Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)

Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the British House of Commons, from 1603 to 1950.

Franchise and method of election

This university constituency was created by a Royal Charter of 1603. It was abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.

The constituency was not a geographical area. Its electorate consisted of the graduates of the University. Before 1918 the franchise was restricted to male graduates with a Doctorate or Master of Arts degree. Sedgwick records that there were 377 electors in 1727. For the 1754–1790 period, Namier and Brooke estimated the electorate at about 500.

The constituency returned two Members of Parliament. Before 1918 they were elected by plurality-at-large voting, but from 1918 onwards the two members were elected by the Single Transferable Vote method.

History

In the early 18th century, the electors of both English universities were mostly Tories, but the Whig ministers of King George I were able to persuade him to use his royal prerogative to confer Cambridge doctorates on a large number of Whigs, so that from 1727 the University largely returned Whig representatives. At Oxford, the King did not enjoy the same prerogative power, so that the University of Oxford constituency remained Tory, and indeed often Jacobite, in its preferences.

The leading 18th-century Whig politician Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1748 to 1768 and recommended to the electors suitable candidates to represent them in Parliament. This practice continued under his successor, another Whig Duke and Prime Minister, Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the University from 1768 to 1811. However, Grafton was less influential as a politician than Newcastle had been and also less attentive towards the University, and as a result some of his nominations came in for criticism, notably that of his friend Richard Croftes.

Croftes was far from typical of a University member of parliament: he was neither the son of a peer, like the Hon. John Townshend, the Marquess of Granby, and Grafton's own son the Earl of Euston, nor a distinguished lawyer-politician, such as William de Grey, James Mansfield, and Sir Vicary Gibbs, nor a prominent political figure like William Pitt the Younger and Lord Henry Petty. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Pittite and Tory candidates began to be elected. At the appearance of this political development, some of the Pittite members, including the younger William Pitt himself, one of the members for the University from 1784 to 1806, described themselves as Whigs. As time passed, the division between the 19th century Tory and Whig parties became clearer.

The future Prime Minister, Viscount Palmerston, retained his university seat as a Whig after he left the Tory ranks, but in 1831 he was defeated. After Palmerston ceased to represent the University he was elected by a territorial constituency. From then until the 1920s, all of the University's members were Tories and/or Conservatives.

Even after the introduction of the single transferable vote in 1918, most of the members continued to be elected as Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

This is a list of people who have been elected to represent this University in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Elections before 1715

Election by Block Vote 1715–1918

Elections in the 1880s

General Election April 1880: Cambridge University (2 seats)^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alexander Beresford Hope	Unopposed
	Conservative	Spencer Horatio Walpole	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,161
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Walpole's resignation caused a by-election.

By-Election 23–28 Nov 1882: Cambridge University^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Cecil Raikes	3,491	72.9	N/A
	Liberal	James Stuart	1,301	27.2	N/A
Majority			2,190	45.7	N/A
Turnout			4,792	75.2	N/A
Registered electors			6,371
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Hope

General Election 1885: Cambridge University (2 seats)^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alexander Beresford Hope	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Cecil Raikes	Unopposed
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election 1886: Cambridge University (2 seats)^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Alexander Beresford Hope	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Cecil Raikes	Unopposed
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Raikes was appointed Postmaster General, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 13 Aug 1886: Cambridge University^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Henry Cecil Raikes	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Stokes

Beresford-Hope's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 17 Nov 1887: Cambridge University^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	George Stokes	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

Jebb

Cambridge University by-election, 1891^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Richard Claverhouse Jebb	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General Election 1892: Cambridge University (2 seats)^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Eldon Gorst	Unopposed
	Conservative	Richard Claverhouse Jebb	Unopposed
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election 1895: Cambridge University (2 seats)^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Eldon Gorst	Unopposed
	Conservative	Richard Claverhouse Jebb	Unopposed
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Samuel Butcher	Unopposed
	Conservative	John Rawlinson	Unopposed
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election December 1910: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Samuel Butcher	Unopposed
	Conservative	John Rawlinson	Unopposed
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Cox

Cambridge University by-election, 1911

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Joseph Larmor	2,308	50.24	N/A
	Free Trade	Harold Cox	1,954	42.53	N/A
	Ind. Conservative	Thomas Ethelbert Page	332	7.23	N/A
Majority			354	7.71	N/A
Turnout			7,129	64.44	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections 1918–1950

General Elections, from 1918 when most constituencies polled on the same day, were on different polling days than for territorial constituencies. The polls for university constituencies were open for five days. The elections were also conducted by Single Transferable Vote.

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book: British Election Results 1832–1918 (8th edition, The Harvester Press 1971)
• The House of Commons 1715–1754, by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970)
• The House of Commons 1754–1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)
• The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 1)

Specific