Sudbury was a

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

which was represented in 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 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 ...

History

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 ...

consisting of the town of

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal el ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

, the constituency returned two

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MPs) from 1559 until it was disenfranchised for corruption in 1844, after which it was absorbed into the

Western Division of Suffolk The Western Division of Suffolk was a two-member constituency to the Parliament of the United Kingdom established by the 1832 Reform Act and disestablished in 1885. History The seat was created under the Reform Act 1832 as one of two divisio ...

. It was probably enfranchised through lobbying from

Ambrose Cave Sir Ambrose Cave (died 2 April 1568) was an English politician. Life Ambrose Cave was the son of Richard Cave (see Cave-Browne-Cave baronets) and Margaret Saxby of Stanford, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Cambridge University. He was knigh ...

the

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

who had interests in the area and could influence the choice of MPs. Sudbury had in the eighteenth Century been seen as a particularly expensive seat but not under the influence of any patron and in the 1761 general election

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...

the cousin of the outgoing MP,

Thomas Walpole Thomas Walpole (6 October 1727 – March 1803), styled from 1756 The Hon. Thomas Walpole, was a British MP and banker in Paris. Life Thomas Walpole was born into a political family. The second son of the 1st Baron Walpole and his wife Telisha, ...

, had claimed that Sudbury had openly advertised itself for sale with the new MP, John Henniker having to spend £5,500 from 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 ...

's funds. but not under the influence of any patron The Sudbury election of 1835, which

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

reported for the ''

Morning Chronicle ''The Morning Chronicle'' was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist William Hazlitt as a political reporter and the first steady employer of Charles Dickens as a journalist. I ...

'', is thought by many experts to be the inspiration for the famous Eatanswill election in his novel ''

Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with '' Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to ...

''. It was re-established as one of five single-member county divisions of the Parliamentary County of Suffolk by the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

for the 1885 general election, electing one MP by the

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 ...

voting system. It was abolished for the 1950 general election.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1885–1918: The part of the Municipal Borough of Sudbury in the county of Suffolk, the Sessional Divisions of Boxford, Cosford, Melford, and Risbridge, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Newmarket, and Thingoe and Thedwestry. The county division was formed from part of the abolished Western Division, including

, Hadleigh and Haverhill. 1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Sudbury, the Urban Districts of Glemsford, Hadleigh, and Haverhill, the Rural Districts of Clare, Cosford, and Melford, and parts of the Rural Districts of Moulton and Thingoe. Marginal changes to boundaries. On abolition, western and northern parts, including Haverhill, transferred to

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

. Central, southern and western parts, including Sudbury and Hadleigh, formed part of the new county constituency of Sudbury and Woodbridge.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1559–1640

MPs 1640–1844

MPs 1885–1950

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Taylor's death caused a by-election. * Both candidates received the same number of votes, but the mayor's vote was added in favour of Barnes Hamilton's resignation caused a by-election. Barnes' death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1840s

Walsh resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds in order to contest a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

Radnorshire , HQ = Presteigne , Government = Radnorshire County Council (1889–1974) Radnorshire District Council (1974–1996) , Origin = , Status = historic county, administrative county , Start ...

, causing a by-election. After an

election petition An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election. Outcomes When a petition is lodged against an election return, there are 4 possible outcomes: # The election is declared void. The result is q ...

was lodged, a Royal Commission found proof of extensive bribery and the writ was suspended in 1844. The constituency was absorbed into West Suffolk.

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914–15: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; *Unionist: Cuthbert Quilter *Liberal: Stephen HowardCambridge Independent Press 16 Jan 1914 : some records describe Hicks as an 'Agriculture' candidate

Elections in the 1920s

*compared to combined 1922 Liberal vote.

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1940s

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative: Henry Burton *Liberal:

Frederic Sellers Sir Frederic Aked Sellers, (14 January 1893 – 20 March 1979) was a British barrister and judge. He was a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1957 to 1968. Biography Sellers was born in Liverpool, the youngest son of John Shuttleworth Sellers, a Liver ...

*Labour:

Roland Hamilton Roland Hamilton (23 November 1886 – 10 February 1953) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. In the Labour landslide at the 1945 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sudbury in Suffolk, which had bee ...

References

*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

*F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885'' (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) * * Maija Jansson (ed.), ''Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons)'' (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988

* H G Nicholas, ''To The Hustings: Election scenes from English fiction'' (London, Cassell & Co., 1956) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sudbury (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Suffolk (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1559 1844 disestablishments Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1950 Parliamentary constituencies disenfranchised for corruption Sudbury, Suffolk