West Riding of Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

West Riding of Yorkshire was a parliamentary constituency in England from 1832 to 1865. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

West Riding of Yorkshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of West Riding of Yorkshire in Yorkshire for the 1832 general election
Location of Yorkshire within England
County	West Riding of Yorkshire
1832–1865
Seats	Two
Created from	Yorkshire
Replaced by	Northern West Riding of Yorkshire, and Southern West Riding of Yorkshire

Boundaries and History

This constituency comprised part of Yorkshire, the largest of the ancient counties of England. Between 1826 and 1832 the undivided county constituency had returned four Members of Parliament to the House of Commons, instead of the traditional two knights of the shire which the county had sent before then and all other English counties elected up until 1832.

The Reform Act 1832 divided Yorkshire into three county constituencies, which each returned two members. The divisions were based on the three ridings, which were traditional sub-divisions of Yorkshire. The West Riding occupied the southwestern part of the county. The parliamentary constituency covered the whole West Riding, as the non-resident owners of forty shilling freeholds in the Parliamentary boroughs enclaved within the area thereby acquired a county franchise.

The polling place for the West Riding, at which the hustings were held and the result was declared, was at Wakefield. Unusually for British elections detailed results by polling district are available for a by-election in 1835 and the general elections of 1837 and 1841. These details are given in the Elections section below and provide a list of major towns in the area. Electors had to declare their votes (verbally and in public), as this was before the introduction of the secret ballot. (Source: Stooks Smith).

Charles Seymour, in Electoral Reform in England and Wales, commented about the debate in 1832 about the non resident freeholder vote. This was a particularly important issue for the West Riding because the major towns of Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield and the important ones of Halifax, Huddersfield and Wakefield were all to become new Parliamentary boroughs in 1832.

Though the general principle of the freeholder franchise was accepted without debate, one aspect of the question gave rise to much discussion at the time ... . The bill provided that the freeholders in boroughs who did not occupy their property should vote in the counties in which the borough was situated. This clause drew forth a torrent of complaint, especially from the Conservatives. Peel pointed out that it would be far simpler for the freeholders in the represented boroughs to vote in the borough where their property was situate instead of being forced to travel to the county polling place; moreover if the borough freeholders were allowed to vote in the counties he felt that the boroughs would have an unfair influence in county elections and the rural element would be submerged by the urban.

... Althorp ... pointed out that until 1832 freeholders in the unrepresented towns always had voted in the counties, so the Tories could hardly complain that the ministers were introducing new principles to favour urban interests ... .

Stooks Smith confirms the number of electors in the polling districts of the West Riding of Yorkshire constituency named after Parliamentary boroughs, at a by-election in 1835 (see below), which suggests up to two-thirds out of a total electorate of 18,063 might have qualified because of freeholds located in boroughs. However it is not known if all these urban area voters were qualified as non-resident freeholders in the boroughs.

The Parliamentary boroughs in the area, during the period of the existence of this constituency, were Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Knaresborough, Leeds, Pontefract, Ripon, Sheffield and Wakefield.

For the 1865 general election the West Riding was split into two new two member county divisions by the Birkenhead Enfranchisement Act 1861. Unusually this local redistribution had taken place between the general redistributions of seats, in 1832 and 1868. This was because some seats, taken from Sudbury and St Albans boroughs disenfranchised for corruption, were re-allocated to what (by the developing idea that representation should be related to population) were the still under-represented northern English counties. The new divisions were Northern West Riding of Yorkshire and Southern West Riding of Yorkshire.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1654–1658 (Protectorate Parliament)

Election	Members
1654 First Protectorate Parliament	Lord Fairfax	John Lambert	Henry Tempest	John Bright	Edward Gill	Martin Lister
1656 Second Protectorate Parliament	Francis Thorpe			Henry Arthington		John Stanhope

MPs 1832–1865

Election			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		1832	Viscount Morpeth	Whig[1][2][3]	Sir George Strickland, Bt	Whig[1]
		1841	Hon. John Stuart-Wortley	Conservative[1]	Edmund Beckett	Conservative[1]
		1846 by-election	Viscount Morpeth	Whig[1][2][3]
		1847			Richard Cobden	Radical
		1848 by-election	Edmund Beckett	Conservative
		1857			Viscount Goderich	Whig[4][5][6][7]
		March 1859 by-election			Sir John Ramsden, Bt	Whig[8]
		May 1859	Sir Francis Crossley, Bt	Liberal		Liberal
		1865	Constituency abolished

Elections

Where the exact number of electors casting a vote or votes is unknown, turnout estimated by dividing votes cast by 2. This will underestimate turnout to the extent that electors only used one of their two possible votes.

