Eye (UK Parliament constituency)

Eye
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Suffolk
Major settlements	Eye
1571–1885
Number of members	Two until 1832, then one until 1885
1885–1983
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Central Suffolk

Eye was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election. The Reform Act 1832 reduced its representation to one MP, elected by the first past the post system.

The parliamentary borough of Eye was abolished under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and replaced with a new county division of the same name, which lasted until 1983 when most of it became part of the Central Suffolk constituency. Its main claim to fame was that it was the smallest town to have a parliamentary constituency named after it as the town of Eye had only approximately 1500 voters in 1981. It had been a Liberal seat until 1950 after which it became a safe Conservative seat.

Boundaries

The Borough

Eye was once the smallest borough in the country, its claim based on the 1205 Charter of King John. The Charter was renewed in 1408, then many more times by successive monarchs. However, in 1885, the Town Clerk of Hythe proved that the original Charter belonged only to Hythe in Kent, the error having arisen from the similarity of the early English names. The error was confirmed by archivists in the 1950s, but borough status was not discontinued until 1974 after government reorganization when Eye became a parish but retained a Town Council, a Mayor and the insignia. From 1571 to 1832, Eye boasted two Members of Parliament. Following the Reform Act 1832, Eye had one MP until 1983, after which the Eye constituency became the Central Suffolk constituency.

Members of Parliament

Eye borough

MPs 1571–1660

Parliament	First member	Second member
1571	Richard Bedell	Charles Cutter ^[1]
1572	Charles Calthorpe	Charles Cutter ^[1]
1584	Bassingbourne Gawdy	George Brooke ^[1]
1586	Bartholemew Kemp	Thomas Bedingfield ^[1]
1588	Edward Grimston	Sir Edmund Bacon ^[1]
1593	Edward Honnyng, eldest son of William Honnyng	Philip Gawdy ^[1]
1597	Anthony Gawdy	Edward Honnyng, eldest son of William Honnyng ^[1]
1601	Edward Honnyng, eldest son of William Honnyng	Anthony Gawdy ^[1]
1604	Edward Honnyng, eldest son of William Honnyng	Sir Henry Bockenham
1614	Sir Robert Drury	Huntingdon Colby
1621–1622	Sir Roger North	Sir John Crompton
1624	Sir Henry Crofts	Francis Finch
1625	Francis Finch	Sir Roger North
1626	Francis Finch	Sir Roger North
1628	Francis Finch	Sir Roger North
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
1640 (Apr)	Sir Frederick Cornwallis	Sir Roger North
1640 (Nov)	Sir Frederick Cornwallis	Sir Roger North
1645	Morris Barrow	Sir Roger North
1648	?
1653	Eye not represented in Barebones Parliament
1654	Eye not represented in 1st Protectorate Parliament
1655	Eye not represented in 2nd Protectorate Parliament
1659	Edward Dendy	Joseph Blisset

MPs 1660–1832

Election		First member ^[2]	First party	Second member ^[2]	Second party
1660		Charles Cornwallis		Sir George Reeve
1661		Charles Cornwallis, senior
1675		Sir Robert Reeve
1678		Sir Robert Reeve		Sir Charles Gawdy
1679		Charles Fox		George Walsh
1681		Sir Charles Gawdy		Sir Robert Reeve
1685		Sir Charles Gawdy		Sir John Rous
1689		Thomas Knyvett	Tory	Henry Poley
1690		Thomas Davenant		Henry Poley
1695		Thomas Davenant		Charles Cornwallis	Whig
1697		Sir Joseph Jekyll	Whig	Charles Cornwallis	Whig
1698				Hon. Spencer Compton	Tory
1701				Hon. Spencer Compton	Whig
1710				Thomas Maynard
1713		Edward Hopkins		Thomas Maynard
1715				Thomas Smith
March 1722				Hon. Spencer Compton	Whig
November 1722				James Cornwallis
1727		Stephen Cornwallis		John Cornwallis
1743		Edward Cornwallis		John Cornwallis
1747				Roger Townshend
1748				Nicholas Hardinge
1749		Courthorpe Clayton		Nicholas Hardinge
1758				Henry Townshend
1760				Viscount Brome	Whig
March 1761		Henry Cornwallis
December 1761		Henry Townshend
1762		The Viscount Allen		Richard Burton ^[3]
1768		The Viscount Allen		Hon. William Cornwallis
1770		Richard Burton Phillipson		Hon. William Cornwallis
1774				John St John
1780				Arnoldus Jones-Skelton
1782				Hon. William Cornwallis
1784				Peter Bathurst
1790				Hon. William Cornwallis ^[4]
1792		Peter Bathurst
1795		Viscount Brome	Tory
1796		Mark Singleton
1799		James Cornwallis	Tory
1806		Marquess of Huntly
January 1807		Marquess of Huntly		James Cornwallis	Tory
April 1807		Hon. Henry Wellesley		James Cornwallis	Tory
May 1807		Hon. Henry Wellesley		Mark Singleton
1809		Charles Arbuthnot	Tory
1812		Sir William Garrow	Whig
1817		Sir Robert Gifford	Tory
1820		Sir Robert Gifford	Tory	Sir Miles Nightingall	Tory
1824		Sir Edward Kerrison, Bt	Tory	Sir Miles Nightingall	Tory
1829				Sir Philip Sidney, Bt	Tory
1831				William Burge
1832	Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1832–1885

