Bridport (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
Bridport was a parliamentary borough
Parliamentary borough
Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

 in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, which elected two Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 from 1295 until 1868, and then one member from 1868 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.

History

Bridport was continuously represented in Parliament from the first. The medieval borough consisted of the parish of Bridport
Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England. Located near the coast at the western end of Chesil Beach at the confluence of the River Brit and its Asker and Simene tributaries, it originally thrived as a fishing port and rope-making centre...

, a small port and market town, where the main economic interests were sailcloth and rope-making, as well as some fishing. (For some time in the 16th century, the town had a monopoly of making all cordage for the navy.) By 1831, the population of the borough was 4,242, and the town contained 678 houses.

The right to vote was at one period reserved to the town corporation (consisting of two bailiffs and 13 "capital burgesses"), but from 1628 it was exercised by all inhabitant householders paying scot and lot
Scot and lot
Scot and lot is a phrase common in the records of English medieval boroughs, applied to householders who were assessed for a tax paid to the borough for local or national purposes.They were usually members of a merchant guild.Before the Reform Act 1832, those who paid scot and bore...

. This was a relatively liberal franchise for the period but nevertheless meant that only a fraction of the townsmen could vote: in 1806, the general election at which Bridport had the highest turnout in the last few years before the Reform Act, a total of 260 residents voted.

Bridport never reached the status of a pocket borough with an openly-recognised "patron": the voters retained their freedom of choice and generally expected to extort a price for their votes, so much so that Oldfield recorded of one election in the early 19th century that "several candidates left them at the last election, in consequence of their demanding payment beforehand". Nevertheless, at various periods the borough came under the influence of local grandees and would usually return at least one of their nominees as MPs: the Russells (Dukes of Bedford
Duke of Bedford
thumb|right|240px|William Russell, 1st Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedford is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 in favour of Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of France. He was made Earl of Kendal at the same time...

) in the Elizabethan period and the Sturts in the latter half of the 18th century could normally rely on choosing one member. In 1572 the then Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG was an English nobleman, soldier and politician and godfather to Sir. Francis Drake.-Early life:...

 made use of this influence to have his oldest son elected in defiance of the convention that the heirs of peers could not be members of the House of Commons; the only previous instance had been that of the Earl himself, who had remained an MP when he became heir to the Earldom in 1555. By vote of the House, the young Lord Russell was allowed to keep his seat for Bridport, and the precedent allowed other peers' heirs to sit from that point onwards.

Bridport retained both its seats under the Reform Act, the boundaries being extended to give it the requisite population - parts of the neighbouring parishes of Bradpole
Bradpole
Bradpole is a village in south west Dorset, England, in the Brit valley, one mile outside Bridport. The village has a population of 2,270 , 38.8% are retired.- External links :***...

, Allington
Allington, Dorset
Allington is a large village and civil parish in Dorset, England. The village has a population of 614 according to the 2001 Census.Allington Hill is an Iron Age hill fort risingto 90m above the village, now managed by the Woodland Trust...

 and Waldich, as well as Bridport Harbour, were brought in, increasing the population to about 6,000; in the election of 1832, the first after Reform, the registered electorate was 425. However, the constituency was too small to survive for long. One of its members was removed after election of 1868 by the Second Reform Act; and the borough was abolished altogether in 1885, the town being incorporated into the Western Dorset county division.

1295-1640

  • Constituency created (1295)


ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
Second Parliament of 1553 Christopher Smith William Poole
Parliament of 1554 Robert Neyl Edward Prout
Parliament of 1554-1555 John Alferd John Moyne or Moon
Parliament of 1555 Robert Fowkes
Robert Fowkes
Robert Allen Fowkes was a noted American linguist, specializing in Indo-European Historical Linguistics and philology....

