North Leicestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Leicestershire, formally the "Northern Division of Leicestershire", was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election.

North Leicestershire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Leicestershire
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	Leicestershire
Replaced by	Loughborough and Melton

Boundaries

1832–1885: The Hundreds of West Goscote, East Goscote and Framland, and the two detached portions of the Hundred of Gartree situated on the east of the Hundred of East Goscote (the parishes of Baggrave, Burrough, Knossington, Marefield, Pickwell-cum-Leesthorpe, Ouston, and Newbold-Saucey).^[1]

History

The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election, when the two-seat Leicestershire constituency was replaced by the Northern and Southern divisions, each of which elected two MPs.

Both divisions were abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, when they were replaced by four new single-seat constituencies: Bosworth, Harborough, Loughborough and Melton.

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		Lord Robert Manners	Tory[2]		Charles March-Phillipps	Radical[3][4]
1834			Conservative[2]
1835 by-election		Lord Charles Manners	Conservative[2]
1837					Edward Basil Farnham	Conservative[2]
1852		Marquess of Granby	Conservative
1857 by-election		Lord John Manners	Conservative
1859					Edward Bourchier Hartopp	Conservative
1868					Samuel Clowes	Conservative
1880					Edwyn Burnaby	Conservative
1883 by-election					Hon. Montagu Curzon	Conservative
1885		Redistribution of Seats Act: constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: North Leicestershire^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Robert Manners	2,093	46.8
	Radical	Charles March-Phillipps	1,661	37.1
	Radical	William Augustus Johnson	720	16.1
Turnout			3,063	83.7
Registered electors			3,658
Majority			432	9.7
	Tory win (new seat)
Majority			941	21.0
	Radical win (new seat)

General election 1835: North Leicestershire^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Robert Manners	Unopposed
	Radical	Charles March-Phillipps	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,806
	Conservative hold
	Radical hold

Manners' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 29 December 1835: North Leicestershire^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Charles Manners, Sr.	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1837: North Leicestershire^[5][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Manners, Sr.	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edward Basil Farnham	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,160
	Conservative hold
	Conservative gain from Radical

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Manners, Sr.	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edward Basil Farnham	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,211
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Manners, Sr.	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edward Basil Farnham	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,177
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Manners, Jr.	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edward Basil Farnham	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,097
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Manners succeeded to the peerage, becoming 6th Duke of Rutland and causing a by-election.

By-election, 2 March 1857: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	1,787	37.5	N/A
	Conservative	Edward Basil Farnham	1,733	36.3	N/A
	Ind. Conservative	Charles Frewen	1,250	26.2	New
Majority			483	10.1	N/A
Turnout			3,010 (est)	77.4 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,890
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Manners was appointed First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 8 March 1858: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	2,220	39.6	+2.1
	Conservative	Edward Bourchier Hartopp	1,954	34.8	−1.5
	Ind. Conservative	Charles Frewen	1,433	25.6	−0.6
Majority			521	9.2	−0.9
Turnout			3,520 (est)	81.3 (est)	+3.9
Registered electors			4,330
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.6

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	2,305	40.0	+0.4
	Conservative	Edward Bourchier Hartopp	1,854	32.2	−2.6
	Ind. Conservative	Charles Frewen[6]	1,599	27.8	+2.2
Majority			255	4.4	−4.8
Turnout			3,679 (est)	77.2 (est)	−4.1
Registered electors			4,767
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.9

Manners was appointed First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 14 July 1866: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1868: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	3,296	40.5	+0.5
	Conservative	Samuel Clowes	3,092	38.0	+5.8
	Ind. Conservative	Charles Frewen[7]	1,750	21.5	−6.3
	Conservative	George Manners	9	0.1	N/A
Majority			1,342	16.5	+12.1
Turnout			4,074 (est)	64.2 (est)	−13.0
Registered electors			6,348
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.5

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	2,978	39.5	−1.0
	Conservative	Samuel Clowes	2,568	34.0	−4.0
	Liberal	Hussey Packe[8]	1,997	26.5	New
Majority			571	7.5	−9.0
Turnout			4,770 (est)	79.9 (est)	+15.7
Registered electors			5,968
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Manners was appointed Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 20 Mar 1874: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	3,213	36.3	−3.2
	Conservative	Edwyn Burnaby	2,991	33.8	−0.2
	Liberal	Hussey Packe[8]	2,651	29.9	+3.4
Majority			340	3.9	−3.6
Turnout			5,864 (est)	88.6 (est)	+8.7
Registered electors			6,619
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Burnaby's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 18 June 1883: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Montagu Curzon	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Manners was appointed Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 2 July 1885: North Leicestershire^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Manners	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

References

1. "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. XLV: An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 154–206. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
2. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 191. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
3. "Leicester Herald". 17 December 1834. p. 8. Retrieved 12 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. Churton, Edward (1836). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1836. p. 142. Retrieved 12 May 2019 – via Google Books.
5. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 415–416. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
6. "North Leicestershire Election". Leicester Chronicle. 29 July 1865. p. 5. Retrieved 24 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "The Election Nominations". Reynold's News. 22 November 1868. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 24 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "North Leicestershire Election". Grantham Journal. 13 March 1880. p. 4. Retrieved 20 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

Sources

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