The franchise at Knaresborough was derived from the burgage tenements, variously estimated from 82 to 88; but plural voting was not allowed, and during this period temporary transfers for electoral purposes became the practice. The strongest burgage interest was held by William Stockdale, who represented the borough throughout the period.
By the charter of 1440 Hull was separated from Yorkshire and governed by a corporation, consisting of the mayor, 12 aldermen, two chamberlains, and the sheriff, who acted as returning officer. The office of high steward enabled the borough to acquire a patron at Court. A major commercial centre with an extensive hinterland, it ranked fourth among the outports in volume of trade after the Restoration. The customs house and the large garrison provided the basis for the government interest, usually exercised by the governor.
The corporation of Hedon, which controlled the freeman roll, consisted of the mayor, who acted as returning officer, nine aldermen, and two bailiffs. The borough had been controlled by the Constables in Tudor times and the Hildyards before the Civil War; but both were driven out of politics by recusancy. Hugh Bethell of Rise controlled one seat until his death in 1679; but the most remarkable feature was the interest gained by a courtier, Henry Guy from Hertfordshire, as farmer of the Yorkshire excise.G. Poulson, Holderness, ii. 140-2; G. R.
Towards the end of the period it was asserted that ‘the queen dowager always recommends one to be chosen’ at Boroughbridge, the bailiwick forming part of her jointure. But the return in 1661 of Robert Long, surveyor to Queen Henrietta Maria, is the only one that can be certainly ascribed to this interest, and it is clear that the local magnate families were more important. The Stapletons of Myton may already have owned burgages in the borough, but after the Restoration they were eclipsed by the Mauleverers, who leased the mills, and Sir Henry Goodricke of Ribston.
The corporation of Beverley consisted of the mayor and 12 ‘life governors’ to whom were added 13 ‘freemen’ elected annually by the companies from a list of 26 submitted by the ‘governors’. For most of the period Michael Warton, as lord of the manor, was content to divide the borough with Sir John Hotham of Scorborough, a prominent local landowner.
The right of election at Aldborough originally lay in the holders of nine burgages, which at the outset of the period were each owned separately. John Wentworth of Woolley had bought the manor in 1653, and the bailiff, who acted as returning officer, was chosen in his court leet; but he did not own any of the burgages, and much of the history of the borough in this period is concerned with his attempt to establish electoral control by widening the franchise. Sir John Reresby’s Memoirs, written after the events described, give a detailed account of this struggle.
York is fortunate in having records sufficient in quality and quantity to permit a more detailed constituency account than is usually possible for this period. With an estimated population of over 10,000,VCH York, 122. it was the second city of the realm, and its representatives sat in the House of Commons, with those of London, next to the Privy Councillors.Neale, Commons, 365. For all this, it cannot be said to have added to the stature of the Elizabethan House of Commons.
A borough by prescription, Thirsk’s government comprised a bailiff, elected annually, and, at the beginning of the sixteenth century and probably later, two constables. Returns were made by the burgesses and ‘boroughmen’.
After Henry VII quashed Scarborough’s short-lived charter of incorporation of 1485, the governing body of the town reverted to its earlier form, namely, two bailiffs, four chamberlains, two coroners, and 36 capital burgesses. The town also had a recorder and, in the last years of the sixteenth century at least, a high steward. Parliamentary returns were made by the bailiffs, burgesses and ‘communitas’.
Ripon, ‘a town within the liberty of the archbishopric’ of York, was governed during the Elizabethan period by a ‘wakeman’ and his assistants. The archbishop’s officer in the borough was the high steward of the liberty of Ripon. Sir William Mallory held the post probably from 1570 and certainly by 1598. The electorate was small.
