Frome was one of the boroughs created by the
Great Reform Act of 1832,[1] as the town was at that point one of the bigger towns in England which was not already represented, and its then-flourishing
woollen manufacturing industry made it seem likely to grow further. The new borough consisted only of the town of
Frome, and had a population (according to the 1831 census) of approximately 11,240. The registered electorate at the 1832 election was 322. Frome was near to
Longleat, and the
Marquess of Bath was influential in election outcomes throughout its life as a borough.
However, the town did not increase dramatically in size in the next few years, and the electorate was still only just over 400 by 1865, although the extension of the franchise at the
1868 election trebled this. By the time of the
Third Reform Act, Frome was too small to continue as a constituency in itself and the borough was abolished with effect from the
1885 election.
The new county division into which the town was placed consisted of the whole north-eastern corner of
Somerset, except for
Bath, and was named after the town, as The Frome Division of Somerset. Nevertheless, Frome contributed only a minority of the voters in the constituency, which also included
Weston (Bath),
Radstock,
Bathampton and
Batheaston, to say nothing of the
freeholders of Bath, who voted in this division under the arrangements that gave property owners in boroughs a vote in the adjoining county constituency; by the time of the
First World War, the population was around 60,000. This constituency was a mixed one, with suburban voters at Weston and in the Bath suburbs, agricultural villages between Bath and Frome, growing mining interests round Radstock and some industry at
Twerton. This made the constituency marginal between the
Conservatives and
Liberals, and the victor's majority was rarely more than a few hundred votes.
There were further boundary changes in 1918, when the number of constituencies in Somerset was reduced from nine to seven. Frome's boundaries were extended westwards to the fringes of
Bristol, bringing in
Midsomer Norton and the areas round
Clutton,
Chew Magna and
Keynsham (previously in
the Northern division): the revised constituency consisted of the
urban districts of Frome,
Midsomer Norton and Radstock, the Bath, Clutton and Keynsham rural districts and all but six parishes of Frome Rural District. This, too, was a marginal constituency, and except in 1923 was always won at general elections by the party which was successful nationally.
The Frome constituency was abolished in the boundary changes which came into effect at the
1950 election, Frome itself being transferred to the
Wells division but most of the remainder of the constituency forming the bulk of the new
Somerset North.
The election was declared void on petition after Boyle was declared ineligible due to his holding of the office of Secretary to the
Order of St Patrick. Ahead of the ensuing by-election, Boyle resigned this position.[14]
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;
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;