Beverley has been the name of a parliamentary constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire for three periods. From medieval times until 1869 it was a parliamentary borough consisting of a limited electorate of property owners of its early designated borders within the market town of Beverley, which returned (elected) two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the English and Welsh-turned-UK Parliament during that period (sometimes called burgesses).
A form of a Beverley seat was revived for a single-member county constituency created in 1950, abolished in 1955, and similarly between the 1983 and 1992 general elections inclusive after which the area was largely incorporated into one 1997-created seat Beverley and Holderness; the remainder of the seat contributed to two other late 20th century-created seats.
History
The parliamentary borough
Beverley was first represented in the Model Parliament of 1295, but after 1306 it did not elect members again until 1563. Thereafter it maintained two members until being disfranchised in 1870. The borough consisted of the three parishes of the town of Beverley, and by 1831 had a population of 7,432 and 1,928 houses. The right of election was vested not in the population as a whole, but in the freemen of the borough, whether resident or not; at the contested election of 1826, 2,276 votes were cast.
The borough was large enough to retain two members under the compromise of the Great Reform Act 1832 when its boundaries were slightly extended to include some outlying fringes, increasing the population by roughly 800. The first of three progressive acts, by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 were such boroughs more equally thus fairly apportioned.
For much of the borough's history, elections in Beverley were notorious for their corruption. In 1727, one of the victorious candidates was unseated on petition, his agents were imprisoned and Parliament passed the Bribery Act 1729 as a result. Between 1857 and 1868 six petitions were lodged against election results, of which three succeeded in voiding the election and unseating one or more of the victors. After the 1868 election, the writ for the borough was suspended and a royal commission appointed to inquire into the conduct of elections in Beverley; when it reported that it had found proof of extensive bribery, the Bridgwater and Beverley Disfranchisement Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 21) was passed permanently depriving Beverley of the right to return Members of Parliament, abolishing the constituency and incorporating it within the East Riding constituency.
The novelist Anthony Trollope was one of the defeated candidates in the final corrupt election for which Beverley was disfranchised. He drew on his experience directly for his description of the Percycross election in his novel Ralph the Heir, and also told the story in his Autobiography. He found that corruption was taken for granted and that the price of a vote was between 15 shillings and £1. His unsuccessful campaign cost him £400. Sir Henry Edwards and Edmund Hegan Kennard were those candidates deemed elected Members of Parliament in this final contest for the constituency.
1950 to 1955 The Beverley constituency which existed from 1950 to 1955 was a predominantly rural one. Under the boundary revisions introduced by the Representation of the People Act 1948, which came into effect at the 1950 general election, the three existing county constituencies of the East Riding were abolished, and the county was divided into two new constituencies, each named after their biggest towns – Bridlington and Beverley. The new Beverley constituency comprised the western half of the Riding. This encompassed parts of all three of the county's previously existing constituencies (Buckrose, Holderness and Howdenshire).
The Beverley constituency was abolished in further boundary changes implemented at the 1955 general election, being divided between the new Haltemprice and Howden seats.
1983 to 1997 Beverley again became a constituency name in 1983, this time for a constituency mostly suburban in character. The new constituency replaced, and strongly resembled, the Haltemprice constituency which had been introduced in 1955: its main components apart from Beverley were the prosperous suburbs to the north and west of Hull, such as Cottingham, Anlaby and Kirk Ella.
The Beverley constituency was abolished in 1997 general election, Beverley itself moving to the new Beverley and Holderness constituency.
Boundaries 1950–1955: The Borough of Beverley, the Urban District of Norton, and the Rural Districts of Beverley, Derwent, Howden, Norton, and Pocklington.
1983–1997: The East Yorkshire Borough of Beverley wards of Anlaby, Brough, Castle, Hessle East, Hessle West, Kirk Ella, Leconfield, Leven, Mill Beck and Croxby, Minster North, Minster South, Molescroft, Priory, St Mary's East, St Mary's West, Springfield, Swanland, Tickton, Willerby, and Woodmansey.
