Somerset was a parliamentary constituency in Somerset , which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), known traditionally as knights of the shire , to the House of Commons of England until 1707 , the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 , and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832.
Elections were held by the bloc vote system.
Members of Parliament [ edit ]
Constituency created (1290)
Election
First member
First party
Second member
Second party
April 1640
Sir Ralph Hopton
Royalist
Thomas Smith
Royalist
November 1640
Sir John Poulett
Royalist
Sir John Stawell
Royalist
August 1642
Poulett and Stawell disabled from sitting – both seats vacant
1645
George Horner
John Harrington
Election declared void and new writ issued
1646
George Horner
John Harrington
December 1648
Horner excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
Harrington did not sit after Pride's Purge
Somerset had four members in the Barebones Parliament
1653
General-at-sea Robert Blake , John Pine , Dennis Hollister , Henry Henley
Somerset had eleven members in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1654
Sir John Horner , John Buckland , General John Desborough , John Preston, John Harrington , John Ashe , Charles Steynings , Robert Long , Richard Jones , Thomas Hippisley , Samuel Perry
1656
John Buckland , General John Desborough , John Harrington , John Ashe , Robert Long , Alexander Popham , Colonel John Gorges , Francis Luttrell , Sir Lislebone Long , William Wyndham , Francis Rolle
Representation reverted to two members for the Third Protectorate Parliament
January 1659
John Buckland ,
Robert Hunt
May 1659
Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660
George Horner
Hugh Smith
1661
Sir John Stawell
Edward Phelips
1662
John Poulett
1665
Sir John Warre
1669
Sir John Sydenham
February 1679
Sir Hugh Smith
August 1679
Sir William Portman
George Speke
1685
Sir John Smith
George Horner
1689
Edward Gorges
1690
Sir Edward Phelips
Nathaniel Palmer
1695
Sir John Smith
Sir John Trevelyan, Bt
1698
John Hunt
Sir Edward Phelips
1699
Nathaniel Palmer
January 1701
Sir John Trevelyan, Bt
December 1701
Sir Philip Sydenham
Nathaniel Palmer
1705
John Pigott
1708
Henry Seymour Portman
John Prowse
April 1710
Sir William Wyndham, Bt
Tory
October 1710
Sir Thomas Wroth
Tory
1713
Thomas Horner
Tory
1715
William Helyar
1722
Edward Phelips
1727
Thomas Strangways Horner
Tory
1740
Thomas Prowse
1741
Henry William Portman
Tory
1747
Sir Charles Kemys Tynte
1767
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt
1768
Richard Hippisley Coxe
1774
Edward Phelips
1780
Sir John Trevelyan, Bt
1784
Edward Phelips
1792
Henry Hippisley Coxe
1795
William Gore-Langton
Whig
1796
William Dickinson
Tory
June 1806
Thomas Lethbridge
Tory
November 1806
William Dickinson
Tory
1812
William Gore-Langton
Whig
1820
Sir Thomas Lethbridge
Tory
1830
Edward Ayshford Sanford
Whig
1831
William Gore-Langton
Whig
1832
constituency divided into Eastern and Western divisions
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l John Collinson, Edmund Rack, 'The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset: Collected from Authentic Records, and an Actual Survey Made by the Late Mr. Edmund Rack. Adorned with a Map of the County, and Engravings of Roman and Other Reliques, Town-seals, Baths, Churches, and Gentlemen's Seats, Volume 1, R. Cutwell, 1791, p. xxx online Archived 15 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c S. E. Rigold, Nunney Castle, Somerset (HMSO, 1967), p. 4 (online Archived 30 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
^ "BURGHERSH, Sir John (1343-91), of Ewelme, Oxon. | History of Parliament Online" . Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf "History of Parliament" . Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2011 .
^ a b "South Petherton, Somerset" (PDF) . Hamline University . Retrieved 21 October 2009 .[permanent dead link ]
^ a b c Roskell, John Smith (1954). The Commons in the Parliament of 1422 . Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2011 .
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)
Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. p. 1 .
Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 , Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845)