The eight boroughs were controlled by four Tory patrons, as lords of the respective manors: Swansea and Loughor by the dukes of Beaufort; Neath and Aberavon by the Mackworths of Gnoll; Kenfig by the Mansels of Margam; and Cardiff, Cowbridge and Llantrisant by the Windsors of Cardiff Castle. The dominant interest was Lord Windsor’s, but until his son, Herbert, came of age, and took the seat in 1734, he acquiesced in the nominations of the Mansels, who since 1689 had controlled the representation, with the consent of the other patrons.1 After Herbert Windsor’s succession to the peerage in 1738, the seat was filled, in the absence of any candidates from the other patrons, by Herbert Mackworth, who held it unopposed till his death in 1765.