# Kent (UK Parliament constituency)

Kent was a parliamentary constituency covering the county of Kent in southeast England. It returned two "knights of the shire" (Members of Parliament) to the House of Commons by the bloc vote system from the year 1290. Members were returned to the Parliament of England until the Union with Scotland created the Parliament of Great Britain in 1707, and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom after the union with Ireland in 1801 until the county was divided by the Reform Act 1832.

## History
### Boundaries

The constituency consisted of the historic county of Kent. (Although Kent contained eight boroughs, each of which elected two MPs in its own right for part of the period when Kent was a constituency, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and the ownership of property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election. This was even the case for the city of Canterbury, which had the status of a county in itself: unlike those in almost all other counties of cities, Canterbury's freeholders were entitled to vote for Kent's MPs.)
The constituency boundaries may have theoretically encompassed a much larger area and population than would at first appear. After the American Revolution, it was apparently solemnly argued in Parliament that the rebels' complaint of no taxation without representation was mistaken, since "all the grants of land in America were to be held of the Manor of Greenwich in the County of Kent, and therefore the Knights of the Shire for the County of Kent represented all Americans". However, this somewhat flimsy argument - relying on an obsolete legal fiction dating back to the land ownership laws of the feudal system - seems not to have been received entirely respectfully even in the 18th century, and it is certainly not recorded that Kent's returning officer was ever bothered by American colonists demanding their right to vote.

### Franchise

In medieval times, the custom in Kent, as elsewhere, was for the MPs for the county and those for its boroughs to be elected on the same day at the county court, by the suitors to the court, which meant the tiny handful of the local nobility who were tenants in chief of the Crown. Thus we find it recorded that in the second year of the reign of Henry V, "In the County Court of Kent, held at Rochester, Four Coroners and Eight others present, chose the Knights for the County, and the same person elect two Citizens for Canterbury, and two for Rochester."
From 1430, the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act extended 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.
Except during the period of the Commonwealth in the mid 17th century, Kent had two MPs elected by the bloc vote method, under which each voter had two votes. In the nominated Barebones Parliament, five members represented Kent. In the First and Second Parliaments of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, however, there was a general redistribution of seats and Kent elected 11 members, though most of the county's boroughs lost one or both of their MPs. The traditional arrangements were restored from 1659.

### Political character

At the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Kent had a population of approximately 480,000, though only between 8,000 and 9,000 of these were qualified to vote at the start of the 19th century, and fewer than 4,000 actually voted at the last contested election, in 1818. It has been estimated that in this period around a third of Kent's voters were urban, spread among a couple of dozen medium-sized and small towns: Canterbury, Maidstone, Dover, Deal, Chatham and the growing resorts of Ramsgate and Margate were the biggest, but at the election of 1802 the pollbooks show that only Canterbury (with 384 voters) contributed more than 250 to the poll.
With the villages outvoting the towns by two to one, no particular local interest predominated. By custom, the choice was generally one member from East Kent and one from West Kent. The county's MPs were generally drawn from the leading local families of gentry, but rarely from the nobility, and the voters jealously guarded their independence: although important peers wielded significant influence at times - the Earl of Westmorland and Earl of Winchelsea at the turn of the 18th century for example, the Duke of Dorset sixty years later - it always fell far short of control over the outcome.
Elections were held at a single polling place, and voters from the rest of the county had to travel to the county town to exercise their franchise. It was normal for voters to expect the candidates for whom they voted to meet their expenses in travelling to the poll, making the cost of fighting an election substantial. Contested elections were therefore rare in most counties, but Kent was something of an exception: voters went to the polls at 14 of the 29 general elections between 1700 and 1832, a total exceeded only by Surrey among the other English counties.
Those elections which were contested seem rarely to have been decided on party lines, and too great an adherence to party loyalty by the MPs was sometimes resented. The voters also expected the solicitous attention of their members. Jupp reprints the resolutions passed by a County meeting of Kent freeholders in 1820:
   1. That it is essential to the honour and credit of this County, that it should be represented by two gentlemen constantly resident therein. 2. That it is the opinion of this Meeting that this county was in the last Parliament very inefficiently represented by one of its members, inasmuch as his residence was elsewhere, and the Freeholders were thereby deprived of that easy access and free communication which are essential between the constituent and the representative. 3. That it is the opinion of this meeting that the conduct of a County member in Parliament should be at all times marked by independence, equally free from subserviency to any Administration and unshackled by any Party indiscriminately hostile thereto. 4. That we cannot recognise in Mr Honywood's uniform opposition to every measure recently proposed in Parliament, for the purpose of restraining the career of sedition, blasphemy and crime, the influence of that elevated spirit, which should direct the actions of an independent representative for this great and enlightened County.
These sentiments were clearly not held universally, however, since the apostrophised Mr Honywood was re-elected at that year's election.

