Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lancashire County constituency |
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|---|---|
| Created: | 1290 |
| Abolished: | 1832 |
| Type: | House of Commons |
Lancashire, was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832.
The constituency was split into two two-member divisions, for Parliamentary purposes, in 1832. The county was then represented by the Lancashire North and Lancashire South constituencies : the latter representing the hundreds of Salford and West Derby, and the former the hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland and Lonsdale.
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[edit] Boundaries
Lancashire was one of the historic counties of England. The constituency comprised the whole county, except for the boroughs of Clitheroe, Lancaster, Liverpool, Newton, Preston and Wigan.
[edit] Members of Parliament
- 1660 – 1661 Sir Robert Bindloss
- 1660 – 1679 Sir Roger Bradshaigh
- 1661 – 1665 Edward Stanley
- 1665 – 1679 Thomas Preston
- 1679 – 1679 Charles Gerard, later 1st Earl of Macclesfield. (1679)
- 1679 – 1685 Peter Bold
- 1679 – 1685 Sir Charles Hoghton
- 1685 – 1689 Sir Roger Bradshaigh
- 1685 – 1689 James Holt
- 1689 – 1694 Charles Gerard, Viscount Brandon, later 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.
- 1689 – 1690 Sir Charles Hoghton
- 1690 – 1703 James Stanley, later 10th Earl of Derby.
- 1694 – 1698 Sir Ralph Assheton
- 1698 – 1701 Fitton Gerard, later 3rd Earl of Macclesfield.
- 1701 – 1704 Richard Bold
- 1703 – 1705 Richard Assheton
- 1704 – 1705 Richard Fleetwood
- 1705 – 1713 Charles Zedenno Stanley
- 1705 – 1750 Richard Shuttleworth
- 1713 – 1727 Sir John Bland
- 1727 – 1736 Sir Edward Stanley, later 11th Earl of Derby.
- 1736 – 1741 Peter Bold
- 1741 – 1771 James Stanley, Baron Strange.
- 1750 – 1761 Peter Bold
- 1761 – 1768 James Shuttleworth
- 1768 – 1772 Lord Archibald Hamilton, later 9th Duke of Hamilton
- 1771 – 1774 Charles William Molyneux, 1st Earl of Sefton.
- 1772 – 1784 Sir Thomas Egerton, later Earl of Wilton.
- 1774 – 1776 Edward Smith Stanley, Baron Stanley, later 12th Earl of Derby.
- 1776 – 1779 Thomas Stanley
- 1780 – 1812 Thomas Stanley
- 1784 – 1830 John Blackburne
- 1812 – 1832 Edward Smith Stanley, Baron Stanley, later 13th Earl of Derby.
- 1830 – 1831 John Wilson-Patten, later Baron Winmarleigh.
- 1831 – 1832 Benjamin Heywood
[edit] Elections
The county franchise, from 1430, was held by the adult male owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more. Each elector had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings, which took place in the county town of Lancaster. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system.
The expense, to candidates, of contested elections encouraged the leading families of the county to agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. Contested county elections were therefore unusual. The Stanleys, led by the Earl of Derby dominated the county. One seat was nearly always held by a Stanley relative, the second, by one of the other leading families.
