Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885–1945
Coventry was a borough constituency which was represented in the House of Commons of England and its successors, the House of Commons of Great Britain and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom .
Centred on the City of Coventry in Warwickshire , it returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) from 1295 until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 , when its representation was reduced to one. The Coventry constituency was abolished for the 1945 general election , when it was split into two new constituencies: Coventry East and Coventry West .
Elections were held using the bloc vote system when electing two MPs (until 1885), and then first-past-the-post to elect one MP thereafter.
1832–1868 : The City of Coventry and the suburbs thereof.[ 1]
1868–1918 : The existing parliamentary borough and the Parish of Stoke.[ 2]
The constituency was unchanged by the Representation of the People Act 1884 .[ 3] By the time its boundaries were revised in 1918, it was defined as consisting of the city of Coventry, the parishes of St. Michael Without and Holy Trinity Without, the parish of Stoke, and part of the parish of Wyken.[ 4]
1918–1945 : The county borough of Coventry.[ 5]
In the eighteenth century Coventry was, despite its size, known as a corrupt borough.[ 6]
Members of Parliament [ edit ]
Year
1st Member
1st Party
2nd Member
2nd Party
1660, March
Richard Hopkins
Robert Beake
1660, August
William Jesson
1661
Sir Clement Fisher, Bt
Thomas Flynt
1670
Richard Hopkins
1679, Feb
Robert Beake
1679, August
John Stratford
1685
Sir Roger Cave, Bt
Sir Thomas Norton
1689
John Stratford
1690
Richard Hopkins
1695
George Bohun
Thomas Gery
1698
Sir Christopher Hales, Bt
Richard Hopkins
1701, Jan
Thomas Hopkins
1701, Dec
Edward Hopkins
1702
Thomas Gery
1707
Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Bt
Whig
Edward Hopkins
1710, Oct
Robert Craven
Thomas Gery
1710, Dec
Clobery Bromley
1711
Sir Christopher Hales, Bt
1713
Sir Fulwar Skipwith, Bt
1715
(Sir) Adolphus Oughton [ 10]
Sir Thomas Samwell, Bt
1722[ 11]
John Neale
1734
John Bird
1737, Feb
John Neale
1737, Apr
Earl of Euston
1741
William Grove
1747, Jun
Viscount Petersham
1747, Dec
Samuel Greatheed
1761
James Hewitt
Hon. Andrew Archer
1766
Hon. Henry Seymour-Conway
1768
Sir Richard Glyn, Bt
1773
Walter Waring
1774
Edward Roe Yeo
Tory [ 12]
1780, Feb
John Baker Holroyd
Tory [ 12]
1780, Oct
Election abandoned due to rioting; both seats vacant [ 12]
1780, Dec[ 13]
Sir Thomas Hallifax
Whig [ 12]
Thomas Rogers
Whig [ 12]
1781
Edward Roe Yeo
Tory
The Lord Sheffield
Tory [ 12]
1783
Hon. William Seymour-Conway
1784
Sir Sampson Gideon, Bt [ 14]
John Eardley Wilmot
1796
William Wilberforce Bird
Whig [ 12]
Nathaniel Jefferys
Tory [ 12]
1802
Francis William Barlow
Tory [ 12]
1803
Peter Moore
Whig [ 12]
1805
William Mills
Whig [ 12]
1812
Joseph Butterworth
Whig [ 12]
1818
Edward Ellice
Whig [ 15] [ 16] [ 17] [ 18] [ 19] [ 12] [ 20]
1826
Richard Edensor Heathcote
Tory [ 12]
Thomas Bilcliffe Fyler
Tory [ 12]
1830
Edward Ellice
Whig [ 15] [ 16] [ 17] [ 18] [ 19] [ 12] [ 20]
1831
Henry Bulwer
Whig [ 12]
1835
William Williams
Radical [ 20] [ 21] [ 22]
1847
George James Turner
Conservative
1851
Charles Geach
Radical [ 23] [ 24] [ 25] [ 26]
1854
Sir Joseph Paxton
Whig [ 27]
1859
Liberal
Liberal
1863
Morgan Treherne
Conservative
1865
Henry Eaton
Conservative
1867
Henry Jackson
Liberal
1868, March
Samuel Carter
Liberal
1868, November
Alexander Staveley Hill
Conservative
1874
Sir Henry Jackson, Bt
Liberal
1880
William Wills
Liberal
1881
Henry Eaton
Conservative
1885
representation reduced to one member
Elections in the 1830s [ edit ]
Ellice was appointed Secretary at War , requiring a by-election.
Elections in the 1840s [ edit ]
Elections in the 1850s [ edit ]
Turner resigned after being appointed Vice-Chancellor of the High Court , causing a by-election.
Geach's death caused a by-election.
Phillimore retired from the contest two hours into polling.[ 35]
Elections in the 1860s [ edit ]
Ellice's death caused a by-election.
Paxton's death caused a by-election.
