East Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency)
| East Cumberland | |
|---|---|
| Former County constituency for the House of Commons |
|
| 1832–1885 | |
| Number of members | two |
| Replaced by | Cockermouth, Eskdale and Penrith |
| Created from | Cumberland |
East Cumberland is a former county constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election.
In 1832 the historic county of Cumberland, in north west England, was split for parliamentary purposes into two county divisions. These were the East division (with a place of election at Carlisle) and West Cumberland (where voting took place at Cockermouth). Each division returned two members to Parliament.
The only parliamentary borough included in the East division, between 1832-1885, (whose non-resident 40 shilling freeholders voted in the county constituency) was Carlisle. (Source: Stooks Smith).
The first two Members of Parliament for this division were the last pair of representatives for the undivided county before the 1832 general election.
On the formation of Earl Grey's administration in 1830 Sir James Graham had received the post of First Lord of the Admiralty, with a seat in the cabinet. He resigned over the Irish Church question in 1834, and eventually joined the Conservatives in 1837. His former constituents did not re-elect Sir James when he sought election as a Tory at the 1837 general election.
The division proved to be favourable to the Liberal Party as no Conservative was elected until after the Reform Act 1867 and the party never held both seats simultaneously. In 1868 and again in 1880 a Conservative MP was returned.
The Howard family (whose head was the Earl of Carlisle) seem to have had influence in the constituency. The sixth son of the 6th Earl of Carlisle, the Honourable Charles Howard, represented the division from 1840 until his death in 1879. He was joined by Edward Howard in the representation of the constituency in 1876. Charles Howard's son George was the third Howard to sit for the constituency.
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