Denbigh District of Boroughs (variously referred to as Denbigh District, Denbigh Boroughs or just Denbigh) 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 ...

centred on the town of

Denbigh Denbigh ( ; ) is a market town and a community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. It was the original county town of the Denbighshire (historic), historic county of Denbighshire created in 1536. Denbigh's Welsh name () translates to ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

. The constituency first returned an MP in 1542, to the

English Parliament 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 bishops and peers that advised th ...

. From 1707 to 1800, the MPs sat in the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

, and after the

Act of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of G ...

, in 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 ...

. The constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

From its first known general election in 1542 until 1918, the constituency consisted of a number of boroughs within the historic county of

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

in Wales. The seat should not be confused with the county constituency of

, which existed from the sixteenth century until 1885. The county was divided into East Denbighshire and West Denbighshire between 1885 and 1918. After 1918 Denbighshire was represented in Parliament by two single member county constituencies, which included all the boroughs formerly in the Denbigh District of Boroughs. One of these was

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, but the other was the

division of Denbighshire.

''Denbigh'' (1535–1832)

On the basis of information from several volumes of the ''History of Parliament'', it is apparent that the history of the borough representation from Wales and Monmouthshire is more complicated than that of the English boroughs. The

Laws in Wales Act 1535 Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

( 26 Hen. 8. c. 26) provided for a single borough seat for each of 11 of the 12 Welsh counties and Monmouthshire. The legislation was ambiguous as to which communities were enfranchised. The county towns were awarded a seat, but this in some fashion represented all the ancient boroughs of the county as the others were required to contribute to the members wages. It was not clear if the burgesses of the contributing boroughs could take part in the election. The only election under the original scheme was for the 1542 parliament. It seems that only burgesses from the county towns actually took part. The Parliament Act 1543 ( 35 Hen. 8. c. 11) confirmed that the contributing boroughs could send representatives to take part in the election at the county town. As far as can be told from surviving indentures of returns, the degree to which the out boroughs participated varied, but by the end of the sixteenth century all the seats had some participation from them at some elections at least. The original scheme was modified by later legislation and decisions of the House of Commons (which were sometimes made with no regard to precedent or evidence: for example in 1728 it was decided that only the freemen of the borough of Montgomery could participate in the election for that seat, thus disenfranchising the freemen of Llanidloes, Welshpool and Llanfyllin). In the case of Denbighshire, the county town was Denbigh. The out boroughs were

Chirk Chirk () is a town and Community (Wales), community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the historic counties of Wales, traditional coun ...

, Holt, and Ruthin. At some point, between 1603 and 1690, Chirk ceased to participate. In 1690–1790 the freemen of the three remaining boroughs were entitled to vote. There were about 1,400 electors in 1715 (including non-resident freemen). This number was reduced to about 400 after 1744, when only resident freemen were allowed to vote. The electorate increased to about 500 in the 1754–1790 period.

''Denbigh Boroughs'' (1832–1918)

This was a district of boroughs constituency, which grouped a number of

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 in Denbighshire into one single member constituency. The voters from each participating borough cast ballots, which were added together over the whole district to decide the result of the poll. The enfranchised communities in this district, from 1832, were the four boroughs of

, Holt,

Ruthin Ruthin ( ; ) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and Rhewl. The name comes from the Welsh ''rhud ...

, and

. The exact boundaries of the parliamentary boroughs in the district were altered by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1868, but the general nature of the constituency was unchanged. There were no further boundary changes in the 1885 redistribution of parliamentary seats.

After 1918

In the redistribution of seats which took place at the

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

, the Denbigh Boroughs constituency was abolished, along with the two county divisions of East Denbighshire and West Denbighshire. They were replaced by a new

county division 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 "constituenc ...

called

, which comprised the whole of the county, except for the

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 ...

of Wrexham and part of the Chirk Rural District which formed the Wrexham division. The local authorities in the Denbigh division were the Municipal Boroughs of Denbigh and Ruthin; the

Urban District An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

s of

Abergele Abergele (; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community, situated on the north coast of Wales between the holiday resorts of Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, in Conwy County Borough. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county b ...

and Pensarn,

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

and Colwyn,

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community (Wales), community, situated on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Val ...

, and

Llanrwst ; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is on the east bank of the River Conwy and the A470 road, and lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (histori ...

; as well as the

Rural District A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. I ...

s of

, Llansillin,

, St Asaph (Denbigh), Uwchaled, part of Chirk, and the part of Glan Conway not in

Caernarvonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...

Members of Parliament

MPs 1542–1660

As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments held in this period, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given. Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry ''unknown'' is entered in the table.

MPs 1660–1918

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

A petition was lodged but was withdrawn after a recount. The original count gave the Conservatives 2,438 votes and the Lib-Lab candidate 2,430 votes.

References

* ''Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972) * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977) * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974) * ''The House of Commons 1509–1558'', by S.T. Bindoff (Secker & Warburg 1982) * ''The House of Commons 1558–1603'', by P.W. Hasler (HMSO 1981) * ''The House of Commons 1690–1715'', by Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley and D.W. Hayton (Cambridge University Press 2002) * ''The House of Commons 1715–1754'', by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970) * ''The House of Commons 1754–1790'', by Sir

Lewis Namier Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were '' The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Ame ...

and John Brooke (HMSO 1964) * ''The Parliaments of England'' by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Denbigh (Uk Parliament Constituency) Historic parliamentary constituencies in North Wales History of Denbighshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1542 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1918 pl:Okręg wyborczy Denbigh