Chippenham (UK Parliament constituency)


Chippenham is a parliamentary constituency, abolished in 1983 but recreated in 2010, and represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. The 2010 constituency includes the towns of Bradford on Avon, Chippenham, Corsham and Melksham.
A borough constituency of Chippenham was enfranchised in 1295. It sent two burgesses to Parliament until 1868 and one thereafter until the borough constituency was abolished in 1885. There was a county division constituency named after the town of Chippenham from 1885 to 1983, when the name of that constituency was changed to North Wiltshire.
Following the 2003–2005 review into parliamentary representation in Wiltshire, the Boundary Commission created a new county constituency, reviving the name of Chippenham as a seat. It is formed from parts of the previously existing Devizes, North Wiltshire, and Westbury constituencies.

Boundaries

2010 constituency

The electoral wards which form the new Chippenham seat are taken from the former districts of North Wiltshire and West Wiltshire.
1295–1832: The parliamentary borough of Chippenham in the unreformed Parliament consisted of only part of the parish of Chippenham in Wiltshire. The borough had a population of 1,620 in 1831, and 283 houses.
1832–1885: The Boundary Act which accompanied the Great Reform Act extended the boundaries of the parliamentary borough, to include the whole of Chippenham parish, the adjoining parishes of Hardenhuish and Langley Burrell, and the extra-parochial district of Pewsham. This more than trebled the borough's population, to 5,270 by the 1831 figures, and 883 houses.
1885–1918: During this period, Wiltshire was split into five county divisions and one borough, of which The North-Western Division of Wiltshire was one; it was often colloquially referred to simply as either Chippenham or as North-West Wiltshire. It was bordered by the Cricklade division to the east, Westbury to the south and Devizes to the south-east.
The Chippenham division included the towns of Calne and Malmesbury as well as Chippenham, both of which had also been parliamentary boroughs in their own right before 1885. By the outbreak of World War I, the population of the constituency was about 45,000.
1918–1950: In 1918 Wiltshire was split into five divisions, but there was no borough constituency in the county. The Wiltshire, Chippenham division was expanded, taking in the towns of Cricklade and Wootton Bassett, also former parliamentary boroughs, and the surrounding rural areas: in full, it was composed of the then Municipal Boroughs of Calne, Chippenham, and Malmesbury and the Rural Districts of Calne, Chippenham, Malmesbury, part of Cricklade and Wootton Bassett, and Tetbury Rural District.
1950–1983: In the redistribution, which took effect at the 1950 United Kingdom general election, Wiltshire was divided into one borough and four county constituencies. Chippenham County Constituency consisted of the same Municipal Boroughs as in 1918 and the Rural Districts of Calne and Chippenham, Cricklade and Wootton Bassett and Malmesbury.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1295–1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
1386Thomas GayRobert Chandler
1388 Thomas GayJohn Suyput
1388 Thomas GayThomas Lote
1390 Thomas GayThomas Lote
1390 -
1391-
1393-
1394Nicholas SambournHugh de la Lynde
1413 John Worth-
1510–1523No names known-
1529William ButtonThomas Wilkes
1536-
1539-
1542-
1545Robert WarnerJohn Bonham
1547John AstleyFrancis Goldsmith
1553 ?-
1553 Robert WrastleyHenry Goldney alias Fernell
1554 William SmithThomas Smith
1554 Cyriak PetytJohn Proctor
1555Nicholas SnellJohn Pollard
1558Sir John SulyardWilliam Neville
1559Edward BaynardNicholas Snell
1562Francis NewdigateNicholas Snell
1571John ScottRobert Viser
1572William BaylyJohn Scott
1584Robert BaynardRobert Hyde
1586Lawrence HydeRobert Hyde
1589Henry BayntonWilliam Swayne
1593Edward Maria WingfieldFrancis Harvey
1597Thomas Edmondes, went abroad and
was replaced 1597 by Edward Wymarke		Sharington Talbot
1601Robert BerkeleyEdward Wymarke
1604John HungerfordGeneral John Roberts
1614William MaynardThomas Colepeper
1621–1622Sir Edward HungerfordJohn Bayly
1624Sir John MaynardSir Francis Popham
1625Sir John MaynardSir Francis Popham
1626Sir Edward BayntunSir Francis Popham
1628Sir Francis PophamSir John Eyres
1629–1640No Parliaments summonedNo Parliaments summoned

MPs 1640–1868

MPs 1868–1983

MPs since 2010

The Chippenham name was revived in 2010 for the new constituency that includes Bradford on Avon, Chippenham, Corsham and Melksham.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

A general election was expected to take place in 1914/15. The following were to be candidates;
A petition was lodged in relation to the December 1910 election, but this was later withdrawn after a recount, resulting in the above numbers. The original count had placed the Conservatives with 4,139 votes and the Liberals with 4,113 votes.

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1860s

Seat reduced to one member

Elections in the 1850s