Stamford (UK Parliament constituency)


Stamford was a constituency in the county of Lincolnshire of the House of Commons for the Parliament of England to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868 when this was reduced to one.

Boundaries

The parliamentary borough was based upon the town of Stamford in the Parts of Kesteven.
When the borough constituency was abolished in 1885, the Stamford division of Lincolnshire was created. This included the town of Stamford and surrounding territory. The county division was a considerably larger constituency than the borough one had been.
From the 1885 general election until the dissolution before the 1918 election the constituency was surrounded by to the north Sleaford; to the east Spalding; to the south east Wisbech; to the south North Northamptonshire; to the south west Rutland; to the west Melton and to the north west Newark. The constituency of Grantham was an enclave wholly surrounded by Stamford.

History

The Victoria County History of the County of Lincoln includes some information about the representation of Stamford in early times.

Stamford, on the other hand, which had sent Nicholas de Burton and Clement de Melton to the Parliament of 1295, only exercised what its burghers probably regarded as an onerous privilege once in the reign of Edward II when in 1322 it elected Eustace Malherbe and Hugh de Thurleby.

A further paragraph relates the position before and after the borough began to send representatives regularly in 1467.

Stamford for some 150 years after the reign of Edward II apparently forbore to exercise its onerous privilege of returning members. In the seventeenth century it was afflicted with the usual controversy prevalent in small communities as to where the right of election lay, and the Committee of Privileges reported in 1661 'That the right of election was in such freemen only as paid scot and lot'.

Sedgwick explained in The House of Commons 1715-1754 that before 1727 the Bertie and Cecil families each nominated one member. From 1727 the Cecil interest controlled both seats. An attempt was made by Savile Cust in 1734 to establish an electoral interest in the borough, but when this failed the Cecils were left with a secure pocket borough.
Namier and Brooke in The House of Commons 1754-1790 confirmed that before the Reform Act 1832 the right of election was in the inhabitants of the parliamentary borough paying scot and lot, a local tax. They estimated the number of voters at about 500. In 1754-1790, despite the comparatively large electorate, the constituency was under the control of the Earl of Exeter and elections were uncontested formalities.
The Reform Act replaced the scot and lot franchise with an occupation franchise, which slightly reduced the size of the electorate. This was because the value of the property occupation of which conferred a vote, was higher than that for houses upon which scot and lot became payable.
The area was strongly Tory or Conservative in politics. From 1801 until 1918 it only twice elected an MP from other parties. Elections before the 1874 United Kingdom general election were usually uncontested.
The borough had some distinguished representatives in the 19th century. It returned two of the three members of the triumvirate which attempted to lead the protectionist Tories in the House of Commons. The Marquess of Granby had little to commend himself as a political leader, apart from the social prestige of being the heir to the Duke of Rutland. He was briefly sole leader in 1848 before the triumvirate was created in the following year and continued until his resignation in 1851. John Charles Herries had at least held senior ministerial office. Both the Stamford MPs were easily eclipsed by the rising star of their colleague Benjamin Disraeli.
A more significant historical figure was Lord Robert Cecil who represented the borough between 1853 and 1868. As the Marquess of Salisbury he was the leading figure in the Conservative Party from the death of Disraeli in 1881 until he retired as Prime Minister in 1902.
Another leading Conservative with connections to the borough was Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt the party leader in the House of Commons 1876-1885. Northcote was a Stamford MP from 1858 to 1866.
Under the Reform Act 1867 the borough electorate was expanded, but it lost one seat in Parliament from the 1868 United Kingdom general election.
The Representation of the People Act 1884 further expanded the electorate. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 abolished the borough constituency but created an expanded county division of the same name. These changes took effect with the 1885 United Kingdom general election.
Under the Representation of the People Act 1918 the electorate was again expanded, but the Stamford area was combined with the county of Rutland in a new Rutland and Stamford constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1295–1322

YearFirst memberSecond member
1485Christopher Browne
1489Christopher Browne
1495Christopher Browne
1510David CecilFrancis Browne
1512David CecilWilliam Hussey
1515David CecilGeorge Kirkham
1523David CecilMaurice Johnson
1529John HardgraveMaurice Johnson
1536Henry LacyMaurice Johnson
1539Richard CecilKenelm Digby
1542Henry LacyJohn Allen
1545Henry LacyLeonard Irby
1547William CecilJohn Allen
1553 Richard CookeRobert Lacy
1553 Thomas HeneageJohn Allen
1554 John AllenRoland Durrant
1554 John FentonHenry Lee
1555Francis YaxleyFrancis Thorneff
1558Francis ThorneffJohn Houghton
1559William CookeJohn Houghton
1562/3Thomas CecilFrancis Thorneff
1571Thomas CecilMichael Lewis
1572Thomas CecilFrancis Harington
1584Robert WingfieldGeorge Lynne
1586William Cecil, Lord BurghleyRobert Wingfield
1588/9William Cecil,Lord BurghleyRobert Wingfield
1593Robert WingfieldRichard Shute
1597Robert WingfieldThomas Balgaye
1601Robert WingfieldEdward Watson
1604Sir Robert WingfieldHenry Hall
1614Richard CecilJohn Jay
1621Sir Richard CecilJohn Wingfield
1624Sir George Goring
Goring, sat for Lewes
and replaced by Edward Ayscough		John St Amand
1625Montagu BertieJohn St Amand
1626Montagu BertieBrian Palmes
1628-1629Thomas HattonSir Edward Bashe
1629–1640No Parliaments convenedNo Parliaments convened

MPs 1640–1868

MPs 1868–1918

Notes

Election notes

The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings.
Note on percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote.
Note on sources: The information for the election results given below is taken from Namier and Brooke 1754-1790, Stooks Smith 1790-1832 and Craig from the 1832 United Kingdom general election. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result.

Elections before 1715

Dates of Parliaments 1660-1715
SummonedElectedOpenedDismissed
16 March 1660166025 April 166029 December 1660
18 February 166116618 May 166124 January 1679
25 January 167916796 March 167912 July 1679
24 July 16791679–168021 October 168018 January 1681
20 January 1681168121 March 168128 March 1681
14 February 1685168519 May 16852 July 1687
29 December 16881688–168922 January 16896 February 1690
6 February 1690169020 March 169011 October 1695
12 October 1695169522 November 16956 July 1698
13 July 1698169824 August 169819 December 1700
26 December 17001700–17016 February 170111 November 1701
3 November 1701170130 December 17012 July 1702
2 July 1702170220 August 17025 April 1705
17057 May-6 June 170514 June 1705see Note
1707see Note23 October 17073 April 1708
170830 April-7 July 17088 July 170821 September 1710
17102 October-16 November 171025 November 17108 August 1713
171322 August-12 November 171312 November 171315 January 1715

Note:-

Elections in the 1710s

Elections in the 1720s

Elections in the 1760s

Elections in the 1780s

Elections in the 1790s

Elections in the 1800s

Note : Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for two days
Note : Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for one day

Elections in the 1820s

Elections in the 1830s

Note : Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for four days
Note : Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for three days
Note : Rowley retired before the poll.
Note : Stooks Smith has a registered electorate figure of 613, but Craig's figure of 616 is used to calculate turnout.

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1880s

Lawrance resigned after being appointed a Judge of the Queen's Bench division of the High Court of Justice, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

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 and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;