Main Article
<p>Tories were returned for Dorset without opposition except in 1727, when George Pitt, an ex-Tory, defeated one of his former party at a by-election, only to change sides again before the ensuing general election, when he gave his interest to the Tory candidates,<a class='fnlink' id='t1' href='#fn1'>1<span>Rich. Edgcumbe to Sir R. Walpole, undated, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss 3240.</span></a> who were returned after a contest. The 2nd Lord Egmont wrote of Dorset in his electoral survey, c. 1749-50: ‘Hitherto in the hands of the Tories, but if the Whigs should reunite they would be beaten. The present Members should not be the men.’</p>