Portsmouth (UK Parliament constituency)


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Portsmouth was a borough constituency based upon the borough of Portsmouth in Hampshire. It returned two members of parliament (MPs) to the Parliaments of England, Great Britain and from 1801 the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

Portsmouth
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyHampshire
Major settlementsPortsmouth
1295–1918
SeatsTwo
Replaced byPortsmouth North, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth Central

The constituency first elected MPs in 1295. It was abolished at the 1918 general election, when the Representation of the People Act 1918 divided it into three new constituencies; Portsmouth North, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth Central.

According to Namier and Brooke in The House of Commons 1754–1790, the right of election was in the freemen of the borough who numbered about 100. The town was known as an Admiralty borough and at least one MP was usually an Admiral.

The Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1771 to 1782. He imposed tighter Admiralty control over the borough. This change of policy led to an independent element of the local Council supporting challengers to the Admiralty candidates between 1774 and 1780.

When party politics re-emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Portsmouth was a predominantly Whig constituency. It only once elected a Tory Member of Parliament between 1790 and 1832.

The Reform Act 1832 considerably expanded the electorate of the borough. The freemen retained their ancient right franchise, but were outnumbered by the new occupier voters amongst the 1,295 electors registered in 1832. As a result of the expanded electorate the borough became more competitive. Contested elections became the norm rather than the exception, as they had been before the Reform Act.

Candidates with naval connections continued to be frequent in Portsmouth, after the Reform Act. The borough developed into a marginal constituency, particularly in the last half century of its existence.

The parliamentary borough of Portsmouth was (as the area remains in the 21st century) a major seaport and naval base on the south coast of England. It is situated in the county of Hampshire.

From the 1885 general election until the dissolution before the 1918 election the constituency was surrounded (on the landward side) by the Fareham seat.

