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Duration of English, British and United Kingdom parliaments from 1660

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This is a list of the parliaments of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and of England from 1660 to the present day, with the duration of each parliament. The NP number is the number counting forward from the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801 and Great Britain in 1707. Prior to that, the parliaments are counted from the Restoration in 1660.

The duration column is calculated from the date of the first meeting of the parliament to that of dissolution.

Key to abbreviations in the NP column:

Parliaments before 1705

NP Elected Opened Dissolved Duration
CP 16 March 1660 25 April 1660 29 December 1660 249 days
KC2/1 18 February 1661 8 May 1661 24 January 1679 17 years, 262 days
KC2/2 25 January 1679 6 March 1679 12 July 1679 129 days
KC2/3 24 July 1679 21 October 1680 18 January 1681 90 days
KC2/4 20 January 1681 21 March 1681 28 March 1681 8 days
KJ2/1 14 February 1685 19 May 1685 2 July 1687 2 years, 45 days
CP 29 December 1688 22 January 1689 6 February 1690 1 year, 16 days
WM/1 6 February 1690 20 March 1690 11 October 1695 5 years, 206 days
WM/2 12 October 1695 22 November 1695 6 July 1698 2 years, 227 days
WM/3 13 July 1698 24 August 1698 19 December 1700 2 years, 118 days
WM/4 26 December 1700 6 February 1701 11 November 1701 279 days
WM/5 3 November 1701 30 December 1701 2 July 1702 185 days
QA/1 2 July 1702 20 August 1702 5 April 1705 2 years, 229 days

Parliaments 1705–1800

NP Elected Opened Dissolved Duration
QA 2 7 May – 6 June 1705 14 June 1705 N/A 2 years, 132 days
GB 1 None 23 October 1707 3 April 1708 164 days
GB 2 30 April – 7 July 1708 8 July 1708 21 September 1710 2 years, 76 days
GB 3 2 October – 16 November 1710 25 November 1710 8 August 1713 2 years, 257 days
GB 4 22 August – 12 November 1713 12 November 1713 15 January 1715 1 year, 65 days
GB 5 22 January – 9 March 1715 17 March 1715 10 March 1722 6 years, 359 days
GB 6 19 March – 9 May 1722 10 May 1722 5 August 1727 5 years, 88 days
GB 7 14 August – 17 October 1727 28 November 1727 17 April 1734 6 years, 141 days
GB 8 22 April – 6 June 1734 13 June 1734 27 April 1741 6 years, 319 days
GB 9 30 April – 11 June 1741 25 June 1741 18 June 1747 5 years, 359 days
GB 10 26 June – 4 August 1747 13 August 1747 8 April 1754 6 years, 239 days
GB 11 13 April – 20 May 1754 31 May 1754 20 March 1761 6 years, 294 days
GB 12 25 March – 5 May 1761 19 May 1761 11 March 1768 6 years, 298 days
GB 13 16 March – 6 May 1768 10 May 1768 30 September 1774 6 years, 144 days
GB 14 5 October – 10 November 1774 29 November 1774 1 September 1780 5 years, 278 days
GB 15 6 September – 18 October 1780 31 October 1780 25 March 1784 3 years, 147 days
GB 16 30 March – 18 May 1784 18 May 1784 11 June 1790 6 years, 25 days
GB 17 16 June – 28 July 1790 10 August 1790 20 May 1796 5 years, 285 days
GB 18 25 May – 29 June 1796 12 July 1796 1 January 1801 4 years, 174 days

Parliaments 1801–1922

NP Elected Opened Dissolved Duration
UK 1 None 22 January 1801 29 June 1802 1 year, 159 days
UK 2 5 July – 28 August 1802 31 August 1802 24 October 1806 4 years, 55 days
UK 3 29 October – 17 December 1806 13 December 1806 29 April 1807 138 days
UK 4 4 May – 9 June 1807 22 June 1807 29 September 1812 5 years, 100 days
UK 5 5 October – 10 November 1812 24 November 1812 10 June 1818 5 years, 199 days
UK 6 15 June – 25 July 1818 4 August 1818 29 February 1820 1 year, 210 days
UK 7 6 March – 14 April 1820 21 April 1820 2 June 1826 6 years, 43 days
UK 8 7 June – 12 July 1826 25 July 1826 24 July 1830 4 years, 0 days
UK 9 29 July – 1 September 1830 14 September 1830 23 April 1831 222 days
UK 10 28 April – 1 June 1831 14 June 1831 3 December 1832 1 year, 173 days
UK 11 10 December 1832 – 8 January 1833 29 January 1833 29 December 1834 1 year, 335 days
UK 12 6 January – 6 February 1835 19 February 1835 17 July 1837 2 years, 149 days
UK 13 24 July – 18 August 1837 15 November 1837 23 June 1841 3 years, 221 days
UK 14 29 June – 22 July 1841 19 August 1841 23 July 1847 5 years, 339 days
UK 15 29 July – 26 August 1847 18 November 1847 1 July 1852 4 years, 227 days
UK 16 7–31 July 1852 4 November 1852 21 March 1857 4 years, 138 days
UK 17 27 March – 24 April 1857 30 April 1857 23 April 1859 1 year, 359 days
UK 18 28 April – 18 May 1859 31 May 1859 6 July 1865 6 years, 37 days
UK 19 11–24 July 1865 1 February 1866 11 November 1868 2 years, 285 days
UK 20 17 November – 7 December 1868 10 December 1868 26 January 1874 5 years, 48 days
UK 21 31 January – 17 February 1874 5 March 1874 24 March 1880 6 years, 20 days
UK 22 31 March – 27 April 1880 29 April 1880 18 November 1885 5 years, 204 days
UK 23 24 November – 18 December 1885 12 January 1886 26 June 1886 166 days
UK 24 1–27 July 1886 5 August 1886 28 June 1892 5 years, 329 days
UK 25 4–26 July 1892 4 August 1892 8 July 1895 2 years, 339 days
UK 26 13 July – 7 August 1895 12 August 1895 25 September 1900 5 years, 45 days
UK 27 1–24 October 1900 3 December 1900 8 January 1906 5 years, 37 days
UK 28 12 January – 8 February 1906 13 February 1906 10 January 1910 3 years, 332 days
UK 29 15 January – 10 February 1910 15 February 1910 28 November 1910 287 days
UK 30 3–19 December 1910 31 January 1911 25 November 1918 7 years, 299 days
UK 31 14 December 1918 4 February 1919 26 October 1922 3 years, 265 days

