PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION
Two burgesses represented Wilton at the Parliament of 1295 and from thence onwards, almost
without a break, the borough was regularly represented by two members until 1832. (fn. 1) In 1832 the
number of representatives was reduced to one, but
Wilton was not finally disfranchised until 1918. (fn. 2)
Little is known about the occupations of the
parliamentary burgesses of Wilton, at least before
the 15th century, but the available evidence suggests
that the trading element was strongly represented;
John Picot, for example, who represented Wilton in
the Parliaments of 1304–5, 1309 and 1314–15, was
a goldsmith, (fn. 3) Walter Colkyng, one of the parliamentary burgesses in 1302, was a merchant, (fn. 4) and
William le Fox, representing Wilton in 1357–58
was a dyer. (fn. 5) Many of the 14th-century representatives can be identified as holders of burgages within
the borough and as elected borough officers; Hugh
Coterel, representing Wilton 1299–1300 and 1304–5,
was a burgager, (fn. 6) and between 1306 and 1328 the
borough was often represented by William Coterel;
John le Mons, representative in 1302, and William
of Warminster, 1306–7, were also burgagers;
Richard Belejambe, who sat for Wilton in 1309
and 1314–15, was one of the mayors of Wilton, as
was Robert Sireman in 1337, and Robert Gilbert in
1346. The 14th-century evidence as a whole suggests
that at that period the parliamentary burgesses were
all men whose interests were centred in the borough
and its suburbs; nearly all of them can be identified
as of Wilton, and many were also prominent in town
affairs. (fn. 7)
In the course of the 15th century Wilton, like the
other Wiltshire boroughs, came more and more
frequently to be represented by men who were not
in the strict sense burgesses, (fn. 8) and were not even
resident in the borough. Indeed, it was only the
most outstanding of the Wilton burgesses who
represented their borough in the 15th century; John
Whithorne, member between 1414 and 1423, (fn. 9) was
receiver of the Duke of Bedford, and was an
escheator and coroner, and his son Richard Whithorne
of Wilton, member in 1435 and 1439–40 was styled a
gentleman; John atte Fenne of Wilton, member in
1426, 1442, and 1455–6 was a prominent borough
official, and stood as mainpernor for the Wilton
burgesses in 1449; John Browne, almost certainly a
lawyer, (fn. 10) was also a member of the council of twelve
in 1455; John Mundy, sometime mayor, was a
merchant of some importance, (fn. 11) and Robert Fenne
(probably the son of John Fenne), who represented
Wilton many times between 1450 and 1492, was a
lawyer and many times mayor.
As the century progressed, more and more frequently merchants, lawyers, and lesser gentry of
Salisbury and the surrounding countryside sought
election as members for Wilton. (fn. 12) John Willy
(member 1439–40) was a draper of Salisbury. (fn. 13)
William Kayser (1449–50) came from East Harnham. John Cole and Robert Newman (both 1459) were
of Salisbury. Others came from further afield as did
William Baker (1478), gentleman of Devizes and
Wells (Som.), Thomas Hall (between 1484 and
1486), gentleman and mill-owner of Trowbridge,
and Christopher Dillington (1489–90), of Tollard
Royal. George Howder, or Houton (1447), of
Marston Meysey, William Stephens (1467–8), of
Winterbourne Stoke and London, and Michael
Skylling (1489–90), of Salisbury and Lainston
(Hants), were all lawyers. John Uffenham (1442,
1445–6, 1447, 1449–50, 1451–2), gentleman and
lawyer of Heytesbury, (fn. 14) purchased land in Wilton,
and was mayor in 1441–2, and his son was elected
burgess in 1466–7.
