Weymouth and Melcombe Regis was a parliamentary borough in Dorset represented in the English House of Commons, later in that of Great Britain, and finally in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Union of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Act 1571 (13 Eliz. 1. c. 9) which amalgamated the existing boroughs of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. Until 1832, the combined borough continued to elect the four Members of Parliament (MPs) to which its constituent parts had previously been entitled; the Great Reform Act reduced its representation to two Members, and the constituency was abolished altogether in 1885, becoming part of the new South Dorset constituency.
In the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian the constituency of Melcombe in Dorset is the Parliamentary seat for Jack Aubreys father who holds it for the Whigs. On his father's death Jack Aubrey is offered and takes up the seat for the Tories.
^Francis Bacon was re-elected in 1586, but had also been elected for Taunton, which he chose to represent
^Browne Willis, working from the Parliamentary records, gives two names for Weymouth and four for Melcombe, remarking of these "Double return, as it seems to me". But it may equally be that two of the six were recorded against the wrong constituency (especially as, in the same Parliament, he has the same pair of the names with only minor variations for Corfe Castle and Wareham.
^Matthew Pitt was re-elected to the Happy Parliament in January 1624, but died on 18 April. (Sir) Thomas Myddelton was returned in his stead on 10 May 1624.
^Listed in some sources as Walter Erle; Alumni Oxonienses allocates Christopher to the seat
^Sir Thomas Myddelton was re-elected to the Useless Parliament, but had also been elected for Denbighshire, which he chose to represent. Giles Green was returned in his stead.
^Browne Willis suggests Thomas Gyard represented the boroughs in this Parliament, but other sources, including the official History of Parliament, confirm Sir Robert Napier was the representative
^On petition, the election of Littleton and Betts was declared void, and a writ for a by-election was issued. Both were returned at the by-election, but were once again declared not to have been duly elected.
^On petition, Baker, Harvey and Betts were all declared not to have been duly elected
^Expelled from the House of Commons 1726 following his conviction for forgery
^News Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer, Saturday, 10 February 1728; Issue 142
^Dodington was also elected for Bridgwater, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this parliament for Weymouth & Melcombe Regis
^On petition, the election of Wallace, Broadhurst and Trail was declared void, and a by-election was held; Murray's election was not disturbed
^Weyland was also elected for Oxfordshire, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Weymouth & Melcombe Regis
^At the election of 1841, the two sitting Conservative members, Villiers and Hope, were initially declared re-elected, by margins of 5 votes and 3 votes respectively, but on petition the result was overturned and the opponents, Bernal and Christie, were seated in their place
Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
Grey's Debates of the House of Commons: volume 8 (1769), pp. 373–381 [2]
Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig – Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
