Cricklade was a parliamentary constituency named after the town of Cricklade in Wiltshire.

From 1295 until the general election of 1885, Cricklade was a parliamentary borough, returning two members of parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, previously to the House of Commons of England and House of Commons of Great Britain.

Initially this consisted of only the town of Cricklade, but from 1782 the vote was extended to the surrounding countryside as a punishment for the borough's corruption. The extended area came to include the village of Swindon, which later grew into a large town with the coming of the railways in the 19th century.

From the 1885 general election the borough was abolished, but the name was transferred to a county division of Wiltshire covering much the same area, and electing a single MP. This constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election: Cricklade joined the Chippenham constituency and a new Swindon constituency was created.

Boundaries 1832–1885: The hundreds of Highworth, Cricklade, Staple, Kingsbridge and Malmesbury, except the parliamentary borough of Malmesbury.

1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Cricklade and Swindon.

Members of Parliament 1295–1640

Constituency created 1295

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1386John Andrew Andrew Jones 1388 (Feb) Thomas Weston 1388 (Sep) 1390 (Jan) ?John Crouch ?William Plomer 1399Robert Andrew John Ferrour 1413 (May) Thomas Cricklade Robert Newman 1421 (Dec) [Thomas] Cricklade Geoffrey Cowbridge 1442 John Long 1427 John Bailey 1510Sir Andrew Windsor 1529Robert Curzon William Rede 1547John Winchcombe alias Smallwood John Walshe 1553 (Mar) ? 1553 (Oct) Thomas Parker William Badger ? 1554 (Apr) William Hampshire John Tunks 1554 (Nov) Thomas Parker John Rede 1555Sir Nicholas Poyntz George Huntley 1558William Hampshire John Marmion 1559Sir Walter Denys John Astley 1562–3 Nicholas St John Anthony Throckmorton 1571Sir Nicholas Arnold Giles Brydges 1572William Brydges John Higford 1584Rowland Leigh Richard Smith 1586John Higford Richard Delabere 1588–9 George Snigge Thomas Smith 1593Henry Noel John Pleydell 1597Sir George Gifford Grey Brydges 1601 Robert Master 1604–1611 Sir John Hungerford Sir Henry Poole 1614 Sir Thomas Monson Sir John Eyre 1621–1622 Sir Thomas Howard Sir Carew Reynell 1624 Sir William Howard Sir Neville Poole 1625 Edward Dowse 1626 Sir Robert Hyde 1628 Robert Jenner Sir Edward Hungerford 1629–1640No Parliaments summoned

1640–1885 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640?November 1640 Robert Jenner Parliamentarian Thomas Hodges ParliamentarianDecember 1648Jenner excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacantHodges not recorded as having sat after Pride's Purge1653Cricklade was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Edward Poole John Hawkins May 1659Cricklade was unrepresented in the restored Rump April 1660 Hungerford Dunch Nevil Maskelyne 1661 Sir George Hungerford John Ernle 1679 Hungerford Dunch Edmund Webb 1680 John Pleydell 1681 William Lenthall 1685 Charles Fox 1689 Thomas Freke 1690 Edmund Webb 1698 Edward Pleydell 1699 Sir Stephen Fox 1701 Edmund Dunch Whig 1702 Thomas Richmond Webb Samuel Barker 1705 Edmund Dunch Whig 1708 James Vernon the younger Whig 1710 Samuel Robinson 1713 Sir Thomas Reade William GoreGore was also elected for Colchester, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Cricklade 1714 Samuel Robinson 1715 Jacob SawbridgeSawbridge was expelled from the House for his role in the South Sea Bubble 1721 Hon. Matthew Ducie Moreton 1722 Thomas Gore 1727 Christopher Tilson 1734 William Gore 1739 Charles Gore 1741 Welbore Ellis 1747 William Rawlinson Earle Lieutenant-Colonel John Gore 1754 Thomas Gore 1761 Arnold Nesbitt 1768 Hon. George Damer Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Robert Fletcher 1774 William Earle Arnold Nesbitt 1775 Samuel PeachA by-election was held in December 1774 after the death of William Earle, but the result was disputed and the Returning Officer made a double return, naming both Samuel Peach and John Dewar. The Commons declared the election void, and a second election was held; Peach was initially declared elected but on petition the result was reversed and Dewar took his seat. 1776 John Dewar 1779 John MacphersonOn petition, Macpherson's election in 1779 was declared void and a new writ issued, but he was re-elected in the by-election. At the general election of 1780 he was again elected and his opponent again entered a petition. On investigation the Committee reported that "instances of the most notorious bribery had occurred"; the House voted that neither Macpherson nor his opponent Samuel Petrie were duly elected, and shortly afterwards passed an Act to extend the right of voting in Cricklade to the surrounding hundreds. 1780 Paul Benfield 1782 Hon. George St John 1784On petition the result of the election of 1784 was reversed, Coxe and Adamson being declared not duly elected and Heneage and Nicholas being seated in their place Charles Coxe Whig Robert Adamson Whig 1785 John Walker-Heneage Tory Robert Nicholas Tory 1790 Thomas Estcourt 1794 Henry Herbert 1806 Thomas Goddard 1811 William Herbert 1812 Joseph Pitt Thomas Calley Whig 1818 Robert Gordon Whig 1831 Thomas Calley Whig 1835 John Neeld Conservative 1837 Ambrose Goddard Conservative 1841 Hon. Henry Howard Whig 1847 Ambrose Goddard Conservative 1859 Anthony Ashley-Cooper Liberal 1865 Sir Daniel Gooch Conservative 1868 Hon. Frederick Cadogan Liberal 1874 Ambrose Goddard Conservative 1880 Nevil Story Maskelyne Liberal 1885 Borough abolished - replaced by county constituency returning one member

1885–1918 ElectionMemberParty 1885 Nevil Story Maskelyne Liberal 1886 Liberal Unionist 1892 John Husband Liberal 1895 Alfred Hopkinson Liberal Unionist 1898 Lord Edmond FitzMaurice Liberal 1906 John Massie Jan. 1910 Thomas Calley Liberal Unionist Dec. 1910 Richard Cornthwaite Lambert Liberal 1918 constituency abolished: see Swindon

Elections Elections in the 1830s

Gordon was appointed a Commissioner for the Affairs of India, causing a by-election.

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

Costelloe contested previous general election as Conservative

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; Liberal: Richard Cornthwaite Lambert Unionist:

Notes

References Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) 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) F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949) Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903) Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)