Kent (UK Parliament constituency)

For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation).

Kent
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1290–1832
Seats	Two
Replaced by	Eastern Kent, Western Kent and Greenwich

Kent was a parliamentary constituency covering the county of Kent in southeast England. It returned two "knights of the shire" (Members of Parliament) to the House of Commons by the bloc vote system from the year 1290. Members were returned to the Parliament of England until the Union with Scotland created the Parliament of Great Britain in 1708, and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom after the union with Ireland in 1801 until the county was divided by the Reform Act 1832.

History

Boundaries

The constituency consisted of the historic county of Kent. (Although Kent contained eight boroughs, each of which elected two MPs in its own right for part of the period when Kent was a constituency, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and the ownership of property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election. This was even the case for the city of Canterbury, which had the status of a county in itself: unlike those in almost all other counties of cities, Canterbury's freeholders were entitled to vote for Kent's MPs.)

The constituency boundaries may have theoretically encompassed a much larger area and population than would at first appear. After the American Revolution, it was apparently solemnly argued in Parliament that the rebels' complaint of no taxation without representation was mistaken, since "all the grants of land in America were to be held of the Manor of Greenwich in the County of Kent, and therefore the Knights of the Shire for the County of Kent represented all Americans". However, this somewhat flimsy argument - relying on an obsolete legal fiction dating back to the land ownership laws of the feudal system - seems not to have been received entirely respectfully even in the 18th century, and it is certainly not recorded that Kent's returning officer was ever bothered by American colonists demanding their right to vote.

Franchise

In medieval times, the custom in Kent, as elsewhere, was for the MPs for the county and those for its boroughs to be elected on the same day at the county court, by the suitors to the court, which meant the tiny handful of the local nobility who were tenants in chief of the Crown. Thus we find it recorded that in the second year of the reign of Henry V, "In the County Court of Kent, held at Rochester, Four Coroners and Eight others present, chose the Knights for the County, and the same person elect two Citizens for Canterbury, and two for Rochester."

From 1430, the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act extended 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 in the mid 17th century, Kent had two MPs elected by the bloc vote method, under which each voter had two votes. In the nominated Barebones Parliament, five members represented Kent. In the First and Second Parliaments of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, however, there was a general redistribution of seats and Kent elected 11 members, though most of the county's boroughs lost one or both of their MPs. The traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.

Political character

At the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Kent had a population of approximately 480,000, though only between 8,000 and 9,000 of these were qualified to vote at the start of the 19th century, and fewer than 4,000 actually voted at the last contested election, in 1818. It has been estimated that in this period around a third of Kent's voters were urban, spread among a couple of dozen medium-sized and small towns: Canterbury, Maidstone, Dover, Deal, Chatham and the growing resorts of Ramsgate and Margate were the biggest, but at the election of 1802 the pollbooks show that only Canterbury (with 384 voters) contributed more than 250 to the poll.

With the villages outvoting the towns by two to one, no particular local interest predominated. By custom, the choice was generally one member from East Kent and one from West Kent. The county's MPs were generally drawn from the leading local families of gentry, but rarely from the nobility, and the voters jealously guarded their independence: although important peers wielded significant influence at times - the Earl of Westmorland and Earl of Winchelsea at the turn of the 18th century for example, the Duke of Dorset sixty years later - it always fell far short of control over the outcome.

Elections were held at a single polling place, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise. 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 fighting an election substantial. Contested elections were therefore rare in most counties, but Kent was something of an exception: voters went to the polls at 14 of the 29 general elections between 1700 and 1832, a total exceeded only by Surrey among the other English counties.

Those elections which were contested seem rarely to have been decided on party lines, and too great an adherence to party loyalty by the MPs was sometimes resented. The voters also expected the solicitous attention of their members. Jupp reprints the resolutions passed by a County meeting of Kent freeholders in 1820:

1. That it is essential to the honour and credit of this County, that it should be represented by two gentlemen constantly resident therein.
2. That it is the opinion of this Meeting that this county was in the last Parliament very inefficiently represented by one of its members, inasmuch as his residence was elsewhere, and the Freeholders were thereby deprived of that easy access and free communication which are essential between the constituent and the representative.
3. That it is the opinion of this meeting that the conduct of a County member in Parliament should be at all times marked by independence, equally free from subserviency to any Administration and unshackled by any Party indiscriminately hostile thereto.
4. That we cannot recognise in Mr Honywood's uniform opposition to every measure recently proposed in Parliament, for the purpose of restraining the career of sedition, blasphemy and crime, the influence of that elevated spirit, which should direct the actions of an independent representative for this great and enlightened County.

These sentiments were clearly not held universally, however, since the apostrophised Mr Honywood was re-elected at that year's election.

