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Old Sarum
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 burgage holders
Number of voters:
7
Elections
| Date | Candidate |
|---|---|
| 19 Apr. 1754 | William Pulteney, Visct. Pulteney |
| Thomas Pitt | |
| 18 Mar. 1755 | Sir William Calvert vice Pitt, vacated his seat |
| 10 Dec. 1759 | Pulteney re-elected after appointment to office |
| 30 Mar. 1761 | Thomas Pitt |
| Howell Gwynne | |
| 17 Dec. 1761 | Thomas Pitt jun. vice Thomas Pitt sen., deceased |
| 26 Apr. 1763 | Pitt re-elected after appointment to office |
| 16 Mar. 1768 | William Gerard Hamilton |
| John Craufurd | |
| 11 Oct. 1774 | Pinckney Wilkinson |
| Thomas Pitt | |
| 11 Sept. 1780 | Pinckney Wilkinson |
| Thomas Pitt | |
| 6 Jan. 1784 | John Charles Villiers vice Pitt, called to the Upper House |
| 11 Mar. 1784 | George Hardinge vice Wilkinson, deceased |
| 5 Apr. 1784 | John Charles Villiers |
| George Hardinge | |
| 23 Feb. 1787 | Villiers re-elected after appointment to office |
| 4 Dec. 1787 | Hardinge re-elected after appointment to office |
| 1 Mar. 1790 | Villiers re-elected after appointment to office |
Main Article
Old Sarum was the extreme example of a rotten borough: by 1754 nothing was left of it except its parliamentary representation; and the small number of burgages, all owned by the Pitts of Boconnoc, made complete control possible.
