Bradford was a

parliamentary constituency 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 ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

from

1832 Events January–March * January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. * January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white pla ...

until it was abolished for the 1885 general election. It was then split into three new constituencies: Bradford Central, Bradford East, and

Bradford West Bradford West is a constituency in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Naz Shah of the Labour Party. Constituency profile Bradford West covers the Bradford city centre, Manningham, Allerton an ...

Boundaries

The constituency was based upon the town of

, in the

. It was enfranchised as a two-member

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 ...

from 1832. Before 1832 the area was only represented as part of the county constituency of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. After 1832 the non-resident

Forty Shilling Freeholders Forty-shilling freeholders were those who had the parliamentary franchise to vote by virtue of possessing freehold property, or lands held directly of the king, of an annual rent of at least forty shillings (i.e. £2 or 3 marks), clear of all ...

of the area continued to qualify for a county vote (initially in the

seat, and from 1865 in a division of the West Riding). Bradford, as a new parliamentary borough, had no voters enfranchised under the ancient rights preserved by 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 ...

. All voters qualified under the new uniform, borough householder franchise. The area was incorporated as a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

in 1847, covering the parishes of Bradford, Horton and Manningham. Bradford was expanded in 1882 to include Allerton,

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

Bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

, Heaton, Thornbury and

Tyersal Tyersal is a village east of Bradford and west of Leeds, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 2,605 according to Bradford Community Statistics Project. The district is split between both Bradford metropolitan boro ...

l. However the parliamentary boundaries were not affected until the redistribution of 1885. After the expanded borough was divided into three single member seats in 1885, Bradford became a county borough with the passing of the

Local Government Act 1888 The Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect ...

. The county borough was granted

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 ...

Letters Patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

in 1897.

Members of Parliament

Two MPs were elected at each general election. The table below shows the election years in which one or both of the MPs changed.

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

* Caused by Lister's death

Elections in the 1850s

* Caused by the death of Busfield.

Elections in the 1860s

* Caused by Ripley's election at the 1868 general election being declared void. * Caused by Forster's appointment as Vice-President of the Committee of the Privy Council for Education. * Caused by Wickham's death. * Caused by Salt's resignation.

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

* Caused by Forster's appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

References

{{Bradford Constituencies Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1832 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1885 Politics of Bradford