Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)

Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the English House of Commons from 1603 and from 1707 British House of Commons to 1950.

Franchise and method of election

This university constituency was created by a Royal Charter of 1603. It was abolished in 1950 by the Representation of the People Act 1948.

The constituency was not a geographical area. Its electorate consisted of the graduates of the University of Cambridge. Before 1918 the franchise was restricted to male graduates with a Doctorate or Master of Arts degree. Sedgwick records that there were 377 electors in 1727. For the 1754–1790 period, Namier and Brooke estimated the electorate at about 500.

The constituency returned two Members of Parliament. Before 1918 they were elected by plurality-at-large voting, but from 1918 onwards the two members were elected by the Single Transferable Vote method.

History

In the early 18th century, the electors of both English universities were mostly Tories, but the Whig ministers of King George I were able to persuade him to use his royal prerogative to confer Cambridge doctorates on a large number of Whigs, so that from 1727 the university largely returned Whig representatives. At Oxford, the King did not enjoy the same prerogative power, so that the University of Oxford constituency remained Tory, and indeed often Jacobite, in its preferences.

The leading 18th-century Whig politician Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1748 to 1768 and recommended to the electors suitable candidates to represent them in Parliament. This practice continued under his successor, another Whig Duke and Prime Minister, Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the university from 1768 to 1811. However, Grafton was less influential as a politician than Newcastle had been and also less attentive towards the university, and as a result some of his nominations came in for criticism, notably that of his friend Richard Croftes.

Croftes was far from typical of a university member of parliament: he was neither the son of a peer, like the Hon. John Townshend, the Marquess of Granby, and Grafton's own son the Earl of Euston, nor a distinguished lawyer-politician, such as William de Grey, James Mansfield, and Sir Vicary Gibbs, nor a prominent political figure like William Pitt the Younger and Lord Henry Petty. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Pittite and Tory candidates began to be elected. At the appearance of this political development, some of the Pittite members, including the younger William Pitt himself, one of the members for the university from 1784 to 1806, described themselves as Whigs. As time passed, the division between the 19th century Tory and Whig parties became clearer.

The future Prime Minister, Viscount Palmerston, retained his university seat as a Whig after he left the Tory ranks, but in 1831 he was defeated. After Palmerston ceased to represent the university he was elected by a territorial constituency. From then until the 1920s, all of the university's members were Tories and/or Conservatives.

Even after the introduction of the single transferable vote in 1918, most of the members continued to be elected as Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

This is a list of people who have been elected to represent this university in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

1603 to 1660

• Constituency created 1603

Year	First member	Second member
1604	Nicholas Steward	Henry Mountlow
1614	Sir Miles Sandys	Sir Francis Bacon
1621	Robert Naunton	Barnaby Gough
1624	Sir Robert Naunton	Barnaby Gough
1625	Sir Robert Naunton	Sir Albert Morton
1626	Thomas Eden	Sir John Coke
1628–1629	Thomas Eden	Sir John Coke
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
Apr 1640	Thomas Eden	Henry Lucas
Nov 1640	Thomas Eden	Henry Lucas
Eden died 1644 replaced by Nathaniel Bacon
1648	Lucas secluded in Pride's Purge
1654	Henry Cromwell	(one seat only)
1656	Richard Cromwell	(one seat only)
1659	John Thurloe	Thomas Sclater

1660 to 1784

Year	Member	Party	Member	Party
1660 Apr	George Monck		Thomas Crouch
1660 Jun	William Montagu
1661	Sir Richard Fanshawe
1667	Sir Charles Wheler, 2nd Baronet
1679	Sir Thomas Exton		James Vernon
1681			Robert Brady
1689	Sir Robert Sawyer		Isaac Newton	Whig
1690			Edward Finch
1692	Henry Boyle	Whig
1695			George Oxenden
1698			Anthony Hammond
1701			Isaac Newton	Court Whig
1702			Arthur Annesley	Tory
1705	Dixie Windsor	Tory
1710			Thomas Paske	Tory
1720			Thomas Willoughby	Tory
1727	Edward Finch	Whig	Thomas Townshend	Whig
1768	Charles Yorke	Rockingham Whig
1770	William de Grey
1771	Richard Croftes
1774			Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby
1779			James Mansfield
1780	Lord John Townshend	Whig

