Suffolk was a County constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1290 to 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons until 1832, when it was split into two divisions.
History
Boundaries and franchise The constituency consisted of the historic county of Suffolk. (Although Suffolk contained a number of boroughs, each of which elected two MPs in its own right, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election.)
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 during the period of the Commonwealth, Suffolk had two MPs elected by the bloc vote method, under which each voter had two votes. (In the nominated Barebones Parliament, five members represented Suffolk; in the First and Second Parliaments of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, there was a general redistribution of seats and Suffolk elected ten members. The traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.)
Political character Elections were held at a single polling place, Ipswich, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise, which made elections almost prohibitively expensive in a county as big as Suffolk. The inconvenience of holding the elections in Ipswich, situated in one corner of the county, is emphasised by the fact that for almost all other county purposes, including the Assizes, Suffolk was divided into two sections with proceedings held at Bury St Edmunds as well as Ipswich; the arrangement must certainly have worked to the benefit of candidates whose voting strength was in East Suffolk rather than West Suffolk. It was normal for voters to expect the candidates for whom they voted to meet their expenses in travelling to the poll, and to "entertain" them – in other words provide free food and alcoholic drink – when they arrived.
Peter Jupp includes in his collection of documents relating to elections round the turn of the 19th century a contemporary account of the Suffolk election of 1790, one of the rare contested elections, which well illustrates the arrangements for treating the voters on such occasions. A committee set up to support the candidacies of Sir Charles Bunbury and Sir John Rous, "for the better regulating of the expense of maintaining the freeholders upon the days of election" issued printed tickets with the names of public houses upon them, entitling the bearer to a fixed amount of provision and maintenance – black tickets worth five shillings for the day, and red tickets worth seven shillings and sixpence for a man and horse for the night. After the election, the innkeepers presented their bills for providing this hospitality, which amounted to £3,500 for a two-day election; and the committee, much dissatisfied by the scale of these charges, declined to pay in full so that several of the publicans afterwards sued the two candidates.
Partly as a result of the expense, contested elections were rare in Suffolk (there were contests at four of the nine general elections between 1701 and 1727, but at only three of the twenty remaining before the Reform Act in 1832), and even when they took place were often only token contests. There was no dominant aristocratic interest in Suffolk, though it would probably have been impossible to defy the county's wealthier peers (such as the Duke of Grafton, Marquess Cornwallis, and the Earl of Bristol) had they stood together, since no competing interest could hope to match them in an out-and-out spending contest.
In practice, the choice of members usually lay with the country squires, with matters generally settled more or less amicably by a test of strength at the county meeting with no need for the expense of a formal poll; when there was a contest, in 1784 (when three candidates stood for two seats), the weakest of the three quickly withdrew when it was clear after the first day of voting that he could not win. Nevertheless, the freeholders were not necessarily entirely deferential and manipulable by the gentry: Cannon cites the work of Professor J H Plumb, who showed in his study of Suffolk pollbooks from the reign of Queen Anne that the voters could act independently in a seriously contested election, while their humiliating rejection of their long-standing MP Thomas Sherlock Gooch in favour of a Reform Bill supporter at the tumultuous election of 1830 demonstrates similar intractability more than a century later.
Abolition By the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Suffolk had a population of approximately 300,000, It was assumed to have around 5,000 qualified voters, but since no full-blooded contest had taken place in living memory this could only be an estimate. (Before the Reform Act there was no permanent register of voters). The Great Reform Act raised Suffolk's entitlement from two to four county MPs, while abolishing three of its seven boroughs. The single county constituency was abolished, being split into two divisions, East Suffolk and West Suffolk. At the first election after Reform, with a somewhat extended franchise, the electorates of these two new divisions totalled about 7,500.
Members of Parliament
1290–1640
