Appendix I

Constituencies and Contested Elections

The House of Commons from 1790 until 1801 had 558 Members, elected by 314 constituencies as follows:

England, 489 Members, 245 constituencies:

40 counties, returning 2 Members each; 196 boroughs, returning 2 Members each; 2 boroughs (London and the combined constituency of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis), returning 4 Members each; 5 boroughs (Abingdon, Banbury, Bewdley, Higham Ferrers and Monmouth, the latter a group of boroughs), returning 1 Member each; 2 universities, returning 2 Members each

Wales, 24 Members, 24 constituencies:

12 counties, returning 1 Member each; 12 boroughs (7 of them groups of boroughs), returning 1 Member each

Scotland, 45 Members, 45 constituencies:

27 counties, returning 1 Member each 3 pairs of counties, one in each pair alternating with the other to return 1 Member; 1 burgh (Edinburgh), returning 1 Member 14 groups of burghs, each returning 1 Member

From 1801 the House of Commons had 658 Members, elected by 380 constituencies, in consequence of the Act of Union with Ireland.

Ireland, 100 Members, 66 constituencies:

32 counties, returning 2 Members each; 31 boroughs, returning 1 Member each; 2 boroughs (Cork and Dublin), returning 2 Members each; 1 university, returning 1 Member

The following tables list the constituencies and an X indicates which elections were contested. A contested election means one in which the candidates stood a poll. Contested by-elections are entered by date in the last column. The tables also indicate the size of the electorate, English and Welsh borough electorates being shown as L (large, an electorate of 1,000 or more), M (medium, 500-1,000 voters), or S (small, below 500). The nature of borough franchises is broadly indicated by B (burgage holders), C (the corporation), FH (freeholders), FM (freemen, with variants of the same), H (inhabitant householders), SL (those paying scot and lot); but its refinements may be noted in the Constituencies section, where the electoral history of the constituencies will be found. An asterisk indicates a variation from the corresponding table in the 1754-90 section of the History. There is a more general analysis of constituencies and elections in the Introductory Survey.

English Counties

English Boroughs

Universities

Welsh Counties

Welsh Boroughs

Scottish Counties

Scottish Burghs

Except in the case of Edinburgh, groups of burghs are meant. Under the system of indirect election in burgh constituencies, elections were frequently contested. These contests have been included in the aggregate analysis of contests in this period, which they were not in the preceding one.

Irish Counties

Irish Boroughs

In stating the Irish borough franchise the abbreviation FR has been adopted for boroughs in which both freemen and freeholders were entitled to vote, to distinguish them from mere freeman boroughs (FM)