Winchelsea (UK Parliament constituency)


Winchelsea was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1366 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

History

Boundaries

Winchelsea was a Cinque Port, which made it technically of different status from a parliamentary borough, but the difference was purely a nominal one, and it was considered an egregious example of a rotten borough. The constituency consisted of the town and parish of Winchelsea, once a market town and port but by the 19th century much reduced in importance, a mile-and-a-half inland with its harbour destroyed. In 1831, the population of the constituency was estimated at 772, and the town contained 148 houses.

History of corruption

The right to vote was exercised by the freemen of the town, of whom by 1831 there were just 11, even though in theory the custom was that every son of a freeman and every freeholder in the town was entitled to his freedom. With so small a number of voters, bribery was often the rule rather than the exception, though occasionally it became so blatant that the authorities were able to take steps against it. In 1700 an election at Winchelsea was declared void, an agent of one of the candidates arrested for bribery by order of the House of Commons, and the representation of the borough suspended until the end of the session. At another controversial election in 1712, the Commons committee which investigated was told that voters had been bribed with £30 each to vote for the sitting MPs, and their female connections received additional payments of half a guinea each.
Nor was the expense confined to bribing the voters. Oldfield records that in 1811, with only 11 voters to poll, the Mayor demanded – and received – a fee of £200 for his services as returning officer. However, he presumably carried out his duties more satisfactorily than his predecessor in 1624, who was "brought to the bar , and on his knees severely reprimanded, and sentenced to be committed to prison" for threatening some of the voters and corruptly excluding some others from casting their votes.
Almost as troublesome was the election of 1667, when it was alleged that the Mayor had not taken the sacrament – being a communicating member of the Church of England being at that period a requirement for holding civic office – and that therefore the election he had conducted was void. The committee agreed, and proposed a motion that the MP who had been returned was not duly elected, but the whole House voted it down, and the election was allowed to stand. In 1702, again, the Mayor was taken into custody for corrupt practices, and expelled from all his offices in the Customs by resolution of the Commons, against the opposition of government ministers, in whose interests the corruption had been executed.

Patronage

Winchelsea affords an unusual instance of a sitting MP wresting control of a pocket borough from its "patrons", so as to be able to be sure of securing re-election on his own account. In the first half of the 18th century, Winchelsea was a "treasury borough", that is one where the influence of the government was so strong that ministers were able to consider themselves the patrons and be sure of the power to choose both MPs. In 1754, however, one of the government candidates was an Irishman named Arnold Nesbitt. Once elected, Nesbitt began to buy houses in Winchelsea so as to secure influence over the freemen, and was so far successful that by the time of the next election it was accepted that he had the absolute command of one of the seats; indeed, when he stood well with the Treasury he was also allowed to nominate for both. For the rest of his life he successfully defended his control of Winchelsea from the free-spending of the Treasury's agents; on one occasion, it appears that the town clerk was directing the government campaign and finding himself needing more funds for the purpose than had been provided pawned the town's charters and civic regalia.
However, in 1779 Nesbitt died £100,000 in debt, and the Court of Chancery made a decree to auction his property for the relief of his creditors, but his nephew anticipating this managed to sell the Nesbitt interest in the borough back to the government's supporters for the very considerable sum of £15,000, shortly before the court's decree came into force. Ministers were free once more to consider both seats at the ministry's disposal. However, Oldfield notes that Nesbitt's power in the borough was one of influence rather than of any direct property in the votes – and that whatever the bargain between Nesbitt's nephew and Darlington, the voters themselves were not a party to it and had still to be persuaded to co-operate. Therefore what was sold, in effect, was the unhindered right to bribe the voters without interference, the customary price by this time being apparently £100 per vote.

Abolition

Winchelsea was abolished as a separate constituency by the Reform Act, but the nearby Cinque Port of Rye retained one of its two MPs, and Rye's parliamentary boundaries were extended to include Winchelsea from 1832.

Members of Parliament

1366–1640

ParliamentFirst MemberSecond Member
1373Robert Harry I
1377Robert Arnold
1378Roger DoverWilliam Skele I
1381William Skele I
1382 Robert Harry I-
1382 Henry Sely
1383 John PulhamWilliam Skele I
1383 John Pulham
1384 William Skele I
1385John Pulham
1386 William Skele IJohn Pulham
1388 William Skele IJohn Pulham or Robert Harry I
1388 Henry SelyMatthew Goldyve
1390 William Skele IRoger Dover
1390 -
1391 William Skele IVincent Ewell
1393 Robert ArnoldThomas Bette
1394-
1395 Vincent Fynch IWilliam Skele II
1397 Vincent Fynch IJohn Helde
1397 -
1399 Roger atte GateWilliam Skele II
1401-
1402 Vincent Fynch IJohn Salerne II
1403Walter Young
1404 -
1404 -
1406 Vincent Fynch IIJohn Worton
1407 John Salerne IIRobert Fishlake
1410 Roger atte GateJohn Tunstall
1411-
1413 -
1413 Roger atte GateThomas Young
1414 -
1414 Roger atte GateWilliam Catton
1415-
1416 -
1416 -
1417 John FrenchWilliam Catton
1419 John FrenchJohn Tamworth
1420 Edward HopyereRoger atte Gate
1421 Thomas ThunderWilliam Catton
1421 Alexander BeuleyRoger atte Gate
1425Thomas Young
1449–1450John Greenford
1495Richard Barkeley
1497Richard Barkeley
1510 Thomas AshburnhamRobert Sparrow
1512 ?John Ashburnham I?Robert Sparrow
1515 ?John Ashburnham I?Robert Sparrow
1523 Thomas AshburnhamRobert Sparrow
1529 Thomas EnsingGeorge Lowys
1536 ?Thomas Ensing?George Lowys
1539not knownnot known
1542 John BellPhilip Chute
1545 Philip ChuteThomas Hynxstend
1547 John RowlandJohn More
1553 William EglestonMichael Blount
1553 Sir Henry CrispeWilliam Roper
1554 Cyriak PetytJoseph Beverleey
1554 William EglestonJohn Cheyne II
1555 Thomas SmithJohn Peyton
1558 Sir George HowardJohn Fowler
1559 Goddard WhiteHenry Fane
1562/3Richard ChambersHenry Fane
1566Henry Cobham replaced ?Chambers, ?deceasedHenry Cobham replaced ?Chambers, ?deceased
1571 Thomas WilfordRobert Eyre
1572 Thomas WilfordRichard Barry
1584 Giles FletcherHerbert Pelham
1586 Adam MoyleThomas Egleston
1588/9Adam MoyleHerbert Morley
1593 Adam AshburnhamAshburnham Pecke
1597 Ralph EwensThomas Colepeper
1601 Moyle FinchHugh Beeston
1604Adam WhiteThomas Unton
1614William BingeThomas Godfrey
1621Thomas FinchEdward Nicholas
1624John FinchEdward Nicholas
1625Roger TwysdenSir Ralph Freeman
1626Roger TwysdenSir Nicholas Saunders
1628Sir William TwysdenSir Ralph Freeman
1629–1640No parliaments summonedNo parliaments summoned

MPs 1640–1832

Notes