List of Great Britain by-elections (1734–54)
This is a list of parliamentary by-elections in Great Britain held between 1734 and 1754, with the names of the previous incumbent and the victor in the by-election.
In the absence of a comprehensive and reliable source, for party and factional alignments in this period, no attempt is made to define them in this article. The House of Commons: 1715-1754 provides some guidance to the complex and shifting political relationships, but it is significant that the compilers of that work make no attempt to produce a definitive list of each members allegiances.
Resignations
- See Resignation from the British House of Commons for more details.
Where the cause of by-election is given as "resignation", this indicates that the incumbent was appointed on his own request to an "office of profit under the Crown". Offices used, in this period, were the Stewards of the Chiltern Hundreds (first used in 1751), Steward of the Honour of Otford (used once in 1742) or Chief Steward and Keeper of the Courts of the Honour of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Northampton (used once in 1752). These appointments are made as a constitutional device for leaving the House of Commons, whose Members are not permitted to resign. If the vacancy was caused by appointment to another office then this office is noted in brackets.
In addition certain offices of profit, such as cabinet positions, required the MP to seek re-election. These offices are noted separately.
Dates
Until 1752 England (but not Scotland) counted its legal year as beginning on 25 March. For the purposes of this list the year is considered to have started on 1 January.
By-elections
The c/u column denotes whether the by-election was a contested poll or an unopposed return. If the winner was re-elected, at the next general election and any intermediate by-elections, this is indicated by an * following the c or u. In a few cases the winner was elected at the next general election but had not been re-elected in a by-election after the one noted. In those cases no * symbol is used.
8th Parliament (1735–1741)
Date | Constituency | c/u | Former Incumbent | Winner | Cause |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
17 February 1735 | Amersham | c* | Thomas Lutwyche | Thomas Gore | Death |
17 February 1735 | Stockbridge | c | John Montagu | John Berkeley | Death |
17 February 1735 | Chipping Wycombe | u | Edmund Waller | Sir Charles Vernon | Chose to sit for Great Marlow |
18 February 1735 | Old Sarum | u* | Thomas Pitt | William Pitt | Chose to sit for Okehampton |
19 February 1735 | Aldborough | u* | Henry Pelham | John Jewkes | Chose to sit for Sussex |
William Jessop | Andrew Wilkinson | Death | |||
19 February 1735 | Kent | u | The Viscount Vane | Sir Christopher Powell | Death |
19 February 1735 | Norwich | c* | Waller Bacon | Thomas Vere | Death |
20 February 1735 | Ashburton | u | Sir William Yonge | Thomas Bladen | Chose to sit for Honiton |
20 February 1735 | Bewdley | u | William Bowles | Phineas Bowles | Chose to sit for Bridport |
20 February 1735 | East Looe | u | Edward Trelawny | Samuel Holden | Ineligible to sit (Commissioner of Customs in Scotland) |
20 February 1735 | West Looe | u | Edward Trelawny | John Owen | Ineligible to sit (Commissioner of Customs in Scotland) |
21 February 1735 | Plympton Erle | u | Richard Edgcumbe | Thomas Walker | Chose to sit for Lostwithiel |
22 February 1735 | Queenborough | u | Sir George Saunders | Lord Archibald Hamilton | Death |
26 February 1735 | Bedfordshire | u* | John Spencer | Sir Roger Burgoyne | Chose to sit for New Woodstock |
27 February 1735 | Aldeburgh | u | George Purvis | George Purvis | Commissioner of the Navy |
28 February 1735 | Hindon | u* | Stephen Fox | Henry Fox | Chose to sit for Shaftesbury |
