Appendix VII: Members

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

Members

From the dissolution in 1715 to that in 1754 the number of men elected as Members of the House of Commons was 2,041, compared with 1,964 in the period 1754-90. The following lists and tables analyse, in summary form, the composition of the House, which in Namier Brooke is dealt with in the introductory survey.

 

Age and Parliamentary Experience

The number of Members in this period whose age on election is unknown is two and a half times greater than in the following period. It is probable that most of these had been born in the seventeenth century and that they belonged to all the age groups in the House. Even without such an adjustment to the known figures given below it is evident that the majority of Members in both periods were aged between 30 and 59, with slightly more Members in this period under 30 and fewer in the 50-59 group.

General election   
Age on election  1715-1754    Age not known    

Returned for more

than I constituency

and vacant seats

 Under 30       
30-39    
40-49     
50-59          
60-69    
70-79    
Over 80    
171594149126923484015
172289143132872794823
1727991561366734513426
1734881321389639913817
1741861281608145113215
1747101120127103441112625
Totals557828819526223533218121
1754-9054685483464224765128860

 

In the 1715 Parliament about one-third of the Members were replaced at by-elections or on petition; in the other five Parliaments the proportions varied between a quarter and one-fifth. Well over one-third of the Members in each of the six Parliaments were new Members with no previous parliamentary experience.

The average tenure of a seat among all Members was just under 15 years 6 months. 14 Members sat for 50 years or more, including William Aislabie who represented Ripon for 60 years; 51 sat for between 40 and 49 years; and 58 sat for less than one year, including Capt. Edward Legge, R.N., who died in the West Indies on 19 Sept. 1747, some three months before he was elected for Portsmouth, 15 Dec. following.

The following 21 Members are known to have been returned under the age of 21, as compared with 13 in the following period:

Hon. Henry BathurstCharles Ingram
Hon. Hugh BoscawenLord John Johnstone
Hon. Charles Sloane CadoganSir William Morice
Lord CarnarvonHon. Charles Ross
Hon. Brownlow CecilLord John Philip Sackville
Hon. John CornwallisSir John St. Aubyn, 3rd Bt.
Francis Henry DrakeSir John St. Aubyn, 4th Bt.
Theophilus FortescueLord Strathnaver
Sir Robert GordonWilliam Trevanion
Lord GranbyHon. Philip Yorke
Lord Harley 

 

In addition four Members are known to have been returned under age at by-elections:

John Campbell (of Rosneath)Charles Fitzroy
Edward DigbyLord Stanhope

 

Members sitting for less than one year:

John BassetHon. Mildmay Fane
Charles BathurstJohn Fermor (16 days)
Willoughby BertieLord Fitzwilliam
John BlackwoodJohn Floyer
William BretonRobert Gayer
James BrodieAlexander Gordon
William BurroughsThomas Grenville
Lord James CavendishSir Thomas Gresley (23 days)
Hon. Brownlow Cecil (16 days)John Gumley
Francis ChuteSamuel Gumley
John CottonLord William Hamilton
Sir Robert Cowan (12 days)Sir Charles Hardy
Charles CrispHenry Herbert
Sir Edward DukeRichard Jackson
Samuel EdwinPaul Jodrell
Francis EldeHon. Edward Legge (dead at election)
James ErskineHon. Charles Lumley
John EssingtonHon. Thomas Lyon
Lord Sherard MannersSamuel Rush
William MayoJohn Sabine
John MontaguThomas Boothby Skrymsher
Lord MorpethWilliam Sneyd
John NoelJohn Strangways
Sir Edward O’BrienSir Thomas Style
Lord OssulstonThomas Swanton
Mansel PowellDarell Trelawny
Isaac Lemyng RebowCharles Vanbrugh
George RobinsonWilliam Charles van Hals
John RogersSir Marmaduke Wyvill

 

Members sitting for 40 years and more:

