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Wallingford 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, ...
in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
. It was a parliamentary borough created in 1295, centred on the market town Wallingford in Berkshire (now in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
). It used to return two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons; this was cut to one in 1832, and the constituency was abolished in 1885. The town of Wallingford is now within the constituency of
Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...
.


History

Before 1832 the borough consisted only of the town of Wallingford, which by the 19th century was divided into four parishes. The franchise was limited to (male) inhabitants 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. Namier and Brooke estimated that the number of electors in the mid-18th century was about 200; but the number fluctuated considerably with the fortunes of the town, which had no manufacturing interests and considerable unemployment at some periods. There were never enough voters to avoid the risk of corruption, and systematic bribery generally prevailed, with anything up to 150 votes being bought and sold at any one election. (In 1754,
Thomas Sewell Thomas Sewell may refer to: * Tom Sewell (basketball) (born 1962), American shooting guard * Tom Sewell (cricketer, born 1806) (1806–1888), English cricketer * Tom Sewell (cricketer, born 1830) (1830–1871), English cricketer, son of Tom Sewell s ...
, one of the Whig candidates, spent over £1000 of his own money and not only was this reimbursed from the "secret service" funds but the government spent further money unsuccessfully attempting to secure him a seat in Wallingford.Page 198,
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 ...
, ''
The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III ''The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' was a book written by Lewis Namier. At the time of its first publication in 1929 it caused a historiographical revolution in understanding the 18th century by challenging the Whig view ...
'' (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
) By the 19th century Wallingford was regarded as one of the worst of the
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 electorat ...
s, and Oldfield recorded in 1816 that the price of a vote was 40
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
. The 1831 census found the borough had a population of about 2,500, and 485 houses. Under the Reform Act 1832, the constituency was allowed to survive and to keep one of its two MPs, but the boundaries were considerably extended, taking in the
Wallingford Castle Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire), adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Sa ...
precincts, which had previously been excluded, and all or part of a dozen neighbouring parishes including
Benson Benson may refer to: Animals *Benson (fish), largest common carp caught in Britain Places Geography Canada *Rural Municipality of Benson No. 35, Saskatchewan; rural municipality *Benson, Saskatchewan; hamlet United Kingdom * Benson, Oxfordshire ...
and
Crowmarsh Crowmarsh is a fairly large, mostly rural civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England east and southeast of the town of Wallingford on the opposite bank of the River Thames and may also refer to its larger district council ward which extends t ...
, and part of
Cholsey Cholsey is a village and civil parish south of Wallingford in South Oxfordshire. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded Cho ...
. This change of boundaries almost trebled the population, but the effect on the electorate was much smaller. According to the reports on which the Reform Act was based, Wallingford had about 300 men qualified to vote in 1831 (though no more than 230 had ever voted in the previous thirty years). Yet despite the widening of the right to vote, which preserved the ancient right voters of the borough while adding new electors on an occupation franchise, there were only 453 names on the 1832 electoral register for the extended borough. (Stooks Smith records that 166 of these claimed their vote as scot and lot payers, while 287 qualified as £10 occupiers; but many of the latter group presumably paid scot and lot within the old boundaries and could have voted before the Reform Act.) In 1868 the franchise was further extended and there were 942 registered electors, but the constituency was much too small to survive the
Third Reform Act In the United Kingdom under the premiership of William Gladstone, the Representation of the People Act 1884 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, also known informally as the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution Act of the following year were laws which ...
, and was abolished with effect from the general election of 1885. The constituency was mostly included in the new Berkshire North or Abingdon
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 ...
, but Benson and the other parts of the extended borough on the Oxfordshire side of the
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
were placed in the Oxfordshire South or Henley division of that county.


