Taunton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors from 1295 to 2010, taking its name from the town of Taunton in Somerset. Until 1918, it was a parliamentary borough, electing two Member of Parliaments (MPs) between 1295 and 1885 and one from 1885 to 1918; the name was then transferred to a county constituency, electing one MP.
In the boundary changes that came into effect at the 2010 UK general election, the Boundary Commission for England replaced Taunton with a modified constituency called Taunton Deane to reflect the district name. The new constituency's boundaries are coterminous with the local government district of the same name.
History
Famous MPs for the borough include Thomas Cromwell. The 1754 Taunton by-election was so fiercely contested that rioting broke out in which two people died. In the 2005 UK general election, the victorious Liberal Democrats candidate in Taunton required the smallest percentage swing from the Conservative Party MP for them to take the seat.
Boundaries
- 1918–1950: the Borough of Taunton, the Urban Districts of Wellington and Wiveliscombe, and the Rural Districts of Dulverton, Taunton, and Wellington.
- 1950–1974: as 1918 but without Wiveliscombe Urban District, which had been absorbed by Wellington Rural District in 1933. The constituency boundaries remained unchanged.
- 1974–1983: as 1950 but with redrawn boundaries.
- 1983–2010: the Borough of Taunton Deane, and the District of West Somerset wards of Dulverton and Brushford, Exmoor, Haddon, and Quarme.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1295–1640
- Constituency created (1295)
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!width="33%"|Parliament
!width="33%"|First member
!width="33%"|Second member
|-
| 1362
|William Portman
| ?
|-
| 1363, 1365, 1366,<br />1368, 1369, 1371
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
| 1372
|William Portman
| ?
|-
| 1373, 1376, 1377 (Jan),<br />1377 (Oct), 1378
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
| 1379
|rowspan="2"|William Portman
| ?
|-
| 1380 (Jan)
| ?
|-
| 1380 (Nov), 1381, 1382 (May),<br />1382 (Oct), 1383 (Feb), 1383 (Oct),<br /> 1384 (Apr)
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
| 1384 (Nov)
|rowspan="4"|William Portman
| ?
|-
| 1385
| ?
|-
|1386
|rowspan="4"|William Marchaunt
|-
|1388 (Feb)
|-
|1388 (Sep)
|William Damarle
|-
|1390 (Jan)
|John Porter
|-
|1390 (Nov)
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
|1391
|William Portman
|rowspan="4"|William Marchaunt
|-
|1393
|rowspan="2"|John Porter
|-
|1394
|-
|1395
|Walter Puryham
|-
|1397 (Jan)
|Robert Coullyng
|Robert Eysel
|-
|1397 (Sept)
|Richard Marchaunt
|John Northmore
|-
|1399
|Walter Puryham
|Edmund Rokes
|-
|1401
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
|1402
|William Portman
|Ralph Sargor
|-
|1404 (Jan), 1404 (Oct)
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
|1406
|William Portman
|Robert Bathe
|-
|1407
|Richard Marchaunt
|John Northmore
|-
|1410
|Thomas Bacot
|Thomas Edward
|-
|1411, 1413 (Feb)
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
|1413 (May)
|John Rydon
|Lewis John
|-
|1414 (Apr)
|rowspan="2"|John Marchaunt
|rowspan="2"|Edmund Dyer
|-
|1414 (Nov)
|-
|1415, 1416 (Mar), 1416 (Oct)
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
|1417
|John Rydon
|Walter Portman
|-
|1419
|Walter Portman
|Robert Croke
|-
|1420
|Robert Croke
|rowspan="2"|William Borde
|-
|1421 (May)
|rowspan="3"|Walter Portman
|-
|1421 (Dec)
|John Bowe
|-
| 1422
| ?
|-
| 1423
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
| 1425
|rowspan="3"|Walter Portman
| ?
|-
| 1426
| ?
|-
| 1427
| ?
|-
| 1429
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
| 1431
|Walter Portman
| ?
|-
| 1432, 1433
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
| 1435
|Walter Portman
| ?
|-
| 1437, 1439, 1442,<br />1445, 1447, 1449 (Feb),<br />1449 (Nov), 1450, 1453
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
| 1455
|Ralph Legh
| ?
