Okehampton (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
Okehampton 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 Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, 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...

 in 1301 and 1313, then continuously from 1640 to 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

History

The borough consisted of part of the parish of Okehampton, an entirely rural area with the small market town of Okehampton
Okehampton
Okehampton is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and has an estimated population of 7,155.-History:...

 itself at its centre. In 1831, the population of the borough was 1,508, and contained 318 houses; the whole parish had a population of 2,055.

From its revival in the 17th century, the right to vote in Okehampton rested with all the freeholders and freemen
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...

 of the borough, but the Town Corporation had considerable influence over the rest of the voters, and when it was unable to have its way by persuasion did not always stop short of outright coercion. In 1705 at the corporation's instigation an Okehampton freeman was forced into the army, and then offered his discharge if he would vote for Sir Simon Leach. (This was illegal on every count, for voters had statutory exemption from impressment.)

Through control of the Corporation (which like most at that period was self-electing), the main local landowners or "patrons" of the borough could therefore be sure of being able to choose Okehampton's MPs; this favour was maintained either by direct expenditure or by working for the interests of the Corporation members in other ways. As landowners they also had power to create voters directly, since they could convey the freehold of parcels of their land in the borough to reliable placemen. In the mid 18th century, the patrons were Thomas Pitt
Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc
Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc was the Lord Warden of the Stannaries until 1751, when the Cornish Stannary Parliament last met. He was the grandson and namesake of the better known Thomas Pitt, and the son of Robert Pitt and elder brother of William Pitt the Elder...

 and the Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford KG, PC, FRS was an 18th century British statesman. He was the fourth son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey...

, and each was regarded as having unrestrained power to nominate one MP.

However, Pitt mortgaged his seat to the government after going bankrupt in 1754, so that at the next two elections the ministry could nominate a member. The government had to secure this influence by exercising patronage, and Namier quotes a number of letters that show how the process worked in Okehampton. In 1759, the Corporation was eager for the promotion of a local naval officer, Lieutenant Joseph Hunt. The Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.A protégé of Sir Robert Walpole, he served...

, urged Lord Anson
George Anson, 1st Baron Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson PC, FRS, RN was a British admiral and a wealthy aristocrat, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe and his role overseeing the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War...

, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to promote Hunt because "the interest of the borough of Oakhampton ... absolutely depends upon it. The King expects that I should keep up his interest in boroughs; I can't do it without I have the assistance of the several branches of the Government." Anson grudgingly replied that whenever the borough became vacant by the death of the sitting member he would promote Hunt to a command, but he also protested that the frequent demands to use naval patronage for political reasons weakened the navy "which has done more mischeif to the publick ... than the loss of a vote in the House of Commons".

In the event the sitting member, Thomas Potter
Thomas Potter (d. 1759)
Thomas Potter was a British politician who sat as a Member of Parliament for Aylesbury, Okehampton and St Germans in Cornwall.Potter was the second son of John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born in 1718. He acquired a law degree at Oxford University. Through his father's interest, he...

, died just two days later and the following day Hunt was promoted to Commander. The new MP was a Rear-Admiral, George Brydges Rodney
George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney
George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782...

, and he seems to have secured his election with the promise of further preferment for Hunt: 18 months later, on the eve of the next general election, the government's election-manager in Okehampton wrote to Rodney to remind him that he had promised that Hunt should be made his flag Captain as soon as he had a ship. Rodney, knowing that Anson was unlikely to agree to promote Hunt again, wrote asking Newcastle to help by insisting upon it; but, instead, Rodney was persuaded to stand at Penryn
Penryn (UK Parliament constituency)
Penryn was a parliamentary borough in Cornwall, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1553 until 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to until 1832...

 rather than Okehampton, and the captaincy of the flagship went to a Penryn man. (In fact Hunt got his promotion the same month, December 1760, but was killed in action the following year.)

Circumstances in Okehampton were somewhat changed at the end of the 18th century, however, by the judgments in two disputed elections. In 1791, there was a petition against the result of an election at which the patrons - who were, by this time, the Duke of Bedford
Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford
Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford was an English aristocrat and Whig politician, responsible for much of the development of central Bloomsbury.-Life:...

 and Earl Spencer
George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA , styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician...

