Corfe Castle 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,...

 (MPs) 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 1572 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

History

Corfe Castle was made a borough by Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

, through the influence of Sir Christopher Hatton

Christopher Hatton

Sir Christopher Hatton was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England.-Early days:...

, who had been granted the manor

Lord of the Manor

The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...

. The borough consisted of the town of Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck

Isle of Purbeck

The Isle of Purbeck, not a true island but a peninsula, is in the county of Dorset, England. It is bordered by the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well...

, once a market town but by the 19th century little more than a village, where the main economic interests were clay and stone quarrying. In 1831, the population of the borough was approximately 960, and the town contained 156 houses.

The right to vote was exercised by all householders (resident or not) 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...

; in 1816 this amounted to only 44 voters, and all but 14 of those were non-resident. The local landowners were able to exercise almost total influence. In the late 18th and early 19th century, the Bankes family (who had owned the castle since 1640) nominated the member for one of the seats and the Bond family for the other.

Corfe Castle was abolished as a separate constituency by the Reform Act; however, the nearby borough of Wareham

Wareham (UK Parliament constituency)

Wareham was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1302 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.-History:...

 kept one of its MPs, and Corfe Castle was included within the expanded boundaries of the revised Wareham constituency.

1572-1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
Parliament of 1572-1581	Edmund Uvedale	Charles Matthew
Parliament of 1584-1585	John Clavell	Francis Hawley
Parliament of 1586-1587	Sir William Hatton
Parliament of 1588-1589
Parliament of 1593	William Tate	Francis Flower
Parliament of 1597-1598	?	?
Parliament of 1601	John Durning	John Davies John Davies (poet) Sir John Davies was an English poet and lawyer, who became attorney general in Ireland and formulated many of the legal principles that underpinned the British Empire.-Early life:...
Parliament of 1604-1611	Edward Dackombe	Sir John Hobart
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...	John Dackombe John Dackombe Sir John Dackombe was the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1616 and 1618.-External links:* hosted at...	James Whitelocke James Whitelocke Sir James Whitelocke SL was an English judge.-Early life:He was the younger of posthumous twin sons of Richard Whitelocke, merchant, of London, by Joan Brockhurst, widow, daughter of John Colte of Little Munden, Hertfordshire. His twin-brother, William, served under Francis Drake, and fell at sea...  Chose to sit for Woodstock Elected in his place Sir Thomas Tracie
Parliament of 1621-1622	Sir Thomas Hatton Sir Thomas Hatton, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Hatton, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England variously between 1621 and 1640....	Sir Thomas Hammond
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...	Sir Francis Nethersale	Sir Peter Osborne
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...
Parliament of 1625-1626	Edward Dackombe	Sir Robert Napier Sir Robert Napier, 2nd Baronet Sir Robert Napier, 2nd Baronet , of Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire, was an English Member of Parliament.He was the eldest son of Sir Robert Napier, 1st Baronet, and succeeded to the baronetcy on 22 April 1637, having already been knighted in his own right on 23 April 1623. He was educated at Exeter...
Parliament of 1628-1629	Sir Francis Nethersale	Giles Grocer
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640-1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second 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 Jermyn Thomas Jermyn (died 1659) Thomas Jermyn was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1625 and 1644. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War....			Henry Jermyn Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of Saint Albans KG was an English politician and courtier. He sat in the in the House of Commons at various times between 1625 and 1643 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Jermyn...	Royalist
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...		Sir Francis Windebank Francis Windebank Sir Francis Windebank was an English politician who was Secretary of State under Charles I.The only son of Sir Thomas Windebank of Hougham, Lincolnshire, who owed his advancement to the Cecil family, Francis entered St John's College, Oxford, in 1599, coming there under the influence of the...	Royalist		Giles Green Giles Green Giles Green of Allington in Dorset was a 17th-century English Member of Parliament .Green was a prominent citizen of Weymouth, and the town records show payments to him "towards a key and slipp which he hath built upon the town ground on the East side of his house in Hell Lane"; he was one of the...	Parliamentarian
1641		John Borlase Sir John Borlase, 1st Baronet Sir John Borlase, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1644. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.-Background:...	Royalist