|-
| 1459, 1460, 1461, 1463
|colspan="2"|Unknown
|-
|1467
|Sir William Danvers
|Robert Ashetill
|-
|1470
|Sir William Danvers
|Edward Aysshton
|-
|1472
|Sir William Danvers
| ?
|-
|1478
|Edward Aysshton
|Robert Lovelord
|-
|1483–1523
|colspan = "2"|Unknown
|-
|1529
|Thomas Cromwell
|William Portman
|-
|1536
|?Richard Pollard
|?William Portman
|-
|1547
|Sir Nicholas Hare
|John Caryll
|-
|1553 (Mar)
|John Mason
|?
|-
|1553 (Oct)
|James Basset
|Jacques Wingfield
|-
|1554 (Apr)
|William Barne
|Oliver Vachell
|-
|1554 (Nov)
|Thomas Eden
|John Norres
|-
|1555
|rowspan="3"|Dr Valentine Dale
|?
|-
|1558
|Richard Myrfield
|-
|1559
|?
|-
|1563–7
|Miles Sandys
|Anthony Leigh
|-
|1571
|Robert Hill
|Richard Blount
|-
|1572–81
|Roger Hill
|Richard Blount<br />Edmund Hodges
|-
|1584–5
|Alexander Pym<br />Maurice Horner
|William Goldwell
|-
|1586–7
|Francis Bacon
|rowspan="2"|John Goldwell
|-
|1588–9
|Thomas Fisher
|-
|1593
|William Aubrey, DCL
|John Davidge
|-
|1597–8
|Edward Barker
|Edward Hext
|-
|1601
|rowspan="2"|John Bond
|Daniel Donne, DCL
|-
|1604–11
|Edward Hext
|-
|Addled Parliament (1614)
|James Clarke
|John Donne
|-
|1621–2
|Lewis Pope
|rowspan="2"|Thomas Brereton
|-
|Happy Parliament (1624–5)
|Roger Prowse
|-
|Useless Parliament (1625)
|Hugh Portman
|Thomas Brereton
|-
|1625–6
|Sir Robert Gorges
|rowspan="2"|George Browne
|-
|1628
|Hugh Portman
|-
|1629–40
|colspan="4"|No Parliament summoned
|-
|}
MPs 1640–1885
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year!!!!First member !!First party!!!!Second member !!Second party
|-
|-
|April 1640
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"|Sir William Portman||rowspan="2"| Royalist
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|Roger Hill||Parliamentarian
|-
|November 1640
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="3"|George Searle||rowspan="3"|Parliamentarian
|-
|February 1644
|colspan="3"|Portman disabled from sitting — seat vacant
|-
|1645
|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|John Palmer, MD||
|-
|1653
|colspan="6"|Taunton was unrepresented in the Barebone's Parliament
|-
|1654
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="3"|Colonel Thomas Gorges||rowspan="3"|<!-- party -->
|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|John Gorges||<!-- party -->
|-
|1656
|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|Admiral Robert Blake||<!-- party -->
|-
|January 1659
|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|Sir William Wyndham||<!-- party -->
|-
|May 1659
|style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|John Palmer, MD||
|colspan="3"|One seat vacant
|-
|March 1660
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Thomas Gorges
| <!-- party -->
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| Sir William Wyndham
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1661
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| Sir William Portman
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
|February 1679
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="3"| John Trenchard
|rowspan="3"| Whig
|-
|September 1679
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Sir John Cutler Bt
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1680
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Edmund Prideaux
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1685
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Sir William Portman
|rowspan="2"| Tory
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| John Sanford
| Tory
|-
|March 1690
|rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="4"| Edward Clarke
|rowspan="4"| Whig
|-
|April 1690
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| John Speke
| Whig
|-
| 1698
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Henry Seymour Portman
| Tory
|-
| 1701 by-election
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Sir Francis Warre
|rowspan="2"| Tory
|-
| 1710
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Henry Seymour Portman
| Tory
|-
| 1715
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| William Pynsent
| Whig
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="3"| James Smith
|rowspan="3"| Whig
|-
| 1722
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| John Trenchard
| Whig
|-
| 1724 by-election
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Abraham Elton
| Whig
|-
| 1727
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| George Speke
| Whig
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Francis Fane
|rowspan="2"| Whig
|-
| 1734
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Henry William Berkeley Portman
| Tory
|-
| 1741
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Sir John Chapman
|rowspan="2"| Whig
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| John Buck
| Tory
|-
| 1745
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Percy Wyndham-O'Brien
| Whig
|-
| 1747
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Sir Charles Wyndham
| Whig
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Robert Webb
|rowspan="2"| Whig
|-
| 1750
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Admiral William Rowley
| Whig
|-
| 1754
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| The Lord Carpenter
|rowspan="2"| Whig
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| John Halliday
| Whig
|-
| 1754 by-election
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="2"| Robert Maxwell
|rowspan="2"| Whig
|-
| 1762
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Laurence Sulivan
| Whig
|-
| 1768
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Alexander Popham
| <!-- party -->
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| Nathaniel Webb
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1774
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Hon. Edward Stratford
| Whig
|-
| 1775
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="3"| John Halliday