Election	Member ^[2]	Party
1832	Sir Edward Kerrison, Bt	Conservative
1852	Edward Kerrison ^[5]	Conservative
1866 by-election	Hon. George Barrington ^[6]	Conservative
1880	Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett	Conservative
1885	Borough abolished – name transferred to county division

Eye division of Suffolk

MPs 1885–1983

F S Stevenson

Election	Member ^[2]	Party
1885	Francis Seymour Stevenson	Liberal
1906 by-election	Harold Pearson	Liberal
1918	Alexander Lyle-Samuel	Liberal
1923	The Lord Huntingfield	Conservative
1929	Edgar Granville	Liberal
1931		National Liberal
1942		Independent
1945		Liberal
1951	Sir Harwood Harrison	Conservative
1979	John Gummer	Conservative
1983	constituency abolished: see Suffolk Central

Elections in the 1910s

Harold Pearson

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1914 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

Liberal: Harold Pearson
Conservative:

General Election 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander Lyle-Samuel	10,072	61
	Unionist	Col. Frederick William French	6,362
Majority			3,710
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

endorsed by the Coalition Government.

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922 Electorate 32,579
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander Lyle-Samuel	10,556
	National Liberal	Stephen Gerald Howard	7,025
Majority			3,531
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1923 Electorate 32,999
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lord Huntingfield	11,172
	Liberal	Alexander Lyle-Samuel	9,244
	Labour	C W Kendall	2,984
Majority			1,928
Turnout
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1924 Electorate 33,841
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lord Huntingfield	13,450
	Liberal	Sir Thomas Robert Bethell	7,441
	Labour	C W Kendall	4,329
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1929 Electorate 40,340
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edgar Louis Granville	13,944
	Unionist	Arthur Gilstrap Soames	12,880
	Labour	Owen Aves	4,709
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1931 Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Edgar Louis Granville	unopposed
	Liberal National hold		Swing

General Election 1935 Electorate 40,832
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Edgar Louis Granville	21,606
	Labour	H L Self	7,613
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; Liberal: Edgar Granville, Labour: H L Self, British Union: Ronald N Creasy.

General Election 1945 Electorate 43,126
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edgar Louis Granville	11,899
	Conservative	Maj. Algernon Malcolm Borthwick	10,950
	Labour	B Collingson	8,089
Majority			949
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950 Electorate 56,855
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edgar Louis Granville	17,762	37.27
	Conservative	James Harwood Harrison	17,135	35.96
	Labour	LG Emsden	12,481	26.19
	Communist	Mrs Lee Chadwick	277	0.58
Majority			627	1.32
Turnout				83.82
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1951 Electorate 58,518
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Harwood Harrison	19,791	40.61
	Liberal	Edgar Louis Granville	17,602	36.12
	Labour	Harold F Falconer	11,340	23.27
Majority			2,189	4.49
Turnout				83.28
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1955 Electorate 57,092
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Harwood Harrison	21,317	45.04
	Labour	Edgar Louis Granville	20,428	43.16
	Liberal	Inga-Stina Robson	5,582	11.79
Majority			898	1.88
Turnout				82.90
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959 Electorate 56,395
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Harwood Harrison	22,333
	Labour	Edgar Louis Granville	19,849
	Liberal	Inga-Stina Robson	5,215
Majority			2,484	5.24
Turnout				84.04
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)
↑ Later adopted the surname Phillipson
↑ Rear Admiral from 1793, Vice Admiral 1794, Admiral 1799
↑ Succeeded as baronet, March 1853
↑ Succeeded as The Viscount Barrington (in the Peerage of Ireland), February 1867