Minehead (UK Parliament constituency)

Minehead

Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1563–1832
Number of members| Two

Minehead was a parliamentary borough in Somerset,[1] forming part of the town of Minehead, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1563 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

## Contents

* 1 Members of Parliament
* 1.1 MPs 1563–1629
* 1.2 MPs 1640–1832
* 2 Notes
* 3 References

## Members of Parliament[edit]

### MPs 1563–1629[edit]

* Constituency probably established 1563[2]

Parliament | First member | Second member

|
|

Parliament of 1563-1567  | Thomas Luttrell | Thomas Fitzwilliams
Parliament of 1571  | John Colles | Thomas Mallett
Parliament of 1572-1581  | Dominick Chester | Richard Cabell
1578  | Andrew Hemmerford
1582  | George Luttrell
Parliament of 1584-1585  | George Luttrell | Edward Rogers
Parliament of 1586-1587  | John Luttrell | Robert Crosse
Parliament of 1588-1589  | Benedict Barnham
Parliament of 1593  | Richard Hanbury  | James Quirke
Parliament of 1597-1598  | Amias Bampfield
(sat for Devon, replaced)  | Conrad Prowse
Parliament of 1601  | Dr Francis James | Lewis Lashbrooke
Parliament of 1604-1611  | Sir Ambrose Turville | Sir Maurice Berkeley
Addled Parliament (1614) | No return made
Parliament of 1621-1622  | Francis Pearce | Sir Robert Lloyd[3]
Happy Parliament (1624-1625) | Dr Arthur Duck | Sir Arthur Lake
Useless Parliament (1625) | Thomas Luttrell | Charles Pyne
Parliament of 1625-1626  | John Gill | Thomas Horner
Parliament of 1628-1629  | Thomas Horner | Edward Wyndham
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

### MPs 1640–1832[edit]

Year |  | First member | First party |  | Second member | Second party

|
|
|
|
|
|

April 1640 |  | Francis Wyndham |  |  | Alexander Popham[4] |
1640  |  | Dr Arthur Duck |
November 1640 |  | Alexander Luttrell I[5] | Parliamentarian |  | Sir Francis Popham | Parliamentarian
1642  |  | Thomas Hanham | Royalist
January 1644  | Hanham disabled from sitting — seat vacant
August 1644  | Popham died — seat vacant
1645  |  | Walter Strickland |  |  | Edward Popham |
December 1648  | Popham not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653  | Minehead was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 |  | Richard Hutchinson |  |  | Colonel Alexander Popham |
May 1659 |  | Walter Strickland |  | One seat vacant
1660 |  | Francis Luttrell I |  |  | Charles Pym |
1661 |  | Sir Hugh Wyndham |
1666 by-election  |  | Sir John Malet |
1673 by-election  |  | Thomas Wyndham |
February 1679 |  | Francis Luttrell II |
September 1679 |  | Thomas Palmer |
1685 |  | Nathaniel Palmer |
September 1690 by-election  |  | John Sanford |
October 1690 by-election  |  | Alexander Luttrell II |
1698 |  | Sir Jacob Banks |
1708 |  | Sir John Trevelyan |
1715[6] |  | Sir William Wyndham |
April 1717 by-election[7] |  | Samuel Edwin |  |  | Thomas Gage |
May 1717 (on petition)  |  | Sir John Trevelyan |  |  | James Milner |
1721 by-election  |  | Sir Richard Lane[8] |
January 1722 (on petition)  |  | Robert Mansel |
March 1722 |  | Thomas Hales |
1723 by-election  |  | Francis Whitworth |
1727 |  | Alexander Luttrell III |
1737 by-election  |  | Sir William Codrington |
1739 by-election  |  | Thomas Carew |
1742 by-election  |  | John Periam |
1747 |  | Percy Wyndham-O'Brien |  |  | Charles Whitworth |
1754 |  | Daniel Boone |
1761 |  | Henry Shiffner |  |  | The Earl of Thomond |
1768 |  | Henry Fownes Luttrell I |  |  | Sir Charles Whitworth |
October 1774 |  | John Fownes Luttrell | Tory
December 1774 by-election  |  | Thomas Pownall |
1780 |  | Francis Fownes Luttrell |
1783 by-election  |  | Henry Beaufoy[9] |
June 1784 by-election  |  | Captain the Hon. Charles Phipps |
1786 by-election  |  | Robert Wood |
1790 |  | Viscount Parker | Tory
1795 by-election  |  | Thomas Fownes Luttrell | Tory
1796 |  | John Langston | Tory
1802 |  | John Patteson | Tory
1806 |  | The Lord Rancliffe | Whig |  | Sir John Lethbridge, 1st Baronet | Tory
January 1807 by-election  |  | John Fownes Luttrell | Tory
May 1807 |  | John Denison | Tory
1812 |  | John Fownes Luttrell, junior | Tory
1816 by-election  |  | Henry Fownes Luttrell II | Tory
1822 by-election  |  | John Douglas | Tory
1826 |  | James Blair | Tory
1830 |  | William Edward Tomline | Tory
1831 |  | Viscount Villiers | Tory
1832 | Constituency abolished

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ Traill, Thomas Stewart (1858). The Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and General Literature. A. and C. Black.
2. ^ Most sources date Minehead's enfranchisement from 1563, which seems clearly implied by the House of Commons Journals, but Browne Willis gives two names (Thomas Fitzwilliams and John Fowler) as the town's representatives in the 1559 Parliament. Sir John Neale notes that the names differ from those given for 1563 "which normally is a sign of reliability"
3. ^ This is the name given by Cobbett, whereas Browne Willis lists "Tho. Wentworth, Kt". There were two Thomas Wentworths in the House, but both sat for other constituencies, as Browne Willis correctly also records - "Tho. Wentworth, Kt. and Bart." for Yorkshire and "Tho. Wentworth Esq" for Oxford City. While it is possible that either of these might also have been elected for Minehead and chosen to sit for their other constituency, allowing Lloyd to be elected in their place, Browne Willis usually records this, and neither could correctly be described as "Tho. Wentworth, Kt" at that time, although of course an error is perfectly possible.
4. ^ Popham was also elected for Bath, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Minehead
5. ^ Died June 1642
6. ^ The election of 1715 was declared void on petition, and Wyndham and Trevelyan declared not duly elected. A by-election was held 1717
7. ^ The by-election of 1717 was declared void on petition (in a dispute over the franchise), and Edwin and Gage declared not duly elected. Trevelyan and Milner were declared elected in their place
8. ^ Lane was declared not to have been duly elected
9. ^ Beaufoy was re-elected in 1784, but had also been elected for Great Yarmouth, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Minehead

## References[edit]

* Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
* 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) [2]
* J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
* J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
* Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig — Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
* 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.
* Jenkins, Terry. "Minehead". The History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 24 September 2012.