(A) Horsham election petition.

Lord William Gordon and James Baillie, esq., and certain electors in their interest, petitioned in 1790 against the return of Timothy Shelley and Wilson Bradyl, esqrs. The petition was renewed the second session. A committee to try this case met Feb. 16, 1792. The petitions were the same in substance, stating, that the election for Horsham was held June 19, 1790; that Drew Mitchell and John Rawlinson, the baliffs, acted with gross injustice and partiality in favour of the sitting members: that on a poll being demanded, they appointed the Duke of Norfolk’s steward, Thomas Charles Medwin, and James Robertson, the steward’s clerk, to be the poll-clerks, who rejected legal votes in favour of the petitioners, and received illegal votes for the sitting members, by which means they procured a colourable majority.

The final numbers on the poll were—

T. Shelley, esq.25
W. Bradyl, esq.24
Lord W. Gordon20
J. Baillie, esq.9

On the 8th of March, 1792, the chairman of the committee reported to the House, that the petitioners were duly elected, and ought to have been returned, and that the sitting members were not duly elected, and ought not to have been returned.

That neither the petitions nor the opposition to them appeared to be frivolous or vexatious. The committee also came to a resolution, which was not reported to the House, that Drew Mitchell and John Rawlinson, the baliffs and returning officers were reprehensible for their conduct. The numbers, according to the votes allowed legal by the committee, were—

Lord W. Gordon15
J. Baillie, esq.14
T. Shelley, esq.10
W. Bradyl, esq.9