Another version is given in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1781, in which a writer says he was told, that about thirty years previously, several persons who lived near that part of Wandsworth which adjoins to Garrat Lane, had formed a kind of Club, not merely for the pleasures of the table, but to concert measures for removing the encroachments made on that part of the Common; and to prevent any others being made, for the future. When a sufficient sum of money had been subscribed amongst them, they brought an action against the encroacher, in the name of the president (or, as they called him, Mayor,) of the Club. They gained their suit, with costs, and, ever after, the president, was called "the Mayor of Garrat." This event happening at the time of a general election, the ceremony, which took place every new parliament, of choosing outdoor members for the borough of Garrat, was continued.
The earliest record of Members being chosen, is in 1747, when three Candidates for the honour appeared. Lord Twankum Squire Blow me down (Willis, a Waterman) and Squire Gubbins, (one Simmonds, a publican.) The "Clerk," and "Recorder," issued from an imaginary Town Hall. There were proper Hustings, at which an oath was administered to the electors which, according to Grose, was sworn on a brick bat—and the qualification was, that the juror had had an amour in the surrounding open fields.
There was a great deal of rough wit in the candidate's speeches, and Foote, Garrick, and Wilkes, were credited with writing their addresses. Foote even wrote a play, called "the Mayor of Garratt," which was produced at Drury Lane. There were elections in 1761, 1763, 1768, &c. That of 1781—was famous for the magnificence of its procession—having a real live man in armour. In 1784, Sir Jeffrey Dunstan (they all dubbed themselves knights) was elected to the honourable post, and he held it till his death in 1796.
This worthy needs a passing notice. His birth, and education, were but humble, for he was found, wrapped in a cloth, on the door step of a Church warden, of St. Dunstan's in the East—hence his name of Dunstan. He grew up deformed, and rickety, and, at the age of 12, was apprenticed to a greengrocer, for 9 years—but the servitude galled him, and he ran away, finding employment at Birmingham. He returned to London in 1776 and soon afterwards married—and had two daughters, who were really fine young women. He was squalid, and filthy, in his dress, and got his living by buying, and selling, old wigs. His humour, however, gained him his election for Garrett. The accompanying illustrations shew him in his ordinary dress, as "Old Wigs," and in the superb court suit which he sported at election times.
The Election, at last, led to such disgraceful scenes, that even the publicans, who were its chief mainstay, would no longer support it: and Sir Harry Dimsdale, holds the proud pre-eminence of being the last elected Member.
Sir Jeffrey Dunstan,—Court Dress.
ROYALTY.
Lives of the Georges, and their families, have been written ad nauseam, and I did not intend making any notes upon the Royal personages, then living—but I found some few paragraphs, which lie outside regular history, and may interest my readers.
"It was rather unfortunate for the Prince of Wales's proxy at the Court of Brunswick, that he should be attacked with the Gout, on the night of the marriage ceremony! Lord Malmesbury continued to be confined to his room when the last accounts came from Brunswick."—(Times, Dec. 15, 1794.)