Reading (UK Parliament constituency)

Reading
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County	Berkshire
1295 (1295)–1950 (1950)
Number of members	Two until 1885, then one until 1950
Replaced by	Reading North and Reading South
1955 (1955)–1974 (1974)
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Reading North and Reading South
Created from	Reading North and Reading South

Reading was a parliamentary borough, and later a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It comprised the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire.

From 1295, as a parliamentary borough, Reading elected two Members of Parliament (MPs). When the parliamentary borough was replaced by a borough constituency in 1885, this representation was reduced to a single MP. The constituency was abolished in 1950, re-created in 1955, and finally abolished in 1974.

Contents 1 History 2 Members of Parliament 2.1 1295–1660 2.2 1640–1885 2.3 1885–1950 2.4 1955–1974 3 References 3.1 General 3.2 Specific 4 See also

History

Reading was one of the boroughs summoned to send members to the Model Parliament. The boundaries (encompassing the whole of one parish and parts of two others) were effectively unchanged from 1295 to 1918. In 1831, the population of the borough was 15,935, and contained 3,307 houses.

The right to vote was exercised by all inhabitants paying scot and lot, a relatively wide franchise for the period, and almost 2,000 votes were cast at the general election of 1826. Despite this high electorate, the corporation of the town was generally considered in practice to control elections to a large extent. In the second half of the 18th century, Reading was notoriously one of the most corrupt constituencies in England, bribery being both routine and expensive: Namier quotes the accounts kept for Prime Minister Newcastle of the 1754 election, which note that John Dodd, the government's candidate there, had already received £1000 and was promised £500 or £600 more to help him win the seat. (Dodd lost by one vote, but had the result overturned on petition by a partisan vote in the House of Commons, and Newcastle's accounts show a continuing trickle of funds to him to nurse the constituency over the next few years.) A few years later, the nomination to one of Reading's seats was advertised for sale in a London newspaper, though Reading was not mentioned by name and no price was specified; the newspaper's printers were charged by the Commons with a breach of privilege, but the sale of seats remained legal if frowned-upon until 1809.

The Great Reform Act left Reading's representation and boundaries unchanged, and the reformed franchise far from increasing its electorate seems to have reduced it: it was estimated that there were 1,250 voters in 1831, but only 1,001 were registered for the first post-Reform election, that of 1832.

The Representation of the People Act 1884, coming into effect at the 1885 general election, caused the parliamentary borough to be replaced by a borough constituency, and reduced Reading's representation to a single MP. The single-member Reading constituency continued to exist until it was split in 1950 into the separate constituencies of Reading North and Reading South. These two constituencies were merged back into a single Reading constituency in 1955, but again split apart in 1974. Today the area formerly covered by the Reading constituency is within the constituencies of Reading East and Reading West.

Members of Parliament

1295–1660

• Constituency created 1295

Parliament	First member	Second member
1386	William Stapper	Robert atte Lee [1]
1388 (Feb)	David atte Hacche	Richard Bedull [1]
1388 (Sep)	John Balet	Nicholas Vachell [1]
1390 (Jan)	John Kent	Robert Capellade [1]
1390 (Nov)
1391	Henry Barbour	John Doublet [1]
1393	William Catour	David atte Hacche [1]
1394	William Saville	William Tho... [1]
1395	William Shortwade	John Ede [1]
1397 (Jan)	John White	Richard Pernecote [1]
1397 (Sep)	Thomas Selham	Robert Godewyn [1]
1399	Roger Hay	John Hunt[1]
1401
1402
1404 (Jan)	John Kent	William Derby [1]
1404 (Oct)
1406	John Hunt	Philip Richard [1]
1407	John Merehan	William Kenelme [1]
1410	John White	Alexander Colshull [1]
1411
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	William Wilton	Richard Farle [1]
1414 (Apr)	John Hastyng	John Clerk [1]
1414 (Nov)	Stephen Stapper	John Pernecote [1]
1415
1416 (Mar)	Walter Mustard	Thomas Lavyngton 1 [1]
1416 (Oct)
1417	Alexander Colshull	Thomas Lavyngton [1]
1419	Robert Morys	Richard Cross [1]
1420	Thomas Lavyngton	John Veyr [1]
1421 (May)	Thomas Lavyngton	Simon Porter alias Kent [1]
1421 (Dec)	John Hunt	William Kyng [1]
1510	Richard Cleche	William Justice [2]
1512	William Gifford	Richard Smith [2]
1515	Edmund Knightley	John Pownsar [2]
1523	Nicholas Hyde	William Edmunds [2]
1529	Thomas Vachell I	John Raymond [2]
1536	Thomas Vachell I	John Raymond [2]
1539	?Thomas Vachell I	?John Raymond [2]
1542	Thomas Vachell I	Richard Justice [2]
1545	Thomas Vachell I	Roger Amyce [2]
1547	William Grey, died May 1551 repl. 1552 by Sir John Mason	John Marshe [2]
1553 (Mar)	John Bourne	John Winchcombe [2]
1553 (Oct)	Thomas Vachell I	John Bell [2]
1554 (Apr)	Robert Bowyer III	John Lovelace [2]
1554 (Nov)	John Bourne	Edmund Plowden [2]
1555	Thomas Vachell II	John Bell [2]
1558	Thomas Aldworth	John Bell [2]
1558/9	Thomas Aldworth	Thomas Turner [3]
1562/3	Henry Knollys	Robert Rowbotham [3]
1571	Henry Knollys	John Hastings [3]
1572	Robert Knollys	Francis Alford [3]
1584	Robert Knollys	Robert Harris [3]
1586	Robert Knollys	Robert Harris [3]
1588	Robert Knollys, sat for Breconshire, repl. Feb 1589 by Thomas Egerton	Robert Harris [3]
1593	Humphrey Donatt	Charles Wednester [3]
1597	Sir Humphrey Forster	Francis Moore [3]
1601	Francis Moore	Anthony Blagrave [3]
1604	Francis Moore	Jerome Bowes
1614	Francis Moore	Robert Knollys
1621-1622	Anthony Barker	John Sanders
1624	Francis Knollys III	John Sanders
1625	Francis Knollys III	John Sanders
1626	Francis Knollys III	John Sanders
1628	Francis Knollys III	John Sanders
1629-1640	No Parliaments summoned

