Stamford was a constituency in the county of Lincolnshire of the House of Commons for the Parliament of England to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868 when this was reduced to one.
Boundaries The parliamentary borough was based upon the town of Stamford in the Parts of Kesteven (a traditional sub-division of the county of Lincolnshire).
When the borough constituency was abolished in 1885, the Stamford (or South Kesteven) division of Lincolnshire was created. This included the town of Stamford and surrounding territory. The county division was a considerably larger constituency than the borough one had been.
From the 1885 general election until the dissolution before the 1918 election the constituency was surrounded by to the north Sleaford; to the east Spalding; to the south east Wisbech; to the south North Northamptonshire; to the south west Rutland; to the west Melton and to the north west Newark. The constituency of Grantham was an enclave wholly surrounded by Stamford.
History The Victoria County History of the County of Lincoln includes some information about the representation of Stamford in early times.
Stamford, on the other hand, which had sent Nicholas de Burton and Clement de Melton to the Parliament of 1295, only exercised what its burghers probably regarded as an onerous privilege once in the reign of Edward II when in 1322 it elected Eustace Malherbe and Hugh de Thurleby.
A further paragraph relates the position before and after the borough began to send representatives regularly in 1467.
Stamford for some 150 years after the reign of Edward II apparently forbore to exercise its onerous privilege of returning members. In the seventeenth century it was afflicted with the usual controversy prevalent in small communities as to where the right of election lay, and the Committee of Privileges reported in 1661 'That the right of election was in such freemen only as paid scot and lot'.
Sedgwick explained in The House of Commons 1715-1754 that before 1727 the Bertie and Cecil families each nominated one member. From 1727 the Cecil interest controlled both seats. An attempt was made by Savile Cust in 1734 to establish an electoral interest in the borough,History of Parliament online but when this failed the Cecils were left with a secure pocket borough.
Namier and Brooke in The House of Commons 1754-1790 confirmed that before the Reform Act 1832 the right of election was in the inhabitants of the parliamentary borough paying scot and lot, a local tax. They estimated the number of voters at about 500 (unchanged from Sedgwick's estimate for the earlier part of the century). In 1754–1790, despite the comparatively large electorate, the constituency was under the control of the Earl of Exeter (the head of the senior branch of the House of Cecil) and elections were uncontested formalities.
The Reform Act replaced the scot and lot franchise with an occupation franchise, which slightly reduced the size of the electorate. This was because the value of the property occupation of which conferred a vote, was higher than that for houses upon which scot and lot became payable.
The area was strongly Tory or Conservative in politics. From 1801 until 1918 it only twice elected an MP from other parties (a Whig in 1831 and a Liberal in 1880). Elections before the 1874 United Kingdom general election were usually uncontested.
The borough had some distinguished representatives in the 19th century. It returned two of the three members of the triumvirate which attempted to lead the protectionist Tories in the House of Commons. The Marquess of Granby had little to commend himself as a political leader, apart from the social prestige of being the heir to the Duke of Rutland. He was briefly sole leader in 1848 before the triumvirate was created in the following year and continued until his resignation in 1851. John Charles Herries had at least held senior ministerial office. Both the Stamford MPs were easily eclipsed by the rising star of their colleague Benjamin Disraeli.
A more significant historical figure was Lord Robert Cecil (Viscount Cranborne 1865–1868) who represented the borough between 1853 and 1868. As the Marquess of Salisbury he was the leading figure in the Conservative Party from the death of Disraeli in 1881 until he retired as Prime Minister in 1902.
Another leading Conservative with connections to the borough was Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt the party leader in the House of Commons 1876-1885 (from 1881 at the same time as Salisbury was leader in the House of Lords). Northcote was a Stamford MP from 1858 to 1866.
Under the Reform Act 1867 the borough electorate was expanded, but it lost one seat in Parliament from the 1868 United Kingdom general election.
The Representation of the People Act 1884 further expanded the electorate. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 abolished the borough constituency but created an expanded county division of the same name. These changes took effect with the 1885 United Kingdom general election.
Under the Representation of the People Act 1918 the electorate was again expanded, but the Stamford area was combined with the county of Rutland in a new Rutland and Stamford constituency.
Members of Parliament MPs 1295–1322
1295: Nicholas de Burton, Clement de Melton 1322: Eustace Malherbe, Hugh de Thurleby
After this date no members were returned for a considerable period.
