Downton

Since 1774 there had been a struggle for control of this close borough between Robert Shafto and the earls of Radnor, as coheirs of the Duncombe interest.1J. A. Cannon, ‘The Parl. Rep. of six Wilts. Boroughs 1754-90’ (Bristol Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1958) i. 143-68. The contenders were evenly balanced: Shafto owned a slight majority of the burgages, but the 2nd Earl of Radnor secured the right to name the returning officer and this gave him the edge in the contests of 1790 and 1796. On both occasions petitions hinged upon the partiality of Radnor’s nominee as returning officer. The first was narrowly defeated in May 1791 and the second eventually given up.2CJ, xlvi. 27, 54, 582; lii. 18, 23, 291; Windham Diary, 226; Colchester, i. 83. On 1 June 1796 Shafto’s lawyer proposed a compromise of one Member each, which would be a matter of ‘justice as well as policy’, but was informed: ‘If the relinquishment of the defence of the present seats is the foundation of the present treaty Lord R[adnor] cannot think of it’.3Wilts. RO 490/1372, Grey to Blake, 1 June 1796. A week before this another manoeuvre had been attempted, to secure a ministerial nominee on the Shafto interest,4PRO 30/8/107, ff. 84, 86. but nothing came of this either: William Wrightson stood again and was joined by John Motteux. Shafto himself was hors de combat and it seems that management of his interest passed to his trustee Thomas Bernard and his 20-year-old son Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto. The latter was suspected of a bid to keep out a Foxite by separating Wrightson and Motteux when they prepared to petition following their defeat. Motteux, the intended victim, thwarted the attempt, but the pair were stymied, 18 Feb. 1797, when Shafto’s agents were instructed to admit defeat.5Blair Adam mss, Wilbraham to Adam, 19 Sept. 1796, Wrightson to same, Sat. [Feb. 1797]. Before Shafto’s death, later that year, the Earl of Radnor had bought him out.

Radnor usually returned his relatives for one seat and a friend of government for the other, which was much sought after. In 1818 he was said to have ‘refused bringing in the Members that were returned for Downton last Parliament’.6Wentworth Woodhouse mun. G1/31. He returned his son and Sir William Scott instead, but they found seats elsewhere. On 22 Feb. 1819 Lord Shaftesbury informed Lord Liverpool:

My relation Lord Radnor is a comical fellow but a very honourable one. I am now authorized to tell you that his brother Barti Bouverie is returned for Downton but that he is willing to resign his seat whenever it can [be] of use to you, and that Lord Radnor is ready to return in his stead any friend whom you will recommend to him provided that he is a good Protestant and an enemy to reform of Parliament. These two conditions are indispensable.7Add. 38458, f. 277.