Wiltshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Wiltshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of England from 1290 to 1707, 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.

Wiltshire
Former constituency Unknown parliament UK.
County	Wiltshire
1290–1832
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	Northern Wiltshire and Southern Wiltshire

History

Boundaries

The constituency consisted of the whole historic county of Wiltshire. (Although Wiltshire contained a number of boroughs each of which elected two Members in their own right, the boroughs were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within a borough could confer a vote at the county election.)

Medieval and Tudor period

In medieval times, the custom in Wiltshire as elsewhere was for Members called knights of the shire to be elected at the county court by the suitors to the court, which meant the small number of nobles and other landowners who were tenants in chief of the Crown. Such county elections were held on the same day as the election of the members for the boroughs. Thus we find it recorded that in the first year of the reign of Henry V, "at a full County Court held at Wilton, Twenty-Six persons chose the Knights for the County, and the same individuals elected Two Citizens respectively for New Sarum, Old Sarum, Wilton, Devizes, Malmesbury, Marlborough and Calne."

From 1430, the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act extended the right to vote to every man who possessed freehold property within the county valued at £2 or more per year for the purposes of land tax; it was not necessary for the freeholder to occupy his land, nor even in later years to be resident in the county at all.

Once the vote was no longer confined to the richest families in the county, voters quickly came to expect the candidates for whom they voted to meet their expenses in travelling to the poll and to entertain them when they got there. At the Wiltshire election of 1559, one of the candidates, George Penruddock, was Steward to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke: at the close of polling, Penruddock invited all the voters, as well as his opponents and the Sheriff, to a dinner at Wilton House, Lord Pembroke's seat.

County elections were held at a single polling place. In the early period this would have been wherever in the county the Sheriff chose to hold the relevant county court, but eventually there was a fixed venue, at Wilton. Voters from the rest of the county had to travel there to exercise their franchise. A detailed account survives of how this worked in the mid-Tudor period, as there was litigation over a dispute at the election of 1559 in the Court of Star Chamber. At this election there were three candidates for the two seats, but it appears that the choice for one seat was unanimous. The other was contested between George Penruddock, the Steward to the Earl of Pembroke mentioned above and a member of the previous Parliament, and Sir John Thynne, who had previously represented boroughs in the county and who had just begun to build the great house at Longleat. The election proceeded by the Sheriff sitting in one place to take votes for Thynne, and his deputy sitting in another to take votes for Penruddock. There was no secret ballot at this period. Each side's agents watched the voting and had the opportunity to challenge the credentials of anyone they believed not to be a valid voter. Penruddock was the easy victor, but Thynne then challenged his election, claiming that many of his votes were invalid (which he had already had the chance to prove and had failed to do), and that Penruddock himself was ineligible, being neither resident in Wiltshire nor of sufficiently high social status to be a Knight of the Shire. These objections might have had more weight were he not already one of the sitting members. The Sheriff declared Penruddock elected, but afterwards Thynne's supporters quietly persuaded him to change his mind and gave him a bond for £300 to indemnify him against the consequences; he therefore sent in the return of election naming Thynne rather than Penruddock as duly elected. The size of the bond seems to have been finely judged, since when the Attorney General prosecuted the Sheriff in the Star Chamber he was fined £200 and Penruddock was awarded a further £100 in damages; but the Sheriff was also sentenced to a year's imprisonment.

18th and 19th century elections

As time went on, the treating at elections became more elaborate and more openly corrupt, and at the same time the size of the electorate expanded considerably. In the 15th century, the forty-shilling freeholders must still have constituted a very small number of voters, but social changes and rising land values both acted eventually to broaden the franchise. Those qualified to vote were still a fraction of total population: at the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, Wiltshire had a total population of approximately 240,000, yet just 6,403 votes were cast in the county constituency at the 1818 election, the last general election at which there was a contested election in Wiltshire. This was nevertheless enough to put a substantial burden on the candidates' purses, making the cost of a contested election very high – a by-election in 1772 was said to have cost £20,000. Contested elections were therefore rare, potential candidates preferring to canvass support beforehand and usually not insisting on a vote being taken unless they were confident of winning; the county was contested at four of the six general elections between 1701 and 1713, but in all but one of the remaining twenty-three general elections until 1832, Wiltshire's two Members were elected unopposed.

Wiltshire was a predominantly rural county, though the freeholders from the biggest towns (Salisbury, Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon, Westbury and Warminster) made up almost a fifth of the vote in 1818. It succeeded in remaining independent of any domination by the local nobility and generally chose members of the county's landed gentry as its members. Wiltshire was unusual in that by the 18th century it has formalised the process of picking its candidates to some degree, the decision being made by a body called the Deptford Club (named after the inn where it met). The club consisted of leading local members of both gentry and nobility and was said to have been in existence since 1729. Once the club had met in private and made its decision, the choice was ratified at a public meeting, and only on a small number of occasions did a disappointed candidate take the matter to a formal vote at the ensuing election. However, in the last half century before Reform, two rival clubs (the Devizes Club and the Beckhampton Club) took over the nominating function, and in 1812 an independent candidate, Paul Methuen, stood against one of the nominees of the clubs and defeated him.

