King's Lynn (UK Parliament constituency) explained

King's Lynn
Type:	County
Year:	1918
Abolished:	February 1974
Elects Howmany:	one
Next:	North West Norfolk
Type2:	Borough
Parliament:	uk
Year2:	1298
Abolished2:	1918
Elects Howmany2:	two (1298–1885), one (1885–1918)

King's Lynn was a constituency in Norfolk which was represented continuously in the House of Commons of England from 1298 to 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election.

History

The Parliamentary Borough of King's Lynn, which was known as Lynn or Bishop's Lynn prior to 1537, returned two Members of Parliament until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. It was abolished as a Borough under the Representation of the People Act 1918 and was reconstituted as a Division of the Parliamentary County of Norfolk (from 1950, a County Constituency), absorbing the bulk of the abolished North Western Division. It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, being replaced by the re-established constituency of North West Norfolk.

Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister, was an MP for the constituency for almost the entirety of his parliamentary career, from 1702 to 1742.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1885–1918

• The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of King's Lynn as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.^[1]

1918–1950

• The Borough of King's Lynn;
• The Urban Districts of New Hunstanton and Walsoken;
• The Rural Districts of Docking, Freebridge Lynn, King's Lynn, and Marshland (except the parishes of Outwell and Upwell); and
• The Rural District of Downham parishes of Wiggenhall St Germans, Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin, Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen, and Wiggenhall St Peter.^[2]

1950–1974

• The Municipal Borough of King's Lynn;
• The Urban District of New Hunstanton; and
• The Rural Districts of Docking, Freebridge Lynn, and Marshland.^[3]

Minor changes to the boundary with South West Norfolk to align with boundaries of local authorities, which had been rationalised.  Also marginal changes to county boundaries with Isle of Ely and Parts of Holland.

Members of Parliament

MPs before 1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1328	John de Swerdeston	Roger de Buttele
1335	William de Brinton
1337	John de Swerdeston	William de Secheford
1338		Geoffrey Drewe
1339	Thomas de Melcheburne
1375	Robert Bathe	John Waryn^[4]
1377	John Dockyngg	Thomas ...
1378	Nicholas de Swerdeston	Hugh de Ellyngham
1379	John Brunham	Thomas de Morton
1380	Richard de Honton	Henry de Betele
1381	Thomas Drewe	Thomas de Morton
1382	John Brunham	John Waryn
1385	John de Brandon	Thomas de Morton
1386	Edmund Beleyeter	Thomas Morton^[5]
1388 (Feb)	Henry Betley	Thomas Morton
1388 (Sep)	Edmund Beleyeter	Thomas Drew
1390 (Jan)	Robert Waterden	John Wace
1390 (Nov)	John Wentworth	Thomas Waterden
1391	Robert Botkesham	John Kepe
1393	Thomas Morton	Thomas Brigge
1394	Thomas Morton	Thomas Drew
1395	Thomas Waterden	John Brandon
1397 (Jan)	Thomas Drew	John Brandon
1397 (Sep)	John Wentworth	Roger Rawlin
1399	Robert Botkesham	Thomas Waterden
1401	Robert Botkesham	Thomas Waterden
1402	Thomas Fawkes	Robert Brunham
1404 (Jan)	Thomas Drew	John Wentworth
1404 (Oct)	John Brandon	Thomas Drew
1406	Thomas Brigge	Thomas Derham
1407	William Lok	John Wesenham
1410	John Spicer	John Brown
1411	Bartholomew Sistern	Philip Frank
1413 (Feb)	William Halyate	John Tilney
1413 (May)	William Halyate	John Tilney
1414 (Apr)	John Bilney	John Tilney
1414 (Nov)	John Spicer	Andrew Swanton
1415	Thomas Brigge	John Tilney
1416 (Mar)	John Spicer	Thomas Brigge
1416 (Oct)	William Herford	John Warner
1417	Robert Brunham	Thomas Hunt
1419	Philip Frank	Walter Curson
1420	Thomas Brigge	Andrew Swanton
1421 (May)	Bartholomew Sistern	John Parmenter
1421 (Dec)	John Waterden
1510	Thomas Gibbon	Francis Monford^[6]
1512	Francis Monford	Thomas Wythe
1515	Robert Soome	Thomas Wythe
1523	Thomas Miller	Richard Bewcher
1529	Thomas Miller	Richard Bewcher replaced Oct 1535 by Robert Southwell
1536	Robert Southwell	William Coningsby
1539	Thomas Waters	Robert Southwell
1542	Thomas Waters	Thomas Miller
1545	Edmund Grey	Thomas Miller
1547	Thomas Gawdy	William Overend replaced Jan 1549 by George Amyas
1553 (Mar)	Sir Richard Corbet	John Walpole
1553 (Oct)	John Walpole	Thomas Waters
1554 (Apr)	Thomas Waters	William Overend
1554 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Moyle	Thomas Waters
1555		Thomas Waters
1558	Ambrose Gilberd, died and replaced Sep 1558 by William Telverton	Thomas Waters
1558/9	Thomas Hogan	Thomas Waters^[7]
1562/3	(Sir) Robert Bell	Richard L'Estrange
1571	(Sir) Robert Bell	John Kynne
1572	(Sir) Robert Bell, died and replaced Jan 1580 by John Peyton	John Pell
1584 (Mar)	John Peyton	Richard Clarke
1586 (Oct)	Richard Clarke	Thomas Oxborough
1588/9	Richard Clarke	Thomas Boston
1593	Sir John Peyton	William Lewis
1597 (Sep)	Thomas Oxborough	Nathaniel Bacon
1601	Sir Robert Mansell	Thomas Oxborough
1604	Thomas Oxborough	Robert Hitcham
1614	Matthew Clerke	Thomas Oxborough
1621–1622	Matthew Clerke	John Wallis
1624	John Wallis
1625	Thomas Gurling	John Cooke
1626	Thomas Gurling	John Cooke
1628	William Doughty	Sir John Hare
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

