Monmouth

Single Member Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
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

DateCandidateVotes
12 Mar. 1715WILLIAM BRAY1028
 Andrews Windsor944
13 May 1720ANDREWS WINDSOR vice Bray, deceased 
26 Mar. 1722EDWARD KEMYS 
23 Sept. 1727EDWARD KEMYS 
30 Apr. 1734LORD CHARLES NOEL SOMERSET 
8 May 1741LORD CHARLES NOEL SOMERSET 
14 Mar. 1745SIR CHARLES KEMYS TYNTE vice Somerset, called to the Upper House 
1 July 1747FULKE 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

Author: Peter D.G. Thomas

Notes

  • 1. Edith E. Havill, ‘Parl. Rep. Monmouthshire and the Monmouth Boroughs, 1536-1832’ (Univ. of Wales M.A. thesis), 40-44.
  • 2. Thos. Price to Geo. Clive, 17 Jan. 1768, Clive (Powis Castle) mss.