Treherne's death caused a by-election.
The by-election was declared void on petition due to bribery by Jackson's agent.[ 38]
Elections in the 1870s [ edit ]
Elections in the 1880s [ edit ]
Jackson resigned after being appointed a judge on the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice , causing a by-election.
Eaton was elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Cheylesmore, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1890s [ edit ]
Murray
Elections in the 1900s [ edit ]
Mason
Elections in the 1910s [ edit ]
Mason
Mason had opposed the war and was replaced as Liberal candidate by Mansel who supported the Coalition Government. Bannington was the candidate of the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers .[ 43]
Elections in the 1920s [ edit ]
Elections in the 1930s [ edit ]
^ "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. LXIV: An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties, and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs, in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament" . London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 300–383.
^ "A Collection of the Public General Statutes: 1867/68. Cap. XLVI. An Act to settle and describe the Limits of certain Boroughs and the Divisions of certain Counties in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament" . London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1868. pp. 119–166.
^ a b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
^ Hesilrige, Arthur G. M., ed. (1918). Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1918 . London: Dean & Son, Limited. p. 206.
^ Fraser, Hugh (1918). The Representation of the People Act, 1918: with explanatory notes . London: Sweet and Maxwell.
^ Pages 102 to 105,Lewis Namier , The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac "British History Online" . Retrieved 17 September 2011 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 18 September 2011 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 18 September 2011 .
^ Created a baronet, August 1718
^ The election of 1722 was declared void because of the "notorious and outrageous Riots, Tumults and Seditions ... in Defiance of the Civil Authority, and in Violation of the Freedom of Elections", and a new writ was issued, but the original victors (Oughton and Neale) were returned once more at the by-election.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x 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. 98–100. Retrieved 1 November 2018 – via Google Books .
^ On petition, the election of Hallifax and Rogers was declared void, and their opponents, Yeo and Seymour-Conway, were declared to have been duly elected and seated in their place
^ Changed his surname to Eardley, July 1789; created The Lord Eardley (in the Peerage of Ireland , September 1789
^ a b Colthart, James M. (1976). "Edward Ellice" . Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. IX . Toronto. ISBN 0-8020-3319-9 . {{cite book }}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link )
^ a b "Rt. Hon. Edward Ellice" . Legacies of British Slave-ownership . University College London. Retrieved 6 May 2018 .
^ a b Bloy, Marjorie. "Edward Ellice, the elder (1781–1863)" . A Web of English History . Retrieved 6 May 2018 .
^ a b Escott, Margaret. "ELLICE, Edward (1783–1863), of Wyke House, nr. Brentford, Mdx" . The History of Parliament . Retrieved 6 May 2018 .
^ a b Miller, Henry (2015). Politics Personified: Portraiture, Caricature and Visual Culture in Britain, c. 1830–80 . Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-7190-9084-4 . Retrieved 6 May 2018 .
^ a b c Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838 . pp. 82, 238. Retrieved 21 August 2018 – via Google Books .
^ "Latest Intelligence" . Gloucester Journal . 10 August 1850. p. 3. Retrieved 22 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Imperial Parliament" . Exeter and Plymouth Gazette . 10 August 1850. p. 8. Retrieved 22 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Election Intelligence" . Norfolk News . 12 April 1851. p. 2. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ a b "Wednesday & Thursday's Posts" . Stamford Mercury . 11 April 1851. p. 2. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Local & General Intelligence" . Newcastle Journal . 12 April 1851. p. 5. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Local News" . Derby Mercury . 9 April 1851. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Commercial" . Dundalk Democrat, and People's Journal . 25 November 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ a b Escott, Margaret. "Coventry" . The History of Parliament . Retrieved 10 April 2020 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Craig, F. W. S. , ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3 .
^ "Coventry Election" . Coventry Herald . 21 July 1837. p. 4. Retrieved 10 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ Coventry Standard . 13 March 1857. p. 4 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000683/18570313/105/0004 . Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Local Election Movements" . Aris's Birmingham Gazette . 23 March 1857. p. 1. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Coventry" . Evening Mail . 27 March 1857. p. 7. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Election Movements" . Coventry Standard . 20 March 1857. p. 4. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Coventry Election" . Coventry Standard . 3 April 1857. p. 4. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Coventry" . Aris's Birmingham Gazette . 3 October 1863. p. 3. Retrieved 6 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ a b "Coventry" . Leamington Spa Courier . 24 June 1865. p. 9. Retrieved 6 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Coventry" . Cumberland and Westmorland Advertiser, and Penrith Literary Chronicle . 24 March 1868. p. 4. Retrieved 6 February 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Latest Election News" . Edinburgh Evening News . 2 February 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 29 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ a b c d e f g h i British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
^ a b c d e f The Liberal Year Book, 1907
^ a b Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
^ a b c d e f British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X .
F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
"The Constitutional Yearbook, 1913" (London: National Unionist Association, 1913)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)