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Staffordshire
Double Member County
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Background Information
Number of voters:
about 5,000
Elections
Date | Candidate |
---|---|
18 Apr. 1754 | William Leveson Gower |
William Bagot | |
4 Jan. 1757 | Henry Frederick Thynne vice Leveson Gower, deceased |
9 Apr. 1761 | George Harry Grey, Lord Grey |
William Bagot | |
31 Mar. 1768 | George Harry Grey, Lord Grey |
William Bagot | |
5 July 1768 | John Wrottesley vice Grey, cvalled to the Upper House |
21 Oct. 1774 | Sir William Bagot |
Sir John Wrottesley | |
28 Sept. 1780 | George Legge, Visct. Lewisham |
Sir John Wrottesley | |
8 Apr. 1784 | Sir John Wrottesley |
Sir Edward Littleton | |
15 May 1787 | George Granville Leveson Gower, Earl Gower, vice Wrottesley, deceased |
Main Article
In 1753 the two outstanding Staffordshire families, the Leveson Gowers of Trentham (Whigs) and the Bagots of Blithfield (Tories), came to a compromise about the forthcoming general election. ‘I am glad to hear Staffordshire is agreed’, wrote Henry Pelham to Newcastle, 27 July 1753,1 ‘a contest would have cost a great sum of money, and I believe not ended better than it will now.’ There was no contest 1754-90; one seat was always conceded to the Leveson Gower interest and the other usually went to a country gentleman.
Author: John Brooke
Notes
- 1. Add. 32732, f. 36.