Newport (Isle of Wight) (UK Parliament constituency)

Newport was a parliamentary borough located in Newport (Isle of Wight), which was abolished in for the 1885 general election. It was occasionally referred to by the alternative name of Medina.

Newport
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	Isle of Wight
Major settlements	Newport
1584–1885
Seats	1584–1868: Two 1868–1885: One
Created from	Hampshire
Replaced by	Isle of Wight
1295–1298
Seats	Two
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Hampshire

(Prior to the Great Reform Act of 1832 there was also a separate Newport parliamentary borough in Cornwall.)

History

The borough was first represented in the parliament of 1295, and returned two members of parliament (MPs) from 1584 to 1868. At the 1868 election the Second Reform Act reduced its representation to a single seat, and under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the constituency was abolished altogether with effect from the 1885 general election. Newport's re-enfranchisement in 1584, like that of the other Isle of Wight boroughs (Newtown and Yarmouth) seems to have been at the urging of the new Governor of the island, Sir George Carey, a relative of the Queen. In token of thanks, the borough granted him for life the right to nominate one of the two MPs – which seems to have been the reward he expected and the motive for his petition to the Queen in the first place.

Between 1807 and 1811 its two seats were held by two future Prime Ministers: Arthur Wellesley, later to become the Duke of Wellington (who also found himself elected to two other seats at the same time), and Henry Temple (later Lord Palmerston), who would go on to become one of the United Kingdom's most notable Prime Ministers. Palmerston's late father had been unable to convert his Irish title into a United Kingdom peerage, therefore the young politician was able to enter the Commons. The local patron arranging the deal was Sir Leonard Holmes, who made it a condition that they never visited the borough!

The borough was also represented by two other future Prime Ministers in the 1820s. George Canning was MP for Newport when appointed Prime Minister in 1827; however, under the law as it then stood a minister accepting office automatically vacated his seat and had to stand for re-election to the Commons, and Canning chose to stand at Seaford, a government pocket borough in Sussex, rather than fight Newport again. In the by-election that followed at Newport, the vacancy was filled by the election of the Honourable William Lamb, later 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose father had also represented the borough in the 1790s. However, Lamb remained MP for Newport for only two weeks before also being elected for Bletchingley, which he preferred to represent.

Before the Great Reform Act of 1832, the right to vote was vested in the Mayor and Corporation (consisting of 11 aldermen and 12 burgesses). For much of the previous century the borough was "managed" for the government by the Holmes family,^[1] meaning that ministers could generally secure the election of their favoured candidates, but often only at the expense of considerable "gratuities" to the voters – in 1754, this apparently amounted to a payment of £600 for each candidate. The borough consisted of the parish of Newport and of Castle Hold in the parish of St Nicholas, thereby excluding that part of the town which extended over the boundary into Carisbrooke parish; this gave the borough a population of 4,398 in 1831. The 1832 reforms extended the borough to take in the rest of the town, raising the population to 6,700, though the electorate was still only 421.

Newport's representation was reduced from two members to one by the second Reform Act for the 1868 general election, and abolished altogether in 1885, leaving the town represented as part of the Isle of Wight county constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1584–1660

Parliament	First member	Second member
1584	Sir Ralph Bourchier	Edmund Carey[2]
1586	Richard Sutton	Richard Hardy[2]
1588	Sir Edmund Carey	Richard Hardy[2]
1593	William Cotton	Richard Huyshe[2]
1597	William Cotton	Richard James[2]
1601	Thomas Crompton	Richard James[2]
1604	Richard James	John Ashdell
1614	Sir Richard Worsley, 1st Baronet	John Searle
1621–1622	Sir Richard Worsley, 1st Baronet died 1621 and replaced by Philip Fleming	Sir William Uvedale
1624	Philip Fleming	Christopher Brooke, sat for York and replaced by John Danvers
1625	Sir Nathaniel Rich	Philip Fleming
1626	Christopher Yelverton	Philip Fleming
1628–1629	Christopher Yelverton	Philip Fleming
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned
1640 (Apr)	The Viscount Falkland	Sir Henry Worsley, 2nd Baronet
1640 (Nov)	The Viscount Falkland disabled to sit, Sep 1642	Sir Henry Worsley, 2nd Baronet
1645	Sir Henry Worsley, 2nd Baronet excluded in Pride's Purge, Dec 1648	William Stephens
1653–1659	Newport was unrepresented in the Barebones and First and Second Protectorate Parliaments
1659	Thomas Boreman (of Broke)	Sir Robert Dillington, 2nd Baronet
1659–1660	Sir Henry Worsley, 2nd Baronet	William Stephens

