Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)

UK former constituency infobox
Name = Lancashire
Type = County
Year = 1290
Abolition = 1832
members = two

Lancashire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832.

The constituency was split into two two-member divisions, for Parliamentary purposes, in 1832. The county was then represented by the North Lancashire and South Lancashire constituencies : the latter representing the hundreds of Salford and West Derby, and the former the hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland and Lonsdale.

Boundaries

The constituency comprised the whole historic county of Lancashire, except for the Parliamentary boroughs of Clitheroe, Lancaster, Liverpool, Newton, Preston and Wigan.

Members of Parliament

*"Constituency abolished" (1832)

Elections

The county franchise, from 1430, was held by the adult male owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more. Each elector had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings, which took place in the county town of Lancaster. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system.

The expense, to candidates, of contested elections encouraged the leading families of the county to agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. Contested county elections were therefore unusual. The Stanleys, led by the Earl of Derby dominated the county. One seat was nearly always held by a Stanley relative, the second, by one of the other leading families.

ee also

*List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies
*Unreformed House of Commons

References

* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/lcommons1.htm Historical list of MPs]