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Reigate
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
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency Detail
Related Resources
Background Information
Right of Election:
in the freeholders
Number of voters:
about 200
Elections
| Date | Candidate |
|---|---|
| 16 Apr. 1754 | Charles Yorke |
| Charles Cocks | |
| 8 Dec. 1756 | Yorke re-elected after appointment to office |
| 24 June 1758 | Cocks re-elected after appointment to office |
| 27 Mar. 1761 | Charles Yorke |
| Charles Cocks | |
| 1 Feb. 1762 | Yorke re-elected after appointment to office |
| 23 Dec. 1765 | Yorke re-elected after appointment to office |
| 16 Mar. 1768 | John Yorke |
| Charles Cocks | |
| 4 Dec. 1772 | Cocks re-elected after appointment to office |
| 10 Oct. 1774 | John Yorke |
| Sir Charles Cocks | |
| 11 Sept. 1780 | John Yorke |
| Sir Charles Cocks | |
| 31 Mar. 1784 | William Bellingham |
| Edward Leeds | |
| 4 June 1787 | Reginald Pole Carew vice Leeds, vacated his seat |
| 18 Aug. 1789 | Samuel Hood, Baron Hood, vice Bellingham, appointed to office |
Main Article
The Yorke and Cocks families between them owned most of the freeholds in the borough, and each recommended to one seat. Though there was a good deal of rivalry and jealousy between their respective agents, there was a gentleman’s agreement ‘that each shall continue to bring in one Member for Reigate without contest or dispute from the other’;1 and there was no serious dispute or attempt at outside interference during this period.
Author: John Brooke
Notes
- 1. Philip Yorke to Ld. Sommers, 10 Apr. 1786, Add. 35641, f. 128.
