Westbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Template:UK constituency infobox Westbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 1885, it has been a county constituency, electing one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election; it has returned a Conservative MP at every election since 1924. Previously it was a parliamentary borough, returning two MPs from 1449 to 1832 and one from 1832 to 1885.
Boundaries
Westbury is a rural parliamentary constituency in the English county of Wiltshire. It contains the towns of Westbury, Warminster, Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon and the surrounding rural areas.
Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Wiltshire, the Boundary Commission for England have created two new constituencies in the county. Chippenham is carved mostly from the adjoining North Wiltshire constituency, plus the town of Bradford on Avon at the northern end of the Westbury constituency, while the rest of Westbury will see minor changes to its composition and be renamed South West Wiltshire.
Members of Parliament
Westbury borough (before 1885)
1449-1640
 |
- 1491: Sir Thomas Long of Draycot
- 1588: Henry Fanshawe
- 1593: Henry Fanshawe
- 1597: James Ley and 1609-10[1]
- 1625: Gifford Long
1640-1832
| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1640 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Thomas Penyston | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | ? | ||
| November 1640 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Ashe | Parliamentarian | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Wheler | Parliamentarian |
| December 1648 | Wheler excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant | |||||
| 1653 | Westbury was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | |||||
| January 1659 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Robert Villiers, alias Danvers | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Eyre | ||
| May 1659 | Not represented in the restored Rump, Ashe having died in the interim | |||||
| April 1660 | rowspan="5" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Richard Lewis | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Brouncker | ||
| 1661 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Wancklyn [2] | ||||
| 1678 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Bertie | ||||
| February 1679 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Trenchard | ||||
| August 1679 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Bertie | ||||
| 1680 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Edward Norton | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Trenchard | ||
| 1681 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Ashe | ||||
| 1685 | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Richard Lewis | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | James Herbert | ||
| 1689 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Peregrine Bertie | ||||
| 1695 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Robert Bertie | ||||
| 1701 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Bertie | ||||
| July 1702 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Trenchard | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Thomas Phipps | ||
| December 1702 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Bertie | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Robert Bertie | ||
| 1708 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Francis Annesley | ||||
| January 1715 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Willoughby Bertie | ||||
| June 1715 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | The Lord Carbery | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Charles Allanson | ||
| 1722 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | James Bertie [3] | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Francis Annesley | ||
| 1724 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | The Lord Carbery | ||||
| 1727 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Hoskins Gifford | ||||
| 1734 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Hon. George Evans | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Bance | ||
| 1741 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Joseph Townsend | ||||
| 1747 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Bance | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Paul Methuen | ||
| 1748 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Chauncy Townsend | Pro-Government | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Matthew Michell | |
| 1753 | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Peregrine Bertie | ||||
| 1768 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Blackstone | ||||
| 1770 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Hon. Charles Dillon | ||||
| 1774 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Hon. Thomas Wenman[4] | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Nathaniel Bayly | ||
| 1779 | rowspan="6" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Samuel Estwick | ||||
| 1780 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | (Sir) John Whalley-Gardiner [5] | ||||
| 1784 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Chaloner Arcedeckne | ||||
| 1786 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Madocks | ||||
| 1790 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Ewan Law | ||||
| January 1795 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Samuel Estwick | ||||
| November 1795 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Edward Wilbraham-Bootle | ||||
| May 1796 | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Sir Henry Paulet St John-Mildmay | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | George Ellis [6] | ||
| October 1796 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Lieutenant Colonel George Harcourt | ||||
| 1800 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Simon Harcourt | ||||
| 1802 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Baldwin | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Charles Smith | ||
| 1806 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Jacob | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John Woolmore | ||
| May 1807 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Edward Lascelles | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Glynn Wynn | ||
| July 1807 | rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Lascelles | ||||
| 1809 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Francis Whittle | ||||
| 1810 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | John de Ponthieu | ||||
| 1812 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Benjamin Hall | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Benjamin Shaw | ||
| 1814 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Ralph Franco | Tory | |||
| 1818 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Lord Francis Conyngham | ||||
| 1819 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | William Leader Maberly | ||||
| March 1820 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Jonathan Elford | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Nathaniel Barton | ||
| November 1820 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes | Tory | style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Philip John Miles | Tory |
| 1826 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Sir George Warrender | Canningite Tory | |||
| 1829 | style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Robert Peel | Tory | |||
| 1830 | style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Sir Alexander Cray Grant | Tory | style="background-color: Template:Tory/meta/color" | | Michael George Prendergast | Tory |
| May 1831 | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Sir Ralph Lopes | Whig | style="background-color: Template:British Whig Party/meta/color" | | Henry Hanmer | Whig |
| July 1831 | style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" | | Henry Frederick Stephenson | ||||
| 1832 | Representation reduced to one MP | |||||
1832-1885
Westbury County Constituency (since 1885)
Notes
- ^ Wilfrid Prest, ‘Ley, James, first earl of Marlborough (1550–1629)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [1], accessed 22 Jan 2009.
- ^ Expelled from the House of Commons for corrupt misuse of Parliamentary Privilege
- ^ Bertie was also elected for Middlesex, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Westbury
- ^ later Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford
- ^ Created a baronet, December 1782
- ^ Ellis was also elected for Seaford, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Westbury
- ^ The election of 1868 was held void on petition, and a by-election held
- ^ Created a baronet, 1952
Election results
General Election 2005
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Andrew Murrison | 24,749 | 44.5 | +2.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Duncan Hames | 19,400 | 34.9 | +3.3 | |
| Labour | Phil Gibby | 9,640 | 17.3 | −4.1 | |
| UKIP | Lincoln Williams | 1,815 | 3.3 | +0.8 | |
| Majority | 5,346 | 9.6 | −0.9 | ||
| Turnout | 55,604 | 67.0 | +0.4 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | 0.4% | |||
General Election 2001
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Andrew Murrison | 21,299 | 42.1 | +1.5 | |
| Liberal Democrats | David Vigar | 16,005 | 31.6 | +1.7 | |
| Labour | Sarah Cardy | 10,847 | 21.4 | +0.3 | |
| UKIP | Charles Booth-Jones | 1,261 | 2.5 | +1.1 | |
| Green | Bob Gledhill | 1,216 | 2.4 | N/A | |
| Majority | 5,294 | 10.5 | |||
| Turnout | 50,628 | 66.6 | −9.6 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
General Election 1997
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | David Faber | 23,037 | 40.6% | ||
| Liberal Democrats | John Miller | 16,969 | 29.9% | ||
| Labour | Kevin Small | 11,969 | |||
| Liberal | G Hawkings | 1,956 | 21.1% | ||
| Referendum | N Hawkings-Byass | 1,909 | 3.4% | ||
| UKIP | R Westbury | 771 | 1.6% | ||
| Natural Law | C Haysom | 140 | 0.3% | ||
| Turnout | 56,751 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
(Source: Guardian Unlimited, 2004)
References
- Guardian Unlimited (2004). Ask Aristotle - Westbury. Retrieved November 16, 2004.
- 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) [2]
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
See also