Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)

Lancashire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1290, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament, traditionally known as Knights of the Shire until 1832.

Lancashire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1290–1832
Number of members	two
Replaced by	Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackburn, Bolton, Bury, Manchester, North Lancashire, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, South Lancashire and Warrington

The ancient county of Lancashire covered a much larger area than the modern county of Lancashire. The county town of Lancaster was in the north of the county. The county boundary was further north beyond Carnforth and followed approximately the same boundary as the modern county. The old county of Lancashire also included land on the opposite side of Morecambe Bay. Barrow and Furness and the area between Lake Windermere and the River Duddon, and the area west of the River Winster were considered parts of Lancashire. Most of the modern district of Ribble Valley was at this time part of Yorkshire. In the south the county extended to the River Mersey and Liverpool and followed the Mersey and the River Tame to Ashton-under-Lyne. Most of the southern area of the ancient county now forms the modern metropolitan counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

The people of the ancient county of Lancashire had been represented in Parliament since at least the 13th Century. It was this period that saw the practice of returning two knights from the shire counties to Parliaments summoned by writ to meet. These were generally regarded as the first assemblies of representatives. At that time Westminster, within the county of Middlesex, had yet to become the permanent home of Parliament. It was the King who decided when and where a Parliament should assemble, and although Westminster was the usual venue, sometimes special circumstances in this period meant Parliaments were summoned to other cities. Early returns have not survived, but the first named representatives of Lancashire, Mattheus de Redman and Johannes de Ewyas are shown in the returns to the Parliament of England summoned to meet at Westminster on 27 November 1295 in the reign of Edward I.

In this early period of Parliamentary history not all Parliaments summoned just shire Knights. Some also required the presence of two representatives of each city and borough. In the 1295 Parliament the two county Members for Lancashire were joined by two Members from each of the four boroughs of Lancaster, Liverpool, Preston and Wigan.

Preston occasionally sent Members to subsequent Parliaments but it was not until the sixteenth century that all four boroughs regularly returned Members to Parliament. At this time Clitheroe and Newton-le-Willows also gained the status of Parliamentary boroughs with each returning two Members. Manchester was granted a town charter in 1301 but had no municipal authority and did not achieve the status of a Parliamentary borough. This was despite the parish of Manchester having a population larger than Liverpool parish by over 100,000 by 1831. Manchester appears in the returns once in the Parliament 1656. This was the second Protectorate Parliament that followed Oliver Cromwell's Instrument of Government that declared Cromwell Lord Protector. The Instrument was an attempt to redistribute seats on a more equitable basis and towns such as Leeds and Manchester gained representation as a result, but this ended following the Restoration.

Lancashire had a total of fourteen Members in the unreformed House of Commons, and this remained the pattern

The constituency was split into two two-member divisions, for Parliamentary purposes, in 1832. The county was then represented by the North Lancashire and South Lancashire constituencies : the latter representing the hundreds of Salford and West Derby, and the former the hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland and Lonsdale.

Boundaries

The constituency comprised the whole historic county of Lancashire, except for the Parliamentary boroughs of Clitheroe, Lancaster, Liverpool, Newton, Preston and Wigan.