### Abolition

The constituency was abolished in 1832 by the Great Reform Act, being divided into two two-member county divisions, Eastern Kent and Western Kent.

## Members of Parliament
### MPs 1290–1660

* Constituency created (1290)
| Parliament | First member | Second member |
| 1372 | James Peckham | |
| 1376–1388 | Sir Thomas Fogge |
| 1377 (Oct) | James Peckham | John Freningham |
| 1378 | Sir Thomas Fogge | |
| 1380 (Nov) | Sir Thomas Fogge | William Guildford |
| 1381 | John Freningham | Sir Thomas Fogge |
| 1383 (Feb) | James Peckham | Sir Thomas Fogge |
| 1383 (Oct) | Sir Thomas Fogge | |
| 1384 (Nov) | Sir Thomas Fogge | William Guildford |
| 1386 | William Bettenham | Geoffrey Chaucer |
| 1388 (Feb) | Sir Thomas Fogge | James Peckham |
| 1388 (Sep) | William Bettenham | James Peckham |
| 1390 (Jan) | Sir Arnold Savage | John Cobham |
| 1390 (Nov) | Sir Arnold Savage | Sir Thomas Cobham |
| 1391 | Sir Arnold Savage | Nicholas Potyn |
| 1393 | Sir William Burcester | Nicholas Potyn |
| 1394 | Sir William Pecche | John Cobham |
| 1395 | Sir Nicholas Haute | Thomas Brockhill |
| 1397 (Jan) | Nicholas Potyn | Thomas Brockhill |
| 1397 (Sep) | Sir William Pecche | John Cobham |
| 1399 | John Freningham | Thomas Brockhill |
| 1401 | Sir Arnold Savage | Robert Clifford |
| 1402 | Sir Arnold Savage | Thomas Brockhill |
| 1404 (Jan) | Sir Arnold Savage | Sir Reynold Braybrooke |
| 1404 (Oct) | Sir Thomas Clinton | Henry Horne |
| 1406 | Richard Clitheroe | Robert Clifford |
| 1407 | Richard Clitheroe | John Darell |
| 1410 | returns lost | returns lost |
| 1411 | Reynold Pympe | William Nutbeam |
| 1413 (Feb) | returns lost | returns lost |
| 1413 (May) | John Darell | John Butler I |
| 1414 (Apr) | John Darell | Sir Thomas Clinton |
| 1414 (Nov) | Sir Arnold Savage II | Robert Clifford |
| 1415 | returns lost | returns lost |
| 1416 (Mar) | William Cheyne | John Wilcotes |
| 1416 (Oct) | returns lost | returns lost |
| 1417 | John Darell | Roger Rye |
| 1419 | William Haute | Edward Guildford |
| 1420 | William Rickhill | Thomas Town |
| 1421 (May) | returns lost | returns lost |
| 1421 (Dec) | Thomas Ellis | Roger Honyton |
| 1422 | Geoffrey Lowther | Reginald Lowther |
| 1426 | Edward Guildford | |
| 1430 | William Scott |
| 1435 | Edward Guildford | |
| 1445–1446 | Thomas Browne | |
| 1449 | John Cheyne | |
| 1450 | William Haute | |
| 1455 | Gervase Clifton | Sir Thomas Kyriell |
| 1461–1462 | Sir John Fogge | Sir Thomas Kyriell |
| 1463–1465 | Sir John Fogge | |
| 1467 | Sir John Scott | |
| 1478 | Sir John Fogge | |
| 1483 | Sir John Fogge | |
| 1489-1495 | Sir Richard Guildford (3 times) | |
| 1510 | No names known | No names known |
| 1512 | ?Sir Edward Poynings | ? |
| 1515 | ?Sir Thomas Nevill | ? |
| 1523 | ? |
| 1529 | Sir Edward Guildford, died and replaced Oct 1534 by Sir John Dudley | Sir Henry Guildford |
| 1536 | ?Thomas Cromwell | ? |
| 1539 | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Gregory Cromwell |
| 1542 | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Sir Thomas Wyatt, died and replaced Jan 1543 by Sir John Guildford |
| 1545 | Sir Thomas Cheyne | George Harper |
| 1547 | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Sir Thomas Wyatt II |
| 1553 (Mar) | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Sir Henry Sidney |
| 1553 (Oct) | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Sir Robert Southwell |
| 1554 (Apr) | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Sir John Baker |
| 1554 (Nov) | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Sir John Baker |
| 1555 | Sir John Baker | Sir Robert Southwell |
| 1558 | Sir Thomas Cheyne | Sir John Baker |
| 1558–9 | Sir Anthony St. Leger I | Sir Richard Sackville, sat for Sussex, repl. Feb 1559 by Sir Thomas Kempe |
| 1562–3 | Sir Henry Sidney | Sir Henry Cheyne |
| 1571 | Sir Thomas Scott | Sir Henry Sidney |
| 1572 | Sir Henry Sidney | Sir Thomas Scott |
| 1584 (Nov) | Sir Philip Sidney | Edward Wotton |
| 1586 (Oct) | Sir Henry Brooke alias Cobham I | Sir Thomas Scott |
| 1588 (Oct) | Henry Brooke alias Cobham II | Sir Henry Brooke alias Cobham I |
| 1593 | Sir Edward Hoby | Moyle Finch |
| 1597 (Sep) | Sir Robert Sidney | Sir William Brooke alias Cobham, killed in duel and replaced Jan 1598 by Percival Hart |
| 1601 | Francis Fane | Sir Henry Nevill |
| Parliament of 1604-1611 | Sir John Scott | John Leveson |
| Addled Parliament (1614) | Sir Peter Manwood | Sir Thomas Walsingham |
| Parliament of 1621-1622 | Viscount Lisle | Sir George Fane |
| Happy Parliament (1624–1625) | Nicholas Tufton | Sir Edwin Sandys |
| Useless Parliament (1625) | Mildmay Fane | Sir Albertus Morton |
| Parliament of 1625-1626 | Sir Edward Hales | Sir Edward Scott |
| Parliament of 1628-1629 | Thomas Finch | Sir Dudley Digges |
| No Parliament summoned 1629-1640 |||

