Dartmouth, also sometimes called Clifton, Dartmouth and Hardness, was a parliamentary borough in Devon which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons in 1298 and to the House of Commons of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom from 1351 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1868, when the borough was disfranchised.
History Clifton, Dartmouth and Hardness were three towns clustered round the mouth of the River Dart in southern Devon; all three are within the modern town of Dartmouth. The borough as first represented in 1298 seems to have included only the town of Dartmouth, but at the next return of members in 1350–1351 it also included Clifton; Hardness is first mentioned in 1553, though may have been included earlier. The boundaries by the 19th century included the whole of Dartmouth St Petrox and St Saviour parishes, and part of Townstall parish.
Dartmouth by the end of the 18th century was a prosperous small port, depending mainly on fishing but also with some shipbuilding interests; but the bulk of the inhabitants had little voice in the choice of its Members of Parliament. After a decision by Parliament that followed a disputed election in 1689, the right to vote in Dartmouth rested with the corporation, which appointed its own successors, and with the freemen of the borough, who were made by the corporation. This amounted to a total of 71 voters in 1832, although only 53 of these were resident; virtually all were officers of the custom house or other government employees.
This franchise meant that once control was gained of the borough it was easy to retain indefinitely. Around the turn of the 18th century, the Herne family had almost total control, but in the mid-to-late 18th and early 19th century, control had passed to the government and Dartmouth was considered a safe seat for the party in power, returning one member at the nomination of the Treasury and one of the Admiralty. (Even this control had its limits however – Namier and Brooke quote letters to show that when a vacancy arose in 1757, the government had to abandon their original intention of nominating a soldier, and instead acceded to the corporation's demand for a naval candidate.) The Holdsworth family managed the government's interests in the borough,Page 140, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957) and generally had first refusal on one of the seats. Indeed, the Holdsworths were sufficiently influential to defy the government on occasion, as in 1780 when Arthur Holdsworth arranged the re-election of the popular but opposition-supporting naval hero Lord Howe to one seat while taking the other for himself – no government candidates stood against them, and both Howe and Holdsworth voted with the opposition in the new Parliament.
At the time of the Great Reform Act, the 1831 census showed that there were 611 houses in the borough but a population of 4,447. Dartmouth was allowed to keep one of its two MPs, and the boundaries were extended slightly to include the whole of Townstall parish and part of Stoke Fleming, bringing the population up to 4,662.
The constituency was abolished at the next boundary revision, which came into effect at the general election of 1868, after which the towns were part of the Southern Devon county division.
Members of Parliament 1351–1640 ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1368 Richard Whitelegh1371John Pasford1377Thomas Raymond 1386 Richard Whitelegh Robert More 1388 (Feb) William Burlestone John Lacche 1388 (Sep) William Bast Roger Scoce 1390 (Jan) John Hawley Thomas Asshenden I 1390 (Nov) 1391 John William John Brasuter 1393 John Ellemede John Hawley 1394 William Damiet John Hawley 1395 John Bosom Edmund Arnold 1397 (Jan) John Bosom William Glover 1397 (Sep) 1399 1401 1402 John Hawley (the elder) Ralph North 1404 (Jan) 1404 (Oct) 1406 John Foxley John White 1407 Henry Bremeler John Pille 1410 John Hawley (the younger) Edmund Arnold 1411 John Hawley John Corp 1413 (Feb) 1413 (May) John Hawley John Corp 1414 (Apr) 1414 (Nov) John Hawley Edmund Arnold 1415–6 (Mar) Edmund Arnold Walter Wodeland 1416 (Oct) 1417 1419 1420 Thomas Asshenden II Walter Wodeland 1421 (May) John Hawley Thomas Hankyn 1421 (Dec) John Burley Henry Sadeler 1510–1523No names known 1529 John Trevanion William Holland, repl. 1534 by Nicholas Langmede 1536 ? 