Knaresborough was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain and the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, and then one MP until its abolition in 1885.

History Before the Reform Act 1832 Knaresborough was a parliamentary borough, first enfranchised by Mary I in 1553. The borough consisted of part of the town of Knaresborough, a market town in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1831, the population of the borough was approximately 4,852, and contained 970 houses.

Knaresborough was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote was confined to the proprietors of certain specific properties (or "burgage tenements") in the borough; in Knaresborough there was no requirement for these proprietors to be resident, and normally the majority were not. This meant that the right to vote in Knaresborough could be legitimately bought and sold, and, for most of its history until the Reform Act 1832 reformed the franchise, the majority of the burgages were concentrated in the hands of a single owner who could therefore nominate both MPs without opposition. Nevertheless, contested elections were possible, and in 1830, when there were theoretically about 90 qualified voters, 45 people actually voted. But the landowners had other resources beyond the votes they owned, as the bailiff of the lord of the manor was also the returning officer, and of the 45 who attempted to vote in 1830 the bailiff rejected the votes of 23.

In the 16th and 17th century, the main landowners in the area were the Slingsby family, who on occasion occupied both seats themselves, though usually they found it more advantageous to allow one of their fellow county magnates to have at least one of the seats. During the latter part of the Elizabethan period, the Duchy of Lancaster also seems to have been influential – the historian Sir John Neale considered that the Duchy probably nominated at least one of the two members in each parliament from 1584 to 1597 – but the influence of the Slingsbys was consolidated later. By the mid-18th century, ownership had passed to the Dukes of Devonshire,Page 144, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957) who retained it until the Reform Act.

After the Great Reform Act The Reform Act extended Knaresborough's boundaries, bringing in the remainder of the town and coinciding with the boundaries established during the previous decade for policing purposes. This increased the population by nearly a third, to 6,253. Nevertheless, Knaresborough was one of the smaller boroughs to retain both its seats, and the registered electorate for the first reformed election was only 278. In subsequent years this fell further, though by the 1860s it had recovered to reach around 270 once more, and inevitably Knaresborough's representation was reduced to one MP under the Representation of the People Act 1867. The extension of the franchise by the same Act trebled the electorate.

In 1880, after a disputed election with suspicion of corrupt practices, the result was declared void and the constituency's right to representation suspended while a Royal Commission investigated; however, unlike the investigations in some other constituencies at around the same period, nothing too damning was uncovered, and a by-election to fill the vacancies was held in 1881. It proved, nevertheless, to be Knaresborough's last Parliament, for its electorate was still too low and the borough was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Its electors were transferred to the new Ripon division of the West Riding, a county constituency.

Members of Parliament 1553–1640 ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1553 (Oct) Reginald Beseley Ralph Scrope 1554 (Apr) Edward Napper John Long 1554 (Nov) Sir Thomas Chaloner Ralph Scrope 1555 Henry Fisher ?Sir Thomas Chaloner or George Eden 1558 Henry Darcy Thomas Colshill 1558/9 Laurence Nowell William Byrnand 1562/3 William Strickland, sat for Scarborough repl. by Christopher Tamworth Sir Henry Gate, sat for Scarborough repl. by Robert BowesWilliam Strickland and Sir Henry Gate were both also elected for Scarborough, which they chose to represent, and did not sit for Knaresborough 1571 Sir George Bowes John Cade 1572 (Apr) Francis Slingsby Richard Banks 1584 Edmund Poley Francis Slingsby 1586 Francis Palmes William Davison 1588/9 Thomas Preston Francis Harvey 1593 Samuel Foxe Simon Willis 1597 (Sep) Hugh Beeston William Slingsby 1601 (Oct) Henry Slingsby William Slingsby 1604–1611 Sir Henry Slingsby Sir William Slingsby 1614 Sir Henry Slingsby William Beecher 1620–1622 Sir Henry Slingsby Sir Richard Hutton 1624 Sir Henry Slingsby 1625 Sir Henry Slingsby 1626 Sir Richard Hutton Henry Benson 1628 Sir Richard Hutton Henry Benson 1629–1640No Parliaments convened

