# County Durham (UK Parliament constituency)

Durham or County Durham was a county constituency in northern England, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1675 until 1832.

## History

The constituency consisted of the whole county of Durham (including the enclaves of Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlington, all situated within the boundaries of Northumberland and now part of that county, and of Crayke, now in North Yorkshire).
Because of its semi-autonomous status as a county palatine, Durham had not been represented in Parliament during the medieval period; from 1543 it was the only part of England which elected no MPs. In 1621, Parliament passed a bill to enfranchise the county, but James I refused it the royal assent, as he considered that the House of Commons already had too many members and that some decayed boroughs should be abolished first; a similar bill in 1624 failed to pass the House of Lords. During the Commonwealth, County Durham was allowed to send members to the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate, though the privilege was not maintained when Parliament reverted to its earlier electoral arrangements from 1658. After the Restoration, Durham's right to return MPs was recognised in 1661, and finally confirmed by the Durham (Representation of) Act 1672 (25 Cha. 2. c. 9); however, it did not come into effect until 1675 when the Speaker was authorised to issue his warrant. The county returned two members, and the same act also established Durham City as a parliamentary borough with its own two members.
As in other county constituencies, until 1832 the franchise was defined by the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act 1430, which gave the right to vote to every man who possessed freehold property within the county valued at £2 or more per year for the purposes of land tax; it was not necessary for the freeholder to occupy his land, nor even in later years to be resident in the county at all.
By the time of the Reform Act 1832, the county had a population of just over 250,000, although this was slightly reduced by the boundary changes which severed the enclaves and made them part of Northumberland or the North Riding of Yorkshire for parliamentary purposes. The electorate was only a fraction of this number: at the general election of 1790, 5,578 voted, and in 1820 the number was only 3,741. Although nobody could exert the degree of control over the voters that was common in many boroughs, several of the major local landowners had significant influence, in particular the Vane Earls of Darlington.
In 1832 the county's representation was doubled, and the constituency divided into two new two-member constituencies, North Durham and South Durham.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | | First member | First party | | Second member | Second party |
| 1654 | | George Lilburne | | | Robert Lilburne | |
| 1656 | | Thomas Lilburne | | | James Clavering, Bt | |
| June 1675 | | John Tempest | Royalist | | Thomas Vane | |
| October 1675 | | John Tempest | Royalist | | Christopher Vane | |
| February 1679 | | John Tempest | Anti-exclusionist | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Anti-exclusionist |
| August 1679 | | William Bowes | Unclear | | Thomas Fetherstonhalgh | |
| 1681 | | William Bowes | Unclear | | Thomas Fetherstonhalgh | |
| 1685 | | Robert Byerley | Tory | | William Lambton | Tory |
| 1689 | | Robert Byerley | Tory | | William Lambton | Tory |
| 1690 | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Tory | | William Lambton | Tory |
| 1695 | | Sir William Bowes | Unclear | | William Lambton | Tory |
| 1698 | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Country/Tory | | Lionel Vane | Unclear |
| 1701 (Jan) | | William Lambton | Tory | | Lionel Vane | Unclear |
| 1701 (Nov) | | William Lambton | Tory | | Lionel Vane | Whig |
| 1702 | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Tory | | Sir William Bowes | Unclear |
| 1705 | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Tory | | Sir William Bowes | Unclear |
| 1707 | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Tory | | John Tempest | Tory |
| 1708 | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Tory | | William Vane, of West Auckland | Whig |
| 1710 | | Sir Robert Eden, Bt | Tory | | William Lambton | Tory |
| 1713 | | Sir John Eden | Tory | | John Hedworth | Independent Whig |
| 1715 | | Sir John Eden | Tory | | John Hedworth | Independent Whig |
| 1722 | | Sir John Eden | Tory | | John Hedworth | Independent Whig |
| 1727 | | George Bowes | Whig | | John Hedworth | Independent Whig |
| 1734 | | George Bowes | Whig | | John Hedworth | Independent Whig |
| 1741 | | George Bowes | Whig | | John Hedworth | Independent Whig |
| 1747 | | George Bowes | Patriot Whig | | Hon. Henry Vane | Whig |
| 1753 by-election | | George Bowes | Patriot Whig | | Hon. Henry Vane | Whig |
| 1754 | | George Bowes | Patriot Whig | | Hon. Henry Vane | Whig |
| 1758 by-election | | George Bowes | Patriot Whig | | Captain the Hon. Raby Vane | |
| 1760 by-election | | Robert Shafto | Tory (probable) | | Captain the Hon. Raby Vane | |
| 1761 | | Robert Shafto | Tory (probable) | | Hon. Frederick Vane | |
| 1768 | | Sir Thomas Clavering, Bt | Whig | | Hon. Frederick Vane | |
| 1774 | | Sir Thomas Clavering, Bt | Whig | | Sir John Eden, Bt | Whig |
| 1780 | | Sir Thomas Clavering, Bt | Whig | | Sir John Eden, Bt | Whig |
| 1784 | | Sir Thomas Clavering, Bt | Whig | | Sir John Eden, Bt | Whig |
| 1790 | | Rowland Burdon | Tory | | Captain Ralph Milbanke | Whig |
| 1796 | | Rowland Burdon | Tory | | Captain Ralph Milbanke | Whig |
| 1802 | | Rowland Burdon | Tory | | Captain Ralph Milbanke | Whig |
| 1806 | | Sir Thomas Liddell, Bt | Tory | | Captain Ralph Milbanke | Whig |
| 1807 | | Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, Bt | Tory | | Captain Ralph Milbanke | Whig |
| 1812 | | Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, Bt | Tory | | Viscount Barnard | Whig |
| 1813 by-election | | John George Lambton | Radical | | Viscount Barnard | Whig |
| 1815 by-election | | John George Lambton | Radical | | Hon. William Powlett | Whig |
| 1818 | | John George Lambton | Radical | | Hon. William Powlett | Whig |
| 1820 | | John George Lambton | Radical | | Hon. William Powlett | Whig |
| 1826 | | John George Lambton | Radical | | Hon. William Powlett | Whig |
| 1828 by-election | | William Russell | Whig | | Hon. William Powlett | Whig |
| 1830 | | William Russell | Whig | | Hon. William Powlett | Whig |
| 1831 | | William Russell | Whig | | Sir Hedworth Williamson, Bt | Whig |
| 1832 | Constituency divided. See North Durham and South Durham | Constituency divided. See North Durham and South Durham | Constituency divided. See North Durham and South Durham | Constituency divided. See North Durham and South Durham | Constituency divided. See North Durham and South Durham | Constituency divided. See North Durham and South Durham |
Notes
* ↑ "Durham County | History of Parliament Online". www.histparl.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
* ↑ Britain, Great (1832). The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Passed in the ... [1807-69]. His Majesty's statute and law Printers. p. 308.
* ↑ Hedworth died before the end of the Parliament but a dissolution was called before a writ for a by-election had been issued
* ↑ Styled Viscount Barnard from 1754
* ↑ Sir Ralph Milbanke from 1793