Until the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

, there were eight

constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...

and its successors related to the

Cinque Ports The confederation of Cinque Ports ( ) is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to ...

. The cinque port constituencies were slightly different from

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

s. The 1832 Act abolished most such distinctions, and disfranchised some of the cinque ports as

rotten Rotten may refer to: * Axl Rotten, ring name of American professional wrestler Brian Knighton (1971–2016) * Bonnie Rotten, American former pornographic actress, feature dancer, fetish model, and director * Ian Rotten, ring name of American profe ...

List

The eight constituencies were: * the original five Cinque Ports: **

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

** Hythe (reduced to one member 1832) **

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

(abolished 1832) **

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

* the two Ancient Towns: **

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

(abolished 1832) **

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a town in the county of East Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The current town, which was founded in 1288, replaced an earli ...

(abolished 1832) * one connected town: ** Seaford (abolished 1832)

Peculiarities

The ways in which the cinque ports differed from parliamentary boroughs included: * Whereas the MPs from a borough were called "burgesses" (or "citizens" in a borough with

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, ci ...

) those from a cinque port were called

barons Barons may refer to: *Baron (plural), a rank of nobility *Barons (surname), a Latvian surname *Barons, Alberta, Canada * ''Barons'' (TV series), a 2022 Australian drama series * ''The Barons'', a 2009 Belgian film Sports * Birmingham Barons, a Min ...

. Barons had higher precedence than other MPs: whereas burgesses and citizens were called to a new Parliament on the first day, and

knights of the shire Knight of the shire () was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 en ...

(elected for

county constituencies In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constituen ...

) on the second day, the barons were summoned to the Commons on the third day, along with the peers to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. * Whereas the returning officer in a borough was the mayor or other head of the

municipal corporation Municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally o ...

, the returning officer in the cinque ports was the

Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is the name of a ceremonial post in the United Kingdom. The post dates from at least the 12th century, when the title was Keeper of the Coast, but it may be older. The Lord Warden was originally in charge of the ...

* Until the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

, the Lord Warden claimed the right to nominate one of the two members returned by each cinque port. This right was contested by the corporations. In the 1620s, Sandwich and Dover burgesses objected to Lord Zouche's nominees; the Sandwich objection was rejected, while that of Dover was accepted and the MPs unseated. The right was definitively extinguished by the Parliamentary Elections Act 1689 (2 Will. & Mary c.7).

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * {{cite book , title=The History of Parliament , volume=House of Commons 1660–1690 , last= Henning , first=Basil Duke , editor1-last= Henning , editor1-first=Basil Duke , chapter-url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/constituencies/cinque-ports , chapter=Cinque Ports , publisher=History of Parliament Online rig. Boydell and Brewer, access-date=7 April 2017