Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency)

Maidstone was a parliamentary constituency represented in the Parliament of England, Great Britain and from 1801 the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The parliamentary borough of Maidstone returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) from 1552 until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member. The borough was abolished in 1918 and replaced with a county division of the same name, which was abolished for the 1997 general election, and partially replaced by the new Maidstone and The Weald constituency.

History

Before the 19th century

Maidstone was first enfranchised as a parliamentary borough, electing two Members of Parliament, in 1552; at the time it was one of the largest English towns not already represented, and was one of a number of boroughs either enfranchised or re-enfranchised during the reign of Edward VI. However, barely had it won the right than its charter was cancelled after the accession of Mary I as a punishment for the town's part in Wyatt's Rebellion. This was the only recorded instance of a borough's right to return MPs being directly revoked until Grampound was disfranchised for corruption in the 1820s (although there were other cases of temporary suspension or of the right lapsing through disuse in medieval times, when representation was less valued).Template:Citation needed

After the death of Mary I, Maidstone's right were restored, and it elected members to the Parliament of 1560, since when the constituency has been continuously represented. The borough consisted of the whole parish of Maidstone, although the boundaries had no practical effect - the right to vote was vested in the freemen of the town, whether or not they were resident within the borough, provided they were not receiving poor relief. In 1833, just after this franchise was reformed by the Great Reform Act, it was estimated that there were 845 freemen, of whom more than 300 lived over seven miles from the town, and 31 of whom were disqualified from voting because they were in receipt of alms. At the 1831 general election, between 600 and 670 men voted.Template:Citation needed

A borough of this size was too large to fall under the dominance of a local landowner as was usual in the case of the smaller constituencies in the Unreformed Parliament, and Maidstone remained comparatively free with elections sometimes vigorously contested (and usually expensive for the candidates), although the Finch and Marsham families both had a degree of influence over results in the 18th century. Namier describes in detail the Maidstone election of 1761, showing how at this period the organised divisions among the rank-and-file voters in competitive constituencies tended to be religious rather than party-political; the Whig faction in Maidstone drew its strength from the Nonconformists while the Tories were the Anglican establishment. Yet so complicated was the politics of the period that although the local Whigs had asked Rose Fuller, a personal friend of the Whig Prime Minister The Duke of Newcastle, to stand as their candidate Newcastle refused to support him; indeed, Newcastle used his government patronage to force those of the electors employed in the naval dockyard at Chatham to vote for the incumbent Tory MPs, to whom he had already promised his support before Fuller's candidacy was mooted. In the event, though, Fuller succeeded in being elected, many of the government employees defying Newcastle to support him.Template:Citation needed

After the Reform Act

At the time of the Reform Act, the population of the borough was 15,387, and it contained 3,018 houses. The boundaries of the borough remained unchanged until 1918. Under the reformed franchise, there were 1,108 electors registered to vote at the general election of 1832. The town continued to grow so that by 1865 the electorate had reached 1,817, and this was almost doubled by the extension of the franchise in the second reform act, so that there were 3,420 registered electors for the 1868 general election.

The borough retained two MPs until 1885, when its representation was halved; at the 1885 general election the franchise now extended to 6,530 electors, voting for a population of around 35,000. This was a relatively small electorate for the period and made bribery a practical proposition, and Maidstone was one of a small number of constituencies where corruption was proved after the tightening of election law in the 1880s. Generally a fairly safe Conservative seat, the constituency elected a Liberal candidate against the national tide in 1900, but it was clear that corrupt practices had contributed to his victory and he was unseated on petition; the voters seem to have resented the petition, however, and also elected the Liberal candidate in the ensuing by-election. At the following election in 1906, Maidstone again swung in the opposite direction to the country as a whole, electing a Conservative - one of only five Unionist gains across the country - and the victor was again charged with corruption; on this occasion the candidate was acquitted, but one of the judges noted that "there exists among the voters of this borough a number of the lower class who expect, and are known to respect, a payment or reward for their votes... The proved cases of bribery extend through all the wards."

The county constituency

The borough was abolished with effect from the general election of 1918, but the Maidstone name was transferred to the new county division in which the town stood, which consisted of Maidstone itself and the Maidstone and Hollingbourne rural districts. These contained no towns of any size, but the villages collectively outvoted Maidstone. The new constituency was as safely Conservative as its predecessor, and its boundaries remained unaltered until 1983.

By the 1980s, population growth meant that the constituency was considerably oversized, with one of the largest electorates in England. In the 1983 boundary revisions, which for the first time reflected the local government boundary changes of the 1970s, the size of the Maidstone constituency was considerably reduced. The area to the north-east of the town, and two wards of the town itself, were moved into the new Mid Kent constituency; as these were strongly Conservative wards and there had been a Liberal surge in the area around the time the Liberal-SDP Alliance was formed, the Alliance had some hopes of making a breakthrough in the revised constituency. However, they could only cut the Tory majority to a little over 7,000 in 1983, John Wells taking over half the votes.

Boundary changes in 1997 saw the constituency abolished and replaced with a new Maidstone and The Weald county constituency. The Maidstone town wards which had been in Mid Kent since 1983 were included in the new seat, and a rural part of the Weald to the south of the town, previously in the Tunbridge Wells constituency was also included; but about a third of the electorate in the Maidstone constituency was transferred to the Faversham and Mid Kent constituency - this included the rural wards to the east of the town, but also the Shepway and Park Wood areas of Maidstone proper.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The existing parliamentary borough, excluding a detached part of the parish of Maidstone known as Lodington.

