Rutland (UK Parliament constituency)

The constituency comprised the whole of the historic county of Rutland, in the East Midlands. Rutland, the smallest of the historic counties of England, never had any Parliamentary borough constituencies within its borders.

The place of election for the county was at Oakham. This was where the hustings were held; at which candidates were nominated (before the Ballot Act 1872), polling took place (before the introduction of multiple polling places in county constituencies) and where the result was announced.

Pelling in his Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910 describes most of the people in this county as "engaged in or dependent upon agriculture". The constituency was a safe Conservative one and was rarely contested in the period covered by the book. G. H. Finch MP had personally owned almost one tenth of the county he represented.

Population in 1831: 19,380

General Election 1832 (December 14)
Registered Electors: 1,296
G N Noel, Bart. Conservative
G Heathcote Whig

General Election 1835 (January 10)
G N Noel, Bart. Conservative
G Heathcote Whig

General Election 1837 (July 29)
G N Noel, Bart. Conservative
G Heathcote Whig

Following the death of Sir G N Noel:

By-Election 1838 (March 13)
W M Noel Conservative

Noel's death caused a by-election.

Noel resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

Dawnay resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

Heathcote was elevated to the peerage, becoming 1st Baron Aveland and causing a by-election.

Noel was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, requiring a by-election.

Heathcote succeeded to the peerage, becoming Lord Aveland and causing a by-election.

Noel was appointed First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings.

Noel's resignation caused a by-election, which was the first contest in the constituency for 42 years.^[21]

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 Gretton
• Liberal:

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) Digital Bodleian
• F W S Craig, Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972 (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• M Kinnear, The British Voter (London: Batsford, 1968)
• McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book of All Elections 1832–1918
• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754–1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
• J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910 (Macmillan, 1967)
• Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)