Flint Boroughs (sometimes known as Flint or the Flint District of Boroughs) was a parliamentary constituency in north-east Wales which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors, from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1918 general election.
Boundaries From its first known general election in 1542 until 1918, the constituency consisted of a number of boroughs within the historic county of Flintshire in north-east Wales. The seat should not be confused with the county constituency of Flintshire, which existed from the 16th century until 1950.
After 1918 Flintshire was represented in Parliament by the single member county constituency, which included all the boroughs formerly in the Flint District of Boroughs.
Flint 1535–1832 On the basis of information from several volumes of the History of Parliament, it is apparent that the history of the borough representation of Wales and Monmouthshire is more complicated than that of the English boroughs.
The Laws in Wales Act 1535 (26 Hen. 8. c. 26) provided for a single borough seat for each of 11 of the 12 Welsh counties and Monmouthshire. The legislation was ambiguous as to which communities were enfranchised. The county towns were awarded a seat, but these seats in some way represented all the ancient boroughs of the county, as the boroughs other than county towns were also required to contribute to the members' wages. It is not clear whether the burgesses of the contributing boroughs could vote in the election. The only election under the original scheme was that for the 1542 parliament. It seems that only burgesses from the county towns actually took part. The Parliament Act 1543 (35 Hen. 8. c. 11) confirmed that the contributing boroughs could send representatives to take part in the election at the county town. As far as can be told from surviving indentures of returns, the degree to which the out boroughs participated varied, but by the end of the 16th century all the seats had some participation from them at some elections at least.
The original scheme was modified by later legislation and decisions of the House of Commons (which were sometimes made with no regard to precedent or evidence: for example in 1728 it was decided that only the freemen of the borough of Montgomery could participate in the election for that seat, thus disenfranchising the freemen of Llanidloes, Welshpool and Llanfyllin).
In the case of Flintshire, the county town was Flint. The out boroughs were Caergwrle, Caerwys, Overton and Rhuddlan.
In 1690–1715 the freemen of the five boroughs were entitled to vote. The exact number is unknown, but in the only poll of the period (a by-election in 1697) there were 760 voters.
Between 1715 and 1754 the House of Commons changed the franchise of the constituency. In 1727 there were about 1000 freemen entitled to vote. Thereafter the inhabitants of the five boroughs, paying scot and lot (a local tax), formed the electorate. They numbered about 600.
From 1754 to 1790, there were still about 600 voters. Namier and Brooke point out that the constituency was controlled by local squires. No election went to a poll in that period.
Flint Boroughs 1832–1918 The Flint Boroughs was a district of boroughs constituency, which grouped a number of parliamentary boroughs in Flintshire into one single member constituency. The voters from each participating borough cast ballots, which were added together over the whole district to decide the result of the poll. The enfranchised communities in this district, from 1832, were the eight boroughs of Flint, Caergwrle, Caerwys, Holywell, Mold, Overton, Rhuddlan and St Asaph.
The boundaries of the parliamentary boroughs in the district were altered by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1868, but the general nature of the constituency was unchanged. There were no further boundary changes in the 1885 redistribution of parliamentary seats.
Members of Parliament
Members of Parliament 1542–1640 As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments held in this period, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given. Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry unknown is entered in the table.
ElectedAssembledDissolvedMemberNote 1542 16 January 1542 28 March 1544 unknown 1545 23 November 1545 31 January 1547 Thomas Salusbury 1547 4 November 1547 15 April 1552 Robert Massey 1553 1 March 1553 31 March 1553 Edward Stanley 1553 5 October 1553 5 December 1553 Edward Stanley 1554 2 April 1554 3 May 1554 ?Robert Massey 1554 12 November 1554 16 January 1555 Robert Massey 1555 21 October 1555 9 December 1555 Edward Stanley II 1558 20 January 1558 17 November 1558 Peter Mostyn 1559 23 January 1559 8 May 1559 John Hanmer 1562–3 11 January 1563 2 January 1567 John Conway 1571 2 April 1571 29 May 1571 John Hanmer 1572 8 May 1572 19 April 1583 Humphrey Hanmer 1584 23 November 1584 14 September 1585 Richard Lloyd 1586 13 October 1586 23 March 1587 Michael Doughty 1588 4 February 1589 29 March 1589 John Edwards 1593 18 February 1593 10 April 1593 Thomas Griffith 1597 24 October 1597 9 February 1598 Edward Morgan 1601 27 October 1601 19 December 1601 John Price 1604 19 March 1604 9 February 1611 Roger Brereton 1614 5 April 1614 7 June 1614 John Eyton 1620 16 January 1621 8 February 1622 William Ravenscroft 1624 12 February 1624 27 March 1625 William Ravenscroft 1625 17 May 1625 12 August 1625 William Ravenscroft 1626 6 February 1626 15 June 1626 John Salusbury 1628 17 March 1628 10 March 1629 William Ravenscroft 1640 13 April 1640 5 May 1640 Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bt
Members of Parliament 1640–1660 This sub-section includes the Long Parliament and the Rump Parliament, together with the Parliaments of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate (before the Convention Parliament of 1660).
