Derbyshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a 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 Knights of the Shire.
History
Boundaries and franchise The constituency, which first returned members to Parliament in 1290, consisted of the historic county of Derbyshire. (This included the borough of Derby; even though Derby elected two MPs in its own right, it was not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election.)
In medieval times, the MPs would have been elected at the county court, by the suitors to the court, which meant the tiny handful of the local nobility who were tenants in chief of the Crown. However, from 1430, the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act extended 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, Derbyshire had two MPs 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 Derbyshire elected four members; the traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.)
Character From Elizabethan times, elections in Derbyshire were dominated by the Cavendish family at Chatsworth, later Dukes of Devonshire. This influence was originally established by the formidable Bess of Hardwick, whose second husband was a Cavendish and who in 1572 manoeuvred to secure her son from that marriage a seat as MP for the county - a considerable honour for a young man from what was then a family of only minor importance. She had meanwhile married the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and her stepson, the future 7th Earl, was elected to the second seat for the county at the same time, despite being two-and-a-half years too young to take his seat. From this point onwards until the Reform Act, one of the two MPs was almost invariably a Cavendish or a Cavendish nominee, although the other seat was generally left to the other leading families of the county; the continuance of this dominance was all the more remarkable because Derbyshire did not have a rash of boroughs where the local gentry could find a seat when unable to secure election for Derbyshire - indeed, in the one borough that there was, Derby, the Dukes of Devonshire kept as tight hold on one of the two seats as they did in the county.
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, Derby, 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. There were only four general elections between 1700 and 1832 when Derbyshire's seats were contested: on every other occasion the various competing interests in the county managed to reach agreement on who should represent the county without taking the matter to a poll.
In the pre-industrial era, Derbyshire was a flourishing agricultural county, but it was one of the English counties most dramatically affected by industrialisation in the 18th and early 19th centuries, becoming noted in particular for the manufacture of heavy machinery and (during the Napoleonic Wars) of armaments. Its population grew swiftly (having reached 237,170 by 1831); but the electorate has been estimated at only 3,000 or 4,000 in the second half of the 18th century, and was probably not much higher by the time of the Reform Act. The Dukes of Devonshire were able to maintain much of their traditional influence, Cavendish members occupying one of the two seats as a Whig MP; but the county itself was predominantly Tory, and usually ensured that the other MP was returned in that interest.
Few of the industrial workers, of course, had the vote since they were not property owners, and in the early 19th century political unrest was common - most notably the "Pentrich Revolution" or "Derbyshire Rising" of 1817. Derbyshire soon became one of the most vocal centres of agitation for Parliamentary reform, and by 1830 this sentiment had spread to the voters as well. At the 1831 election their sitting Tory MP was summarily swept out of his seat for supporting a destructive amendment to the Reform Bill.
But the Duke of Devonshire, a supporter of Reform even though it entailed the loss of his own pocket boroughs around the country, was able to retain the voters' support, telling a county meeting in 1832: The members of the aristocracy have sometimes been considered in an unfavourable light by the people. For much of this they are indebted to the manner in which the present constitution of Parliament has enabled them to interfere and dictate in the representation... Let them stand on their own merits; and I have no fear that the people of England will be unjust to the aristocracy of England, united by mutual kind feelings and good offices, and not by close boroughs and mock representation.
This seems to have sufficiently satisfied the Derbyshire voters that they allowed the Dukes to continue to "interfere and dictate in the representation" to the extent that they continued electing Cavendishes (in the Northern division after the county was divided by the Reform Act) well into the 20th century.
Abolition The constituency was abolished in 1832 by the Great Reform Act, which divided the county into two new two-member divisions, Northern Derbyshire and Southern Derbyshire.
Members of Parliament 1290–1399 Constituency created (1290)
