Queenborough was a rotten borough situated on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. From 1572 until it was abolished by the great reform act of 1832, it returned two Members of Parliament. The franchise was vested in the freemen of the town, of whom there were more than 300. Its electorate was therefore one of largest of the 56 boroughs that were abolished. Most freemen, however, were non resident.
A small town in Kent, England, which grew as a port near the Thames Estuary. Formerly a municipal borough in the Faversham parliamentary division of Kent, is two miles south of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, nearby the westward entrance to the Swale, where it joins the River Medway. It is now in the Sittingbourne and Sheppey parliamentary constituency and governed by Swale Borough Council and Queenborough Town Council. Queenborough Harbour offers moorings between the Thames and Medway. It is possible to land at Queenborough on any tide and there are boat builders and chandlers in the marina. Admiral Lord Nelson, is reputed to have learnt much of his seafaring skills in these waters, and also shared a house near the small harbour with his mistress, the Lady Hamilton.
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“What is the historical function of Parliament in this country? It is to prevent the Government from governing.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)