Cricklade (UK Parliament constituency)

Wiltshire, North or Cricklade Division
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1918
Number of members	one

Cricklade
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1295–1885
Number of members	two

Cricklade was a parliamentary constituency named after the town of Cricklade in Wiltshire.

From 1295 until the general election of 1885, Cricklade was a parliamentary borough, returning two members of parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, previously to the House of Commons of England.

Initially this consisted of only the town of Cricklade, but from 1782 the vote was extended to the surrounding countryside as a punishment for the borough's corruption. The extended area came to include the village of Swindon, which later grew into a large town with the coming of the railways in the 19th century.

From the 1885 general election the borough was abolished, but the name was transferred to a county division of Wiltshire covering much the same area, and electing a single MP. This constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election, being mostly replaced by the new Swindon constituency.

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Sessional Divisions of Cricklade and Swindon.

Members of Parliament

1295-1640

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• Constituency created 1295

Parliament	First member	Second member
1386	John Andrew	Andrew Jones[1]
1388 (Feb)	John Andrew	Thomas Weston[1]
1388 (Sep)
1390 (Jan)	?John Crouch	?William Plomer[1]
1399	Robert Andrew	John Ferrour[1]
1413 (May)	Thomas Cricklade	Robert Newman[1]
1421 (Dec)	[Thomas] Cricklade	Geoffrey Cowbridge[1]
1442	John Long
1427	John Bailey[2]
1510	Sir Andrew Windsor
1529	Robert Curzon	William Rede[3]
1547	John Winchcombe alias Smallwood	John Walshe[3]
1553 (Mar)	?
1553 (Oct)	Thomas Parker	William Badger[3]
1554 (Apr)	William Hampshire	John Tunks[3]
1554 (Nov)	Thomas Parker	John Rede[3]
1555	Sir Nicholas Poyntz	George Huntley[3]
1558	William Hampshire	John Marmion[3]
1559	Sir Walter Denys	John Astley[4]
1562/3	Nicholas St John	Anthony Throckmorton[4]
1571	Sir Nicholas Arnold	Giles Brydges[4]
1572	William Brydges	John Higford[4]
1584	Rowland Leigh	Richard Smith[4]
1586	John Higford	Richard Delabere[4]
1588/9	George Snigge	Thomas Smith[4]
1593	Henry Noel	John Pleydell[4]
1597	Sir George Gifford	Grey Brydges[4][5]
1601	Sir George Gifford	Robert Master[4]
1604–1611	Sir John Hungerford	Sir Henry Poole
1614	Sir Thomas Monson	Sir John Eyre
1621–1622	Sir Thomas Howard	Sir Carew Reynell
1624	Sir William Howard	Sir Neville Poole
1625	Sir William Howard	Edward Dowse
1626	Sir William Howard	Sir Robert Hyde
1628	Robert Jenner	Sir Edward Hungerford[6]
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

1640-1885

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
April 1640		?
November 1640		Robert Jenner	Parliamentarian		Thomas Hodges	Parliamentarian
December 1648	Jenner excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant			Hodges not recorded as having sat after Pride's Purge
1653	Cricklade was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		Edward Poole			John Hawkins
May 1659	Cricklade was unrepresented in the restored Rump
April 1660		Hungerford Dunch			Nevil Maskelyne
1661		Sir George Hungerford			John Ernle
1679		Hungerford Dunch			Edmund Webb
1680		John Pleydell
1681		William Lenthall
1685		Charles Fox
1689					Thomas Freke
1690					Edmund Richmond Webb
1698					Edward Pleydell
1699		Sir Stephen Fox
1701					Edmund Dunch	Whig
1702		Thomas Richmond Webb			Samuel Barker
1705		Edmund Dunch	Whig
1708					James Vernon the younger	Whig
1710					Samuel Robinson
1713		Sir Thomas Reade			William Gore[7]
1714					Samuel Robinson
1715					Jacob Sawbridge[8]
1721					Hon. Matthew Ducie Moreton
1722					Thomas Gore
1727					Christopher Tilson
1734					William Gore
1739					Charles Gore
1741					Welbore Ellis
1747		William Rawlinson Earle			Lieutenant-Colonel John Gore
1754					Thomas Gore
1761		Arnold Nesbitt
1768		Hon. George Damer			Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Robert Fletcher
1774		William Earle			Arnold Nesbitt
1775		Samuel Peach[9]
1776		John Dewar
1779					John Macpherson[10]
1780		Paul Benfield
1782					Hon. George St John
1784[11]		Charles Westley Coxe			Robert Adamson
1785		John Walker-Heneage			Robert Nicholas
1790					Thomas Estcourt
1794		Lord Porchester
1806					Thomas Goddard
1811		William Herbert
1812		Joseph Pitt			Thomas Calley	Whig
1818					Robert Gordon	Whig
1831		Thomas Calley	Whig
1835		John Neeld	Conservative
1837					Ambrose Goddard	Conservative
1841					Hon. Henry Howard	Whig
1847					Ambrose Lethbridge Goddard	Conservative
1859		Lord Ashley	Liberal
1865		Sir Daniel Gooch	Conservative
1868					Hon. Frederick Cadogan	Liberal
1874					Ambrose Lethbridge Goddard	Conservative
1880					Mervin Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne	Liberal
1885	Borough abolished - replaced by county constituency returning one member