MPs 1660–1868

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1660		Robert Dillington			William Oglander[3]
1661		William Glascock
1670					Sir Robert Dillington
February 1679		Admiral Sir Robert Holmes
August 1679		John Leigh
1685		Admiral Sir Robert Holmes			Sir William Stephens
January 1689		Sir Robert Dillington
June 1689		Edward Dillington
1690		Admiral Sir Robert Holmes
1692		Brigadier Richard Leveson
November 1695		Brigadier The Lord Cutts			Sir Robert Cotton
December 1695		Sir Henry Colt
1698		Major-General The Lord Cutts
1699		Henry Greenhill
January 1701		Major-General The Lord Cutts			Samuel Shepheard
March 1701		Henry Greenhill
December 1701		Major-General The Lord Cutts			Edward Richards
March 1702		Colonel James Stanhope	Whig
July 1702		Major-General The Lord Cutts[4]			William Stephens
1707		Sir Tristram Dillington
October 1710		Lieutenant-General John Richmond Webb[5]	Tory
December 1710		Lieutenant-General William Seymour
1713		General John Richmond Webb	Tory
1715		Anthony Morgan[6]
April 1717		Lieutenant-General James Stanhope	Whig
July 1717		Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Tristram Dillington
1721		Thomas Stanwix
March 1722		Earl of March[7]			The Lord Whitworth
October 1722		Colonel Charles Cadogan
1726					George Huxley
January 1727		Sir William Willys
August 1727		William Fortescue
1736		The Viscount Boyne
May 1741		Anthony Chute			Monoux Cope
July 1747		Captain Bluett Wallop			Thomas Lee Dummer
1749		Ralph Jenison
1758		Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes
1762		William Rawlinson Earle
1765					Thomas Dummer
1768		John Eames			Hans Sloane
1773		Hon. John St. John
1774		Sir Richard Worsley
1780					Hon. John St. John
1784		Edward Rushworth			Captain the Hon. Hugh Seymour-Conway
1786					Hon. John Townshend
January 1790					George Byng
June 1790		The Viscount Palmerston			The Viscount Melbourne
1793					Peniston Lamb
May 1796		Jervoise Clarke Jervoise[8]			Edward Rushworth[9]
November 1796		William Hamilton Nisbet			Andrew Strahan
1800		Sir George Dallas
1802		John Blackburn			Richard Gervas Ker
1806		Isaac Corry			Major General Sir John Doyle
1807		The Viscount Palmerston	Tory		Sir Arthur Wellesley	Tory
1809					Sir Leonard Worsley-Holmes
1811		Cecil Bisshopp
1812		Richard Worsley-Holmes
1814		John Delgarno
1816		George Watson-Taylor
1818		Charles Duncombe
1825					Hon. John Stuart
1826		George Canning	Tory[10]		Hon. William Scott	Tory[10]
April 1827		Hon. William Lamb[11]	Whig
May 1827		Spencer Perceval	Tory[10]
1830					Horace Twiss	Tory[10]
1831		William Mount	Tory[10]		James Joseph Hope-Vere	Tory[10]
1832		John Heywood Hawkins	Whig[10][12][13][14]		William Henry Ord	Whig[10]
1837					William John Blake	Whig[10][12][13]
1841		Charles Wykeham Martin	Conservative[10]		William Hamilton	Conservative[10]
1847			Peelite[15][16]		William Plowden	Peelite[15][16]
1852		William Biggs	Radical[17][18][19]		William Nathaniel Massey	Radical[18][19]
February 1857		Robert Kennard	Conservative
March 1857		Charles Edward Mangles	Whig[20]		Charles Buxton	Whig[20]
1859		Robert Kennard	Conservative		Philip Lybbe Powys	Conservative
1865					Charles Wykeham Martin	Liberal
1868	Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1868–1885

