Oldfield wrote about Grantham in 1792: ‘The Duke of Rutland and Lord Brownlow, from their property in the town, the contiguity of their seats, and their personal interest, have the entire command of its representation.’ The same holds good throughout the period. When in 1766 John Calcraft, a friend of Lord Granby and son of a town clerk of Grantham, tried to establish an interest in the borough, obviously against the Custs, he received no encouragement from Belvoir;1 nor did Lord William Manners, when in 1768 he purchased the manor of Grantham with a view to returning his son, John Manners, on his own interest. On the contrary, Granby, talking to John Cust, ‘fell very heavy upon Lord William, who had been long doing him all the mischief he could and that John Manners would be the last person he should think of recommending to Grantham’.2 On 25 Jan. 1768 Granby and Brownlow Cust walked the town together, ‘calling on the voters, not omitting Lord William Manners, while the expenses of the canvass were divided between the Duke of Rutland and Sir John Cust’; the return was unopposed, and the total joint expenses amounted to £1,194 4s. 2d. Still, at all times the borough required careful nursing: as clearly appears from the Cust family correspondence.3