1784 to 1950

Year	Member		Party	Member		Party
1784	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	William Pitt the Younger	Tory1	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Earl of Euston	Whig
1806	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Lord Henry Petty	Whig
1807	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Vicary Gibbs	Tory
1811	rowspan="6" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Viscount Palmerston	Tory
1812	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	John Henry Smyth	Whig
1822	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	William John Bankes	Tory
1826	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir John Copley	Tory
1827	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal	Tory
1829	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	William Cavendish	Whig
1830	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |				Whig
1831	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Henry Goulburn	Tory	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	William Yates Peel	Tory
1832	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Charles Manners-Sutton	Tory
1834	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |		Conservative		style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
1835	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Hon. Charles Law	Conservative
1850	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Loftus Wigram	Conservative
1856	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Spencer Horatio Walpole	Conservative
1859	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Charles Jasper Selwyn	Conservative
1868	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Alexander Beresford Hope	Conservative
1882	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Henry Cecil Raikes	Conservative
1887	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Sir George Stokes, Bt	Conservative
1891	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb 2	Conservative
1892	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Sir John Eldon Gorst	Conservative
1906	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Samuel Butcher	Conservative	rowspan="5" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	John Rawlinson	Conservative
1911	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Joseph Larmor	Conservative
1918	Co. Conservative 3		Co. Conservative3
1922	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	J. R. M. Butler	Ind. Liberal4	Conservative
1923	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Geoffrey G. Butler 5	Conservative
1926	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Sir John Withers	Conservative
1929	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Godfrey Wilson	Conservative
1935	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sir Kenneth Pickthorn	Conservative
1940	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Dr. Archibald Hill	Ind. Conservative4
1945	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |			Wilson Harris	Independent

Notes:-

• ¹ Pitt called himself a Whig, but is usually retrospectively regarded as a Tory since most of his followers (whether their background was in the Whig or Tory tradition) came to call themselves the Tory Party in the decade after Pitt's death.
• ² Jebb died on 10 December 1905 – seat vacant at dissolution.
• ³ Co. is an abbreviation for Coalition.
• ⁴ Ind. is an abbreviation for Independent.
• ⁵ Sir Geoffrey G. Butler died on 2 May 1929 – seat vacant at dissolution.

Election by block vote 1715–1918

1710s – 1720s – 1730s – 1740s – 1750s – 1760s – 1770s – 1780s – 1790s – 1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s

Elections in the 1710s

General election 26 January 1715: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Dixie Windsor	Unopposed	N/A
		Thomas Paske	Unopposed	N/A

Elections in the 1720s

• Death of Paske

By-election 19 December 1720: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Thomas Willoughby	176	55.17
		Henry Finch	143	44.83
Majority			33	10.34
Turnout			319	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

• Note (1722): Stooks Smith gives Willoughby 319 votes.

General election 22 March 1722: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Dixie Windsor	Unopposed	N/A
		Thomas Willoughby	Unopposed	N/A

Template:Election box Registered electors

General election 22 August 1727: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	221	37.14
		Thomas Townshend	198	33.28
		Dixie Windsor	176	29.58
Turnout			595 (377 voted)	79.70

• Note (1727): Unusually, for a pre-1832 election, Stooks Smith records the total number of electors for the constituency as well as the number who voted; so a turnout figure can be calculated.

Elections in the 1730s

General election 29 April 1734: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Thomas Townshend	222	30.33
		Edward Finch	209	28.55
		Goodrick	174	23.77
		Dixie Windsor	137	17.35
Turnout			732	N/A

• Note (1734): Goodrick was an Opposition Whig

Elections in the 1740s

General election 6 May 1741: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	Unopposed	N/A
		Thomas Townshend	Unopposed	N/A

• Seat vacated when Finch was appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber

By-election 23 July 1742: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	Unopposed	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

General election 26 June 1747: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	Unopposed	N/A
		Thomas Townshend	Unopposed	N/A

Elections in the 1750s

General election 17 April 1754: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	Unopposed	N/A
		Thomas Townshend	Unopposed	N/A

• Seat vacated when Finch was appointed to an office

By-election 14 June 1757: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	Unopposed	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1760s

