Malton (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Maldon (UK Parliament constituency).
Malton
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1640–1885

Malton, also called New Malton, was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England in 1295 and 1298, and again from 1640, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868, among them the political philosopher Edmund Burke, and by one member from 1868 to 1885.

The constituency was divided between the new Thirsk and Malton division of the North Riding of Yorkshire and the Buckrose division of the East Riding of Yorkshire from 1885.

Boundaries

The constituency consisted of parts of the St Leonard's and St Michael's parishes of New Malton in the North Riding until the Great Reform Act of 1832; the borough at that point included 791 houses and had a population of 4,173 in the 1831 census. The Reform Act expanded the boundaries to include the whole of those two parishes, as well as that of Old Malton and of the adjoining town of Norton in the East Riding, increasing the population to 7,192 and encompassing 1,401 houses.

Franchise

The right of election in Malton was vested in the scot and lot householders of the borough, of whom there were about 800 in 1832. In practice the seats were generally in the gift of the landowner, Earl Fitzwilliam (and were frequently held by one of that family, often by the heir to the Earldom who had the courtesy title Viscount Milton); at an earlier period the borough was similarly dominated by the Watson-Wentworth family, and was used as a form of government patronage when the Marquess of Rockingham was Prime Minister.

Members of Parliament

New Malton re-enfranchised by Parliament in November 1640

MPs 1640–1868

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
November 1640 Thomas HebblethwaiteRoyalist Henry CholmleyParliamentarian
November 1644 Hebblethwaite disabled to sit - seat vacant
1645 Richard Darley
December 1648 Cholmley excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant
1653 Malton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654,1656 Malton was unrepresented in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 [1] Philip Howard George Marwood
May 1659 Richard Darley One seat vacant
April 1660 Thomas Hebblethwaite Philip Howard
April (?) 1661 Thomas Danby
December 1661 Sir Thomas Gower
1668 William Palmes
1673 James Hebblethwaite
1679 Sir Watkinson Payler
1685 Hon. Thomas Fairfax Thomas Worsley
1689 William PalmesJunto Whig Sir William Strickland Junto Whig
1698 Thomas Worsley
1701 Sir William Strickland Junto Whig
1708 William StricklandWhig
1713 Thomas Watson-Wentworth
1715 Thomas Watson-Wentworth (the younger)
1722 Sir William Strickland Whig
1724 by-election Henry Finch
1727 Wardell Westby
1731 by-election Sir William Wentworth
May 1741 Lord James Cavendish
Dec 1741 by-election John Mostyn
1761 by-election Savile Finch
1768 The Viscount Downe
1774 Edmund Burke[2] Whig
1775 by-election William WeddellWhig
1780 by-election Edmund BurkeWhig
April 1784 Sir Thomas Gascoigne Whig
Aug 1784 by-election William Weddell Whig
1792 by-election Hon. George Damer[3]Whig
1794 by-election Richard Burke (d. 1794) Whig
1795 by-election William BaldwinWhig
1798 by-election Bryan CookeWhig
1798 by-election Charles Lawrence Dundas Whig
1805 by-election Henry Grattan Whig
1806 Viscount Milton Whig
1807 Lord Headley[4] Tory Robert Lawrence DundasWhig
Mar 1808 by-election Bryan Cooke Whig
1812 John RamsdenWhig Viscount DuncannonWhig
1826 Viscount NormanbyCanningite Tory
1830 Sir James Scarlett Whig[5]
April 1831 by-election Francis Jeffrey [6] Whig
May 1831 Henry Gally Knight
Jul 1831 by-election William Cavendish
Sep. 1831 by-election Charles PepysWhig
1832 William Fitzwilliam [7]Whig
1833 by-election John RamsdenWhig
1836 by-election John ChildersWhig
1837 by-election Viscount Milton [8] Whig
1841 Evelyn DenisonWhig
1846 by-election Viscount Milton Whig
1847 John Childers Whig
1852 Hon. Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam Whig/Liberal
1857 James Brown Whig/Liberal
1868 Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1868–1885

YearMemberParty
1868 Hon. Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam Liberal
1885 constituency abolished

Notes

  1. The Returning Officer made a double return after a dispute over the franchise: the Committee of Elections and Privileges ruled in favour of Howard and Marwood, and against their opponents Luke Robinson and Robert Lilburne on the grounds that Old Malton as well as New Malton was entitled to vote. (House of Commons Journal, 7 March 1659 )
  2. In 1774 Burke was also elected for Bristol, and did not sit for Malton in this Parliament
  3. Styled Viscount Milton from 1792
  4. Dundas and Headley won in a contested election in which Bryan Cooke came third. On petition, Headley's election was declared void and a by-election held at which Cooke was elected.
  5. Scarlett took the Chiltern Hundreds in April 1831, after switching from the Whigs to the Tories
  6. Jeffrey was also elected for Perth District of Burghs at the 1831 general election and chose to represent that constituency
  7. Fitzwilliam became Viscount Milton in 1833 when his father succeeded as Earl Fitzwilliam, and resigned to contest his father's Northamptonshire, Northern seat)
  8. Not the same Viscount Milton who held the seat in 1806-7 or in 1833

References

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