Hertfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Hertfordshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
County Hertfordshire
1290–1885
Number of members 1290–1832: Two
1832–1885: Three

Hertfordshire was a county constituency covering the county of Hertfordshire in England. It returned two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons of England until 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1800, and to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1290 until 1832. The Reform Act 1832 gave the county a third seat with effect from the 1832 general election.

Elections were held using the bloc vote system, when contested. However, even after the 1832 reforms, contested elections were the exception: of the 17 elections from 1832 to 1880, 9 were uncontested, including the 1880 general election. In such cases all the nominated candidates were returned without a vote.[1]

History

The constituency consisted of the historic county of Hertfordshire. (Although Hertfordshire contained two boroughs, Hertford and St Albans, each of which elected two MPs in its own right, these were 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.

Except during the period of the Commonwealth, Hertfordshire has two MPs elected by the bloc vote method, under which each voter had two votes. In the nominated Barebones Parliament, two members represented Hertfordshire. In the First and Second Parliaments of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, however, there was a general redistribution of seats and Hertfordshire elected five members, while each of the boroughs had their representation reduced to a single MP. The traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.

General character of the constituency before the Reform Act

At the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Hertfordshire had a population of approximately 143,000, and was entirely agricultural in character, although there was a limited urban vote: at the election of 1805, when 2628 votes were cast, four towns (St Albans, Bishops Stortford, Ware and Hitchin) provided more than 100 votes each though none provided more than 160.

Elections were held at a single polling place, Hertford, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise; but in a physically small county like Hertfordshire, with good roads, this was less prohibitively expensive than in some others. (It was normal for voters to expect the candidates for whom they voted to meet their expenses in travelling to the poll, making the cost of a contested election substantial in many counties. Even in Hertfordshire, it was reported that accommodation and entertainment for the voters at the county meeting in September 1774 cost the candidates £4,000; and that was merely a meeting to discuss the candidates and see if consensus could be reached without the need for a contest - the cost of the poll the following month, that in the end could not be averted, was on top of this.)

Contested elections were relatively frequent (there were contests at 13 of the 28 general elections between 1701 and 1831), and were often vigorously fought - the voters valued their independence, and at least from the middle of the 18th century no landed interests had much influence over them, although fifty years earlier the local gentry reckoned to return one of the two MPs without opposition.

The by-election of 1805

Peter Jupp includes in his collection of documents relating to elections round the turn of the 19th century a contemporary account of the Hertfordshire by-election, written by one of the candidates, William Baker, which gives a vivid picture of electioneering in the county at this period. The election was a straight fight between Baker and Hon. Thomas Brand to fill the vacancy left by the death of Hon. Peniston Lamb; Baker had been the county's MP until three years previously, and was backed by Pitt and his government, while Brand had particular support among the religious dissenters.

Baker's campaign took the form of a personal canvass of the voters, by visiting every town and village of any size in the county, if possible on market day: Hertford on the 26th; Ware on the 28th; then Watton; Stevenage; Hitchin and Baldock on the same day; and so through the whole of Hertfordshire in two weeks, over snow-bound roads with even the high road between St Albans and Berkhamsted barely passable in places. He travelled mostly on horseback, his carriage "attending me as it could at intervals by the great roads, and meeting me at the places where I was to sleep". In most of the county he had already pledges of solid support (he records that at Stevenage he had "nothing to do but go round... and thank the voters for their promises already made in my favour to their Rector"), and where possible in each place he was met by the local magnates who joined him in his canvassing to demonstrate their support.

The informality of the election itself seems strange today. After the candidates had made their final speeches at Hertford, the Sheriff took a show of hands and could have ended the proceedings there and then, had the candidates been content; but, Brand demanding the poll that was his right everybody proceeded to the hustings. Voting thus began around one in the afternoon. The poll was continued on the second day, the arrangement being that voting would be from eight o'clock until three, but ended as soon as Brand admitted defeat, some half-an-hour before the agreed deadline. By this time Baker had 1,556 votes and Brand only 1,076, and plainly he felt he had too few supporters unpolled to have any hope of making up the deficit.

