Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the English House of Commons from 1603, and from 1707 until 1950 to the British House of Commons.
Franchise and method of election This university constituency was created by a Royal Charter of 1603. It was abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.
The constituency was not a geographical area. Its electorate consisted of the graduates of the University of Cambridge. Before 1918 the franchise was restricted to male graduates with a Doctorate or Master of Arts degree. Sedgwick records that there were 377 electors in 1727. For the 1754–1790 period, Namier and Brooke estimated the electorate at about 500.
The constituency returned two Members of Parliament. Before 1918 they were elected by plurality-at-large voting, but from 1918 onwards the two members were elected by the Single Transferable Vote method.
History In the early 18th century, the electors of both English universities were mostly Tories, but the Whig ministers of King George I were able to persuade him to use his royal prerogative to confer Cambridge doctorates on a large number of Whigs, so that from 1727 the university largely returned Whig representatives. At Oxford, the King did not enjoy the same prerogative power, so that the University of Oxford constituency remained Tory, and indeed often Jacobite, in its preferences.
The leading 18th-century Whig politician Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1748 to 1768 and recommended to the electors suitable candidates to represent them in Parliament. This practice continued under his successor, another Whig Duke and Prime Minister, Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the university from 1768 to 1811. However, Grafton was less influential as a politician than Newcastle had been and also less attentive towards the university, and as a result some of his nominations came in for criticism, notably that of his friend Richard Croftes.
Croftes was far from typical of a university member of parliament: he was neither the son of a peer, like the Hon. John Townshend, the Marquess of Granby, and Grafton's own son the Earl of Euston, nor a distinguished lawyer-politician, such as William de Grey, James Mansfield, and Sir Vicary Gibbs, nor a prominent political figure like William Pitt the Younger and Lord Henry Petty. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Pittite and Tory candidates began to be elected. At the appearance of this political development, some of the Pittite members, including the younger William Pitt himself, one of the members for the university from 1784 to 1806, described themselves as Whigs. As time passed, the division between the 19th century Tory and Whig parties became clearer.
The future Prime Minister, Viscount Palmerston, retained his university seat as a Whig after he left the Tory ranks, but in 1831 he was defeated. After Palmerston ceased to represent the university he was elected by a territorial constituency. From then until the 1920s, all of the university's members were Tories and/or Conservatives.
Even after the introduction of the single transferable vote in 1918, most of the members continued to be elected as Conservatives.
Members of Parliament This is a list of people who have been elected to represent this university in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
1603 to 1660
Constituency created 1603
YearFirst memberSecond member 1604 Nicholas Steward Henry Mountlow 1614 Sir Miles Sandys Sir Francis Bacon 1621 Robert Naunton Barnaby Gough 1624 Sir Robert Naunton Barnaby Gough 1625 Sir Robert Naunton Sir Albert Morton 1626 Thomas Eden Sir John Coke 1628–1629 Thomas Eden Sir John Coke 1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned Apr 1640 Thomas Eden Henry Lucas Nov 1640 Thomas Eden Henry Lucas Eden died 1644 replaced by Nathaniel Bacon 1648 Lucas secluded in Pride's Purge 1654 Henry Cromwell (one seat only) 1656 Richard Cromwell (one seat only) 1659 John Thurloe Thomas Sclater
1660 to 1784 Year Member Party Member Party1660 Apr George Monck Thomas Crouch 1660 Jun William Montagu 1661 Sir Richard Fanshawe 1667 Sir Charles Wheler, 2nd Baronet 1679 Sir Thomas Exton James Vernon 1681 Robert Brady 1689 Sir Robert Sawyer Isaac Newton Whig1690 Edward Finch 1692 Henry Boyle Whig1695 George Oxenden 1698 Anthony Hammond 1701 Isaac Newton Court Whig1702 Arthur Annesley Tory1705 Dixie Windsor Tory1710 Thomas Paske Tory1720 Thomas Willoughby Tory1727 Edward Finch Whig Thomas Townshend Whig1768 Charles Yorke Rockingham Whig1770 William de Grey1771 Richard Croftes 1774 Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby 1779 James Mansfield 1780 Lord John Townshend Whig
1784 to 1950 Year Member Party Member Party 1784 William Pitt the Younger Tory1 Earl of Euston Whig 1806 Lord Henry Petty Whig 1807 Sir Vicary Gibbs Tory 1811 Viscount Palmerston Tory 1812 John Henry Smyth Whig 1822 William John Bankes Tory 1826 Sir John Copley Tory 1827 Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal Tory 1829 William Cavendish Whig 1830 Whig 1831 Henry Goulburn Tory William Yates Peel Tory 1832 Charles Manners-Sutton Tory 1834 Conservative Conservative 1835 Hon. Charles Law Conservative 1850 Loftus Wigram Conservative 1856 Spencer Horatio Walpole Conservative 1859 Charles Jasper Selwyn Conservative 1868 Alexander Beresford Hope Conservative 1882 Henry Cecil Raikes Conservative 1887 Sir George Stokes, Bt Conservative 1891 Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb 2 Conservative 1892 Sir John Eldon Gorst Conservative 1906 Samuel Butcher Conservative John Rawlinson Conservative 1911 Sir Joseph Larmor Conservative 1918 Co. Conservative 3 Co. Conservative3 1922 J. R. M. Butler Ind. Liberal4 Conservative 1923 Sir Geoffrey G. Butler 5 Conservative 1926 Sir John Withers Conservative 1929 Godfrey Wilson Conservative 1935 Sir Kenneth Pickthorn Conservative 1940 Dr. Archibald Hill Ind. Conservative4 1945 Wilson Harris Independent
Notes:- 1 Pitt called himself a Whig, but is usually retrospectively regarded as a Tory since most of his followers (whether their background was in the Whig or Tory tradition) came to call themselves the Tory Party in the decade after Pitt's death. 2 Jebb died on 10 December 1905 – seat vacant at dissolution. 3 Co. is an abbreviation for Coalition. 4 Ind. is an abbreviation for Independent. 5 Sir Geoffrey G. Butler died on 2 May 1929 – seat vacant at dissolution.
