From 1832 to 1885, it returned two
Members of Parliament (MPs), elected by the
bloc vote system of election. From 1885 to 1918, a different constituency of the same name returned one MP, elected by the
first past the post voting system.
Boundaries
1832–1868: The Hundreds or Liberties of Bath Forum, Bempstone, Brent and Wrington, Bruton, Catsash, Chew and Chewton, Norton Ferris, Frome, Glaston Twelve Hides, Hampton and Claverton, Horethorne, Keynsham, Kilmersdon, Mells and Leigh, Portbury, Wellow, Wells Forum, Whitstone, Winterstoke, and Witham Friary, and the parts of the Hundred of Hartcliffe with Bedminster excluded from the limits of the City of Bristol.[1]
1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Somerton and Wincanton, and part of the Sessional Divisions of Shepton Mallet and Wells.
History
1832–1868
The constituency, formally called The Eastern Division of Somerset, was created for the
1832 general election, when the former
Somerset constituency was divided into new East and
West divisions. It also absorbed the voters from the abolished borough of
Milborne Port. The constituency might have been better described as North-Eastern Somerset, since its limits stopped well short of the southern extremities of the county. It surrounded the cities of
Bath and
Wells (although both were boroughs electing MPs in their own right,
freeholders within these boroughs who met the property-owning qualifications for the county franchise could vote in East Somerset as well, as could those in
Frome); other towns in the division were
Glastonbury,
Burnham-on-Sea,
Clevedon,
Keynsham,
Midsomer Norton,
Portishead,
Radstock,
Shepton Mallet,
Somerton and
Weston-super-Mare.
At the
1885 general election, there were further radical boundary changes, Somerset's three two-member county divisions together with one abolished borough being reorganised into seven single-member county constituencies. One of these took the name of Eastern Somerset, but this included none of the voters from the 1867-85 East Somerset constituency, who were divided between the new
Frome,
Northern Somerset and
Wells divisions.
The new Eastern division was carved out of the previous
Mid Somerset division, with
Shepton Mallet being its largest town; it also included
Somerton,
Street and
Wincanton. This was a predominantly rural constituency, though with some industry in the towns (notably
brewing and bootmaking), and a strong
Nonconformist religious tradition. It would probably have been a safe
Liberal seat, but when its sitting Liberal MP joined the
Liberal Unionists when the party split in 1886, he had no difficulty holding his seat until he retired.
Abolition
The constituency was abolished for the
1918 general election, when Somerset's number of county members was reduced by one. It was mostly replaced by the revised
Wells county constituency, but the town of Somerton was transferred to
Yeovil.
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;