History of Sussex - Parliamentary History

Parliamentary History

The Parliamentary history of the county began in the 13th century. In 1290, the first year for which a return of knights of the shire is available, Henry Hussey and William de Etchingham were elected.

In 1801 the Members of Parliament(MPs) for the counties on the south coast of England were elected to a third of all the seats in parliament, although they represented only about 15% of the nation's population. The way that the country's electoral system worked had changed little since the first parliament in 1295. The counties each returned two MPs and each borough designated by Royal charter also returned two MPs. This produced the situation where some of the towns of the north that had grown large during the industrial revolution had no representation whereas smaller towns in the south, that had been important in medieval times, were still able to have two MPs.

Although there had been various proposals to reform the system from 1770, it was not till 1830 when a series of factors saw the Reform Act 1832 introduced. The larger industrial towns of the north were enfranchised for the first time and smaller English boroughs (known as Rotten Boroughs) were disenfranchised,including Bramber, East Grinstead, Seaford, Steyning and Winchelsea in Sussex. The Representation of the People Act 1884 and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (together known as the Third Reform Act) were responsible for redistributing 160 seats and extending suffrage.

After the Reform Act of 1832 Sussex was divided into the eastern division and the western division and two representatives were elected for each division. In June 1832 the Honorable C.C. Cavendish and H.B.Curteis Esquire were elected in the eastern division and the Earl of Surrey and Lord John George Lennox were elected for the western division. There was a total of 3478 votes cast in the eastern division and 2365 votes in the western division.

Before the 1832 reform two members each had been returned by Arundel, Chichester, Hastings, Horsham, Lewes, Midhurst, New Shoreham (with the rape of Bramber) and Rye. Arundel, Horsham, Midhurst and Rye were each deprived of a member in 1832, Chichester and Lewes in 1867, and Hastings in 1885. Arundel was disfranchised in 1868, and Chichester, Horsham, Midhurst, New Shoreham and Rye in 1885. Under the new system the constituencies were based on unit numbers rather than historic towns. The reforms of the 19th century made the electoral system more representative, but it was not till 1928 there was universal suffrage.