No family succeeded in establishing a permanent interest at Gloucester, though the Selwyns of Matson held one seat from 1727 to 1780. The corporation had some influence through its power to create freemen. The out-voters were a considerable element in every contest, and added greatly to the expense. The recorder had also some influence, depending upon his stature and the part he took in civic life.
Tewkesbury was a placid borough, with the corporation in control. It was free from the cruder forms of bribery: instead, the Members paid a lump sum or else made a contribution towards some municipal undertaking. About 1754 the Dowdeswell, Martin, and Gage families had most influence in the borough: nine Dowdeswells had sat since 1660; the Martins held one seat 1734-47 and 1774-1807; and Lord Gage sat from 1721 to 1754.
Hampshire was the only English county where the Government had an appreciable interest. This came mainly through the dockyards at Gosport and Portsea, the numerous ports, the Crown tenants in the New Forest, and the forts in the Isle of Wight. Thomas Worsley wrote to Lord Carnarvon, 27 Nov. 1760, about the chances of Simeon Stuart:Bute mss. ‘The dockyards is what we have to dread ...
In the first half of the eighteenth century the leading interests at Cirencester were in the Bathurst and Master families, both of which were Tory. But when in 1749 Thomas Master died, leaving a five-year-old son, a rift occurred between the Tories.
The predominant interests in the county of Gloucester were those of the Beaufort and Berkeley families. The natural rivalry which existed between them was sharpened by the fact that the Beauforts had a Tory tradition and the Berkeleys a Whig. There was also a curious parallel. The fourth Earl of Berkeley died in 1755, leaving a son aged 10; the fourth Duke of Beaufort died a year later, leaving a son aged 12. The rivalry between these sons dictated the pattern of Gloucestershire politics for a generation.
In 1754 Bristol was the second largest city in the kingdom and the third largest urban constituency. Elections were extremely expensive: of its 5,000 voters about a third lived outside the town; canvassing was laborious; and the size of the constituency forced it to develop some sort of political organization.
Harwich was controlled by the Treasury, operating through the Customs House (in 1763 ten of its officers were in the corporation) and the Post Office, operating through the Harwich packet boats (whose agent and four captains were generally elected into the corporation). There was also a so-called independent interest, discreetly promoted by successive Government managers: each in turn, while professing to be solely concerned to secure the Government hold on the borough, was in fact trying to build up an interest of his own.
In 1754 the Government interest at Maldon seemed firmly established. Maldon being a port, there were places in the customs to be given to members of the corporation; strangers picked by the Government were introduced into the corporation; and honorary freemen were made at election time, connected with the candidates or the Government, but not necessarily with the borough or county. Still, a freeman borough could never be reduced to absolute dependence upon the Treasury; and nothing could be done without money.
There was no dominant aristocratic influence in the county; not one son of a peer is to be found among the Essex knights of the shire 1754-90; eight country gentlemen represented the county during that period; and not one of them is known to have spoken in the House.
Colchester had a large electorate and was noted for frequent and expensive contests. A large proportion of the freemen were non-resident: of the 1280 who voted in 1788, 528 came from Colchester, 227 from London, and 525 from other places. The situation at Colchester in 1754 was unusual since, as a result of legal proceedings taken after the election of 1741, the corporation had been dissolved. The three candidates in 1754 were all local men, each standing on a separate interest, and each pledged to restore the town’s charter.
