North Hampshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Hampshire (formally the Northern division of Hampshire) was a constituency as one of two in the county of Hampshire proper, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament between 1832 and 1885. Its members were elected by the bloc vote version of the first-past-the-post system.

North Hampshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Hampshire
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	Hampshire
Replaced by	Basingstoke or Northern Hampshire, Andover or West Hampshire, Petersfield or East Hampshire

It was created under the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, and abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election.

Creation, boundaries and abolition

The county was created as one of three divisions of Hampshire as Hampshire formerly included the Isle of Wight to make up a large area and large-electorate two-member seat due to a growing number of tiny electorate increasingly rotten boroughs since the 13th century until this was abolished under the Great Reform Act 1832.

1832–1885: The Petty Sessional Divisions of Alton, Andover, Basingstoke, King's Clere [Kingsclere], Droxford, Odiham, Petersfield and Winchester.^[1]

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the seat was abolished; replaced by three seats:

• Basingstoke or Northern Hampshire - this took in the town and two sessional divisions in the mid-north
• Andover or West Hampshire - this took in Andover and Kingsclere sessional divisions and Winchester city
• Petersfield or East Hampshire - this took in Alton, Droxford and Petersfield sessional divisions and the rest of Winchester sessional division (including the town of Alresford)^[2]

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	Notes	2nd Member		2nd Party	Notes
1832		Charles Shaw-Lefevre	Whig[3][4]	Speaker from 1839 to 1857; Created Lord Eversley in 1857		James Winter Scott	Whig[3]
1837						Sir William Heathcote, Bt	Conservative
1849 by-election						Melville Portal	Conservative
1857		William Wither Bramston Beach	Conservative			George Sclater-Booth	Conservative	Created Lord Basing
1885 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: North Hampshire^[5][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Charles Shaw-Lefevre	1,111	30.7
	Whig	James Winter Scott	1,082	29.9
	Tory	Arthur Wellesley	723	20.0
	Tory	Walter Long	701	19.4
Majority			359	9.9
Turnout			1,810	74.7
Registered electors			2,424
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: North Hampshire^[5][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Charles Shaw-Lefevre	Unopposed
	Whig	James Winter Scott	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,694
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1837: North Hampshire^[5][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Charles Shaw-Lefevre	Unopposed
	Conservative	William Heathcote	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,616
	Whig hold
	Conservative gain from Whig

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: North Hampshire^[5][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Heathcote	Unopposed
	Speaker	Charles Shaw-Lefevre	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,668
	Conservative hold
	Speaker gain from Whig

General election 1847: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Heathcote	Unopposed
	Speaker	Charles Shaw-Lefevre	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,411
	Conservative hold
	Speaker hold

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

By-election, 6 April 1849: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Melville Portal	1,199	58.0	N/A
	Conservative	William Shaw[6]	868	42.0	N/A
Majority			331	16.0	N/A
Turnout			2,067	62.6	N/A
Registered electors			3,303
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Melville Portal	Unopposed
	Speaker	Charles Shaw-Lefevre	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,596
	Conservative hold
	Speaker hold

General election 1857: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Wither Bramston Beach	1,419	38.8	N/A
	Conservative	George Sclater	1,365	37.4	N/A
	Whig	Dudley Carleton, 4th Baron Dorchester	869	23.8	New
Majority			496	13.6	N/A
Turnout			2,261 (est)	71.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			4,185
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

General election 1859: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Wither Bramston Beach	Unopposed
	Conservative	George Sclater-Booth	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,649
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Wither Bramston Beach	1,844	36.4	N/A
	Conservative	George Sclater-Booth	1,724	34.1	N/A
	Liberal	Henry St John-Mildmay[7]	1,493	29.5	New
Majority			231	4.6	N/A
Turnout			3,277 (est)	78.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			4,185
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1868: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Wither Bramston Beach	Unopposed
	Conservative	George Sclater-Booth	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,744
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Wither Bramston Beach	Unopposed
	Conservative	George Sclater-Booth	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,033
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Sclater-Booth was appointed President of the Local Government Board, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 14 Mar 1874: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Sclater-Booth	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: North Hampshire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Wither Bramston Beach	Unopposed
	Conservative	George Sclater-Booth	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,783
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 393. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.

Notes and 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. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
2. The public general acts. Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. 1884.
3. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 123. ISBN 0-900178-13-2. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
4. Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. p. 142. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2018 – via Google Books.
5. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 393. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
6. "North Hants Election". Salisbury and Winchester Journal. 7 April 1849. p. 2. Retrieved 18 April 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "North Hampshire Election". Hampshire Advertiser. 29 July 1865. pp. 10–11. Retrieved 15 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Edinburgh	Constituency represented by the speaker 1839–1857	Succeeded by Nottinghamshire North