Heytesbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Heytesbury
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1449–1832
SeatsTwo

Heytesbury was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire which elected two Members of Parliament. From 1449 until 1707 it was represented in the House of Commons of England, and then in the British House of Commons until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Reform Act 1832.

Contents

History

The borough consisted of a small part of the small market town or large village of Heytesbury, in the south-west of Wiltshire. In 1831, when the population of the whole parish was 1,394, the borough had a population of only 81. Already a small settlement, much of Heytesbury burned to the ground in 1765, but this did not affect its right to return members to parliament. The houses lost were subsequently rebuilt.

Heytesbury was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote was reserved to the householders of specific properties or "burgage tenements" within the borough; there were twenty-six of these tenements by the time of the Reform Act, and all had been owned by the heads of the A'Court family since the 17th century, giving them control of the choice of the two Members. [1] Shortly before the Reform Act, the head of the family, Sir William Ashe A'Court, was raised to the peerage as Lord Heytesbury. By 1832 there had been no contested elections for more than half a century.

Heytesbury was abolished as a constituency by the Reform Act, which swept away all such rotten and pocket boroughs. Its residents who were qualified to vote were transferred into the new South Wiltshire county division.

Members of Parliament

1449–1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1491 John Kingsmill [2]
1510–1523No names known [3]
1529 Sir John Seymour Robert Seymour [3]
1536 ?
1539 ?
1542 ?
1545 William Sharington Edward Chamberlain [3]
1547 Thomas Throckmorton Thomas Eynns [3]
1553 (Mar) ?
1553 (Oct) Fulk Mounslowe alias Langley Thomas Hill [3]
1554 (Apr) Richard Forsett Christopher Dymars [3]
1554 (Nov) Henry Unton ?Thomas Chaffyn [3]
1555 Thomas Hungerford Fulk Mounslowe alias Langley [3]
1558 Christopher Sackville Henry Partridge [3]
1559 Sir Ralph Hopton Richard Pallady [4]
1562–3 Richard Kingsmill Richard Cabell [4]
1571 Thomas Wroughton Richard Cabell [4]
1572 Sir John Thynne, died
and replaced 1580 by Jasper Moore 		Edward Stafford [4]
1584 John Thynne Lawrence Hyde I (died 1590) [4]
1586 John Thynne John Bennett [4]
1588 Francis Zouche Joshua Elmer [4]
1593 John Thynne Thomas Thynne [4]
1597 John Thynne Lawrence Hyde II [4]
1601 John Thynne Richard Smythe [4]
1604–1611 Sir William Eyre Walter Gowen
1614 Sir Henry Ludlow Walter Gowen
1621–1622 Sir Thomas Thynne Sir Henry Ludlow
1624 Sir Thomas Thynne Sir Henry Ludlow
1625 Sir Charles Berkeley Edward Bisse [5]
1626 Sir Charles Berkeley William Blake
1628–1629 Sir Charles Berkeley William Rolfe
1629–1640No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
April 1640 Sir John Berkeley Thomas Moore
November 1640 Edward Ashe Parliamentarian Thomas Moore Parliamentarian
December 1648Moore excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
1653Heytesbury was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 John Ashe Samuel Ashe
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Thomas Moore John Jolliffe
1661 Sir Charles Berkeley
1668 William Ashe Whig
February 1679 Edward Ashe
1689 William Sacheverell Whig
1690 William Trenchard
1695 Edward Ashe
1701 Sir Edward Ernle
1702 William Monson
1708 William Ashe
1713 Pierce A'Court
1715 William Ashe
1722 Pierce A'Court
1725 Lord Charles Cavendish Whig
1727 Horatio Townshend
1734 Pierce A'Court-Ashe
1747 William Ashe
1751 William A'Court [6]
1768 Charles FitzRoy-Scudamore
1774 Hon. William Gordon
September 1780 William Eden [7]
December 1780 Francis Burton
1781 William Pierce Ashe A'Court
1784 William Eden [8]
1790 Michael Angelo Taylor
1791 The Earl of Barrymore
1793 Charles Rose Ellis
1793 The Viscount Clifden
1796 Sir John Leicester, Bt
February 1802 William Wickham
July 1802 Charles Abbot [9] Viscount Kirkwall
December 1802 Dr Charles Moore
1806 Charles Abbot [10] Sir William a'Court
January 1807 Dr Charles Moore Michael Symes
May 1807 Viscount Fitzharris
1812 Samuel Hood [11] Charles Duncombe
1818 George James Welbore Agar-Ellis William Henry John Scott
March 1820 Edward Henry A'Court Charles Ashe A'Court
August 1820 Henry Handley
1826 Henry Stafford Northcote
1830 Sir George Staunton Independent
1831
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. ↑ Namier, Lewis (1957). The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd ed.). London: St Martin's Press. pp. 1–4, 146, 438 n2.
  2. ↑ Cavill. The English Parliaments of Henry VII 1485-1504.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "History of Parliament 1509–1558: Heytesbury". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "History of Parliament 1558–1603: Heytesbury". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "BISSE, Edward (c.1588-by 1647), of Spargrove, Som". historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  6. ↑ William A'Court Ashe from 1768
  7. ↑ Eden was also elected for Woodstock, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Heytesbury in this Parliament
  8. ↑ Created The Lord Auckland (in the Peerage of Ireland), September 1789
  9. ↑ Abbot was also elected for Woodstock, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Heytesbury
  10. ↑ Abbot was also elected for Oxford University, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Heytesbury
  11. ↑ Succeeded as The Lord Bridport (in the Peerage of Ireland), May 1814

