Middlesex (UK Parliament constituency) facts for kids

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Middlesex was an important area in England that sent representatives to the House of Commons. This is like the main meeting place where laws are made for the country. Middlesex sent two people, called Members of Parliament (or MPs), to represent its people.

This area was a "constituency" from 1265 until 1885. This means it was a specific area that voted for its own MPs. Over time, the way people voted and the exact borders of Middlesex changed.

What Was the Middlesex Area Like?
Who Represented Middlesex?
See also

What Was the Middlesex Area Like?

Soliciting Votes by William Hogarth, of Chiswick, Middlesex, 1754. This painting shows how elections used to be.

An old map of Middlesex from 1769. You can see the River Thames at the bottom.

This map shows the new areas created from Middlesex in 1885. Brentford, where elections were held, is highlighted.

The Middlesex constituency covered most of the old county of Middlesex. This area is now a big part of Greater London. Its southern edge was the River Thames.

For a long time, only certain people could vote. These were usually men who owned land worth a certain amount of money. This was called being a "forty shilling freeholder." As time passed, more people became wealthy. This meant more people could vote.

How Elections Were Held

Before 1700, elections for Middlesex were held at Hampstead Heath. After that, they moved to The Butts in Brentford. Elections were often public events called "hustings." Candidates would try to convince people to vote for them. Sometimes, candidates would even try to bribe voters. This was a common problem back then.

Changes to Voting Rules

Over the years, the number of voters grew. In the late 1600s, there were about 1,660 voters. By the early 1800s, this number had grown to about 6,000. New laws, like the Reform Act 1832 and Reform Act 1867, changed who could vote. These laws made it possible for more people to have a say.

New Voting Areas Created from Middlesex

As London grew, new towns and cities appeared in Middlesex. These areas became so big that they needed their own MPs.

In 1832, three new areas were created: Finsbury, Marylebone, and Tower Hamlets. Each of these areas sent two MPs to Parliament.
In 1867, two more areas were created: Hackney and Chelsea. They also sent two MPs each.
There was also a special "University constituency" for London University graduates.

The End of the Middlesex Constituency

In 1885, big changes happened. The old Middlesex constituency was divided into seven smaller areas. Each of these new areas sent just one MP to Parliament. This was done to make sure that more urban areas had fair representation.

The new areas were: Brentford, Ealing, Enfield, Harrow, Hornsey, Tottenham and Uxbridge.

Who Represented Middlesex?

Middlesex was represented by many different people over the centuries. They were called "Knights of the Shire" in earlier times. These MPs were chosen to speak for the people of Middlesex in Parliament.

From 1265 to 1885, many individuals served as MPs for Middlesex. They came from different backgrounds and political groups. Some were independent, while others belonged to parties like the Whigs or Tories. Later, the Radicals and Liberals also had representatives.

The tables below show some of the people who served as MPs for Middlesex.

Early Knights of the Shire (1295–1509)

Parliament	First member	Second member
1295 (Nov)	William de Brook	Stephen de Gravesend
1296	Richard de Wyndesor	Richard le Rous
1297 (Oct)	Richard le Rous	?
1298 (Mar)	Richard le Rous	?
1298 (May)	Richard le Rous	?
1300	Richard le Rous	?
1301	Richard le Rous	?
1302 (Oct)	Richard le Rous	?
1305 (Feb)	Richard le Rous	?
1306	Richard le Rous	?
1386	Sir Adam Francis	William Swanland
1388 (Feb)	Sir Adam Francis	William Swanland
1388 (Sep)	William Barnville	Godfrey Atte Perry
1390 (Jan)	John Shorditch I	Thomas Coningsby
1390 (Nov)	John Shorditch I	Sir Adam Francis
1391	Thomas Bray	William Norton
1393	William Tamworth	Thomas Maidstone
1394	John Shorditch II	James Ormesby
1395	John Shorditch II	Thomas Coningsby
1397 (Jan)	Thomas Goodlake	Thomas Maidstone
1397 (Sep)	Sir Adam Francis	Sir John Wroth
1399	John Durham	Thomas Maidstone
1401	William Loveney	Sir John Wroth
1402	James Northampton	Thomas Coningsby
1404 (Jan)	William Wroth	Sir John Wroth
1404 (Oct)	Sir Roger Strange	William Powe
1406	Henry Somer	Sir John Wroth
1407	Henry Somer	William Loveney
1410
1411	Sir Adam Francis	Sir Roger Strange
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	William Loveney	Richard Wyot
1414 (Apr)	Simon Camp	Walter Green
1414 (Nov)	Thomas Charlton	John Walden
1415	Simon Camp	Thomas Coningsby
1416 (Mar)
1416 (Oct)	Henry Somer	Walter Gawtron
1419	Thomas Frowyk	Thomas Coningsby
1420	Sir John Boys	Walter Green
1421 (May)	Henry Somer	Sir Thomas Charlton
1421 (Dec)	Richard Maidstone	Edmund Bibbesworth
1429	Henry Somer
1442	Thomas Charlton	John Somerset
1447	Thomas Charlton
1449	Thomas Charlton
1453	Thomas Charlton
1459	Sir Thomas Charlton
1460	Sir Thomas Charlton
1491	Sir Thomas Lovell

Knights of the Shire (1509–1660)

Summoned	Elected	Assembled	Dissolved	First Member	Second Member
17 October 1509	1509–10	21 January 1510	23 February 1510	Sir Thomas Lovell (I)	unknown
28 November 1511	1511–12	4 February 1512	4 March 1514	unknown	unknown
23 November 1514	1514–15	5 February 1515	22 December 1515	unknown	unknown
unknown	1523	15 April 1523	13 August 1523	Sir Thomas More (I) ^a	unknown
9 August 1529	1529	3 November 1529	14 April 1536	Robert Wroth ^b	Richard Hawkes ^c
27 April 1536	1536	8 June 1536	18 July 1536	unknown	unknown
1 March 1539	1539	28 April 1539	24 July 1540	Sir Ralph Sadler	Robert Cheeseman
23 November 1541	1541–42	16 January 1542	28 March 1544	Robert Cheeseman	John Hughes ^d
1 December 1544	1544–45	23 November 1545	31 January 1547	Sir William Paget	Thomas Wroth
2 August 1547	1547	4 November 1547	15 April 1552	Sir Thomas Wroth	John Newdigate
5 January 1553	1553	1 March 1553	31 March 1553	Sir Robert Bowes	Sir Thomas Wroth
14 August 1553	1553	5 October 1553	5 December 1553	Sir Edward Hastings	John Newdigate
17 February 1554	1554	2 April 1554	3 May 1554	Sir Edward Hastings	John Newdigate
3 October 1554	1554	12 November 1554	16 January 1555	Sir Edward Hastings	Sir Roger Cholmley
3 September 1555	1555	21 October 1555	9 December 1555	Sir Edward Hastings	Sir Roger Cholmley
6 December 1557	1557–58	20 January 1558	17 November 1558	Sir Roger Cholmley	John Newdigate
5 December 1558	29 December 1558	23 January 1559	8 May 1559	Sir Roger Cholmley	Sir Thomas Wroth
10 November 1562	1562–63	11 January 1563	2 January 1567	Sir William Cordell	Sir Thomas Wroth
unknown	1571	2 April 1571	29 May 1571	Francis Newdigate	John Newdigate
28 March 1572	1572	8 May 1572	19 April 1583	Robert Wroth (I)	Sir Owen Hopton
12 October 1584	1584	23 November 1584	14 September 1585	Robert Wroth (I)	Sir Owen Hopton
15 September 1586	1586	15 October 1586	23 March 1587	Robert Wroth (I)	William Fleetwood (III)
18 September 1588	19 December 1588	4 February 1589	29 March 1589	Robert Wroth (I)	William Fleetwood (III)
4 January 1593	1593	18 February 1593	10 April 1593	Robert Wroth (I)	Francis Bacon
23 August 1597	15 September 1597	24 October 1597	9 February 1598	Sir Robert Wroth (I)	Sir John Peyton (I)
11 September 1601	8 October 1601	27 October 1601	19 December 1601	Sir John Fortescue (I)	Sir Robert Wroth (I)
31 January 1604	1604	19 March 1604	9 February 1611	Sir William Fleetwood	Sir Robert Wroth
unknown	1614	5 April 1614	7 June 1614	Sir Julius Caesar	Sir Thomas Lake
13 November 1620	1620–21	16 January 1621	8 February 1622	Sir Francis Darcy	Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt
20 December 1623	1623–24	12 February 1624	27 March 1625	Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt	Sir John Suckling
2 April 1625	1625	17 May 1625	12 August 1625	Sir John Francklyn	Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt
20 December 1625	1626	6 February 1626	15 June 1626	Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt	Sir Edward Spencer
31 January 1628	1628	17 March 1628	10 March 1629	Sir Francis Darcy	Sir Henry Spiller
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
20 February 1640	1640	13 April 1640	5 May 1640	Sir John Francklyn	Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt
24 September 1640	1640	3 November 1640	16 March 1660 ^e	Sir John Francklyn ^f	Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt ^g
24 September 1640	18 May 1648	3 November 1640	16 March 1660 ^e	Sir Edward Spencer ^h	Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt ^g