Abolition

Under the Great Reform Act of 1832, the constituency was abolished, and the county was split into two two-member divisions for Parliamentary purposes, Northern Wiltshire and Southern Wiltshire constituencies.

Members of Parliament

1295–1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1313	John de Vivonia
1357	Thomas Hungerford
1360	Thomas Hungerford
1362	Thomas Hungerford
1376	Sir John Delamare[1]
1377 (Jan)	Sir Thomas Hungerford
1378	Sir Ralph Cheyne [2]	Sir John Dauntsey[3]
1379	Sir Thomas Hungerford	Sir John Dauntsey[3]
1380 (Jan)	Sir Thomas Hungerford
1380 (Nov)	Sir Thomas Hungerford
1381	Sir John Roches[4]	Sir John Dauntsey[3]
1382 (May)	Sir John Roches[4]	Sir John Dauntsey[3]
1382 (Oct)	Sir John Dauntsey[3]
1382 (Nov)	Sir John Roches[4]
1383 (Feb)	Sir John Roches[4]
1384 (Apr)	Sir John Roches[4]
1385	Sir Robert Corbet
1386	Sir Thomas Hungerford	Sir Ralph Cheyne[5]
1388 (Feb)	Sir John Dauntsey	John Bettesthorne[5]
1388 (Sep)	Sir Ralph Cheyne	Richard Horne[5]
1390 (Jan)	Sir Thomas Hungerford	Sir William Sturmy[5]
1390 (Nov)	Sir John Roches	John Wroth[5]
1391	Sir Bernard Brocas	Robert Dingley[5]
1393	Sir Thomas Hungerford	Sir William Sturmy[5]
1394	Sir John Roches	John Gawen[5]
1395	Sir John Lilborne	John Gawen[5]
1397 (Jan)	Sir John Roches	Sir Robert Corbet[5]
1397 (Sep)	Sir Henry Green	Sir Thomas Blount[5]
1399	Sir William Sturmy	Sir John Roches[5]
1401	Sir William Sturmy	Sir Walter Hungerford[5]
1402	Sir John Berkeley	Thomas Calston[5]
1404 (Jan)	Richard Mawarden	Peter Stantor[5]
1404 (Oct)	Sir Walter Hungerford	William Worfton[5]
1406	Thomas Bonham	Thomas Calston[5]
1407	Sir Walter Hungerford	William Stourton[5]
1410
1411	Sir Walter Hungerford	Henry Thorpe[5]
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	Sir William Sturmy	Sir Walter Hungerford[5]
1414 (Apr)	Sir William Moleyns	Sir Walter Hungerford[5]
1414 (Nov)	Sir William Sturmy	Thomas Bonham[5]
1415	William Alexander	Thomas Bonham[5]
1416 (Mar)	Sir Walter Beauchamp	Robert Andrew[5]
1416 (Oct)
1417	Sir William Sturmy	John Westbury[5]
1419	Robert Ashley	John Westbury[5]
1420	John Persons	John Rous[5]
1421 (May)	Robert Long	Richard Milbourne[5]
1421 (Dec)	John Stourton	Robert Long[5]
1422	Sir William Sturmy	Robert Andrew
1423–1424	Robert Long
1425	John Stourton
1426	Robert Andrew
1429–1430	Robert Long
1432	Sir John Stourton
1433	Robert Andrew
1433	Robert Long
1435	John Seymour[6]
1439	John Seymour[6]
1442	Robert Long	Henry Green
1445	John Seymour[6]
1449	Henry Long
1449	Sir John Bayntun
1453–1454	Henry Long
1471–1481	John Cheney
1472–1475	Henry Long
1477	Walter Hungerford
1491	Sir Richard Beauchamp [7]
1497	Richard Elyot [7]
1510–1523	No names known[8]
1529	Sir Edward Darrell, died and replaced 1532 by Henry Long	Edward Bayntun[8][9]
1536
1539	Edward Bayntun[9]	Robert Long[8]
1542
1545	Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley	Sir William Herbert[8]
1547	Sir William Herbert, ennobled and replaced Jan 1552 by Sir William Sharington	Sir William Wroughton[8]
1553 (Mar)	?	Sir James Stumpe[8]
1553 (Oct)	Sir Edward Waldegrave	Henry Long[8]
1554 (Apr)	Sir William Wroughton	Sir John Marvyn[8]
1554 (Nov)	Sir Walter Hungerford	Christopher Willoughby[8]
1555	Henry Bodenham	William Basely[8]
1558	George Penruddock	Nicholas Snell[8]
1559 (Jan)	Sir John Thynne[10]	John Erneley[11]
1562–1563	Edward Bayntun	John Eyre[11]
1571	Sir John Thynne	John Danvers[11]
1572 (Apr)	Sir George Penruddock	James Marvyn[11]
1584 (Nov)	Carew Raleigh	Anthony Mildmay[11][12]
1586 (Oct)	William Brouncker	Carew Ralegh[11]
1588 (Oct)	John Thynne	William Brouncker[11]
1593	Sir Walter Long	Sir William Brouncker[11]
1597 (Oct)	Sir William Eyre	Henry Baynton II[11]
1601 (Sep)	Edmund Carey	Sir Edward Hungerford [11]
1604	Sir Francis Popham	Sir John Thynne (died 1604)
1605		Thomas Thynne (election disallowed) [13]
1606		Sir Walter Vaughan[14]
1614	Sir Thomas Howard	Sir Henry Poole
1621	Sir Francis Seymour	Sir Edward Bayntun
1624	Edward Hungerford	Sir John St John
1625	Sir Francis Seymour	Sir Henry Ley
1626	Sir Henry Poole	Walter Long
1628	Sir William Button	Sir Francis Seymour
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Sir Francis Seymour	Royalist		Philip Lord Herbert
November 1640		Sir James Thynne	Royalist		Sir Henry Ludlow[15]	Parliamentarian
September 1642	Thynne disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1646		Hon. James Herbert			Edmund Ludlow
December 1648	Herbert excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
Wiltshire had 3 representatives in the nominated Parliament of 1653 and 10 in the first two Parliaments of the Protectorate
1653	Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Nicholas Green, Thomas Eyre
1654	Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Thomas Grove, Alexander Thistlethwaite, Alexander Popham, Francis Holles, John Ernle, William Yorke, John Norden, James Ash, Gabriel Martin
1656	Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Thomas Grove, Alexander Thistlethwaite, Sir Alexander Popham, Richard Grobham Howe, Sir Walter St John, John Bulkeley, William Ludlow, Henry Hungerford, Gabriel Martin
Representation reverted to 2 MPs in the Third Protectorate Parliament
January 1659		Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper			Sir Walter St John
May 1659		Edmund Ludlow		One seat vacant
1660		Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper			John Ernle
1661		Charles Seymour			Henry Hyde
1664		Sir James Thynne
1670		Thomas Thynne
1675					Sir Richard Grobham Howe
1679					Sir Walter St John
1685		Viscount Cornbury	Tory		Viscount Bruce	Tory
1689					Sir Thomas Mompesson
1690					Sir Walter St John
1695		Sir George Hungerford			Henry St John
1698					Sir Edward Ernle
January 1701					Richard Grobham Howe
December 1701		Maurice Ashley			William Ashe
1702		Richard Grobham Howe[16]			Robert Hyde
1722					Richard Goddard
1727		Sir James Long	Tory		John Ivory-Talbot
1729		John Howe
1741		Sir Robert Long	Tory		Edward Popham
1767		Thomas Goddard
1770		Charles Penruddocke
1772					Ambrose Goddard
1788		Sir James Tylney-Long	Tory
1795		Henry Penruddocke Wyndham	Whig
1806					Richard Godolphin Long	Tory
1812		Paul Methuen
1818					William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley	Tory
1819		John Benett
1820					Sir John Dugdale Astley
1832	County divided into two constituencies

