Ripon (UK Parliament constituency)
Ripon was a constituency sending members to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1983, centred on the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire.
Contents |
[edit] History
Ripon was first represented in the Model Parliament of 1295, and also returned members in 1307 and 1337, but it was not permanently represented until 1553, after which it returned two Members of Parliament. It was a parliamentary borough consisting only of the town of Ripon itself until the Great Reform Act of 1832; the right to vote was vested in the holders of the burgage tenements, but voting was rare for the last contested election in Ripon before the Reform Act had been in 1715! By 1832 it was estimated that there were 43 men qualified to vote, though the population of the borough was over 5,000.
A population of this size made Ripon one of the more substantial boroughs, and after the Reform Act it kept its right to return two members, though the boundaries of the borough were slightly extended to bring in another 600 people living in the neighbouring parish of Aismunderby-cum-Bondgate. However, the next Reform Act, which came into force at the 1868 election, reduced Ripon's representation from two MPs to one.
The Reform Act of 1885 abolished the borough of Ripon, but the county constituency in which the town was placed as a result was named Ripon (strictly speaking, at first, "The Ripon Division of the West Riding of Yorkshire"), and this continued as a single member constituency, though with some boundary changes, until it was abolished before the 1983 general election. Until 1950 it included, as well as Ripon itself, the towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough; after that date they were excluded, but the boundaries instead took in Ilkley and Otley.
[edit] Members of Parliament
- Constituency re-created (1553)
[edit] MPs 1553–1640
| Parliament | First member | Second member |
|---|---|---|
| 1553 (Oct) | Marmaduke Wyvill | Edward Beseley [1] |
| 1554 (Apr) | William Rastell | John Temple [1] |
| 1554 (Nov) | Thomas More II | Thomas Seckford [1] |
| 1555 | John Holmes | Thomas Poley [1] |
| 1558 | William Heath | Thomas Lewknor [1] |
| 1559 | Francis Kempe | John Sapcote[2] |
| 1562/3 | George Leighe | Richard Pratt [2] |
| 1571 | Martin Birkhead | Anthony Roane [2] |
| 1572 | Martin Birkhead | John Scott [2] |
| 1584 | William Spencer | Gervase Lee [2] |
| 1586 | William Spencer | Samuel Sandys [2] |
| 1588 | Peter York | William Smith [2] |
| 1593 | Anthony Wingfield | William Bennet [2] |
| 1597 | Sir John Bennet | Christopher Perkins [2] |
| 1601 | John Thornborough | Christopher Perkins [2] |
| 1604 | Sir John Mallory | Sir John Bennet |
| 1614 | Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby | William Mallory |
| 1621 | Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby | William Mallory |
| 1624 | Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby | William Mallory |
| 1625 | Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby | William Mallory |
| 1626 | Thomas Best | Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby |
| 1628 | Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby | William Mallory |
| 1629–1640 | No Parliaments summoned | |
[edit] MPs 1640–1867
- ^ a b c d e "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/constituencies/ripon. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/ripon. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
- ^ Expelled from the House of Commons in 1721 for his role in the South Sea Bubble
- ^ Lord Headley (in the peerage of Ireland) from 1797
[edit] MPs 1868–1983
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1868 | Lord John Hay | Liberal | |
| 1871 by-election | Sir Henry Knight Storks | Liberal | |
| 1874 | Earl de Grey | Liberal | |
| 1880 | George Goschen | Liberal | |
| 1885 | Ripon parliamentary borough abolished, replaced by Ripon Division of the West Riding (county constituency) | ||
| 1885 | William Harker | Liberal | |
| 1886 | John Lloyd Wharton | Conservative | |
| 1906 | Henry Finnis Blosse Lynch | Liberal | |
| Jan. 1910 | Hon. Edward Wood | Conservative | |
| 1925 by-election | John Waller Hills | Conservative | |
| 1939 by-election | Christopher York | Conservative | |
| 1950 | Sir Malcolm Stoddart-Scott | Conservative | |
| 1973 by-election | David Austick | Liberal | |
| Feb 1974 | Dr Keith Hampson | Conservative | |
| 1983 | constituency abolished | ||
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- "Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803" (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [1]
- F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
- F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949" (Glasgow: Political Reference Publications, 1969)
- J Holladay Philbin, "Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991)
- "The Constitutional Year Book for 1913" (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 1)[self-published source?][better source needed]
