Members who sat for boroughs and shires

Altogether 58 of the Members of Parliament whose biographies appear in these volumes were returned at different stages in their careers as parliamentary burgesses and knights of the shire. For a few (the nine marked*) election as a county representative apparently preceded election for a borough (although it is, of course, always possible that returns recording a shire knight’s earlier representation of a borough have been lost). The remainder progressed from the status of parliamentary burgess to that of shire knight, usually, but not invariably, by gaining selection for the county in which the town they had first represented was situated. Those for whom the shire boundaries mattered less are given in bold type. For some, a long period of time elapsed between their last appearance in the Commons as a burgess and their first as a shire knight (as, for example, in the case of John Abrahall); for others, like James Andrew, acceptance by the county community occurred in a matter of months between the summoning of consecutive Parliaments. Most Members, having once assumed the status of knight of the shire never sat again as burgesses, but a few (such as Robert Crackenthorpe and David Holbache) remained willing to offer their services indiscriminately to borough or shire throughout their parliamentary careers.

Before 1399 it was very unusual for any individual to take a seat first as a burgess and later as a shire knight; indeed only ten Members are known to have done so between 1386 and the end of Richard II’s reign: Beaupyne, Fastolf, Hamely, Hardyng, Heyberer, Nash, Osmundlaw, Perle, Prescott and Russell. As the 15th century advanced, so the practice became more common.

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: J. S. Roskell

End Notes