The undivided county was represented from 1290 by two Knights of the Shire until 1832 and three thereafter. After the county was split two new county constituencies were created, the North division or Leominster and the South division or Ross.
The constituency consisted of the historic county of Herefordshire. Although Herefordshire contained a number of parliamentary boroughs, each of which elected one or two MPs in its own right for parts of the period when Herefordshire was a constituency, these areas were not excluded from the county constituency. Owning freehold property of the required value, within such boroughs, could confer a vote at the county election. From 1832 only non-resident owners of forty-shilling freeholds, situated in borough seats, could qualify for a county vote on the basis of that property.
As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given for those up to 1640. Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry unknown is entered in the table.
^Sir Robert Harley was excluded by the Army, 6 December 1648.
^Fitzwilliam Coningsby was expelled 30 October 1641, for being a monopolist.
^Humphrey Coningsby was disabled for joining the King's Oxford Parliament. New writ issued 11 September 1646.
^Edward Harley was disabled on charges brought by Thomas Fairfax and the Army, on 29 January 1647.
^The order disabling Edward Harley was revoked by another, on 8 June 1648. Excluded by the Army, 6 December 1648?
^From: 'List of members nominated for Parliament of 1653', Diary of Thomas Burton esq, volume 4: March – April 1659 (1828), pp. 499–500. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36965. Date accessed: 27 January 2008.
^Major-General Berry being returned to serve as a Knight for Three Counties; viz. for the Counties of Worcester, Hereford, and Monmouth, doth make his Election to serve as a Knight for the County of Worcester; and waves his Election for the County of Monmouth; the Election for the County of Hereford being questioned. From: 'House of Commons Journal Volume 7: 2 October 1656', Journal of the House of Commons: volume 7: 1651–1660 (1802), pp. 431–433. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=24466. Date accessed: 27 January 2008. A new election was ordered on 17 July 1657.
^Edward Harley was elected but not allowed to take his seat. The Council of State explained to the House of Commons "That the Council, in pursuance of their Duty, and according to the Trust reposed in them, have examined the said Returns, and have not refused to approve any who have appeared to them to be Persons of Integrity to the Government, fearing God, and of good Conversation: And those who are not approved, his Highness hath given Order to some Persons to take Care, that they do not come into the House." From: 'House of Commons Journal Volume 7: 22 September 1656', Journal of the House of Commons: volume 7: 1651–1660 (1802), pp. 426. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=24458. Date accessed: 27 January 2008. The excluded members were permitted to take their seats for the second session of the Parliament, which began on 20 January 1658.
^Stooks Smith classifies Hoskins (or Hoskyns) as a Whig candidate in the 1722 election, which he lost. He is not classified by party for the 1717 by-election.
^Stooks Smith classifies Velters Cornewall as a Tory candidate in the 1722 election, but does not classify him by party in subsequent elections.
^Stooks Smith did not classify George Cornewall by party before the 1780 general election. He is classified as a Whig in the 1780, 1784 and 1790 elections; however he is classified as a Tory in the 1796 election, which he lost.
Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [1]
The House of Commons 1690–1715, by Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley and D.W. Hayton (Cambridge University Press 2002)
The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973))
Calendar of Close Rolls, Richard II, Volume 1, by H.C. Maxwell Lyte (editor). (London: 1914). British History Online [2], 16 November 1378, 27 May 1379, 25 Feb 1382, 22 May 1382, and 26 November 1383.
Calendar of Fine Rolls, Henry VI, Volume 16, 1430–1437. (London:1936). Page 281, 3 January 1436 (membrane 11)
Calendar of Fine Rolls, Henry VI, Volume 17, 1437–1445. (London: 1936). Page 148, 24 April 1440 (membrane 12)
