Until 1689 the franchise at Malmesbury had been confined to the alderman (the chief magistrate) and the 12 other capital burgesses, the top tier of the corporation, but the indenture returning the two Whig Members to the Convention was signed by the other members of the corporation, the ‘assistants’ (24 in number), and by representatives of the two other orders in the hierarchy of the borough, the ‘landholders’ (52 strong) and ‘commoners’ or ‘free burgesses’.

Local landowners and London merchants jostled with each other in Ludgershall elections. Despite the presence of strong proprietory interests, the venality of the electorate and the importance to the town’s economy of the clothing industry meant that any outsider prepared to spend money and with the appropriate trading connexions would have a chance. A significant part in this kind of campaign might well be played by the clothiers of Newbury, Berkshire, who enjoyed influence at Ludgershall as they did at Great Bedwyn.

Hindon shared with Stockbridge the undesirable distinction of having been the subject of an attempt at disfranchisement, provoked by the flagrant bribery practised at the elections of January 1701 and 1702. The comparatively lowly social status of many of the electors was tendered by contemporaries as an explanation for their susceptibility.

Both seats at Heytesbury were controlled by William Ashe I, the lord of the manor, who owned most of the burgages and also appointed the returning officer, his bailiff. Generally the borough was used to provide for his own family. Ashe returned himself, his sons Edward and William II, his brother-in-law, Sir Edward Ernle, 3rd Bt., and his son-in-law Pierce A’Court: all were Whigs. Occasionally an outside Whig was nominated.

An unprepossessing sight, Bedwyn consisted of ‘two streets: one on a descent from east to west, with several scattered houses in it like a vill; the other crosses it from north to south’.

In 1690 the two outgoing Members for Downton, Sir Charles Raleigh of Rectory House and Maurice Bocland of Standlynch, were returned unopposed. Two other principal families resided in the locality, but neither was in a position to pose any electoral threat, Sir James Ashe, 2nd Bt., being a minor, and Sir Charles Eyre† by now a judge. By 1695, however, this situation had changed. Ashe had reached his majority and was being propelled by his widowed mother in the direction of a parliamentary seat, the family being actively involved, it would appear, in the business of accumulating burgages.

Devizes was still one of the most important centres of the Wiltshire woollen industry, its prosperity impressing Celia Fiennes and Defoe. The ‘clothing interest’ was of considerable significance in elections, both in terms of individual wealth and numbers of voters, a fact that accounts for the presence of London merchants alongside townsmen and country gentlemen as parliamentary candidates. There was also a substantial Dissenting population, with the Baptists particularly prominent, which was the foundation of the Whig faction in the corporation.

A small market town, Cricklade attracted candidates mainly from among the neighbouring gentry, in Gloucestershire as well as Wiltshire, but also from time to time, and especially towards the latter end of this period, some Londoners with local associations.

A number of neighbouring landed families enjoyed influence at Chippenham, among them the Bayntuns of Spye Park, the Longs of Draycot Cerne, the Montagus of Lackham, the Pophams of Littlecote, and to a lesser extent the Spekes of Hazelbury. Sir Edward Hungerford’s* once powerful interest had been divided by 1690, with the sale of Sheldon and Corsham to Richard Kent and Rowden to another branch of the Longs. Of these two, Kent proved the stronger: one of the outgoing Members, he was re-elected unopposed in 1690, along with Alexander Popham of Littlecote.

The ‘burgesses’ of Calne (i.e. members of the corporation), about 34 in number at the beginning of this period, were responsible for ‘electing’ new recruits, who were afterwards sworn by the steward of the crown manor of Ogbourne St. George, and also provided from their own ranks the two guild stewards, usually in rotation. These were the returning officers at parliamentary elections, though they were themselves allowed a vote with the other burgesses at the poll.