1832–1868: The Hundreds of Abdick and Bulstone, Andersfield, Cannington, Carhampton, Crewkerne, North Curry, Houndsborough, Berwick and Coker, Huntspill and Puriton, Kingsbury East, Kingsbury West, Martock, Milverton, North Petherton, South Petherton, Pitney, Somerton, Stone, Taunton and Taunton Dean, Tintinhull, Whitley, and Williton and Freemanors.[1]
The constituency 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 boroughs of Ilchester and Minehead. The constituency might have been better described as South-Western Somerset, since it stretched to the southern as well as the western extremities of the county. It surrounded the county town of Taunton (although Taunton was a borough electing MPs in its own right, freeholders within the borough who met the property-owning qualifications for the county franchise could vote in West Somerset as well, as could those in Bridgwater); otherwise, the largest town was Yeovil, but the division also included Chard, Crewkerne, Minehead, Wellington, Ilminster, Street, Watchet and Wiveliscombe; nevertheless, the majority of voters were in the rural areas.
The West gained a new main town, Bridgwater, its seats abolished partly for corruption.
Abolitionedit
The constituency was abolished for the 1885 general election, when those parts of Somerset outside its boroughs were divided into seven single-member county constituencies. West Somerset's voters were divided between the new Bridgwater, South Somerset and Wellington divisions. (The Wellington division, which lasted until 1918, had the alternative name of Western Somerset.)
F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
^"The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. LXIV. An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties, and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs, in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament". London: His Majesty's statute and law printers. 1832. pp. 300–383. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
^Jenekins, Terry. "Somerset". History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
^Jenkins, Terry. "SANFORD, Edward Ayshford (1794-1871), of Nynehead Court, Wellington, Som. and 41 Grosvenor Street, Mdx". The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
^ abcdefghStooks Smith, Henry (1845). The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. pp. 25–26. Retrieved 27 May 2019 – via Google Books.
^ abChurton, Edward (1836). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1836. pp. 156, 174. Retrieved 27 May 2019 – via Google Books.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqCraig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885(e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 452. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
^"Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette". 15 July 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 27 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Progress of the Elections". Hampshire Advertiser. 21 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 27 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"District News". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. 21 August 1847. p. 8. Retrieved 27 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"West Somerset Liberal Association Luncheon at Bridgwater". West Somerset Free Press. 22 May 1880. p. 8. Retrieved 22 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.