Wareham (UK Parliament constituency)
| Wareham | |
|---|---|
| Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
| 1302–1885 | |
| Seats | two (1302–1832); one (1832–1885) |
Wareham was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1302 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.
History
The borough consisted of the town of Wareham on the Isle of Purbeck, a market town close to Poole Harbour. In 1831, the population of the borough was 1,676, and it contained 364 houses.
The right to vote was exercised by the Mayor, magistrates and freemen of the town and all inhabitants paying scot and lot; the number who were qualified to vote under this provision by the time of the Reform Act was unknown, as there had not been a contested election for many years, but there were about 500 in the 1760s. In the early 18th century a number of wealthy local families were influential over the choice of members, but eventually John Calcraft of Kingstone Hall secured total control by buying up all the property in the borough occupied by potential voters.
Wareham retained one of its two MPs under the Reform Act, but its boundaries were extended to include several surrounding areas, including nearby Corfe Castle which had previously been a borough in its own right. The new borough had a population of 5,751.
The borough continued to elect one MP until the third Reform Act, which came into effect at the general election of 1885. This abolished the constituency, Wareham being placed in the new East Dorset county division.
Members of Parliament
1302–1629
 |
- Constituency created (1302)
1640–1832
| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1640 | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Roundhead/meta/color" | | John Trenchard | Parliamentarian | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Dr Gilbert Jones | |
| November 1640 | style="background-color: Template:Roundhead/meta/color" | | Thomas Erle | Parliamentarian | |||
| December 1648 | Erle excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | |||||
| 1653 | Wareham was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | |||||
| January 1659 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Elias Bond | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | James Dewey | ||
| May 1659 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Trenchard | One seat vacant | |||
| April 1660 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Pitt | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Robert Culliford | ||
| 1679 | rowspan="5" style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Thomas Erle | Whig | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Savage | |
| 1685 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Ryves | ||||
| 1689 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Skinner | ||||
| 1690 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Okeden | ||||
| 1695 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Trenchard | ||||
| 1698 | rowspan="4" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Pitt | ||||
| January 1701 | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Thomas Erle | Whig | |||
| March 1701 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Edward Ernle | ||||
| November 1701 | rowspan="7" style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Thomas Erle | Whig | |||
| 1702 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Josiah Child | ||||
| 1704 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Edward Ernle | ||||
| 1705 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Pitt[3] | ||||
| 1710 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Edward Ernle | ||||
| 1713 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Pitt[4] | ||||
| 1715 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Pitt, junior | ||||
| 1718 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Drax | ||||
| 1722 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Edward Ernle | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Joseph Gascoigne | ||
| 12 February 1729 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Nathaniel Gould | ||||
| 26 February 1729 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Tower | ||||
| 1734 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Drax | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Pitt | ||
| 1747[5] | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Erle Drax | ||||
| 1748 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Robert Banks Hodgkinson | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Pitt | ||
| 1751 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Drax | ||||
| April 1754 | Seats vacant after disputed election[6] | |||||
| December 1754 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Augustus Pitt | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Drax | ||
| 1755 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Edward Drax | ||||
| 1761 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Erle Drax | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Pitt | ||
| March 1768 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Ralph Burton | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Robert Palk | ||
| November 1768 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Whitshed Keene | ||||
| January 1774 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas de Grey | ||||
| October 1774 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Gerard Hamilton | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Christopher D'Oyly | ||
| 1780 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Boyd | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Farrer | ||
| 1784 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Charles Lefebure | ||||
| 1786 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Calcraft | ||||
| 1790 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | General Richard Smith | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Lord Robert Spencer | ||
| May 1796 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Charles Rose Ellis[7] | ||||
| November 1796 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Godfrey Vassall | ||||
| 1799 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Joseph Chaplin Hankey | ||||
| 1800 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | John Calcraft | Whig | |||
| 1802 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Andrew Strahan | ||||
| 1806 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Jonathan Raine | ||||
| 1807 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Granby Calcraft | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Hon. John William Ward | Tory | |
| 1808 | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Sir Samuel Romilly | Whig | |||
| 1812 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Robert Gordon | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Theodore Henry Broadhead | ||
| 1818 | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | John Calcraft | Whig | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Thomas Denman | Whig |
| 1820 | style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | John Hales Calcraft | Tory | |||
| 1826 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Charles Baring Wall | ||||
| 1828 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Tory | ||||
| 1830 | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | James Ewing | Whig | |||
| 1831 | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Granby Hales Calcraft | Whig | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Charles Wood | Whig |
| 1832 | Representation reduced to one Member | |||||
1832–1885
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Hales Calcraft | Conservative |
| 1841 | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | John Erle-Drax | Whig |
| 1852 | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Conservative | |
| 1857 | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | John Hales Calcraft | Whig |
| 1859 | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Erle-Drax | Conservative |
| 1865 | style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Hales Montagu Calcraft | Liberal |
| 1868 | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Erle-Drax | Conservative |
| 1880 | style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Montague Guest | Liberal |
| 1885 | Constituency abolished | ||
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ^ Pitt was re-elected in 1710 but had also been elected for Hampshire, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this Parliament for Wareham
- ^ Pitt was re-elected in 1715 but had also been elected for Hampshire, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this Parliament for Wareham
- ^ At the election of 1747, Henry Drax and Thomas Erle Drax were initially returned as elected, but on petition (in a dispute over the franchise) the committee declared their election void and that their opponents Pitt and Hodgkinson had been duly elected
- ^ At the election of 1754, there was a double return (two alternative results declared after a disputed election, leaving the House of Commons to resolve the issue), one return naming John Pitt and William Augustus Pitt, the other Henry Drax and Thomas Erle Drax. The House declared the entire election void, and a writ was issued for a new election
- ^ Ellis was also been elected for Seaford, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Wareham
References
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [1]
- F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
- Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
- Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
- J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig – Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
- Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. p. 1.
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography (1930)
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)