Borough

Wilton was a pocket borough of the Earl of Pembroke. However, it required care and attention. In September 1783 Lord Pembroke wrote that it stood upon a ‘very ticklish and slender’ foundation,Pembroke Pprs. ii. 233. but the creation of a batch of new burgesses next month confirmed the Herbert supremacy. In the earlier part of the century most of the burgesses were local men in modest positions (several could not sign their names in the corporation’s minute books). It became Herbert practice to pack the corporation with relatives and friends, who were more reliable.

At the beginning of the 18th century the chief interest was in the St. John family, seated three miles from the borough at Lydiard Tregoze. But following Bolingbroke’s flight to France in 1715 this interest declined, and on his return was not wholly restored.

Salisbury was a dignified, independent borough, with a corporation consisting largely of small gentry and substantial tradesmen. Bribery was unknown, and even canvassing was carried on discreetly. It was considered an honour to represent the borough, and its Members were invariably local men.

In 1754 the Earl of Abingdon owned the majority of the burgages at Westbury, yet his hold on the borough was very tenuous. The borough was difficult to control because the right of voting lay in the lessee of the burgage, not the owner; and because the practice had been to grant long leases, which reduced Abingdon’s hold on his tenants. ‘As most of the tenants were poor, it afforded great scope for any adventurer to fight his Lordship with his own weapons by buying off his tenants.’‘Case of the Borough of Westbury’, 1767, Bodl. Top. Wilts. c.5.

The corporation of Marlborough was a small, self-electing body, which had arrogated to itself effective power over the creation of freemen. Throughout this period Marlborough was a pocket borough of Lord Bruce (created in 1776 Earl of Ailesbury), whose seat at Tottenham Park was five miles from the town. The Duke of Marlborough owned property in the borough, and in 1762 threatened to ‘exert his influence in elections’.

Old Sarum was the extreme example of a rotten borough: by 1754 nothing was left of it except its parliamentary representation; and the small number of burgages, all owned by the Pitts of Boconnoc, made complete control possible.

Throughout this period Ludgershall was a pocket borough of the Selwyns of Matson, who owned the manor and a considerable amount of property in the town. The franchise was peculiar, comprising all who owned an ‘estate of inheritance’ in the borough. Ludgershall could never be regarded as absolutely safe, but there was no contest between 1747 and 1791.

Malmesbury was one of the smallest corporation boroughs in the country, yet very difficult to control. The chief interest was in the high steward, elected annually by the corporation; and the borough was usually managed by his deputy. There was a regular scale of payments to the burgesses.

In the early part of the eighteenth century the family of Ashe owned a majority of the burgages at Heytesbury. On the death of Edward Ashe in 1748 the property was bequeathed first to his nephew William, and failing his line, to the heirs of Edward’s sister, Elizabeth, who had married Pierce A’Court. William died two years later without issue, and control of the borough passed to Pierce A’Court, the elder son of Elizabeth.

Most of the adult male inhabitants of Hindon had the right to vote; and the size of the electorate made effective control difficult, yet was sufficiently small to encourage the attempt. In the early part of the 18th century the chief interest was in the Calthorpe family, lessees of the manor of Hindon, who first sat for the borough in 1698.