Election		Member	Party
	1868	Charles Wykeham Martin	Liberal
	1870	Charles Clifford	Liberal
1885		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Newport^[10][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Spencer Perceval	Unopposed
	Tory	Horace Twiss	Unopposed
Registered electors			24
	Tory hold
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Newport^[10][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	William Mount	Unopposed
	Tory	James Joseph Hope-Vere	Unopposed
Registered electors			24
	Tory hold
	Tory hold

General election 1832: Newport^[10][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	John Heywood Hawkins	216	36.4
	Whig	William Henry Ord	216	36.4
	Tory	James Willoughby Gordon	161	27.2
Majority			55	9.2
Turnout			365	86.7
Registered electors			421
	Whig gain from Tory
	Whig gain from Tory

General election 1835: Newport^[10][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Henry Ord	233	26.0	−10.4
	Whig	John Heywood Hawkins	230	25.6	−10.8
	Conservative	James Willoughby Gordon	229	25.5	+11.9
	Conservative	William Hamilton	205	22.9	+9.3
Majority			1	0.1	−9.1
Turnout			c. 449	c. 89.7	c. +3.0
Registered electors			500
	Whig hold		Swing	−10.5
	Whig hold		Swing	−10.7

Ord was appointed as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 27 April 1835: Newport^[10][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Henry Ord	Unopposed
	Whig hold

General election 1837: Newport^[10][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Heywood Hawkins	265	26.3	+0.7
	Whig	William John Blake	263	26.1	+0.1
	Conservative	Charles Wykeham Martin	244	24.2	−1.3
	Conservative	William Hamilton	236	23.4	+0.5
Majority			19	1.9	+1.8
Turnout			506	79.9	c. −9.8
Registered electors			633
	Whig hold		Swing	+0.6
	Whig hold		Swing	+0.3

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Newport^[22][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Wykeham Martin	254	26.4	+2.2
	Conservative	William Hamilton	252	26.2	+2.8
	Whig	Thomas Gisborne	229	23.8	−2.5
	Whig	William John Blake	226	23.5	−2.6
Majority			23	2.4	N/A
Turnout			485	64.7	−15.2
Registered electors			750
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+2.4
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+2.7

General election 1847: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Peelite	William Plowden	262	26.1	−0.1
	Peelite	Charles Wykeham Martin	252	25.1	−1.3
	Whig	William John Blake	250	25.0	+1.5
	Whig	Charles Crompton[23][24]	238	23.8	—
Majority			2	0.1	−2.3
Turnout			501 (est)	77.6 (est)	+12.9
Registered electors			646
	Peelite gain from Conservative		Swing	−0.4
	Peelite gain from Conservative		Swing	−1.0

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	William Biggs	310	27.4	+2.4
	Radical	William Nathaniel Massey	306	27.1	+3.3
	Peelite	Charles Wykeham Martin	257	22.7	−2.4
	Peelite	William Plowden	257	22.7	−3.4
Majority			49	4.4	N/A
Turnout			565 (est)	79.9 (est)	+2.3
Registered electors			707
	Radical gain from Peelite		Swing	+2.7
	Radical gain from Peelite		Swing	+3.1

Biggs resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 11 February 1857: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Kennard	289	54.3	+8.9
	Radical	Charles Seely[25][26][27][28][29]	243	45.7	−8.8
Majority			46	8.6	N/A
Turnout			532	81.3	+1.4
Registered electors			654
	Conservative gain from Radical		Swing	+8.9

General election 1857: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Charles Edward Mangles	305	26.8	−0.6
	Whig	Charles Buxton	294	25.8	−1.3
	Conservative	Robert Kennard	283	24.8	+2.1
	Conservative	William Anderson Rose[30]	257	22.6	−0.1
Majority			11	1.0	N/A
Turnout			570 (est)	87.1 (est)	+7.2
Registered electors			654
	Whig gain from Radical		Swing	−0.8
	Whig gain from Radical		Swing	−1.2

General election 1859: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Kennard	319	37.1	+12.3
	Conservative	Philip Lybbe Powys	312	36.3	+13.7
	Liberal	Robert Charles[31]	228	26.5	−26.1
Majority			84	9.8	N/A
Turnout			544 (est)	84.0 (est)	−3.1
Registered electors			647
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+12.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+13.4