Parliaments from 1922

NP Elected Opened Dissolved Duration
UK 32 15 November 1922 20 November 1922 16 November 1923 362 days
UK 33 6 December 1923 8 January 1924 9 October 1924 276 days
UK 34 29 October 1924 2 December 1924 10 May 1929 4 years, 160 days
UK 35 30 May 1929 25 June 1929 8 October 1931 2 years, 106 days
UK 36 27 October 1931 3 November 1931 25 October 1935 3 years, 357 days
UK 37 14 November 1935 26 November 1935 15 June 1945 9 years, 202 days
UK 38 5 July 1945 1 August 1945 3 February 1950 4 years, 187 days
UK 39 23 February 1950 1 March 1950 5 October 1951 1 year, 219 days
UK 40 25 October 1951 31 October 1951 6 May 1955 3 years, 188 days
UK 41 26 May 1955 7 June 1955 18 September 1959 4 years, 104 days
UK 42 8 October 1959 20 October 1959 25 September 1964 4 years, 342 days
UK 43 15 October 1964 27 October 1964 10 March 1966 1 year, 135 days
UK 44 31 March 1966 18 April 1966 29 May 1970 4 years, 42 days
UK 45 18 June 1970 29 June 1970 8 February 1974 3 years, 225 days
UK 46 28 February 1974 6 March 1974 20 September 1974 199 days
UK 47 10 October 1974 22 October 1974 7 April 1979 4 years, 168 days
UK 48 3 May 1979 9 May 1979 13 May 1983 4 years, 5 days
UK 49 9 June 1983 15 June 1983 18 May 1987 3 years, 338 days
UK 50 11 June 1987 17 June 1987 16 March 1992 4 years, 274 days
UK 51 9 April 1992 27 April 1992 8 April 1997 4 years, 347 days
UK 52 1 May 1997 7 May 1997 14 May 2001 4 years, 8 days
UK 53 7 June 2001 13 June 2001 11 April 2005 3 years, 303 days
UK 54 5 May 2005 11 May 2005 12 April 2010 4 years, 337 days
UK 55 6 May 2010 25 May 2010 30 March 2015 4 years, 310 days
UK 56 7 May 2015 27 May 2015 3 May 2017 1 year, 342 days
UK 57 8 June 2017 21 June 2017 6 November 2019 2 years, 139 days
UK 58 12 December 2019 17 December 2019 30 May 2024 4 years, 166 days
UK 59 4 July 2024 9 July 2024 Not yet 148 days

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The MPs of the 2nd Parliament of England in the reign of Queen Anne (elected 1705) and 45 members co-opted from the former Parliament of Scotland, became the House of Commons of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain in 1707. The duration for the 1st Parliament of Great Britain, in brackets, is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament to its dissolution. The duration for the 2nd Parliament of England in the reign of Queen Anne is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament in 1705 to the dissolution of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain in 1708.
  2. ^ The MPs of the 18th Parliament of Great Britain (elected 1796) and 100 members co-opted from the former Parliament of Ireland, became the House of Commons of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801. The duration for the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom, in brackets, is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament to its dissolution. The duration for the 18th Parliament of Great Britain is counted from the first meeting of that Parliament in 1796 to the dissolution of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1802.
  3. This, the first parliament since the Civil War to exceed 7 years, was so long because of the extension of the length of this parliament for the duration of the First World War.
  4. At the time of the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, there was little more than a year before the 37th UK Parliament was due to dissolve, but its duration was extended until hostilities in Europe were over. This led to the eventual length of almost ten years for this parliament.
  5. This was the only dissolution under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, which set the parliamentary term at a fixed five years, supposedly barring a Prime Minister from calling an election early for political gain, as had been the common practice.

References

  1. "Q&A: Fixed Term Parliaments". BBC News. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  • Craig, Fred W. S. (1989). British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987 (5th ed.). Dartmouth: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 978-0-900178-30-6.
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