Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency)

Suffolk
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1290–1832
Seats	two
Replaced by	East Suffolk and West Suffolk

Suffolk was a County constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1290 to 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons until 1832, when it was split into two divisions.

History

Boundaries and franchise

The constituency consisted of the historic county of Suffolk. (Although Suffolk contained a number of boroughs, each of which elected two MPs in its own right, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election.)

As in other county constituencies the franchise between 1430 and 1832 was defined by the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act, which gave 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, Suffolk had two MPs elected by the bloc vote method, under which each voter had two votes. (In the nominated Barebones Parliament, five members represented Suffolk; in the First and Second Parliaments of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, there was a general redistribution of seats and Suffolk elected ten members. The traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.)

Political character

Elections were held at a single polling place, Ipswich, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise, which made elections almost prohibitively expensive in a county as big as Suffolk. The inconvenience of holding the elections in Ipswich, situated in one corner of the county, is emphasised by the fact that for almost all other county purposes, including the Assizes, Suffolk was divided into two sections with proceedings held at Bury St Edmunds as well as Ipswich; the arrangement must certainly have worked to the benefit of candidates whose voting strength was in East Suffolk rather than West Suffolk. It was normal for voters to expect the candidates for whom they voted to meet their expenses in travelling to the poll, and to "entertain" them – in other words provide free food and alcoholic drink – when they arrived.

Peter Jupp includes in his collection of documents relating to elections round the turn of the 19th century a contemporary account of the Suffolk election of 1790, one of the rare contested elections, which well illustrates the arrangements for treating the voters on such occasions. A committee set up to support the candidacies of Sir Charles Bunbury and Sir John Rous, "for the better regulating of the expense of maintaining the freeholders upon the days of election" issued printed tickets with the names of public houses upon them, entitling the bearer to a fixed amount of provision and maintenance – black tickets worth five shillings for the day, and red tickets worth seven shillings and sixpence for a man and horse for the night. After the election, the innkeepers presented their bills for providing this hospitality, which amounted to £3,500 for a two-day election; and the committee, much dissatisfied by the scale of these charges, declined to pay in full so that several of the publicans afterwards sued the two candidates.

Partly as a result of the expense, contested elections were rare in Suffolk (there were contests at four of the nine general elections between 1701 and 1727, but at only three of the twenty remaining before the Reform Act in 1832), and even when they took place were often only token contests. There was no dominant aristocratic interest in Suffolk, though it would probably have been impossible to defy the county's wealthier peers (such as the Duke of Grafton, Marquess Cornwallis and the Earl of Bristol) had they stood together, since no competing interest could hope to match them in an out-and-out spending contest.

In practice, the choice of members usually lay with the country squires, with matters generally settled more or less amicably by a test of strength at the county meeting with no need for the expense of a formal poll; when there was a contest, in 1784 (when three candidates stood for two seats), the weakest of the three quickly withdrew when it was clear after the first day of voting that he could not win. Nevertheless, the freeholders were not necessarily entirely deferential and manipulable by the gentry: Cannon cites the work of Professor J H Plumb, who showed in his study of Suffolk pollbooks from the reign of Queen Anne that the voters could act independently in a seriously contested election, while their humiliating rejection of their long-standing MP Thomas Sherlock Gooch in favour of a Reform Bill supporter at the tumultuous election of 1830 demonstrates similar intractability more than a century later.

Abolition

By the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Suffolk had a population of approximately 300,000, It was assumed to have around 5,000 qualified voters, but since no full-blooded contest had taken place in living memory this could only be an estimate. (Before the Reform Act there was no permanent register of voters). The Great Reform Act raised Suffolk's entitlement from two to four county MPs, while abolishing three of its seven boroughs. The single county constituency was abolished, being split into two divisions, East Suffolk and West Suffolk. At the first election after Reform, with a somewhat extended franchise, the electorates of these two new divisions totalled about 7,500.

