Amersham, often spelt as Agmondesham, was a
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
of the
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...
until 1707, then in the
House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of th ...
from 1707 to 1800 and finally in the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...
from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two
Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MPs), elected by the
bloc-vote system.
Boundaries
The constituency was a
parliamentary borough in
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, covering part of the small town of
Amersham
Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt.
...
. It is located 2 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills of England. Davis describes it as "a thriving little market town".
Before the borough was re-enfranchised in 1120 and after it was disenfranchised in 1832, the area was represented as part of the
county constituency
In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons.
Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...
of
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
.
History
The borough was first enfranchised in 1300, but only seems to have sent burgesses to Parliament for a short time. By 1307 it was no longer included in the list of
Parliamentary boroughs. In the 17th century a solicitor named
William Hakewill
William Hakewill (1574–1655) was an English legal antiquarian and M.P.
Life
Born in Exeter, Devon, son of John Hakewill and his wife Thomasine (née Periam). Educated, according to Anthony Wood at Exeter College, Oxford (though he did no ...
, of Lincoln's Inn, rediscovered ancient writs confirming that Amersham, Great Marlow, and Wendover had all sent members to Parliament in the past, and succeeded in re-establishing their privileges (despite the opposition of James I), so that they resumed electing members from the Parliament of 1624. Hakewill himself was elected for Amersham in 1624.
The right of election was held by householders paying
scot and lot
Scot and lot is a phrase common in the records of English, Welsh and Irish medieval boroughs, referring to local rights and obligations.
The term ''scot'' comes from the Old English word ''sceat'', an ordinary coin in Anglo-Saxon times, equivalen ...
, a local tax. This was one of the most democratic franchises used in elections to the
Unreformed House of Commons
"Unreformed House of Commons" is a name given to the House of Commons of Great Britain and (after 1800 the House of Commons of the United Kingdom) before it was reformed by the Reform Act 1832, the Irish Reform Act 1832, and the Scottish Reform ...
. However, because this was a small borough, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, it was under the patronage of the Drake family of Shardeloes (an estate about a mile from the town).
In the early eighteenth century, there were about 150 electors. Although, at this period, the Drakes did not own most of the houses, they were able to nominate candidates for both seats. An anti-Drake element in the electorate supported a candidate in opposition to the Tory candidates promoted by the Drake interest, at elections in 1728, 1734 and 1735. That opposition proved to represent about a third of the electorate.
Thereafter the Drakes enjoyed unchallenged possession of their
pocket borough
A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...
. There was no further sign of the sort of resistance to the dominant interest that broke out from time to time in many similar boroughs.
By the latter half of the eighteenth century, the Drakes owned most of the town. The number of voters were reduced to about 70. Elections were all uncontested.
The borough was treated with respect by its patrons. Uncontested elections were accompanied by generous expenditure, estimated by Davis as £350 in the eighteenth century and £600 in the 1820s.
Amersham was one of the boroughs totally disenfranchised by the
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...
. The 1831 census had shown that the population of the borough was 1,347, and there were 247 houses (although the whole town of Amersham had 360 houses).
[(currently unavailable )]
Members of Parliament
*''Not represented in the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
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. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in t ...
s; returned two members for the
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. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...
.''
*''Constituency disenfranchised'' (1832)
Elections
General notes
In multi-member elections the
bloc voting system was used. Voters could cast a vote for one or two candidates, as they chose. The leading candidates with the largest number of votes were elected.
In
by-elections
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
, to fill a single seat, the
first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
system applied.
Where a party had more than one candidate in one or both of a pair of successive elections change is calculated for each individual candidate, otherwise change is based on the party vote. Change figures at by-elections are from the preceding general election or the last intervening by-election. Change figures at general elections are from the last general election.
