County

Yorkshire was the largest constituency in Britain, and its size ensured its independence. Of the three Ridings the West was the most considerable, containing about half the number of voters in the county. The leading aristocratic interest, that of the Marquess of Rockingham, was located for the most part in the West Riding; but no one interest alone could return a Member for Yorkshire: it had to win the support of the independent country gentlemen and the woollen manufacturers of the West Riding, already by 1754 a powerful electoral force.

There was no contest for Worcestershire between 1741 and 1806, and during this period the representation of the county was settled amicably at the county meeting. The Foley family had probably the largest interest, but it was not such as to dominate the county.

The county of Wiltshire was famous for its ‘independency’. The sons of peers were never elected, and although the nobility exercised considerable influence, they did it with discretion. The Bruces and Herberts held county positions similar to those of the Berkeleys and Beauforts in Gloucestershire, but whereas the latter dominated the representation of their county, in Wiltshire the peers were confined to their family boroughs.

Oldfield wrote about Westmorland in 1792:

This small county is as much under the command of an individual as the most rotten borough in the kingdom. The great estates which the Earl of Lonsdale possesses are sufficient to procure a passive obedience to the dictatorial authority of his Lordship.

The leading noblemen in the county of Warwick were Lord Craven, Lord Hertford, Lord Warwick, and Lord Aylesford. The representation was in the hands of the gentry, the leading family being the Mordaunts of Walton, who held one seat for 82 years between 1698 and 1820. The most significant feature of the county’s parliamentary history 1754-1790 was the growing influence exerted by Birmingham and the manufacturing districts of the north.

Sussex was the Duke of Newcastle’s county, and on it he lavished particular care and attention—his private fortune and, when in office, the favours of the Crown. Perpetually anxious and frightened of opposition, he liked to surround himself with his supporters; and his public days at his seats at Halland and Bishopstone were the provincial equivalents of his levees. There he entertained ‘a great company of people, of all denominations, from a duke to a beggar’,‘Extracts from the Diary of a Sussex Tradesman’, Suss. Arch. Colls. xi. 191-2; see also p.

The Onslow family first sat for Surrey in 1627, and held one seat without a break 1713-74. The Vincents of Stoke D’Abernon had an interest dating back to the 17th century, but without the continuous representation of the Onslows. Throughout the 18th century Southwark and its business community exercised an increasing influence in the county. Sir Joseph Mawbey wrote in 1788:‘Historical Account of the Elections for Surrey’, by ‘Surriensis’, Gent. Mag. 1788, pp. 1052-3. The identity of ‘Surriensis’ was revealed in the obituary of Mawbey, ibid. 1798, p. 543.