Newport (Isle of Wight) (UK Parliament constituency)
| Newport | |
|---|---|
| Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons |
|
| County | Isle of Wight |
| Major settlements | Newport |
| 1584–1885 | |
| Number of members | 1584–1868: Two 1868–1885: One |
| Replaced by | Isle of Wight |
| Created from | Hampshire |
| 1295–1295 | |
| Number of members | Two |
| Type of constituency | Borough constituency |
| Replaced by | Hampshire |
Newport was a parliamentary borough located in Newport (Isle of Wight), which was abolished in for the 1885 general election. It was occasionally referred to by the alternative name of Medina.
(Prior to the Great Reform Act of 1832 there was also a separate Newport parliamentary borough in Cornwall.)
The borough was first represented in the parliament of 1295, and returned two members of parliament (MPs) from 1584 to 1868. At the 1868 election the Second Reform Act reduced its representation to a single seat, and under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the constituency was abolished altogether with effect from the 1885 general election. Newport's re-enfranchisement in 1584, like that of the other Isle of Wight boroughs (Newtown and Yarmouth) seems to have been at the urging of the new Governor of the island, Sir George Carey, a relative of the Queen. In token of thanks, the borough granted him for life the right to nominate one of the two MPs – which seems to have been the reward he expected and the motive for his petition to the Queen in the first place.
Between 1807 and 1811 its two seats were held by two future Prime Ministers: Arthur Wellesley, later to become the Duke of Wellington (who also found himself elected to two other seats at the same time), and Henry Temple (later Lord Palmerston), who would go on to become one of the United Kingdom's most notable Prime Ministers. Palmerston's late father had been unable to convert his Irish title into a United Kingdom peerage, therefore the young politician was able to enter the Commons. The local patron arranging the deal was Sir Leonard Holmes, who made it a condition that they never visited the borough!
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