Bishop's Castle (UK Parliament constituency)

Bishop's Castle was a borough constituency in Shropshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Bishop's Castle
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Borough	Bishop's Castle
1290–1832
Seats	2
Replaced by	South Shropshire

The market town of Bishop's Castle became a parliamentary borough in 1584 and was a constituency of the House of Commons of England until 1707, of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two burgesses.

The historian Lewis Namier claimed that in the middle of the eighteenth century it was the one notoriously corrupt parliamentary borough in Shropshire.^[1] It was abolished under the Reform Act 1832.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1584–1660

Parliament	First member	Second member
1584	Thomas Jukes	John Cole
1586	Charles Walcot	Thomas Darrell
1588	Charles Walcot	Alexander King
1593	Francis Beavans	Alexander King
1597	Hayward Townsend	Edmund Baynham
1601	Hayward Townsend	Alexander King
1604	William Twyneho	Samuel Lewknor
1614	Edward Littleton[2]	Thomas Hitchcock
1621	Francis Roberts	Gilbert Cornwall
1624	Sir Robert Howard[3]	Richard Oakeley
1625	William Oakeley	Edward Waring
1626	William Oakeley	Edward Waring
1628	Sir Robert Howard	Sir Edward Fox
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
1640 (Apr)	Sir Robert Howard	Richard Moor
1640 (Nov)	Sir Robert Howard	Richard Moor
1645	Isaiah Thomas	John Corbet
1648	Isaiah Thomas	John Corbet
1653	Bishop's Castle not represented in Barebones Parliament
1654	Bishop's Castle not represented in 1st Protectorate Parliament
1656	Bishop's Castle not represented in 2nd Protectorate Parliament
1659	Samuel More	William Oakeley

MPs 1660–1832

Year			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		1660	William Oakeley		Edmund Waring
		1679	Richard Scriven
		1681	Sir Richard Mason		Richard More
		1685	Edmund Waring		Francis Charlton
		1689	Richard More		Walter Waring
		Mr. 1690	William Oakeley		Richard Mason
		May 1690			Walter Waring
		Mr. 1695	Richard More
		Oct. 1695			Charles Mason
		1698	Sir William Brownlow
		Jan. 1701	George Walcot
		Nov. 1701	Henry Brett
		1706			Henry Newport	Whig
		1708	Richard Harnage		Charles Mason
		1710			Sir Robert Raymond
		1715			Charles Mason
		1719	Sir Matthew Decker
		1722	William Peere Williams		Bowater Vernon
		1726			Charles Mason
		1727	Robert More		John Plumptre
		1734			Edward Kynaston
		1741	Henry Brydges		Andrew Hill
		1744	Granville Leveson-Gower
		1747	Samuel Child		John Robinson Lytton
		1753	John Dashwood-King
		1754			Barnaby Backwell
		1755			Walter Waring
		1759			Henry Grenville
		1761	Francis Child		Peregrine Cust
		1763	George Clive
		1768			William Clive
		1770			Alexander Wedderburn
		1774			Henry Strachey
		1778			Alexander Wedderburn
		1779	William Clive
		1780			Henry Strachey
		1802			John Robinson
		1819			Douglas Kinnaird
		1820	William Holmes	Tory[4]	Edward Rogers	Tory[5]
		1830	Frederick Hamilton Cornewall	Tory[6]
		1831	James Knight-Bruce	Tory[7]

• Constituency abolished / disenfranchised (1832)

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election, 30 April 1831: Bishop's Castle^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Edward Rogers (MP)	Unopposed
	Tory	James Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 200
	Tory hold
	Tory hold

General election, 31 July 1830: Bishop's Castle^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Edward Rogers (MP)	Unopposed
	Tory	Frederick Cornewall (Bishop's Castle MP)	Unopposed
Registered electors			c. 200
	Tory hold
	Tory hold

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in Shropshire#Historical constituencies
• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
• Unreformed House of Commons

References

1. Namier, Lewis (1957). The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd ed.). London: St Martin's Press. p. 245.
2. Christopher W. Brooks, ‘Littleton, Edward, Baron Littleton (1589–1645)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004|| online edn, Jan 2008
3. "Howard, Robert (1585-1653)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
4. Fisher, David R. "HOLMES, William (?1777-1851), of 10 Grafton Street; New Bond Street and Vine Cottage, Fulham, Mdx". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
5. Escott, Margaret. "ROGERS, Edward (1781-1852), of Stanage Park, nr. Knighton, Rad. and 8 Charles Street, Mdx". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
6. Escott, Margaret. "CORNEWALL, Frederick Hamilton (1791-1845), of Delbury Hall, Diddlebury, Salop". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
7. Escott, Margaret; Fisher, David R. "KNIGHT, James Lewis (1791-1866), of 1 New Square, Lincoln's Inn and Highwood Hill, Hendon, Mdx". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
8. Escott, Margaret. "Bishop's Castle". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)