Chippenham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2024 by Sarah Gibson, a Liberal Democrat. The 2024 constituency includes the Wiltshire towns of Calne, Chippenham, Corsham and Royal Wootton Bassett.
In May 2023, the incumbent Chippenham MP, Michelle Donelan, announced she would be standing for the new Melksham and Devizes constituency. In July 2023, the local Conservative Association announced that their candidate for the new Chippenham constituency would be a local unitary councillor, Nic Puntis.
Constituency profile The Chippenham constituency is located in Wiltshire and is mostly rural. Its largest town is Chippenham with a population of around 37,000. Other settlements include the towns of Corsham, Calne and Royal Wootton Bassett and the village and military base of Lyneham. Chippenham is a historic market town and the area houses many workers who commute to nearby Swindon, Bath and Bristol. Most of the constituency is affluent, particularly Chippenham's Pewsham ward which is one of the 10% least-deprived areas in England.
Compared to national averages, residents of the constituency have high incomes and average levels of education and professional employment. White people made up 94% of the population in 2021. At the local county council, most of the constituency is represented by Liberal Democrats, although Reform UK councillors were elected in Calne and Conservatives were elected in some rural areas at the 2025 Wiltshire Council election. An estimated 51% of voters in the constituency supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, similar to the nationwide figure.
History A parliamentary borough of Chippenham was enfranchised in 1295. It sent two burgesses to Parliament until 1868 and one thereafter until the borough constituency was abolished in 1885. There was a county division constituency named after the town of Chippenham from 1885 to 1983, when the name of that constituency was changed to North Wiltshire.
Following the 2003–2005 review into parliamentary representation in Wiltshire, the Boundary Commission created a new county constituency, reviving the name of Chippenham, effective from the 2010 general election. It was formed from parts of the previously existing Devizes, North Wiltshire and Westbury constituencies. Further boundary changes came into effect at the 2024 general election.
Boundaries Historical boundaries
1295–1832: The parliamentary borough of Chippenham in the unreformed Parliament consisted of only part of the parish of Chippenham in Wiltshire. However, as Chippenham was a burgage borough, in which the right to vote was confined to the resident occupiers of specific properties, the boundary had no practical function. The borough had a population of 1,620 in 1831, for 283 houses.
1832–1885: The Boundary Act which accompanied the Great Reform Act extended the boundaries of the parliamentary borough, to include the whole of Chippenham parish, the adjoining parishes of Hardenhuish and Langley Burrell, as well as the extra-parochial district of Pewsham. This more than trebled the borough's population, to 5,270 by the 1831 figures, for 883 houses.
1885–1918: During this period, Wiltshire was split into five county divisions and one borough, of which The North-Western (or Chippenham) Division of Wiltshire was one; it was often colloquially referred to simply as either Chippenham or as North-West Wiltshire. It was bordered by the Cricklade division to the east, Westbury to the south and Devizes to the southeast. Over the county boundary were the Thornbury division of Gloucestershire to the west, the Cirencester division of Gloucestershire to the north and the Frome division of Somerset to the southwest.
The Chippenham division included the towns of Calne and Malmesbury as well as Chippenham, both of which had also been parliamentary boroughs in their own right before 1885. By the outbreak of World War I, the population of the constituency was about 45,000.
1918–1950: In 1918 Wiltshire was split into five divisions, but there was no borough constituency in the county. The Wiltshire, Chippenham division was expanded, taking in the towns of Cricklade and Wootton Bassett, also former parliamentary boroughs, as well as the surrounding rural areas: in full, it was composed of the then Municipal Boroughs of Calne, Chippenham, and Malmesbury, and the Rural Districts of Calne, Chippenham, Malmesbury, Cricklade and Wootton Bassett (part), and Tetbury (excluding the part in the administrative county of Gloucestershire).
1950–1983: In the redistribution which took effect at the 1950 general election, Wiltshire was divided into one borough and four county constituencies. Chippenham County Constituency consisted of the same Municipal Boroughs as in 1918 and the Rural Districts of Calne and Chippenham, Cricklade and Wootton Bassett, and Malmesbury.
