Borough

Grimsby, formerly a flourishing port, had by the Civil War ‘but one poor coal-ship and scarce mariners to man her’, according to one of her representatives. The corporation were usually happy to sell the freedom of the borough, which carried with it the franchise, at £10 a time, though a parliamentary candidate might have to pay four times as much and the constituency was beginning to acquire a reputation for venality. Nevertheless all the Members were Lincolnshire men by birth, residence, or property; but they were drawn from no less than ten different gentry families.

Under the charter of 1631 the corporation of Grantham consisted of an alderman, who acted as returning officer, 12 ‘comburgesses’, and 12 ‘second burgesses’. It controlled the freeman roll, and hence the franchise. The medieval Thorold family was resident in several of its branches in and near the borough, but their interest did not predominate in this period owing to widespread recusancy and to financial difficulties in the senior branch. More persistent interests were exercised by two families of comparatively recent origin.

During this period the dominant interest at Boston passed from the Puritan Irby family, which had regularly represented the borough since 1554, to the Anglican Berties. Not only was Sir Anthony Irby returned at every election from 1628 till his death, except that for the first Protectorate Parliament, but he frequently secured the other seat for a kinsman or a friend. He was doubtless assisted by his fellow Presbyterian, William Ellys, who was recorder from 1639 to 1662.

Of the four interests that had dominated Leicester before the Civil War, only one survived intact. The town had suffered so severely at the hands of the Cavalier army in 1645 that popular support vanished for the Hastings family (headed until 1667 by Lord Loughborough, royalist general and conspirator). There was a revival after the 7th Earl of Huntingdon came of age in 1671, and allied himself with Sir Henry Beaumont of Stoughton and the country interest, until it was undermined by his vagaries as a Whig collaborator.

During the Civil War Wigan had been loyal to the King, a loyalty which the corporation never ceased to exploit in after years when in search of privileges, claiming that the town had maintained the royalist garrison at its own expense, and had been seven times plundered and burdened with free quarter. The earls of Derby, usually seconded by the Bradshaighs, enjoyed the principal interest in the borough. The rectory, held in commendam with the bishopric of Chester, carried with it the lordship of the manor, and represented another important interest.D. Sinclair, Hist.

‘Proud Preston’, seat of the duchy administration, swarmed with lawyers and other professional men, as the heralds’ visitation of 1664-5 shows. Perhaps in consequence the corporation was unusually independent; though they allowed the duchy and the Earl of Derby to claim one seat each, they demanded and exercised the right of veto over their nominees.

Although their chief residence was in Cheshire, the Leghs of Lyme enjoyed the principal property interest in Newton throughout the period, and in 1661 Richard Legh acquired the borough and manor from Sir Thomas Fleetwood. Thus not only were most of the burgages held by him, but the steward, who acted as returning officer, was chosen in his court leet.E. C. Legh, Lady Newton, House of Lyme, 165; VCH Lancs. iv. 136.

By the mid-17th century, Liverpool was an expanding port, and in the years after the Restoration it continued to grow at an increasing rate, especially after experience of the plague and fire caused many London merchants to transfer their interests there. Liverpool had links with Ireland and the Isle of Man as well as a profitable coastal trade, and associations with Africa, the West Indies and India were beginning to assume importance.J. A. Picton, Liverpool Mun. Recs. 124, 236, 243, 256, 261.

At the general election of 1660 the Kirkby family was not in a position to exert its usual influence at Lancaster, being disqualified under the Long Parliament ordinance which barred Cavaliers from sitting. Both Members in the Convention had a parliamentary record in the Civil War. The senior, Sir Gilbert Gerard, was a Presbyterian who had regained his post as chancellor of the duchy on the return of the secluded Members.

Clitheroe, a borough by prescription, had an extremely rudimentary municipal organization; its two bailiffs acted as returning officers. During the Civil War the leading townsfolk showed parliamentarian sympathies, and until 1644 Clitheroe Castle was held against the Royalists. These sympathies were reflected in the general election of 1660, when the out-bailiff, ‘a fierce man against the King’s coming in’, returned two former Members of the Long Parliament.