Honiton (constituency)

Honiton
Honiton
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
	Honiton in Devon, showing boundaries used from 1983 to 1997.
County	Devon
1885–1997
Seats	One
Created from	East Devon
Replaced by	East Devon, Tiverton and Honiton
1640–1868
Seats	Two
Replaced by	East Devon

Honiton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Honiton in east Devon, formerly represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sent members intermittently from 1300, consistently from 1640. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) until it was abolished in 1868. It was recreated in 1885 as a single-member constituency.

CountyDevon

SeatsOne

Created fromEast Devon

Replaced byEast Devon, Tiverton and Honiton

Quick facts County, 1885–1997 ...

Close

For the 1997 general election, the town of Honiton was added to the neighbouring constituency of Tiverton to form the Tiverton and Honiton constituency. The remainder continued as the East Devon constituency.

Honiton was regarded as a potwalloper borough by the time of Thomas Cochrane. It was notorious for the bribes demanded by its electors, and was therefore a very expensive seat for a candidate to seek election in. The Yonge family of Colyton, patrons of the borough, were almost ruined by representing Honiton on several occasions.^[1]^[2] Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet (1678–1741) who had twice represented Honiton at great personal financial expense, made an "earnest request and recommendation" in his will that his son would "never stand as a candidate or if chosen will never be prevailed upon to represent or serve in Parliament for the borough of Honiton".^[3]

[1]

[2]

[3]

Election		First member^[4]	!First party	Second member^[4]	Second party
1660		Sir John Yonge		Samuel Serle
1661		Sir Courtenay Pole		Peter Prideaux
1679		Sir Walter Yonge		Sir Thomas Putt
1685		Edmond Walrond		Sir Thomas Putt
1689		Edmond Walrond		Richard Courtenay
1690		Sir William Drake		Sir Walter Yonge
1711		Sir William Drake		James Sheppard
1715		Sir William Courtenay		Sir William Yonge	Whig
1716		Sir William Pole
1727		James Sheppard
1731		Sir William Pole
1734		William Courtenay
1741		Henry Reginald Courtenay
1747		John Heath (later John Duke)
1754		Henry Reginald Courtenay		Sir George Yonge
1761		Henry Reginald Courtenay		John Duke
1763		Sir George Yonge		John Duke
1768				Brass Crosby
1774				Laurence Cox
1780				Alexander Macleod
1781				Jacob Wilkinson
1784				Sir George Collier
1790				George Templer
1796		George Chambers		George Shum
1802		Sir John Honywood		George Shum
1805		Sir John Honywood		Augustus Cavendish-Bradshaw	Whig^[5]
1806 (April)		Richard Bateman-Robson
1806 (October)		Thomas Cochrane	Whig^[5]
1807		Sir Charles Hamilton
1812		Richard Howard-Vyse		George Robinson
1818		Hon. Peregrine Cust^[6]	Tory^[5]	Samuel Crawley	Whig^[5]
1826		Josiah John Guest^[7]	Whig^[5]	Harry Baines Lott^[8]
1830		Josiah John Guest^[7]	Whig^[5]	Sir George Warrender	Tory^[5]
1831		Harry Baines Lott^[9]		Sir George Warrender	Tory^[5]
1832		George Child-Villiers	Tory^[5]	James Ruddell-Todd	Whig^[5]
1834		George Child-Villiers	Conservative^[5]	James Ruddell-Todd	Whig^[5]
1835		Hugh Duncan Baillie	Conservative^[5]	Arthur Chichester	Conservative^[5]
1837				James Stewart	Whig^[5]^[10]^[11]
1841				Forster Alleyne McGeachy	Conservative^[5]
1847		Joseph Locke	Whig^[12]^[13]^[14]	Sir James Hogg 1st Bt	Conservative
1857			Whig^[12]^[13]^[14]	Archibald Stuart-Wortley	Conservative
1859			Liberal	Alexander Baillie-Cochrane	Conservative
1860		George Moffatt	Liberal
1865		Frederick Goldsmid	Liberal
1866		Julian Goldsmid	Liberal
1868	Constituency abolished, but re-established in 1885

	Member^[4]	Party	Notes
1885	John Kennaway	Conservative
Jan 1910	Clive Morrison-Bell	Conservative
1931	Cedric Drewe	Conservative
1955	Robert Mathew	Conservative	Died 1966
1967 by-election	Peter Emery	Conservative
1997	constituency abolished: see Tiverton and Honiton & Devon East

	Candidate	Votes
Whig	John Josiah Guest	Unopposed
Tory	George Warrender	Unopposed
Whig hold
Tory gain from Nonpartisan

