Great Grimsby

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Right of Election:

in the resident freemen

Number of voters:

about 150

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
29 Jan. 1715ROBERT CHAPLIN66
 JOSEPH BANKS35
 Arthur Moore29
 William Cotesworth23
11 Feb. 1721ARTHUR MOORE vice Chaplin, expelled the House56
 Robert Vyner14
23 Mar. 1722BENJAMIN COLLYER59
 CHARLES PELHAM56
 Arthur Moore17
 John Page15
 Joseph Banks 0
16 Aug. 1727JOHN PAGE85
 GEORGEMONSON84
 Richard Dalton10
27 Apr. 1734SIR ROBERT SUTTON 
 ROBERT KNIGHT 
4 May 1741ROBERT KNIGHT93
 WILLIAM LOCK82
 Mathew Boucherett62
 Charles Pelham42
29 June 1747WILLIAM LOCK 
 JOHN GORE 

Main Article

Grimsby was a venal borough, the resort of shady business men, including a strong South Sea contingent— Arthur Moore, expelled from his South Sea directorship in 1714; Sir Robert Chaplin, expelled from the House of Commons for his complicity in the South Sea scandal; John Gore, another guilty but less seriously implicated director, and his brother-in-law, Charles Pelham; Robert Knight, John Page, and Benjamin Collyer, respectively the son, son-in-law, and brother-in-law of Robert Knight, the absconding cashier of the Company. Other Grimsby M.P.s were Sir Robert Sutton, expelled from the House of Commons for the frauds in the Charitable Corporation, Joseph Banks, a land speculator, who out-smarted Moore at an election, and William Lock, a financier. The only Member not in business was George Monson, a barrister. From 1734 the most important electoral influence was that of Christopher Clayton, the town’s high steward, who supported Robert Knight. It was said that ‘through his interest one Member is constantly chosen and if he would exert himself it is not unlikely that both might’.1

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. G. Oliver, Grimsby, 123; Tennyson d’Eyncourt mss B24, Lincs. Archives Office.