The constituency was based upon the town of Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
After 1832 the non-resident Forty Shilling Freeholders of the area continued to qualify for a county vote (initially in the West Riding of Yorkshire seat, and from 1865 in a division of the West Riding).
Bradford, as a new parliamentary borough, had no voters enfranchised under the ancient rights preserved by the Reform Act 1832.
The area was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847, covering the parishes of Bradford, Horton and Manningham.
Bradford was expanded in 1882 to include Allerton, Bolton, Bowling, Heaton, Thornbury and Tyersall.