ElectedAssembledDissolvedMemberNote 1640 3 November 1640 5 December 1648 John Salusbury Disabled 1643 Thomas Myddelton 1646–1648 Long Parliament ... 6 December 1648 20 April 1653 unrepresented Rump Parliament ... 4 July 1653 12 December 1653 unrepresented Barebones Parliament 1654 3 September 1654 22 January 1655 unrepresented First Protectorate Parliament 1656 17 September 1656 4 February 1658 unrepresented Second Protectorate Parliament 1658–59 27 January 1659 22 April 1659 John Hanmer Third Protectorate Parliament ... 7 May 1659 20 February 1660 unrepresented Rump Parliament restored ... 21 February 1660 16 March 1660 unknown Long Parliament restored
Members of Parliament 1660–1918 First ElectionMemberPartyNote 1660 Roger Whitley 1681 Thomas Whitley 1685 Sir John Hanmer, Bt 1690 Thomas Whitley Whig 1695 Roger Puleston Whig Died 28 February 1697 1697 Thomas Ravenscroft Whig Died 3 May 1698 1698 Thomas Mostyn Tory 1701 Thomas Hanmer Tory Elected to sit for Thetford 1702 John Conway Tory 1702 Roger Mostyn Tory Elected to sit for Cheshire 1702 Thomas Mostyn Tory 1705 Roger Mostyn Tory 1708 John Conway Tory 1713 Roger Mostyn Tory 1715 John Conway Died 27 April 1721 1721 Thomas Eyton 1727 Salusbury Lloyd A double return. The House of Commons seated Lloyd. 1734 Sir George Wynne, Bt Unseated on petition 1742 Richard Williams Declared duly elected, on petition 1747 Kyffin Williams Died 30 October 1753 1753 John Glynne Died 1 June 1777 1777 by-election Watkin Williams 1806 Sir Edward Lloyd, Bt 1807 William Shipley 1812 Edward Lloyd Whig Created the Lord Mostyn 1831 1831 by-election Henry Glynne Whig Resigned 1832 by-election Sir Stephen Glynne, Bt Whig 1835 Conservative 1837 Charles Whitley Deans Dundas Whig 1841 Richard Williams-Bulkeley Whig 1847 John Hanmer Peelite 1859 Liberal Created the Lord Hanmer 1872 1872 by-election Robert Cunliffe Liberal 1874 P. Ellis Eyton Liberal Died 19 June 1878 1878 by-election John Roberts Liberal 1892 Herbert Lewis Liberal 1906 Howell Idris Liberal Jan 1910 James Woolley Summers Liberal Died 1 January 1913 1913 by-electionTom Parry Liberal 1916 Coalition Liberal 1918 Constituency abolished
Supplemental Notes:- 1 F. W. S. Craig, in his compilations of election results for Great Britain, classifies Whig, Radical and similar candidates as Liberals from 1832. The name Liberal was gradually adopted as a description for the Whigs and politicians allied with them, before the formal creation of the Liberal Party shortly after the 1859 general election.
Election results 1690-1713
Sources 1690–1715: Cruickshanks et al.; 1715–1754: Stooks Smith; 1754–1784: Namier and Brooke; 1784–1832 Stooks Smith. Positive swing is from Whig to Tory. Source 1832–1918: Craig. Positive swing is from Liberal to Conservative.
Death of Puleston
Seat vacant at dissolution, on the death of Ravenscroft
Hanmer was also returned by and elected to sit for Thetford
Mostyn was also returned by and elected to sit for Cheshire
Election results 1800-1832 Elections in the 1830s
Lloyd was elevated to the peerage, becoming 1st Baron Mostyn and causing a by-election.
Glynne resigned, causing a by-election.
Election results 1832-1868 Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1860s
Election results 1868-1880 Elections in the 1860s
Elections in the 1870s
Hanmer was raised to the peerage, becoming Lord Hanmer.
Eyton's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1880s
Election results 1885-1918 Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
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; Liberal: Tom Parry Unionist: J. Hamlet Roberts Cheshire Observer 1 Aug 1914
References
Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972) British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977) British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974) The House of Commons 1509–1558, by S.T. Bindoff (Secker & Warburg 1982) The House of Commons 1558–1603, by P.W. Hasler (HMSO 1981) The House of Commons 1690–1715, by Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley and D.W. Hayton (Cambridge University Press 2002) The House of Commons 1715–1754, by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970) The House of Commons 1754–1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964) 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)