| Stamford | |
| Type: | Borough |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1295 |
| Abolished: | 1885 |
| Elects Howmany: | one |
| Previous: | Lincolnshire |
| Next: | Stamford |
| Elects Howmany2: | two (until 1868), one (1868-1885) |
| Stamford (or South Kesteven) division of Lincolnshire | |
| Type: | County |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1885 |
| Abolished: | 1918 |
| Elects Howmany: | one |
| Previous: | Stamford |
| Next: | Rutland and Stamford |
Stamford was a constituency in the county of Lincolnshire of the House of Commons for the Parliament of England to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868 when this was reduced to one.
The parliamentary borough was based upon the town of Stamford in the Parts of Kesteven (a traditional sub-division of the county of Lincolnshire).
When the borough constituency was abolished in 1885, the Stamford (or South Kesteven) division of Lincolnshire was created. This included the town of Stamford and surrounding territory. The county division was a considerably larger constituency than the borough one had been.
From the 1885 general election until the dissolution before the 1918 election the constituency was surrounded by to the north Sleaford; to the east Spalding; to the south east Wisbech; to the south North Northamptonshire; to the south west Rutland; to the west Melton and to the north west Newark. The constituency of Grantham was an enclave wholly surrounded by Stamford.
The Victoria County History of the County of Lincoln includes some information about the representation of Stamford in early times.
Stamford, on the other hand, which had sent Nicholas de Burton and Clement de Melton to the Parliament of 1295, only exercised what its burghers probably regarded as an onerous privilege once in the reign of Edward II when in 1322 it elected Eustace Malherbe and Hugh de Thurleby.
A further paragraph relates the position before and after the borough began to send representatives regularly in 1467.
Stamford for some 150 years after the reign of Edward II apparently forbore to exercise its onerous privilege of returning members. In the seventeenth century it was afflicted with the usual controversy prevalent in small communities as to where the right of election lay, and the Committee of Privileges reported in 1661 'That the right of election was in such freemen only as paid scot and lot'.
Sedgwick explained in The House of Commons 1715-1754 that before 1727 the Bertie and Cecil families each nominated one member. From 1727 the Cecil interest controlled both seats. An attempt was made by Savile Cust in 1734 to establish an electoral interest in the borough,[1] but when this failed the Cecils were left with a secure pocket borough.
Namier and Brooke in The House of Commons 1754-1790 confirmed that before the Reform Act 1832 the right of election was in the inhabitants of the parliamentary borough paying scot and lot, a local tax. They estimated the number of voters at about 500 (unchanged from Sedgwick's estimate for the earlier part of the century). In 1754–1790, despite the comparatively large electorate, the constituency was under the control of the Earl of Exeter (the head of the senior branch of the House of Cecil) and elections were uncontested formalities.
The Reform Act replaced the scot and lot franchise with an occupation franchise, which slightly reduced the size of the electorate. This was because the value of the property occupation of which conferred a vote, was higher than that for houses upon which scot and lot became payable.
The area was strongly Tory or Conservative in politics. From 1801 until 1918 it only twice elected an MP from other parties (a Whig in 1831 and a Liberal in 1880). Elections before the 1874 United Kingdom general election were usually uncontested.
The borough had some distinguished representatives in the 19th century. It returned two of the three members of the triumvirate which attempted to lead the protectionist Tories in the House of Commons. The Marquess of Granby had little to commend himself as a political leader, apart from the social prestige of being the heir to the Duke of Rutland. He was briefly sole leader in 1848 before the triumvirate was created in the following year and continued until his resignation in 1851. John Charles Herries had at least held senior ministerial office. Both the Stamford MPs were easily eclipsed by the rising star of their colleague Benjamin Disraeli.
A more significant historical figure was Lord Robert Cecil (Viscount Cranborne 1865–1868) who represented the borough between 1853 and 1868. As the Marquess of Salisbury he was the leading figure in the Conservative Party from the death of Disraeli in 1881 until he retired as Prime Minister in 1902.
Another leading Conservative with connections to the borough was Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt the party leader in the House of Commons 1876-1885 (from 1881 at the same time as Salisbury was leader in the House of Lords). Northcote was a Stamford MP from 1858 to 1866.
Under the Reform Act 1867 the borough electorate was expanded, but it lost one seat in Parliament from the 1868 United Kingdom general election.