• Seat vacated when Finch was appointed to an office

By-election 14 January 1761: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	Unopposed	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

General election 27 March 1761: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Finch	Unopposed	N/A
		Thomas Townshend	Unopposed	N/A

General election 19 March 1768: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	Charles Yorke	Unopposed	N/A
		Thomas Townshend	Unopposed	N/A

Elections in the 1770s

• Seat vacated on the appointment of Yorke as Lord Chancellor

Template:Election box hold

By-election 1 February 1770: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	William de Grey	Unopposed	N/A

• Seat vacated on the appointment of de Grey as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas

Template:Election box hold

By-election 4 February 1771: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	Richard Croftes	76	62.81
	Non-partisan	William Wynne	45	37.19
Majority			31	25.62
Turnout			121	N/A

General election 10 October 1774: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	Charles Manners	Unopposed	N/A
	Non-partisan	Richard Croftes	Unopposed	N/A

• Succession of Granby as the 4th Duke of Rutland

Template:Election box hold

By-election 10 June 1779: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	James Mansfield	157	35.68
	Non-partisan	John Townshend	145	32.95
	Non-partisan	Thomas Villiers	138	31.36
Majority			12	2.73
Turnout			440	N/A

Elections in the 1780s

General election 9 September 1780: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	James Mansfield	277	27.10
	Non-partisan	John Townshend	247	24.17
	Non-partisan	Thomas Villiers	206	20.16
	Non-partisan	Richard Croftes	150	14.68
	Non-partisan	William Pitt	142	13.89
Turnout			1,022 (546 voters)	N/A

• Note (1780): Stooks Smith records Townshend as getting 237 votes.
• Seat vacated on Townshend being appointed to an office

Template:Election box hold

By-election 3 April 1782: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	John Townshend	Unopposed	N/A

• Seat vacated on Townshend being appointed to an office

Template:Election box hold

By-election 11 April 1783: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	John Townshend	Unopposed	N/A

• Seat vacated on Mansfield being appointed as Solicitor General for England and Wales

Template:Election box hold

By-election 26 November 1783: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	James Mansfield	Unopposed	N/A

General election 3 April 1784: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Non-partisan	William Pitt	351	31.65
	Non-partisan	George FitzRoy	299	26.96
	Non-partisan	John Townshend	278	25.07
	Non-partisan	James Mansfield	181	16.32
Turnout			1,109 (588 voters)	N/A

• The 1784 election was broadly a contest between the new government of Pitt and the ousted Fox-North Coalition, in which both Townshend and Mansfield had held office.

Elections in the 1790s

General election 1790: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		William Pitt	510	42.50
		George FitzRoy	483	40.25
		Lawrence Dundas	207	17.25
Turnout			1,200 (684 voters)	N/A

• Note (1790): Party labels in the 1790–1832 period follow Stooks Smith, who classifies Pitt and his Pittite supporters as Tories without regard to what they would have actually called themselves.
• Seat vacated on Pitt being appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports

By-election 1792: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		William Pitt	Unopposed	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

• Seat vacated on Euston being appointed to an office

By-election 1794: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		George FitzRoy	Unopposed	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1796: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		William Pitt	Unopposed	N/A
		George FitzRoy	Unopposed	N/A

Elections in the 1800s

General election 1802: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		William Pitt	Template:Replace	N/A
		George FitzRoy	Template:Replace	N/A

• Seat vacated on Pitt being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer

By-election 1804: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		William Pitt	Template:Replace	N/A
	hold

• Death of Pitt

By-election February 1806: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Henry Petty	Template:Replace	54.80
		John Spencer	145	24.01
		Henry Temple	128	21.19
Majority			186	30.79
Turnout			604	N/A
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	N/A

• Palmerston was a Peer of Ireland

General election 1806: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Henry Petty	Template:Replace	N/A
		George FitzRoy	Template:Replace	N/A

General election 1807: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		George FitzRoy	Template:Replace	26.75
		Vicary Gibbs	Template:Replace	25.76
		Henry Temple	310	25.60
		Henry Petty	265	21.88
Turnout			1,211 (631 voters)	N/A

