Chiltern Hundreds in the UK, a Crown manor, whose administration is a nominal office for which an MP applies as a way of resigning from the House of Commons.

The holding of an office of profit under the Crown became a disqualification in 1707, and in 1740 the Stewardship of a royal manor was used in order to create a disqualification. In January 1750–51 John Pitt, MP for Wrexham, took the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, which has come to be the ordinary form.

Chiltern hundreds. Members of Parliament cannot resign directly and must therefore, if they wish to retire before a general election, apply for an office of profit under the crown, which disqualifies them. By convention this is the stewardship of the Chiltern hundreds. The stewardships of the manor of Northstead, of East Hendred, and of Kempholme have also been used.

J. A. Cannon