Samuel Thornton, who represented Hull for over 20 years, described it as ‘a populous place, extremely difficult of control by the influence of the gentlemen who reside in it’.Fortescue mss, Thornton to Grenville, 27 Aug. 1806. The corporation, the Trinity House and the Dock Company (established in 1774) were the three formal agencies through which local merchant opinion could be expressed, but unless united, as they were in 1802, the influence of none of them was decisive.
Hedon was an open borough with a substantial outvote, difficult to manage. In 1802 only 58 voters were resident out of 203; 42 lived at Hull and 35 in London and its environs. The electorate had a reputation for venality and in 1803 it was alleged to be ‘the prevailing custom’ for freemen to receive (after the election) 20 guineas for a plumper and ten guineas for a split vote.
The boroughs of Boroughbridge and Aldborough formed part of the same parish and returned two Members each. The dukes of Newcastle had the predominant interest, but Henry, the 2nd Duke, had conceded one of the four seats to the family of the former ducal agent in the person of Andrew Wilkinson who, with his son Charles, came in for Aldborough. In this period the family was represented until his death in 1805 by Rev. James Wilkinson of Boroughbridge Hall, vicar of Sheffield, and thereafter by his sister Barbara and brother-in-law Rev. Marmaduke Lawson.
With a large freeman electorate open to venality and eager to encourage contests, Beverley proved unamenable to control. The only individual with a significant interest, Charles Anderson Pelham, created Lord Yarborough, who was owner of the so-called ‘Bar’ interest reckoned at about 200 votes, got little joy of it and sold it in lots during this period.Oldfield, Rep. Hist. v.
See BOROUGHBRIDGE
In Fox’s often quoted words, ‘Yorkshire and Middlesex between them make all England’. Of Pitt it was likewise alleged that Wilberforce was to him ‘the whole people of England’, because he represented its most populous county, Yorkshire, as his friend and had ousted the Whigs.Life of Wilberforce (1838), ii. 133; Fitzwilliam mss, Laurence to Fitzwilliam, 26 Nov. 1797. Wilberforce and his colleague Duncombe, the nominees of the Yorkshire Association in 1784, when at the instigation of the Rev.
The traditional rivalry between the corporation and independent parties, the latter supported largely by the dissenters, many of whom were Quakers, could not be checked by the reluctance of candidates to stir up contests in a constituency where the substantial non-resident vote, much of it in Birmingham and London, added to the expense. Only two elections in this period went uncontested; and in 1790 the three candidates were all favourable to Pitt’s government.
Although Evesham was an open borough, the corporation had since 1661 always been much attached to the family of the Rushouts of Northwick in this neighbourhood, whose interest has been considered as the prevailing one, and sufficient to procure a seat in Parliament for one of that family. The other seat is open.This, apart from subjecting the Rushouts to considerable anxiety, gave adequate scope to ‘a combination of attorneys’ to manoeuvre the return of the second Member.Oldfield, Boroughs, ii, 263; Rep. Hist. v. 250.
Droitwich was a close borough which never gave any trouble to its patrons. There had been no contest since 1747 when the Foleys, who had long shared the nominations with the Winningtons, contrived to take both seats. Their intermarriage in 1776 led to another era of sharing. Thomas Foley, 2nd Baron Foley (d.1793) returned his brother Andrew and brother-in-law Winnington. On the latter’s death in 1805, Andrew Foley was joined by his son until 1807, when Winnington’s heir came in.
Bewdley was in the pocket of the Lyttelton family, high stewards of the borough, but they were not personally represented from 1796 when Andrews, a wealthy friend of the family, was returned. He made a gift of £3,000 towards building Bewdley bridge in 1801, and further gifts to the corporation of £1,000 in 1807 and £2,000 in 1808.W. R. Williams, Worcs.