Elections in the 1810s

• Succession of Euston as the 4th Duke of Grafton

By-election March 1811: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Henry Temple	Template:Replace	56.66
		John Henry Smyth	345	43.34
Majority			106	13.32
Turnout			796	N/A
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	N/A

• Seat vacated on Gibbs being appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas

By-election 1812: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Henry Smyth	Template:Replace	N/A
	gain from

General election 1812: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Henry Temple	Template:Replace	N/A
		John Henry Smyth	Template:Replace	N/A

General election 1818: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Henry Temple	Template:Replace	N/A
		John Henry Smyth	Template:Replace	N/A

Elections in the 1820s

General election 1820: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Henry Temple	Template:Replace	N/A
		John Henry Smyth	Template:Replace	N/A

• Death of Smyth

By-election 1822: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		William John Bankes	Template:Replace	45.59
		Lord Harvey	281	30.58
		James Scarlett	219	23.83
Majority			138	15.02
Turnout			919	N/A
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	N/A

General election 1826: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Copley	Template:Replace	32.88
		Henry Temple	Template:Replace	26.87
		William John Bankes	508	21.64
		Henry Goulburn	437	18.61
Majority			123	5.23
Turnout			2,348 (1,293 voters)	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

• Seat vacated on the appointment of Copley as Lord Chancellor and creation as 1st Baron Lyndhurst

Template:Election box Registered electors

By-election May 1827: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Nicholas Conyngham Tindal	Template:Replace	55.89
		William John Bankes	378	44.11
Majority			101	11.78
Turnout			857	43.93
	hold		Swing	N/A

• Note (1827): Unusually for a pre-1832 election Stooks Smith provides a total electorate figure, so a turnout percentage can be calculated. See the 1727 result above for another instance.
• Seat vacated on the appointment of Tindal as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas

By-election June 1829: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		William Cavendish	Template:Replace	56.86
		George Bankes	462	43.14
Majority			147	13.72
Turnout			1,071
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing

Elections in the 1830s

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 1830: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	gain from
	gain from

• Seat vacated on the appointment of Palmerston as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election, 30 November 1830: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	hold

Template:Election box majority no changeTemplate:Election box registered electors no change

General election 1831: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
		Henry Goulburn		28.3
		William Yates Peel		28.2
		William Cavendish		22.1
		Henry Temple		21.4
Turnout			1,450	65.5
	gain from
	gain from

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box registered electors no change

General election 12 December 1832: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	hold
	gain from

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box registered electors no change

General election 12 December 1835: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	hold
	hold

• Manners-Sutton created 'The 1st Viscount Canterbury'.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election, 21 March 1835: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	gain from

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box registered electors no change

General election 25 July 1837: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	hold
	gain from

• Note (1837): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Law as a Peelite between this election and that of 1847.

Elections in the 1840s

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 30 June 1841: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			2,873
	hold
	hold

• Note (1841): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative and Law as a Peelite for this election.
• Goulburn appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election, 15 September 1841: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

General election 3 August 1847: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Charles Law	Template:Replace	31.7
		Henry Goulburn	Template:Replace	25.4
		Rudolph Feilding	1,147	24.5
		John Shaw-Lefevre	860	18.4
Majority			42	0.9
Turnout			2,341 (est)	61.6
Registered electors			3,800
	hold		Swing	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

• Note 1 (1847): 3,800 registered electors; 4,682 votes cast; minimum possible turnout estimated by dividing votes by 2. To the extent that electors did not use both their votes, the figure will be an underestimate.
• Note 2 (1847): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative and Law as a Peelite for this election.

Elections in the 1850s

• Death of Law.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election, 4 October 1850: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 10 July 1852: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			4,063
	hold
	hold

• Note (1852): McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book classifies Goulburn as a Liberal Conservative for this election.
• Death of Goulburn.

By-election, 11 February 1856: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Spencer Horatio Walpole	Template:Replace	67.9
		George Denman	419	32.1
Majority			467	35.8
Turnout			1,305	28.7
Registered electors			4,552
	hold		Swing	N/A

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 28 March 1857: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			4,552
	hold
	hold

• Appointment of Walpole as Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election, 4 March 1858: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 29 April 1859: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			4,566
	hold
	hold

Elections in the 1860s

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 11 July 1865: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			5,184
	hold
	hold

• Appointment of Walpole as Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election 11 July 1866: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

• Appointment of Selwyn as Solicitor-General.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election 22 July 1867: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

• Appointment of Selwyn as Judge of the Court of Appeal in Chancery.

