Hampshire

Having once elected MPs in conjunction with Newport in 1295, Yarmouth had allowed its representative status to lapse, until in 1584 this was restored at the instance of Sir George Carey (from 1596 2nd Baron Hunsdon), captain of the Isle of Wight. Returns were made by the mayor and burgesses, who, at any rate in 1584, 1597 and 1601, sent them blank to Carey. Only Dillington (1593) was a local man and he must have been acceptable to Carey when he was returned, though he quarrelled with him later, accusing him of tyranny.

Southampton was a corporate town and formed a county of itself. Its principal officers were a mayor, a sheriff, two bailiffs, a steward or treasurer, a recorder or town clerk, and his deputy, aldermen and 12 or more ‘assistants’.

The borough of Stockbridge formed part of the duchy of Lancaster honour of King’s Soreborne, which was ‘farmed’ throughout Elizabeth’s reign by the Gifford family. The borough officials (a bailiff, serjeant and constable) were elected annually at a court leet held before the steward. This officer was formerly chosen by the bailiff but in Elizabethan times was appointed by the duchy at the nomination of the farmer. George Kingsmill, a relation of the Giffords, became steward in 1579. William, 3rd Lord Sandys, held the manor of Stockbridge on a long lease from the duchy.

Newtown was a borough or fee farm held of the manor of Swainstone, formerly owned by the bishop of Winchester, and now in the hands of Sir Thomas Barrington. It received its first charter in 1393 and this was said to have been confirmed on 7 July 1598. Though not incorporated, the borough annually elected a mayor. In Tudor times it was completely decayed.

Petersfield was a non-incorporated borough, owned by the Weston family until they sold it in 1597 to Thomas Hanbury, an Exchequer official.VCH Hants, iii. 114-17. Sir Henry Weston sat for Petersfield in 1559, 1563 and 1584, and his son, Richard Weston I, sat in 1593. They used their influence to return a relative by marriage, Benjamin Tichborne, in 1589, and two outsiders, Ralph Bourchier, a Yorkshire gentleman, in 1572, and (Sir) Walter Covert, a Sussex landowner, in 1593.

Portsmouth was a dockyard town, and the captain of the dockyard was frequently the parliamentary patron. Sir Adrian Poynings was responsible, in all probability, for the return of ‘Customer’ Smythe in 1563. Poynings’s successor, Sir Henry Radcliffe, came in himself in 1572, brought in his relations Thomas and Edward in 1584 and 1593 respectively, and may have been responsible for the return of the gentleman pensioner Robert Colshill in 1572.

In this period Lymington was a mesne roeshe borough with a mayor, recorder, town clerk, serjeant and burgesses. The high steward was Sir Henry Wallop, whose son Henry was joined with him in the office in December 1594. In 1600 the manor and borough were granted to Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham.

Newport was a ‘revived’ borough in the sense that it had once, in 1295, sent representatives to Parliament in conjunction with Yarmouth. At the time of its enfranchisement in 1584 ‘at the special instance and procurement’ of Sir George Carey, captain of the island, Newport is said to have promised Carey the nomination to one seat for his lifetime. In the event only two Newport MPs in this period were local men, Hardy and James, and these were no doubt acceptable to Carey. All the others were nominated by him.

Early in Elizabeth’s reign Andover instituted the office of high steward, the Earl of Leicester being the first incumbent in 1574. Leicester’s successor is not known, but in April 1597 the Earl of Essex was appointed. While in office, Essex was responsible for obtaining a new charter for the town in 1599. After his fall, the office may have remained vacant for a while, but by 1604 it was held by the Earl of Southampton.

By 1509 Winchester had been in decline for two centuries. Leland remarked on the number of old buildings in the city, with its many churches and hospitals, and the ancient walls, and Winchester was included in the Act for urban renewal of 1540 (32 Hen. VIII, c.18). A petition of 1450 claiming that over 900 houses had fallen down was probably exaggerated, but in 1524 the city had only 329 taxpayers with another 266 or more in the suburbs.