New Romney offered the peculiar spectacle of a freeman borough which operated to all intents and purposes as a corporation borough. The franchise was vested in the freemen, but entry into this body was restricted to the sons of freemen and those made free by the common assembly. Numbers were so tightly controlled that their number never exceeded the mayor, 12 jurats and 26 common councilmen allowed by the town’s charter, and MPs were only invited to take up the freedom after their election to Parliament.

Hythe’s decline paralleled that of many of the other Cinque Ports; by the 16th century its harbour had disappeared and consequently so had its national political and economic importance. Between 1690 and 1715 the town’s electorate remained very small. Corporation records show that undisputed elections attracted few voters, but the numbers grew over time, reaching a peak in 1710. Between them, the candidates owned most of the land surrounding Hythe, and local rivalries gave added impetus to their political differences.

Hastings was a small port whose economy was heavily dependent upon its fishing fleet and associated trades. The traumas of war were dramatically impressed upon the town in 1690 when it suffered bombardment by the French, and in the aftermath of the battle of Beachy Head when it was used by the Dutch as a landing point for their wounded. The construction of two small forts in the early 1690s served as a reminder of the town’s exposure to enemy attack, and similar fears were prevalent in 1707–8.

The Court had various means to influence parliamentary elections at Dover: through the number of officials based in the port; as an employer of labour and services, chiefly shipping and victualling; and through the influence of the lord warden of the Cinque Ports, and his deputy, the governor of Dover Castle. However, the warden’s authority had to be exercised with care, and the Court’s position could be damaged by non-payment of bills, a decline in naval-related employment, or even a failure to respond positively to requests for funds to maintain the harbour facilities.

As the social and judicial focus of Yorkshire, and the seat of the archbishop, York was the most important urban centre in the county. Its population of about 12,000 made it one of the six or seven largest towns in England. The city government was that of a regular corporation, by mayor, aldermen and a common council of 72 ‘principal inhabitants’, though ‘the mayor has the honour here, by ancient prescription, of being called my Lord’. The corporation also had two sheriffs and an ‘upper house’ of 24 former sheriffs.

Browne Willis* wrote of Thirsk in the early 18th century:

There are two towns viz Old and New Thirsk . . . being divided only by a rivulet . . . New Thirsk . . . has a broad square, St. James’ Green. This being the principal part of the town, the Members of Parliament are after their election in New Thirsk carried hither . . . The two Members of Parliament are chosen by the burgage tenures of Old Thirsk only, which are 48 in number. They poll in the town hall or session house in New Thirsk.

The right of election at Scarborough was in the corporation only, which consisted of two bailiffs, two coroners, four chamberlains and 36 capital burgesses. On occasion attempts were made to forward the claims of the freemen to vote in elections, but at no point during this period were such claims successful. Owing to the reliance of the borough’s MPs on the corporation for their election to Parliament, it was not unusual for them to receive various requests from the corporation. Defoe, Tour ed. Cole, 656; A. Rowntree, Scarborough, 90; Quinn, 36–39; Bodl.

The lord of the manor of Ripon was the archbishop of York, while the corporation, consisting of a mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 assistants, greatly influenced elections. A contemporary described Ripon as being ‘in a great measure dependent upon the archbishop of York, and influenced by the collegiate church there, which is wholly at his disposal’. Living in the town and with a natural interest for one and sometimes both seats were the Jennings family.

Defoe described Richmond, and the surrounding areas, as being full of

clothing [manufacture], and all the people clothiers; here you see all the people, great and small, a knitting; and at Richmond you have a market for woollen or yarn stockings, which they make very coarse and ordinary and they are sold accordingly.

During James II’s reign Pontefract’s corporation, which consisted of a mayor elected annually by the borough’s burgesses, a recorder and 12 aldermen, was remodelled on three separate occasions. The extent of the confusion this created in corporate government was indicated by the three large-scale re-elections of existing aldermen between 1688 and 1691 in an effort to secure the legal standing of the corporation in accordance with the 1676 charter. Corporate disputes were, however, common throughout the 1690s.