Dorset was a county constituency covering Dorset in southern England , which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs), traditionally known as knights of the shire , to the House of Commons of England from 1290 until 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1832.
The Great Reform Act increased its representation to three MPs with effect from the 1832 general election , and under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the constituency was abolished for the 1885 election , and replaced by four single-member divisions: North Dorset , South Dorset , East Dorset and West Dorset .
When elections were contested, the bloc vote system was used, but contests were rare. Even after the 1832 Reforms, only three of the nineteen elections before 1885 were contested; in the others, the nominated candidates were returned without a vote.[1]
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Members of Parliament Before 1640 MPs 1640–1832
Year
First member
First party
Second member
Second party
April 1640
Lord Digby Royalist
Richard Rogers Royalist
November 1640
1641
John Browne Parliamentarian
September 1642
Rogers disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1645
Sir Thomas Trenchard
December 1648
Trenchard did not sit after Pride's Purge - seat vacant
1653
William Sydenham
John Bingham
Dorset had six seats in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1654
William Sydenham , John Bingham , Sir Walter Earle , John Fitzjames , John Trenchard , Henry Henley
1656
William Sydenham , John Bingham , Robert Coker , John Fitzjames , John Trenchard , James Dewey
Dorset reverted to two seats in the Third Protectorate Parliament
January 1659
Sir Walter Earle
John Bingham
May 1659
Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660
John Fitzjames
Robert Coker
Apr 1661
John Strode
Giles Strangways
1675
Lord Digby
1677
Thomas Browne
1679
Thomas Strangways I
Thomas Freke
1701
Thomas Trenchard
1702
Thomas Chafin
1711
Richard Bingham
1713
George Chafin
Thomas Strangways II
Jan 1727
George Pitt
Sep 1727
Edmund Morton Pleydell
1747
George Pitt Tory
1754
Humphrey Sturt
1774
Hon. George Pitt
1784
Francis John Browne
1790
William Morton Pitt Tory [6]
1806
Edward Berkeley Portman I Whig [6]
1823
Edward Portman II Whig [6]
1826
Henry Bankes Tory [6]
May. 1831
John Calcraft Whig [6]
Sep. 1831
Lord Ashley Tory [6]
1832
Representation increased to 3 members
MPs 1832–1885 Election results Elections in the 1830s Calcraft's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1840s Ashley-Cooper and Sturt both resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s Bankes was appointed Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces , requiring a by-election.
Bankes' death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s Seymer resigned, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1870s Sturt was elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Alington.
Elections in the 1880s Notes
^ a b c d Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 376–377. ISBN 0-900178-26-4 ^ a b c "HAMELY (HAMYLYN), Sir John (aft.1324-1399), of Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset" . History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 May 2013 .^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 9 September 2011 .^ a b "CARENT, William (d.1476), of Toomer in Henstridge, Som" . History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 May 2013 .^ a b c "BROWNING, John (C.1369-1416), of Melbury Sampford, Dorset and Leigh near Deerhurst, Glos. | History of Parliament Online" .^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England 81–82 . ISBN 0-900178-13-2 ^ Churton, Edward (1836). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1836 ^ Mosse, Richard Bartholomew (1838). The Parliamentary Guide: a concise history of the Members of both Houses, etc . Retrieved 21 April 2018 . ^ Mosse, Richard Bartholomew (1837). The parliamentary guide, a concise biography of the members of both houses of parliament 220 . Retrieved 21 April 2018 . ^ Crosby, George (1838). Crosby's General Political Reference Book: containing the historical origin of the British parliament; an authentic result of all the contested elections in Great Britain and Ireland, for nearly a century ... and an alphabetical list of the representatives for each party in the House of Commons, etc . Retrieved 21 April 2018 . ^ "Dorset Chronicle" . Retrieved 8 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .^ a b c Farrell, Stephen. "Dorset" . The History of Parliament . Retrieved 1 May 2020 . ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Craig, F. W. S. , ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 380–381. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3 ^ "Representation of the County" Western Gazette . Retrieved 29 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive .
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)
Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
Heywood Townshend, Historical Collections:: or, An exact Account of the Proceedings of the Four last Parliaments of Q. Elizabeth (1680) [2]
British History Online - 'List of members nominated for Parliament of 1653', Diary of Thomas Burton esq, volume 4: March - April 1659 (1828) ,Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... 1 .Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 2)
This page was last edited on 1 December 2023, at 21:50
This page was last edited on 1 December 2023, at 21:50