Petersfield

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

Number of voters:

about 50

Population:

(1801): 1,159

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
16 June 1790GEORGE AUGUSTUS NORTH 
 WILLIAM JOLLIFFE 
29 Dec. 1790 WILLIAM HENRY CAVENDISH BENTINCK, Mq. of Titchfield, vice North, vacated his seat 
29 Apr. 1791 WELBORE ELLIS vice Titchfield, vacated his seat 
12 Jan. 1795 CHARLES GREVILLE vice Ellis, called to the Upper House 
26 May 1796WILLIAM JOLLIFFE 
 HYLTON JOLLIFFE 
7 Jan. 1797 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR, Bt., vice Hylton Jolliffe, vacated his seat 
29 Mar. 1802 HYLTON JOLLIFFE vice Jolliffe, deceased 
6 July 1802WILLIAM DRAPER BEST 
 HYLTON JOLLIFFE 
31 Oct. 1806HON. JOHN WILLIAM WARD 
 HYLTON JOLLIFFE 
6 May 1807HYLTON JOLLIFFE 
 BOOTH GREY 
9 Oct. 1812HYLTON JOLLIFFE 
 GEORGE CANNING I 
24 Dec. 1812 GEORGE CANNING II vice Canning, chose to sit for Liverpool 
18 June 1818HYLTON JOLLIFFE38
 GEORGE CANNING II33
 Nathaniel Atcheson9

Main Article

William Jolliffe had succeeded his father John Jolliffe as sole patron of Petersfield in 1771, and after 1774 was unchallenged until his death in 1802, when his son Hylton Jolliffe succeeded him. Both returned themselves for one seat and took guests for the other. Their choice of guests was connected with their political vagaries, but they were not necessarily returnedgratis. In 1794, for instance, when Welbore Ellis became a peer he offered his seat ‘freely’ to the Duke of Portland, who had originally recommended him to Jolliffe; and Portland resented Jolliffe’s claim that in returning his son-in-law Charles Greville as Ellis’s successor he was making a ‘sacrifice’ of his own son’s interest.1 Relations between Jolliffe and Portland were by then strained owing to Portland’s failure to secure him a peerage, and as if to emphasize his grievance Jolliffe returned his son with himself in 1796, but only for a brief interlude. It would appear that Jolliffe, who disliked the place and had taken up residence at Merstham, contemplated selling out in 1800, for on 10 Oct. James Du Pré* wrote to Du Pré Alexander, Lord Caledon’s heir:

I have had a great deal of conversation with [Harry Alexander*] respecting a borough (Petersfield in Hampshire) which is for sale. He had entered partly into a negotiation for my uncle [Caledon], who however has declined the purchase, I believe doubting the security of it. He strongly recommends it to me; should we conclude the business I think my uncle will take half of it ...2

Nothing came of this.

Hylton Jolliffe appears to have sold the other seat, at least until 1812 when he returned his friend George Canning I. The latter, who got in at Liverpool, was justifiably confident that he could name his successor at Petersfield, though, he remarked ‘by some strange mystery (I suppose) of Jolliffe’s, or want of erudition on the part of the Dogberry who returns’, his name was given as ‘J. Cannon esq.’.3 In 1818, for the first time in this period, the Jolliffe hold was challenged. Hylton Jolliffe was seldom in the neighbourhood. Behind the opposition was ‘Mr Minchin’, though his candidate was the London attorney and Pitt Club founder Nathaniel Atcheson. He received a few votes and was expected to petition against the return.4 He did not do so, but Jolliffe was thence-forward obliged to pay closer attention to his interest.

Authors: Brian Murphy / R. G. Thorne

Notes

  • 1. Portland mss PwF3508, 4410; PwV108, Portland to Jolliffe, 15 Jan. 1795.
  • 2. PRO NI, Caledon mss C/3/25.
  • 3. Bankes mss, Canning to Bankes, 19 Oct. 1812.
  • 4. Lonsdale mss, Long to Lonsdale, 14 June 1818; H. G. H. Jolliffe, The Jolliffes of Staffs . 162 (where Atcheson is awarded six votes); Hants Telegraph, 22 June 1818; The Late Elections (1818), 255.