The corporation of Nottingham formed a self-perpetuating Whig and dissenting oligarchy which resisted all government except its own, acknowledging no patron. At the same time it made little attempt, until 1803, to manipulate the freemen, who in the last resort were reassured by its resistance to the enclosure of the common lands in which they were entitled to a stake, a resistance which however, cooped up a steadily increasing population.
On the face of it, the pact in operation since 1715, whereby the dukes of Newcastle and the Suttons of Kelham returned a Member each, was maintained in 1805 when the Sutton interest lapsed and was replaced by that of the 6th Baron Middleton, whose forebears had formerly intervened in borough elections. A fourth interested party, Sir Jenison William Gordon, 2nd Bt., was a consenting party to these arrangements.Nottingham Univ. Lib. Newcastle mss NeC 2672, 6580. But Newark remained, after all, an open borough with a sizeable electorate.
Henry Pelham Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle and high steward of the borough, had had to be satisfied since 1768 with the nomination of one Member for Retford, supported by the Pink party on the corporation, whereas his predecessor had named both. The other seat, in the hands of the ‘independent’ or Blue interest, was held from 1780 to 1790 by a local landowner, Sir Wharton Amcotts, a friend of the 3rd Duke of Portland. In 1790 he stood down in favour of his son-in-law, Sir John Ingilby, who was regarded as a ministerialist and did not seek Portland’s blessing. There was no contest. Maj.
The chief interests in Nottingham were, on the Whig side, those of the Duke of Newcastle, who succeeded the Duke of Kingston as recorder of the borough in 1726, of the corporation, a close body, and of the Dissenters; on the Tory side, those of Lord Middleton, whose estate of Wollaton was close to the town, and of a number of neighbouring country gentlemen.
In 1715 the Whigs at Newark were headed by the Duke of Newcastle, the lord of the manor of Newark; the Tories by Robert Sutton, the last Lord Lexington, who owned the neighbouring estate of Kelham, and Sir Thomas Willoughby, 1st Lord Middleton, who had recently purchased the local property of Sir Matthew Jenison, formerly M.P. for the borough. On Lord Lexington’s death in 1723 his interest passed to his son-in-law, the 3rd Duke of Rutland, whose wife inherited Kelham. After 1736 the vicar of Newark, Dr.
The chief interests at Retford in 1715 were those of the Duke of Newcastle, whose estates surrounded the borough, and of four country gentlemen: two Whigs, Thomas White and John Thornhagh; and two Tories, William Levinz and John Digby. ‘I found Levinz and Jack Digby in possession of it’, Newcastle wrote over half a century later. ‘I soon got in Jack White’s father and have, by degrees, totally got the better of Levinz and Digby’.Newcastle to Rockingham, 17 Nov. 1767, Add. 32987, f. 14. With Newcastle’s support White and his son, John, held one seat continuously from 1715 to 1768.
Seventeenth century Nottingham was among the most attractive of English provincial towns. Consequently there was little difficulty in finding gentry, resident or formerly resident, to represent it in Parliament, though they were never admitted to the corporation. Under Colonel John Hutchinson, it had been a parliamentary stronghold during the Civil War, and after the Restoration it was a notable centre for Presbyterianism. The dominant interest lay in the Pierreponts, a cadet branch representing the borough with very short intervals from 1640 to 1706.
The Earl of Rutland sought to make Newark a parliamentary borough in 1579, but the clause was struck out of the charter by Queen Elizabeth. The town was one of the principal Cavalier strongholds during the Civil War, and at the Restoration petitioned for enfranchisement and an enlargement of its boundaries in recognition of its loyalty. There seems to have been little pressure behind it, for not until three years had passed was it referred to Lord Treasurer Southampton.
No contested elections are known to have occurred in this period, and all the Members, except John Millington, seem to have retained their seats, once elected, until they died, left the country or chose another constituency. But the Retford freemen, if politically unsophisticated, were well able to set a value on their votes. Sir William Hickman, son of a local Royalist, had established a strong personal interest in the borough even before the Restoration. His colleague in 1660, Lord Kildare, was a stranger to the county who had married into the Holles family.
Nottingham, with a population of perhaps 3,500 by 1600, continued to flourish throughout the sixteenth century: both Leland and Camden were impressed by its evident signs of prosperity. The charter granted by Henry VI in 1449, which made the town a county in itself with its own sheriffs and escheator, was confirmed, with little or no change, by every Tudor monarch and remained the basis of government until the reign of Charles II.Nottingham Charters, ed. Stevenson, 48-70; CPR, 1446-52, pp.
