Surrey

County

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Elections

DateCandidate
28 Dec. 1558SIR THOMAS CAWARDEN
 THOMAS BROWNE
 Sir Henry Weston
 Thomas Copley
 Charles Howard I
1562/3CHARLES HOWARD I
 WILLIAM MORE I
1571SIR HENRY WESTON
 WILLIAM MORE I
30 Apr. 1572CHARLES HOWARD I
 THOMAS LYFIELD
Jan. 1576FRANCIS WALSINGHAM vice Howard, called to the Upper House
28 Oct. 1584(SIR) FRANCIS WALSINGHAM
 (SIR) WILLIAM MORE I
1586(SIR) FRANCIS WALSINGHAM
 (SIR) WILLIAM MORE I
23 Oct. 1588(SIR) FRANCIS WALSINGHAM
 WILLIAM HOWARD
1593(SIR) JOHN WOLLEY
 (SIR) WILLIAM MORE I
14 Sept. 1597SIR WILLIAM HOWARD, Lord Howard of Effingham
 GEORGE MORE
24 Oct. 1597CHARLES HOWARD II vice Howard, believed to be disabled
7 Oct. 1601SIR WILLIAM HOWARD, Lord Howard of Effingham
 (SIR) GEORGE MORE

Main Article

For most of this period the representation of Surrey was shared between two county families, both powerful at court, the Howards of Effingham and the Mores of Loseley. At the time of the elections for the 1559 Parliament the head of the More family, William More I, was sheriff. Unable to return himself, he supported the candidature of the lieutenant of the Tower, Sir Thomas Cawarden of Bletchingley, standing with Thomas Browne of Betchworth, who had recently succeeded to his estates and made a fortunate marriage into the Fitzwilliam family. There were three other candidates, all Surrey gentlemen: Sir Henry Weston of Sutton Place, related to the Howards and to the Queen herself; Thomas Copley of Gatton; and, a latecomer to the contest, Charles Howard I. It is not known whether matters proceeded as far as a poll—probably they did not—but after some understandable hesitation on Browne’s part and some firmness shown by his father-in-law and by More, Cawarden and Browne were elected. Next time, after a certain amount of bargaining during the period before the election, Howard and More were elected, each making his first appearance for the county. More came in again in 1571, this time with Weston, the man he had declined to support for the 1559 seat. In 1572 it was Howard’s turn again, and he was elected in company with Thomas Lyfield of Stoke D’Abernon, who owed his attaining county status to a fortunate marriage. Howard succeeded to a peerage in 1573 and was replaced by the secretary of state, Francis Walsingham, whose status as a Privy Councillor earned him the dignity of a county seat to which his estates alone would not have entitled him. Walsingham retained the senior Surrey seat for the rest of his life and it then went on the same terms to another secretary and Privy Councillor, Wolley. From 1576 until 1597 therefore, it was a question of either a Howard or a More, but the arrangements seem to have been made amicably enough. In 1597 and 1601 there was room for both families, but some sorting out took place on the earlier occasion. William More was now 77, and had represented Surrey five times. Anxious to retain his family’s lien on a county seat, he retired to the family borough so that his son George might make his first appearance for the county in his father’s lifetime. Between them these two gentlemen, father and son, had a remarkable record, being elected 26 times to Parliament, 11 times for Surrey. The other rearrangement in 1597 concerned Sir William Howard, whose courtesy title (acquired just before Parliament met) was thought to disqualify him from the Commons. He therefore vacated the seat in favour of his brother.

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes