Andover (UK Parliament constituency)

Andover
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1586–1885
Number of members	two (1586-1868); one (1868-1885)

Hampshire, Western or Andover Division
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one

Andover was the name of a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1295 to 1307, and again from 1586, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was a parliamentary borough in Hampshire, represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868, and by one member from 1868 to 1885. The name was then transferred to a county constituency electing one MP from 1885 until 1918.

History

The parliamentary borough of Andover, in the county of Hampshire (or as it was still sometimes known before about the eighteenth centuries, Southamptonshire), sent MPs to the parliaments of 1295 and 1302-1307. It was re-enfranchised as a two-member constituency in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It elected MPs regularly from 1586.

The House of Commons decided, in 1689, that the elective franchise for the seat was limited to the twenty four members of the Andover corporation and not the freemen of the borough. This ruling was confirmed after another disputed election in 1727. Matthew Skinner and Abel Kettleby received the most votes, from many householders, but James Brudenell and Charles Colyear (Viscount Milsington) were declared elected for winning the most support from corporation members. Under the Reform Act 1832 the electorate was expanded by allowing householders, whose property was valued at £10 or more, to vote. There were 246 registered electors in 1832.

From the United Kingdom general election, 1868 the constituency returned one member. The electorate was further extended, in 1868, to 775 registered electors.

Apart from the period between 1653 and 1658, Andover continued to be represented as a borough constituency until that was abolished in 1885. Immediately thereafter, from the United Kingdom general election, 1885, the town of Andover was combined with surrounding rural territory to form a county division of Hampshire, known formally as the Western or Andover division. The registered electorate for the expanded seat was 9,175 in 1885, and 9,460 in 1901.^[1]

The constituency was abolished in 1918, when the Municipal Borough of Andover and Andover Rural District were included in the Basingstoke seat.

Boundaries

The constituency was based on the northern Hampshire town of Andover.

The Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 (2 & 3 William IV, c. 64) defined the seat as "the respective parishes of Andover and Knights Enham, and the tithing of Foxcot". The boundaries were left unaltered, until the end of the borough constituency in 1885.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the county division was defined as including the Sessional Divisions of Andover, and Kingsclere; with parts of the Sessional Divisions of Winchester, Romsey, and Basingstoke, and the Municipal Boroughs of Andover and Winchester, and the parish of Coombe, Hampshire in the Hungerford Sessional Division of Berkshire.

Members of Parliament

The Roman numerals after some names are to distinguish different members for this constituency, with the same name. It is not suggested this use of Roman numerals was applied at the time.

• In this section by-elections are indicated by an asterisk after the date.

Parliament of England 1586-1707 (two members)

As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments held in this period, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given. Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or (before 1558) is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry unknown is entered in the table.

