Commons 1754-1790

The main power in Worcester politics was the corporation, working in close association with the bishop, the cathedral chapter, and the lord lieutenant of Worcestershire. To maintain its ascendancy the corporation made full use of its right to create nonresident freemen, who formed a large proportion of the voters and considerably increased the cost of elections. There was also an anti-corporation or independent party, supported by the Dissenters, and until political issues began to appear in the early seventies the two sides divided on a Church and Dissent basis.

Yorkshire was the largest constituency in Britain, and its size ensured its independence. Of the three Ridings the West was the most considerable, containing about half the number of voters in the county. The leading aristocratic interest, that of the Marquess of Rockingham, was located for the most part in the West Riding; but no one interest alone could return a Member for Yorkshire: it had to win the support of the independent country gentlemen and the woollen manufacturers of the West Riding, already by 1754 a powerful electoral force.

In the first half of the 18th century the representation of Droitwich was usually divided between the Foleys and the Winningtons; from 1750 to 1777 the Foleys controlled both seats; and from 1777 again divided the borough with the Winningtons.

‘A profusion of trouble and expense has for more than half a century past ... marked a seat in Parliament for the borough of Evesham’, wrote Mark Beaufoy to Sir John Rushout on 1 Sept. 1767.G. Beaufoy, Leaves from a Beech Tree, 112. The strongest interest was that of the Rushouts of Northwick Park, who held one seat without a break from 1722 to 1796. A long way behind came that of the Rudge family, who first sat for the borough in 1680.

There was no contest for Worcestershire between 1741 and 1806, and during this period the representation of the county was settled amicably at the county meeting. The Foley family had probably the largest interest, but it was not such as to dominate the county.

The corporation consisted of the bailiff (the returning officer), the recorder, and twelve freemen. Since it had the power to create any number of honorary freemen, control of the corporation was essential for electoral purposes. In the second half of the eighteenth century the borough was contested between the Lyttelton and Winnington families.

Wilton was a pocket borough of the Earl of Pembroke. However, it required care and attention. In September 1783 Lord Pembroke wrote that it stood upon a ‘very ticklish and slender’ foundation,Pembroke Pprs. ii. 233. but the creation of a batch of new burgesses next month confirmed the Herbert supremacy. In the earlier part of the century most of the burgesses were local men in modest positions (several could not sign their names in the corporation’s minute books). It became Herbert practice to pack the corporation with relatives and friends, who were more reliable.

At the beginning of the 18th century the chief interest was in the St. John family, seated three miles from the borough at Lydiard Tregoze. But following Bolingbroke’s flight to France in 1715 this interest declined, and on his return was not wholly restored.

Salisbury was a dignified, independent borough, with a corporation consisting largely of small gentry and substantial tradesmen. Bribery was unknown, and even canvassing was carried on discreetly. It was considered an honour to represent the borough, and its Members were invariably local men.

In 1754 the Earl of Abingdon owned the majority of the burgages at Westbury, yet his hold on the borough was very tenuous. The borough was difficult to control because the right of voting lay in the lessee of the burgage, not the owner; and because the practice had been to grant long leases, which reduced Abingdon’s hold on his tenants. ‘As most of the tenants were poor, it afforded great scope for any adventurer to fight his Lordship with his own weapons by buying off his tenants.’‘Case of the Borough of Westbury’, 1767, Bodl. Top. Wilts. c.5.