28 February 1735 | Weymouth and Melcombe Regis | c* | George Bubb Dodington | John Tucker | Chose to sit for Bridgwater |
5 March 1735 | Suffolk | u* | Sir Robert Kemp | Sir Cordell Firebrace | Death |
6 March 1735 | Monmouthshire | u* | John Hanbury | Charles Hanbury Williams | Death |
7 March 1735 | Lanarkshire | u* | Lord William Hamilton | Sir James Hamilton | Death |
11 March 1735 | Exeter | u* | John King | Sir Henry Northcote | Succeeded to a peerage |
17 March 1735 | Nairnshire | u | John Campbell | Alexander Brodie | Chose to sit for Pembrokeshire |
20 March 1735 | Colchester | c | Isaac Lemyng Rebow | Jacob Houblon | Death |
28 March 1735 | Okehampton | u* | William Northmore | George Lyttelton | Death |
31 March 1735 | Lostwithiel | u | Philip Lloyd | Matthew Ducie Moreton | Death |
3 April 1735 | Tamworth | c(*) | George Compton | Charles Cotes | Chose to sit for Northampton |
7 April 1735 | Bridgwater | u | Thomas Palmer | Charles Wyndham | Death |
9 April 1735 | Hastings | u | Sir William Ashburnham | Sir William Ashburnham | Receiver of Fines in the Alienation Office |
14 April 1735 | Cirencester | u* | William Wodehouse | Henry Bathurst | Death |
19 April 1735 | Whitchurch | u* | John Conduitt | John Mordaunt | Chose to sit for Southampton |
22 April 1735 | Wendover | c | John Boteler | The Viscount Limerick | Void Election |
1 May 1735 | Forfarshire | c* | Thomas Lyon | William Maule | Became a Scottish Peer |
5 May 1735 | Gatton | u* | Paul Docminique | Charles Docminique | Death |
9 May 1735 | Dumfries Burghs | c | Charles Erskine | William Kirkpatrick | Chose to sit for Dumfriesshire (Two MPs elected due to a Double Return) |
Sir John Douglas | |||||
William Kirkpatrick | William Kirkpatrick | Kirkpatrick declared elected 13 February 1736 | |||
Sir John Douglas | |||||
17 May 1735 | Honiton | u* | Sir William Yonge | Sir William Yonge | Secretary at War |
20 May 1735 | Horsham | u | Henry Ingram | Henry Ingram | Commissary General of Stores for Minorca |
20 May 1735 | Wendover | u* | John Hampden | John Hampden | Commissary General for Gibraltar |
21 May 1735 | Reading | u | Richard Potenger | Richard Potenger | Puisne Justice of Chester |
27 May 1735 | St Mawes | u | Richard Plumer | Richard Plumer | Lord of Trade |
23 January 1736 | Yarmouth | u* | Paul Burrard | Thomas Gibson | Death |
28 January 1736 | Scarborough | c(*) | Sir William Strickland | Viscount Dupplin | Death |
Viscount Dupplin | William Osbaldeston | By-election results reversed on petition 21 April 1736 | |||
2 February 1736 | Midhurst | u | Bulstrode Peachey Knight | Sir Henry Peachey | Death |
3 February 1736 | Devon | u | Sir William Courtenay | John Bampfylde | Death |
10 February 1736 | New Romney | u | David Papillon | Sir Robert Austen | Chose to sit for Dover |
17 February 1736 | Newport (I.o.W.) | u* | William Fortescue | The Viscount Boyne | Resignation (Baron of the Exchequer) |
24 February 1736 | Dorchester | u* | John Browne | John Browne | King's Counsel |
13 March 1736 | Derby | u* | Charles Stanhope | John Stanhope | Death |
19 March 1736 | Lostwithiel | u* | Matthew Ducie Moreton | John Crosse | Succeeded to a peerage |
5 April 1736 | Hythe | u* | Hercules Baker | Hercules Baker | Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital |
22 April 1736 | Hertfordshire | c | Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright | Charles Caesar | Death |
27 April 1736 | Argyllshire | u* | Sir James CampbellCharles Campbell | Chose to sit for Stirlingshire | |
4 May 1736 | Lancashire | u | Sir Edward Stanley | Peter Bold | Succeeded to a peerage |
6 May 1736 | Sutherland | u* | Sir James Fergusson | James St Clair | Resignation (Senator of the College of Justice) |
28 May 1736 | Droitwich | u* | Thomas Winnington | Thomas Winnington | Junior Lord of the Treasury |
22 June 1736 | Pembrokeshire | u* | John Campbell | John Campbell | Lord of the Admiralty |
