Bramber (UK Parliament constituency)

Bramber was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, one of the most notorious of all the rotten boroughs. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons in 1295, and again from 1472 until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Bramber
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1472–1832
Seats	Two
Replaced by	New Shoreham

History

The borough consisted of the former market town of Bramber on the River Adur, which by the 19th century had decayed to the size of a small village. Bramber was barely distinguishable from neighbouring Steyning, with which it shared a main street, and for a century and a half after 1295 they formed a single borough collectively returning MPs. From the reign of Edward IV, however, they returned two MPs each, even though one part of Bramber was in the centre of Steyning so that a single property could in theory give rise to a vote in both boroughs. They were never substantial enough towns to deserve enfranchisement on their own merits, and both probably owed their status to a royal desire to gratify the courtiers that owned them with a degree of influence in the House of Commons.

Bramber was a burgage borough – the vote was restricted to inhabitants of ancient houses in the borough, or those built on ancient foundations, who paid scot and lot. In 1816 this amounted to only 20 voters, although as in 1831 the borough contained 35 houses and a population of approximately 170, this was a much higher proportion of the residents than in most burgage boroughs.

Bramber was slightly unusual in that the vote was accorded to the occupier rather than the owner of the burgage tenements, but in practice the owners had total control over the votes of their tenants – by bribery if not by threats – and therefore of elections in the borough. In Tudor times, the Dukes of Norfolk seem to have held sway. By the first half of the 18th century Bramber was wholly owned by Sir Harry Gough, who leased it (and the right to nominate its MPs) to Lord Archer;^[1] Lord Archer sold this right onwards in his turn, apparently being paid £1000 by the government to allow Lord Malpas to be elected in 1754. In 1768 the Duke of Rutland gained control, but Gough later regained power over one of the two seats and it was inherited by his descendants (who held the title Lord Calthorpe). These two families still shared the representation at the time of the Reform Act.

Bramber was abolished as a separate constituency with effect from the 1832 general election. However, the nearby borough of New Shoreham had already been expanded to include the whole of the Rape of Bramber as an antidote to its corruption, and survived the Reform Act with both its MPs intact. Bramber therefore formed part of the New Shoreham constituency from 1832.

