Bradford was a parliamentary constituency in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from

1832 Events January–March * January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. * January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white plan ...

until it was abolished for the 1885 general election. It was then split into three new constituencies: Bradford Central,

Bradford East Bradford East is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2015 United Kingdom general election, 2015 b ...

, and

Bradford West Bradford West is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2015 United Kingdom gene ...

Boundaries

The constituency was based upon the town of

, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was enfranchised as a two-member

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

from 1832. Before 1832 the area was only represented as part of the county constituency of Yorkshire. After 1832 the non-resident Forty Shilling Freeholders of the area continued to qualify for a county vote (initially in the West Riding of Yorkshire seat, and from 1865 in a division of the West Riding). Bradford, as a new parliamentary borough, had no voters enfranchised under the ancient rights preserved by the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...

. All voters qualified under the new uniform, borough householder franchise. The area was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847, covering the parishes of Bradford, Horton and Manningham. Bradford was expanded in 1882 to include Allerton, Bolton, Bowling, Heaton,

Thornbury Thornbury may refer to: Places ;Australia *Thornbury, Victoria * Thornbury railway station, Melbourne ;Canada * Thornbury, Ontario ;England *Thornbury, Devon * Thornbury, Herefordshire *Thornbury, Gloucestershire **Thornbury Castle **Thornbury (UK ...

and Tyersall. However the parliamentary boundaries were not affected until the redistribution of 1885. After the expanded borough was divided into three single member seats in 1885, Bradford became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888. The county borough was granted city status by

Letters Patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

in 1897.

Members of Parliament

Two MPs were elected at each general election. The table below shows the election years in which one or both of the MPs changed.

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

* Caused by Lister's death

Elections in the 1850s

* Caused by the death of Busfield.

Elections in the 1860s

* Caused by Ripley's election at the 1868 general election being declared void. * Caused by Forster's appointment as Vice-President of the Committee of the Privy Council for Education. * Caused by Wickham's death. * Caused by Salt's resignation.

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

* Caused by Forster's appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

References

{{Bradford Constituencies Parliamentary constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1832 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1885 Politics of Bradford