Rutland (UK Parliament constituency)

Rutland was a parliamentary constituency covering the county of Rutland. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1918, when it became part of the Rutland and Stamford constituency, along with Stamford in Lincolnshire. Since 1983, Rutland has formed part of the Rutland and Melton constituency along with Melton Mowbray from Leicestershire.

The constituency elected two Members of Parliament (MPs), traditionally known as Knights of the Shire, until 1885, when it was reduced to one Member.

Boundaries

The constituency comprised the whole of the historic county of Rutland, in the East Midlands. Rutland, the smallest of the historic counties of England, never had any Parliamentary borough constituencies within its borders.

The place of election for the county was at Oakham. This was where the hustings were held; at which candidates were nominated (before the Ballot Act 1872), polling took place (before the introduction of multiple polling places in county constituencies) and where the result was announced.

Pelling in his Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910 describes most of the people in this county as "engaged in or dependent upon agriculture". The constituency was a safe Conservative one and was rarely contested in the period covered by the book. G. H. Finch MP had personally owned almost one tenth of the county he represented.

Members of Parliament

1295-1640

1640-1885

1885-1918

Elections

Population in 1831: 19,380

General Election 1832 (December 14)
Registered Electors: 1,296
Sir G N Noel, Bart. Conservative
Sir G Heathcote Whig

General Election 1835 (January 10)
Sir G N Noel, Bart. Conservative
Sir G Heathcote Whig

General Election 1837 (July 29)
Sir G N Noel, Bart. Conservative
Sir G Heathcote Whig

Following the death of Sir G N Noel:

By-Election 1838 (March 13)
Hon W M Noel Conservative

Noel accepted the Chiltern Hundreds (a procedural device to allow resignation from the House of Commons).

By-Election 1840 (January 28)
Hon C G Noel Whig

General Election 1841 (July 12)
G J Heathcote Whig (767 votes)
Hon W H Dawnay Conservative (676 votes)
- Hon C G Noel Whig (664 votes - unsuccessful candidate)

Dawnay accepts Chiltern Hundreds.

By-Election 1846 (February 14)
Geo Finch Protectionist

General Election 1847 (August 7)
Sir G J Heathcote Protectionist
Hon G J Noel Protectionist

General Election 1852 (July 13)
Sir G J Heathcote Whig
Hon G J Noel Conservative

Sir G J Heathcote created 1st Lord Aveland

By-Election 1856 (March 4)
Hon G H Heathcote Whig

General Election 1857 (March 30)
Hon G J Noel Conservative
Hon G H Heathcote Whig

General Election 1859 (May 3)
Hon G J Noel Conservative
Hon G H Heathcote Whig

Population in 1861: 21,861

General Election 1865 (July 18)
Hon G J Noel Conservative
Hon G H Heathcote Whig

Noel appointed Lord of the Treasury. Members of some parliaments were required to seek re-election upon being appointed to a ministerial post. The subsequent by-elections were termed ministerial by-elections

Ministerial By-Election 1866 (July 14)
Hon G J Noel Conservative

Heathcote succeeded to Peerage (Lord Aveland). Peers are not eligible to sit in the House of Commons.

By-Election 1867 (November 23)
Geo H Finch Conservative

General Election 1868 (November 19)
Registered Electors: 2,200
Hon G J Noel Conservative
Geo H Finch Conservative

Population in 1871: 22,073

General Election 1874 (February 5)
Registered Electors: 1,840
Hon G J Noel Conservative
G H Finch Conservative

Hon G J Noel appointed First Commander of Works

Ministerial By-Election 1876 (August 17)
Rt Hon G J Noel Conservative

General Election 1880 (April )
Rt Hon G J Noel Conservative
G H Finch Conservative

Population in 1881: 21,434

Noel accepts Chiltern Hundreds.

By-Election 1883 (August )
J W Lowther Conservative (860 votes)
- J W Davenport Handley Liberal Party (194 votes - unsuccessful candidate)

Rutland reduced to one Member of Parliament

Elections in the 1880s

Buszard

Finch

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Pearson

John Gretton

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;

• Unionist: John Gretton
• Liberal:

References

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• F W S Craig, Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• M Kinnear, The British Voter (London: Batsford, 1968)
• McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book of All Elections 1832 - 1918
• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
• J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (Macmillan, 1967)
• Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)