1885-1918

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Nevil Story Maskelyne	Liberal
	1886		Liberal Unionist
	1892	John Husband	Liberal
	1895	Alfred Hopkinson	Liberal Unionist
	1898 by-election	Lord Edmond FitzMaurice	Liberal
	1906	John Massie	Liberal
	January 1910	Thomas Charles Pleydell Calley	Liberal Unionist
	December 1910	Richard Cornthwaite Lambert	Liberal
1918		constituency abolished: see Swindon

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1885: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story Maskelyne	4,541	62.1
	Conservative	W. Stone	2,770	37.9
Majority			1,771	24.2
Turnout				81.0
	Liberal win

General Election 1886: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story Maskelyne	3,401	53.7
	Liberal	Benjamin Francis Conn Costelloe	1,683	26.6
	Independent Liberal	Sir John Bennett	1,247	19.7
Majority			1,718	27.1
Turnout				70.1
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

• Costelloe had contested the previous general election as a Conservative.

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Husband	4,569	56.1
	Conservative	Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story Maskelyne	3,571	43.9
Majority			998	12.2
Turnout				77.1
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing

Alfred Hopkinson

General Election 1895: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Alfred Hopkinson	4,679	50.5	-6.6
	Liberal	Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice	4,580	49.5	+6.6
Majority			99	1.0	13.2
Turnout				84.2
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.6

Viscount Emlyn

Cricklade by-election, 1898[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice	5,624	52.3
	Conservative	Frederick Archibald Vaughan Campbell, Viscount Emlyn	5,135	47.7
Majority			489	4.6
Turnout				90.3
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

Arnold Ward

General Election 1900: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice	5,754	53.9	+1.6
	Conservative	Maj. E. St. C. Pemberton	4,920	46.1	-1.6
Majority			834	7.8	+3.2
Turnout				85.8	-4.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.6

John Massie

General Election 1906: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Massie	7,294	56.1	+2.2
	Conservative	Arnold Sandwith Ward	5,716	43.9	-2.2
Majority			1,578	12.2	+4.4
Turnout				90.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.2

Elections in the 1910s

Thomas Calley

General Election January 1910: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Charles Pleydell Calley	7,389	52.2	+8.3
	Liberal	John Massie	6,754	47.8	-8.3
Majority			635	4.4	16.6
Turnout				93.0	+2.6
	Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+8.3

R.C. Lambert

General Election December 1910: Cricklade[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Richard Cornthwaite Lambert	6,937	50.5	+2.7
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Charles Pleydell Calley	6,809	49.5	-2.7
Majority			128	1.0	5.4
Turnout				90.4
	Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing	+2.7

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Richard Cornthwaite Lambert
• Unionist:

Notes

1. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
2. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/bailey-john-1436
3. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
4. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
5.  "Brydges, Grey". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
6. Wroughton, John. "Hungerford, Sir Edward". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14173. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
7. Gore was also elected for Colchester, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Cricklade
8. Sawbridge was expelled from the House for his role in the South Sea Bubble
9. A by-election was held in December 1774 after the death of William Earle, but the result was disputed and the Returning Officer made a double return, naming both Samuel Peach and John Dewar. The Commons declared the election void, and a second election was held; Peach was initially declared elected but on petition the result was reversed and Dewar took his seat.
10. On petition, Macpherson's election in 1779 was declared void and a new writ issued, but he was re-elected in the by-election. At the general election of 1780 he was again elected and his opponent again entered a petition. On investigation the Committee reported that "instances of the most notorious bribery had occurred"; the House voted that neither Macpherson nor his opponent Samuel Petrie were duly elected, and shortly afterwards passed an Act to extend the right of voting in Cricklade to the surrounding hundreds.
11. On petition the result of the election of 1784 was reversed, Coxe and Adamson being declared not duly elected and Heneage and Nicholas being seated in their place
12. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

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)
• F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)