The election ended in typically rumbustious fashion. Baker having been declared the victor, his supporters celebrated by chairing their candidate round the town, but

"Wilshere's coachman... had the insolence to drive his master's carriage full speed through the crowd at the time of chairing, to the risk of the lives of hundreds. Providentially, however, no person was materially injured. Brand made an apology to me afterwards by letter for the outrage, and Wilshere, though not at my desire, has since turned the servant away..."
- Letter of William Baker to his son, 22 February 1805, in Hertfordshire County Records Office, quoted by Jupp, op cit

After the Reform Act

In 1832, the Great Reform Act increased the county's representation from two to three MPs (a change that had not been in the original Reform Bill of 1830 but was adopted the following year), as well as making minor boundary changes. (One parish, Coleshill, was transferred to Buckinghamshire.) The extension of the franchise to tenants-at-will, copyholders and leaseholders increased the electorate a little, but the 4,245 electors registered in 1832 was not much higher than the 4,000 qualified voters who have been estimated for 1754. However, the electorate grew by almost half over the next thirty years, and the extension of the franchise in 1868 increased the electorate still further, to more than 9,000.

Abolition

Hertfordshire and its two boroughs ceased to exist as constituencies in 1885, the county being divided into four new single-member constituencies: the Mid or St Albans division of Hertfordshire, the Eastern or Hertford division, the Northern or Hitchin division and the Western or Watford division.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1290–1640

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1294 Roger Bryan
1296 Roger Bryan
1306 Ranulph de Monte Canisto
1377 (Jan)Sir Walter Lee[2]
1379 Sir Walter Lee[2]
1380 (Jan)Sir Walter Lee[2]
1380 (Nov)Sir Walter Lee[2]
1381Sir Walter Lee[2]
1384Sir Edward Benstede
1385Sir Walter Lee[2]
1386 Sir Walter Lee Thomas Lee [3]
1388 (February) Sir Walter Lee Sir Robert Turk [3]
1388 (September) Sir Walter Lee Sir Robert Turk[3]
1390 (January) Sir Walter Lee Sir John Thornbury[3]
1390 (November) Sir Walter Lee John Ruggewyn[3]
1391 John Norbury Sir John Thornbury[3]
1393 Sir Robert Turk John Ruggewyn[3]
1394 Richard de la Pantry John Ruggewyn[3]
1395 Sir Thomas Morewell John Ruggewyn[3]
1397 (January) Sir Edward Benstede John Ruggewyn[3]
1397 (September) Sir Edward Benstede John Ruggewyn[3]
1399 Sir Edward Benstede John Ludwick[3]
1401Sir Thomas de la Barre Robert Newport[3]
1402 Sir Edward Benstede Sir Robert Corbet[3]
1404 (January) Sir John Poultney Sir Robert Corbet[3]
1404 (October) Sir John Poultney William Parker[3]
1406 Sir John Poultney John Goldington[3]
1407 William Parker Sir Thomas de la Barre[3]
1410
1411 Sir Thomas de la Barre Robert Newport[3]
1413 (February)
1413 (May) John Hotoft John Leventhorpe[3]
1414 (April) John Hotoft William Flete{[3]
1414 (November) John Hotoft William Flete[3]
1415
1416 (March) John Hotoft John Leventhorpe[3]
1416 (October)
1417 Sir Philip Thornbury John Hotoft[3]
1419 John Fray John Hotoft[3]
1420 John Fray John Barley[3]
1421 (May) Robert Louthe William Rokesburgh[3]
1421 (December) Sir Philip ThornburyJohn Kirby[3]
1422 John Leventhorpe John Hotoft
1427 Sir John Tyrell
1435 Thomas Broket
1439 Sir John Cressy
1447 John Troutbeck
1449 Sir Robert Wingfield
October 1450 Sir William Oldhall
March 1453 John SayBartholemew Halley
April 1453 John SayBartholemew Halley
February 1454 John SayBartholemew Halley
1463 Sir John Say
1467 Sir John Say
1472 Sir John Say
January 1478 Sir John Say John Sturgeon
1491 Sir William Say
1495 Sir William Say
1510–1523No names known[4]
1529Henry Barley Philip Butler [4]
1536
1539 Sir Henry Parker Sir Philip Butler [4]
1542 Sir Ralph Sadler Edward Brocket or John Brocket, snr [4]
1545 Sir Richard Lee John Cock [4]
1547 Sir Anthony Denny, died
and repl. October 1549 by
Sir Henry Parker, died
and repl. January 1552 by
John Cock
Sir Ralph Rowlett [4]
1553 (Mar) Sir Ralph Sadler John Cock [4]
1553 (Oct) Sir John Butler Sir John Brocket, snr [4]
1554 (Apr) John Cock Francis Southwell [4]
1554 (Nov) John Cock Edward Brocket [4]
1555 Sir John Brocket, snr John Cock [4]
1558 John Foster John Purvey [4]
1559 (Jan) Sir Thomas Parry Sir Ralph Sadler[5]
1562/3 Sir Ralph Sadler Henry Capell[5]
1571 Sir Ralph Sadler Sir George Carey [5]
1572 (Apr) Sir Ralph Sadler Sir John Brocket, jnr [5]
1584 (Nov) Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Henry Cocke [5]
1586 (Oct) Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Henry Cocke [5]
1588 (Oct) Robert Cecil Sir Philip Butler [5]
1593 Sir Robert Cecil Sir Henry Cocke [5]
1597 (Sep) Sir Robert Cecil Rowland Lytton [5]
1601 (Oct) Sir Robert Cecil Sir Henry Cary [5]
1604 Sir Henry Cary Rowland Lytton
1614 Sir Henry Cary Ralph Coningsby
1621 Sir Henry Cary[6] Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet
1624 Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet Sir William Lytton
1625John Boteler Sir John Boteler
1626 Sir Thomas Dacres
1628 Sir William Lytton Sir Thomas Dacres
1629–1640No Parliament summoned

