“TO THE NOBILITY, GENTRY, CLERGY, AND FREEMEN OF THE ANCIENT CORPORATIVE TOWN OF GARRATT.
“My Lords and Gentlemen,
“Your Vote, Interest, and Poll (if needful) is earnestly desired for Thomas, Lord Shiner, to be your representative in Parliament, being a person zealously attached to the King and Queen, and their numerous offspring of Princes and princesses, and an enemy to all arbitrary Laws.
“His Lordship’s Committee for conducting the Election is held at the ‘Three Jolly Butchers,’ and ‘Black Moor’s Head,’ Brook’s Market, at which places his Lordship begs the audience of his Friends.
“N.B.—His Lordship’s colours are Blue and Orange.
“⁂ Carriages will be ready on the Day of Election.”
Those corrupted electors of Shoreham who resolved themselves into a purchasable community on their own account, were roughly handled by the parliamentary inquisitors, but the avowed and professional traffickers in venal boroughs seemed to conduct their trade openly, and, with the great parliamentary lights, unadmonished and unexposed. They were generally the agents of those who had secured the influence in the seats by various methods—some by inheritance, others by patronage, sometimes by purchase en bloc, but generally en détail. Men invested in boroughs and cultivated them for sale, secure of a profitable mart when the proper season arrived; the burgage-houses were bought and accumulated; “shambles on old foundations” carrying voting qualifications were secured; burgage tenures were bought up; voters were pensioned from year to year, the process varying according to the nature of the suffrage. As in the case of Sheridan’s expenses at Stafford, the independent electors were retained at a settled price per head. Sheridan’s cost him five guineas per burgess; Wilberforce found four guineas the price at Hull for a plumper. Southey says it rose to £30 a vote at Ilchester, Somerset, where the burgesses had a direct control over their borough; although the tariff ran high, the four candidates who recklessly bribed the constituents in 1774 lost their pains and money, petitions and counter-petitions establishing that the members returned and those who alleged they were unjustly rejected were alike so palpably culpable of corruption that the election was declared void. In 1826, Ilchester is given in the “Manual” as under the patronage of Sir W. Manners. Irrespective of the local and lesser bargains made with the mayors and burgesses, there was the “big business” conducted on behalf of the actual individual landholders of the place—those magnates set down in the election lists of constituencies as “patrons” of boroughs, the dispensers of seats.
For an instance of the facility which characterized the modus operandi, though “the prices ruled high” owing to extraneous demands, see the “Letters” of that skilled courtier, Lord Chesterfield, deeply versed in political chicanery and combination. In a passage of a letter dated Bath, December 19, 1767, he writes to that hopeful youth who by “Chesterfield’s Letters” was to be polished into a fine gentleman, and for whom a place in Parliament was a desirable opening—
“In one of our conversations here this time twelvemonth I desired my Lord Chatham to secure you a seat in the new parliament. He assured me he would, and, I am convinced, very sincerely.... Since that I have heard no more of it, which made me look out for some venal borough; and I spoke to a borough-jobber, and offered five and twenty hundred pounds for a secure seat in parliament; but he laughed at my offer, and said that there was no such thing as a borough to be had now, for the rich East and West Indians had secured them all, at the rate of three thousand pounds at least, but many at four thousand, and two or three that he knew at five thousand. This, I confess, has vexed me a good deal.”
Much has been said about “Old Sarum” (Wilts) as being typical of the unabashed and confirmed borough-mongering and corruption which existed not only in the last century, but, in fact, until the larger measure of Reform carried in 1832. Representative government, conducted on the principles which prevailed in “hole-and-corner boroughs” until the passing of that bill against which even Sir Robert Peel protested as a dangerous innovation, certainly, for the most part, had but a theoretic existence, as a review of the facts sufficiently demonstrates. Amongst the statistics given in Stockdale’s “Parliamentary Guide” (1784), Dr. Willis writes that the borough of Old Sarum was then reduced to one house. It returned members in 23 Edw. 1, and then intermitted until 34 Edw. 3, since which time representatives were returned until its disfranchisement. These were at first elected in the county-court, as was then customary; from 1688, the right of election was in “the freeholders being burgage-holders” and the number was seven. In 1826, when the last parliament of George IV.’s reign assembled, this state of things was unaltered, the patron was the Earl of Caledon, and the mysterious seven remained. New Sarum, otherwise Salisbury, which had taken the place of “Old Sarum,” received its privileges by letters patent, 2 Hen. 3, which conferred on the bishops and canons tanquam proprium dominicum; afterwards confirmed by charter 34 Edw. 1. In 1784, there were about fifty-six voters; the right of election being “in the select number, that is, the mayor and corporation.” The Earl of Radnor and G. P. Jervoise were the patrons in 1826, when Viscount Folkestone and Wadham Wyndham were returned by the fifty-four electors then set down as the suffrage-holders.
Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, was another scandalous and typical “pocket-borough” which obtained notoriety, especially at the time of the passing of Lord Grey’s Reform Bill, Sir Charles Wetherell being turned into satiric capital by Doyle (HB), in his versions of the “Last of the Boroughbridges.” The right of election was in the burgage-holders—a “pocket-borough” tenure, thus denounced by Charles James Fox: “If a man comes into parliament as the proprietor of a burgage tenure, he does not come there as the representative of the people,” as explained in the eloquent speech of the great Whig chief, on Grey’s motion for Reform, 1797. The Duke of Newcastle was the patron, and sixty burgage-holders returned two members. The constituency of Helston, where the franchise was originally invested in a corporation, under the Old Charter, had in 1790 dwindled down to one elector, to whose lot it fell to nominate two representatives.
The case of a “controverted election” at Hindon, Wilts, where the right of election was of an easy order, viz. “inhabitants of houses within the borough, being housekeepers and parishioners, not securing alms,” raised an altogether pretty scandal in the way of revelations on corrupt treating. The sitting members, returned in 1774, being Richard Smith and T. Brand Hollis, the unsuccessful candidates, James Calthorpe and Richard Beckford, were the petitioners on the ground that the former, by the bribery of themselves and their agents, had procured an illegal return. On the hearing of the petition it was discovered that all or the major part of the voters for all four candidates had been bribed, and the committee pronounced the election void. The candidates themselves had not only bribed, but thirteen electors, acting as agents, had also been employed to corrupt their fellow-voters. The committee resolved to disfranchise these electors:—
“A bill was then ordered to incapacitate from voting at elections of members of parliament 190 persons, besides the thirteen above-mentioned, out of 210 who had polled at the election.”
These persons appealed against the bill, and there being technical objections to the petitioners “being parties to and alike defendants in an indictment,” it was argued they “could not, without overturning the known rules of law and justice, be received as witnesses in this case.” By a tacit agreement the unfortunate cross-petitions were dropped the ensuing session, and two new writs were issued; meanwhile the attorney-general, on separate informations, proceeded against the four candidates (June, 1775) for bribery at elections, held to be a crime at common law independent of any statute against it. All the four informations were tried at the Lent assizes in the county of Wilts, March, 1775, before Baron Hotham. The two petitioners who were in the first instance responsible for this scrutiny were acquitted; Smith and Hollis, who had been returned, were found guilty, and were brought up to the Court of King’s Bench to receive judgment: this was on the 20th of May, the last day of the term, and the judges desiring time to consider the proper punishment, they were committed till the next term to the King’s Bench prison. Meanwhile, previous to this commitment, the new election for Hindon had taken place (May 16th), and Mr. Richard Smith was again returned. On the 7th of June, Smith and Hollis were again brought up for judgment, when they were each fined 1000 marks[57] and sentenced to prison for six months, and until they paid their respective fines; and it was ordered that Richard Smith should give security for his good behaviour for three years, himself in the sum of £1000, and two sureties each of £500.
