Newtown (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Newtown
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
County Isle of Wight
Major settlements Newtown
1584–1832
SeatsTwo
Created from Hampshire
Replaced by Isle of Wight

Newtown was a parliamentary borough located in Newtown on the Isle of Wight, which was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two members of parliament (MPs), elected by the bloc vote system.

Contents

The borough was abolished in the Reform Act 1832, and from the 1832 general election its territory was included in the new county constituency of Isle of Wight.

History

Newtown, located on the large natural harbour on the north-western coast of the Isle of Wight, was the first borough established in the county. A French raid in 1377, which destroyed much of the town as well as other settlements on the island, sealed its permanent decline. By the mid-16th century it was a small settlement long eclipsed by the more easily defended town of Newport. To try to stimulate economic development, Elizabeth I awarded the town two parliamentary seats.

Newtown was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote was vested solely in the owners of a specified number of properties or "burgage tenements". At the time of the Reform Act 1832 there were 39 burgage tenements, held by 23 burgesses; however, most of these held only life grants. It was common practice for life grants to be made to friends of the proprietors so as to ensure that the full voting power could be exercised; if these nominees failed to vote as expected, they could be ejected and replaced by somebody more reliable before the next election. These voters were often non-resident – and indeed, it could hardly be otherwise, for although there were 39 burgage tenements, there were only 14 houses. Unlike many rotten boroughs, no single landowner controlled a majority of the burgages: the reversionary rights in them belonged to three families (Barrington, Holmes and Anderson-Pelham), with none having an overall majority. Elections in the borough consequently required careful management and sometimes considerable expenditure to achieve the desired result. In the 1750s and 1760s, the arrangement was that one of the two seats was considered to be in the gift of the Barrington family, while Thomas Holmes (who also nursed the other two Isle of Wight boroughs, Newport and Yarmouth, for the government [1] ) negotiated the election of the government's nominee for the other, unless he wanted it for a member of the Holmes family.

By 1831, the borough had a population of just 68, and it was disestablished the following year by the Reform Act.

Members of Parliament

1584–1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1584 William Meux Robert Redge [2]
1586 Richard Huyshe Richard Dillington [2]
1588 Richard Huyshe Richard Sutton [2]
1593 Thomas Dudley Richard Browne [2]
1597 Silvanus Scory Thomas Crompton [2]
1601 Robert Wroth Robert Cotton [2]
1604 Sir John Stanhope ennobled
and replaced 1605 by Thomas Wilson 		William Meux
1614 (Mar) George Stoughton (sat for Guildford)
and replaced 1614 by William Higford 		Sir Henry Berkeley
1621 (Jan) John Ferrar (sat for Tamworth)
and replaced 1621 by Sir William Harington 		Sir Thomas Barrington
1624 (Jan) George Garrard Sir Gilbert Gerard, Bt (sat for Middlesex)
1624 (Mar) Sir Thomas Barrington
1625 Sir Thomas Barrington Thomas Malet
1626 Sir Thomas Barrington Thomas Malet
1628–1629 Sir Thomas Barrington, 2nd Baronet Robert Barrington
1629–1640No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Year1st Member1st Party2nd Member2nd Party
April 1640 John Meux [3] Royalist Hon. Nicholas Weston
November 1640 Hon. Nicholas Weston Royalist
August 1642Weston disabled from sitting – seat vacant
February 1644Meux disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1645 Sir John Barrington John Bulkeley
December 1648Barrington and Bulkeley excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
1653Newtown was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Serjeant John Maynard William Laurence
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Sir John Barrington Sir Henry Worsley
1666 Sir Robert Worsley
1677 Admiral Sir John Holmes
February 1679 John Churchill
August 1679 Lemuel Kingdon
1681 Daniel Finch
1685 Thomas Done William Blathwayt Whig
1689 The Earl of Ranelagh
1695 James Worsley
1698 Thomas Hopsonn
1701 Joseph Dudley
1702 John Leigh
1705 James Worsley Henry Worsley
1715 Sir Robert Worsley
1722 William Stephens Charles Worsley
1727 [4] James Worsley Thomas Holmes Whig
1729 Charles Armand Powlett Sir John Barrington
1734 James Worsley Thomas Holmes Whig
1741 Sir John Barrington Henry Holmes
1747 Maurice Bocland
1754 Harcourt Powell
April 1775 Charles Ambler
December 1775 Edward Meux Worsley
1780 John Barrington [5]
1782 Henry Dundas Tory
1783 Richard Pepper Arden
April 1784 James Worsley
August 1784 Mark Gregory
1790 Sir Richard Worsley Whig
1793 George Canning Tory
1796 Sir Richard Worsley Whig Charles Shaw-Lefevre Whig
1801 Sir Edward Law Whig
May 1802 Ewan Law
July 1802 Sir Robert Barclay Whig Charles Chapman Whig
1805 James Paull Whig
1806 George Canning Tory
1807 Barrington Pope Blachford Tory Dudley Long North Whig
1808 Hon. George Anderson-Pelham Whig
1816 Hudson Gurney Whig
1820 Dudley Long North Whig
1821 Charles Cavendish Whig
1830 Hon. Charles Anderson-Pelham Whig
1831 Sir William Horne Whig
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. ↑ Page 205, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition, London: Macmillan, 1957)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  3. ↑ Created a baronet, December 1641
  4. ↑ At the election of 1727 Worsley and Holmes beat Barrington and Powlett, but on petition the result was reversed as a result of a dispute over the franchise
  5. ↑ Succeeded to a baronetcy as Sir John Barrington in 1792

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Wight (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Isle of Wight is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Bob Seely, a Conservative.

<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 parliamentary borough located in Newport, which was abolished in for the 1885 general election. It was occasionally referred to by the alternative name of Medina.

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.

Yarmouth was a borough constituency of the House of Commons of England then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two members of parliament (MPs), elected by the bloc vote system.

Derbyshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of the Shire.

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.

Thirsk was a parliamentary borough in Yorkshire, represented in the English and later British House of Commons in 1295, and again from 1547. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832, and by one member from 1832 to 1885, when the constituency was abolished and absorbed into the new Thirsk and Malton division of the North Riding of Yorkshire.

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.

Northallerton was a parliamentary borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire, represented by two Members of Parliament in the House of Commons briefly in the 13th century and again from 1640 to 1832, and by one member from 1832 until 1885.

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.

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.

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.

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 House of Commons from 1586 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

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.

Hampshire was a county constituency of the Parliament of England, Great Britain and after 1801 Parliament of the United Kingdom, which returned two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832.

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.