7 February 1737 | Horsham | u | Henry Ingram | Charles Ingram | Became a Scottish Peer |
9 February 1737 | Oxford University | c | George Clarke | William Bromley | Death |
9 February 1737 | Tregony | u | John Goddard | Sir Robert Cowan | Death |
9 February 1737 | West Looe | u | Sir John Willes | John Strange | Resignation (Chief Justice of the Common Pleas) |
10 February 1737 | Cambridge | c | Thomas Bacon | Gilbert Affleck | Death |
10 February 1737 | Portsmouth | u | Thomas Lewis | Charles Stewart | Death |
10 February 1737 | Tiverton | u* | Dudley Ryder | Dudley Ryder | Attorney General for England and Wales |
15 February 1737 | Coventry | c* | Sir Adolphus Oughton | John Neale | Death |
28 February 1737 | Marlborough | c* | Edward Lisle | John Crawley | Chose to sit for Hampshire |
2 March 1737 | Tregony | u | Sir Robert Cowan | Joseph Gulston | Death |
8 March 1737 | Yarmouth | u | Lord Harry Powlett | Anthony Chute | Chose to sit for Hampshire |
9 March 1737 | Glamorganshire | u* | William Talbot | Bussy Mansel | Succeeded to a peerage |
10 March 1737 | Weymouth and Melcombe Regis | u | Edward Tucker | John Olmius | Resignation (Supervisor of the Portland Quarries) |
23 March 1737 | Norfolk | u* | William Wodehouse | Armine Wodehouse | Death |
31 March 1737 | Northamptonshire | u* | Sir Justinian Isham | Sir Edmund Isham | Death |
31 March 1737 | Oxford University | c* | William Bromley | Edward Butler | Death |
12 April 1737 | Coventry | u* | John Neale | Earl of Euston | Previous By-election voided 22 March 1737 |
u | John Bird | John Neale | Resignation (Commissioner of Stamp Duties) | ||
16 April 1737 | Castle Rising | u* | Thomas Hanmer | Viscount Andover | Death |
27 April 1737 | Leicester | c* | Sir George Beaumont | James Wigley | Death |
24 May 1737 | Bossiney | c | Townshend Andrews | Peregrine Poulett | Death |
10 June 1737 | Southampton | c | John Conduitt | Thomas Lee Dummer | Death |
22 June 1737 | Chippenham | c* | Rogers Holland | Edward Bayntun Rolt | Chief Justice of the North Wales Circuit |
22 June 1737 | Hindon | u | Henry Fox | Henry Fox | Surveyor-General of Works |
25 June 1737 | Dorchester | u | William Chapple | Robert Browne | Resignation (Puisne Justice of the King's Bench) |
27 June 1737 | Newport (I.o.W.) | u | The Viscount Boyne | The Viscount Boyne | Irish Revenue Commissioner |
27 June 1737 | Whitchurch | u | John Mordaunt | John Mordaunt | Equerry to the King |
28 June 1737 | Malmesbury | u* | Giles Earle | Giles Earle | Junior Lord of the Treasury |
28 June 1737 | Minehead | c | Alexander Luttrell | Sir William Codrington | Death |
30 June 1737 | Wilton | u* | Robert Sawyer Herbert | Robert Sawyer Herbert | Lord of Trade |
1 July 1737 | Hythe | u* | William Glanville | William Glanville | Irish Revenue Commissioner |
4 July 1737 | Fowey | u* | John Hedges | William Wardour | Death |
7 July 1737 | Knaresborough | u* | Richard Arundell | Richard Arundell | Master of the Mint |
7 July 1737 | Northumberland | u* | Ralph Jenison | Ralph Jenison | Master of the Buckhounds |
21 July 1737 | Inverness Burghs | u | Duncan Forbes | Duncan Urquhart | Resignation (Lord President of the Court of Session) |
4 August 1737 | Dumfriesshire | u | Charles Erskine | Charles Erskine | Lord Advocate |
4 August 1737 | Edinburghshire | c* | Robert Dundas | Sir Charles Gilmour | Resignation (Senator of the College of Justice) |
30 January 1738 | Winchelsea | u | Robert Bristow | Robert Bristow | Death |
31 January 1738 | Newark-on-Trent | u* | Richard Sutton | Lord William Manners | Death |
31 January 1738 | Stafford | u* | Thomas Foley | The Viscount Chetwynd | Death |
1 February 1738 | Orford | u | Lewis Barlow | John Cope | Death |
1 February 1738 | Ripon | u* | William Aislabie | William Aislabie | Auditor of the Imprest |
