1761 British general election

1761 British general election

← 1754 25 March – 5 May 1761 (1761-03-25 – 1761-05-05) 1768 →

All 558 seats in the House of Commons
280 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Duke of Newcastle Edmund Isham
Party Whig Tory
Seats won 446 112
Seat change Increase78 Increase6

Prime Minister before election

Duke of Newcastle
Whig

Prime Minister after election

Duke of Newcastle
Whig

The 1761 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. This was the first Parliament chosen after the accession to the throne of King George III. It was also the first election after George III had lifted the conventional proscription on the employment of Tories in government. The King prevented the Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle, from using public money to fund the election of Whig candidates, but Newcastle instead simply used his private fortune to ensure that his ministry gained a comfortable majority.

However, with the Tories disintegrating, as a result of the end of their proscription providing them with new opportunities for personal advancement, and the loyalty they felt to the new king causing them to drift apart, there was little incentive for Newcastle's supporters to stay together. What little survived of Whig ideology was not compelling enough to maintain the party's coherence, and they split into a number of feuding factions led by aristocratic magnates, contributing to the political instability that would last until 1770.

With only 48 constituencies contested, the election was one of the least contested in British history. This was the last time until 1832 that the Tories secured less than 200 seats.