Kendal (UK Parliament constituency)

Kendal
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1832–1918
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Westmorland
Created from	Westmorland

Kendal was a parliamentary borough centred on the town of Kendal in Westmorland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

History

The constituency was created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election.

The small Kendal parliamentary borough constituency created in 1832 was abolished in 1885 by the Reform Act 1884. James Cropper, Liberal, being its last MP. The constituency after 1885 was a result of dividing the Westmorland constituency which up to then had two members since 1297. Thereafter it was the Kendal Division of Westmorland and the other being the Appleby Division. The two Conservative members for the old constituency William Lowther and the Earl of Bective were reelected in the 1885 general election, Mr Lowther for the Appleby Division and the Earl of Bective for the Kendal Division. These two constituencies were recombined under one member John Wakefield Weston for the 1918 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1832	James Brougham	Liberal
	1834 by-election	John Foster-Barham	Liberal
	1837	George William Wood	Liberal
	1843 by-election	Henry Warburton	Liberal
	1847	George Carr Glyn	Liberal
	1868	John Whitwell	Liberal
	1880 by-election	James Cropper	Liberal
	1885	Earl of Bective	Conservative
	1892	Josceline FitzRoy Bagot	Conservative
	1906	Dudley Stewart-Smith	Liberal
	January 1910	Josceline FitzRoy Bagot	Conservative
	1913 by-election	John Wakefield Weston	Conservative
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Taylour, Earl of Bective	2,690	52.6	n/a
	Liberal	James Cropper	2,427	47.4	n/a
Majority			263	5.2	n/a
Turnout				90.9	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1886: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Thomas Taylour, Earl of Bective	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1890s

Josceline Bagot

General Election 1892: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Fitzroy Bagot	2,838	56.2	n/a
	Liberal	J A Farrer	2,209	43.8	n/a
Majority			629	12.4	n/a
Turnout				84.1	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1895: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Fitzroy Bagot	2,771	57.5
	Liberal	Herbert Stephenson	2,049	42.8
Majority			722	15.0
Turnout				79.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Fitzroy Bagot	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1906: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dudley Cautley Stewart-Smith	2,899	52.3	n/a
	Conservative	Josceline Fitzroy Bagot	2,647	47.7	n/a
Majority			252	4.6	n/a
Turnout				85.6	n/a
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Fitzroy Bagot	3,228	54.2
	Liberal	Dudley Cautley Stewart-Smith	2,726	45.8
Majority			502	8.4
Turnout				91.0
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election December 1910: Kendal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Josceline Fitzroy Bagot	3,041	52.7
	Liberal	William Henry Somervell	2,733	47.3
Majority			308	5.4
Turnout				88.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Kendal by-election, 1913

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	John Wakefield Weston	3,261	54.9	+2.2
	Liberal	William Henry Somervell	2,680	45.1	-2.2
Majority				9.8
Turnout				90.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	+2.2

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: John Wakefield Weston
• Liberal: William Henry Somervell

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)
• Bulmer's Directory of Westmorland 1885