Steyning (UK Parliament constituency)


Steyning was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, England, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons sporadically from 1298 and continuously from 1467 until 1832. It was a notorious rotten borough, and was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

History

The borough comprised the small market town of Steyning in Sussex, which consisted of little more than a single long street; yet despite its size it not only elected its own two MPs but contained most of the borough of Bramber, which had two of its own. In 1831, the population of the borough was just over 1,000, and the town contained 218 houses.
At the time of the Reform Act, the right to vote was exercised by the constable and all inhabitant householders paying scot and lot and not receiving alms; this was a liberal franchise for the period, though it amounted to only around 118 voters by the time the borough was abolished. The householders seem historically to have had the right to vote, but the question was the subject of litigation through most of the 18th century. Between 1715 and 1792, the right was instead restricted to occupiers of "ancient houses" and of houses built on the site of ancient houses, in effect a burgage franchise; but the restoration of the householders' rights does not seem to have increased the electorate substantially, suggesting that most of the houses significant enough for their tenants to be rated for scot and lot had the status of burgage tenements.
For most of the borough's existence, the majority of the qualified voters were tenants of one or two landowners, who therefore had considerable influence if not total control of the choice of MP.
The state of the borough in the 18th century was described in a local agent's letter to the former Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle, in 1767:
As the letter hints, Honywood's control was not quite absolute and he could not always secure both seats for his candidates. The 1792 ruling on the franchise, moving the vote from the burgage holders to all the householders paying scot and lot, shifted the balance of power over to the Duke of Norfolk, and he subsequently bought out Honywood's interest. But he was careful to secure his investment by financing many improvements in the town.
Steyning was abolished as a constituency by the Reform Act, being thereafter included in the borough of New Shoreham.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1467–1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1510-1523No names known-
1529Thomas ShirleyJohn Morris
1536?-
1539?-
1542John Bowyer?
1545?-
1547Robert RudstonHenry Fauxe
1553 Sir Richard BlountWilliam Cordell
1553 John Southcote IIDavid Lewis
1554 Gilbert GerardEdward Stradling
1554 John RobertsWilliam Pellatt
1555Robert Byng?
1558Richard OnslowRobert Colshill
1559Edmund WrightRobert Keilway
1562/3Richard OnslowRobert Harris
1571Richard BrowneJohn Farnham
1572John CowperRichard Pellatt
1584Sir Thomas Shirley Pexall Brocas
1586Thomas BishopHenry Shelley
1588Thomas CromptonHenry Apsley
1593Sir Walter WallerSir Thomas Shirley
1597John ShurleyThomas Shirley III
1601Sir Thomas Shirley Robert Bowyer
1604–1611Sir Thomas BishoppSir Thomas Shirley
1614Sir Thomas Shirley Edward Fraunceys
1621Sir Thomas Shirley Edward Fraunceys
1624Sir Thomas FarnfoldEdward Fraunceys
1625Sir Thomas FarnfoldEdward Fraunceys
1626Sir Edward BishoppEdward Fraunceys
1628Sir Edward AlfordSir Thomas Farnfold
1629–1640No Parliaments convenedNo Parliaments convened

MPs 1640–1832