Lymington was a minor coastal port on the edge of the New Forest and on the west bank of the River Lymington, some two miles from the Solent and opposite Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Its harbour was relatively unimportant, but it was used to transport the produce of the local salterns, which were among the most significant in southern England. VCH Hants, iv. 639-40, 643; R. Warner, Colls. Hist. Hants, iv. 6. The population of the parish of Lymington was rather small: the number of adults recorded by the Compton Census later in the century was 538 (of whom 44 were non-conformists), although the parish was required to pay £11 in Ship Money in 1637. Compton Census, 90; CSP Dom. 1636-7, p. 542.
Lymington had been granted a seigneurial charter before 1216, but was never incorporated, remaining instead a mesne borough held of the lords of the manor of New Lymington. Nevertheless, a writ of quo warranto in 1578 established that the borough was governed by a mayor and burgesses or freemen. VCH Hants, iv. 640-1; King, Bor. and Par. Lymington, 4-5, 229-32. It first sent members to Parliament in 1584, with the franchise initially being held by those paying scot and lot. By the early seventeenth century, however, this had been confined to the mayor and burgesses, who numbered 18 in 1640. VCH Hants, iv. 641. Although in 1609 the Campion family acquired the manors of Old and New Lymington, with the attendant possibility of influence, there was no dominant electoral interest in this period. Notable among other local gentry families who supplied MPs between 1614 and 1628 were the Dodingtons of Breamore and also the Buttons of Buckland, which lay within the parish. The open nature of the borough – if not of the franchise – led to some hotly contested elections. In 1625 there were seven candidates and a double return. HP Commons 1604-1629.
The election on 7 March 1640 was contested between three local gentlemen. John Dodington* was the son of Sir William Dodington† and brother of Herbert Dodington†, who had represented the borough respectively in 1621, and in 1626 and 1628. John Kemp* was seated at nearby Ginns in Beaulieu, but had property in the parish; his standing was modest, but he was well-connected and, as a burgess both of Lymington and Portsmouth, seems to have had established ambitions in public life. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 31v; PROB11/141/506; I.o.W. RO, OG/EE/3-4; OG/EE/6. Richard Cooper was admitted as a burgess in 1637, a year before Kemp, but his identity is otherwise obscure; possibly he was the London-born man educated at Hart Hall, Oxford, and admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1621. Al. Ox.; King, Bor. and Par. Lymington, 189. When such contests took place, separate polls were taken for each seat, and on this occasion the first seat went to Dodington by the unanimous consent of the 18 voters, while in the second round Kemp was returned ahead of Cooper with the consent of all 14 of those members of the electorate who cast their votes. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 35; C219/42ii/137.
In the autumn elections of 1640, none of the candidates at Lymington in the spring appears to have sought a place, and although this opened the way for a host of local gentlemen, there is no evidence of a contest. The two men chosen on 20 October, John Button I* and Henry Campion*, who were returned by 15 burgesses, both had strong connections with the parish. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 35v; C219/43/146. In 1624 Button had inherited one of its manors, Buckland, from an uncle, a former mayor of the borough. PROB11/143/392; PROB11/144/96. Button’s father-in-law, Thomas South†, had represented Lymington in 1604, while Button himself had been elected in 1625, and had been a burgess since 1627. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, ff. 11, 20; King, Bor. and Par. Lymington, 183. Campion had succeeded his father as lord of the manors of Old and New Lymington in 1611, and had secured one of the town’s seats in 1621. Hants RO, 27M74A/DBC1, p. 123 Thereafter, severe financial difficulties led to the vesting of his estate in trustees and weakened his influence; his candidacies in the 1624 and 1625 elections were unsuccessful. Hants RO, 27M74A/DBC1, pp. 135, 137. By 1640, however, although still living in Putney, Campion had gone some way towards resolving his troubles, and having taken the precaution of securing nomination as a burgess on 16 October, was chosen as one of the borough Members four days later. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 35.
Both Button and Campion adhered to Parliament in 1642 and remained Members until Pride’s Purge in December 1648, and there is a slight possibility that Campion survived to sit as a Member of the Rump. Neither made much impact at Westminster, although Button was sufficiently active among Hampshire parliamentarians to secure the reputation as a political Presbyterian and a supporter of a negotiated settlement with the king which led to his removal from Parliament by Pride’s men. He then largely disappeared from public life, while Campion died in 1653.
Having effectively lacked representation under the Rump, by the terms of the Instrument of Government Lymington was disenfranchised during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell*. When its representation was restored in 1659, the influence of the Button family reasserted itself. John Button I, who had maintained a profile as a leader among the county’s godly, and his similarly Presbyterian life-long friend Richard Whithed I*, who had been one of the Members for Lymington in 1628, deferred to their sons John Button II* and Richard Whithed II in the election on 5 January 1659. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 42v. Button junior had been made a freeman of Lymington in 1646, and subsequently placed on some local commissions. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 40v; A. and O. Whithed junior was made a burgess on the day of the election, following in the footsteps of his elder brother Henry Whithed†, a burgess since 1647. Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 42v Returned for Stockbridge as well as Lymington, Whithed appears to have made no formal announcement regarding the borough he wished to represent, and the investigation ordered by the House got lost in committee. CJ vii. 595b.
Despite what has sometimes been suggested, it seems to have been Button I who returned to occupy the senior seat in the Convention, alongside John Kemp’s step-brother and brother-in-law Henry Bromfield†. Button’s Presbyterian friends associates John Bulkeley* and Sir William Lewis* were chosen in 1661, but his grandson, a third John Button, was finally successful in 1679. The Whitheds tried, but failed, to maintain their interest. HP Commons 1660-1690.
