292 



Great Bedwyn. 



I., to the Parliaments of the 1st and 8th of Edward II. to those of I 

 the 36th and 37th of Edward III., and to the early Parliaments ( 

 of Richard II. 



29 



Except in the 1st of Henry IY. it sent no members after the j 

 10th of Richard II. until the 9th of Henry V., after which year 

 it almost constantly returned representatives. 



The names of the members, previously to the reign of the first j 

 Mary, have not, however, been regularly handed down, but from 

 that period, the list appears to be correct. 



The right of election was in the freeholders and inhabitants of \ 

 ancient burgages, and the returning officer was the Portreeve of the 

 borough. 



In the year 1762 the number of burgage houses had dwindled 

 to 100 ; of these, 46 belonged to the Earl Yerney, 42 to the Lord l 

 Bruce, 9 to the Church of Bedwyn, 1 to Benjamin Bond Hopkins, j { 

 Esq., 1 to Mr. Thomas Potter, and 1 to Mr. Thomas Batten. 



In 1766, Lord Yerney sold to Lord Bruce his estate at Great j 

 Bedwyn, including the manor of Stokke, the ancient property of 

 the Stokkes, and afterwards of the Hungerfords. In 1787, Mr. ^ 

 Hopkins sold his burgage and other property to Lord Bruce, then \ § 

 Earl of Ailesbury, who soon afterwards purchased Mr. Potter's 

 burgage. In 1792, the Church burgages were made Lord Ailes- 

 bury's freehold by an exchange under the Bedwyn Inclosure Act : 

 Batten's burgage still remains in the representatives of that gen- 

 tleman. 



By the Act of Parliament passed on the 7th June, 1832, 2 Gul. 

 IY., for amending the Representation of the people of England and 

 Wales, the borough of Great Bedwyn, with many others, was dis- 

 franchised. 



In the following list, the names of the members down to the 

 reign of Queen Mary, are taken from a manuscript, compiled, j 

 apparently about two centuries ago, from the Tower Records, and 

 brought down to the third Parliament of Car. L To this MS. are 

 now added the dates of the Christian epoch. From Mary's reign, 

 Willis's Notitia, Beatson's Register, and other publications, have 

 also been used. 



