Bristol (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Bristol
Type:	Borough
Parliament:	uk
Year:	1295
Abolished:	1885
Elects Howmany:	two
Next:	Bristol East Bristol North Bristol South Bristol West

Bristol was a two-member constituency, used to elect members to the House of Commons in the Parliaments of England (to 1707), Great Britain (1707–1800), and the United Kingdom (from 1801). The constituency existed until Bristol was divided into single member constituencies in 1885.

Boundaries

The historic port city of Bristol is located in what is now the South West Region of England. It straddles the border between the historic geographical counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. It was usually accounted as a Gloucestershire borough in the later part of the 19th and the 20th centuries.

The parliamentary borough of Bristol was represented in Parliament from the 13th century, as one of the most important population centres in the Kingdom. Namier and Brooke comment that in 1754 the city was the second largest in the Kingdom and had the third largest electorate for an urban seat.

From the 1885 United Kingdom general election the city was divided into four single member seats. These were Bristol East, Bristol North, Bristol South and Bristol West.

Members of Parliament

The use of Roman numerals in the list below denotes different politicians of the same name, not that the individuals concerned would have used the Roman numerals as part of their name.

Non Partisan denotes that the politician concerned is not known to have been associated with a party (not necessarily that he was not). Whilst Whig and Tory societies in the city continued to nominate candidates in the last half of the 18th century, the electoral labels used in Bristol had very little to do with what the MPs did in national politics.

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1295	John le Taverner^[1]
1298	John le Taverner					John de Cheddre
1301	John de Malmesbury
1305	Thomas Welishote					John Hasard
1306	John le Taverner					Robert de Holhurst
1307 (Jan)	Geoffrey Comper					Nicholas Coker
1309	Stephen de Bello Monte					Robert Martyn
1311 (Aug)	Richard Colpeck					John Fraunceys
1311 (Nov)	John Haszard					John le Lun
1313 (Mar)	John de Wellescoten					John Methelan
1313 (Sep)	John Fraunceys					John Tropyn
1315	Robert Wyldemersh					Thomas le Spicer
1316 (Jan)	Nicholas de Roubergwe					John Veys
1318	Gilbert Pickering					Richard de Woodhall
1319	Thomas de Salop					Robert de Lyncoln
1320	John le Hunte					John Welishote
1321	John de Romeneye					William de Hanyngfeld
1322 (May)	William de Clyf					John Fraunceys jnr (son of 1311)
1322 (Nov)	John le Taverner					John Fraunceys jnr
1324 (Jan)	John de Axebridge					John Fraunceys jnr
1325	John de Axebridge					John Fraunceys jnr
1327	John de Axebridge					John de Romeneye
1328 (Feb)	Richard de Panes					Hugh le Hunte
1328 (Apr)	William de Trowbridge					Hugh de Langebridge
1330 (Mar)	John Fraunceys					Hugh le Hunte
1330 (Nov)	Hugh le Hunte					Richard de Panes
1332 (Mar)	John de Romeneye					John de Axebridge
1332 (Sep)	Hugh de Langebridge					John de Axebridge
1332 (Dec)	Richard de Chelreye					John Fraunceys snr
1334 (Feb)	John Otery					John de Strete
1334 (Sep)	Robert Gyene or Gwyen
1335	Hugh de Langebridge					John de Strete
1336 (Mar)	Robert de Gyn or de Gyeyn					John Franceys
1336 (Sep)	John Fraunceys jnr					Thomas Tropin
1336 (Dec)	Hugh de Langebridge					John le Spycer William le Haukare
1337 (Jan)	Robert de Gyene					John de Strete
1338 (Jan)	Everard le Fraunceys					Philip de Torynton
1338 (Jul)	Everard le Fraunceys					Philip de Torynton
1339 (Jan)	Everard le Fraunceys					John de Strete
1340 (Jan)	Thomas Tropyn					John le Spicer
1341	Robert Guyene					Philip de Toryton
1344	Roger Turtle					John de Horncastle
1346 (Sep)	John de Wycoumbe					John Neel
1348 (Jan)	Everard Fraunceys or le Freynshe					John de Strete
1348 (Mar)	Everard le Fraunceys					Thomas de Lodelawe
1351	John de Colyngton or Cobbington					John Seymour
1353	Thomas Babbecary					William Coumbe
1354	Richard le Spicer					Reginald le French
1358	Reginald French					Richard Brompton
1360	Thomas Babbecari					Galfridus Beauflour (Geoffrey Beauflower)
1361	Reginald le French					William Yonge
1362	Walter Frompton					Edmund Blanket
1363	John Serjaunt					John Stoke
1365	William Haye					William Cannings
1366	William Somerwell					Thomas Denbaud
1368	Richard Chaimburleyn					Richard Sydenham
1369	Robert Cheddre					Edmund Blanket
1371 (Jun)	John Bathe
1372	Walter Derby					John Stoke
1373	Walter Derby					Thomas Beaupyne or Beaupenny
1377 (Jan)	Ehas Spelly					Thomas Beaupyne or Beaupenny
1378	Thomas Beaupyne					Walter de Frompton
1381	Elias Spelly					John Stokes
1382 (May)	Thomas Beaupyne					John Viell
1382 (Oct)	Walter Derby					John Fullbroke
1383 (Feb)	William I Canynges(d.1396)					John Candavere
1383 (Oct)	John Canynges(d.1405)					William Frome
1384 (Apr)	William I Canynges(d.1396)					William Somerwell
1384 (Nov)	Elias Spelly					Walter Tedistill (Tyddeley?)
1385	Elias Spelly					Thomas Knapp
1386	Elias Spelly					William I Canynges (d.1396)
1388 (Feb)	Thomas Beaupyne					Thomas Knapp
1388 (Sep)	Robert Gardiner					John Fulbrook
1390 (Jan)	John Viell					William Frome
1391	William Frome					John Stephens
1393	Thomas Beaupyne					John Stephens
1397 (Jan)	William Frome					John Banbury
1399	Thomas Norton					Richard Pavys or Pannys
1402	Thomas Norton					John Droyes
1406	Henry Bokerell					Gilbert Joce
1407 (Oct)	John Droys, merchant					John Newton, merchant
1411 (Oct)	Thomas Norton					David Dudbroke
1413 (Apr)	Thomas Norton					John Leycester
1414 (Jan)	Thomas Young					John Spyne
1414 (Oct)	Thomas Blount, merchant					John Clyve, merchant
1416 (Feb)	Robert Russell					Robert Colville
1417 (Oct)	Thomas Norton					John Burton
1419 (Sep)	Robert Russell					Mark William
1420 (Nov)	Thomas Norton					John Spyne
1421 (Mar)	Thomas Norton					Henry Gildeney
1421 (Nov)	Mark William					Richard Trenode
1422 (Oct)	John Burton					Roger Lyveden or Lavindon
1423 (Oct)	John Burton					Roger Leveden or Lavindon
1425 (Mar)	Richard Trenode					Walter Power or Powell
1426 (Feb)	Henry Gildeney					John Langley
1427 (Sep)	John Burton					Henry Gildeney
1429 (Sep)	Richard Trenode					John Sharp
1430 (Dec)	Thomas Fish					Walter Power or Powell
1432 (Apr)	John Burton					John Sharp
1433 (Jun)	Robert Russell					Walter Power
1435 (Sep)	Thomas Fisshe					Thomas Young(d.1476)^[2]
1436 (Dec)	Thomas Young(d.1476)					Thomas Norton jnr
