Great Bedwyn (UK Parliament constituency)

Great Bedwyn
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1295–1832
SeatsTwo

Great Bedwyn was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, centred on Great Bedwyn, 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.

Members of Parliament

1295–1640

Parliament First member Second member
1295 Sir William Russell (d.1311), Lord of Yaverland[1]
1386 John Combe William Bailiff[2]
1388 (Feb)
1388 (Sep)
1390 (Jan) John Combe William Plomer[2]
1399 Thomas Smith Geoffrey Mauncell[2]
1420 John Benger John Everard[2]
1421 (May)
1421 (Dec) Thomas Hussey Maurice Hommedieux[2]
1449 Sir Thomas Malory
1491 William Paston[3]
1510–1523 No names known[4]
1529 William Newdigate died
and replaced 1532/3 by ?Thomas Polsted		 John Berwick[4]
1536 ?
1539 ?
1542 ?
1545 John Winchcombe alias Smallwood John Seymour[4]
1547 Anthony Browne Robert Pagman[4]
1553 (Mar) ?
1553 (Oct) Richard Fulmerston John Hungerford[4]
1554 (Apr) Richard Fulmerston Sir Edmund Rous[4]
1554 (Nov) Richard Fulmerston Edward Hungerford[4]
1555 Henry Clifford David Seymour[4]
1558 John Temple George Hidden[4]
1559 Francis Newdigate Henry Clifford[5]
1562–3 John Thynne Stephen Hales[5]
1571 Nicholas St John Thomas Blagrave[5]
1572 Simon Bowyer George Ireland[5]
1584 Richard Wheler Roger Puleston[5]
1586 Richard Wheler Roger Puleston[5]
1588 John Seymour Henry Ughtred[5]
1593 Thomas Hungerford James Kirton[5]
1597 Sir Anthony Hungerford Francis Castilian
1601 Sir Anthony Hungerford Levinus Munck
1604–1611 John Rodney Sir Anthony Hungerford
1614 Robert Hyde Sir Giles Mompesson
1621–1622 Sir Francis Popham Sir Giles Mompesson
1624 Hugh Crompton William Cholmeley
1625 Sir John Brooke William Cholmeley
1626-? John Selden Sir Maurice Berkeley
1628 Edward Kyrton Sir John Trevor
1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Year First member First party Second member Second party
April 1640 Charles Seymour Richard Hardinge Royalist
November 1640 Sir Walter Smith Royalist
February 1644 Smith and Harding disabled from sitting – both seats vacant
1646 Edmund Harvey Parliamentarian Henry Hungerford Parliamentarian
December 1648 Hungerford not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653 Great Bedwyn was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Thomas Manley Henry Hungerford
May 1659 Colonel Edmund Harvey One seat vacant
1660 Robert Spencer Thomas Gape
1661 Duke Stonehouse Henry Clerke
1663 John Trevor
1673 Daniel Finch
February 1679 Francis Stonehouse John Deane
August 1679 William Finch
1681 Sir John Ernle John Wildman
1685 Lemuel Kingdon Thomas Loder
1689 Sir Edmund Warneford John Wildman
1690 The Viscount Falkland Sir Jonathan Raymond
1694 Francis Stonehouse
1695 Admiral Sir Ralph Delaval
1698 Charles Davenant
1701 Michael Mitford
1702 Hon. James Bruce
May 1705 Sir George Byng[6] Nicholas Pollexfen
December 1705 Lord Bruce[7]
November 1707 Tracy Pauncefort[8]
December 1707 Nicholas Pollexfen
1708 Samuel Vanacker Sambrooke
1710 Sir Edward Seymour
1711 Thomas Millington
1715 Stephen Bisse William Sloper
1722 Robert Bruce Charles Longueville
1727 Sir William Willys Viscount Lewisham[9]
1729 William Sloper
1732 Francis Seymour
1734 Brigadier Robert Murray
1738 Edward Popham
1741 Sir Edward Turner Whig Lascelles Metcalfe
1747 William Sloper
1754 Sir Robert Hildyard
1756 Hon. Robert Brudenell
1761 Vice Admiral Thomas Cotes William Woodley
1766 William Burke
1767 Sir Thomas Fludyer
March 1768 Hon. James Brudenell Hon. Robert Brudenell[10]
May 1768 William Burke
November 1768 William Northey
1771 Benjamin Hopkins
October 1774 The Earl of Courtown Paul Methuen
December 1774 Viscount Cranborne
1780 Sir Merrick Burrell
1781 Paul Cobb Methuen
1784 Marquess of Graham Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Manners
June 1790 Lord Doune
December 1790 Viscount Stopford Tory
1792 Edward East
1796 Lieutenant General the Hon. Thomas Bruce John Wodehouse[11]
1797 Sir Robert Buxton
1802 Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Bt
1806 Viscount Stopford Tory James Henry Leigh Tory
April 1807 Sir Vicary Gibbs Tory
May 1807 Sir John Nicholl Tory
March 1818 John Buxton Tory
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. ^ Wiffen, J. H. Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell, 1884, vol. 1, pp.127–131. The Russell family, of Kingston Russell, Dorset, held the manor of Little Bedwyn
  2. ^ a b c d e "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  3. ^ Cavill. The English Parliaments of Henry VII 1485-1504.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  6. ^ Byng was also elected for Plymouth, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Great Bedwyn
  7. ^ Bruce was re-elected in 1710, but had also been elected for Marlborough, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Great Bedwyn
  8. ^ On petition, Pauncefort was found not to have been duly elected and was taken into custody by order of the House of Commons for bribery and corruption at his election
  9. ^ On petition (in a dispute over the franchise), Lewisham was declared not to have been duly elected
  10. ^ Brudenell was also elected for Marlborough, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this Parliament for Great Bedwyn
  11. ^ Styled The Hon. John Wodehouse from October 1797

References