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Newtown (UK Parliament constituency)

{{Short description|Former parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom}}

{{Distinguish|Newton (UK Parliament constituency)}}

{{Use British English|date=September 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}

{{Infobox UK constituency main

|name = Newtown

|parliament = uk

|map1 =

|map2 =

|map_entity =

|map_year =

|year = 1584

|abolished = 1832

|type = Borough

|elects_howmany = Two

|previous = Hampshire

|next = Isle of Wight

|region = England

|county = Isle of Wight

|towns = Newtown

}}

Newtown was a parliamentary borough located in Newtown on the Isle of Wight, which was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in 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.

The borough was abolished in the Reform Act 1832, and from the 1832 general election its territory was included in the new county constituency of Isle of Wight.

History

Newtown, located on the large natural harbour on the north-western coast of the Isle of Wight, was the first borough established in the county. A French raid in 1377, which destroyed much of the town as well as other settlements on the island, sealed its permanent decline. By the mid-16th century it was a small settlement long eclipsed by the more easily defended town of Newport. To try to stimulate economic development, Elizabeth I awarded the town two parliamentary seats.

Newtown was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote was vested solely in the owners of a specified number of properties or "burgage tenements". At the time of the Reform Act 1832 there were 39 burgage tenements, held by 23 burgesses; however, most of these held only life grants. It was common practice for life grants to be made to friends of the proprietors so as to ensure that the full voting power could be exercised; if these nominees failed to vote as expected, they could be ejected and replaced by somebody more reliable before the next election. These voters were often non-resident – and indeed, it could hardly be otherwise, for although there were 39 burgage tenements, there were only 14 houses. Unlike many rotten boroughs, no single landowner controlled a majority of the burgages: the reversionary rights in them belonged to three families (Barrington, Holmes and Anderson-Pelham), with none having an overall majority. Elections in the borough consequently required careful management and sometimes considerable expenditure to achieve the desired result. In the 1750s and 1760s, the arrangement was that one of the two seats was considered to be in the gift of the Barrington family, while Thomas Holmes (who also nursed the other two Isle of Wight boroughs, Newport and Yarmouth, for the governmentPage 205, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition, London: Macmillan, 1957)) negotiated the election of the government's nominee for the other, unless he wanted it for a member of the Holmes family.

By 1831, the borough had a population of just 68, and it was disestablished the following year by the Reform Act.

Members of Parliament

=1584–1640=

class="wikitable"
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1584William MeuxRobert Redge{{cite web | url= http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/newton-iow| title= History of Parliament| publisher= History of Parliament| access-date = 18 October 2011}}
1586Richard HuysheRichard Dillington
1588Richard HuysheRichard Sutton
1593Thomas DudleyRichard Browne
1597Silvanus ScoryThomas Crompton
1601Robert WrothRobert Cotton
1604Sir John Stanhope ennobled
and replaced 1605 by Thomas Wilson		William Meux
1614 (Mar)George Stoughton (sat for Guildford)
and replaced 1614 by William Higford		Sir Henry Berkeley
1621 (Jan)John Ferrar (sat for Tamworth)
and replaced 1621 by Sir William Harington		Sir Thomas Barrington
1624 (Jan)rowspan = "2"|George GarrardSir Gilbert Gerard, Bt (sat for Middlesex)
1624 (Mar)Sir Thomas Barrington
1625Sir Thomas BarringtonThomas Malet
1626Sir Thomas BarringtonThomas Malet
1628–1629Sir Thomas Barrington, 2nd BaronetRobert Barrington
1629–1640colspan = "2"|No Parliaments summoned

=1640–1832=

class="wikitable"
Yearcolspan="2"|First memberFirst partycolspan="2"|Second memberSecond party
April 1640

|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Cavalier}}" |

|rowspan="3"|John MeuxCreated a baronet, December 1641

rowspan="3"|Royalist

|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Hon. Nicholas Weston

November 1640

|style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Cavalier}}" |

|Hon. Nicholas Weston

Royalist
August 1642

|rowspan="2" colspan="3"|Weston disabled from sitting – seat vacant

February 1644

|colspan="3"|Meux disabled from sitting – seat vacant

1645

|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|Sir John Barrington

|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|John Bulkeley

December 1648

|colspan="6"|Barrington and Bulkeley excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant

