Warwickshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Warwickshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Warwickshire
1293–1832
Replaced by	North Warwickshire and South Warwickshire

Warwickshire was a parliamentary constituency in Warwickshire in England. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), traditionally known as knights of the shire, to the House of Commons of England, Great Britain and House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

History

Boundaries and franchise

The constituency, which seems first to have returned members to Parliament in 1293, consisted of the historic county of Warwickshire, excluding the city of Coventry which had the status of a county in its itself after 1451. (Although Warwickshire also contained the borough of Warwick and part of the borough of Tamworth, each of which elected two MPs in its own right for part of the period when Warwickshire was a constituency, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election. This was not the case, though, for Coventry.)

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, Warwickshire has two MPs elected by the bloc vote method, under which each voter had two votes. (In the First and Second Parliaments of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, there was a general redistribution of seats and Warwickshire elected four members; the traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.)

Character

In the Middle Ages Warwickshire was mainly an agricultural county, but the realisation of the value of its mineral wealth, and eventually the coming of the Industrial Revolution, transformed its character. By the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Warwickshire had a population of approximately 337,000, of which 142,000 were in Birmingham and its suburbs; since Birmingham had been of little importance in medieval times it was not a borough, and was represented in Parliament only through Warwickshire's county members. The franchise being based on land ownership, the urban areas commanded a much smaller proportion of the votes than of the population: at the election in 1820 when Warwickshire recorded its highest turnout, only 399 of the 3,122 votes were cast in Birmingham, and a little under 300 in total from the other main towns (Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon and Nuneaton).

Nevertheless, this gave the industrial and manufacturing interests some leverage, which they found necessary since the interests of the rest of the county were sometimes much at odds with their own. As a group of Birmingham manufacturers explained in 1780 letter to the Earl of Dartmouth (one of the most influential of the locally connected noblemen):

The various commercial regulations, so frequently made by the Legislature, affect the trade and manufacturers of this place very much and render it an object of great importance to its inhabitants that gentlemen may, if possible, be chosen for the county who are connected with the people, and not entirely uninformed of the particulars in which their interests consist.

- Letter published in the 13th Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, quoted by Porritt

In practice contested elections were rare: the general elections of 1705 and 1774 were the only ones of the 29 between 1701 and 1832 and which Warwickshire's two MPs were not elected unopposed. Elections were held at a single polling place, Warwick, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise; candidates were expected to meet the expenses of their supporters in travelling to the poll, making the cost of a contested election substantial. Potential candidates therefore preferred to canvass support beforehand and usually not insisting on a vote being taken unless they were confident of winning; at most elections, amicable negotiation had settled the outcome well in advance.

The representation was generally in the hands of the leading gentry of the county – notably the Mordaunts of Walton, who held one of the two seats for 82 of the 122 years between 1698 and 1820. But increasingly during the 18th century, it became necessary to defer to the preferences of the Birmingham freeholders in choosing between the available candidates. The 1774 election developed into a hard-fought contest when agreement could not be reached over who should replace Sir Charles Mordaunt, who had retired after forty years as the county's MP. After a poll that lasted 11 days, it was the nominee of the Birmingham interests, Sir Charles Holte of Aston, who emerged triumphant over Mordaunt's son. When Holte in his turn retired after one Parliament, the candidate chosen to replace him by the meeting of Birmingham freeholders was accepted by the county meeting without opposition, the other hopefuls being left to squabble over the one remaining seat.

Nevertheless, the choice remained one between the various gentry of the county, and by the early 19th century Birmingham had become one of the most vocal centres of agitation for parliamentary reform. This resulted in violent disruption of the 1830 Warwickshire election, even though the two candidates were unopposed. A mob from the Birmingham Union, 300 or 400 strong and accompanied by a band, invaded the hustings at Warwick and demanded assurances from the candidates that they would support reform. Peel regarded this "daring attempt to overawe the nomination of representatives at Warwick" as one of the most serious in a generally tumultuous election; yet it seems to have failed to intimidate the candidates, since one was already a reformer and the other refused to give any pledge of support.

Abolition

The constituency was abolished in 1832 by the Great Reform Act, which divided the county into two new divisions, North Warwickshire and South Warwickshire, as well as establishing Birmingham as a borough electing MPs in its own right.