1439	William II Canynges(d.1474)^[3]
1442 (Jan)	Thomas Young(d.1476)					John Sharp
1447 (Jan)	Thomas Young(d.1476)					John Sharp, jnr (son of John Sharp 1429)
1449 (Jan)	Thomas Young(d.1476)					John Sharp, jnr
1449 (Nov)	Thomas Young(d.1476)					John Sharp, jnr
1450 (Oct)	Thomas Young(d.1476)					William II Canynges(d.1474)
1453 (Feb)	John Shipward					William Pa(vy?)
1455 (Jul)	Thomas Young(d.1476)					William II Canynges(d.1474)
1459 (Nov)	John Shipward					Philip Mede
1460 (Sep)	John Shipward					Philip Mede
1462	Thomas Meede^[4]
1467 (Apr)	William Spencer					John Bagot
1472 (Aug)	John Twynyho					John Bagot
1478 (Jan)	John Hawkes					Edmund Westcote
1483 (Jan)	Edmund Westcote					William Wykam
1484 (Jan)	John Twynyho					Robert Strange
1485 (Oct)	John Esterfield					Robert Strange (MP for Bristol)
1487 (Oct)	John Esterfield					Henry Vaughan
1490 (Jan)	William Toker					John Fisher
1491 (Oct)	John Syram™ (or Seymour?)					John Pynke
1495 (Oct)	Henry Vaughan					Philip Kingston
1505	Henry Dale					Thomas Snigg
1510)Jan)	Richard Vaughan					Henry Dale
1512 (Jan)	Thomas Smith					Richard Hobby
1523 (Apr)	Robert Thorn					Richard Hobby
1529		Thomas Jubbes			Richard Abingdon
1536		Nicholas Thorn			Roger Coke
1539		Thomas White			David Broke^1
1541		David Broke			Robert Elyot
1545		Robert Keilway			John Drewes
1553		John Walshe			David Harris
1554					Thomas Lansden
1555					William Chester
1558		William Tyndall			Robert Butler
1559		John Walshe			William Carr
1563		John Walshe, made judge, repl. by Thomas Chester			William Carr
1571		John Popham			Philip Langley
1584		Thomas Hanham			Richard Cole
1586					Thomas Aldworth
1588					William Saltern
1593					Richard Cole
1597		George Snigge made Baron of the Court of Exchequer and replaced 1605 by John Whitson			William Ellys
1601					John Hopkins	Non Partisan
1604					Thomas James	Non Partisan
1614		John Whitson	Non Partisan		Thomas James	Non Partisan
1621		John Barker	Non-Partisan		John Guy	Non Partisan
1624		John Barker	Non Partisan		John Guy	Non Partisan
1625		Nicholas Hyde	Non Partisan		John Whitson	Non Partisan
1626		John Whitson	Non Partisan		John Doughty	Non Partisan
1628		John Doughty	Non Partisan		John Barker	Non Partisan
1640 (Mar)		John Glanville	Non Partisan		Humphrey Hooke	Non Partisan
1640 (Oct)		Humphrey Hooke	Non Partisan		Richard Longe	Non Partisan
1642		John Glanville	Non Partisan		John Tailer	Non Partisan
1646		Richard Aldworth	Non Partisan		Luke Hodges	Non Partisan
1654		Richard Aldworth	Non Partisan		Miles Jackson	Non Partisan
1656		Robert Aldworth	Non Partisan		John Dodderidge Miles Jackson	Non Partisan
1659		Robert Aldworth	Non Partisan		Joseph Jackson	Non Partisan
1660		John Stephens	Non Partisan		Sir John Knight	Non Partisan
1661		The Earl of Ossory ^2	Non Partisan
1666		Sir Humphrey Hooke ^3	Non Partisan
1678		Sir Robert Cann	Non Partisan
1681		Thomas Earle	Non Partisan
1681					Sir Richard Hart	Non Partisan
1685		Sir John Churchill ^4	Non Partisan		Sir Richard Crumpe	Non Partisan
1685		Sir Richard Hart	Non Partisan
1689					Sir John Knight II	Non Partisan
1695		Sir Thomas Day	Non Partisan		Robert Yate	Non Partisan
1701		Sir William Daines	Non Partisan
1710		Edward Colston	Tory		Joseph Earle	Non Partisan
1713		Thomas Edwards	Non Partisan
1715		Sir William Daines	Non Partisan
1722		Sir Abraham Elton, Bt I	Non Partisan
1727		John Scrope	Non Partisan		Sir Abraham Elton, Bt II ^6	Non Partisan
1734		Thomas Coster ^5	Non Partisan
1739		Edward Southwell	Non Partisan
1742					Robert Hoblyn	Non Partisan
1754		Robert Craggs-Nugent (later The Viscount Clare) ^8	Whig		Richard Beckford ^7	Tory
1756					Jarrit Smith	Tory
1768					Matthew Brickdale	Tory
1774		Henry Cruger	Whig		Edmund Burke	Whig
1780		Matthew Brickdale	Tory^[5]		Sir Henry Lippincott, Bt ^9	Tory
1781					George Daubeny	Tory
1784					Henry Cruger	Whig
1790		Marquess of Worcester	Tory		The Lord Sheffield ^10	Whig
1796		Charles Bragge (later Charles Bragge Bathurst) ^11	Tory
1802					Evan Baillie	Whig
1812		Richard Hart Davis	Tory
1812					Edward Protheroe I	Whig
1820					Henry Bright	Whig
1830					James Evan Baillie	Whig^[6]
1831		Edward Protheroe II	Whig
1832		Sir Richard Vyvyan, Bt	Tory
1834			Conservative
1835					Philip John Miles	Conservative
1837		Philip William Skinner Miles	Conservative		Henry FitzHardinge Berkeley ^13	Radical^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
1852		Henry Gore-Langton	Whig
1859			Liberal			Liberal
1865		Sir Morton Peto ^12	Liberal
1868		John Miles	Conservative
1868		Samuel Morley	Liberal
1870					Elisha Smith Robinson ^14	Liberal
1870					Kirkman Hodgson ^12	Liberal
1878					Lewis Fry	Liberal
1885	constituency divided. See Bristol East, Bristol North, Bristol South and Bristol West.

