Leominster was a parliamentary constituency represented until 1707 in the House of Commons of England, then until 1801 in that of Great Britain, and finally until 2010, when it disappeared in boundary changes, in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
From 1295 to 1885, Leominster was a parliamentary borough which until 1868 elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election. Under the Reform Act 1867 its representation was reduced to one Member, elected by the first past the post system. The parliamentary borough was abolished under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and the name was transferred to a new county constituency.
History Aside from two brief periods of Liberal representation, Leominster was a mostly safe Conservative seat from 1910, although sometimes by narrow majorities over the Liberal Party. The Labour Party did not put up a candidate in the constituency until 1950, and it was traditionally one of their weakest seats in the country, though the party were represented for the only time in the seat for three years in the government of Tony Blair when Conservative MP Peter Temple-Morris defected to Labour in 1998.
Abolition Following the review by the Boundary Commission for England of parliamentary representation in Herefordshire, no longer connected for such reasons with Worcestershire, two parliamentary constituencies have been allocated to the county. Most of the Leominster seat has been replaced by the North Herefordshire seat, while the remainder of the county is covered by the Hereford and South Herefordshire seat.
Boundaries 1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Leominster, and the Sessional Divisions of Bredwardine, Bromyard, Kingston, Leominster, Weobley, and Wigmore.
1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Leominster, the Urban Districts of Bromyard and Kington, the Rural Districts of Bredwardine, Bromyard, Kington, Leominster, Weobley, and Wigmore, and parts of the Rural Districts of Hereford and Ledbury.
1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Leominster, the Urban Districts of Bromyard, Kington, and Ledbury, the Rural Districts of Bromyard, Kington, Ledbury, Leominster, and Weobley and Wigmore, and part of the Rural District of Hereford.
1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Leominster, the Urban District of Kington, the Rural Districts of Bromyard, Kington, Ledbury, Leominster, and Weobley and Wigmore, and part of the Rural District of Hereford.
1983–1997: The District of Leominster, the District of Malvern Hills wards of Baldwin, Bringsty, Broadheath, Bromyard, Butterley, Cradley, Frome, Frome Vale, Hallow, Hegdon, Hope End, Laugherne Hill, Leadon Vale, Ledbury, Leigh and Bransford, Marcle Ridge, Martley, Temeside, and Woodbury, and the District of South Herefordshire wards of Burghill, Burmarsh, Dinmore Hill, Hagley, Magna, Munstone, Swainshill, and Thinghill.
1997–2010: The District of Leominster, the District of Malvern Hills wards of Bringsty, Bromyard, Butterley, Cradley, Frome, Frome Vale, Hegdon, Hope End, Leadon Vale, Ledbury, and Marcle Ridge, the District of South Herefordshire wards of Backbury, Burghill, Burmarsh, Credenhill, Dinmore Hill, Hagley, Munstone, Swainshill, and Thinghill, and the District of Wyre Forest ward of Rock and Ribbesford.
In its final form, the constituency consisted of northern Herefordshire and a small part of north-west Worcestershire, the boundaries having been specified when the two were joined as the single county of Hereford and Worcester. In Herefordshire it included the towns of Bromyard, Kington and Ledbury as well as Leominster, while the largest settlement of Worcestershire it included was Tenbury Wells.
Members of Parliament Leominster parliamentary borough To 1660 ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1386 Robert Caldebrook Walter Aston 1388 (Feb) John Montgomery 1388 (Sep) John Aston Walter Aston 1390 (Jan) Hugh Aston Peter Cook 1390 (Nov) 1391 Peter Cook John Bradford 1393 Roger Loutwardin John Hood 1394 1395 Thomas Barber Thomas Reynold 1397 (Jan) Thomas Reynold William Colle 1397 (Sep)William Taverner John Romayn 1399 John Hood Thomas White 1401 1402 William Taverner John Bond 1404 (Jan) 1404 (Oct) 1406 William Taverner William Tiler 1407 1410 Edmund Morris Walter Borgate 1411 1413 (Feb) 1413 (May) John Salisbury John Romayn 1414 (Apr) 1414 (Nov) William Colle John Salisbury 1415 1416 (Mar) John Salisbury Reynold Smith 1416 (Oct) 1417 John Salisbury John Braas 1419 Thomas Hood Reynold Smith 1420 William Raves 1421 (May) William Stokes John Hood 1421 (Dec) Thomas Hood William Raves 1510-1523 No names known 1529 John Bell John Hillesley 1536 ? 1539 ? 1542 ? 1545 ? 1547William Crowche Richard Cupper 1553 (Mar) ? 