East Riding of Yorkshire
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
United_Kingdom_general_election_1837.svg
From 1832–1868. Extract from 1837 result: the seaside and riverside 'doubly' blue area.
CountyEast Riding of Yorkshire
1832–1885
SeatsTwo
Created fromYorkshire
Replaced byBuckrose, Holderness and Howdenshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire was a parliamentary constituency covering the East Riding of Yorkshire, omitting Beverley residents save a small minority of Beverley residents who also qualified on property grounds to vote in the county seat (mainly business-owning forty shilling freeholders). It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. A brief earlier guise of the seat covered the changed franchise of the First Protectorate Parliament and Second Protectorate Parliament during a fraction of the twenty years of England and Wales (Scotland and Ireland) existed as a republic.

First and Second Protectorate parliaments existence 1654-1658

The seat existed for the June 1654 to January 1655 parliament and for that following (July 1656 to September 1656). The East Riding electorate summoned four members simultaneously.

Parliaments of the Protectorate
No. Summoned Elected Assembled Dissolved Sessions Speaker Note
1st 1 June 1654 1654 3 September 1654 22 January 1655 1 William Lenthall 1st Protectorate Parliament
2nd 10 July 1656 1656 17 September 1656 4 February 1658 2 Thomas Widdrington 2nd Protectorate Parliament
Bulstrode Whitelocke
3rd 9 December 1658 1658–59 27 January 1659 22 April 1659 1 Chaloner Chute 3rd Protectorate Parliament
Lislebone Long (Deputy)
Thomas Bampfylde

Creation and abolition

The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1832 as the four-seat Yorkshire was divided in three, two-seat divisions for the 1832 general election. The divisions were abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. It was replaced for the 1885 general election by single-member seats: Buckrose, Holderness and Howdenshire.

Summary of results

Candidates were elected unopposed at most of the elections throughout its existence; contested elections took place in 1837, 1868 and 1880. In these contests two Conservative candidates defeated a single Whig or Liberal.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1654–1658 (Protectorate Parliaments)

Election First member Second member Third member Fourth member
1654 Sir William Strickland Hugh Bethell Richard Robinson Walter Strickland
1656 Robert Lilburne George Eure, 7th Baron Eure Richard Darley Hugh Darley

MPs 1832–1885

Election 1st member 1st party 2nd member 2nd party
1832 constituency created by division of the Yorkshire constituency
1832 Richard Bethell Tory[1] Paul Thompson Whig[1][2]
1834 Conservative[1]
1837 Henry Broadley Conservative[1]
1841 The Lord Hotham Conservative[1]
1851 by-election Hon. Arthur Duncombe Conservative
1868 Christopher Sykes Conservative William Harrison-Broadley Conservative
1885 constituency abolished: see Buckrose, Holderness and Howdenshire

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: East Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)[3][1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Tory Richard Bethell Unopposed
Whig Paul Thompson Unopposed
Registered electors 5,559
Tory win (new seat)
Whig win (new seat)
General election 1835: East Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)[3][1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Conservative Richard Bethell Unopposed
Whig Paul Thompson Unopposed
Registered electors 5,140
Conservative hold
Whig hold
General election 1837: East Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)[4][3][1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Conservative Richard Bethell 3,592 36.5
Conservative Henry Broadley 3,257 33.1
Whig Paul Thompson 2,985 30.4
Majority 272 2.7
Turnout 6,204 86.4
Registered electors 7,180
Conservative hold
Conservative gain from Whig

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: East Riding of Yorkshire[3][1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Beaumont Hotham Unopposed
Conservative Henry Broadley Unopposed
Registered electors 7,640
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General election 1847: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Beaumont Hotham Unopposed
Conservative Henry Broadley Unopposed
Registered electors 7,740
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

Broadley's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 7 October 1851: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Duncombe Unopposed
Conservative hold

Duncombe was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 9 March 1852: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Duncombe Unopposed
Conservative hold
General election 1852: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Beaumont Hotham Unopposed
Conservative Arthur Duncombe Unopposed
Registered electors 7,538
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General election 1857: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Beaumont Hotham Unopposed
Conservative Arthur Duncombe Unopposed
Registered electors 7,382
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General election 1859: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Beaumont Hotham Unopposed
Conservative Arthur Duncombe Unopposed
Registered electors 7,221
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Beaumont Hotham Unopposed
Conservative Arthur Duncombe Unopposed
Registered electors 7,400
Conservative hold
Conservative hold
General election 1868: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Christopher Sykes 6,299 43.5 N/A
Conservative William Harrison-Broadley 5,587 38.6 N/A
Liberal Benjamin Blaydes Haworth[5] 2,603 18.0 New
Majority 2,984 20.6 N/A
Turnout 8,546 (est.) 78.9 (est.) N/A
Registered electors 10,827
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Christopher Sykes Unopposed
Conservative William Harrison-Broadley Unopposed
Registered electors 10,722
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: East Riding of Yorkshire[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Christopher Sykes 4,927 37.4 N/A
Conservative William Harrison-Broadley 4,527 34.4 N/A
Liberal Henry John Lindley Wood[6] 3,707 28.2 New
Majority 820 6.2 N/A
Turnout 8,434 (est.) 81.0 (est.) N/A
Registered electors 10,414
Conservative hold
Conservative hold

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Stooks Smith, Henry (1845). The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. p. 138. Retrieved 11 August 2019 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Churton, Edward (1836). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer. p. 169. Retrieved 11 August 2019 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 488. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  4. ^ *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)
  5. ^ "To the Electors of the Eastern Division of the West Riding of Yorkshire". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 21 November 1868. p. 1. Retrieved 24 March 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "County Constituencies". Yorkshire Gazette. 3 April 1880. p. 4. Retrieved 23 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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