MPs 1640–1885

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
1640 (Apr)		William Doughty
1640 (Nov)		John Perceval	Parliamentarian		Thomas Toll	Parliamentarian
1644	Perceval died – seat vacant
1646		Edmund Hudson
July 1647	Hudson expelled – seat vacant
1649		William Cecil (The Earl of Salisbury)^[8]
1653	King's Lynn was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654		Major-General Philip Skippon	<	-- party -->		Guybon Goddard
1656					Major-General John Desborough^[9]
January 1659		Griffith Lloyd			Thomas Toll
May 1659		William Cecil (The Earl of Salisbury)		One seat vacant
April 1660		Sir Ralph Hare			Edward Walpole	<	-- party -->
1661		Sir William Hovell	<				-- party -->
1668					Robert Wright	<	-- party -->
1670		John Coke
1673		Sir Francis North
1675		Robert Coke
1679		John Turner			Sir Simon Taylor	<	-- party -->
1681		Sir Henry Hobart	Whig
1685		Sir John Turner	<				-- party -->
1689					Sigismund Trafford
1690					Daniel Bedingfeld
1695					Sir Charles Turner	<	-- party -->
1702		Sir Robert Walpole^[10]	Whig
1712		John Turner
1713		Sir Robert Walpole	Whig
1738					Sir John Turner	<	-- party -->
1742		Edward Bacon
1747		Horatio Walpole, junior	Whig
1757		Hon. Horace Walpole	Whig
1768		Hon. Thomas Walpole	<				-- party -->
1774					Crisp Molineux	<	-- party -->
1784		Hon. Horatio Walpole^[11]	<				-- party -->
1790					Sir Martin ffolkes	Whig
1809		Horatio Walpole	Tory^[12]
January 1822					William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck	Tory
June 1822		John Walpole	Tory
1824					William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck	Tory
1826					Lord William Bentinck	Tory
1828					Lord George Bentinck	Whig
1831		Lord William Lennox	Whig
1834						Conservative
1835		Sir Stratford Canning	Conservative
1842 by-election		Robert Jocelyn	Conservative
1847			Peelite^[13] ^[14] ^[15] ^[16]
1848 by-election					Hon. Edward Stanley^[17]	Conservative
1854 by-election		John Henry Gurney	Whig
1859			Liberal
1865		Sir Thomas Buxton	Liberal
1868		Hon. Robert Bourke	Conservative
1869 by-election					Lord Claud Hamilton	Conservative
1880					Sir William ffolkes	Liberal
1885	Representation reduced to one Member