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1295 Henry de KnivetonGiles de Meynell 1297 Robert DethickThomas Foljambe 1298 Henry de BrailsfordHenry FitzHerbert 1300 Geffry de GresleyRobert de Frechville 1300 Ralf de FrechvilleGeffry de Gresley 1301 Ralf de FrechvilleGeffry de Gresley 1302 Thomas FoljambeRobert de Touks 1305 Henry FoljambeWilliam Faunel 1306 Robert DethickGiles de Meynell 1308 Ralph FrechvilleWilliam Faunel 1309 Thomas Foljambe 1311 William FaunelThomas Foljambe 1312 William RessolWilliam Faunel 1313 Ralph Frechville 1315 Ralph FrechvilleThomas Foljambe 1315 Robert StauntonJohn Twyford 1316 John BeaufayRobert Staunton 1317 Robert StauntonJohn Deynecourt 1319 John de TwyfordRalf de Cromwell 1319 John DeynecourtJohn de Twyford 1324 Hugh de MeynellNicholas de Longford 1325 Ralf de ResebyWilliam Rosell 1326 William RosellJohn de Beaufay 1327 Thomas de StantonWilliam Michell 1327 William de SampertonSimon de Cestre 1327 William MichellRobert Ingram de Etewell 1328 John de BeaufayWilliam Michell 1328 Robert de MeynellJohn de Beaufay 1330 Edm. de ApplebyJohn de Verdon 1330 Hugh de MeynellRobert de Meynell 1331 Hugh FitzHugh de MeynellRoger de Okeover 1332 Robert de MeynellWilliam Michell 1332 Hugh de MeynellRobert de Meynell 1332 Robert de MeynellPeter de Wakebrigg 1333 William de SapertonSimon de Chester 1333 Robert de MeynellPeter de Wakebrigg 1334 Robert de IngramJohn de Hambury 1334 William de SapertonSimon de Chester 1335 Henry de KnivetonJohn Cockeyn 1336 Peter de WakebriggHugh de Muskham 1337 William MichellThomas? Adam 1337 Giles de MeynellRobert Franceys 1337 Giles de MeynellJohn Cockeyn 1338 Giles de MeynellRobert Franceys 1338 John CockeynGodfrey Foljambe 1338 John DeyncourtsJohn de Twyford 1339 John CokeynThomas Adam 1339 John CockeynRobert de Chester 1340 Sir Godfrey FoljambeJohn Cockayn 1340 Robert IngramRobert Gresley 1340 Robert Ingram 1340 Robert TouksJohn Beausey 1341 John CockeynRobert of Ireland 1343 Thomas AdamRobert Asheburn 1344 John CockeynJohn Foucher 1346 Giles de MeynellRoger de Emerton 1346 William de AshewellJohn de Chellaston 1347 Roger de EnytonRobert de Ashbourn 1348 John de RochfordJohn de Chellaston 1348 Roger de EnyntonRobert de Ashbourn 1350 John CockeynJohn Foucher 1351 John CockeynJohn Foucher 1352 Roger de PadleyWilliam de Chester 1352 Robert de Twyford 1353 Robert Franceys 1354 Henry de BraylesfordRobert Franceys 1355 Thomas AdamJohn Beck 1357 Robert FranceysThomas Adam 1357 William de WakebriggMi. de Breideston 1357 Robert FranceysThomas Adam 1358 William de WakebriggRoger Michell 1360 Robert FranceysJohn Foucher 1360 Henry de BraylesfordJohn Cockayn 1361 Henry de BraylesfordJohn Cockayn 1362 John CockaynRobert Franceys 1363 Edmund de Appleby 1364 Sir Godfrey FoljambeHenry de Braylesford 1365Robert de TwyfordRalph de Stathom 1368 Robert de TwyfordJohn Foucher 1369 Sir Godfrey FoljambeRobert de Twyford 1371 Sir Godfrey FoljambeJohn Foucher 1371 Sir Godfrey FoljambeJohn Foucher 1372 Alured de SulneyJohn Franceys 1373 William BokepnysRalph de Stathom 1377 Edmund de ApplebyRalph de Stathom 1377 John de la Pole de HertingdonE. Foucher 1378 Alured SulweySir Robert Twyford 1379 Oliver de BartonRalph de Stathom 1379 Alured SulweyJohn Curson de Ketilston 1380 Sir Thomas MarchingtonHenry de Braylesford 1381 Oliver de BartonWilliam de Sallowe 1382 T. (Robert?) de TwyfordSir Thomas Marchington 1382 Sir Thomas MarchingtonSir Philip Okeover 1383 Thomas de WernesleyJohn Curson 1383 Sir Thomas MarchingtonRalph de Braylesford 1384 John CursonRalph de Braylesford 1384 Robert FranceysWilliam de Adderly 1386 Sir Thomas Wensley of WensleySir William Dethick of Dethick 1388 (Feb) Robert FranceysWilliam de Adderly 1388 (Sep) Sir Nicholas Montgomery of Marston MontgomeryRobert Franceys 1390 (Jan) Sir Thomas Wensley of WensleySir Nicholas Montgomery of Marston Montgomery 1390 (Nov) William AdderlyThomas Foljambe 1391 Sir Philip OkeoverThomas Foljambe 1393 John DabrichecourtNicholas Gousill, jnr 1394 Sir Thomas Wensley of WensleyJohn de la Pole 1395 Sir John CokaynePeter de Melbourne 1397 (Jan) Sir William Dethick of DethickRoger de Bradburn 1397 (Sep) John DabrichecourtWilliam Meynell 1399 Walter BlountJohn Curson
1400–1499 ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1400 Thomas GresleyPeter de la Pole 1402 Sir John CokayneRoger Leche 1403 Nicholas de LongfordJohn Curson 1404 Sir John CokayneRoger Bradburn 1405 Roger LecheRoger Bradshaw 1406 Robert de StrelleyThomas Okeover 1411 Sir Nicholas Montgomery of Marston MontgomeryRobert Franceys 1413 Roger LecheThomas Chaworth 1414 (Apr) Philip LecheNicolas Montgomery 1414 (Nov) Roger LecheThomas Gresley 1416 (Mar) Nicolas MontgomeryJohn de la Pole 1417 Thomas de GresleyJohn de la Pole 1419 Sir John CokayneHugh Erdeswyck 1420 Thomas BlountHenry Booth 1420 John de StrelleyJohn de Okeover 1421 (Dec) Nicholas GosellThomas Okeover 1422 Sir Richard VernonSir John Cokayne 1423 Henry BoothJohn Curson 1424 Henry BoothThomas Makworth 1426 Sir Richard VernonJohn de la Pole 1427 Sir John CokayneHenry Booth 1429 John CursonGerard Meynell 1430 Sir John CokayneThomas Makworth 1432 Richard Vernon 1433 Sir Richard Vernon 1434 John CursonGerard Meynell 1436 Fulk VernonRobert Franceys 1441 John CursonWilliam Vernon 1446 Walter BlountNicholas FitzHerbert 1448 John SacherevelWalter Blount 1449 William VernonJohn Sacherevel 1450 William VernonWalter Blount 1452 Walter BlountNicholas FitzHerbert 1454 Walter BlountRobert Bailey 1460 Sir John GreisleyWalter Blount 1468 William BlountWilliam Vernon 1473 Nicholas LongfordJames Blount 1478 John GresleyHenry Vernon 1479–1499 Records lost
1500–1640