Northampton (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Northampton
Parliament:	uk
Year:	1295
Abolished:	1918
Type:	borough
Year2:	1918
Type2:	borough
Seats:	2
Region:	England
Towns:	Northampton

Northampton was a parliamentary constituency (centred on the town of Northampton), which existed until 1974.

It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of England until 1707, the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1800 and to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until its representation was reduced to one member for the 1918 general election. The constituency was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when it was replaced by the new constituencies of Northampton North and Northampton South.

A former MP of note for the constituency was Spencer Perceval, the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1295–1640

• 1295: constituency established, electing two MPs

Parliament	First member	Second member
1377	Sir Gerard de Braybooke of Castle Ashby
1377	Sir Thomas Preston of Gretton
1378	Sir John Seton
1379	Sir Thomas Preston of Gretton
1380	Sir Thomas Preston of Gretton
1382	Giles St John of Plumpton
1386	William Spriggy	William Ringwood^[1]
1388 (Feb)	Thomas Pirie	John Stotesbury
1388 (Sep)	John Honybourne	John Besford
1390 (Jan)	John Colingtree	John Sywell
1390 (Nov)
1391	William Begworth	John Stotesbury
1393	William Spriggy	Stephen Wappenham
1394
1395	Nicholas Horncastle	John Woodward
1397 (Jan)	Richard Stormsworth	Thomas Overton
1397 (Sep)
1399	John Loudham	John Spring
1401
1406	Henry Empingham	Thomas Wintringham
1407	John Rivell	John Temple
1410	Simon Dunstall	John Lincoln
1411	Richard Wems	William Rushden
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	Roger Maltman	Alexander Deyster
1414 (Apr)
1414 (Nov)	Geoffrey Balde	John Hethersett
1415
1416 (Mar)	John Hendley	John Buckingham
1416 (Oct)
1417	William Clerk	Thomas Colley
1419	Thomas Stotesbury	Ralph Passenham
1420	William Maltman	William Harpole
1421 (May)	John Bernhill	John Colden
1421 (Dec)	John Spriggy	Stephen Kynnesman
1427	Thomas Compworth
1477–1478	Robert Pemberton
1510–1515	No names known ^[2]
1523	John Parvyn	Thomas Doddington
1529	Lawrence Manley	Nicholas Rand
1536	?
1539	?
1542	?
1545	?
1547	Richard Wenman	Anthony Bryan
1553 (Mar)	George Tresham	William Chauncy
1553 (Oct)	Francis Morgan	Lawrence Manley
1554 (Apr)	Francis Morgan	John Horpool
1554 (Nov)	Henry Clerke	Ralph Freeman
1555	Nicholas Rand	John Balgye
1558	Thomas Colles	Edward Manley
1559 (Jan)	William Carvell	Edmund (or Edward) Kinwelmersh^[3]
1562–3	Lewis Montgomery	Ralph Lane
1571	Christopher Yelverton	William Lane	-
1572 (Apr)	Christopher Yelverton	John Spencer
1584 (Nov)	Sir Richard Knightley	Thomas Catesby
1586 (Sep)	Sir Richard Knightley	Peter Wentworth
1588 (Oct)	Peter Wentworth	Richard Knollys
1593	Valentine Knightley	Peter Wentworth
1597 (Oct)	Christopher Yelverton	Henry Yelverton
1601	Henry Hickman	Francis Tate
1604	Henry Yelverton	Edward Mercer
1614	Henry Yelverton	Francis Beale
1621–1622	Richard Spencer	Thomas Crewe
1624		Christopher Sherland
1625		Christopher Sherland
1626		Christopher Sherland
1628		Christopher Sherland
1629–1640	No Parliaments convened

MPs 1640–1918

Election		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Richard Knightley	Parliamentarian		Zouch Tate
November 1640
December 1648	Knightley excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant			Tate not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653	Northampton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654		Peter Whalley		Northampton had only one seat in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1656			<				-- party -->
January 1659					James Langham
May 1659	Not represented in the restored Rump
March 1660		Francis Harvey			Richard Rainsford	<	-- party -->
June 1660		Sir John Norwich, Bt.
April 1661		Francis Harvey			James Langham
November 1661		Sir Charles Compton			Richard Rainsford	<	-- party -->
1662		Sir James Langham, Bt.
March 1663		Sir William Dudley, Bt.
April 1663		Hon. Christopher Hatton	<				-- party -->
March 1664					Sir John Bernard
April 1664					Sir Henry Yelverton, Bt.
1670		Sir William Fermor	<	-- party -->		Henry O'Brien
1678					Hon. Ralph Montagu
February 1679					Sir Hugh Cholmley, Bt.
August 1679		William Langham			Hon. Ralph Montagu
1685		Richard Rainsford			Sir Justinian Isham, Bt.	<	-- party -->
1689		William Langham	<				-- party -->
1690					Sir Thomas Samwell, Bt.
1694					Sir Justinian Isham, Bt.	<	-- party -->
1695		Christopher Montagu	<				-- party -->
1698					William Thursby
1701					Thomas Andrew
1702		Sir Matthew Dudley, Bt.	<	-- party -->		Bartholomew Tate
1704					Francis Arundell	<	-- party -->
1705		George Montagu	<				-- party -->
1710					William Wykes	<	-- party -->
1715		William Wilmer	<				-- party -->
1722					Edward Montagu	<	-- party -->
1727		Hon. George Compton	<				-- party -->
1734					William Wilmer
1744					George Montagu
April 1754					Charles Montagu	<	-- party -->
December 1754		Hon. Charles Compton
1755		Richard Backwell	<				-- party -->
1759					Frederick Montagu	<	-- party -->
1761		Spencer Compton
1763		Lucy Knightley
1768		Vice-Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney	<	-- party -->		Sir George Osborn, Bt.^[4]
1769					Hon. Thomas Howe
1771					Wilbraham Tollemache	<	-- party -->
1774		Sir George Robinson, 5th Bt.
1780		George Spencer	Whig^[5]		George Rodney
1782		George Bingham	Tory
1784		Charles Compton	Tory		Fiennes Trotman	Whig
1790					Hon. Edward Bouverie	Whig
1796		Hon. Spencer Perceval	Tory
1810					William Hanbury	Whig
1812		Spencer Compton	Tory
1818					Sir Edward Kerrison, Bt.	Tory
1820		Sir George Robinson, 6th Bt.	Whig		William Leader Maberly	Whig
1830					Sir Robert Gunning, Bt.	Tory
1831					Robert Vernon Smith	Whig^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
1832		Charles Ross	Tory
1834			Conservative
1837		Raikes Currie	Radical^[10] ^[11]
1857		Charles Gilpin	Radical^[12] ^[13] ^[14] ^[15]
1859			Liberal			Liberal
1859 by-election					Anthony Henley	Liberal
February 1874					Pickering Phipps	Conservative
October 1874 by-election		Charles Merewether^[16]	Conservative
1880		Henry Labouchère	Liberal		Charles Bradlaugh	Liberal
1891 by-election					Philip Manfield	Liberal
1895					Adolphus Drucker	Conservative
1900					John Greenwood Shipman	Liberal
1906		Herbert Paul	Liberal
Jan. 1910		Hastings Lees-Smith	Liberal		Charles McCurdy	Liberal
1918	Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1918–1974

