Montgomery was a pocket borough of the earls of Powis. The only challenge to their control during this period came in 1761 when Chase Price set up a candidate in retaliation for Powis’s support of Thomas Lewis at New Radnor; but there was no poll.
About the middle of the century Glamorgan was fairly evenly divided between Whigs and Tories: Lord Talbot, Admiral Thomas Mathews, and Thomas Morgan of Ruperra were the leaders of the Whigs; the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Windsor, and Sir Charles Tynte, the leaders of the Tories. But the distinction between the two sides was fast disappearing, and the dissolution of the old political system was accelerated by changes in the ownership of the principal estates in the county.
The eight boroughs were controlled by four patrons. In 1754 these were: the Duke of Beaufort (Swansea and Loughor); Herbert Mackworth of Gnoll (Neath and Aberavon); Thomas Talbot of Laycock (Kenfig); and Lord Windsor (Cardiff, Cowbridge, and Llantrisant). The dominant interest was that of Lord Windsor, which passed in 1766 to Lord Mountstuart, who had married Windsor’s daughter and heir.
The dominant interest in the constituency, based on control of Denbigh and Ruthin, was in the Myddelton family of Chirk Castle; and throughout this period Richard Myddelton and his son represented the constituency unopposed.
The Mostyn family possessed the dominant interest in Flintshire, and only in 1784 was there any challenge to their hegemony.
The representation of these boroughs was controlled by the local squires. Sir John Glynne retained the seat without opposition until his death in 1777;
Since 1746 a chaotic situation had existed in Carmarthen. The town had two corporations, each claiming to be the only legal one. One corporation was Tory, controlled by Sir John Philipps of Picton Castle; the other, Whig, was controlled by Griffith Philipps of Cwmgwili. At the general election of 1754 each side presented a candidate, and as the writ was sent to the Whig corporation, the Whig candidate, Griffith Philipps, was returned. In 1761 Philipps did not stand, and Lord Verney was returned as the candidate of the Whig corporation.
The Wynns of Wynnstay possessed the dominant interest in Denbighshire; but during the long minority in the family following the death of Sir Watkin Wynn in 1749, the representation was decided by an arrangement between the heads of the other two leading families, Richard Myddelton of Chirk Castle and Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton of Llewenny: Myddelton represented the borough and Cotton the county.Add. 32995, f.
Cardigan and Aberystwyth were controlled by the Pryses of Gogerddan; Lampeter by the Lloyds of Peterwell. Atpar was no longer of importance during this period: its corporate structure was destroyed in 1741, and by 1774 the number of its freemen had fallen to two.
Thomas Johnes sent wrote to Newcastle about the constituency on 18 Jan. 1760:Add. 32901, f. 359.
About the middle of the eighteenth century the Vaughans of Golden Grove were the leading family in Carmarthenshire. On the retirement of John Vaughan in 1754, his son Richard was opposed by George Rice of Newton, whose grandfather had sat for the county in Queen Anne’s reign and whose father had been unseated on petition in 1722. Rice was supported by Griffith Philipps of Cwmgwili, who was then establishing his control over the borough.
