Dorset

Tories were returned for Dorset without opposition except in 1727, when George Pitt, an ex-Tory, defeated one of his former party at a by-election, only to change sides again before the ensuing general election, when he gave his interest to the Tory candidates,Rich. Edgcumbe to Sir R. Walpole, undated, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss 3240. who were returned after a contest. The 2nd Lord Egmont wrote of Dorset in his electoral survey, c. 1749-50: ‘Hitherto in the hands of the Tories, but if the Whigs should reunite they would be beaten. The present Members should not be the men.’