 Years
William Aislabie60
Edward Ashe52
Sir John Astley44
Edward Bacon41
Benjamin Bathurst53
Edward Bayntun Rolt43
Walter Blackett43
Sir Roger Bradshaigh52
Henry Bridgeman46
George Bubb Dodington46
John Calvert48
John Campbell (of Calder)40
John Campbell (of Mamore)45
Thomas Cartwright50
Lord George Augustus Cavendish42
William Richard Chetwynd48
Sir William Codrington45
Hon. Henry Seymour Conway42
Velters Cornewall46
Sir John Hynde Cotton44
Conyers Darcy43
Sir William Drake50
William Rawlinson Earle40
Richard Edgcumbe41
William Edwardes53
Welbore Ellis52
John Evelyn40
Hon. Edward Finch41
Charles Fitzroy49
Charles Frederick43
Francis Gwyn43
Phillips Gybbon54
William Gerard Hamilton42
John Harris40
Hon. Robert Sawyer Herbert46
Sir Justinian Isham40
Edwin Lascelles45
Thomas Lewis (of Harpton)46
James Lowther54
William Maule47
Sir Charles Mordaunt40
Thomas Morgan46
Richard Myddelton41
Thomas Noel48
Sir John Norris41
Robert Nugent43
Arthur Onslow41
William Owen52
John Plumptre43
Lord William Powlett40
Richard Rigby43
Samuel Rolle47
Sir John Rushout55
Lord George Sackville41
George Augustus Selwyn44
Richard Shuttleworth44
Henry Slingsby41
Hon. Thomas Townshend52
Sir Charles Turner43
Robert Vyner40
Horatio Walpole45
Robert Walpole40
Edward Wortley Montagu54
William Yonge40
John Yorke42

 

EDUCATION

The schools attended by 519 Members are known. This figure allows for six who attended more schools than one and includes nine who received their schooling abroad. Schools attended by more than one Member were: Westminster (167), Eton (162), Winchester (31), Merchant Taylors (11), St. Paul’s (11), Rugby (9), Bury St. Edmunds grammar school (8), Charterhouse (7), Dr. Uvedale’s at Enfield (7), Dr. Newcome’s at Hackney (7), Harrow (4), Shrewsbury (3).

Nearly half the Members (996) attended a university, of whom 26 attended more universities than one. The figures are: Oxford 596, Cambridge 318, Glasgow 28, Leyden 26, Edinburgh 19, Utrecht 13, Trinity College Dublin 8, Aberdeen 7, St. Andrews 3, other foreign universities 4.

Ninety-six Members are known to have gone on the Grand Tour.

 

DISSENTERS

Of those Members who are known to have been dissenters or had a dissenting background, several must have conformed to the established church as part of the normal rise in the social scale. Among the 28 given below John Barnard is said to have abandoned the Quaker faith in early youth and William Wildman Barrington, John Caswall, Caleb Lomax and Abraham Elton were the sons of dissenting Members. Scotch Presbyterians and men of Huguenot descent have not been included in the following list which cannot be regarded as comprehensive:

John BanceSir Henry Hoghton
John BarnardSamuel Holden
John, Lord BarringtonCharles Lockyer
William Wildman, Lord BarringtonThomas Lockyer
Nathaniel BrasseyCaleb Lomax
Stamp BrooksbankJoshua Lomax
George CaswallJohn London
John CaswallSir William Middleton
Josiah DistonNathaniel Newnham
Sir Abraham EltonThomas Newnham
Abraham EltonJohn Raymond
John GouldDudley Ryder
Nathaniel GouldSamuel Stephens
Nathaniel GouldJohn White

 

PLACEMEN AND PENSIONERS

The tables in notes IV, XIII, XVIII, and XXXIII to the introductory survey, show that about a third of the House of Commons consisted of placemen, including a few professional civil servants, diplomats, army and naval officers, servants of the Prince of Wales, and government contractors, as well as holders of political and court offices. Under the Place Act of 1742 three commissioners of revenue in Ireland (Sir William Corbet, William Glanville, and Lord Galway), three commissioners of the navy (Francis Gashry, James Oswald, George Crowle), three commissioners of victualling (Thomas Brereton, William Hay, Thomas Revell), the commissioner-general of stores and provisions, Gibraltar (John Hampden), the receiver-general of revenue, Minorca (Hon. Charles Hamilton), and deputy-paymaster, Minorca (Sir Francis Poole), had to choose between giving up their seats or their places. Two former Members (Philip Anstruther and Roger Handasyde) held Minorca offices. All but two, Crowle and Lord Galway, gave up their places to stand for Parliament. The loss was more than repaired in the next Parliament by an increase in the numbers of army officers and contractors. The Place Act also disqualified clerks in these and other government offices, with the exception of the secretaries of the Treasury and Admiralty, and the under-secretaries to secretaries of state, who were generally, though not invariably, professional civil servants.

