Great Bedwyn was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, centred on Great Bedwyn, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.
Members of Parliament 1295–1640
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1295 Sir William Russell (d.1311), Lord of YaverlandWiffen, J. H. Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell, 1884, vol. 1, pp.127–131. The Russell family, of Kingston Russell, Dorset, held the manor of Little Bedwyn 1386 John Combe William Bailiff 1388 (Feb) 1388 (Sep) 1390 (Jan) John Combe William Plomer 1399 Thomas Smith Geoffrey Mauncell 1420 John Benger John Everard 1421 (May) 1421 (Dec) Thomas Hussey Maurice Hommedieux 1449 Sir Thomas Malory 1491 William Paston 1510–1523No names known 1529 William Newdigate died and replaced 1532/3 by? Thomas Polsted John Berwick 1536 ? 1539 ? 1542 ? 1545 John Winchcombe alias Smallwood John Seymour 1547 Anthony Browne Robert Pagman 1553 (Mar) ? 1553 (Oct) Richard Fulmerston John Hungerford 1554 (Apr) Richard Fulmerston Sir Edmund Rous 1554 (Nov) Richard Fulmerston Edward Hungerford 1555 Henry Clifford David Seymour 1558 John Temple George Hidden 1559 Francis Newdigate Henry Clifford 1562–3 John Thynne Stephen Hales 1571 Nicholas St John Thomas Blagrave 1572 Simon Bowyer George Ireland 1584 Richard Wheler Roger Puleston 1586 Richard Wheler Roger Puleston 1588 John Seymour Henry Ughtred 1593 Thomas Hungerford James Kirton 1597 Sir Anthony Hungerford Francis Castilian 1601 Sir Anthony Hungerford Levinus Munck 1604–1611 John Rodney Sir Anthony Hungerford 1614 Robert Hyde Sir Giles Mompesson 1621–1622 Sir Francis Popham Sir Giles Mompesson 1624 Hugh Crompton William Cholmeley 1625 Sir John Brooke William Cholmeley 1626-? John Selden Sir Maurice Berkeley 1628 Edward Kyrton Sir John Trevor 1629–1640No Parliaments summoned
1640–1832 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 Charles Seymour Richard HardingeRoyalist November 1640 Sir Walter SmithRoyalist February 1644Smith and Harding disabled from sitting – both seats vacant1646 Edmund Harvey ParliamentarianHenry HungerfordParliamentarianDecember 1648Hungerford not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge1653Great Bedwyn was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Thomas ManleyHenry HungerfordMay 1659 Colonel Edmund Harvey One seat vacant 1660 Robert Spencer Thomas Gape 1661 Duke Stonehouse Henry Clerke 1663 John Trevor 1673 Daniel Finch February 1679 Francis Stonehouse John Deane August 1679 William Finch 1681 Sir John Ernle John Wildman 1685 Lemuel Kingdon Thomas Loder 1689 Sir Edmund Warneford John Wildman 1690 The Viscount Falkland Sir Jonathan Raymond 1694 Francis Stonehouse 1695 Admiral Sir Ralph Delaval 1698 Charles Davenant 1701 Michael Mitford 1702 Hon. James Bruce May 1705 Sir George ByngByng was also elected for Plymouth, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Great Bedwyn Nicholas Pollexfen December 1705 Lord BruceBruce was re-elected in 1710, but had also been elected for Marlborough, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Great Bedwyn November 1707 Tracy PauncefortOn petition, Pauncefort was found not to have been duly elected and was taken into custody by order of the House of Commons for bribery and corruption at his election December 1707 Nicholas Pollexfen 1708 Samuel Vanacker Sambrooke 1710 Sir Edward Seymour 1711 Thomas Millington 1715 Stephen Bisse William Sloper 1722 Robert Bruce Charles Longueville 1727 Sir William Willys Viscount LewishamOn petition (in a dispute over the franchise), Lewisham was declared not to have been duly elected 1729 William Sloper 1732 Francis Seymour 1734 Brigadier Robert Murray 1738 Edward Popham 1741 Sir Edward Turner Whig Lascelles Metcalfe 1747 William Sloper 1754 Sir Robert Hildyard 1756 Hon. Robert Brudenell 1761 Vice Admiral Thomas Cotes William Woodley 1766 William Burke 1767 Sir Thomas Fludyer March 1768 Hon. James Brudenell Hon. Robert BrudenellBrudenell was also elected for Marlborough, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this Parliament for Great Bedwyn May 1768 William Burke November 1768 William Northey 1771 Benjamin Hopkins October 1774 The Earl of Courtown Paul Methuen December 1774 Viscount Cranborne 1780 Sir Merrick Burrell 1781 Paul Cobb Methuen 1784 Marquess of Graham Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Manners June 1790 Lord Doune December 1790 Viscount Stopford Tory 1792 Edward East 1796 Lieutenant General the Hon. Thomas Bruce John WodehouseStyled The Hon. John Wodehouse from October 1797 1797 Sir Robert Buxton 1802 Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Bt 1806 Viscount Stopford Tory James Henry Leigh ToryApril 1807 Sir Vicary Gibbs ToryMay 1807 Sir John Nicholl ToryMarch 1818 John Buxton Tory1832 Constituency abolished
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) via Internet Archive 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)