Ilchester

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Right of Election:

in inhabitant householders

Number of voters:

about 150

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
4 Feb. 1715WILLIAM BELLAMY 
 JOHN HOPKINS 
 Sir James Bateman 
 Edward Phelips 
22 Mar. 1727WILLIAM BURROUGHS 
 DANIEL MOORE 
 Thomas Paget 
 William Bellamy 
11 Dec. 1722THOMAS PAGET vice Burroughs, appointed to office 
21 Aug. 1727CHARLES LOCKYER 
 THOMAS CRISP 
30 Apr. 1734CHARLES LOCKYER78
 SIR ROBERT BROWN66
 Henry Bendish jun.62
 Henry Bendish sen.44
 Thomas Crisp8
 Sir Wm. Codrington3
 Edward Phelips2
12 May 1741SIR ROBERT BROWN 
 CHARLES LOCKYER 
27 June 1747THOMAS LOCKYER 
 FRANCIS FANE 

Main Article

The chief interest in the venal1 borough of Ilchester was that of the Lockyers, a local family of wealthy business men, with estates in and about the borough, which from 1727 they managed in the government interest. Three of the Members returned during this period— Hopkins, Brown, and Thomas Lockyer— were noted misers.

In 1715 two Whigs were returned, defeating the former Tory Members. In 1722, when all four candidates seem to have been Whigs, the defeated candidates petitioned, alleging partiality on the part of the returning officer, a Lockyer.2 The matter was compromised, one of the sitting Members accepting an office of profit to vacate his seat in favour of his opponent. At each of the next four general elections one of the Lockyer family was returned, bringing in with him a government nominee. About 1749-50 the 2nd Lord Egmont wrote in his electoral survey: ‘Lockyer may absolutely have the command of this borough’.

Author: Shirley Matthews

Notes

  • 1. Francis Fane to Newcastle, 29 Sept. 1756, Add. 32867, f. 474.
  • 2. ‘Family Memoir’, by Prof. Basil Williams, communicated by his son, W. B. Williams.