Bradford (UK Parliament constituency)

Bradford was a parliamentary constituency in Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Bradford
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
Major settlements	Bradford
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	Yorkshire
Replaced by	Bradford Central Bradford East Bradford West

It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 until it was abolished for the 1885 general election.

It was then split into three new constituencies: Bradford Central, Bradford East, and Bradford West.

Boundaries

The constituency was based upon the town of Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was enfranchised as a two-member parliamentary borough from 1832. Before 1832 the area was only represented as part of the county constituency of Yorkshire. After 1832 the non-resident Forty Shilling Freeholders of the area continued to qualify for a county vote (initially in the West Riding of Yorkshire seat, and from 1865 in a division of the West Riding).

Bradford, as a new parliamentary borough, had no voters enfranchised under the ancient rights preserved by the Reform Act 1832. All voters qualified under the new uniform, borough householder franchise.

The area was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847, covering the parishes of Bradford, Horton and Manningham. Bradford was expanded in 1882 to include Allerton, Bolton, Bowling, Heaton, Thornbury and Tyersall. However the parliamentary boundaries were not affected until the redistribution of 1885.

After the expanded borough was divided into three single member seats in 1885, Bradford became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888. The county borough was granted city status by Letters Patent in 1897.

Members of Parliament

Two MPs were elected at each general election. The table below shows the election years in which one or both of the MPs changed.^[1][2]

Election			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		1832	Ellis Cunliffe Lister	Whig[3][4][5][6]	John Hardy	Whig[3][6]
		1835				Conservative[3]
		1837			William Busfield	Whig[7][8][9][3]
		1841	John Hardy	Conservative[3]	William Cunliffe Lister	Whig[3][10][11]
		1841 by-election			William Busfield	Whig[7][8][9][3]
		1847	Thomas Perronet Thompson	Radical[9][12][13][14][15]
		1851 by-election			Robert Milligan	Whig[16][17][18]
		1852	Henry Wickham Wickham	Conservative[19][20]
		1857		Peelite[21][22]	Thomas Perronet Thompson	Radical[9][12][13][14][15][23]
		1859		Liberal	Titus Salt	Liberal
		1861 by-election			William Edward Forster	Liberal
		1867 by-election	Matthew William Thompson	Liberal
		1868	Henry Ripley	Liberal
		1869 by-election	Edward Miall	Liberal
		1874	Henry Ripley	Conservative
		1880	Alfred Illingworth	Liberal
		1885	constituency divided: see Bradford Central, Bradford East, and Bradford West

Elections

1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – References

Elections in the 1830s

1837 general election: Bradford^[1][24][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Ellis Cunliffe Lister	635	30.5	−6.5
	Whig	William Busfield	621	29.8	+5.2
	Conservative	John Hardy	443	21.3	+2.1
	Conservative	William Busfeild	383	18.4	−0.8
Majority			178	8.5	N/A
Turnout			1,060	78.7	−4.0
Registered electors			1,347
	Whig hold		Swing	−3.6
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.3

1835 general election: Bradford^[1][24][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hardy	611	38.4	+12.0
	Whig	Ellis Cunliffe Lister	589	37.0	−5.7
	Whig	George Hadfield	392	24.6	−6.3
Majority			219	13.8	N/A
Turnout			1,013	82.7	−2.2
Registered electors			1,225
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+12.0
	Whig hold		Swing	−5.9

1832 general election: Bradford^[1][24][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Ellis Cunliffe Lister	650	42.7	N/A
	Whig	John Hardy	471	30.9	N/A
	Tory	George Banks (politician)	402	26.4	N/A
Majority			69	4.5	N/A
Turnout			967	84.9	N/A
Registered electors			1,139
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

Back to Elections

Elections in the 1840s

1847 general election: Bradford^[1][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Busfeild	937	26.5	−37.3
	Radical	Thomas Perronet Thompson	926	26.2	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Wickham Wickham	860	24.3	+6.1
	Conservative	Gathorne Hardy	812	23.0	+4.8
Turnout			1,768 (est)	84.9 (est)	+3.1
Registered electors			2,083
Majority			11	0.3
	Whig hold		Swing	−24.1
Majority			116	3.2	N/A
	Radical gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

By-election, 16 September 1841: Bradford^[1][24][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Busfeild	526	50.2	−13.6
	Conservative	William Wilberforce	522	49.8	+13.5
Majority			4	0.4	N/A
Turnout			1,048	75.0	−6.8
Registered electors			1,398
	Whig hold		Swing	−13.6

• Caused by Lister's death

1841 general election: Bradford^[1][24][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hardy	612	36.3	−3.4
	Whig	William Cunliffe Lister	540	32.0	+1.5
	Whig	William Busfeild	536	31.8	+2.0
Majority			76	4.5	N/A
Turnout			1,144	81.8	+3.1
Registered electors			1,398
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	−3.5
	Whig hold		Swing	+1.6

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Elections in the 1850s

1859 general election: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Wickham Wickham	2,076	41.3	N/A
	Liberal	Titus Salt	1,727	34.3	N/A
	Conservative	Alfred Harris (banker)	1,229	24.4	N/A
Majority			498	9.9	N/A
Turnout			3,131 (est)	87.0 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,599
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

1857 general election: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Peelite	Henry Wickham Wickham	Unopposed
	Radical	Thomas Perronet Thompson	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,279
	Peelite hold
	Radical gain from Whig

1852 general election: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Robert Milligan	1,266	35.4	+8.9
	Conservative	Henry Wickham Wickham	1,159	32.4	−14.9
	Radical	Thomas Perronet Thompson	1,153	32.2	+6.0
Turnout			1,789 (est)	66.7 (est)	−18.2
Registered electors			2,683
Majority			107	3.0	+2.7
	Whig hold		Swing	+8.2
Majority			6	0.2	N/A
	Conservative gain from Radical		Swing	−10.5

By-election, 21 October 1851: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Robert Milligan	Unopposed
	Whig hold

• Caused by the death of Busfield.