Notes:-

^a Speaker of the House of Commons.
^b Wroth stopped being an MP after 11 May 1535. We don't know if a new election was held.
^c Hawkes stopped being an MP by May/June 1532. We don't know if a new election was held.
^d Hughes stopped being an MP after January/April 1543. We don't know if a new election was held.
^e The Long Parliament was supposed to last a long time, but sometimes members were not allowed to sit.
^f Francklyn died, and a new election was held.
^g In December 1648, Gilbert was removed from Parliament, and his seat was empty.
^h Spencer is not recorded as having sat after December 1648.

Members of the Commonwealth Parliaments (1653-1659)

During this time, the way MPs were chosen changed.

Summoned	Elected	Assembled	Dissolved	1st Member	2nd Member	3rd Member	4th Member
		4 July 1653	12 December 1653	Sir William Roberts	Augustine Wingfield	Arthur Squib
1 June 1654	1654	3 September 1654	22 January 1655	Sir James Harrington, Bt	Sir William Roberts	Josiah Berners	Edmund Harvey
10 July 1656	1656	17 September 1656	4 February 1658	Sir John Barkstead	Sir William Roberts	Chaloner Chute	William Kiffen
9 December 1658	1658–59	27 January 1659	22 April 1659	Francis Gerard	Chaloner Chute

Knights of the Shire (1660–1885)

Year	1st Member		1st Party		2nd Party
1660		Sir Lancelot Lake	Non Partisan	Sir William Waller	Non Partisan
1661		Sir Lancelot Lake	Non Partisan	Sir Thomas Allen	Non Partisan
1679		Sir Robert Peyton	Non Partisan	Sir William Roberts, Bt	Non Partisan
1681		Robert Atkyns	Non Partisan
1681		Nicholas Raynton	Non Partisan
1685		Sir Charles Gerard, Bt	Non Partisan	Ralph Hawtrey	Non Partisan
1695		Edward Russell	Non Partisan	Sir John Wolstenholme, Bt	Non Partisan
1696		Sir John Bucknall	Non Partisan
1698		Warwick Lake	Non Partisan
1701				Hugh Smithson	Tory
1701				John Austen	Whig
1702				Hugh Smithson	Tory
1705		Scorie Barker	Non Partisan	Sir John Wolstenholme, Bt	Non Partisan
1709		Scorie Barker	Non Partisan	John Austen	Whig
1710		Hon. James Bertie	Tory	Hugh Smithson	Tory
1722				Sir John Austen, Bt.	Whig
1727				Sir Francis Child	Tory
1734		William Pulteney	Whig	Sir Francis Child	Tory
1740		William Pulteney	Whig	Sir Hugh Smithson, Bt (later Sir Hugh Percy, Bt) ^a	Tory
1742		Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt	Tory		Tory
1747		Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, Bt	Whig		Whig
1750		Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, Bt	Whig	George Cooke	Tory
1768		John Wilkes	Radical	George Cooke	Tory
1768				John Glynn	Whig
1769 (Feb)
1769 (Mar)
1769 (Apr)		Henry Luttrell	Tory
1774		John Wilkes	Radical
1779				Thomas Wood	Whig
1780				George Byng	Whig
1784				William Mainwaring	Tory
1790		George Byng	Whig	William Mainwaring	Tory
1802				Sir Francis Burdett, Bt	Whig
1804				George Boulton Mainwaring	Tory
1805				Sir Francis Burdett, Bt	Whig
1806				George Boulton Mainwaring	Tory
1806				William Mellish	Tory
1820				Samuel Charles Whitbread	Whig
1830				Joseph Hume	Radical
1837				Thomas Wood	Conservative
1847		Lord Robert Grosvenor	Whig	Thomas Wood	Conservative
1847				Ralph Bernal Osborne	Radical
1857				Robert Culling Hanbury	Whig
1857		Hon. George Byng (later Viscount Enfield) ^b	Whig		Whig
1859			Liberal		Liberal
1867				Henry Labouchère	Liberal
1868				Lord George Hamilton	Conservative
1874		Octavius Coope	Conservative	Lord George Hamilton	Conservative
1885	constituency divided