Steyning was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, England, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons sporadically from 1298 and continuously from 1467 until 1832. It was a notorious rotten borough, and was abolished by the Great Reform Act.
History The borough comprised the small market town of Steyning in Sussex, which consisted of little more than a single long street; yet despite its size it not only elected its own two MPs but contained most of the borough of Bramber, which had two of its own. (Between the 13th and 15th centuries, Bramber and Steyning were a single borough returning MPs to most Parliaments, sometimes called by one name and sometimes by the other, but after 1467 both were separately represented. Until 1792 it was theoretically possible for a house to confer on its occupier a vote in both boroughs.) In 1831, the population of the borough was just over 1,000, and the town contained 218 houses.
At the time of the Reform Act, the right to vote was exercised by the constable and all inhabitant householders paying scot and lot and not receiving alms; this was a liberal franchise for the period, though it amounted to only around 118 voters by the time the borough was abolished. The householders seem historically to have had the right to vote, but the question was the subject of litigation through most of the 18th century. Between 1715 and 1792, the right was instead restricted to occupiers of "ancient houses" and of houses built on the site of ancient houses, in effect a burgage franchise; but the restoration of the householders' rights does not seem to have increased the electorate substantially, suggesting that most of the houses significant enough for their tenants to be rated for scot and lot had the status of burgage tenements.
For most of the borough's existence, the majority of the qualified voters were tenants of one or two landowners, who therefore had considerable influence if not total control of the choice of MP. (Indeed, Steyning was cited by Thomas Oldfield, the contemporary historian of electoral abuses in the unreformed House of Commons, as an example of a borough where tenancies were granted for the sole purpose of ensuring that the electorate consisted of pliable voters.)
The state of the borough in the 18th century was described in a local agent's letter to the former prime minister, the Duke of Newcastle, in 1767:
"There are 102 in number who claim a right of voting, but not more than 90 whose claim will bear a scrutiny. Out of this number Sir John Honywood has 40 tenants who at present are all disposed to stand by him, and about six or seven others who are full as closely attached to him as any of his tenants. This gives him nearly or quite a majority of the 90 real votes. The rest are all a rope of sand and may be had by anybody." - Letter of Thomas Steele to the Duke of Newcastle, 6 February 1767, quoted by Namier & Brooke
As the letter hints, Honywood's control was not quite absolute and he could not always secure both seats for his candidates. The 1792 ruling on the franchise, moving the vote from the burgage holders to all the householders paying scot and lot, shifted the balance of power over to the Duke of Norfolk (who owned most of the properties that were not classed as ancient houses), and he subsequently bought out Honywood's interest. But he was careful to secure his investment by financing many improvements in the town.
Steyning was abolished as a constituency by the Reform Act, being thereafter included in the borough of New Shoreham (which had earlier been expanded to include the whole of the Rape of Bramber as a remedy for corruption).
Members of Parliament MPs 1467–1640
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1510-1523 No names known 1529 Thomas Shirley John Morris 1536 ? 1539 ? 1542 John Bowyer ? 1545 ? 1547 Robert Rudston Henry Fauxe 1553 (Mar) Sir Richard Blount William Cordell 1553 (Oct) John Southcote II David Lewis 1554 (Apr) Gilbert Gerard Edward Stradling 1554 (Nov) John Roberts William Pellatt 1555 Robert Byng ? 1558 Richard Onslow Robert Colshill 1559 Edmund Wright Robert Keilway 1562–3 Richard Onslow Robert Harris 1571 Richard Browne John Farnham 1572 John Cowper Richard Pellatt 1584 Sir Thomas Shirley (1564 - 1633–4) Pexall Brocas 1586 Thomas Bishop Henry Shelley 1588 Thomas Crompton Henry Apsley 1593 Sir Walter Waller Sir Thomas Shirley (1564 - 1633–4) 1597 John Shurley Thomas Shirley III 1601 Sir Thomas Shirley (1542–1612) Robert Bowyer 1604–1611 Sir Thomas Bishopp Sir Thomas Shirley (1542–1612) 1614 Sir Thomas Shirley (1564 - 1633–4) Edward Fraunceys 1621 Sir Thomas Shirley (1564 - 1633–4) Edward Fraunceys 1624 Sir Thomas Farnfold Edward Fraunceys 1625 Sir Thomas Farnfold Edward Fraunceys 1626 Sir Edward Bishopp Edward Fraunceys 1628 Sir Edward AlfordSources confuse father and son. Father was elected for Colchester and unseated, but by the manner of his speeches was present in the 1628 parliament Sir Thomas Farnfold 1629–1640 No Parliaments convened
