Knights of Buckinghamshire

the history of the parliamentary constituency and the knights of the shire after 1660

This article contains a list of the known knights of the shire who represented Buckinghamshire in the Parliament of England and similar bodies of lesser status between 1290 and 1660. It also includes details of Parliaments from 1265 to which elected knights of the shires were summoned.

The parliamentary electoral constituency, representing the historic county of Buckinghamshire, was created in (1265): see Montfort's Parliament for further details and History of Buckinghamshire for maps of the historic county. This county constituency was represented by two knights of the shire until 1832 and three 1832–1885. Knights of the shire are known to have been summoned to most parliaments from 1290 (19th Parliament of King Edward I of England) and to every one from 1320 (19th Parliament of King Edward II of England). Although at some periods several Parliaments were held in a year, at others there were considerable gaps between Parliaments. Knights of the shire were also summoned to meetings which have not been classified as Parliaments by modern expert opinion. The names of the members in some Parliaments are not known. The English civil year started on 25 March until 1752 (Scotland having changed to 1 January in 1600). The years used for parliaments in this article have been converted to the new style where necessary. Old style dates would be a year earlier than the new style for days between 1 January and 24 March, for example the Parliament of 18 March 1313 – 9 May 1313 (new style) would be 18 March 1312 – 9 May 1313 (old style). No attempt has been made to compensate for the eleven days which did not occur in September 1752 in both England and Scotland as well as other British controlled territories (when the day after 2 September was 14 September), so as to bring the British Empire fully in line with the Gregorian calendar. The names of knights of the shire, taken from the list in The History and Antiquities of Buckinghamshire by George Lipscomb (unless a volume from the History of Parliament Trust on the House of Commons at a particular period is available), are given in alphabetical order for each group of representatives. There are some minor variations in names from the source used, which unless the contrary is known, are assumed to relate to the same person. It is possible that some entries relate to different persons of the same name. Where such cases have been identified the persons have been distinguished by a Roman number after the name (in order of first election); except where the number used to distinguish different candidates of the same name during the same period, by the authors of the books on the House of Commons mention in the references section, are used. As the dates of Parliaments came from a twentieth century source and the names of persons elected came from Lipscomb (published between 1831 and 1847) it was sometimes impossible to be certain, from those sources, who served in a Parliament and who attended other meetings accorded lesser status. There is also some uncertainty as to whether Lipscomb did or did not use new style years and if so whether the method used in his list is consistent. An attempt has been made to give the best fit possible and to indicate the year (and if necessary the number within the year) from Lipscomb's list. The places of some Parliaments were indicated in footnotes to Lipscomb's list and are given here as they may assist with further research to confirm the link between specific knights of the shire and a particular Parliament.

The lists below commence with Montfort's Parliament in 1265, when for the first time elected representatives from counties (or shires), cities and boroughs were summoned to Parliament. It is known that the Sheriffs of the English Counties were ordered to send knights of the shire to attend a number of Parliaments before 1265, but they were not required to have them chosen by election. No such summonses are known to have required the attendance of some citizens of cities or burgesses of other boroughs. Records of this sort of summons survive for the Oxford Parliament which was the 7th Parliament of King Henry III (assembled 27 October 1258 and presumed dissolved when writs de expensis were issued on 4 November 1258) and the 16th Parliament of the King (summoned 4 June 1264 and assembled 22 June 1264, although the date of dissolution is unknown). The lists before 1320 exclude Parliaments to which elected commoners (representing the Commons or communities of England) were not known to have been summoned. All Parliaments are believed to have been held at Westminster, unless otherwise indicated.

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member17th 14 December 1264 1264–65 20 January 1265 15 February 1265 unknown unknown

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 30 September 1399 1399 6 October 1399 19 November 1399 unknown unknown2nd 9 September 1400 1400–01 20 January 1401 10 March 1401 John Barton Thomas Durant3rd 19 June 1402 1402 30 September 1402 25 November 1402 Sir Richard Arches Edmund Hampden4th 20 October 1403 1403–04 14 January 1404 20 March 1404 John Barton Edmund Brudenell5th 25 August 1404 1404 6 October 1404 13 November 1404 Roger Cheyne Robert James6th 21 December 1405 1405–06 1 March 1406 22 December 1406 Edmund Brudenell John Giffard7th 26 August 1407 1407 20 October 1407 2 December 1407 John Barton Richard Wyot8th 26 October 1409 1409–10 27 January 1410 9 May 1410 unknown unknown9th 21 September 1411 1411 3 November 1411 19 December 1411 unknown unknown10th 1 December 1412 1412–13 3 February 1413 20 March 1413 unknown unknown