 - had created 72 new voters by conveying them freeholds a few weeks before the election. The Commons committee that heard the petition declared all 72 votes invalid.

Spencer and Bedford shortly afterwards sold their interest in the borough, and it was eventually bought by Albany Savile for £60,000. A second disputed election in 1810 led to a judgment that reaffirmed and strengthened the patron's power: on this occasion, it was determined that the franchise belonged to the freeholders and freemen
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...

 of the borough, and further that the patron had the right to create freemen at will. This, of course, gave him total control of elections since he could create new voters without limit to swamp any opposition. Nevertheless, the relationship was not one-sided, and Savile did much for the town, lending considerable sums to the Corporation which were never repaid.

In 1816 there were 220 voters.

Okehampton was abolished as a constituency by the Reform Act. The borough was on the boundary between the new Northern Devon
North Devon (UK Parliament constituency)
North Devon is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election....

 and Southern Devon
South Devon (UK Parliament constituency)
South Devon, formally known as the Southern Division of Devon, was parliamentary constituency in the county of Devon in England. From 1832 to 1885 it returned two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.-Boundaries:In...

 county divisions, and its voters were divided between the two from 1832.

1640-1832

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
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...

Edward Thomas Parliamentarian Lawrence Whitaker Parliamentarian
December 1648 Thomas 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 Okehampton 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...

Robert Everland  Edward Wise
Edward Wise (MP)
Edward Wise was a Member of the House of Commons of England from the rotten borough of Okehampton. He first took office in the Third Protectorate Parliament, remained in the Convention Parliament, and retained his seat until he was succeeded by Henry Northleigh on 14 March 1677 after Wise' death.He...

 
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....

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....

1660 Josias Calmady
Josias Calmady
Josias Calmady was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.Calmady was the son of Sir Shilston Calmady and his wife Honora Prideaux, widow of Sir H. Prideaux and daughter of Edward Fortesque of Fallow-pit...

Edward Wise
Edward Wise (MP)
Edward Wise was a Member of the House of Commons of England from the rotten borough of Okehampton. He first took office in the Third Protectorate Parliament, remained in the Convention Parliament, and retained his seat until he was succeeded by Henry Northleigh on 14 March 1677 after Wise' death.He...

1661 Sir Thomas Hele
Sir Thomas Hele, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Hele. 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England variously between 1626 and 1670...

1671 Sir Arthur Harris
1677 Henry Northleigh
1679 Josias Calmady
Josias Calmady
Josias Calmady was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.Calmady was the son of Sir Shilston Calmady and his wife Honora Prideaux, widow of Sir H. Prideaux and daughter of Edward Fortesque of Fallow-pit...

1681 Sir George Cary
1685 Sir Simon Leach William Cary
1689 Henry Northleigh
1694 John Burrington
1695 Thomas Northmore
1698 William Harris
William Harris (British MP)
William Harris was an English landowner who served two terms as a member of the Parliament of England and one as a member of the new Parliament of Great Britain.- Background :...

1702 Sir Simon Leach
1705 John Dibble
1708 William Harris
William Harris (British MP)
William Harris was an English landowner who served two terms as a member of the Parliament of England and one as a member of the new Parliament of Great Britain.- Background :...

1709 Christopher Harris
1713 William Northmore
1722 Robert Pitt
Robert Pitt
Robert Pitt was a British politician who sat as Member of Parliament for Old Sarum from 1705, a pocket borough controlled by his family. He was the eldest son of Governor Thomas 'Diamond' Pitt, a businessman who had made a fortune while in India. Governor Pitt built the family's wealth on his...

John Crowley
1727 William Northmore Thomas Pitt
Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc
Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc was the Lord Warden of the Stannaries until 1751, when the Cornish Stannary Parliament last met. He was the grandson and namesake of the better known Thomas Pitt, and the son of Robert Pitt and elder brother of William Pitt the Elder...

1735 George Lyttelton
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton PC , known as Sir George Lyttelton, Bt between 1751 and 1756, was a British politician and statesman and a patron of the arts.-Background and education:...

1754 Robert Vyner
1756 William Pitt (the Elder)
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC was a British Whig statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years' War...

