Oxfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

The constituency comprised the whole of the historic county of Oxfordshire, in the northern part of South East England.

(Although Oxfordshire contained three parliamentary boroughs for part of this period – Oxford (from 1295), Woodstock (or New Woodstock) (1302–1555 and from 1571) and Banbury (from 1554) – each of which elected MPs in their own right, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election.

The county franchise, from 1430, was held by the adult male owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more.

The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections.

The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system.