Devizes (UK Parliament constituency)

**Devizes** is a constituency of the UK Parliament. It is in Wiltshire, England. The current MP for it is Danny Kruger, a Conservative. He was elected in the 2019 United Kingdom general election.

The constituency has four towns and many villages inside it. The area's MP has been someone from the Conservative Party since 1924.

## History

Devizes originally elected two Members of Parliament (MPs). They did this until the 1868 general election. They stopped because the Reform Act 1867 lowered its their amount of MPs to one MP. MPs are elected by first-past-the-post. The seat has had a Conservative MP elected at every election since 1924.

Its most well-known MP was Henry Addington. Addington was the MP for the seat when he was Prime Minister. He also was the MP for the seat when he was Speaker of the House of Commons.

### 1295–1640

|Parliament|First MP|Second MP|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1386|Richard Gobet|William Salter|
|1388 (Feb)|Richard Cardmaker|William Salter|
|1388 (Sep)|Richard Cardmaker|William Spicer|
|1390 (Jan)|Richard Gobet|William Spicer|
|1390 (Nov)|||
|1391|||
|1393|William Coventre I|William Spicer|
|1394|John Tapener|Richard Brunker|
|1395|Richard Cardmaker|William Spicer|
|1397 (Jan)|William Salter|Henry Webbe|
|1397 (Sep)|William Salter|John Peyntour|
|1399|Richard Cardmaker|William Salter|
|1401|||
|1402|Simon Skinner|Richard Smith|
|1404 (Jan)|||
|1404 (Oct)|||
|1406|John Huwet|John Kingston|
|1407|John Peyntour|Simon Skinner|
|1410|||
|1411|||
|1413 (Feb)|||
|1413 (May)|John Coventre|Simon Skinner|
|1414 (Apr)|Thomas Coventre|Robert Smith|
|1414 (Nov)|William Coventre III|Thomas Coventre|
|1415|William Coventre III|Roger Barbour|
|1416 (Mar)|Richard Litelcote|John Peyntour|
|1416 (Oct)|||
|1417|William Coventre III|Robert Tyndale|
|1419|Robert Tyndale|William Hendelove|
|1420|John Coventre I|Robert Chandler|
|1421 (May)|William Coventre III|Robert Smith|
|1421 (Dec)|John Baker|John Fauconer|
|1425|Robert Chandler||
|1429|Robert Chandler||
|1442|Henry Long||
|1492|Richard Pudsey||
|1510–1523|_No names known_||
|1529|John Poyntz|Richard Mytton|
|1536|?||
|1539|?||
|1542|?||
|1545|Clement Throckmorton|Geoffrey Danielle|
|1547|Sir George Howard|Nicholas Throckmorton|
|1553 (Mar)|?||
|1553 (Oct)|William Rede|Thomas Hull|
|1554 (Apr)|Thomas Highgate|Henry Leke|
|1554 (Nov)|Thomas Hull|Edward Heynes|
|1555|Thomas Hull|James Webbe|
|1558|Thomas Hull|Henry Morris|
|1558|John Young|Edward Heynes|
|1562/3|Hugh Powell|Edward Heynes|
|1571|Edward Baynton|William Clerke|
|1572|George Reynolds, _died and replaced 1580 by_ John Snell|| Henry Grube||
|1584|Edward Baynton I|Henry Brouncker|
|1586|Edward Baynton I|Henry Brouncker|
|1588|Henry Brouncker|John Delabere|
|1593|Henry Baynton I or Henry Baynton II|Richard Mompesson|
|1597|John Kent|Robert Drew|
|1601|Giles Fettiplace|Robert Drew|
|1604|Sir Henry Baynton|Robert Drew|
|1614|Sir Edward Baynton|William Kent|
|1621|Sir Henry Ley|John Kent|
|1624|Edward Bayntun|John Kent|
|1625|Edward Bayntun|Robert Drew|
|1626|Robert Long|Sir Henry Ley|
|1628|Robert Long|Thomas Kent|
|1629–1640|_No Parliaments summoned_||

