Seaford (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
The UK parliamentary constituency of Seaford was a Cinque Port constituency, similar to a parliamentary borough
Parliamentary borough
Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

, in Seaford, East Sussex
Seaford, East Sussex
Seaford is a coastal town in the county of East Sussex, on the south coast of England. Lying east of Newhaven and Brighton and west of Eastbourne, it is the largest town in Lewes district, with a population of about 23,000....

. A rotten borough
Rotten borough
A "rotten", "decayed" or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament....

, prone by size to undue influence by a patron, it was disenfranchised in the Reform Act of 1832
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...

. It was notable for having returned three Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

s as its members - Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham was a British Whig statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 27 August 1743 until his death in 1754...

, who represented the town from 1717 to 1722, William Pitt the Elder from 1747 to 1754 and George Canning
George Canning
George Canning PC, FRS was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.-Early life: 1770–1793:...

 in 1827 - though only Canning was Prime Minister while representing Seaford.

Enfranchisement and re-establishment

Seaford was a Cinque Port constituency, which was technically a separate category although in practice it was to all intents and purposes a parliamentary borough
Parliamentary borough
Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

. The Cinque Ports were not under the jurisdiction of the counties in which they stood, and as a result were not represented in the earliest English parliaments because the boroughs were chosen by sheriffs from the towns within their counties. However, Seaford itself was not one of the seven Cinque Ports, and was summoned to send members to the Parliament of 1298 while they - including the much more important town of Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

 of which Seaford was theoretically a subordinate part - remained unrepresented.

Seaford continued to return MPs on an irregular basis for a century, by which time the seven Cinque Ports had also been enfranchised, but ceased to do so after 1399. In 1544, Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 granted the town a charter as a port in its own right, separate from Hastings, but it was another 97 years before its right to elect MPs was restored, by a resolution of the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

 on 4 February 1641. This made it one of the last boroughs to be acquire the right to vote before the Great Reform Act - only Newark
Newark (UK Parliament constituency)
Newark is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 1885, it has elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 and Durham, enfranchised during the reign of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, came later. The Commons resolution stated that Seaford "shall be restored to that its ancient Privilege of sending Burgesses to Parliament", implying that Seaford was to be regarded as a borough (the representatives of Cinque Ports were referred to as "barons" rather than "burgesses"), but Seaford was nevertheless treated subsequently as a cinque port constituency.

Boundaries, franchise and patronage

The borough consisted of the parish of Seaford
Seaford, East Sussex
Seaford is a coastal town in the county of East Sussex, on the south coast of England. Lying east of Newhaven and Brighton and west of Eastbourne, it is the largest town in Lewes district, with a population of about 23,000....

, a small town which had ceased to have much value as a port after the destruction of its harbour by storms at the end of the 16th century. At the time of the Reform Act in 1832, its population was just over 1,000, and the town contained 201 houses.

Like most small boroughs in the Unreformed Parliament, Seaford came under the influence of a series of "patrons" (local magnates who were allowed to choose both the borough's MPs in return for favours to the town and the voters); but, as in the other cinque ports, there was also a powerful government interest, since a large number of the voters were employed as customs and excise
Her Majesty's Customs and Excise
HM Customs and Excise was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax , Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and...

 officers. From before the end of the 17th century, the Pelham family could generally nominate one of the two MPs. However, the personal influence of the Pelhams became so intertwined with government patronage during the administrations of Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham was a British Whig statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 27 August 1743 until his death in 1754...

 and his brother the Duke of Newcastle
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.A protégé of Sir Robert Walpole, he served...

 that Namier argues that when Newcastle went into opposition in 1762 the new government might easily have turned Seaford into a permanent "Treasury borough", had it made efforts to do so.

The right to vote was at first restricted to the freemen
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...

 of the town, but a decision of the House of Commons after a disputed election in 1671 pronounced that the right to vote extended to "the populacy", which was taken in practice to mean all resident householders paying scot and lot
Scot and lot
Scot and lot is a phrase common in the records of English medieval boroughs, applied to householders who were assessed for a tax paid to the borough for local or national purposes.They were usually members of a merchant guild.Before the Reform Act 1832, those who paid scot and bore...

. (This interpretation was re-affirmed by the Commons following another disputed election in 1792.) This was, nevertheless, a restrictive franchise in a town that was not prosperous, and there were only 94 qualified voters in 1831. Indeed, during the 18th century the Duke of Newcastle deliberately restricted the number of voters to those on whose loyalties he could depend, and successfully resisted an election petition in 1761 which would have widened the electorate to include all inhabitants not receiving alms. (This would have enfranchised many poorer voters which the petitioner, defeated candidate George Medley, hoped would be amenable to bribery.) Newcastle's control depended on his having a majority on the town corporation, which was responsible for rating inhabitants for scot and lot and therefore could exclude an inhabitant from voting simply by declaring him not liable to the local tax.

After Newcastle's death the Treasury initially gained complete control of Seaford, but the disfranchisement of the customs officers by Crewe's Act in 1782 reduced the electorate to 24, leaving the majority finely balanced. Throughout the 1780s a struggle for control continued, fought out both through a series of election petitions in the House of Commons and by legal action against the corporation at the quarter sessions
Quarter Sessions
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...

