Thirsk
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1547–1885
SeatsTwo (until 1832);
One (1832-1885)
Replaced byThirsk and Malton

Thirsk was a parliamentary borough in Yorkshire, represented in the English and later British House of Commons in 1295, and again from 1547. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832, and by one member from 1832 to 1885, when the constituency was abolished and absorbed into the new Thirsk and Malton division of the North Riding of Yorkshire.

The borough consisted of originally of the town of Old Thirsk, and included a population of only 1,378 at the 1831 census. The right to vote was restricted to the holders of burgage tenements, of which there were 50 in 1831. The Frankland family were the local landowners (in 1816 Sir Thomas owned 49 of the 50 burgage tenements), and in effect could nominate whoever they wanted as Members of Parliament; there was no contested election in Thirsk between 1715 and 1832.

The Great Reform Act of 1832 expanded the boundaries to include the townships of Thirsk, Sowerby, Carlton Miniott, Sandhutton, Bagby and South Kilvington, increasing the population to 4,672 and encompassing 1,064 houses, which was considered big enough for the borough to retain one of its two members.

Members of Parliament

  • Constituency re-created (1547)

MPs 1547–1660

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1547Sir William CavendishRobert Flint[1]
1553 (Mar)Thomas LeeReginald Beseley[1]
1553 (Oct)Thomas EynnsJohn Gascoigne[1]
1554 (Apr)Thomas WatertonReginald Beseley[1]
1554 (Nov)Christopher LascellesEdward Beseley[1]
1555Christopher LascellesRobert Roos[1]
1558Christopher LascellesThomas Eynns[1]
1558–9Thomas EynnsFrancis Wilstrop[2]
1562–3Thomas EynnsChristopher Lascelles[2]
1571John DawneyThomas Layton[2]
1572 (Apr)John DawneyEdward Gates[2]
1584Sir John DawneyRobert Bowes[2]
1586 (Oct)Sir John DawneyHenry Bellasis[2]
1588–9Sir John DawneyHenry Bellasis[2]
1593Sir John DawneyHenry Bellasis[2]
1597 (Sep)George LeycesterThomas Belasyse[2]
1601 (Oct)Henry BellasisJohn Mallory[2]
1604–1611Sir Edward SwiftTimothy Whittingham
1614Thomas BelasyseSir Robert Yaxley
1620Thomas BelasyseSir John Gibson
1624Thomas BelasyseSir William Sheffield
1625Henry BelasyseHenry Stanley
1626Henry BelasyseWilliam Cholmeley
1628Christopher WandesfordWilliam Frankland
1629–1640No Parliaments summoned

MPs 1640–1832

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
April 1640 William Frankland John Belasyse
November 1640 Sir Thomas IngramRoyalist John BelasyseRoyalist
September 1642 Ingram and Belasyse both disabled from sitting - seats vacant
1645 William Ayscough Francis Lascelles
December 1648 Ayscough excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant
1653 Thirsk was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Colonel Thomas Talbot Major General Goodricke
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Barrington Bourchier William Stanley
July 1660 The Earl of Ancram
1661 Sir Thomas Ingram Walter Strickland
1671 Sir William Frankland
1673 Sir William Wentworth
1679 Nicholas Saunderson
1681 Sir William Ayscough
1685 Thomas Frankland Sir Hugh Cholmeley
1689 Richard Staines
1695 Sir Godfrey Copley
1698 Sir Thomas Frankland
1709 Leonard Smelt
1710 Ralph Bell
1711 Thomas Worsley
1713 Thomas Frankland [3]
1717 Thomas Pitt
1722 William St Quintin[4]
1727 Thomas Robinson
1734 Frederick Meinhardt Frankland
1747 Thomas Frankland[5]
1749 William Monckton[6]
1754 Roger Talbot
1761 Henry Grenville
1765 James Grenville
1768 William Frankland
1774 Thomas Frankland
1780 Sir Thomas Gascoigne Beilby Thompson
1784 Sir Thomas Frankland Sir Gregory Page-Turner
1785 Robert Vyner
1796 Sir Thomas Frankland, Bt
1801 William Frankland
1805 Hon. Richard Griffin
1806 James Topping Robert Greenhill-Russell[7]Whig[8]
1807 William FranklandWhig[8]
1815 Robert Frankland[9]Whig[8]
1832 Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1832–1885