Members of Parliament

1290–1653

Parliament	First member	Second member
1294	Mathew de Redman
1295	Mathew de ?Sechnan	John de ?Evyas [1]
1297	Henry de Keighley	Henry de Boteler [1]
1298	Henry de Keighley	John Denyas [1]
1300	Gilbert de Singleton	Egbert de Haydock [1]
1301	Henry de Keighley	Thomas Travers [1]
1302	William de Clifton	Gilbert de Singleton [1]
1305	William de Clifton	William Banastre [1]
1307 (Jan)	Gilbert de Singleton	John Travers [1]
1307 (Oct)	Mathew de Redman	William le Gentil [1]
1311	William le Gentil	Thomas de Betham [1]
1312	Henry de Trafford	Sir Richard le Molyneux [1]
1313 (Mar)	William de Bradshaigh	Edmund de Daere [1]
1313 (Jul)	Ralph de Bickerstaff	William de Slene [1]
1313 (Sep)	Henry de ?Vegherby	Thomas de Thornton [1]
1314	Thomas Banastre	William de Slene [1]
1316 (Jan)	William de Bradshaigh	Adam de Hoghton [1]
1316 (Jun)	John de Lancaster	William de Walton [1]
1316 (Jul)	Sir Roger de Pilkington	Sir John de Pilkington [1]
1318 (Oct)	Edmund de Neville	John de Hornby [1]
1319	William de Walton	William de Slene [1]
1320	Gilbert de Haydock	Thomas de Thornton [1]
1321	John de Hornby	Gilbert de Haydock [1]
1322	Richard de Hoghton	John de Lancaster [1]
1324 (Jan)	Edmund de Nevill	Gilbert de Haydock repl. by Thomas de Lathom [1]
1324 (Oct)	William de Slene	Nicholas de Norreys [1]
1325	William de Bradshaigh	John de Hornby [1]
1326	Edmund de Neville	Richard de Hoghton [1]
1327 (Sep)	Michael de Haverington	William Lawrence [1]
1328 (Feb)	William de Bradshaigh	Edmund de Neville [1]
1328 (Apr)	Thomas de Thornton	John de Hornby [1]
1328 (Jul)	William Lawrence	Thomas de Thornton [1]
1328 (Oct)	Nicholas de Norreys	Henry de Haydock [1]
1329 (Feb)	Nicholas de Norreys	Henry de Haydock [1]
1329/30 (Mar)	William de Saperton	Henry de Haydock [1]
1330	William de Bradshaigh	John de Lancaster [1]
1331	William de Bradshaigh	Oliver de Stansmeld [1]
1332	Robert de Dalton	Adam de Banastre [1]
1332 (Sep)	John de Hornby, jnr	Robert de Dalton [1]
1332/3 (Jan)	Edmund de Neville	John de Hornby, jnr [1]
1333/4 (Feb)	Edmund de Nevill	Robert de Dalton [1]
1334	Robert de Radcliffe	Henry de Haydock [1]
1335 (May)	Robert de Sherburne	Edmund de Neville [1]
1336 (Mar)	John de Sherburne	Henry de Haydock [1]
1336 (Sep)	John de Hornby, jnr	Henry de Haydock [1]
1336/7 (Mar)	Robert de Ireland	Sir Henry de Haydock [1]
1337 (Sep)	Richard de Hoghton	Edmund de Neville [1]
1337/8 (Feb)	Robert de Billisthorpe	Robert de Radcliffe [1]
1338 (Jul)	John de Hornby	John de Clyderhow [1]
1339	Robert de Clyderhowe	Henry de Bickerstaff [1]
1339 (Oct)	Nicholas de Hulme	Robert de Prescot [1]
1339/40 (Jan)	John de Radcliffe	Robert de Radcliffe [1]
1340 (Mar)	John de Dalton	Robert de Dalton [1]
1343 (Apr)	John de Haverington	John Ungoun [1]
1344	Nicholas le Boteler	William de Radcliffe [1]
1346	John de Clyderhow	Adam de Bradkirk [1]
1347/8 (Jan)	Adam de Hoghton	John Cockayne [1]
1348 (Apr)	Robert de Plesington	Robert de Prescot [1]
1351	Otho de Halsall	William de Radcliffe [1]
1351/2 (Jan)	?
1352 (Aug)	John de Haverington	One knight only summoned [1]
1353	William Cables	One knight only summoned [1]
1354 (Apr)	William Cables	Richard Nowell [1]
1355	Robert de Hornby	Roger de Farington [1]
1357 (Apr)	John de Haverington	Robert de Singleton [1]
1357/8 (Feb)	Robert de Farington	Robert de Hornby [1]
1360	William de Hesketh	Roger de Farington [1]
1360/1 (Jan)	William de Radcliffe	Richard de Towneley [1]
1362 (Oct)	Edmund Lawrence	Matthew de Rixton of Rixton Hall [1]
	Result set aside as unlawful
1363 (Oct)	Adam de Hoghton	Roger de Pilkington [1]
1364/5 (Jan)	Sir Adam de Houghton	Sir Roger de Pilkington [1]
1366 (May)	Sir John le Boteler	William de Radcliffe [1]
1368	Sir Roger de Pilkington	Roger de Ratcliffe [1]
1369 (Jun)	Sir John de Dalton	John de Ipres [1]
1371	John de Ipres	Richard de Towneley [1]
1372 (Nov)	Sir Nicholas Haryngton	Sir John le Boteler [1]
1373 (Nov)	William de Atherton	John de Holcroft [1]
1376 (Apr)	Sir John le Boteler	Roger de Brockholes [1]
1376/7 (Jan)	Sir John le Boteler	Roger de Pilkington [1]
1377 (Oct)	Sir John le Boteler	Sir Nicholas Haryngton [1]
1378	Ralph de Ypres	Sir John le Boteler [1]
1379	Sir Nicholas Haryngton	Robert Urswyk [1]
1380 (Jan)	Sir John le Boteler	Thomas Southworth [1]
1380 (Nov)	Sir John le Boteler	Thomas Southworth [1]
1381 (Sep)	Sir William de Atherton	Robert Urswyk [1]
1382 (May)	Sir Roger de Pilkington	Robert de Clifton [1]
1382 (Oct)	Sir John de Assheton	Robert Urswyck [1]
1382/3 (Feb)	Sir Richard de Hoghton	Robert Clifton [1]