Notes:-

• ¹ By 4 February 1536 David Broke had been elected vice Thomas Jubbes deceased. He was probably re-elected in the 1536 general election and certainly was at the 1539 and 1542 elections..
• ² A Peer of Ireland. He was created a Peer of England, as 1st Baron Butler, in 1666.
• ³ Died 16 October 1677.
• ⁴ Died 11 October 1685.
• ⁵ Died 30 September 1739.
• ⁶ Died 20 October 1742.
• ⁷ Died 24 January 1756.
• ⁸ Created a Peer of Ireland, as 1st Viscount Clare, in 1767.
• ⁹ Died 30 December 1780.
• ¹⁰ A Peer of Ireland, as 1st Baron Sheffield, created in 1781.
• ¹¹ Adopted a new surname of Bathurst, in 1804.
• ¹² Resigned.
• ¹³ Died 10 March 1870.
• ¹⁴ Election declared void on petition.

Elections

During the existence of this constituency, Bristol was a city with the status of being a county of itself. That meant that the city was not subject to the administration of the officials of the geographic counties in which it was situated. In electoral terms it meant that the voters for the parliamentary borough included those qualified on the same 40 shilling freeholder franchise as that for a county constituency. Other electors qualified as freemen of the borough. These were the ancient right franchises, applicable to Bristol, preserved by the Reform Act 1832, which also introduced a broader occupation franchise for all borough constituencies.

Bristol was a fairly partisan constituency in the eighteenth century with two rival clubs - the Union Club for the Whigs and the Steadfast Society for the Tories.^[10]

The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections. Each voter had up to as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings (until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872).

Namier and Brooke, in The House of Commons 1754-1790, estimated the electorate of Bristol to number about 5,000. When registration of electors was introduced in 1832 the city had 10,315 names on the electoral register.

Note on percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote.

Note on sources: The information for the election results given below is taken from Sedgwick 1715–1754, Namier and Brooke 1754–1790, Stooks Smith 1790-1832 and from Craig thereafter. Where Stooks Smith gives additional information or differs from the other sources this is indicated in a note after the result.

1710s – 1720s – 1730s – 1740s – 1750s – 1760s – 1770s – 1780s –1790s – 1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s – 1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s

Elections in the 1710s

• Note (1715): Although the Whig candidates received fewer votes than the Tory ones, the Returning Officer declared them elected and the House of Commons did not hear the petitions against the return; so Daines and Earle continued to sit throughout the Parliament.

Elections in the 1720s

• Note (1727): William Hart (Tory) was a candidate, but he did not go to a poll after Mr Elton paid him £1,000 to cover his election expenses.
• Elton became the 2nd Baronet, upon the death of his father (the MP of the same name elected in 1722) in 1728.

