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Abingdon was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (and its predecessor institutions for England and Great Britain), electing one Member of Parliament (MP) from 1558 until 1983. (It was one of the few English constituencies in the unreformed House of Commons to elect only one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.)
[edit] History
Abingdon was one of three English parliamentary boroughs enfranchised by Queen Mary I as anomalous single-member constituencies, and held its first Parliamentary election in 1558. The borough consisted of part of two parishes in the market town of Abingdon, then the county town of Berkshire. The right to vote was exercised by all inhabitant householders paying scot and lot and not receiving alms; the highest recorded number of votes to be cast before 1832 was 253, at the general election of 1806.
Abingdon's voters seem always to have maintained their independence, and the constituency never came under the influence of a "patron" who assumed the right to choose the MP. Nevertheless, this did not always guarantee a pure election, and Porritt records that Abingdon offers the earliest case he was able to trace of a candidate trying to bribe voters with the promise of official office, later one of the most widespread abuses in English elections. In 1698, the defeated candidate, William Hucks, petitioned against the election of Sir Simon Harcourt, but during the hearing of the case it emerged that Hucks had promised that should he be elected an MP he would be made a Commissioner of the Excise, in which case he would use that power to appoint several of the voters to well-paid excise posts. The petition was dismissed and Hucks was committed to the custody of the sergeant-at-arms. (But ten years later, defeated again by Harcourt at the election of 1708, Hucks petitioned once more, on grounds of intimidation and other illegal practices, and this time Harcourt was ejected from his seat and Hucks declared to have been duly elected. Harcourt complained that the decision was a partisan one - which would have been by no means unusual at the period - "insisting to the last that he was the legal member, by a clear majority, by the most fair estimation".)
In 1831, the population of the borough was approximately 5,300, and contained 1,192 houses. This was sufficient for Abingdon to retain its MP under the Great Reform Act. (Indeed, it would have been big enough to retain two MPs had it had them, but there was no question of its representation being increased.) Its boundaries were unaltered, and under the reformed franchise 300 of the residents were qualified to vote.
In 1885 the borough constituency was abolished and the town was moved into a new county, The Northern or Abingdon Division of Berkshire. This constituency consisted of the northern part of the historic county, and as well as Abingdon included the towns of Wantage and Wallingford; it was predominantly agricultural at first, although its character changed during the 20th century with the growth of light industry round Abingdon, and it was generally a safe Conservative seat. This constituency survived essentially intact, with only minor boundary changes, until the 1983 general election, by which time it was simply called Abingdon County Constituency.
Changes in administrative boundaries during the 1970s moved most of the northern part of the historic county of Berkshire, including Abingdon, into the county of Oxfordshire. These changes were reflected in the constituency boundary changes introduced in 1983, and the Abingdon constituency was divided; most of its electors were placed in the new Wantage constituency and a significant minority including electors in the town of Abingdon were placed in the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.
[edit] Boundaries
[edit] Northern or Abingdon Division of Berkshire, 1885 - 1918
The constituency was defined as consisting of: The Abingdon, Faringdon, Wallingford, and Wantage petty sessional divisions of Berkshire, the municipal borough of Wallingford and the parts of the boroughs of Abingdon and Oxford in Berkshire.[1]
[edit] Abingdon Division of Berkshire, 1918 - 1950
The constituency's boundaries were adjusted in 1918, and it was redefined in terms of the administrative county of Berkshire and the county districts created by the Local Government Acts of 1888 and 1894 as follows:[2]
[edit] Abingdon County Constituency, 1950 - 1983
The Representation of the People Act 1948 reorganised parliamentary constituencies, and Abingdon County Constituency was altered slightly. The official definition of the constituency was:[3]
- The boroughs of Abingdon and Wallingford;
- the urban district of Wantage;
- the rural districts of Abingdon, Faringdon, Wallingford and Wantage
The constituency was not altered by the Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970, and continued unchanged until 1983.
