Western Division of Suffolk

West Suffolk
West Suffolk
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
County	Suffolk
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	Suffolk
Replaced by	Bury St Edmunds Stowmarket and Sudbury

The Western Division of Suffolk was a two-member constituency to the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in the 1832 Reform Act and disestablished in 1885.

History

The seat saw a relatively long first existence under the Reform Act 1832 merely as a more representative division (with a total of four MPs) instead of two for the former entire county at large, which still allowed for double voting (or more) of those Forty Shilling Freeholders who also were householders or landlords of any particular boroughs within the county. This Act retained the four largest boroughs of the seven before 1832.

With two heirs to their title serving the seat were the Marquesses of Bristol, the Hervey family, major landowners in the county and the modern seat, at Ickworth, part of its grand house now being a luxury hotel.

Equally sweeping changes took place at the end of this period with the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 which here saw the establishment of three single-member constituencies covering much of the former half-county by widening the narrow and underpopulated dual-member seat of Bury St Edmunds: the other two seats being named the North-Western or 'Stowmarket' Division and the South or 'Sudbury' Division.

MPs

Election	Member^[1]		Party	Member		Party ^[2]
1832	style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|	Charles Tyrell	Tory	style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|	Sir Hyde Parker, Bt	Tory
1835	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Henry Wilson	Liberal	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Robert Rushbrooke	Conservative
1837	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Robert Hart Logan	Conservative
1838 by-election	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Harry Spencer Waddington	Conservative
1845 by-election	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Harry Spencer Waddington	Conservative	Philip Bennet	Conservative
1859	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Frederick Hervey^{[n 1]}	Conservative	rowspan="4" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	William Parker	Conservative
1864 by-election	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Lord Augustus Hervey	Conservative
June 1875 by-election	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Fuller Maitland Wilson	Conservative
October 1875 by-election	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Thomas Thornhill	Conservative
1880	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Thomas Thornhill	Conservative	William Biddell	Conservative
1885	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1850s

General Election 1852: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Harry Spencer Waddington	Unopposed
	Conservative	Philip Bennet	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,379
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election 1857: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Harry Spencer Waddington	Unopposed
	Conservative	Philip Bennet	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,084
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election 1859: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Hervey	1,958	42.2	*N/A*
	Conservative	William Parker	1,379	29.7	*N/A*
	Conservative	Philip Bennet	1,300	28.0	N/A
Majority			79	1.7	N/A
Turnout			2,319 (est)	55.6 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			4,172
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

Hervey succeeded to the peerage, becoming 3rd Marquess of Bristol and causing a by-election.

By-election, 8 December 1864: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Augustus Hervey	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General Election 1865: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Augustus Hervey	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Parker	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,269
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election 1868: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Parker	2,500	37.9	*N/A*
	Conservative	Augustus Hervey	2,389	36.2	*N/A*
	Liberal	Charles Lamport^[4]	1,705	25.9	N/A
Majority			684	10.4	N/A
Turnout			4,150 (est)	74.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			5,583
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General Election 1874: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Augustus Hervey	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Parker	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,949
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Hervey's death caused a by-election.

West Suffolk by-election, June 1875^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Fuller Maitland Wilson	2,780	72.4	*N/A*
	Liberal	Charles Easton^[5]	1,061	27.6	N/A
Majority			1,719	44.8	N/A
Turnout			3,841	66.1	N/A
Registered electors			5,811
	Conservative hold

Wilson's death caused a by-election.

West Suffolk by-election, October 1875^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Thornhill	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1880: West Suffolk^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	William Biddell	Unopposed
	Conservative	Thomas Thornhill	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,700
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

References

^ This is the courtesy title given to the eldest son of the Marquess of Bristol as his main subsidiary title.

^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 464–364. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 463–464. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
^ "West Suffolk Election". Bury Free Press. 14 November 1868. p. 5. Retrieved 18 March 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
^ "Election News". Bradford Observer. 8 June 1875. p. 3. Retrieved 21 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[3] This is the courtesy title given to the eldest son of the Marquess of Bristol as his main subsidiary title.

[rayment-1] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)

[2] Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 464–364. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.

[craig1832-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 463–464. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)

[5] "West Suffolk Election". Bury Free Press. 14 November 1868. p. 5. Retrieved 18 March 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[6] "Election News". Bradford Observer. 8 June 1875. p. 3. Retrieved 21 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

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