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	George Warrender	319	36.7
	Nonpartisan	Harry Baines Lott	283	32.6
	Whig	John Josiah Guest	259	29.8
	Radical	John Thomas Mayne	8	0.9
Turnout			492	c. 96.5
Registered electors			c. 510
Majority			36	4.1
	Tory hold
Majority			24	2.8
	Nonpartisan gain from Whig

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	George Child Villiers	360	46.6	+28.3
	Whig	James Ruddell-Todd	302	39.1	+9.3
	Tory	James Peel Cockburn	110	14.2	−4.2
Turnout			492	96.3	c. −0.2
Registered electors			511
Majority			58	7.5	+3.4
	Tory hold		Swing	+11.8
Majority			192	24.9	N/A
	Whig gain from Nonpartisan		Swing	−1.4

Honiton (constituency)

Boundaries

Members of Parliament

MPs 1640–1660

MPs 1660–1868

MPs 1885–1997

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

See also

Notes and references

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks

Honiton
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Honiton in Devon, showing boundaries used from 1983 to 1997.
County	Devon
1885–1997
Seats	One
Created from	East Devon
Replaced by	East Devon, Tiverton and Honiton
1640–1868
Seats	Two
Replaced by	East Devon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hugh Duncan Baillie	332	42.6	−4.0
	Conservative	Arthur Chichester	226	29.0	+14.8
	Whig	James Ruddell-Todd	221	28.4	−10.7
Majority			5	0.6	−6.9
Turnout			446	94.7	−1.6
Registered electors			471
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.7
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+10.1

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hugh Duncan Baillie	294	40.7	−1.9
	Whig	James Stewart	225	31.2	+2.8
	Conservative	Alexander Grant	203	28.1	−0.9
Turnout			435	94.6	−0.1
Registered electors			460
Majority			69	9.5	+8.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.7
Majority			22	3.1	N/A
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.8

Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	James Hogg	Unopposed
	Whig	Joseph Locke	Unopposed
Registered electors			446
	Conservative hold
	Whig gain from Conservative

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Joseph Locke	166	37.6	*N/A*
	Conservative	James Hogg	152	34.5	*N/A*
	Conservative	Richard Gard^[17]	123	27.9	N/A
Majority			14	3.1	N/A
Turnout			221 (est)	76.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			287
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Joseph Locke	214	47.6	+10.0
	Conservative	Archibald Stuart-Wortley	119	26.4	−1.5
	Conservative	James Hogg	117	26.0	−8.5
Majority			95	21.2	+18.1
Turnout			225 (est)	85.2 (est)	+8.4
Registered electors			264
	Whig hold		Swing	+10.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.8

Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Joseph Locke	Unopposed
	Conservative	Alexander Baillie-Cochrane	Unopposed
Registered electors			287
	Liberal hold
	Conservative hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frederick Goldsmid	171	42.9	*N/A*
	Conservative	Alexander Baillie-Cochrane	140	35.1	*N/A*
	Liberal	Evan Matthew Richards^[18]	88	22.1	N/A
Turnout			200 (est)	74.7 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			267
Majority			31	7.8	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
Majority			52	13.0	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Kennaway	4,540	60.6
	Liberal	John Budd Phear	2,957	39.4
Majority			1,583	21.2
Turnout			7,497	83.2
Registered electors			9,012
	Conservative win (new seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Kennaway	4,591	64.2	*N/A*
	Liberal	William Hickman Smith Aubrey	2,565	35.8	New
Majority			2,026	28.4	N/A
Turnout			7,156	78.1	N/A
Registered electors			9,167
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election January 1910: Honiton ^[23]^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Clive Morrison-Bell	5,604	60.0	+3.3
	Liberal	William Balkwill Luke	3,733	40.0	−3.3
Majority			1,871	20.0	+6.6
Turnout			9,337	88.7	+1.3
Registered electors			10,522
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.3

General election December 1910: Honiton ^[23]^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Clive Morrison-Bell	5,348	60.9	+0.9
	Liberal	Harry Geen	3,439	39.1	−0.9
Majority			1,909	21.8	+1.8
Turnout			8,787	83.5	−5.2
Registered electors			10,522
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.9

General election 1918: Honiton^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes
C	Unionist	Clive Morrison-Bell	Unopposed
	Unionist hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

General election 1923: Honiton^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Clive Morrison-Bell	12,470	50.6	−4.9
	Liberal	John George Hawkins Halse	12,177	49.4	+4.9
Majority			293	1.2	−9.8
Turnout			24,647	81.0	+1.9
Registered electors			30,443
	Unionist hold		Swing	−4.9