Members of Parliament

before 1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1399	Robert Couk	John Farnfold
1510–1523	No names known [2]
1529	Henry See	William Roper[2]
1536	?
1539	?
1542	Sir John Clere	?Richard Watkins[2]
1545	Sir John Clere	John Gilmyn[2]
1547	Sir William Sharington	John Fylde[2]
by 23 Jan 1552	Chidiock Paulet	Richard Bunny[2]
1553 (Mar)	George Rithe	Lawrence Awen[2]
1553 (Oct)	Sir John Baker	Thomas Timperley[2]
1554 (Apr)	Sir Henry Palmer	John Story[2]
1554 (Nov)	Thomas Elrington	John Baker[2]
1555	Sir Thomas Knyvet	John Baker or Thomas Baker [2]
1558	Henry Mynn	Nicholas Mynn [2]
1559	Sir Henry Gates	Robert Buxton[3]
1562/3	William Barker	Robert Balam [3]
1571	Bartholomew Clerke	Robert Wiseman[3]
1572	Hugh Hare	Henry Clerke[3]
1584	Nicholas Beaumont	Sampson Lennard[3]
1586	William Towse	John Porter[3]
1588	James Altham	John Osborne[3]
1593	Samuel Thornhill	Edward Michelborne[3]
1597	Nicholas Trott	William Comber[3]
1601	Sir Thomas Shirley, sat for Hastings and replaced Nov 1601 by Henry Lok	Henry Bowyer[3]
1604	Sir John Shurley[4]	Henry Shelley
1614	Sir John Leedes	Henry ShelleySon of Member for 1604
1621	(Sir) Thomas Bowyer	Robert Morley
1624	(Sir) Thomas Bowyer	Robert Morley
1625	Walter Barttelot	(Sir) Thomas Bowyer
1626	Walter Barttelot	(Sir) Thomas Bowyer
1628–1629	Sir Sackville Crowe	(Sir) Thomas Bowyer
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Sir Edward Bishopp			Sir Thomas Bowyer	Royalist
November 1640[5]					Arthur Onslow	Parliamentarian
December 1640		Sir Thomas Bowyer	Royalist
November 1642	Bowyer disabled from sitting – seat vacant
September 1645		James Temple
December 1648				Onslow excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
1653	Bramber was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		John Byne			John Fagg
May 1659		James Temple		One seat vacant
1660		John Byne			Edward Eversfield
1661					Percy Goring
1662		Sir Cecil Bishopp
February 1679		Henry Goring			Nicholas Eversfield
August 1679					Henry Sidney
1681					Percy Goring
1685		Sir Thomas Bludworth			William Bridgeman
1689		John Alford			Charles Goring
1690		Nicholas Barbon			John Radcliffe
1695					William Stringer
1698		Sir Henry Furnese[6]			William Westbrooke
February 1699		John Courthope
April 1699		John Asgill
January 1701		Thomas Stringer			Thomas Owen
March 1701		Francis Seymour-Conway
1702					John Asgill[7]
1703		John Middleton[8]
1704		Samuel Vanacker Sambrooke
1705		The Viscount Windsor
1707					William Shippen
1709 [9]		William Hale			Sir Cleave More
October 1710		The Viscount Windsor[10]			Andrews Windsor
December 1710		William Shippen
1713		The Lord Hawley
January 1715		Sir Richard Gough			Sir Thomas Style[11]
June 1715					Edward Minshull
1722					William Charles van Huls
1723					David Polhill
1727					Joseph Danvers
March 1728		John Gumley[12]
April 1728		James Hoste
1734		Sir Harry Gough			Harry Gough (senior)
1741		Thomas Archer
1747		Joseph Damer
1751					Henry Pelham	Whig
1754		Viscount Malpas			Nathaniel Newnham
March 1761		Hon. Andrew Archer[13]			William Fitzherbert
December 1761		The Lord Winterton[14]
1762					Hon. George Venables-Vernon
1768 [15]					Charles Lowndes
1769		Thomas Thoroton			Charles Ambler
1774					Sir Henry Gough[16]
1782		Hon. Henry Fitzroy Stanhope
1784		Daniel Pulteney
1788		Robert Hobart
1790		Thomas Coxhead[17]
1796		Sir Charles Rouse-Boughton			James Adams
1800		John Henry Newbolt
1802		George Manners-Sutton			Henry Jodrell
1804		Richard Norman
1806		John Irving
1812					William Wilberforce	Independent
1825					Arthur Gough-Calthorpe
1826					Frederick Gough-Calthorpe
1831					William Stratford Dugdale
1832	Constituency abolished

Notes

1. Page 144 note 1, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
2. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
3. "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
4. Son in law of Sir Thomas Shirley
5. Bishopp and Onslow were initially elected but their election was declared void. Bishopp was barred from standing again, but Onslow was re-elected
6. Expelled from the House of Commons, 1699, for holding an office incompatible with membership
7. Expelled from the House of Commons, 1707, for his controversial writings on religion
8. On petition, Middleton's election was declared void following a dispute over the franchise
9. At the general election of 1708, Windsor and Shippen were initially declared re-elected, but on petition the election was declared void
10. The Viscount Windsor was also elected for Monmouthshire, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Bramber
11. On petition (a dispute over the franchise), Style was found not to have been duly elected, and a by-election was held
12. On petition, Gumley was found not to have been duly elected, and a by-election was held
13. Archer was also elected for Coventry, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Bramber
14. The Earl Winterton from 1766
15. At the election of 1768, Winterton and Lowndes were initially declared elected, but on petition the result was reversed and their opponents Thoroton and Ambler were seated instead
16. Adopted the surname Calthorpe in 1788
17. Sir Thomas Coxhead from 1793

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)
• 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)
• Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 5)