# Gatton (UK Parliament constituency)

Gatton was a parliamentary borough in Surrey, one of the most notorious of all the rotten boroughs. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1450 until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act. Around the time of that Act it was often held up by reformers as the epitome of what was wrong with the unreformed system.

## History

The borough consisted of part of the parish of Gatton, near Reigate, between London and Brighton. It included the manor and estate of Gatton Park. Gatton was no more than a village, with a population in 1831 of 146, and 23 houses of which as few as six may have been within the borough.
The right to vote was extended to all freeholders and inhabitants paying scot and lot; but this apparently wide franchise was normally meaningless in tiny Gatton: there were only 7 qualified voters in 1831, and the number had sometimes fallen as low as two. This position had existed long before the 19th century: Gatton was one of the first of the English boroughs to come under the total dominance of a "patron": in the reign of Henry VIII, when Gatton's representation was only a century old, Sir Roger Copley described himself as "its burgess and only inhabitant". In these circumstances, the local landowners had no difficulty in maintaining absolute control, and for most of the 16th century it was the Copleys who held this power. However, the Copleys were Roman Catholics, and this caused difficulties in the later Elizabethan period: the head of the family, Thomas Copley, went into voluntary exile abroad, and when his wife and child returned to England after his death she was soon caught harbouring a Catholic priest. The Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenants of Surrey were directed by the Privy Council to ensure that Gatton made its choice free from any influence by Mrs Copley; the sheriff's precept for the election was directed not to the Lord of the Manor but to the parish constable; and it seems that between 1584 and 1621 the humble villagers of Gatton may have genuinely elected their MPs in their own right.
In the 1750s, Sir James Colebrooke (Lord of the Manor of Gatton) nominated for one seat and the Rev John Tattersall (Lord of the Manor of nearby Upper Gatton) the other. In 1774, Sir William Mayne (later Lord Newhaven) bought both manors and therefore control of both seats; from 1786 onwards they changed hands several times more, ending in the hands of Sir Mark Wood by the turn of the century. The borough was sold again in 1830, at a reported price of £180,000, despite the prospect of disenfranchisement; in the same year, while the ownership of the borough was under the administration of a broker, one of its seats in the new Parliament was sold for £1,200.
The small edifice, known as the town hall, where the elections are said to have taken place can still be seen today. Most of the site of the former constituency is now occupied by The Royal Alexandra and Albert School.

## Contested election

Even though Gatton elections were entirely in the hands of the Lord of the Manor, there was a contested by-election on 24 January 1803. James Dashwood, one of the sitting members, was persuaded to resign to allow Philip Dundas (nephew of Pitt's ally Henry Dundas) to take a seat in Parliament. However, Joseph Clayton Jennings, a barrister who supported Parliamentary reform, arrived to contest the election together with a group of radical supporters. Jennings obtained one vote from a man claiming to be entitled to vote, but Dashwood (the returning officer) rejected it; hence Dundas was returned by 1 vote to nil.
A garbled version of the 1803 by-election was included by Henry Stooks Smith in The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, as the supposed story of a by-election in 1816, at which Sir Mark Wood, 2nd Baronet was returned. Stooks Smith wrote:
   Mr Jennings was Sir Mark Wood's butler. There were only three voters, Sir Mark, his son, and Jennings. The son was away and Jennings and his master quarrelled upon which Jennings refused to second the son and proposed himself. To get a seconder for the son, Sir Mark had to second Jennings, and it was ultimately arranged, and the vote of Sir Mark alone given. This was the only contest within memory.
The History of Parliament notes that this story "has not been confirmed". Gatton's representation was abolished by the Reform Act in 1832.

## Members of Parliament
### 1510–1640

| Parliament | First member | Second member |
| 1510–1523 | No names known | No names known |
| 1529 | John Guildford | ?William Saunders |
| 1536 | ? |
| 1539 | ? |
| 1542 | Thomas Saunders | Thomas Bishop |
| 1545 | Edward Bellingham | Roger Heigham |
| 1547 | Richard Shelley | John Tingleden, died and replaced by Jan 1552 by Thomas Guildford |
| 1553 (Mar) | Richard Southwell alias Darcy | Leonard Dannett |
| 1553 (Oct) | Sir Thomas Cornwallis | Chidiock Paulet |
| 1554 (Apr) | Thomas Gatacre | Thomas Copley |
| 1554 (Nov) | William Wootton | Thomas Copley |
| 1555 | Humphrey Moseley | Sir Henry Hussey |
| 1558 | Thomas Copley | Thomas Norton |
| 1558–9 | Thomas Copley | Thomas Farnham |
| 1562–3 | Sir Robert Lane | Thomas Copley |
| 1571 | Edmund Slyfield | Edward Whitton |
| 1572 | Edmund Tilney | Roland Maylard |
| 1584 | Francis Bacon, sat for Melcombe Regis and replaced by Edward Browne | Thomas Bishopp |
| 1586 | Serjeant John Puckering | Edward Browne |
| 1588 | Richard Browne | John Herbert |
| 1593 | William Lane | George Buc |
| 1597 | George Buc | Michael Hicks |
| 1601 | Sir Matthew Browne | Richard Sondes |
| 1604–1611 | Sir Thomas Gresham | Sir Nicholas Saunders |
| 1614 | Sir Thomas Gresham | Sir John Brooke |
| 1621 | Sir Thomas Gresham | Sir Thomas Bludder |
| 1624 | Sir Edmund Bowyer | Samuel Owfield |
| 1625 | Sir Charles Howard | Thomas Crewe |
| 1626 | Sir Samuel Owfield | Sir Charles Howard |
| 1628 | Sir Samuel Owfield | Sir Charles Howard |
| 1629–1640 | No Parliaments summoned | No Parliaments summoned |