1539 John Ridgeway William Holland 1542 John Anthony William Holland 1545 Nicholas Bacon John Ridgeway 1547 Sir Peter Carew Richard Duke 1553 (Mar) Nicholas Adams alias Bodrugan Gilbert Roupe1553 (Oct)Michael AdamsMichael RoopeParliament of 1554Nicholas AdamsEdmund StureParliament of 1554–1555John PetreNicholas EnisParliament of 1555Sir John St LegerJames CourtenayParliament of 1558Gregory HuckmoreThomas GurneyParliament of 1559Thomas SouthcoteEdward YardeParliament of 1563–1567Sir John MoreJohn LovellParliament of 1571John VaughanThomas GurneyParliament of 1572–1581William CardinallThomas Gurney diedand repl. 1576 by William LysterParliament of 1584–1585Hugh VaughanThomas RidgewayParliament of 1586–1587Robert PetreGeorge CaryParliament of 1588–1589Robert PapworthRichard DreweParliament of 1593Nicholas HaymanThomas HollandParliament of 1597–1598John Osborne(?)Browne Willis gives Lambert's name with a query against it, and does not list a second memberWilliam BastardParliament of 1601John TraherneWilliam BastardParliament of 1604–1611Thomas HollandThomas GurneyAddled Parliament (1614)Parliament of 1621–1622Robert MatthewWilliam NyellHappy Parliament (1624–1625)Richard MatthewWilliam PlumleyUseless Parliament (1625)Roger MatthewJohn UptonParliament of 1625–1626Parliament of 1628–1629No Parliament summoned 1629–1640
1640–1832 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640Andrew Voysey John UptonDied September 1641November 1640 Roger Matthew Royalist1641 Samuel Browne ParliamentarianFebruary 1644Matthew disabled from sitting – seat vacant1646Thomas BooneDecember 1648Browne excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant1653Dartmouth was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament1654Thomas Boone Dartmouth had only one seat in the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate1656Edward Hopkins January 1659Thomas Boone Colonel John ClarkeMay 1659Not represented in the restored Rump 1660 John Frederick John Hale 1661 William Harbord Thomas Southcote 1664 Thomas Kendall 1667 Walter Yonge 1670 William Gould (1640–1671) of Floyer Hayes, Exeter 1673 Josiah Child February 1679 Sir Nathaniel Herne John Upton August 1679 Edward Yarde 1685Roger Pomeroy Arthur Farwell January 1689 Charles Boone William Hayne September 1689 George BoothBooth was originally declared elected, but on petition the House of Commons decided that some of his voters had not validly been made Freemen, and were therefore ineligible to vote; Booth's opponent, Herne, was consequently declared elected in his place. (House of Commons Journal, 28 November 1689 ) November 1689 Sir Joseph Herne 1698 Frederick Herne 1699 ?Sir Joseph Herne died 26 February 1699. There is apparently no record of a writ for a by-election being issued, and the seat may have remained vacant for the remainder of the Parliament 1701 Nathaniel Herne 1713 Sir William Drake 1714 John Fownes 1715 Joseph Herne John Fownes (junior) 1722 George Treby III Thomas Martyn 1727George Treby IIWhig Walter Carey Whig 1742 Lord Archibald Hamilton 1747 John Jeffreys Whig 1757 Captain the Hon. Richard HoweSucceeded as the 4th Viscount Howe (in the Peerage of Ireland, July 1758. Rear Admiral 1770, Vice Admiral 1775, Admiral 1782 1766 Richard Hopkins 1780 Arthur Holdsworth 1782 Charles Brett Rockingham Whig 1784 Richard Hopkins 1787 Edmund Bastard 1790 John Charles Villiers 1802 Tory Arthur Howe Holdsworth Tory 1812 Edmund Pollexfen Bastard Tory 1816 John Bastard Tory 1820 Charles Milner Ricketts Tory 1822 James Hamilton Stanhope Tory 1825 Sir John Hutton Cooper Tory 1829 Arthur Howe Holdsworth Tory1832 Representation reduced to one member
1832–1868 YearMemberParty 1832 (Sir) John SealeCreated a baronet, July 1838 Whig 1844 Joseph Somes Conservative 1845 George Moffatt Radical 1852 Sir Thomas Herbert Conservative 1857 James Caird PeeliteApril 1859 Edward Wyndham Harrington SchenleyOn petition, Schenley's election was declared void and a writ for a by-election issued LiberalAugust 1859 John Dunn Conservative 1860 John Hardy Conservative1868 Constituency abolished
Election results Elections in the 1830s
The 119 votes for Willoughby and Seale were declared void as they were placed by ineligible householders.
Elections in the 1840s
Seale's death caused a by-election.
Somes' death caused a by-election.
Elections in the 1850s
The election was declared void on petition due to bribery and corruption, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s Dunn's death caused a by-election.
Notes
References Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) D. Brunton and 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) Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) 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) Robert Walcott, English Politics in the Early Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956)
Frederic A. Youngs Jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol. I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)