1653

|colspan="6"|Newtown was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate

January 1659

|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|Serjeant John Maynard

|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|William Laurence

May 1659

|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|colspan="6"|Not represented in the restored Rump

April 1660

|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="3"| Sir John Barrington

|rowspan="3"|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Sir Henry Worsley

|

1666

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Sir Robert Worsley

|

1677

|rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="4"| Admiral Sir John Holmes

|rowspan="4"|

February 1679

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| John Churchill

|

August 1679

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Lemuel Kingdon

|

1681

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Daniel Finch

|

1685

|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="3"| Thomas Done

|rowspan="3"|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| William Blathwayt

| Whig

1689

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| The Earl of Ranelagh

|

1695

|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="2"| James Worsley

|rowspan="2"|

1698

|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="3"| Thomas Hopsonn

|rowspan="3"|

1701

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Joseph Dudley

|

1702

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| John Leigh

|

1705

|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="2"| James Worsley

|rowspan="2"|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Henry Worsley

|

1715

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Sir Robert Worsley

|

1722

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| William Stephens

|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Charles Worsley

|

1727At the election of 1727 Worsley and Holmes beat Barrington and Powlett, but on petition the result was reversed as a result of a dispute over the franchise

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| James Worsley

|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Thomas Holmes

| Whig

1729

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Charles Armand Powlett

|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Sir John Barrington

|

1734

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| James Worsley

|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Thomas Holmes

| Whig

1741

|rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="4"| Sir John Barrington

|rowspan="4"|

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Henry Holmes

|

1747

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Maurice Bocland

|

1754

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Harcourt Powell

|

April 1775

|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="2"| Charles Ambler

|rowspan="2"|

December 1775

|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="2"| Edward Meux Worsley

|rowspan="2"|

1780

|rowspan="7" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

|rowspan="7"| John BarringtonSucceeded to a baronetcy as Sir John Barrington in 1792

|rowspan="7"|

1782

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Tories (British political party)}}" |

| Henry Dundas

| Tory

1783

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Richard Pepper Arden

|

April 1784

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| James Worsley

|

August 1784

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Mark Gregory

|

1790

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Sir Richard Worsley

| Whig

1793

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Tories (British political party)}}" |

| George Canning

| Tory

1796

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Sir Richard Worsley

| Whig

|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

|rowspan="3"| Charles Shaw-Lefevre

|rowspan="3"| Whig

1801

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Sir Edward Law

| Whig

May 1802

| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |

| Ewan Law

|

July 1802

|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

|rowspan="3"| Sir Robert Barclay

|rowspan="3"| Whig

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Charles Chapman

| Whig

1805

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| James Paull

| Whig

1806

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Tories (British political party)}}" |

| George Canning

| Tory

1807

|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Tories (British political party)}}" |

|rowspan="2"| Barrington Pope Blachford

|rowspan="2"| Tory

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Dudley Long North

| Whig

1808

|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

|rowspan="2"| Hon. George Anderson-Pelham

|rowspan="2"| Whig

1816

|rowspan="5" style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

|rowspan="5"| Hudson Gurney

|rowspan="5"| Whig

1820

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Dudley Long North

| Whig

1821

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Charles Cavendish

| Whig

1830

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Hon. Charles Anderson-Pelham

| Whig

1831

| style="color:inherit;background-color: {{party color|Whigs (British political party)}}" |

| Sir William Horne

| Whig

1832

|colspan="6"| Constituency abolished

Notes

{{Reflist}}

See also

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) [https://web.archive.org/web/20150904125310/http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=p-000-00---0modhis06--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=CL1]
  • D Englefield, J Seaton & I White, Facts About the British Prime Ministers (London: Mansell, 1995)
  • 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)
  • {{Rayment-hc|n|2|date=March 2012}}

Category:Politics of the Isle of Wight

Category:Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire (historic)

Category:Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1584

Category:Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1832

Category:Rotten boroughs

Category:George Canning