A flagrant instance of boroughmongering was exposed during a parliamentary investigation into a case of controverted election at Milborne Port, Somerset, where the right of voting was, amongst others, in the capital bailiffs and their two deputies. The petition proposed to disqualify eleven votes upon the score of “occasionality,” and to object to eleven who voted for the sitting members and were disabled by a corrupt bargain made between Mr. Medlycott, the senior member, and Loyd, an agent of Lord North’s. There were nine bailiwicks in the borough, with a bailiff appointed for each. Mr. Medlycott had long been in possession of four of these, and the remaining five belonged to the family of Walters. A remarkable example of downright trading appeared as the case developed. In February, 1770, Loyd arrived at Milborne Port as the friend of Lord North. A meeting was held at Yeovil between the agent and the patron, two or three others being present, at the house of one Daniel; where a contract was duly drawn up, signed, and witnessed, by which Medlycott agreed to sell the borough, and to throw out his old friend, the Hon. Temple Luttrell, who was one of the persons presenting the petition, which revealed the underground workings of administrative jobbery. The writing drawn up at Yeovil purported to be the “memorandum of an agreement to defray the expenses of procuring a seat in parliament for any friend of Lord North, whom his lordship or Loyd should recommend.” To this end Loyd agreed to deposit fifteen hundred pounds in Daniel’s hands, to be employed in purchasing the family interest of the Walters in the remaining five bailiwicks for the use and at the risk of Medlycott, who stipulated to pay Loyd five per cent. for the money so advanced, until such time as Lord North’s friend should be seated peaceably fourteen days in parliament—the time allowed for petitioning. The paper was put into Lord North’s hands, who returned it to Daniel, without committing himself to any observation. On the faith of this instrument—
“The Walters’ property in the voters was transferred; the five bailiffs were nominated, and consigned to Medlycott’s interest, thus purchased by Loyd. But the patron of the borough, on assuming the undivided influence therein, in the spirit of friendship wrote to his colleague Luttrell on the subject, acknowledged this foul transaction, and urged the wretched excuse that his poverty, and not his will, consented.”
The counsel for the petitioners further said they would give evidence of the bribery, and several offers made, also of the treats given to influence the voters. The ministerial influence seems to have been paramount on this occasion; as the committee determined, in the face of the absolute documentary evidence, and other proofs of bribery, treating, illegal voting, and refusal to register legitimate votes on behalf of the petitioners, that the gentleman who had sold the seat in the borough to Lord North was—with the second ministerial nominee, brought in by his venality—duly elected. This borough of Milborne Port seems to have been a snug haven for nominees: in 1826 the patronage was at the joint disposal of the Marquis of Anglesea and Sir W. Coles Medlycott, and returned the Hon. Berkeley Paget and Lord Graves—proving the utility of “a stake in the country.” The warming-pan constituency was swept away, with similar anomalies, by the Reform Bill carried by Lord Grey.
In the general election of 1774 the contest for Westminster was marked by the unblushing exertion of much undue influence. Not only did two ducal houses bring all the weight of their purses and ministerial influence, adding to almost limitless resources such strong inducements as the Duke of Northumberland, with his metropolitan patronage, and the Duke of Newcastle, with his placemen, pensions, and ministerial patronage, could bring to bear for the return of younger scions of the two houses concerned; the royal authority was freely used, and the king’s servants, without, it was shown, any qualifications as voters, were allowed to record their voices for the return of the Court candidates. The famous election of 1784, although stronger in incident, must have been tame by comparison. Not only members of the royal household, but divers peers of the realm and lords of parliament publicly canvassed, and otherwise unduly interfered in the election, contrary to several express resolutions of the House. The candidates stood thus at the close of the poll:—Earl Percy, 4995; Lord Thomas Pelham Clinton, 4744; Lord Mountmorres, 2531; Charles Stanhope, Lord Mahon, 2342; and Humphrey Cotes, 130. A petition was presented by Lord Mountmorres and several electors of the city and liberty of Westminster against the return of Earl Percy and Lord T. P. Clinton, seeing that—
“the king’s menial servants, not having proper houses of their own within the city of Westminster, gave voices in the said election, contrary to an express resolution of the House; that peers and lords unduly interfered and tampered with the voters; that during the election, after the teste and issuing out of the writ, Lord Percy and Lord Thomas Pelham Clinton, by themselves or agents, were guilty of bribing, corrupting, and entertaining the voters, (who must have made a fairly good thing of the contest); and that they allowed to the electors, and several persons who had or claimed a right to vote, money, meat, drink, entertainment, or provision; and that by those, and other undue means, a majority of votes was procured for Lord Percy and Lord T. P. Clinton, so that they were returned, and the petitioners prayed such relief as upon examination should appear just.”
As bribery commissions were then constituted, the party in power generally managed to make disputed returns a means of strengthening their own majority, so that although the House took the pains to examine the several allegations, it was decided that the sitting members were duly elected.
On the respective counts it was found that there was no general determination as to the right of election in Westminster, but it seemed agreed that the suffrages were vested “in the inhabitants, householders, paying scot and lot;” that the king’s menial servants, not having proper houses of their own within the city of Westminster, were not entitled to vote—as they had done, on the pretence of being residents in the royal palaces of St. James and elsewhere. It was admitted that the following resolution, providing against the interposition of peers in elections for the Commons, had been renewed on the opening of the House, from session to session, since the Act was made, January 3, 1701:—
“Resolved that it is a high infringement of the liberties and privileges of the Commons of Great Britain for any lord of parliament or any lord-lieutenant of any county to concern themselves in the elections of members to serve for the Commons in parliament.”