Members of Parliament

Maidstone borough

MPs 1560-1660

Parliament	First member	Second member
1562–3	Nicholas Barham	Henry Fisher
1571	Thomas Walsingham	Nicholas St Leger
1572	Nicholas St Leger	Thomas Dannett
1584	Thomas Randolph	Michael Sondes
1586	John Astley	Thomas Randolph
1588	John Astley	Thomas Randolph
1593	Sir Thomas Fludd	Lewen Buffkyn
1597	Sir Thomas Fludd	Sir John Leveson
1601	Sir Thomas Fludd	Sir John Leveson
1604-1611	Sir Francis Fane	Laurence Washington
1614	Sir Francis Fane	Sir John Scott
1621-1622	Sir Francis Fane	Sir Francis Barnham
1624	Sir George Fane	Thomas Stanley
1625	Edward Mapleton	Thomas Stanley
1626	Sir George Fane	Francis Barnham
1628	Sir George Fane	Francis Barnham
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
1640 (Apr)	Sir George Fane	Sir Francis Barnham
1640 (Nov)	Sir Francis Barnham,died Nov 1646	Sir Humfrey Tufton
1645	Thomas Twisden	Sir Humfrey Tufton not sat after Pride's Purge, Dec 1648
1648	Thomas Twisden excluded in Pride's Purge, Dec 1648
1653	Maidstone was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
1654	Sir John Banks	(One seat only)
1656	Sir John Banks	(One seat only)
1659	Sir John Banks	Andrew Broughton

MPs 1660-1885

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1660		Thomas Twisden			Robert Barnham
August 1660		Sir Edward Hales
1661		Sir Edmund Pierce
1668		Thomas Harlackenden
February 1679		Sir John Tufton			Sir John Darell
August 1679					Thomas Fane
March 1685					Archibald Clinkard
November 1685		Edwin Wyatt
1689		Sir Thomas Taylor			Caleb Banks
1690					Thomas Rider
1695					Sir John Banks
1696		Thomas Rider
1698		Sir Robert Marsham			Thomas Bliss
July 1702					Sir Thomas Roberts
October 1702	Writ suspended - both seats vacant
1704		Heneage Finch			Thomas Bliss
1705		Sir Thomas Culpeper
1708					Sir Robert Marsham
1713		Sir Samuel Ongley
1715		Sir Thomas Culpeper
1716					Sir Barnham Rider
1722					John Finch
1723		Sir Barnham Rider
1727		Thomas Hope
1734		William Horsemonden-Turner
1740					Robert Fairfax
1741		Lord Guernsey			John Bligh
1747		William Horsemonden-Turner			Robert Fairfax
1753	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Gabriel Hanger	Tory
1754				Lord Guernsey
1757				Savile Finch
1761	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Rose Fuller	Whig	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	William Northey	Tory
1768		Hon. Charles Marsham			Robert Gregory
1774		Sir Horatio Mann			Lord Guernsey
1777					Hon. Charles Finch
1780				rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Clement Taylor	Whig
1784	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Gerard Edwardes	Tory
1788	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Matthew Bloxham	Tory
1796	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Major General Oliver de Lancey	Tory
1802	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			John Hodsdon Durand	Whig
1806	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	George Simson	Tory	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	George Longman	Whig
1812	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Egerton Brydges	Tory
1818	rowspan="5" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Abraham Wildey Robarts	Whig	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	George Longman	Whig
1820	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			John Wells	Tory
1830	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Henry Winchester	Tory
1831	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Charles James Barnett	Whig
1835	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Wyndham Lewis	Conservative
1837	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Benjamin Disraeli	Conservative
1838	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			John Minet Fector	Conservative
1841	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Alexander Hope	Conservative	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	George Dodd	Conservative
1852	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	James Whatman	Radical
1853	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			William Lee	Radical
1857	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Alexander Beresford Hope	Conservative	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Edward Scott	Conservative
1859	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Charles Buxton	Liberal	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	William Lee	Liberal
1865	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	James Whatman	Liberal
1870	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Sir John Lubbock	Liberal
1874	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Sydney Waterlow	Liberal
1880	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Alexander Henry Ross	Conservative	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	John Evans Freke-Aylmer	Conservative
1885	Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1885-1918

Election		Member	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1885	Alexander Henry Ross	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1888	Fiennes Cornwallis	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1895	Sir Frederick Hunt	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1898	Fiennes Cornwallis	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1900	John Barker	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1901	Sir Francis Evans	Liberal
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1906	Viscount Castlereagh	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1915	Carlyon Bellairs	Conservative
1918		Borough abolished; county division created

Maidstone County Constituency (1918–1997)

Election		Member	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1918	Carlyon Bellairs	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1931	Alfred Bossom	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1959	John Wells	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1987	Ann Widdecombe	Conservative
1997		constituency abolished: see Maidstone and The Weald

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Lewis' death caused a by-election.

The by-election was declared void, causing another by-election.

Elections in the 1850s

Dodd's election was declared void on petition due to treating by his agents, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1870s

Lee's resignation caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1880s

Ross' death caused a by-election.

File:Fiennes Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis c 1902.gif

F.S.W. Cornwallis

Elections in the 1900s

File:John Barker 2.jpg

John Barker

• unseated on petition

Elections in the 1910s

File:Vivian Phillips.jpg

Vivian Phillipps

File:Carlyon Bellairs.jpg

C.W. Bellairs

Elections in the 1930s

Template:Election box begin Template:Election box winning candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box majority Template:Election box turnout Template:Election box hold with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box winning candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box majority Template:Election box turnout Template:Election box hold with party link Template:Election box end General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Alfred Bossom
• Labour: Otto L Shaw

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Kent

Sources

• Robert Beatson, "A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament" (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
• D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• T. H. B. Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
• 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 Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
• Robert Waller, The Almanac of British Politics (1st edition, London: Croom Helm, 1983; 5th edition, London: Routledge, 1996)
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)