MPs 1640–1653

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
April 1640 Arthur Capel Royalist Sir William Lytton
November 1640 Sir William Lytton Parliamentarian
August 1641 Sir Thomas DacresParliamentarian
December 1648 Dacres and Lytton excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant
1653 Henry Lawrence William Reeve

MPs 1654–1658

First Protectorate Parliament: representation increased to 5 members
YearFirst memberSecond memberThird memberFourth memberFifth member
1654 Henry LawrenceSir Richard Lucy, BtJohn WittewrongThe Earl of SalisburyThomas Nicholl
1656 Sir John GoreRowland Lytton

MPs 1659-1832

Third Protectorate Parliament: representation reverted to 2 members
YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
January 1659 Richard Galston Rowland Lytton
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Henry Caesar Rowland Lytton
1661 Sir Richard Franklin Sir Thomas Fanshawe
1666 Sir Henry Caesar
1668 Viscount Cranborne
1669 William Hale
February 1679 Silius Titus
August 1679 Sir Jonathan Keate Sir Charles Caesar
1681 William Hale
1685 Ralph Freman Thomas Halsey
1689 Sir Thomas Pope Blount Sir Charles Caesar
1690 Ralph Freman
1695 Thomas Halsey
1697 Ralph Freman, junior
1705 Sir John Spencer, Bt
1708 Thomas Halsey
1715 Sir Thomas Sebright, Bt
1727 Charles Caesar
1734 William Plumer
1736 Charles Caesar
1741 Jacob Houblon Charles Gore
1747 Paggen Hale
1755 William Plumer
1761 Thomas Plumer Byde Jacob Houblon
1768 William Plumer Thomas Halsey
1784 The Viscount Grimston
1790 William Baker
1802 Hon. Peniston Lamb
1805 William Baker Tory
1807 Hon. Thomas Brand Sir John Sebright, Bt Whig
1819 Hon. William Lamb Whig
1826 Nicolson Calvert Whig
1832 Representation increased to three members

MPs 1832–1885

ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyThird memberThird party
1832 Sir John Sebright, Bt Whig Nicolson Calvert Whig Viscount Grimston Conservative
1835 Abel Smith, senior Conservative Rowland Alston Whig
1841 Hon. Granville Ryder Conservative
1846 by-election Thomas Plumer Halsey Conservative
1847 Sir Henry Meux, Bt Conservative Thomas Brand [7] Whig
1852 Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Bt Conservative
1854 by-election Abel Smith, junior Conservative
1857 Christopher William Puller Whig
1859 Abel Smith, junior Conservative Liberal
1864 by-election Henry Edward Surtees Conservative
1865 Hon. Henry Cowper Liberal
1866 by-election Abel Smith, junior Conservative
1868 Henry Brand Liberal
1874 Frederick Halsey Conservative
1885 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 398–399. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "LEE, Sir Walter (c.1350-1395), of Albury, Herts.". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "History of Parliament". Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  6. Knighted 1616|| created The Viscount Falkland (in the Peerage of Scotland), November 1620
  7. Later adopted the surname Trevor


References

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