1640–1868 Year1st Member1st Party2nd Member2nd PartyApril 1640 Sir Henry Slingsby Royalist ? November 1640 Henry BensonExpelled, November 1641Royalist1641William DeerloveDeerlove was returned in a disputed election; the House decided in favour of his opponent, Constable, in March 1642March 1642 Sir William Constable, Bt. ParliamentarianSeptember 1642Slingsby disabled from sitting – seat vacant1645Thomas Stockdale1653Knaresborough was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659Slingsby Bethel Robert Walters May 1659Not represented in the restored Rump (Constable had died in the interim)April 1660 William Stockdale Henry Bethell 1661 Sir John Talbot 1679 Sir Thomas Slingsby, Bt 1685 Henry Slingsby 1689 Thomas Fawkes 1693 Christopher Stockdale 1695 Robert Byerley Mar 1714 Francis Fawkes May 1714 Henry Slingsby 1715 Henry CooteSucceeded as The Earl of Mountrath (in the Peerage of Ireland), September 1715 Whig Robert Hitch1720 Hon. Richard Arundell 1722 Sir Henry Slingsby, Bt 1758 Hon Robert Walsingham 1761 Lord John Cavendish Rockingham Whig 1763 Sir Anthony Abdy, Bt Rockingham Whig 1768 Captain The Hon Robert Walsingham, RN 1775 Lord George Cavendish 1780 Frederick Ponsonby Whig 1781 James Hare Whig 1793 Lord John Townshend Whig 1804 William Cavendish Whig 1805 John PonsonbyA by-election to replace Cavendish was held in 1804 but abandoned due to rioting, and no return was made. At the by-election held in March 1805, Duncannon received 67 votes and T.E. Wynn Belayse (the Tory candidate) received 125, but Belayse's votes came from the residents whereas Duncannon's came from the (mostly non-resident) proprietors of the burgage tenancies, and Duncannon was returned as Member Whig 1806 Charles Bennet Whig 1818 Sir James Mackintosh Whig George Tierney Whig Feb 1830 Henry BroughamBrougham was re-elected at the general election in 1830 but was also returned for Yorkshire; he was elevated to the House of Lords before having chosen which constituency he would represent in the Commons Whig Dec 1830 Henry Cavendish Whig Jun 1832 William Ponsonby Whig Dec 1832 John Richards Whig Benjamin Rotch Whig 1835 Andrew Lawson Conservative 1837 Henry Rich Whig Hon Charles Langdale Whig1841 Andrew Lawson Conservative William Ferrand Conservative 1847 William Lascelles Peelite Joshua Westhead Whig 1851 Thomas Collins Conservative 1852Woodd, Dent and Westhead each received 113 votes, resulting in a triple election. However, after scrutiny, one vote was taken from Westhead and he was declared unduly elected in 1853 Basil Thomas Woodd ConservativeJohn Dent Whig 1853John Dent Whig 1857 Thomas Collins Conservative 1865 Isaac Holden Liberal

1868–1885

ElectionMemberParty 1868 Alfred Illingworth Liberal 1874 Basil Thomas Woodd Conservative 1880 Sir Henry Meysey-Thompson, Bt. Liberal 1881 Thomas Collins Conservative 1884 Robert Gunter Conservative 1885 constituency abolished

Election results Elections in the 1830s Tierney's death caused a by-election.

Mackintosh was appointed a commissioner of the India Board, requiring a by-election.

Brougham was called to the House of Lords' Lords Temporal, causing a by-election.

The majority (23) of Entwisle's votes were challenged and the returning officer upheld the complaints. A similar challenge was laid against Cavendish, but parliament was dissolved the following day.

Mackintosh's death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

Lascelle's death caused a by-election.

As Woodd, Dent and Westhead received the same number of votes, they were all elected. However, in April 1853, after scrutiny, one vote was taken from Westhead and he was declared unduly elected.

Elections in the 1860s

Seat reduced to one member

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

The election was declared void on petition, causing a by-election.

Collins' death caused a by-election.

Notes

References

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)