Members of Parliament


1295–1640


1640–1832

* 1640 (Apr): Edmund Dunch ( Parliamentarian);
Unton Croke Unton Croke (159328 January 1671) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons in 1628 and 1640. He supported the Roundheads, Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War. Croke was the so ...
* 1640 (Nov): Edmund Dunch; Thomas Howard (
Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
) – ''disabled to sit, January 1644'' * 1645: Edmund Dunch ;
Robert Packer Robert Packer (12 September 1614 – 25 February 1682) of Shellingford, Berkshire was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1646 and 1679, as well as being Usher of the Exchequer. Packer was the eldest ...
– ''excluded in
Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...
, December 1648'' * 1648: Edmund Dunch ''(one seat only)'' * 1653: ''Wallingford not represented in Barebones Parliament'' * 1654: ''Wallingford not represented in first Protectorate Parliament'' * 1656: ''Wallingford not represented in second Protectorate Parliament'' * 1659: William Cook; Walter Bigg * ''Constituency reduced to one seat, (1832)''


1832–1885

*''Constituency abolished'' (1885)


Elections

Electoral system: The block vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and
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 ...
for single member elections. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the
hustings A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Devel ...
(until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872). Percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote. Sources (unless otherwise indicated): (1754–1784) Namier and Brooke; (1790–1831) Stooks Smith; (1832–1880) Craig. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result. Swing: Positive swing is from Whig/Liberal to Tory/Conservative. Negative swing is from Tory/Conservative to Whig/Liberal.


Elections in the 1750s and 1760s

* ''Death of Hervey'' * ''Creation of Pigot as the 1st Baron Pigot in the Peerage of Ireland, 1766''


Elections in the 1770s and 1780s

* ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Pigot as
Warden of the Mint Warden of the Mint was a high-ranking position at the Royal Mint in England from 1216 to 1829. The warden was responsible for a variety of minting procedures and acted as the immediate representative of the current monarch inside the mint. The role ...
'' * ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Aubrey as a
Lord of the Admiralty This is a list of Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (incomplete before the Restoration, 1660). The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of The Board of Admiralty, which exercised the office of Lord High Admiral when it was ...
2 '' * ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Aubrey to an office'' * ''Seat vacated on the appointment of Aubrey as a
Commissioner of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...
2 '' * ''Note (1784 by-election): Namier and Brooke do not include this by-election, which is noted in Stooks Smith's book. Stooks Smith does not include the previous by-election won by Aubrey.''


Elections in the 1790s

* ''Resignation of Wraxall''


Elections in the 1800s

* ''Death of Sykes''


Elections in the 1810s


Elections in the 1820s

* ''Resignation of Robarts''


Elections in the 1830s

* ''Creation of Hughes as the 1st Baron Dinorben'' * ''Note (1832): Blackstone used crimson and white colours and Eyston used green.'' * ''Note (1835): Stooks Smith gives the registered electors as 344.'' * ''Note (1837): Stooks Smith gives the registered electorate as 322. Blackstone used crimson and white colours and Teed used light blue.''


Elections in the 1840s


Elections in the 1850s


Elections in the 1860s


Elections in the 1870s

* ''Death of Vickers''


Elections in the 1880s

* ''Election declared void on petition'' * ''Constituency abolished (1885)'' Notes:- * 1 A Peer of Ireland. * 2 This is the office attributed to the MP by Stooks Smith. However Pigot in 1772 does not appear on the Wikipedia list of Masters of the Mint.


Notes


References


Sources

#''British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977) # J. K. Hedges, ''Wallingford History'' (London: Wm Clowes, 1881) # 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, ''The House of Commons 1754–1790'', (London: HMSO, 1964) # Robert Henry O'Byrne ''The representative history of Great Britain and Ireland, comprising biographical and genealogical notices of the Members of Parliament from Edward VI 1547 to Victoria 1847.'' (London, John Ollivier, 1848) # T. H. B. Oldfield, ''The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland'' (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816) # J Holladay Philbin, ''Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) # # M. Stenton (ed.), ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885'' (The Harvester Press, 1976) # # Frederic A Youngs, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I" (London:
Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...
, 1979)


External links


Wallingford History Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallingford (Uk Parliament Constituency) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1295 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1885 Rotten boroughs Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire (historic) Parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire (historic) Wallingford, Oxfordshire Members of Parliament for Wallingford