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Francis Gwyn
Francis Gwyn PC (1648 – 14 June 1734), of Llansannor Court, was a Welsh Tory politician who sat in the English and House of Commons at various times between 1673 and 1727. Background Gwyn was the son and heir of Edward Gwyn of Llansannor, Glamorganshire, who married Eleanor, youngest daughter of Sir Francis Popham of Littlecott, Wiltshire. He was born at Combe Florey in Somerset about 1648. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 1 June 1666, aged 17 and was admitted at Middle Temple in 1667. Although he trained as a lawyer, he had ample means and went into politics. Member of Parliament Gwyn was elected as Member of Parliament for Chippenham at the general election of 1673 and although his election was voided on 6 February, he was returned at a by-election on 11 February 1673. He was defeated at Chippenham at the 1679 general election and remained outside the House of Commons discharging his official duties. At the 1685 general election he was returned unopposed as MP f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christchurch (UK Parliament Constituency)
Christchurch is a constituency in Dorset represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Sir Christopher Chope of the Conservative Party. History The original Christchurch constituency, a parliamentary borough, existed from 1572 until 1918. The constituency was re-created as a county constituency in 1983 from parts of the seats of Christchurch and Lymington, North Dorset and New Forest. It has since 1983 seen strong Conservative majorities, with the exception of a 1993 by-election caused by the death of Robert Adley when it was won by Diana Maddock, a Liberal Democrat. The Conservatives regained the seat at the next general election in 1997, despite their landslide defeat nationally and Chris Chope has retained it ever since. As of 2017, it is the second strongest Conservative seat in terms of voteshare (69.7%) and strongest in terms of majority (49.6%) in the country, although 2017 also saw Labour come second in the seat for the first time in history ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groom Of The Bedchamber
Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in England while French was still the language of the court, the title was varlet or valet de chambre. In German, Danish and Russian the term was "Kammerjunker" and in Swedish the similar "Kammarjunkare". In England after the Restoration, appointments in the King's Household included Groom of the Great Chamber, Groom of the Privy Chamber and Groom of the Bedchamber. The first two positions were appointed by Lord Chamberlain's warrant; the third, of greater importance, was a Crown appointment. Medieval and early-modern England Traditionally, the English Court was organized into three branches or departments: # the Household, primarily concerned with fiscal more than domestic matters, the "royal purse;" # the Chamber, concerned with the ''Prese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Robert Southwell
Sir Robert Southwell PRS (31 December 1635 – 11 September 1702) was a diplomat. He was Secretary of State for Ireland and President of the Royal Society from 1690. Background and education Robert Southwell was born near Kinsale in County Cork on 31 December 1635 to his namesake Robert Southwell (1608-1677) and Helena Gore, daughter of Major Robert Gore, of Sherston, Wiltshire. The family had settled in Ireland a couple of generations earlier, and his father had become a customs official at Kinsale in 1631. Like other Munster planters, he was threatened by the Irish Rebellion of 1641. During the Civil War, he followed the Royalist cause, placing him in a weak position. This may be why his son was sent to Christchurch, Hampshire in 1650, before graduating to Queen's College, Oxford, from which he graduated BA in 1655. Between 1659 and 1661, he travelled in Europe meeting some of the leading intellectuals of his time. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1662. Pub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wells (UK Parliament Constituency)
Wells is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by James Heappey of the Conservative Party. History The original two-member borough constituency was created in 1295, and abolished by the Reform Act 1867 with effect from the 1868 general election. Its revival saw a more comparable size of electorate across the country and across Somerset, with a large swathe of the county covered by this new seat, under the plans of the third Reform Act and the connected Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 which was enacted the following year. ;Political history The seat was largely Conservative-held during the 20th century and has never elected a Labour MP ever in its history. The only other political party to have been represented is the Liberal Democrats or their predecessor, the Liberal Party, who achieved a marginal victory in 2010, see marginal seat. ;Prominent frontbenchers Sir William Hayter was chief government whip of the Commons under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1722 British General Election
