Appleby (UK Parliament constituency)


Appleby was a parliamentary constituency in the former county of Westmorland in England. It existed for two separate periods: from 1295 to 1832, and from 1885 to 1918.
Appleby was enfranchised as parliamentary borough in 1295, and abolished by the Great Reform Act of 1832. It returned two Members of Parliament using the bloc vote system. It was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. Its best-known MP was William Pitt the Younger who became Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24.
For the 1885 general election the Redistribution of Seats Act created a county constituency of the same name, which returned a single MP elected by the first-past-the-post system. The county constituency was abolished at the 1918 general election.

History

The borough (1295–1832)

The parliamentary borough of Appleby consisted of the town of Appleby, the county town of Westmorland, and was consistently represented in the House of Commons from the Model Parliament of 1295 until the Reform Act.
The right to vote rested with the occupiers of around a hundred burgage tenements. By the 18th century, the majority of the burgages were owned by the Lowther and Tufton families, which enabled them to put in reliable tenants at election time and ensure their complete control of who was elected. The seats were frequently kept for members of those families, but Appleby's other representatives included William Pitt the younger, who was MP for Appleby when he became Prime Minister in 1783.
A later member for Appleby was Viscount Howick, subsequently the Prime Minister whose administration passed the Great Reform Act of 1832; but Grey's history as a former MP for the town did not save it from losing both its members under the Act. Appleby was regarded as a classic example of a pocket borough, completely in the control of its owners who were also the major local landowners, and with a population of only 1,233 at the 1831 census unlikely to be freed from their influence even by widening the franchise. Nevertheless, as the only county town to be disfranchised, Appleby was one of the more controversial cases in the debates on the reform bill, the opposition making unsuccessful attempts to amend the bill so as to save at least one of its MPs.
After abolition the borough was absorbed into the Westmorland county constituency.

The county constituency (1885–1918)

The Appleby constituency created for the 1885 election was, in full, "The Appleby or Northern Division of Westmorland", and was sometimes referred to as Westmorland North. It consisted of the whole of the northern half of the county, including the towns of Ambleside, Grasmere and Kirkby Stephen. It was abolished at the 1918 general election, the whole county henceforth being united in a single Westmorland constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1295–1660

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1382William Soulby
1385William Soulby
1386Robert Overdo IJohn Overdo
1388 William SoulbyAdam Crosby
1388 -
1390 -
1390 -
1391William SoulbyJohn Sowerby
1393-
1394-
1395Robert GareWilliam Savage
1397 John HeltonJohn Sowerby
1397 Christopher CurwenThomas Chamberlain
1399Thomas WarcopWilliam Crackenthorpe I
1401-
1402Robert GareRobert Overdo II
1404 -
1404 -
1406John NinezerghWilliam Crackenthorpe II
1407John SagherJohn Pray
1410-
1411John HeltonJohn Sowerby
1413 -
1413 Robert SandfordThomas Stockdale
1414 -
1414 Robert CrackenthorpeJohn Birkrig
1415Roland ThornburghJohn Birkrig
1416 Richard BristoweThomas Manningham |Thomas Ma
1416 -
1417Thomas StockdaleJohn Birkrig
1419Richard WhartonThomas Pety
1420William LowtherNicholas Stanshawe
1421 William ScalbyNicholas Stanshawe
1421 John BoothNicholas Stanshawe
1436-1427 Thomas Wharton
1510–1523No names known-
1529Sir Richard TempestSir Thomas Wharton
1536?-
1539?-
1542Cuthbert HorsleyThomas Jolye
1545Thomas JolyeRobert Wheatley
1547Thomas Jolye, died
and replaced Jan 1552 by George Clifford		Robert Wheatley
1553 ?-
1553 George CliffordJames Bankes
1554 John EltoftesWilliam Danby
1554 John EltoftesWilliam Danby
1555?-
1558John EltoftesNicholas Purslow
1559 John EltoftesChristopher Monckton
1562/3Christopher MoncktonRobert Atkinson
1571John LaytonRichard Wroth
1572 George FrevileRobert Bowes
1584 George IrelandHenry Macwilliam
1586James RytherRobert Constable
1588Laurence ListerThomas Musgrave
Robert Warcop
Anthony Felton
Election declared void, 11 Feb 1589
1589Ralph BowesThomas Posthumous Hoby
1593Thomas Posthumous HobyCuthbert Reynolds
1597 James ColbrandJohn Lyly
1601 John MoriceThomas Caesar
1604John MoriceSir William Bowyer
1614Sir George Savile, juniorSir Henry Wotton
1621Sir Arthur IngramThomas Hughes
1624Sir Arthur IngramThomas Hughes
1625Sir John Hotham sat for Beverley – not replacedThomas Hughes
1626Sir William SlingsbyWilliam Ashton
1628William AshtonRichard Lowther
1629–1640No Parliaments convenedNo Parliaments convened
1640 Richard BoyleRichard Lowther
1640 Sir John Brooke – disabled March 1643Richard Boyle ennobled, September 1642
1645Richard SalwayHenry Ireton
1648Richard SalwayHenry Ireton died November 1651
1653Appleby unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament-
1654Appleby unrepresented in the First Parliament of the ProtectorateAppleby unrepresented in the First Parliament of the Protectorate
1656Appleby unrepresented in the Second Parliament of the ProtectorateAppleby unrepresented in the Second Parliament of the Protectorate
1659Adam BaynesNathaniel Redding

MPs 1660–1832

MPs 1885–1918

Election results 1885–1918

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1914/15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Elections in the 1830s

Election results taken from the History of Parliament Trust series.