Aldeburgh in Suffolk, was a parliamentary borough represented in the

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of the

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and its predecessor bodies.

History

The town was enfranchised in 1571 as a borough constituency in the House of Commons of the

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and continued in the Parliaments of

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and

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until it was abolished in 1832 as a

rotten 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 electorate ...

. It was represented by two

burgess __NOTOC__ Burgess may refer to: People and fictional characters * Burgess (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Burgess (given name), a list of people Places * Burgess, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Burgess, Missouri, U ...

es. The right to vote was vested in the town's freemen, although the electoral roll was controlled by the Corporation of Aldeburgh which consisted of two bailiffs (the returning officers), 12 aldermen, and 24 common councilmen. Originally it had been strongly influenced by the

Howard family The House of Howard is an English noble house founded by John Howard, who was created Duke of Norfolk (third creation) by King Richard III of England in 1483. However, John was also the eldest grandson (although maternal) of the 1st Duke of the ...

and although the family lost some power due to their Catholicism the Arundel family were still nominating MPs in the seventeenth century. (currently unavailable) It gradually fell under the control of the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

Henry Johnson who with his brother represented it for 30 years from 1689 although Whig political influence was growing and after unsuccessful challenges in 1708 and 1713 the borough was captured after the brothers' death by the Whigs at a reputed cost of £9,000. By the mid-18th century it had been "stolen" from being a Government influenced seat by a City of London merchant,

Thomas Fonnereau Thomas Fonnereau (27 October 1699, in London – 20 March 1779) was a British merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1741 and 1779. Fonnrereau was the eldest son of Claude Fonnereau, a wealthy Huguenot merchant who ...

: and later came under the control of his cousin Philip Champion Crespigny who sold it for £39,000 and eventually it devolved to the control of the

Marquess of Hertford The titles of Earl of Hertford and Marquess of Hertford have been created several times in the peerages of England and Great Britain. The third Earldom of Hertford was created in 1559 for Edward Seymour, who was simultaneously created Baron Be ...

. It was described as "a venal little borough in Suffolk".Crabbe, quoted in

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

, ''Two Cheers for Democracy'' (Penguin 1965) p. 178.

Boundaries

The constituency comprised the parliamentary borough of

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

, in the county of Suffolk in Eastern England.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1571–1640

MPs 1640–1832

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

References

*D Brunton & D H Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) *''Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803'' (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808

* Maija Jansson (ed.), ''Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons)'' (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988

*Henry Stooks Smith, ''The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847'' (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973) *{{Rayment-hc, a, 1, date=March 2012 Parliamentary constituencies in Suffolk (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1571 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1832 Rotten boroughs Aldeburgh