As lords of the manor the Howards of Arundel Castle enjoyed a strong potential interest in Horsham. In their court the returning officers, the two bailiffs, were chosen, and the tenants admitted to the burgages from which they derived their franchise. The number of burgages fluctuated, but tended to increase slightly through splitting. Except in the by-election of 1669, there is no indication of patronage in this period, and in this political vacuum a number of minor gentry families resident in the town or the neighbourhood found seats. Apparently there were no contests, and no indenture was signed by more than 30 voters.1

In 1660 Horsham restored Thomas Middleton, a Presbyterian Royalist, to the seat which he and his father had occupied continuously from 1614 to 1648. His colleague was another townsman of similar religious views, Hall Ravenscroft, who had served with him in the Short and Long Parliaments until Pride’s Purge, but had never been reckoned a Royalist. In 1661 Ravenscroft gave way to Sir John Covert, a Cavalier of significantly higher social status, while the septuagenarian Middleton stood down in favour of his son-in-law Henry Chowne, a strongly Anglican squire who had been overseas during the Civil War. The only outsider returned during the period was Orlando Bridgeman, the lord keeper’s son, who was elected on Chowne’s death in 1669 and may have been recommended by the Howard interest, although no evidence survives.2

At both elections of 1679 Anthony Eversfield, a resident with a property interest, was returned with a neighbouring gentleman, John Michell. It is unlikely that the borough ever paid parliamentary wages during this period, though it was not until this year that they secured an explicit undertaking from their previous Members not to demand them. Both Eversfield and Michell were marked absent in the division on the first exclusion bill and were probably court supporters. In 1681 Eversfield was replaced by his kinsman John Machell, probably an exclusionist, who had inherited part of the Middleton estate. He retained his seat in 1685 when Eversfield was returned in place of Michell.3

In 1688 James II’s agents reported:

Horsham is the Duke of Norfolk’s town. If the Duke’s interest be improved Capt. John Michell, who is very right, and another good man such as your Majesty shall name, if recommended by the Duke or the Lord Thomas Howard, will be chosen, especially if what has been offered concerning this place be thought fit to be executed.

Since there was no charter to be revoked, it is difficult to understand what plans the Government had concerning the borough. In any event Michell did not stand, and Eversfield and Machell were returned to the Convention.4