2 February 1738 | Beverley | c* | Sir Charles Hotham | Charles Pelham | Death |
3 February 1738 | Midhurst | u* | Sir Henry Peachey | Sir John Peachey | Death |
9 February 1738 | Cockermouth | c | Sir Wilfrid Lawson | Eldred Curwen | Death |
13 February 1738 | Lewes | u* | Thomas Pelham | John Morley Trevor | Death |
13 February 1738 | Stamford | u* | William Noel | William Noel | King's Counsel |
14 February 1738 | Great Yarmouth | u* | William Townshend | Roger Townshend | Death |
16 February 1738 | Leicestershire | u | Ambrose Phillipps | Lord Grey | Death |
21 February 1738 | Dunwich | u | Sir Orlando Bridgeman | William Morden | Resignation (Governor of Barbados) |
9 March 1738 | Shaftesbury | c | Jacob Banks | Philip Bennet | Death |
10 March 1738 | New Windsor | c | Lord Vere Beauclerk | Lord Vere Beauclerk | Naval Lord (Two MPs elected due to a Double Return) |
Richard Oldfield | |||||
Lord Vere Beauclerk | Lord Vere Beauclerk | Beauclerk declared elected 27 March 1738 | |||
Richard Oldfield | |||||
5 April 1738 | Great Bedwyn | c | Robert Murray | Edward Popham | Death |
16 May 1738 | Gatton | u* | William Newland | George Newland | Death |
17 May 1738 | Kingston-upon-Hull | u* | George Crowle | George Crowle | Commissioner of the Navy |
18 May 1738 | Morpeth | u | Viscount Morpeth | Henry Furnese | Succeeded to a peerage |
22 May 1738 | Seaford | u* | William Hay | William Hay | Victualling Commissioner |
25 May 1738 | Dartmouth | u* | Walter Carey | Walter Carey | Second Clerk Comptroller of the Green Cloth |
29 May 1738 | Helston | u | John Harris | John Harris | Paymaster of the Board of Works |
2 June 1738 | Bury St Edmunds | u* | Thomas Hervey | Thomas Hervey | Surveyor of the King's Gardens |
19 June 1738 | Dumfries Burghs | u | William Kirkpatrick | Sir Robert Laurie | Resignation (Court of Session) |
8 February 1739 | Oxford | u | Matthew Skinner | James Herbert | Resignation (Chief Justice of Chester) |
9 February 1739 | Grampound | u | Philip Hawkins | Thomas Trefusis | Death |
9 February 1739 | King's Lynn | u* | Sir Charles Turner | Sir John Turner | Death |
9 February 1739 | Minehead | c* | Sir William Codrington | Thomas Carew | Death |
10 February 1739 | Thetford | u* | Sir Edmund Bacon | Lord Augustus FitzRoy | Death |
14 February 1739 | Nottinghamshire | u* | Thomas Bennet | John Mordaunt | Death |
14 February 1739 | Wenlock | u* | Samuel Edwards | Brooke Forester | Death |
16 February 1739 | Cardiff Boroughs | u* | Herbert Windsor | Herbert Mackworth | Succeeded to a peerage |
16 February 1739 | Reigate | u | Sir Joseph Jekyll | John Hervey | Death |
16 April 1739 | Ashburton | u | Roger Tuckfield | Joseph Taylor | Death |
20 April 1739 | Beaumaris | u* | The Viscount Bulkeley | The Viscount Bulkeley | Death |
28 May 1739 | New Shoreham | c | John Phillipson | John Phillipson | Commissioner of the Navy |
8 June 1739 | Aberdeen Burghs | u* | John Middleton | John Maule | Death |
13 June 1739 | Plymouth | c | Robert Byng | John Rogers | Resignation (Governor of Barbados) |
John Rogers | Charles Vanbrugh | By-election results reversed on petition 17 January 1740 | |||
21 November 1739 | Cricklade | u(*) | William Gore | Charles Gore | Death |
23 November 1739 | Arundel | u* | John Lumley | Garton Orme | Death |
24 November 1739 | Hedon | u | Sir Francis Boynton | Harry Pulteney | Death |
27 November 1739 | Huntingdonshire | c | Lord Robert Montagu | Charles Clarke | Succeeded to a peerage |
4 December 1739 | Berkshire | u* | William Archer | Peniston Powney | Death |
6 December 1739 | Reading | c* | Richard Potenger | John Blagrave | Death |
12 December 1739 | Bristol | c* | Thomas Coster | Edward Southwell | Death |
20 December 1739 | Leicestershire | u | Lord Grey | Lord Guernsey | Succeeded to a peerage |
2 January 1740 | Caernarvonshire | u | John Griffith | John Wynn | Death |