|rowspan="3"| <!-- party -->
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Alexander Popham
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1780
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Major-General John Roberts
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1782 by-election
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="3"| (Sir) Benjamin Hammet
|rowspan="3"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1784
| style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
| Alexander Popham
| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1796
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| William Morland
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1800
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: white" |
|rowspan="2"| John Hammet
|rowspan="2"| <!-- party -->
|-
| 1806
|rowspan="5" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="5"| Alexander Baring
|rowspan="5"| Whig
|-
| 1812
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Henry Powell Collins
| Tory
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Edward Thomas Bainbridge
| Whig
|-
| 1852
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Arthur Mills
| Conservative
|-
| 1853 by-election
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Sir John Ramsden
| Whig
|-
| 1857
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="3"| Arthur Mills
|rowspan="3"| Conservative
|-
| 1859
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Liberal
|-
| 1859 by-election
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| George Cavendish-Bentinck
| Conservative
|-
| 1865
|rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="4"| Alexander Charles Barclay
|rowspan="4"| Liberal
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Lord William Hay
| Liberal
|-
| 1868
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Edward William Cox
| Conservative
|-
| 1869
|rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|rowspan="4"| (Sir) Henry James
|rowspan="4"| Liberal
|-
| 1873 by-election
|-
| 1880
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Sir William Palliser
| Conservative
|-
| 1882 by-election
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Samuel Allsopp
| Conservative
|-
|1885
|colspan="6"| Representation reduced to one Member
|}
MPs since 1885
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!Party
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1885
| Samuel Allsopp
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1887 by-election
| Alfred Percy Allsopp
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1895
| Sir Alfred Welby
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1906
| Sir Edward Boyle
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1909 by-election
| William Peel
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1912 by-election
| Sir Gilbert Wills
| Unionist
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1918
| Dennis Boles
|Unionist
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1921 by-election
| Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen
|Unionist
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1922
| Sir John Hope Simpson
| Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1924
| Hamilton Gault
|Unionist
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1935
|Edward Wickham
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1945
| Victor Collins
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1950
| Henry Hopkinson
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1956 by-election
|Sir Edward du Cann
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1987
| David Nicholson
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1997
| Jackie Ballard
| Liberal Democrat
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2001
| Adrian Flook
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2005
| Jeremy Browne
| Liberal Democrat
|-
|
|2010
| colspan="2" |Constituency abolished
|}
Elections
Elections in the 1830s
Labouchere was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies, requiring a by-election.
Labouchere was elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord 1st Baron Taunton and causing a by-election.
James was appointed Attorney General for England and Wales, requiring a by-election.
Allsopp succeeded to the peerage, becoming Lord Hindlip, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1910s
thumb|120px|Peel
Elections in the 1940s
General Election 1939–40
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;
- Conservative: Edward Wickham
- Labour: Charles W. Gott
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 2000s
thumb|120px|Jeremy Browne
See also
- List of parliamentary constituencies in Somerset
Notes and references
Sources
- Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh2wKY2rkDUC&q=Return+of+Members+of+Parliament]
- 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) [https://web.archive.org/web/20150904125310/http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=p-000-00---0modhis06--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=CL1]
- Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. .
- F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
- Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
- J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
- <!-- needs specific pages added (the template takes care of the google book link)-->
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
- The BBC/ITN Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies (Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services, 1983)
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography
- List of speakers: Parliaments of 1656 and 1658-9, Diary of Thomas Burton esq, volume 4: March – April 1659 (1828) at British History Online
External links
- UK Constituency Maps
- BBC Vote 2001
- BBC Election 2005
- Taunton UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK