Calais was a former constituency of the Parliament of England

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

.

The French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 town of Calais

Calais

Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....

 was under English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 rule from 1347 until 7 January 1558. During part of that time it was represented in the Parliament of England by two members.

In 1360 the Treaty of Brétigny

Treaty of Brétigny

The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...

 assigned Guînes

Guînes

Guînes is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.-Geography:Guînes is located on the border of the two territories of the Boulonnais and Calaisis, at the edge of the now-drained marshes, which extend from here to the coast. The Guînes canal connects with...

, Marck

Marck, Pas-de-Calais

Marck is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Marck is a farming and light industrial town located 6 km east of Calais, at the junction of the D940 and D248 roads. The A26 ‘autoroute des Anglaises’ passes through the commune and the...

 and Calais – collectively the "Pale of Calais

Pale of Calais

The Pale of Calais is a historical region of France that was controlled by the Kingdom of England until 1558.- History :After the Battle of Crécy in 1346, Edward III of England, having renounced the throne of France, kept some territory within France, namely Aquitaine and the area around Calais,...

" – to English rule in perpetuity, but this was only informally and partially implemented.

In 1363 the town was made a staple port. It had become a parliamentary borough

Parliamentary borough

Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

 sending burgesses to the House of Commons of the Parliament of England by 1372.

Reforms in the representation of the town

King Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 decided to modify the arrangements for the government of Calais. A statute

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

 (27 Hen. VIII, c. 63) made provision for two members to be returned to the Parliament of England. It seems that the earlier authority for the town to be represented in Parliament had lapsed some time before, as no prior representatives are noted in The House of Commons 1509-1558.

One member was to be nominated, elected and chosen by the Deputy (the King's representative in the town) and his Council. The other member was to be nominated, elected and chosen by the Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 and his Council.

Under the provisions of the statute, members were elected to ten Parliaments. On 6 December 1557 a writ was issued for the election of members to an eleventh Parliament, but before it met Calais had fallen to the French. The history of the parliamentary constituency had ended.

Members of Parliament 1536-1558

Summoned	Elected	Assembled	Dissolved	First Member	Second Member
27 April 1536	1536	8 June 1536	18 July 1536	Thomas Boys Thomas Boys -Life:His father was Rear-admiral Thomas Boys of Kent. He was born at Sandwich, Kent, and educated at Tonbridge Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. The failure of his health from over-study prevented his taking more than the ordinary degrees -Life:His father was Rear-admiral Thomas Boys...	William Pryseley
1 March 1539	1539	28 April 1539	24 July 1540	Thomas Boys Thomas Boys -Life:His father was Rear-admiral Thomas Boys of Kent. He was born at Sandwich, Kent, and educated at Tonbridge Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. The failure of his health from over-study prevented his taking more than the ordinary degrees -Life:His father was Rear-admiral Thomas Boys...	Thomas Broke Thomas Broke Thomas Broke or Brooke , translator, was an alderman of Calais, the chief clerk of the exchequer and customer there at the time when the preaching of William Smith at Our Lady's Church in that town led many persons, and Broke among them, to adopt 'reformed' opinions.Broke was a member of...
23 November 1541	1542	16 January 1542	28 March 1544	unknown	unknown
1 December 1544	1545	23 November 1545	31 January 1547	Richard Blount	Eustace Abington
2 August 1547	1547	4 November 1547	15 April 1552	Thomas Broke Thomas Broke Thomas Broke or Brooke , translator, was an alderman of Calais, the chief clerk of the exchequer and customer there at the time when the preaching of William Smith at Our Lady's Church in that town led many persons, and Broke among them, to adopt 'reformed' opinions.Broke was a member of...	Thomas Fowler
5 January 1553	1553	1 March 1553	31 March 1553	unknown	Thomas Massingberd
14 August 1553	1553	5 October 1553	5 December 1553	Edmund Peyton	John Aster
17 February 1554	1554	2 April 1554	3 May 1554	William Horne	John Aster
3 October 1554	1554	12 November 1554	16 January 1555	Oliver Loveband	Hugh Counsell
3 September 1555	1555	21 October 1555	9 December 1555	?John Chaloner II (a)	Edmund Peyton
6 December 1557	n/a	20 January 1558	17 November 1558	vacant	vacant

Note:-

• (a) It is not certain that Chaloner was the member, but it was inferred he was (thus the ? was placed before the name). The Roman numeral is that used in The House of Commons 1509-1558 to distinguish Chaloner from another politician of the same name.