The British General Election of 1780: A Vortex of Politics¹

1 This paper was originally read, in slightly extended form, to the Historical Association (Canterbury). Since this paper was written, the 1780 election has been described in great detail and with the full panoply of the Namierite technique in Ian R. Christie, The End of North’s Ministry, 1780–1782 (1958), pp. 4-163. Though Mr. Christie leaves little to be said from the point of view of electoral analysis, my standpoint is somewhat different, and my conclusions — for example on the role of ‘public opinion’—are not always the same.

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Notes

1 This paper was originally read, in slightly extended form, to the Historical Association (Canterbury). Since this paper was written, the 1780 election has been described in great detail and with the full panoply of the Namierite technique in Ian R. Christie, The End of North’s Ministry, 1780–1782 (1958), pp. 4-163. Though Mr. Christie leaves little to be said from the point of view of electoral analysis, my standpoint is somewhat different, and my conclusions — for example on the role of ‘public opinion’—are not always the same.