John Smith, Speaker of the House of Commons

The 2nd Parliament of Queen Anne was summoned by

Queen Anne of England Queen Anne of England may refer to: *Anne of Bohemia (1366–1394), queen consort of England 1382–1394 *Anne Neville (1456–1485), queen consort of England 1483–1485 *Anne Boleyn (c.1501–1536), queen consort of England 1533–1536 *Anne of C ...

on 2 May 1705 and assembled on 14 July 1705. Its composition was 260

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

, 233 Whigs and 20 others but in practice the House was evenly divided. 151 (26 per cent) of the MPs had no previous parliamentary experience. John Smith, the member for

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andove ...

, was elected

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

. By the second session (December 1706 to April 1707) the

Union with Scotland Act 1706 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Act of Parliament, Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put ...

was ready for

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

, which was duly received on 6 March 1707 during the third session. On 29 April 1707, after the session had ended, a

proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

was issued to declare that the present Parliament would henceforth be known as the ‘

First Parliament of Great Britain The first Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain was established in 1707 after the merger of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. It was in fact the 4th and last session of the 2nd Parliament of Queen Anne suitably renamed: no ...

’. In another proclamation on 5 June, Anne listed the Scottish members (16 peers and 45 commissioners) by name who would join their English counterparts in the respective British assemblies and, without issuing new writs of summons, the Queen scheduled the First Parliament of Great Britain to "meet and be holden" on 23 October 1707. The details of the fourth session which duly convened on 23 October 1707 are described under

References

* 1705 establishments in England 1705 in politics 1706 in politics 1707 in politics Parliament of England 1708 disestablishments in Great Britain The Restoration 1708 disestablishments in England {{England-poli-stub

See also

References