Borough

Lyme Regis was an ancient but decaying port, where the Government had an interest through the local customs officers. There was a long-standing dispute between the corporation and the freeholders as to the right of election. In the 18th century it was generally considered that the right lay in the freemen, many of them non-resident, who were elected by the corporation. This was not, however, finally established till 1785; and at contested elections those freeholders who were not freemen were usually canvassed and polled, though on a separate list.

The principal Tory interest lay in the Brownes of Frampton, of whom Robert Browne succeeded his father as high steward in 1734, and John Browne, the recorder from 1747 to 1750, held one of the seats for 23 years. The Whig interest was supported by the Duke of Newcastle, who in 1711 had inherited the site of the priory and the manor of Frome Whitfield, within the borough, from his uncle Duke John,Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 366, 412. the high steward from 1701. The Damer family also developed a strong interest and there was an independent vote.

Corfe Castle was dominated by the Bonds of Creech Grange, three miles distant, Whigs, and the Bankeses of Kingston Lacy, lords of the manor and castle of Corfe, Tories. In 1715 the Bonds were able to capture both seats, probably through William Ockeden who owned a small property in the borough, out of which he granted 35 leases. A petition alleging ‘that multitudes of pretended votes [presumably these leaseholders] were allowed by the mayor’ as returning officer, was withdrawn.

There was no predominant interest at Bridport, a small sea port,Travels of Dr. Pococke (Cam. Soc. n.s. xlii), i. 96. though three generations of the Strangways family of Melbury and Abbotsbury held the office of high steward till 1727.

A memorandum on Totnes drawn up in 1747 for Pelham points out that ‘the mayor with a majority of the aldermen present in court have the power to make what number of freemen they think fit’, so that ‘whoever hath the majority of aldermen must in consequence prevail’.‘The Corporation of Totnes’, Newcastle (Clumber) mss, on which the above account is based.

Tiverton was managed for the Government by Sir William Yonge, recorder of the borough 1725-48, in alliance with Oliver Peard, four times mayor. Martin Dunsford, historian of the town and prominent in its politics, writes that Yonge ‘had great influence over the leading members of the corporation of Tiverton for many years and generally directed their choice of burgesses in Parliament’. He describes Peard as ‘the most considerable merchant that ever lived in Tiverton’.

Tavistock was controlled by the dukes of Bedford, who as lords of the manor nominated the returning officer and owned most of the town and the land round it. After 1715 the only contested election was that of 1734, when the 4th Duke replaced the Members who had represented it under his predecessor by his own nominees. The 2nd Lord Egmont wrote of Tavistock in his electoral survey, c.1749-50: ‘in the Duke of Bedford’.

The corporation of Plympton were under the influence of the Treby and Edgcumbe families, who shared the representation, each nominating to one seat in the government interest. The second Lord Egmont wrote in his electoral survey, c.1749-50: ‘Between Treby and Lord Edgcumbe at present, but Treby will defeat him with proper helps in time’.

The control of Plymouth was in the Admiralty. Under Walpole it was managed for the Government by George Treby, who had property and an interest there.Geo. Treby to Walpole, 4 Aug. 1727, 30 Apr. 1734, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss. In 1739 the Commons restricted the right of election, previously by usage in the freemen and freeholders, to the freemen only, unseating John Rogers, who had been elected largely by the freeholders,CJ, xxiii.

At George I’s accession the principal interest at Okehampton was divided between the proprietors of the barony, notably the Mohuns, their relations by marriage, the Harrises of Hayne, who had some interest of their own, and the Northmores, a town family,Lysons, Mag. Brit. Devon, ii. 371-2; W. Bridges, Okehampton, 85, 87.the last two sharing the representation in 1715.