Denbigh Boroughs (UK Parliament constituency)

Denbigh District of Boroughs (variously referred to as Denbigh District, Denbigh Boroughs or just Denbigh) was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Denbigh in Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the British House of Commons.

Denbigh Boroughs
Former District of Boroughs constituency for the House of Commons
Preserved county	Denbighshire
Major settlements	Denbigh, Holt, Ruthin, and Wrexham
1542–1918
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Denbigh Wrexham

The constituency first returned an MP in 1542, to the English Parliament. From 1707 to 1800, the MPs sat in the Parliament of Great Britain, and after the Act of Union 1800, in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

From its first known general election in 1542 until 1918, the constituency consisted of a number of boroughs within the historic county of Denbighshire in Wales.

The seat should not be confused with the county constituency of Denbighshire, which existed from the sixteenth century until 1885. The county was divided into East Denbighshire and West Denbighshire between 1885 and 1918.

After 1918 Denbighshire was represented in Parliament by two single member county constituencies, which included all the boroughs formerly in the Denbigh District of Boroughs. One of these was Wrexham, but the other was the Denbigh division of Denbighshire.

Denbigh (1535–1832)

On the basis of information from several volumes of the History of Parliament, it is apparent that the history of the borough representation from Wales and Monmouthshire is more complicated than that of the English boroughs.

The Laws in Wales Act 1535 (26 Hen. VIII, c. 26) provided for a single borough seat for each of 11 of the 12 Welsh counties and Monmouthshire. The legislation was ambiguous as to which communities were enfranchised. The county towns were awarded a seat, but this in some fashion represented all the ancient boroughs of the county as the others were required to contribute to the members wages. It was not clear if the burgesses of the contributing boroughs could take part in the election. The only election under the original scheme was for the 1542 Parliament. It seems that only burgesses from the county towns actually took part. An Act of 1544 (35 Hen. VIII, c. 11) confirmed that the contributing boroughs could send representatives to take part in the election at the county town. As far as can be told from surviving indentures of returns, the degree to which the out boroughs participated varied, but by the end of the sixteenth century all the seats had some participation from them at some elections at least.

The original scheme was modified by later legislation and decisions of the House of Commons (which were sometimes made with no regard to precedent or evidence: for example in 1728 it was decided that only the freemen of the borough of Montgomery could participate in the election for that seat, thus disenfranchising the freemen of Llanidloes, Welshpool and Llanfyllin).

In the case of Denbighshire, the county town was Denbigh. The out boroughs were Chirk, Holt, and Ruthin. At some point, between 1603 and 1690, Chirk ceased to participate.

In 1690–1790 the freemen of the three remaining boroughs were entitled to vote. There were about 1,400 electors in 1715 (including non-resident freemen). This number was reduced to about 400 after 1744, when only resident freemen were allowed to vote. The electorate increased to about 500 in the 1754–1790 period.

Denbigh Boroughs (1832–1918)

This was a district of boroughs constituency, which grouped a number of parliamentary boroughs in Denbighshire into one single member constituency. The voters from each participating borough cast ballots, which were added together over the whole district to decide the result of the poll. The enfranchised communities in this district, from 1832, were the four boroughs of Denbigh, Holt, Ruthin, and Wrexham.

The exact boundaries of the parliamentary boroughs in the district were altered by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1868, but the general nature of the constituency was unchanged. There were no further boundary changes in the 1885 redistribution of parliamentary seats.

After 1918

In the redistribution of seats which took place at the 1918, the Denbigh Boroughs constituency was abolished, along with the two county divisions of East Denbighshire and West Denbighshire. They were replaced by a new county division called Denbigh, which comprised the whole of the county, except for the Municipal Borough of Wrexham and part of the Chirk Rural District which formed the Wrexham division.

The local authorities in the Denbigh division were the Municipal Boroughs of Denbigh and Ruthin; the Urban Districts of Abergele and Pensarn, Colwyn Bay and Colwyn, Llangollen, and Llanrwst; as well as the Rural Districts of Llangollen, Llanrwst, Llansillin, Ruthin, St Asaph (Denbigh), Uwchaled, part of Chirk, and the part of Glan Conway not in Caernarvonshire.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1542–1660

As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments held in this period, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given. Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry unknown is entered in the table.