The petitioners set forth that it would appear, by different allegations, that the rights of the election had been invaded in a manner highly alarming, so as to call for the interposition and censure of the House; but the report of the committee disposed of these objections by finding the petitioners were not able to prove any direct solicitation of the peers.
A similar objection was raised on the same general election as to the legal return of the sitting members for Worcester,—that a peer and lord of parliament had, by himself and his agents, interfered in the election by publicly canvassing and soliciting votes, and by using threats to intimidate freemen from voting for the petitioner, in violation of the privileges of the House and the freedom of election, and to the infringement of the rights of the Commons of Great Britain. Moreover, there was an allegation of bribery, and that conducted on a wholesale scale. The mayor, aldermen, and justices of the city, the town-clerk and many of the common council had sworn in, for several days before and during the election, many freemen (some hundreds) to be constables, under a promise that they would vote for the candidates chosen by the persons so influencing them, “for which they were to have certain rewards in money;” and that this money was afterwards paid to them out of the funds of the city, or by the two sitting members.
In transparent cases of bribery, when the committee of the “whole House” serving on these “controverted elections” decided to retain and confirm the sitting members, there seems to have been a convenient formula much resorted to in silencing those petitions brought on the grounds of corruption; for instance, after the general elections of 1774,—
“An objection was taken to the petitioners examining any witness as to the payment, till they should first bring proof of the agency. It was argued that the circumstances which would establish both points were so complicated that they could not be separated;”
ergo, all evidence on the points to be proved was technically excluded, and the petition was stultified.
It seems, also, to have been not unusual for high sheriffs to return themselves; for instance, in the controverted election case for Abingdon, Berks, March, 1774-5. The petitioner set forth that the member returned was then high sheriff for the county of Berks; his counsel arguing, “that by an express clause in the writ of election the choice of sheriffs is prohibited; and that this clause has made part of the writ for three centuries.” It was admitted that Sir Edward Coke, sheriff of Buckinghamshire, had been returned for Norfolk in the second year of Charles I., and that he sat till the dissolution of that parliament; but his right was questioned, and in the “Journals and Debates” he is invariably described as a member de facto. It was contended in reply, on the other side, that the sheriff was justified in his return, the wording of the writ not being taken literally, in any case such as “knights girt with a sword;” that Mr. Child, being sheriff of Warwickshire, was chosen and returned for Wells, in the county of Somerset; he was petitioned against, but was declared duly elected. It was also stated, on behalf of the controverted sitting member, that—
“since the statute of the 23rd Henry VI., the sheriff is in no respect the returning officer for boroughs; he is obliged to accept the return sent him, with his precept, and is merely the conduit-pipe to convey it to the clerk of the crown.”
The counsel for the member whose return was impeached further observed that if sheriffs could not be chosen members of parliament, the Crown would be able to prevent any one from being elected, by taking care to make him a sheriff before the election; by which means, in bad times, every friend to the rights of the people might be excluded from sitting in the House of Commons. On this occasion, as the high sheriff had returned himself, that is to say, for his own county, it was thought proper to decide that the election was void; thus, at the same time, disqualifying the petitioner as well, which, was seemingly unreasonable.
There were two petitions presented in reference to the controverted election at Morpeth, Northumberland, in 1774. On this occasion it was violence and intimidation more than corrupt and illegal practices—though all had been resorted to—which had unjustly influenced the return. The candidates were the Hon. William Byron, Francis Eyre, T. C. Bigge, and Peter Delme.
“It was proved by a number of witnesses, that, at the end of the Poll, the majority was declared to be in favour of Delme and Byron (a counter-petition set forth that a majority had been obtained for Delme by the corrupt practices of Byron), but that the returning officers were compelled to return Delme and Eyre: and it was also proved that, on the morning of the election, before it began, Eyre made an inflammatory speech to the people; that after the riot began, he having retired some time before, the returning officers sent him word they would return whom he pleased, and that an answer being brought them, that they must return himself and Mr. Delme, they complied, and the riot ceased.”
