1757, Devonshire briefly from 1756 to 1757, and Newcastle again from 1756 to 1761.

Sessions

The Eleventh Parliament went through eight sessions. Its first session opened on 31 May 1754 for only a few days for formalities, and passed no public act. Thereafter, parliamentary sessions usually opened in November and ran for around six months. They were in recess for the subsequent half of the year. Parliament was not immediately dissolved with the death of King George II (25 October 1760) but rather met for an additional eighth and final session that November, opened by the new King George III. The Eleventh Parliament was finally dissolved on 25 April 1761, and new elections called.

By tradition, a parliament passes only one public "act" per session, albeit an act with multiple chapters. Legal statutes are cited by parliamentary session labelled by the regnal year in which that session sat. The regnal year of George II began on 11 June, and thus most parliamentary sessions do not overlap regnal years (and thereby do not need a double citation). As this parliament was the first new parliament assembled after the calendar reform went into effect in 1752, there is no citation conflict between legal dates and common dates.

The session dates in the table below follow Cobbett's Parliamentary History (Cobbett 1813). The legal titles of the sessions are as given in common compilations, such as the Statutes at Large (Pickering 1766). For the specific acts of parliament passed in each session, see the lists of Acts of Parliament for 1740–59 and 1760–79.

Session	Label	Start	End	Note
1st Session		31 May 1754	5 June 1754	no public act, no label
2nd Session	28 Geo. II	14 November 1754	25 April 1755
3rd Session	29 Geo. II	13 November 1755	27 May 1756
4th Session	30 Geo. II	2 December 1756	4 June 1757
5th Session	31 Geo. II	1 December 1757	20 June 1758
6th Session	32 Geo. II	23 November 1758	2 June 1759
7th Session	33 Geo. II	13 November 1759	22 May 1760	death of George II (25 October) during recess
8th Session	1 Geo. III	18 November 1760	19 March 1761	opened by George III
				Parliament dissolved 20 March 1761

See also

• List of Parliaments of Great Britain
• List of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, 1740–59
• List of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, 1760–79

References

• Cobbett, William (1813), Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803, XV, London: HansardCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Pickering, Danby (1766), The Statutes at Large, J. BenthamCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)