PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION.
Bridgwater sent two burgesses to parliament (fn. 13) in
1295. Until 1328 the M.P.s' names indicate
origins or residence outside the town, and fewer
than half of them were mentioned in the borough
records. In the fifty years after 1375, however,
townsmen predominated. William Thomere,
steward of the guild merchant and lieutenant of
the Admiral of the West, (fn. 14) was returned at least
14 times 1377-1406, William Gascoigne and his
son William at least 15 times 1406-29, and John
Kedwelly, the town clerk, at least 7 times 1397-
1414. (fn. 15) Outsiders again served for the borough
later in the 15th century: lawyers from the
neighbourhood like William Dodesham (1442),
Sir Thomas Tremayle (1472), and William
Hody (1483), landowners like John Maunsel
(1449, 1453), royal servants like Thomas
Driffield (1449), James FitzJames (1467), and
John Hymerford (1483). The most important
townsman of the later 15th century was John
Kendall, chosen at least five times from 1467
and the town's first mayor. (fn. 16)
During the 16th and earlier 17th century the
town's recorder usually secured the senior seat
for himself or his nominee. Baldwin Malet may
have influenced the choice of Henry Thornton
and Hugh Trotter, customs officials and local
landowners, in 1529. Sir Thomas Dyer, a royal
household official, sat in five parliaments between 1545 and 1559. (fn. 17) His colleague in 1559
was Robert Moleyns, mayor and controller of
the port, who managed the passage of an Act for
sealing local woollen cloths. (fn. 18) Alexander, Edward, and John Popham of Huntworth,
Edward's son-in-law John Court, and possibly
Nicholas Halswell of Goathurst were recorders
returned in Elizabeth I's reign. (fn. 19)
Nicholas Halswell in 1603 and Edward Popham in 1623, 1625, and 1626 maintained the
influence of two local families; Robert Warre,
the second member in 1623, presumably owed
his return to the recorder Roger Warre. (fn. 20) Sir
Thomas Wroth, recorder 1628-62, was returned
as M.P. in 1628, probably in 1644 on the death
of his brother Sir Peter, and in 1656, 1659, and
1660; he was at times 'outrageously republican'
but attended only one session of Charles I's trial.
His colleague in 1628 was Sir Thomas Smythe,
then aged 18, who failed to be elected in 1640
for what came to be the Short Parliament. He
later replaced Edmund Wyndham, elected for
the second parliament of 1640 but expelled as a
monopolist, and was considered by the more
radical politicians of the county as 'a serviceable
good member'. (fn. 21)
From 1660 to 1708 elections were often hotly
contested, the result both of uncertainty as to
who had the franchise and of deep political and
religious divisions within the community. The
mayor and capital burgesses elected the members in 1660, 1661, 1669, and 1685, but in 1679,
1681, and 1689 the electorate was widened to
those paying scot and lot, amounting in 1679 to
c. 380 voters. John Tynte of Halswell in
Goathurst, formerly a Cavalier colonel, was
returned in 1661, beginning his family's long
association with the borough, and on his death
in 1669 there was a contest between Francis
Rolle of Shapwick, a Presbyterian member of
the Convention, and Peregrine Palmer of Fairfield. Palmer lost but was returned on petition,
on the grounds that several of the 24 voters were
disqualified for holding conventicles in their
houses. (fn. 22) At the next election, in 1679, Sir
Halswell Tynte, Rolle, Ralph Stawell of Cothelstone, and William Clarke of Sandford in
Wembdon contested the borough, Stawell
standing for the Court party backed by the
officers of his local militia, who were all sworn
as freemen for the election. Tynte was returned
'on all sides', presumably elected both by the
mayor and capital burgesses and by the common
burgesses, and returned under the borough seal
with the 'assent and consent of the commonalty'.
Rolle was chosen by the common burgesses and
similarly returned under the mayor's signature.