. Oldfield, the contemporary historian of electoral abuses, was one of the agents engaged in this contest, and details its course at length. The excluded residents eventually won their right to be rated for scot and lot, and with it their votes, while non-resident honorary freemen created by the corporation were excluded, and the government influence thereafter was minimal.

In the early 19th century the patrons were John Leach
John Leach (Judge)
Sir John Leach, KC was an English judge.-Life:The son of Richard Leach, a coppersmith of Bedford, he was born in that town on 28 Augusr 1760. After leaving Bedford grammar school he became a pupil of Sir Robert Taylor the architect...

 and Charles Rose Ellis
Charles Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford
Charles Rose Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford , was a British politician.Ellis was elected to the House of Commons for Heytesbury in 1793, a seat he held until 1796, and then represented Seaford from 1796 to 1806 and from 1812 to 1826 and East Grinstead from 1807 to 1812...

, who used his influence to occupy one of the seats himself for many years; his elevation to the peerage as Lord Seaford in 1826 may have owed not a little to his commanding a seat in the House of Commons.

Abolition

Seaford was too small a borough to survive the Reform Act, and lost both its MPs. From 1832, the town was included in the Eastern Sussex
East Sussex (UK Parliament constituency)
East Sussex was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Sussex, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system....

 county division.

Members of Parliament

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
1641
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

Francis Gerard
Sir Francis Gerard, 2nd Baronet
Sir Francis Gerard, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1641 and 1660....

Parliamentarian Sir Thomas Parker Parliamentarian
December 1648 Gerard excluded in Pride's Purge
Pride's Purge
Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

 - seat vacant
Parker not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
Pride's Purge
Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

1653 Seaford was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
Barebones Parliament
Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector...

 and the First
First Protectorate Parliament
The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....

 and Second
Second Protectorate Parliament
The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons...

 Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659
Third Protectorate Parliament
The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons...

Nicholas Meredith  James Thurbarne
James Thurbarne
James Thurbarne was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1656 and 1679.Thurbarne was the second son of James Thurbarne lawyer of New Romney, Kent and his wife Mary Estcourt, daughter of Giles Estcourt of Salisbury, Wiltshire. He was a lawyer and became...

 
May 1659
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....

Not represented in the restored Rump
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....

April 1660 Sir Thomas Dyke
Thomas Dyke (MP for Seaford)
Sir Thomas Dyke was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1666.Dyke was born at Ninfield, Sussex, the son of Thomas Dyke of Horsham, Waldron, Sussex. He was admitted at St John's College, Cambridge on 29 April 1635 aged 16. In 1636, he was admitted at Inner Temple...

George Parker
1661 Sir William Thomas
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1681.Thomas was created Baronet of Folkington in the County of Sussex, created in the Baronetage of England on 23 July 1660. He was Member of Parliament for Seaford from 1661 to 1681...

1670 Francis Gratwick
10 February 1671 Robert Morley
23 February 1671 Sir Nicholas Pelham
Nicholas Pelham
Sir Nicholas Pelham was a British politician.The third son of Sir Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baronet , Pelham was educated at Christ Church, Oxford....

1679 Herbert Stapley
1681 Edward Montagu
Edward Montagu (1649-1690)
Edward Montagu was an English politician, the son of Hon. George Montagu. He was the MP for Northamptonshire and Seaford .-References:...

Edward Selwyn
1685 Sir William Thomas
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1681.Thomas was created Baronet of Folkington in the County of Sussex, created in the Baronetage of England on 23 July 1660. He was Member of Parliament for Seaford from 1661 to 1681...

1689 William Campion
William Campion (1640-1702)
William Campion was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1689 and 1702.Campion was the son of Sir William Campion of Combwell, and his wife Grace Parker, daughter of Sir Thomas Parker of Ratton Sussex...

Sir Nicholas Pelham
Nicholas Pelham
Sir Nicholas Pelham was a British politician.The third son of Sir Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baronet , Pelham was educated at Christ Church, Oxford....

1690 Henry Pelham
1695 William Lowndes
23 July 1698 Sir William Thomas
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1681.Thomas was created Baronet of Folkington in the County of Sussex, created in the Baronetage of England on 23 July 1660. He was Member of Parliament for Seaford from 1661 to 1681...

31 December 1698 William Campion
William Campion (1640-1702)
William Campion was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1689 and 1702.Campion was the son of Sir William Campion of Combwell, and his wife Grace Parker, daughter of Sir Thomas Parker of Ratton Sussex...

1701 Sir William Thomas
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1681.Thomas was created Baronet of Folkington in the County of Sussex, created in the Baronetage of England on 23 July 1660. He was Member of Parliament for Seaford from 1661 to 1681...

27 January 1702 Thomas Chowne
21 July 1702 Sir William Thomas
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet
Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1681.Thomas was created Baronet of Folkington in the County of Sussex, created in the Baronetage of England on 23 July 1660. He was Member of Parliament for Seaford from 1661 to 1681...

