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All558 seats in theHouse of Commons 280 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The1741 British general election returned members to serve in theHouse of Commons of the 9thParliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of theParliament of England and theParliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw support for the government party increase in the quasi-democratic constituencies which were decided by popular vote, but the Whigs lost control of a number of rotten and pocket boroughs, partly as a result of the influence of thePrince of Wales, and were consequently re-elected with the barest of majorities in the Commons,Robert Walpole's supporters only narrowly outnumbering his opponents.
Partly as a result of the election, and also due to the crisis created by naval defeats in the war with Spain, Walpole was finally forced out of office on 11 February 1742, after his government was defeated in amotion of no confidence concerning a supposedly rigged by-election. His supporters were then able to reconcile partially with thePatriot Whigs underWilliam Pulteney in order to form a new government. The Tories remained excluded from any realistic hope of forming a government.
See1796 British general election for details. The constituencies used were the same throughout the existence of the Parliament of Great Britain.
The general election was held between 30 April 1741 and 11 June 1741.
At this period elections did not take place at the same time in every constituency. The returning officer in each county orparliamentary borough fixed the precise date (seehustings for details of the conduct of the elections).
| Whig | 51.3% | |||
| Tory | 24.3% | |||
| Patriot | 23.5% | |||
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