named to the special commission appointed to examine the prisoners, among them his assailant Henry Cooke, who was convicted at Winchester and hanged.15 He and Francis defied their father by voting with their uncles and cousin for the second reading of the ministry’s reform bill, 22 Mar.16 He went to Paris afterwards with his wife, but was back in time to vote against Gascoyne’s wrecking amendment, 19 Apr. 1831.17 His father refused to return him at the ensuing general election and he was put forward for Winchester, where his uncle Sir Thomas had been requisitioned as a reformer. In his speeches he argued that the failure of the East Retford disfranchisement bill had made wholesale reform inevitable. His retirement three hours into the poll, when he trailed byonly five votes, was attributed to the duplicity of his brother-in-law.18

Out of Parliament, he was far from forgotten. Targetting his father, the radicals and The Times exploited his involvement in the detention of Thomas and Caroline Deacle of Owslebury, who, being acquitted of inciting the ‘Swing’ rioters, accused their arresters of assault, for which Bingham Baring was convicted at Winchester assizes, 13 July 1831, and directed to pay £50 costs.19 Hoping to ‘soften’ his father’s opposition, ministers ensured that a motion for an address for a copy of the indictment was negatived, 21 July, but it was revived by means of a petition for inquiry from the Deacles, 22 Aug.20 Between 14 and 27 Sept. 1831, when a motion to that effect was negatived by 78-31, some 18