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...

1757 Thomas Potter
Thomas Potter (d. 1759)
Thomas Potter was a British politician who sat as a Member of Parliament for Aylesbury, Okehampton and St Germans in Cornwall.Potter was the second son of John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born in 1718. He acquired a law degree at Oxford University. Through his father's interest, he...

1759 Rear Admiral George Brydges Rodney
1761 Alexander Forrester Wenman Coke
Wenman Coke (d. 1776)
Wenman Coke , known as Wenman Roberts until 1750, was a British landowner and politician.-Background:Born Wenman Roberts, he was the son of Major Philip Roberts and Anne, daughter of Edward Coke. He assumed the surname of Coke in lieu of his patronymic in 1750...

1768 Thomas Pitt
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford was a British politician and connoisseur of art.-Early life:He was the son of Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc , a brother of William Pitt the Elder, and was born and baptised at Boconnoc in Cornwall on 3 March 1737. His mother was Christian, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas...

Thomas Brand
1770 Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick
Richard FitzPatrick
General Richard FitzPatrick , styled The Honourable from birth, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, wit, poet, Whig politician and ‘sworn brother’ of the illustrious statesman of Charles James Fox...

1774 Richard Vernon Alexander Wedderburn
Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn
Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn was Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1793 to 1801.-Life:He was the eldest son of Peter Wedderburn , and was born in East Lothian....

Tory
1778 Humphrey Minchin
1784  John Luxmoore Thomas Wiggens
1785 Viscount Malden
George Capel-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex
George Capel-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex FSA was an English aristocrat and politician, styled Viscount Malden until 1799.-Life:...

Humphrey Minchin
1790 Colonel John St Leger  Robert Ladbroke
1796 Thomas Tyrwhitt
Thomas Tyrwhitt (MP)
Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt was Member of Parliament for Okehampton.-Career:Educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford and after serving as private secretary to the Prince of Wales, Tyrwhitt was elected Member of Parliament for Okehampton in 1796...

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...

Richard Bateman-Robson 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...

1802 Henry Holland, junior 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...

James Charles Stuart Strange 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...

1804 Viscount Althorp
John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer
John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer PC, FRS , styled Viscount Althorp from 1783 to 1834, was a British statesman...

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...

1806 Richard Bateman-Robson 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...

Joseph Foster-Barham 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 Gwyllym Lloyd Wardle 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...

Albany Savile Tory
1812 The Lord Graves
Thomas Graves, 2nd Baron Graves
Thomas North Graves, 2nd Baron Graves was a British peer and Member of Parliament.Graves was the son of Admiral Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves. He succeeded his father as second Baron Graves in 1802, but as this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to an automatic seat in the House of Lords...

Tory
1818 Christopher Savile Tory
1819 The Lord Dunalley
Henry Prittie, 2nd Baron Dunalley
Henry Prittie, 2nd Baron Dunalley was an Anglo-Irish politician.Dunalley was the son of Henry Prittie, 1st Baron Dunalley. He was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Carlow Borough in 1798, a seat he held until the Irish Parliament was abolished in 1801...

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...

1820 Lord Glenorchy
John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane
John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane KT, PC, FRS , styled Lord Glenorchy until 1831 and as Earl of Ormelie from 1831 to 1834, was a Scottish nobleman and Liberal politician.-Background and education:...

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...

1824 William Henry Trant Tory
1826 Sir Compton Domvile Tory Joseph Holden Strutt Tory
1830 Lord Seymour
Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset
Sir Edward Adolphus Seymour , 12th Duke of Somerset, etc. KG, PC , styled Baron Seymour until 1855, was a British Whig aristocrat and politician, who served in various cabinet positions in the mid-19th century...

Tory George James Welbore Agar-Ellis
George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover
George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover PC FRS FSA was a British politician and man of letters. He was briefly First Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord Grey between 1830 and 1831.-Background and education:...

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...

April 1831 William Henry Trant Tory John Thomas Hope Tory
July 1831 Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan
Sir Richard Vyvyan, 8th Baronet
Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, 8th Baronet was an English landowner and Whig and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1825 and 1857.-Early life:...

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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