Staffordshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832.
History Boundaries and franchise The constituency, which first returned members to Parliament in 1290, consisted of the historic county of Staffordshire, excluding the city of Lichfield which had the status of a county in itself after 1556. (Although Staffordshire also contained the boroughs of Stafford and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and part of the borough of Tamworth, each of which elected two MPs in its own right for part of the period when Staffordshire was a constituency, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election. This was not the case, though, for Lichfield.)
As in other county constituencies the franchise between 1430 and 1832 was defined by the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act, which gave the right to vote to every man who possessed freehold property within the county valued at £2 or more per year for the purposes of land tax; it was not necessary for the freeholder to occupy his land, nor even in later years to be resident in the county at all.
Except briefly during the period of the Commonwealth, Staffordshire had two MPs, traditionally known as Knights of the Shire, elected by the bloc vote method, under which each voter had two votes. (In the First and Second Parliaments of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, there was a general redistribution of seats and Staffordshire elected three members; the traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.)
Character In the Middle Ages Staffordshire was mainly an agricultural county, but was transformed by the Industrial Revolution and had become significantly urbanised. By the time of the Reform Act 1832, Staffordshire had a population of approximately 410,000, of which around 65,000 were in Wolverhampton, 60,000 in the urban area round Stoke-on-Trent, and 15,000 in Walsall. Its principal industries were hardware and pottery manufacture, and it also drew prosperity from the importance of the River Trent as a means of transport and from the extensive canal network constructed in the county in the 18th century.
Nevertheless, the urban and industrial interests had no opportunity to develop political leverage in Staffordshire. Although the qualified electorate numbered some 5,000 in the 18th century, control of the representation was entirely in the hands of a small number of aristocratic families, most notably the Leveson-Gowers (Marquesses of Stafford) and the Bagots. As in most counties of any size, contested elections were avoided whenever possible because of the expense. Elections were held at a single polling place, Stafford, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise; candidates were expected to meet the expenses of their supporters in travelling to the poll and to entertain them lavishly with food and drink when they got there. The MPs were generally chosen by and from among the principal families of the county, and it would have been futile as well as ruinously expensive for an outsider to fight an election. In fact there were only three contested elections in Staffordshire between 1700 and 1747, and none at all afterwards: in 1753, the Leveson Gowers and the Bagots, despite their political differences (the former being Whigs and the latter Tories) reached a satisfactory compromise, and thereafter the Leveson Gowers nominated one MP and the remaining county gentry the other (who was frequently a Bagot).
Abolition The constituency was abolished by the Reform Act 1832, which divided the county into two new two-member divisions, Northern Staffordshire and Southern Staffordshire, and also created new boroughs from three of the larger towns previously in the county constituency (Stoke-upon-Trent, Walsall and Wolverhampton).
Members of Parliament MPs 1290–1640
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1295 Richard de Caverswall 1324 Sir John de Arderne 1332 Philip de Lutley 1336 Sir Robert de Mauveysin 1341 Adam de Peshale or Peshall 1378 Robert StaffordSir Robert de Swynnerton 1380 Robert Stafford 1380 Sir Robert Peshall 1382 Robert Stafford 1382 John Basset 1383 Robert Stafford 1383 Sir Robert Peshall 1386 Sir William Shareshull Aymer Lichfield 1388 (Feb) Sir John Ipstones Roger Longridge 1388 (Sep) Sir Thomas Aston John Delves 1389 William Chetwynd?Sir Nicholas Stafford| John Delves 1390 (Nov) [Sir Nicholas Stafford]] John Delves 1391 Sir John Bagot William Walsall 1393 Sir Thomas Aston William Walsall I 1394 Sir John Ipstones (murdered on arrival in London February 1394) William Walsall 1395 Sir William Shareshull Aymer Lichfield 1397 (Jan) Sir John Bagot Sir Robert Francis 1397 (Sep) Sir John Bagot Rustin Villeneuve 1399 Sir Thomas Aston Sir Robert Francis 1401 Sir John Bagot Sir Robert Francis 1402 John Swynnerton William Walsall 1404 (Jan) Ralph Stafford William Walsall 1404 (Oct) Sir John Bagot Sir Robert Francis 1406 Sir Thomas Aston Sir Humphrey Stafford 1407 Sir John Bagot Sir William Newport 1410 1411 Sir John Bagot Sir William Newport 1413 (Feb) 1413 (May) Sir Thomas Gresley Hugh Erdeswyk 1414 (Apr) John Meverel William Walsall 1414 (Nov) John Meverel Sir William Newport 1415 1416 (Mar) Humphrey Haughton Roger Bradshaw 1416 (Oct) 1417 1419 Sir Thomas Gresley Sir Richard Vernon 1420 William Lee II John Mynors 1421 (May) Sir John Bagot Richard Lane 1421 (Dec) Hugh Erdeswyk Richard Lane 1422 Sir Thomas Stanley Sir John Gresley 1431 John Mynors John Harpour 1437 John HamptonJohn Mynors 1439 John Hampton 1442 John Hampton 1445 Robert Whitgreve 1449 (Feb) John Hampton 1449 (Nov) Robert WhitgreveJohn Hampton 1455 Sir William Vernon 1467 Sir John Delves 1491 William Chetwynd 1504 Sir Edmond Dudley 1510–1523 No Names Known 1529 Sir John Giffard Edward Littleton 1536 1539 Edward Littleton Thomas Giffard 1542 Sir John Dudley Sir Philip Draycott 1545 Sir George Griffith Thomas Fitzherbert 1547 Sir William Paget, ennobled and replaced Jan 1552 by Sir Ralph Bagnall Sir John Harcourt 1553 (Mar) William Devereux Walter Aston 1553 (Oct) Sir Thomas Giffard Edward Littleton 1554 (Apr) Sir Philip Draycott Thomas Grey 1554 (Nov) Sir Philip Draycott (Sir) Edward Littleton 1555 Sir Thomas Giffard (Sir) Edward Littleton 1558 Brian Fowler Francis Meverell 1559 (Jan) Sir Ralph Bagnall Simon Harcourt 1562–1563 Simon Harcourt John Grey 1571 John Grey Thomas Trentham 1572 (Apr) John Fleetwood Thomas Whorwood 1584 (Nov) Hon. Edward Dudley (alias Sutton) Edward Legh 1586John Grey William Bassett1588-1589(Sir) Walter HarcourtThomas Gerard1593Sir Christopher Blount1597-1598Hon. John Dudley1601Sir Thomas Gerard Sir John Egerton1604-1611 Sir Edward Littleton Littleton dying 1610 - replaced by Francis Trentham Robert Stanford Stanford died 1597 - replaced by Sir John EgertonAddled Parliament (1614) Sir Walter Chetwynd Thomas Crompton1621-1622 Sir William Bowyer Thomas CromptonHappy Parliament (1624-1625) Sir William Bowyer Sir Edward LittletonUseless Parliament (1625) Richard Erdeswicke Sir Simon Weston1625-1626 Sir William Bowyer Sir Simon Weston1628-1629Sir Hervey Bagot Thomas Crompton1629-1640No Parliaments summoned
MPs 1640–1832 ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 Sir Edward Littleton Parliamentarian Sir William Bowyer November 1640 Sir William Bowyer Parliamentarian1641Sir Hervey BagotRoyalist November 1642Bagot disabled from sitting - seat vacantMarch 1644Littleton disabled from sitting - seat vacant1646John BowyerSir Richard Skeffington1647 Thomas Crompton December 1648Bowyer excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant1653George BellotJohn ChetwoodStaffordshire's representation was increased to three Members in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate1654 Sir Charles Wolseley, Thomas Crompton, Thomas Whitgrave1656 Staffordshire's representation reverted to two Members in the Third Protectorate ParliamentJanuary 1659 Thomas Crompton Sir Thomas WhitgraveMay 1659 Thomas Crompton April 1660 Edward Bagot William Sneyd 1661 Sir Thomas Leigh Randolph Egerton 1663 Sir Edward Littleton 1679 Sir Walter Bagot Sir John Bowyer 1685 Edward Littleton 1689 John Grey 1690 Walter Chetwynd 1693 Sir Walter Bagot 1695 Henry Paget Tory 1698 (Sir) Edward BagotSucceeded to a baronetcy, February 1705 1708 John Wrottesley 1710 William Ward 1712 Charles Bagot 1713 Ralph Sneyd Henry Vernon 1715 Lord Paget Tory William Ward 1720 by-election Hon. William Leveson-Gower 1727 Sir Walter Wagstaffe Bagot Tory1754 (Sir) William BagotSucceeded to a baronetcy, January 1768 Tory1757 by-election Hon. Henry Thynne 1761 Lord Grey Whig May 1768 by-election Captain (Sir) John WrottesleySucceeded to a baronetcy, July 1769; promoted to Lieutenant Colonel 1770, Colonel 1779, Major-General 1782 Whig1780 Viscount Lewisham Tory1784 Sir Edward Littleton Whig 1787 by-election Earl Gower Whig 1799 by-election Lord Granville Leveson-Gower Whig May 1812 by-election Edward Littleton Canningite Tory 1815 by-election Earl Gower Whig1820 Sir John Fenton Boughey Whig 1823 by-election Major-General Sir John Wrottesley Whigc. 1830Whig1832 Constituency abolished: replaced by North Staffordshire and South Staffordshire
Elections
See also List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies Unreformed House of Commons
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) John Cannon, Parliamentary Reform 1640-1832 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972) Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) 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) Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845) Heywood Townshend, Historical Collections:: or, An exact Account of the Proceedings of the Four last Parliaments of Q. Elizabeth (1680)
Diary of Thomas Burton, online at www.british-history.ac.uk