Borough

In 1754 the foremost interest at Great Bedwyn was in Lord Bruce, who owned the estate of Tottenham Park; next came Lord Verney, who in 1752 had bought the manor of Stock. There was also a number of independent burgages.

The borough was usually dominated by the families of leading clothiers, with their headquarters in London and estates in the neighbourhood, and was managed by its recorders in whose choice the clothiers had no doubt a decisive voice. John Garth was recorder of Devizes 1732-64 and Member 1740-1764, and was succeeded by his son Charles, recorder 1765-84 and Member 1765-80. William Willy, a leading clothier, sat for the borough 1747-1765, and was succeeded by his nephew James Sutton (son of a Devizes clothier) who represented Devizes 1765-80.

Anthony Duncombe, M.P. for Downton from 1734 until created Lord Feversham in 1747, leased the manor of Downton (with the appointment of the returning officer) from the bishop of Winchester (the lord of the manor), and owned a majority of the burgages. Until his death in 1763 he controlled Downton without any serious opposition.

Chippenham is a rare example during this period of a burgage borough which had not been closed up. The borough had patrons, but no single individual held enough burgages to reduce the smaller holders to insignificance; these moreover included a number of substantial local merchants who by banding together could prevent the borough from being turned into private domain. One seat was held 1737-80 by Edward Bayntun Rolt, the other throughout the period, with a break of five years, by the Fludyer family.

The nature of the franchise made Cricklade a difficult borough to control, no single interest ever predominated, and the electorate was venal. Before 1754 most of its Members were local men or owned property in the neighbourhood. The chief interest was in the Gore family, who owned the lordship of the borough and hundred of Cricklade, and had the right of appointing the returning officer.

In 1754 the leading interests at Calne were in Thomas Duckett, who owned the manor of Calne and Calstone, and William Northey, who owned the prebend manor of Calne. In January 1754 John, 1st Earl of Shelburne, acquired Bowood and with it a foothold in the borough, which he and his son proceeded to extend during the next ten years. In 1761 William, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, bought the estate of Bremhill for £57,000; in 1763 the manor of Calne and Calstone for £28,000; and in 1765 the prebend manor for £12,000.

In 1725 Henry, 3rd Viscount Lonsdale, and Sackville, 7th Earl of Thanet, made an agreement for their joint lives whereby each was to nominate one Member, the mayor in turn, and the aldermen and councilmen pari passu; neither to buy burgages without notice to the other. On Lonsdale’s death in 1751 Mrs. Lowther, mother and guardian of Sir James Lowther, 5th Bt., renewed the agreement.

Warwick was virtually a scot and lot borough. Oldfield wrote about it in 1792:Boroughs, iii. 80. ‘There have been frequent struggles here between the Earl of Warwick ... and the popular party.’ In 1754 its patrons were Lord Brooke (later Earl of Warwick) and Lord Archer. In 1774 both seats went to members of Warwick’s family; which led in 1780 to a revolt of the independent party and the loss of one seat to Robert Ladbroke, a London banker with an estate in Warwickshire.

Coventry had a population of about 12,000 in 1754 and an electorate of about 2,500—one third of them non-resident. Its politics, generally conducted without much reference to national affairs, were on a corporation and anti-corporation basis; and elections were riotous and expensive. Lords Craven, Archer, and Hertford at different times concerned themselves with the borough; but it had an unsavoury reputation and the Warwickshire country gentlemen steered clear of it.

About the middle of the eighteenth century New Shoreham was notorious for its corruption. On 8 Nov. 1753 William Michell, one of the Duke of Newcastle’s agents in Sussex, wrote to him about a conversation Michell had had with Harry Bridger, one of the leading men in Shoreham:Add. 32733, f. 222.