Pembrokeshire

<p>The Owens of Orielton had controlled the Pembroke Boroughs constituency almost without interruption since 1626, their influence centring upon the county borough, which provided both the venue for the poll and the returning officer. Until Queen Anne’s reign they were also the dominant power in Tenby, like Pembroke itself an ‘agreeable town’. The second and smaller of the out-boroughs, Wiston, was the manorial preserve of an impoverished branch of the Wogan family, which as yet had played only an insignificant part in elections.

<p>Haverfordwest surprised Defoe: it was ‘a better town than we expected to find, in this remote angle of Britain . . . strong, well built, clean and populous’. The franchise had been settled by a decision of the Commons in 1663 in ‘the burgesses inhabitants’, that is to say the resident freemen, and ‘the inhabitants which paid scot and lot’ (a definition construed in 1715 to include freeholders as well), but it seems clear that the corporation still constituted the most important element in the parliamentary constituency.

<p>Two interests were dominant in Haverfordwest: those of the Edwardes family of Johnston and of the Philipps family of Picton Castle. But it was generally understood between them that William Edwardes should be allowed to represent the borough, in return for supporting the Philipps family in the county. This arrangement broke down in 1784 when Lord Milford, defeated in Pembrokeshire, canvassed Haverfordwest; and forced Lord Kensington (as Edwardes had become) to decline.

<p>Pembroke was under the influence of the Owen family of Orielton but their control of the constituency was not complete, for Wiston was ruled by the Wogan family. At the general election of 1761, when Sir William Owen and Sir John Philipps were contesting the county, Charles Townshend was instigated by Philipps and Wogan to make a bid for the boroughs by a large-scale creation of freemen in Wiston. Owen thereupon ceded the county seat to Philipps; Wogan called off Townshend; and the Owens were again secure in Pembroke Boroughs.</p>

<p>The borough of Pembroke had been the focus of the influence of the Owens of Orielton since the mid 17th century. It was on their doorstep and the corporation enfranchised voters in their interest only: the admission books were not even accessible to their opponents in the litigation that followed the contest of 1812. The Owens had not succeeded in their earlier attempts to disfranchise Wiston, the lesser contributory borough which was influenced by their enemy Lord Cawdor, lord of the manor by purchase from 1794, who at once created 600 burgesses.

<p>The leader of the Haverfordwest corporation, which had a decisive influence in elections, was Lord Milford, representing the long established interest of the Philipps family of Picton Castle. Since 1747, however, the seat had been held, apart from one break from 1784 to 1786, by the representative of the next strongest interest, William Edwardes, Baron Kensington. This arose from an arrangement whereby Kensington supported the Picton Castle interest for the county against the Owens of Orielton.<fn>R. D. Rees, ‘Parl. Rep. S. Wales 1790-1830’ (Reading Univ. Ph.D.

<p>Pembroke was controlled by the Owens of Orielton, Whigs, who always returned members of their family or nominees. In 1715 a Tory, Sir George Barlow, encouraged by a House of Commons decision in 1712 that the borough of Wiston had the right to vote in Pembroke elections,<fn><em>CJ</em>, xvii. 108-10.</fn> which weakened the Owen interest, unsuccessfully challenged Thomas Ferrers, the Owen candidate. Both sides created new freemen, but Barlow failed in his attempt to poll the Wiston voters.<fn><em>CJ</em>, xviii. 37; NLW, Gen. Coll.

<p>After the death of John Laugharne, who sat for Haverfordwest as a Tory throughout Anne’s reign, the borough was usually represented by members of three local families, Barlow of Slebech, Philipps of Picton Castle and Edwardes of Johnston. The only exception was John Barlow of Lawrenny, a Whig, who though defeated at the poll, was awarded the seat on petition at the by-election following Laugharne’s death in 1715.