Northallerton (UK Parliament constituency)

Northallerton
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1640–1885
Replaced by	Richmond

Northallerton was a parliamentary borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire, represented by two Members of Parliament in the House of Commons briefly in the 13th century and again from 1640 to 1832, and by one member from 1832 until 1885.

The constituency consisted of the market town of Northallerton, the county town of the North Riding. In 1831 it encompassed only 622 houses and a population of 3,004. The right to vote was vested in the holders of the burgage tenements, of which there were roughly 200 – most of which were ruined or consisted only of stables or cowhouses, and had no value except for the vote which was attached to them. As in most other burgage boroughs, the ownership of the burgages had early become concentrated in the hands of a single family, who in effect had a free hand to nominate both MPs. At the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, the patrons were the Earl of Harewood and Henry Peirse, who was the Earl's brother-in-law.

Under the Reform Act, the boundaries were extended to include neighbouring Romanby and Brompton, increasing the population to 4,839, and its representation was reduced to a single member. The Act also, of course, extended the franchise.

At the 1885 election, the constituency was abolished, being absorbed into the new Richmond division of the North Riding.

Members of Parliament

Northallerton re-enfranchised by Parliament, Nov 1640

MPs 1640–1832

Election			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		November 1640	Henry Darley	Parliamentarian	John Wastell	Parliamentarian
		1653	Northallerton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
		1654,1656	Northallerton was unrepresented in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
		January 1659	James Danby		Major George Smithson
		May 1659	Henry Darley		One seat vacant
		April 1660	Thomas Lascelles		Francis Lascelles
		July 1660			George Marwood[1]
		1661	Gilbert Gerard[2]		Roger Talbot
		1679			Sir Henry Calverley
		1685	Sir David Foulis		Sir Henry Marwood
		1689	Thomas Lascelles		Sir William Robinson
		1695			Sir William Hustler
		1697	Ralph Milbancke
		1701	Robert Dormer
		February 1702	Daniel Lascelles
		July 1702	John Aislabie	Tory
		November 1702			Robert Dormer
		May 1705	Sir William Hustler
		December 1705			Roger Gale
		1710	Robert Raikes
		1713	Leonard Smelt		Henry Peirse
		1715			Cholmley Turner
		1722			Henry Peirse
		1740	William Smelt
		1745	Henry Lascelles
		1752	Daniel Lascelles
		1754		Tory[3]	Edwin Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1761			Edward Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1774			Henry Peirse (younger)	Whig[3]
		1780	Edwin Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1790	Edward Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1796	Viscount Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1814	John Bacon Sawrey Morritt	Tory[3]
		1818	Viscount Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1820	William Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1824			Marcus Beresford	Tory[3]
		1826	Admiral Sir John Beresford	Tory[3]	Henry Lascelles	Tory[3]
		1831			William Lascelles	Tory[3]

MPs 1832–1885

Election		Member	Party
1832		Representation reduced to one member
	1832	Capt. John Boss R.N.[4]	Radical[5][6]
	1835	William Battie-Wrightson	Whig[7][8][9][10][11][3]
	1859		Liberal
	1865	Charles Mills[12]	Conservative
	1866	Hon. Egremont Lascelles	Conservative
	1868	John Hutton	Conservative
	1874	George Elliot	Conservative
	1885	Constituency abolished: see Richmond (Yorks)

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Northallerton[3][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Henry Lascelles	Unopposed
	Tory	John Beresford	Unopposed
	Tory hold
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Northallerton[3][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	William Lascelles	Unopposed
	Tory	John Beresford	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 200
	Tory hold
	Tory hold

General election 1832: Northallerton[14][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Radical	John George Boss	108	52.7
	Whig	William Battie-Wrightson	97	47.3
Majority			11	5.4
Turnout			205	88.4
Registered electors			232
	Radical gain from Tory

General election 1835: Northallerton[14][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Battie-Wrightson	Unopposed
Registered electors			261
	Whig gain from Radical

General election 1837: Northallerton[14][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Battie-Wrightson	Unopposed
Registered electors			278
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Northallerton[14][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Battie-Wrightson	129	53.1	N/A
	Conservative	Edwin Lascelles	114	46.9	New
Majority			15	6.2	N/A
Turnout			243	86.5	N/A
Registered electors			281
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1847: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Battie-Wrightson	Unopposed
Registered electors			269
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Battie-Wrightson	Unopposed
Registered electors			281
	Whig hold

General election 1857: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Battie-Wrightson	129	50.6	N/A
	Conservative	Egremont Lascelles	126	49.4	New
Majority			3	1.2	N/A
Turnout			255	93.8	N/A
Registered electors			272
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1859: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Battie-Wrightson	138	50.4	−0.2
	Conservative	Charles Mills	136	49.6	+0.2
Majority			2	0.8	−0.4
Turnout			274	96.8	+3.0
Registered electors			283
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.2

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Mills	239	55.7	+6.1
	Liberal	Jasper Johns	190	44.3	−6.1
Majority			49	11.4	N/A
Turnout			429	97.1	+0.3
Registered electors			442
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.1

The election was declared void on petition, due to bribery by agents, causing a by-election.[15]

By-election, 10 May 1866: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Egremont Lascelles	224	52.7	−3.0
	Liberal	William Battie-Wrightson	201	47.3	+3.0
Majority			23	5.4	−6.0
Turnout			425	96.2	−0.9
Registered electors			442
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.0

General election 1868: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Hutton	386	50.9	−4.8
	Liberal	Jasper Johns	372	49.1	+4.8
Majority			14	1.8	−9.6
Turnout			758	93.8	−3.3
Registered electors			808
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.8

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Elliot	387	50.6	−0.3
	Liberal	William Battie-Wrightson	378	49.4	+0.3
Majority			9	1.2	−0.6
Turnout			765	92.3	−1.5
Registered electors			829
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.3

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Northallerton[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Elliot	483	55.8	+5.2
	Liberal	Albert Osliff Rutson[16]	383	44.2	−5.2
Majority			100	11.6	+10.4
Turnout			866	95.0	+2.7
Registered electors			912
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.2

Notes and references

1. Created a baronet as Sir George Marwood, December 1660
2. Created a baronet as Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1665
3. 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. pp. 158–160 – via Google Books.
4. Marshall, John (1833). "Boss, John George" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 4, part 1. London: Longman and company.
5. "NORTHALLERTON: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1834". GENUKI. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
6. "Northallerton". Newcastle Chronicle. 15 December 1832. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. Dod, Charles Roger; Dod, Robert Phipps (1847). Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Volume 15. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. p. 256.
8. Churton, Edward (1836). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1836. p. 242.
9. Casey, Martin (2009). "WRIGHTSON, William Battie (1789–1879), of Cusworth Hall, Doncaster, Yorks. and 22 Upper Brook Street, Mdx". The History of Parliament.
10. Casey, Martin (2009). "Northallerton". The History of Parliament.
11. The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 9; Volume 163. E. Cave. 1838. p. 100.
12. Mills' election was declared void on petition, and a by-election held in which he did not stand as a candidate
13. Casey, Martin. "Northallerton". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
14. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
15. "Northallerton Election Petition". Armagh Guardian. 4 May 1866. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
16. "Northallerton". Dudley Herald. 3 April 1880. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.

• 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) [1]
• 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)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 2)