Parliamentary representation from Berkshire

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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.

Historic counties of England Geographical designations for areas of England, based on historical traditions

The historic counties of England are areas that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Anglo-Saxons and others. They are alternatively known as ancient counties, traditional counties, former counties or simply as counties. In the centuries that followed their establishment, as well as their administrative function, the counties also helped define local culture and identity. This role continued even after the counties ceased to be used for administration after the creation of administrative counties in 1889, which were themselves amended by further local government reforms in the years following.

Berkshire County of England

Berkshire is one of the home counties in England. It was recognised by the Queen as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974. Berkshire is a county of historic origin, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. The county town is Reading.

South East England region of England in United Kingdom

South East England is the most populous of the nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. As with the other regions of England, apart from Greater London, the south east has no elected government.

Contents

In 1889 Berkshire became an administrative county. In 1974 a new shire county of Berkshire lost the Abingdon area to Oxfordshire, while the Slough district was transferred from Buckinghamshire. In 1997 the ceremonial county of Berkshire was divided between several unitary authorities.

A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national government.

The first part of this article covers the constituencies wholly or predominantly within the area of the historic county of Berkshire, both before and after the administrative changes of 1889, 1974 and 1997. The second part refers to constituencies mostly in another historic county, which included some territory from the historic county of Berkshire. The summaries section only refers to the constituencies included in the first section of the constituency list.

List of constituencies

Article names are followed by (UK Parliament constituency). The constituencies which existed in 1707 were those previously represented in the Parliament of England.

Parliament of England historic legislature of the Kingdom of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England, existing from the early 13th century until 1707, when it merged with the Parliament of Scotland to become the Parliament of Great Britain after the political union of England and Scotland created the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Key to abbreviations:-

Constituencies wholly or predominantly in the historic county

ConstituencyTypeFromToMPsNotes
Abingdon BC (1558–1885) 1558 1983 1 B1, B2, O
CC (1885–1983)
Berkshire CC 1290 1885 2 (1290–1654) B1
5 (1654–1659)
2 (1659–1832)
3 (1832–1885)
East Berkshire CC 1983 1997 1 B3
Bracknell CC 1997 * 1 B3
Maidenhead CC 1997 * 1 B
Newbury CC 1885 * 1 B1, B2, B3
Reading BC 1295 1950 2 (1295–1654) B1, B2: Includes Parliamentary Borough of Reading
article for pre-1885.
1 (1654–1659)
2 (1659–1885)
1 (1885–1950)
BC 1955 1974 1
Reading East CC (1983–1997) 1983 * 1 B3
BC (1997–*)
Reading North BC 1950 1955 1 B2, B3
1974 1983
Reading South BC 1950 1955 1 B2, B3
CC 1974 1983
Reading West CC 1983 * 1 B3
Wallingford BC 1295 1885 2 (1295–1832) B1: Unrepresented 1654–1659
1 (1832–1885)
Windsor BC 1302 By 1377 2 B1, B2, B3: Including New Windsor. Unrepresented
1654–1659. Includes part of the historic
counties of Buckinghamshire and Middlesex from 1997.
BC (1424–1918) 1424 1974 2 (1424–1868)
CC (1918–1974) 1 (1868–1974)
CC 1997 * 1
Windsor and Maidenhead CC 1974 1997 1 B3: Includes part of historic county of Buckinghamshire
from 1983.
Wokingham CC 1885 1918 1 B1, B2, B3
1950 *

Constituencies mostly in another historic county

ConstituencyTypeFromToMPsNotes
Oxford West and Abingdon CC 1983 * 1 O: Includes the Abingdon area.
Wantage CC 1983 * 1 O: Includes the Wallingford area.

Periods constituencies represented

 1290–12951295–13021302–<1377<1377–14241424–15581558–16541654–16591659–1832
Abingdon   1558–1983
Berkshire 1290–1885
Reading   1295–1950
Wallingford   1295–1654  1659–1885
Windsor   1302–<1377  1424–1654  1659–1974
 1832–18851885–19181918–19501950–19551955–19741974–19831983–19971997–*
Abingdon 1558–1983 
Berkshire 1290–1885 
East Berkshire   1983–1997 
Bracknell   1997–*
Maidenhead   1997–*
Newbury   1885–*
Oxford West and Abingdon   1983–*
Reading 1295–1950  1955–1974 
Reading East   1983–*
Reading North   1950–1955  1974–1983 
Reading South   1950–1955  1974–1983 
Reading West   1983–*
Wallingford 1659–1885 
Wantage   1983–*
Windsor 1659–1974  1997–*
Windsor and Maidenhead   1974–1997 
Wokingham   1885–1918  1950–*

Summaries

Summary of Constituencies by Type and Period

Type129012951302<13771424155816541659183218681885191819501955197419831997
Borough – 2 3 2 3 4 2 4 4 4 2 1 2 1 1 – 1
County 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 4 4 5 6 6
Total 1 3 4 3 4 5 3 5 5 5 5 4 6 5 6 6 7

Summary of members of parliament by Type and Period

Type129012951302<13771424155816541659183218681885191819501955197419831997
Borough – 4 6 4 6 7 2 7 6 5 2 1 2 1 1 – 1
County 2 2 2 2 2 2 5 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 6
Total 2 6 8 6 8 9 7 9 9 8 5 4 6 5 6 6 7

See also

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, Great Britain (1707-1800) and the United Kingdom.

First Protectorate Parliament

The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House.

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References

Lewis Namier British historian

Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (1929), England in the Age of the American Revolution (1930) and the History of Parliament series he edited later in his life with John Brooke.

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