### MPs 1640–1832

| Year | | First member | First party | | Second member | Second party |
| April 1640 | | Norton Knatchbull | | | Sir Roger Twysden | |
| November 1640 | | Sir John Colepeper | Royalist | | Sir Edward Dering | Royalist |
| 1642 | | Sir John Colepeper | Royalist | | Augustine Skinner | |
| January 1644 | Colepeper disabled from sitting - seat vacant | Colepeper disabled from sitting - seat vacant | Colepeper disabled from sitting - seat vacant | | | | Augustine Skinner |
| 1645 | | John Boys | | | Augustine Skinner | |
| December 1648 | Boys excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant | Boys excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant | Boys excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant | | | | Augustine Skinner |
| 1653 | Kent had five members in the Barebones Parliament: Viscount Lisle, Thomas Blount, William Kenrick, William Cullen, Andrew Broughton | Kent had five members in the Barebones Parliament: Viscount Lisle, Thomas Blount, William Kenrick, William Cullen, Andrew Broughton | Kent had five members in the Barebones Parliament: Viscount Lisle, Thomas Blount, William Kenrick, William Cullen, Andrew Broughton | Kent had five members in the Barebones Parliament: Viscount Lisle, Thomas Blount, William Kenrick, William Cullen, Andrew Broughton | Kent had five members in the Barebones Parliament: Viscount Lisle, Thomas Blount, William Kenrick, William Cullen, Andrew Broughton | Kent had five members in the Barebones Parliament: Viscount Lisle, Thomas Blount, William Kenrick, William Cullen, Andrew Broughton |
| 1654 | Kent had 11 members in the First Protectorate Parliament: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Sir Henry Vane (senior), Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, Augustine Skinner, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the First Protectorate Parliament: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Sir Henry Vane (senior), Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, Augustine Skinner, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the First Protectorate Parliament: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Sir Henry Vane (senior), Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, Augustine Skinner, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the First Protectorate Parliament: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Sir Henry Vane (senior), Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, Augustine Skinner, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the First Protectorate Parliament: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Sir Henry Vane (senior), Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, Augustine Skinner, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the First Protectorate Parliament: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Sir Henry Vane (senior), Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, Augustine Skinner, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden |
| 1656 | Kent had 11 members in the Second Protectorate Parliament: Henry Oxenden, Richard Meredith, Sir Thomas Style, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the Second Protectorate Parliament: Henry Oxenden, Richard Meredith, Sir Thomas Style, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the Second Protectorate Parliament: Henry Oxenden, Richard Meredith, Sir Thomas Style, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the Second Protectorate Parliament: Henry Oxenden, Richard Meredith, Sir Thomas Style, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the Second Protectorate Parliament: Henry Oxenden, Richard Meredith, Sir Thomas Style, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden | Kent had 11 members in the Second Protectorate Parliament: Henry Oxenden, Richard Meredith, Sir Thomas Style, William James, Colonel John Dixwell, John Boys, Lambert Godfrey, Colonel Richard Beal, John Selliard, Colonel Ralph Weldon, Daniel Shatterden |