[edit] Members of Parliament
[edit] 1558-1640
| Parliament |
Member |
| Parliament of 1558 |
Oliver Hyde |
| Parliament of 1559 |
Robert Byng |
| Parliament of 1563-1567 |
Oliver Hyde (Died during the Parliament)
Mr Anthony (Elected 1566) |
| Parliament of 1571 |
Anthony Forster |
| Parliament of 1572-1583 |
Anthony Forster (Died during the Parliament)
Richard Beake (Elected 1572) |
| Parliament of 1584-1585 |
Hon. Edward Norreys |
| Parliament of 1586-1587 |
Miles Sandys |
| Parliament of 1588-1589 |
Hon. Sir Edward Norreys |
| Parliament of 1593 |
William Braunche |
| Parliament of 1597-1598 |
Not known |
| Parliament of 1601 |
Robert Ryche |
| Parliament of 1604-1611 |
Sir Richard Lovelace |
| Addled Parliament (1614) |
Robert Hyde |
| Parliament of 1621-1622 |
| Happy Parliament (1624-1625) |
Robert Knollys |
| Useless Parliament (1625) |
Sir Robert Knollys [4] |
| Parliament of 1625-1626 |
| Parliament of 1628-1629 |
Sir John Stonhouse, 2nd Bt. |
| No Parliament summoned 1629-1640 |
[edit] 1640-1983
- Constituency abolished (1983)
- ^ Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 c.23, Schedule 7
- ^ Representation of the People Act 1918 c.64, schedule 9
- ^ Representation of the People Act 1948, c. 65, Schedule 1
- ^ Cousin of the previous MP
- ^ Medlycott's election was declared void on petition, and a new election was held
- ^ Southby was returned as elected by the Mayor, but on petition the Commons decided that Stonhouse and not Southby had received the most votes, and eventually declared Stonhouse duly elected
- ^ Harcourt was initially declared elected, but on petition alleging "that Sir Simon, by menaces and by other illegal practices of himself and his agents, procured several votes for him, and several were admitted to vote for him who had no right", the result was overturned and Hucks declared to have been duly elected
- ^ At the election of 1768, Morton was declared re-elected, but on petition the result was overturned and his opponent Bayly declared elected instead
- ^ On petition, Mayor's election was declared void, since as High Sheriff of Berkshire he was not eligible to be elected MP for a borough within the county. A new election was ordered, by which time Mayor had completed his term as sheriff and was re-elected.
[edit] Elections
Sources 1754-1784: Narnier and Brooke; (parties) Stooks Smith. Positive swing is from Whig to Tory. Sources 1885-1900: House of Commons 1901.
| By-Election 15 December 1762: Abingdon |
| Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Tory |
John Morton |
Unopposed |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Tory hold |
Swing |
N/A |
|
- On petition Nathaniel Bayly seated in place of John Morton, 8 February 1770
- Tory hold from previous general election; Tory gain from Whig, from change on petition.
- Election declared void, 6 March 1775
| By-Election 11 March 1775: Abingdon |
| Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Tory |
John Mayor |
Unopposed |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Tory hold |
Swing |
N/A |
|
- Change is calculated from the previous general election.
- Resignation of Mayor.
| By-Election 21 December 1782: Abingdon |
| Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Non Partisan |
Henry Howorth |
Unopposed |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Non Partisan gain from Tory |
Swing |
N/A |
|
| By-Election 19 May 1783: Abingdon |
| Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Whig |
Edward Loveden Loveden |
Unopposed |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Whig gain from Non Partisan |
Swing |
N/A |
|
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1972)
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke, The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO 1964)
- J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
- Robert H O'Byrne, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland, Part II - Berkshire (London: John Ollivier, 1848)
- T H B Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
- Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
- J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
- Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50; 2nd edition edited in one volume by F.W.S. Craig, Political Reference Publications, 1973)
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
