Expert: Mark Smith - 8/25/2007

Question
Dear Mark,
Sorry to other you again. My GGGG uncle John Agnew was MP for Stockbridge
1799-1802 and then failed to get elected to Bridgewater; I'd like to know
a) In what party/interest he was elected and
b) Whether he took any significant part in any debate and if so, on what
issues.

Can you help (again)? Thanks

Answer
Hello Jamie.
Sorry but I can't find out anything on John Agnew MP.
All I can say is that Stockbridge was one of the so called "Rotten Boroughs" swept away by the Reform Act of 1832. A "Rotten Borough" was a Parliamentary constituency comprising a once prosperous town that since Medieval times had elected two MPs. Over the years some of these towns declined or vanished altogether, but were still allowed to send two MPs to Parliament. The village of Stockbridge was one such village.
Your ancestor would have been one of the two MPs and if he was elected in 1799 it would have been in a by-election as there was no General Election that year. The fact that he lost the seat in 1802 indicates he lost it in the General Election of that year, or chose not to stand. The Tories comfortably won the 1802 Election, so if he lost the seat he may have been an Opposition Whig, but that is purely a guess.   
Sorry I can't be of more help.
Mark