Under George I about half the Pontefract burgages were owned by a few local families, of whom the chief were the Lowthers of Swillington (60), the Moncktons (10), and the Winns (10), Whig; the Blands (40), the Dawnays (20), and the Franks (20), Tory. In 1715 the former Members, John Dawnay and Robert Frank, were re-elected, but on petition the seats were awarded to Sir William Lowther and his friend, Hugh Bethell, on the ground that the mayor, Frank’s uncle, had as returning officer wrongfully rejected a number of their votes.

Northallerton was controlled by two neighbouring Whig families, the Peirses and the Smelts, who owned most of the burgages. Each returned one Member till 1745, when the Smelts were bought out by Henry Lascelles, who thenceforth shared the borough with the Peirses.

Malton, like Higham Ferrers, was controlled by Thomas Wentworth, who in 1713 bought the manor of Malton, comprising most of the town and surrounding country, and carrying with it the appointment of the returning officer.E. A. Smith, ‘Earl Fitzwilliam and Malton’, EHR, lxxx.

The chief interests at Knaresborough were in two neighbouring landowners, Lord Burlington of Bolton Abbey, hereditary constable of Knaresborough castle, a Whig, who in 1715 appointed the steward of Knaresborough,T. Lawson-Tancred, Recs. of a Yorks. Manor 245. and Sir Henry Slingsby of Scriven, a Tory, whose family had frequently sat for the borough. In 1715 Slingsby, having been returned at a by-election in 1714, stood unsuccessfully with another Tory against two Whigs, Henry Coote and Robert Hitch.

At George I’s accession, the chief interests at Hull were in the sitting Whig Members, Sir William St. Quintin, an East Riding baronet, and William Maister, a Hull merchant, who had shared the representation continuously since the reign of William III. They were supported by the Government, who had an interest based on the officers of the garrison, the customs, and Trinity House, and by the corporation, who could influence elections through the mayor as returning officer and the power of creating freemen.

Hedon, a venal borough, was controlled for many years by William Pulteney, who had inherited the interest there of Henry Guy, M.P. Hedon 1679-95 and 1702-5. His nominees were unopposed till 1741, when two Walpole Whigs, Luke Robinson and Francis Chute, captured both seats, which Pulteney recovered on an undefended petition for bribery after Walpole’s fall.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century two rival local families, the Wilkinsons and the Stapyltons, owned most of the burgages at Boroughbridge. Its neighbour, Aldborough, was controlled by John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, who bought the manor of Aldborough in 1701. After the Duke’s death in 1711 his heir, Thomas Pelham, bought some Boroughbridge burgages and allied himself with the Wilkinsons to gain joint control of that borough. In 1715 the combined Pelham-Wilkinson interests won both seats, ousting the Stapyltons, who gave up the struggle after a further defeat in 1718.

For nearly a century the representation of Beverley was practically monopolized by two neighbouring families, the Wartons and the Hothams. When Sir Michael Warton, the last of his line, retired in 1722, his interest passed to his nephews and coheirs, Michael Newton, an opposition Whig, M.P. Beverley 1722-7, and Charles Pelham, a Tory, who sat for the borough 1727-34 and 1738-54.

See BOROUGHBRIDGE below

From 1710 to 1727 both Yorkshire seats were held by Tories, Lord Downe and Sir Arthur Kaye, since 1713 without a contest. At a by-election caused by Kaye’s death in 1726, his nephew, the Tory candidate, was defeated by Cholmley Turner, a Whig, largely owing to the influence of Sir Thomas Wentworth, who had recently succeeded to the vast Wentworth estates in Yorkshire.