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Knaresborough was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, and then one MP until its abolition in 1885.

Knaresborough
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1553–1885
Number of members	two until 1868, then one
Replaced by	Ripon

History

Before the Great Reform Act

Knaresborough was a parliamentary borough, first enfranchised by Mary I in 1553. The borough consisted of part of the town of Knaresborough, a market town in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1831, the population of the borough was approximately 4,852, and contained 970 houses.

Knaresborough was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote was confined to the proprietors of certain specific properties (or "burgage tenements") in the borough; in Knaresborough there was no requirement for these proprietors to be resident, and normally the majority were not. This meant that the right to vote in Knaresborough could be legitimately bought and sold, and, for most of its history until the Great Reform Act of 1832 reformed the franchise, the majority of the burgages were concentrated in the hands of a single owner who could therefore nominate both MPs without opposition. Nevertheless, contested elections were possible, and in 1830, when there were theoretically about 90 qualified voters, 45 people actually voted. But the landowners had other resources beyond the votes they owned, as the bailiff of the lord of the manor was also the returning officer, and of the 45 who attempted to vote in 1830 the bailiff rejected the votes of 23.

In the 16th and 17th century, the main landowners in the area were the Slingsby family, who on occasion occupied both seats themselves, though usually they found it more advantageous to allow one of their fellow county magnates to have at least one of the seats. During the latter part of the Elizabethan period, the Duchy of Lancaster also seems to have been influential – the historian Sir John Neale considered that the Duchy probably nominated at least one of the two members in each Parliament from 1584 to 1597 – but the influence of the Slingsbys was consolidated later. By the mid-18th century, ownership had passed to the Dukes of Devonshire,[1] who retained it until the Reform Act.

After the Great Reform Act

The Reform Act extended Knaresborough's boundaries, bringing in the remainder of the town and coinciding with the boundaries established during the previous decade for policing purposes. This increased the population by nearly a third, to 6,253. Nevertheless, Knaresborough was one of the smaller boroughs to retain both its seats, and the registered electorate for the first reformed election was only 278. In subsequent years this fell further, though by the 1860s it had recovered to reach around 270 once more, and inevitably Knaresborough's representation was reduced to one MP under the Representation of the People Act 1867. The extension of the franchise by the same Act trebled the electorate.

In 1880, after a disputed election with suspicion of corrupt practices, the result was declared void and the constituency's right to representation suspended while a Royal Commission investigated; however, unlike the investigations in some other constituencies at around the same period, nothing too damning was uncovered, and a by-election to fill the vacancies was held in 1881. It proved, nevertheless, to be Knaresborough's last Parliament, for its electorate was still too low and the borough was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Its electors were transferred to the new Ripon division of the West Riding, a county constituency.

Members of Parliament

1553–1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1553 (Oct)	Reginald Beseley	Ralph Scrope[2]
1554 (Apr)	Edward Napper	John Long[2]
1554 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Chaloner	Ralph Scrope[2]
1555	Henry Fisher	?Sir Thomas Chaloner or George Eden[2]
1558	Henry Darcy	Thomas Colshill[2]
1558/9	Laurence Nowell	William Byrnand<[3]
1562/3	William Strickland, sat for Scarborough repl. by Christopher Tamworth	Sir Henry Gate, sat for Scarborough repl. by Robert Bowes[4][3]
1571	Sir George Bowes	John Cade[3]
1572 (Apr)	Francis Slingsby	Richard Banks[3]
1584	Edmund Poley	Francis Slingsby[3]
1586	Francis Palmes	William Davison[3]
1588/9	Thomas Preston	Francis Harvey[3]
1593	Samuel Foxe	Simon Willis[3]
1597 (Sep)	Hugh Beeston	William Slingsby[3]
1601 (Oct)	Henry Slingsby	William Slingsby[3]
1604–1611	Sir Henry Slingsby	Sir William Slingsby
1614	Sir Henry Slingsby	William Beecher
1620–1622	Sir Henry Slingsby	Sir Richard Hutton
1624	Sir Henry Slingsby
1625	Sir Henry Slingsby
1626	Sir Richard Hutton	Henry Benson
1628	Sir Richard Hutton	Henry Benson
1629–1640	No Parliaments convened

