The right of election at Andover was in the corporation, who allowed John Wallop, Lord Lymington, a neighbouring landowner, to nominate one Member. The other seat was filled by their recorder, William Guidott, till 1727, when Charles Colyear reported to Walpole:
Tewkesbury elections were controlled by the corporation, who usually chose neighbouring landowners, notably the Dowdeswells of Pull Court, who had constantly represented the borough since the Restoration, the Martins of Overbury, who held one seat in every Parliament but one from 1734 to 1807, and Lord Gage of Highmeadow, who sat from 1721 to 1754. Though the corporation prided themselves on being ‘above corruption’, elections were in fact extremely expensive. In 1727 a prospective candidate wrote:
Owing to the size of the electorate there was no single dominant interest at Gloucester, though the Selwyns of Matson, who were said to govern the city through its reservoirs on their property,See SELWYN, John. held one seat almost uninterruptedly from 1727 to 1780. The Whig corporation had some influence through its power of creating freemen and its control of certain charities, but the majority of the population were Tories. All the Members were local men and every general election but one was contested.
Cirencester was controlled by two Tory families, each returning one Member: the Bathursts, who as lords of the manor appointed the returning officer, and the Masters, who had property in the borough. Normally their nominees were unopposed but in 1722 the Duke of Wharton, having quarrelled with Bathurst, promised to pay the poet Edward Young for opposing Bathurst’s brother, which he did unsuccessfully, never recovering his expenses from Wharton.C. H. Parry Mem. of Rev.
The parties at Bristol, a large open constituency, were evenly balanced, the Whigs having the support of the corporation and the wealthiest inhabitants,Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss; Short Case of the Bristol Election (1734). while the Tories had the better organization. In 1715, after an eight-day poll, the Whig candidates were returned by the sheriff, though they had been defeated at the poll by their Tory opponents,J. Latimer, Annals of Bristol in 18th Cent. 108-9. who petitioned the House of Commons three years in succession without securing a hearing.
From 1715 to 1734 the representation of Gloucestershire was monopolized by local Whig families. In 1715 Thomas Stephens of Lypiatt and Matthew Ducie Moreton were returned unopposed. Stephens died in 1720 and Moreton was made a peer in the same year. In the uncontested by-elections which followed, two other Whigs, Henry Berkeley of Berkeley and Edmund Bray of Great Barrington replaced them.
In 1715 the sitting Members for Maldon were two Tory lawyers, both local men: Thomas Bramston, whose family held the high stewardship of the borough, and John Comyns, who had sat for it in every Parliament but one in the previous reign. Both were re-elected after a contest but on petition the House of Commons unseated Comyns ‘for want of a qualification’, awarding the seat to one of the defeated Whig candidates, Samuel Tufnell.
The government interest at Harwich was based on the officers of the local customs and of the Harwich packet boats, the latter appointed by the Post Office. By giving these posts to members of the corporation the Government were usually able to secure the return of supporters. In 1715 the corporation returned two Whigs, Sir Philip Parker, a neighbouring landowner, and Thomas Heath, a London merchant, with no local connexions, who in 1717 were granted jointly a 31-year lease of the crown property in the town.Cal. Treas. Bks. xxxi.
Colchester was an open, corrupt, and expensive borough, usually represented by wealthy London merchants who had purchased Essex estates. Five of them— the two Rebows, Du Cane, Houblon and Olmius— were of Flemish or Dutch descent. Elections turned largely on the mayor, who was the returning officer, and without whose consent no new freemen could be created. Up to 1728 the Whigs monopolized the mayoralty and the representation of the borough. From 1728 to 1740 the Tories held the mayoralty, creating 83 freemen in 1728 and more in 1729.T. Cromwell, Hist. Colchester, ii.
In the 1715 Parliament one seat was held by Sir Richard Child, later Lord Castlemaine, a Tory who went over to the Whigs, the other successively by two Whigs, Midleton and Honywood. From 1722 the representation was divided between a Whig and a Tory till 1734, when two Tories were returned after a contest with Castlemaine’s son, standing as a Whig. At the county meeting before the 1741 election Martin Bladen reported, 17 July 1740:
