Stamford (UK Parliament constituency)

The parliamentary borough was based upon the town of Stamford in the Parts of Kesteven (a traditional sub-division of the county of Lincolnshire).

Stamford for some 150 years after the reign of Edward II apparently forbore to exercise its onerous privilege of returning members.

Namier and Brooke in The House of Commons 1754-1790 confirmed that before the Reform Act 1832 the right of election was in the inhabitants of the parliamentary borough paying scot and lot, a local tax.

In 1754–1790, despite the comparatively large electorate, the constituency was under the control of the Earl of Exeter (the head of the senior branch of the House of Cecil) and elections were uncontested formalities.

A more significant historical figure was Lord Robert Cecil (Viscount Cranborne 1865–1868) who represented the borough between 1853 and 1868.

As the Marquess of Salisbury he was the leading figure in the Conservative Party from the death of Disraeli in 1881 until he retired as Prime Minister in 1902.

Under the Reform Act 1867 the borough electorate was expanded, but it lost one seat in Parliament from the 1868 United Kingdom general election.

The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 abolished the borough constituency but created an expanded county division of the same name.

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

Lawrance resigned after being appointed a Judge of the Queen's Bench division of the High Court of Justice, causing a by-election.