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Monmouth
Single Member Borough
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Background Information
Right of Election:
in the resident freemen of Monmouth, Newport and Usk
Number of voters:
about 2,000 in 1715
Elections
Date | Candidate | Votes |
---|---|---|
12 Mar. 1715 | WILLIAM BRAY | 1028 |
Andrews Windsor | 944 | |
13 May 1720 | ANDREWS WINDSOR vice Bray, deceased | |
26 Mar. 1722 | EDWARD KEMYS | |
23 Sept. 1727 | EDWARD KEMYS | |
30 Apr. 1734 | LORD CHARLES NOEL SOMERSET | |
8 May 1741 | LORD CHARLES NOEL SOMERSET | |
14 Mar. 1745 | SIR CHARLES KEMYS TYNTE vice Somerset, called to the Upper House | |
1 July 1747 | FULKE GREVILLE |
Main Article
Monmouth was under the sway of the dukes of Beaufort, who had a strong interest in all its three constituent boroughs. In Monmouth the Duke controlled the council of 15 life-members; in Usk he was lord of the manor, appointing the burgesses through the recorder; in Newport, where he was lord of the borough, his steward nominated the mayor from two candidates chosen by the aldermen. By the eighteenth century considerable power in the last borough had also been acquired by a neighbouring family, the Morgans of Tredegar.1
In 1715 the Beaufort nominee, Andrews Windsor, a Tory, was defeated by a Tredegar candidate, William Bray, a Whig. This was the last challenge to Beaufort domination till 1820. By the middle of the century the dukes of Beaufort had an understanding with the Morgan and Hanbury families whereby the Morgans and Hanburys shared the county representation, leaving the borough under Beaufort control.2