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East Grinstead
Borough
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency Detail
Related Resources
Background Information
Right of Election:
in burgage holders
Number of voters:
36
Elections
| Date | Candidate |
|---|---|
| 28 Jan. 1715 | SPENCER COMPTON |
| JOHN CONYERS | |
| 5 Apr. 1715 | RICHARD BOYLE, Visct. Shannon, vice Compton, chose to sit for Sussex |
| 21 Mar. 1722 | SPENCER COMPTON |
| JOHN CONYERS | |
| 6 Nov. 1722 | RICHARD BOYLE, Visct. Shannon, vice Compton, chose to sit for Sussex |
| 6 Apr. 1725 | EDWARD CONYERS vice John Conyers, deceased |
| 19 Aug. 1727 | RICHARD BOYLE, Visct. Shannon |
| HENRY TEMPLE, Visct. Palmerston | |
| 26 Apr. 1734 | CHARLES SACKVILLE, Earl of Middlesex |
| EDWARD CONYERS | |
| 5 May 1741 | CHARLES SACKVILLE, Earl of Middlesex |
| WHISTLER WEBSTER | |
| 23 Jan. 1742 | JOHN BUTLER vice Middlesex, appointed to office |
| 1 July 1747 | WHISTLER WEBSTER |
| SYDNEY STAFFORD SMYTHE | |
| 22 Jan. 1751 | JOSEPH YORKE vice Smythe, appointed to office |
Main Article
The predominant interest at East Grinstead was in the Duke of Dorset, the lord of the manor, who owned most of the burgages there.1 Except in 1727, when he nominated both Members, he shared the representation successively with the Tory Conyers and the Whig Webster families, both of whom also owned property in the town. The only threat of opposition occurred at a by-election in 1750, when Lord Hardwicke, whose son was being put up by the Duke of Dorset, learned that
my Lord Middlesex is at the head of this against his father, and the name of his master [the Prince of Wales] is openly made use of to countenance it.2
But on being canvassed on the Prince’s behalf Sir Thomas Webster, whose son held the other seat, was ‘so firm and his negative so flat that ... he will have no more messages from that quarter’.3
