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Christchurch
Borough
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Background Information
Right of Election:
in the corporation
Number of voters:
18 in 17241
Elections
Date | Candidate | Votes |
---|---|---|
26 Jan. 1715 | SIR PETER MEWS | |
WILLIAM ETTRICK | ||
9 Mar. 1717 | FRANCIS GWYN vice Ettrick, deceased | |
24 Mar. 1722 | SIR PETER MEWS | |
FRANCIS GWYN | ||
22 Feb. 1724 | EDWARD PRIDEAUX GWYN vice Francis Gwyn, chose to sit for Wells | 13 |
Joseph Hinxman | 5 | |
9 Apr. 1726 | JACOB BANKS vice Mews, deceased | |
18 Aug. 1727 | JOSEPH HINXMAN | 6 |
CHARLES WITHER | 7 | |
Jacob Banks | 4 | |
Edward Hooper | 5 | |
22 Jan. 1732 | PHILIP LLOYD vice Wither, deceased | |
John Hodges | ||
24 Apr. 1734 | EDWARD HOOPER | |
JOSEPH HINXMAN | ||
3 Apr. 1740 | CHARLES ARMAND POWLETT vice Hinxman, deceased | |
Joseph Hinxman | ||
9 May 1741 | CHARLES ARMAND POWLETT | |
EDWARD HOOPER | ||
22 July 1742 | HOOPER re-elected after appointment to office | |
29 June 1747 | CHARLES ARMAND POWLETT | |
EDWARD HOOPER | ||
30 Dec. 1748 | SIR THOMAS ROBINSON vice Hooper, appointed to office | |
23 Dec. 1749 | SIR THOMAS ROBINSON re-elected after appointment to office | |
26 Nov. 1751 | HARRY POWLETT vice Charles Armand Powlett, deceased |
Main Article
In 1715 to the Christchurch corporation returned the former Tory Members, Sir Peter Mews, lord of the manor of Christchurch, and William Ettrick, who had represented the borough since the Revolution. On Ettrick’s death in 1716 he was succeeded unopposed by another Tory, Francis Gwyn, who had represented Christchurch in the previous reign. Re-elected with Mews in 1722 but choosing to sit for Wells, Gwynn was succeeded by his son, also a Tory, against Joseph Hinxman, a local Whig landowner. Hinxman petitioned on the ground that the election was invalid, having been conducted without a legal mayor, and that a number of Gwyn’s voters were ‘new-made illegal burgesses’,2 but no decision was reached on the petition.
In 1726 Mews died childless, leaving his estate to his wife, who appears to have allowed the interest to lapse. At the ensuing by-election the vacancy was filled by a Tory, Jacob Banks, without a contest; but at the general election of 1727 Hinxman, standing with Charles Wither, another government supporter, against Banks and Edward Hooper, an opposition Whig, arranged for the writ to be sent to one of his supporters, who presided at the poll as returning officer. The voting was, for Hooper 9, Banks 8, Wither 7, Hinxman 6. Disallowing four of Hooper’s and Banks’s votes, the returning officer declared Hinxman and Wither to have been elected, for which his son was said to have been presented with ‘a good benefice ... by a great man’.3 A petition was lodged but no decision was reached on it.
In 1734 Hinxman shared the representation with Hooper, whose seat at Heron Court, four miles from the borough, gave him a strong natural interest at Christchurch. On Hinxman’s death in 1740 he was replaced by C. A. Powlett, whose family thenceforth shared the representation with Hooper. In 1748 Hooper gave up his seat in return for a commissionership of customs to accommodate Sir Thomas Robinson, but continued to retain his interest.4