*

Although the official Returns are missing, we are enabled, from a reliable source, to supply the names of the members who sat in that Parliament for Lancashire, and for Lancaster, Liverpool, Preston, and Wigan. They are taken from Transcripts of Returns from Originals formerly in the Old Office of the King's Remembrancer, but the date of the Returns cannot be ascertained. It is, therefore, all but manifest that during the period of about three-quarters of a century which preceded the year 1295 Writs were issued, and Returns made, for this County, if not for the four ancient Borough constituencies named, but in consequence of the absence of the official data, and the fruitless results of the search for other reliable authorities, we are obliged to commence the following list of names from the year 1295. † From the latter year until the Parliament of 1477-8 the names of County members have been obtained with tolerable satisfaction, but between the last-named Parliament and that of 1529, or a period of about 52 years, all Returns (Lancashire and its Boroughs inclusive) are missing. From 1529 up to the Long Parliament the intervals between elections widened. During the Interregnum an assembly nominated by Oliver Cromwell and a Council of Officers, and summoned by Letters under the hand of Lord General Cromwell, met at Westminster 4th July, 1653, and declared itself a Parliament on the 6th of the same month, but on the 12th of December of the same year it resigned its powers to their originator. For 1654 the Returns for Lancashire are missing. In 1656 four County members were returned. For the Parliaments of 1658-9 and 1660 no Returns can be found for the County or any of its Boroughs, except three relating to Liverpool, Preston, and Wigan for the Parliament of 1660. From the Restoration the representation of the County has been regularly maintained, and members' names preserved uninterruptedly until the present time. Previous to the passing of the Reform Act of 1832 the total number of members returned from Lancashire was fourteen, namely, two for the County, two for each of the ancient Boroughs of Lancaster, Liverpool, Preston, and Wigan, and two for each of the less ancient Boroughs of Clitheroe and Newton. Under the powers of that Act, and for parliamentary election purposes, the County was territorially sectioned into "North Lancashire" and "South Lancashire,” and the right of returning one member granted to each Division, making a total of four County

* See Palgrave's Calendar of Parliamentary Writs, Vol. I., p. i., &c. The question of early representation involves another, equally, if not supremely important, namely, the precise period when Saxon "Loncaster-scyre," which after the Conquest was by Doomsday Book territorially treated as a kind of "no man's land,” partly in "Cestre-scire" [Cheshire] and partly in "Euric-scire" [Yorkshire] was re-constituted a distinct County. In solving the latter question-to which, it is to be hoped, attention will be directed by some writer in a separate article in a future number of this Magazine-the fact that on several occasions previous to the year 1295 two or three and sometimes four Knights were required to be sent to the English Parliament from certain specified Counties, and at other times from each County, should be kept steadily in view. In 1363 Lancashire was permanently raised anew to the dignity of a County Palatine, a previous temporary elevation to that honour having lapsed.

members. Pursuant to the provisions of the "Representation of the People Act, 1867," the County was re-sectioned into four Divisions, which were named "North Lancashire" (embracing the Hundreds of Lonsdale, Amounderness, and Leyland); "North East Lancashire" (embracing the Hundred of Blackburn); "South East Lancashire" (co-extensive with the Hundred of Salford); and "South West Lancashire" (comprising the Hundred of West Derby), and the right of returning two members conceded to each Division, in the same manner as to Counties.

LANCASTER BOROUGH. [First chartered by King John.] As will be seen on reference to subsequent monthly sections of this list, the privilege of returning two members exercised by Lancaster in and probably previous to the year 1295 (23rd Edward I.), was suspended after the Parliament of the year 1331 (5th Edward III.), and from that time Lancaster remained unrepresented up to the year 1529 (21st Henry VIII.), when the elective right was renewed. Thereafter, with the exception of some interruptions, and temporary suspensions which occurred between the years 1603-4 and 1661, and which will be found detailed in their order of date in the list, the renewed right of representation was continuously enjoyed until the passing of the Second Reform Act of 1867, when the Borough was disfranchised for bribery.

LIVERPOOL BOROUGH. [First chartered by King John.] The right of representation in Parliament by two members dates from the year 1295, probably earlier. After the Parliament of 1306-7 the right was wholly suspended at Liverpool-then a mere fishing station-until the Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster on the 4th November, 1547. With the exception of a few temporary suspensions (hereafter noticed) Liverpool continued to be represented by two members until the passing of "The Representation of the People Act, 1867," when the vastly-increased constituency was empowered to return three members, and that number is presently returnable.

PRESTON BOROUGH. [First chartered by Henry II., and the recipient of 13 subsequent Royal charters.] From the year 1295, if not from an earlier date, until the year 1331 Preston returned two members, but for the space of nearly 200 years from the latter year until the Parliament of 1529-this right was wholly suspended. In 1529 the constituency is described in the Records as 66 Preston-in-Alderness Borough," but five years later it is referred to as "Preston-in-Amounderness Borough." With the exception of some temporary suspensions between the beginning of the 17th century and the time of the Restoration, Preston continuously exercised the right of returning two members to Parliament from the year 1529 to the present time. Preston, from time immemorial, the right of voting on the occasions of parliamentary elections was, previous to the Act of 1832, vested in all male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years and upwards who had resided six months within the Borough, and had not for twelve months immediately preceding an election been chargeable to any parish as paupers. The right was left undisturbed by the Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867 so far as pre-existent voters were concerned, and it is still exercisable by the few survivors who remain,

At

WIGAN BOROUGH. [First chartered by Henry III.] Writs were issued to and Returns made from Wigan in 1295, and probably before that date, but previous Returns and names are missing. After the Parliament of 1306-7 the exercise of the right of representation ceased for 240 years. In 1547 the elective right was renewed, and, with the exception of temporary suspensions and interruptions similar to those which affected the other ancient Boroughs of the County, Wigan continued to return two members to Parliament from that year until the present time.

