The Honourable the Commons of the Kingdom of Great Britain in Parliament assembled
Royal coat of arms of Great Britain, 1714-1800
Type
Type	Lower house of theParliament of Great Britain
History
Established	1 May 1707
Disbanded	31 December 1800
Preceded by	House of Commons of England Third Estate of theParliament of Scotland
Succeeded by	House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Leadership
Speaker of the House	Henry Addington since 1789
Structure
Seats	558
Salary	none
Elections
Voting system	First past the post with limited suffrage
Meeting place
St Stephen's Chapel, Palace of Westminster, Westminster, London
Footnotes
See also: Irish House of Commons

TheHouse of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of theParliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of theActs of Union of that year, it replaced theHouse of Commons of England and thethird estate of the Parliament of Scotland, as one of the most significant changes brought about by the Union of the kingdoms ofEngland andScotland into theKingdom of Great Britain.

In the course of the 18th century, the office ofprime minister developed. The notion that a government remains in power only as long as it retains the support of Parliament also evolved, leading to the firstmotion of no confidence, whenLord North's government failed to end theAmerican Revolution. The modern notion that only the support of the House of Commons is necessary for a government to survive, however, was of later development. Similarly, the custom that the prime minister is always a member of the lower house, rather than the upper one, did not evolve until the twentieth century.

The business of the house was controlled by an electedspeaker. The speaker's official role was to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decided who may speak and had the powers to discipline members who break the procedures of the house. The speaker often also represented the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial and some other situations. The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role ofThomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are normally addressed in Parliament as Mister Speaker, if a man, or Madam Speaker, if a woman.

In 1801, the House was enlarged to become theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom, as a result of theAct of Union of 1800 which combined Great Britain and theKingdom of Ireland into theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.^[1]

Themembers of the last House of Commons of England had been elected between 7 May and 6 June 1705, and from 1707 they all continued to sit as members of the new House of Commons. The last general election inScotland had been held in the autumn of 1702, and from 1707 only forty-five of the members of theParliament of Scotland joined the new house. In Scotland there was also no new election from the burghs, and the places available were filled byco-option from the last Parliament.

The constituencies which elected members inEngland and Wales remained unchanged throughout the existence of the Parliament of Great Britain.^[1]

Sources:

• Chris Cook & John Stevenson,British Historical Facts 1760-1830 (The Macmillan Press, 1980)
• Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher,British Electoral Facts 1832-1999 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2000)

• Elections in Great Britain
• Unreformed House of Commons
• List of parliaments of Great Britain
• First Parliament of Great Britain
• 2nd Parliament of Great Britain
• List of members of the House of Commons at Westminster 1705–1708
• List of speakers of the British House of Commons
• The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III

• Almon, J. (1775)."The Parliamentary Register; Or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of the (House of Lords and House of Commons): Proceedings of the 14. Parliament, sess. 1–6; v. 18–62, Proceedings of the 15. to 17. Parliament, sess. 1–6; v. 63–77, Proceedings of the 18. Parliament, sess. 1–6".

• 18th Century Parliamentary Papers

51°29′59.6″N0°07′28.8″W / 51.499889°N 0.124667°W /51.499889; -0.124667

• Parliament of Great Britain
• Westminster system
• Defunct lower houses
• 1707 establishments in Great Britain
• 1800 disestablishments in Great Britain
• House of Commons of the United Kingdom

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