Other influences remote from local politics also
made themselves felt; the Lancastrian John Mompesson, of Bathampton, represented Wilton in
1453–4 and 1470–1, and the other member in
1453–4 was Richard Pratt, a yeoman of the Crown;
in 1455–6, and again in 1460–1 and 1463–5, Wilton
was represented by Giles Dacre, servant of Lord
Stourton, and John Whittokesmead, who sat for
many different constituencies and was member for
Wilton in 1463–5, 1467–8, and 1470–1, was an exescheator, serjeant-at-arms and also bailiff of the
Bishop of Salisbury; (fn. 15) Henry Uvedale (1491–2),
came from nearby Barford St. Martin and was also
said to be of Corfe (Dors.); he was an official of the
royal household and one time Customer of Poole.
The influence of the abbey was surprisingly small although it is possible to identify John Pole, member
in 1461–2, 1472–5, and 1478, as a servant of the
nuns. The general character of representation in
Wilton, as elsewhere, had thus undergone a change
in the course of the 15th century, and the succeeding
centuries were to witness an ever-increasing pressure
of special interests unrelated to the borough in
determining the parliamentary representation of
Wilton.
Wilton was still occasionally represented by
merchants in the 16th century; in 1553, for example,
it was represented by Nicholas Chowne, merchant,
and by Henry Crede, (fn. 16) merchant and clothier of
Bulbridge; Crede continued to represent Wilton
until 1558. But generally there was surprisingly little
direct connexion with the leading clothiers of the
period. But from the mid-16th century onwards and
increasingly in the succeeding centuries, the dominant factor in the parliamentary representation of
Wilton was the Pembroke interest. (fn. 17) This was not
without material advantage to Wilton; in 1661
William Gauntlett wrote to John Nicholas urging
him not to decline Wilton until he was sure of
Salisbury, and promising to entertain the poor
handsomely at the election; (fn. 18) but at the same time
threats were also used, for it was stated that, if John
Nicholas were chosen for Salisbury, Wilton would
have to put in someone chosen by the high sheriff,
who had threatened otherwise to remove the county
court to Devizes; (fn. 19) and Peter Bathurst's threat in
1710 to deprive Wilton flannel workers of their
supply of blue clay has already been mentioned. (fn. 20)
Generally, however, Wilton secured only material
benefit from the political influences and the corporation actually set on record the benevolent deeds
and gifts of Sir John Birkenhead, a Master of the
Court of Requests, and member for Wilton at the
beginning of the reign of Charles II; they instanced
how in 1666 at the personal cost of at least £62 Sir
John had secured for the borough the grant of two
fairs, and how he had obtained the return of the
county court from Devizes to Wilton, as well as
making gifts to the poor, and feasting the mayor and
corporation. (fn. 21)
As a small borough dominated by a single
influence, Wilton was suspect to the advocates of
Parliamentary Reform and the report of the parliamentary surveyors in 1832 revealed some of the
anomalies in need of correction. (fn. 22) In the past thirty
years there had been no contested election, and the
greatest number of electors had not exceeded
twenty, seven of them resident in the borough, one
in the parish, and twelve within three miles of the
borough. Even after Wilton became a single member
constituency in 1832, constituted as it was, it still
could not meet the requirements of the £10 householder franchise. The number of houses in the
borough had increased from 299 in 1821 to 316 in
1831, but the total number of houses in the parish
had remained constant at 405. The borough and
town together contained, however, only 100 houses
of the value of £10 a year, and it was considered
necessary to make up a constituency of near 300
houses of the required value by additions from
neighbouring parishes. The scheme for the remodelled parliamentary borough brought the
number of houses worth £10 a year up to 299, and
included beyond the borough and parish of Wilton
all or part of the parishes of Burcombe, Barford St.
Martin, South Newton, Wishford, Woodford,
Great Durnford, Stratford-sub-Castle, Britford,
West Harnham, Homington, Coombe Bissett, Stratford Tony, Bishopstone, Compton Chamberlayne,
Netherhampton, and Fisherton Anger. No more
could be obtained without trespassing on the
adjacent frontiers of Salisbury or taking in the
parish of Laverstock.