1640–1868

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
April 1640		Sir Henry Slingsby	Royalist		?
November 1640					Henry Benson[n 1]	Royalist
1641					William Deerlove[n 2]
March 1642					Sir William Constable, Bt.	Parliamentarian
September 1642	Slingsby disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1645		Thomas Stockdale
1653	Knaresborough was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		Slingsby Bethel			Robert Walters
May 1659	Not represented in the restored Rump (Constable had died in the interim)
April 1660		William Stockdale			Henry Bethell
1661					Sir John Talbot
1679					Sir Thomas Slingsby, Bt
1685					Henry Slingsby
1689					Thomas Fawkes
1693		Christopher Stockdale
1695					Robert Byerley
Mar 1714		Francis Fawkes
May 1714					Henry Slingsby
1715		Henry Coote[n 3]	Whig		Robert Hitch
1720		Hon. Richard Arundell
1722					Sir Henry Slingsby, Bt
1758		Hon Robert Walsingham
1761		Lord John Cavendish	Rockingham Whig
1763					Sir Anthony Abdy, Bt	Rockingham Whig
1768		Captain The Hon Robert Walsingham, RN
1775					Lord George Cavendish
1780					Frederick Ponsonby	Whig[5]
1781		James Hare	Whig[5]
1793					Lord John Townshend	Whig[5]
1804		William Cavendish	Whig[5]
1805		John Ponsonby[n 4]	Whig[5]
1806		Charles Bennet	Whig[5]
1818		Sir James Mackintosh	Whig		George Tierney	Whig[5]
Feb 1830					Henry Brougham[n 5]	Whig[5]
Dec 1830					Henry Cavendish	Whig[5]
Jun 1832		William Ponsonby	Whig[5]
Dec 1832		John Richards	Whig[5]		Benjamin Rotch	Whig[5]
1835					Andrew Lawson	Conservative[5]
1837		Henry Rich	Whig[5][6][7]		Hon Charles Langdale	Whig[5][8]
1841		Andrew Lawson	Conservative[5]		William Ferrand	Conservative[5]
1847		William Lascelles	Peelite[9][10]		Joshua Westhead	Whig
1851		Thomas Collins	Conservative
1852[n 6]		Basil Thomas Woodd	Conservative					John Dent	Whig[11]
1853[n 6]					John Dent	Whig[11]
1857					Thomas Collins	Conservative
1865					Isaac Holden	Liberal

1868–1885

Election		Member	Party
	1868	Alfred Illingworth	Liberal
	1874	Basil Thomas Woodd	Conservative
	1880	Sir Henry Meysey-Thompson, Bt.	Liberal
	1881	Thomas Collins	Conservative
	1884	Robert Gunter	Conservative
1885		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

Tierney's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 16 February 1830: Knaresborough[5][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Henry Brougham	Unopposed
	Whig hold

General election 1830: Knaresborough[5][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	James Mackintosh	Unopposed
	Whig	Henry Brougham	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 88
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

Mackintosh was appointed a commissioner of the India Board, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 2 December 1830: Knaresborough[5][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	James Mackintosh	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 88
	Whig hold

Brougham was called to the House of Lords' Lords Temporal, causing a by-election.

By-election, 2 December 1830: Knaresborough[5][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Henry Cavendish	20	44.4
	Tory	John Entwisle	25	55.6
Majority			−5.0	−11.2
Turnout			45	c. 51.1
Registered electors			c. 88
	Whig hold

• The majority (23) of Entwisle's votes were challenged and the returning officer upheld the complaints. A similar challenge was laid against Cavendish, but parliament was dissolved the following day.[12]

General election 1831: Knaresborough[5][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	James Mackintosh	Unopposed
	Whig	Henry Cavendish	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 88
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

Mackintosh's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 28 June 1832: Knaresborough[5][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Ponsonby	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 88
	Whig hold

General election 1832: Knaresborough[5][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	John Richards	187	39.4
	Whig	Benjamin Rotch	116	24.4
	Whig	Henry Rich	96	20.2
	Tory	Andrew Lawson	76	16.0
Majority			20	4.2
Turnout			260	93.5
Registered electors			278
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1835: Knaresborough[5][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Lawson	179	40.3	+24.3
	Whig	John Richards	134	30.2	−9.2
	Whig	Henry Rich	111	25.0	+4.8
	Conservative	Gregory Allnutt Lewin	20	4.5	N/A
Turnout			239	90.5	−3.0
Registered electors			264
Majority			45	10.1	N/A
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+13.3
Majority			114	25.7	+21.5
	Whig hold		Swing	−10.7

