Whitehaven was a constituency centred on the town of Whitehaven in Cumberland, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
It was created in 1832 and renamed Copeland at the 1983 general election.
Boundaries The boundaries were unaffected in 1885, under the second Great Reform agreed the previous year, its key limb of The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 not yet absorbing the bulk of the area of Egremont or 'the Western Division of Cumberland'.Youngs (1991) pp. 805-806 The latter mainly rural area, much larger than Whitehaven borough which formed the existing seat, was added to the seat under the Representation of the People Act 1918.
Members of Parliament Election Member Party 1832 Matthias Attwood Tory 1834 Conservative 1847 Robert Hildyard Conservative 1857 by-election George Lyall Conservative 1865 George Cavendish-Bentinck Conservative 1891 Sir James Bain Conservative 1892 Thomas Shepherd Little Liberal 1895 Augustus Helder Conservative 1906 William Burnyeat Liberal Jan. 1910 John Arthur Jackson Conservative Dec. 1910 Thomas Richardson Labour 1918 James Augustus Grant Coalition Conservative 1922 Thomas Gavan Duffy Labour 1924 Robert Hudson Conservative 1929 M. Philips Price Labour 1931 William Nunn Conservative 1935 Frank Anderson Labour 1959 by-election Joseph Symonds Labour 1970 Jack Cunningham Labour 1983 constituency renamed (with unchanged boundaries), see Copeland
Elections Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s
Elections in the 1850s
Hildyard's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s
Elections in the 1870s
Cavendish-Bentinck was appointed Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1890s Cavendish-Bentinck's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1930s
Election in the 1940s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1970s
Sources
References