Members of Parliament

1290–1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1376	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1377 (Oct)	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1378	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1381	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1382 (May)	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1382 (Oct)	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1383 (Feb)	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1383 (Oct)	Sir Richard Waldegrave
1386	Sir Richard Waldegrave	Sir William Wingfield [1]
1388 (Feb)	Sir Richard Waldegrave	Sir William Burgate [1]
1388 (Sep)	Sir Richard Waldegrave	Sir William Burgate [1]
1390 (Jan)	Sir Richard Waldegrave	Sir William Wingfield [1]
1390 (Nov)	Sir William Wingfield	Sir William Burgate [1]
1391	Sir Roger Drury	Sir William Bardwell [1]
1393	Sir William Elmham	Sir William Argentine [1]
1394	Sir William Elmham	Robert Bukton [1]
1395	Sir William Argentine	Sir William Burgate [1]
1397 (Jan)	Sir William Elmham	Robert Bukton [1]
1397 (Sep)	Sir William Bardwell	Robert Bukton [1]
1399	Sir William Argentine	Sir John Heveningham [1]
1401	Sir Roger Drury	Robert Bukton [1]
1402	Ralph Ramsey	Gilbert Debenham [1]
1404 (Jan)	Sir John Strange	Sir John Ingoldisthorpe [1]
1404 (Oct)	Sir Andrew Butler	Sir John Strange [1]
1406	Sir John Strange	Sir William Bardwell [1]
1407	Sir Roger Drury	John Lancaster [1]
1410	Sir Andrew Butler	John Lancaster [1]
1411	John Spencer	John Lancaster [1]
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	John Spencer	John Lancaster [1]
1414 (Apr)	Sir William Phelip	Sir Robert Corbet [1]
1414 (Nov)	Sir William Phelip	Sir Robert Corbet [1]
1415
1416 (Mar)
1416 (Oct)
1417	Sir John Braham	William Rookwood [1]
1419	William Hanningfield	William Rookwood [1]
1420	Richard Sterysacre	Thomas Hethe [1]
1421 (May)	Sir Andrew Butler	William Rookwood [1]
1421 (Dec)	James Andrew	William Rookwood [1]
1422	John Wodehouse	John Howard [2]
1427	Sir Robert Wingfield	Gilbert Debenham [3]
1431	Sir Robert Wingfield	Sir Thomas Tuddenham
1432-1436	Sir Robert Wingfield	Gilbert Debenham [4]
1444	Gilbert Debenham [5]
1449	Gilbert Debenham [6]	Nov 1450	Sir Roger Chamberlain	Sir Edmund Mulsho
1450-1	Gilbert Debenham [7]	1491	Sir Robert Drury
1495	Sir Robert Drury
1510	Sir Robert Drury	? [8]
1512	?
1515	?
1523	?
1529	Sir Anthony Wingfield	Sir Thomas Wentworth I [8]
1536	Sir Anthony Wingfield
1539	Sir Anthony Wingfield	Sir Arthur Hopton [8]
1542	?Sir Anthony Wingfield	Sir Arthur Hopton [8]
1545	Sir William Waldegrave	Anthony Rous [8]
1547	Sir Anthony Wingfield	Thomas Wentworth, ennobled and repl. by 23 Jan 1552 by Sir Thomas Cornwallis [8]
1553 (Mar)	Sir William Drury	Sir Henry Bedingfield [8]
1553 (Oct)	Sir William Drury	Sir Henry Jerningham [8]
1554 (Apr)	Sir William Drury	Sir Henry Jerningham [8]
1554 (Nov)	Sir William Drury	Sir Henry Jerningham [8]
1555	Sir Henry Jerningham	Sir William Drury [8]
1558	Thomas Cornwallis	Sir William Cordell [8]
1558–9	Sir Owen Hopton	William Cavendish I [9]
1562–3	Sir Robert Wingfield	William Waldegrave [9]
1571 (Mar)	Sir Owen Hopton [10]	Thomas Seckford [9]
1572	(Sir) Nicholas Bacon	Sir Robert Wingfield [9]
1584	Sir William Drury	Sir Robert Jermyn [9]
1586 (Oct)	Sir Robert Jermyn	Sir John Heigham [11]
1588–9	Anthony Wingfield	Arthur Hopton [9]
1593	Edward Bacon	Sir Clement Heigham [9]
1597 (Sep)	Sir Thomas Waldegrave	Henry Warner [9]
1601	Sir Henry Glemham	Calthrop Parker [9]
1604–1611	Sir John Heigham	Sir Robert Drury
1614	Sir Thomas Jermyn	Sir Robert Gardiner
1621–1622	Robert Crane	Thomas Clench
1624	Sir William Spring of Pakenham	Sir Roger North
1625	Sir Edmund Bacon, 2nd Baronet	Thomas Cornwallis
1626	Robert Naunton [12]	Sir Robert Crane
1628	Sir William Spring of Pakenham	Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston
1629–1640	No Parliament convened

