Boroughbridge was a parliamentary borough in Yorkshire from 1553 until 1832, when it was abolished under the Great Reform Act. Throughout its existence it was represented by two Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

The constituency consisted of the market town of Boroughbridge in the parish of Aldborough (which was also a borough with two MPs of its own). By 1831 it contained only 154 houses, and had a population of 947.

Boroughbridge was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote was vested in the tenants of certain specified properties, of which there seem to have been about 65 by the time the borough was abolished. Since these properties could be freely bought and sold, the effective power of election rested with whoever owned the majority of the burgages (who, if necessary, could simply assign the tenancies to reliable placemen shortly before an election). For more than a century before the Reform Act, Boroughbridge was owned by the Dukes of Newcastle, who controlled around fifteen seats across the country; however, in the 1790s, they sold one of the seats for £4,000 to the banker Thomas Coutts, who used it to put his son-in-law, Francis Burdett, into Parliament.

Members of Parliament

Constituency created (1553)

1553–1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1553 (Oct) William Tancred Christopher Wray 1554 (Apr) Ralph Cholmley Christopher Wray 1554 (Nov) Christopher Wray John Holmes 1555Christopher Wray Robert Kempe 1558William Fairfax Christopher Wray 1558–9 Sir John York Richard Bunny 1562–3 John Astley Thomas Disney 1571Cotton Gargrave Thomas Boynton 1572 (Apr) Thomas Eynns (died 1578) Cotton Gargrave 1584 (Oct) Henry Cheke Nicholas Faunt 1586 (Sep) George Savile Robert Briggs 1588–9 Sir Edward Fitton Francis Moore 1593John Brograve Vincent Skinner 1597 (Sep) Henry Fanshawe Thomas Crompton 1601Richard Whalley Thomas Fairfax 1604 John Ferne Sir Henry Jenkins 1609 Sir Thomas Vavasour Sir Henry Jenkins 1614 Sir Ferdinando Fairfax George Marshall 1621 Sir Ferdinando Fairfax George Wethered 1624 Sir Ferdinando Fairfax Christopher Mainwaring 1625 Sir Ferdinando Fairfax William Mainwaring 1626 Sir Ferdinando Fairfax Philip Mainwaring 1628 Sir Ferdinando Fairfax Francis Neville 1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party April 1640 Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax Francis Neville November 1640 Sir Philip Stapylton (d. September 1647) Parliamentarian Thomas Mauleverer Parliamentarian1648 Henry Stapylton December 1648Stapylton excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant1653Boroughbridge not represented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Colonel Laurence Parsons Robert Stapylton May 1659Not represented in the restored Rump as Thomas Mauleverer had died in the interim 1660 Conyers Darcy Sir Henry Stapylton 1661Sir Richard Mauleverer, Bt Robert LongCreated a baronet as Sir Robert Long in 1662 1673Sir Henry Goodricke, Bt 1675Sir Michael Warton March 1679Sir Thomas Mauleverer, Bt August 1679 Sir John Brookes, Bt 1685 Sir Henry Goodricke, Bt 1689 Christopher VaneVane was returned as MP at the election of 1689, but on petition he was unseated and Stapylton declared to have been elected in his placeWhig 1690 Sir Brian Stapylton 1695 Thomas Harrison 1698 Sir Brian Stapylton 1705 John Stapylton Craven Peyton 1708 Sir Brian Stapylton 1713 Edmund DunchWhig 1715 Thomas Wilkinson Sir Richard Steele Whig 1718 Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bt March 1722 Conyers DarcyDarcy was also elected for Richmond, which he chose to represent, and never sat for BoroughbridgeJames Tyrrell October 1722 Joseph Danvers 1727 George Gregory 1742 William Murray Tory 1746 Earl of Dalkeith 1750 Hon. Lewis Monson WatsonWatson was re-elected in 1754, but had also been elected for Kent, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Boroughbridge 1754 John Fuller 1755 Sir Cecil Bisshopp, Bt 1756 Earl of EustonEuston was elected two weeks later in a by-election for Bury St Edmunds, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Boroughbridge Whig 1757 Thomas Thoroton 1761 Brice Fisher 1767 James West the younger 1768 Nathaniel Cholmley James West 1772 Major-General Henry Clinton 1774 Anthony Eyre Charles MellishMellish was also elected for Pontefract, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Boroughbridge 1775 Colonel William Phillips 1780 Charles Ambler, KC 1784 Sir Richard Sutton, Bt The Viscount Palmerston 1790 Morris Robinson 1796 Francis BurdettSucceeded to a baronetcy as Sir Francis Burdett in 1797 Independent Radical Sir John Scott Tory 1799 Hon. John Scott Tory 1802 Edward Berkeley Portman Whig January 1806 Viscount Castlereagh Tory November 1806 Brigadier William Henry Clinton Tory Henry Dawkins Tory 1808 Henry Clinton Tory 1818 Marmaduke LawsonWhig George MundyTory March 1820 Richard Spooner Radical June 1820Captain George Mundy, RNSpooner and Lawson were initially declared re-elected at the 1820 general election, but they were unseated and Mundy and Dawkins were returned on petitionToryLt Colonel Henry Dawkins Tory 1830 Sir Charles Wetherell Tory Matthias Attwood Tory

Constituency abolished (1832)

Elections Source: The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)

Elections in the 1800s At the 1802 general election, Edward Berkeley Portman and John Scott were elected unopposed.

At the 1806 and 1807 general elections, William Henry Clinton and Henry Dawkins were elected unopposed.

At the Boroughbridge by-election, 1808, Henry Clinton was elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1810s At the 1812 general election, William Henry Clinton and Henry Clinton were elected unopposed.

In the Boroughbridge by-election, 1819, Marmaduke Lawson was elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1820s

Mundy and Dawkins were seated on petition.

At the 1826 United Kingdom general election, George Mundy and Henry Dawkins were elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1830s

Notes

References Robert Beatson, "A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament" (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) Michael Brock, The Great Reform Act (London: Hutchinson, 1973) 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) Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991)