Portsmouth

History

The constituency first elected MPs in 1295. It was abolished at the 1918 general election, when the Representation of the People Act 1918 divided it into three new constituencies; Portsmouth North, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth Central.

According to Namier and Brooke in The House of Commons 1754–1790, the right of election was in the freemen of the borough who numbered about 100. The town was known as an Admiralty borough and at least one MP was usually an Admiral.

The Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1771 to 1782. He imposed tighter Admiralty control over the borough. This change of policy led to an independent element of the local Council supporting challengers to the Admiralty candidates between 1774 and 1780.

When party politics re-emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Portsmouth was a predominantly Whig constituency. It only once elected a Tory Member of Parliament between 1790 and 1832.

The Reform Act 1832 considerably expanded the electorate of the borough. The freemen retained their ancient right franchise, but were outnumbered by the new occupier voters amongst the 1,295 electors registered in 1832. As a result of the expanded electorate the borough became more competitive. Contested elections became the norm rather than the exception, as they had been before the Reform Act.

Candidates with naval connections continued to be frequent in Portsmouth, after the Reform Act. The borough developed into a marginal constituency, particularly in the last half century of its existence.

Boundaries

The parliamentary borough of Portsmouth was (as the area remains in the 21st century) a major seaport and naval base on the south coast of England. It is situated in the county of Hampshire.

From the 1885 general election until the dissolution before the 1918 election the constituency was surrounded (on the landward side) by the Fareham seat.

Members of Parliament

1640–1918

Notes

Election notes

The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings (until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872).

Note on percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote.

Note on sources: The information for the election results given below is taken from Sedgwick 1715–1754, Namier and Brooke 1754–1790, Stooks Smith 1790–1832 and from Craig thereafter. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result.

Election results 1715–1800

Elections in the 1710s

Seat vacated when Wager was appointed to an office

Seat vacated when Wager was appointed to an office

Elections in the 1730s

Death of Lewis

Elections in the 1740s

Death of Stewart

Seat vacated when Cavendish was appointed to an office

Death of Cavendish

Death of Hardy

Death of Bladen

Gore chose to sit for Bedford

Election declared void on 19 December 1747 as, unknown to anyone in England on 15 December, Legge had died on 19 September 1747.

Elections in the 1750s

Seat vacated when Rowley was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty

Elections in the 1760s

Seat vacated when Hawke was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty

Death of Fetherstonhaugh

Elections in the 1770s

Creation of Hawke as a peer

Death of Taylor

Death of Suckling

Elections in the 1780s

Death of Monckton

Seat vacated on the grant of a pension, at the pleasure of the Crown, to Gordon

Source for party: Stooks Smith

Elections in the 1790s

Seymour is referred to as Hugh Seymour-Conway in the above list of members of parliament

Election results 1801–1918

Elections in the 1800s

Death of Seymour

The above list of members of parliament includes David Montagu Erskine as an MP in 1806, in succession to his father Thomas Erskine (who became Lord Chancellor and was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Baron Erskine in 1806). Stooks Smith does not record this election

Elections in the 1810s

Death of Miller

Elections in the 1830s

Seat vacated on the appointment of Baring as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

Note (1837): Stooks Smith gives a registered electorate figure of 1,517; but Craig's figure is used to calculate turnout.

Death of Carter

Note (1838): Daniel Quarrier (Conservative) was a candidate for this by-election, but retired before the poll.

Seat vacated on the appointment of Baring as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Elections in the 1840s

Seat vacated on the appointment of Baring as First Lord of the Admiralty..

Elections in the 1850s

Note (1852): Monck was a peer in the peerage of Ireland.

Seat vacated on the appointment of Monck as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury.

Note (1857): Number of voters unknown. The turnout is estimated by dividing the number of votes by two. To the extent that electors did not use both their votes, the figure given will be an underestimate of actual turnout.

Note (1859): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.

Elections in the 1860s

Note (1865): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.

Expansion of the electorate provided for by the Reform Act 1867

Note (1868): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.

Elections in the 1870s

Note (1874): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.

Seat vacated on the appointment of Elphinstone as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

Elections in the 1880s

Note (1880): Estimated turnout, see the 1857 note.

Electorate expanded by the Representation of the People Act 1884