# Orford (UK Parliament constituency)

Orford was a constituency of the House of Commons. Consisting of the town of Orford in Suffolk, it elected two Members of Parliament (MP) by the block vote version of the first past the post system of election until it was disenfranchised in 1832.

## History

Orford was first represented in the Parliament of England in 1298, but did not regularly send members until 1529. The right of election was vested in the Mayor, eight portmen, twelve "capital burgesses" and the freemen of the borough. In the early days of its representation, Orford had been a prosperous port and its freemen were numerous, but by the 18th century the number of freemen was deliberately kept low to facilitate controlling the elections, and the town had become a pocket borough where most of the qualified voters consisted of the owner's family and retainers.
At one time Orford was owned by Viscount Hereford, but after his death in 1748 it was bought by the government, and by 1760, Orford was perhaps the most secure of all the "Treasury boroughs" – in other words boroughs where the influence of the Crown was so strong that the government could be sure of securing the election of whichever candidates they chose. As such, it was studied in detail by the historian Lewis Namier in his book Structure and Politics.
To secure government control, the treasury started packing the corporation with outsiders: Namier quotes a letter from John Roberts (who was managing the borough for the government) to Prime Minister Newcastle, urging an immediate decision on who should be nominated to a vacancy as capital burgess because otherwise "we shall be reduced to the necessity of chusing a townsman, the number of which it would be better not to encrease". Maintaining government control of the borough also involved considerable expenditure – £200 a year for rent of houses, and a further £100 for other expenses such as repairs and taxes, all met out of the secret service fund.
However, much of Viscount Hereford's estate had been bought by the Earl of Hertford, and he together with his brother Henry Seymour Conway, an influential minister, put pressure on successive Prime Ministers for the control of the borough to be given to him. Eventually in 1766, with the formation of Chatham's ministry, this pressure bore fruit, and Orford was transferred to the Earl of Hertford as partial compensation for his having been supplanted as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. From this point it remained under the control of Hertford and his heirs until it lost its representation 66 years later, and all its MPs were either members of the Seymour-Conway family or their friends.
By the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, the population of the borough was only 1,302, in 246 houses, with about 22 men entitled to vote, and this was too small to justify its existence being retained.

## Members of Parliament
### MPs 1529–1660

| Parliament | First member | Second member |
| 1510–1515 | No names known | No names known |
| 1523 | John Valentine | ? |
| 1529 | Erasmus Paston | Richard Hunt |
| 1536 | ?Richard Poty | ?John Harman |
| 1539 | ?Richard Poty | ?John Harman |
| 1542 | John Cook | ?Richard Poty |
| 1545 | John Harman | Francis Sone |
| 1547 | George Heneage | John Harman |
| 1553 (Mar) | William Honing | Henry Cornwallis |
| 1553 (Oct) | George Jerningham | Thomas Harvey |
| 1554 (Apr) | ? |
| 1554 (Nov) | John Harman | Leonard Sandell |
| 1555 | Thomas Seckford | Thomas Spicer |
| 1558 | Francis Sone | Thomas Seckford |
| 1558–9 | Richard Wingfield | Francis Sone |
| 1562–3 | Lawrence Meres | William Yaxley |
| 1571 (Mar) | Anthony Wingfield | Anthony Rush |
| 1572 | Anthony Wingfield | Anthony Rush |
| 1584 (Nov) | Henry Wingfield | John Cutting |
| 1586 (Oct) | Richard Wingfield | William Downing |
| 1588 (Oct) | Richard Wingfield | George Chittinge |
| 1593 | Edward Grimston | John North |
| 1597 (Sep) | Thomas Rivett | William Forthe |
| 1601 (Oct) | Sir John Townshend | Sir Richard Knightley |
| 1604 | Michael Stanhope | William Cornwallis |
| 1614 | William Cornwallis | Sir Francis Baildon |
| 1621–1622 | Sir Lionel Tollemache | Sir Roger Townshend |
| 1624 | Sir Robert Hitcham | William Glover |
| 1625 | Sir Robert Hitcham | Sir William Whitepole |
| 1626 | Sir Robert Hitcham | Charles Croft |
| 1628 | Sir Charles Legross | Sir Lionel Tollemache |
| 1629–1640 | No Parliaments summoned | No Parliaments summoned |
| 1640 Apr | Sir Charles le Grosse | Sir Edward Duke |
| 1640 Nov | Sir William Playters, 2nd Baronet | Sir Charles Legross |
| 1645 | Sir William Playters, 2nd Baronet | Sir Charles Legross |
| 1648–1659 | Not represented in Rump, Barebones and First and Second Protectorate Parliaments | Not represented in Rump, Barebones and First and Second Protectorate Parliaments |
| 1659 | Thomas Edger | Jeremy Copping |

