Ashburton (UK Parliament constituency)

Ashburton
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Devon
Major settlements	Ashburton
1885–1918
Number of members	One
1640–1868
Number of members	Two (1640–1832); One (1832–1868)
Type of constituency	Borough constituency

Ashburton was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament at Westminster, for one Parliament in 1298 and regularly from 1640 until it was abolished for the 1868 general election. It was one of three Devon borough constituencies newly enfranchised (or re-enfranchised after a gap of centuries) in the Long Parliament. It returned two Members of Parliament until the 1832 general election when the number was reduced to one MP.

From the 1885 general election Ashburton was revived as a county division of Devon. It returned one member until it was abolished from the 1918 general election.

Members of Parliament

Ashburton borough 1398–1868

Ashburton re-enfranchised by Parliament in Nov 1640

MPs 1640–1832

Election		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
November 1640		Sir John Northcote	Parliamentarian		Sir Edmund Fowell	Parliamentarian
December 1648	Northcote and Fowell excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant
1653	Ashburton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		Thomas Reynell			John Fowell
May 1659	Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		Sir William Courtenay			John Fowell[1]
1661		Sir George Sondes
1677		William Stawell			Rawlin Mallock
February 1679					Thomas Reynell
September 1679		Richard Duke of Otterton
1681		William Stawell
1685					Edward Yarde
1689		Sir Walter Yonge			Thomas Reynell
1690		William Stawell			Sir Richard Reynell
1695					Richard Duke of Otterton
1701					Sir Thomas Lear
1702		Richard Reynell
1705					Gilbert Yarde
January 1708					Roger Tuckfield
May 1708		Robert Balle
1710[2]		Richard Lloyd
March 1711		Richard Reynell			George Courtenay[3]
March 1711					Andrew Quick
1713					Roger Tuckfield
1734		Sir William Yonge[4]	Whig
1735		Thomas Bladen
1739					Joseph Taylor
1741		John Harris			John Arscott
1754					The Viscount Midleton
1761					Hon. Thomas Walpole
1767		Robert Palk
1768		Laurence Sulivan			Charles Boone
1774		Robert Palk[5]
1784					Robert Mackreth[6]
1787		Lawrence Palk[7]
1796		Walter Palk
1802					Sir Hugh Inglis
1806					Hon. Gilbert Elliot	Whig
1807					Lord Charles Bentinck
1811		John Sullivan
1812					Richard Preston
1818		Sir Lawrence Vaughan Palk			Sir John Singleton Copley	Tory
1826					William Sturges Bourne	Tory
1830					Charles Arbuthnot	Tory
February 1831					William Stephen Poyntz
May 1831		Robert Torrens
1832	Representation reduced to one Member

MPs 1832–1868

Election		Member	Party
1832		William Stephen Poyntz	Whig
1835		Charles Lushington	Whig
1841		William Jardine	Whig
1843 by-election		James Sutherland Matheson[8]	Whig
1847		Thomas Matheson	Whig
1852		George Moffatt	Whig
1859		John Harvey Astell	Conservative
1865		Robert Jardine	Liberal
1868	Constituency abolished

Mid or Ashburton division of Devon 1885–1918

Election		Member	Party
1885		Charles Seale-Hayne	Liberal
1904 by-election		Harry Trelawney Eve	Liberal
1908 by-election		Captain Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell	Conservative
January 1910		Charles Roden Buxton	Liberal
December 1910		Captain Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell	Conservative
1918	Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

C. Seale-Hayne

General Election 1885: Ashburton^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne	4,433	58.2	n/a
	Conservative	WJ Harris	3,182	41.8	n/a
Majority			1,251	16.4	n/a
Turnout				81.9	n/a
	Liberal win (new seat)

Richard Martin

General Election 1886: Ashburton^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne	3,413	53.2	-5.0
	Liberal Unionist	Richard Biddulph Martin	3,007	46.8	+5.0
Majority			406	6.4	-10.0
Turnout				69.0	-12.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	-5.0

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Ashburton^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne	4,361	54.4
	Conservative	CR Collins	3,650	45.6
Majority			711	8.8
Turnout				85.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Ashburton^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne	4,380	52.4	-2.0
	Conservative	John A Nix	3,976	47.6	+2.0
Majority			4.4	4.8	-4.0
Turnout				85.9	+0.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.0

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Ashburton^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne	4,487	54.7
	Conservative	John A Nix	3,716	45.3
Majority			771	9.4
Turnout				83.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

Harry Eve

Ashburton by-election, 1904^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Harry Trelawney Eve	5,034	58.6	+3.9
	Conservative	Sir Richard Harrison	3,558	41.4	-3.9
Majority			1,476	17.2	+7.8
Turnout				85.1	+1.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.9

General Election 1906: Ashburton^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Harry Trelawney Eve	5,079	57.3
	Conservative	Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell	3,790	42.7
Majority			1,289	14.6
Turnout				85.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

Ashburton by-election, 1908^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell	5,191	52.8	+10.1
	Liberal	Charles Roden Buxton	4,632	47.2	-10.1
Majority			559	5.7	20.2
Turnout			9,823	89.5	+4.5
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.1

Elections in the 1910s

Charles Buxton

General Election January 1910: Ashburton^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Charles Roden Buxton	5,668
	Conservative	Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell	5,421
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election December 1910: Ashburton^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell	5,579	51.6
	Liberal	Charles Roden Buxton	5,225	48.4
Majority			354	3.2
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell
• Liberal:

References

1. Succeeded as 2nd Baronet, 1674
2. At the election of 1710, Lloyd and Tuckfield were returned but on petition both were found not to have been duly elected (in a dispute over the franchise), and Reynell and Courtenay were declared elected in their place
3. Courtenay had also been elected for Newport (Cornwall), which he chose to represent; on his being declared duly elected for Ashburton a new writ for a by-election was immediately issued, and Courtenay never sat for Ashburton
4. Yonge was also elected for Honiton, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Ashburton
5. Created a baronet, May 1782
6. Knighted, May 1795
7. Palk was re-elected in 1796 but was also elected for Devon, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Ashburton again
8. Created a baronet, 1850
9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
10. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
11. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
12. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
13. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
14. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
15. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
16. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
17. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
18. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

• 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)
• F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
• British History Online – list of speakers in the Parliaments of 1656 and 1658-9
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 3)