Barnstaple 45.8%. Barnstaple is the main town of North Devon and claims to be the oldest borough in the United Kingdom. It lies west-south-west of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town and city of Exeter. It was founded at the lowest crossing point of the River Taw, where its estuary starts to widen, about 7 miles (11 km) inland from Barnstaple Bay (or Bideford Bay) in the Bristol Channel. On the north side of the town, the River Taw is joined by the River Yeo, which rises on Berry Down, near Combe Martin. The greater part of
1911 Barnstaple by-election Parker, an Ayrshire-based 47-year-old Chairman and Managing Director of Demerara Co. who had been educated at Eton and Oxford. He had contested Barnstaple at the December 1910 General Election. Baring chose not to defend his seat and instead sought re-election for his old Isle of Wight seat. 1911 Barnstaple by-election The Barnstaple by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The Liberal candidate was Sir Godfrey Baring, a 40-year-old Eton educated former Liberal MP from the