vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Kingdom of England
During the following years Northumbria repeatedly changed hands between the English kings and the Norwegian invaders , but was definitively brought under English control by Eadred in 954 , completing the unification of England . At about this time , Lothian , the northern part of Northumbria ( Roman Bernicia ) , was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland . On 12 July 927 the monarchs of Britain gathered at Eamont in Cumbria to recognise Æthelstan as king of the English . This can be considered England 's ' foundation date ' , although the process of unification had taken almost 100 years . The
Anthony Eden
On taking office , he immediately called a general election for 26 May 1955 , at which he increased the Conservative majority from seventeen to sixty , an increase in majority that broke a ninety - year record for any UK government . The 1955 general election was the last in which the Conservatives won the majority share of the votes in Scotland . However , Eden had never held a domestic portfolio and had little experience in economic matters . He left these areas to his lieutenants such as Rab Butler , and concentrated largely on foreign policy , forming a close relationship with US President Dwight Eisenhower . Eden 's attempts to maintain overall control of the Foreign Office drew widespread criticism .
History of the United Kingdom
The Liberal Party was in power 1906 -- 1914 ( when it formed a wartime coalition ) . It passed the welfare reforms that created a basic British welfare state . It weakened the veto power of Lords , blocked woman suffrage . In 1914 it apparently `` solved '' the problem of Irish Home Rule but when the war broke out the solution was shelved . H.H. Asquith was Liberal Prime Minister between 1908 and 1916 , followed by David Lloyd George , 1916 -- 22 . Although Asquith was the Party leader , the dominant Liberal was Lloyd George . Asquith was overwhelmed by the wartime role of coalition prime minister , and Lloyd George replaced him as the coalition prime minister in late 1916 but Asquith remained Liberal party leader . The two fought for years over control of the party , badly weakening it in the process . Historian Martin Pugh in The Oxford Companion to British History argues that Lloyd George :
Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
Following the failure of the British to take Louisbourg in 1757 , a second attempt was planned in 1758 and command given to General Jeffrey Amherst . Although Louisbourg did not control entry to the St Lawrence River , it could not simply be bypassed , and the British decided it must be taken before they could proceed further . After a 44 - day siege , the city finally capitulated . One of the figures who benefited most from the campaign was a young British brigadier , James Wolfe , who so impressed Pitt that he was promoted and given command of future expeditions in Canada . Despite their victory at Louisbourg , the British decided to wait for the spring before heading further up the St Lawrence . In the meantime the river was extensively charted by a naval officer , James Cook , later to become famous as an explorer . Despatches carrying news of the victory sparked euphoria in Britain , and were celebrated by numerous bonfires .
Edward VIII abdication crisis
In Edward 's lifetime , the Church of England disapproved of divorced people remarrying in church while a former spouse was still living . The monarch was required to be in communion with the Church of England , and was its nominal head or Supreme Governor . In 1935 the Church of England reaffirmed that , `` in no circumstances can Christian men or women re-marry during the lifetime of a wife or a husband . '' The Archbishop of Canterbury , Cosmo Lang , held that the King , as the head of the Church of England , could not marry a divorcée .
Constitution of the United Kingdom
The most important prerogative still personally exercised by the monarch is the choice of whom to appoint Prime Minister . The most recent occasion when the monarch has had to exercise these powers was in February 1974 , when Edward Heath resigned from the position of prime minister after failing to win an overall majority at the General Election or to negotiate a coalition . Queen Elizabeth II appointed Harold Wilson , leader of the Labour Party , as prime minister , exercising her prerogative after extensive consultation with the Privy Council . The Labour Party had the largest number of seats in the House of Commons , but not an overall majority . The 2010 general election also resulted in a hung parliament . After several days of negotiations , between the parties , Queen Elizabeth II invited David Cameron to form a government on the advice of the outgoing prime minister Gordon Brown .
Clan Munro
After Queen Elizabeth I of England died without an heir , King James VI of Scotland also became King of England in the Union of the Crowns in 1603 . Just over a century later in 1707 the parliaments of England and Scotland were also united in the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain . Jacobite
History of the United Kingdom
Benjamin Disraeli ( 1804 -- 1881 ) , prime minister 1868 and 1874 -- 80 , remains an iconic hero of the Conservative Party . He played a central role in the creation the Party , defining its policies and its broad outreach . Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs , his political battles with the Liberal leader William Gladstone , and his one - nation conservatism or `` Tory democracy '' . He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire . He was born into a Jewish family , which became Episcopalian when he was 12 years old .
