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 advised ...

then of the Parliament of Great Britain 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 suprema ...

from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament (MPs), traditionally known as

Knights of the Shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistribution ...

. The constituency was split into two two-member divisions, for Parliamentary purposes, by the Reform Act 1832. The county was then represented by the

North Nottinghamshire North Nottinghamshire, formally the "Northern Division of Nottinghamshire" was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the block vote syste ...

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 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 East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

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 of th ...

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 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 ...

, 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 Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

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

. ''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'' * ''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 Viscou ...

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 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)) ''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