Worcestershire

County

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Number of voters:

about 3,500

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
24 June 1790HON. EDWARD FOLEY 
 WILLIAM LYGON 
31 May 1796HON. EDWARD FOLEY 
 WILLIAM LYGON 
12 July 1802HON. EDWARD FOLEY 
 WILLIAM LYGON 
18 July 1803 HON. JOHN WILLIAM WARD vice Foley, deceased 
3 Mar. 1806 HON. WILLIAM BEAUCHAMP LYGON vice Lygon, called to the Upper House1502
 Hon. William Henry Lyttelton1145
7 Nov. 1806HON. WILLIAM BEAUCHAMP LYGON 
 HON. WILLIAM HENRY LYTTELTON 
12 May 1807HON. WILLIAM BEAUCHAMP LYGON 
 HON. WILLIAM HENRY LYTTELTON 
12 Oct. 1812HON. WILLIAM BEAUCHAMP LYGON 
 HON. WILLIAM HENRY LYTTELTON 
5 Dec. 1816 HON. HENRY BEAUCHAMP LYGON vice Lygon, called to the Upper House 
22 June 1818HON. HENRY BEAUCHAMP LYGON 
 HON. WILLIAM HENRY LYTTELTON 

Main Article

The leading interests were those of the Foley, Lygon, Ward, Lyttelton, Cocks and Coventry families. There was no change in the representation from 1775 until 1803, and no contest from 1741 until 1806. On the death of Foley the Whig Member in 1803, his nephew Lord Foley pressed Ward, Viscount Dudley’s son, then Member for Downton, to stand. This step was approved by the lord lieutenant, Coventry, and by the other Member, Lygon, and urged by his father, so Ward agreed, sure that it would be ‘extremely difficult’ to turn him out ‘at any future election’. The only opposition came from John Somers Cocks I*, Lord Somers’s heir, and he withdrew.1

Matters did not go so smoothly when Lygon obtained a peerage early in 1806. His heir, ‘possessed of a long purse’, was opposed by William Henry Lyttelton, who stood apparently without his father’s knowledge and needed a subscription, as well as by Robert Myddelton Biddulph*, but the latter withdrew. Lyttelton claimed a promise of support from the new premier Lord Grenville and reciprocated without a pledge. He could count on the support of Lords Foley, Dudley and Somers, but Lygon could add Lord Coventry’s and Lord Northwick’s interest to his own and prevailed after a seven-day poll.2

Lyttelton was so encouraged by his performance that Lygon began canvassing for the next election soon after his return. On 21 Apr. 1806 Lyttelton asked for a fresh assurance of government support, in conjunction with Ward, and complained of the hostility of Anthony Lechmere, receiver-general of the county, who supported Lygon and Ward. Ward disliked the situation:

Party runs so high that it is impossible to be neuter, and Lyttelton is my confederate ... Lyttelton is very popular from his last struggle with the Lygons ... Lyttelton is not the pleasantest man in the world to act with—he is hot-headed and self-confident beyond belief. Entre nous it is not improbable I may end by giving the thing up. I am pretty near sure of success, but it will cost £20,000, or some such pretty little sum; and, besides, I am by no means of an humour to sacrifice myself for two years merely for the honour of being a county Member ... My father is very eager on the subject, and cares not what money is spent.

Lyttelton urged Lord Grenville not to dissolve until after 6 Oct., when the new land tax assessment came into operation.3 He need not have feared; Ward withdrew, unable to make way for Lord Somers’s eldest son Edward Charles Cocks*, who was still not of age, and there was no contest. Nor did anything come of an effort to induce Col. James Wakeman Newport (of the county militia) to oppose Lyttelton in 1807.4

In 1816 Lygon was replaced by his brother on succeeding to the peerage. There was no effective opposition. Lord Somers claimed to have been urged to put up one of his sons, but his interest was not ‘centered’ on the county and he rallied to the Lygons, with a hint that he expected government to pay more attention to retrenchment.5 A year later Lyttelton had thoughts of retiring, through dislike of the expense of county Membership, and got Lord Foley to agree to put up one of his cousins, Edward or John Foley, instead; but they did not rise to the occasion and he stayed on. By then, he was confident, his own interest was a force to be reckoned with, though Foley’s had been his mainstay when he first offered. Foley’s cousin Winnington replaced him in 1820, when Ward declined the opportunity to make a comeback.6

Authors: M. J. Williams / R. G. Thorne

Notes

  • 1. The Times, 30 June; Wilts. RO 490/1373, Ward to E. Bouverie, 1 July, Bouverie to Radnor, 3 July 1803; Ward, Letters to ‘Ivy’, 18; Pole Carew mss CC/L/39, Somers to Pole Carew, 22 Feb. 1806.
  • 2. Add. 29181, ff. 94, 100, 106; Madresfield mss, Mence to Beauchamp, 26 Feb.; Herts. RO, Baker mss, Baker to his son, 24 Feb.; Fortescue mss, Lyttelton to Grenville [24 Feb.], 15 Aug. 1806.
  • 3. Fortescue mss, Lyttelton to Grenville, 21 Apr., 15 Aug. 1806; Ward, 19.
  • 4. Fortescue mss, Somers to Grenville, 1 Dec. 1806; Glocester Jnl. 18 May 1807.
  • 5. Madresfield mss, Northwick to Beauchamp, 1 Nov., Somers to same, 5 Nov., Pyndar to Lygon, 10 Nov. 1816.
  • 6. Bagot mss, Lyttelton to Bagot, 31 Mar. 1818; Hants RO, Tierney mss 48; Ward, 305.