The 1754 Taunton by-election to the Parliament of Great Britain was held across thirteen days, from 10 to 24 December 1754 in Taunton, the county town of the southwestern English county of Somerset. It took place following the death of the incumbent WhigMember of Parliament, John Halliday. The by-election was contested by Robert Maxwell on behalf of the Whigs, and Sir John Pole, 5th Baronet for the Tories. Maxwell was elected with a majority of 56. The election had over 700 rejected votes, and the result caused rioting in Taunton, during which two people were killed.
The election was fiercely contested, and both sides incurred great expenses during the campaign. There was not another contested election in Taunton for almost twenty years, and during that time the Taunton Market House Society was set up with the aim of preventing the bad blood of a contested election, and to spend money that would have otherwise been spent on campaigning on improving the town. Maxwell remained as one of Taunton's members of parliament until 1768.
Background
Vacancy and nominations
In the mid-18th century, the parliamentary constituency of Taunton, which had an electorate of around 500, returned predominantly Whig members of parliament, partly due to an agreement between Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont and the local Dissenters; Lord Egremont, the chief landowner in the borough, would nominate a candidate for one of the two seats, while the Dissenters would name the second.[1] Nationally, parliament had been controlled by the Whigs since 1715, in what was dubbed the "Whig Supremacy" by Basil Williams.[2] At the 1754 general election, Lord Egremont put forward his brother-in-law, George Carpenter, 3rd Baron Carpenter, while the Dissenters nominated one of their own, John Halliday.[1] The pair were elected unopposed. Two months after the election, on 8 June 1754, Halliday died, resulting in a by-election being called to fill the vacant seat.[3]
Sir John Pole, 5th Baronet, the candidate for the Tories
The Dissenters proposed Robert Webb, who had previously served as the member for Taunton from 1747 until the general election in 1754, to fill the vacancy. The recent history of the elections in Taunton suggested that no opposition would be offered: the last contested election had been in 1741. That however proved not to be the case, and a group of Tories put forward their own candidate, Sir John Pole, 5th Baronet of Shute in Devon.[1] Webb did not want the expense of a contested election, and withdrew, leaving the Dissenters without a candidate. Unable to find a suitable candidate, the Dissenters appealed to Lord Egremont to locate someone to stand for the Whiggish interest. The Mayor, Henry Manly, was sent to London to meet with the Whig Prime Minister, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, to try and secure a candidate.[3] Manly reported that the Duke of Newcastle did not want the seat to go to a Tory, and was willing to fund the election from the secret service account (more accurately the King's private money, a fund which was not accountable to Parliament).[3][4] Eventually, through communication with both Lord Egremont and the Duke of Newcastle, Robert Maxwell came forward as the Whig candidate. Maxwell offered to spend up to £3,000 on the election, in addition to the money promised from the secret service fund.[1]
Candidates
John Pole was the only son of Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet. The family owned the Shute House estate in east Devon, and had returned six generations of members of parliament, including John Pole's father. He had inherited the estate, and the baronetcy upon his father's death in 1741.[5] Robert Maxwell was the oldest son of John Maxwell, 1st Baron Farnham, an Irish politician and peer. Robert had been a member of the Parliament of Ireland since 1743 for the constituency of Lisburn. He had not stood for the British parliament during the 1754 general election, though he was by that time almost certainly resident in England.[6]
Result
When Halliday died in June, parliament was in recess. As a result of this, a writ could not be issued until parliament reconvened in the winter.[7] This extended the election campaign to run for six months, causing major disruption to the wool trade in the town.[1] In his History of Taunton, Joshua Toulmin reported that the length of the campaigning allowed "the display of every manoeuvre, and the exertion of every power, by which the parties could counteract each other's views."[7] A lot of money was spent on both sides of the election; in addition to the £3,000 which Maxwell said he was willing to spend, the government put forward £3,675 of secret service money for his campaign.[a] Both men had plates and mugs made which were given free to the voters, generally full of food and drink.[1] A number of delft plates bearing the inscription "Sir John Pole for ever" still exist, and one such plate sold for over £2,000 in 2011.[9] A drinking glass with a similar inscription is housed at the British Museum in London.[10] The public houses became aligned to one of the two candidates, and much of the campaign money was placed into these to gain their support. Toulmin lamented that "the houses of entertainment were kept open during all this time; [...] habits of idleness and licentiousness were formed."[7] In a letter to Lord Sackville, Maxwell wrote that the election campaign involved "a great deal of smoking, some drinking, and kissing some hundreds of women."[11]
Maxwell travelled down to Taunton in August to contest the seat,[12] and the vacancy was nationally advertised in October.[13] Despite this, the voting did not commence until 10 December 1754.[14] The voting ran for thirteen days, and closed on 24 December; Maxwell received 198 votes to Pole's 142, giving Maxwell a majority of 56.[15] During the course of the voting, over 700 votes were discounted,[3] and it has been referred to as being "notoriously corrupt".[16]
When the result was announced, the public showed "their displeasure by assaulting the friends of Mr Maxwell."[15] Maxwell himself had to be escorted back to where he was staying,[7] but during the rioting that ensued, the houses of those known to support Maxwell were attacked.[15] The Derby Mercury reported that Robert Pearsall, a Dissenter minister who had been prominent in Maxwell's campaign,[3] was threatened with having his house pulled down and being sacrificed.[15] Two people, a man and a woman, were killed during the rioting,[15] which prompted two troops of dragoons to be sent to the town, placed at the command of the Mayor, in case of emergency.[17] One of the murderers was caught and sent to the County Jail in Ilchester, but the other escaped.[18]
Maxwell, who became the 2nd Baron Farnham upon his father's death in 1759, and then Viscount Farnham in 1760, was returned unopposed at the 1761 general election. He pressed for a position in parliament, suggesting "being in the Admiralty or being paymaster of the pensions." However, this desire was only because he thought that such a position would provide a stepping stone to a higher peerage, and he was made the Earl of Farnham, in the Irish peerage in 1763. He initially stood at the general election in 1768, but withdrew from the election in the face of strong opposition.[6]
The Market House Society was formed in Taunton in 1763 by a group who wished to avoid a repeat of the expensive and violent election in 1754. They made it their aim to "prevent the evils and drunkenness of a contested election",[19] and vowed to spend the money that would have otherwise been spent on campaigning on improving Taunton.[1] They put forward two candidates in 1768, who after the withdrawal of Maxwell and another, were returned unopposed for Taunton.[3]
Notes and references
Notes
↑ Based on the inflation conversions compiled by the House of Commons Library, £6,675 in 1754 would be the equivalent of over £1.2 million in 2012.[8]
The 1852 United Kingdom general election was a watershed in the formation of the modern political parties of Britain. Following 1852, the Tory/Conservative party became, more completely, the party of the rural aristocracy, while the Whig/Liberal party became the party of the rising urban bourgeoisie in Britain. The results of the election were extremely close in terms of the numbers of seats won by the two main parties.
The 1784 British general election resulted in William Pitt the Younger securing an overall majority of about 120 in the House of Commons of Great Britain, having previously had to survive in a House which was dominated by his opponents.
Taunton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors from 1295 to 2010, taking its name from the town of Taunton in Somerset. Until 1918, it was a parliamentary borough, electing two Member of Parliaments (MPs) between 1295 and 1885 and one from 1885 to 1918; the name was then transferred to a county constituency, electing one MP.
The 1826 United Kingdom general election saw the Tories under the Earl of Liverpool win a substantial and increased majority over the Whigs. In Ireland, liberal Protestant candidates favouring Catholic emancipation, backed by the Catholic Association, achieved significant gains.
Cornwall is a former county constituency covering the county of Cornwall, in the South West of England. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of England then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of the Shire, elected by the bloc vote system.
Lord James Cavendish FRS of Staveley Hall, Derbyshire was a British Whig politician who sat in the English House of Commons and the British House of Commons. He was a son of the 1st Duke of Devonshire and a member of the Cavendish family.
The 1768 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707.
Norfolk was a County constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1290 to 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament. In 1832 the county was divided for parliamentary purposes into two new two member divisions – East Norfolk and West Norfolk.
Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham PC, styled The Honourable Robert Maxwell from 1756 to 1759, was an Irish peer and a Member of both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland.
The Oxfordshire Election of 1754, part of the British general election of that year and involving the selection of two Members of Parliament (MPs) to represent the Oxfordshire constituency, was probably the most notorious English county election of the 18th century. It was depicted in Hogarth's famous series of paintings and engravings, The Humours of an Election.
Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet, of Colcombe Castle, near Colyton and Shute, near Honiton, Devon was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1701 and 1734.
Robert More FRS, of Linley Hall, near Bishop's Castle, Shropshire. was an English academic and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1727 and 1761. He was also a noted amateur botanist.
The 1701 Taunton by-election to the Parliament of England was held on 17 March 1701 in Taunton, Somerset, following the decision of the incumbent, Henry Portman, to sit in Wells. The by-election was contested by one of Portman's friends, Sir Francis Warre, 1st Baronet, and Thomas Baker, a Taunton merchant. Warre, a Tory, was elected, although Baker petitioned the result, claiming the Mayor was corrupt.
The 1724 Taunton by-election to the Parliament of Great Britain was held on 18 January 1724 in Taunton, Somerset, following the death of the incumbent, John Trenchard. The by-election was contested by Abraham Elton, George Deane, William Molyneux and Griffith Pugh. Elton, a Whig who had been a late entrant to the election won, and despite a petition from Deane, was returned as the Member of Parliament for Taunton.
Taunton Unitarian Chapel is on Mary Street, Taunton, Somerset, England. It was built in the early 18th century as a Baptist chapel, but later adopted Unitarianism. The exterior was extensively renovated in the 19th century in an Italianate style. The chapel has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.
John Halliday was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1775 to 1784.
John Halliday was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1754.
Roger Tuckfield, of Raddon Court, Devon, was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for 27 years between 1708 and 1739.
Thomas Pelham (c.1678–1759) was an English politician, a member of the Pelham family of Sussex. Returned on the family's electoral interest at Lewes in 1705, he provided a reliable Whig vote in the House of Commons, and a rather more sporadic attendance on the Board of Trade. Due to his neglect of the family electoral interest, he was nearly turned out in the 1734 election, and stood down in favor of his eldest son at the next election in 1741.
William Morland (1739–1815) was an English banker and politician, Member of Parliament for Taunton from 1796 to 1806.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