1983–2010: Constituency replaced by North Wiltshire. 2010–2024: The North Wiltshire wards of Cepen Park, Chippenham Allington, Chippenham Audley, Chippenham Avon, Chippenham Hill Rise, Chippenham London Road, Chippenham Monkton Park, Chippenham Park, Chippenham Pewsham, Chippenham Redland, Chippenham Westcroft/Queens, Corsham, Lacock with Neston and Gastard, and Pickwick, and the West Wiltshire wards of Atworth and Whitley, Bradford-on-Avon North, Bradford-on-Avon South, Holt, Manor Vale (i.e. Limpley Stoke, Monkton Farleigh, South Wraxall, Westwood and Winsley), Melksham North, Melksham Spa, Melksham Without, Melksham Woodrow, Paxcroft.
The constituency was re-established as a result of increasing the number of seats in Wiltshire from six to seven. Chippenham and Corsham were transferred from North Wiltshire; Melksham from Devizes; and Bradford-on-Avon from Westbury.
Current boundaries Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following Wiltshire electoral divisions (as they existed on 4 May 2021):
Calne Central, Calne Chilvester & Abberd, Calne North, Calne Rural, Chippenham Cepen Park & Derriads, Chippenham Cepen Park & Hunters Moon, Chippenham Hardenhuish, Chippenham Hardens & Central, Chippenham Lowden & Rowden, Chippenham Monkton, Chippenham Pewsham, Chippenham Sheldon, Corsham Ladbrook, Corsham Pickwick, Corsham Without, Lyneham, Royal Wootton Bassett East, Royal Wootton Bassett North, and Royal Wootton Bassett South & West.
The constituency was realigned to retain Chippenham and Corsham, and gained most of Calne, Lyneham and Royal Wootton Bassett from the abolished North Wiltshire constituency. Bradford-on-Avon and Melksham became part of a new Melksham and Devizes constituency.
Members of Parliament MPs 1295–1640
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1386 Thomas Gay Robert Chandler 1388 (Feb) Thomas Gay John Suyput 1388 (Sep) Thomas Gay Thomas Lote 1390 (Jan) Thomas Gay Thomas Lote 1390 (Nov) 1391 1393 1394 Nicholas Sambourn Hugh de la Lynde 1413 (May) John Worth 1510–1523 No names known 1529 William Button Thomas Wilkes 1536 1539 1542 1545 Robert Warner John Bonham 1547 John Astley Francis Goldsmith 1553 (Mar) ? 1553 (Oct) Robert Wrastley Henry Goldney alias Fernell 1554 (Apr) William Smith Thomas Smith 1554 (Nov) Cyriak Petyt John Proctor 1555 Nicholas Snell John Pollard 1558 Sir John Sulyard William Neville 1559 Edward Baynard Nicholas Snell 1562 Francis Newdigate Nicholas Snell 1571 John Scott Robert Viser 1572 William Bayly John Scott 1584 Robert Baynard Robert Hyde 1586 Lawrence Hyde Robert Hyde 1589 Henry Baynton William Swayne 1593 Edward Maria Wingfield Francis Harvey 1597 Thomas Edmondes, went abroad and was replaced 1597 by Edward Wymarke Sharington Talbot 1601 Robert Berkeley Edward Wymarke 1604 John Hungerford General John Roberts 1614 William Maynard Thomas Colepeper 1621–1622 Sir Edward Hungerford John Bayly 1624 Sir John Maynard Sir Francis Popham 1625 Sir John Maynard Sir Francis Popham 1626 Sir Edward Bayntun Sir Francis Popham 1628 Sir Francis Popham Sir John Eyres 1629–1640No Parliaments summoned