MPs 1640–1832
YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 Sir John Leedes Royalist Sir Thomas FarnefoldLord Buckhurst was initially elected but was also elected for East Grinstead, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for SteyningRoyalistNov 1640 Thomas Leedes Royalist Sir Thomas FarnefoldRoyalistNovember 1642Leedes disabled from sitting - seat vacantMarch 1643Farnefold died - seat vacant1645 Edward Apsley Herbert Board1648Board died - seat vacant1653Steyning was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Anthony Shirley Sir John Trevor May 1659Steyning was not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660 Henry Goring Sir John Fagg July 1660 John Eversfield 1661 Sir Henry Goring 1679 John Tufton January 1681 Philip Gell February 1681 Sir James Morton March 1685 Sir Henry Goring June 1685 Sir James Morton 1690 Robert Fagg 1695 Sir Edward Hungerford March 1701 Sir Robert FaggOn petition Fagg's election was declared void April 1701 Charles Goring November 1701 Sir Robert Fagg 1702 Sir Edward Hungerford 1705 William Wallis 1708 Robert Fagg Viscount Tunbridge Whig 1709 Sir Henry Goring 1710 William WallisOn petition, Wallis was adjudged not to have been duly elected. Bribery having been proved on both sides, the election was declared void and a by-election was held, but delayed until the next session of Parliament 1712 The Lord Bellew of DuleekOn petition, Bellew's election was declared void (on a technicality, his title having been mis-stated in the return, although there were again allegations of bribery) and another by-election was held April 1713 Robert Leeves September 1713 William Wallis 1715 Major General John Pepper Robert LeevesOn petition, Leeves was adjudged not to have been duly elected, bribery having been proved against him, and his opponent Wallis was declared elected in his place 1717 William Wallis 1722 John Gumley 1726 Marquess of Carnarvon April 1727 William Stanhope August 1727 The Viscount Vane Thomas Bladen 1734 Sir Robert Fagg, Bt Marquess of Carnarvon 1740 Hitch Younge 1741 Charles Eversfield 1747 Abraham Hume 1754 Alexander Hume 1759 Frazer Honywood 1761 John Thomlinson 1764 Richard Fuller 1767 Sir John Filmer 1768 Thomas Edwards Freeman I 1774 Filmer HonywoodHonywood was re-elected in 1780, but had also been elected for Kent, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Steyning September 1780 Sir Thomas Skipwith November 1780 Colonel John Bullock 1784 Sir John Honywood Hon. Richard Howard 1785 Thomas Edwards-Freeman II 1788 Sir John Honywood 1790 On petition, Lloyd and Howard were adjudged not to have been duly elected and their opponents, Honywood and Curtis were declared elected in their place James Lloyd Whig Henry Thomas Howard Whig7 March 1791 Sir John HonywoodHonywood was also elected for Canterbury, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Steyning Tory John Curtis Tory24 March 1791 James LloydOn petition, Lloyd was adjudged not to have been duly elected and his opponent, Whitbread, was declared elected in his place Whig 1792 Samuel Whitbread Tory 1794 John Henniker-Major Whig 1796 James Lloyd Whig 1802 Robert HurstHurst had also been a candidate at Shaftesbury, where the result of the election was disputed; once the dispute had been settled in his favour he chose to represent Shaftesbury, and did not sit for Steyning in the remainder of the Parliament Whig 1803 Lord Ossulston WhigFebruary 1806 Sir Arthur Leary Piggott WhigOctober 1806 James Lloyd Whig Robert Hurst Whig 1812 Sir John Aubrey Whig 1818 George Philips Whig 1820 George Richard Philips Whig Lord Henry Howard-Molyneux-Howard Whig 1824 Henry Howard Whig 1826 Peter du Cane Whig 1830 Edward Blount Whig1832 Constituency abolished
Notes
References Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) 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) Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964) 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) 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) Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)