Nottinghamshire was a

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constitue ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advise ...

then of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

from 1707 to 1800 and of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament (MPs), traditionally known as Knights of the Shire. The constituency was split into two two-member divisions, for Parliamentary purposes, 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 of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

. The county was then represented by the North Nottinghamshire and South Nottinghamshire constituencies.

Boundaries

The county of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

is located in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, L ...

of England. The county is known to have been represented in Parliament from 1290, although it probably sent knights of the shire to earlier meetings. From 1295 the county and the town of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

each returned two members to parliament. In 1572 East Retford was represented by two members, and in 1672

Newark-upon-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road bypasses the town on the line ...

also. Under the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned four members in two divisions. By the act of 1885 it returned four members in four divisions; Newark and East Retford were disfranchised, and Nottingham returned three members in three divisions.

Members of Parliament

1290–1640

1305 Sir Hugh de Hercy and Thomas Malet 1316 Sir Hugh de Hercy and Lawrence Chaworth

1640–1832

Notes

The use of the term 'Non Partisan' in the list does not necessarily mean that the MP was not associated with a particular party or faction in Parliament. Stooks Smith only gives Nottinghamshire candidates party labels for the contested 1722 election and not again until well into the 19th century.

Election notes

The county franchise, from 1430, was held by the adult male owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more. Each elector had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings, which took place in

. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system. The expense, to candidates and their supporters, of contested elections encouraged the leading families of the county to agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. Contested county elections were therefore unusual. Three families; the

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle ...

, the Duke of Portland and the Pierreponts, all Whigs, dominated the county until well into the 19th century, which was why there was no contest after 1722. The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

for single member by-elections. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings. ''Note on percentage change calculations:'' Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote. ''Note on sources:'' The information for the election results given below is taken from Stooks Smith 1715–1754, Namier and Brooke 1754–1790 and Stooks Smith 1790–1832.

Election results 1715–1832

Elections in the 1710s

Elections in the 1720s

* ''Howe was a Peer of Ireland''

Elections in the 1730s

* ''Seats vacated on Howe being appointed

Governor of Barbados This article contains a list of viceroys in Barbados from its initial colonisation in 1627 by England until it achieved independence in 1966. From 1833 to 1885, Barbados was part of the colony of the Windward Islands, and the governor of Barbad ...

and Sutton being expelled from the House.'' * ''Death of Bennet''

Elections in the 1740s

* ''Sutton adopted the new surname of Manners-Sutton''

Elections in the 1750s

* ''John Thornhagh adopted the new surname of Hewett''

Elections in the 1760s

* ''Death of Manners-Sutton''

Elections in the 1770s

* ''Succession of Willoughby as the 4th

Baron Middleton Baron Middleton, of Middleton in the County of Warwick, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, created in December 1711 for Sir Thomas Willoughby, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Nottinghamshire and Newark in Parliament. It w ...

'' * ''Death of Lincoln''

Elections in the 1780s

* ''Charles Medows adopted the surname of Pierrepont in 1788''

Elections in the 1790s

* ''Note (1796): Stooks Smith incorrectly has Lord Edward Bentinck returned at this election rather than Lord William Bentinck''

Elections in the 1800s

* ''Death of Pierrepont'' * ''Resignation of Bentinck'' * ''Pierrepont became known by the courtesy title of Viscount Newark, when his father was advanced in the peerage by being created

Earl Manvers Earl Manvers was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for Charles Medows Pierrepont, 1st Viscount Newark. He had already been created Baron Pierrepont, of Holme Pierrepont in the County of Nottingham, and Viscoun ...

in 1806.''

Elections in the 1810s

* ''Resignation of Bentinck'' * ''Succession of Newark as 2nd Earl Manvers'' * ''Frank adopted the new surname of Sotheron''

Elections in the 1820s

Elections in the 1830s

* ''Constituency divided in (1832)''

References

* ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977) * ''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)) ''out of copyright'' *Robert Beatson, ''A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament'' (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807

*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

* J E Neale, ''The Elizabethan House of Commons'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nottinghamshire Parliamentary constituencies in Nottinghamshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1290 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1832