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Essex
County
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency Detail
Related Resources
Background Information
Number of voters:
about 6,000
Elections
| Date | Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Feb. 1715 | SIR RICHARD CHILD | |
| THOMAS MIDLETON | ||
| Robert Honywood | ||
| William Harvey | ||
| 31 May 1715 | WILLIAM HARVEY vice Midleton, deceased | 2541 |
| Robert Honywood | 2517 | |
| HONYWOOD vice Harvey, on petition, 18 May 1716 | ||
| 27 Mar. 1722 | WILLIAM HARVEY | 3061 |
| ROBERT HONYWOOD | 2993 | |
| Richard Child, Visct. Castlemaine | 1758 | |
| 5 Sept. 1727 | RICHARD CHILD, Visct. Castlemaine | |
| SIR ROBERT ABDY | ||
| 8 May 1734 | SIR ROBERT ABDY | 3378 |
| THOMAS BRAMSTON | 3056 | |
| John Tylney, Visct. Castlemaine | 2146 | |
| 26 May 1741 | SIR ROBERT ABDY | |
| THOMAS BRAMSTON | ||
| 14 July 1747 | SIR ROBERT ABDY | |
| WILLIAM HARVEY | ||
| 13 Dec. 1748 | SIR JOHN ABDY vice Sir Robert Abdy, deceased |
Main Article
In the 1715 Parliament one seat was held by Sir Richard Child, later Lord Castlemaine, a Tory who went over to the Whigs, the other successively by two Whigs, Midleton and Honywood. From 1722 the representation was divided between a Whig and a Tory till 1734, when two Tories were returned after a contest with Castlemaine’s son, standing as a Whig. At the county meeting before the 1741 election Martin Bladen reported, 17 July 1740:
The Tories ... started their old Members, Abdy and Bramston, to which the Whigs demurred, in hopes of finding two others, to put up on the opposite side. But where to find them yet remains a difficulty.1
No Whig candidates materializing, two Tories were returned unopposed in 1741 and 1747.
Author: Eveline Cruickshanks
Notes
- 1. Add. 32694, f. 165.
