Newtown I.o.W.

The franchise at Newtown was vested in 33 burgage tenures, some of them split, so that there were 39 potential voters. It was, however, a close borough. The controlling interest had since 1775 been shared by agreement between Sir Richard Worsley, who commanded 12 votes, and the family of (Sir) John Barrington, who owned eight burgages, another being owned by his nephew Barrington Pope Blachford.1Oldfield, Boroughs, i. 284; Rep. Hist. iii. 570. Worsley returned himself or placed his seat at the disposal of administration until his death in 1805, having on 12 Mar. 1804 formally renewed his pact with Barrington for the benefit of his heirs.2Add. 46501, f. 118. In 1791, when it was claimed he could have sold the seat for £4,500, he offered it to administration in return for a promise of the reversion to the governorship of the Isle of Wight, but when Pitt could not assure him of this, returned himself again, until he received a diplomatic appointment, for which he traded the seat with Pitt.3PRO 30/8/173, ff. 182, 256, 258; Harewood mss, Canning to Rev. Leigh, 17 May 1796. In 1806 his interest passed to his niece’s husband, Charles Anderson Pelham, but the sitting Member Barclay, having bought his seat from the trustees of the Worsley estate, was not disturbed.4Fortescue mss, Barclay to Grenville, 30 Oct., Yarborough to same, 1 Nov. 1806. He vacated in April 1807 shortly before the general election and thereafter Anderson Pelham returned his brother-in-law and brother respectively. Barrington returned himself until 1796 and then sold his seat; even his nephew Blachford was expected to pay. Hudson Gurney reckoned the cost at £1,200 a year.5Add. 38833, f. 216; Spencer mss, Lady to Ld. Spencer, 5 Oct. 1812; Harewood mss, Huskisson to Canning, 18 May 1816; W. H. Bidwell, Annals of an East Anglian Bank, 145n.