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House of Commons of the United Kingdom

lower house in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

38 dated entries naming House of Commons of the United Kingdom, drawn from 33 separate years between 1642 CE and 2019 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as British House of Commons, House of Commons (UK), House of Commons (United Kingdom) in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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17th century

  • 16424 January – Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. This is the last time any monarch enters the House of Commons.source
  • 164718 May – the House of Commons decides to disband the Army.source
  • 1689The English East India Company expands its influence, and a Committee of the House of Commons is formed to deal with the concerns of the Company.source

18th century

  • 171928 April – A Peerage Bill, proposed by Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, to prevent the creation of peers in the House of Lords, is defeated in the House of Commons by the eloquence of Robert Walpole.source
  • 1753April 16 – The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 is passed by Britain's House of Lords, permitting Jewish immigrants to England to become naturalized citizens "without receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper". The bill, introduced by George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, passes the House of Commons on May 22.source
  • 1753May 22 – The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 passes the House of Commons and later receives royal assent from King George II.source
  • 176419 January – John Wilkes is expelled from the House of Commons for seditious libel for his article criticising King George III in The North Briton; he is in exile in France.source
  • 17904 August – Lord North becomes Earl of Guilford upon the death of his father and moves from the House of Commons to the House of Lords.source

19th century

  • 180325 May – Speaker of the House of Commons Charles Abbot allows journalists to report the proceedings of the House of Commons.source
  • 1807February 23 – The Slave Trade Act is passed in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by an overwhelming majority.source
  • 1808George Ponsonby becomes de facto first (whig) Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons.source
  • 1812May 11 – Assassination of Spencer Perceval, the British Prime Minister, by John Bellingham, in the lobby of the British House of Commons in London.source
  • 181211 May – Bankrupt banker John Bellingham assassinates Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in the lobby of the House of Commons.source
  • 1830February – first Roman Catholics take their seats in the House of Commons at Westminster, among them Daniel O'Connell (for County Clare) and Richard More O'Ferrall (Kildare).source
  • 1831September 22 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Great Reform Bill to expand the franchise, but this is later defeated in the House of Lords.source
  • 183122 September – The House of Commons passes the Great Reform Bill to expand the franchise, but this is later defeated in the Lords.source
  • 183831 January - Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies sent Governor Gipps the report of the Select committee of the House of Commons on Aborigines (British Settlements). The report recommended that Protectors of Aborigines should be engaged. They would be required to learn the Aboriginal language and their duties would be to watch over the rights of Aborigines, guard against encroachment on their property and to protect them from acts of cruelty, oppression and injustice. The Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate was established with George Augustus Robinson as chief protector and four full-time protectors.source
  • 1846May 15 – Under the leadership of Prime Minister Robert Peel, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes to repeal the Corn Laws by passing an Importation Bill, replacing the old colonial mercantile trade system with free trade in response to the Great Famine (Ireland). On June 25 the Duke of Wellington persuades the House of Lords to pass the Act, which will take full effect from February 1849. Peel, however, is forced to resign.source
  • 1869July 26 – royal assent is given to the Irish Church Act 1869, disestablishing the Church of Ireland with effect from 1871 and abolishing payment of tithe, the legislation having passed through the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and House of Lords.source
  • 188616 March – it is announced in the House of Commons to acclamation that John Constable's painting The Hay Wain (1821) has been presented to the National Gallery in London by collector Henry Vaughan and hung there today.source
  • 1888August 9 – The Oaths Act permits the oath of allegiance taken to the Sovereign by Members of Parliament (MPs) to be affirmed, rather than sworn to God, thus confirming the ability of atheists to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.source
  • 1892July 4–26 – British general election: The Conservative and Liberal Unionist coalition government loses its majority in the House of Commons, eventually leading to Prime Minister Lord Salisbury's resignation on August 12.source
  • 189521 June – Lord Rosebery resigns as Prime Minister after defeat in a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons over the supply of cordite to the army. Lord Salisbury returns to the office on 25 June.source

20th century

  • 1901March 5 – Irish nationalist demonstrators are ejected by police from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London.source
  • 1910December 19 – The second 1910 United Kingdom general election (the last to be fought with an all-male electorate) concludes with confirmation of a majority for the Liberal Party in alliance with the Irish Parliamentary Party, resolving the battle of wills between the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the House of Lords by giving a majority for restriction of the powers of the Lords and support for the Irish Home Rule movement.source
  • 1914May 25 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Government of Ireland Act 1914, the "Irish Home Rule Bill".source
  • 1918December 28 – Sinn Féin enjoys a landslide victory of the Irish seats at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, winning 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. In accordance with their manifesto, Sinn Féin members will not take their seats in the Palace of Westminster but will form the First Dáil in Dublin. Countess Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway Prison (London), becomes the first woman elected to (but does not take her seat in) the British House of Commons.source
  • 191828 December – 1918 general election: Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in the election, winning 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. The Irish Parliamentary Party was nearly wiped out. In accordance with their 1918 manifesto, Sinn Féin members did not take their seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom but formed instead Dáil Éireann (Irish parliament). Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway Prison in London, became the first woman elected to the Palace of Westminster, but she did not take her seat. On 30 December, the Irish Independent newspaper criticised her strongly.source
  • 1919December 1 – American-born Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, becomes the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having become the second to be elected on November 28.source
  • 193418 January – Joseph Devlin, Nationalist politician and MP in the British House of Commons and in Northern Ireland (born 1872).source
  • 1940May 13 – Winston Churchill, in his first address as Prime Minister, tells the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears and sweat."source
  • 1940June 18 – Winston Churchill tells the House of Commons of the United Kingdom: "The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin... if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."source
  • 194127 May – Speaking in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Winston Churchill rules out the introduction of conscription in the North.source
  • 1945July 26 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after his Conservative Party is soundly defeated by the Labour Party in the 1945 general election. Clement Attlee becomes the new prime minister. It is the first time that Labour has governed Britain with a majority in the House of Commons.source
  • 196828 August – Gerry Fitt, MP, tables a House of Commons motion, signed by 60 Labour Party backbenchers, criticising RUC action in Dungannon on 24 August, demanding that "citizens of Northern Ireland should be allowed the same rights of peaceful demonstration as those in other parts of the United Kingdom".source
  • 1979November 15 – British art historian and former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt's role as the "fourth man" of the 'Cambridge Five' double agents for the Soviet NKVD during World War II is revealed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom; she gives further details on November 21.source
  • 1997June 11 – In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons votes for a total ban on handguns.source

21st century

  • 2019December 12 – Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party win a landslide victory in the 2019 United Kingdom general election achieving a majority in the House of Commons of 80 seats.source

Named in the same entries