The City of York was a constituency represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It elected one

Member of Parliament (MP) A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often ...

by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system of election.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of York. 1950–1974: As prior but with redrawn boundaries. 1974–1983: As prior but with redrawn boundaries. 1983–1997: As prior but County Borough of York renamed the City of York. 1997–2010: As prior but constituency renamed City of York. This constituency covered most of the city of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, though the outer parts of the city and local council area fell within the

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...

Vale of York The Vale of York is an area of flat land in the northeast of England. The vale is a major agricultural area and serves as the main north–south transport corridor for Northern England. The Vale of York is often supposed to stretch from the R ...

and

Ryedale Ryedale is a non-metropolitan district in North Yorkshire, England. It is in the Vale of Pickering, a low-lying flat area of land drained by the River Derwent. The Vale's landscape is rural with scattered villages and towns. It has been inh ...

constituencies.

History

By virtue of its importance, York was regularly represented in Parliament from an early date: it had been required to send delegates to the assembly of 1265, but no actual returns survive until the end of the 13th century. The structure of the civic government of the city provided the basis by which it elected its Parliamentary representatives. In the years following the city's Royal Charter, granted in the 1150s, power was held by a Lord Mayor and associated bailiffs. Further expansion of governance saw the establishment of coroners, sheriffs and aldermen. The appointment of twelve aldermen in 1399 led to the establishment of the City Council. Subsequently, other tiers of governance, such as the ''probi homines'' and the ''communitas'', would eventually provide the bodies for the election of MPs. Those who occupied such positions were all freemen of the city and frequently came form the mercantile classes rather than the nobility, and were considered the ''electorate'' of the city. In the beginnings of the constituency this electorate was about twenty four, but had risen to around seventy five by 1690. Early in the 18th century, the number of freemen being made had increased significantly and this further increased the electorate. By the election of 1830, there were about 3,800 registered voters. There was a period between 1581 and 1597 where elections were a two-stage process. In the first stage, member of the common chamber of the council and 50 freeholders cast votes and the top four contenders would progress to a second ballot. This ballot was conducted by the Lord Mayor and the aldermen and the top two would be returned as MPs. In 1597 this process was reduced to a single ballot whereby all of those in both the commons and assembly of York would cast two votes. The two contenders with the most votes were returned as MP. From 1628 the process became fully open, as previously the process had an element of pre-approval by the Lord mayor and the aldermen. A borough constituency consisting of the city of York has been represented in every Parliament since the

Model Parliament The Model Parliament is the term, attributed to Frederic William Maitland, used for the 1295 Parliament of England of King Edward I. History This assembly included members of the clergy and the aristocracy, as well as representatives from the v ...

of 1295. Until 1918, it returned two MPs; since then it has returned one. Until 1997, when its official name became City of York with no boundary changes,"Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies", BBC/ITN/PA News/Sky, 1995, p. 268. the constituency was usually simply called York. Following their review of parliamentary representation in North Yorkshire, the Boundary Commission for England recommended the creation of two new seats for the City of York. Both the City of York and Vale of York seats were abolished in 2010 and replaced by two new constituencies, namely York Central and York Outer.

Members of Parliament

1265-1660

Short Parliament * 1640: Sir Edward Osborne * 1640: Sir Roger Jaques

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

* 1640-1653: Sir William Allanson ( Parliamentarian) * 1640-1650: Thomas Hoyle ( Parliamentarian) - ''died January 1650''

Barebones Parliament Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the ins ...

* 1653: Thomas St. Nicholas

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the Ho ...

* 1654-1655: Sir Thomas Widdrington * 1654-1655: Thomas Dickinson

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in ...

* 1656: Sir Thomas Widdrington ''(Elected for more than one constituency, and did not sit for York in this Parliament)'' * 1656-1658: John Geldart * 1656-1658: Thomas Dickinson

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...

* 1659:

Christopher Topham Christopher Topham, member of Parliament for York (died 1670), was the son of York merchant and Sheriff for the city of York Christopher Topham and his wife Ann, a daughter of Percival Levett, merchant of York and also formerly a Sheriff for the c ...

* 1659: Thomas Dickinson Long Parliament (restored) * 1659-1660: Sir William Allanson; Thomas Hoyle, ''died, one seat vacant''

1660-1918

1918–2010

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Bayntun's death caused a by-election. * Lowther was not present for the election, as he was in France

Elections in the 1840s

Yorke's death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Westhead resigned, causing a by-election. Lowther was appointed

Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century u ...

, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1880s

Leeman's death caused a by-election.

Elections in the 1890s

Lockwood was appointed

Solicitor General for England and Wales His Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, known informally as the Solicitor General, is one of the law officers of the Crown in the government of the United Kingdom. They are the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to ad ...

, requiring a by-election. Lockwood's death caused a by-election. This result was subject to a recount, with the original result putting Beresford on 5,659 votes, and Furness with 5,648 votes. The recount then led to the above result. 17 ballot papers were reserved for judgement, of which 12 were in favour of Beresford. Beresford was told he was able to substantiate 11 ballot papers, while Furness was given an estimate of four, leading to Beresford being declared MP.

Elections in the 1900s

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; *Unionist: John Butcher *Liberal: Arnold Rowntree *Labour:

Henry Slesser Sir Herman Henry Slesser (born Schloesser; 12 July 1883 – 3 December 1979) was an English barrister and British Labour Party politician who served as Solicitor-General and Lord Justice of Appeal. He was born in London, the son of a leather ...

*''Representation reduced to one'' Sir John Butcher (Bain Collection)

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

Election in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 2000s

Notes and references

Notes References {{DEFAULTSORT:City Of York (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1265 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2010 Politics of York