- Cockermouth (UK Parliament constituency)
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Cockermouth division of Cumberland Former County constituency for the House of Commons 1885–1918 Replaced by Workington and Penrith and Cockermouth Created from Cockermouth 1641–1885 Replaced by Cockermouth Created from Cumberland Cockermouth was the name of a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England in 1295, and again from 1641, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was a parliamentary borough represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868, and by one member from 1868 to 1885. The name was then transferred to a county constituency electing one MP from 1885 until 1918.
Notable MPs have included the regicide, Francis Allen.
Contents
The borough constituency (until 1885)
Until the Great Reform Act of 1832, the constituency consisted solely of the market town of Cockermouth in Cumberland. It first returned members to the Model Parliament of 1295, but its franchise then seems to have lapsed until 1641, when the Long Parliament passed a resolution (15 February 1641) to restore its ancient privileges.
The right of election in Cockermouth was vested in the burgage tenants of the borough, of whom there were about 300 in 1832. Cockermouth was considered a pocket borough, with the vast majority of the voters being under the influence of the Lowther family.
At the time of the 1831 census, the borough included just over 1,000 houses and had a population of 4,536. The Reform Act expanded the boundaries to bring in the neighbouring parishes of Eaglesfield, Brigham, Papcastle and Bridekirk, and part of Dovenby, increasing the population to 6,022 and encompassing 1,325 houses. This made the borough big enough to retain both its members. However, in the next wave of reform, introduced at the 1868 general election, one of Cockermouth's two seats was withdrawn, and in 1885 the borough was abolished altogether, although the name was transferred to the surrounding county constituency.
The county constituency (1885-1918)
The Cockermouth constituency created in 1885, strictly speaking The Cockermouth Division of Cumberland, was a compact division stretching westwards from Cockermouth to the sea, and including the much larger town of Workington. There was a significant Irish vote, and the Conservative victory in 1885 and subsequent Liberal gain of the seat in 1886 have been attributed to Parnell's shift of support from the one party to the other.
The constituency was divided between the new Workington and Penrith and Cockermouth divisions of Cumberland from 1918.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1641–1868
Year First member First party Second member Second party 1641 Sir John Fenwick, Bt [1] Parliamentarian Sir John Hippisley Parliamentarian 1642 Seat vacant through double return [2] 1645 Francis Allen 1653 Cockermouth was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate January 1659 John Stapleton Wilfrid Lawson May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump 1660 Richard Tolson Sir Wilfrid Lawson 1661 Hugh Potter 1662 Robert Scawen 1670 John Clarke 1675 Sir Richard Grahme 1679 Sir Orlando Gee 1685 Sir Daniel Fleming 1689 Sir Henry Capell Henry Fletcher 1690 Sir Orlando Gee Sir Wilfrid Lawson 1695 Sir Charles Gerard Goodwin Wharton Whig 1698 George Fletcher Whig William Seymour 1701 Goodwin Wharton Whig February 1702 Thomas Lamplugh July 1702 James Stanhope Whig 1708 Albemarle Bertie 1710 Nicholas Lechmere 1713 Joseph Musgrave 1715 James Stanhope Whig April 1717 Sir Thomas Pengelly July 1717 Lord Percy Seymour [3] 1721 Anthony Lowther 1722 Sir Wilfrid Lawson 1727 William Finch 1738 Eldred Curwen 1741 Sir John Mordaunt July 1747 Sir Charles Wyndham [4] December 1747 William Finch 1754 Percy Wyndham-O'Brien [5] 1761 Charles Jenkinson 1767 Captain John Elliot, RN March 1768 Charles Jenkinson Sir George Macartney May 1768 Captain George Johnstone, RN [6] Independent 1769 Sir James Lowther 1774 Fletcher Norton[7] 1775 Ralph Gowland James Adair 1780 John Baynes Garforth Tory John Lowther Tory 1784 James Clarke Satterthwaite Tory 1786 Humphrey Senhouse Tory 1790 John Baynes Garforth Tory Sir John Anstruther, 1st and 4th Baronet Tory 1796 Edward Burrow Tory 1800 Walter Spencer Stanhope Tory 1802 James Graham Tory Robert Plumer Ward Tory 1805 Viscount Garlies Tory 1806 John Lowther Tory James Graham Tory January 1807 Lord Binning Tory May 1807 John Lowther Tory July 1807 John Osborn Tory 1808 Viscount Lowther Tory October 1812 John Lowther Tory December 1812 Augustus John Foster Tory 1813 Thomas Wallace Tory 1816 John Henry Lowther Tory 1818 Sir John Beckett Tory 1821 William Wilson Carus Wilson Tory 1826 Viscount Garlies Tory 1827 Lawrence Peel Tory 1830 Philip Pleydell-Bouverie Tory 1831 John Henry Lowther Tory Sir James Scarlett Tory 1832 Henry Aglionby Aglionby Whig Fretchville Lawson Ballantine Dykes Whig 1836 Edward Horsman Whig 1852 Henry Wyndham Conservative 1854 John Steel Liberal 1857 Lord Naas Conservative April 1868 Green Thompson Conservative 1868 Representation reduced to one member Notes
- ^ Fenwick was later elected for Northumberland, which he chose to represent, and ceased to sit for Cockermouth
- ^ The election to replace Fenwick was disputed, and the Returning Officer made a double return, i.e. reported both candidates - Sir Thomas Sandford, Bt and Francis Allen - as elected, leaving Parliament to decide. The dispute was still unresolved when Sandford was declared disabled from sitting because of his Royalist sympathies in January 1644; Allen was admitted to sit in 1645.
- ^ In a by-election in 1717, Seymour was defeated by Sir Wilfrid Lawson by 90 votes to 84, but Lawson was underage, and on petition Seymour was declared elected
- ^ Wyndham was also elected for Taunton, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Cockermouth
- ^ Created Earl of Thomond (in the peerage of Ireland), 1756
- ^ Johnstone was re-elected at the general election of 1774, but was also elected for Appleby, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Cockermouth in this parliament
- ^ Norton was also elected for Carlisle, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Cockermouth
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MPs 1868–1885
Election Member Party 1868 Isaac Fletcher Liberal 1879 by-election William Fletcher Liberal 1880 Edward Waugh Liberal 1885 Borough abolished; name transferred to county division MPs 1885–1918
Cockermouth Division of Cumberland
Election Member Party 1885 Charles James Valentine Conservative 1886 Sir Wilfrid Lawson Liberal 1900 Sir John Scurrah Randles Conservative January 1906 Sir Wilfrid Lawson Liberal August 1906 by-election Sir John Scurrah Randles Conservative December 1910 Sir Wilfrid Lawson Liberal 1916 by-election Joseph Bliss Liberal 1918 constituency abolished References
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, “Members of the Long Parliament” (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [1]
- F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
- Michael Kinnear, "The British Voter" (London: Batsford, 1968)
- J Holladay Philbin, "Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1991)
- "The Constitutional Yearbook, 1913" (London: National Unionist Association, 1913)
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
Categories:- Parliamentary constituencies in North West England (historic)
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies disestablished in 1918
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 1640
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