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member1376 Sir Richard Waldegrave1377 (Oct)Sir Richard Waldegrave1378 Sir Richard Waldegrave1381 Sir Richard Waldegrave1382 (May) Sir Richard Waldegrave1382 (Oct) Sir Richard Waldegrave1383 (Feb) Sir Richard Waldegrave1383 (Oct) Sir Richard Waldegrave1386 Sir Richard Waldegrave Sir William Wingfield1388 (Feb) Sir Richard Waldegrave Sir William Burgate1388 (Sep) Sir Richard Waldegrave Sir William Burgate1390 (Jan) Sir Richard Waldegrave Sir William Wingfield1390 (Nov) Sir William Wingfield Sir William Burgate1391 Sir Roger Drury Sir William Bardwell1393 Sir William Elmham Sir William Argentine1394 Sir William Elmham Robert Bukton1395 Sir William Argentine Sir William Burgate1397 (Jan) Sir William Elmham Robert Bukton1397 (Sep) Sir William Bardwell Robert Bukton1399 Sir William Argentine Sir John Heveningham1401 Sir Roger Drury Robert Bukton1402 Ralph Ramsey Gilbert Debenham1404 (Jan) Sir John Strange Sir John Ingoldisthorpe1404 (Oct) Sir Andrew Butler Sir John Strange1406 Sir John Strange Sir William Bardwell1407 Sir Roger Drury John Lancaster1410 Sir Andrew Butler John Lancaster1411 John Spencer John Lancaster1413 (Feb)1413 (May) John Spencer John Lancaster1414 (Apr) Sir William Phelip Sir Robert Corbet1414 (Nov) Sir William Phelip Sir Robert Corbet1415 1416 (Mar)1416 (Oct)1417 Sir John Braham William Rookwood1419 William Hanningfield William Rookwood1420 Richard Sterysacre Thomas Hethe1421 (May) Sir Andrew Butler William Rookwood1421 (Dec) James Andrew William Rookwood1422 John Wodehouse John Howard1427 Sir Robert WingfieldGilbert Debenham1431Sir Robert WingfieldSir Thomas Tuddenham1432-1436Sir Robert WingfieldGilbert Debenham1444Gilbert Debenham1449Gilbert DebenhamNov 1450 Sir Roger Chamberlain Sir Edmund Mulsho1450-1Gilbert Debenham1491 Sir Robert Drury1495 Sir Robert Drury1510 Sir Robert Drury ?1512 ?1515 ?1523 ?1529 Sir Anthony Wingfield Sir Thomas Wentworth I1536 Sir Anthony Wingfield1539 Sir Anthony Wingfield Sir Arthur Hopton1542 ?Sir Anthony Wingfield Sir Arthur Hopton1545 Sir William Waldegrave Anthony Rous1547 Sir Anthony Wingfield Thomas Wentworth, ennobled and repl. by 23 Jan 1552 by Sir Thomas Cornwallis1553 (Mar) Sir William Drury Sir Henry Bedingfield1553 (Oct) Sir William Drury Sir Henry Jerningham1554 (Apr) Sir William Drury Sir Henry Jerningham1554 (Nov) Sir William Drury Sir Henry Jerningham1555 Sir Henry Jerningham Sir William Drury1558 Thomas Cornwallis Sir William Cordell1558–9 Sir Owen Hopton William Cavendish I1562–3Sir Robert Wingfield William Waldegrave1571 (Mar) Sir Owen Hopton Thomas Seckford1572 (Sir) Nicholas BaconSir Robert Wingfield1584 Sir William Drury Sir Robert Jermyn1586 (Oct) Sir Robert Jermyn Sir John Heigham1588–9Anthony Wingfield Arthur Hopton1593 Edward Bacon Sir Clement Heigham1597 (Sep) Sir Thomas Waldegrave Henry Warner1601 Sir Henry Glemham Calthrop Parker1604–1611 Sir John Heigham Sir Robert Drury1614 Sir Thomas Jermyn Sir Robert Gardiner1621–1622 Robert Crane Thomas Clench1624 Sir William Spring of Pakenham Sir Roger North1625 Sir Edmund Bacon, 2nd Baronet Thomas Cornwallis1626 Robert Naunton Sir Robert Crane1628 Sir William Spring of Pakenham Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston1629–1640No Parliament convened
1640–1832 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640Sir Nathaniel BarnardistonParliamentarianSir Philip ParkerParliamentarianDecember 1648Barnardiston not recorded as sitting after Pride's PurgeParker excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant1653Barebones Parliament (5 nominated members): Jacob Caley, Francis Brewster, Robert Dunkon, John Clarke, Edward Plumstead1654First Protectorate Parliament (10 members): Sir William Spring, Bt, Sir Thomas Barnardiston, Bt, Sir Thomas Bedingfield, William Bloys, John Gurdon, William Gibbes, John Brandling, Alexander Bence, John Sicklemore, Thomas Bacon1656Second Protectorate Parliament (10 members): Sir Thomas Barnardiston, Bt, Henry Felton, Henry North, Edmund Harvey, Edward Le Neve, John Sicklemore, William Bloys, William Gibbes, Robert Brewster, Daniel WallJanuary 1659Henry FeltonSir Thomas Barnardiston, BtMay 1659Not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660 Henry Felton Sir Henry North, Bt 1673 Sir Samuel Barnardiston, Bt WhigFebruary 1679 Sir Gervase Elwes, Bt WhigSeptember 1679 Sir William Spring, Bt Whig 1685 Sir Robert Broke, Bt Tory Sir Henry North, Bt Tory 1689 Sir John Cordell, Bt Tory Sir John Rous, Bt Tory 1690 Sir Gervase Elwes, Bt Whig Sir Samuel Barnardiston, Bt Whig 1698 The Earl of Dysart Tory 1702 Sir Dudley Cullum, Bt Whig 1705 Sir Robert Davers, Bt Tory 1707 Leicester Martin Tory 1708 Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bt Tory 1722 Sir William Barker, Bt Tory 1727 Sir Jermyn Davers, Bt Tory 1732 Sir Robert Kemp, Bt Tory 1735 Sir Cordell Firebrace, Bt Tory 1743 John Affleck Tory 1759 Rowland Holt Tory 1761 Sir Charles Bunbury, BtSucceeded to baronetcy, June 1764 1768 Sir John Rous, Bt 1771 Rowland Holt Tory 1780 Sir John Rous, Bt 1784 Joshua Grigby 1790 Sir Charles Bunbury, Bt 1796 Viscount Brome Tory 1806 Thomas Gooch Tory 1812 Sir William Rowley, Bt 1830 Sir Henry Bunbury, Bt Charles Tyrell Whig1832 Suffolk split into two divisions: see East Suffolk and West Suffolk
Notes
References Knights Of The Shire In Parliament For The County Of Suffolk. D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) John Cannon, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973) 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) Peter Jupp, British and Irish Elections 1784–1831 (Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1973) 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) J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Reform 1640–1832 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)