The 1656 Election, Polling and Public Opinion: A Warwickshire Case Study.

This article presents a Warwickshire, England case study with reference to the 1656 election, polling and public opinion. The 1656 general election is usually seen as the nation's verdict on Oliver Cromwell's major-generals. A new parliament was summoned by the government so that funds could be voted in order to sustain the war with Spain, but at the hustings, the war was not the dominant issue. Across England and Wales, the contests took place a year after the expedient of the major-generals was devised in the interests of domestic security and moral reformation.