Members of Parliament
Beverley borough
1563–1660
ParliamentYearFirst memberSecond memberParliament of 1563–1567Nicholas BaconRobert HallParliament of 1571 Edward Ellerker Thomas LaytonParliament of 1572–1583 Richard Topcliffe Thomas AglionbyParliament of 1584–1585Robert WroteJohn StanhopeParliament of 1586–1587 Michael Wharton George PurefoyParliament of 1588–1589Lancelot AlfordJohn TrusloveParliament of 1593John MansfieldEdward AlfordParliament of 1597–1598Thomas Crompton Edward FraunceysParliament of 1601 Edward Fraunceys Ralph EwensParliament of 1604–1611 William GeeAllan PercyAddled Parliament (1614)William Towse Edmund ScottParliament of 1621–1622 Sir Christopher HilliardHappy Parliament (1624–1625)Sir Henry Vane the elder, replaced 1624 by Sir Henry CareyUseless Parliament (1625) Sir John Hotham, Bt Sir William AlfordParliament of 1625–1626 Parliament of 1628–1629 No Parliament summoned 1629–1640Short Parliament (1640) Sir John Hotham, Bt Michael WartonLong Parliament (1640–1653)1640Sir John Hotham, Bt (Royalist) disabled to sit, September 1643 Michael Warton (Royalist) disabled to sit, January 16441645James NelthorpeJohn Nelthorpe1648John Nelthorpe excluded in Pride's PurgeBarebones Parliament (1653)Beverley not representedFirst Protectorate Parliament (1654–1655) Francis Thorpe (One member only)Second Protectorate Parliament (1656–1658)Third Protectorate Parliament (1659) Thomas Strickland John AnlabyLong Parliament (restored, 1659–1660) James Nelthorpe
1660–1869 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1660 Hugh BethellBethell was also elected for Hedon, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Beverley Sir John Hotham, Bt June 1660 Michael Warton 1685 Sir Ralph Warton 1689 Sir Michael Warton Tory Sir John Hotham, Bt 1689 Sir John Hotham, Bt 1690 William Gee 1695 Ralph Warton Tory1701 William Gee Whig1702 Sir Charles Hotham, Bt Whig1705 John Moyser 1708 Sir Michael Warton 1722 Michael Newton 1723 Sir Charles Hotham, Bt Whig1727 Ellerker BradshawPelham and Bradshaw beat Hotham in the 1727 election, but on petition Hotham was declared elected in Bradshaw's place. Bradshaw's agents at Beverley were imprisoned, and the investigations led directly to the passing of the Bribery Act, 1729 Whig Charles Pelham Tory1729 Sir Charles Hotham, Bt Whig1734 Ellerker Bradshaw Whig1738 Charles Pelham Tory1741William Strickland 1747 Sir William Codrington, Bt 1754 John Tufnell 1761 Michael Newton George Tufnell 1768 Hugh Bethell Charles Anderson-Pelham 1772 Sir Griffith Boynton, Bt 1774 George Tufnell Sir James Pennyman, Bt 1780 Francis Evelyn Anderson 1784 Sir Christopher Sykes, Bt 1790 John Wharton Whig1796 William Tatton Napier Christie Burton 1799 John Morritt Tory1802 John Wharton Whig1806 Richard Vyse 1807 Howard Vyse 1812 Charles Forbes Tory1818 Robert Christie Burton Tory1820 George Lane-Fox Tory1826 John Stewart Tory Charles Harrison Batley Tory1830 Daniel Sykes Whig Henry Burton Whig 1831 William Marshall Whig 1832 Hon. Charles Langdale Whig 1835 James Hogg Conservative 1837 George Lane-Fox Conservative 1840 Sackville Lane-Fox Conservative 1841 John Towneley Whig 1847 Sackville Lane-Fox Conservative 1852 Hon. Francis Charles Lawley RadicalWilliam Wells Radical 1854 Hon. Arthur Hamilton-Gordon Peelite Mar. 1857 Edward GloverGlover's election was declared void on petition, because he lacked the necessary property qualification to be a candidate, and a by-election held Independent Conservative Hon. William Denison Whig Aug. 1857 Henry Edwards Conservative 1859 Ralph WaltersWalters' election was declared void on petition because of corrupt practices, and a by-election heldLiberal 1860 James Walker Conservative 1865 Christopher Sykes Conservative 1868 Edmund Hegan Kennard Conservative
Writ suspended 1869, constituency abolished 1870
Beverley County Constituency (1950–1955) ElectionMemberParty 1950 George Odey Conservative1955 constituency abolished
Beverley County Constituency (1983–1997) ElectionMemberParty1983 Patrick Wall Conservative1987 James Cran Conservative1997 constituency abolished
Elections
Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s Lane-Fox resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
Lawley resigned after he was found to have been using his position as secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for insider trading, causing a by-election.
Glover's election was declared void on petition, after he was found to have lied about meeting the required property qualifications, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s Walters' election was declared void on petition.
A Royal Commission was appointed to investigate the seat and, after finding extensive bribery, the borough's writ was suspended, the election result voided, and the seat was absorbed into East Riding of Yorkshire.
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1990s
See also List of parliamentary constituencies in Humberside
Notes and references
Sources F. W. S. Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, “Members of the Long Parliament” (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) Michael Kinnear, "The British Voter" (London: Batsford, 1968) H. G. Nicholas, "To The Hustings" (London: Cassell & Co., 1956) J. Holladay Philbin, "Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig – Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973) Robert Waller, "The Almanac of British Politics" (3rd edition, London: Croom Helm, 1987) Frederic A. Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991) Victoria County History of the East Riding of Yorkshire "Beverley, 1700–1835 – Parliamentary Elections" from the Victoria County History