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Exeter's Members of Parliament

Page added 24 November 2009

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Exeter has had Member's of Parliament representing the City from way before 1660, which is the starting point of this list. This page is based on the list that appears in Leigh Rayment's Peerage Website. Before 1885, the City had two MPs, who often owed their election to the purchase of votes. In the election of 1790, Bamfylde paid out £8,000, Baring £10,000 and Buller £16,000 – Buller's cash-book indicates that £12,000 was distributed to the landlord of the Three Cranes in Milk Street, while another £4,000 went to the landlords of the Swan Tavern, Valiant Soldier, Bull Inn, the London Inn and the Bristol Inn, who no doubt offered liquid inducements to the roughly 1,500 electorate.

Before the 1832 Reform Act, the franchise consisted of Freemen of the city – after the Act, the franchise was extended to include owners of land worth more than £10 and certain long-term lease holders. In 1867 the franchise was extended to all male householders. The contest was always between Tories (Conservatives), Whigs (Liberals) and some independents. Early candidates were often sponsored by the Chamber, and therefore their political leanings would reflect that of the said Chamber. Exeter did not get its first Labour candidate in a General Election until 1923.

Other

Sources: Eighteenth-Century Exeter by Robert Newton, Victorian Exeter by Robert Newton and Two Thousand Years in Exeter by W G Hoskins.

Election Date Name and notes Birth – Death – Age at Death
April 1660 John Maynard – Constitutionalist (involved in founding of Maynards and Heles Schools) 18 Jul 1604 – 8 Oct 1690 – 86
Thomas Bampfield - represented Exeter during the Commonwealth circa 1623 – 8 Oct 1693
Richard Ford

