Monmouthshire

At the beginning of the eighteenth century control of the county was in the Whig Morgans of Tredegar and in the Tory dukes of Beaufort, by virtue of their Raglan estate. During Anne’s reign John Morgan of Tredegar twice attempted to carry both seats but although he himself always headed the poll, he failed to secure the second one.NLW, Tredegar mss 255. In the favourable circumstances of 1715, however, Morgan and a kinsman, Thomas Lewis, were returned without opposition. On Morgan’s death in 1720, with his eldest son William still under age, the vacancy was filled by John Hanbury of Pontypool, chosen nominally ‘on the independent interest’.W. Coxe, Hist. Tour Mon. 206-7. Hanbury, an iron-manufacturer with extensive estates in the county, retained his seat at the election of 1722, when William Morgan replaced Lewis as the other Member.

This arrangement made no allowance for the influence of the Duke of Beaufort, who in 1727 supported the candidature of Robert Hughes of Trostrey, selected because he was a popular figure in Monmouthshire.D. Williams, Hist. Mon. app. 161-2. Morgan and Hanbury evidently formed a joint interest against Hughes, whose defeat by over 400 votes marked the beginning of the decline of the Beaufort power in the county. Although the Duke’s brother, Lord Charles Noel Somerset, took the seat vacated by Morgan’s death in 1731, there was clearly an understanding that he would retire in favour of a Tredegar nominee at the next general election, when he transferred to Monmouth, Thomas Morgan, William’s younger brother, taking the seat. Thereafter the Tredegar-Pontypool alliance was unchallenged for nearly 40 years. On Hanbury’s death in 1734, he was succeeded by his second surviving son, Charles Hanbury Williams. The sitting Members were re-elected without opposition in 1741, each paying half the total expense of £250.NLW, Tredegar mss 66/1-4, 105/157-8, 255, 257. Both stood down in 1747, when Williams was replaced by his elder brother, Capel Hanbury, and young William Morgan, now of age, replaced his uncle Thomas, who moved to Breconshire.