| January 1659 | | Sir Thomas Style | | | William James | |
| May 1659 | | Augustine Skinner | | One seat vacant | One seat vacant | One seat vacant |
| April 1660 | | Sir Edward Dering | | | Sir John Tufton | |
| 1661 | | Sir Thomas Peyton | | | Sir John Tufton | |
| 1679 | | Sir Vere Fane | | | (Sir) Edward Dering | |
| 1685 | | Sir William Twysden | | | Sir John Knatchbull | |
| 1689 | | Sir Vere Fane | | | Sir John Knatchbull | |
| 1691 | | Sir Thomas Roberts | | | Sir John Knatchbull | |
| 1695 | | Sir Thomas Roberts | | | Philip Sydney | |
| 1698 | | Sir James Oxenden | | | Sir Stephen Lennard | |
| January 1701 | | Sir Thomas Hales | | | Thomas Meredith | |
| December 1701 | | Sir Thomas Hales | | | William Campion | |
| 1702 | | Sir Thomas Hales | | | Sir Francis Leigh | |
| 1705 | | Sir Cholmeley Dering, Bt | Tory | | Viscount Villiers | |
| 1708 | | Sir Thomas Palmer | | | Sir Stephen Lennard, Bt | |
| January 1710 by-election | | Sir Thomas Palmer | | | David Polhill | |
| October 1710 | | Sir Cholmeley Dering, Bt | Tory | | Percival Hart | |
| 1711 by-election | | Sir William Hardres | | | Percival Hart | |
| 1713 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 4th Bt | | | Percival Hart | |
| February 1715 | | Mildmay Fane | | | William Delaune | |
| September 1715 by-election | | Colonel the Hon. John Fane | | | William Delaune | |
| 1722 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 4th Bt | | | Sir Thomas Twisden | Tory |
| 1727 | | Sir Roger Meredith | | | Sir Robert Furnese | Whig |
| 1733 by-election | | Sir Roger Meredith | | | Sir Edward Dering | Tory |
| 1734 | | The Viscount Vane | | | Sir Edward Dering | Tory |
| 1735 by-election | | Sir Christopher Powell | Whig | | Sir Edward Dering | Tory |
| 1741 | | Sir Roger Twisden | Tory | | Sir Edward Dering | Tory |
| 1754 | | Hon. Lewis Watson | Whig | | Hon. Robert Fairfax | |
| 1760 by-election | | Sir Wyndham Knatchbull-Wyndham, 6th Bt | Whig | | Hon. Robert Fairfax | |
| 1763 by-election | | Sir Brook Bridges | Whig | | Hon. Robert Fairfax | |
| 1768 | | Sir Brook Bridges | Whig | | John Frederick Sackville | |
| 1769 by-election | | Sir Brook Bridges | Whig | | Sir Charles Farnaby | |
| 1774 | | Hon. Charles Marsham | | | Thomas Knight, junior | |
| 1780 | | Hon. Charles Marsham | | | Filmer Honywood | |
| 1790 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt | | | Filmer Honywood | |
| 1796 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt | | | Sir William Geary, Bt | Tory |
| 1802 | | Filmer Honywood | Whig | | Sir William Geary, Bt | Tory |
| 1806 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt | Tory | | William Honywood | Whig |
| 1812 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt | Tory | | Sir William Geary, Bt | Tory |
| 1818 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Bt | Tory | | William Philip Honywood | Whig |
| 1819 by-election | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Bt | Tory | | William Philip Honywood | Whig |
| 1830 | | Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Bt | Tory | | Thomas Law Hodges | Whig |
| 1831 | | Thomas Rider | Whig | | Thomas Law Hodges | Whig |
| 1832 | Constituency abolished: see Eastern Kent, Western Kent | Constituency abolished: see Eastern Kent, Western Kent | Constituency abolished: see Eastern Kent, Western Kent | Constituency abolished: see Eastern Kent, Western Kent | Constituency abolished: see Eastern Kent, Western Kent | Constituency abolished: see Eastern Kent, Western Kent |