Bletchingley

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Elections

DateCandidate
1558/9JOHN BRACE 1
 WILLIAM PORTER 2
1562/3JOHN COKER
 JOHN ELSEDON
1571ROWLAND MAYLARD
 RICHARD BOSTOCK
24 Apr. 1572THOMAS BROWNE
 HENRY KENRICK
1 Nov. 1579RICHARD BOSTOCK vice Kenrick, deceased
1584RICHARD BOSTOCK 3
 JOHN COX 4
1586(SIR) THOMAS BROWNE
 JOHN COX
4 Nov. 1588RICHARD BOSTOCK
 JOHN COX
1593JULIUS CAESAR
 STEPHEN RIDDLESDEN
12 Oct. 1597CHARLES HOWARD II
 JOHN TREVOR
25 Nov. 1597SIR RICHARD TREVOR vice Howard, chose to sit for Surrey
11 Oct. 1601JOHN TURNER
 BOSTOCK FULLER

Main Article

Bletchingley formed part of the possessions of Sir Thomas Cawarden, who died in 1559. It was sold by his executors in 1560 to William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham, in whose family it remained for the rest of this period.5

Neither of the 1559 MPs had obvious connexions with the borough. However, John Brace, a London Exchequer official, may have owed his return either to Roger Alford, a fellow Exchequer official, or to Henry Polsted, a former MP for the borough, while William Porter, a Lincolnshire lawyer, may have had a London connexion with Cawarden, the borough owner. Neither of the 1563 MPs (John Coker and John Elsedon) has been identified. From 1571 onwards Howard influence dominated parliamentary elections at Bletchingley. Rowland Maylard (1571) was a servant of the Howard family as also was John Cox (1584, 1586, 1589). The and Baron Howard held the office of lord high admiral from 1585 and as such was responsible for the return of Julius Caesar (1593), an Admiralty judge and Stephen Riddlesden (1593), an Admiralty official. John Trevor (1597) was Howard’s secretary and later surveyor of the navy. Trevor’s brother, Sir Richard, replaced Charles Howard II, Lord Howard’s younger son, when he chose to sit for the county.

Richard Bostock (1571, 1581, 1584, 1589) was a local man on good terms with the Howards. His nephew and heir, Bostock Fuller, was returned in 1601 also with Howard approval. Thomas Browne (1572, 1586), who lived in Betchworth castle nearby, and John Turner (1601), a local man with property in the borough, also no doubt depended on Howard goodwill to secure their seats.

The remaining MP, Henry Kenrick (1572) has not been identified.

Author: R.C.G.

Notes

  • 1. E371/402(1).
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Browne Willis.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. CPR, 1558-60, p. 364.