Honiton

Honiton was a venal borough with a wide franchise. The principal interests were those of the Tory Courtenays of Powderham, lords of the manor since the fourteenth century, who appointed the portreeve, the returning officer of the borough, and the Whig Yonges of Colyton, near Honiton, who held the estate of Batishorn in the town, and commanded the popular vote.CJ, xx. 348; A. Farquharson, Honiton, 8-9, 37. After an uncontested by-election in 1724 a number of the inhabitant householders not paying scot and lot petitioned the Commons, claiming the right to vote. The House decided in their favour, extending the right of election to all inhabitant householders.CJ, xx. 366. Presumably this increase in the number of voters enabled James Sheppard, a government supporter, to defeat the Courtenays Tory candidate, Sir William Pole, who was awarded the seat on an unopposed petition in 1731 after Sheppard’s death. Sir William Yonge and the Courtenays continued to fill one seat each until 1747, when again a government Whig, John Heath, defeated the Courtenays’ nominee. The 2nd Lord Egmont in his electoral survey, c. 1749-50, describes Honiton as ‘between Sir William Yonge and the Courtenay family’.