Stawell was chosen by the capital burgesses and
returned in the name of the mayor and capital
burgesses. Tynte was declared elected without
further debate and Rolle later took the second
seat, the common burgesses evidently being
adjudged to have the franchise. (fn. 23) In 1681 Sir
John Malet, the town's recorder and a strong
exclusionist with nonconformist support, was
returned with Tynte, (fn. 24) but Stawell undermined
Malet's interest by persuading the corporation
to surrender its charter in 1683. The resulting
Tory majority chose as M.P. their new recorder,
Sir Francis Warre, in 1685, but Halswell Tynte's
local influence won him the other seat against
Stawell's candidate. Warre and another Tory
were returned for the borough in 1689. (fn. 25)
The election of the nonconformist Roger Hoar
in 1695 and 1698 suggests that the Tories were
not entirely successful, although Warre was
returned again at a byelection after Hoar's death
in 1699. In 1701 both members, George Balch
and John Gilbert, were townsmen, but at the
next three elections Balch shared the return with
Sir Thomas Wroth and in 1708 with George
Dodington. (fn. 26)
From then until 1753 two members of the
Dodington family, with extensive interests in the
port and customs, normally held one seat, a Tory
country gentleman the other. Only three elections were contested. Dodington was returned
with Nathaniel Palmer in 1710 and with Thomas
Palmer in 1715. George Bubb Dodington sat
with Palmer (by then recorder) in 1722, with Sir
Halswell Tynte in 1727, and with Palmer again
in 1734. (fn. 27) In 1726 John Poulett, Earl Poulett (d.
1743), and his associate Bernard Hutchins were
elected freemen of the borough, (fn. 28) and in 1741
John's son Vere, probably with the support of
Charles Seymour, earl of Egremont, successfully
fought an election, the first of four Pouletts to
sit for Bridgwater at intervals until 1806. Peregrine Poulett, elected in 1747, was succeeded in
1753 by Robert Balch, then of Nether Stowey
but descended from Bridgwater merchants who
had represented the borough in 1692-5 and
1701-10. Egremont's support continued until
1757. (fn. 29)
Elections were usually contentious in the later
18th century. There were c. 250 voters, although
the members returned in 1768 claimed that the
right still lay with the corporation. Most prospective candidates became freemen. John
Perceval, earl of Egmont, elected freeman in
1736 'for his great merits and knowledge in
antiquities and useful learning', won most votes
both in 1754 and 1761, Dodington failing at the
first and Balch at the second. In 1768 Benjamin
Allen, a townsman, was returned top of the poll;
John James Perceval, Viscount Perceval, Egmont's heir, was unseated in favour of Anne
Poulett. Poulett and Allen were returned unopposed in 1774 and after a contest in 1780, but
Allen was unseated in 1781 in favour of John
Acland. (fn. 30) Charles James Fox, elected a freeman
in 1780, stood at the same election, at the
invitation of a local man, John Chubb, and
representing opposition to Lord North. Fox
himself took no part in the campaign, but the
election of North as a freeman in 1782 was
evidence of the continued strength of North's
supporters in the town. (fn. 31) In 1784 Poulett and
Alexander Hood succeeded against the combined opposition of Fox and Chubb, but in the
following year Poulett died and was replaced by
a supporter of Pitt. (fn. 32)
The Poulett family, holding the office of recorder, continued to manage the borough, but
without complete success. Vere Poulett and John
Langston, a London banker, were returned
against the Egmont interest in 1790, and in 1796
and 1802 George Pocock, Earl Poulett's brotherin-law, and Jeffreys Allen, a local supporter of
the government. Poulett and Langston won
again in 1806, but later Poulett turned against
his father, the earl, and in 1807 he was defeated
by Pocock and William Thornton (later Astell),
an East India Company director. The disaffected
Poulett was supported by the duke of Buckingham and John Chubb. Pocock and Astell were
returned again in 1812 and 1818 representing
the Tory interest, (fn. 33) and Astell was returned at
each election up to and including 1831. From
1820 he was accompanied by C. K. KemeysTynte of Halswell, who was returned until 1837
and then again from 1847 until his death in 1860.
His fellow Liberal member from 1857 was Alexander Kinglake, the historian, who served as
member until 1869. A Conservative elected top
of the poll in 1865 was later unseated; a byelection in the following year returned another
Conservative, George Patton, with a very slender majority against Walter Bagehot, and a few
weeks later Patton lost the byelection following
his appointment as a minister. The Liberal
victor, (Sir) Philip Vanderbyl, and Kinglake
were returned in 1868, but in the following year
they were unseated and the town was disfranchised for bribery and corruption. (fn. 34) From 1885
one of the county divisions has been named after
the town.