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Appleby was the name of a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom) for two periods, as a borough represented by two Members of Parliament from 1295 until abolished by the Great Reform Act of 1832, and later as a county constituency represented by a single member from 1885 to 1918. Its best-known representative was William Pitt the Younger who became Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24.
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 (although he stood down at the following general election when he was instead elected for Cambridge University).
A later member for Appleby was Viscount Howick, subsequently (as Earl Grey) 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
[] 1295-1660
...
Long Parliament
Appleby was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
Third Protectorate Parliament
Long Parliament (restored)
1660-1832
Notes
- ^ Dodington was also elected for Bridgwater, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Appleby
- ^ At the 1754 election Lee and Honywood defeated Sir John Ramsden and Fletcher Norton, but this election was subsequently declared void and a by-election held in February 1756, at which Norton rather than Lee was elected
- ^ Lowther was also elected for Carlisle, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Appleby
- ^ Jenkinson was also elected for Rye, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Appleby
- ^ Tierney was also elected for Knaresborough, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Appleby
1885-1918
Election results
Election results taken from the History of Parliament Trust series.
Elections in the 18th century
References
- Michael Brock, "The Great Reform Act" (London: Hutchinson, 1973)
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, “Members of the Long Parliament” (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) [1]
- J Holladay Philbin, "Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
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