The 1722 British general election elected members to serve in the House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain. This was the fifth such election since the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Thanks to the Septennial Act of 1715, which swept away the maximum three-year life of a parliament created by the Meeting of Parliament Act 1694, it followed some seven years after the previous election, that of 1715. The election was fiercely fought, with contests taking place in more than half of the constituencies, which was unusual for the time. Despite the level of public involvement, however, with the Whigs having consolidated their control over virtually every branch of government, Walpole's party commanded almost a monopoly of electoral patronage, and was therefore able to increase its majority in Parliament even as its popular support fell. In the midst of the election, word came from France of a Jacobite plot aimed at an imminent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1715 British General Election
The 1715 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the 1707 merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In October 1714, soon after George I had arrived in London after ascending to the throne, he dismissed the Tory cabinet and replaced it with one almost entirely composed of Whigs, as they were responsible for securing his succession. The election of 1715 saw the Whigs win an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, and afterwards virtually all Tories in central or local government were purged, leading to a period of Whig ascendancy lasting almost fifty years during which Tories were almost entirely excluded from office. The Whigs then moved to impeach Robert Harley, the former Tory first minister. After he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for two years, the case ultimately ended with his acquittal in 1717. Constituencies See 1796 British general electi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1713 British General Election
The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, but had increasingly struggled to deal with the extreme Tory backbenchers who were frustrated by the lack of support for anti-dissenter legislation. The government remained popular with the electorate, however, having helped to end the War of the Spanish Succession and agreeing on the Treaty of Utrecht. The Tories consequently made further gains against the Whigs, making Harley's job even more difficult. Contests were held in 94 constituencies in England and Wales, some 35 per cent of the total, reflecting a decline in partisan tension and the Whigs' belief that they were unlikely to win anyway. Summary of the constituencies See 1796 British general election for details. The constituencies used were the same throughout the existence of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1710 British General Election
The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. In November 1709 the clergyman Henry Sacheverell had delivered a sermon fiercely criticising the government's policy of toleration for Protestant dissenters and attacking the personal conduct of the ministers. The government had Sacheverell impeached, and he was narrowly found guilty but received only a light sentence, making the government appear weak and vindictive. The trial enraged a large section of the population, and riots in London led to attacks on dissenting places of worship and cries of " Church in Danger". The government's unpopularity was further increased by its enthusiasm for the war with France, as peace talks with the French king Louis XIV had broken down over the government's insistence that the Bourbons hand over th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1708 British General Election
The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November the Whig-dominated parliament had succeeded in pressuring the Queen into accepting the Junto into the government for the first time since the late 1690s. The Whigs were unable to take full control of the government, however, owing to the continued presence of the moderate Tory Godolphin in the cabinet and the opposition of the Queen. Contests were held in 95 of the 269 English and Welsh constituencies and 28 of the 45 Scottish constituencies. Summary of the constituencies See 1796 British general election for details. The constituencies used were the same throughout the existence of the Parliament of Great Britain. Dates of election The first general election held since the Union took place between 30 April 1708 and 7 July 1708. At thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totnes (UK Parliament Constituency)
Totnes is a parliamentary constituency in Devon represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since December 2019 by Anthony Mangnall, a Conservative. Mangnall defeated incumbent Sarah Wollaston who had originally been elected as a Conservative but defected to the Liberal Democrats earlier that year. History The current constituency was formed for the 1997 general election, from parts of the former South Hams constituency. This had, in 1983, largely replaced the previous Totnes constituency, which had existed in a wide form since 1885, but in a much narrower form from the Model Parliament. An original parliamentary borough of Totnes or Totness had been created in 1295. It returned two MPs to the House of Commons of England until 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 until it was abolished under the Representation of the People Act 1867 with effect from the 1868 election. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
