Dorset

John Scrope, Walpole’s secretary to the Treasury, represented Lyme Regis from 1734 till his death in 1752. By the judicious use of Government patronage, and by reducing the number of freemen and introducing non-residents into the corporation, he built up an interest in the borough which passed at his death to his nephew, Francis Fane. The Fanes continued to manage the borough, as Scrope had done, with the help of Government; and in 1758 they were given £100 per annum from secret service funds for Lyme.

Throughout this period Corfe Castle was invariably represented by members or nominees of the families of Bankes and Bond, without a single contest carried to a poll. The two families worked together in the closest association. John Bankes wrote to John Bond on 29 Oct. 1757:Bond mss at Creech Grange, Dorset.

In the second half of the eighteenth century Bridport was a seaport with a thriving West Indian trade. The Pinneys, West Indian planters, with considerable property near Bridport, possessed an interest in the borough. So did other families, but no one interest was predominant. That of Lord Coventry, whose family had represented the borough for several generations, was described by Rockingham in 1765 as ‘very good’, and Thomas Coventry held one seat 1754-80.

Edward Hooper, the veteran patron of this close borough, had for many years returned his kinsmen James Harris and his son James Harris. After the death of the former in 1780, he returned friends of government. In 1788 James Harris the younger, whom Hooper had named as his heir, was called to the Upper House as Lord Malmesbury and, there being no member of the family available for substitution, Hooper nominated Hans Sloane at his request.

In 1802, when there was a contest for the boroughs for the first time since 1735, The Times commented that ‘Weymouth and Melcombe Regis have always been considered as close boroughs’. In June 1789 Gabriel Steward, who had acquired by marriage the predominant influence of the Tucker family, which conceded two seats to government in exchange for the disposal of patronage, sold his property.

John Calcraft of Rempstone, whose father had obtained entire command of Wareham by 1768, remained unchallenged patron throughout the period. Even fellow Whigs were paying guests: Romilly in 1808 was expected to pay £3,000 and to attend his election.Mems, ii. 243-4. In 1812 Whig hopes that Calcraft would reserve a seat for one of them, entertained particularly by Henry Brougham, were disappointed when he brought in two ‘purchasers’.Add.

Every general election was contested at Shaftesbury between 1761 and 1812, as a succession of would-be patrons were overthrown by the expense and corruption of the borough. In 1784 the ‘Asiatic interest’ of Sir Francis Sykes was defeated by Hans Winthrop Mortimer, who carried the second seat as well. Mortimer had been on the scene since 1771 and owned the majority of the houses (about 200).

The fluctuating relationships among three interests made Poole difficult to manage and there had been contests since 1765. The oligarchy of Newfoundland merchants and the local gentry who vied for influence on the corporation having had recourse to government, particularly to the Admiralty, to tip the scales, had instigated a triangle of chicanery from which there proved to be no escape. The defeat of Joseph Gulston in 1784 and his subsequent death leaving his affairs in disarray eliminated that interest.

The 9th and 10th Earls of Westmorland remained in complete control of Lyme from 1784, when opposition to them had last been attempted, until 1832, invariably returning members of their family.

Of the electoral situation in the borough, John Crane, a local physician friendly to Pitt’s administration wrote to Lord Grenville (25 Feb. 1790):Fortescue mss; PRO 30/8/127, f. 19; 331, ff. 7, 9.