Calne was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.
History Calne was one of the towns represented in the Model Parliament of 1295, but sent members only sporadically for the next century. However, it was continuously represented from the reign of Richard II (1377–1399). From medieval times, the borough consisted of the whole of the market town of Calne in the north-west of Wiltshire, and some of the surrounding district which was part of Calne parish. In 1831, the population of the borough was 2,640, and it contained 487 houses.
The right to vote was reserved to the corporation, which consisted of two "guild stewards", appointed annually, and a varying number of ordinary members or "burgesses", who were appointed by being co-opted by the existing members. This meant that once any interested party had secured control of the corporation it was generally easy to maintain, and the owner or "patron" of the borough usually had total power to nominate both the MPs. Indeed, before 1830 there had not been a contested election in living memory.
Calne manor was bought in 1572 by Lionel Duckett, a London mercer, and his family were influential over elections in the borough for almost 200 years. By the mid 18th century, the patronage was shared between Thomas Duckett and William Northey, who generally used it to return themselves as MPs, although it could also be a source of revenue: in 1757 Duckett was paid a government pension of £500 a year to vacate his seat when Pitt the Elder wanted it for George Hay.
Between 1763 and 1765, the Earl of Shelburne (who later became Marquess of Lansdowne) bought out Duckett and Northey,Page 137, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957) and his family controlled the borough in the Whig interest for about the next 75 years. Nevertheless, the power of the corporation and the Lansdowne influence was apparently much resented. In 1807 the corporation insisted on re-electing an MP with whom they were satisfied, Joseph Jekyll, even though Lansdowne wanted to replace him. At the general election of 1826, the inhabitants attempted a revolt against Lansdowne's domination, trying to win over some of the corporation members, but the issue was not taken as far as contesting the election. At the next opportunity, however, the 1830 general election, the townsmen put up their own candidates – one of several such rebellions against local aristocratic domination which took place in boroughs across the country at that election. All 18 members of the corporation voted for the Lansdowne candidates, but 60 of the local householders attempted to vote for their nominees, and when their votes were rejected by the returning officers they petitioned to have the election overturned. However, the Commons upheld the existing franchise and confirmed the result of the election.
In the initial version of the Reform Bill as proposed to Parliament in 1830, Calne would have kept both of its MPs. This was apparently because of a misunderstanding of how the 1821 census returns had been compiled, which made Calne seem much larger than it was. In fact, other boroughs of a similar size to Calne were to lose a seat, and as Lansdowne was a member of the cabinet it was politically impossible to let Calne benefit from any anomalies. Calne became one of the causes celebres round which debate on the Bill revolved, but the government eventually transferred it to Schedule B, the list of boroughs that were to lose a seat.
Under the Great Reform Act as it was eventually passed in 1832, Calne kept one of its two seats, its boundaries being extended to bring in the whole of Calne parish and parts of the neighbouring Calstone Wellington and Blackland parishes. This increased the population to 4,795; the franchise was reformed as elsewhere, and there were 191 residents qualified to vote in the first post-Reform election. This extension of the electorate could not free the borough from the Lansdowne influence, however, and the MP was a member of the Marquess's family for all but 13 of the borough's remaining 53 years of existence.
Calne was eventually abolished as a constituency with effect from the general election of 1885, the area being included from that point in the Chippenham (or Wiltshire North West) county division.
