The parliamentary borough formed part of the built up area of London, and returned two members to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament and was created under the Reform Act 1832.

The constituency was defined as consisting of three civil parishes in Middlesex:[2] The commissioners appointed to fix its boundaries recommended that the part of Saint Pancras north of the Regent's Canal should be omitted thus remain in the parliamentary county of Middlesex being a still a largely rural projection.

[4] In 1885 the entity was split into eight new single-member divisions: Notes Turnout, in multi-member elections, is estimated by dividing the number of votes by two.

Portman resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

[18][19] Whalley's election was declared void on petition, due to him having insufficient estate to qualify, causing a by-election.