### MPs 1660–1832

| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party |
| 1660 | Walter Devereux | | Sir Allen Brodrick | |
| 1661 | Walter Devereux | | Sir Allen Brodrick | |
| Feb. 1679 | Lord Huntingtower | | Sir John Duke | |
| Sept. 1679 | Henry Parker | | Sir John Duke | |
| 1681 | Thomas Glemham | | Sir John Duke | |
| 1685 | Thomas Glemham | | Lord Huntingtower | |
| 1689 | Thomas Glemham | | Sir John Duke | |
| 1690 | Thomas Glemham | | Sir Thomas Felton | |
| 1695 | Sir Adam Felton | | Sir Thomas Felton | |
| 1697 | Sir John Duke | | Sir Thomas Felton | |
| 1698 | Sir Charles Hedges | | Sir Thomas Felton | |
| 1700 | Sir Edmund Bacon | | William Johnson | |
| 1701 | Sir Edmund Bacon | | Sir Edward Turnor | |
| 1708 | Clement Corrance | | Sir Edward Turnor | |
| 1709 | Clement Corrance | | William Thompson | |
| 1710 | Clement Corrance | | Sir Edward Turnor | |
| 1721 | Clement Corrance | | Sir Edward Duke | Tory |
| 1722 | Dudley North | Tory | William Acton | Tory |
| 1727 | Dudley North | Tory | Hon. Price Devereux | Tory |
| 1729 | Dudley North | Tory | William Acton | Tory |
| 1730 | Robert Kemp | Tory | William Acton | Tory |
| 1734 | Richard Powys | | Lewis Barlow | |
| 1738 | Richard Powys | | John Cope | |
| 1741 | Viscount Glenorchy | | Henry Bilson-Legge | |
| 1746 | Hon. John Bateman | | Henry Bilson-Legge | |
| 1747 | Hon. John Waldegrave | | Henry Bilson-Legge | |
| 1754 | John Offley | Whig | Henry Bilson-Legge | |
| 1759 | John Offley | Whig | Hon. Charles FitzRoy | Whig |
| 1761 | John Offley | Whig | Thomas Worsley | Whig |
| 1768 | Viscount Beauchamp | | Edward Colman | |
| 1771 | Viscount Beauchamp | | Hon. Robert Seymour-Conway | |
| 1784 | Viscount Beauchamp | | Hon. George Seymour-Conway | |
| 1790 | Viscount Beauchamp | | Hon. William Seymour | |
| 1794 | Lord Robert Seymour | Tory | Hon. William Seymour | |
| 1796 | Lord Robert Seymour | Tory | Viscount Castlereagh | Tory |
| 1797 | Lord Robert Seymour | Tory | Earl of Yarmouth | Tory |
| 1802 | Lord Robert Seymour | Tory | James Trail | Tory |
| 1806 | Lord Robert Seymour | Tory | Lord Henry Moore | Tory |
| 1807 | William Sloane | Tory | Lord Henry Moore | Tory |
| 1812 | Charles Arbuthnot | Tory | Edmund Alexander Macnaghten | Tory |
| 1818 | John Douglas | Tory | Edmund Alexander Macnaghten | Tory |
| March 1820 | John Douglas | Tory | Horace Seymour | Tory |
| May 1820 | John Douglas | Tory | Edmund Alexander Macnaghten | Tory |
| 1821 | The Marquess of Londonderry | Tory | Edmund Alexander Macnaghten | Tory |
| 1822 | Charles Ross | Tory | Edmund Alexander Macnaghten | Tory |
| June 1826 | Sir Henry Cooke | Tory | Horace Seymour | Tory |
| December 1826 | Sir Henry Cooke | Tory | Quintin Dick | Tory |
| 1830 | Sir Henry Cooke | Tory | Spencer Kilderbee | Tory |
| 1832 | | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |