Harderwijk was an electoral district of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands from 1848 to 1850.
Profile Harderwijk was created as a provisional single-member district in 1848 for the first direct election of the House of Representatives. It comprised the area in the province of Gelderland along the Zuiderzee, in what is known today as the Bible Belt. Named after the town of Harderwijk, it also included the municipalities of Barneveld, Doornspijk, Elburg, Ermelo, Hattem, Heerde, Hoevelaken, Nijkerk, Oldebroek, Putten and Scherpenzeel. As of 1848, the district had a population of 22,497. Harderwijk was predominantly Protestant, with 89.4% of the population aligned with the Dutch Reformed Church, while another 2.7% was Gereformeerd. A small minority of 6.7% was Catholic, while 1.6% was classified as "Other".
The district of Harderwijk proved short-lived, as it was abolished in 1850, its area split between the two-member districts of Arnhem and Zwolle.
Members
In the inaugural 1848 general election, the moderate liberal Johan Theodoor Hendrik Nedermeijer van Rosenthal was elected in Harderwijk, defeating Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, leader of the Protestant antirevolutionary group in parliament. However, Nedermeijer van Rosenthal was also elected in the district of Arnhem, and opted to take his seat for the latter. The subsequent by-election in Harderwijk was won by Groen van Prinsterer, who would represent the district until its abolition. He would go on to represent the district of Zwolle from 1850 onward.
ElectionMember1848Johan Theodoor Hendrik Nedermeijer van Rosenthal1848Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer
Election results
References