MPs 1885–1974

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Hon. Robert Bourke, later Baron Connemara	Conservative
	1886 by-election	Weston Jarvis	Conservative
	1892	Thomas Gibson Bowles	Conservative
	1906	Carlyon Bellairs	Liberal
	1906		Liberal Unionist
	January 1910	Thomas Gibson Bowles	Liberal
	December 1910	Holcombe Ingleby	Conservative
	1918	Sir Neville Jodrell	Conservative
	1923	Graham Woodwark	Liberal
	1924	Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy	Conservative
	1935	Somerset Maxwell	Conservative
	1943	Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy	Conservative
	1945	Frederick Wise	Labour
	1951	Ronald Scott-Miller	Conservative
	1959	Denys Bullard	Conservative
	1964	Derek Page	Labour
	1970	Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler	Conservative
1974		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1840s

Canning resigned after being appointed the United Kingdom's ambassador to Turkey, causing a by-election.

Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck's death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1850s

Jocelyn's death caused a by-election.

Stanley was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies, requiring a by-election.

Stanley was appointed President of the Board of Control for the Affairs of India, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1860s

Stanley was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, requiring a by-election.

Stanley succeed to the peerage, becoming 15th Earl of Derby and causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1880s

• representation reduced to one member

Bourke's resignation on appointment as Governor of Madras caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914/15

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1914 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Holcombe Ingleby
• Liberal:

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Somerset Maxwell
  • Labour: Frederick Wise Liberal: Robert Hugh Kerkham
• British Union

A E Ilett

Elections in the 1970s

Sources

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh2wKY2rkDUC&q=Return+of+Members+of+Parliament
• 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) https://web.archive.org/web/20150904125310/http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=p-000-00---0modhis06--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=CL1
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• Book: Craig, F. W. S. . F. W. S. Craig . British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 . 1969 . 3rd . 1983 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-06-X.
• The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)
• J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)

Notes and References

1. Book: . The Public General Acts of the United Kingdom passed in the forty-eighth and forty-ninth years of the reign of Queen Victoria . London . Eyre and Spottiswoode . 111–198 . 1885 . Chap. 23. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 .
2. Book: Fraser, Hugh. The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes. 1918. London : Sweet and Maxwell. University of California Libraries.
3. Web site: Representation of the People Act, 1948. www.legislation.gov.uk. en. 2019-03-11.
4. The Manuscripts of the Corporations of Southampton and King's Lynn, Historical Manuscripts Commission 1887
5. Web site: History of Parliament. History of Parliament Trust. 2011-11-19.
6. Web site: History of Parliament. 2011-10-11.
7. Web site: History of Parliament. 2011-10-11.
8. Salisbury had been a peer, sitting in the House of Lords, since 1612, but became eligible to sit in the Commons after the House of Lords was abolished
9. Desborough was also elected for Somerset
10. Walpole was expelled from the House of Commons in January 1712 for "a high Breach of trust and notorious corruption". He was re-elected at the ensuing by-election, but the Commons resolved that having been expelled he was not capable of being re-elected to the House in the same session. Rather than awarding the election to his opponent, the election was declared void and a new writ was issued.
11. Styled Lord Walpole from 1806
12. Book: Stooks Smith , Henry. . . The Parliaments of England . 1844-1850 . 2nd . 1973 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-13-2 . 222–224 .
13. Book: Blake. Robert. The Conservative Party from Peel to Major. 2012. Faber & Faber. 9780571287604. 96. 14 May 2018.
14. News: King's Lynn. 14 May 2018. Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 10 July 1852. 11. British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
15. Book: Hawkins. Angus. The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby. Volume II: Achievement: 1851–1869. 2008. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 978-0-19-920440-3. 84. 14 May 2018.
16. News: Election Intelligence. 14 May 2018. The Observer. 22 March 1852. 6.
17. Styled Lord Stanley from 1851