Aldeburgh in Suffolk, was a parliamentary borough represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessor bodies.
History The town was enfranchised in 1571 as a borough constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England and continued in the Parliaments of Great Britain and the United Kingdom until it was abolished in 1832 as a rotten borough.
It was represented by two burgesses. The right to vote was vested in the town's freemen, although the electoral roll was controlled by the Corporation of Aldeburgh which consisted of two bailiffs (the returning officers), 12 aldermen, and 24 common councilmen. Originally it had been strongly influenced by the Howard family and although the family lost some power due to their Catholicism the Arundel family were still nominating MPs in the seventeenth century. (currently unavailable) It gradually fell under the control of the Tory Henry Johnson who with his brother represented it for 30 years from 1689 although Whig political influence was growing and after unsuccessful challenges in 1708 and 1713 the borough was captured after the brothers' death by the Whigs at a reputed cost of £9,000. By the mid-18th century it had been "stolen" from being a Government influenced seat by a City of London merchant, Thomas Fonnereau:Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (London 1929) I, pp. 70 and 180. and later came under the control of his cousin Philip Champion Crespigny who sold it for £39,000 and eventually it devolved to the control of the Marquess of Hertford.
It was described as "a venal little borough in Suffolk".Crabbe, quoted in E. M. Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy (Penguin 1965) p. 178.
Boundaries The constituency comprised the parliamentary borough of Aldeburgh, in the county of Suffolk in Eastern England.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1571–1640 ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1571 Roger Woodhouse Robert Higford 1572 Francis Beaumont Charles Seckford 1584 Peter Osborne John Foxe 1586 Peter Osborne Edmond Bell 1588 Edward Coke William Bence 1593 Thomas Knyvet William Bence 1597 Francis Harvey Francis Johnson 1601 Martin Stutteville Francis Corbet 1604–1611 Sir William Woodhouse Thomas Ryvett 1614 Sir William Woodhouse Sir Henry Glemham 1621–1622 Sir Henry Glemham Charles Glemham 1624 Nicholas Ryvett John Bence 1625 Sir Thomas Glemham Charles Glemham 1626 Sir Thomas Glemham William Mason 1628 Sir Simon Steward Marmaduke Rawden 1629–1640No Parliaments summoned
MPs 1640–1832
YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640William RainsboroughParliamentarian Squire BenceParliamentarian November 1640 William RainsboroughParliamentarian Alexander Bence Parliamentarian 1642Squire BenceParliamentarian November 1648Squire Bence died, November 1648 - seat vacantDecember 1648Alexander Bence excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant1653Aldeburgh was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Laurence Oxburgh John Bence May 1659Not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660 Sir Robert Brooke Thomas Bacon 1661 Sir John Holland, Bt 1669 John Bence February 1679 Sir Richard Haddock Henry Johnson August 1679 John Bence John Corrance 1685 Sir Henry Bedingfield Tory 1689 Sir Henry Johnson Tory William Johnson Tory 1718 by-election Samuel Lowe Whig 1719 by-election Walter Plumer 1727 William Windham 1730 by-election Sir John Williams Tory 1732 by-election Captain George Purvis Whig1734 William Conolly WhigMarch 1741 by-election Francis Gashry WhigMay 1741 Richard Plumer 1747 William Windham Zachary Philip Fonnereau 1761 Philip Fonnereau 1768 Nicholas Linwood 1773 by-election Thomas Fonnereau 1774 Richard Combe 1779 by-election Martyn Fonnereau 1780 Philip Champion Crespigny Whig1784 Samuel Salt Whig1790 Lord Grey of Groby Whig Thomas Grenville Whig1796 Sir John Aubrey, Bt Whig Michael Angelo Taylor Whig 1800 by-election George Johnstone 1802 John McMahon Tory April 1812 by-election Sandford Graham October 1812 The Lord Dufferin & Claneboye Tory Andrew Strahan Tory1818 Samuel Walker Tory Joshua Walker Tory1820 James Blair Tory1826 John Wilson Croker Tory 1827 by-election Wyndham Lewis ToryFebruary 1829 by-election Marquess of Douro ToryMay 1829 by-election Spencer Horsey Kilderbee Tory1830 John Wilson Croker Tory1832 Constituency abolished
Election results Elections in the 1830s
See also List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies Unreformed House of Commons
References
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) Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)