THE NEW PARLIAMENT.
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PETERSFIELD.—This borough first returned two members, to Parliament in 1532, but was deprived of one member by the Reform Act. Its constituency formerly consisted of the freeholders of certain lands within the ancient borough limits, to whom the Reform Act added the £10 householders of Petersfield, and seven other tithings. Its population, which was 4922 in 1832 had risen, at the last Census, to 5550; and its registered electors showed an increase from 234 to 353. By Lord John Russell’s Reform Bill of 1852, it was proposed to increase the constituency by joining to the borough the parishes of Alresford and Alton. The chief local influence is in the hands of the Jolliffe family. Among its more noted members may be mentioned the late Duke of Portland, the late Lord Wynford, and Mr. Canning. Since the Reform Act it has been represented by Mr. (now Sir) J. G. Shaw Lefevre, Mr. C. J. Hector, and by its present member,
1. Sir W. G. Hylton Jolliffe, Bart., a Conservative. He was Undersecretary of State for the Home Department under Lord Derby in 1852; he sat for Petersfield before the passing of the Reform Bill, and since 1841; he is opposed to the Maynooth grant, and to Mr. Locke King’s motion. Voted for Mr. Cobden’s resolutions on China.