1383 (Oct)	John de Holcroft	Sir Walter de Urswyk [1]
1384 (Apr)	Sir Roger Pilkington	Thomas Gerard [1]
1384 (Nov)	Robert Urswyk	William de Tunstall [1]
1385	Robert Urswyk	Thomas de Radcliffe [1]
1386 (Oct)	Sir Nicholas Haryngton	Robert Worsley [2]
1388 (Feb)	Sir John le Boteler	Sir Thomas Gerard [2]
1388 (Sep)	Sir John Assheton	Sir John Croft [2]
1390 (Jan)	Sir John Assheton	Sir Ralph de Ypres [2]
1390 (Nov)	Sir Robert Urswyk	Sir John Croft [2]
1391	Sir Robert Urswyk	Robert Worsley [2]
1393	Sir Robert Urswyk	Sir Ralph de Ypres [2]
1394	Sir Robert Urswyk	Sir Thomas Gerard [2]
1395	Sir Robert Urswyk	Thomas Radcliffe [2]
1397 (Jan)	Sir Robert Urswyk	Richard Molyneux [2]
1397 (Sep)	Sir John le Boteler	Sir Ralph Radcliffe [2]
1399	Sir Robert Urswyk	Sir Henry Hoghton [2]
1401	Sir Robert Urswyk	Sir Nicholas Atherton [2]
1402	Sir Richard Houghton	Sir Nicholas Haryngton[2]
1404 (Jan)	Robert Laurence	Sir Ralph Radcliffe[2]
1404 (Oct)	Sir James Haryngton	Sir Ralph Stavely[2]
1406	Robert Laurence	Sir William Boteler[2]
1407	Sir Henry Hoghton	Sir Ralph Stavely[2]
1410
1411	John de Ashton	John Booth[2]
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	John de Ashton	John Stanley[2][3]
1414 (Apr)	Ralph Radcliffe	Nicholas Blundell[2]
1414 (Nov)	Robert Laurence	John Stanley[2][3]
1415
1416 (Mar)	John de Ashton	John Morley[2]
1416 (Oct)
1417
1419	Nicholas le Boteler	John Laurence[2]
1420	Richard Shirburne	John Booth[2]
1421 (May)	Sir Thomas Radcliffe	Thomas Urswick[2]
1421 (Dec)	Richard Shirburne	Sir John Byron[2]
1422 (Nov)	Thomas Urswick	John Gerard [1]
1423 (Oct)	Sir Thomas de Radcliffe	Ralph de Radcliffe [1]
1425 (Apr)	Ralph Fitz Nicholas	Richard de Radcliffe [1]
1425/6 (Feb)	Sir John Boteler	Nicholas Boteler [1]
1427 (Oct)	Ralph de Radcliffe	Thomas Stanley [1]
1429 (Sep)	Sir John Byron	Sir Robert Lawrence [1]
1430/1 (Jan)	John de Morley	William Gernet [1]
1432 (May)	Sir William de Assheton	Thomas de Harrington [1]
1433 (Jul)	Sir Thomas Stanley	Sir Thomas Radcliffe [1]
1435 (Oct)	Henry de Halsall	Thomas Lawrence [1]
1436/7 (Jan)	Thomas de Harrington	Henry de Halsall [1]
1439 (Nov)	Thomas Stanley	Thomas de Harrington [1]
1442 (Jan)	Thomas Stanley	Thomas de Harrington [1]
1447	Thomas Stanley	Thomas de Harrington [1]
1448	Thomas Stanley	Thomas de Harrington [1]
1450	Thomas Stanley	Thomas de Harrington [1]
1455	Thomas Stanley	Alexander Radcliffe [1]
1459	Sir Richard Harrington	Henry Halsall [1]
1460	Sir Richard Harrington	Henry Halsall [1]
1463 (Apr)	?
1467 (Jun)	Sir James Harrington	Sir William Harrington [1]
1472 (Oct)	Robert Harrington	John Assheton (grandson of MP of 1413)
1477/8 (Jan)	Sir George Stanley	Sir James Harrington [1]
1482/3 (Jan)	?
1483-1523	Not known [4]
1503	Sir Thomas Butler	Sir John Booth [5]
1529	Henry Farington	Andrew Barton [4]
1536	?
1539	?
1542	?
1545	Sir Thomas Holcroft	John Kitchen [4]
1547	Thurstan Tyldesley	John Kitchen [4]
1553 (Mar)	Sir Richard Houghton sick 1553 and replaced by Sir Robert Worsley	Thomas Butler [4]
1553 (Oct)	Sir Richard Sherborn	John Rigmayden [4]
1554 (Apr)	Sir Thomas Stanley	Sir Thomas Langton [4]
1554 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Stanley	Sir John Holcroft [4]
1555	Sir Thomas Stanley	Sir William Stanley [4]
1558	Sir Thomas Talbot	Sir John Holcroft [4]
1559 (Jan)	Sir John Atherton	Sir Robert Worsley[6]
1562–1563	Sir Thomas Gerard of Bryn	Sir John Southworth [6]
1571	John Ratcliffe	Thomas Butler [6]
1572	John Ratcliffe	Edmund Trafford [6]
1584 (Nov)	Gilbert Gerard made Master of the Rolls and replaced Jan 1585 by Richard Bold [7]	Richard Molyneux [6]
1586	John Atherton	Richard Holland [6]
1588 (Oct)	Thomas Gerard, sat for Staffs and repl. by ?)	Thomas Walmsley [6]
1593	Sir Richard Molyneux	Sir Thomas Gerard [6]
1597 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Gerard	Robert Hesketh [6]
1601	Sir Richard Hoghton	Thomas Hesketh [6]
1604	Sir Richard Molyneux	Sir Richard Hoghton
1614	Sir Thomas Gerard, 1st Baronet	Sir Cuthbert Halsall
1621-1622	Sir John Ratcliffe	Sir Gilbert Hoghton
1624	Sir John Ratcliffe	Sir Thomas Walmsley
1625	Sir Richard Molyneux, Bt	Sir John Ratcliffe
1626	Robert Stanley	Sir Gilbert Hoghton
1628-1629	Sir Richard Molyneux	Sir Alexander Radcliff
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
1640 (Apr)	Sir Gilbert Hoghton, 2nd Baronet	William Farrington
1640 (Nov)	Ralph Assheton	Roger Kirkby, disabled August 1642
1645	Ralph Assheton	Sir Richard Hoghton, 3rd Baronet
1648	Ralph Assheton	Sir Richard Hoghton, 3rd Baronet

