- Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)
UK former constituency infobox
Name = Lancashire
Type = County
Year =1290
Abolition = 1832
members = twoLancashire was a
county constituency of the House of Commons of theParliament of England then of theParliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of theParliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832.The constituency was split into two two-member divisions, for Parliamentary purposes, in 1832. The county was then represented by the North Lancashire and South Lancashire constituencies : the latter representing the hundreds of Salford and West Derby, and the former the hundreds of
Amounderness , Blackburn, Leyland andLonsdale .Boundaries
The constituency comprised the whole historic county of
Lancashire , except for theParliamentary borough s of Clitheroe, Lancaster, Liverpool, Newton, Preston and Wigan.Members of Parliament
*"Constituency abolished" (1832)
Elections
The county franchise, from 1430, was held by the adult male owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more. Each elector had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the
hustings , which took place in thecounty town of Lancaster. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system.The expense, to candidates, of contested elections encouraged the leading families of the county to agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. Contested county elections were therefore unusual. The Stanleys, led by the
Earl of Derby dominated the county. One seat was nearly always held by a Stanley relative, the second, by one of the other leading families.ee also
*
List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies
*Unreformed House of Commons References
* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/lcommons1.htm Historical list of MPs]
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