Calne

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Right of Election:

till 1724 in inhabitants; thereafter in the corporation

Number of voters:

till 1724 about 60; thereafter 25

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
28 Jan. 1715SIR ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN 
 RICHARD CHISWELL 
 Walter Hungerford 
 Samuel Robinson 
22 Mar. 1722BENJAMIN HASKINS STILES 
 GEORGE DUCKETT 
 William Clayton 
 Sir Orlando Bridgeman 
11 Feb. 1723EDMUND PIKE HEATH vice Stiles, chose to sit for Devizes 
28 Feb. 1723MATTHEW DUCIE MORETON vice Duckett, appointed to office 
19 Aug. 1727WILLIAM DUCKETT 
 WILLIAM WARDOUR 
26 Apr. 1734WILLIAM DUCKETT25
 WALTER HUNGERFORD15
 Francis Eyles10
5 May 1741WALTER HUNGERFORD 
 WILLIAM ELLIOT 
27 June 1747WILLIAM NORTHEY 
 WILLIAM ELLIOT 

Main Article

The principal interest in the borough lay in the Ducketts, who owned the manors of Calne and Calstone, usually returning one Member. Another interest was attached to the prebend manor of Calne, leased by the Stiles family till 1747, when they sold it to the Northeys. Two other neighbouring landowners, Sir Orlando Bridgeman of Bowood and Walter Hungerford of Studley, also had some influence.

Most elections were contested up to 1724, when the House of Commons decided on petition by the inhabitants that the franchise was confined to the ‘ancient burgesses’, i.e. to the corporation. Thenceforth there was only one more contest, in 1734, for over a hundred years. From 1747 the Ducketts and the Northeys jointly had complete control of the borough till Lord Shelburne acquired it by buying their properties in 1763-5.

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes