Windsor (UK Parliament Constituency) - History

History

Windsor has had parliamentary representation for centuries, first sending a member in 1301, and continuously from 1424. It elected two Members of Parliament until 1868, when the constituency was reformed and its representation reduced to one MP. In 1974, the constituency was abolished and a similar one, Windsor and Maidenhead was created. However, in 1997 the constituency was recreated.

The pre-1832 franchise of the borough was held by inhabitants paying scot and lot (a local tax). On 2 May 1689 the House of Commons had decided that the electorate should be limited to the members of Windsor Corporation. This was disputed after the next election, in 1690, when the Mayor submitted two returns of different members. The House of Commons reversed the decision of the previous Parliament and confirmed the scot and lot franchise.

There were 278 electors in 1712. Namier and Brooke estimated that, in 1754-1790, there were about 300 electors. In 1832 a new property based franchise replaced the scot and lot qualification. Under the new system, there were 507 registered electors in 1832.

The early political history of the area was strongly influenced by the monarch and members of his or her family. Windsor Castle has been an important royal residence throughout the history of the constituency.

During part of the 18th century the Duke of Cumberland (son of King George II) and the Beauclerk family (descended from King Charles II) had political interests in the borough.

King George III became personally involved in the hotly contested 1780 general election. George encouraged local landowner Peniston Portlock Powney to stand by paying him £2,500 from the King's personal account. The King wished to defeat Admiral Keppel, one of the incumbent members. The monarch went so far as to canvass tradesmen who dealt with the royal household. After this royal interference in the election, Keppel only lost by 16 votes. Namier and Brooke suggest the Windsor electorate had an independent streak and were difficult to manage.

The borough representatives before the Reform Act 1832 included soldiers and people connected with the Royal Household, such as Sir Richard Hussey Vivian (MP 1826-1831) and Sir Herbert Taylor (MP 1820-1823). The constituency also returned politicians prominent in national politics, like the Duke of Wellington's elder brother the Earl of Mornington in the 1780s and 1790s or the future Prime Minister Edward Stanley (subsequently the Earl of Derby) in the early 1830s).

The Ramsbottom family filled one seat from 1806 until 1845. The borough had been loyal to the King's Pittite/Tory ministers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but became more favourable to the Whig interest after John Ramsbottom (MP 1810-1845) was elected.

By the 1860s the monarch had ceased to interfere in local affairs. The borough fell under the patronage of Colonel R. Richardson-Gardner. Richardson-Gardner was a local landowner, who caused some animosity when following the 1868 general election he evicted tenants who did not support him at the polls. This was the last Parliamentary election the Conservatives lost in Windsor.

Despite (or perhaps because of) his methods, Richardson-Gardner was elected to Parliament in 1874. Successive Conservative MPs, before the First World War, had considerable influence in the constituency; especially when they subscribed generously to local institutions such as a hospital.

The county division created in 1918 combined the town of Windsor, with territory to its west, south and east which had formerly been in the Wokingham division. The incumbent MP for Wokingham up to 1918, Ernest Gardner, was the first representative of the expanded Windsor constituency. The Conservative Party retained the seat continuously, until 1974 when a Windsor constituency temporarily disappeared from the House of Commons.

The re-created constituency, from 1997, has remained reliably Conservative. Despite some Liberal Democrat strength in local elections, particularly in the town of Windsor itself, affluent villages and small towns such as Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale have continued to contribute to Conservative majorities.