The borough of Arundel was controlled by the earls of Arundel. Its officers, including the mayor and coroner, were elected at an annual court leet. Election returns were made in the name of the mayor, burgesses and commonalty. At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign, elections were in the hands of Henry Fitz Alan, the 12th Earl of Arundel, who brought in two fellow-courtiers, Sir Francis Knollys and Thomas Heneage, in 1559; Michael Heneage, a brother of Thomas, in 1571; a civil lawyer, William Aubrey, recommended by the 1st Earl of Pembroke, in 1563; and three relatives, Sir John St. Leger (1563), Thomas Browne (1571) and Richard Browne I (1572). Thomas Fanshawe I, who represented Arundel in five consecutive Parliaments, was remembrancer of the Exchequer, and as such would have had dealings with the earls of Arundel over their debts to the Crown.3

Fitz Alan was succeeded in 1580 by his grandson Philip Howard, whose nominee in 1584 was his servant Robert Buxton, formerly servant of the Duke of Norfolk. By 1586, the 13th Earl was in the Tower, so the borough returned a local man, Thomas Palmer II, who farmed the Earl’s manors. In 1588 (Sir) Owen Hopton, lieutenant of the Tower and the Earl’s gaoler, was returned. Next year the 13th Earl was attainted and patronage of the borough passed into the hands of Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst. Richard Baker (1593) was Sackville’s nephew by marriage. Thomas Baker (1601) may have been Richard Baker’s cousin and therefore also a Sackville nominee. William Essex (1597) was a servant of Sackville. James Smith’s identity remains unknown as does his patron at Arundel. Thomas Palmer II (1601) doubtless owed his second return for Arundel to a combination of his own local influence and Buckhurst’s approval.