3 January 1740 | Monmouthshire | u* | Charles Hanbury Williams | Charles Hanbury Williams | Paymaster of the Marines |
14 January 1740 | Maldon | u | Henry Parsons | Benjamin Keene | Death |
15 January 1740 | Maidstone | c | John Finch | Robert Fairfax | Death |
22 January 1740 | Newport (Cornwall) | u* | Thomas Herbert | Nicholas Herbert | Death |
30 January 1740 | Oxfordshire | u* | Sir William Stapleton | Sir James Dashwood | Death |
20 February 1740 | Lincolnshire | u* | Sir Thomas Lumley Saunderson | Thomas Whichcot | Succeeded to a peerage |
22 February 1740 | Bere Alston | u* | Sir Francis Henry Drake | Samuel Heathcote | Death |
26 February 1740 | Devizes | u* | Sir Joseph Eyles | John Garth | Death |
27 February 1740 | Oxfordshire | u* | Henry Perrot | Viscount Quarendon | Death |
13 March 1740 | Berwick-upon-Tweed | u* | Lord Polwarth | The Viscount Barrington | Became a Scottish Peer |
25 March 1740 | Liskeard | u* | George Dennis | Charles Trelawny | Death |
3 April 1740 | Christchurch | c* | Joseph Hinxman | Charles Armand Powlett | Death |
10 April 1740 | Brecon | c* | John Talbot | John Talbot | Puisne Justice of Chester |
28 April 1740 | New Windsor | u* | Lord Sidney Beauclerk | Lord Sidney Beauclerk | Vice-Chamberlain of the Household |
2 May 1740 | Wilton | u* | William Herbert | William Herbert | Groom of the Bedchamber |
15 May 1740 | Middlesex | c* | Sir Francis Child | Sir Hugh Smithson | Death |
24 November 1740 | Bedford | u* | Sir Jeremy Sambrooke | Sir Boteler Chernock | Death |
24 November 1740 | Guildford | u* | Richard Onslow | Denzil Onslow | Succeeded to a peerage |
24 November 1740 | New Shoreham | u | Thomas Frederick | John Frederick | Death |
25 November 1740 | Banbury | u* | Viscount Wallingford | William Moore | Death |
26 November 1740 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | u* | John Lawton | Randle Wilbraham | Death |
26 November 1740 | Plymouth | u* | Charles Vanbrugh | Lord Henry Beauclerk | Death |
26 November 1740 | Reading | c(*) | Henry Grey | William Strode | Death |
William Strode | John Dodd | By-election results reversed on petition 17 February 1741 | |||
26 November 1740 | Somerset | u* | Sir William Wyndham | Thomas Prowse | Death |
26 November 1740 | Steyning | c* | Sir Robert Fagg | Hitch Younge | Death |
27 November 1740 | Berwick-upon-Tweed | u* | George Liddell | Thomas Watson | Death |
27 November 1740 | Dartmouth | u* | George Treby | George Treby | Junior Lord of the Treasury |
27 November 1740 | East Looe | u* | Samuel Holden | Henry Legge | Death |
1 December 1740 | Barnstaple | c | Sir John Chichester | John Basset | Death |
1 December 1740 | Northallerton | u* | Leonard Smelt | William Smelt | Death |
3 December 1740 | Oxford | u* | James Herbert | Philip Herbert | Death |
11 December 1740 | Shropshire | u* | Corbet Kynaston | Richard Lyster | Death |
12 December 1740 | Montgomeryshire | u | Price Devereux | Robert Williams | Succeeded to a peerage |
22 December 1740 | Wallingford | c | William Hucks | Joseph Townsend | Death |
24 December 1740 | Denbighshire | u(*) | Sir Watkin Williams Wynn | Sir Watkin Williams Wynn | Steward of Bromfield and Yale |
27 December 1740 | Malmesbury | u* | William Rawlinson Earle | William Rawlinson Earle | Clerk of the Ordnance |
21 February 1741 | Portsmouth | u | Charles Stewart | Edward Vernon | Death |
30 March 1741 | Aldeburgh | u | George Purvis | Francis Gashry | Death |
9th Parliament (1741–1747)
10th Parliament (1747–1754)
References
- List of MPs since 1660
- Return of the name of every member of the lower house of parliament of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with name of constituency represented, and date of return, from 1213 to 1874.
- The House of Commons 1715-1754, edited by Romney Sedgwick (London : Published for the History of Parliament Trust by H.M.S.O., 1970) ISBN 0118800981