Elected			Assembled	Dissolved	First Member	Second Member
		1586	13 October 1586	23 March 1587	Edwin Sandys	James Hawley
		1588	4 February 1589	29 March 1589	Thomas Temple	Henry Reade
		1593	18 February 1593	10 April 1593	Miles Sandys	Edward Barker
		1597	24 October 1597	9 February 1598	Edward Reynolds	Edward Phelips
		1601	27 October 1601	19 December 1601	Henry Ludlow	Nicholas Hyde
		1604	19 March 1604	9 February 1611	Sir Thomas Jermyn	Thomas Antrobus
		1614	5 April 1614	7 June 1614	Richard Venables	Peter Noyes
		1620 or 1621	16 January 1621	25 August 1621	Richard Venables	John Shuter
		1621	22 November 1621	8 February 1622	Robert Wallop
		1623 or 1624	12 February 1624	27 March 1625	Robert Wallop	John Shuter
		1625	17 May 1625	12 August 1625	Sir Henry Wallop	Henry Shuter
		1626	6 February 1626	15 June 1626	Henry Lord Paulett	John Shuter
		1628	17 March 1628	10 March 1629	Robert Wallop	Ralph Conway
		1640	13 April 1640	5 May 1640	Robert Wallop	Sir Richard Wynn
		1640	3 November 1640	5 December 1648	Robert Wallop	Sir Henry Rainsford [2]
		1641 *				Henry Vernon [3]
		3 May 1642 [4]				Sir William Waller [5]
			6 December 1648 [6]	20 April 1653 [7]		Seat vacant
		1653 [8]	4 July 1653	12 December 1653	unrepresented
		1654	3 September 1654	22 January 1655	John Duns
		1656	17 September 1656	4 February 1658	Thomas Hussey
		1658 or 1659	27 January 1659	22 April 1659	Colonel Gabriel Beck	Robert Gough
		N/A [9]	7 May 1659	20 February 1660	Robert Wallop	Seat vacant
			21 February 1660	16 March 1660		Sir William Waller
		1660, April 20	25 April 1660	29 December 1660	Sir John Trott, Bt	John Collins
		1661	8 May 1661	24 January 1679	Sir John Trott, Bt [10]	John Collins
		1673, January 31 *			Sir Kingsmill Lucy, Bt [11]
		1678, October 29 *			Charles West
		1679, February 11	6 March 1679	12 July 1679	Francis Powlett	William Wither
		1679, August 14	21 October 1680	18 January 1681	Francis Powlett	Sir Robert Henley
		1681, March 4	21 March 1681	28 March 1681	Charles West	Sir John Collins
		1685, March 16	19 May 1685	2 June 1687	Robert Phelips	Sir John Collins
		1689, January 14	22 January 1689	6 February 1690	Francis Powlett	John Pollen II
		1690, March 3	20 March 1690	11 October 1695	Francis Powlett (Whig) [12]	John Pollen II (Tory)
		1695, October 30	22 November 1695	6 July 1698	John Smith (Whig)	Sir Robert Smyth, Bt (Whig)
		1698, July 21	24 August 1698	19 December 1700	John Smith (Whig)	Anthony Henley (Whig)
		1701, January 14	6 February 1701	11 November 1701	John Smith (Whig)	Francis Shepheard (Whig) [13]
		1701, November 25	30 December 1701	2 July 1702	John Smith (Whig)	Francis Shepheard (Whig)
		1702, July 16	20 August 1702	5 April 1705	John Smith (Whig)	Francis Shepheard (Whig)
		1705, May 11	14 June 1705	1707 [14]	John Smith (Whig)	Francis Shepheard (Whig)

1707–1868 (two members)

Date			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		1707, October 23 [15]	John Smith	Whig	Francis Shepheard	Whig
		1708, May 6			William Guidott	Whig
		1713, August 25	Sir Ambrose Crowley [16]	Tory
		1714, March 30 *	Gilbert Searle	Tory
		1715, January 29 *	John Wallop
		1715, April 1	James Brudenell
		1727, August 23			Viscount Milsington [17]
		1730, January 20 *			William Guidott
		1734, April 25	John Pollen III
		1741, May 5			Hon. John Wallop [18]	Whig
		1749, November 28 *			Sir John Griffin
		1754, April 16	Sir Francis Blake Delaval
		1768, March 21	Benjamin Lethieullier
		1784, August 11 *			William Fellowes
		1796, May 25			Hon. Coulson Wallop
		1797, December 14 *	Thomas Assheton Smith I [19]	Tory
		1802, July 5			Hon. Newton Fellowes	Whig
		1820, March 8			Sir John Pollen, 2nd Bt	Tory
		1821, May 11 *	Thomas Assheton Smith II	Tory
		1831, May 2	Henry Arthur Wallop Fellowes	Whig	Ralph Etwall	Whig
		1832		Liberal +		Liberal +
		1835, January 8	Sir John Pollen, 2nd Bt	Conservative
		1841, June 29	Lord William Paget	Liberal +
		1847, July 29	Henry Beaumont Coles	Conservative	William Cubitt [20]	Conservative
		1857, March 28	Hon. Dudley Fortescue	Liberal +
		1861, July 29 *			Henry Beaumont Coles [21]	Conservative
		1862, December 17 *			William Cubitt [22]	Conservative
		1863, November 18 *			William Humphery [23]	Conservative
		1867, February 11 *			Sir John Burgess Karslake	Conservative
1868			constituency reduced to one member

