Northstead is an area on the North Bay of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. The area near Newlands and Barrowcliff includes Peasholm Park and Scarborough Open Air Theatre.
In 2011, the namesake ward had a population of 4,038. [1] Since 2019 the ward no longer covers the area, with most of the old ward now in the Woodlands ward. [2]
The Manor of Northstead consisted of a medieval manor house surrounded by fields and farms in the parish of Scalby in the North Riding of Yorkshire. [3] The estate originally bordered the northern side of the ancient boundary of the Borough of Scarborough, following the line of Peasholm Beck. The estate passed into the ownership of the Crown during the reign of King Richard III (1483–1485). By 1600, the manor house had fallen into disrepair, being latterly occupied by Sir Richard Cholmeley's shepherd until it finally collapsed. [3]
The land, but not the lordship of the manor, was bought from the Crown by the Scarborough Corporation in 1921. [4] The manor house for the former estate no longer exists and the land has since been redeveloped as part of modern-day Scarborough. The site of the manor house is believed to have been covered by the lake in Peasholm Park, a municipal park opened in 1912. [4]
The ancient title of the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead persisted beyond the manor, however, being used since the 19th century as a sinecure post which plays a role in the procedure for effecting resignation from the British House of Commons.
By virtue of the fact that it became and was retained as a Lordship of the Crown beyond the sale and eventual disappearance of the estate, since the 19th century the post of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead has played a role in the procedure for effecting resignation from the British House of Commons by Members of Parliament (MPs). While no longer having any actual role or responsibility, it remains a nominal paid office of the Crown, a sort of sinecure, appointment to which is one of the things that by law disqualifies an MP from the House. This principle goes back to the Act of Settlement 1701, and is now regulated by the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975. Since 1623, MPs have not been permitted to resign their seats directly. [5] Although several such offices have been used for this purpose in the past, in the present day only two are used: the Northstead post and that of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham. [3] [4]
Most references say that the Northstead post was first used in this way on 20 March 1844 to allow Sir George Henry Rose, Member for Christchurch, to resign his seat. But the official book recording appointments to the various stewardships (lodged in The National Archives under catalogue reference E 197/1 [6] ) indicates that Patrick Chalmers, MP for Montrose Burghs, was appointed Steward of the Manor of Northstead on 6 April 1842. The writ of election for a replacement was moved as if Chalmers had been appointed to the Chiltern Hundreds. [7]
Appointments to the posts are made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Using two posts allows more than one MP to resign simultaneously, although more commonly, single resignations are effected by alternating appointments to the Northstead and Chiltern Hundreds offices. One of the most recent MPs to be appointed to the Northstead office was former Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced his decision to resign from his parliamentary seat of Witney on 12 September 2016. [8]
Sinn Féin MP Gerry Adams was appointed to the post after announcing his intention to resign from the UK Parliament to stand in the 2011 Irish general election. [9] [10] Adams denied that he had accepted the appointment, which would conflict with Sinn Féin's longstanding policy of refusing to pledge allegiance to the British Crown. [11] It was later clarified in Parliament that Adams had not "accepted" the post, but had been appointed to it on announcing his desire to resign as an MP. [12]
As a constitutional convention, members of Parliament (MPs) sitting in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom are not formally permitted to resign their seats. To circumvent this prohibition, MPs who wish to step down are instead appointed to an "office of profit under the Crown"; by law, such an appointment disqualifies them from sitting in Parliament. For this purpose, a legal fiction has been maintained where two unpaid sinecures are considered to be offices of profit: Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, and Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.
A sinecure is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval church, where it signified a post without any responsibility for the "cure [care] of souls", the regular liturgical and pastoral functions of a cleric, but came to be applied to any post, secular or ecclesiastical, that involved little or no actual work. Sinecures have historically provided a potent tool for governments or monarchs to distribute patronage, while recipients are able to store up titles and easy salaries.
The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three "hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal fictions used to effect resignation from the British House of Commons. Since Members of Parliament are not permitted to resign, they are instead appointed to an "office of profit under the Crown", which requires MPs to vacate their seats. The ancient office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, having been reduced to a mere sinecure by the 17th century, was first used by John Pitt in 1751 to vacate his seat in the House of Commons. Other titles were also later used for the same purpose, but only those of the Chiltern Hundreds and the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead are still in use.
Belfast West is a parliamentary constituency (seat) in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The current MP is Paul Maskey of Sinn Féin.
In the United Kingdom, a member of Parliament (MP) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Columba Barry McElduff is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the West Tyrone UK parliament constituency. He was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Ireland Assembly from its creation in 1998 until his election as MP in 2017. He resigned his seat on 16 January 2018 after publishing a video of himself balancing a Kingsmill loaf on his head, on the date of the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre.
John William Logan, known as Paddy Logan, was a civil engineering contractor and Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough in Leicestershire.
On 9 June 2011, a by-election was held for the United Kingdom constituency of Belfast West. The by-elected was prompted by the resignation of the constituency's Member of Parliament, Gerry Adams in advance of his candidacy in the 2011 general election in the Republic of Ireland.