Weobley (UK Parliament constituency)

Weobley
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1628–1832
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	Herefordshire

Weobley was a parliamentary borough in Herefordshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons in 1295 and from 1628 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1628–1660

Parliament	First Member	Second Member
	Weobley re-enfranchised in 1628
1628	William Walter	William Tomkins
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
1640 (Apr)	William Tomkins	Thomas Tomkins
1640 (Nov)	Arthur Jones Lord Ranelagh	Thomas Tomkins
1645	Robert Andrews	William Crowther
1653	Weobley not represented in Barebones parliament
1654,1656	Weobley not represented in 1st and 2nd Protectorate parliaments
1659	Herbert Perrott	Robert Andrews

MPs 1660–1832

Election			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		1660, April 13	James Pytts		Richard Weston
		August 1660	Thomas Tomkyns		Herbert Perrott
		April 1661			John Barneby
		1675	Sir Thomas Williams, Bt
		1678	William Gregory
		February 1679			John Birch
		September 1679	John Booth
		1685	Henry Cornewall		Robert Price
		1689	John Birch		James Morgan
		1690			Robert Price
		1691	Thomas Foley
		January 1701	Henry Cornewall		John Birch
		November 1701	Robert Price
		1702			Henry Cornewall
		1705	John Birch
		May 1708			Henry Thynne [1]
		December 1708			Henry Gorges
		1710			Henry Cornewall
		1713			Uvedale Tomkyns Price
		February 1715	Paul Foley [2]		Vice-Admiral Charles Cornewall
		June 1715	John Birch [3]
		1718			Nicholas Philpott
		1727			Uvedale Tomkyns Price
		1732	James Cornewall
		1734	John Birch		Sir John Buckworth, Bt
		October 1735	Seat vacant pending resolution of disputed election [4]
		1737	James Cornewall
		1741	Lieutenant-Colonel The Lord Carpenter		The Viscount Palmerston
		July 1747	Mansel Powell [5]		Captain Savage Mostyn [6]
		December 1747	Viscount Perceval
		1754	John Craster
		1757			George Venables-Vernon	Whig
		1761	Marquess of Titchfield	Whig	Hon. Henry Thynne
		1762	William Lynch
		1768	Simon Luttrell [7]
		1770			Bamber Gascoyne
		1774	Sir William Lynch		John St Leger Douglas
		1780	Andrew Bayntun-Rolt
		1783			(Sir) John Scott
		1786	Hon. Thomas Thynne [8]	Tory
		1790	Lord George Thynne
		May 1796			Lord John Thynne
		December 1796			Inigo Freeman Thomas
		1800			Sir Charles Talbot, Bt
		1802			Robert Steele
		1807			Lord Guernsey
		January 1812			Lord Apsley	Tory
		October 1812	Viscount St Asaph		William Bathurst
		1813	James Lenox William Naper
		1816			Lord Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck
		1818	Viscount Weymouth
		1820	Sir George Cockburn, Bt	Tory
		1824			Lord Henry Frederick Thynne	Tory
		1826			Lord William Thynne
		1828	Lord Henry Frederick Thynne	Tory
		1831			Lord Edward Thynne

Notes

1. Thynne was also elected for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Weobley
2. On petition, Foley was declared not to have been duly elected.
3. Expelled from the House of Commons, 14 March 1732, "for a notorious Breach of Trust reposed in him, as a Commissioner and Trustee for the Sale of the Forfeited Estates, referring to the Derwentwater estates.
4. Cornewall petitioned against Birch's election (in a dispute over the franchise), but Birch died before the dispute was resolved; no by-election could be called until it was determined whether Birch had been duly elected. His election was eventually annulled, and Cornewall declared to have been elected.
5. On petition, Powell was declared not to have been duly elected
6. Later Rear-Admiral
7. Created The Lord Irnham (in the Peerage of Ireland), December 1768
8. Styled Viscount Weymouth from August 1788 (when his father was created Marquess of Bath). He was re-elected in 1790, but had also been elected for Bath, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Weobley

References

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)