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The Taunton by-election of 1724 to the Parliament of Great Britain was held on 18 January 1724 in Taunton, Somerset, following the death of the incumbent, John Trenchard. The by-election was contested by Abraham Elton, George Deane, William Molyneux and Griffith Pugh. Elton, a Whig who had been a late entrant to the election won, and despite a petition from Deane, was returned as the Member of Parliament for Taunton.
During the 1722 British general election, two Whigs were elected for the Parliamentary constituency of Taunton, John Trenchard and James Smith. Their Tory opponent petitioned Parliament against their return, but the petition was rejected. [1] Trenchard died on 16 December 1723, leaving a vacancy. [2] George Deane, who had been one of the losing Tories in 1722, stood once again, and was joined by William Molyneux, a secretary to the Prince of Wales and Griffith Pugh, of Covent Garden. [3] [4] Then, two days before the election, Abraham Elton revealed himself as a candidate for the Whiggish interest. [1]
The election was held on 18 January 1724. [3] Two separate returns were made; the mayor declared Elton to have been elected, but the "constables and bailiffs, and several of the inhabitants" suggested that Deane had won. The High Sheriff of Somerset, Walter Robinson, accepted the decision of the mayor, who acted as the returning officer for elections, and Elton was duly elected as the second member for Taunton. [5] [6]
Deane lodged a petition against the result, which was heard by a committee, and dismissed by a vote of 151 to 104, therefore upholding the election of Elton to parliament. [7] Elton only served Taunton until the general election, in 1727, when he contested the seat vacated by his father in Bristol. [8]
Taunton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors from 1295 to 2010, taking its name from the town of Taunton in Somerset. Until 1918, it was a parliamentary borough, electing two Member of Parliaments (MPs) between 1295 and 1885 and one from 1885 to 1918; the name was then transferred to a county constituency, electing one MP.
John Trenchard was an English writer and Commonwealthman.
Bristol was a two-member constituency, used to elect members to the House of Commons in the Parliaments of England, Great Britain (1707–1800) and the United Kingdom. The constituency existed until Bristol was divided into single member constituencies in 1885.
George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery PC (Ire) was an Irish politician and peer. A member of a County Limerick family of Whigs, he entered the Irish House of Commons and was created a peer in 1715 as a reward for his father's support of the Hanoverian succession, after his father declined the offer. At the same time, he was returned to the British House of Commons for Westbury. He contested control of the borough with the Tories led by the Earl of Abingdon until 1727, when he stood down.
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William Carr II, FRS of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1722 and 1734.
The Taunton by-election of 1701 to the Parliament of England was held on 17 March 1701 in Taunton, Somerset, following the decision of the incumbent, Henry Portman, to sit in Wells. The by-election was contested by one of Portman's friends, Sir Francis Warre, 1st Baronet, and Thomas Baker, a Taunton merchant. Warre, a Tory, was elected, although Baker petitioned the result, claiming the Mayor was corrupt.
The Taunton by-election of 1754 to the Parliament of Great Britain was held across thirteen days, from 10–24 December 1754 in Taunton, the county town of the southwestern English county of Somerset. It took place following the death of the incumbent Whig Member of Parliament, John Halliday. The by-election was contested by Robert Maxwell on behalf of the Whigs, and Sir John Pole, 5th Baronet for the Tories. Maxwell was elected with a majority of 56. The election had over 700 rejected votes, and the result caused rioting in Taunton, during which two people were killed.
Sir Abraham Elton, 2nd Baronet of Bristol and Clevedon Court, Somerset, was a British merchant, slave trader and Whig politician, who sat in the House of Commons for Taunton between 1724 and 1727, and then for Bristol from 1727 until his death in 1742. He also served as the High Sheriff of Bristol from 1710 to 1711, and was Mayor of Bristol for the year 1719 to 1720.
Rebecca Faye Clark, known as Rebecca Pow, is a British Conservative Party politician, currently serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Member of Parliament (MP) for Taunton Deane.
John Plumptre, of Plumptre House, Nottingham, was a British Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1706 and 1751.
Sir Brian Broughton, 3rd Baronet (1677–1724) of Broughton Hall, Staffordshire was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1724.
Sir William Chapple of Waybay House, Upwey, Dorset and Wonersh, Surrey, was a British lawyer and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1723 to 1737. He became a High Court Judge in 1737 and presided over the trial of highwayman Dick Turpin.
William Wrightson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was a British landowner, official and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1710 and 1724.