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Kennaway	4,854	56.7	*N/A*
	Liberal	William Balkwill Luke	3,711	43.3	New
Majority			1,143	13.4	N/A
Turnout			8,565	87.4	N/A
Registered electors			9,797
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Clive Morrison-Bell	12,972	55.5	*N/A*
	Liberal	John George Hawkins Halse	10,404	44.5	New
Majority			2,568	11.0	N/A
Turnout			23,376	79.1	N/A
Registered electors			29,546
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Clive Morrison-Bell	14,804	55.2	+4.6
	Liberal	John George Hawkins Halse	12,025	44.8	−4.6
Majority			2,779	10.4	+9.2
Turnout			26,829	85.5	+4.5
Registered electors			31,388
	Unionist hold		Swing	+4.6

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Clive Morrison-Bell	17,911	50.9	−4.3
	Liberal	John George Hawkins Halse	16,353	46.5	+1.7
	Labour	Rose Davies	915	2.6	New
Majority			1,558	4.4	−6.0
Turnout			35,179	84.3	−1.2
Registered electors			41,723
	Unionist hold		Swing	−3.0

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cedric Drewe	21,854	60.0	+9.1
	Liberal	John George Hawkins Halse	14,563	40.0	−6.5
Majority			7,291	20.0	+15.6
Turnout			36,417	83.5	−0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.8

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cedric Drewe	22,805	71.9	+11.9
	Labour	J R Morris	8,916	28.1	New
Majority			13,889	43.8	+23.8
Turnout			31,721	69.6	−13.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cedric Drewe	24,499	65.8	−6.1
	Labour	Henry Thomas Langdon	12,739	34.2	+6.1
Majority			11,760	31.6	−12.2
Turnout			37,238	70.3	+0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-6.1

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Cedric Drewe	26,767	57.78
	Labour	GR Sargeant	10,816	23.35
	Liberal	Guy Barrington	8,742	18.87	New
Majority			15,951	34.43
Turnout			46,295	84.43
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Cedric Drewe	27,015	58.42
	Liberal	John B Halse	9,858	21.32
	Labour	Norman L Stevens	9,369	20.26
Majority			17,157	37.10
Turnout			46,242	82.54
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Robert Mathew	25,808	57.63
	Liberal	John B Halse	11,067	24.71
	Labour	Frederick W Thornton	7,907	17.66
Majority			14,741	32.92
Turnout			44,782	79.68
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Robert Mathew	25,959	56.69
	Liberal	John B Halse	12,906	28.18
	Labour	Frederick W Morgan	6,928	15.13
Majority			13,053	28.51
Turnout			45,793	80.10
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Robert Mathew	26,475	55.04
	Liberal	Warwick Deal	12,354	25.68
	Labour	Marjorie Clark	9,273	19.28
Majority			14,121	29.36
Turnout			48,102	78.77
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Mathew	26,966	54.4	−0.6
	Labour	Marjorie Clark	13,257	26.7	+7.4
	Liberal	Raymond Hicks	9,342	18.9	−6.8
Majority			13,707	27.7	−1.7
Turnout			49,565	78.6	−0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Emery	26,501	57.0	+2.6
	Liberal	Bridget Trethewey	10,509	22.6	+3.7
	Labour	Marjorie Clark	9,501	20.4	−6.3
Majority			15,992	34.4	+6.7
Turnout			46,511	72.6	−6.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.7

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Emery	32,885	59.48
	Liberal	Bridget Trethewey	11,330	20.49
	Labour	Malyn DD Newitt	11,072	20.03
Majority			21,555	38.99
Turnout			55,287	76.66
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Emery	32,429	54.48
	Liberal	Victor Howell	18,306	30.75
	Labour	Malyn DD Newitt	8,791	14.77
Majority			14,123	23.73
Turnout			59,526	81.98
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Emery	29,720	53.77
	Liberal	Victor Howell	16,500	29.85
	Labour	RL Spiller	9,048	16.37
Majority			13,220	23.92
Turnout			55,268	75.64
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Emery	37,832	62.42
	Liberal	R Ruffle	12,601	20.79
	Labour	T Luesby	8,756	14.45
	Ecology	MH Bacon	1,423	2.35	New
Majority			25,231	41.63
Turnout			60,612	77.41
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Peter Emery	32,602	60.58
	SDP	Alistair Sampson	17,833	33.14
	Labour	Raymond Sharpe	3,377	6.28
Majority			14,769	27.44
Turnout			53,812	74.50
	Conservative hold		Swing

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Emery	34,931	59.2	−1.4
	SDP	Gerald Tatton-Brown	18,369	31.1	−2.0
	Labour	Simon Pollentine	4,988	8.5	+2.2
	Monster Raving Loony	Stuart Hughes	747	1.3	New
Majority			16,562	28.05	+0.6
Turnout			59,035	76.41	+1.91
	Conservative hold		Swing