East Grinstead

The predominant interest at East Grinstead was in the Duke of Dorset, the lord of the manor, who owned most of the burgages there.W. H. Hills, Hist. East Grinstead, 43-44, 50. Except in 1727, when he nominated both Members, he shared the representation successively with the Tory Conyers and the Whig Webster families, both of whom also owned property in the town. The only threat of opposition occurred at a by-election in 1750, when Lord Hardwicke, whose son was being put up by the Duke of Dorset, learned that

my Lord Middlesex is at the head of this against his father, and the name of his master [the Prince of Wales] is openly made use of to countenance it.Hardwicke to Newcastle, 3 Aug. 1750, Add. 32722, f. 42.

But on being canvassed on the Prince’s behalf Sir Thomas Webster, whose son held the other seat, was ‘so firm and his negative so flat that ... he will have no more messages from that quarter’.Dorset to Hardwicke, 12 Aug. 1750, Add. 35591, f. 98.