1841 Poll Book

The Poll
for
Two Knights of the Shire
for the
West Riding of Yorkshire
On Thursday and Friday, 8th and 9th of JULY, 1841.

Candidates:
The Hon. John Stuart Wortley,
Edmund Beckett Denison, Esquire,
The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Morpeth,
The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Milton.

West Riding of Yorkshire became a seperate parliamentary constituency from 1832 and was entitled to return just two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons until 1865.More information on the West Riding Constituency which came into being after the 1832 reform Act, can be found in this Wikipedia article along with brief details of the elections and candidates.

In the 1841 General Election The Hon. John Stuart Wortley represented the Conservative party, as did Edmund Beckett Denison whilst Viscount Morpeth and Viscount Milton were Liberal candidates, and the Conservatives took both seats.

The turnout of voters was 81% , and the polling was very close for all the candidates, the final state of the Poll being:

John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1801-1855), he was the MO for the West Riding until 1845 when he became 2nd Baron Wharncliffe on the death of his father and took his seat in the House of Lords.

Edmund Beckett Denison (1816-1905), QC and chairman of the Great Northern Railway Company, was later re-elected in 1852 and 1857, serving as an MP for the West Riding from 1848-1859, later becoming Sir Edmund Beckett, 5th Bt. on the death of his father in 1874, and then the First Lord Grimthorpe in 1886.

Viscount Milton (1786-1857) was the courtesy title of Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam before he inherited the Earldom on his father's death and became the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam. He was the Whig Member of Parliament from Northamptonshire between 1831 and 1832.

Viscount Morpeth (1802-1864) was the courtesy title of George William Frederick Howard, before he inherited the title of 7th Earl of Carlisle in 1848. He was elected MP for Yorkshire in the 1831 general election and in 1847 as MP for the West Riding of Yorkshire. (see also )

1841 General Election - Malhamdale Entries

An * after the elector's name indicates that he is a yearly occupier at a rental of £50.

Who could Vote?
The Representation of the People Act 1832, commonly known as the Reform Act 1832 or the First Reform Act, increased the number of individuals entitled to vote, enlarging the size of electorate by 50–80%, and allowing a total of 653,000 adult males (around one in five) to vote, in a population of some 14 million. Even so, voting in the boroughs was restricted to men who occupied homes with an annual value of £10 and there were also property qualifications for people living in rural areas, the result being that only one in seven adult males had the vote at this time. The Act also specifically disenfranchised women, sparking the British suffrage movement.

See also our 1741 Poll Book, 1807 Poll Book, 1848 Poll Book, the Register of Electors registered to vote in 1834 and our information page about the Right to Vote 1430-1969.