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Great Marlow
Double Member Borough
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency Detail
Related Resources
Background Information
Right of Election:
in inhabitants paying scot and lot
Number of voters:
about 250
Elections
| Date | Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Apr. 1754 | Charles Churchill | 81 |
| Daniel Moore | 81 | |
| Charles Sloane Cadogan | 75 | |
| 25 Mar. 17611 | William Clayton | |
| William Mathew Burt | ||
| Daniel Moore | ||
| 16 Mar. 1768 | William Clayton | 150 |
| William Dickinson | 113 | |
| William Mathew Burt | 63 | |
| 5 Oct. 1774 | Sir John Borlase Warren | 190 |
| William Clayton | 151 | |
| William Dickinson | 76 | |
| 6 Sept. 1780 | William Clayton | 142 |
| Sir John Borlase Warren | 128 | |
| Paul Benfield | 122 | |
| 12 July 1783 | William Clayton jun. vice William Clayton sen., deceased | |
| 31 Mar. 1784 | William Clayton | 157 |
| Sir Thomas Rich | 133 | |
| Thomas Keating | 80 |
Main Article
Marlow was venal, expensive, and faithless. During this period every election save one was contested; and three out of the eight Members who represented the borough were rejected after having sat for one Parliament only.
The strongest interest was in the Clayton family of Harleyford, two miles from Marlow. ‘Mr. Clayton stands very well here’, wrote Robinson in his survey for the general election of 1780—almost the only Member in this period of whom so much could be said.
In 1787 William Clayton jun. sold his property in the borough to William Antonie Lee, son of William Lee of Totteridge Park. The price asked was £20,000, about half of which was in respect of the electoral interest the property gave at Marlow.2
Author: John Brooke
Notes
- 1. Ld. Fitzmaurice wrote to Bute on 26 Mar. 1761, Bute mss: ‘Marlow election was determined last night for Mr. Clayton by a great majority, and for Mr. Burt, a West Indian, by about 20. Mr. Moore, a West Indian, thrown out.’
- 2. For details see corresp. of John Fiott and Sir Wm. Lee, mss., Bucks. RO.
