Minehead (UK Parliament constituency)

Minehead was a parliamentary borough in Somerset,^[1] forming part of the town of Minehead, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1563 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Minehead
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1563–1832
Seats	Two

Members of Parliament

MPs 1563–1629

• Constituency probably established 1563^[2]

Parliament	First member	Second member
Parliament of 1563-1567	Thomas Luttrell	Thomas Fitzwilliams
Parliament of 1571	John Colles	Thomas Mallett
Parliament of 1572-1581	Dominick Chester	Richard Cabell
1578	Andrew Hemmerford
1582	George Luttrell
Parliament of 1584-1585	George Luttrell	Edward Rogers
Parliament of 1586-1587	John Luttrell	Robert Crosse
Parliament of 1588-1589		Benedict Barnham
Parliament of 1593	Richard Hanbury	James Quirke
Parliament of 1597-1598	Amias Bampfield (sat for Devon, replaced)	Conrad Prowse
Parliament of 1601	Dr Francis James	Lewis Lashbrooke
Parliament of 1604-1611	Sir Ambrose Turville	Sir Maurice Berkeley
Addled Parliament (1614)	No return made
Parliament of 1621-1622	Francis Pearce	Sir Robert Lloyd[3]
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)	Dr Arthur Duck	Sir Arthur Lake
Useless Parliament (1625)	Thomas Luttrell	Charles Pyne
Parliament of 1625-1626	John Gill	Thomas Horner
Parliament of 1628-1629	Thomas Horner	Edward Wyndham
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

MPs 1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Francis Wyndham			Alexander Popham[4]
1640					Dr Arthur Duck
November 1640		Alexander Luttrell I[5]	Parliamentarian		Sir Francis Popham	Parliamentarian
1642		Thomas Hanham	Royalist
January 1644	Hanham disabled from sitting — seat vacant
August 1644				Popham died — seat vacant
1645		Walter Strickland			Edward Popham
December 1648				Popham not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653	Minehead was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		Richard Hutchinson			Colonel Alexander Popham
May 1659		Walter Strickland		One seat vacant
1660		Francis Luttrell I			Charles Pym
1661					Sir Hugh Wyndham
1666 by-election		Sir John Malet
1673 by-election					Thomas Wyndham
February 1679					Francis Luttrell II
September 1679		Thomas Palmer
1685		Nathaniel Palmer
September 1690 by-election		John Sanford
October 1690 by-election					Alexander Luttrell II
1698		Sir Jacob Banks
1708					Sir John Trevelyan
1715[6]		Sir William Wyndham
April 1717 by-election[7]		Samuel Edwin			Thomas Gage
May 1717 (on petition)		Sir John Trevelyan			James Milner
1721 by-election					Sir Richard Lane[8]
January 1722 (on petition)					Robert Mansel
March 1722		Thomas Hales
1723 by-election					Francis Whitworth
1727		Alexander Luttrell III
1737 by-election		Sir William Codrington
1739 by-election		Thomas Carew
1742 by-election					John Periam
1747		Percy Wyndham-O'Brien			Charles Whitworth
1754		Daniel Boone
1761		Henry Shiffner			The Earl of Thomond
1768		Henry Fownes Luttrell I			Sir Charles Whitworth
October 1774					John Fownes Luttrell	Tory
December 1774 by-election		Thomas Pownall
1780		Francis Fownes Luttrell
1783 by-election		Henry Beaufoy[9]
June 1784 by-election		Captain the Hon. Charles Phipps
1786 by-election		Robert Wood
1790		Viscount Parker	Tory
1795 by-election		Thomas Fownes Luttrell	Tory
1796		John Langston	Tory
1802		John Patteson	Tory
1806		The Lord Rancliffe	Whig		Sir John Lethbridge, 1st Baronet	Tory
January 1807 by-election					John Fownes Luttrell	Tory
May 1807		John Denison	Tory
1812		John Fownes Luttrell, junior	Tory
1816 by-election					Henry Fownes Luttrell II	Tory
1822 by-election					John Douglas	Tory
1826					James Blair	Tory
1830					William Edward Tomline	Tory
1831					Viscount Villiers	Tory
1832	Constituency abolished

Notes

1. Traill, Thomas Stewart (1858). The Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and General Literature. A. and C. Black.
2. Most sources date Minehead's enfranchisement from 1563, which seems clearly implied by the House of Commons Journals, but Browne Willis gives two names (Thomas Fitzwilliams and John Fowler) as the town's representatives in the 1559 Parliament. Sir John Neale notes that the names differ from those given for 1563 "which normally is a sign of reliability"
3. This is the name given by Cobbett, whereas Browne Willis lists "Tho. Wentworth, Kt". There were two Thomas Wentworths in the House, but both sat for other constituencies, as Browne Willis correctly also records - "Tho. Wentworth, Kt. and Bart." for Yorkshire and "Tho. Wentworth Esq" for Oxford City. While it is possible that either of these might also have been elected for Minehead and chosen to sit for their other constituency, allowing Lloyd to be elected in their place, Browne Willis usually records this, and neither could correctly be described as "Tho. Wentworth, Kt" at that time, although of course an error is perfectly possible.
4. Popham was also elected for Bath, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Minehead
5. Died June 1642
6. The election of 1715 was declared void on petition, and Wyndham and Trevelyan declared not duly elected. A by-election was held 1717
7. The by-election of 1717 was declared void on petition (in a dispute over the franchise), and Edwin and Gage declared not duly elected. Trevelyan and Milner were declared elected in their place
8. Lane was declared not to have been duly elected
9. Beaufoy was re-elected in 1784, but had also been elected for Great Yarmouth, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Minehead

References

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• 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)
• J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig — Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
• 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.
• Jenkins, Terry. "Minehead". The History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 24 September 2012.