East Sussex (UK Parliament constituency)

East Sussex (formally the Eastern division of Sussex) was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Sussex, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.

East Sussex
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Context of 1832-1868. Extract from 1837 result: the main, south coast striped area.
1832–1885
Seats	two
Created from	Sussex
Replaced by	Rye Eastbourne East Grinstead Lewes

It was created under the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, when the existing Sussex constituency was divided into two. It consisted of the rapes of Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings, an area broadly similar to but not identical with the modern county of East Sussex. The "place of election", where nominations were taken and the result declared, was Lewes.

East Sussex was abolished for the 1885 general election, being divided between four new single-member county constituencies, Rye, Eastbourne, East Grinstead and Lewes. (Lewes and Rye also absorbed the voters from the abolished boroughs of the same names.)

Boundaries

1832–1885: The Rapes of Lewes, Hastings and Pevensey.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		Hon. Charles Cavendish	Whig[2][3]		Herbert Barrett Curteis	Whig[2][3]
1837					George Darby	Conservative[2]
1841		Augustus Fuller	Conservative[2]
1846 by-election					Charles Frewen	Conservative
March 1857 by-election					Viscount Pevensey	Conservative
April 1857		John George Dodson	Whig[4]
1859			Liberal
1865					Lord Edward Cavendish	Liberal
1868					George Gregory	Conservative
1874		Montagu Scott	Conservative
1885	constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: East Sussex^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Charles Cavendish	2,388	47.8
	Whig	Herbert Barrett Curteis	1,941	38.8
	Tory	George Darby	668	13.4
Majority			1,273	25.4
Turnout			2,753	80.1
Registered electors			3,437
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: East Sussex^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Charles Cavendish	Unopposed
	Whig	Herbert Barrett Curteis	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,811
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1837: East Sussex^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Darby	2,256	30.4
	Whig	Charles Cavendish	1,793	24.2
	Conservative	Augustus Fuller	1,749	23.6
	Whig	Herbert Barrett Curteis	1,619	21.8
Turnout			3,869	80.6
Registered electors			4,799
Majority			637	8.6
	Conservative gain from Whig
Majority			44	0.6
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: East Sussex^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Darby	2,398	41.6	+11.2
	Conservative	Augustus Fuller	2,367	41.1	+17.5
	Whig	John Shelley	995	17.3	−28.7
Majority			1,372	23.8	N/A
Turnout			c. 3,378	c. 63.1	c. −17.5
Registered electors			5,298
	Conservative hold		Swing	+12.8
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+15.9

Darby resigned after being appointed a Commissioner of Inclosures, causing a by-election.

By-election, 3 February 1846: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Frewen	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Frewen	Unopposed
	Conservative	Augustus Fuller	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,723
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Augustus Fuller	2,155	37.4	N/A
	Conservative	Charles Frewen	1,974	34.2	N/A
	Whig	John Dodson	1,637	28.4	New
Majority			337	5.8	N/A
Turnout			3,702 (est)	69.9 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			5,298
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Frewen resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

By-election, 7 March 1857: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Holroyd	2,302	50.7	−20.9
	Whig	John Dodson	2,234	49.3	+20.9
Majority			68	1.4	−4.4
Turnout			4,536	74.2	+4.3
Registered electors			6,114
	Conservative hold		Swing	−20.9

General election 1857: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Dodson	2,524	26.6	+12.4
	Conservative	Henry Holroyd	2,447	25.8	−8.4
	Whig	William Henry Frederick Cavendish[4][6]	2,286	24.1	+9.9
	Conservative	Augustus Fuller	2,216	23.4	−14.0
Turnout			4,737 (est)	77.5 (est)	+7.6
Registered electors			6,114
Majority			308	3.2	N/A
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.8
Majority			161	1.7	−4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−9.8

General election 1859: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Dodson	Unopposed
	Conservative	Henry Holroyd	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,401
	Liberal hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Dodson	2,821	27.5	N/A
	Liberal	Edward Cavendish	2,647	25.8	N/A
	Conservative	Walter Burrell	2,463	24.0	N/A
	Conservative	Reginald Abbot, 3rd Baron Colchester	2,316	22.6	N/A
Majority			184	1.8	N/A
Turnout			5,124 (est)	76.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,670
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

General election 1868: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Dodson	3,611	25.4	−2.1
	Conservative	George Gregory	3,581	25.2	+1.2
	Conservative	Montagu Scott	3,560	25.0	+2.4
	Liberal	Edward Cavendish	3,470	24.4	−1.4
Turnout			7,111 (est)	75.8 (est)	−1.0
Registered electors			9,380
Majority			30	0.2	−1.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.0
Majority			111	0.8	N/A
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+1.5

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: East Sussex^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Gregory	Unopposed
	Conservative	Montagu Scott	Unopposed
Registered electors			10,141
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: East Sussex^[5][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Gregory	4,526	30.6	N/A
	Conservative	Montagu Scott	4,396	29.8	N/A
	Liberal	Alexander Donovan	2,982	20.2	New
	Liberal	John Pearson	2,863	19.4	New
Majority			1,414	9.6	N/A
Turnout			7,384 (est)	72.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			10,214
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

References

1. "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. LXIV. An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties, and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs, in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 300–383. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
2. 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. 75. Retrieved 3 June 2019 – via Google Books.
3. Churton, Edward (1836). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1836. pp. 39, 51. Retrieved 3 June 2019 – via Google Books.
4. "Sussex Agricultural Express". 4 April 1857. p. 6. Retrieved 18 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 470–471. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
6. "East Sussex Election, April, 1857". Sussex Advertiser. 21 April 1857. p. 1. Retrieved 18 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Berkshire". Daily News. 1 April 1880. p. 3. Retrieved 22 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)