Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)

Updated on Feb 03, 2024

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Number of members two

Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the British House of Commons, from 1603 to 1950.

Boundaries, Electorate and Election Systems

This university constituency was created by a Royal Charter of 1603. It was abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.

The constituency was not a geographical area. Its electorate consisted of the graduates of the University. Before 1918 the franchise was restricted to male graduates with a Doctorate or MA degree. Sedgwick records that there were 377 electors in 1727. For the 1754–1790 period Namier and Brooke estimated the electorate at about 500.

The constituency returned two Members of Parliament. Before 1918 they were elected using the block vote. From 1918, the MPs were elected by the Single Transferable Vote method.

History

In the early 18th century the electors were mostly Tory. However the Whig ministers of King George I were able to persuade the King to use the royal prerogative power to confer doctorates, so from 1727 the University returned Whig representatives. Oxford University, where the King did not have the same prerogative power, remained safely Tory (indeed often Jacobite) in sympathies.

The leading mid-18th century Whig politician, the Duke of Newcastle, was Chancellor of the University from 1748–68. He "recommended" suitable candidates to represent the institution in Parliament. This practice continued under his successor, another Whig Duke and Prime Minister (1768–1770), the Duke of Grafton (Chancellor 1768–1811). However Grafton was less prominent as a politician than Newcastle had been and less attentive to the University. As a result, some of Grafton's choices were criticised, notably that of the Duke's friend Richard Croftes.

Croftes was atypical of a University MP: he was neither the son of a peer (like the Hon. John Townshend, the Marquess of Granby and Grafton's own son the Earl of Euston), a distinguished lawyer-politician (such as William de Grey, James Mansfield and Sir Vicary Gibbs) nor a prominent political figure (like William Pitt and Lord Henry Petty).

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries Pittite/Tory candidates began to be elected. At the start of this political development some of the Pittite MPs, like William Pitt himself (MP for the University 1784–1806), called themselves Whigs. As time passed the division between the 19th century Tory and Whig parties became clearer.

The future Prime Minister, Viscount Palmerston, retained his seat as a Whig after he left the Tory ranks. However, by 1831 he was defeated. After Palmerston ceased to represent the University he was elected by a territorial constituency. From then until the 1920s all the University MPs were Tory/Conservative.

Even after the introduction of the single transferable vote in 1918, most Cambridge University MPs continued to be Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

This is a list of people who have been elected to represent this University in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

1603 to 1660

Constituency created 1603

1784 to 1950

Notes:-

¹ Pitt called himself a Whig, but is usually retrospectively regarded as a Tory since most of his followers (whether their background was in the Whig or Tory tradition) came to call themselves the Tory Party in the decade after Pitt's death.

² Jebb died on 10 December 1905 – seat vacant at dissolution.

³ Co. is an abbreviation for Coalition.

⁴ Ind. is an abbreviation for Independent.

⁵ Butler died on 2 May 1929 – seat vacant at dissolution.

Elections in the 1720s

Death of Paske

Note (1722): Stooks Smith gives Willoughby 319 votes.

Note (1727): Unusually, for a pre-1832 election, Stooks Smith records the total number of electors for the constituency as well as the number who voted; so a turnout figure can be calculated.

Elections in the 1730s

Note (1734): Goodrick was an Opposition Whig

Elections in the 1740s

Seat vacated when Finch was appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber

Elections in the 1750s

Seat vacated when Finch was appointed to an office

Elections in the 1760s

Seat vacated when Finch was appointed to an office

Elections in the 1770s

Seat vacated on the appointment of Yorke as Lord Chancellor

Seat vacated on the appointment of de Grey as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas

Succession of Granby as the 4th Duke of Rutland

Elections in the 1780s

Note (1780): Stooks Smith records Townshend as getting 237 votes.

Seat vacated on Townshend being appointed to an office

Seat vacated on Mansfield being appointed as Solicitor General for England and Wales

The 1784 election was broadly a contest between the new government of Pitt and the ousted Fox-North Coalition, in which both Townshend and Mansfield had held office.

Elections in the 1790s

Note (1790): Party labels in the 1790–1832 period follow Stooks Smith, who classifies Pitt and his Pittite supporters as Tories without regard to what they would have actually called themselves.

Seat vacated on Pitt being appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports

Seat vacated on Euston being appointed to an office

Elections in the 1800s

Seat vacated on Pitt being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer

Death of Pitt

Palmerston was a Peer of Ireland

Elections in the 1810s

Succession of Euston as the 4th Duke of Grafton

Seat vacated on Gibbs being appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas

Elections in the 1820s

Death of Smyth

Seat vacated on the appointment of Copley as Lord Chancellor and creation as 1st Baron Lyndhurst

Note (1827): Unusually for a pre-1832 election Stooks Smith provides a total electorate figure, so a turnout percentage can be calculated. See the 1727 result above for another instance.

Seat vacated on the appointment of Tindal as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas

Elections in the 1830s

Seat vacated on the appointment of Palmerston as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Note (1832): Manners-Sutton was the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Manners-Sutton created 'The 1st Viscount Canterbury'.

Note (1837): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Law as a Peelite between this election and that of 1847.

Elections in the 1840s

Note (1841): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative and Law as a Peelite for this election.

Goulburn appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Note 1 (1847): 3,800 registered electors; 4,682 votes cast; minimum possible turnout estimated by dividing votes by 2. To the extent that electors did not use both their votes, the figure will be an underestimate.

Note 2 (1847): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative and Law as a Peelite for this election.

Elections in the 1850s

Death of Law.

Note (1852): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative for this election.

Death of Goulburn.

Appointment of Walpole as Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Elections in the 1860s

Appointment of Walpole as Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Appointment of Selwyn as Solicitor-General.

Appointment of Selwyn as Judge of the Court of Appeal in Chancery.

Elections in the 1880s

Resignation of Walpole.

Elections 1918–1950

General Elections, from 1918 when most constituencies polled on the same day, were on different polling days than for territorial constituencies. The polls for university constituencies were open for five days. The elections were also conducted by Single Transferable Vote.

Elections in the 1920s

As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary

Elections in the 1930s