General election 1837: Knaresborough[5][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Henry Rich	172	41.5	+16.5
	Whig	Charles Langdale	124	30.0	−0.2
	Conservative	Andrew Lawson	118	28.5	−16.3
Majority			6	1.5	N/A
Turnout			236	87.1	−3.4
Registered electors			271
	Whig hold		Swing	+12.3
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	+4.0

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Knaresborough[13][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Lawson	150	42.0	+27.8
	Conservative	William Ferrand	122	34.2	+20.0
	Whig	Charles Sturgeon	85	23.8	−47.7
Majority			37	10.4	N/A
Turnout			208	86.3	−0.8
Registered electors			241
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+25.8
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+21.9

General election 1847: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Peelite	William Lascelles	158	39.5	+5.3
	Whig	Joshua Westhead	128	32.0	+8.2
	Conservative	Andrew Lawson	114	28.5	−13.5
Turnout			200 (est)	82.6 (est)	−3.7
Registered electors			242
Majority			30	7.5	N/A
	Peelite gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.0
Majority			14	3.5	N/A
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.5

Elections in the 1850s

Lascelle's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 12 July 1851: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Collins	95	59.7	N/A
	Conservative	Andrew Lawson	64	40.3	+11.8
Majority			31	19.4	N/A
Turnout			159	73.3	−9.3
Registered electors			217
	Conservative gain from Peelite		Swing	N/A

General election 1852: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Basil Thomas Woodd	113	25.3	−14.2
	Whig	John Dent	113	25.3	+9.3
	Whig	Joshua Westhead	113	25.3	+9.3
	Conservative	Thomas Collins	107	24.0	−4.5
Majority			6	1.3	N/A
Turnout			223 (est)	92.1 (est)	+9.5
Registered electors			242
	Conservative gain from Peelite		Swing	−11.8
	Whig hold		Swing	+9.3
	Whig win

As Woodd, Dent and Westhead received the same number of votes, they were all elected. However, in April 1853, after scrutiny, one vote was taken from Westhead and he was declared unduly elected.

General election 1857: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Basil Thomas Woodd	174	42.2	+16.9
	Conservative	Thomas Collins	138	33.5	+9.5
	Whig	Robert Campbell[14]	100	24.3	−26.3
Majority			38	9.2	+7.9
Turnout			206 (est)	76.3 (est)	−15.8
Registered electors			270
	Conservative hold		Swing	+15.0
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+11.3

General election 1859: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Basil Thomas Woodd	173	39.3	−2.9
	Conservative	Thomas Collins	140	31.8	−1.7
	Liberal	Harry Thompson[15]	127	28.9	+4.6
Majority			13	2.9	−6.3
Turnout			220 (est)	76.9 (est)	+0.6
Registered electors			286
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.0

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Basil Thomas Woodd	156	38.4	−0.9
	Liberal	Isaac Holden	127	31.3	+2.4
	Conservative	Thomas Collins	123	30.3	−1.5
Turnout			267 (est)	98.0 (est)	+21.1
Registered electors			272
Majority			29	7.1	+4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.1
Majority			4	1.0	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.4

Seat reduced to one member

General election 1868: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alfred Illingworth	362	51.1	+19.8
	Conservative	Andrew Sherlock Lawson[16]	347	48.9	−19.8
Majority			15	2.2	+1.2
Turnout			709	92.2	−5.8
Registered electors			769
	Liberal hold		Swing	+19.8

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Basil Thomas Woodd	397	56.2	+7.3
	Liberal	Andrew Fairbairn[17]	309	43.8	−7.3
Majority			88	12.4	N/A
Turnout			706	91.7	−0.5
Registered electors			770
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+7.3

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Meysey-Thompson	357	51.1	+7.3
	Conservative	Basil Thomas Woodd[18]	341	48.9	−7.3
Majority			16	2.2	N/A
Turnout			698	91.6	−0.1
Registered electors			762
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.3

The election was declared void on petition, causing a by-election.

By-election, 13 May 1881: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Collins	374	52.9	+4.0
	Liberal	Charles Milnes Gaskell	333	47.1	−4.0
Majority			41	5.8	N/A
Turnout			707	93.3	+1.7
Registered electors			758
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.0

Collins' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 10 Dec 1884: Knaresborough[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gunter	319	54.4	+5.5
	Liberal	Angus Holden	267	45.6	−5.5
Majority			52	8.8	N/A
Turnout			586	90.0	−1.6
Registered electors			651
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.5

Notes

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)
• 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)
• Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig – Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 2)

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