Restoration (England)
In April 1688 , James re-issued the Declaration of Indulgence and ordered all Anglican clergymen to read it to their congregations . When seven bishops , including the Archbishop of Canterbury , submitted a petition requesting the reconsideration of the King 's religious policies , they were arrested and tried for seditious libel . On 30 June 1688 , a group of seven Protestant nobles invited the Prince of Orange to come to England with an army ; by September it became clear that William would invade England . When William arrived on 5 November 1688 , James lost his nerve , declined to attack the invading Dutch and tried to flee to France . He was captured in Kent ; later , he was released and placed under Dutch protective guard . Having no desire to make James a martyr , William , Prince of Orange , let him escape on 23 December . James was received in France by his cousin and ally , Louis XIV , who offered him a palace and a pension .
English Civil War
The end of Charles 's independent governance came when he attempted to apply the same religious policies in Scotland . The Church of Scotland , reluctantly episcopal in structure , had independent traditions . Charles , however , wanted one uniform Church throughout Britain and introduced a new , High Anglican version of the English Book of Common Prayer to Scotland in the middle of 1637 . This was violently resisted ; a riot broke out in Edinburgh , which may have been started in St Giles ' Cathedral , according to legend , by Jenny Geddes . In February 1638 , the Scots formulated their objections to royal policy in the National Covenant . This document took the form of a `` loyal protest '' , rejecting all innovations not first having been tested by free parliaments and General Assemblies of the Church .
Bill of Rights 1689
The Act declared James ' flight from England following the Glorious Revolution to be an abdication of the throne . It listed twelve of James 's policies by which James designed to `` endeavour to subvert and extirpate the protestant religion , and the laws and liberties of this kingdom '' . These were :
British Empire
In Britain , political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez - faire policies and a gradual widening of the voting franchise . During the 19th century , Britain 's population increased at a dramatic rate , accompanied by rapid urbanisation , which caused significant social and economic stresses . To seek new markets and sources of raw materials , the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt , South Africa , and elsewhere . Canada , Australia , and New Zealand became self - governing dominions .
American Revolution
In June 1772 , American patriots , including John Brown , burned a British warship that had been vigorously enforcing unpopular trade regulations in what became known as the Gaspee Affair . The affair was investigated for possible treason , but no action was taken .
English Civil War
The Royalist cavaliers ' skill and speed on horseback led to many early victories . Prince Rupert , the leader of the king 's cavalry , learned a tactic while fighting in the Dutch army where the cavalry would charge at full speed into the opponent 's infantry firing their pistols just before impact .
Edward VIII abdication crisis
At Fort Belvedere , on 10 December , Edward signed his written abdication notices , witnessed by his three younger brothers : Prince Albert , Duke of York ( who succeeded Edward as George VI ) ; Prince Henry , Duke of Gloucester ; and Prince George , Duke of Kent . The following day , it was given effect by Act of Parliament : His Majesty 's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 . Under changes introduced in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster , a single Crown for the entire empire had been replaced by multiple crowns , one for each Dominion , worn by a single monarch in an organisation then known as the British Commonwealth . Though the British government , hoping for expediency and to avoid embarrassment , wished the Dominions to accept the actions of the home government , the Dominions held that Edward 's abdication required the consent of each Commonwealth state . This was duly given ; by the Parliament of Australia , which was at the time in session , and by the governments of the other Dominions , whose parliaments were in recess . The government of the Irish Free State , taking the opportunity presented by the crisis and in a major step towards its eventual transition to a republic , passed an amendment to its constitution on 11 December to remove references to the Crown . The King 's abdication was recognised a day later in the External Relations Act of the Irish Free State and legislation eventually passed in South Africa declared that the abdication took effect there on 10 December . As Edward VIII had not been crowned , his planned coronation date became that of George VI instead .
English Civil War
Charles II landed in Scotland at Garmouth in Morayshire on 23 June 1650 and signed the 1638 National Covenant and the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant shortly after coming ashore . With his original Scottish Royalist followers and his new Covenanter allies , King Charles II became the greatest threat facing the new English republic . In response to the threat , Cromwell left some of his lieutenants in Ireland to continue the suppression of the Irish Royalists and returned to England .
Labour Party (UK)
Meanwhile , the Liberal Party declined rapidly , and the party also suffered a catastrophic split which allowed the Labour Party to gain much of the Liberals ' support . With the Liberals thus in disarray , Labour won 142 seats in 1922 , making it the second largest political group in the House of Commons and the official opposition to the Conservative government . After the election Ramsay MacDonald was voted the first official leader of the Labour Party .
Elizabethan government
The Privy Council was Elizabeth 's group of advisers . Its main purpose was to give numerous different opinions and the monarch decided on the issue at hand . ( However , the advice was often ignored ; the Council still carried out her wishes . ) Routine administration was usually left to the Council . It was involved in matters of religion , military , the queen 's security , economics , and the welfare of the citizens . It dealt with both matters of national and individual interest , issued proclamations in the queen 's name , and supervised law and enforcement .
