Right of election

in burgage holders

Background Information

Number of voters: 36

Constituency business
County
Date Candidate Votes
28 Jan. 1715 SPENCER COMPTON
JOHN CONYERS
5 Apr. 1715 RICHARD BOYLE, Visct. Shannon, vice Compton, chose to sit for Sussex
21 Mar. 1722 SPENCER COMPTON
JOHN CONYERS
6 Nov. 1722 RICHARD BOYLE, Visct. Shannon, vice Compton, chose to sit for Sussex
6 Apr. 1725 EDWARD CONYERS vice John Conyers, deceased
19 Aug. 1727 RICHARD BOYLE, Visct. Shannon
HENRY TEMPLE, Visct. Palmerston
26 Apr. 1734 CHARLES SACKVILLE, Earl of Middlesex
EDWARD CONYERS
5 May 1741 CHARLES SACKVILLE, Earl of Middlesex
WHISTLER WEBSTER
23 Jan. 1742 JOHN BUTLER vice Middlesex, appointed to office
1 July 1747 WHISTLER WEBSTER
SYDNEY STAFFORD SMYTHE
22 Jan. 1751 JOSEPH YORKE vice Smythe, appointed to office
Main Article

The predominant interest at East Grinstead was in the Duke of Dorset, the lord of the manor, who owned most of the burgages there.1W. H. Hills, Hist. East Grinstead, 43-44, 50. Except in 1727, when he nominated both Members, he shared the representation successively with the Tory Conyers and the Whig Webster families, both of whom also owned property in the town. The only threat of opposition occurred at a by-election in 1750, when Lord Hardwicke, whose son was being put up by the Duke of Dorset, learned that

my Lord Middlesex is at the head of this against his father, and the name of his master [the Prince of Wales] is openly made use of to countenance it.2Hardwicke to Newcastle, 3 Aug. 1750, Add. 32722, f. 42.

But on being canvassed on the Prince’s behalf Sir Thomas Webster, whose son held the other seat, was ‘so firm and his negative so flat that ... he will have no more messages from that quarter’.3Dorset to Hardwicke, 12 Aug. 1750, Add. 35591, f. 98.

Author
Notes
  • 1. W. H. Hills, Hist. East Grinstead, 43-44, 50.
  • 2. Hardwicke to Newcastle, 3 Aug. 1750, Add. 32722, f. 42.
  • 3. Dorset to Hardwicke, 12 Aug. 1750, Add. 35591, f. 98.