First Protectorate Parliament - Parliamentary Constituencies

Parliamentary Constituencies

The Instrument of Government specified the numbers of MPs that England and Wales sent to the Parliament (400).

By omission from the list rotten boroughs were abolished. A few boroughs not previously enfranchised, notably Leeds and Manchester, received a seat.

All the traditional counties were represented (Durham for the first time). In addition some well established sub-divisions of counties were given separate representation.

There were substantial changes in the number of seats many constituencies received, particularly amongst the counties.

This was the first systematic redistribution of Parliamentary seats in English history and would not be matched for a Royal Parliament until the Reform Act 1832.

In the list below the name of the constituency (as specified in Section X of the Instrument of Government, with minor spelling changes) is followed by the number of seats allocated. The Boroughs in each county follow the county constituency (indicated by boldface and an * after the constituency name). Those areas marked ** were divisions of a traditional county.

The Instrument of Government also made provision for members from Jersey and Guernsey, without defining the numbers or arrangements for the election of such members. It is not clear that any were actually elected, as they are not mentioned in the Journal of the House of Commons for this Parliament. It is also notable that when on 6 October and 7 October 1654 the House of Commons debated "the distribution of the number of members to serve in future Parliaments", Guibon Goddard MP recorded in his journal that "we agreed with the Instrument, in the whole number of four hundred, Jersey and Guernsey being left out, because not governed by our laws, but by municipal laws of their own; and we differed but little in the particular distribution."

The Lord Protector and his Council were given power to provide for the representation of Scotland and Ireland, which was done by later legislation giving 30 seats to each country. This was the first time Scotland and Ireland were represented in a Westminster Parliament.