The Representation of the People Act 1884 further expanded the electorate. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 abolished the borough constituency but created an expanded county division of the same name. These changes took effect with the 1885 United Kingdom general election.
Under the Representation of the People Act 1918 the electorate was again expanded, but the Stamford area was combined with the county of Rutland in a new Rutland and Stamford constituency.
After this date no members were returned for a considerable period.
| Year | First member | Second member | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1485 | Christopher Browne [3] | ||
| 1489 | Christopher Browne | ||
| 1495 | Christopher Browne | ||
| 1510 | David Cecil | Francis Browne[4] | |
| 1512 | David Cecil | William Hussey | |
| 1515 | David Cecil | George Kirkham | |
| 1523 | David Cecil | Maurice Johnson | |
| 1529 | John Hardgrave | Maurice Johnson | |
| 1536 | Henry Lacy | Maurice Johnson | |
| 1539 | Richard Cecil | Kenelm Digby | |
| 1542 | Henry Lacy | John Allen | |
| 1545 | Henry Lacy | Leonard Irby | |
| 1547 | William Cecil | John Allen | |
| 1553 (Mar) | Richard Cooke | Robert Lacy | |
| 1553 (Oct) | Thomas Heneage | John Allen | |
| 1554 (Apr) | John Allen | Roland Durrant | |
| 1554 (Nov) | John Fenton | Henry Lee [5] | |
| 1555 | Francis Yaxley[6] | Francis Thorneff | |
| 1558 | Francis Thorneff | John Houghton | |
| 1559 | William Cooke | John Houghton[7] | |
| 1562–3 | Thomas Cecil | Francis Thorneff | |
| 1571 | Thomas Cecil | Michael Lewis | |
| 1572 | Thomas Cecil | Francis Harington | |
| 1584 | Robert Wingfield | George Lynne | |
| 1586 | William Cecil, Lord Burghley | Robert Wingfield | |
| 1588–9 | William Cecil,Lord Burghley | Robert Wingfield | |
| 1593 | Robert Wingfield | Richard Shute | |
| 1597 | Robert Wingfield | Thomas Balgaye[8] | |
| 1601 | Robert Wingfield | ||
| 1604 | Henry Hall | ||
| 1614 | John Jay | ||
| 1621 | John Wingfield | ||
| 1624 | |||
| 1625 | John St Amand | ||
| 1626 | Brian Palmes | ||
| 1628-1629 | |||
| 1629–1640 | No Parliaments convened | ||
| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1640 | Thomas Hatton | ||||||
| November 1640 | Geoffrey Palmer | Royalist | Thomas Hatcher | Parliamentarian | |||
| September 1642 | Palmer disabled to sit - seat vacant | ||||||
| 1645 | John Weaver | < | -- party --> | ||||
| December 1648 | Hatcher excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant | ||||||
| 1653 | Stamford was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament | ||||||
| 1654 | John Weaver | < | -- party --> | Stamford had only one seat in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | |||
| 1656 | |||||||
| January 1659 | Christopher Clapham | ||||||
| May 1659 | Not represented in the restored Rump | ||||||
| April 1660 | John Hatcher | Francis Wingfield | |||||
| 1661 | William Stafford | William Montagu | < | -- party --> | |||
| 1665 | Hon. Peregrine Bertie | Tory | |||||
| 1677 | Henry Noel | Tory | |||||
| 1678 | Hon. Charles Bertie | Tory | |||||
| 1679 | Sir Richard Cust, Bt. | William Hyde | |||||
| 1685 | Hon. Peregrine Bertie | Tory | Hon. Charles Bertie | < | -- party --> | ||
| 1689 | William Hyde | ||||||
| 1694 | Hon. Philip Bertie | ||||||
| 1698 | Hon. William Cecil | ||||||
| 1705 | Charles Cecil | < | -- party --> | ||||
| 1711 | Charles Bertie | Tory | |||||
| March 1722 | Hon. Brownlow Cecil | ||||||
| October 1722 | William Noel | < | -- party --> | ||||
| 1727 | Robert Shirley | ||||||
| 1734 | John Proby | ||||||
| June 1747 | John Proby, junior[9] | < | -- party --> | Lord Burghley[10] | |||
| December 1747 | Robert Barbor | Non partisan | |||||
| 1754 | Non partisan | ||||||
| 1761 | Non partisan | Non partisan | |||||