Double return between Maynard and Ford – this meant the election was doubtful and it was for the Recorder to decide the victor. Maynard declared elected 4 Jun 1660
16 April 1661 Robert Walker c 1597 – 23 Aug 1673
Sir James Smyth (to 1679) c 1621 – 18 Nov 1681
20 Nov 1673 Thomas Walker c 1632 – 24 Nov 1682
25 Feb 1679 William Glyde d 20 Aug 1710
Malachi Pyne d circa 1683
22 Feb 1681 Sir Thomas Carew 19 Jul 1624 – 25 Jul 1681 – 57
Thomas Walker c 1632 – 24 Nov 1682
17 Mar 1685 James Walker b circa 1635
16 Jan 1692 Sir Edward Seymour, 4th baronet (to 1695) – Tory 1633 – 17 Feb 1708 – 74
14 Jan 1689 Henry Pollexfen – Whig c 1632– 15 Jun 1691
6 Jun 1689 Christopher Bale – High Tory d Dec 1708
12 Nov 1695 Edward Seyward – Whig 28 Oct 1634 – 1 Mar 1704 – 69
Sir Joseph Tily – Whig c 1654 – Jan 1708
16 Aug 1698 Sir Edward Seymour, 4th baronet (to April 1708) – Tory and Royalist 1633 – 17 Feb 1708 – 74
Sir Bartholomew Shower – High Tory 14 Dec 1658 – 4 Dec 1701 – 42
27 Jan 1702 John Snell  (to May 1708) – Tory c 1638 – 26 Aug 1717
13 Apr 1708 John Harris (to 1710) – Whig c 1675 – 1714
11 May 1708 Nicholas Wood – High Tory d 1742
24 Oct 1710 Sir Coplestone Warwick Bampfylde, 3rd baronet – Tory c 16897 – Oct 1727
John Snell - Tory c 1638 – 26 Aug 1717
4 Sep 1713 John Rolle – Tory 8 Dec 1679 – 6 May 1730 – 50
Francis Drewe (to 1734) – Tory c 1674 – 13 Sep 1734
8 Feb 1715 John Bampfylde – Tory 8 Apr 1691 – 17 Sep 1750 – 59
27 Mar 1722 John Rolle – Tory 8 Dec 1679 – 6 May 1730 – 50
5 Sep 1727 Samuel Molyneux – Whig 16 Jul 1689– 13 Apr 1728 – 38
25 May 1728 John Belfield – Tory 21 Dec 1669 – 19 Oct 1751 – 81
7 May 1734 John King, later Baron King – Whig 13 Jan 170610 Feb 1740 - 34
Thomas Balle (to 1741) – Whig 28 Jun 1671 – 11 Jun 1749 – 77
11 Mar 1735 Sir Henry Northcote, 5th baronet (to 1743)  – Tory 1710 – 24 May 1743 – 32
26 May 1741 Humphrey Sydenham (to 1754) – Tory 24 Oct 1694 – 12 Aug 1757 – 62
20 Dec 1743 Sir Richard Warwick Bampfylde, 4th baronet 21 Nov 1722 – 15 Jul 1776 – 53
1 Jul 1747 John Tuckfield (to 1767) – Tory c 1719 – 6 Dec 1767
19 Apr 1754 John Rolle Walter (to 1776) – Independent c 1714 – 30 Nov 1779
19 Dec 1767 William Spicer – Independent c 1735 – 21 Oct 1788
17 Mar 1768 John Buller – Independent 28 Feb 1745 – 26 Nov 1793 – 48
7 Oct 1774 Sir Charles Warwick Bampfylde, 5th baronet (to 1790) – Whig 23 Jan 1753 – 19 Apr 1823 – 70
9 Nov 1776 John Baring (to 1802) – Independent 5 Oct 1730 – 29 Jan 1816 – 85
17 Jun 1790 James Buller – Whig 14 May 1766 – 18 Aug 1827 – 61
27 May 1796 Sir Charles Warwick Bampfylde, 5th baronet (to 1812) – Whig 23 Jan 1753 – 19 Apr 1823 – 70
5 Jul 1802 James Buller (to 1818) – Whig 14 May 1766 – 18 Aug 1827 – 61
6 Oct 1812 William Courtenay (to Feb 1826) – Tory 19 Jun 1777 – 19 Mar 1859 – 81
20 Jun 1818 Robert William Newman, later [1836] 1st baronet (to Jun 1826) 18 Aug 1776 – 24 Jan 1848 – 71
9 Feb 1826 Samuel Trehawke Kekewich (to 1830) – Conservative 1796  – 1 Jun 1873 – 76
10 Jun 1826 Lewis William Buck (to 1832) – Conservative 1784 – 25 April 1858 – 73
29 Jul 1830 James Wentworth Buller (to 1835) – Whig 1 Oct 1798 – 13 Mar 1865 – 66
12 Dec 1832 Edward Divett (to 1864) – Liberal d 25 Jul 1864
8 Jan 1835 Sir William Webb Follett – Conservative 2 Feb 1798 – 28 Jun 1845 – 47
7 Jul 1845 Sir John Thomas Buller Duckworth, 2nd baronet – Conservative 17 Mar 1809 – 29 Nov 1887 – 78
27 Mar 1857 Richard Sommers Gard (to 1865) – Conservative 1797 – 16 Dec 1868 – 71
4 Aug 1864 Edward Baldwin Courtenay, styled Viscount Courtenay, later Earl of Devon (to 1868) – Conservative 7 May 1836 – 15 Jan 1891 – 54
11 Jul 1865 John Duke Coleridge, later Baron Coleridge (to 1873) – Liberal 3 Dec 1821 – 14 Jun 1894 – 72
16 Nov 1868 Edgar Alfred Bowring (to 1874) – Liberal 1826 – 8 Aug 1911 – 85
11 Dec 1873 Arthur Mills (to 1880) – Conservative 20 Jul 1816 – 12 Oct 1898 – 82
5 Feb 1874 John George Johnson 1829
2 Apr 1880 Edward Johnson – Conservative 1833 – 2 Nov 1894 – 61
Henry Stafford Northcote, later Baron Northcote (to 1899) – Conservative 18 Nov 1846 – 29 Sep 1911 – 64
6 Nov 1899 Sir Edgar Vincent, later Viscount D'Abernon – Conservative 19 Aug 1857 – 1 Nov 1941 – 84
17 Jan 1906 Sir George William Kekewich – Liberal 1 Apr 1841 – 5 Jul 1921 – 80
17 Jan 1910 Henry Edward Duke, later Baron Merrivale – Conservative 5 Nov 1855 – 20 May 1939 – 83
Dec 1910 Richard Harold St. Maur – Liberal (majority of four votes over Henry Edward Duke) 1869 – 5 Apr 1927 – 57
11 Apr 1911 Henry Edward Duke, later Baron Merrivale – Conservative (an enquiry into the 1910 election, and recount, found that Duke had a majority of a single vote – he was duly declared the winner) 5 Nov 1855 – 20 May 1939 – 83
May 1918 Sir Robert Hunt Stapylton Dudley Lydston Newman, later Baron Mamhead – Independent 27 Oct 1871 – 2 Nov 1945 – 74
27 Oct 1931 Arthur Conrad Reed – Conservative 1881 – 15 Jan 1961 – 79
26 Jul 1945 John Cyril Maude – Conservative 3 Apr 1901 – 16 Aug 1986 – 85
25 Oct 1951 Sir Rolf Dudley Dudley-Williams,1st baronet – Conservative 17 Jun 1908 – 8 Oct 1987 – 79
31 Mar 1966 Gwyneth Patricia Dunwoody – Labour 12 Dec 1930 – 17 Apr 2008 – 77
18 Jun 1970 Sir John Gordon Hannam – Conservative 2 Aug 1929
1 May 1997 Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw - Labour 30 Aug 1960

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