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 22 March 1413 1413 14 May 1413 9 June 1413 John Cheyne John Giffard2nd 1 December 1413 1413–14 30 April 1414 29 May 1414 John Barton II Richard Wyot3rd 26 September 1414 1414 19 November 1414 John Barton4th 12 August 1415 1415 4 November 1415 12 November 1415 John Cheyne5th 21 January 1416 1416 16 March 1416 May 1416 unknown unknown6th 3 September 1416 1416 19 October 1416 18 November 1416 unknown unknown7th 5 October 1417 1417 16 November 1417 17 December 1417 John Barton II John Giffard8th 24 August 1419 1419 16 October 1419 13 November 1419 John Barton II Richard Wyot9th 21 October 1420 1420 2 December 1420 John Hampden William Whaplode10th 26 February 1421 1421 2 May 1421 Robert James George Longville11th 20 October 1421 1421 1 December 1421 Sir John Cheyne II Richard Wyot

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 29 September 1422 1422 9 November 1422 18 December 1422 John Barton jnr Robert James2nd 1 September 1423 1423 20 October 1423 28 February 1424 John Giffard unknown3rd 24 February 1425 1425 30 April 1425 14 July 1425 John Cheyne Sir John Cheyne II4th 7 January 1426 1426 18 February 1426 1 June 1426 Sir John Cheyne II unknown5th 15 July 1427 1427 13 October 1427 25 March 1428 John Cheyne unknown6th 12 July 1429 1429 22 September 1429 23 February 1430 unknown unknown7th 27 November 1430 1430–31 12 January 1431 20 March 1431 unknown unknown8th 25 February 1432 1432 12 May 1432 17 July 1432 Sir John Cheyne II unknown9th 24 May 1433 1433 8 July 1433 >c.18 December 1433 William Whaplode unknown10th 5 July 1435 1435 10 October 1435 23 December 1435 Sir John Cheyne II unknown11th 29 October 1436 1436–37 21 January 1437 27 March 1437 John Hampden unknown12th 26 September 1439 1439 12 November 1439 c.15–24 February 1440 unknown unknown13th 3 December 1441 1441–42 25 January 1442 27 March 1442 unknown unknown14th 13 January 1445 1445 25 February 1445 9 April 1445 Sir John Cheyne II unknown15th 14 December 1446 1446–47 10 February 1447 3 March 1447 Thomas Tresham unknown16th 2 January 1449 1449 12 February 1449 16 July 1449 unknown unknown17th 23 September 1449 1449 6 November 1449 c.5–8 June 1450 unknown unknown18th 5 September 1450 1450 6 November 1450 c.24–31 May 1451 unknown unknown19th 20 January 1453 1453 6 March 1453 c.16–21 April 1454 unknown unknown20th 26 May 1455 1455 9 July 1455 12 March 1456 unknown unknown21st 9 October 1459 1459 20 November 1459 20 December 1459 unknown unknown22nd 30 July 1460 1460 7 October 1460 c.4 March 1461 unknown unknown23rd 15 October 1470 1470 26 November 1470 c. 11 April 1471 unknown unknown

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 23 May 1461 1461 4 November 1461 6 May 1462 unknown unknown2nd 22 December 1462 1462–63 29 April 1463 28 March 1465 unknown unknown3rd 28 February 1467 1467 3 June 1467 7 June 1468 unknown unknown4th 19 August 1472 1472 6 October 1472 14 March 1475 unknown unknown5th 20 November 1477 1477–78 16 January 1478 26 February 1478 unknown unknown6th 15 November 1482 1482–83 20 January 1483 18 February 1483 unknown unknown

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 9 December 1483 1483–84 23 January 1484 20 February 1484 unknown unknown