The decision of the committee was that the gentleman who, as master of the mob, had directed the storm, was not duly elected, while the Hon. W. Byron, who had found his way to the suffrages of the voters through their pockets, must be returned, together with his nominee, Delme, already seated.
At Petersfield, Hants, in 1774, the Hon. John Luttrell was unfortunate, and brought a petition against the two members returned, Sir Abraham Hume and William Jolliffe, the former being high sheriff for the county of Hertford, and both—
“having been guilty of divers acts of bribery, by money, meat, drink, reward, entertainment, and provision; and that James Showell, pretending to be mayor, had acted partially.”
Three or four witnesses were called to prove that gifts and promises had been made by Mr. Jolliffe in the presence of the other sitting member; in the course of this evidence—
“one Newnam was called to prove a declaration made to him by Brackstone a voter, about having got the promise of a house from Mr. Jolliffe for his vote.”
The committee resolved that the evidence was inadmissible on the grounds that—
“although the declaration (not upon oath) of a person who cannot be obliged to be a witness on the subject himself, is admissible in evidence to affect such person, yet is not admissible against a third party.”
Although the traditional figure of “Punch” is associated with punishments dealt out indiscriminately, it appears in the old electioneering days he was the agent for distributing illicit rewards for iniquitous acts. In the case of a “controverted election” for the borough of Shaftesbury (Dorset) the evidence produced vividly recalls Hogarth’s representation of an election broadside, “Punch, Candidate for Guzzletown,” introduced in his picture of “Canvassing for Votes.” After the general election, 1774, it was alleged that the sitting members, Sykes and Rumbold, by themselves or their agents, had been guilty of bribery, while it was attempted to be shown that Mortimer, who was the petitioner, had promised money to procure his election. The trial lasted four weeks, and among the points of evidence was the following indictment against the manœuvres of “Punch:”—Money, to the amount of several thousand pounds, had been given among the electors,[58] in sums of twenty guineas a man (654 votes were recorded in 1774; 532 being for Sykes and Rumbold). The persons who were entrusted with the distribution of this money, and who were chiefly the magistrates of the town, fell upon a very singular and absurd contrivance, in hopes of being able thereby to hide through what channel it was conveyed to the electors. A person concealed under a ludicrous and fantastical disguise, and called by the name of “Punch,” was placed in a small apartment, and, through a hole in the door, delivered out to the voters parcels containing the twenty guineas; upon which they were conducted to another apartment in the same house, where they found a person called “Punch’s secretary,” and signed notes for the value, but which were made payable to an imaginary character, to whom they had given the name of “Glenbucket.” Two of the witnesses, called by the counsel for the petitioner, swore that they had seen “Punch” through the hole in the door, and that they knew him to be one Matthews, an alderman of Shaftesbury; and, as the counsel for the petitioner had endeavoured to prove, an agent for the sitting members. It was said that those voters who admitted that they had received “Punch’s” money, had at the poll taken the bribery oath; it was contended for the other side that this was not legal evidence, that “it would be unjust to suffer what a man had said in conversation, and without an oath, to invalidate what he had solemnly sworn.” The committee determined that, with regard to supposed agents, evidence should be first produced to establish the agency, before the bribery by such persons should be gone into. In the sequel it was determined that the two sitting members were not duly elected, and that the petitioner should be returned. “Punch,” his exertions, and his profuse distribution of bribes proved a grievous failure.
Not only was bribery freely practised under one or another disguise, but even the result of the petitions and scrutinies were made the subject of corruption. In a controverted election for Sudbury, in 1780, for instance, the question was put to the committee, “Whether a person who had laid a wager of about £40 on the event of the petition was competent to give evidence in the cause?” the decision being in the affirmative. This Sudbury election was altogether an odd affair.
“The mayor was the returning officer, and the petitioner alleged that at the close of the poll it was declared in his favour, but that afterwards a scrutiny was illegally demanded, when the other candidates were pronounced duly elected.” It was given in the evidence “that the election began Sep. 8, 1780, about ten o’clock in the morning, and continued until it was dark: that the petitioner and his friends then desired the mayor to adjourn the poll to the following day; but that he refused, and proceeded all night by candlelight”—
the election ending between six and seven o’clock the following morning: “There was some tumult during a part of the poll, but that it was upon the whole a very peaceable election.” This goes far to prove that an election must have been an extraordinarily turbulent business a century back, when proceedings varied by “a tumult during part of the poll” was admitted to be peaceful in an unusual degree.
