Wendover was a borough constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was based on the borough of Wendover, was represented by two Members of Parliament, and was considered a classic example of a pocket borough.
History Wendover first sent members to Parliament in 1300, but after 1308, elected no burgesses for more than 300 years. However, in the 17th century a solicitor named William Hakewill, of Lincoln's Inn, rediscovered ancient writs confirming that Amersham, Great Marlow, and Wendover had all sent members to Parliament in the past, and succeeded in re-establishing their privileges (despite the opposition of James I), so that they resumed electing members from the Parliament of 1624. Hakewill himself was elected for Amersham in 1624.
The borough consisted of most of the market town of Wendover in Buckinghamshire. It was one of the smallest boroughs in England: in 1831, the population of the borough was approximately 802, and contained 171 houses. (The whole town contained 198 houses.) The right to vote was exercised by all inhabitant householders not receiving alms, which amounted to about 130 voters in 1831. Although this was a relatively large electorate for the time based on apparently democratic franchise, the borough and inhabitants were totally dependent on the Lord of the manor, who was able to exercise considerable influence and sometimes total control over the choice of MPs. In the 17th century, this patronage lay with the Hampden family, but in 1720 Richard Hampden apparently attempted to sell his interest in the borough to the government after losing £80,000 in the South Sea Bubble; what price he received for it, or whether the sale ever took place, is not recorded. By the 1750s, Wendover had passed to Earl Verney, and Namier lists his power as only being one of influence rather than total control;Page 148, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition; London: St Martin's Press, 1957) but by 1832 the Smith family (headed by Lord Carrington) seem to have been able to regard it as an absolutely secure pocket borough.
Wendover was abolished as a constituency by the Great Reform Act in 1832, those of its inhabitants who were qualified to vote under the new franchise doing so in the Buckinghamshire county constituency.
Members of Parliament YearFirst memberSecond member1300Thomas NiccollsEgidius Wilson1300Walter de KentJohn de Sandwell1300Robert atte HullElias de Broughton Constituency disenfranchised (1309) Constituency re-enfranchised (1624) YearFirst memberSecond member1624John Hampden Alexander Denton1625 Richard Hampden1626 Sampson Darrell1628 Ralph HawtreeApril 1640 Bennet HoskynsNovember 1640 Robert Croke (Royalist) Disabled to sit, November 1643 Thomas Fountaine (Parliamentarian), Died 16461645(?) Richard Ingoldsby1646 Thomas HarrisonWendover was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate1659 John Baldwin William Hampden
YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party 1660Richard Hampden Whig John Baldwin 1661 Robert Croke 1673 Edward Backwell 1673 Hon. Thomas Wharton Whig1679 Edward Backwell 1681 John Hampden 1685 Richard Hampden John Backwell 1689 John Hampden 1690 Richard Beke John Backwell January 1701 Richard Hampden November 1701 Richard Crawley July 1702 Sir Roger Hill November 1702 Richard Crawley 1705 Sir Roger Hill 1708 Thomas Ellys 1709 Henry Grey Whig1713 Richard Hampden 1714 James Stanhope Whig1715 Richard Grenville 1722 Richard Hampden Sir Richard Steele Whig1727The Viscount Limerick 1728 John Hamilton 1734 John BotelerBoteler's election was declared void on the grounds that he did not meet the land ownership requirements to be a Member of Parliament, and a by-election was held to replace him. John Hampden 1735 The Viscount Limerick 1741 The Earl Verney Tory1753 The Earl Verney Tory1754 John Calvert 1761 Richard Chandler-Cavendish Verney Lovett 1765 Edmund Burke Whig1768 Sir Robert Darling 1770 Joseph Bullock October 1774 John AdamsAdams was also elected for Carmarthen, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Wendover.December 1774 Henry Drummond 1775 Thomas Dummer 1780 Richard Smith John Mansell Smith 1784 Robert Burton John Ord 1790 John Barker Church Hon. Hugh Seymour-ConwayStyled Lord Hugh Seymour from June 1793. 1796 John Hiley Addington Tory George Canning Tory 1802 Charles Long Tory John Smith Tory 1806 Viscount MahonMahon was also elected for Hull, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Wendover.Whig George Smith Whig1807 Francis Horner Whig1812 Abel Smith Tory1818 Robert Carrington Whig1820 Samuel Smith Tory1830 Abel Smith Tory
Notes
References
GENUKI D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) J. Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832: England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) Edward Porritt and Annie G. Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)