### 1640–1832

|Election|1st member|1st party|2nd member|2nd party|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|March 1640|style="background-color: white"||Edward Bayntun||style="background-color: white"||Henry Danvers||||
|November 1640|style="background-color: white"||Edward Bayntun||style="background-color: white"||Robert Nicholas||||
|1653|style="background-color: white"||colspan= "4"|_Devizes not represented in Barebones Parliament_|||||||
|September 1654|style="background-color: white"||Edward Bayntun||style="background-color: white"||_One seat only_||||
|September 1656|style="background-color: white"||Edward Scotton||style="background-color: white"||_One seat only_||||
|January 1659|style="background-color: white"||Chaloner Chute jnr||style="background-color: white"||Edward Scotton||||
|March 1660|style="background-color: white"||William Lewis||style="background-color: white"||Robert Aldworth||||
|April 1661|style="background-color: white"||William Yorke||rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="2"|John Kent|rowspan="2"||
|December 1666|style="background-color: white"||John Norden||||||||
|October 1669|style="background-color: white"||Edward Lewis||rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="2"|George Johnson|rowspan="2"||
|April 1675|rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="2"|Sir Edward Bayntun|rowspan="2"||||||
|February 1679|style="background-color: white"||Sir Walter Ernle||||||||
|September 1679|style="background-color: white"||Sir Giles Hungerford||style="background-color: white"||John Eyles||||
|February 1681|style="background-color: white"||Sir Walter Ernle||style="background-color: white"||George Johnson||||
|March 1685|style="background-color: white"||John Talbot of Lacock||rowspan="4" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="4"|Walter Grubbe|rowspan="4"||
|January 1689|style="background-color: white"||Sir William Pynsent||||||||
|March 1690|style="background-color: white"||Sir Thomas Fowle||||||||
|December 1690|rowspan="3" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="3"|John Methuen|rowspan="3"||||||
|November 1695|style="background-color: white"||Sir Edward Ernle||||||||
|July 1698|rowspan="3" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="3"|Sir Francis Child|rowspan="3"||||||
|January 1701|style="background-color: white"||Francis Merewether||||||||
|November 1701|rowspan="4" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="4"|John Methuen|rowspan="4"||||||
|November 1702|style="background-color: white"||John Child||||||||
|March 1703|style="background-color: white"||Francis Merewether||||||||
|May 1705|rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="2"|Sir Francis Child|rowspan="2"||||||
|December 1706|rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="2"|Josiah Diston|rowspan="2"||||||
|May 1708|style="background-color: white"||Paul Methuen||||||||
|October 1710|style="background-color: white"||Sir Francis Child||style="background-color: white"||Thomas Richmond Webb||||
|August 1713|style="background-color: white"||Robert Child||style="background-color: white"||John Nicholas||||
|January 1715|rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="2"|Josiah Diston|rowspan="2"||style="background-color: white"||Francis Eyles	(expelled)||
|February 1721|rowspan="3" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="3"|Benjamin Haskins-Stiles|rowspan="3"||||||
|March 1722|style="background-color: white"||Sir Joseph Eyles|Whig|||||||
|August 1727|rowspan="3" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="3"|Francis Eyles|rowspan="3"|Whig|||||
|April 1734|style="background-color: white"||Sir Joseph Eyles|Whig|||||||
|February 1740|rowspan="3" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="3"|John Garth|rowspan="3"|Whig|||||
|July 1742|style="background-color: white"||George Lee|Whig|||||||
|July 1747|rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="2"|William Willy|rowspan="2"||||||
|January 1765|rowspan="3" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="3"|Charles Garth|rowspan="3"||||||
|June 1765|style="background-color: white"||James Sutton||||||||
|September 1780|rowspan="2" style="background-color: white"||rowspan="3"|Sir James Tylney-Long|rowspan="2"||||||
|November 1780|style="background-color: white"||Henry Jones||||||||
|April 1784|style="background-color: "||Tory|rowspan="2" style="background-color: "||rowspan="2"|Henry Addington|rowspan="2"|Tory||
|December 1788|rowspan="2" style="background-color: "||rowspan="2"|Joshua Smith|rowspan="2"|Tory|||||
|January 1805|rowspan="2" style="background-color: "||rowspan="2"|Thomas Grimston Estcourt|rowspan="2"|Tory|||||
|June 1818|rowspan="2" style="background-color: "||rowspan="2"|John Pearse|rowspan="2"|Tory|||||
|March 1826|style="background-color: "||George Watson-Taylor|Tory|||||||

