Both Members for Lewes were returned by the Duke of Newcastle, whose interest was based on his property in the town, on his own and his cousins’ seats at Halland, Bishopstone and Stanmer, and on traditional regard for the Pelham family; but it was a troublesome borough requiring constant attention.

The chief interests in Horsham at George I’s accession were those of Charles Eversfield, a Tory, and of the Ingrams, Viscounts Irwin, Whigs. As neither owned a majority of burgages each relied on the independent burgage holders for votes. In 1715 there was a contest at which two Eversfield candidates were returned but the seats were awarded to the Ingrams on a petition alleging partiality by the returning officers, as well as malpractices by the sitting Members’ agent, who was committed to the custody of the serjeant at arms.CJ, xviii.

The predominant interest at East Grinstead was in the Duke of Dorset, the lord of the manor, who owned most of the burgages there.W. H. Hills, Hist. East Grinstead, 43-44, 50. Except in 1727, when he nominated both Members, he shared the representation successively with the Tory Conyers and the Whig Webster families, both of whom also owned property in the town. The only threat of opposition occurred at a by-election in 1750, when Lord Hardwicke, whose son was being put up by the Duke of Dorset, learned that

An independent borough, with a minor government interest from the customs officers at the port, Chichester returned two Whig townsmen at a contested election in 1715. About 1720 the 1st Duke of Richmond bought Goodwood, three miles away. In 1722 his heir, who succeeded to the dukedom in 1723, was returned unopposed, after which it became the custom to pay the Goodwood family the compliment of permitting them to recommend one Member, on condition that the inhabitants of Chichester should be left to choose the other.

At George I’s accession 18 of the 36 Bramber burgages belonged to Sir Richard Gough, a Whig; 13 were owned by Lord Windsor, a Tory; 5 were independent. In 1715 Gough and a Windsor candidate, Style, were returned, but Style was unseated in favour of Minshull, the Gough candidate, who petitioned successfully on the ground of partiality by the returning officer.CJ, xviii. 24. At both the next general elections Gough’s candidates were successful, in 1722 after a contest and in 1727 unopposed.

Till 1747, the chief interest at Arundel was in the Lumleys, earls of Scarborough, who had inherited the estates of the earls of Arundel in the sixteenth century and sat for one of the Arundel seats in every Parliament from 1708 to 1747. The mayor, as returning officer, and the corporation were an important factor, while the government had a certain influence from the customs service at the port. The Duke of Norfolk was lord of the manor and owner of Arundel Castle, but as a Roman Catholic seldom intervened in elections.

The Duke of Newcastle owed his pre-eminence in Sussex to his great estates, to the patronage which he could dispense as a member of the Government, and to his lavish personal expenditure.

Southwark, a populous borough, was a ward of the city of London, the returning officer, the bailiff, being appointed by the lord mayor. Brewing being the major industry, it was usually represented by one and sometimes two brewers, the other Members being London merchants. All the candidates returned were apparently Whigs.

At George I’s accession the representation of Reigate was controlled by Sir John Parsons, a Tory who had bought the Reigate Priory estate in 1681, and Lord Somers, one of the Whig Junto, to whom William III in 1697 had granted the manor of Reigate, carrying with it the appointment of the returning officer. The sitting Members were Parsons himself and Somers’s nephew, James Cocks.

In 1715 both Haslemere seats were won by Whigs after a contest with two Tories. From 1722 they were held by James Oglethorpe, a neighbouring landowner, whose family had often sat for the borough, and Peter Burrell, a wealthy merchant, jointly for 32 years; but there were other rival interests, notably the Molyneuxes of Loseley, who were lords of the manor, and the Onslows of Clandon, who had often been returned for Haslemere. In 1727 there were at one time no less than seven candidates in the field;Alan Brodrick to Ld.