Bedfordshire_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1801–1885


Bedfordshire was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 until 1707, then the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1801 and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1885 when it was divided into two constituencies under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

Quick Facts 1290–1885, Seats ...

History

The constituency consisted of the historic county of Bedfordshire. (Although Bedfordshire contained the borough of Bedford, which elected two MPs in its own right, this was not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election.)

As in other county constituencies the franchise between 1430 and 1832 was defined by the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act, which gave the right to vote to every man who possessed freehold property within the county valued at £2 or more per year for the purposes of land tax; it was not necessary for the freeholder to occupy his land, nor even in later years to be resident in the county at all.

At the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Bedfordshire had a population of approximately 95,000, but under 4,000 votes were cast at the election of 1826, and under 3,000 in election of 1830, even though each voter could cast two votes. Although local landowners could never control a county the size of Bedfordshire in the way they could own a pocket borough, titled magnates still exercised considerable influence over deferential county voters, and the Duke of Bedford was regarded as the hereditary "patron" of the constituency.

Elections were held at a single polling place, Bedford, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise. In many other counties this could make the cost of a contested election prohibitive, since it was normal for voters to expect the candidates for whom they voted to meet their expenses in travelling to the poll; but this was less of a factor in a small county like Bedfordshire, and contested elections were not uncommon.

Under the terms of the Great Reform Act of 1832, the county franchise was extended to occupiers of land worth £50 or more, as well as the forty-shilling freeholders, but Bedfordshire was otherwise left unchanged. Under the new rules, 3,966 were registered and entitled to vote at the general election of 1832. While Bedford remained the place of election, where nominations were taken and the result declared, polling also took place at Luton, Leighton Buzzard, Ampthill, Biggleswade and Sharnbrook.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the constituency was abolished and the county divided into two single-member county constituencies, Biggleswade and Luton.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1290-1640MPs 1640-1885ElectionsSee alsoNotes

MPs 1290–1640

  • Constituency created (1290)
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MPs 1640–1885

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Elections

1810s1820s1830s1840s1850s1860s1870s1880sSee alsoNotes

Elections in the 1800s

[15]

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Elections in the 1810s

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Elections in the 1820s

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Elections in the 1830s

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Elections in the 1840s

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Astell's death caused a by-election.

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Elections in the 1850s

Egerton's death caused a by-election.

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Elections in the 1860s

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Elections in the 1870s

Russell succeeded to the peerage, becoming Duke of Bedford and causing a by-election.

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Bassett's resignation caused a by-election.

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Elections in the 1880s

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See also


Notes

  1. Members of Parliament 1213-1702 (hardback), London: House of Commons, 1878
  2. Wentworth was summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony, by writ of acceleration, before the Long Parliament had met for the first time
  3. Declared elected and Harvey unseated on petition
  4. Chose to sit for Woodstock
  5. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 1–2. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
  6. Succeeded as 5th baronet in 1759
  7. Created Lord Ongley in 1776
  8. Declared elected and St John unseated on petition
  9. Declared elected and Ongley unseated on petition
  10. "General Election". Worcester Herald. 22 December 1832. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. The Protestant elector. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via Google Books.
  12. "To Correspondents". Illustrated London News. 14 August 1847. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. "Bell's Weekly Messenger". 17 July 1847. p. 5. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. Sir Richard Gilpin: Obituary in The Times, Monday, 10 Apr 1882; pg. 7; Issue 30477; col F: Died "on Saturday", No issue, Baronetcy extinct.
  15. Thorne, R. (ed.). "Bedfordshire - 1790-1820". History of Parliament Online. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  16. Fisher, D.R. (ed.). "Bedfordshire - 1820-1832". History of Parliament Online. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  17. "Bedfordshire PCon through time". Political Life Statistics. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  18. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 351–352. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  19. "Latest News". Chester Chronicle. 22 February 1851. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. "Lancaster Gazette". 22 February 1851. p. 8. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. "Bedfordshire Times and Independent". 7 May 1859. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive.

References

  • Beatson, Robert (1807). A chronological register of both houses of the British Parliament, Volume II.
  • D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
  • John Cannon, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973)
  • Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
  • F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
  • Robert H O'Byrne, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland, Part I - Bedfordshire (London: John Ollivier, 1848)
  • J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Reform 1640-1832 (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 from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)

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