1640–1885

• Apr 1640: Francis Knollys III; Adm. Francis Knollys ^[4]
• Nov 1640: Francis Knollys III (died 1643); Adm. Francis Knollys (died 1648)
• Daniel Blagrave from 1645
• Tanfield Vachell from 1648
• 1653: Not represented in Barebones Parliament
• 1654: Robert Hammond
• 1656: Daniel Blagrave
• 1659: Henry Neville; Daniel Blagrave

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
1660		Thomas Rich			John Blagrave
1661		Sir Thomas Dolman			Richard Aldworth
1679		Nathan Knight			John Blagrave
March 1685		Thomas Coates			John Breedon
November 1685					William Aldworth
1689		Sir Henry Fane	Whig		Sir William Rich
1698		Sir Owen Buckingham			John Dalby
January 1701					Francis Knollys
November 1701		Anthony Blagrave			Tanfield Vachell
1702		Sir Owen Buckingham
1705					Sir William Rich
1708		Owen Buckingham			Anthony Blagrave
1710					John Dalby
1713		Robert Clarges			Felix Calvert
1716		Charles Cadogan			Owen Buckingham
1720					Richard Thompson
1722		Anthony Blagrave			Clement Kent
1727		Richard Potenger			Richard Thompson
1734					Henry Grey
1739		John Blagrave
1740					William Strode
February 1741					John Dodd
May 1741					William Strode
1747		John Conyers			Richard Neville Aldworth
1754		William Strode			The Viscount Fane	Opposition Whig
1755		John Dodd	Government Whig
1761					Sir Francis Knollys
1768					Henry Vansittart
1774					Francis Annesley
1782		Richard Aldworth-Neville
1797		John Simeon
1802		Charles Shaw-Lefevre
1806					John Simeon
1818					Charles Fyshe Palmer
1820		John Berkeley Monck
1826					George Spence
1827					Charles Fyshe Palmer	Whig
1830		Charles Russell	Tory
1835					Thomas Noon Talfourd	Whig
1837		Charles Fyshe Palmer	Whig
1841		Charles Russell	Conservative		Viscount Chelsea	Conservative
1847		Francis Pigott	Whig		Thomas Noon Talfourd	Whig
1849					John Frederick Stanford	Conservative
1852					Sir Henry Singer Keating	Liberal
January 1860					Sir Francis Goldsmid	Liberal
November 1860		Gillery Pigott	Liberal
1863		George Shaw-Lefevre	Liberal
1878					George Palmer	Liberal
1885	Representation reduced to one member

1885–1950

Election		Member	Party
1885		Charles Townshend Murdoch	Conservative
1892		George William Palmer	Liberal
1895		Charles Townshend Murdoch	Conservative
1898 by-election		George William Palmer	Liberal
1904 by-election		Rufus Isaacs	Liberal
1913 by-election		Leslie Orme Wilson	Conservative
1922		Edward Cecil George Cadogan	Conservative
1923		Somerville Hastings	Labour
1924		Herbert Williams	Conservative
1929		Somerville Hastings	Labour
1931		Alfred Bakewell Howitt	Conservative
1945		Ian Mikardo	Labour
1950	Constituency divided into Reading North and Reading South

1955–1974

Election		Member	Party
1955	Constituency recreated
1955		Ian Mikardo	Labour
1959		Peter Emery	Conservative
1966		John Lee	Labour
1970		Gerard Vaughan	Conservative
Feb 1974	Constituency redivided into Reading North and Reading South

References

General

• Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
• 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)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 1)

Specific

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire