The Howards of Effingham owned a moiety of the manor of Reigate and leased the other from the earls of Derby. Election returns were made in the name of the burgesses (usually about a dozen), and the other inhabitants.3

Save for 1589 when he was knight of the shire, William Howard represented Reigate in every Parliament from 1559 until his death in 1600. In 1601 his son, Edward Howard, sat for the borough. The other Member too was usually a Howard nominee. In 1563 the borough returned Sir George Howard, a cousin of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. John Skinner, 1559 and 1572, was a tenant of the Howards: John Trevor, 1593 and 1601, was secretary to Charles Howard I. Julius Caesar (1589) was connected with Charles Howard I, lord admiral, by his position as an Admiralty judge. John Agmondesham I of East Horsley (1571), and Thomas Lyfield of Stoke d’Abernon (1589) were both Surrey gentlemen and neighbours of the Howards. Edmund Sanders (1584 and 1586) owned property in the borough and had relations living there; he may not have been a Howard nominee, but was no doubt dependent on their approval.