Members of Parliament

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Parliament First member Second member
1357 John Pounde
1372 Richard Abraham ?
January 1377 Richard Abraham ?
February 1383 Richard Abraham ?
1386 William Bristowe Richard Mautravers[1]
1388 (Feb) John atte Mede ?[1]
1388 (Sep) Richard Gay William Bristowe[1]
1390 (Jan) Richard Robust William atte Pury[1]
1390 (Nov)
1391 William atte Pury Henry Seys[1]
1393 William atte Pury Richard Whiliare[1]
1394 William Hicche I Henry Seys[1]
1395 Richard Gay Stephen Agulon[1]
1397 (Jan) William Hicche II Henry Seys[1]
1397 (Sep) William Hicche II Henry Seys[1]
1399 William atte Pury William Balchief[1]
1401
1402 Richard Spicer alias Newport William Hicche II[1]
1404 (Jan)
1404 (Oct)
1406 William atte Pury Richard Gay[1]
1407
1410 Henry Abraham[1]
1411 William Balchief William atte Pury[1]
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May) William atte Pury William Balchief[1]
1414 (Apr)
1414 (Nov) William Balchief William atte Pury[1]
1415 William atte Pury Henry Abraham[1]
1416 (Mar) William atte Pury Thomas Robust[1]
1416 (Oct)
1417 William atte Pury Richard Gay[1]
1419 William Balchief John Serle[1]
1420 William Balchief John Versy[1]
1421 (May) Simon Stubbere Henry Abraham[1]
1421 (Dec) William Balchief Richard Hert[1]
1422 Henry Abraham
1433 Robert Abraham Unknown[2]
1437 Richard Abraham Unknown
1467 Henry Uvedale Unknown[2]
1449-1450 Robert Abraham Unknown[2]
1510–1523 No names known[3]
1529 Geoffrey Lee Francis Dignely[3]
1536 ?
1539 ?John Chaderton ?[3]
1542 Christopher Staverton ?John Chaderton[3]
1545 John Fryer Michael Gore[3]
1547 Robert Blount Henry Knollys[3]
1553 (Mar) Sir Richard Wingfield John Chaderton[3]
1553 (Oct) John Chaderton Henry Bickley[3]
1554 (Apr) Richard Sackville William Cooke[3]
1554 (Nov) Edmund Cockerell John de Vic[3]
1555 Ralph Henslowe Edmund Cockerell[3]
1558 Edward Cordell Edmund Cockerell[3]
1559 William Wynter George Brooke alias Cobham[4]
1563 William Wynter Thomas Smythe[4]
1571 Lawrence Blundestone Henry Slater[4]
1572 Sir Henry Radclyffe Robert Colshill[4]
1584 Thomas Bodley Thomas Radcliffe[4]
1586 Thomas Harris Thomas Thorney[4]
1588 Thomas Harris Thomas Thorney[4]
1593 Edward Radclyffe Thomas Thorney[4]
1597 William Greene Thomas Thorney[4]
1601 John Moore Edward Jones[4]
1604 Sir Oliver St John Sir Richard Jenvoy
1614 John Griffith George Thorpe
1621–1622 Sir Daniel Norton Sir Benjamin Rudyerd
1624 Sir William Uvedale Sir Benjamin Rudyerd
1625 Sir Benjamin Rudyerd Sir Daniel Norton
1626 Sir James Fullerton Thomas Whatman
1628 Owen Jennens William Towerson
1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned
Year First member First party Second member Second party
April 1640 The Earl of Lanark Hon. Henry Percy[n 1] Royalist
November 1640 Hon. George Goring Royalist
1640 (?) Edward Dowse[n 2] Parliamentarian
August 1642 Goring disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1646 Edward Boote
December 1648 Boote not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge Dowce died late 1648 – seat left vacant
1653 Portsmouth was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1654 Nathaniel Whetham Portsmouth had only one seat in the First and
Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1656 Thomas Smith
January 1659 Francis Willoughby John Child
May 1659 Portsmouth was not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Richard Norton Henry Whithed
May 1660 Andrew Henley
1661 Richard Norton Sir George Carteret, Bt
February 1679 George Legge Sir John Kempthorne
August 1679 Richard Norton
1685 William Legge Henry Slingsby
1689 Richard Norton
1690 Edward Russell Nicholas Hedger
1695 Matthew Aylmer
1696 John Gibson
1698 Thomas Erle Sir George Rooke
January 1702 John Gibson
July 1702 Thomas Erle[n 3]
December 1702 William Gifford
May 1708 Thomas Erle[n 3] George Churchill Tory
December 1708 Sir Thomas Littleton, Bt
January 1710[n 4] Sir Charles Wager
October 1710 Sir John Jennings
1711 Admiral Sir James Wishart Sir William Gifford
1713 Sir Thomas Mackworth, Bt
1715 Sir Charles Wager Sir Edward Ernle, Bt
1722 Sir John Norris
1734 Thomas Lewis Philip Cavendish
1737 Charles Stewart
February 1741 Edward Vernon
May 1741 Martin Bladen
1743 Sir Charles Hardy
1744 Isaac Townsend
1746 Thomas Gore[n 5]
15 December 1747 Hon. Edward Legge[n 6] Whig
28 December 1747 Sir Edward Hawke[n 7]
1754 Sir William Rowley
1761 Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh, Bt
1774 Peter Taylor
1776 Maurice Suckling
1777 Sir William Gordon
1778 Hon. Robert Monckton
1782 Sir Henry Fetherstonhaugh, Bt Non-partisan[5]
1783 Hon. Thomas Erskine Whig[5]
1784 Hon. William Cornwallis Non-partisan[5]
1790 Whig[5] Hon. Thomas Erskine Whig[5]
1796 Lord Hugh Seymour Non-partisan[5]
1801 John Markham Whig[5]
February 1806 Hon. David Erskine
November 1806 Sir Thomas Miller, Bt Whig[5]
1816 John Bonham Carter Whig[5][6][7]
1818 Sir George Cockburn, Bt Tory[5]
1820 John Markham Whig[5]
1826 Francis Baring Whig[5][8][6][7]
1838 Sir George Thomas Staunton Whig[5][9][10]
1852 The Viscount Monck Whig
1857 Sir James Dalrymple-Horn-Elphinstone, Bt Conservative
1859 Liberal
1865 William Henry Stone Liberal Stephen Gaselee Liberal
1868 Sir James Dalrymple-Horn-Elphinstone, Bt Conservative
1874 Thomas Charles Bruce Conservative
1880 Sir Henry Drummond Wolff Conservative
1885 Sir William Crossman Liberal Philip Vanderbyl Liberal
1886 Liberal Unionist Sir Samuel Wilson Conservative
1892 Sir John Baker Liberal Walter Clough Liberal
1900 Thomas Bramsdon Liberal
1900 James Majendie Conservative Reginald Lucas Conservative
1906 Sir John Baker Liberal Thomas Bramsdon Liberal
1910 Lord Charles Beresford Conservative Sir Bertram Falle Liberal Unionist
1912 Unionist
1916 Sir Hedworth Meux Unionist
1918 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. ^ Percy was re-elected to serve in the Long Parliament but was also elected for Northumberland, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Portsmouth
  2. ^ This list follows that given by Brunton & Pennington. Cobbett lists Dowse as elected after the Civil War to replace Nicholas Weston, disabled from sitting in 1642, but Brunton & Pennington's more recent research records Weston as MP for Newtown (Isle of Wight).
  3. ^ a b Erle was also elected for Wareham, which he chose to represent, and did not for Portsmouth in this Parliament
  4. ^ On petition, the result of the 1710 election was overturned, and Wager and Jennings were declared not to have been duly elected
  5. ^ Gore was re-elected in 1747, but had also been elected for Bedford, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Portsmouth
  6. ^ It was afterwards discovered that Legge, who had been elected in his absence, had been dead some days before his election, which was declared void
  7. ^ Admiral from 1757

The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings (until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872).

