Newcastle-under-Lyme was always classed as a Leveson Gower borough, and only once during this period was that interest seriously challenged. Yet it had a fairly large electorate, and could not have been easy to manage. In 1767 Lord Clive received a letter from three freemen offering the support of 120 more 'to serve any gentleman... willing to offer himself a candidate in opposition ot the present interest'.1 Lord Gower is said to have controlled the borough 'in part by lavish hospitality... and in part by an ingenious device of owning the property in the town and letting the tenants get ten or fifteen years in arrears'.2