Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Electoral district of Somerset.

Somerset
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	Somerset
1290–1832
Seats	Two
Replaced by	East Somerset and West Somerset

Somerset was a parliamentary constituency in Somerset, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), known traditionally as knights of the shire, to the House of Commons of England until 1707, the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832.

Elections were held by the bloc vote system.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1290–1629

• Constituency created (1290)

Parliament	First member	Second member
Parliament of 1366	Hugh de Durborough	William Bonville
Parliament of 1368	Hugh de Durborough	Walter Blewet
Parliament of 1369	Edward Cheney	Matthew de Clevedon
Parliament of 1371	John Beauchamp of Lillisdon
Parliament of 1372	Hugh de Durborough	John Reynon
Parliament of 1373	Sir John Delamare	Walter Blewet
Parliament of 1376	Thomas Marshall
Parliament of 1377	Sir John Delamare	Sir Thomas Hungerford
Parliament of 1379	Sir John Burghersh
Parliament of 1382	Sir John Delamare	Sir Thomas Hungerford
Parliament of 1383 (Oct)	Sir William Bonville
Parliament of 1384 (Apr)	Sir William Bonville
Parliament of 1384 (Nov)	Sir William Bonville
Parliament of 1386	Sir William Bonville	Sir Thomas Brooke
First Parliament of 1388	Sir William Bonville	Sir Thomas Brooke
Second Parliament of 1388	Sir Thomas Hungerford	Sir John Burghersh
First Parliament of 1390	Sir Stephen Derby	Thomas Beaupine
Second Parliament of 1390	Sir John Berkeley	Sir Thomas Hungerford
Parliament of 1391	Sir John Rodney	Sir Thomas Brooke
Parliament of 1393	Sir Thomas Brooke	Sir William Bonville
Parliament of 1394	Sir Humphrey Stafford I	Sir John Berkeley
Parliament of 1395	Sir William Bonville	Sir Thomas Brooke
First Parliament of 1397	Sir Thomas Brooke	Sir Thomas Arthur
Second Parliament of 1397	Sir Ivo Fitzwaryn	Sir Thomas Brooke
Parliament of 1399	Sir Thomas Brooke	Sir William Bonville
Parliament of 1401	Sir Thomas Beauchamp	William Stourton
Parliament of 1402	Sir Thomas Brooke	William Stourton
First Parliament of 1404	Sir Thomas Brooke	William Stourton
Second Parliament of 1404	Sir Hugh Lutrell	Sir Leonard Hakluyt
Parliament of 1406	Sir Walter Rodney	Sir Leonard Hakluyt
Parliament of 1407	Sir Thomas Brooke	Richard Cheddar
Parliament of 1410	Walter Hungerford	Sir Thomas Brooke
Second Parliament of 1413	Sir Thomas Brooke	Richard Cheddar
First Parliament of 1414	Sir John Tiptoft	Sir Hugh Luttrell
Second Parliament of 1414	Sir Hugh Luttrell	Robert Hill
Parliament of 1415	Sir Hugh Luttrell	Robert Hill
First Parliament of 1416	Robert Hill	Richard Boyton
Parliament of 1417	Thomas Brooke	Richard Cheddar
Parliament of 1419	Robert Hill	John Stourton
Parliament of 1420	Sir Thomas Stawell	John Stourton
First Parliament of 1421	Sir William Bonville	Sir Thomas Brooke
Second Parliament of 1421	Richard Cheddar	John Stourton
Parliament of 1424	Giles Daubeney
Parliament of 1429	Giles Daubeney
Parliament of 1433	John Hody
Parliament of 1435	John Hody
Parliament of 1437	John Hody
Parliament of 1455	William Courtenay
Parliament of 1529	Sir Nicholas Wadham	Sir William Stourton
Parliament of 1539	Sir Hugh Paulet	Sir Thomas Speke
Parliament of 1545	Sir Thomas Speke	Sir John St Loe
Parliament of 1547	Sir Maurice Berkeley	Sir Henry Capell
First Parliament of 1553	Sir Ralph Hopton	Sir Edward Rogers
Second Parliament of 1553	Sir Edward Rogers	Sir Ralph Hopton
First Parliament of 1554	Sir Edward Waldegrave	Sir John Sydenham
Second Parliament of 1554	Sir Edward Waldegrave	Humphrey Colles
Parliament of 1555	?Sir Ralph Hopton	?Sir John St Loe
Parliament of 1558	Sir Edward Rogers	John Walshe
Parliament of 1559		Sir William St Loe
Parliament of 1562–1567		Sir Maurice Berkeley
Parliament of 1571	Amias Paulet	George Rogers
Parliament of 1572–1581	Sir Hugh Paulet died Sir George Speke	Sir Maurice Berkeley
Parliament of 1584–1585	Thomas Horner	(Sir) Henry Berkeley
Parliament of 1586–1587
Parliament of 1588–1589	(Sir) Francis Hastings	Edward Dyer
Parliament of 1593
Parliament of 1597–1598	Sir Francis Popham	Sir Hugh Portman
Parliament of 1601	(Sir) Edward Phelips	Sir Maurice Berkeley
Parliament of 1604–1611		Sir Francis Hastings died 1610 In his place John Poulett
Addled Parliament (1614)	Sir Maurice Berkeley
Parliament of 1621–1622	Robert Hopton	Sir Henry Portman died 1621 In his place Charles Berkeley
Happy Parliament (1624–1625)	Sir Robert Phelips	John Symes
Useless Parliament (1625)		John Stawell
Parliament of 1625–1626	Sir Henry Berkeley	Sir John Horner
Parliament of 1628–1629	Sir Robert Phelips	Sir Edward Rodney
No Parliament summoned 1629–1640