1653–1659

Parliament	First member	Second member	Third member (1653–1659)	Fourth member (1654–1659)
1653	William West	John Sawry	Robert Cunliffe	N/A
1654	Richard Holland	Gilbert Ireland	Richard Standish	William Ashurst
1656				Sir Richard Hoghton, 3rd Baronet
1659	Sir George Booth, Bt	Alexander Rigby	N/A	N/A

1660–1832

Election	1st Member [8]		1st Party	2nd Member [8]		2nd Party
1660		Sir Robert Bindlosse, 1st Baronet			Roger Bradshaigh
1661		Hon. Edward Stanley
1665		Thomas Preston
1679 (Feb)		Viscount Brandon			Peter Bold
1679 (Sep)		Sir Charles Hoghton, 4th Baronet
1681		Viscount Brandon			Sir Charles Hoghton, 4th Baronet
1685		James Holt			Roger Bradshaigh
1689		Viscount Brandon			Sir Charles Hoghton, 4th Baronet
1690					Hon. James Stanley
1694		Ralph Assheton
1698		Hon. Fitton Gerard
1701 (Feb)		Richard Bold	Tory
1703					Richard Assheton
1704		Richard Fleetwood
1705		Hon. Charles Zedenno Stanley	Whig		Richard Shuttleworth	Tory
1713		Sir John Bland
1727		Sir Edward Stanley
1736		Peter Bold	Tory
1741		Lord Strange
1750					Peter Bold	Tory
1761					James Shuttleworth
1768					Lord Archibald Hamilton
1771		The Earl of Sefton
1772					Sir Thomas Egerton
1774		Lord Stanley
1776		Thomas Stanley
1780		Thomas Stanley
1784					John Blackburne
1812		Lord Stanley
1830					John Wilson-Patten	Tory
1831					Benjamin Heywood

• Constituency abolished (1832)

Elections

The county franchise, from 1430, was held by the adult male owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more. Each elector had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings, which took place in the county town of Lancaster. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system.

The expense, to candidates, of contested elections encouraged the leading families of the county to agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. Contested county elections were therefore unusual. The Stanleys, led by the Earl of Derby dominated the county. One seat was nearly always held by a Stanley relative, the second, by one of the other leading families.

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies
• Unreformed House of Commons

References

1. "The parliamentary representation of Lancashire". Retrieved 23 September 2011.
2. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 30 August 2011.
3. "Stanley, John (d.1437), of Knowsley and Lathom, Lancs., lord of the Isle of Man". History of Parliament. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
4. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 30 August 2011.
5. Cavill. The English Parliaments of Henry VII 1485-1504.
6. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 30 August 2011.
7. "Gerard, Sir Gilbert (d.1593), of Ince, Lancs. and Gerrard's Bromley, Staffs.". History of Parliament. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
8. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)

• Willement’s roll of arms