The Shaftesbury arrangements for presenting voters with packets of twenty guineas were outdone by the electors of Shoreham, who combined and resolved themselves into a joint-stock company, that they themselves might derive the advantage from their borough which in other cases was monopolized by the patrons, or holders of bailiwicks. The suffrages being originally in the mayor and burgesses, these electors, with a forethought superior to their generation, organized themselves into a compact league, or caucus, for electioneering purposes; but not with the intention of resisting and keeping out corrupt practices: the nature of this compact was disclosed during the hearing of the petition of Thomas Rumbold, on the election of a member in place of Sir Samuel Cornish deceased, and is set down in the Journals of the House (vol. 33), 1770-1. It appeared that the petitioner was duly elected, those who voted for him, to the number of eighty-seven, taking the bribery oath; as to the other candidates, thirty-seven votes were given for Purling and four for James; but the returning officer placed queries against the names of seventy-six of the petitioner Rumbold’s voters, and immediately on the close of the poll declared Purling duly elected. The fourth plea related that in this borough of Shoreham had subsisted for many years a body which had assumed the name of the “Christian Society,” though its organization was quite outside the diffusion of benevolence or Christianity; none but electors for representatives in parliament were admitted into the society, but the great majority of those who had votes were enrolled. A clerk was employed, and a meeting-place provided, where regular monthly and frequent occasional meetings were held, upon which gatherings a flag was hoisted to give notice to the members. About 1767, the members of the society entered into articles for raising and distributing small sums of money for charitable uses, these articles being designed to cover the real intention of the institution. The principal purpose of their meetings was for what they denominated burgessing business. An oath of secrecy was administered to all the members, who farther entered into a bond, under a penalty of five hundred pounds, to bring them all together with regard to burgessing; but otherwise the conditions of the bond were not allowed to appear. Upon any vacancy in the representation of the borough, the society always appointed a committee to treat with the candidates for the purchase of the seat, and the committees were constantly instructed to get the most money and make the best bargain they could; the society had no other purpose in view, and had no standing committee. On a false report of the death of the sitting member, Sir Samuel Cornish, the society was called together by the signal of the flag. On that meeting, which was numerously attended, the members declared that they would support the highest bidder; but some of their number, including Hugh Roberts, the returning officer impeached in the petition, expressed themselves offended at such a declaration, and declared that they were afraid of the consequences, for the society was nothing but a heap of bribery, and withdrew from the body; but two months later, one of these ex-members returning to a meeting of the society, was treated with harsh expressions, and was told he came among them as a spy. The society, however, continued to meet, their gatherings being more frequent near election time. It was said that, on the death of Sir Samuel Cornish, when a vacancy occurred, a committee was appointed to treat for the seat with the incoming candidate, the members of the said committee themselves being careful to abstain from voting, though they were there on the day of election; three days before the polling, the society was reported to be dissolved, in order to escape the odium of proceedings on petition, but that the meetings had been resumed since. In the face of this evidence, Mr. Purling’s counsel acquainted the court “that he could not carry his case further than by the witnesses examined, and could not impeach Mr. Rumbold’s election or affect his votes.” Although this closed the petitioning case, it was resolved that a further inquiry ought to be made into the transactions of the society, and a bill was ordered “to incapacitate certain persons from voting at elections,” together with an address to the king to order the attorney-general to “prosecute certain persons for an illegal and corrupt conspiracy in relation to the late election for Shoreham.” The bill was carried, printed, copies served on the offenders, passed through the House, agreed to by the Lords, and received the royal assent. The returning officer was ordered into the custody of the serjeant-at-arms; he was finally brought to the bar of the House to be reprimanded and discharged.
New Shoreham appears later under the patronage of the Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Egremont; the suffrage in 1771, after the extraordinary federation described in the foregoing, was extended to forty-shilling freeholders, “in the rape of Bramber,” in which Shoreham is situated.
R. B. Sheridan, the brilliant but unstable genius,[59] sat for Stafford from 1780, until that ill-considered attempt to represent the city of Westminster in the place of his deceased friend, the great Charles James Fox, which completed his financial ruin. “Sherry” was notorious for looseness in his accounts, and it is curious to find one of the few circumstantial statements of election outlays calculated upon this unbusinesslike representative’s borough expenses for the first parliament in which he represented Stafford—always a moderate place, as prices ruled,—Sheridan being brought in chiefly by the influence of the shoemakers, an extensive body there.