Acts of Union 1800

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Union with Ireland Act 1800
Long title An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland.
Territorial extent Great Britain
Status: Current legislation
Revised text of statute as amended
Act of Union (Ireland) 1800
Territorial extent Ireland
Status: Current legislation
Revised text of statute as amended
Documents relevant to personal
and legislative unions of the
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Scotland Act 1998
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Scotland Act 2012
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The Acts of Union 1800 (sometimes called the Acts of Union 1801) united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland[1] with effect as of 1 January 1801. Both Acts, though since amended, still remain in force in the United Kingdom.[2] but have been repealed in the Republic of Ireland.[3][4]


Before these Acts, Ireland had been in personal union with England since 1541, when the Irish Parliament had passed the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, proclaiming King Henry VIII of England to be King of Ireland. (Before then, since the 12th century, the King of England had been overlord of the Lordship of Ireland, a papal possession.) Both Ireland and England had come in personal union with Scotland with the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united into a single kingdom: the Kingdom of Great Britain. Upon that union, each House of the Parliament of Ireland passed a congratulatory address to Queen Anne, praying that, "May God put it in your royal heart to add greater strength and lustre to your crown, by a still more comprehensive Union".[5] The Irish parliament at that time was subject to a number of restrictions that placed it subservient to the Parliament of England (and following the union of England and Scotland, the Parliament of Great Britain).

In the century that followed the union of England and Scotland, Ireland gained effective legislative independence from Great Britain through the Constitution of 1782. However, access to institutional power in Ireland was restricted to a small minority, the so-called Protestant Ascendancy and frustration at the lack of reform eventually led to a rebellion in 1798, involving a French invasion of Ireland and seeking complete independence from Great Britain. The rebellion was crushed with much bloodshed, and the subsequent drive for union between Great Britain and Ireland that passed in 1800 was motivated at least in part by the belief that the rebellion was caused as much by loyalist brutality as by the United Irishmen.

Passing the Acts[edit]

Each Act had to be passed in the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland.

After centuries of subordination to the English, and later, British Parliaments, the Parliament of Ireland gained a large measure of independence by the Constitution of 1782. Many members of the Irish Parliament jealously guarded its autonomy (notably Henry Grattan) and a motion for union was rejected in 1799. However, a concerted campaign by the British government overcame the reluctance of the Irish Parliament.

Only Anglicans were permitted to become members of the Parliament of Ireland, though the great majority of the Irish population were Roman Catholic, with many Presbyterians in Ulster. In 1793 Roman Catholics regained the right to vote if they owned or rented property worth £2 p.a. The Catholic hierarchy was strongly in favour of union, hoping for rapid emancipation – the right to sit as MPs – which was however delayed until 1829.

From the perspective of Great Britain, the union was required because of the uncertainty that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the French Revolution of 1789, which inspired the rebels; if Ireland adopted Catholic Emancipation, willingly or not, a Roman Catholic parliament could break away from Britain and ally with the French, while the same measure within a united kingdom would exclude that possibility. Also the Irish and British parliaments, when creating a regency during King George III's "madness", gave the Prince Regent different powers. These considerations led Great Britain to decide to merge the two kingdoms and their parliaments.

The final passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was achieved with substantial majorities, achieved in part according to contemporary documents through bribery, namely the awarding of peerages and honours to critics to get their votes.[6] Whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to 115.[6]


The Acts of Union were two complementary Acts,[7] namely:

They were passed on 2 July 1800 and 1 August 1800, and came into force on 1 January 1801. They ratified eight articles which had been previously agreed by the British and Irish Parliaments:

  • Articles I–IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union. It created a united parliament.
    • In the House of Lords, the existing members of the Parliament of Great Britain were joined by, as Lords Spiritual, four bishops of the Church of Ireland, rotating among the dioceses in each session and as Lords Temporal 28 representative peers elected for life by the Peerage of Ireland.
    • The House of Commons was to include the pre-union representation from Great Britain and 100 members from Ireland: two members from each of the 32 counties and from the two largest boroughs, and one from each of the next 31 boroughs and from Dublin University. The other 84 Irish parliamentary boroughs were disfranchised; all were pocket boroughs, whose patrons received £15,000 compensation for the loss of what was considered their property.
  • Article V united the established Church of England and Church of Ireland into "one Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called, The United Church of England and Ireland"; but also confirmed the independence of the Church of Scotland.
  • Article VI created a customs union, with the exception that customs duties on certain British and Irish goods passing between the two countries would remain for 10 years (a consequence of having trade depressed by the ongoing war with revolutionary France).
  • Article VII stated that Ireland would have to contribute two-seventeenths towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom. The figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade.
  • Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union.


The first parliament[edit]

In the first Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the members of the House of Commons were not elected afresh. By royal proclamation authorized by the Act, all the members of the last House of Commons from Great Britain took seats in the new House, and from Ireland 100 members were chosen from the last Irish House of Commons; both members from each of the 32 counties and from the two largest boroughs, and one each (chosen by lot) from the next 31 boroughs and from Dublin University.

Union flag[edit]

The second Union Flag

The flag, created as a consequence of the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, still remains the flag of the United Kingdom. Called the Union Flag, it combined the flags of England (which included Wales) and Scotland with a "St Patrick's Cross" to represent Ireland.



  • Ward, Alan J. The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992. Irish Academic Press, 1994.

External links[edit]