Thomas Chard
Parliament of 1558 John Hippisley Thomas Welshe
Parliament of 1559 William Page Robert Moon
Parliament of 1563-1567 John Hastings Richard Inkpenne
Parliament of 1571 Thomas Parry
Thomas Parry (ambassador)
Sir Thomas Parry was an English politician and diplomat during the Tudor period.Thomas Parry was the son of Sir Thomas Parry Senior of Welford Park in Berkshire, the Controller of the Royal Household, by his wife, Anne, the daughter of Sir William Reade of Boarstall in Buckinghamshire.He first...

George Trenchard
Parliament of 1572-1581 Miles Sandys
Miles Sandys
Miles Sandys was an English courtier and Member of Parliament who sat in every Parliament from 1563 to 1597 yet never represented the same constituency twice. Sandys was the brother of the Archbishop of York, Edwin Sandys, and an influential crown official, working in the Court of Queen's Bench and...

Lord Russell (Summoned to the Lords)
1581: Hugh Vaughan
Hugh Vaughan
Hugh Vaughan was an English Member of Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was The Earl of Bedford's steward in the west of England, and entered parliament at a by-election for Bridport in 1581 as the Earl's nominee to replace his heir, Lord Russell, who had been summoned to sit in...

Parliament of 1584-1585 Dr Peter Turner Morgan Moon
Parliament of 1586-1587
Parliament of 1588-1589 George Pawlet Gregory Sprint
Parliament of 1593 Charles Lambert John Fortescue
Parliament of 1597-1598 Lewison Fitzjames Adrian Gilbert
Parliament of 1601 Sir Robert Napier
Robert Napier (judge)
Sir Robert Napier was an English-born judge in Ireland.. He was High Sheriff of Dorset in 1606 and Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland. He was a Member of Parliament for Dorchester , Bridport and Wareham ....

Richard Warburton
Richard Warburton
Sir Richard Warburton was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1610.Warburton was the third son of Peter Warburton of Hefferston Grange in Weaversham, Cheshire and his wife Alice Cooper, daughter of John Cooper of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire. He was educated...

Parliament of 1604-1611 Sir Robert Meller John Pitt
Addled Parliament (1614)
Addled Parliament
The Addled Parliament was the second Parliament of England of the reign of James I of England , which sat between 5 April and 7 June 1614...

Sir William Bampfield John Jeffrey
Parliament of 1621-1622 John Strode John Browne
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)
Happy Parliament
The Happy Parliament was the fourth and last Parliament of England of the reign of King James I, sitting from 19 February 1624 to 24 May 1624 and then from 2 November 1624 to 16 February 1625...

William Muschamp Robert Browne
Robert Browne (of Frampton)
Robert Browne was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1624.Browne was the son of John Browne of Frampton, Dorset. He matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford on 14 May 1602, aged 14 and was awarded BA on 24 April 1605. He was called to the bar at Middle Temple in...

Useless Parliament (1625)
Useless Parliament
The Useless Parliament was the first Parliament of England of the reign of King Charles I, sitting only from June until August 1625. It gained its name because it transacted no significant business, making it 'useless' from the king's point of view...

Sir Lewis Dyve
Lewis Dyve
Sir Lewis Dyve was an English Member of Parliament and a Royalist adherent during the English Civil War. His surname is sometimes also spelt Dive or Dives....

Sir John Strode
Parliament of 1625-1626 Sir Richard Strode
Parliament of 1628-1629 Thomas Pawlet Bampfield Chafin
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640-1868

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
April 1640
Short Parliament
The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

Thomas Trenchard
Thomas Trenchard (Dorset MP)
Sir Thomas Trenchard was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1648.Trenchard was the son of Sir George Trenchard of Warmwell and his wife Ann Speke daughter of Sir George Speke of Whitelackington. He was knighted at Theobalds on 15 December 1613...

Sir John Meller
John Meller
Sir John Meller was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1628 and in 1640. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War....

