pocket borough

American  

noun

1. (before the Reform Bill of 1832) any English borough whose representatives in Parliament were controlled by an individual or family.

2. an election district under the control of an individual, family, or group.

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pocket borough British  

noun

1. (before the Reform Act of 1832) an English borough constituency controlled by one person or family who owned the land Compare rotten borough

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Etymology

Origin of pocket borough

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pocket borough

Stanley inherited from his father Alfred the thriving steel works of Baldwins, Ltd., a directorship of the Great Western Railway, and the pocket borough of Bewdley in Worcestershire.

From Time Magazine Archive

Yet for generations Lisburn has been a pocket borough, and the nominee of the landlord, often a total stranger, was returned as a matter of course.

From The Land-War In Ireland (1870) A History For The Times by James Godkin

Bramber remained a pocket borough until the Reform Bill.

From Highways and Byways in Sussex by Frederick Landseer Maur Griggs

Dunchester became my pocket borough, so much so, indeed, that at the three elections which occurred before the last of which I have to tell no one even ventured to contest the seat against me.

From Doctor Therne by Henry Rider Haggard

Fox first entered Parliament for the pocket borough of Midhurst, and Sir George Trevelyan has described how it took place.

From The Rise of the Democracy by Joseph Clayton