Note on percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote.

Note on sources: The information for the election results given below is taken from Sedgwick 1715–1754, Namier and Brooke 1754–1790, Stooks Smith 1790–1832 and from Craig thereafter. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result.

Election results 1715–1800

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1710s – 1720s – 1730s – 1740s – 1750s – 1760s – 1770s – 1780s – 1790s

Elections in the 1710s

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  • Seat vacated when Wager was appointed to an office
  • Seat vacated when Wager was appointed to an office

Elections in the 1720s

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Elections in the 1730s

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  • Death of Lewis

Elections in the 1740s

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  • Death of Stewart
  • Seat vacated when Cavendish was appointed to an office
  • Death of Cavendish
  • Death of Hardy
  • Death of Bladen
  • Election declared void on 19 December 1747 as, unknown to anyone in England on 15 December, Legge had died on 19 September 1747.

Elections in the 1750s

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Elections in the 1760s

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  • Death of Fetherstonhaugh

Elections in the 1770s

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  • Creation of Hawke as a peer
  • Death of Taylor
  • Death of Suckling

Elections in the 1780s

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  • Death of Monckton
  • Seat vacated on the grant of a pension, at the pleasure of the Crown, to Gordon
  • Source for party: Stooks Smith

Elections in the 1790s

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  • Seymour is referred to as Hugh Seymour-Conway in the above list of members of parliament

Election results 1801–1918

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1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s

Elections in the 1800s

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  • Death of Seymour
  • The above list of members of parliament includes David Montagu Erskine as an MP in 1806, in succession to his father Thomas Erskine (who became Lord Chancellor and was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Baron Erskine in 1806). Stooks Smith does not record this election

Elections in the 1810s

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  • Death of Miller

Elections in the 1820s

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Elections in the 1830s

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Note (1837): Stooks Smith gives a registered electorate figure of 1,517; but Craig's figure is used to calculate turnout.

  • Death of Carter

Note (1838): Daniel Quarrier (Conservative) was a candidate for this by-election, but retired before the poll.

Elections in the 1840s

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Elections in the 1850s

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  • Note (1857): Number of voters unknown. The turnout is estimated by dividing the number of votes by two. To the extent that electors did not use both their votes, the figure given will be an underestimate of actual turnout.
  • Note (1859): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.

Elections in the 1860s

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  • Note (1865): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.
  • Expansion of the electorate provided for by the Reform Act 1867
  • Note (1868): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.

Elections in the 1870s

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Elections in the 1880s

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Sir John Baker

Elections in the 1890s

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Walter Clough
 
Harmsworth

Elections in the 1900s

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Bramsdon
 
Sanders

Elections in the 1910s

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Hemmerde
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Wedgwood, J.C., History of Parliament: Biographies of the Members of the Commons House, 1439–1509 (London, 1936), 1.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 131–134. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
  6. ^ a b Mosse, Richard Bartholomew (1838). The Parliamentary Guide: a concise history of the Members of both Houses, etc. pp. 138, 150. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  7. ^ a b Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. pp. 22–23, 185.
  8. ^ Gambles, Anna (1999). Protection and Politics: Conservative Economic Discourse 1815–1852. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. p. 244. ISBN 0-86193-244-7. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  9. ^ Brown, David (2010). Palmerston: A Biography. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-300-11898-8. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  10. ^ "Parliamentary Movements". Nottingham Journal. 23 February 1838. p. 2. Retrieved 30 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ a b c Salmon, Philip; Spencer, Howard. "Portsmouth". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  13. ^ "Election Intelligence". Perthshire Advertiser. 15 March 1855. p. 2. Retrieved 30 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ "The Representation of Portsmouth". Hampshire Telegraph. 20 March 1880. pp. 7–8. Retrieved 9 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
  • Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
  • British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
  • British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
  • The House of Commons 1715–1754, by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970)
  • The House of Commons 1754–1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)
  • The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973))
  • Who's Who of British members of parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
  • Who's Who of British members of parliament, Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
  • Who's Who of British members of parliament, Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
  • Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
  • 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) [2]
  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 2)