The Parliamentary representation by historic counties is summarised in this article, with links to the articles about the representation of each of the historic counties in the House of Commons of the Parliaments of England (to 1707), Great Britain (1707-1800) and the United Kingdom (from 1801).
England was divided into shires during the Anglo-Saxon period, before the Norman conquest in 1066. After the conquest these sub-divisions of the country became known as counties. There were some changes in the number and boundaries of the counties in the 11th to 13th centuries, but by the time the representatives from them (known as Knights of the Shire) were summoned to attend Parliaments from the 13th century, the list of the historic counties was fixed. The two Palatine counties of Cheshire and Durham were not represented until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries respectively, but the other historic counties each returned two county members.
In addition places (which in theory were urban areas) were created as parliamentary boroughs, from time to time starting in the thirteenth century. A place once enfranchised tended to continue to be required to send members to Parliament (known as burgesses or citizens for cities and barons for the Cinque Ports), even if it always had an insignificant population or decayed over the centuries. Although some boroughs included parts of more than one county it was customary to regard them as being associated with one county for the purpose of parliamentary representation.
The historic counties and the parliamentary boroughs within them (apart from a few boroughs straddling county boundaries which were conventionally associated with one of the historic counties) were considered as distinct communities before 1918. English counties were first divided for parliamentary purposes under the Reform Act 1832, when larger counties were divided into two divisions. However none of the county divisions crossed the historic county boundaries (except that under the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 detached parts were allocated for parliamentary purposes to the counties in which they were geographically located).
Boundary reviews were considered county by county unless, in the interests of producing more equal constituencies, two or more review areas (administrative counties and county boroughs between the redistributions of 1918 and 1974) were combined for a particular redistribution.
In 1918 Rutland, the smallest of the historic counties was joined with part of another county, but it was rare for an English constituency to cross county or county borough boundaries before the redistribution of 1983, which was based on the altered local government arrangements introduced in 1974. Since then the Boundary Commission for England has more often combined review areas to create cross border constituencies.
Although the historic counties were replaced, for most official purposes, by administrative counties in 1889; these were mostly the historic counties (with some rationalisation of borders) or well established sub-divisions of them. It was not until the local government reforms, in 1965 in the London area and 1974 elsewhere in England, that many administrative boundaries diverged in a major way from those of the historic counties. However, as the historic counties remain the focus of local patriotism it is worth continuing the lists until the present day.
The historic county of Hampshire (formerly Southamptonshire) is divided between its mainland and Isle of Wight parts. The only overlap is for the two member county constituency before 1832, which is included in the mainland entry. Otherwise the article allocates all constituencies to the historic county they are wholly or predominantly located in. Borough constituencies which were located in counties of themselves, county boroughs or unitary authorities have been allocated to the geographic historic county they were associated with even if they had had no administrative connection for centuries (the City of London and Middlesex for example).
Rutland has not provided the predominant part of any constituency since 1918, but all other historic counties have contained at least one seat until the present.
Note: Dates of representation prior to 1510 are provisional.
Historic County | 1290 | 1295 | 1298 | 1603 | 1654 | 1659 | 1683 | 1832 | 1868 | 1885 | 1918 | 1945 | 1950 | 1955 | 1974 | 1983 | 1997 | next |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bedfordshire | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
Berkshire | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
Buckinghamshire | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
Cambridgeshire | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Cheshire | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Cornwall | 1 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 4 | 23 | 23 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Cumberland | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Derbyshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Devon | 1 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Dorset | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Durham | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Essex | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Gloucestershire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Hampshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Herefordshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Hertfordshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Huntingdonshire | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Isle of Wight | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Kent | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Lancashire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Leicestershire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Lincolnshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Middlesex | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 48 | 53 | 60 | 51 | 51 | 43 | 37 | 34 | 32 |
Norfolk | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Northamptonshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Northumberland | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Nottinghamshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Oxfordshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Rutland | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Shropshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Somerset | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Staffordshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Suffolk | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Surrey | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Sussex | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Warwickshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Westmorland | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Wiltshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Worcestershire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Yorkshire | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
Historic County | 1290 | 1295 | 1298 | 1603 | 1654 | 1659 | 1683 | 1832 | 1868 | 1885 | 1918 | 1945 | 1950 | 1955 | 1974 | 1983 | 1997 | next |
Historic County | 1290 | 1295 | 1298 | 1603 | 1654 | 1659 | 1683 | 1832 | 1868 | 1885 | 1918 | 1945 | 1950 | 1955 | 1974 | 1983 | 1997 | next |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bedfordshire | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
Berkshire | 2 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
Buckinghamshire | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
Cambridgeshire | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Cheshire | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Cornwall | 2 | 12 | 12 | 46 | 11 | 46 | 46 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Cumberland | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Derbyshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Devon | 2 | 14 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 19 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Dorset | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Durham | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Essex | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Gloucestershire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Hampshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Herefordshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Hertfordshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Huntingdonshire | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Isle of Wight | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Kent | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Lancashire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Leicestershire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Lincolnshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Middlesex | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 19 | 49 | 54 | 61 | 51 | 51 | 43 | 37 | 34 | 32 |
Norfolk | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Northamptonshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Northumberland | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Nottinghamshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Oxfordshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Rutland | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Shropshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Somerset | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Staffordshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Suffolk | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Surrey | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Sussex | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Warwickshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Westmorland | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Wiltshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Worcestershire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Yorkshire | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Historic County | 1290 | 1295 | 1298 | 1603 | 1654 | 1659 | 1683 | 1832 | 1868 | 1885 | 1918 | 1945 | 1950 | 1955 | 1974 | 1983 | 1997 | next |
Caernarfon was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Caernarfon in Wales. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system.
Cambridgeshire is a former Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.
Berkshire was a parliamentary constituency in England, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. The county returned two knights of the shire until 1832 and three between 1832 and 1885.
The historic county of Middlesex in south east England was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Middlesex.
The historic county of Rutland in the east midlands of England was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Rutland.
The historic county of Cumberland in north west England was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Cumberland.
The historic county of Westmorland in north west England was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Westmorland.
The historic county of Cornwall in south-west England was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Cornwall.
The historic county of Devon in south west England was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Devon.
Monmouth Boroughs was a parliamentary constituency consisting of several towns in Monmouthshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliaments of England, Great Britain, and finally the United Kingdom; until 1832 the constituency was known simply as Monmouth, though it included other "contributory boroughs".
The historic county of Bedfordshire, located in the 21st century region of East of England, was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Bedfordshire.
The historic county of Berkshire, in the 21st century region of South East England, was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Berkshire.
The Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England, was part of the historic county of Hampshire, and was linked with it for parliamentary purposes until 1832, when it became a county constituency in its own right as it had also been during the Protectorate (1654–1659). Hampshire, located in the 21st century region of South East England, was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Isle of Wight.
The historic county of Buckinghamshire, in the 21st century region of South East England, was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Buckinghamshire.
The historic county of Cambridgeshire, located in the modern-day East of England region, has been represented in Parliament since the 13th century. This article provides the list of constituencies which have formed the parliamentary representation from Cambridgeshire.
The historic county of Huntingdonshire, located in the modern-day East of England region, has been represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the 13th century. This article provides the list of constituencies which have formed the parliamentary representation from Huntingdonshire.
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.
Flint Boroughs was a parliamentary constituency in north-east Wales which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors, from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1918 general election.
Denbigh District of Boroughs was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Denbigh in Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the British House of Commons.