Borough

Seventeenth century Nottingham was among the most attractive of English provincial towns. Consequently there was little difficulty in finding gentry, resident or formerly resident, to represent it in Parliament, though they were never admitted to the corporation. Under Colonel John Hutchinson, it had been a parliamentary stronghold during the Civil War, and after the Restoration it was a notable centre for Presbyterianism. The dominant interest lay in the Pierreponts, a cadet branch representing the borough with very short intervals from 1640 to 1706.

The Earl of Rutland sought to make Newark a parliamentary borough in 1579, but the clause was struck out of the charter by Queen Elizabeth. The town was one of the principal Cavalier strongholds during the Civil War, and at the Restoration petitioned for enfranchisement and an enlargement of its boundaries in recognition of its loyalty. There seems to have been little pressure behind it, for not until three years had passed was it referred to Lord Treasurer Southampton.

No contested elections are known to have occurred in this period, and all the Members, except John Millington, seem to have retained their seats, once elected, until they died, left the country or chose another constituency. But the Retford freemen, if politically unsophisticated, were well able to set a value on their votes. Sir William Hickman, son of a local Royalist, had established a strong personal interest in the borough even before the Restoration. His colleague in 1660, Lord Kildare, was a stranger to the county who had married into the Holles family.

The corporation of Newcastle consisted of the mayor, the recorder and the sheriff, who acted as returning officer, with ten aldermen and a common council of 24. Both the corporation and the Members of Parliament were elected by the freemen, though the complicated indirect method in use in municipal elections favoured control by the merchant oligarchy. All the successful candidates in this period came from this class, and all except William Calverley were themselves in trade.

The corporation of Morpeth consisted of two bailiffs, who acted as returning officers, and seven aldermen, one for each of the trading companies crafts or guilds. New freemen were presented by the companies at the court leet of the manor in batches of 24, the proportions of the various companies being fixed.

The most important interest at Berwick was in the corporation, which controlled the roll of freemen. It remained a garrison town despite the union of the crowns, but the interest which thus accrued to the Government was counterbalanced by the strength of Presbyterianism in the town. Most of the candidates were Northumberland gentry by birth or residence, the chief interests belonging to the Presbyterian Greys of Warke and the Roman Catholic Widdringtons.

The nomination of the returning officer for Peterborough was in dispute between the Earl of Exeter, as lord of the hundred of Nassaburgh, and the dean and chapter, as lords of the city. The latter interest was replaced during the Interregnum by those of the St. John and Orme families, who occupied most of the property in the soke and the city, respectively. At the general election of 1660 Humphrey Orme was returned unopposed, but for the other seat there was a double return of Lord le Despenser, heir to the principal landowner in the eastern division of Northamptonshire, and Francis St.

Few constituencies had a more turbulent history than Northampton, at least in the opening years of this period. This was partly due to the existence of an ‘obstinate and numerous’ body of sectaries in the town, partly to the efforts of the corporation to retain the exclusive franchise which they had arrogated to themselves early in the 16th century. This body fluctuated somewhat in number, but in 1674 consisted of 13 aldermen, 26 bailiffs and 48 ‘burgesses’.

All the candidates for Higham Ferrers in this period were resident within the county, except Dacres and Rudd, and they owned property in the town. Under the charter of 1556, the franchise was granted to the mayor, aldermen and ‘burgesses’ but whether this was limited to the ‘select burgesses’, i.e. the corporation, was subject to interpretation. Both candidates in 1660 had previously been elected for the borough, Dacres as long ago as 1626, Harby as a recruiter.

For most of the period control of Brackley was disputed between the proprietary interests of the Egertons and Wenmans, on the one hand, and the natural interests of the Crews and the Lisles on the other. The Egertons had been lords of the manor since 1592, and the 2nd Earl of Bridgwater was much offended when he learnt on 13 Mar. 1660 that all but six of the corporation had already promised their votes without reference to him. His steward pointed out that the Earl did more than anyone else to ‘support your magistracy’ and that his estate paid the highest rates.