Scarborough (UK Parliament constituency)

Scarborough
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Scarborough in Yorkshire, 1885-1918
County	North Yorkshire
Major settlements	Scarborough, Whitby
February 1974–1997
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Scarborough and Whitby
Created from	Scarborough and Whitby
1295–1918
Number of members	Two (1295-1885) One (1885-1918)
Type of constituency	Borough constituency

Scarborough was the name of a constituency in Yorkshire, electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons, at two periods. From 1295 until 1918 it was a parliamentary borough consisting only of the town of Scarborough, electing two MPs until 1885 and one from 1885 until 1918. In 1974 the name was revived for a county constituency, covering a much wider area; this constituency was abolished in 1997.

Boundaries

1974-1983: The Borough of Scarborough, the Urban Districts of Pickering and Scalby, and the Rural Districts of Pickering and Scarborough.

1983-1997: The Borough of Scarborough wards of Ayton, Castle, Cayton, Central, Danby, Derwent, Eastfield, Eskdaleside, Falsgrave, Fylingdales, Lindhead, Mayfield, Mulgrave, Newby, Northstead, Scalby, Seamer, Streonshalh, Weaponness, and Woodlands.

History

Scarborough was first represented in a Parliament held at Shrewsbury in 1282, and was one of the boroughs sending 2 MPs to the Model Parliament of 1295 which is now generally considered to be the first parliament in the modern sense.

Until the Great Reform Act of 1832 Scarborough was a corporation borough, the right of election resting solely with the 44-member corporation or "common council". At an earlier period, it seems to have been a matter of some dispute whether the freemen of the borough could also vote, but at an election in 1736 the corporation and the (much more numerous) freemen backed different candidates. The candidate of the freemen was returned to Parliament, but on petition from his defeated opponent the House of Commons decided that only the corporation votes should stand, and overturned the result. In later days the Corporation was entirely under the influence of the Duke of Rutland and Earl of Mulgrave, who each nominated one of the Members of Parliament; by 1832, Scarborough had continuously been represented by junior members of their respective families for more than half a century. The restriction on the franchise was challenged in 1791, and Parliament declared in favour of "the ancient right of inhabitant householders" in the borough to vote, but the decision seems to have been a dead-letter for at the election of 1802, the last to be contested before the Reform Act, only 33 voters cast their votes.

At the time of the Reform Act, the borough had a population of about 8,760 in just over 2,000 houses, and the Act left its boundaries and two members intact, though widening the franchise. (There were 431 electors registered at the 1832–33 election.) The constituency remained broadly unchanged until 1918, though from 1885 its representation was reduced from two MPs to one.

After abolition in 1918, the constituency was absorbed into the new Scarborough and Whitby county constituency. However, the boundary changes which came into effect at the February 1974 general election created a new constituency named Scarborough. This was a county constituency including, in addition to Scarborough itself and its suburb Scalby, the town of Pickering and the Scarborough and Pickering rural districts.

There were further boundary changes at the 1983 general election, which brought in Whitby and its surrounding area in place of the Pickering district. The constituency was abolished once more for the 1997 general election, when it was again largely replaced by a new Scarborough and Whitby constituency.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1295)

Elections 1640-1885

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1880: Scarborough (2 seats)^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Harcourt Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone	2,157	29.3	−4.5
	Liberal	William Sproston Caine	2,065	28.0	−5.8
	Conservative	John Cookson Fife-Cookson[20]	1,581	21.5	+5.3
	Conservative	Charles Legard	1,562	21.2	+5.0
Majority			484	6.6	N/A
Turnout			3,683 (est)	85.6 (est)	+13.5
Registered electors			4,302
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.9
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	−5.4

Jonhstone's resignation caused a by-election.

Dodson

By-election, 31 Jul 1880: Scarborough^[21][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	John Dodson	1,828	53.2	−4.1
	Conservative	Arthur Duncombe[22]	1,606	46.8	+4.1
Majority			222	6.5	−0.1
Turnout			3,434	79.8	−5.8 (est)
Registered electors			4,302
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.1

Dodson was elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Monk Bretton, causing a by-election.

By-election, 5 Nov 1884: Scarborough^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Richard Steble	1,895	54.1	−3.2
	Conservative	George Sitwell	1,606	45.9	+3.2
Majority			289	8.3	+1.7
Turnout			3,501	84.0	−1.6 (est)
Registered electors			4,167
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.2

Caine was appointed Civil Lord of the Admiralty, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 28 Nov 1884: Scarborough^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Sproston Caine	1,832	52.8	−4.5
	Conservative	George Sitwell	1,639	47.2	+4.5
Majority			193	5.6	−1.0
Turnout			3,471	83.3	−2.3 (est)
Registered electors			4,167
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.5

Elections 1885-1918

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Scarborough ^[23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Sitwell	2,293	51.9	+3.1
	Liberal	Joshua Rowntree	2,122	48.1	-3.1
Majority			171	3.8	N/A
Turnout			4,415	90.5	+1.7
Registered electors			4,877
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.1

Rickett

General Election 1895: Scarborough ^[23][24][26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Compton-Rickett	2,415	50.2	+2.1
	Conservative	George Sitwell	2,391	49.8	-2.1
Majority			24	0.4	N/A
Turnout			4,806	91.0	+0.5
Registered electors			5,284
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.1

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Scarborough ^[23][24][26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Joseph Compton-Rickett	2,548	51.1	+0.9
	Conservative	George Sitwell	2,441	48.9	-0.9
Majority			107	2.2	+1.8
Turnout			4,989	87.1	-3.9
Registered electors			5,730
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.9

General Election 1906: Scarborough ^[23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Walter Rea	3,128	54.4	+3.3
	Conservative	Charles Edward Hunter	2,619	45.6	-3.3
Majority			509	8.8	+6.6
Turnout			5,747	92.0	+4.9
Registered electors			6,250
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.3

Elections 1970-1997

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in North Yorkshire

Notes and references

Sources

• 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)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• Thomas Hinderwell, The history and antiquities of Scarborough and the vicinity (2nd edition, York: Thomas Wilson & Son, 1811)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
• Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
• Robert Walcott, English Politics in the Early Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956)