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This article examines mobility across constituencies among members of parliament in eighteenth-century Britain, using quantitative methods. Recent historiography has suggested that more attention should be paid to those members who changed seats during their careers in the House of Commons. The scale and significance of that movement, however, has remained unexplored. The article begins by showing that about half of the 2,217 members examined changed seats at least once during their careers and that the frequency of movement varies with the type of constituency they represented. For example, members sitting for English independent constituencies (counties and open boroughs) tended to change scats rather infrequently. Mobility was more apparent for boroughs under the control of patrons. This article also considers why this occurred, by paying attention to the inclination of members to take office under the crown. Members sitting for independent constituencies were less inclined to take office, because they were usually local men and tended to have closer relations with their electorates, who were suspicious of office-holding members. In contrast, members who owed their seats to patrons could behave more autonomously, for they did not depend upon electorates. Thus they probably changed scats more frequently in order to avoid the constraints of locality and patronage.