Members of Parliament 1295–1640
ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1388 (Feb) William Wichampton Ricard Roude 1399 Robert Salman John Felawe 1413 (May) Robert Roude 1414 (Apr) 1414 (Nov) 1415 William Clerk John Blake 1416 (Mar) 1416 (Oct) 1417 Robert Long Robert Salman 1419 1420 John Bailey Richard Chamberlain 1421 (May) Robert Blake Walter Studley 1421 (Dec) John Justice Robert Green 1472 Roger Townshend 1510–1523 No names known 1529 William Crowche John Turgeys 1536 ? 1539 ? 1542 ? 1545 Robert Long Francis Goodere 1547 Griffin Curteys John Cock 1553 (Mar) ? 1553 (Oct) Robert Hungerford William Allen 1554 (Apr) William Baseley 1554 (Nov) Sir John Marvyn Edward Wastfield 1555 William Allen 1558 Richard Nicholas 1559 Andrew Baynton Richard Kingsmill 1562–1563 William Clerke William Allen 1571 Edward Chambers Richard Danvers 1572 William Allen,died and replaced Nov 1575 bySir Edward Baynton William Wearealias Browne 1584 Stephen Duckett John Lever 1586 1588 Henry Jackman John Lever 1593 Thomas Edwards 1597 Thomas Edwards Richard Lowe 1601 Lionel Duckett 1604 William SwaddonJohn Noyes 1606–1611Sir Edmund Carey 1614–? Richard Lowe 1621–1622 John Duckett John Pym 1624 Sir Edward Howard 1625 George Lowe 1626 Sir John Eyres 1628–1629 Sir John Maynard 1629–1640 No Parliaments summoned
1640–1832 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party April 1640 William Maynard Walter Norborne November 1640 George LoweRoyalist Hugh RogersParliamentarian February 1644Lowe disabled from sitting – seat vacant1645Rowland WilsonFebruary 1650Wilson died – seat vacant1653Calne was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Edward Bayntun William DuckettMay 1659Not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660 Edward Bayntun William Duckett 1661 George Lowe February 1679 Sir George Hungerford Walter Norborne August 1679 Lionel Duckett 1681 Walter Norborne 1685 Sir John Ernle Thomas Richmond Webb 1689 Henry Chivers Lionel Duckett 1690 Henry Bayntun 1691 William Wyndham 1695 Henry Blaake George Hungerford 1698 Henry Chivers January 1701 Walter Long Walter Hungerford November 1701 Henry Blaake Edward Bayntun March 1702 Henry Chivers July 1702 Sir Charles Hedges 1705 Edward Bayntun George DuckettWhig 1710 James Johnston William Hedges 1713 William Northey 1715 Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Bt Whig Richard Chiswell 1722 Benjamin Haskins-StilesStyles was also elected for Devizes, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Calne George Duckett WhigFebruary 1723 Edmund Pike Heath February 1723 Matthew Ducie Moreton 1727 William Duckett William Wardour 1734 Walter Hungerford 1741 William Elliot Whig 1747 William Northey 1754 Thomas Duckett 1757 George Hay 1761 Thomas Duckett Daniel Bull 1762 Hon. Thomas FitzMaurice 1766 John Calcraft 1768 John Dunning Whig 1774 Isaac Barré Whig 1782 James Townsend 1787 Joseph Jekyll 1790 John Morris 1792 Benjamin Vaughan 1796 Sir Francis Baring, Bt Whig 1802 Lord Henry Petty 1806 Osborne Markham 1807 Henry Smith 1812 Hon. James Abercromby 1816 Sir James Macdonald, Bt 1830 Thomas Babington Macaulay Whig 1831 Charles Richard Fox Whig1832 Representation reduced to one member
1832–1885 Election MemberParty 1832 William Petty-FitzMaurice, Earl of Kerry Whig 1836 by-election Hon. John Fox-Strangways Whig 1837 Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, Earl of Shelburne 1856 by-election Sir Fenwick Williams Whig 1859 Robert Lowe Liberal 1868 Lord Edmond FitzMaurice 1885 Constituency abolished
Election results
Elections in the 1830s
In the 1830 election, 60 ineligible householders placed votes for Hopkinson and Cheney each. These were rejected after polling.
Macdonald was reappointed Commissioner for the Affairs of India, requiring a by-election.
Macaulay was appointed a Commissioner of the India Board, requiring a by-election.
Petty-FitzMaurice's death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1840s
Petty-Fitzmaurice was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, requiring a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
Petty-Fitzmaurice resigned, causing a by-election.
Lowe was appointed Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education, requiring a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s
Elections in the 1870s
Elections in the 1880s
References
Michael Brock, The Great Reform Act (London: Hutchinson, 1973) 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) T. H. B. Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816) J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
ar:كان (إنجلترا)