Commons 1690-1715

Browne Willis* wrote of Thirsk in the early 18th century:

There are two towns viz Old and New Thirsk . . . being divided only by a rivulet . . . New Thirsk . . . has a broad square, St. James’ Green. This being the principal part of the town, the Members of Parliament are after their election in New Thirsk carried hither . . . The two Members of Parliament are chosen by the burgage tenures of Old Thirsk only, which are 48 in number. They poll in the town hall or session house in New Thirsk.

The right of election at Scarborough was in the corporation only, which consisted of two bailiffs, two coroners, four chamberlains and 36 capital burgesses. On occasion attempts were made to forward the claims of the freemen to vote in elections, but at no point during this period were such claims successful. Owing to the reliance of the borough’s MPs on the corporation for their election to Parliament, it was not unusual for them to receive various requests from the corporation. Defoe, Tour ed. Cole, 656; A. Rowntree, Scarborough, 90; Quinn, 36–39; Bodl.

The lord of the manor of Ripon was the archbishop of York, while the corporation, consisting of a mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 assistants, greatly influenced elections. A contemporary described Ripon as being ‘in a great measure dependent upon the archbishop of York, and influenced by the collegiate church there, which is wholly at his disposal’. Living in the town and with a natural interest for one and sometimes both seats were the Jennings family.

Defoe described Richmond, and the surrounding areas, as being full of

clothing [manufacture], and all the people clothiers; here you see all the people, great and small, a knitting; and at Richmond you have a market for woollen or yarn stockings, which they make very coarse and ordinary and they are sold accordingly.

During James II’s reign Pontefract’s corporation, which consisted of a mayor elected annually by the borough’s burgesses, a recorder and 12 aldermen, was remodelled on three separate occasions. The extent of the confusion this created in corporate government was indicated by the three large-scale re-elections of existing aldermen between 1688 and 1691 in an effort to secure the legal standing of the corporation in accordance with the 1676 charter. Corporate disputes were, however, common throughout the 1690s.

The bishop of Durham was lord of the manor of Northallerton, at whose court the returning officer was chosen. In the early 18th century Browne Willis* noted that there were 220 houses in the town,

of which all but 23 are borough houses and have votes for Members of Parliament. In the middle of the street is an ordinary sessions house where the Members are chosen who, having bought up considerably the better half of the burgage tenements, thereby secure their elections.

Defoe found the town remarkable for its religious and party-political profile:

Malton was a ‘small market town’ which had no corporation, and was governed instead ‘by a bailiff who, with the burgesses of the borough, elect the Members of Parliament’. When Celia Fiennes visited it in 1697, she described it as

Browne Willis* described Knaresborough as ‘a well built town and hath a good market’. At the Restoration, the 1st Earl of Burlington (Richard Boyle†), had been granted the hereditary office of steward of the honor of Knaresborough and constable of the castle, which descended in 1698 to his grandson the 2nd Earl (Hon. Charles Boyle I*), and enabled him to nominate the bailiff, who acted as returning officer. There was no corporation and the bailiff elected the Members with the burgage holders.

In the late 17th century Hull was developing into one of the most important and prosperous towns in Yorkshire. The strategic importance of Hull had been demonstrated during the Civil War, so that it was natural that the town should have one of the strongest garrisons in England. However, Hull’s growing importance in the late 17th century was primarily due to an economic revival in the locality.

Browne Willis* described Hedon as no longer ‘a fair haven town’, but one standing about a mile within a creek overgrown ‘with flags and reeds and the haven is very sadly decayed’. Defoe’s prediction that its former prosperity as a port might be revived, so that it would one day rival the neighbouring town of Kingston-upon-Hull, was never realized, and it owed its prosperity to elections rather than to trade. Members of Parliament had to purchase their freedom before being chosen – at a price set by the corporation.