Abolition

The constituency was abolished in 1832 by the Great Reform Act, being divided into two two-member county divisions, Eastern Kent and Western Kent.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1290–1660

• Constituency created (1290)

Parliament	First member	Second member
1372	James Peckham
1376–1388	Sir Thomas Fogg
1377 (Oct)	James Peckham	John Freningham
1378	Sir Thomas Fogg
1380 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Fogg	William Guildford [1]
1381	John Freningham	Sir Thomas Fogg
1383 (Feb)	James Peckham	Sir Thomas Fogg
1383 (Oct)	Sir Thomas Fogg
1384 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Fogg	William Guildford [2]
1386	William Bettenham [3]	Geoffrey Chaucer [3]
1388 (Feb)	Sir Thomas Fogg [3]	James Peckham [3]
1388 (Sep)	William Bettenham [3]
1390 (Jan)	Sir Arnold Savage [3]	John Cobham [3]
1390 (Nov)		Sir Thomas Cobham [3]
1391		Nicholas Potyn [3]
1393	Sir William Burcester [3]
1394	Sir William Pecche [3]	John Cobham [3]
1395	Sir Nicholas Haute [3]	Thomas Brockhill [3]
1397 (Jan)	Nicholas Potyn [3]
1397 (Sep)	Sir William Pecche [3]	John Cobham [3]
1399	John Freningham [3]	Thomas Brockhill [3]
1401	Sir Arnold Savage [3]	Robert Clifford [3]
1402		Thomas Brockhill [3]
1404 (Jan)		Sir Reynold Braybrooke [3]
1404 (Oct)	Sir Thomas Clinton	Henry Horne [3]
1406	Richard Clitheroe [3]	Robert Clifford [3]
1407		John Darell [3]
1410	returns lost
1411	Reynold Pympe [3]	William Nutbeam [3]
1413 (Feb)	returns lost
1413 (May)	John Darell [3]	John Butler I [3]
1414 (Apr)		Sir Thomas Clinton [3]
1414 (Nov)	Sir Arnold Savage II [3]	Robert Clifford [3]
1415	returns lost
1416 (Mar)	William Cheyne [3]	John Wilcotes [3]
1416 (Oct)	returns lost
1417	John Darell [3]	Roger Rye [3]
1419	William Haute [3]	Edward Guildford [3]
1420	William Rickhill [3]	Thomas Town [3]
1421 (May)	returns lost
1421 (Dec)	Thomas Ellis [3]	Roger Honyton [3]
1422	Geoffrey Lowther	Reginald Lowther
1426	Edward Guildford
1430	William Scott
1435	Edward Guildford
1445–1446	Thomas Browne
1449	John Cheyne
1450	William Haute
1455	Gervase Clifton	Sir Thomas Kyriell [4]
1461–1462	Sir John Fogge	Sir Thomas Kyriell [4]
1463–1465	Sir John Fogge
1467	Sir John Scott
1478	Sir John Fogge
1483	Sir John Fogge
1489-1495	Sir Richard Guildford (3 times)	[5]
1510	No names known [6]
1512	?Sir Edward Poynings	? [6]
1515	?Sir Thomas Nevill	? [6]
1523	?
1529	Sir Edward Guildford, died and replaced Oct 1534 by Sir John Dudley	Sir Henry Guildford [6]
1536	?Thomas Cromwell	? [6]
1539	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Gregory Cromwell [6]
1542	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Sir Thomas Wyatt, died and replaced Jan 1543 by Sir John Guildford [6]
1545	Sir Thomas Cheyne	George Harper [6]
1547	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Sir Thomas Wyatt II [6]
1553 (Mar)	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Sir Henry Sidney [6]
1553 (Oct)	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Sir Robert Southwell [6]
1554 (Apr)	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Sir John Baker [6]
1554 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Sir John Baker [6]
1555	Sir John Baker	Sir Robert Southwell [6]
1558	Sir Thomas Cheyne	Sir John Baker [6]
1558–9	Sir Anthony St. Leger I	Sir Richard Sackville, sat for Sussex, repl. Feb 1559 by Sir Thomas Kempe [7]
1562–3	Sir Henry Sidney	Sir Henry Cheyne [7]
1571	Sir Thomas Scott	Sir Henry Sidney [7]
1572	Sir Henry Sidney	Sir Thomas Scott [7]
1584 (Nov)	Sir Philip Sidney	Edward Wotton [7]
1586 (Oct)	Sir Henry Brooke alias Cobham I	Sir Thomas Scott [7]
1588 (Oct)	Henry Brooke alias Cobham II	Sir Henry Brooke alias Cobham I [7]
1593	Sir Edward Hoby	Moyle Finch [7]
1597 (Sep)	Sir Robert Sidney	Sir William Brooke alias Cobham, killed in duel and replaced Jan 1598 by Percival Hart [7]
1601	Francis Fane	Sir Henry Nevill
Parliament of 1604-1611	Sir John Scott	John Leveson
Addled Parliament (1614)	Sir Peter Manwood	Sir Thomas Walsingham
Parliament of 1621-1622	Viscount Lisle	Sir George Fane
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)	Nicholas Tufton	Sir Edwin Sandys
Useless Parliament (1625)	Mildmay Fane	Sir Albertus Morton
Parliament of 1625-1626	Sir Edward Hales	Sir Edward Scott
Parliament of 1628-1629	Thomas Finch	Sir Dudley Diggs
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

