In spite of the relatively large electorate, Bridgnorth was dominated by the Whitmores of Apley, Whigs, who owned a large part of the town, appointed most of the local lay and ecclesiastical officials and maintained a close control on the corporation, headed by two annually elected bailiffs, who acted as returning officers.1 Their chief rivals were the Tory Actons of Aldenham, who were supported by a Jacobite element in the town.

Under George I the Whitmore interest prevailed without opposition but all the next three elections were contested. In 1727, during the minority of Thomas Whitmore, when the family interest was managed by his mother,2 the Actons made an unsuccessful attempt to oust the Whitmore candidates. Before the election of 1734 Thomas Whitmore obtained the election of favourable bailiffs, after a Tory mob, incited by the opposition candidates, had besieged the town hall and been dispersed by the military. Fearing further rioting, Whitmore and Grove, his fellow Whig candidate, appealed to the Duke of Newcastle for troops to be sent to overawe the mob.3 Troops were sent, with the approval of Sir Robert Walpole, who wrote to Newcastle: ‘Tis easy to foresee what will be said, but the notoriety of the fact must and will justify the proceeding.’4 Both in 1734 and 1741 the success of the Whitmores was largely due to the careful management of the out-voters,5 an expensive proceeding with so large an electorate. The 2nd Lord Egmont wrote in his electoral survey, c.1749-50, that ‘by dint of vast expense, Whitmore commands this borough’.6