# East Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Gloucestershire, formally the Eastern division of Gloucestershire and often referred to as Gloucestershire Eastern, was a parliamentary constituency in Gloucestershire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) using the bloc vote system.
The constituency was created when the Great Reform Act split Gloucestershire into eastern and western divisions, with effect from the 1832 general election.
Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, East Gloucestershire was abolished from the 1885 election, when the former eastern and western divisions were replaced by five new single-seat county constituencies: Cirencester, Forest of Dean, Stroud, Tewkesbury, and Thornbury.

## Boundaries

1832–1885: The Hundreds of Crowthorne and Minety, Brightwell's Barrow, Bradley, Rapsgate, Bisley, Longtree, Whitstone, Kiftsgate, Westminster, Deerhurst, Slaughter, Cheltenham, Cleeve, Tibaldston, Tewkesbury, and Dudstone and King's Barton, and also the City and County of Gloucester and the Borough of Cirencester.
The constituency was the eastern division of the historic county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.
The place of election was at Gloucester. This was where the hustings were situated and electors voted by spoken declaration in public, before the secret ballot was introduced in 1872.
The qualification to vote in county elections, in the period when this constituency operated, was to be a 40 shilling freeholder.
The parliamentary borough constituencies of Cheltenham, Cirencester, Gloucester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury were all located in East Gloucestershire. Qualified freeholders from those boroughs could vote in the county division. Bristol was a "county of itself", so its freeholders qualified to vote in the borough, not in any county division.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | 1st member | 1st member | 1st party | 2nd member | 2nd member | 2nd party |
| 1832, 21 December | | Sir Berkeley Guise, Bt | Whig | | Hon. Henry Reynolds-Moreton | Whig |
| 1834, 7 August | | Sir Christopher William Codrington | Tory | | Hon. Henry Reynolds-Moreton | Whig |
| 1835, 10 January | | Sir Christopher William Codrington | Conservative | | Hon. Augustus Moreton | Whig |
| 1841, 5 July | | Sir Christopher William Codrington | Conservative | | Hon. Francis Charteris | Conservative |
| 1846, 27 February | | Sir Christopher William Codrington | Conservative | | Henry Somerset | Conservative |
| 1854, 9 January | | Sir Christopher William Codrington | Conservative | | Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt | Conservative |
| 1854, 19 December | | Sir Christopher William Codrington | Conservative | | Robert Stayner Holford | Conservative |
| 1864, 12 July | | Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt | Conservative | | Robert Stayner Holford | Conservative |
| 1872, 11 March | | Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt | Conservative | | John Yorke | Conservative |
| 1885 | constituency abolished | constituency abolished | constituency abolished | constituency abolished | constituency abolished | constituency abolished |

## Election results
### Elections in the 1880s

By-election, 1 Jul 1885: East Gloucestershire :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks Beach | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
* Caused by Hicks Beach's appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
General election 1880: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks Beach | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | John Yorke | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,579 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |

### Elections in the 1870s

By-election, 17 Mar 1874: East Gloucestershire :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks-Beach | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
* Caused by Hicks-Beach's appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
General election 1874: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks-Beach | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | John Yorke | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 9,157 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
By-election, 11 Mar 1872: East Gloucestershire :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | John Yorke | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
* Caused by Holford's resignation.

### Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks-Beach | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | Robert Stayner Holford | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,858 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
General election 1865: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks-Beach | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | Robert Stayner Holford | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,515 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
By-election, 12 July 1864: East Gloucestershire :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks-Beach | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
* Caused by Codrington's death.

### Elections in the 1850s

General election 1859: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Christopher William Codrington | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | Robert Stayner Holford | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,816 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
General election 1857: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Christopher William Codrington | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | Robert Stayner Holford | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,891 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
By-election, 19 December 1854: East Gloucestershire :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Robert Stayner Holford | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
* Caused by Hicks-Beach's death.
By-election, 9 January 1854: East Gloucestershire :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Michael Hicks-Beach | 3,363 | 58.9 | N/A |
| | Whig | Edward Holland | 2,344 | 41.1 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,019 | 17.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 5,707 | 72.2 | N/A |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,906 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
* Caused by Henry Somerset's succession to the Peerage as 8th Duke of Beaufort
General election 1852: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Christopher William Codrington | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | Henry Somerset | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,986 | | |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |

### Elections in the 1840s

General election 1847: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Christopher William Codrington | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | Henry Somerset | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,803 | | −2.1 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
East Gloucestershire by-election, 27 February 1846 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Henry Somerset | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
* Resignation of Charteris
General election 1841: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Francis Charteris | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | Christopher William Codrington | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,971 | | +4.9 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig |

### Elections in the 1830s

General election 1837: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Christopher William Codrington | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Whig | Augustus Morton | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,598 | | +16.5 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Conservative hold |
| | Whig hold | Whig hold | Whig hold | Whig hold | Whig hold |
General election 1835: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Christopher William Codrington | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| | Whig | Augustus Morton | Unopposed | Unopposed | Unopposed |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 6,521 | | −0.7 |
| | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig | Conservative gain from Whig |
| | Whig hold | Whig hold | Whig hold | Whig hold | Whig hold |
By-election, 14 August 1834: East Gloucestershire :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Tory | Christopher William Codrington | 2,779 | 50.6 | +21.5 |
| | Whig | Thomas Leigh | 2,709 | 49.4 | −21.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 70 | 1.2 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 5,488 | 83.5 | −5.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 6,569 | | +2.1 |
| | Tory gain from Whig | Tory gain from Whig | Tory gain from Whig | Tory gain from Whig | Tory gain from Whig |
* Death of Guise
General election 1832: East Gloucestershire (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Whig | Berkeley Guise | 3,311 | 36.1 | |
| | Whig | Henry Reynolds-Moreton | 3,184 | 34.7 | |
| | Tory | Christopher William Codrington | 2,672 | 29.1 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 512 | 5.6 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 5,753 | 89.4 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 6,437 | | |
| | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) |
| | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) | Whig win (new seat) |