History The borough was represented in Parliament from 1275. The constituency originally returned two members, but representation was reduced to one in the Great Reform Act of 1832 until the constituency was finally abolished in 1885.
In the 17th century the constituency was dominated by the Earls of Suffolk, based in the family seat at nearby Charlton Park .
Members of Parliament MPs 1275–1508 From History of Parliament [1]
MPs 1509–1558 (Source: Bindoff (1982)) [2]
MPs 1559–1603 Source:History of Parliament [3]
MPs 1604–1640 MPs 1640–1832 Year First member First party Second member Second party April 1640 Anthony Hungerford Royalist Sir Neville Poole November 1640 Sir Neville Poole Parliamentarian June 1644 Hungerford disabled from sitting – seat vacant 1645 Sir John Danvers December 1648 Poole excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant 1653 Malmesbury was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate January 1659 Sir Henry Lee Thomas Higgons May 1659 Malmesbury was not represented in the restored Rump April 1660 Robert Danvers Sir Francis Lee, Bt 1661 Lawrence Washington 1662 Philip Howard 1668 Sir Edward Poole 1673 Thomas Estcourt February 1679 Sir William Estcourt, Bt Sir James Long, Bt 1685 Sir Thomas Estcourt John Fitzherbert 1689 Thomas Tollemache Charles Godfrey 1690 Goodwin Wharton Sir James Long, Bt 1692 George Booth 1695 Craven Howard 1696 Sir Thomas Skipwith, Bt 1698 Michael Wicks Edward Pauncefort January 1701 Samuel Shepheard November 1701 Sir Charles Hedges 1702 Thomas Boucher 1705 Thomas Farrington Henry Mordaunt 1710 Joseph Addison Whig 1713 Sir John Rushout, Bt 1719 by-election Fleetwood Dormer March 1722 [4] The Viscount Hillsborough December 1722 Giles Earle John Fermor 1723 by-election Charles Stewart 1727 William Rawlinson Earle 1747 John Lee James Douglas 1751 by-election Lord Edward Digby 1754 Lord George Bentinck Brice Fisher 1759 by-election Thomas Conolly 1761 The Earl Tylney 1768 The Earl of Donegall Hon. Thomas Howard 1774 Hon. Charles James Fox Whig William Strahan Tory September 1780 Viscount Lewisham Viscount Fairford November 1780 by-election John Calvert 1784 The Viscount Melbourne Viscount Maitland February 1790 by-election Paul Benfield June 1790 Benjamin Bond-Hopkins 1792 by-election Sir James Sanderson [5] 1794 by-election Francis Glanville May 1796 Samuel Smith [6] Peter Thellusson November 1796 by-election Philip Metcalfe 1802 Claude Scott Sir Samuel Scott, Bt 1806 Robert Ladbroke Nicholas Ridley-Colborne 1807 Sir George Bowyer, Bt Tory [7] Philip Gell Tory [7] 1810 by-election Abel Smith Tory [7] 1812 William Hicks-Beach Tory [7] Sir Charles Saxton, Bt[8] Tory [7] 1813 by-election Peter Patten Tory [7] 1817 by-election Sir William Abdy, Bt 1818 (Sir) Charles Forbes [9] Tory [7] Kirkman Finlay Tory [7] 1820 by-election William Leake 1826 John Forbes Tory [7] 1832 Representation reduced to one member
MPs 1832–1885 Election results Elections in the 1830s Elections in the 1840s Elections in the 1850s Elections in the 1860s Elections in the 1870s Elections in the 1880s Powell was declared dead after he disappeared when a hydrogen balloon he was travelling in was blown out into the English Channel and never seen again.
References Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1] F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989) J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 1) Notes