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Wykeham Martin	309	36.5	+10.0
	Conservative	Robert Kennard	307	36.3	−0.8
	Conservative	Auberon Herbert	230	27.2	−9.1
Majority			79	9.3	N/A
Turnout			578 (est)	89.8 (est)	+5.8
Registered electors			643
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+10.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.9

Seat reduced to one member

General election 1868: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Wykeham Martin	Unopposed
Registered electors			965
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

Martin's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 23 Nov 1870: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Clifford	437	55.5	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Martyn Kennard[32]	351	44.5	New
Majority			86	11.0	N/A
Turnout			788	81.7	N/A
Registered electors			965
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1874: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Clifford	522	52.4	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Robert Twyford	475	47.6	N/A
Majority			47	4.8	N/A
Turnout			997	85.5	N/A
Registered electors			1,166
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Newport^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Clifford	618	52.5	+0.1
	Conservative	Henry Robert Twyford	560	47.5	−0.1
Majority			58	5.0	+0.2
Turnout			1,178	86.5	+1.0
Registered electors			1,362
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.1

See also

• Isle of Wight
• Newtown
• Politics of the Isle of Wight
• Parliamentary representation from Isle of Wight

Notes and references

1. Page 25, 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 19 October 2011.
3. Created a baronet as Sir William Oglander, December 1665
4. Lieutenant-General from 1703
5. Webb was also elected for Ludgershall, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Newport in this Parliament
6. Morgan was also a candidate for Yarmouth, but the election result there was disputed. He sat for Newport until the Yarmouth election was decided in his favour, then chose to represent Yarmouth for the remainder of the Parliament
7. March was also elected for Chichester, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
8. Jervoise was also elected for Yarmouth, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
9. Rushworth was also elected for Yarmouth, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
10. Stooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 153–156. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
11. Lamb was elected at a by-election for Bletchingley two weeks after his election for Newport. He chose to represent Bletchingley.
12. Mosse, Richard Bartholomew (1838). The Parliamentary Guide: a concise history of the Members of both Houses, etc. pp. 137, 175.
13. "John Bull". 14 August 1837. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 26 November 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
14. Dickens, Charles (2015) [1843]. Caswall, Edward (ed.). Sketches of Young Ladies, Young Gentleman and Young Couples. Richmond: Alma Books. p. 196. ISBN 978-1-84749-491-7.
15. "Newport". Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette. 3 July 1852. p. 4. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
16. "The Elections". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 28 July 1852. p. 8. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
17. Wigley, John (1980). The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Sunday. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 94. ISBN 0-7190-0794-1. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
18. "Newport Borough Election". Hampshire Advertiser. 10 July 1852. p. 7. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
19. "Shipping and Mercantile Gazette". 9 July 1852. p. 8. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
20. "Glasgow Sentinel". 21 March 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
21. Salmon, Philip; Spencer, Howard. "Newport I.o.W." The History of Parliament. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
22. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 221–222. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
23. "The General Election". Morning Post. 24 July 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 26 November 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
24. "General Election". London Evening Standard. 30 July 1847. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 26 November 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
25. "Election Intelligence". Kentish Independent. 14 February 1857. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
26. Dod, Charles Roger; Dod, Robert Phipps (1847). Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Volume 15. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. p. 232. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
27. Hill, Francis (1974). Victorian Lincoln. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 17, 74. ISBN 0-521-20334-1. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
28. Seely, Bob. "About Bob Seely". Bob Seely MP. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
29. "Pratt to Seely". It's About Lincoln. Angelic Aromas. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
30. "Newport Election". Hampshire Advertiser. 4 April 1857. pp. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
31. "Newport (Isle of Wight)". Morning Advertiser. 26 April 1859. p. 2. Retrieved 10 June 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
32. "Press Association Telegrams". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 2 November 1870. p. 5. Retrieved 11 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

• 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)
• Michael Brock, The Great Reform Act (London: Hutchinson, 1973)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd Ed) (Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• D Englefield, J Seaton & I White, Facts About the British Prime Ministers (London: Mansell, 1995)
• 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)
• 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, Volume I (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1979)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 1)