Somerset

The state of confusion surrounding the right of election in Wells had been exploited for political advantage in several post-Restoration elections and remained subject to intermittent dispute during the succeeding period. The central issue was whether the corporation franchise embraced a wide or narrow definition of the term ‘burgess’.

Taunton easily gave the impression of being one of the most Whiggish boroughs in England. The Somerset historian John Oldmixon wrote in 1711: ‘there are more fanatics in it than in any corporation in England, more Whigs than the ward of Breadstreet, more wealthy men than the whole shire of Cardigan’. But though the tradition of opposition and Dissent was deeply embedded in the town’s recent history, strong Tory influences had also held sway, and not least those represented by the Portman family, whose principal estate at Orchard Portman lay just two miles distant.

The controlling interest at the port of Minehead lay with the Luttrells of Dunster Castle, strong Tories, who, as lords of the manor, had the right to appoint the returning officers, the two constables. In 1690 Colonel Francis Luttrell, then head of the family, was returned with Nathaniel Palmer, a Tory landowner, who had represented Minehead since 1685. On Palmer’s choosing to sit for the county, his place was taken by another Tory, John Sanford, a wealthy merchant with estates in Somerset.

Milborne Port’s parliamentary seats came more firmly under the control of the owners of the town’s nine burgages or bailiwicks during this period, and as such took on the classic characteristics of a ‘pocket borough’. The right of election lay in the burgage holders, known as the chief bailiffs or capital burgesses, plus nine stewards and the inhabitants paying scot and lot.

Ilchester, despite its unprepossessing appearance, was an important political focus in Somerset, being the local field of influence of several of the county’s most prominent families, and also the venue for the election of knights of the shire. Four miles to the south was Montacute, belonging to the Phelipses, who had dominated the borough for much of the 17th century and had held the office of high steward on almost a hereditary basis.