MPs 1640–1832

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
April 1640		Sir Ralph Hopton	Royalist		Thomas Smith	Royalist
November 1640		Sir John Poulett	Royalist		Sir John Stawell	Royalist
August 1642	Poulett and Stawell disabled from sitting – both seats vacant
1645		George Horner			John Harrington
Election declared void and new writ issued
1646		George Horner			John Harrington
December 1648	Horner excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant			Harrington did not sit after Pride's Purge
Somerset had four members in the Barebones Parliament
1653	General-at-sea Robert Blake, John Pine, Dennis Hollister, Henry Henley
Somerset had eleven members in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
1654	Sir John Horner, John Buckland, General John Desborough, John Preston, John Harrington, John Ashe, Charles Steynings, Robert Long, Richard Jones, Thomas Hippisley, Samuel Perry
1656	John Buckland, General John Desborough, John Harrington, John Ashe, Robert Long, Alexander Popham, Colonel John Gorges, Francis Luttrell, Sir Lislebone Long, William Wyndham, Francis Rolle
Representation reverted to two members for the Third Protectorate Parliament
January 1659		John Buckland,			Robert Hunt
May 1659	Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		George Horner			Hugh Smith
1661		Sir John Stawell			Edward Phelips
1662		John Poulett
1665		Sir John Warre
1669		Sir John Sydenham
February 1679					Sir Hugh Smith
August 1679		Sir William Portman			George Speke
1685		Sir John Smith			George Horner
1689		Edward Gorges
1690		Sir Edward Phelips			Nathaniel Palmer
1695		Sir John Smith			Sir John Trevelyan, Bt
1698		John Hunt			Sir Edward Phelips
1699					Nathaniel Palmer
January 1701					Sir John Trevelyan, Bt
December 1701		Sir Philip Sydenham			Nathaniel Palmer
1705		John Pigott
1708		Henry Seymour Portman			John Prowse
April 1710					Sir William Wyndham, Bt	Tory
October 1710		Sir Thomas Wroth	Tory
1713		Thomas Horner	Tory
1715		William Helyar
1722		Edward Phelips
1727		Thomas Strangways Horner	Tory
1740					Thomas Prowse
1741		Henry William Portman	Tory
1747		Sir Charles Kemys Tynte
1767					Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt
1768					Richard Hippisley Coxe
1774		Edward Phelips
1780		Sir John Trevelyan, Bt
1784					Edward Phelips
1792					Henry Hippisley Coxe
1795					William Gore-Langton	Whig
1796		William Dickinson	Tory
June 1806		Thomas Lethbridge	Tory
November 1806					William Dickinson	Tory
1812		William Gore-Langton	Whig
1820		Sir Thomas Lethbridge	Tory
1830		Edward Ayshford Sanford	Whig
1831					William Gore-Langton	Whig
1832	constituency divided into Eastern and Western divisions

Sources

• 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)
• Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. p. 1.
• Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, Volume 2 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1845)