East Retford (UK Parliament constituency)
| East Retford | |
|---|---|
| Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons |
|
| 1572–1885 | |
| Number of members | two |
| Replaced by | Bassetlaw |
| Created from | Nottinghamshire |
East Retford was a parliamentary constituency in Nottinghamshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons for the first time in 1316, and continuously from 1571 until 1885, when the constituency was abolished. Although East Retford was technically a parliamentary borough for the whole of its existence, in 1830 its franchise had been widened and its boundaries had been extended to include the whole Wapentake of Bassetlaw as a remedy for corruption among the voters, and from that point onward it resembled a county constituency in most respects.
East Retford first sent members to Parliament in 1316, but thereafter the privilege lapsed until the borough was once more summoned to do so in 1571, probably at the instigation of the Earl of Rutland. Certainly, he considered himself entitled to influence its choice of members, and 1586 wrote to the borough asking for the nomination of one or both of the representatives; the borough authorities replied respectfully that "Having considered the matter" they felt themselves "bound to satisfy you in that and any other much weightier thing. May it please you, therefore, to make choice and nominate and we will ratify it." However, they went on to note that they would be particularly happy to oblige if the Earl were to renominate the sitting member, Denzil Holles (who may well have been his nominee at the previous election), and since Rutland proved happy to do so, the proprieties were observed without any hardship. The Earls of Rutland retained their influence in Retford for several decades, often holding the municipal post of High Steward.
The borough consisted initially of the parish of East Retford, a market town which by 1830 had a population of around 2,500. By the end of the 17th century, the right to vote was restricted to the resident freemen of the town, but there was some dispute over who had a right to claim the freedom. (The House of Commons debated the borough's franchise seven times in a few years following 1700, coming to a different resolution each time, and never definitively settling all the details.) East Retford was not subject to the abuses common in many other freeman boroughs, where non-resident freemen could often vote and outnumbered the residents, but as elsewhere the town corporation was able to exert considerable control by deciding who to admit as freemen. In the second half of the 18th century, the qualified electorate amounted to about 150.
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