County

The principal interests in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright belonged to: the earls of Galloway; their relations, James Murray of Broughton and the Stewarts of Castle Stewart; the Gordons of Kenmure; the Maxwell family, whose chief was the representative of the attainted 5th Earl of Nithsdale; the Heron family, and their kinsman John Ross Mackye; the Earl of Selkirk, son of a Jacobite; and the Duke of Queensberry. Almost all these interests overlapped into the neighbouring counties of Wigtown, Dumfries, and Ayr. Many of the smaller landowners were Catholics or had old Jacobite connexions.

Yorkshire was the largest constituency in Britain, and its size ensured its independence. Of the three Ridings the West was the most considerable, containing about half the number of voters in the county. The leading aristocratic interest, that of the Marquess of Rockingham, was located for the most part in the West Riding; but no one interest alone could return a Member for Yorkshire: it had to win the support of the independent country gentlemen and the woollen manufacturers of the West Riding, already by 1754 a powerful electoral force.

There was no contest for Worcestershire between 1741 and 1806, and during this period the representation of the county was settled amicably at the county meeting. The Foley family had probably the largest interest, but it was not such as to dominate the county.

The county of Wiltshire was famous for its ‘independency’. The sons of peers were never elected, and although the nobility exercised considerable influence, they did it with discretion. The Bruces and Herberts held county positions similar to those of the Berkeleys and Beauforts in Gloucestershire, but whereas the latter dominated the representation of their county, in Wiltshire the peers were confined to their family boroughs.

Oldfield wrote about Westmorland in 1792:

This small county is as much under the command of an individual as the most rotten borough in the kingdom. The great estates which the Earl of Lonsdale possesses are sufficient to procure a passive obedience to the dictatorial authority of his Lordship.

The leading noblemen in the county of Warwick were Lord Craven, Lord Hertford, Lord Warwick, and Lord Aylesford. The representation was in the hands of the gentry, the leading family being the Mordaunts of Walton, who held one seat for 82 years between 1698 and 1820. The most significant feature of the county’s parliamentary history 1754-1790 was the growing influence exerted by Birmingham and the manufacturing districts of the north.