Members of Parliament

1290–1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1320	Sir Robert Burdet
1325	Sir Robert Burdet
1327	Sir Robert Burdet
1377	Henry de Ardern
1380	Henry de Ardern
1386	George Castell	Sir John Peyto [1]
1388 (Feb)	Sir William Bagot	Guy Spyne [1]
1388 (Sep)	Sir William Bagot	Guy Spyne [1]
1390 (Jan)	Sir William Bagot	Guy Spyne [1]
1390 (Nov)	Sir William Bagot	Guy Spyne [1]
1391	Sir William Bagot	Guy Spyne [1]
1393	Sir William Bagot	John Catesby [1]
1394	Sir William Bagot	Sir Thomas Burdet [1]
1395	Sir William Bagot	William Spernore [1]
1397 (Jan)	Sir William Bagot	Sir Thomas Clinton [1]
1397 (Sep)	Sir William Bagot	Thomas Crewe [1]
1399	Sir William Lucy	Sir Alfred Trussell [1]
1401	Sir Thomas Burdet	Sir Alfred Trussell [1]
1402	Sir William Bagot	Sir Alfred Trussell [1]
1404 (Jan)	Robert Hugford	Roger Smart [1]
1404 (Oct)	Thomas Crewe	Thomas Raleigh [1]
1406	Sir Thomas Burdet	Sir Thomas Lucy [1]
1407	Sir Alfred Trussell	Henry Sutton [1]
1410	Sir William Mountfort [1]
1411	Sir Thomas Lucy	Thomas Erdington [1]
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	William Birmingham	John Mallory [1]
1414 (Apr)	Robert Castell	Thomas Stafford [1]
1414 (Nov)	John Harewell	John Knightley [1]
1415
1416 (Mar)
1416 (Oct)
1417
1419	Sir Thomas Burdet	John Mallory [1]
1420	Sir John Cokayne	William Peyto [1]
1421 (May)	William Holt	John Mallory [1]
1421 (Dec)	Sir John Cokayne	John Chetwynd [1]
1422	Sir William Mountfort [2]	Robert Castell [3]
1423	Sir William Mountfort [2]
1427	Sir William Mountfort [2]
1429	Sir William Mountfort [2]
1437	Sir William Mountfort [2]
1445	Sir William Mountfort	Sir Thomas Malory
1450	Sir William Mountfort [2]
1463	Sir Simon Mountford < [4]
1485	Sir Simon Mountford	William Hugford [4]
1491	Sir Simon Mountford [4]
1510–1523	No names known [5]
1529	Sir George Throckmorton	Sir Edward Ferrers [5]
1536
1539	Richard Catesby	John Greville [5]
1542
1545	Sir Fulke Greville	Sir Marmaduke Constable [5]
1547	Sir Fulke Greville	Robert Burdett, died and replaced Jan 1552 by Sir Marmaduke Constable [5]
1553 (Mar)	Sir Richard Catesby	Robert Throckmorton [5]
1553 (Oct)	Robert Throckmorton	Thomas Marrow [5]
1554 (Apr)	(Sir) William Wigston	Sir Fulke Greville [5]
1554 (Nov)	Sir Fulke Greville	Sir William Wigston [5]
1555	Sir Robert Throckmorton	Sir William Wigston [5]
1558	Sir Ambrose Cave	Thomas Throckmorton [5]
1558–1559	Sir Ambrose Cave	Thomas Lucy [6]
1562–1563	Sir Ambrose Cave	Clement Throckmorton [6]
1571	Sir Thomas Lucy	John Huband [6]
1572 (Apr)	Sir William Devereux, died and replaced Nov 1584 by George Digby	Clement Throckmorton, died and replaced Mar 1575 by John Huband [6]
1584 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Lucy	George Digby [6]
1586 (Oct)	Sir John Harington	Fulke Greville [6]
1588 (Oct)	Fulke Greville	Richard Verney [6]
1593	Fulke Greville	Edward Greville [6]
1597 (Oct)	Fulke Greville	William Combe [6]
1601	Fulke Greville	Sir Robert Digby [6]
1604	Sir Edward Greville	Sir Richard Verney
1614	Sir Thomas Lucy	Sir Richard Verney
1621	Sir Thomas Lucy	Sir Fulke Greville ennobled 1621 and replaced by Sir Francis Leigh
1624	Sir Thomas Lucy	Sir Clement Throckmorton
1625	Sir Thomas Lucy	Sir Clement Throckmorton
1626	Sir Thomas Lucy	Sir Clement Throckmorton
1628	Sir Thomas Lucy	Sir Thomas Leigh, 2nd Baronet
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
November 1640		Lord Compton	Royalist		Edward Combe [7]
December 1640					Sir Richard Shuckburgh	Royalist
March 1643	Compton inherited the Earldom of Northampton – seat vacant
January 1644				Shuckburgh disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1645		Thomas Boughton			Sir John Burgoyne
December 1648	Boughton and Burgoyne excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant
1653		John St Nicholas			Richard Lucy
Representation increased to four members in First Protectorate Parliament
1654	Richard Lucy, Thomas Willoughby, Sir Richard Temple, William Purefoy
1656	Richard Lucy, (Sir) Roger Burgoyne, Edward Peyto, Joseph Hawkesworth
Representation reverted to two members in Third Protectorate Parliament
January 1659		Richard Lucy			Joseph Hawkesworth
May 1659	Warwickshire was not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		Thomas Archer			George Browne
1661		Sir Robert Holte, Bt			Sir Henry Puckering, Bt
1679		Sir Edward Boughton, Bt			Robert Burdett	Tory
1681		Sir Richard Newdigate, Bt			Thomas Mariet
1685		Sir Charles Holte, Bt			Sir Richard Verney
1689		Sir Richard Newdigate, Bt
1690		William Bromley			Andrew Archer
1698		Sir John Mordaunt, Bt			Sir Charles Shuckburgh, Bt
1705					Andrew Archer
1710					Lord Compton
1712					Sir William Boughton, Bt
1713					Andrew Archer
1715		William Peyto
1722					Robert Digby	Tory
1726					Edward Digby	Tory
1734		Sir Charles Mordaunt, Bt
1746					Hon. William Craven
1765					William Throckmorton Bromley
1769					Thomas Skipwith, Bt
1774		Sir Charles Holte, Bt
1780		Sir Robert Lawley, Bt			Sir George Shuckburgh, Bt
1793		Sir John Mordaunt, Bt
1802		Dugdale Stratford Dugdale
1804					Charles Mordaunt
1820					Francis Lawley	Whig
1831		Sir Grey Skipwith, Bt	Whig
1832	Constituency abolished

Notes

1. "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 5 September 2011.
2. History of Parliament Online
3. History of Parliament
4. Cavill, P. R. (13 August 2009). The English Parliaments of Henry VII. ISBN   9780191610264.
5. "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 5 September 2011.
6. "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 5 September 2011.
7. The election of Compton and Combe was declared void on 2 December 1640, because the Sheriff had cut short the election; however, Compton was re-elected in the subsequent by-election

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)
• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• Michael Brock, The Great Reform Act (London: Hutchinson, 1973)
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• John Cannon, Parliamentary Reform 1640–1832 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
• 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 Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)