MPs 1467–1640 1543(?): William CecilCecil's diary records that he was elected an MP in 1543, but the parliamentary records are incomplete. Neale has suggested that he was probably elected for Stamford, which was certainly his constituency from 1547
YearFirst memberSecond member 1485 Christopher Browne 1489 Christopher Browne 1495 Christopher Browne 1510David Cecil Francis Browne 1512David Cecil William Hussey 1515David Cecil George Kirkham 1523David Cecil Maurice Johnson 1529John Hardgrave Maurice Johnson 1536Henry Lacy Maurice Johnson 1539Richard Cecil Kenelm Digby 1542Henry Lacy John Allen 1545Henry Lacy Leonard Irby 1547William Cecil John Allen 1553 (Mar) Richard Cooke Robert Lacy 1553 (Oct) Thomas Heneage John Allen 1554 (Apr) John Allen Roland Durrant 1554 (Nov) John Fenton Henry Lee 1555Francis Yaxley Francis Thorneff 1558Francis Thorneff John Houghton 1559William Cooke John Houghton 1562–1563 Thomas Cecil Francis Thorneff 1571Thomas Cecil Michael Lewis 1572Thomas Cecil Francis Harington 1584Robert Wingfield George Lynne 1586William Cecil, Lord Burghley Robert Wingfield 1588–1589 William Cecil, Lord Burghley Robert Wingfield 1593Robert Wingfield Richard Shute 1597Robert Wingfield Thomas BalgayeAlumni Cantabrigienses 1601Robert Wingfield Edward Watson 1604 Sir Robert Wingfield Henry Hall 1614 Richard Cecil John Jay 1621 Sir Richard Cecil John Wingfield 1624 Sir George Goring Goring, sat for Lewes and replaced by Edward Ayscough John St Amand 1625 Montagu Bertie John St Amand 1626 Montagu Bertie Brian Palmes 1628–1629 Thomas Hatton Sir Edward Bashe 1629–1640 No Parliaments convened
MPs 1640–1868 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party April 1640Thomas Hatton Thomas Hatcher November 1640Geoffrey PalmerRoyalistThomas HatcherParliamentarianSeptember 1642Palmer disabled to sit - seat vacant1645John WeaverDecember 1648Hatcher excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant1653Stamford was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament1654 John Weaver Stamford had only one seat in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate 1656January 1659Christopher ClaphamMay 1659Not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660 John Hatcher Francis Wingfield 1661 William Stafford William Montagu 1665 Hon. Peregrine Bertie Tory 1677 Henry Noel Tory 1678 Hon. Charles Bertie Tory 1679 Sir Richard Cust, Bt. Whig William Hyde 1685 Hon. Peregrine Bertie Tory Hon. Charles Bertie 1689 William Hyde 1694 Hon. Philip Bertie 1698 Hon. William Cecil 1705 Charles Cecil 1711 Charles Bertie ToryMarch 1722 Hon. Brownlow Cecil October 1722 William Noel 1727 Robert Shirley 1734 John Proby June 1747 John Proby, juniorCreated The Lord Carysfort (in the Peerage of Ireland, January 1752 Lord BurghleyBurghley was also elected for Rutland, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Stamford December 1747 Robert Barbor Non partisan 1754 John Harvey-Thursby Non partisan 1761 John Chaplin Non partisan George Bridges Brudenell Non partisan 1765 by-election George René Aufrère Non partisan 1768 Lieutenant-General (Sir) George HowardKnighted (KB), 1774; General from 1777, Field Marshal from 1793 Non partisan 1774 Henry Cecil Non partisan 1790 The Earl of CarysfortIn the Peerage of Ireland Non partisan 1796 by-election Lieutenant-General John LelandLater a General Tory 1801 by-election Lieutenant-General Albemarle Bertie Tory 1808 by-election Evan Foulkes Tory 1809 by-election Charles Chaplin Tory 1812 The Lord Henniker Tory 1818 Lord Thomas Cecil Tory Captain the Hon. William Percy Tory 1826 Thomas Chaplin Tory 1831 Charles Tennyson Whig 1832 Thomas Chaplin Tory George Finch Tory 1834 Conservative Conservative 1837 Marquess of Granby Conservative 1838 by-election Sir George Clerk, Bt Conservative 1847 Rt Hon. John Charles Herries Conservative 1852 Sir Frederic Thesiger Conservative 1853 by-election Lord Robert CecilStyled Viscount Cranborne from 1865 Conservative March 1858 by-election John Inglis Conservative July 1858 by-election Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt Conservative 1866 by-election Sir John Dalrymple-Hay, Bt Conservative May 1868 by-election Viscount Ingestre Conservative June 1868 by-election William Unwin Heygate Conservative1868Reform Act 1867: Constituency reduced to one seat.
MPs 1868–1918 ElectionMemberParty1868Sir John Dalrymple-Hay, Bt Conservative1880Marston Clarke Buszard Liberal1885: Borough constituency abolished. Name transferred to county division.1885John Lawrance Conservative1890 by-electionHenry Cust Conservative1895William Younger Conservative1906Lord John Joicey-Cecil Conservative1910Claud Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby Conservative1918Constituency abolished
Notes
Election notes The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings (until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872).
Note on percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote.
Note on sources: The information for the election results given below is taken from Namier and Brooke 1754–1790, Stooks Smith 1790-1832 and Craig from the 1832 United Kingdom general election. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result.
Elections before 1715
Dates of parliaments 1660–1715