UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, the title of the former political unity composed of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, officially adopted on Jan. I, 180i, when the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ire land came into force. The name Great Britain has been used since the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1707 as the official designation of the united countries.
When, in 1922, 26 Irish counties were severed from the United Kingdom and erected into a doininion of the British empire un der the name of the Irish Free State, no provision was made in the act for any change in the royal style or in the title of the imperial parliament. It even seems to have been assumed that the Free State was to remain technically part of the United Kingdom, for in sec. 2 (1) of the Free State Constitution Act we read that "Goods transported during the current year from or to the Irish Free State or from any other part of the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man shall not . . ." From 1922 onward, however, the title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ire land was frequently used in official documents to designate those parts of the British Isles represented in the imperial parliament, meeting at Westminster.
In the report of the inter-imperial relations committee of the Imperial Conference of 1926 it was suggested that, in view of new constitutional developments, the words "United Kingdom" should be omitted from the royal style, which should run: "George V.,
by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Em peror of India." By the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act, 1927 (17 Geo. 5. ch. 4), accordingly, the king was authorized to change the style and titles of the Crown by royal proclamation. This was done, on May 13, 1927, by a proclamation adopting the recommendation of "the representatives of our Governments in Conference," and declaring that in the Latin style "Magnae Britanniae, Hiberniae" should henceforth be used, and in the Eng lish style "Great Britain, Ireland and . . ." instead of "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." By the same act of parliament (2, I) it was enacted that "Par liament shall hereafter be known as and styled the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." (See also, GREAT BRITAIN; ENGLAND; IRELAND; IRELAND, NORTHERN; IRISH FREE STATE; SCOTLAND; WALES.)