1553 (Oct) William Strete John Polle 1554 (Apr) Lewis Jones John Evans 1554 (Nov) Nicholas Depden Thomas Wykes 1555 James Warnecombe Thomas Kerry 1558 Alban Birch Richard Hakluyt 1559 Thomas Hakluyt Thomas Coningsby I 1562–3 Thomas Dallowe John Morgan 1571 Edward Croft Nicholas Depden 1572 Nicholas Depden Fabian Phillips 1584 Thomas Wigmore Edward Croft 1586 Edward Croft Thomas Wigmore 1588 Thomas Shoter Humphrey Wall 1593 Sir Francis Vere Richard Coningsby 1597 Thomas Crompton John Creswell 1601 Thomas Coningsby John Warnecombe 1604 John Powle 1614 Sir Humphrey Baskerville Thomas Coningsby 1621-1622 Francis Smallman William Beecher 1624 James Tomkins Sir William Beecher 1625 Edward Littleton 1626 1628 Edward Littleton, sat for Caernarvon and replaced by Thomas Lyttleton 1629–1640No Parliaments summoned 1640 (Apr) William Smallman Walter Kyrle 1640 (Nov) Sampson Eure disabled 22 January 1644 1645 Walter Kyrle excluded in 1648 John Birch excluded in 1648 1653 Leominster not represented in Barebones Parliament 1654 John Birch (One member only) 1656 (One member only) 1659 Edward Freeman
Members 1660-1868 (two) ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party 1660 Colonel John Birch Edward Pytts 1661 Ranald Grahme Humphrey Cornewall Feb 1679 James Pytts John Dutton Colt Sep 1679 Thomas Coningsby, Lord Coningsby from 1691 1685 Robert Cornewall 1689 John Dutton Colt 1698 Edward Harley Jan 1701 John Dutton Colt Apr 1701 Edward Harley 1710 Edward Bangham 1713 Henry Gorges 1715 The Lord Coningsby 1717 George Caswall (expelled) 1721 William Bateman 1722 Sir Archer Croft Sir George Caswall 1727 The Viscount Bateman 1734 Robert Harley 1741 John Caswall Capel Hanbury 1742 Robert Harley 1747 Sir Robert de Cornwall James Peachey 1754 Sir Charles Hanbury-Williams Whig Richard Gorges 1759 Chase Price 1761 Jenison Shafto 1767 Edward Willes Feb 1768 John Carnac Mar 1768 The Viscount Bateman Tory 1774 Thomas Hill Tory 1776 Frederick Cornewall 1780 Richard Payne Knight Whig 1784 John Hunter Tory Penn Assheton Curzon 1790 John Sawyer 1791 Richard Beckford Whig 1796 George Augustus Pollen Tory 1797 William Taylor Whig 1802 John Lubbock Charles Kinnaird Whig Jan 1806 William Lamb Nov 1806 Tory Henry Bonham Tory 1812 John Lubbock John Harcourt Whig 1818 Sir William Cuningham-Fairlie Tory 1819 John Harcourt Whig 1820 The Lord Hotham Sir William Cuningham-Fairlie Tory 1826 Thomas Bish Whig 1827 Rowland Stephenson Tory Feb 1830 John Ward Whig Aug 1830 William MarshallMay 1831 William Bertram Evans Whig Thomas Brayen Dec 1831 The Lord Hotham Tory 1832 Thomas Bish 1834 Conservative 1837 Charles Greenaway Whig 1841 James Wigram 1842 by-election George Arkwright 1845 by-election Sir Henry Barkly Conservative 1849 by-election Frederick Peel 1852 John George Phillimore Whig 1856 by-election Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy 1857 John Willoughby Conservative 1858 by-election Charles Bateman-Hanbury 1865 Arthur Walsh 1866 by-election Richard Arkwright 1868 by-election Arthur Stanhope 1868 representation reduced from two Members to one
Members 1868–1885 (one) ElectionMemberParty 1868 Richard Arkwright Conservative 1876 by-election Thomas Blake Liberal 1880 James Rankin Conservative 1885 Parliamentary borough abolished, name transferred to county constituency
Leominster county constituency Members 1885–2010 YearMemberParty 1885 Thomas Duckham Liberal 1886 Sir James Rankin Conservative 1906 Edmund Lamb Liberal 1910 Sir James Rankin Conservative 1912 H. FitzHerbert Wright Unionist 1918 Charles Ward-Jackson 1922 Ernest Shepperson 1945 Archer BaldwinConservative 1959 Clive Bossom 1974 Peter Temple-Morris 1997 Independent Conservative 1998 Labour 2001 Bill Wiggin Conservative 2010 Constituency abolished
Elections Elections in the 1830s Stephenson was declared bankrupt and unseated, causing a by-election.
Brayen resigned, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1840s
Wigram resigned after being appointed as a Vice-Chancellor, causing a by-election.
Greenaway resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.
Barkly resigned after being appointed Governor of British Guiana, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
Arkwright's death caused a by-election.
Willoughby resigned after being appointed as a Member of the Council of India, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s
Hardy was also elected MP for Oxford University and opted to sit there, causing a by-election.
Walsh resigned in order to contest a by-election in Radnorshire, causing a by-election.
Seat reduced to one member
Elections in the 1870s
Arkwright resigned, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
Some records describe Lamb as an Independent Radical. Langford was also a Liberal.
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1930s
Elections in the 1940s General Election 1939–40
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; Conservative: Ernest Shepperson Liberal: Albert Edward Farr
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 2000s
See also List of parliamentary constituencies in Herefordshire and Worcestershire
References Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. .
External links Leominster UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK