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Tavistock
Borough
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
Right of Election:
in the freeholders
Number of voters:
154 in 17341
Elections
| Date | Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Feb. 1715 | SIR JOHN COPE | |
| FRANCIS HENRY DRAKE | ||
| Henry Manaton | ||
| 21 Mar. 1722 | SIR JOHN COPE | |
| SIR FRANCIS HENRY DRAKE | ||
| 22 Aug. 1727 | SIR JOHN COPE | |
| SIR FRANCIS HENRY DRAKE | ||
| 24 Feb. 1728 | SIR HUMPHREY MONOUX vice Cope, chose to sit for Hampshire | |
| 29 Apr. 1734 | CHARLES FANE | 98 |
| SYDNEY MEADOWS | 90 | |
| Sir Francis Henry Drake | 65 | |
| Sir John Cope | 28 | |
| James Bulteel | 27 | |
| 9 May 1741 | LORD SHERARD MANNERS | |
| CHARLES FANE | ||
| 28 Jan. 1742 | JAMES HAMILTON, 1st Visct. Limerick, vice Manners, deceased | |
| 4 July 1747 | RICHARD LEVESON GOWER | |
| THOMAS BRAND | ||
| 12 Dec. 1747 | SIR RICHARD WROTTESLEY vice Leveson Gower, chose to sit for Lichfield | |
| 17 June 1749 | WROTTESLEY re-elected after appointment to office |
Main Article
Tavistock was controlled by the dukes of Bedford, who as lords of the manor nominated the returning officer and owned most of the town and the land round it. After 1715 the only contested election was that of 1734, when the 4th Duke replaced the Members who had represented it under his predecessor by his own nominees. The 2nd Lord Egmont wrote of Tavistock in his electoral survey, c.1749-50: ‘in the Duke of Bedford’.
Author: Shirley Matthews
Notes
- 1. Trans. Devon. Assoc. xliii. 379.
