Beaumaris (UK Parliament constituency)

Beaumaris
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1536–1885
Number of members 1
Replaced by Anglesey

Beaumaris was a parliamentary borough in Anglesey, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1553, then to the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885, when the constituency was abolished. After 1832, the constituency was usually known as the Beaumaris District of Boroughs or simply the Beaumaris Boroughs.

History

As elsewhere in Wales, the Act of Union 1536 provided Anglesey with two members of parliament, one representing the county and the other representing a borough constituency named after the county town but including other "contributory boroughs" who were jointly responsible for providing for the upkeep of the MP and, in return, were granted a say in his election. However, at this period two towns, Beaumaris and Newborough, were disputing the right to be considered Anglesey's county town: under Henry VIII, Newborough was the assize town, but early in the reign of Edward VI (1547–1553) this function was transferred to Beaumaris. The new constituency was designated as Beaumaris, with Newborough as its only contributory borough, and first returned an MP in 1542; but at the same time as the assize was transferred, Newborough was also relieved of the obligation to contribute to the wages of the MP for Beaumaris which, under the terms of the relevant statute, also extinguished its right to vote in his election. Porritt, the early 20th century expert on the history of the Unreformed House of Commons, concludes that "the probability is that Newborough broke the connection in a fit of ill-humour" rather than that it was contrived by Beaumaris; but within a few decades, as the desirability of being directly represented in Parliament became more widely recognised, Newborough was trying unsuccessfully to regain its former status. On several occasions until the early 18th century, Newborough's inhabitants attempted to vote, but had their votes refused by the returning officer and his decision was upheld by Parliament whenever they petitioned in objection.

The franchise was further restricted in 1562, when Elizabeth I granted Beaumaris a new municipal charter, which reserved the right to vote in parliamentary elections to members of the town corporation. Thereafter until 1832, Beaumaris was a closed "corporation borough" of a type common in England but unknown elsewhere in Wales; its only voters were the mayor, two bailiffs and 21 "capital burgesses", and since they had the sole right to fill any vacancies arising in their number their power was entirely self-perpetuating, making the constituency a completely safe pocket borough. For the best part of two centuries before the Great Reform Act of 1832, the nomination was in the hands of the Bulkeley family of Baron Hill, and the elections were never contested.

By 1831, the borough of Beaumaris had a population of 2,497 (though, still, only 24 voters). The Reform Act extended the franchise, and also added three contributory boroughs – Amlwch, Holyhead and Llangefni. This raised the population of the revised Beaumaris Boroughs constituency to 8,547, though the number of qualified voters on the register in 1832 was only 329. This was still in practice a pocket borough, and the first contested election did not take place until the further extension of the franchise by the Second Reform Act, which brought the electorate up to almost 2,000 in the elections from 1868.

The constituency was abolished in the redistribution of seats in 1885, being merged into the Anglesey county constituency.

Members of Parliament

1542–1640

Members for Newborough

ParliamentMember
1541 Richard ap Rhydderch, of Myfyrion
1545 Owen ap Hugh
1547 John ap Robert Lloid

Members for Beaumaris

ParliamentMember
1553 (Mar) Maurice Grifith
1553 (Sep) Rowland Bulkeley
1554 (Nov) William Bulkeley? or William Goodman? (name damaged)
1555 Hugh Goodman
1558–1567 William Price
1571 William Bulkeley
1572 Rowland Kenrick
1584–1593 Thomas Bulkeley
1597–1598 William Jones
1601 William Maurice
1604 William Jones
1614 William Jones
1621–1622 Sampson Eure
1624 Charles Jones
1625 Charles Jones
1626 Charles Jones
1628 Charles Jones
1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned

1640–1885

YearMemberParty
1640 (Apr) Charles Jones
November 1640 John Griffith Royalist
August 1642 Griffith died – seat vacant
1646 William Jones
December 1648 Jones excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
1653 Beaumaris was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament
and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Griffith Bodwrda
May 1659 Unrepresented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Griffith Bodwrda
April 1661 Heneage Finch
July 1661 John Robinson
February 1679 Richard Bulkeley
August 1679 Hon. Henry Bulkeley Tory
1689 William Williams
1690 Thomas Bulkeley
1695 Sir William Williams
1698 Owen Hughes
January 1701 Coningsby Williams
December 1701 Robert Bulkeley
1703 Coningsby Williams
1705 Hon. Henry Bertie
1727 Watkin Williams-Wynn [1]
1730 The Viscount Bulkeley
1739 The Viscount Bulkeley
1753 John Owen Opposition Whig
1754 Richard Thelwall Price
1768 Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hugh Williams
1780 Sir George Warren
1784 Hon. Hugh Fortescue
1785 Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hugh Williams
1794 Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn
1796 The Lord Newborough
1807 Sir Edward Pryce Lloyd
1812 Thomas Frankland Lewis
1826 Sir Robert Williams
1831 Sir Richard Bulkeley Williams-Bulkeley Whig
1832 Frederick Paget Whig
1847 Lord George Paget Whig
1857 Hon. William Owen Stanley Whig
1859 Liberal
1874 Morgan Lloyd Liberal
1885 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. Williams-Wynn was also elected for Denbighshire, which he eventually chose to represent, and did not sit for Beaumaris

Election results

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References

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