Notes

1. S. E. Rigold, Nunney Castle, Somerset (HMSO, 1967), p. 4 (online)
2. "CHEYNE, Sir Ralph (c.1337-1400), of Brooke in Westbury, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
3. "DAUNTSEY, Sir John (d.1391), of Dauntsey, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
4. "ROCHES, Sir John (c.1333-1400), of Bromham, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
5. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 9 September 2011.
6. J. S. Roskell, The Commons in the Parliament of 1422 (Manchester University Press), [http||//books.google.co.uk/books?id=TxYNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 126] (see footnotes)
7. Cavill, P. R. (13 August 2009). The English Parliaments of Henry VII. ISBN 9780191610264. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
8. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 9 September 2011.
9. Wall, Alison. "Baynton family". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71877. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
10. The Court of Star Chamber found that Thynne had been fraudulently returned by the Sheriff and that his opponent, George Penruddock, had in fact been the victor.
11. "History of Parliament". Retrieved 9 September 2011.
12. "Myldmay, Anthony (MLDY562A)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
13. "THYNNE, Thomas (c.1577/8-1639), of Longleat, Wilts. and Cannon Row, Westminster". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
14. "VAUGHAN, Sir Walter (c.1572-1639), of Falstone House, Bishopstone, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
15. Died. Cobbett records him as dead by 1644, Brunton & Pennington give his date of death as December 1645. As this was the date that the writ was issued for a by-election to fill the vacancy, it may be an error.
16. Succeeded his father as Sir Richard Grobham Howe, 3rd Baronet, in 1703

Elections

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies
• Unreformed House of Commons

References

• D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• John Cannon, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973)
• Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
• Esther S Cope and Willson H Coates (eds), Camden Fourth Series, Volume 19: Proceedings of the Short Parliament of 1640 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1977)
• Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754–1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
• J. E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• T. H. B. Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
• Charles Henry Parry (ed.), The Parliaments and Councils of England (London: John Murray, 1839)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)
• List of members nominated for Parliament of 1653 (British History Online)