Tankerville Chamberlayne (9 August 1843 – 17 May 1924) was a landowner in Hampshire and a member of parliament, serving the Southampton constituency three times, as an Independent and Conservative. He was deprived of his seat after the 1895 general election because of the indiscretion of one of his campaign workers and his having headed a procession which raised suspicion of having supplied beer to supporters. He subsequently raised the question of false electioneering statements in Parliament.
He was a member of the Carlton Club and the Royal Thames Yacht Club and a Justice of the Peace for Hampshire, as well as being Lord of the Manors of Hound, North Baddesley, Woolston and Barton Peveril (near Eastleigh) in Hampshire and East Norton in Leicestershire.
Early life and education
Chamberlayne was born at Pangbourne, Berkshire, the second son of Thomas Chamberlayne (1805–1876) and Amelia (née Onslow). He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took his BA in 1865.
Ancestry
His great uncle William Chamberlayne (1760–1829) was Member of Parliament for Southampton from 1818 until his death. Whilst serving the town, William Chamberlayne was also chairman of the company supplying gas lighting to the town of Southampton and donated the iron columns for the new gas street-lights. In 1822, the townspeople erected a memorial consisting of an iron Doric column; this now stands in Houndwell Park, near the city centre.
Tankerville's father, Thomas (1805–1876) was a keen yachtsman who sailed his yacht, Arrow, in the inaugural America's Cup race in 1851. He also played cricket for Hampshire and was a great hunting and coursing enthusiast, who built both new stables and a cricket pitch at the family home at Cranbury Park near Winchester.
Tankerville's mother, Amelia, was the daughter of Denzil Onslow (1770–1838), a General in the Grenadier Guards and an amateur cricketer.
Their first son, Denzil, became a captain in the 13th Light Dragoons, serving with distinction in the Crimean War, where he took part in the charge at Balaclava in 1854. Denzil died in 1873, leaving no heir, so on the death of Thomas in 1876, Tankerville succeeded his father.
At this time, the Chamberlayne family estates included the estate at Cranbury Park in the Parish of Hursley and the Weston Grove estate in Southampton which included the abbey at Netley. Chamberlayne resided at Weston Grove until after he retired from politics in 1906.
Political career
Chamberlayne was first elected as Member of Parliament for Southampton at the 1892 general election, when he headed the poll with 5,449 votes. He replaced the previous Conservative representative, Alfred Giles who was retiring from politics; his fellow M.P. for the town was Francis Evans, of the Liberal Party.
At the 1895 general election he stood for re-election on a joint ticket with Sir John Barrington Simeon of the Liberal Unionist Party. Although he retained his seat, the victory was challenged in an election petition lodged by two local Liberals, Walter Austen and John Rowland. The petitioners claimed that Chamberlayne and Simeon had been responsible for various corrupt and illegal practices, and had engaged in "treating" (supplying free food and drink to voters). The case came to trial at the Hartley Institute (now part of the University of Southampton) at the end of November 1895, and some of the claims were quickly disposed of: evidence that Chamberlayne had made a speech at Bitterne where he had slapped his pocket and alluded to money was regarded as untrustworthy by the judges. Other charges were abandoned by the petitioners.
The petition case came down to two main items. It was shown that Albert Blackman, chairman of Trinity Ward Conservative Association, had sent a telegram to Alfred Powell, a Southampton wood-carver who was working in Winchester, urging him "Every vote wanted. Come down by 6.35. Fare all right" and that Blackman had subsequently given Powell 2s. to pay his fare. Mr Justice Wright noted that such a payment was "made in direct contravention of the law", but that the judges could disregard it if the election was in other respects faultless.