Whitchurch (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Whitchurch
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1586–1832
SeatsTwo

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.

Contents

History

Whitchurch was one of a number of new boroughs created in the south of England by Queen Elizabeth I. The borough consisted of most of the town of Whitchurch in northern Hampshire, a market town which by the 19th century had shrunk to insignificance. In 1831, the population of the borough was approximately 1,673, and the town contained 261 houses of which 214 were within the borough.

Following a House of Commons decision in 1708, the right to vote was exercised by the freeholders of any tenements which had not been divided since the time of William III (or by their husbands if the freeholder was a woman). Whitchurch was therefore in effect a "burgage" borough (one where the vote was tied to ownership of specific properties). There were still competitive elections around the turn of the 18th century when no one influence was entirely predominant, and it is recorded that in 1685 it was one of the constituencies that King James II thought worth visiting on an electioneering tour soon after his accession. But by 1700 the Duke of Bolton, as the most powerful local landowner, could generally see his preferred candidates elected, and by the middle of the century, as in other burgage boroughs, a majority of the burgages were concentrated in the hands of two owners and Whitchurch had become an utterly secure pocket borough.

By the time of the Great Reform Act the number of "voters" was estimated to be about 84, but there had been no contested election since 1721; only 13 of the burgages were not owned by one of the two patrons, according to Oldfield, writing in 1816. Of course, had there been an election the two proprietors themselves could not have voted more than once; but they would have been able to simply make a temporary conveyance of each property to a reliable deputy, as frequently happened elsewhere, to ensure that their majority share of the ownership was reflected in the voting.

In the 1740s, these "patrons" were John Wallop, 1st Earl of Portsmouth [1] and John Selwyn, who chose one MP each; Selwyn invariably made use of the seat for himself. After Selwyn's death in 1751 his share was inherited by his son-in-law, Thomas Townshend, [2] who used the seat for his son, a rising minister. By the 1770s the former Portsmouth share of the representation was also in Townshend hands, and was used to find a seat for another relative, George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton.

Whitchurch was abolished as a separate constituency by the Reform Act, the town being included in the Northern division of Hampshire thereafter.

Members of Parliament

1584-1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1584John CooperHenry Audley [3]
1586John CooperHenry Audley [3]
1588 Richard Fiennes Henry Audley [3]
1593Robert WestRichard Theakston [3]
1597 Thomas Henshaw Richard Carey [3]
1601 Thomas Henshaw Thomas Crompton [3]
1604 Thomas Brookes Sir Richard Paulet
1614 Sir Edward Barrett Sir Richard Paulet
1621-1622 Sir Thomas Jervoise Sir Robert Oxenbridge
1624 Sir Henry Wallop Sir Thomas Jervoise
1625 Sir Thomas Jervoise Sir Robert Oxenbridge
1626 Sir Thomas Jervoise Sir Robert Oxenbridge
1628 Sir Thomas Jervoise Sir John Jephson
1629–1640No Parliaments summoned

1640-1832

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
April 1640 Sir Thomas Jervoise Richard Jervoise Parliamentarian
November 1640
1645 Thomas Hussey
1653Whitchurch was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Sir Henry Vane Robert Reynolds
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Robert Wallop Giles Hungerford
June 1660 Henry Wallop
1674 Richard Ayliffe
1679 Henry Wallop
1685 Lord James Russell
1692 Christopher Stokes
1698 Richard Wollaston
1701 Major-General John Shrimpton
January 1708 Frederick Tylney (see biog. under Richard Child, 1st Earl Tylney) [4]
February 1708 Charles Wither
May 1708 [5] Thomas Lewis Frederick Tylney
December 1708 Richard Wollaston George William Brydges
1710 Frederick Tylney Thomas Vernon [6]
1715 General George Carpenter
May 1721 Frederick Tylney [7]
June 1721 John Conduitt [8] Government Whig
1722 Thomas Vernon
February 1727 Thomas Farrington
August 1727 John Selwyn
1734 John Selwyn, junior
1735 Colonel John Mordaunt Government Whig
1741 John Wallop [9] Government Whig
1742 William Sloper
January 1743 Charles Clarke
February 1743 Brigadier Thomas Wentworth
1747 Charles Wallop
1751 Lord Robert Bertie
1754 William Powlett Thomas Townshend Whig
1757 George Jennings
1768 Hon. Henry Wallop
1774 The Viscount Midleton
1783 William Selwyn
1790 Hon. John Townshend
1796 Hon. William Brodrick
1800 Hon. William Townshend
1816 Horatio George Powys Townshend Tory
1818 Sir Samuel Scott Tory
1826 Hon. John Robert Townshend Tory
1831 Horatio George Powys Townshend Tory
1832 Constituency abolished


Notes

  1. ↑ Page 145, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
  2. ↑ Page 148, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  4. ↑ On petition, Tylney was declared not to have been duly elected
  5. ↑ On petition (in a dispute over the franchise), Lewis and Tylney were declared not to have been duly elected
  6. ↑ Expelled from the House of Commons for a corrupt attempt to influence a member of the committee on the South Sea Bubble in favour of his brother-in-law, John Aislabie
  7. ↑ On petition, Tylney was declared not to have been duly elected, and his opponent Conduitt was seated in his place
  8. ↑ Conduitt was re-elected in 1734, but the election was disputed. He had also been elected for Southampton, which he chose to represent; when the Commons eventually decided he had also been duly elected for Whitchurch, a by-election was held.
  9. ↑ Wallop was also elected for Andover, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Whitchurch

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