As elsewhere in
Wales, the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 provided Anglesey with two members of parliament, one representing the county and the other representing a borough constituency named after the county town but including other "contributory boroughs" who were jointly responsible for providing for the upkeep of the MP and, in return, were granted a say in his election. However, at this period two towns,
Beaumaris and
Newborough, were disputing the right to be considered Anglesey's county town: under
Henry VIII, Newborough was the
assize town, but early in the reign of
Edward VI (1547–1553) this function was transferred to Beaumaris. The new constituency was designated as Beaumaris, with Newborough as its only contributory borough, and first returned an MP in 1542; but at the same time as the assize was transferred, Newborough was also relieved of the obligation to contribute to the wages of the MP for Beaumaris which, under the terms of the relevant statute, also extinguished its right to vote in his election. Porritt, the early 20th century expert on the history of the
Unreformed House of Commons, concludes that "the probability is that Newborough broke the connection in a fit of ill-humour" rather than that it was contrived by Beaumaris; but within a few decades, as the desirability of being directly represented in Parliament became more widely recognised, Newborough was trying unsuccessfully to regain its former status. On several occasions until the early 18th century, Newborough's inhabitants attempted to vote, but had their votes refused by the
returning officer and his decision was upheld by Parliament whenever they petitioned in objection.
The franchise was further restricted in 1562, when
Elizabeth I granted Beaumaris a new municipal charter, which reserved the right to vote in parliamentary elections to members of the town corporation. Thereafter until 1832, Beaumaris was a closed "corporation borough" of a type common in England but unknown elsewhere in Wales; its only voters were the mayor, two bailiffs and 21 "capital burgesses", and since they had the sole right to fill any vacancies arising in their number their power was entirely self-perpetuating, making the constituency a completely safe
pocket borough. For the best part of two centuries before the
Great Reform Act of 1832, the nomination was in the hands of the
Bulkeley family of
Baron Hill, and the elections were never contested.
By 1831, the borough of Beaumaris had a population of 2,497 (though, still, only 24 voters). The Reform Act extended the franchise, and also added three contributory boroughs –
Amlwch,
Holyhead and
Llangefni. This raised the population of the revised Beaumaris Boroughs constituency to 8,547, though the number of qualified voters on the register in 1832 was only 329. This was still in practice a pocket borough, and the first contested election did not take place until the further extension of the franchise by the
Second Reform Act, which brought the electorate up to almost 2,000 in the elections from
1868.
^Bloy, Marjorie (12 January 2016).
"Lord George Paget (1818-1880)". A Web of English History.
Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