ElectionMemberParty
1832Sir Robert FranklandWhig[8]
1834 by-electionSamuel Crompton[10]Whig[8][11][12]
1841John Bell[13]Whig[14][15][16][8]
March 1851 by-electionSir William Payne-GallweyConservative
1880Hon. Lewis Payn DawnayConservative
1885 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Thirsk[8][17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Robert Greenhill-Russell Unopposed
Whig Robert Frankland Unopposed
Whig hold
Whig hold
General election 1831: Thirsk[8][17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Robert Greenhill-Russell Unopposed
Whig Robert Frankland Unopposed
Registered electors c. 50
Whig hold
Whig hold
General election 1832: Thirsk[8][18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Robert Frankland Unopposed
Registered electors 254
Whig hold

Frankland resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 21 March 1834: Thirsk[8][18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Samuel Crompton Unopposed
Whig hold
General election 1835: Thirsk[8][18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Samuel Crompton Unopposed
Registered electors 267
Whig hold
General election 1837: Thirsk[8][18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Samuel Crompton Unopposed
Registered electors 283
Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Whig John Bell Unopposed
Registered electors 328
Whig hold
General election 1847: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Whig John Bell Unopposed
Registered electors 332
Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

Bell's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 21 March 1851: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Payne-Gallwey Unopposed
Conservative gain from Whig
General election 1852: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Payne-Gallwey Unopposed
Registered electors 357
Conservative gain from Whig
General election 1857: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Payne-Gallwey Unopposed
Registered electors 398
Conservative hold
General election 1859: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Payne-Gallwey Unopposed
Registered electors 414
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Payne-Gallwey Unopposed
Registered electors 380
Conservative hold
General election 1868: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Payne-Gallwey 416 51.6 N/A
Liberal Harcourt Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone[19] 390 48.4 New
Majority 26 3.2 N/A
Turnout 806 89.4 N/A
Registered electors 902
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Thirsk[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Payne-Gallwey 410 50.1 −1.5
Liberal Henry Miles Stapylton 409 49.9 +1.5
Majority 1 0.2 −3.0
Turnout 819 87.6 −1.8
Registered electors 935
Conservative hold Swing −1.5

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Thirsk[18][20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lewis Payn Dawnay 485 52.9 +2.8
Liberal Henry Miles Stapylton 422 46.0 −3.9
Conservative Sir William Frankland, 9th Baronet 10 1.1 N/A
Majority 63 6.9 +6.7
Turnout 917 90.4 +2.8
Registered electors 1,014
Conservative hold Swing +3.4

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History of Parliament". Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "History of Parliament". Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  3. ↑ Succeeded to the baronetcy as Sir Thomas Frankland, October 1726
  4. ↑ Succeeded to the baronetcy as Sir William St Quintin, June 1723
  5. ↑ Succeeded to the baronetcy as Sir Thomas Frankland, January 1768
  6. ↑ Succeeded as 2nd Viscount Galway in the peerage of Ireland in 1751
  7. ↑ Created a baronet as Sir Robert Greenhill-Russell, September 1831
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 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. 169–171. Retrieved 21 December 2018 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ Succeeded to the baronetcy as Sir Robert Frankland, January 1831
  10. ↑ Sir Samuel Crompton from 1838
  11. ↑ Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. p. 66. Retrieved 21 December 2018 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ "Election". Durham County Advertiser. 9 January 1835. p. 3. Retrieved 21 December 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ↑ In July 1849 a Commission of Lunacy declared Bell to be of unsound mind, but as the law then stood he could not be deprived of his seat on those grounds and remained an MP until his death in 1851
  14. ↑ "Members Returned". Norfolk News. 7 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 15 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ↑ "Thrisk". Dublin Monitor. 3 July 1841. p. 4. Retrieved 15 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ↑ "Local Intelligence". Yorkshire Gazette. 12 June 1841. p. 5. Retrieved 15 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. 1 2 Casey, Martin. "Thirsk". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  19. ↑ "Election Addresses at Thirsk". York Herald. 11 July 1868. p. 4. Retrieved 19 March 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ↑ "Borough of Thirsk Parliamentary Election 1880". Yorkshire Gazette. 12 June 1880. p. 1. Retrieved 23 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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)
  • F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
  • 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 "T" (part 1)
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