West Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency)

West Cumberland
West Cumberland
Former county constituency ; for the House of Commons
	Form 1832–1868 and this area was left intact until 1885. Extract from 1837 result: the 'doubly' blue coastal area at centre.
1832–1885
Seats	two
Created from	Cumberland
Replaced by	Egremont and Cockermouth

Last updated February 18, 2025

West Cumberland was a county constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election.

Boundaries

1832–1885: The Wards of Allerdale above Derwent and Allerdale below Derwent.^[1]

In 1832 the historic county of Cumberland, in north west England, was split for parliamentary purposes into two county divisions. These were the East Cumberland division (with a place of election at Carlisle) and the West division (where voting took place at Cockermouth). Each division returned two members to Parliament.

The parliamentary boroughs included in the West division, between 1832 and 1885, (whose non-resident 40 shilling freeholders voted in the county constituency) were Cockermouth and Whitehaven. (Source: Stooks Smith).

History

For most of its existence this was an extremely Conservative division, in sharp contrast to the mostly Liberal inclined East division of the county. Only once, in the last election in 1880, was a Liberal MP elected.

The county began to industrialise from the 1860s. An Irish community developed in the west of Cumberland particularly at Cleator Moor, attracted by the opportunity to find work in the areas developing iron industry. It may be that these economic and demographic developments made the Liberals, critical of the remnant Anglican ascendancy, more competitive by 1880 than they had been earlier in the century.

In 1885 this division was abolished. The East and West Cumberland county divisions were replaced by four new single-member county constituencies. These were Cockermouth, Egremont (the Western division), Eskdale (Northern division) and Penrith (Mid division). In addition there were two remaining Cumberland borough constituencies; Carlisle and Whitehaven.

Members of Parliament

	First member ^[2]	First party	Second member	Second party
1832	William Lowther	Tory	Edward Stanley	Tory
1833 by-election	Samuel Irton	Tory		Tory
1834	Samuel Irton	Conservative		Conservative
1847	Henry Lowther	Conservative		Conservative
1852			Samuel Irton	Conservative
1857			Hon. Sir Henry Wyndham	Conservative
1860 by-election			Hon. Percy Wyndham	Conservative
1872 by-election	Jocelyn Pennington ^a	Conservative
1880	David Ainsworth	Liberal
1885	Constituency abolished

Note:-

^a Muncaster was a Peer of Ireland until 1898 and therefore eligible to serve in the House of Commons.

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: West Cumberland^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	William Lowther	1,875	36.9
	Tory	Edward Stanley	1,693	33.3
	Whig	Henry Curwen	1,510	29.7
Majority			183	3.6
Turnout			3,266	84.9
Registered electors			3,848
	Tory win (new seat)
	Tory win (new seat)

Lowther was also elected for Westmorland and opted to sit there, causing a by-election.

By-election, 25 March 1833: West Cumberland^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	Samuel Irton	1,682	51.2	−19.0
	Radical	Francis Aglionby	1,601	48.8	N/A
Majority			81	2.4	−1.2
Turnout			3,283	85.3	+0.4
Registered electors			3,848
	Tory hold		Swing	−19.0

General election 1835: West Cumberland^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Stanley	1,899	35.4	+2.1
	Conservative	Samuel Irton	1,883	35.1	−1.8
	Radical	Francis Aglionby	1,581	29.5	N/A
Majority			302	5.6	+2.0
Turnout			3,469	83.6	−1.3
Registered electors			4,149
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.8

General election 1837: West Cumberland^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Samuel Irton	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edward Stanley	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,437
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Samuel Irton	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edward Stanley	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,031
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Edward Stanley	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Lowther	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,042
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Samuel Irton	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Lowther	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,144
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Wyndham	1,848	35.4	*N/A*
	Conservative	Henry Lowther	1,825	34.9	*N/A*
	Radical	Wilfrid Lawson ^[5]^[6]	1,554	29.7	New
Majority			271	5.2	N/A
Turnout			3,391 (est)	77.2 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			4,389
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Henry Wyndham	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Lowther	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,780
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

Wyndham's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 27 August 1860: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Percy Wyndham	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1865: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Percy Wyndham	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Lowther	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,602
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1868: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Percy Wyndham	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Lowther	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,676
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

Lowther succeeded to the peerage, becoming Earl of Lonsdale and causing a by-election.

By-election, 26 March 1872: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josslyn Pennington	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1874: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Percy Wyndham	2,532	29.4	*N/A*
	Conservative	Josslyn Pennington	2,520	29.3	*N/A*
	Liberal	James William Ballantine Dykes^[7]	1,786	20.7	New
	Liberal	David Ainsworth	1,771	20.6	New
Majority			734	8.6	N/A
Turnout			4,305 (est)	71.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,034
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: West Cumberland^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Ainsworth	3,178	37.4	−3.9
	Conservative	Percy Wyndham	2,686	31.6	+2.2
	Conservative	Josslyn Pennington	2,624	30.9	+1.6
Majority			554	6.5	N/A
Turnout			5,864 (est)	78.2 (est)	+6.9
Registered electors			7,496
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	−3.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

↑ "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. XLV: An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 154–206. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 369–370. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
1 2 3 4 Stooks Smith
↑ Russell, George William Erskine (1912). "Lawson, Wilfrid" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
↑ "The General Election" . Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser. 28 March 1857. p. 4. Retrieved 30 July 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
↑ "West Cumberland" . Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales. 4 February 1874. p. 8. Retrieved 29 December 2017– via British Newspaper Archive.

Sources

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910. by Henry Pelling (Macmillan 1967)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)

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[1] "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. XLV: An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 154–206. Retrieved 27 July 2017.

[rayment-2] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)

[craig1832-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 369–370. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.

[stooks-smith-4] 1 2 3 4 Stooks Smith

[5] Russell, George William Erskine (1912). "Lawson, Wilfrid" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[6] "The General Election" . Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser. 28 March 1857. p. 4. Retrieved 30 July 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.

[7] "West Cumberland" . Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales. 4 February 1874. p. 8. Retrieved 29 December 2017– via British Newspaper Archive.

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