‘The Borough’, with its volatile and growing electorate, was the scene of contests replete with ‘all that low scurrility which takes place at popular elections’ at every election in this period but one.The Times, 7 June 1803. The exception was in 1790, and even then the publicans, missionaries of the Southwark brewers, tried to foment a contest by putting up one Fassett, in his absence at Cheltenham, as a third man.
The co-patrons of Reigate, owning most of the freeholds between them, were the cousins german Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers, and Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke. On 10 Apr. 1786 they renewed their family pact to return a Member each.Add. 35641, f. 128. From 1790 until 1806 Somers returned his heir, while the Hardwickes were represented by the 3rd Earl’s half-brother.
In 1780 James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, having purchased the majority of the freeholds, became sole patron of the borough. The only other interest that might have given him trouble was that of Sir Peter Burrell (afterwards Baron Gwydir), but Lonsdale was not challenged when he returned satellites friendly to administration.
The Onslows of nearby Clandon Park lost their monopoly of the representation in 1766 when, for the sake of peace, they conceded one seat to Sir Fletcher Norton of Wonersh, afterwards 1st Baron Grantley. Until 1790 the two families returned a Member each, unopposed, but five of the next seven elections were contested. The challenge was to the Nortons.
Between 1786 and 1800 the close borough of Gatton changed hands several times. Sir William Mayne, 1st Baron Newhaven, started the ball rolling in 1786. In 1788, when Samuel Whitbread I was interested, the land was valued at £36,000, doubled by the ‘peculiar rights annexed to it’ and, with the advowson and houses, the asking price was £86,000.
Sir Robert Clayton, 3rd Bt., was sole proprietor of Bletchingley. Until his death in 1799, when not returning himself he took paying guests, who, like himself, opposed Pitt’s administration. Francis paid £4,200 in 1790 and Hobhouse £4,000, with freedom of action, in 1797.Blair Adam mss, Graham to Adam, 24 Jan., Hobhouse to ?, 30 Jan.
Southwark, a populous borough, was a ward of the city of London, the returning officer, the bailiff, being appointed by the lord mayor. Brewing being the major industry, it was usually represented by one and sometimes two brewers, the other Members being London merchants. All the candidates returned were apparently Whigs.
At George I’s accession the representation of Reigate was controlled by Sir John Parsons, a Tory who had bought the Reigate Priory estate in 1681, and Lord Somers, one of the Whig Junto, to whom William III in 1697 had granted the manor of Reigate, carrying with it the appointment of the returning officer. The sitting Members were Parsons himself and Somers’s nephew, James Cocks.
In 1715 both Haslemere seats were won by Whigs after a contest with two Tories. From 1722 they were held by James Oglethorpe, a neighbouring landowner, whose family had often sat for the borough, and Peter Burrell, a wealthy merchant, jointly for 32 years; but there were other rival interests, notably the Molyneuxes of Loseley, who were lords of the manor, and the Onslows of Clandon, who had often been returned for Haslemere. In 1727 there were at one time no less than seven candidates in the field;Alan Brodrick to Ld.
Guildford was dominated by the Onslows of Clandon, two miles from the borough, and always returned at least one member of the family.