Cockermouth was the name of
a constituency of the
House of
Commons
of the Parliament
of England in 1295, and again from 1641, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from
1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom
from 1801 to 1918. It was a
parliamentary borough represented by
two
Members of Parliament until
1868, and by one member from 1868 to 1885. The name was then
transferred to a
county
constituency electing one MP from 1885 until 1918.
The borough constituency (until 1885)
Until the
Great Reform Act of 1832, the
constituency consisted solely of the market town of Cockermouth
in Cumberland
. It first returned members to the
Model Parliament of 1295, but its franchise
then seems to have lapsed until 1641, when the
Long Parliament passed a resolution
(
15 February,
1641)
to restore its ancient privileges.
The right of election in Cockermouth was vested in the
burgage tenants of the borough, of whom there were
about 300 in 1832. Cockermouth was considered a
pocket borough, with the vast majority of the
voters being under the influence of the
Lowther family.
At the time of the 1831 census, the borough included just over
1,000 houses and had a population of 4,536.
The Reform Act
expanded the boundaries to bring in the neighbouring parishes of
Eaglesfield
, Brigham
, Papcastle
and Bridekirk
, and part of Dovenby
, increasing
the population to 6,022 and encompassing 1,325 houses. This
made the borough big enough to retain both its members. However, in
the next wave of reform, introduced at the
1868 general election, one of
Cockermouth's two seats was withdrawn, and in
1885 the borough was abolished
altogether, although the name was transferred to the surrounding
county constituency.
The county constituency (1885-1918)
The
Cockermouth constituency created in 1885, strictly speaking
The Cockermouth Division of Cumberland,
was a compact division stretching westwards from Cockermouth to the
sea, and including the much larger town of Workington
. There was a significant Irish vote, and the
Conservative victory in
1885 and subsequent Liberal gain
of the seat in
1886 have
been attributed to
Parnell's
shift of support from the one party to the other.
The
constituency was divided between the new Workington
and Penrith and
Cockermouth divisions of Cumberland from 1918.
Members of Parliament
1641-1868
Notes
1868-1885
1885-1918
Cockermouth Division of Cumberland
References
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, “Members of the Long
Parliament” (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman
Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard,
1808) [421919]
- F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885"
(2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services,
1989)
- Michael Kinnear, "The British Voter" (London: Batsford,
1968)
- J Holladay Philbin, "Parliamentary Representation 1832 -
England and Wales" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to
1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary
Reference Publications, 1973)
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units
of England, Vol II" (London: Royal Historical Society,
1991)
- "The Constitutional Yearbook, 1913" (London: National Unionist
Association, 1913)
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