Portsmouth

Portsmouth was a borough constituency based upon the borough of Portsmouth in Hampshire. It returned two members of parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system. History The constituency first elected MPs in 1295. It was abolished at the 1918 general election, when the Representation of the People Act 1918 divided it into three new constituencies; Portsmouth North, Portsmouth South and Portsmouth Central. According to Namier and Brooke in The House of Commons 1754–1790, the right of election was in the freemen of the borough who numbered about 100. The town was known as an Admiralty borough and at least one MP was usually an Admiral.