1706 George Naylor
1710 Thomas Chowne
1713 George Naylor
1715 Sir William Ashburnham, Bt
Sir William Ashburnham, 2nd Baronet
Sir William Ashburnham, 2nd Baronet was a British politician.He was the older son of Sir Denny Ashburnham, 1st Baronet and Anne Watkins, daughter of Sir David Watkins. In 1697, he succeeded his father as baronet. Ashburnham was a Member of Parliament for Hastings in the Parliament of Great...

1717 Hon. Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham was a British Whig statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 27 August 1743 until his death in 1754...

Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

1722 Sir William Gage, Bt Sir Philip Yorke
Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke
Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke PC was an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord Chancellor. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1754 and 1756 and 1757 until 1762....

Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

1734 William Hay
1744 William Hall Gage
William Gage, 2nd Viscount Gage
William Hall Gage, 2nd Viscount Gage was born to Thomas Gage and Benedicta Maria Theresa Hall. He was equerry to the Prince of Wales and also served five terms as Member of Parliament representing the Seaford borough of Sussex.In 1780, Lord Gage was created Baron Gage in the Peerage of Great...

1747 William Pitt Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

1754 The Viscount Gage
William Gage, 2nd Viscount Gage
William Hall Gage, 2nd Viscount Gage was born to Thomas Gage and Benedicta Maria Theresa Hall. He was equerry to the Prince of Wales and also served five terms as Member of Parliament representing the Seaford borough of Sussex.In 1780, Lord Gage was created Baron Gage in the Peerage of Great...

1755 James Peachey
1768 George Medley
13 September 1780 John Durand John Robinson
4 December 1780 Christopher D'Oyly
1784 Henry Nevill
Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny
Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny KT MA was a British peer, styled Viscount Nevill from 1784 to 1785...

Sir Peter Parker, Bt
Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet was a British naval officer.-Naval career:Peter Parker was born probably in Ireland. He became a lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1743 and captain in 1747. In 1761, he took command of HMS Buckingham and helped cover operations on Belle Île...

Tory
1785  Sir John Henderson, Bt Tory
1786 Henry Flood
Henry Flood
Henry Flood , Irish statesman, son of Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became proficient in the classics...

Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

Sir Godfrey Webster, Bt Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

1790 John Sargent Tory Richard Paul Jodrell
Richard Paul Jodrell
Richard Paul Jodrell was a classical scholar and playwright.Jodrell was descended from an ancient family, originally of Derbyshire, and afterwards of Staffordshire. His great-grandfather, Paul Jodrell, who died in 1728, was for 43 years; Clerk of the House of Commons of Great Britain...

Tory
1785 John Tarleton Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

1794 Richard Paul Jodrell
Richard Paul Jodrell
Richard Paul Jodrell was a classical scholar and playwright.Jodrell was descended from an ancient family, originally of Derbyshire, and afterwards of Staffordshire. His great-grandfather, Paul Jodrell, who died in 1728, was for 43 years; Clerk of the House of Commons of Great Britain...

Tory
1796 Charles Rose Ellis Tory George Ellis Tory
1802 Richard Joseph Sullivan
Sir Richard Sullivan, 1st Baronet
Sir Richard Joseph Sullivan, 1st Baronet was a British MP and writer.-Biography:He was born the third son of Benjamin Sullivan of Dromeragh, Co. Cork, by his wife Bridget, daughter of Paul Limrick, D.D....

Tory
28 July 1806 John Leach
John Leach (Judge)
Sir John Leach, KC was an English judge.-Life:The son of Richard Leach, a coppersmith of Bedford, he was born in that town on 28 Augusr 1760. After leaving Bedford grammar school he became a pupil of Sir Robert Taylor the architect...

Tory
31 October 1806 George Hibbert
George Hibbert
George Hibbert was an eminent English merchant, politician, slave- and ship-owner, amateur botanist and book collector. With Robert Milligan, he was also one of the principals of the West India Dock Company which instigated the construction of the West India Docks on London's Isle of Dogs in 1800...

Tory
1812 Charles Rose Ellis Tory
1816 Sir Charles Cockerell, Bt Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

1818 George Watson-Taylor Tory
1820 George Welbore Agar-Ellis
George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover
George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover PC FRS FSA was a British politician and man of letters. He was briefly First Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord Grey between 1830 and 1831.-Background and education:...

Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

1826 John Fitzgerald Tory Augustus Frederick Ellis Tory
20 April 1827 George Canning
George Canning
George Canning PC, FRS was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.-Early life: 1770–1793:...

Tory
5 September 1827 Augustus Frederick Ellis Tory
1831 William Lyon
William Lyon
William A. Lyon was an American film editor, from 1935 to 1971.He was born in Texas, and died in California. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing six times, and won twice, for From Here to Eternity and Picnic .-External links:...

Tory
1832
United Kingdom general election, 1832
-Seats summary:-Parties and leaders at the general election:The Earl Grey had been Prime Minister since 22 November 1830. His was the first predominantly Whig administration since the Ministry of all the Talents in 1806-1807....

Constituency abolished


Notes
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