West Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency)

West Cumberland
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1832–1885
Number of members two
Replaced by Egremont and Cockermouth
Created from Cumberland

West Cumberland was a county constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election.

Boundaries

1832-1885: The Wards of Allerdale above Derwent and Allerdale below Derwent.[1]

In 1832 the historic county of Cumberland, in north west England, was split for parliamentary purposes into two county divisions. These were the East Cumberland division (with a place of election at Carlisle) and the West division (where voting took place at Cockermouth). Each division returned two members to Parliament.

The parliamentary boroughs included in the West division, between 1832–1885, (whose non-resident 40 shilling freeholders voted in the county constituency) were Cockermouth and Whitehaven. (Source: Stooks Smith).

History

For most of its existence this was an extremely Conservative division, in sharp contrast to the mostly Liberal inclined East division of the county. Only once, in the last election in 1880, was a Liberal MP elected to one of the two seats.

The county began to industrialise from the 1860s. An Irish community developed in the west of Cumberland particularly at Cleator Moor, attracted by the opportunity to find work in the areas developing iron industry. It may be that these economic and demographic developments made the Liberals more competitive by 1880 than they had been earlier in the century.

In 1885 this division was abolished. The East and West Cumberland county divisions were replaced by four new single-member county constituencies. These were Cockermouth, Egremont (the Western division), Eskdale (Northern division) and Penrith (Mid division). In addition there were two remaining Cumberland borough constituencies; Carlisle and Whitehaven.

Members of Parliament

Election First member [2] First partySecond memberSecond party
1832 William LowtherConservative Edward StanleyConservative
1833 by-election Samuel IrtonConservative
1847 Henry LowtherConservative
1852 Samuel IrtonConservative
1857 Hon. Sir Henry WyndhamConservative
1860 by-election Hon. Percy WyndhamConservative
1872 by-election Jocelyn Pennington aConservative
1880 David AinsworthLiberal
1885 Constituency abolished

Note:-

  • a Muncaster was a Peer of Ireland until 1898 and therefore eligible to serve in the House of Commons.

Election results

Elections in the 1850s

General Election 1852: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Samuel Irton Unopposed
Conservative Henry Lowther Unopposed
Registered electors 4,144
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General Election 1857: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Henry Wyndham 1,848 35.4 N/A
Conservative Henry Lowther 1,825 34.9 N/A
Radical Wilfrid Lawson[4][5] 1,554 29.7 N/A
Majority 271 5.2 N/A
Turnout 3,391 (est) 77.2 (est) N/A
Registered electors 4,389
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General Election 1859: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Henry Wyndham Unopposed
Conservative Henry Lowther Unopposed
Registered electors 4,780
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

Wyndham's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 27 August 1860: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Percy Wyndham Unopposed
Conservative hold
General Election 1865: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Percy Wyndham Unopposed
Conservative Henry Lowther Unopposed
Registered electors 4,602
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General Election 1868: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Percy Wyndham Unopposed
Conservative Henry Lowther Unopposed
Registered electors 5,676
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

Lowther succeeded to the peerage, becoming Earl of Lonsdale and causing a by-election.

By-election, 26 March 1872: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Josslyn Pennington Unopposed
Conservative hold
General Election 1874: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Percy Wyndham 2,532 29.4 N/A
Conservative Josslyn Pennington 2,520 29.3 N/A
Liberal James William Ballantine Dykes[6] 1,786 20.7 N/A
Liberal David Ainsworth 1,771 20.6 N/A
Majority 734 8.5 N/A
Turnout 4,305 (est) 71.3 (est) N/A
Registered electors 6,034
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1880: West Cumberland[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal David Ainsworth 3,178 37.4 −3.9
Conservative Percy Wyndham 2,686 31.6 +2.2
Conservative Josslyn Pennington 2,624 30.9 +1.6
Majority 492 5.8 N/A
Turnout 5,864 (est) 78.2 (est) +6.9
Registered electors 7,496
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing −3.9
Conservative hold Swing N/A
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See also

References

  1. ↑ "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. XLV: An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 154–206. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
  2. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book)|format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 369–370. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  4. ↑  Russell, George William Erskine (1912). "Lawson, Wilfrid". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  5. ↑ "The General Election". Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser. 28 March 1857. p. 4. Retrieved 30 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  6. ↑ "West Cumberland". Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales. 4 February 1874. p. 8. Retrieved 29 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).

Sources

  • 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)
  • 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)
  • Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910. by Henry Pelling (Macmillan 1967)
  • 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)
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