List of constituencies enfranchised and disfranchised by the Reform Act 1832

This is a list of changes made to constituencies of England and Wales by the Reform Act 1832. Boundaries of the constituencies were defined by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832.

Reduced representation

Disenfranchised and rotten boroughs

The following 56 parliamentary boroughs, in England, were completely disenfranchised by the Act. ^[1] They had all returned two members except for Higham Ferrers, which was a single member constituency. The disenfranchised boroughs lost all independent legislative representation; instead the inhabitants could vote only as part of the county electorate.^{[ citation needed ]}

Aldborough, North Riding of Yorkshire Aldeburgh, Suffolk Amersham, Buckinghamshire Appleby, Westmorland Beeralston, Devon Bishop's Castle, Shropshire Bletchingley, Surrey Boroughbridge, North Riding of Yorkshire Bossiney, Cornwall Brackley, Northamptonshire Bramber, Sussex Callington, Cornwall Camelford, Cornwall Castle Rising, Norfolk Corfe Castle, Dorset Downton, Wiltshire Dunwich, Suffolk East Grinstead, Sussex East Looe, Cornwall Fowey, Cornwall Gatton, Surrey Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire Haslemere, Surrey Hedon, East Riding of Yorkshire Heytesbury, Wiltshire Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire Hindon, Wiltshire Ilchester, Somerset

Lostwithiel, Cornwall Ludgershall, Wiltshire Milborne Port, Somerset Minehead, Somerset Mitchell, or St Michael's, Cornwall New Romney, Kent Newport, Cornwall Newton, Lancashire Newtown, Isle of Wight Okehampton, Devon Old Sarum, Wiltshire Orford, Suffolk Plympton Erle, Devon Queenborough, Kent Saltash, Cornwall Seaford, Sussex St Germans, Cornwall St Mawes, Cornwall Steyning, Sussex Stockbridge, Hampshire Tregony, Cornwall West Looe, Cornwall Wendover, Buckinghamshire Weobley, Herefordshire Whitchurch, Hampshire Winchelsea, Sussex Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire Yarmouth, Isle of Wight

Halved representation

The following thirty boroughs were reduced from two MPs to one. The applicable county or well-recognised part of a county in 1832 (in the case of the Ridings of Yorkshire and the Isle of Wight, which was part of Hampshire) is given. Some places were moved to other administrative counties in the 1973-74 local-government changes—e.g., Christchurch moved from Hampshire to Dorset.^{[ citation needed ]}

Arundel, Sussex Ashburton, Devon Calne, Wiltshire Christchurch, Hampshire Clitheroe, Lancashire Dartmouth, Devon Droitwich, Worcestershire Eye, Suffolk Grimsby, Lincolnshire Helston, Cornwall Horsham, Sussex Hythe, Kent Launceston, Cornwall Liskeard, Cornwall Lyme Regis, Dorset

Malmesbury, Wiltshire Midhurst, Sussex Morpeth, Northumberland Northallerton, North Riding of Yorkshire Petersfield, Hampshire Reigate, Surrey Rye, Sussex Shaftesbury, Dorset St Ives, Cornwall Thirsk, North Riding of Yorkshire Wallingford, Berkshire Wareham, Dorset Westbury, Wiltshire Wilton, Wiltshire Woodstock, Oxfordshire

Weymouth & Melcombe Regis, Dorset had jointly elected 4 MPs; this was reduced to 2.^{[ citation needed ]}

New enfranchisements in England

The following boroughs were enfranchised:

English boroughs given one MP (19)

Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire Bury, Lancashire Chatham, Kent Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Dudley, Worcestershire Frome, Somerset Gateshead, County Durham Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire Kendal, Westmorland Kidderminster, Worcestershire

Rochdale, Lancashire Salford, Lancashire South Shields, County Durham Tynemouth, Northumberland Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire Walsall, Staffordshire Warrington, Lancashire Whitby, North Riding of Yorkshire Whitehaven, Cumberland.

English boroughs given two MPs (22)

Birmingham, Warwickshire Blackburn, Lancashire Bolton, Lancashire Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire Brighton, Sussex Devonport, Devon Finsbury, Middlesex Greenwich, Kent Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire Lambeth, Surrey Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire

Macclesfield, Cheshire Manchester, Lancashire Marylebone, Middlesex Oldham, Lancashire Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire Stockport, Cheshire Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Stroud, Gloucestershire Sunderland, County Durham Tower Hamlets, Middlesex Wolverhampton, Staffordshire

English counties given two divisions (26)

The following county constituencies were divided into two districts, each with two MPs:

Cheshire, divided between Cheshire Northern and Cheshire Southern Cornwall, divided between Cornwall Eastern and Cornwall Western Cumberland, divided between Cumberland Eastern and Cumberland Western Derbyshire, divided between Derbyshire Northern and Derbyshire Southern Devon, divided between Devon Northern and Devon Southern Durham County, divided between Durham Northern and Durham Southern Essex, divided between Essex Northern and Essex Southern Gloucestershire, divided between Gloucestershire Eastern and Gloucestershire Western Hampshire, divided between Hampshire Northern and Hampshire Southern Kent, divided between Kent Eastern and Kent Western Lancashire, divided between Lancashire Northern and Lancashire Southern Leicestershire, divided between Leicestershire Northern and Leicestershire Southern Lincolnshire, divided between Lincolnshire Parts of Kesteven and Holland and Lincolnshire Parts of Lindsey Norfolk, divided between Norfolk Eastern and Norfolk Western Northamptonshire, divided between Northamptonshire Northern and Northamptonshire Southern Northumberland, divided between Northumberland Northern and Northumberland Southern Nottinghamshire, divided between Nottinghamshire Northern and Nottinghamshire Southern Shropshire, divided between Shropshire Northern and Shropshire Southern Somerset, divided between Somerset Eastern and Somerset Western Staffordshire, divided between Staffordshire Northern and Staffordshire Southern Suffolk, divided between Suffolk Eastern and Suffolk Western Surrey, divided between Surrey Eastern and Surrey Western Sussex, divided between Sussex Eastern and Sussex Western Warwickshire, divided between Warwickshire Northern and Warwickshire Southern Wiltshire, divided between Wiltshire Northern and Wiltshire Southern Worcestershire, divided between Worcestershire Eastern and Worcestershire Western

Other changes to English counties

The Isle of Wight, having had two of its three small boroughs disenfranchised, was given its first single MP for the whole area. It had formed part of Hampshire.^{[ citation needed ]}

Yorkshire, which had four MPs, was given two MPs for each of the three ridings, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Riding of Yorkshire and West Riding of Yorkshire.^{[ citation needed ]}

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire were now to have three MPs instead of two.^{[ citation needed ]}

Wales

Carmarthenshire, Glamorganshire and Denbighshire increased from 1 seat each to 2.

Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil became new (one-member) Boroughs.

References

1. "The History of Politics: The Rotten Boroughs of England". Julia Herdman Books. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2019.