Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cumberland
County constituency
Created: 1290
Abolished: 1832
Type: House of Commons
Members: two

Cumberland is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of the Shire. It was divided between the constituencies of Cumberland East and Cumberland West in 1832.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.


[edit] Members of Parliament

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
  • Constituency created (1290)

[edit] 1290-1640

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

[edit] 1640-1832

Year First member First party Second member Second party
April 1640 Sir Patricius Curwen, Bt Royalist
November 1640 Sir George Dalston Royalist
March 1643 Curwen and Dalston disabled to sit - both seats vacant
1646 William Airmine[1] Richard Tolson
December 1648 Tolson excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant
1653 Cumberland was not separately represented in the Barebones Parliament.
The following were nominated for The Four Northern Counties collectively:
Major-General Charles Howard, Robert Fenwick, Henry Dawson, Henry Ogle
1654 Colonel William Briscoe Major-General Charles Howard
1656
January 1659 Sir Wilfrid Lawson
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump, Airmine having died in the interim
April 1660 Sir Wilfrid Lawson Charles Howard
1661 Sir Patricius Curwen, Bt Sir George Fletcher, Bt
1665 Sir John Lowther, Bt
February 1679 Richard Lamplugh
August 1679 Viscount Morpeth
1681 Sir George Fletcher, Bt
1685 The Viscount Preston
1689 Sir George Fletcher, Bt
January 1701 Richard Musgrave Gilfrid Lawson
December 1701 Sir Edward Hasell George Fletcher Whig
1702 Richard Musgrave Gilfrid Lawson
1705 George Fletcher Whig
1708 James Lowther Gilfrid Lawson
1722 Sir Christopher Musgrave, Bt
1727 James Lowther
1734 Sir Joseph Pennington, Bt
1745 Sir John Pennington, Bt
1755 Sir William Lowther, Bt
1756 Sir William Fleming
1757 Sir James Lowther, Bt
1761 Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bt
1762 Sir James Lowther, Bt Tory
March 1768 Henry Curwen Whig
December 1768 Sir Henry Fletcher, Bt [2] Whig
1774 Sir James Lowther, Bt Tory
1784 Sir William Lowther, Bt Tory
1790 Humphrey Senhouse Tory
1796 John Lowther [3] Tory
1806 Viscount Morpeth Tory
1820 John Christian Curwen Whig
1829 Sir James Graham, Bt Whig
1831 William Blamire Whig
  • Constituency abolished (1832)

Notes

  1. ^ Sir William Airmine, Bt., from 1651
  2. ^ At the general election of 1768, Lowther defeated Fletcher by two votes, but on petition the result was overturned and Fletcher declared elected
  3. ^ Created a baronet as Sir John Lowther, 1824

[edit] Elections

The county franchise, from 1430, was held by the adult male owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more. Each elector had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings, which took place in the town of Cockermouth. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system.

The expense, to candidates, of contested elections encouraged the leading families of the county to agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. Contested county elections were therefore unusual.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
  • Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
  • House of Commons records at British History Online [[1]]
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
 This United Kingdom constituency article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.