Wareham was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1302 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.
History The borough consisted of the town of Wareham on the Isle of Purbeck, a market town close to Poole Harbour. In 1831, the population of the borough was 1,676, and it contained 364 houses.
The right to vote was exercised by the Mayor, magistrates and freemen of the town and all inhabitants paying scot and lot; the number who were qualified to vote under this provision by the time of the Reform Act 1832 was unknown, as there had not been a contested election for many years, but there were about 500 in the 1760s. In the early 18th century a number of wealthy local families were influential over the choice of members, but eventually John Calcraft of Kingstone Hall secured total control by buying up all the property in the borough occupied by potential voters.Page 125, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
Wareham retained one of its two MPs under the Reform Act 1832, but its boundaries were extended to include several surrounding areas, including nearby Corfe Castle which had previously been a borough in its own right. The new borough had a population of 5,751.
The borough continued to elect one MP until the Representation of the People Act 1884, which came into effect at the general election of 1885. This abolished the constituency, Wareham being placed in the new East Dorset county division.
Members of Parliament
1302–1629
Constituency created (1302)
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member1386Thomas WalbrondWalter Byle1388 (Feb)Thomas WalbrondWalter Byle1388 (Sep)Thomas WalbrondRobert Calche1390 (Jan)Adam DenysRobert Calche1390 (Nov)1391Nicholas atte GateHenry Rauf1393Walter ByleRobert Calche1394Adam DenysThomas Smithfield1395Richard ByleThomas Barbour1397 (Jan)Walter ByleAdam Denys1397 (Sep)Nicholas atte GateRobert Cokeman1399Adam DenysThomas Barbour14011402Robert CalcheRichard Byle1404 (Jan)1404 (Oct)1406Robert CrafordJohn Cheverell1407 John GramfordWilliam Colyns1410Robert CrafordThomas Walsingham1411 1413 (Feb)1413 (May)Robert CrafordThomas Faringdon1414 (Apr)Richard ByleJohn Mayhew1414 (Nov)William GerardJohn Shoyll14151416 (Mar)1416 (Oct)1417William GerardRobert Craford1419William GerardRobert Craford1420William GerardWalter Reson1421 (May)William GerardWalter Reson1421 (Dec)William GerardWalter Provost1455Alexander Browning1510–1523No names known1529John OrengeWilliam Grimston1536 1539 ?1542 ?1545Thomas PhelipsRobert Keyle1547David SeymourRichard Morison1553 (Mar)?Richard Phelips ?1553 (Nov)Thomas PhelipsLeonard Willoughby1554Alexander HughesThomas GirdlerParliament of 1554–1555Hugh SmithRoger GerardParliament of 1555Thomas Phelips Clement HyattParliament of 1558Matthew SmytheWalter RaleighParliament of 1559Sir John PerrotJohn Scriven Parliament of 1563–1567John MorriceRichard Shaw Parliament of 1571John BakerClement Hyatt died during the 1572–81 ParliamentIn his place Henry AshleyParliament of 1572–1581John GwynneParliament of 1584–1585John RogersAndrew RogersParliament of 1586–1587Thomas LambertParliament of 1588–1589Christopher GerrardParliament of 1593Thomas RogersGeorge StrodeParliament of 1597–1598John FranklandSampson HusseyParliament of 1601Sir John StaffordEdmund ScottParliament of 1604–1611Robert NapierDr Francis JamesAddled Parliament (1614)John Freke(Sir) William PittParliament of 1621–1622John TrenchardHappy Parliament (1624–1625)Useless Parliament (1625) Parliament of 1625–1626 Sir Nathaniel NapierEdward LawrenceParliament of 1628–1629Gerrard NapierSir John MellerNo Parliament summoned 1629–1640
1640–1832
YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 John TrenchardParliamentarianDr Gilbert JonesNovember 1640 Thomas ErleParliamentarian December 1648Erle excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant1653Wareham was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Elias BondJames DeweyMay 1659John TrenchardOne seat vacantApril 1660 George Pitt Robert Culliford 1679 Thomas Erle Whig George Savage 1685 George Ryves May 1689 Thomas Skinner 1690 William Okeden 1695 Thomas Trenchard 1698 George Pitt January 1701 Thomas Erle WhigMarch 1701 Sir Edward Ernle November 1701 Thomas Erle Whig 1702 Sir Josiah Child 1704 Sir Edward Ernle 1705 George PittPitt was re-elected in 1710 but had also been elected for Hampshire, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this Parliament for Wareham 1710 Sir Edward Ernle 1713 George PittPitt was re-elected in 1715 but had also been elected for Hampshire, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this Parliament for Wareham 1715 George Pitt, junior 1718 Henry Drax 1722 Sir Edward Ernle Joseph Gascoigne 12 February 1729 Nathaniel Gould 26 February 1729 Thomas Tower 1734 Henry Drax John Pitt 1747At the election of 1747, Henry Drax and Thomas Erle Drax were initially returned as elected, but on petition (in a dispute over the franchise) the committee declared their election void and that their opponents Pitt and Hodgkinson had been duly elected Thomas Erle Drax 1748 Robert Banks Hodgkinson John Pitt 1751Henry DraxApril 1754 Seats vacant after disputed electionAt the election of 1754, there was a double return (two alternative results declared after a disputed election, leaving the House of Commons to resolve the issue), one return naming John Pitt and William Augustus Pitt, the other Henry Drax and Thomas Erle Drax. The House declared the entire election void, and a writ was issued for a new electionDecember 1754 William Augustus Pitt Henry Drax 1755 Edward Drax 1761 Thomas Erle Drax John Pitt March 1768 Ralph Burton Robert Palk November 1768 Whitshed Keene January 1774 Thomas de Grey October 1774 William Gerard Hamilton Christopher D'Oyly 1780 John Boyd Thomas Farrer 1784 Charles Lefebure 1786 John Calcraft 1790 General Richard Smith Lord Robert Spencer May 1796 Charles EllisEllis was also elected for Seaford, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Wareham November 1796 Sir Godfrey Vassall 1799 Joseph Hankey 1800 John Calcraft Whig 1802 Andrew Strahan 1806 Jonathan Raine 1807 Sir Granby Calcraft Hon. John Ward Tory 1808 Sir Samuel Romilly Whig 1812 Robert Gordon Theodore Broadhead 1818 John Calcraft Whig Thomas Denman Whig 1820 John Hales Calcraft Tory 1826 Charles Baring Wall Tory 1828 Tory 1830 James Ewing Whig 1831 Granby Calcraft Whig Charles Wood Whig1832 Representation reduced to one Member
1832–1885 YearMemberParty 1832 John Hales Calcraft Tory 1834 Conservative 1841John Erle-Drax Whig 1852 Conservative 1857 John Hales Calcraft Whig 1859 John Erle-Drax Conservative 1865 John Calcraft Liberal 1868 John Erle-Drax Conservative 1880 Montague Guest Liberal1885 Constituency abolished
Election results Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1860s
Calcraft's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1870s
Elections in the 1880s
Notes
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) F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) 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)
Concise Dictionary of National Biography (1930)