Back to Elections

Elections in the 1860s

By-election, 12 Mar 1869: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Miall	9,243	54.2	+22.6
	Liberal	Matthew William Thompson	7,806	45.8	N/A
Majority			1,437	8.4	+6.3
Turnout			17,049	79.2	+14.7
Registered electors			21,518
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

• Caused by Ripley's election at the 1868 general election being declared void.

By-election, 21 Dec 1868: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

• Caused by Forster's appointment as Vice-President of the Committee of the Privy Council for Education.

1868 general election: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	9,646	34.7	N/A
	Liberal	Henry Ripley	9,347	33.7	N/A
	Liberal	Edward Miall	8,768	31.6	N/A
Majority			579	2.1	N/A
Turnout			13,881 (est)	64.5 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			21,518
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

By-election, 16 Oct 1867: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Matthew William Thompson	2,210	55.0	N/A
	Liberal	Edward Miall	1,807	45.0	N/A
Majority			403	10.0	N/A
Turnout			4,017	77.4	N/A
Registered electors			5,189
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

• Caused by Wickham's death.

1865 general election: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Wickham Wickham	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,189
	Liberal hold
	Conservative gain from Liberal

By-election, 11 Feb 1861: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

• Caused by Salt's resignation.

Back to Elections

Elections in the 1870s

1874 general election: Bradford^[24][25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	11,945	30.9	−3.8
	Conservative	Henry Ripley	10,223	26.4	−7.3
	Liberal	John Venimore Godwin	8,398	21.7	−9.9
	Lib-Lab	James Hardaker	8,115	21.0	N/A
Turnout			19,341 (est)	79.5 (est)	+15.0
Registered electors			24,331
Majority			1,722	4.5	+2.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.1
Majority			1,825	4.7	N/A
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.1

Back to Elections

Elections in the 1880s

By-election, 8 May 1880: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

• Caused by Forster's appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

1880 general election: Bradford^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Edward Forster	14,245	39.4	+8.5
	Liberal	Alfred Illingworth	12,922	35.7	+14.0
	Conservative	Henry Ripley	9,018	24.9	−1.5
Majority			3,904	10.8	N/A
Turnout			23,263 (est)	86.0 (est)	+6.5
Registered electors			27,049
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.6
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.4

Back to Elections

References

1. Craig, F. W. S. (1989). British electoral facts, 1832-1987. Dartmouth. ISBN 978-0-900178-30-6.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 4)
3. 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. pp. 144–145. Retrieved 28 October 2018 – via Google Books.
4. "The Yorkshire Elections". Leeds Times. 15 July 1837. p. 4. Retrieved 28 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. Peacock, A. J. (1969). Bradford Chartism: 1838-1840. York: St. Anthony's Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0900701030. Retrieved 28 October 2018 – via Google Books.
6. Peacock, A. J. (1969). Bradford Chartism: 1838–1840. York: St. Anthony's Press. p. 9. ISBN 090070103X. Retrieved 9 September 2019 – via Google Books.
7. Richard Bartholomew Mosse (1837). The parliamentary guide, a concise biography of the members of both houses of parliament. p. 142. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
8. Koditschek, Theodore (1990). "The challenge of Chartism". Class Formation and Urban Industrial Society: Bradford 1750-1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 513. ISBN 978-0521327718. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
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10. "Latest Election Intelligence". Morning Post. 1 July 1841. p. 3. Retrieved 28 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Elections Decided". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 10 July 1841. p. 6. Retrieved 28 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. Robinson, Henry James (1898). "Thompson, Thomas Perronet" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
13. Turner, Michael J. (January 2001). "Radical Opinion in an Age of Reform: Thomas Perronet Thompson and the "Westminster Review"". History. 86 (281): 18–40. doi:10.1111/1468-229X.00175. JSTOR 24425286.
14. Turner, Michael J. (2005). ""Raising up Dark Englishmen": Thomas Perronet Thompson, Colonies, Race, and the Indian Mutiny". Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History. 6 (1). doi:10.1353/cch.2005.0025. S2CID 162384082.
15. Turner, Michael J. (2005). "'Setting the captive free': Thomas Perronet Thompson, British Radicalism and the West Indies, 1820s–1860s". Slavery & Abolition. 26 (1): 115–132. doi:10.1080/01440390500058921. S2CID 143566796.
16. Cox, Sheila (1987). "The Travelling Scotchmen: The Milligans of Dumfriesshire and Yorkshire". The Bradford Antiquary. Third. 3: 27–38. Archived from the original on 15 October 2006. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
17. "Bradford Election". Leeds Times. 25 October 1851. p. 6. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
18. "Notices to Correspondents". Bradford Observer. 2 October 1851. p. 4. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
19. "Nominations and Re-Elections". Elgin Courant, and Morayshire Advertiser. 9 July 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
20. "Summary". Falkirk Herald. 8 July 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
21. "Bradford". Jersey Independent and Daily Telegraph. 21 March 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
22. "Election News". Lancaster Gazette. 4 April 1857. p. 3. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
23. Milgate, Murray (1999). "Thomas Perronet Thompson". Economists at Queens'. Queens' College, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 25 September 2006. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
24. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
25. "Bradford Election". Bradford Observer. 5 February 1874. p. 8. Retrieved 28 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.