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Matthew Cragoe
This paper explores the extent to which MPs from different areas of the British Isles represented the interests of their constituents in parliament before the Second Reform Act. Although it considers MPs from all areas, the focus is on Members from Wales. Select Committees offer the opportunity of examining MPs’ involvement with a broad range of issues in an environment where the imperatives of party attachment were at a minimum. Membership was voluntary, but Committees were composed of those whose experience or knowledge was deemed pertinent to the subject of inquiry. Since MPs were often closely associated with the material interests of their constituents it seems reasonable to suggest that those involved with a large number of Committees represented their constituents’ interests well. Examination of the records of Commons’ Select Committees during two complete parliaments (1852–7 and 1859–65) suggests that MPs from Ireland, Scotland and, particularly, Wales generally paid attention to a broader range of ‘local interest’ issues than did those representing English county and borough seats. The evidence also suggests that Welsh MPs were not as unmindful of the real interests of the Principality as contemporary radicals (and some modern historians) have claimed.
