During this period the electorate of Petersfield was enlarged by the practice of splitting some of the ancient burgages into several separate tenements, which were then conveyed temporarily to friends or agents of the candidates. In the petition proceedings after the by-election in 1727, the petitioner and the sitting Member objected respectively to 23 and 94 split votes out of a total of 299. Similar charges were made by the petitioner in 1734.1

From 1705 to 1715 Petersfield was represented by Leonard Bilson, a Tory, who owned property in the town, and Norton Powlett, a Whig, whose estate was six miles away. On Bilson’s death in 1715 his property was bought by Edmund Miller, a Whig lawyer, but the seat was filled by Samuel Pargiter Fuller, also a Whig. In 1722 Powlett was re-elected unopposed with Miller, against Joseph Taylor, a Tory lawyer, put up by Edward Gibbon, a South Sea director, who had bought the manor of Petersfield in 1719. Shortly before the general election of 1727, Miller’s acceptance of office led to a by-election, at which he was defeated by Taylor, who was unseated on petition but was returned unopposed with Powlett at the ensuing general election. In 1734 John Jolliffe, who had acquired property in Petersfield through his first wife, returned his uncle, Sir William Jolliffe, Powlett losing his seat to Gibbon’s son, the historian’s father, who had recently come of age. Jolliffe gained control of the second seat in 1739 by purchasing the manor of Petersfield from the second Edward Gibbon, thenceforth returning both Members.2