County Durham (UK Parliament constituency)
| Durham | |
|---|---|
| Former County constituency for the House of Commons | |
| County | Durham |
| 1675–1832 | |
| Seats | Two |
| Replaced by | Gateshead, North Durham, South Durham and South Shields |
Durham or County Durham was a
county constituency in northern England, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons
from 1675 until 1832.
History
The constituency consisted of the whole county of Durham (including the enclaves of Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlington, all situated within the boundaries of Northumberland and now part of that county, and of Crayke, now in North Yorkshire).
Because of its semi-autonomous status as a
parliamentary borough
with its own two members.
As in other
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.
By the time of the
Reform Act, the county had a population of just over 250,000, although this was slightly reduced by the boundary changes which severed the enclaves and made them part of Northumberland or the North Riding of Yorkshire for parliamentary purposes. The electorate was only a fraction of this number: at the general election of 1790, 5,578 voted, and in 1820 the number was only 3,741. Although nobody could exert the degree of control over the voters that was common in many boroughs, several of the major local landowners had significant influence, in particular the Vane Earls of Darlington
.
In 1832 the county's representation was doubled, and the constituency divided into two new two-member constituencies, North Durham and South Durham.[2]
Members of Parliament
Notes
- ^ "Durham County | History of Parliament Online". www.histparl.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ Britain, Great (1832). The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Passed in the ... [1807-69]. His Majesty's statute and law Printers. p. 308.
- ^ Hedworth died before the end of the Parliament but a dissolution was called before a writ for a by-election had been issued
- ^ Styled Viscount Barnard from 1754
- ^ Sir Ralph Milbanke from 1793
Election results
 |
See also
References
- Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
- T. H. B. OldfieldThe Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
- J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)
