By a compromise agreement which had operated since 1774, Rev. Leonard Holmes (formerly Troughear, heir to Thomas Holmes^†, 1st Baron Holmes) and Jervoise Clarke Jervoise named a Member each. Their pact involved the gradual elimination of the free burgesses by natural wastage, so that Yarmouth became, in effect, a close corporation borough with 13 capital burgesses.1 This alliance discouraged any opposition, even when, as in 1790, both patrons supported the Whig interest. Holmes, who also named the two Members for Newport, wished for patronage for members of his family. By 1794 he was firmly on the side of government2 and in 1798 was raised to the peerage as Lord Holmes. So Yarmouth was politically compromised as well.

On the death of Lord Holmes in 1804 his interest passed to his son-in-law Rev. Sir Henry Worsley (Holmes), 8th Bt. They both took paying guests. On 20 Sept. 1804 the following agreement was reached between the patrons:

To prevent any disputes which may possibly arise respecting the interest of the borough of Yarmouth, it is agreed between Jervoise Clarke Jervoise Esq. and the Revd. Dr Henry Worsley Holmes (to whom Edward Rushworth* has transferred the interest which dissolved by the death of Leonard, Lord Holmes) in order effectually to guard against any misunderstanding in case of either of the deaths of J.C. Jervoise or H.W. Holmes, that they will with all this influence in the said borough support and maintain the person whom the party subscribing hereto first dying shall nominate by any writing under his hand as his desired successor in the interest of the borough and consider him in every respect to stand in the place of the party by whom he shall be nominated.3

In accordance with this agreement, Jervoise named his youngest son Samuel, a clergyman, as his successor, 30 Sept. 1807, and the latter on 15 Jan. 1808 (ten days after his father’s death), named his eldest son, not yet four years old, as his successor. But by April he was induced to sell out to Worsley Holmes, whose ambition it was to succeed to Lord Bolton’s command of the island patronage.4

On the death of Worsley Holmes in 1811, his son Leonard Thomas Worsley Holmes* became sole patron. He at first attached himself to the Marquess Wellesley, who promised him a peerage, but by 1815 it was clear to him that he had made an error of judgment.5 His nominees vacated in 1816 and 1817 in favour of members of Lord Liverpool’s administration. The nature of the constituency made for a bewildering turnover of Members: there were 26 in this period.