Elections before 1715
Election by block vote 1715–1918 1710s – 1720s – 1730s – 1740s – 1750s – 1760s – 1770s – 1780s – 1790s – 1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s
Elections in the 1710s
Elections in the 1720s Death of Paske
Note (1722): Stooks Smith gives Willoughby 319 votes.
Note (1727): Unusually, for a pre-1832 election, Stooks Smith records the total number of electors for the constituency as well as the number who voted; so a turnout figure can be calculated.
Elections in the 1730s
Note (1734): Goodrick was an Opposition Whig
Elections in the 1740s
Seat vacated when Finch was appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber
Elections in the 1750s
Seat vacated when Finch was appointed to an office
Elections in the 1760s Seat vacated when Finch was appointed to an office
Elections in the 1770s Seat vacated on the appointment of Yorke as Lord Chancellor
Seat vacated on the appointment of de Grey as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas
Succession of Granby as the 4th Duke of Rutland
Elections in the 1780s
Note (1780): Stooks Smith records Townshend as getting 237 votes. Seat vacated on Townshend being appointed to an office
Seat vacated on Townshend being appointed to an office
Seat vacated on Mansfield being appointed as Solicitor General for England and Wales
The 1784 election was broadly a contest between the new government of Pitt and the ousted Fox-North Coalition, in which both Townshend and Mansfield had held office.
Elections in the 1790s
Note (1790): Party labels in the 1790–1832 period follow Stooks Smith, who classifies Pitt and his Pittite supporters as Tories without regard to what they would have actually called themselves. Seat vacated on Pitt being appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
Seat vacated on Euston being appointed to an office
Elections in the 1800s
Seat vacated on Pitt being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer
Death of Pitt
Palmerston was a Peer of Ireland
Elections in the 1810s Succession of Euston as the 4th Duke of Grafton
Seat vacated on Gibbs being appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas
Elections in the 1820s
Death of Smyth
Seat vacated on the appointment of Copley as Lord Chancellor and creation as 1st Baron Lyndhurst
Note (1827): Unusually for a pre-1832 election Stooks Smith provides a total electorate figure, so a turnout percentage can be calculated. See the 1727 result above for another instance. Seat vacated on the appointment of Tindal as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas
Elections in the 1830s
Seat vacated on the appointment of Palmerston as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Manners-Sutton created 'The 1st Viscount Canterbury'.
Note (1837): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Law as a Peelite between this election and that of 1847.
Elections in the 1840s
Note (1841): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative and Law as a Peelite for this election. Goulburn appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Note 1 (1847): 3,800 registered electors; 4,682 votes cast; minimum possible turnout estimated by dividing votes by 2. To the extent that electors did not use both their votes, the figure will be an underestimate. Note 2 (1847): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative and Law as a Peelite for this election.
Elections in the 1850s Death of Law.
Note (1852): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative for this election. Death of Goulburn.
Appointment of Walpole as Secretary of State for the Home Department.
Elections in the 1860s
Appointment of Walpole as Secretary of State for the Home Department.
Appointment of Selwyn as Solicitor General.
Appointment of Selwyn as Judge of the Court of Appeal in Chancery.
Elections in the 1870s
Elections in the 1880s
Walpole's resignation caused a by-election.
Raikes was appointed Postmaster General, requiring a by-election.
Beresford-Hope's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
Elections 1918–1950 General elections from 1918, when most constituencies polled on the same day, were on different polling days than for territorial constituencies. The polls for university constituencies were open for five days. The elections were conducted by Single Transferable Vote.
Elections in the 1910s
Elections in the 1920s
As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary
As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary
Elections in the 1930s
As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary
Elections in the 1940s
See also List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
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) British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977) McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book: British Election Results 1832–1918 (8th edition, The Harvester Press 1971)