Commons 1660-1690

The Chirk Castle interest dominated Denbighshire politics throughout the period, taking the county seat at every general election except in 1681, and even on that occasion they claimed a thousand votes to their opponent’s 800 and were only thwarted by a technicality. Such predominance naturally aroused jealousy among the lesser squires, but no polls are known or probable. Elections were held alternately at Wrexham and Denbigh, the latter venue being cheaper for the Myddeltons, who had a town house there.

There were no contributory boroughs in Carmarthenshire, and the Vaughans of Golden Grove monopolized the seat in this period. Excluded as Cavaliers from the election in 1660, they put up Arthur Annesley, who had married the sister-in-law of the 2nd Earl of Carbery, and was returned by about a hundred named ‘burgesses’, besides many more unnamed. Carbery’s second son John sat for the borough in the Cavalier Parliament, and his youngest son Altham in the Exclusion Parliaments.

A curious feature of Carmarthenshire in the period is the migratory nature of the election, which moved from the county town to Rhiwradar, Llanfihangel,Cothy Bridge, and in 1689 even ‘the dwelling of Thomas Jones in Llangathan parish’. Both seats were dominated by the Vaughans of Golden Grove, who worked harmoniously with other branches of the family to preserve their influence. Between 1660 and 1689 the name of Vaughan was missing only twice from the list of Members.

All the Members in this period were returned on the interest of the Philipps family, who as owners of the Priory dominated the principal borough. The writ for the general election of 1660 went astray, but there is no evidence of opposition to James Philipps, one of the Propagation committee who had ruled Wales under the Commonwealth.

The Vaughans of Trawscoed represented Cardiganshire for most of the period without opposition until 1689. On 16 May 1660 it was reported that the writs for both county and borough had miscarried. On the petition of the freeholders, new writs were issued, and the elections committee ordered to investigate the miscarriage; but no report was made. Sir Richard Pryse, a time-server, was elected, though only after another two months had elapsed. In 1661 John Vaughan, an inactive Royalist, was returned ‘unanimously, freely and indifferently’.

No estimates of the total electorate in this constituency survive, but there were 60 freemen in the principal borough in 1685, and it is reasonable to suppose that none of the four contributory boroughs exceeded this figure. The charter of 1284 provided that the constable of Caernarvon Castle, who was appointed by the crown, should also act as mayor during his term of office. Since he seems to have functioned as returning officer, this gave a potential interest to the Robartes family, constables from 1663 to 1713.

No polls are recorded in Caernarvonshire in this period, and the county gentry appear to have offered little resistance to the irruption of the Bulkeley interest from across the Menai Strait. The other notable feature of the period is the steady decline in the political weight carried by the knights of the shire. John Glynne, who represented the county in the Convention after holding high legal office in the Protectorate, was a national figure, loathed as much by London Royalists as in his native county.

There were no contributory boroughs in Breconshire, and the freemen of Brecon, a prosperous market and industrial town ‘well-furnished with conventicles’, enjoyed the sole right of election. The dominant interest was enjoyed by Brecon Priory, which passed from the Price to the Jeffreys family. As prominent Cavaliers, neither Sir Herbert Price nor John Jeffreys is likely to have stood in 1660, and the seat was taken by a country gentleman, Sir Henry Williams, the son of a more cautious Royalist. In 1661 Price stood for both county and borough.

No dominant interest can be discerned in Breconshire, and no less than six of the ten elections in the period resulted in the return of a non-resident. The Presbyterian Royalist, Sir William Lewis, who represented the county in 1660, lived in Hampshire, though most of his income was derived from Breconshire. The next general election was contested by two Royalists, Sir Herbert Price, a courtier who had been in exile, and Sir Henry Williams, a country gentleman already conspicuous as an enemy of ‘seditious preaching’.

Beaumaris was the only corporation borough in Wales. Under its charter of 1562 the franchise lay with the mayor, two bailiffs and 21 aldermen. There were no contributory boroughs, and in normal times it was completely subservient to the Bulkeleys of Baron Hill, just outside the town. The return of the Commonwealth official Griffith Bodurda at the general election of 1660 was doubtless part of a bargain by which the qualification of Robert Bulkeley, Viscount Bulkeley, for the county was not challenged.