### 1640–1832

| Year | | First member | First party | | Second member | Second party |
| November 1640 | | Sir Samuel Owfield | Parliamentarian | Double return for second seat, not resolved until 1641 | Double return for second seat, not resolved until 1641 | Double return for second seat, not resolved until 1641 |
| November 1641 | | Sir Samuel Owfield | Parliamentarian | | Thomas Sandys | Parliamentarian |
| 1644 | Owfield died – seat left vacant | Owfield died – seat left vacant | Owfield died – seat left vacant | | | | Thomas Sandys | Parliamentarian |
| 1645 | | William Owfield | | | Thomas Sandys | Parliamentarian |
| December 1648 | Sandys and Owfield excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant | Sandys and Owfield excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant | Sandys and Owfield excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant | Sandys and Owfield excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant | Sandys and Owfield excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant | Sandys and Owfield excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant |
| 1653 | Gatton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Gatton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Gatton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Gatton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Gatton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Gatton was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate |
| January 1659 | | Edward Bishe | | | Thomas Turgis | |
| May 1659 | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump |
| April 1660 | | Sir Edmund Bowyer | | | Thomas Turgis | |
| 1661 | | William Owfield | | | Thomas Turgis | |
| 1664 | | Sir Nicholas Carew | | | Thomas Turgis | |
| 1685 | | Sir John Thompson, Bt | | | Thomas Turgis | |
| 1696 | | George Evelyn | | | Thomas Turgis | |
| 1698 | | Hon. Maurice Thompson | | | Thomas Turgis | |
| 1702 | | Hon. Maurice Thompson | | | Thomas Onslow | |
| 1705 | | Sir George Newland | | | Paul Docminique | |
| 1710 | | William Newland | | | Paul Docminique | |
| 1735 | | William Newland | | | Charles Docminique | |
| 1738 | | Professor George Newland | | | Charles Docminique | |
| 1745 | | Professor George Newland | | | Paul Humphrey | |
| 1749 | | Charles Knowles | | | Paul Humphrey | |
| 1751 | | Charles Knowles | | | (Sir) James Colebrooke | |
| 1752 | | William Bateman | | | (Sir) James Colebrooke | |
| 1754 | | Thomas Brand | | | (Sir) James Colebrooke | |
| 1761 | | Thomas Brand | | | Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Harvey | |
| 1768 | | Hon. John Damer | | | Joseph Martin | |
| October 1774 | | Sir William Mayne | | | Robert Scott | |
| December 1774 | | Robert Mayne | | | William Adam | |
| 1780 | | Robert Mayne | | | The Lord Newhaven | |
| 1782 | | Maurice Lloyd | | | The Lord Newhaven | |
| 1787 | | James Fraser | | | The Lord Newhaven | |
| 1790 | | John Nesbitt | | | William Currie | |
| May 1796 | | John Petrie | | | Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Bt | |
| November 1796 | | John Petrie | | | John Heathcote | |
| 1799 | | John Petrie | | | (Sir) Walter Stirling | |
| 1800 | | James Du Pre | | | (Sir) Walter Stirling | |
| 1802 | | Sir Mark Wood, Bt | | | James Dashwood | |
| 1803 | | Sir Mark Wood, Bt | | | Philip Dundas | |
| 1805 | | Sir Mark Wood, Bt | | | William Garrow | |
| 1806 | | Sir Mark Wood, Bt | | | James Athol Wood | |
| 1807 | | Sir Mark Wood, Bt | | | George Bellas Greenough | |
| 1812 | | Sir Mark Wood, Bt | | | William Congreve | |
| 1816 | | Sir Mark Wood, Bt | Tory | | William Congreve | |
| 1818 | | Abel Rous Dottin | | | John Fleming | |
| 1820 | | Jesse Watts-Russell | | | Thomas Divett | |
| 1826 | | William Scott | | | Michael Prendergast | |
| Mar 1830 | | Joseph Neeld | | | Michael Prendergast | |
| July 1830 | | John Shelley | | | John Thomas Hope | Tory |
| 1831 | | Viscount Pollington | | | Anthony John Ashley | |
| 1832 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |