Governance
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Parliamentary constituency[edit]
Wycombe's political history extends back to 1295. The Wycombe Constituency had continuously elected Conservative Members of Parliament since 1951 until the Labour Party was voted in during the May 2024 general election.
High Wycombe has been home to two Prime Ministers:
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, who lived at what is now Wycombe Abbey and was MP for the town.
Benjamin Disraeli, who lived at nearby Hughenden Manor, was defeated as a Radical candidate for the seat three times in the 1830s but won election in 1868 and 1874–1876 as a Conservative. Disraeli made his first political speech in Wycombe, from the portico over the door of the Red Lion Hotel at 9–10 High Street.
High Wycombe was also in the constituency represented by John Hampden (1594-1643), a leading MP and Parliamentarian commander who was killed in action during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
The town is represented by Labour MP Emma Reynolds.
The town until the 4 July 2024 General Election was represented by Conservative MP Steve Baker. He was chairman of the eurosceptic European Research Group and was a junior minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2018. In July 2018, Baker resigned alongside Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in opposition to the Chequers plan proposed by Prime Minister Theresa May.
Local government[edit]
Municipal Offices, Queen Victoria Road, opened 1932.
Since 2020, there has only been one tier of local government covering High Wycombe, being the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire Council. The former High Wycombe Borough Council was abolished in 1974. Instead of a town council, the councillors elected to Buckinghamshire Council to represent the unparished part of High Wycombe also act as charter trustees, meeting to choose the town's mayor.
High WycombeChepping Wycombe (until 1946)Ancient Borough (before 1237–1835)Municipal Borough (1836–1974)Population • 189113,435 • 197158,445
History • Createdbefore 1237 (Ancient Borough)1 January 1836 (Municipal Borough) • Abolished31 March 1974 • Succeeded byWycombe District
 • HQHigh Wycombe
Contained within • County CouncilBuckinghamshire
The ancient parish of Chepping Wycombe covered both the town of High Wycombe and a large rural area around it. To distinguish it from the neighbouring parish of West Wycombe, the parish was historically known variously as East Wycombe, Great Wycombe, High Wycombe, Much Wiccomb, Chipping, Chipping Wycombe, or Chepping Wycombe. The latter version eventually became the official name of parish, despite the town itself being more usually known as High Wycombe. The town does not appear to have been a borough at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, but was being described as a borough by the 1180s. In the 1220s and 1230s there were disputes with the lord of the manor, Alan Basset, as to the extent of the town's independence. These disputes were settled in favour of the town, with its borough rights being confirmed in 1237. Charters confirming the town's borough status were subsequently issued on a number of occasions. As part of the general overhaul of ancient boroughs across the country under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, the town became a municipal borough on 1 January 1836, under the name of Chepping Wycombe.
The borough only covered the built-up area of the town, rather than the whole parish. The borough council was therefore responsible for the secular elements of local government within its area, whereas the Chepping Wycombe parish vestry was responsible for secular matters in the part of the parish outside the borough, whilst being responsible for ecclesiastical matters across the whole parish, including the borough. In 1866, under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866, the old parish of Chepping Wycombe was split into two civil parishes: one called "Wycombe" or "Wycombe Borough" which covered the area of Chepping Wycombe municipal borough, and another parish which retained the name "Chepping Wycombe" which covered the rural parts of the old parish outside the borough.
By that time, the urban area was starting to expand beyond the old borough boundaries into the newly separated parish of Chepping Wycombe, particularly in the Wycombe Marsh area. To deal with growing urbanisation in its area, the parish of Chepping Wycombe was declared to be a local government district in 1868, governed by a local board. The situation was partially simplified in 1880 when the local board was abolished and the borough boundaries were extended to cover the more built-up parts of Chepping Wycombe parish. The parish boundaries were not changed at the same time to match, making the Chepping Wycombe Borough Council responsible for all of the Wycombe parish area and part of the Chepping Wycombe parish area.
When parish and district councils were established under the Local Government Act 1894, it was stipulated that parishes could not straddle district boundaries. The Chepping Wycombe parish was therefore split again in December 1894, with the part within the borough becoming "Chepping Wycombe Urban" and the part outside it becoming "Chepping Wycombe Rural". Chepping Wycombe Rural was placed in the Wycombe Rural District, whilst the Chepping Wycombe Municipal Borough covered the two parishes of Wycombe and Chepping Wycombe Urban. The two parishes within the borough merged on 30 September 1896 to form a single parish called High Wycombe, although the official name of the borough council which governed that parish remained "Chepping Wycombe Borough Council" until 1 August 1946, when it changed its name to "High Wycombe Borough Council". The surrounding Chepping Wycombe Rural parish changed its name to Chepping Wycombe parish in 1949.
From 1757 until 1932 the borough council met at the Guildhall. The council built Town Hall on Queen Victoria Road in 1904 as a public assembly hall and entertainment venue, with the intention of later extending it to also serve as council offices and meeting place, but the extension was never built. Instead, the council built the Municipal Offices on Queen Victoria Road in 1932, which then acted as its meeting place and offices until the council's abolition in 1974.
From 1974 to 2020, High Wycombe formed part of Wycombe District, with its council being based at the former borough council's Municipal Offices (renamed District Council Offices) on Queen Victoria Road. Following further local government reorganisation in 2020 Wycombe District was abolished to become part of Buckinghamshire Council.
Weighing the mayor[edit]
A ceremony carried out in the town since 1678 involves the weighing of the mayor. At the beginning and end of each year of service, the mayor is weighed in full view of the public to see whether or not he or she has gained weight, presumably at the taxpayers' expense. The custom, which has survived to the present day, employs the same weighing apparatus used since the 19th century. When the result is known, the town crier announces "And no more!" if the mayor has not gained weight or "And some more!" if they have. Their actual weight is not declared.