| 1765 by-election | Non partisan | ||||||
| 1768 | Lieutenant-General (Sir) George Howard[11] | Non partisan | |||||
| 1774 | Non partisan | ||||||
| 1790 | The Earl of Carysfort[12] | Non partisan | |||||
| 1796 by-election | Lieutenant-General John Leland[13] | Tory[14] | |||||
| 1801 by-election | Tory | ||||||
| 1808 by-election | Tory | ||||||
| 1809 by-election | Tory | ||||||
| 1812 | The Lord Henniker | Tory | |||||
| 1818 | Tory | Tory | |||||
| 1826 | Tory | ||||||
| 1831 | Whig | ||||||
| 1832 | Tory | Tory | |||||
| 1834 | Conservative | Conservative | |||||
| 1837 | Conservative | ||||||
| 1838 by-election | Conservative | ||||||
| 1847 | Conservative | ||||||
| 1852 | Conservative | ||||||
| 1853 by-election | Lord Robert Cecil[15] | Conservative | |||||
| March 1858 by-election | Conservative | ||||||
| July 1858 by-election | Conservative | ||||||
| 1866 by-election | Conservative | ||||||
| May 1868 by-election | Conservative | ||||||
| June 1868 by-election | Conservative | ||||||
| 1868 | Reform Act 1867 constituency reduced to one seat | ||||||
| Election | Member | Party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1868 | Conservative | |||||
| 1880 | Liberal | |||||
| 1885: Borough constituency abolished. Name transferred to county division | ||||||
| 1885 | Conservative | |||||
| 1890 by-election | Conservative | |||||
| 1895 | Conservative | |||||
| 1906 | Conservative | |||||
| 1910 | Conservative | |||||
| 1918 | constituency abolished | |||||
Notes
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 Namier and Brooke 1754–1790, Stooks Smith 1790-1832 and Craig from the 1832 United Kingdom general election. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result.
Dates of Parliaments 1660-1715
| Summoned | Elected | Opened | Dismissed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 March 1660 | 1660 | 25 April 1660 | 29 December 1660 |
| 18 February 1661 | 1661 | 8 May 1661 | 24 January 1679 |
| 25 January 1679 | 1679 | 6 March 1679 | 12 July 1679 |
| 24 July 1679 | 1679–1680 | 21 October 1680 | 18 January 1681 |
| 20 January 1681 | 1681 | 21 March 1681 | 28 March 1681 |
| 14 February 1685 | 1685 | 19 May 1685 | 2 July 1687 |
| 29 December 1688 | 1688–1689 | 22 January 1689 | 6 February 1690 |
| 6 February 1690 | 1690 | 20 March 1690 | 11 October 1695 |
| 12 October 1695 | 1695 | 22 November 1695 | 6 July 1698 |
| 13 July 1698 | 1698 | 24 August 1698 | 19 December 1700 |
| 26 December 1700 | 1700–1701 | 6 February 1701 | 11 November 1701 |
| 3 November 1701 | 1701 | 30 December 1701 | 2 July 1702 |
| 2 July 1702 | 1702 | 20 August 1702 | 5 April 1705 |
| 1705 | 7 May-6 June 1705 | 14 June 1705 | see Note |
| 1707 | see Note | 23 October 1707 | 3 April 1708 |
| 1708 | 30 April-7 July 1708 | 8 July 1708 | 21 September 1710 |
| 1710 | 2 October-16 November 1710 | 25 November 1710 | 8 August 1713 |
| 1713 | 22 August-12 November 1713 | 12 November 1713 | 15 January 1715 |
Note:-
| 1710s –1720s –1730s –1740s – 1750s – 1760s –1770s –1780s –1790s |
| 1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s |
Note (1812): Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for two days
Note (1818): Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for one day
Note (1830): Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for four days
Note (1831): Stooks Smith records that the polls were open for three days
Note (1837): Rowley retired before the poll.
Note (1847): Stooks Smith has a registered electorate figure of 613, but Craig's figure of 616 is used to calculate turnout.
Lawrance resigned after being appointed a Judge of the Queen's Bench division of the High Court of Justice, causing a by-election.
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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;