King's Lynn (UK Parliament constituency)

King's Lynn
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1298 (1298)–1918 (1918)
Number of members two (1298–1885), one (1885–1918)
Norfolk, King's Lynn
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1918 (1918)–February 1974 (February 1974)
Number of members one

King's Lynn was a constituency in Norfolk, known as Lynn or Bishop's Lynn prior to 1537, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1885, and one member thereafter. Until 1918 it was a parliamentary borough, after which the name was transferred to a county constituency. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister, was an MP for the constituency for almost the entirety of his Commons career, from 1702 until 1742.

Contents

Boundaries

Members of Parliament

c.1290–1640

Parliament First member Second member
1386 Edmund Beleyeter Thomas Morton [1]
1388 (Feb) Henry Betley Thomas Morton [1]
1388 (Sep) Edmund Beleyeter Thomas Drew [1]
1390 (Jan) Robert Waterden John Wace [1]
1390 (Nov) John Wentworth Thomas Waterden [1]
1391 Robert Botkesham John Kepe [1]
1393 Thomas Morton Thomas Brigge [1]
1394 Thomas Morton Thomas Drew [1]
1395 Thomas Waterden John Brandon [1]
1397 (Jan) Thomas Drew John Brandon [1]
1397 (Sep) John Wentworth Roger Rawlin [1]
1399 Robert Botkesham Thomas Waterden [1]
1401 Robert Botkesham Thomas Waterden [1]
1402 Thomas Fawkes Robert Bruhham [1]
1404 (Jan) Thomas Drew John Wentworth [1]
1404 (Oct) John Brandon Thomas Drew [1]
1406 Thomas Brigge Thomas Derham [1]
1407 William Lok John Wesenham [1]
1410 John Spicer John Brown [1]
1411 Bartholomew Sistern Philip Frank [1]
1413 (Feb) William Halyate John Tilney [1]
1413 (May) William Halyate John Tilney [1]
1414 (Apr) John Bilney John Tilney [1]
1414 (Nov) John Spicer Andrew Swanton [1]
1415 Thomas Brigge John Tilney [1]
1416 (Mar) John Spicer Thomas Brigge [1]
1416 (Oct) William Herford John Warner [1]
1417 Robert Brunham Thomas Hunt [1]
1419 Philip Frank Walter Curson [1]
1420 Thomas Brigge Andrew Swanton [1]
1421 (May) Bartholomew Sistern John Parmenter [1]
1421 (Dec) John Waterden Robert Brandon [1]
1510 Thomas Gibbon Francis Monford[2]
1512 Francis Monford Thomas Wythe [2]
1515 Robert Soome Thomas Wythe [2]
1523 Thomas Miller Richard Bewcher [2]
1529 Thomas Miller Richard Bewcher
replaced Oct 1535 by Robert Southwell [2]
1536 Robert Southwell Willian Coningsby [2]
1539 Thomas Waters Robert Southwell [2]
1542 Thomas Waters Thomas Miller [2]
1545 Edmund Grey Thomas Miller [2]
1547 Thomas Gawdy William Overend
replaced Jan 1549 by George Amyas [2]
1553 (Mar) Sir Richard Corbet John Walpole [2]
1553 (Oct) John Walpole Thomas Waters [2]
1554 (Apr) Thomas Waters William Overend [2]
1554 (Nov) Sir Thomas Moyle Thomas Waters [2]
1555 Sir Nicholas L'Estrange Thomas Waters [2]
1558 Ambrose Gilberd, died
and replaced Sep 1558 by William Telverton		 Thomas Waters [2]
1558/9 Thomas Hogan Thomas Waters [3]
1562/3 (Sir) Robert Bell Richard L'Estrange [3]
1571 (Sir) Robert Bell John Kynne [3]
1572 (Sir) Robert Bell, died
and replaced Jan 1580 by John Peyton		 John Pell [3]
1584 (Mar) John Peyton Richard Clarke [3]
1586 (Oct) Richard Clarke Thomas Oxborough [3]
1588/9 Richard Clarke Thomas Boston [3]
1593 Sir John Peyton William Lewis [3]
1597 (Sep) Thomas Oxborough Nathaniel Bacon [3]
1601 Sir Robert Mansell Thomas Oxborough [3]
1604 Thomas Oxborough Robert Hitcham
1614 Matthew Clerke Thomas Oxborough
1621–1622 Matthew Clerke John Wallis
1624 John Wallis William Doughty
1625 Thomas Gurling John Cooke
1626 Thomas Gurling John Cooke
1628 William Doughty Sir John Hare
1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Year First member First party Second member Second party
1640 (Apr) William Doughty Thomas Gurling
1640 (Nov) John Perceval Parliamentarian Thomas Toll Parliamentarian
1644 Perceval died – seat vacant
1646 Edmund Hudson
July 1647 Hudson expelled – seat vacant
1649 William Cecil (The Earl of Salisbury) [4]
1653 King's Lynn was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654 Major-General Philip Skippon Guybon Goddard
1656 Major-General John Desborough [5]
January 1659 Griffith Lloyd Thomas Toll
May 1659 William Cecil (The Earl of Salisbury) One seat vacant
April 1660 Sir Ralph Hare Edward Walpole
1661 Sir William Hovell
1668 Robert Wright
1670 John Coke
1673 Sir Francis North
1675 Robert Coke
1679 John Turner Sir Simon Taylor
1681 Sir Henry Hobart Whig
1685 Sir John Turner
1689 Sigismund Trafford
1690 Daniel Bedingfeld
1695 Sir Charles Turner
1702 Sir Robert Walpole [6] Whig
1712 John Turner
1713 Sir Robert Walpole Whig
1739 Sir John Turner
1742 Edward Bacon
1747 Horatio Walpole, junior Whig
1757 Hon. Horace Walpole
1768 Hon. Thomas Walpole
1774 Crisp Molineux
1784 Hon. Horatio Walpole [7]
1790 Sir Martin Browne ffolkes
1809 Lord Walpole
January 1822 Marquess of Titchfield
June 1822 John Walpole
1824 Marquess of Titchfield
1826 Lord William Bentinck Whig
1828 Lord George Bentinck Whig
1831 Lord William Pitt Lennox Whig
1832 Conservative
1835 Sir Stratford Canning Conservative
1842 Viscount Jocelyn Conservative
1848 Hon. Edward Stanley [8] Conservative
1854 John Henry Gurney Whig
1859 Liberal
1865 Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton Liberal
1868 Hon. Robert Bourke Conservative
1869 Lord Claud Hamilton Conservative
1880 Sir William Hovell Browne ffolkes Liberal
1885 Representation reduced to one Member