Elections in the 1830s

• Constituency created (1832)

General election 1832: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)^[1][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	George Howard	Unopposed
	Whig	George Strickland	Unopposed
Registered electors			18,506
	Whig win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)^[1][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	George Howard	Unopposed
	Whig	George Strickland	Unopposed
Registered electors			18,061
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

• Appointment of Howard as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

By-election, 6 May 1835: West Riding of Yorkshire^[1][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	George Howard	9,066	59.2
	Conservative	John Stuart-Wortley	6,259	40.8
Majority			2,807	18.4
Turnout			15,325	84.9
Registered electors			18,061
	Whig hold

Breakdown of vote by polling district

Polling District	reg.	Morpeth	Wortley
Barnsley	889	491	281
Bradford	2,504	1,553	616
Dent	161	68	75
Doncaster	1,136	506	447
Halifax	1,691	1,108	331
Huddersfield	1,822	1,072	513
Keighley	499	268	170
Knaresborough	927	285	493
Leeds	2,250	872	979
Pateley Bridge	609	278	263
Settle	802	277	413
Sheffield	1,391	716	455
Skipton	736	417	191
Snaith	630	193	352
Wakefield	2,016	962	680
Total	18,063	9,066	6,259

• Note (1835 be): Discrepancy of 2 in reg. between Craig (result) and Stooks Smith (breakdown).

General election 1837: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)^[1][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	George Howard	12,576	35.0
	Whig	George Strickland	11,892	33.1
	Conservative	John Stuart-Wortley	11,489	32.0
Majority			403	1.1
Turnout			23,708	80.8
Registered electors			29,346
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Stuart-Wortley	13,165	26.3	+10.3
	Conservative	Edmund Beckett	12,780	25.5	+9.5
	Whig	William Wentworth-FitzWilliam	12,080	24.1	−9.0
	Whig	George Howard	12,031	24.0	−11.0
Majority			1,134	2.3	N/A
Majority			700	1.4	N/A
Turnout			25,273	81.0	+0.2
Registered electors			31,215
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+10.2
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+9.8

• Note (1837): 25,273 voted. George Julian Harney and Lawrence Pitkethley were nominated on the Chartist interest, but did not obtain any votes. (Source: Stooks Smith).
• Succession of Stuart-Wortley as 2nd Baron Wharncliffe, 19 December 1845

By-election, 4 February 1846: West Riding of Yorkshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Howard	Unopposed
	Whig gain from Conservative

• Appointment of Howard as First Commissioner of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Buildings

By-election, 18 July 1846: West Riding of Yorkshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	George Howard	Unopposed
	Whig hold

General election 1847: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Richard Cobden	Unopposed
	Whig	George Howard	Unopposed
Registered electors			36,165
	Radical gain from Conservative
	Whig gain from Conservative

• Succession of Howard as 7th Earl of Carlisle, 7 October 1848

By-election, 11 December 1848: West Riding of Yorkshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Beckett	14,743	55.6	New
	Whig	Culling Eardley[10]	11,795	44.4	N/A
Majority			2,948	11.2	N/A
Turnout			26,538	75.2	N/A
Registered electors			35,280
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Richard Cobden	Unopposed
	Conservative	Edmund Beckett	Unopposed
Registered electors			37,319
	Radical hold
	Conservative gain from Whig

General election 1857: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Beckett	Unopposed
	Whig	George Robinson	Unopposed
Registered electors			37,513
	Conservative hold
	Whig gain from Radical

Robinson succeeded to the peerage, becoming 2nd Earl of Ripon and causing a by-election.

By-election, 21 February 1859: West Riding of Yorkshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Ramsden	Unopposed
	Whig hold

General election 1859: West Riding of Yorkshire (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Ramsden	15,978	35.5	N/A
	Liberal	Francis Crossley	15,401	34.2	N/A
	Conservative	James Stuart-Wortley	13,636	30.3	N/A
Majority			1,765	3.9	N/A
Turnout			29,326 (est)	80.0 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			36,645
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

• Constituency abolished 1865

References

1. 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. 139. Retrieved 19 August 2018 – via Google Books.
2. "Bell's New Weekly Messenger". 8 February 1846. p. 4. Retrieved 19 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "Staffordshire Gazette and County Standard". 1 July 1841. p. 2. Retrieved 19 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "The Late Lord Ripon". The Spectator. 3 December 1921. p. 18. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
5. "Huddersfield Election". Dublin Evening Post. 23 April 1853. p. 3. Retrieved 14 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Local & General Intelligence". Newcastle Journal. 23 April 1853. p. 5. Retrieved 14 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. Rajan, Vithal (2011). Holmes of the Raj. Random House India. p. 119. ISBN 978-8-184-00250-8. Retrieved 14 May 2018 – via Google Books.
8. "The West Riding Election". Yorkshire Gazette. 5 February 1859. p. 8. Retrieved 19 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
10. "Essex Standard". 15 December 1848. p. 3. Retrieved 11 August 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
• Electoral Reform in England and Wales, by Charles Seymour (David & Charles Reprints 1970) originally published in 1915, so out of copyright
• The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973) originally published in 1844-50, so out of copyright
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "Y"