MPs 1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Norton Knatchbull			Sir Roger Twysden
November 1640		Sir John Colepeper	Royalist		Sir Edward Dering	Royalist
1642					Augustine Skinner
January 1644	Colepeper disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1645		John Boys
December 1648	Boys excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant
1653	Kent had five members in the Barebones Parliament: Viscount Lisle, Thomas Blount, William Kenrick, William Cullen, Andrew Broughton
1654	Kent had 11 members in the First Protectorate Parliament: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Sir Henry Vane (senior), Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, Augustine Skinner, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden
1656	Kent had 11 members in the Second Protectorate Parliament: Henry Oxenden, Richard Meredith, Sir Thomas Style, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden
January 1659		Sir Thomas Style			William James
May 1659		Augustine Skinner		One seat vacant
April 1660		Sir Edward Dering			Sir John Tufton
1661		Sir Thomas Peyton
1679		Sir Vere Fane			(Sir) Edward Dering [8]
1685		Sir William Twysden			Sir John Knatchbull
1689		Sir Vere Fane
1691		Sir Thomas Roberts
1695					Philip Sydney
1698		Sir James Oxenden			Sir Stephen Lennard
January 1701		Sir Thomas Hales			Thomas Meredith
December 1701					William Campion
1702					Sir Francis Leigh
1705		Sir Cholmeley Dering, Bt	Tory		Viscount Villiers
1708		Sir Thomas Palmer			Sir Stephen Lennard, Bt
January 1710 by-election					David Polhill
October 1710		Sir Cholmeley Dering, Bt	Tory		Percival Hart
1711 by-election		Sir William Hardres
1713		Sir Edward Knatchbull, 4th Bt
February 1715		Mildmay Fane			William Delaune
September 1715 by-election		Colonel the Hon. John Fane
1722		Sir Edward Knatchbull, 4th Bt			Sir Thomas Twisden	Tory
1727		Sir Roger Meredith			Sir Robert Furnese	Whig
1733 by-election					Sir Edward Dering	Tory
1734		The Viscount Vane
1735 by-election		Sir Christopher Powell	Whig
1741		Sir Roger Twisden	Tory
1754		Hon. Lewis Watson	Whig		Hon. Robert Fairfax
1760 by-election		Sir Wyndham Knatchbull-Wyndham, 6th Bt	Whig
1763 by-election		Sir Brook Bridges	Whig
1768					John Frederick Sackville
1769 by-election					Sir Charles Farnaby
1774		Hon. Charles Marsham			Thomas Knight, junior
1780					Filmer Honywood
1790		Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt
1796					Sir William Geary, Bt	Tory
1802		Filmer Honywood	Whig
1806		Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt	Tory		William Honywood	Whig
1812					Sir William Geary, Bt	Tory
1818					William Philip Honywood	Whig
1819 by-election		Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Bt	Tory
1830					Thomas Law Hodges	Whig
1831		Thomas Rider	Whig
1832	Constituency abolished: see Eastern Kent, Western Kent

Notes

1. "GUILDFORD, (D.1448/9), of Halden in Rolvenden, Kent. | History of Parliament Online".
2. "GUILDFORD, (D.1448/9), of Halden in Rolvenden, Kent. | History of Parliament Online".
3. Woodger, L. S. (1993). "Kent". In Clark, Linda; Rawcliffe, Carole; Roskell, J. S. (eds.). The House of Commons 1386-1421. The History of Parliament Trust.
4. Curry, Anne. "Kyriell, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50135.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. Cavill. The English Parliaments of Henry VII 1485-1504.
6. "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 16 September 2011.
7. "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 16 September 2011.
8. Succeeded to baronetcy, June 1684

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)
• John Cannon, Parliamentary Reform 1640-1832 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
• Peter Jupp, British and Irish Elections 1784-1831 (Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1973)
• F D MacKinnon, On Circuit (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940), quoted in Michael Gilbert (ed.), The Oxford Book of Legal Anecdotes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989)
• 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)
• Charles Henry Parry (ed), The Parliaments and Councils of England (London: John Murray, 1839)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Robert Walcott, English Politics in the Early Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956)
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)