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 15 September 1485 1485 7 November 1485 c. 4 March 1486 unknown unknown2nd 1487 9 November 1487 c. 18 December 1487 unknown unknown3rd ?1488–89 13 January 1489 27 February 1490 unknown unknown4th 12 August 1491 1491 17 October 1491 5 March 1492 unknown unknown5th 15 September 1495 1495 14 October 1495 21–22 December 1495 unknown unknown6th 20 November 1496 1496–97 16 January 1497 13 March 1497 unknown unknown7th ?1503–04 25 January 1504 c. 1 April 1504 unknown unknown

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 14 August 1553 1553 5 October 1553 5 December 1553 Sir Edmund Peckham Sir Robert Drury [II]2nd 17 February 1554 1554 2 April 1554 3 May 1554 Sir Robert Peckham Sir George Gifford [II]3rd 3 October 1554 1554 12 November 1554 16 January 1555 Sir Edmund Peckham Thomas Denton4th 3 September 1555 1555 21 October 1555 9 December 1555 Edmund Verney Francis Verney5th 6 December 1557 1557–58 20 January 1558 17 November 1558 Sir William Dormer Sir Henry Lee

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 5 December 1558 28 December 1558 23 January 1559 8 May 1559 Sir Henry Lee Paul Darrell2nd 10 November 1562 1562–63 11 January 1563 2 January 1567 Thomas Fleetwood William Hawtrey3rd 1571 2 April 1571 29 May 1571 Sir Henry Lee Sir William Dormer4th 28 March 1572 1572 8 May 1572 19 April 1583 Sir Henry Lee John Croke [II]5th 12 October 1584 1584 23 November 1584 14 September 1585 Miles Sandys Griffith Hampden6th 15 September 1586 1586 15 October 1586 23 March 1587 Francis Goodwin John Borlase7th 18 September 1588 1588–89 4 February 1589 29 March 1589 John Fortescue [I] Thomas Tasburgh8th 4 January 1593 1593 18 February 1593 10 April 1593 Sir John Fortescue [I] Sir Robert Dormer9th 23 August 1597 1597 24 October 1597 9 February 1598 Sir John Fortescue [I] Francis Goodwin10th 11 September 1601 7 October 1601 27 October 1601 19 December 1601 Francis Fortescue Alexander Hampden

No. SummonedElectedAssembledDissolved1st member2nd member1st 2 April 1625 1625 17 May 1625 12 August 1625 Sir Francis Goodwin Henry Bulstrode2nd 20 December 1625 1626 6 February 1626 15 June 1626 Sir Francis Goodwin Sir Thomas Denton3rd 31 January 1628 1628 17 March 1628 10 March 1629 Sir Edward Coke Sir William Fleetwood No parliament held4th 20 February 1640 1640 13 April 1640 5 May 1640 John Hampden Arthur Goodwin 5th 24 September 1640 1640 3 November 1640 16 March 1660 John Hampden Arthur Goodwin ?1643 George Fleetwood Edmund West

The Long Parliament or the selection of members from it known as the Rump Parliament functioned de facto during part of the Commonwealth of England period. It existed (in a sense) de jure 1640–1660, as under a pre English Civil War law, the Long Parliament could not be lawfully dissolved without its own consent which it did not give until 1660. As it was a Parliament originally summoned by King Charles I, the overall dates of the Long Parliament are given in the previous section. The Barebones Parliament was an appointed body, so the county was not as such represented in it. That body was summoned on 20 June 1653, first met on 4 July 1653 and was dissolved on 12 December 1653.

During the Protectorate the county was allocated five representatives in the First and the Second Protectorate Parliaments (summoned 1 June 1654 and 10 July 1656 respectively), before reverting to two for the Third Protectorate Parliament (summoned 9 December 1658). The boroughs of Aylesbury, Buckingham Town and Wycombe retained one seat each in the first two Parliaments, but the traditional pattern of constituencies and of seats was reintroduced for the third. No. AssembledDissolved1st member2nd member3rd member4th member5th member1st3 September 165422 January 1655 Bulstrode Whitelocke Richard Ingoldsby George Fleetwood Sir Richard Pigot Richard Greenville2nd17 September 16564 February 1658 Bulstrode Whitelocke Richard Ingoldsby Richard Hampden Sir Richard Pigot Richard Greenville3rd27 January 165922 April 1659 Richard Greenville William Bowyer