HC Deb 01 December 1927 vol 211 cc703-4
60. Colonel WEDGWOOD

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the official published list of previous Members of Parliament is seriously defective; and that all the names for the Parliaments of 1439–40 and 1491–92, as well as some 1.000 other Members of Parliament, are missing; and will he have a revised edition of the return put in hand or appoint a small committee to make provision for and consider the scope of the new edition?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I have been asked to reply. I am aware that there are gaps in this list. A few have been filled by recent discoveries, but for the most part they still remain irreparable. The importance of the discoveries is not, I think, sufficient to justify the great expense of a revised edition. A note of the discoveries is kept, and is available for inspection, at the Public Record Office.

Mr. SOMERVILLE

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the last edition of this list was published in 1878, and does he not think that the Mother of Parliaments ought to have as full a record as possible of her former Members?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I agree as to the date, but may I remind my hon. Friend that the Mother of Parliaments is at the present time rather like the cupboard of old mother Hubbard, a little bare.

Colonel WEDGWOOD

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a committee to obtain material for this publication would cost exceedingly little money, and, further, that the publication itself would be a far better seller than many of the other publications of the Record Office today?

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

I do not want to encourage my right hon. and gallant Friend by the appointment of a committee, because I am bound to confess that I have come to the conclusion that in the interests of economy it is not desirable to publish any new edition at the present time, and the discoveries made up-to-date are really very few indeed.

Colonel WEDGWOOD

Is the right hon. Gentleman not at all aware of what discoveries have been made? Is he aware that not only have these two complete new Parliaments been discovered, but that there are many misprints in the existing list which have been corrected, and that Messrs. Beaven and Pink, who died recently, left behind records of more than 2,000 Members which are not included at all?

Mr. SPEAKER

The right hon. and gallant Member had better submit that question in writing.

Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKS

Perhaps the right hon. and gallant Member will give me those details.