Boston was a parliamentary borough in Lincolnshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1547 until 1885, and then one member from 1885 until 1918, when the constituency was abolished.
History Boston first elected Members of Parliament in 1352–1353, but after that the right lapsed and was not revived again until the reign of Edward VI. The borough consisted of most of the town of Boston, a port and market town on the River Witham which had overgrown its original boundaries as the river had been cleared of silt and its trade developed. In 1831, the population of the borough was 11,240, contained 2,631 houses.
The right to vote belonged to the Mayor, aldermen, members of the common council and all resident freemen of the borough who paid scot and lot. This gave Boston a relatively substantial electorate for the period, 927 votes being cast in 1826 and 565 in 1831. The freedom was generally obtained either by birth (being the son of an existing freemen) or servitude (completing an apprenticeship in the town), but could also be conferred as an honorary status, and Boston charged a consistently escalating sum to its Parliamentary candidates who wanted to be admitted as freemen - set at £20 in 1700, it was raised to £50 in 1719, to £100 in 1790 and to £135 in 1800.
Major local landowners had some influence over election outcomes through deference of the voters - the Duke of Ancaster, for example, was generally allowed to choose one of the members up to the end of the 18th centuryPage 144, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957) - but in the last few years before the Reform Act at least one of the two members seems consistently to have been the free choice of the people of the town. However, bribery was rife in some of the early 19th-century elections, and the election of Thomas Fydell in 1802 was overturned when it was discovered that not only had he been paying electors five guineas for a vote, but that many of these were not qualified to vote anyway. (They were freemen not resident in the borough, whose names had been fraudulently entered as paying the poor rate at houses where they did not live, so as to appear eligible.)
Boston retained both its MPs under the Reform Act, but its boundaries were extended slightly, taking in more of the town and part of the neighbouring parish of Skirbeck. This increased the population of the borough to 12,818, although only 869 of these were eligible to vote in the first election after Reform; this had grown to just over 1,000 by the time of the Second Reform Act, when the widening of the franchise more than doubled it, over 2,500 electors being registered for the 1868 general election which followed. But by the 1870s, electoral corruption had again become a problem in Boston. The result of the 1874 election was overturned for bribery, and a Royal Commission set up to investigate; when the next general election, in 1880, had to be declared void for the same reasons, Boston's representation was suspended for the remainder of the Parliament.
Boston had its right to vote restored for the 1885 election, but the boundary changes which came into effect at the same time slightly reduced the size of the borough and allowed it only one MP. The constituency at this period was mainly middle-class but non-conformists had a strong presence, enabling the Liberals to be competitive where they might otherwise have struggled. The deciding factor which may have tilted the constituency towards the Conservatives in its final years may have been the benefit that the local fisherman saw in Tariff Reform.
The borough was abolished with effect from the general election of 1918, Boston being included in the new Holland with Boston county division.
Boundaries 1832-1885: The old borough of Boston, the parish of Skirbeck, and the hamlet of Skirbeck Quarter, including the Fen Allotment of the hamlet of Skirbeck Quarter, but not the Fen Allotment of the parish of Skirbeck.
1885-1918: The existing parliamentary borough, excluding two detached parts situate to the north of the borough, one in East Fen and one in West Fen, and also excluding a part situate on the north side of the borough in the parishes of Sibsey and Frithville.
Members of Parliament
1547-1640 — 1640-1880 — 1885-1918 — Jump to Elections
1547-1640 YearFirst memberSecond member 1547 John Wendon William Naunton 1553 (Mar) Leonard Irby George Foster 1553 (Oct) Francis Allen George Foster 1554 (Apr) Leonard Irby George Foster 1554 (Nov) Leonard Irby George Foster 1555 Leonard Irby George Foster 1558 Leonard Irby George Foster 1559 (Jan) Robert Carr Leonard Irby 1562–3 Thomas Heneage, sat for Lincolnshire, replaced Jan 1563 by John Tamworth Leonard Irby 1571 Christopher Hatton, sat for Higham Ferrers, replaced 1571 by Thomas Lyfield Leonard Irby 1572 Stephen Thymbleby William Dodington 1584 (Nov) Nicholas Gorges Vincent Skinner 1586 (Oct) Vincent Skinner Richard Stevenson 1588–9 Vincent Skinner Anthony Irby 1593 Anthony Irby Richard Stevenson 1597 (Sep) Anthony Irby Richard Stevenson 1601 (Oct) Anthony Irby Henry Capell 1604 Anthony Irby Francis Bullingham 1614 Anthony Irby Leonard Bawtree 1621 Anthony Irby Sir Thomas Cheek, sat for Harwich replaced by Sir William Airmine 1624 William Boswell Sir Clement Cotterell, sat for Grantham replaced by Sir William Airmine 1625 Sir Edward Barkham William Boswell 1626 Sir Edward Barkham Richard Oakley 1628 Richard Bellingham Richard Oakley, unseated after petition replaced by Anthony Irby 1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned Back to Members of Parliament
1640-1880
YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 William Ellis Parliamentarian Sir Anthony Irby November 1640 Sir Anthony Irby ParliamentarianDecember 1648Irby excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant1653Boston was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament1654William Ellis Boston had only one seat in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate1656 Sir Anthony Irby January 1659Francis Mussenden May 1659William Ellis One seat vacant in restored RumpFebruary 1660 Sir Anthony Irby April 1660 Thomas Hatcher 1661 Lord Willoughby de Eresby 1666 Sir Philip Harcourt February 1679 Sir William Ellis May 1679 Sir William Yorke 1685 Lord Willoughby de Eresby Peregrine Bertie 1689 Sir William Yorke 1690 Peregrine Bertie 1698 Richard Wynn Edmund Boulter January 1701 Sir William Yorke December 1701 Peregrine Bertie 1702 Sir Edward Irby 1705 Richard Wynn 1708 Peregrine Bertie 1711 William Cotesworth 1713 Henry Heron 1719 Richard Ellys 1722 Henry Pacey 1730 The Lord Coleraine 1734 Albemarle Bertie Richard Fydell 1741 Lord Vere Bertie John Michell 1754 Lord Robert Bertie Charles Amcotts 1761 John Michell 1766 Charles Amcotts 1777 Humphrey Sibthorp 1782 Sir Peter Burrell 1784 Dalhousie Watherston 1790 Thomas Fydell I Tory 1796 Thomas Colyear Whig 1802 William Madocks Whig 1803 Thomas Fydell II Tory 1806 Thomas Fydell I Tory 1812 Peter Drummond-Burrell Whig 1820 Gilbert Heathcote Whig Henry Ellis Tory 1821 William Augustus Johnson Whig 1826 Neil Malcolm Tory 1830 John Wilks Radical 1831 Gilbert Heathcote Whig 1832 Benjamin Handley Whig 1835 John Studholme Brownrigg Conservative 1837 Sir James Duke Whig 1847 Benjamin Bond Cabbell Conservative 1849 Hon. Dudley Pelham Whig 1851 James William Freshfield Conservative 1852 Gilbert Heathcote Whig 1856 Herbert Ingram Radical 1857 William Henry Adams Peelite 1859Liberal Meaburn Staniland Liberal 1860 John Malcolm Conservative 1865 Thomas ParryOn petition, Parry's election was declared void and Staniland duly elected after scrutiny of the votes Liberal 1866 Meaburn Staniland Liberal 1867 Thomas Parry Liberal 1868 Thomas Collins Conservative 1874 William Ingram Liberal Thomas Parry Liberal 1874 John MalcolmAt the 1874 election, both Liberal candidates, Ingram and Thomas Parry, were initially declared elected but on petition Parry's election was declared void. After scrutiny 353 of Parry's 1,347 votes were struck off for bribery, and Malcolm, who had originally finished third, was declared elected. Following this election a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate the conduct of elections in Boston Conservative 1878 Thomas Garfit Conservative1880 Representation suspended Back to Members of Parliament
1885-1918 ElectionMemberParty 1885 Representation restored and reduced to one Member 1885 William Ingram Liberal 1886 Henry Farmer-Atkinson Conservative 1892 Sir William Ingram Liberal 1895 William Garfit Conservative 1906 George Faber Liberal Jan. 1910 Charles Harvey Dixon Conservative 1918 constituency abolished Back to Members of Parliament
Elections 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s
Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s
Duke resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds in order to contest a by-election at City of London.
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Elections in the 1850s Pelham's death caused a by-election.
Wire retired from the contest.
Heathcote resigned to contest the 1856 by-election at Rutland.
Herbert's appointment as Recorder of Derby required a by-election.
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Elections in the 1860s Ingram's death caused a by-election.
On petition, Parry's election was declared void on grounds of bribery and Staniland was duly elected in his place.
Staniland then resigned, causing a by-election.
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Elections in the 1870s
An election petition found extensive bribery relating to Parry's votes, which on the initial count totalled 1,347. However, 353 of these were struck off - and further may have been taken if the process had not stopped on 8 June 1874 - leading to Malcolm's election instead. A Royal Commission was established to investigate the borough. A separate petition against Ingram was dropped.
In 1878, Malcolm then resigned in order to contest a by-election in Argyllshire, leading to a by-election in Boston.
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Elections in the 1880s
Bribery convictions led to the Boston writ being suspended and the 1880 result being voided. The seat was again reconstituted in 1885, when it was reduced to one member.
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Elections in the 1890s
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Elections in the 1900s
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Elections in the 1910s
General Election 1914–15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; Unionist: Charles Harvey Dixon Liberal: F. Stapleton Hiley Back to Top
References
Sources 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) F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) J. E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949) T. H. B. Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816) Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections, 1885-1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967) J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903) Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991) Concise Dictionary of National Biography