### 1832–1868

|Election|1st member|1st party|2nd member|2nd party|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1832|rowspan="3" style="background-color: "||rowspan="3"|Wadham Locke|rowspan="3"|Whig|style="background-color: "||Montague Gore|Whig|
|February 1834|rowspan="1" style="background-color: "||rowspan="3"|Admiral Sir Philip Charles Durham|rowspan="1"|Tories|||||
|December 1834|rowspan="2" style="background-color: "||rowspan="2"|Conservative|||||||
|November 1835|rowspan="3" style="background-color: "||rowspan="3"|T. H. S. Sotheron-Estcourt|rowspan="3"|Conservative|||||
|February 1836|style="background-color: "||James Whitley Deans Dundas|Whig|||||||
|May 1838|rowspan="4" style="background-color: "||rowspan="4"|George Heneage Walker Heneage|rowspan="4"|Conservative|||||
|February 1844|style="background-color: "||William Heald Ludlow Bruges|Conservative|||||||
|February 1848|style="background-color: "||James Bucknall Bucknall-Estcourt|Conservative|||||||
|1852|style="background-color: "||John Neilson Gladstone|Conservative|||||||
|1857|style="background-color: "||Simon Watson Taylor|Peelite|rowspan="4" style="background-color: "||rowspan="4"|Christopher Darby Griffith|rowspan="4"|Conservative|
|1859|style="background-color: "||John Neilson Gladstone|Conservative|||||||
|Feb 1863|style="background-color: "||William Addington|Conservative|||||||
|Apr 1864|style="background-color: "||Sir Thomas Bateson, Bt.|Conservative|||||||
|1868|colspan="6"|_Second Reform Act: representation reduced to one member_|||||||||

### Since 1868

Devizes has been a usual Conservative seat since 1945. The current Member of Parliament is Danny Kruger. He was first elected at the 2019 general election. The MP before him was Claire Perry. Perry decided not to run at the next election.
|Election|Member|Party|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="background-color: "||1868|Sir Thomas Bateson|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||1885|Walter Long|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||1892|Charles Hobhouse|Liberal|
|style="background-color: "||1895|Edward Goulding|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||1906|Francis Rogers|Liberal|
|style="background-color: "||1910|Basil Peto|Unionist|
|style="background-color: "||1918|Cory Bell|Unionist|
|style="background-color: "||1923|Eric Macfadyen|Liberal|
|style="background-color: "||1924|Percy Hurd|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||1945|Christopher Hollis|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||1955|Percivall Pott|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||1964|Charles Morrison|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||1992|Michael Ancram|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||2010|Claire Perry|Conservative|
|style="background-color: "||2019|Danny Kruger|Conservative|

## In popular culture

Devizes was the constituency of the fictional (fake) Conservative MP The Honourable Sir Piers Fletcher-Dervish, Baronet, later Junior Minister for Housing, in the TV sitcom _The New Statesman_.  The actor Michael Troughton played the MP.
The show was set in the 1980s. This was when Charles Andrew Morrison was MP for the actual seat.

## Infobox (uk constituency main)

- **name**: Devizes
- **parliament**: uk
- **map1**: Devizes2007
- **map2**: EnglandWiltshire
- **map entity**: Wiltshire
- **year**: 1885
- **type**: County
- **elects howmany**: One
- **towns**: Devizes, Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough, Durrington, Wiltshire, Durrington, Pewsey
- **electorate**: 68,846 (December 2010)
- **mp**: Danny Kruger
- **party**: Conservative Party (UK)
- **region**: England
- **county**: Wiltshire
- **european**: South West England
- **year2**: 1331
- **abolished2**: 1885
- **type2**: Borough
- **elects howmany2**: Two until 1868, then one