Portsmouth was a

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

based upon the borough of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in Hampshire. It returned two members of parliament (MPs) to 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. ...

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 suprema ...

, elected by the bloc vote system.

History

The constituency first elected MPs in 1295. It was abolished at the 1918 general election, when the

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, also ...

divided it into three new constituencies;

Portsmouth North Portsmouth North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Penny Mordaunt, the current Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. She is a Conservative MP. Boundaries 191 ...

Portsmouth South Portsmouth South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Stephen Morgan of the Labour Party. Morgan is the first Labour MP to represent the seat. Boundaries 1918–1950: The County Borough of ...

and Portsmouth Central. According to Namier and Brooke in ''The House of Commons 1754–1790'', the right of election was in the freemen of the borough who numbered about 100. The town was known as an Admiralty borough and at least one MP was usually an Admiral.

The Earl of Sandwich Earl of Sandwich is a noble title in the Peerage of England, held since its creation by the House of Montagu. It is nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. ...

was

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

from 1771 to 1782. He imposed tighter Admiralty control over the borough. This change of policy led to an independent element of the local Council supporting challengers to the Admiralty candidates between 1774 and 1780. When party politics re-emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Portsmouth was a predominantly Whig constituency. It only once elected a

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

Member of Parliament between 1790 and 1832. 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 ...

considerably expanded the electorate of the borough. The freemen retained their ancient right franchise, but were outnumbered by the new occupier voters amongst the 1,295 electors registered in 1832. As a result of the expanded electorate the borough became more competitive. Contested elections became the norm rather than the exception, as they had been before the Reform Act. Candidates with naval connections continued to be frequent in Portsmouth, after the Reform Act. The borough developed into a marginal constituency, particularly in the last half century of its existence.

Boundaries

The

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 ...

was (as the area remains in the 21st century) a major seaport and naval base on the south coast of England. It is situated in the county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. From the 1885 general election until the dissolution before the 1918 election the constituency was surrounded (on the landward side) by the

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufact ...

seat.

Members of Parliament

1295–1640

1640–1918

Notes

Election notes

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 their ...

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 A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Devel ...

(until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872). ''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 Sedgwick 1715–1754, Namier and Brooke 1754–1790, Stooks Smith 1790–1832 and from Craig thereafter. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result.

Election results 1715–1800

Elections in the 1710s

* ''Seat vacated when Wager was appointed to an office'' * ''Seat vacated when Wager was appointed to an office''

Elections in the 1720s

Elections in the 1730s

* ''Death of Lewis''

Elections in the 1740s

* ''Death of Stewart'' * ''Seat vacated when Cavendish was appointed to an office'' * ''Death of Cavendish'' * ''Death of Hardy'' * ''Death of Bladen'' * ''Gore chose to sit for

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

'' * ''Election declared void on 19 December 1747 as, unknown to anyone in England on 15 December, Legge had died on 19 September 1747.''

Elections in the 1750s

* ''Seat vacated when Rowley was appointed a

Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

Elections in the 1760s

* ''Seat vacated when Hawke was appointed a

'' * ''Death of Fetherstonhaugh''

Elections in the 1770s

* ''Creation of Hawke as a peer'' * ''Death of Taylor'' * ''Death of Suckling''

Elections in the 1780s

* ''Death of Monckton'' * ''Seat vacated on the grant of a pension, at the pleasure of the Crown, to Gordon'' * ''Source for party: Stooks Smith''

Elections in the 1790s

* ''Seymour is referred to as Hugh Seymour-Conway in the above list of members of parliament''

Election results 1801–1918

Elections in the 1800s

* ''Death of Seymour'' * ''The above list of members of parliament includes David Montagu Erskine as an MP in 1806, in succession to his father Thomas Erskine (who became

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

and was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Baron Erskine in 1806). Stooks Smith does not record this election''

Elections in the 1810s

* ''Death of Miller''

Elections in the 1820s

Elections in the 1830s

* ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Baring as a

Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...

'' ''Note (1837): Stooks Smith gives a registered electorate figure of 1,517; but Craig's figure is used to calculate turnout.'' * ''Death of Carter'' ''Note (1838): Daniel Quarrier (Conservative) was a candidate for this by-election, but retired before the poll.'' * ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Baring as

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

.''

Elections in the 1840s

* ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Baring as

..''

Elections in the 1850s

* ''Note (1852): Monck was a peer in the peerage of Ireland.'' * ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Monck as a

.'' * ''Note (1857): Number of voters unknown. The turnout is estimated by dividing the number of votes by two. To the extent that electors did not use both their votes, the figure given will be an underestimate of actual turnout.'' * ''Note (1859): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.''

Elections in the 1860s

* ''Note (1865): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.'' * ''Expansion of the electorate provided for by the

Reform Act 1867 The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 (known as the Reform Act 1867 or the Second Reform Act) was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first ...

'' * ''Note (1868): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.''

Elections in the 1870s

* ''Note (1874): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.'' * ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Elphinstone as a

Elections in the 1880s

* ''Note (1880): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.'' * ''Electorate expanded by the

Representation of the People Act 1884 In the United Kingdom under the premiership of William Gladstone, the Representation of the People Act 1884 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, also known informally as the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution Act of the following year were laws which ...

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

References

* ''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) * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974) * ''The House of Commons 1715–1754'', by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970) * ''The House of Commons 1754–1790'', by Sir

Lewis Namier Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were ''The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Ameri ...

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)) * ''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) * ''Who's Who of British members of parliament, Volume III 1919–1945'', edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979) *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

*

External links

The Representation Of Portsmouth In Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portsmouth (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1295 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1918 Politics of Portsmouth