Chiltern Hundreds

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The Chiltern Hundreds was an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three "hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" now refers to the legal procedure used to effect resignation from the British House of Commons. This is because the ancient office of Crown Steward for the area (in full Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham), having been reduced to a mere sinecure by the 17th century, became the first to be used in this resignation procedure a century later. Other titles were also later used for the same purpose, but at present only the Chiltern Hundreds office and the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead are used.

The three Chiltern Hundreds[edit]

A hundred was a traditional division of an English county that could raise one hundred fighting men for the Crown. The three Chiltern Hundreds were Stoke Hundred, Desborough Hundred, and Burnham Hundred. Despite their collective name only Desborough Hundred was located within the area defined by the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire. The area had been Crown property as early as the 13th century.[1]

Steward and Bailiff[edit]

Original role[edit]

Through the Saxon and early Norman periods the area was administered by an elder. But by the late Middle Ages the office holder was elected from among a hundred's notable landholding families. As the area was wild and notorious for outlaws, a Steward and Bailiff was appointed directly by the Crown (thus as a Royal baliwick it was a legal office answerable to the reigning monarch) to maintain law and order. However, By the end of the 16th century such positions had been depreciated by changes in local and Crown representations and roles - the government of Elizabeth I had established royal representatives (Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, and Lords Lieutenant) in every county of England and Wales; they ensured that Royal commands and laws were obeyed. By the 17th century the office of steward and bailiff was reduced to just a title with no attached powers or duties.[1]

Recent use[edit]

In the 17th century many MPs were often elected against their will. On 2 March 1624, a resolution was passed by the House of Commons making it illegal for an MP to quit or wilfully give up the seat. Under the Act of Settlement in 1701, any Member of Parliament accepting an office of profit under the Crown must give up his or her seat. This became the basis for the current legal practice of using sinecure posts such as this to effect resignations.

As it was still nominally a Crown office, the post of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham became the first title to be used in the procedure developed in the 18th century for resignation from the British House of Commons by Members of Parliament (MPs). While no longer having any actual role or responsibility, it is a nominal office for profit under the Crown: holding such an office disqualifies an MP from the House under the constitutional Act, the Act of Settlement 1701. The Chiltern Hundreds were the first to be officially used as a procedural device in this way on 25 January 1751, to allow John Pitt, who at the time was one of the two MPs for the constituency of Wareham, to resign. Between 1756 and 1799, 11 MPs also left Parliament by accepting the Stewardship of the Manor of Old Shoreham. The Steward of the Manor of Hempholme was an alternative from 1845 to 1865. Nowadays only the Chiltern Hundreds office and Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead are used, normally in rotation.[1] Appointments to the posts are made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Using two posts allows more than one MP to resign simultaneously, although more commonly, single resignations are effected with alternating appointments to the Northstead and Chiltern Hundreds offices. The office is held until the Chancellor appoints another applicant or the holder applies for release from it.[2] The last MP to be appointed to the Chiltern Hundreds office was Mark Reckless on 30 September 2014, vacating his seat of Rochester and Strood.[3]

On 20 March 1844, Sir George Henry Rose MP resigned his seat for Christchurch by becoming the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead in Yorkshire. However the official book recording appointments to the various Stewardships indicates that Patrick Chalmers, MP for Montrose Burghs, was appointed to Northstead on 6 April 1842.[4] But the writ of election was changed to record that Chalmers had accepted the office of the Chiltern Hundreds.[5]

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