Commons 1790-1820

By an agreement which had operated since 1774, the two owners of the ‘miserable thatched cottages’ which gave the right to vote at Bramber returned a Member each throughout this period. They were Sir Henry Gough Calthorpe, 2nd Bt., and the 5th Duke of Rutland. Gough Calthorpe on obtaining a peerage in 1796 returned Adams. After his death in 1798, with his sons still minors, Jodrell and his widow’s friend Wilberforce were returned in succession. Rutland was also a minor until 1799 and his mother and uncle the 5th Duke of Beaufort supervised the returns until then.

Arundel remained an open borough, although there was no contest until 1812. Sir George Thomas, returned with the Whig 11th Duke of Norfolk’s cousin in 1790, informed Pitt in 1795:

The division of Sussex into western and eastern constituencies by the Reform Act of 1832 endorsed a hallowed custom. As Lord Sheffield put it, 26 May 1807:

It always appeared to me the true policy of Sussex for the landed men of East and West, each to agree to consider of a proper representative, and that being done, the whole of the county to agree to support them.NLI, Richmond mss 69/1233.

‘The Borough’, with its volatile and growing electorate, was the scene of contests replete with ‘all that low scurrility which takes place at popular elections’ at every election in this period but one.The Times, 7 June 1803. The exception was in 1790, and even then the publicans, missionaries of the Southwark brewers, tried to foment a contest by putting up one Fassett, in his absence at Cheltenham, as a third man.

The co-patrons of Reigate, owning most of the freeholds between them, were the cousins german Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers, and Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke. On 10 Apr. 1786 they renewed their family pact to return a Member each.Add. 35641, f. 128. From 1790 until 1806 Somers returned his heir, while the Hardwickes were represented by the 3rd Earl’s half-brother.

In 1780 James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, having purchased the majority of the freeholds, became sole patron of the borough. The only other interest that might have given him trouble was that of Sir Peter Burrell (afterwards Baron Gwydir), but Lonsdale was not challenged when he returned satellites friendly to administration.

The Onslows of nearby Clandon Park lost their monopoly of the representation in 1766 when, for the sake of peace, they conceded one seat to Sir Fletcher Norton of Wonersh, afterwards 1st Baron Grantley. Until 1790 the two families returned a Member each, unopposed, but five of the next seven elections were contested. The challenge was to the Nortons.

Between 1786 and 1800 the close borough of Gatton changed hands several times. Sir William Mayne, 1st Baron Newhaven, started the ball rolling in 1786. In 1788, when Samuel Whitbread I was interested, the land was valued at £36,000, doubled by the ‘peculiar rights annexed to it’ and, with the advowson and houses, the asking price was £86,000.

Sir Robert Clayton, 3rd Bt., was sole proprietor of Bletchingley. Until his death in 1799, when not returning himself he took paying guests, who, like himself, opposed Pitt’s administration. Francis paid £4,200 in 1790 and Hobhouse £4,000, with freedom of action, in 1797.Blair Adam mss, Graham to Adam, 24 Jan., Hobhouse to ?, 30 Jan.

Lady Spencer remarked, in 1806, apropos of Surrey politics, ‘One can never be certain of the ground one treads on in such sort of neighbourhood to London and where property is so sub-divided’.Spencer mss, Lady to Ld. Spencer, 5 Nov. 1806. Soon after the unopposed election of the Whig 5th Duke of Bedford’s brother in 1789, George Sumner, a nabob’s son, was prepared to take up the cudgels on behalf of Pitt’s administration. Sir Gilbert Elliot commented: