England

London was probably the most politically conscious constituency in Great Britain, and political movements emanating from London affected the neighbouring constituencies of Westminster, Southwark, Middlesex, and Surrey. The franchise was not as wide as that of the freeman boroughs, and did not include the labouring classes; but only Westminster, among the urban constituencies, had a larger electorate. In its court of aldermen and common council London had an elective system of local government, which could be used to organize and channel political agitation.

Elections in London were comparatively democratic, owing to the size and character of the electorate, which consisted mainly of small merchants, shopkeepers, and master craftsmen. The Government had a certain amount of influence through the number of voters who were

The market town of Stamford, incorporated in 1462, was governed by an alderman and 12 comburgesses, assisted by 12 capital burgesses. Election procedure in the Elizabethan period remains obscure, but two of the four surviving returns contain the names of the alderman and of more than a score of burgesses—perhaps the members of the council. Only one name, that of Francis Harington in 1572, appears to have been inserted in a different hand. The surviving returns are those concerning 1559, 1572, 1597 and 1601 Parliaments.