March 1644	Borlase disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1645		Francis Chettel
December 1648	Chettel not recorded as sitting after 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...			Green 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	Corfe Castle 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...		Sir Ralph Bankes Ralph Bankes Sir Ralph Bankes was a courtier of the restored Charles II and a knighted member of the Privy Chamber. He is most notable for being the builder of Kingston Lacy, the restored seat of the Bankes family....			John Tregonwell
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....	Corfe Castle was not represented in the restored Rump 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....
April 1660		Sir Ralph Bankes Ralph Bankes Sir Ralph Bankes was a courtier of the restored Charles II and a knighted member of the Privy Chamber. He is most notable for being the builder of Kingston Lacy, the restored seat of the Bankes family....			John Tregonwell
1677		Viscount Latimer
February 1679		Viscount Osborne Peregrine Osborne, 2nd Duke of Leeds Peregrine Osborne, 2nd Duke of Leeds , styled Lord Osborne between 1673 and 1689, Earl of Danby between 1689 and 1694 and Marquess of Carmarthen between 1694 and 1712, was an English Tory politician.-Background:...
April 1679		Sir Nathaniel Napier
September 1679					Nathaniel Bond Nathaniel Bond Nathaniel Bond, KS, , of Creech Grange in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament....
1681					Richard Fownes
1689		William Okeden
1690		William Culliford
1698					John Bankes
1699		Richard Fownes
1715		Denis Bond Denis Bond (MP) Denis Bond , of Creech Grange, Dorset, was English Member of Parliament for Dorchester, Corfe Castle, and Poole. He was also a director of the Charitable Corporation at the time of its collapse...			William Okeden
1718					Joshua Churchill
1721					John Bond
1722					John Bankes
1727		John Bond John Bond (1717–1784) John Bond was a British politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle, 29 Jun 1747 – 28 May 1761 and 2 Apr 1764–9 Sep 1780.-References:...
1741					Henry Bankes Henry Bankes Henry Bankes was an English politician and author.-Life:Bankes was the only surviving son of Henry Bankes, Esq., and the great-grandson of Sir John Bankes, chief justice of the common pleas in the time of Charles I. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he...
1761		Viscount Malpas George Cholmondeley, Viscount Malpas George Cholmondeley, Viscount Malpas was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.Cholmondeley was the eldest son of George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley, and Lady Mary Walpole, daughter of Prime Minister Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford...
1762					John Campbell John Campbell of Cawdor John Campbell of Cawdor , was a British politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire, Inverness Burghs and Corfe Castle.He was also the Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Lord Commissioner of the Treasury.-References:...
1764		John Bond John Bond (1717–1784) John Bond was a British politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle, 29 Jun 1747 – 28 May 1761 and 2 Apr 1764–9 Sep 1780.-References:...
1768					John Jenkinson
1780		John Bond John Bond (1753–1824) John Bond was a British politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle from 9 September 1780 to 25 February 1801. He resigned from Parliament by accepting the post of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds....	Whig British Whig Party The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...		Henry Bankes Henry Bankes Henry Bankes was an English politician and author.-Life:Bankes was the only surviving son of Henry Bankes, Esq., and the great-grandson of Sir John Bankes, chief justice of the common pleas in the time of Charles I. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he...	Tory
1801		Nathaniel Bond Nathaniel Bond Nathaniel Bond, KS, , of Creech Grange in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament....	Whig British Whig Party The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
1807		Peter William Baker	Tory
1816		George Bankes George Bankes George Bankes was the last of the Cursitor Barons of the Exchequer, the office being abolished on his death in 1856.-Early life:Bankes was the third son of Henry Bankes of Kingston Hall, Dorsetshire, who represented Corfe Castle for nearly fifty years, and of Frances, daughter of William Woodley,...	Tory
1823		John Bond John Bond (1802–1844) John Bond was a British politician. He was the Tory Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle, 1823–1828.He resigned from Parliament on 8 February 1828, accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds. He was then the High Sheriff of Dorset 1830 to 1831.-References:...	Tory
1826					George Bankes George Bankes George Bankes was the last of the Cursitor Barons of the Exchequer, the office being abolished on his death in 1856.-Early life:Bankes was the third son of Henry Bankes of Kingston Hall, Dorsetshire, who represented Corfe Castle for nearly fifty years, and of Frances, daughter of William Woodley,...	Tory
1828		Nathaniel William Peach	Tory
1829		Philip John Miles	Tory
1832 United Kingdom general election, 1832 -Seats summary:-Parties and leaders at the general election:The Earl Grey had been Prime Minister since 22 November 1830. His was the first predominantly Whig administration since the Ministry of all the Talents in 1806-1807....	Constituency abolished

Notes

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