Members of Parliament for the Dengie Hundred

Parliament evolved over many years from the Saxon Witenagemot and the Norman Curia Regis which were groups of noblemen and churchmen who advised the Sovereign. until about 1240 when the term parliament came into use.

All Shires were required to send Knights of the Shire to parliament although it still had advisory powers only.

By 1265 an elected parliament was in place with freeholders with land valued at 40 shillings being entitled to vote for shire and borough representatives.

By 1295 two parliaments were created called the model parliament - one for the Lords and Bishops and the other for Knights and Commoners.

Over the next few hundred years Parliament grew in power taking more and more powers until it became the controlling force in the country.

Parliaments were of no fixed length and so some ran for a few months and some for many years.

Until 1700's there were no political parties although groups such as the puritans and cavaliers dominated various parliaments and set the agenda.

Many of the people representing Maldon were ' carpetbaggers' ie they lived away from Maldon with no real local connections but bought some land or bought the freedom of the Borough to entitle them to stand. Many never even visited Maldon expect for polling day.

Contested elections were often decided by the liberal amount of favours that candidates favoured on the small number of electors or of course influence brought to bear by the influential members of the community.

In the 1826 election the votes of 3,200 freemen were polled despite the male adult population being 1,859. In 1852 the Parliamentary Commission reported that 'At Maldon the bribery oath was taken by all the electros without hesitation and merely added perjury to the political immorality of the inhabitants.' Returns for this election showed that the candidates expenses for drinks in the public houses at Maldon came to £5,000 with the cost of beer drink at Maldon and heybridge alone amounting to £2,150.

Quentin Dick fought and won 3 elections during which he had spent £30,000 of gifts and a corrupt loan system where electors received loans in exchange for their votes.

This system meant that the money was often recouped by advantages taken in London from being a MP and perhaps explains why a number of MP's were arrested for embezzlement and theft.

East Essex is a major part of the Maldon Constituency which has had several names and constituency area but has always included the Town of Maldon and the East Essex area of the Dengie 100.

Records are difficult to trace and so listed are some Members of Parliament for Maldon in the early years and a complete listing from 1885. From 1689 MP's often represented political parties although the alliance was less formal than the party politics system seen today.

Robert Darcy	1416 , 1419, 1421 , 1422 , 1425, 1426, 1439, 1445	Resident of Rochford who bought a large amount of Land in Maldon
Robert Darcy ( Junior)	1450	A Lancastrian during war of roses. He served as Sheriff of Essex and Herts
Thomas Drakes	1466
James Wright -	1467
William Albon	1469 and 1472
Robert Harlesdon	1469	A Lancastrian who had his estates confiscated and was killed in 1471
William Tendring	1478
Robert Plomer	1483 and 1491	Lawyer and Royal servant
John Chauncy	1491
Richard Tay	1529
Richard Payton	1529
Sir Walter Mildmay	1553	Chancellor of the Exchequer for Queen Elizabeth I
Edward Lewkenor	1584, 1586,1593, 1604	An extreme Puritan who launched many attacks on the Church. One of these attacks was made outside the Houses of Parliament where he no longer held parliamentary priveledge for which Lewkenor was sent to the Tower for a short period.
William Wyseman	1601
Sir Julius Ceaser	1620	Master of the Rolls
Sir Henry Mildmay	1625,1628, 1640	In 1620 was appointed Keeper of the Kings Jewel House. He was a Royalist although became a Parliamentarian by 1640 and in 1649 was one of the Judges for Charles I trial. In 1661 when the return of Charles II was due he was asked to account for the Kings Jewels but was unable to do so and fled to France. This was a failure as he was arrested at Rye and brought to the tower where he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1664 this was varied to transportation to Tangier but he died in transit.
Sir William Masham	1626	Sent to Marchelsea Prison with his father in law Sir Frannces barrington for opposing the funds required by Charles I
Sir Thomas Checke	1626
Sir John Clotworthy	1640	Was arrested in 1647 for embezzleing funds from parliament and spent 3 years in prison
Sir John Bramston	1678 , 1685	Chairman of many parliamentary committees
Sir Thomas Darcy	1685
Charles Montague	1689	Whig	The son of the Earl of Manchester . Montague was Lord of the Traesury, Chancellor of the Exchequor. He bacame Earl of Halifax.
John Bullock	1698	Whig
Samuel Tufnell	1715
Robert Colebrooke	1741,1747,1754	Whig
John Bullock ( Junior)	1754,1761,1768	Whig
John Huske	1763, 1768		Huske was an American from Boston who came to live in England in 1748. He fled to France to avaoid arrest for defrauding Mr Townsend of £30,000.
Eliab Harvey	1780		Was Captain of the 'Temeraire 'in the Battle of Trafalgar.
John Strutt	1784,1790	Tory	Lived at Terling Place
Drigue Billers Olmius	1784,		the second Baron Waltham
John Holden Strutt	1790	Tory	Represented Maldon for 40 years
George Mark Arthur Allanson Winn	1826	Tory
Thomas Barrett Lennard	1826, 1830,1831	Whig
Quintin Dick	1830,1831, 1837	Tory
John Round	1837	Tory
Edward Bentall	1868
George Sandford	1874
George Courtauld	1883	Liberal
In 1885 there was a redistribution of seats. The two seats at Maldon Borough and the Essex County representation were discontinued and replaced with a Parlimentary Constituency of Maldom with one seat.
Arthur Kitching	1885-1886	Liberal
Charles Gray	1886-1892	Conservative
Cyril Dodd	1892-1895	Liberal
Charles Hedley-Strutt	1895-1906	Conservative	Chairman of Essex Quarter Sessions
Thomas Bethell	1906-1910	Liberal
Sir James Fortescue Flannery	1910-1922	Conservative	Flannery was a famous engineer of his time. He was born in Liverpool but moved south on marriage.
Major E Ruggles-Brise	1922-1923	Conservative	Ruggles Brise was a landowner in the Finchingfield area. He served in the First World War with distinction being awareded the Legion D'Honneur.
Valentine Crittall	1923 -1924	Liberal	A member of the Crittall family of buisnessmen. Valentine designed the model village of Silver End to act as a home for men working in his factory.
Major E Ruggles Brise	1924-1944	Conservative	During this period Ruggles-Brise was promoted to Colonel
Tom Driberg	1944-1955	Labour	A journalist who became a leading Labour Party thinker. He lived at Bradwell Lodge and took the title Baron Bradwell . On losing his Maldon seat he became MP for West Ham. Obtained notoriety for his casual approach to his homosexuality.
Brian (Alistair) Harrison	1955-1970	Conservative	Born in Australia with a distinguished war service . Came to the UK in 1948
In 1983 the constituency boundary was changed to be Colchester south and Maldon
John Wakeham	1970-1992	Conservative	A leading Conservative under the Margaret Thatcher Government . His wife was killed and he was badly injured in the IRA Brighton bombing .Now Lord Wakeham
In 1997 the constituency boundary was changed to be Maldon and East Chelmsford
John Whittingdale	1992 - current	Conservative	Click here to visit a page on John Whittingdale