Bletchingley (UK Parliament constituency)


Bletchingley was a parliamentary borough in Surrey. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 to 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act.
Elections were held using the bloc vote system.

History

Bletchingley was one of the original boroughs enfranchised in the Model Parliament, and kept its status until the Reform Act. The borough consisted of the former market town of Bletchingley in Surrey, which by the 19th century had shrunk to a village. In 1831, the population of the borough was 513, and contained only 85 houses. It was a burgage borough, the right to vote being exercised by the owners or resident tenants of the 130 "burgage tenements" - no doubt at some point in history these were simply the inhabited houses of the town, but it was already an artificial franchise by the time it was disputed before the House of Commons in 1624, when it was settled that Bletchingley's burgage holders should keep the vote as they had "time out of mind"; by the 19th century of course, with more burgages in the borough than houses, the notion of its being a residential franchise was no more than a legal fiction.
Like other burgage boroughs, Bletchingley quickly fell into the hands of a single landowner who thereby had the safest of pocket boroughs. It was once the property of Henry VIII's rejected Queen, Anne of Cleves. From her it passed to Sir Thomas Cawarden, the Master of the Revels and from his heir to Lord Howard of Effingham, father of the future conqueror of the Spanish Armada, in about 1560. It then remained in Howard hands for more than half a century, one of several boroughs controlled by that powerful family.
However, the 1624 dispute occurred when the voters daringly defied Lady Howard, and it may not have been entirely secure for any single "patron" for the rest of the century. By 1700, there were two rival influences, the Evelyns of Godstone, who had succeeded in holding one of the seats for much of the preceding sixty years, and Sir Robert Clayton, a London banker who was said to be the wealthiest commoner in England, and who was now Lord of the Manor. Neither held a majority of the burgages, and there were still a fair number of independent voters. For some years, Evelyn and Clayton had to be content with choosing one MP each, and even then had to face some tightly contested votes, but after the accession of George I, Clayton's nephew and heir, William Clayton, managed to accumulate enough of the burgages in his own hands to squeeze out the Evelyn influence and eventually make his hold absolutely watertight. Since the importance of a man with the absolute power to nominate two Members of Parliament was not underestimated by 18th century governments, he quickly found himself dignified with a baronetcy.
The Claytons retained Bletchingley until 1779. In that year, short of money and with talk of parliamentary reform in the air, Sir Robert Clayton decided to realise the asset while it still had a value, and sold the reversion of his property at Bletchingley to his cousin, John Kenrick, for £10,000. Once the prospect of parliamentary reform had receded, Clayton repented of his bargain and filed an action in Chancery against Kenrick, claiming that he had been "imposed upon" and had been paid quite an inadequate amount; but the court sympathised with Kenrick, and dismissed the action with costs.
Kenrick's son later sold the rights to Matthew Russell for £60,000 and he, by making seats available to some of the rising stars of the Whig party, ensured that after centuries of mediocrity Bletchingley was represented in its final years by some distinguished members, including two future Prime Ministers - Hon. William Lamb and Lord Palmerston.
Bletchingley was abolished as a separate constituency by the Reform Act, the town being included in the Eastern division of Surrey thereafter.

Members of Parliament

1295-1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member--
1386William BartJohn atte Wyke--
1388 Robert NaffertonWilliam Nightingale--
1388 William HartHenry atte Stone I--
1390 John DeubeneyeWilliam Nightingale--
1390 ---
1391---
1393William HartRichard Turner--
1394---
1395William HartWilliam Tanner--
1397 William HartRichard Turner--
1397 John DeubeneyeThomas atte Helde--
1399John DeubeneyeThomas atte Helde--
1401---
1402William HartJohn Modys--
1404 ---
1404 ---
1407---
1410---
1411---
1413 ---
1413 ---
1414 ---
1414 William HartRoger Eylove--
1415William HartJohn Modys--
1416 Roger EyloveJohn Modys--
1416 ---
1417William HartRobert Axi--
1419Roger -?John -?--
1420---
1421 Walter atte BerneJohn Knoller--
1421 Henry BramptonHenry atte Stone II--
1422Thomas Eylove1472Henry Winter
1491William FisherThomas Garth--
1510-1523No names known---
1529Nicholas LeighJohn St John--
1536?---
1539?---
1542Thomas CawardenWilliam Sackville--
1545?---
1547Sir Thomas Cawarden, sat for Surrey
replaced by Jan 1552 by Henry Polsted		John Cheke--
1553 Sir John ChekeSir Maurice Berkeley--
1553 Henry PolstedMatthew Colthurst--
1554 John HarmanNicholas Saunders--
1554 Humphrey CholmleyRobert Freeman--
1555John VaughanWilliam Smethwick--
1558Bertram CalthorpeRoger Alford--
1558/9John BraceWilliam Porter--
1562/3John CokerJohn Elsedon--
1571Roeland MaynardRichard Bostock--
1572Thomas BrowneHenry Kenrick, died
and replaced Nov 1579 by Richard Bostock		--
1584Richard BostockJohn Cox--
1586Sir Thomas BrowneJohn Cox--
1588Richard BostockJohn Cox--
1593Julius CaesarStephen Riddlesden--
1597Lord Howard of Effingham, sat for Surrey
replaced by Sir Richard Trevor		John Trevor--
1601John TurnerBostock Fuller--
1604Sir John TrevorRichard Bellingham died
and replaced by Sir Charles Howard		--
1614Sir John TrevorSir Charles Howard--
1621-1622John HaywardHenry Lovell--
1624Sir Miles Fleetwood
sat for Launceston, replaced by Edward Bysshe the elder		John Hayward--
1625Edward Bysshe the elderThomas Gresham--
1626Edward Bysshe the elderHenry Lovell--
1628Sir Edward Bishopp, 2nd BaronetJohn Evelyn, senior--
1629–1640No Parliaments summoned---

1640-1832

Election results

Elections in the 1830s