Torrington (UK Parliament constituency)
| Torrington | |
|---|---|
| Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons |
|
| 1295–1372 | |
| Number of members | two |
| Devon, Torrington | |
|---|---|
| Former County constituency for the House of Commons |
|
| 1950–February 1974 | |
| Number of members | one |
| Replaced by | North Devon, Tiverton & West Devon |
| Created from | South Molton and Barnstaple |
Torrington was a county constituency centred on the town of Torrington in Devon. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election.
An earlier constituency called Torrington, a parliamentary borough consisting only of the town itself, returned members to some of the parliaments of the Middle Ages; it was not represented after 1372.
The Municipal Boroughs of Bideford, Great Torrington, and Okehampton, the Urban Districts of Crediton and Northam, and the Rural Districts of Bideford, Crediton, Okehampton, and Torrington.
Torrington, sometimes referred to as Chipping Torrington, was one of a number of English boroughs that were represented in Parliament only intermittently during the Middle Ages, and eventually lost the right completely; at this period, writs of election were directed to the sheriff of each county, and it was left to their discretion which towns were summoned to send burgesses. Torrington is unusual, however, in that clear evidence of its reluctance to return members survives - the cost of supporting its two MPs was considered much too detrimental to be offset by any benefits that came from being represented. Late in the reign of Edward III, the townsmen of Torrington petitioned the king
That they ought not to be so burdened with sending men, neither did they send any before the 21st of his reign, when the Sheriff maliciously returned into the Chancery, that the said town was a Borough, and so, from that year, by Pretext of the said Return, the town has been many times put to great pains and expenses, to their no small grievance and damage, and manifest impoverishing.
The petition was not entirely accurate, for Torrington had sent members to some 17 parliaments before the sheriff's "malicious" action, although it was true that the town was not represented in the three immediately preceding that date. The King accepted the petition, and granted Torrington a Patent of Exemption from being required to send members to Parliament; yet, notwithstanding this, they were called upon again to send MPs to two Parliaments in the next three years. After this, however, Torrington's name appears no more on the list of boroughs.
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