Parliamentary representation by historic counties
The Parliamentary representation by historic counties is summarised in this article, with links to the articles about the representation of each of the historic counties in the House of Commons of the Parliaments of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom.
History of the historic counties and parliament
was divided into shires during the Anglo-Saxon period, before the Norman conquest in 1066. After the conquest these sub-divisions of the country became known as counties. There were some changes in the number and boundaries of the counties in the 11th to 13th centuries, but by the time the representatives from them were summoned to attend Parliaments from the 13th century, the list of the historic counties was fixed. The two Palatine counties of Cheshire and Durham were not represented until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries respectively, but the other historic counties each returned two county members.In addition places were created as parliamentary boroughs, from time to time starting in the thirteenth century. A place once enfranchised tended to continue to be required to send members to Parliament, even if it always had an insignificant population or decayed over the centuries. Although some boroughs included parts of more than one county it was customary to regard them as being associated with one county for the purpose of parliamentary representation.
The historic counties and the parliamentary boroughs within them were considered as distinct communities before 1918. English counties were first divided for parliamentary purposes under the Reform Act 1832, when larger counties were divided into two divisions. However none of the county divisions crossed the historic county boundaries.
Boundary reviews were considered county by county unless, in the interests of producing more equal constituencies, two or more review areas were combined for a particular redistribution.
In 1918 Rutland, the smallest of the historic counties was joined with part of another county, but it was rare for an English constituency to cross county or county borough boundaries before the redistribution of 1983, which was based on the altered local government arrangements introduced in 1974. Since then the Boundary Commission for England has more often combined review areas to create cross border constituencies.
Although the historic counties were replaced, for most official purposes, by administrative counties in 1889; these were mostly the historic counties or well established sub-divisions of them. It was not until the local government reforms, in 1965 in the London area and 1974 elsewhere in England, that many administrative boundaries diverged in a major way from those of the historic counties. However, as the historic counties remain the focus of local patriotism it is worth continuing the lists until the present day.
Tables
- BC Borough constituency, CC County constituency, UC University constituency.
Rutland has not provided the predominant part of any constituency since 1918, but all other historic counties have contained at least one seat until the present.
Table 1: List of historic counties and when they were represented
Note: Dates of representation prior to 1510 are provisional.| Historic County | From | Until | 21st Century Region |
| Bedfordshire | 1290 | to date | East of England |
| Berkshire | 1290 | to date | South East England |
| Buckinghamshire | 1290 | to date | South East England |
| Cambridgeshire | 1290 | to date | East of England |
| Cheshire | 1545 | to date | North West England |
| Cornwall | 1290 | to date | South West England |
| Cumberland | 1290 | to date | North West England |
| Derbyshire | 1290 | to date | East Midlands |
| Devon | 1290 | to date | South West England |
| Dorset | 1290 | to date | South West England |
| Durham | 1675 | to date | North East England |
| Essex | 1290 | to date | East of England, London |
| Gloucestershire | 1290 | to date | South West England |
| Hampshire | 1290 | to date | South East England |
| Herefordshire | 1290 | to date | West Midlands |
| Hertfordshire | 1290 | to date | East of England, London |
| Huntingdonshire | 1290 | to date | East of England |
| Isle of Wight | 1295 | to date | South East England |
| Kent | 1290 | to date | London, South East England |
| Lancashire | 1290 | to date | North West England |
| Leicestershire | 1290 | to date | East Midlands |
| Lincolnshire | 1290 | to date | East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Middlesex | 1290 | to date | East of England, London, South East England |
| Norfolk | 1290 | to date | East of England |
| Northamptonshire | 1290 | to date | East Midlands |
| Northumberland | 1290 | to date | North East England |
| Nottinghamshire | 1290 | to date | East Midlands |
| Oxfordshire | 1290 | to date | South East England |
| Rutland | 1290 | 1918 | East Midlands |
| Shropshire | 1290 | to date | West Midlands |
| Somerset | 1290 | to date | South West England |
| Staffordshire | 1290 | to date | West Midlands |
| Suffolk | 1290 | to date | East of England |
| Surrey | 1290 | to date | London, South East England |
| Sussex | 1290 | to date | South East England |
| Warwickshire | 1290 | to date | West Midlands |
| Westmorland | 1290 | to date | North West England |
| Wiltshire | 1290 | to date | South West England |
| Worcestershire | 1290 | to date | West Midlands |
| Yorkshire | 1290 | to date | Yorkshire and the Humber |