Newport I.o.W.

In 1715 the Newport seats were filled by Anthony Morgan, a government supporter, and William Stephens, a local Tory landowner, without opposition, though Morgan, who had been appointed lieutenant governor of the Isle of Wight after George I’s accession, tried to persuade the Government to put up a second candidate, assuring them that ’it will be an easy matter to bring in two Whigs at that corporation’.T. Stephens, The Castle Builders, 41. At all subsequent elections both seats were filled on the recommendation of the Administration without a contest. On 30 Jan. 1722 Lord Cadogan, governor of the Isle of Wight, offering to bring in Charles, Lord Whitworth, for Newport, wrote:

I have already engaged the corporation. I shall endeavour to make the terms as easy to you as I can, but in this time of general corruption and that most boroughs sell themselves by inch of candle, it will not be possible to come in anywhere without some expense.Add. 37387, f. 377.

Whitworth’s election cost him £600.Whitworth to Geo. Tilson, 10/21 Mar. 1722, Add. 37388, f. 146. After 1740 Newport, like the other Isle of Wight boroughs, was managed for the Administration by Thomas Holmes.Add. 38333, f. 95.