Bletchingley (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Bletchingley
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County Surrey
Major settlements Bletchingley
1295–1832
SeatsTwo
Replaced by East Surrey

Bletchingley was a parliamentary borough in Surrey. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of England from 1295 to 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Contents

Elections were held using the bloc vote system.

The constituency was just 312 miles south-east of the similar rotten borough of Gatton.

History

Bletchingley was one of the original boroughs enfranchised in the Model Parliament, and kept its status until the Reform Act. The borough consisted of the former market town of Bletchingley in Surrey, which by the 19th century had shrunk to a village. In 1831, the population of the borough was 513, and it contained only 85 houses. It was a burgage borough: the right to vote was exercised by the owners or resident tenants of the 130 "burgage tenements". No doubt at some point in history these were simply the inhabited houses of the town, but it was already an artificial franchise by the time it was disputed before the House of Commons in 1624, when it was settled that Bletchingley's burgage holders should keep the vote as they had "time out of mind". By the 19th century of course, with more burgages in the borough than houses, the notion of its being a residential franchise was no more than a legal fiction.

Like other burgage boroughs, Bletchingley quickly fell into the hands of a single landowner who thereby had the safest of pocket boroughs. It was once the property of Henry VIII's rejected Queen, Anne of Cleves. From her it passed to Sir Thomas Cawarden, the Master of the Revels, and from his heir to Lord Howard of Effingham, father of the future conqueror of the Spanish Armada, in about 1560. It then remained in Howard hands for more than half a century, one of several boroughs controlled by that powerful family.

However, the 1624 dispute occurred when the voters daringly defied Lady Howard, and it may not have been entirely secure for any single "patron" for the rest of the century. By 1700, there were two rival influences: the Evelyns of Godstone, who had succeeded in holding one of the seats for much of the preceding sixty years, and Sir Robert Clayton, a London banker who was said to be the wealthiest commoner in England, and who was now Lord of the Manor. Neither held a majority of the burgages, and there were still a fair number of independent voters. For some years, Evelyn and Clayton had to be content with choosing one MP each, and even then had to face some tightly contested votes, but after the accession of George I (1714), Clayton's nephew and heir, William Clayton, managed to accumulate enough of the burgages in his own hands to squeeze out the Evelyn influence and eventually make his hold absolutely watertight. Since the importance of a man with the absolute power to nominate two Members of Parliament was not underestimated by 18th century governments, he quickly found himself dignified with a baronetcy.

Parliamentary elections were held from 1733 in what is now the White Hart inn: a book in 1844 notes this and that eight to ten people voted, as well as a sale of the manor for £60,000 in 1816. [1]

The Claytons retained Bletchingley until 1779. In that year, short of money and with talk of parliamentary reform in the air, Sir Robert Clayton decided to realise the asset while it still had a value, and sold the reversion of his property at Bletchingley (which by now included all the burgages) to his cousin, John Kenrick, for £10,000. Once the prospect of parliamentary reform had receded for the time being, Clayton repented of his bargain and filed an action in Chancery against Kenrick, claiming that he had been "imposed upon" and had been paid quite an inadequate amount; but the court sympathised with Kenrick, and dismissed the action with costs.

In 1816 (see above), Kenrick's son later sold the rights to William Russell for £60,000; and his grandson William Russell made seats available to some of the rising stars of the Whig party. They included two future Prime Ministers: Hon. William Lamb (Prime Minister as Lord Melbourne) and Lord Palmerston.

Bletchingley was abolished as a constituency by the Reform Act. From then on, the village was included in the Eastern division of Surrey.

