From the 17th century (possibly 1639) until 1800 the area was a borough constituency.

The town was enfranchised in 1571 as a borough constituency.

The 1832 legislation slightly changed some boundaries of Borough constituencies.

However the size and wealth of the community meant that it had more voters than most other borough constituencies.

In 1918 the seat was created as a borough constituency of Surrey.

The borough constituency dated from 1997 and was abolished in 2010.

As a result the borough constituency was disenfranchised for corruption.

Before 1832 each Borough constituency had its own qualification for voting.

The boundaries were left unaltered, until the end of the borough constituency in 1885.

The original borough constituency was disenfranchised for corruption in 1870.