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1801-1832

Old Sarum was from 1295 to 1832 a parliamentary constituency of England, of Great Britain, and finally of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was a so-called rotten borough, with an extremely small electorate that was consequently vastly over-represented and could be used by a patron to gain undue influence. The constituency was on the site of what had been the original settlement of Salisbury, known as Old Sarum. The population and cathedral city had moved in the 14th century to New Sarum, at the foot of the Old Sarum hill. The constituency was abolished under the Reform Act 1832.

Newport was a rotten borough situated in Cornwall. It is now the suburb of Newport within the town of Launceston, which was itself also a parliamentary borough at the same period. It is also referred to as Newport iuxta Launceston, to distinguish it from other constituencies named Newport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heytesbury</span> Human settlement in England

Heytesbury is a village and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village lies on the north bank of the Wylye, about 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) southeast of the town of Warminster.

Pontefract was an English parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Pontefract in the West Riding of Yorkshire, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons briefly in the 13th century and again from 1621 until 1885, and one member from 1885 to 1974.

Appleby was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Westmorland in England. It existed for two separate periods: from 1295 to 1832, and from 1885 to 1918.

Knaresborough was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain and the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, and then one MP until its abolition in 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir William à Court, 1st Baronet</span> British soldier and Member of Parliament

Sir William Pierce Ashe à Court, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and Member of Parliament (MP).

Midhurst was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1311 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the constituency was abolished. Before the Great Reform Act of 1832, it was one of the most notorious of England's rotten boroughs.

Marlborough was a parliamentary borough centred on the town of Marlborough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1868, and then one member from 1868 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.

Bere Alston or Beeralston was a parliamentary borough in Devon, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1584 until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act as a rotten borough.

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.

Wilton was the name of a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1295 to 1707, then in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It had two Members of Parliament (MPs) until 1832, but from 1832 to 1885 only one member, as a result of the Reform Act 1832 where it also absorbed the former rotten borough of Old Sarum. In 1885 the borough was abolished, but the name of the constituency was then transferred to a new county constituency electing one Member from 1885 until 1918.

Bramber was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, one of the most notorious of all the rotten boroughs. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons in 1295, and again from 1472 until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Castle Rising was a parliamentary borough in Norfolk, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1558 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act. Its famous members of Parliament included the future Prime Minister Robert Walpole and the diarist Samuel Pepys.

Downton was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Steyning was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, England, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons sporadically from 1298 and continuously from 1467 until 1832. It was a notorious rotten borough, and was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Whitchurch was a parliamentary borough in the English County of Hampshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Unreformed House of Commons from 1586 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Ludgershall was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, England, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Higham Ferrers was a parliamentary borough in Northamptonshire, which was represented in the House of Commons from 1558 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act. It was one of the very small number of English boroughs in that period which was entitled to elect only one rather than two Members of Parliament.

New Romney was a parliamentary constituency in Kent, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1371 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.