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
Victoria 's son , Edward VII , became the first monarch of the House of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha in 1901 . In 1917 , the next monarch , George V , changed `` Saxe - Coburg and Gotha '' to `` Windsor '' in response to the anti-German sympathies aroused by the First World War . George V 's reign was marked by the separation of Ireland into Northern Ireland , which remained a part of the United Kingdom , and the Irish Free State , an independent nation , in 1922 .
Townshend Acts
As a result of widespread protest in the American colonies , Parliament began to partially repeal the Townshend duties . Most of the new taxes were repealed , but the tax on tea was retained . The British government continued in its attempt to tax the colonists without their consent and the American Revolution followed .
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
Alexander III 's unexpected death in a riding accident in 1286 precipitated a major succession crisis . Scottish leaders appealed to King Edward I of England for help in determining who was the rightful heir . Edward chose Alexander 's three - year - old Norwegian granddaughter , Margaret . On her way to Scotland in 1290 , however , Margaret died at sea , and Edward was again asked to adjudicate between 13 rival claimants to the throne . A court was set up and after two years of deliberation , it pronounced John Balliol to be king . Edward proceeded to treat Balliol as a vassal , and tried to exert influence over Scotland . In 1295 , when Balliol renounced his allegiance to England , Edward I invaded . During the first ten years of the ensuing Wars of Scottish Independence , Scotland had no monarch , until Robert the Bruce declared himself king in 1306 .
Grand jury
An account of its first use in Scotland illustrates the institution 's characteristics . It consisted of 23 good and lawful men , chosen out of 48 who were summoned : 24 from the county of Edinburgh ( Midlothian ) , 12 from Haddington ( East Lothian ) and 12 from Linlithgow ( West Lothian ) . The court consisted of three judges from the High Court of Justiciary ( Scotland 's highest criminal court ) , of whom Tinwald ( Justice Clerk ) was elected preses ( presiding member ) . Subpoenas under the seal of the court and signed by the clerk were executed on a great number of persons in different shires , requiring them to appear as witnesses under the penalty of £ 100 each . The preses named Sir John Inglis of Cramond as Foreman of the Grand Jury , who was sworn first in the English manner by kissing the book ; the others followed three at a time ; after which Lord Tinwald , addressing the jurors , informed them that the power His Majesty 's advocate possessed before the union , of prosecuting any person for high treason , who appeared guilty on a precognition taken of the facts , being now done away , power was lodged with them , a grand jury , 12 of whom behoved to concur before a true bill could be found . An indictment was then preferred in court and the witnesses endorsed on it were called over and sworn ; on which the jury retired to the exchequer chambers and the witnesses were conducted to a room near it , whence they were called to be examined separately . Two solicitors for the crown were present at the examination but no - one else ; and after they had finished and the sense of the jury was collected , the indictment was returned a `` true bill '' , if the charges were found proved , or `` ignoramus '' if doubtful . The proceedings continued for a week , in which time , out of 55 bills , 42 were sustained and 13 dismissed .
History of the United Kingdom
There were no major wars until the Crimean War of 1853 -- 56 . While Prussia , Austria , and Russia , as absolute monarchies , tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur , the British came to terms with new ideas . Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend a constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain 's American colonies in 1824 . British merchants and financiers , and later railway builders , played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations . The British intervened in 1827 on the side of the Greeks , who had been waging a war of independence against the Ottoman Empire since 1824 .
Anthony Eden
In December 1933 he was appointed Lord Privy Seal , a position that was combined with the newly created office of Minister for League of Nations Affairs . While Lord Privy Seal , Eden was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1934 Birthday Honours . He entered the Cabinet for the first time in June 1935 when Stanley Baldwin formed his third administration . Eden later came to recognise that peace could not be maintained by appeasement of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy . He privately opposed the policy of the Foreign Secretary , Sir Samuel Hoare , of trying to appease Italy during its invasion of Abyssinia ( Ethiopia ) in 1935 . When Hoare resigned after the failure of the Hoare - Laval Pact , Eden succeeded him as Foreign Secretary . When Eden had his first audience with King George V , the King is said to have remarked , `` No more coals to Newcastle , no more Hoares to Paris . ''
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
Mary , a Roman Catholic , reigned during a period of great religious upheaval in Scotland . As a result of the efforts of reformers such as John Knox , a Protestant ascendancy was established . Mary caused alarm by marrying her Catholic cousin , Lord Darnley , in 1565 . After Lord Darnley 's assassination in 1567 , Mary contracted an even more unpopular marriage with the Earl of Bothwell , who was widely suspected of Darnley 's murder . The nobility rebelled against the Queen , forcing her to abdicate . She fled to England , and the Crown went to her infant son James VI , who was brought up as a Protestant . Mary was imprisoned and later executed by the English queen Elizabeth I .
