OUR former MP David Heath attracted a large audience when he spoke to Frome Family History Group on the subject of “More or Less Idle People” at our October meeting. The title comes from a quote by Walter Bagehot “A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people”.
David began with the early history of parliament in Anglo-Saxon times, including King Ethelred in 934 AD who was the only king to be buried in Frome as well as some of the arguably evil men who shaped our government. One of the most important of these was Simon de Montfort who some regard to this day as one of the progenitors of modern parliamentary democracy. But he had a very dark side – as Earl of Leicester, he expelled Jews from the city and cancelled debts owed to Jews through the violent seizures of records, thereby ruining their livelihoods.
Edward III came to the throne in 1327, and from that point the representatives of the counties (knights of the shire) and of the towns (burgesses) became a permanent part of Parliament. After 1332 they sat together in one chamber and were known as the House of Commons. After 1341 these Commons deliberated separately from the King and his nobles.
David continued by describing some those members of parliament who represented Frome starting with Sir Thomas Hungerford who was the first person to be named as Speaker. He served as a Member of Parliament for Somerset in 1378, 1382, 1388, and 1390 and was knighted in February 1375. He was closely associated with John of Gaunt and acted for some time as steward of Gaunt’s household.
Our next candidate was Richard Cheddar. Cheddar was a violent and lawless man. In November 1405, he was required to undertake not to break the peace towards Richard Metford, Bishop of Salisbury, his ministers and servants. Later, he became implicated in the ill-considered dealings of his half-brother, Thomas Brooke.
The Reform Act of 1832 introduced major changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. It reapportioned constituencies to address the unequal distribution of seats and expanded franchise by broadening and standardising the property qualifications to vote. Only qualifying men were able to vote.
Our MP at that time was Thomas Sheppard. A grandson of the wealthy clothier, William Sheppard (1709-1759), he was elected at the 1832 general election as the MP for the newly enfranchised borough of Frome standing as a Whig against Sir Thomas Champneys. He was re-elected in 1835 as a Conservative and held the seat until he stood down at the 1847 general election.
Frome was given the right to elect its own Member of Parliament and Sheppard was considered to be one of the good guys. This Act removed rotten boroughs like Old Sarum (with three houses and seven voters to elect two MPs) and included for the first time new electors such as small landowners, tenant farmers and shopkeepers. Voters were defined as male persons, so women were formally excluded.
Another claim to fame for Frome was the literary giant, Thomas Hughes, who wrote Tom Brown’s Schooldays but only served one term as MP for Frome. He was considered to be a good MP but not a popular character.
David’s next MP was the amazing Mavis Tate who served as MP for Frome between 1935 and 1945. Her interests included farming, women’s rights and teachers’ pay. She was an avid campaigner for women to belong to the Home Guard and worked tirelessly for many other causes. She was defeated by the Labour candidate in 1945 and very sadly died by suicide in 1954.
The audience thoroughly enjoyed this amazing insight into our parliamentary history and David was warmly thanked. Our next talk will be on Tuesday November 28th when members of our committee will demonstrate how to use newspapers in your research.