November 1640
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

Roger Hill
Roger Hill (judge)
Roger Hill , of Poundsford in Somerset, was an English judge and Member of Parliament.Hill was born at Colyton in Devon, the eldest son of William Hill of Poundisford Park, member of a family of Somerset squires who could trace their ancestry back to a Sir John Hill in the reign of Edward III...

 
Parliamentarian Giles Strangways
Giles Strangways
Giles Strangways was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1675. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War...

Royalist
January 1644 Strangways disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1645 Thomas Ceeley
December 1648 Ceeley excluded in Pride's Purge
Pride's Purge
Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

 - seat vacant
1653 Bridport was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
Barebones Parliament
Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector...

 and the First
First Protectorate Parliament
The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....

 and Second
Second Protectorate Parliament
The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons...

 Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659
Third Protectorate Parliament
The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons...

Edward Cheek  John Lee 
May 1659
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....

Roger Hill
Roger Hill (judge)
Roger Hill , of Poundsford in Somerset, was an English judge and Member of Parliament.Hill was born at Colyton in Devon, the eldest son of William Hill of Poundisford Park, member of a family of Somerset squires who could trace their ancestry back to a Sir John Hill in the reign of Edward III...

One seat vacant
April 1660 John Drake
Sir John Drake, 1st Baronet
Sir John Drake, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.Drake was the son of Sir John Drake of Mount Drake and Ashe and his wife Helen Butler, daughter of John Butler, 1st Baron Butler....

Henry Henley
Henry Henley
Henry Henley was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1653 and 1681. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War....

1661 Humphrey Bishop John Strangways
February 1677 George Bowerman
George Bowerman
George Oliver Bowerman is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Walsall of League One.-Playing career:...

February 1677 Wadham Strangways
February 1679 John Every
August 1679 Sir Robert Henley, Bt William Bragge
William Bragge
William Bragge, F.S.A., F.G.S., was a civil engineer, antiquarian, and author. He established a museum and art gallery. He was notable in his day for collecting a library containing the entire literature on tobacco...

1681 John Michell
1685 Hugh Hodges Thomas Chafe
1689 Richard Brodrepp John Manley
John Manley (MP)
John Manley was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1690. He was Post Master General during the Commonwealth....

1690 John Michell Sir Stephen Evance
1695 Nicholas Carey
1697 Peter Battiscombe
1698 Alexander Pitfield
1701 William Gulston
1702 Richard Bingham
1705 Thomas Strangways
1708 William Coventry
William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry
William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry PC , known as William Coventry until 1719, was a British politician.Coventry was the son of Walter Coventry and his wife Anne . His grandfather Walter Coventry was the youngest brother of Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry...

1713 John Hoskins Gifford
February 1715 John Strangways 
May 1715 Peter Walter
1719 Sir Dewey Bulkeley
1727 William Bowles  James Pelham
James Pelham
James Pelham was a British politician. A second cousin of Henry Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle, he acted as Newcastle's political agent in Sussex for most of his political career....

 
1730 John Jewkes
John Jewkes
John Jewkes was a British classical liberal economist. He was Professor of Economic Organisation at Merton College, Oxford.His main work, Ordeal by Planning, was written in 1946; in it he argues that the central planning implemented in the United Kingdom during World War II can only lead to...

1734 Solomon Ashley
1741 George Richards
1742 Viscount Deerhurst
Thomas Henry Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst
Thomas Henry Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst was a British Tory Member of Parliament.Deerhurst was the eldest son of William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry, and his wife Elizabeth , and was educated at Winchester and University College, Oxford...

Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

1744 Viscount Deerhurst
George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry
George William Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry , known as Viscount Deerhurst from 1744 to 1751, was a British peer and Tory politician....

Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

1746 Thomas Grenville
May 1747 James Grenville
James Grenville
James Grenville was a British politician.He was born at Wotton in 1715 into the influential Grenville political family and was one of five brothers who went into politics...