Elected	Assembled	Dissolved	Member	Note
1542	16 January 1542	28 March 1544	Richard Myddelton
1545	23 November 1545	31 January 1547	George Salusbury
1547	4 November 1547	15 April 1552	Robert Myddelton
1553	1 March 1553	31 March 1553	Simon Thelwall
1553	5 October 1553	5 December 1553	Simon Thelwall
1554	2 April 1554	3 May 1554	John Salesbury
1554	12 November 1554	16 January 1555	Fulk Lloyd
1555	21 October 1555	9 December 1555	John Evans
1558	20 January 1558	17 November 1558	John Salesbury
1559	23 January 1559	8 May 1559	Simon Thelwall I
1562 or 1563	11 January 1563	2 January 1567	Humphrey Llwyd
1571	2 April 1571	29 May 1571	Simon Thelwall I
1572	8 May 1572	19 April 1583	Richard Cavendish
1584	23 November 1584	14 September 1585	Richard Cavendish
1586	13 October 1586	23 March 1587	Robert Wrote
1588	4 February 1589	29 March 1589	John Turbridge
1593	18 February 1593	10 April 1593	Simon Thelwall II
1597	24 October 1597	9 February 1598	John Panton
1601	27 October 1601	19 December 1601	John Panton
1604	19 March 1604	9 February 1611	Hugh Myddleton
1614	5 April 1614	7 June 1614	Hugh Myddleton
1620	16 January 1621	8 February 1622	Hugh Myddleton
1624	12 February 1624	27 March 1625	Hugh Myddleton
1625	17 May 1625	12 August 1625	Hugh Myddleton
1626	6 February 1626	15 June 1626	Hugh Myddleton
1628	17 March 1628	10 March 1629	Hugh Myddleton
1640	13 April 1640	5 May 1640	John Salusbury	Short Parliament
1640	3 November 1640	5 December 1648	Simon Thelwall	Long Parliament
...	6 December 1648	20 April 1653	Simon Thelwall	Rump Parliament
...	4 July 1653	12 December 1653	unrepresented	Barebones Parliament
1654	3 September 1654	22 January 1655	unrepresented	First Protectorate Parliament
1656	17 September 1656	4 February 1658	unrepresented	Second Protectorate Parliament
1658/59	27 January 1659	22 April 1659	John Manley	Third Protectorate Parliament
...	7 May 1659	20 February 1660	unknown	Rump Parliament restored
...	21 February 1660	16 March 1660	unknown	Long Parliament restored

MPs 1660–1918

Year		Member	Party
	1660	John Carter
	1661	Sir John Salusbury
	1685	Sir John Trevor
	1689	Edward Brereton
	1705	William Robinson
	1708	Sir William Williams, Bt.	Tory
	1710	John Roberts
	1713	John Wynne
	1715	John Roberts
	1722	Robert Myddelton	Tory
	1733	John Myddelton	Tory
	1741	John Wynn	Whig
	1747	Richard Myddelton
	1788	Richard Myddelton
	1797	Thomas Jones
	1802	Hon. Frederick West
	1806	Robert Myddelton Biddulph
	1812	Viscount Kirkwall	Tory[1]
	1818	John Wynne Griffith	Whig[1]
	1826	Frederick Richard West	Tory[1]
	1830	Robert Myddleton-Biddulph	Whig[1]
	1832	John Edward Madocks	Whig[1]
	1835	Wilson Jones	Conservative[1]
	1841	Townshend Mainwaring	Conservative[1]
	1847	Frederick Richard West	Conservative
	1857	Townshend Mainwaring	Conservative
	1868	Watkin Williams	Liberal
	1880	Sir Robert Cunliffe, Bt	Liberal
	1885	Hon. George Thomas Kenyon	Conservative
	1895	William Tudor Howell	Conservative
	1900	Hon. George Thomas Kenyon	Conservative
	1906	Clement Edwards	Liberal
	1910	Hon. William Ormsby-Gore	Conservative
	1918	constituency abolished. See Denbigh and Wrexham

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Denbigh Boroughs[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Robert Myddelton Biddulph	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 817
	Whig gain from Tory

General election 1831: Denbigh Boroughs[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Robert Myddelton Biddulph	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 817
	Whig hold

General election 1832: Denbigh Boroughs[1][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	John Edward Maddocks	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,131
	Whig hold

General election 1835: Denbigh Boroughs[1][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Wilson Jones (MP)	490	66.9
	Whig	John Edward Maddocks	242	33.1
Majority			248	33.8
Turnout			732	74.2
Registered electors			987
	Conservative gain from Whig

General election 1837: Denbigh Boroughs[1][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wilson Jones (MP)	411	54.9	−12.0
	Whig	Robert Myddelton Biddulph	338	45.1	+12.0
Majority			73	9.8	−24.0
Turnout			749	82.4	+8.2
Registered electors			909
	Conservative hold		Swing	−12.0

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Townshend Mainwaring	365	54.2	−0.7
	Whig	Robert Myddelton Biddulph	309	45.8	+0.7
Majority			56	8.4	−1.4
Turnout			674	71.4	−11.0
Registered electors			944
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.7

General election 1847: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Richard West	Unopposed
Registered electors			841
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Richard West	362	55.7	N/A
	Radical	William Langford Foulkes[4]	288	44.3	New
Majority			74	11.4	N/A
Turnout			650	75.8	N/A
Registered electors			858
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1857: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Townshend Mainwaring	364	54.7	−1.0
	Radical	James Maurice[5][6]	302	45.3	+1.0
Majority			62	9.4	−2.0
Turnout			666	77.4	+1.6
Registered electors			861
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.0

