MPs representing Steventon
From 1300 to 1885, Steventon was in the constituency of the County of Berkshire.
It returned two members of parliament one nominally represented the Vale and one the southern half of the county
For a few years after the Civil War, the number of representatives was increased to four but thereafter contracted to the traditional two. After the Great Reform Act in 1832, the number of representatives increased to three.
Steventon on the move
In 1885, the County of Berkshire constituency was abolished and Steventon found itself in the Abingdon Division of Berkshire. This continued until 1983 when rearrangements for voting created the constituency of Wantage and this has been the home for Steventon voters ever since.
The right to vote
Not until 1918, at the end of The Great War, were all men entitled to vote, regardless of income or property. Even then, they had to be over twentyone, despite the fact that thousands below that age had been considered old enough to fight on the Western Front. At the same time, some women were given the vote but were only trusted if aged over thirty; they were finally given the vote on the same terms as men in 1928.
1832 Reform Act
Even after The Great Reform Act of 1832 and similar Acts later in the 19th century, men could only vote if they owned property of a certain value. Before 1832, not many Steventon folk would have qualified, and even if they did, persuasion, coercion and even bribery would determine for whom they voted. Often, there was only one candidate anyway. Therefore, although Steventon has had a Member of Parliament going right back to the year 1300, it has been for less than a hundred years that all adults in our village have been granted the privilege of voting in elections.
It has been a hard won right!
Biography: Edmund Wiseman 1580-1603
Escheator, Oxon. and Berks. 1570-71;
j.p. Berks. from c.1577
Member of Parliament for Plympton
Buried St Michael’s Church
Wiseman’s early life is obscure. During the 1560s he was granted a number of wardships, and was associated in land transactions with Thomas Andrews I and Bartholomew Kemp, both of whom were connected with Sir Nicholas Bacon and were mentioned in his will. Wiseman was himself known to the lord keeper, as appears from a licence of 20 May 1566 granting Sir Nicholas Bacon, Andrews and Wiseman permission to alienate the manor of Ingham in Suffolk. Bacon was a member of a small puritan group at court, which included the 2nd Earl of Bedford, and which had sought to have well-disposed Members returned to the first two Elizabethan Parliaments. It seems possible, therefore, that it was Bedford (probably through Sir Nicholas Bacon) who nominated Wiseman for the seat made vacant at Plympton by the death of Thomas Percy.
By 1570, when he was appointed escheator for Oxfordshire and Berkshire, Wiseman presumably resided in Berkshire. He outlived his eldest son William, who died in 1603. Earlier in the same year, on 3 June, Wiseman made his will. After a short religious preamble, in which he stated that he was ‘firmly hoping and believing to be saved through the merits and passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’, he expressed a desire to be buried beside his wife in Steventon church. There were bequests to relatives and friends, as well as a bequest of £5 to form a stock for the poor of Steventon, and £2 as a stock for the poor of Wolston. His son Charles, the executor, proved the will on 13 June 1605, Wiseman having died on 24 March.