July 1747 John Frederick Pinney
1754 Thomas Coventry
1761 Sir Gerard Napier, Bt
1765 Benjamin Way
1768 Sambrooke Freeman
Sambrooke Freeman
Sambrooke Freeman was a member of the prominent Freeman family of Fawley Court near Henley-on-Thames, England. He was a Member of Parliament, for Pontefract in Yorkshire from 1754–61 and Bridport in Dorset from 1768–74.Sambrooke Freeman was the son of John Freeman, a successful businessman...

1774 Hon. Lucius Cary
1780 Thomas Scott Richard Beckford
1784 Charles Sturt
1790 James Watson
1795 George Barclay
1802 Sir Evan Nepean
Evan Nepean
Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet PC was a British politician and colonial administrator.-Early career:...

1807 Sir Samuel Hood, Bt
1812 William Best Tory Sir Horace St Paul, Bt
1817 Henry Sturt
Henry Sturt
Henry Charles Sturt , of Crichel House, Dorset, was a British landowner and politician.-Background:Sturt was the son of Charles Sturt, son of Humphrey Sturt and his wife Diana, daughter of Sir Nathaniel Napier, 3rd Baronet, and his wife the Hon...

March 1820 James Scott Christopher Spurrier
June 1820 Sir Horace St Paul, Bt
1826 Henry Warburton
Henry Warburton
Henry Warburton was an English merchant and politician, and also an enthusiastic amateur scientist....

Radical
Radicals (UK)
The Radicals were a parliamentary political grouping in the United Kingdom in the early to mid 19th century, who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party.-Background:...

1832 John Romilly
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly PC, QC , known as Sir John Romilly between 1848 and 1866, was an English Whig politician and judge. He served in Lord John Russell's first administration as Solicitor-General from 1848 to 1850 and as Attorney-General from 1850 and 1851...

Whig
1835 Horace Twiss
Horace Twiss
Horace Twiss KC was an English writer and politician.Twiss was born at Bath, Somerset, the son of Francis Twiss , a Shakespearian scholar. In his youth he wrote light articles for the papers; and, going to the bar, he obtained a considerable practice and became a Queen's Counsel in 1827...

Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

1837 Swynfen Jervis Whig
June 1841 Thomas Alexander Mitchell
Thomas Alexander Mitchell
Thomas Alexander Mitchell was an English Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1841 to 1875.Mitchell was a merchant in the City of London...

Whig
September 1841 Alexander Baillie-Cochrane Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

1846 John Romilly
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly
John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly PC, QC , known as Sir John Romilly between 1848 and 1866, was an English Whig politician and judge. He served in Lord John Russell's first administration as Solicitor-General from 1848 to 1850 and as Attorney-General from 1850 and 1851...

Whig
1847 Alexander Baillie-Cochrane Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

1852 John Patrick Murrough Whig
1857 Kirkman Daniel Hodgson
Kirkman Daniel Hodgson
Kirkman Daniel Hodgson, JP was an East India merchant and banker, later Governor of the Bank of England and a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom....

Whig
1859 Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

1868
United Kingdom general election, 1868
The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom...

Representation reduced to one member

1868-1885

YearMemberParty
1868 Thomas Alexander Mitchell
Thomas Alexander Mitchell
Thomas Alexander Mitchell was an English Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1841 to 1875.Mitchell was a merchant in the City of London...

Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

1875 Pandeli Ralli
Pandeli Ralli
Pandeli Ralli JP DL was a British politician.Born in France, son of Toumazis Stephanou Ralli of Ralli Brothers, Pandeli graduated from King's College London with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Bridport in 1875 and held the seat until 1880...

Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

1880 Charles Warton
Charles Warton
Charles Nicholas Warton was a barrister and politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a Conservative from 1880 to 1885. He later emigrated to Western Australia, becoming a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council.-Biography:Warton was the son of Charles Warton...

Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

1885
United Kingdom general election, 1885
-Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...

Constituency abolished


Notes
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