Appleby (UK Parliament constituency)

The seats were frequently kept for members of those families, but Appleby's other representatives included William Pitt the Younger, who was MP for Appleby when he became prime minister in 1783 (although he stood down at the following general election when he was instead elected for Cambridge University).

A later member for Appleby was Viscount Howick, subsequently (as Earl Grey) the Prime Minister whose administration passed the Great Reform Act 1832; but Grey's history as a former MP for the town did not save it from losing both its members under the act.

Appleby was regarded as a classic example of a pocket borough, completely in the control of its owners who were also the major local landowners, and with a population of only 1,233 at the 1831 census unlikely to be freed from their influence even by widening the franchise.

It consisted of the whole of the northern half of the county, including the towns of Ambleside, Grasmere and Kirkby Stephen.

It was abolished at the 1918 general election, the whole county henceforth being united in a single Westmorland constituency.