• In this sub-section Liberal MPs elected before the formal founding of the Liberal Party, in 1859, are indicated by a + symbol after the party name.^[24]

1868-1918 (one member)

Election		Member	Party	Note
	1868	Hon. Dudley Fortescue	Liberal
	1874, February 9	Henry Wellesley	Conservative
	1880, April 1	Francis Buxton	Liberal
	1885, December 1	William Wither Bramston Beach	Conservative	Re-elected unopposed 1886, 1892, 1895, 1900; died 3 August 1901
	1901, August 26 *	Edmund Faber	Conservative
	1906, January 23	Walter Vavasour Faber	Conservative	Last MP for the constituency
1918		constituency abolished

Election results

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

General Election 1880: Abingdon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Francis William Buxton	405	52.7
	Conservative	Lieutenant Colonel Henry Wellesley	364	47.3
Majority			41	5.3
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing
General Election 1885: Andover[25] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Liberal Francis William Buxton 3,108 40.5 Conservative William Wither Beach 4,559 59.5 Majority 1,451 19 Conservative gain from Liberal Swing By-election 26 Aug 1901: Andover[25] Party Candidate Votes % ±% Conservative Edmund Beckett Faber 3,696 51.6 Liberal George Judd 3,473 48.4 Majority 223 3.2 Conservative hold Swing Notes "Election intelligence" The Times (London). Tuesday, 27 August 1901. (36544), p. 4. Rainsford died April 1641 On petition, Vernon's election was declared void. The returning officer had given his casting vote to Vernon after he tied in votes with Sir William Waller, but Waller would have won had one of his supporters not been prevented from voting (on the grounds that he had not been sworn in as a burgess). After Vernon's election was declared void without a division, the House voted 107-102 to recognise Waller as duly elected. Date on which the House of Commons resolved that Henry Vernon's election in 1641 was void and that Waller was duly elected Waller was disabled from membership in January 1648 at the instigation of the army, but this order was revoked in June 1648; he was excluded permanently in Pride's Purge, December 1648 Date of Pride's Purge, which converted the Long Parliament into the Rump Parliament. Date when Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament by force. Date when the members of the nominated or Barebones Parliament were selected. Andover was not represented in this body, except as part of Hampshire. The Rump Parliament was recalled and subsequently Pride's Purge was reversed, allowing the full Long Parliament to meet until it agreed to dissolve itself. Trott died 14 July 1672 Lucy died 19 September 1678 Powlett died c. August 1695. Seat vacant at the dissolution. On petition, Shepheard was "discharged from membership" on 19 March 1701. No new writ was issued and the seat was vacant at the dissolution. The MPs of the last Parliament of England and 45 members co-opted from the former Parliament of Scotland, became the House of Commons of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain which assembled on 23 October 1707 (see below for the members in that Parliament). Co-opted, not elected, to the Parliament of Great Britain Crowley died 7 October 1713 Milsington succeeeded as the 2nd Earl of Portmore in January 1730. Styled Viscount Lymington from 11 October 1743; died 19 November 1749. Stooks Smith suggests that Thomas Assheton Smith I's term was interrupted by Henry Smith, in the 1812-18 Parliament. However Rayment does not mention such an additional MP. T. A. Smith resigned 1821 Cubitt resigned in 1861, to contest a City of London by-election (which he lost). Coles died 23 November 1862. Cubitt died 28 October 1863. Humphery resigned, 1867. F. W. S. Craig classified Whig, Radical and similar candidates, as Liberals from 1832. Other sources may classify all these groups as Whigs. The term Liberal gradually developed as a description for the Whigs and allies, until the formal creation of the Liberal Party shortly after the United Kingdom general election, 1859. "Election intelligence" The Times (London). Wednesday, 28 August 1901. (36545), p. 4. References British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1977) 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) Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949) J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) The House of Commons 1690-1715, by Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley and D.W. Hayton (Cambridge University Press 2002) 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) Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 2)