By-election 24 February 1868: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Alexander Beresford Hope	Template:Replace	58.0
		Anthony Cleasby	1,400	42.0
Majority			531	16.0
Turnout			3,331	64.3
Registered electors			5,184
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 16 November 1868: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			5,435
	hold
	hold

Elections in the 1870s

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 2 February 1874: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			5,855
	hold
	hold

Elections in the 1880s

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election April 1880: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Registered electors			6,161
	hold
	hold

Walpole's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election 23–28 Nov 1882: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Henry Cecil Raikes	Template:Replace	72.9
		James Stuart	1,301	27.2
Majority			2,190	45.7
Turnout			4,792	75.2
Registered electors			6,371
	hold		Swing	N/A

File:Alexander Beresford Hope.jpg

Hope

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 1885: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 1886: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold
	hold

Raikes was appointed Postmaster General, requiring a by-election.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election, 13 Aug 1886: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

File:Ggstokes.jpg

Stokes

Beresford-Hope's death caused a by-election.

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

By-election, 17 Nov 1887: Cambridge University

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

Elections in the 1890s

File:Richard Claverhouse Jebb - Imagines philologorum.jpg

Jebb

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

1891 Cambridge University by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 1892: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 1895: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold
	hold

Elections in the 1900s

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election 1900: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold
	hold

General election 1906: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Samuel Butcher	Template:Replace	39.72
		John Rawlinson	Template:Replace	38.76
		John Eldon Gorst	1,653	21.53
Majority			1,323	17.23
Turnout			4,063	65.8
Registered electors			6,972
	hold		Swing	N/A
	hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election January 1910: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold
	hold

Template:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party linkTemplate:Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link

General election December 1910: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	hold
	hold

File:Harold Cox.jpg

Cox

1911 Cambridge University by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Joseph Larmor	Template:Replace	50.24
		Harold Cox	1,954	42.53
		Thomas Ethelbert Page	332	7.23
Majority			354	7.71
Turnout			7,129	64.44
	hold		Swing	N/A

Elections 1918–1950

General elections from 1918, when most constituencies polled on the same day, were on different polling days than for territorial constituencies. The polls for university constituencies were open for five days. The elections were conducted by Single Transferable Vote.

Elections in the 1920s

Template:Election box Registered electors

General election 1922: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Rawlinson	Template:Replace	49.39
		J. R. M. Butler	Template:Replace	39.86
		William Ritchie Sorley	1,018	11.75
Majority			2,435	28.11
Quota			2,888
Turnout			8,663	63.74
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing	N/A

• As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary

Template:Election box Registered electors

General election 1924: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Rawlinson	Template:Replace	38.60
		Geoffrey G. Butler	Template:Replace	34.01
		J. R. M. Butler	3,241	27.38
Majority			785	6.63
Quota			3,946
Turnout			11,836	71.21
	hold		Swing

• As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary

1926 Cambridge University by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Withers	Template:Replace	N/A
	hold

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Godfrey Wilson	Template:Replace	N/A
		John Withers	Template:Replace	N/A
	hold

1935 Cambridge University by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Kenneth Pickthorn	Template:Replace	N/A
	hold

Template:Election box Registered electors

General election 1935: Cambridge University (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		John Withers	Template:Replace	42.30
		Kenneth Pickthorn	Template:Replace	38.49
		Lionel Elvin	3,453	19.21
Majority			3,464	19.28
Quota			5,991
Turnout			17,972	53.46
	hold		Swing

• As two candidates achieved the quota only one count was necessary

Elections in the 1940s

1940 Cambridge University by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Archibald Hill	Template:Replace	64.62
		John Ryle	5,387	35.38
Majority			4,453	29.24
Turnout			39,171	38.87
	gain from Template:Yesno		Swing

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies

References

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press, revised edition 1977)
• McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book: British Election Results 1832–1918 (8th edition, The Harvester Press 1971)
• The House of Commons 1715–1754, by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970)
• The House of Commons 1754–1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)
• The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1981)

Specific