County North Yorkshire Created from Scarborough and Whitby Replaced by Scarborough and Whitby | Number of members One Type of constituency Borough constituency | |
 | ||
Number of members Two (1295-1885)
One (1885-1918) Major settlements Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Whitby | ||
Scarborough was the name of a constituency in Yorkshire, electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons, at two periods. From 1295 until 1918 it was a parliamentary borough consisting only of the town of Scarborough, electing two MPs until 1885 and one from 1885 until 1918. In 1974 the name was revived for a county constituency, covering a much wider area; this constituency was abolished in 1997.
Contents
Boundaries
1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Scarborough, the Urban Districts of Pickering and Scalby, and the Rural Districts of Pickering and Scarborough.
1983-1997: The Borough of Scarborough wards of Ayton, Castle, Cayton, Central, Danby, Derwent, Eastfield, Eskdaleside, Falsgrave, Fylingdales, Lindhead, Mayfield, Mulgrave, Newby, Northstead, Scalby, Seamer, Streonshalh, Weaponness, and Woodlands.
History
Scarborough was first represented in a Parliament held at Shrewsbury in 1282, and was one of the boroughs sending 2 MPs to the Model Parliament of 1295 which is now generally considered to be the first parliament in the modern sense.
Until the Great Reform Act of 1832 Scarborough was a corporation borough, the right of election resting solely with the 44-member corporation or "common council". At an earlier period, it seems to have been a matter of some dispute whether the freemen of the borough could also vote, but at an election in 1736 the corporation and the (much more numerous) freemen backed different candidates. The candidate of the freemen was returned to Parliament, but on petition from his defeated opponent the House of Commons decided that only the corporation votes should stand, and overturned the result. In later days the Corporation was entirely under the influence of the Duke of Rutland and Earl of Mulgrave, who each nominated one of the Members of Parliament; by 1832, Scarborough had continuously been represented by junior members of their respective families for more than half a century. The restriction on the franchise was challenged in 1791, and Parliament declared in favour of "the ancient right of inhabitant householders" in the borough to vote, but the decision seems to have been a dead-letter for at the election of 1802, the last to be contested before the Reform Act, only 33 voters cast their votes.
At the time of the Reform Act, the borough had a population of about 8,760 in just over 2,000 houses, and the Act left its boundaries and two members intact, though widening the franchise. (There were 431 electors registered at the 1832 election.) The constituency remained broadly unchanged until 1918, though from 1885 its representation was reduced from two MPs to one.
After abolition in 1918, the constituency was absorbed into the new Scarborough and Whitby county constituency. However, the boundary changes which came into effect at the February 1974 general election created a new constituency named Scarborough. This was a county constituency including, in addition to Scarborough itself and its suburb Scalby, the town of Pickering and the Scarborough and Pickering rural districts.
There were further boundary changes at the 1983 general election, which brought in Whitby and its surrounding area in place of the Pickering district. The constituency was abolished once more for the 1997 general election, when it was again largely replaced by a new Scarborough and Whitby constituency.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1640-1885
Elections in the 1910s
General Election 1914/15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;