Edward VIII abdication crisis
Edward 's supporters felt that he had `` been hounded from the throne by that arch humbug Baldwin '' , but many members of the establishment were relieved by Edward 's departure . Mackenzie King wrote in his diary on 8 December 1936 that Edward 's `` sense of right or wrong has been largely obliterated by the jazz of life he has led for years '' and , upon receiving news of Edward 's final decision to abdicate , `` if that is the kind of man he is it is better he should not be longer on the Throne . '' Edward 's own Assistant Private Secretary , Alan Lascelles , had told Baldwin as early as 1927 : `` I ca n't help thinking that the best thing that could happen to him , and to the country , would be for him to break his neck . ''
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The first Act of Parliament to mention the Premiership -- albeit in a schedule -- was the Chequers Estate Act on 20 December 1917 . This law conferred the Chequers Estate owned by Sir Arthur and Lady Lee , as a gift to the Crown for use as a country home for future Prime Ministers .
Westminster system
Such an executive arrangement first emerged in the United Kingdom . Historically , the British sovereign held and directly exercised all executive authority . George I of Great Britain ( reigned 1714 to 1727 ) was the first British monarch to delegate some executive powers to a Prime Minister and a cabinet of the ministers , largely because he was also the monarch of Hanover in Germany and did not speak English fluently . Over time , arrangement continued to exercise executive authority on the sovereign 's behalf . Such a concept was reinforced in The English Constitution ( 1876 ) by Walter Bagehot , who emphasised the `` dignified '' and `` efficient '' aspects of government . In this sense Bagehot was stating that the sovereign should be a focal point for the nation , while the PM and cabinet actually undertook executive decisions .
Whigs (British political party)
With the succession in 1714 of Elector George Louis of Hanover as King George I , the Whigs returned to government . The Jacobite rising of 1715 discredited much of the Tory party as traitorous Jacobites and Whig control of the levers of power , e.g. through the Septennial Act ensured that the Whigs became the dominant party of government . During the long period between 1714 and 1760 , the Tories practically died out as an active political force , although they always retained a considerable presence in the House of Commons . The governments of Robert Walpole and the Pelhams , Henry Pelham and his older brother the Duke of Newcastle , between them ruled between 1721 and 1757 ( with only one brief break during the also - Whig Carteret Ministry ) and the leading elements in these governments consistently referred to themselves as `` Whigs '' .
English Civil War
Without Parliament 's support , Charles attacked Scotland again , breaking the truce at Berwick , and suffered a comprehensive defeat . The Scots went on to invade England , occupying Northumberland and Durham . Meanwhile , another of Charles ' chief advisors , Thomas Wentworth , 1st Viscount Wentworth , had risen to the role of Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632 and brought in much - needed revenue for Charles by persuading the Irish Catholic gentry to pay new taxes in return for promised religious concessions .
Two Treatises of Government
I think he is the first Politician , who , pretending to settle Government upon its true Basis , and to establish the Thrones of lawful Princes , ever told the World , That he was properly a King , whose Manner of Government was by Supreme Power , by what Means soever he obtained it ; which in plain English is to say , that Regal and Supreme Power is properly and truly his , who can by any Means seize upon it ; and if this be , to be properly a King , I wonder how he came to think of , or where he will find , an Usurper . ( 1st Tr. , § 79 )
Governor General of Canada
Canada 's national sentiment had gained fortitude through the country 's sacrifices on the battlefields of the First World War and , by war 's end , the interference of the British government in Canadian affairs was causing ever - increasing discontent amongst Canadian officials ; in 1918 , the Toronto Star was even advocating the end of the office . The governor general 's role was also morphing to focus less on the larger Empire and more on uniquely Canadian affairs , including the undertaking of official international visits on behalf of Canada , the first being that of the Marquess of Willingdon to the United States , where he was accorded by President Calvin Coolidge the full honours of representative of a head of state . It would be another decade , however , before the King - Byng Affair : another catalyst for change in the relationship between Canada -- indeed , all the Dominions -- and the United Kingdom , and thus the purpose of the governor general .
History of the United Kingdom
On 11 September 1997 , ( on the 700th anniversary of the Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge ) , a referendum was held on establishing a devolved Scottish Parliament . This resulted in an overwhelming ' yes ' vote both to establishing the parliament and granting it limited tax varying powers . One week later , a referendum in Wales on establishing a Welsh Assembly was also approved but with a very narrow majority . The first elections were held , and these bodies began to operate , in 1999 . The creation of these bodies has widened the differences between the Countries of the United Kingdom , especially in areas like healthcare . It has also brought to the fore the so - called West Lothian question which is a complaint that devolution for Scotland and Wales but not England has created a situation where all the MPs in the UK parliament can vote on matters affecting England alone but on those same matters Scotland and Wales can make their own decisions .