1885–1974

Election Member Party
1885 Hon. Robert Bourke, later Baron Connemara Conservative
1886 Alexander Weston Jarvis Conservative
1892 Thomas Gibson Bowles Conservative
1906 Carlyon Wilfroy Bellairs Liberal
1909 Conservative
January 1910 Thomas Gibson Bowles Liberal
December 1910 Holcombe Ingleby Conservative
1918 Sir Neville Paul Jodrell Conservative
1923 George Graham Woodwark Liberal
1924 Edmund Burke Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy Conservative
1935 Somerset Arthur Maxwell Conservative
1943 Edmund Burke Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy Conservative
1945 Frederick John Wise Labour
1951 Ronald Scott-Miller Conservative
1959 Denys Bullard Conservative
1964 Derek Page Labour
1970 Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler Conservative
1974 constituency abolished

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/constituencies/bishops-lynn. Retrieved 2011-11-19. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "History of Parliament". http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/constituencies/lynn. Retrieved 2011-10-11. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "History of Parliament". http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/kings-lynn. Retrieved 2011-10-11. 
  4. ^ Salisbury had been a peer, sitting in the House of Lords, since 1612, but became eligible to sit in the Commons after the House of Lords was abolished
  5. ^ Desborough was also elected for Somerset
  6. ^ Walpole was expelled from the House of Commons in January 1712 for "a high Breach of trust and notorious corruption". He was re-elected at the ensuing by-election, but the Commons resolved that having been expelled he was not capable of being re-elected to the House in the same session. Rather than awarding the election to his opponent, the election was declared void and a new writ was issued.
  7. ^ Styled Lord Walpole from 1806
  8. ^ Styled Lord Stanley from 1851

Election results

Elections in the 1940s

King's Lynn by-election, 1943
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lord Fermoy 10,696 54.2 +4.2
Independent Labour Frederick Wise 9,027 45.8 N/A
Majority 1,669 8.4 −7.1
Turnout 9,723 39.8 −31.9
Conservative hold Swing

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
None		 Constituency represented by the Prime Minister
1721–1742		 Succeeded by
vacant. Next was Sussex in 1743