Lancaster returned Members to Parliament between 1295 and 1331 but is not known to have done so again, on the grounds of the poverty of the town's burgesses, until the election of William Banester in 1523.
Representation was reduced during the protectorate: Lancaster was not represented in the Barebones Parliament and sent only one Member to the first and second Protectorate Parliaments.
The two Member constituency was disenfranchised in 1867 for corruption and representation not restored until 1885 as a one Member constituency. The constituency was finally abolished in 1997 and replaced by the constituency of Lancaster and Wyre.
Boundaries
1885–1918: The Borough of Lancaster, the Sessional Divisions of Garstang and Hornby, and part of the Sessional Division of South Lonsdale.
1918–1950: The Boroughs of Lancaster and Morecambe, the Urban Districts of Heysham and Preesall, the Rural District of Garstang, and part of the Rural District of Lancaster.
1950–1983: The Borough of Lancaster, the Urban District of Carnforth, the Rural District of Lunesdale, and in the Rural District of Lancaster the parishes of Ashton with Stodday, Cockerham, Elllel, Heaton with Oxcliffe, Middleton, Overton, Over Wyresdale, Scotforth, and Thurnham.
1983–1997: The City of Lancaster wards of Bulk, Castle, Caton, Ellel, Hornby, John O'Gaunt, Scotforth East, Scotforth West, Skerton Central, Skerton East, and Skerton West, and the Borough of Wyre wards of Brock, Calder, Catterall, Duchy, Garstang, Great Eccleston, Pilling, and Wyresdale.
Extensive bribery caused both members to be unseated on 23 April 1866, and the seat to lose its right to return a member of Parliament under the Reform Act 1867. It was incorporated into North Lancashire.[32]
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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
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;
^Hawkins, Angus (2007). "Conservative Schism: 1846–1848". The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby — Volume I: Ascent, 1799–1851. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 333. ISBN978-0-19-920440-3. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
^Fenwick and Schneider were re-elected at the general election of 1865, but on petition their election was declared void. The constituency's writ was suspended, and a Royal Commission appointed to investigate. Following the Commission's report that it had found evidence of extensive bribery, the constituency was abolished and incorporated into the Northern Lancashire county division from the start of the next Parliament.
^ abcEscott, Margaret. "Lancaster". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN0-900178-06-X.
Sources
Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
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) [2]
The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)
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) [3]
J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig – Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
