Newtown I.o.W.

Borough

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

Background Information

Right of Election:

in the burgage holders, being freemen

Number of voters:

39

Population:

[of Shalfleet parish] (1801): 626

Elections

DateCandidate
18 June 1790SIR RICHARD WORSLEY, Bt.
 JOHN BARRINGTON
26 Aug. 1791 WORSLEY re-elected after vacating his seat
28 June 1793 GEORGE CANNING I vice Worsley, vacated his seat
27 May 1796SIR RICHARD WORSLEY, Bt.
 CHARLES SHAW LEFEVRE
25 Feb. 1801 SIR EDWARD LAW vice Worsley, vacated his seat
5 May 1802 EWAN LAW vice Law, appointed to office
7 July 1802SIR ROBERT BARCLAY, Bt.
 CHARLES CHAPMAN
5 June 1805 JAMES PAULL vice Chapman, vacated his seat
3 Nov. 1806GEORGE CANNING I
 SIR ROBERT BARCLAY, Bt.
1 Apr. 1807 CANNING re-elected after appointment to office
7 May 1807BARRINGTON POPE BLACHFORD
 DUDLEY NORTH
23 Feb. 1808 HON. GEORGE ANDERSON PELHAM vice North, vacated his seat
12 Oct. 1812BARRINGTON POPE BLACHFORD
 HON. GEORGE ANDERSON PELHAM
18 Nov. 1814 BLACHFORD re-elected after appointment to office
3 June 1816 HUDSON GURNEY vice Blachford, deceased
23 June 1818HON. GEORGE ANDERSON PELHAM
 HUDSON GURNEY

Main Article

The franchise at Newtown was vested in 33 burgage tenures, some of them split, so that there were 39 potential voters. It was, however, a close borough. The controlling interest had since 1775 been shared by agreement between Sir Richard Worsley*, who commanded 12 votes, and the family of (Sir) John Barrington*, who owned eight burgages, another being owned by his nephew Barrington Pope Blachford*.1 Worsley returned himself or placed his seat at the disposal of administration until his death in 1805, having on 12 Mar. 1804 formally renewed his pact with Barrington for the benefit of his heirs.2 In 1791, when it was claimed he could have sold the seat for £4,500, he offered it to administration in return for a promise of the reversion to the governorship of the Isle of Wight, but when Pitt could not assure him of this, returned himself again, until he received a diplomatic appointment, for which he traded the seat with Pitt.3 In 1806 his interest passed to his niece’s husband, Charles Anderson Pelham*, but the sitting Member Barclay, having bought his seat from the trustees of the Worsley estate, was not disturbed.4 He vacated in April 1807 shortly before the general election and thereafter Anderson Pelham returned his brother-in-law and brother respectively. Barrington returned himself until 1796 and then sold his seat; even his nephew Blachford was expected to pay. Hudson Gurney* reckoned the cost at £1,200 a year.5

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes

  • 1. Oldfield, Boroughs, i. 284; Rep. Hist. iii. 570.
  • 2. Add. 46501, f. 118.
  • 3. PRO 30/8/173, ff. 182, 256, 258; Harewood mss, Canning to Rev. Leigh, 17 May 1796.
  • 4. Fortescue mss, Barclay to Grenville, 30 Oct., Yarborough to same, 1 Nov. 1806.
  • 5. Add. 38833, f. 216; Spencer mss, Lady to Ld. Spencer, 5 Oct. 1812; Harewood mss, Huskisson to Canning, 18 May 1816; W. H. Bidwell, Annals of an East Anglian Bank, 145n.