Election		Member	Party
1918		Charles McCurdy	Coalition Liberal
1922			National Liberal
1923		Margaret Bondfield	Labour
1924		Sir Arthur Holland	Conservative
1928 by-election		Cecil Malone	Labour
1931		Sir Mervyn Manningham-Buller	Conservative
1940 by-election		Spencer Summers	Conservative
1945		Reginald Paget	Labour
Feb 1974	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

• After the election, a 13-day scrutiny was approved by the Mayor and tallies were revised to 1,570 for Robinson, 1,279 for Vernon Smith, 1,157 for Gunning, and 185 for Lyon. 188 votes were rejected.

Elections in the 1850s

Vernon Smith was appointed Secretary of State for War, requiring a by-election.

Vernon Smith was appointed President of the Board of Control, requiring a by-election.

Vernon Smith was raised to the peerage, becoming 1st Baron Lyveden, and causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1870s

Gilpin's death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1880s

Bradlaugh was unseated after voting in the Commons before taking the Oath of Allegiance, causing a by-election.

Bradlaugh was expelled from the House of Commons due to his continuing prevention from taking the Oath, causing a by-election.^[17]

Bradlaugh resigned and sought election once more, after a resolution to exclude him from the precincts of the House of Commons was sought.

Elections in the 1890s

Bradlaugh's death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1910s

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.

• British Socialist Party: Ben Tillett^[18]

Elections in the 1930s

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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative:
• Labour: Reginald Paget^[19]
• British Union

Norah Elam

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: History of Parliament. 2011-09-28.
2. Web site: History of Parliament. 2011-09-28.
3. Web site: History of Parliament. 2011-09-28.
4. On petition, Osborn was declared not to have been duly elected and his opponent Howe was declared elected in his place
5. Book: Stooks Smith , Henry. . . The Parliaments of England . 1844–1850 . 2nd . 1973 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-13-2 . 233–235 .
6. News: Northampton . 10 June 2018 . Coventry Standard . 3 April 1857 . 2 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
7. PhD . Dyndor . Zoe . 2010 . The Political Culture of Elections in Northampton, 1768–1868 . University of Northampton . 10 June 2018.
8. Web site: Casey . Martin . Salmon . Philip . Northampton . The History of Parliament . 10 June 2018 . 2009.
9. Vernon, Robert [formerly Robert Vernon Smith], first Baron Lyveden (1800–1873) ]. 25898 . 3 January 2008 . Matthew . H. C. G. . Williams . W. R. .
10. News: Northampton Mercury . 10 June 2018 . 29 July 1837 . 3.
11. Book: Warwick . William Atkinson . The House of Commons: As Elected to the Fourteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom being The Second of Victoria . 1841 . Saunders and Otley . London . 70 . 10 June 2018.
12. News: Election Prospects . 10 June 2018 . The Suffolk Chronicle; or Weekly General Advertiser & County Express . 21 March 1857 . 3 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
13. News: Contested Elections . 10 June 2018 . Lancaster Gazette . 4 April 1857 . 3–4 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
14. News: The Dissolution . 10 June 2018 . Bucks Herald . 21 March 1857 . 3 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
15. Web site: Spychal . Martin . MP of the Month: Charles Gilpin (1815–1874) . Victorian Commons . 10 June 2018 . 27 September 2007.
16. Account of the 1874 by-election in The Times, Thursday, Oct 08, 1874; pg. 10; Issue 28128; col E "The Northampton Election" . Charles Merewether is among a list of former MPs who have died in 1884 in The Times, Wednesday, 31 December 1884; page. 7; Issue 31331; col A. At that time he was a Queen's Counsel. He was appointed Recorder of Leicester in 1868 Source: The Leicester Chronicle and the Leicestershire Mercury, Saturday, 24 October 1868; pg. 6. "Borough Sessions Wednesday 21 October".
17. Web site: Bust of Charles Bradlaugh MP unveiled in Portcullis House. Parliament.UK. 5 December 2017. 2 November 2016.
18. News: British Socialist Party . Manchester Guardian . 13 April 1914.
19. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939