Candidates for whom no party has been identified are classified as Non Partisan. The candidate might have been associated with a party or faction in Parliament or considered himself to belong to a particular political tradition. Political parties before the nineteenth century were not as cohesive or organised as they later became. Contemporary commentators (even the reputed leaders of parties or factions) in the eighteenth century did not necessarily agree who the party supporters were. The traditional parties, which had arisen in the late seventeenth century, became increasingly irrelevant to politics in the eighteenth century (particularly after 1760), although for some contests in some constituencies party labels were still used. It was only towards the end of the century that party labels began to acquire some meaning again, although this process was by no means complete for several more generations.
Sources: The results for elections before 1790 were taken from the History of Parliament Trust publications on the House of Commons. The results from 1790 until 1832 are based on Stooks Smith. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information to the other sources this is indicated in a note.
Dates of elections 1660–1715
*-- Apr 1660 GE
*23 Mar 1661 GE
*-1 Nov 1669 BE
*-4 Feb 1679 GE
*-- --- 1679 GE
*29 Jan 1681 GE
*23 Mar 1685 GE
*-5 Jan 1689 GE
*-- --- 1690 GE
*-8 Oct 1690 BE
*-9 Nov 1691 BE
*21 Oct 1695 GE
*21 Jul 1698 GE
*-2 Jan 1699 BE
*-7 Jan 1701 GE
*19 Feb 1701 BE
*10 Mar 1701 BE
*21 Nov 1701 GE
*14 Nov 1702 GE
*-8 May 1705 GE
*21 Nov 1707 BE
*-4 May 1708 GE
*-3 Oct 1710 GE
*27 Aug 1713 GE
*18 Mar 1714 BE
Election results 1715–1832
As with most boroughs in the unreformed House of Commons, Amersham was uncontested at most elections. The only known contested elections after 1715 were those of 1728, 1735 and 1736.
*''Death of Fermanagh 23 June 1717''
*''Choice of Drake to sit for
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
''
*''Choice of Leveson Gower to sit for
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...
''
*''Death of Drake 26 April 1728''
* ''(Note May 1728): Drake, the late MP, had been the owner of the largest interest in the constituency. His heir was a child and the anti-Drake element in the borough took advantage of the opportunity to contest the seat. Only about a third of the votes were cast for the challenger.''
* ''(Note 1734): Thomas Bladen stood for the anti-Drake forces in the borough. The result again suggested that only about a third of the electorate opposed the borough's long term patrons.''
*''Death of Lutwyche 13 November 1734''
* ''(Note 1735): The vote totals are unknown, but Gore won and no further contested elections took place during the remaining 97 years when the borough returned MPs.''
* ''Appointment of Gore as Commissary General of the Musters (he was returned for
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
)''
* ''Death of Marshall 2 February 1754''
* ''Death of Garrard''
*-- --- 1790 GE
*-4 Jun 1795 BE
*26 May 1796 GE
*-- --- 1802 GE
*31 Jan 1805 BE
*-- --- 1806 GE
*-- --- 1807 GE
*21 Nov 1810 BE
*-- --- 1812 GE
*-- --- 1818 GE
*-- --- 1820 GE
*-- --- 1826 GE
See also
*
List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
This is a list of former parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom, organised by date of abolition. It includes UK parliamentary constituencies that have been abolished, including those that were later recreated, but does not include co ...
*
Chesham and Amersham (UK Parliament constituency)
Chesham and Amersham () is a parliamentary constituency in Buckinghamshire, South East England, represented in the House of Commons by Sarah Green, a Liberal Democrat elected at a 2021 by-election.
History Contents and regional context
...
''constituency created in 1974''
References
* ''Political Change and Continuity 1760-1885: A Buckinghamshire Study'', by Richard W. Davis (David and Charles 1972)
* ''The House of Commons 1715-1754'', by Romney Sedgwick (HMSO 1970)
* ''The House of Commons 1754-1790'', by Sir
Lewis Namier
Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were ''The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Ameri ...
and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)
* ''The Parliaments of England'' by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
* ''Members of the Long Parliament'' by D Brunton & D H Pennington (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
* ''Parliamentary Representation 1832 — England and Wales'' by J Holladay Philbin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
{{Chiltern
Amersham
Parliamentary constituencies in Buckinghamshire (historic)
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1625
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1832
Rotten boroughs