Members of Parliament

1295–1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1386 William Bart John atte Wyke [2]
1388 (Feb) Robert Nafferton William Nightingale [2]
1388 (Sep) William Hart Henry atte Stone I [2]
1390 (Jan) John Deubeneye William Nightingale [2]
1390 (Nov)
1391
1393 William Hart Richard Turner [2]
1394
1395 William Hart William Tanner [2]
1397 (Jan) William Hart Richard Turner [2]
1397 (Sep) John Deubeneye Thomas atte Helde [2]
1399 John Deubeneye Thomas atte Helde [2]
1401
1402 William Hart John Modys [2]
1404 (Jan)
1404 (Oct)
1407
1410
1411
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)
1414 (Apr)
1414 (Nov) William Hart Roger Eylove [2]
1415 William Hart John Modys [2]
1416 (Mar) Roger Eylove John Modys [2]
1416 (Oct)
1417 William Hart Robert Axi [2]
1419 Roger -? John -?
1420
1421 (May) Walter atte Berne John Knoller [2]
1421 (Dec) Henry Brampton Henry atte Stone II [2]
1422 Thomas Eylove [3]
1472 Henry Winter [2]
1491 William Fisher Thomas Garth [4]
1510-1523No names known [5]
1529 Nicholas Leigh John St John [5]
1536 ?
1539 ?
1542 Thomas Cawarden William Sackville [5]
1545 ?
1547Sir Thomas Cawarden, sat for Surrey
replaced by Jan 1552 by
Henry Polsted
John Cheke [5]
1553 (Mar) Sir John Cheke Sir Maurice Berkeley [5]
1553 (Oct) Henry Polsted Matthew Colthurst [5]
1554 (Apr) John Harman Nicholas Saunders [5]
1554 (Nov) Humphrey Cholmley Robert Freeman [5]
1555 John Vaughan William Smethwick [5]
1558 Bertram Calthorpe Roger Alford [5]
1558–9 John Brace William Porter [6]
1562–3 John Coker John Elsedon [6]
1571 Roeland Maynard Richard Bostock [6]
1572 Thomas Browne Henry Kenrick, died
and replaced Nov 1579 by
Richard Bostock [6]
1584 Richard Bostock John Cox [6]
1586 Sir Thomas Browne John Cox [6]
1588 Richard Bostock John Cox [6]
1593 Julius Caesar Stephen Riddlesden [6]
1597 Lord Howard of Effingham, sat for Surrey
replaced by
Sir Richard Trevor
John Trevor [6]
1601 John Turner Bostock Fuller [6]
1604 Sir John Trevor Richard Bellingham died
and replaced by
Sir Charles Howard
1614 Sir John Trevor Sir Charles Howard
1621-1622 John Hayward Henry Lovell
1624 Sir Miles Fleetwood
sat for Launceston, replaced by Edward Bysshe the elder
John Hayward
1625 Edward Bysshe the elder Thomas Gresham
1626 Edward Bysshe the elder Henry Lovell
1628 Sir Edward Bishopp, 2nd Baronet John Evelyn, senior
1629–1640No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
April 1640 Edmiund Hoskins Edward Bysshe the elder
November 1640 John Evelyn, senior Parliamentarian Edward Bysshe the younger Parliamentarian
December 1648Evelyn and Bysshe excluded in Pride's Purge: both seats vacant
1653Bletchingley was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate.
January 1659 John Goodwin Edmund Hoskins
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 John Evelyn, senior John Goodwin
1661 Sir William Hawarde Edward Bysshe
February 1679 George Evelyn Edward Harvey
October 1679 John Morris
1681 Sir William Goulston
1685 Ambrose Browne Sir Marmaduke Gresham
January 1689 Thomas Howard John Glyd
December 1689 Jeffrey Amherst
1690 Sir Robert Clayton Whig
1695 Maurice Thompson
1698 Hugh Hare Sir Robert Clayton Whig
1701 Sir Edward Gresham John Ward
July 1702 John Evelyn
December 1702 Sir Robert Clayton Whig
1705 George Evelyn
1708 Thomas Onslow
1715 (Sir) William Clayton [7]
1724 Henry Herbert
1727 Sir Orlando Bridgeman Whig
1734 (Sir) Kenrick Clayton [8]
1745 William Clayton
1761 (Sir) Charles Whitworth [9]
1768 (Sir) Robert Clayton
1769 Frederick Standert
1780 John Kenrick
1783 John Nicholls
1787 (Sir) Robert Clayton
1790 Philip Francis
1796 Sir Lionel Copley [10] John Stein
1797 Benjamin Hobhouse
1802 James Milnes John Benn Walsh
1805 Nicholas Ridley-Colborne
1806 Josias du Pre Porcher William Kenrick
January 1807 John Alexander Bannerman
May 1807 Thomas Freeman-Heathcote
1809 Charles Cockerell
October 1812 Sir Charles Talbot
December 1812 Robert Newman
1814 John Bolland
1818 Matthew Russell Whig George Tennyson Whig
February 1819 Sir William Curtis Tory
February 1819 Marquess of Titchfield Whig
1820 Edward Henry Edwardes
1822 Lord Francis Leveson-Gower Tory
1826 William Russell Whig Charles Tennyson Whig
1827 Hon. William Lamb Whig
1828 William Ewart Whig [11]
1830 Robert William Mills Whig [12]
February 1831 Sir William Horne Whig [13]
April 1831 Hon. John Ponsonby Whig [14]
July 1831 Thomas Hyde Villiers Whig [15] Viscount Palmerston Whig
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. Brayley, Edward Wedlake (1844). The history of Surrey, Volume 4, Part 1. p. 114.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  3. "EYLOVE, Roger II, of Bletchingley, Surr. | History of Parliament Online".
  4. Cavill. The English Parliaments of Henry VII 1485-1504.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  7. Created a baronet, January 1732
  8. Succeeded to his baronetcy, December 1744
  9. Knighted 1768
  10. Copley was also elected for Tregony, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Bletchingley
  11. Escott, Margaret. "EWART, William (1798-1869), of Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Lancs. and 16 Eaton Place, Mdx". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  12. Fisher, David R. "MILLS, Robert William (1777-1851), of Willington, co. Dur". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  13. Fisher, David R. "HORNE, Sir William (1773-1860), of 19 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn; 49 Upper Harley Street, Mdx. and Epping House, Little Berkhampstead, Herts". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  14. Fisher, David R.; Salmon, Philip. "PONSONBY, John George Brabazon (1809-1880)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  15. Fisher, David R. "VILLIERS, Thomas Hyde (1801-1832), of 8 Suffolk Street, Haymarket and 6 Cleveland Court, Westminster, Mdx". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

By-election, 18 July 1831: Bletchingley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Whig Thomas Hyde Villiers Unopposed
Whig Henry John Temple Unopposed
Registered electors c.70
Whig hold
Whig hold
General election, 29 April 1831: Bletchingley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Whig John Ponsonby Unopposed
Whig Charles Tennyson Unopposed
Registered electors c.70
Whig hold
Whig hold
By-election, 18 February 1831: Bletchingley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Whig William Horne Unopposed
Registered electors c.70
Whig hold
By-election, 10 January 1831: Bletchingley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Whig Charles Tennyson Unopposed
Registered electors c.70
Whig hold
General election, 30 July 1830: Bletchingley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Whig Robert William MillsUnopposed
Whig Charles Tennyson Unopposed
Whig hold
Whig hold

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jenkins, Terry; Spencer, Howard. "Bletchingley". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.