Old Sarum

Double Member Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Right of Election:

in the burgage holders

Number of voters:

7

Elections

DateCandidate
19 Apr. 1754William Pulteney, Visct. Pulteney
 Thomas Pitt
18 Mar. 1755Sir William Calvert vice Pitt, vacated his seat
10 Dec. 1759Pulteney re-elected after appointment to office
30 Mar. 1761Thomas Pitt
 Howell Gwynne
17 Dec. 1761Thomas Pitt jun. vice Thomas Pitt sen., deceased
26 Apr. 1763Pitt re-elected after appointment to office
16 Mar. 1768William Gerard Hamilton
 John Craufurd
11 Oct. 1774Pinckney Wilkinson
 Thomas Pitt
11 Sept. 1780Pinckney Wilkinson
 Thomas Pitt
6 Jan. 1784John Charles Villiers vice Pitt, called to the Upper House
11 Mar. 1784George Hardinge vice Wilkinson, deceased
5 Apr. 1784John Charles Villiers
 George Hardinge
23 Feb. 1787Villiers re-elected after appointment to office
4 Dec. 1787Hardinge re-elected after appointment to office
1 Mar. 1790Villiers re-elected after appointment to office

Main Article

Old Sarum was the extreme example of a rotten borough: by 1754 nothing was left of it except its parliamentary representation; and the small number of burgages, all owned by the Pitts of Boconnoc, made complete control possible.

Author: John Brooke

Notes