Elections in the 1730s

• Death of Coster

• Note (1759): Southwell was an Opposition Whig

Elections in the 1740s

• Death of Elton

Elections in the 1750s

• Note (1754): Nugent 2,601; Philips 2,165. (Source: Stooks Smith)
• Death of Beckford

• Seat vacated by appointment of Craggs-Nugent as a Vice Treasurer of Ireland

Elections in the 1760s

• Seat vacated by appointment of Craggs-Nugent as First Commissioner of the Board of Trade and Plantations

• Creation of Craggs-Nugent as the 1st Viscount Clare, in the Peerage of Ireland, in 1767

• Seat vacated by appointment of Viscount Clare as a Vice Treasurer of Ireland

Elections in the 1770s

• Note (1774): 5,384 voted. Lord Clare resigned on the second day when Mr. Burke was first proposed. Mr. Burke was at the time in Malton, for which place he had been returned when the deputation arrived to invite him to Bristol, where he arrived on the sixth day's poll. (Source: Stooks Smith)

Elections in the 1780s

• Note (1780): Lippincott 3,518; Burke 0. Mr. Rich. Combe, late member of Aldeburgh, was a Candidate, but died the day before the commencement of the poll. (Source: Stooks Smith)
• Death of Lippincott

• Note (1784): 6,094 voted. (Source: Stooks Smith)

Elections in the 1790s

• Note (1796): Poll 1 day. (Source: Stooks Smith)

Elections in the 1800s

• Members of the last Parliament of Great Britain, continued in office for the first Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801

• Seat vacated on the appointment of Bragge as Treasurer of the Navy

• Note (1802): Sir Frederick Eden was a candidate, but retired before the election. (Source: Stooks Smith)
• Seat vacated on the appointment of Bragge as Secretary at War

• Bragge changed his surname to Bathurst in 1804

Elections in the 1810s

• Seat vacated on the appointment of Bathurst as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 23 June 1812

• Note (1812 by-election): Poll 13 days; 2,142 electors voted. (Source: Stooks Smith)

• Note (1812): Poll 10 days; 4,389 electors cast 7,415 votes. (Source: Stooks Smith)

• Note (1818): Poll 5 days; 4,121 electors cast 7,320 votes. (Source: Stooks Smith)

Elections in the 1830s

• Note (1830): Poll 4 days (Source: Stooks Smith)

Elections in the 1850s

• Note (1852): From this election the number of electors who voted is unknown, so the number of votes cast is divided by two, and the resultant figure is used to calculate an estimated minimum turnout. To the extent that electors did not cast both their possible votes the turnout figure will be an underestimate.

Elections in the 1860s

• Resignation of Peto

• McCalmont reports that Miles was unseated on petition, but that no new writ was issued before the 1868 general election. Craig also reports the election was voided.

Elections in the 1870s

• Death of Berkeley

• Election of Robinson declared void on petition

• Swing from Liberal to Conservative

• Resignation of Hodgson

Elections in the 1880s

• Constituency abolished - city split into four divisions (1885)

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
• Unreformed House of Commons

Bibliography

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977)
• McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book: British Election Results 1832-1918 (8th edition, The Harvester Press 1971)
  • • • The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973) out of copyright
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)

Notes and References

1. Web site: The parliamentary history of the county of Gloucester. 1898. William Retlaw Williams on Internet Archive. 2011-03-25.
2. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, Vol. "C", p.970, Canynges. Thomas Young was half-brother to William II Canynges
3. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, Vol. "C", p.970, Canynges
4. Book: Robinson, W.J. . West Country Churches . 1915 . Bristol Times and Mirror Ltd. Bristol . 67.
5. Book: Stooks Smith . Henry . The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive . 1845 . Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. . London . 31–34 . . 29 October 2018.
6. Web site: Election Address . Discovering Bristol . 10 September 2019.
7. Book: Bush. Graham William Arthur. Bristol and its Municipal Government 1820-1851. 1976. Bristol Record Society. 0305-8727. 147. https://books.google.com/books?id=fJRnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA147. 19 April 2018. The Structure and Politics of the Council. Bristol Record Society's Publications.
8. Book: Steele. E. D.. Palmerston and Liberalism, 1855-1865. 1991. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 0-521-40045-7. 72. https://books.google.com/books?id=sXg6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA72. 19 April 2018. At home.
9. News: Bristol. 19 April 2018. Worcester Journal. 5 August 1847. 2. British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
10. Pages 88 to 91,Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)