Who is in Parliament?

Even in the early fifteenth century there were more than 250 members of the Commons – two knights from each of thirty-seven counties, two citizens or burgesses from each of the eighty or so cities and boroughs, and fourteen members from the Cinque Ports. More were steadily added by statute and royal charter, and by 1673 the membership of the House – at that time only from England and Wales – stood at 513. Union with Scotland in 1707 added forty-five members, and a further hundred came from Ireland with the Union of 1801, making 658.