Woodstock (UK Parliament constituency)

History

The Parliamentary Borough comprised the town of Woodstock and (from 1832) the surrounding countryside and villages. It elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from its re-enfranchisement in 1553 until 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801. Under the Great Reform Act 1832, the representation of the borough was reduced to one member.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the borough was abolished and was reconstituted as the Mid or Woodstock Division of Oxfordshire when the three-member Parliamentary County of Oxfordshire was divided into the three single-member constituencies of Banbury, Woodstock and Henley. It comprised the middle part of Oxfordshire, including Witney and Bicester as well as the abolished borough.

The constituency was abolished under the Representation of the People Act 1918.  The western half, including Witney and Woodstock, was added to the Banbury Division and the eastern half, including Bicester, to the Henley Division.

Boundaries

1885–1918

• The Municipal Borough of Woodstock;
• The Sessional Divisions of Bampton East, Bampton West, Ploughley, and Wooton South; and
• Part of the Sessional Division of Bullingdon.

Only non-resident freeholders of the Parliamentary Borough of Oxford (which included the Municipal Borough thereof) were entitled to vote.

Members of Parliament

1553–1640

1640–1832

1832–1918

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

|reg. electors =

|reg. electors =

• Buckingham and Richardson each received 138 householder votes, but these were declared ineligible

|reg. electors = 317

|reg. electors = 306

|reg. electors = 330

Peyton resigned, causing a by-election.

|reg. electors = 385

Elections in the 1840s

Spencer-Churchill succeeded to the peerage, becoming 6th Duke of Marlborough and causing a by-election.

|reg. electors = 356

Thesiger was appointed Solicitor-General for England and Wales and decided to contest Abingdon, causing a by-election.

Spencer-Churchill resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

Loftus succeeded to the peerage, becoming 3rd Marquess of Ely and causing a by-election.

|reg. electors = 404

Elections in the 1850s

|reg. electors = 347

|reg. electors = 336

Spencer-Churchill succeeded to the peerage, becoming 7th Duke of Marlborough and causing a by-election.

|reg. electors = 310

Elections in the 1860s

|reg. electors = 286

|reg. electors = 1,127

Elections in the 1870s

|reg. electors = 1,071

Elections in the 1880s

|reg. electors = 1,060

Churchill was appointed Secretary of State for India, requiring a by-election.

|reg. electors = 1,084

|reg. electors = 10,012

Elections in the 1890s

Maclean resigned after being appointed a Master in Lunacy.

|reg. electors = 9,725 |reg. electors = 9,756 |reg. electors = 9,767

Elections in the 1900s

|reg. electors = 9,985

Elections in the 1910s

|reg. electors=10,525 |reg. electors=10,525 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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Henderson
• Liberal:

References

Sources

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh2wKY2rkDUC&q=Return+of+Members+of+Parliament
• 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) http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=p-000-00---0modhis06--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=CL1
• The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)
• 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)

References

1. "H.M.S.O. Boundary Commission Report 1832, New Woodstock".
2. Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. "The public general acts". Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
3. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust.
4. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust.
5. Herbert was also elected for [[Monmouthshire (UK Parliament constituency). Monmouthshire]], which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Woodstock
6. (1845). "The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive". Simpkin, Marshall, & Co..
7. "New Woodstock".
8. (7 February 1874). "Advertisements & Notices". [[Oxford Journal]].
9. (1977). "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885". Macmillan Press.
10. (20 March 1880). "Liberal Meeting at Kidlington". [[Oxford Journal]].
11. (1974). "British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918". Macmillan Press.