in the resident freemen
Number of voters: about 500
| Date | Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jan. 1715 | ROWLAND COTTON | 200 |
| HENRY VERNON | 193 |
|
| Sir Bryan Broughton | 163 |
|
| Crewe Offley | 182 |
|
| BROUGHTON and OFFLEY vice Vernon and Cotton, on petition, 2 June 1715 | ||
| 21 Mar. 1722 | THOMAS LEVESON GOWER | |
| SIR BRYAN BROUGHTON | ||
| 20 Nov. 1724 | SIR WALTER WAGSTAFFE BAGOT vice Broughton, deceased | 283 |
| William Corbet | 73 |
|
| 19 Aug. 1727 | BAPTIST LEVESON GOWER | |
| JOHN WARD | ||
| 1 May 1734 | BAPTIST LEVESON GOWER | 259 |
| JOHN LAWTON | 236 |
|
| John Ward | 212 |
|
| Edward Sneyd | 179 |
|
| 26 Nov. 1740 | RANDLE WILBRAHAM vice Lawton, deceased | |
| 6 May 1741 | BAPTIST LEVESON GOWER | |
| RANDLE WILBRAHAM | ||
| 8 May 1745 | LEVESON GOWER re-elected after appointment to office | |
| 3 July 1747 | BAPTIST LEVESON GOWER | |
| THOMAS PARKER, Visct. Parker |
At George I’s accession the chief interest at Newcastle-under-Lyme was in Lord Gower, the head of the Staffordshire Tories, who owned a large part of the town, where one seat was usually held by a member of his family. Except in 1715, when two Whigs were returned on petition, and in 1722 and 1734, when one of the seats was held by Whigs, all the Members were Tories till 1744 when Lord Gower went over to the Administration. In 1747 it was ‘confidently reported that Sir Watkin Williams Wynn and his friends will attack him at Newcastle, and that a subscription is raised among the Jacobites for that purpose’,1Ld. Anson to the Duke of Bedford, 21 June 1747, Bedford mss. but in the end two Whigs, one of them Lord Gower’s son, were returned without opposition.
- 1. Ld. Anson to the Duke of Bedford, 21 June 1747, Bedford mss.