Kendal (UK Parliament constituency)

Kendal
Kendal
Former Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
1832–1918
Seats	one
Created from	Westmorland
Replaced by	Westmorland

Kendal was a parliamentary borough centred on the town of Kendal in Westmorland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

History

The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election.

The small Kendal parliamentary borough constituency created in 1832 was abolished in 1885 by the Reform Act 1884. James Cropper, Liberal, being its last MP. The constituency after 1885 was a result of dividing the Westmorland constituency which up to then had two members since 1297. Thereafter it was the Kendal Division of Westmorland and the other being the Appleby Division. The two Conservative members for the old constituency William Lowther and the Earl of Bective were reelected in the 1885 general election, Mr Lowther for the Appleby Division and the Earl of Bective for the Kendal Division. These two constituencies were recombined under one member John Wakefield Weston for the 1918 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1832	James Brougham	Whig^[1]
	1834 by-election	John Foster-Barham	Whig^[1]
	1837	George William Wood	Whig^[2]^[3]
	1843 by-election	Henry Warburton	Radical^[1]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]
	1847	George Glyn	Whig^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]
	1859	George Glyn	Liberal
	1868	John Whitwell	Liberal
	1880 by-election	James Cropper	Liberal
	1885	Thomas Taylour	Conservative
	1892	Josceline Bagot	Conservative
	1906	Dudley Stewart-Smith	Liberal
	January 1910	Josceline Bagot	Conservative
	1913 by-election	John Weston	Conservative
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Decades:

1830s
1840s
1850s
1860s
1870s
1880s
1890s
1900s
1910s

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: Kendal^[13]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	James Brougham	Unopposed
Registered electors			327
	Whig win (new seat)

Brougham's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 17 February 1834: Kendal^[13]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	John Barham	Unopposed
	Whig hold

General election 1835: Kendal^[13]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	John Barham	Unopposed
Registered electors			344
	Whig hold

General election 1837: Kendal^[13]^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	George William Wood	Unopposed
Registered electors			321
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	George William Wood	Unopposed
Registered electors			353
	Whig hold

Wood's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 9 November 1843: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Henry Warburton	182	60.5	*N/A*
	Conservative	George Bentinck	119	39.5	New
Majority			63	21.0	N/A
Turnout			301	81.8	N/A
Registered electors			368
	Radical gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

General election 1847: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	George Glyn	Unopposed
Registered electors			397
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	George Glyn	Unopposed
Registered electors			382
	Whig hold

General election 1857: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	George Glyn	Unopposed
Registered electors			402
	Whig hold

General election 1859: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	George Glyn	Unopposed
Registered electors			432
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	George Glyn	Unopposed
Registered electors			439
	Liberal hold

General election 1868: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	John Whitwell	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,884
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Whitwell	1,061	69.3	*N/A*
	Conservative	William Allen Francis Saunders^[14]	470	30.7	New
Majority			591	38.6	N/A
Turnout			1,531	82.4	N/A
Registered electors			1,859
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Whitwell	1,118	67.4	−1.9
	Conservative	Alfred Harris^[15]	541	32.6	+1.9
Majority			577	34.8	−3.8
Turnout			1,659	86.5	+4.1
Registered electors			1,917
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.9

Whitwell's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 17 Dec 1880: Kendal^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Cropper	953	59.3	−8.1
	Conservative	Alfred Harris^[15]	653	40.7	+8.1
Majority			300	18.7	−16.1
Turnout			1,606	83.8	−2.7
Registered electors			1,917
	Liberal hold		Swing	−8.1

General election 1885: Kendal^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Taylour	2,690	52.6	+20.0
	Liberal	James Cropper	2,427	47.4	−20.0
Majority			263	5.2	N/A
Turnout			5,117	90.9	+4.4
Registered electors			5,630
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+20.0

General election 1886: Kendal^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Taylour	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Kendal^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Bagot	2,838	56.2	*N/A*
	Liberal	James Anson Farrer^[18]	2,209	43.8	New
Majority			629	12.4	N/A
Turnout			5,047	84.1	N/A
Registered electors			6,000
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1895: Kendal^[17]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Bagot	2,771	57.5	+1.3
	Liberal	Herbert Stephenson	2,049	42.8	−1.0
Majority			722	15.0	+2.6
Turnout			4,820	79.1	−5.0
Registered electors			6,095
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.3

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Kendal^[17]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Bagot	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1906: Kendal^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dudley Stewart-Smith	2,899	52.3	*New*
	Conservative	Josceline Bagot	2,647	47.7	N/A
Majority			252	4.6	N/A
Turnout			5,546	85.6	N/A
Registered electors			6,477
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Kendal^[17]^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Bagot	3,228	54.2	+6.5
	Liberal	Dudley Stewart-Smith	2,726	45.8	−6.5
Majority			502	8.4	N/A
Turnout			5,954	91.0	+5.4
Registered electors			6,546
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.5

General election December 1910: Kendal^[17]^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Bagot	3,041	52.7	−1.5
	Liberal	William Somervell	2,733	47.3	+1.5
Majority			308	5.4	−3.0
Turnout			5,774	88.2	−2.8
Registered electors			6,546
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.5

1913 Kendal by-election^[17]^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist	John Weston	3,261	54.9	*New*
	Liberal	William Somervell	2,680	45.1	-2.2
Majority			581	9.8	N/A
Turnout			5,941	90.4	+2.2
Registered electors			6,575
	Ind. Unionist gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.2

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Unionist: John Weston
Liberal: William Somervell^[21]

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)
Bulmer's Directory of Westmorland 1885

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