CLITHEROE. [A Borough by prescription.] The Return to the first Writ for this Borough is dated 13th January, 1558-9 (1st Elizabeth). Under the authority of the mandate the Burgesses returned two members from Clitheroe to serve in the Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster on the 23rd of that month, and from that time the elective right continued to be exercisedbut not uninterruptedly-until the passing of the first Reform Act of 1832, when the Borough was deprived of one member. In the earlier records Clitheroe took precedence of the other Lancashire Boroughs from the date of its enfranchisement until the passing of that Act. It still returns one member. NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS or Newton-in-Makerfield. [A Borough by prescription.] This constituency-never large was anciently the head of a Barony. It received its elective franchise in the year 1558. The Return to the first Writ is dated 7th January, 1558-9 (1st Elizabeth), and according to it two members were returned to the Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster on the 23rd of the same month. Newton was at that time described as "The Borough of Sir Thomas Langton, Knt., Baron of Newton within his Fee of Markerfylde." Forty-five years later it was referred to as "Newton-inMakerfield Borough." The representatives who sat in the Parliament summoned to meet in 1620-1 are described as having been "elected with the consent of Sir Richard Fleetwood, Lord of the Borough." Its elective franchise was occasionally disturbed or temporarily suspended after the Long Parliament, but immediately after the Restoration the Borough resumed the exercise of its former right, and from that period it continued to return two members to each Parliament until the passing of the Reform Act of 1832, when it was disfranchised.

MANCHESTER. [Constituted a free Borough by charter, granted by Thomas Gresley, 14th May, 1301. Elevated to the dignity of a City in 1847.] The return to the (first) Writ for "Manchester Borough," issued in 1654 by the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, to the High Sheriff, cannot be found, but it is on record that in obedience to the mandate the Burgesses of Manchester returned Charles Worsley to serve in the Parliament which met at Westminster on the 3rd September, 1654. "The House," proving refractory, was dismissed by Cromwell on the 22nd January, 1654-5.* In the year 1656 a fresh Cromwellian Writ was issued, requiring the Sheriff to return one representative for Manchester. The Return, which is dated 12th August, 1656, was torn when found, but enough remained to show that

* Until 1752 the English year was reckoned to end on the 24th of March.

*

Radcliffe, Esq., of Manchester," was the elect sent to the Parliament which met at Westminster on the 17th of September, 1656. This Parliament having, amongst other things, proposed some changes in the Government, was itself dissolved 4th February, 1657-8. No Returns can be found for the Parliament of 1658-9. On the decline of the "Roundhead " power, the temporary right of representation thrust upon Manchester ceased, and was not renewed until sanctioned by the Reform Act of 1832, when the Borough was again enfranchised and privileged to return two members. Under the powers of the "Representation of the People Act, 1867," Manchester was invested with the right of returning three members to the Imperial Parliament, a privilege still exercised.

SALFORD. Enfranchised by the first Reform Act of 1832, and privileged to return one member. The Act of 1867 gave the Borough an additional member. Two are now returned.

BOLTON, BLACKBURN, and OLDHAM were enfranchised by the Act of 1832, and privileged to return two members each.

ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, BURY, ROCHDALE, and WARRINGTON were enfranchised by the same Act, which granted to each Borough the right of representation by one member.

STALYBRIDGE (partly in Cheshire) and BURNLEY were enfranchised by "The Representation of the People Act, 1867," and received the privilege of returning one member each.

By these changes the representative strength of the County and its Boroughs was increased to 33 members, the number presently returnable.

In the first column of the following list the name of the sovereign and year of reign are given; in the second and third columns the place at which and the date upon which each Parliament was summoned to meet; in the fourth the date of the Return;† and in the last column will be found the names of the members returned to serve in Parliament for Lancashire and the several Boroughs within the County. The ambiguity which characterises names given in ancient records and documents is nowhere more provokingly illustrated than in some of the originals from which the following information was gleaned. Many of the names appear to have been Gallicized or Latinized alternately, just as the scribe's fancy prompted or his pedantry urged. It will also be observed from the list that frequently the spelling 66 waxes wanton," and betimes, regardless of orthographic bounds, romps about as unrestrainedly as in the "good old times" of Chaucer. No attempt has been made to spoil the antiqueness of the names, or their spelling, by modernizing them.

The preparation of the subjoined list was commenced several years ago, and the work of collection of the materials has been assiduously prosecuted since, as opportunity offered, often under many disadvantages, at considerable outlay for searches and information, and all the while in ignorance of the sparsely-known

* Richard Radcliffe was the member elected.

+ This column will be introduced at a later stage of the list, such dates not being given in earlier years.

B

fact that the House of Commons had, on 4th May, 1876, ordered the preparation of an elaborate Return, so far as it could be obtained, from the year 1696 to the present time, and by a further Order dated 9th March, 1877, directed that the Return should be extended back "from as remote a period as it can be obtained up to the year 1696." Recently, since the issue of the voluminous Blue Book to the "House," an early copy came to the hands of the writer of these prefatory remarks. In it he found some materials which he had been long in search of, and which enabled him to complete his labours satisfactorily and to present them in the following form to the reader.

NOTE.-Where the Original Returns are missing, the names given have been supplied from an independent authority. To names thus obtained an asterisk is attached throughout the list.

(a) Two Knights to be sent from each County.

+ No original writs for this Parliament except Yorkshire.

(b) Summoned concerning the observation of "Magna Carta et Carta de Foresta." Three Knights or others to be sent from each county.

(To be continued.)