MPs 1640–1868 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 Sir Edward HungerfordDied October 1648 Parliamentarian Sir Edward Bayntun November 1640 Sir Edward Bayntun Parliamentarian1648William Eyre1653Chippenham was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659Sir Edward Hungerford James StedmanMay 1659Chippenham was unrepresented in the restored RumpApril 1660 Edward Hungerford Edward Poole April 1661 Henry Bayntun July 1661 Sir Hugh Speke August 1661 Sir Edward Hungerford 1673 Francis Gwyn February 1679 Sir John Talbot August 1679 Samuel Ashe 1681 Sir George Speke March 1685 Henry Bayntun Sharington Talbot, killed in duel, 1685 August 1685 Richard Kent 1689 Nicholas Bayntun February 1690 Richard Kent Alexander Popham December 1690 Sir Basil FirebraceUnseated in 1691 and again in 1692 after being re-elected, as a result of election petitions Tory 1692 Thomas Tollemache 1694 Richard Long 1695 Walter White 1698 Edward Montagu 1701 Viscount Mordaunt 1702 James Montagu May 1705 Walter White Sir James Long November 1705 Viscount Mordaunt 1708 James Montagu 1710 Joseph AsheOn petition, Ashe was found not to have been duly elected and his opponent, Popham, was declared elected in his place 1711 Francis Popham 1713 Sir John EylesSucceeded to baronetcy, May 1716 John Norris 1715 Giles Earle 1722 Edward Rolt 1723 Thomas Boucher 1727 Rogers Holland Gabriel Roberts 1734 Richard Long 1737 Sir Edward Bayntun-RoltCreated a baronet, July 1762 1741 Sir Edmond Thomas 1754 Sir Samuel FludyerKnighted, September 1755; created a baronet, November 1759 1768 Sir Thomas Fludyer 1769 Henry Dawkins 1774 Samuel Marsh 1780 Henry Dawkins Giles Hudson 1783 George Fludyer 1784 James Dawkins Tory 1802Charles BrookeBrooke was initially declared elected in 1802, but on petition he was found not to have been duly elected and his opponent, Maitland, was declared elected in his place Whig 1803John Maitland Tory 1806Charles Brooke Whig 1807James Dawkins Tory 1812 Charles Brooke Whig Robert Peel Tory 1817 John Maitland Tory 1818 William Miles Tory Marquess of Blandford Tory 1820 William Madocks Whig John Rock Grossett Whig 1826 Ebenezer Maitland Tory Frederick Gye Tory 1830 Joseph Neeld Tory Philip Pusey Tory 1831 Henry George Boldero Tory 1832 Henry Fox Talbot Whig 1834 Conservative 1835 Henry George Boldero Conservative 1856 Robert Parry Nisbet Conservative 1859 Richard Penruddocke Long Conservative William John Lysley Liberal 1865 Sir John Neeld Conservative Gabriel Goldney Conservative1868 Representation reduced to one member
MPs 1868–1983 ElectionMemberParty 1868 Gabriel Goldney Conservative1885 Borough constituency abolished – county division created 1885 Banister Fletcher Liberal 1886 Lord Henry Bruce Conservative 1892 Sir John Dickson-Poynder Conservative 1905 Liberal 1910George Terrell Conservative 1922 Alfred Bonwick Liberal 1924 Victor Cazalet Conservative 1943 by-election Sir David Eccles Conservative 1962 by-election Daniel Awdry Conservative 1979 Richard Needham Conservative1983 Constituency abolished
MPs since 2010 The Chippenham name was revived in 2010 for the new constituency that includes Bradford on Avon, Chippenham, Corsham. ElectionMemberParty 2010 Duncan Hames Liberal Democrat 2015 Michelle Donelan Conservative 2024 Sarah Gibson Liberal Democrat
Elections
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s 2019 notional result Party Vote % Conservative 28,485 56.4 Liberal Democrats 15,285 30.3 Labour 5,896 11.7 Green 853 1.7Turnout50,51970.5Electorate71,648
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1930s
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1910s
A general election was expected to take place in 1914/15. The following were to be candidates;