Ashburton (also known as Mid Devon) was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament at Westminster, for the Parliaments of 1295 and 1407, and regularly from 1640 until it was abolished for the 1868 general election. It was one of three Devon borough constituencies newly enfranchised (or re-enfranchised after a gap of centuries) in the Long Parliament. It returned two Members of Parliament until the 1832 general election when the number was reduced to one MP. (currently unavailable )
From the 1885 general election Ashburton was revived as a county division of Devon. It returned one member until it was abolished from the 1918 general election.
Boundaries 1885-1918 The Sessional Divisions of Crockernwell and Teignbridge.Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
Members of Parliament
Ashburton borough 1398–1868
1407 Richard Hurston, Walter Denys
Ashburton re-enfranchised by Parliament in Nov 1640
MPs 1640–1832 ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyNovember 1640 Sir John NorthcoteParliamentarian Sir Edmund FowellParliamentarian December 1648Northcote and Fowell excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant1653Ashburton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Thomas ReynellJohn FowellMay 1659Not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660Sir William Courtenay John FowellSucceeded as 2nd Baronet, 1674 1661 Sir George Sondes 1677 William Stawell Rawlin Mallock February 1679 Thomas Reynell September 1679 Richard Duke of Otterton 1681 William Stawell 1685 Edward Yarde 1689 Sir Walter Yonge Thomas Reynell 1690 William Stawell Sir Richard Reynell 1695 Richard Duke of Otterton 1701 Sir Thomas Lear 1702 Richard Reynell 1705 Gilbert Yarde January 1708 Roger Tuckfield WhigMay 1708 Robert Balle 1710At the election of 1710, Lloyd and Tuckfield were returned but on petition both were found not to have been duly elected (in a dispute over the franchise), and Reynell and Courtenay were declared elected in their place Richard Lloyd March 1711 Richard Reynell George CourtenayCourtenay had also been elected for Newport (Cornwall), which he chose to represent; on his being declared duly elected for Ashburton a new writ for a by-election was immediately issued, and Courtenay never sat for Ashburton March 1711 Andrew Quick 1713 Roger Tuckfield Whig 1734 Sir William YongeYonge was also elected for Honiton, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Ashburton Whig 1735 Thomas Bladen 1739 Joseph Taylor 1741 John Harris Whig John Arscott 1754 The Viscount Midleton 1761 Hon. Thomas Walpole 1767 Robert Palk Tory 1768 Laurence Sulivan Tory Charles Boone Tory 1774 Robert PalkCreated a baronet, May 1782 Tory 1784 Robert MackrethKnighted, May 1795 Tory 1787 Lawrence PalkPalk was re-elected in 1796 but was also elected for Devon, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Ashburton again Tory 1796 Walter Palk Tory 1802 Sir Hugh Inglis Tory 1806 Hon. Gilbert Elliot Tory 1807 Lord Charles Bentinck Tory 1811 John Sullivan Tory 1812 Richard Preston Tory 1818 Sir Lawrence Vaughan Palk Tory Sir John Copley Tory 1826 William Sturges Bourne Tory 1830 Charles Arbuthnot ToryFebruary 1831 William Stephen Poyntz WhigMay 1831 Robert Torrens Whig1832 Representation reduced to one Member
MPs 1832–1868 ElectionMemberParty 1832 William Stephen Poyntz Whig 1835 Charles Lushington Whig 1841 William Jardine Whig 1843 by-election James MathesonCreated a baronet, 1850 Whig 1847 Thomas Matheson Whig 1852 George Moffatt Radical 1859 John Harvey Astell Conservative 1865 Robert Jardine Liberal1868 Constituency abolished
Mid or Ashburton division of Devon 1885–1918
ElectionMemberParty 1885 Charles Seale-Hayne Liberal 1904 by-election Harry Eve Liberal 1908 by-election Ernest Morrison-Bell Liberal Unionist January 1910 Charles Buxton Liberal December 1910 Ernest Morrison-Bell Conservative1918 Constituency abolished
Elections Elections in the 1830s
Arbuthnot resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1840s
Jardine's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1860s
Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; Unionist: Ernest Morrison-Bell Liberal:
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) F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) British History Online – list of speakers in the Parliaments of 1656 and 1658-9