General election 1859: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Townshend Mainwaring	Unopposed
Registered electors			852
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Townshend Mainwaring	Unopposed
Registered electors			903
	Conservative hold

General election 1868: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Watkin Williams	1,319	58.3	New
	Conservative	Townshend Mainwaring	944	41.7	N/A
Majority			375	16.6	N/A
Turnout			2,263	81.3	N/A
Registered electors			2,785
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Watkin Williams	1,238	50.6	−7.7
	Conservative	George Thomas Kenyon	1,208	49.4	+7.7
Majority			30	1.2	−15.4
Turnout			2,446	85.0	+3.7
Registered electors			2,879
	Liberal hold		Swing	−7.7

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Denbigh Boroughs[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Cunliffe	1,424	50.3	−0.3
	Conservative	George Thomas Kenyon	1,409	49.7	+0.3
Majority			15	0.5	−0.7
Turnout			2,833	92.3	+7.3
Registered electors			3,071
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.3

Robert Cunliffe

General election 1885: Denbigh Boroughs[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Kenyon	1,761	54.8	+5.1
	Liberal	Robert Cunliffe	1,455	45.2	−5.1
Majority			306	9.6	N/A
Turnout			3,216	94.2	+1.9
Registered electors			3,414
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+5.1

John Barlow

General election 1886: Denbigh Boroughs[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Kenyon	1,657	53.4	−1.4
	Liberal	John Barlow	1,446	46.6	+1.4
Majority			211	6.8	−2.8
Turnout			3,103	90.9	−3.3
Registered electors			3,414
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.4

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Denbigh Boroughs[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Kenyon	1,664	51.5	−1.9
	Liberal	Howell Idris[9]	1,566	48.5	+1.9
Majority			98	3.0	−3.8
Turnout			3,230	91.7	+0.8
Registered electors			3,521
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.9

General election 1895: Denbigh Boroughs[10][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Tudor Howell	1,833	53.3	+1.8
	Liberal	Walter Herbert Morgan	1,604	46.7	−1.8
Majority			229	6.6	+3.6
Turnout			3,437	91.6	−0.1
Registered electors			3,751
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.8

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Denbigh Boroughs[10][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Kenyon	1,862	51.5	−1.8
	Lib-Lab	Clement Edwards	1,752	48.5	+1.8
Majority			110	3.0	−3.6
Turnout			3,614	87.4	−4.2
Registered electors			4,137
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.8

Clem Edwards

General election 1906 Denbigh Boroughs[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	Clement Edwards	2,533	56.4	+7.9
	Conservative	George Kenyon	1,960	43.6	-7.9
Majority			573	12.8	+15.8
Turnout			4,493	94.5	+7.1
Registered electors			4,755
	Lib-Lab gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.9

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Denbigh Boroughs[11][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	2,437	50.1	+6.5
	Lib-Lab	Clement Edwards	2,427	49.9	−6.5
Majority			10	0.2	N/A
Turnout			4,864	94.8	+0.3
Registered electors			5,130
	Conservative gain from Lib-Lab		Swing	+6.5

A petition was lodged but was withdrawn after a recount. The original count gave the Conservatives 2,438 votes and the Lib-Lab candidate 2,430 votes.

General election December 1910: Denbigh Boroughs[11][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	2,385	50.1	0.0
	Liberal	Caradoc Rees	2,376	49.9	0.0
Majority			9	0.2	0.0
Turnout			4,761	92.8	−2.0
Registered electors			5,130
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.0

See also

• Denbigh (UK Parliament constituency) (from 1918)
• Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency) (abolished 1885)
• East Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency) (1885–1918)
• West Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency) (1885–1918)

References

1. Stooks Smith, Henry (1845). The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. pp. 188–189.
2. Escott, Margaret. "Denbigh Boroughs". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
3. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) |format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
4. "The Denbighshire Boroughs Election". Chester Chronicle. 17 July 1852. p. 6. Retrieved 22 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "The Advocate; or Irish Industrial Journal". 18 March 1857. p. 4. Retrieved 22 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "The Denbighshire Boroughs". Wrexham Advertiser. 4 April 1857. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 22 August 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. The Liberal Year Book, 1908
8. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
9. Collins, John (12 September 2006). "Liberal borrowing". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
10. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1901
11. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1916

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• The House of Commons 1509–1558, by S.T. Bindoff (Secker & Warburg 1982)
• The House of Commons 1558–1603, by P.W. Hasler (HMSO 1981)
• The House of Commons 1690–1715, by Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley and D.W. Hayton (Cambridge University Press 2002)
• The House of Commons 1715–1754, by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970)
• The House of Commons 1754–1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)
• The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (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 "D" (part 1)