A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 9, Burton-Upon-Trent. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 2003.
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'Burton-upon-Trent: Parliamentary representation', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 9, Burton-Upon-Trent, ed. Nigel J Tringham( London, 2003), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol9/p97 [accessed 17 November 2024].
'Burton-upon-Trent: Parliamentary representation', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 9, Burton-Upon-Trent. Edited by Nigel J Tringham( London, 2003), British History Online, accessed November 17, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol9/p97.
"Burton-upon-Trent: Parliamentary representation". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 9, Burton-Upon-Trent. Ed. Nigel J Tringham(London, 2003), , British History Online. Web. 17 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol9/p97.
Parliamentary representation
Although the abbot of Burton was summoned to parliament as a baron between 1295 and 1322, and again in 1532, (fn. 7) there was no representative burgess from the borough in the Middle Ages.
A parliamentary division covering east Stafford-shire, created in 1885 as one of seven new divisions for the county, was named Burton. (fn. 8) The first M.P. was a Liberal, Sir Michael Arthur Bass, the brewer. Returned again in 1886, he was succeeded later the same year at a bye-election following his elevation to the peerage as Lord Burton by a fellow Liberal and brewer, Sydney Evershed of Albury House, in Stapen-hill. (fn. 9) Evershed was returned unopposed in 1892 and 1895. Another brewer, R. F. Ratcliff, won as a Liberal Unionist in 1900, and thereafter Unionists or Con-servatives held the seat, except for a Labour victory in 1945, until 1997 when the seat was again won by Labour. After Ratcliff the following were M.P.s: John Gretton, a brewer (1918); his son, also John (1943); A. W. Lyne (1945); Arthur (from 1955 Sir Arthur) Colegate (1950); John Jennings, a schoolmaster (1955); Ivan (from 1992 Sir Ivan) Lawrence, a barrister (1974); Janet Dean, mayor of East Stafford-shire Borough Council (1997).