Great Britain had been at war with France since 1792. 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 had been 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". The Act of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom by merging the previous Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The first Parliament of the United Kingdom was composed of all the members of the last Parliament of Great Britain and some of the members of the final Parliament of Ireland. Pitt wished to grant Catholic emancipation, to help reconcile the Irish Catholic majority with the Union. King George III was opposed to that policy, so Pitt was compelled to resign in March 1801. The new ToryPrime Minister was Henry Addington. He led another wartime administration of pro-government Whigs and Tories, collectively referred to as the "Addingtonians". This was however weaker than Pitt's ministry as Pitt and his faction did not join the new government. The younger opposition Whigs also became more involved in parliamentary opposition. Charles Grey, on 25 March 1801, tried to persuade the House of Commons to set up a Committee on the State of the Nation. His motion was lost, but it attracted 105 supporters. The Foxite leaders gradually ended their secession from Parliament. Pitt was generally supportive of the Addington ministry, but was semi-detached from it. As the well-known couplet tellingly observed: "Pitt is to Addington, as London is to Paddington", which indicates the contemporary view of the relative abilities of the two prime ministers.
Dates of co-option
All British MPs and those Irish members representing constituencies which retained two members after the Union automatically retained their seats when the Union took effect on 1 January 1801. Those members of the Irish House of Commons to sit at Westminster, who represented constituencies still enfranchised after the Union but reduced from two members to one, were selected by drawing lots. If one of the seats in the Irish Parliament was vacant, then the remaining member for the constituency was automatically chosen for the Westminster Parliament. If both seats were vacant a by-election was held.
Summary of the constituencies
is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England. Table 1: Constituencies and MPs, by type and country
Country
BC
CC
UC
Total C
BMP
CMP
UMP
Total MPs
202
39
2
243
404
78
4
486
13
13
0
26
13
14
0
27
15
30
0
45
15
30
0
45
33
32
1
66
35
64
1
100
263
114
3
380
467
176
5
658
Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country
