Minehead (UK Parliament constituency)

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Minehead
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1563–1832
Number of membersTwo

Minehead was a parliamentary borough in Somerset,[1] forming part of the town of Minehead, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1563 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Members of Parliament[]

MPs 1563–1629[]

  • Constituency probably established 1563[2]
Parliament First member Second member
Parliament of 1563-1567 Thomas Luttrell Thomas Fitzwilliams
Parliament of 1571
Parliament of 1572-1581 Richard Cabell
1578 Andrew Hemmerford
1582 George Luttrell
Parliament of 1584-1585 George Luttrell
Parliament of 1586-1587 Robert Crosse
Parliament of 1588-1589 Benedict Barnham
Parliament of 1593 Richard Hanbury James Quirke
Parliament of 1597-1598 Amias Bampfield
(sat for Devon, replaced) 		Conrad Prowse
Parliament of 1601 Dr Francis James
Parliament of 1604-1611 Sir Ambrose Turville Sir Maurice Berkeley
Addled Parliament (1614) No return made
Parliament of 1621-1622 Sir Robert Lloyd[3]
Happy Parliament (1624-1625) Dr Arthur Duck Sir Arthur Lake
Useless Parliament (1625) Thomas Luttrell
Parliament of 1625-1626
Parliament of 1628-1629
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

MPs 1640–1832[]

Year First member First party Second member Second party
April 1640 Francis Wyndham Alexander Popham[4]
1640 Dr Arthur Duck
November 1640 [5] Parliamentarian Sir Francis Popham Parliamentarian
1642 Royalist
January 1644 Hanham disabled from sitting — seat vacant
August 1644 Popham died — seat vacant
1645 Walter Strickland Edward Popham
December 1648 Popham not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653 Minehead was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Colonel Alexander Popham
May 1659 Walter Strickland One seat vacant
1660 Francis Luttrell I Charles Pym
1661
1666 by-election Sir John Malet
1673 by-election Thomas Wyndham
February 1679 Francis Luttrell II
September 1679
1685
September 1690 by-election
October 1690 by-election Alexander Luttrell II
1698 Sir Jacob Banks
1708 Sir John Trevelyan
1715[6] Sir William Wyndham
April 1717 by-election[7] Samuel Edwin Thomas Gage
May 1717 (on petition) Sir John Trevelyan
1721 by-election Sir Richard Lane[8]
January 1722 (on petition)
March 1722 Thomas Hales
1723 by-election Francis Whitworth
1727 Alexander Luttrell III
1737 by-election Sir William Codrington
1739 by-election
1742 by-election
1747 Percy Wyndham-O'Brien Charles Whitworth
1754
1761 The Earl of Thomond
1768 Henry Fownes Luttrell I Sir Charles Whitworth
October 1774 John Fownes Luttrell Tory
December 1774 by-election Thomas Pownall
1780 Francis Fownes Luttrell
1783 by-election Henry Beaufoy[9]
June 1784 by-election Captain the Hon. Charles Phipps
1786 by-election
1790 Viscount Parker Tory
1795 by-election Thomas Fownes Luttrell Tory
1796 John Langston Tory
1802 John Patteson Tory
1806 The Lord Rancliffe Whig Sir John Lethbridge, 1st Baronet Tory
January 1807 by-election John Fownes Luttrell Tory
May 1807 John Denison Tory
1812 Tory
1816 by-election Henry Fownes Luttrell II Tory
1822 by-election John Douglas Tory
1826 James Blair Tory
1830 William Edward Tomline Tory
1831 Viscount Villiers Tory
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes[]

  1. ^ Traill, Thomas Stewart (1858). The Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and General Literature. A. and C. Black.
  2. ^ Most sources date Minehead's enfranchisement from 1563, which seems clearly implied by the House of Commons Journals, but Browne Willis gives two names (Thomas Fitzwilliams and John Fowler) as the town's representatives in the 1559 Parliament. Sir John Neale notes that the names differ from those given for 1563 "which normally is a sign of reliability"
  3. ^ This is the name given by Cobbett, whereas Browne Willis lists "Tho. Wentworth, Kt". There were two Thomas Wentworths in the House, but both sat for other constituencies, as Browne Willis correctly also records - "Tho. Wentworth, Kt. and Bart." for Yorkshire and "Tho. Wentworth Esq" for Oxford City. While it is possible that either of these might also have been elected for Minehead and chosen to sit for their other constituency, allowing Lloyd to be elected in their place, Browne Willis usually records this, and neither could correctly be described as "Tho. Wentworth, Kt" at that time, although of course an error is perfectly possible.
  4. ^ Popham was also elected for Bath, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Minehead
  5. ^ Died June 1642
  6. ^ The election of 1715 was declared void on petition, and Wyndham and Trevelyan declared not duly elected. A by-election was held 1717
  7. ^ The by-election of 1717 was declared void on petition (in a dispute over the franchise), and Edwin and Gage declared not duly elected. Trevelyan and Milner were declared elected in their place
  8. ^ Lane was declared not to have been duly elected
  9. ^ Beaufoy was re-elected in 1784, but had also been elected for Great Yarmouth, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Minehead

References[]

  • Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
  • 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) [2]
  • J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
  • 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.
  • Jenkins, Terry. "Minehead". The History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
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