Old Sarum

E85295

Old Sarum was a notorious English "rotten borough" parliamentary constituency with virtually no residents, long used to control seats in the House of Commons before electoral reform.


Statements (47)
Predicate Object
instanceOf UK Parliament constituency
rotten borough
abolishedBy Reform Act 1832
abolitionDate 1832
alsoKnownAs Old Sarum borough
associatedWithReformMovement campaign for parliamentary reform in early 19th century
characterizedAs pocket borough
controlType patronage
country Kingdom of Great Britain
United Kingdom
county Wiltshire NERFINISHED
electoralCorruptionPerception notoriously corrupt
electoralSystem first‑past‑the‑post
electorateSizeDescription extremely small
electorateType burgage tenure
governedBy English electoral law (pre‑1832)
Reform Act 1832 (for abolition)
hadNoSignificantUrbanSettlementBy 18th century
hadNoSubstantialResidentPopulationBy 19th century
hadRepresentationDisproportionateToPopulation true
historicalEra pre‑Reform British parliamentary system
jurisdiction Parliament of England
Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of the United Kingdom NERFINISHED
languageOfName English
legalStatusBefore1832 parliamentary borough
locatedIn England
Old Sarum, Wiltshire
near Salisbury
notableFor patron-controlled elections
very small electorate
virtually no resident voters
parliamentaryRepresentationBeganIn medieval period
parliamentarySeats 2
partOf unreformed House of Commons constituency system
predecessor Old Sarum (parliamentary borough in the Parliament of England)
representedIn House of Commons of England NERFINISHED
House of Commons of Great Britain NERFINISHED
House of Commons of the United Kingdom NERFINISHED
statusAfter1832 disfranchised
successor Schedule A disfranchised boroughs under Reform Act 1832
symbolOf need for electoral reform in Britain
topicOf historical studies of rotten boroughs
usedAsExampleOf malapportionment in pre‑reform Parliament
parliamentary corruption before reform
votingRestrictedTo burgage holders
votingRightsBasedOn ownership of burgage plots

Referenced by (11)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Salisbury
Salisbury ("Old Sarum Castle")
Salisbury ("Old Sarum Cathedral ruins")
Salisbury ("Old Sarum Scheduled Monument")
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
hasLandmark
Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency) ("Old Sarum borough")
alsoKnownAs
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
foundedNear
Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency) ("Old Sarum, Wiltshire")
locatedIn
William Pitt the Elder
parliamentaryConstituency
Diamond Pitt
parliamentaryConstituencyRepresented
Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency) ("Old Sarum (parliamentary borough in the Parliament of England)")
predecessor

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