Dartmouth

Dartmouth passed under government control owing to dissensions between the leading local Tory families, three of whom contested the borough in 1715.Russell, 144. In 1716 Arthur Holdsworth, a leading Newfoundland merchant, was first elected mayor; by 1719, when he completed his second term of office, the Holdsworths and allied Whig families had a majority on the corporation; and from 1722 until 1754 the borough was managed locally for the Government by the Holdsworths under the direction successively of Lord Chancellor King, George Treby and Walter Carey. Ministerial supporters were invariably returned without opposition.