1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston	Parliamentarian		Sir Philip Parker	Parliamentarian
December 1648	Barnardiston not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge			Parker excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
1653	Barebones Parliament (5 nominated members): Jacob Caley, Francis Brewster, Robert Dunkon, John Clarke, Edward Plumstead
1654	First Protectorate Parliament (10 members): Sir William Spring, Bt, Sir Thomas Barnardiston, Bt, Sir Thomas Bedingfield, William Bloys, John Gurdon, William Gibbes, John Brandling, Alexander Bence, John Sicklemore, Thomas Bacon
1656	Second Protectorate Parliament (10 members): Sir Thomas Barnardiston, Bt, Henry Felton, Henry North, Edmund Harvey, Edward Le Neve, John Sicklemore, William Bloys, William Gibbes, Robert Brewster, Daniel Wall
January 1659		Henry Felton			Sir Thomas Barnardiston, Bt
May 1659		Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		Henry Felton			Sir Henry North, Bt
1673					Sir Samuel Barnardiston, Bt	Whig
February 1679		Sir Gervase Elwes, Bt	Whig
September 1679		Sir William Spring, Bt	Whig
1685		Sir Robert Broke, Bt	Tory		Sir Henry North, Bt	Tory
1689		Sir John Cordell, Bt	Tory		Sir John Rous, Bt	Tory
1690		Sir Gervase Elwes, Bt	Whig		Sir Samuel Barnardiston, Bt	Whig
1698		The Earl of Dysart	Tory
1702					Sir Dudley Cullum, Bt	Whig
1705					Sir Robert Davers, Bt	Tory
1707		Leicester Martin	Tory
1708		Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bt	Tory
1722					Sir William Barker, Bt	Tory
1727		Sir Jermyn Davers, Bt	Tory
1732					Sir Robert Kemp, Bt	Tory
1735					Sir Cordell Firebrace, Bt	Tory
1743		John Affleck	Tory
1759					Rowland Holt	Tory
1761		Sir Charles Bunbury, Bt [13]
1768					Sir John Rous, Bt
1771					Rowland Holt	Tory
1780					Sir John Rous, Bt
1784		Joshua Grigby
1790		Sir Charles Bunbury, Bt
1796					Viscount Brome	Tory
1806					Thomas Gooch
1812		Sir William Rowley, Bt
1830		Sir Henry Bunbury, Bt			Charles Tyrell	Whig
1832	Suffolk split into two divisions: see East Suffolk and West Suffolk

Notes

1. "History of Parliament". Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
2. "HOWARD, Sir John (c.1366-1437), of Wiggenhall and East Winch, Norf., Stoke Nayland, Suff., Stansted Mountfichet, Essex, and Fowlmere, Cambs". History of Parliament Online. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
3. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/History_of_Parliament_1439_1509_Biograph/xceHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gilbert+debenham+1481+MP&pg=PA265&printsec=frontcover
4. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/History_of_Parliament_1439_1509_Biograph/xceHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gilbert+debenham+1481+MP&pg=PA265&printsec=frontcover
5. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/History_of_Parliament_1439_1509_Biograph/xceHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gilbert+debenham+1481+MP&pg=PA265&printsec=frontcover
6. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/History_of_Parliament_1439_1509_Biograph/xceHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gilbert+debenham+1481+MP&pg=PA265&printsec=frontcover
7. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/History_of_Parliament_1439_1509_Biograph/xceHAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gilbert+debenham+1481+MP&pg=PA265&printsec=frontcover
8. "History of Parliament". Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
9. "History of Parliament". Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
10. Craig, John. "Hopton, Owen". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47136.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
11. Craig, John. "Heigham, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47135.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
12. Schreiber, Roy E. "Naunton, Robert". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19812.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
13. Succeeded to baronetcy, June 1764

References

• Knights Of The Shire In Parliament For The County Of Suffolk.
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• John Cannon, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• Peter Jupp, British and Irish Elections 1784–1831 (Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1973)
• 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)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Reform 1640–1832 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)