Professional civil servants during this period were William Lowndes, John Scrope, James West and Nicholas Hardinge, secretaries of the Treasury, Josiah Burchett, Thomas Corbett and John Clevland, secretaries of the Admiralty, and Andrew Stone and Claudius Amyand, under-secretaries to secretaries of state. The only other officials who became Members before the Place Act of 1742 were Henry Kelsall and Christopher Tilson, senior clerks in the Treasury, and Thomas Pearce and John Phillipson, both of whom for a time combined the positions of clerks in the Navy Office with those of directors of the South Sea Company.

Thirty-four Members held diplomatic posts. In the following list those who may be regarded as semi-professional or career diplomatists are marked with an asterisk:

George Bubb DodingtonSir Paul Methuen
Sir George Byng*Thomas Pelham
William CadoganDaniel Pulteney
George Carpenter*Thomas Robinson
William Cayley (a consul)James Stanhope
*John ChetwyndJohn Stanhope
Hon. Charles Fane*William Stanhope
*Hon. Edward Finch*Abraham Stanyan
*Hon. William FinchRichard Sutton
Lord Forbes*Sir Robert Sutton
Lord Glenorchy*Thomas Villiers
John Hedges*Horatio Walpole
*Benjamin KeeneThomas Wentworth
Hon. Henry Legge*Lord Whitworth
Isaac Le HeupEdward Wortley Montagu
Hon. Thomas Lumley (afterwards Saunderson)Edward Wortley Montagu jun.
Thomas Mathews*Joseph Yorke

 

Owing to the disappearance of the secret service books of all the prime ministers of this period the only Members known to have received payments in lieu of offices are those referred to on p. 27, and in the following list of pensions in March 1754 in the Newcastle papers:1

Mr. A’Court500
Col. Mordaunt800
Money chair [J. S. Charlton]500
Sir Francis Poole400
Mr. E[dgcumb]e500
Mr. Hampden1,000
Mr. Hay500
Mr. Luke Robinson600
Mr. Brereton Salusbury500
Mr. Jenyns600
Mr. Burrard500
Sir D[unca]n Campbell400
Sir William Middleton800
Mr. Medlycott600
Lord Lyon [A. Brodie]300
Mr. [Peregrine] Poulett400
Mr. [Horsemonden] Turner500
Mr. Harrison500
Mr. Carmichael400
Mr. Neale500
Capt. Mackay300
Mr. Kerr300
Mr. Stert600
Col. Pelham500
Mr. Winnington500
Mr. Watson of Berwick500
Mr. Stuart200
Mq. of Winchester500
 £13,900

 

All the 28 names in the list are those of Members of the 1747 House of Commons, though two of them, Poulett and Turner, had died in 1752-3. A companion list of ‘pensions in March 1755’ shows that it cannot have been drawn up before that date. Another undated list of ‘pensions saved since April 1754’2 contains the name of ‘Mr. Erskine’, probably James Erskine, who is not shown in the list of March 1754. As there were 197 placemen in the 1747 House of Commons, the existence of nearly 30 pensioners goes some way towards justifying Pulteney’s statement in a debate on 2 Feb. 1733 that ‘besides 200 Members and more which he can name who have employments, employments in trust, or pensions, ... there are also above 50 military officers sitting there’.3

 

ARMY OFFICERS

Army officers were treated as placemen, liable to dismissal on political grounds. At the Hanoverian succession attempts to purge the army of high-ranking Tory officers were resisted by George I till the outbreak of the rebellion of 1715, when four Members (Lord Barrymore, Charles Ross, Richard Sutton, and John Richmond Webb) and two ex-Members (Sir Henry Goring and Andrews Windsor) were dismissed or ordered to sell their regiments. In 1717 seven army officers (Charles Churchill, John Campbell, Giles Earle, Alexander Grant, John Middleton, John Montgomerie, and Sir Robert Rich) met with similar treatment for voting against the Government in the division on Lord Cadogan. When in 1733 Walpole deprived two of his opponents, the Duke of Bolton and Lord Cobham, of their regiments, he justified his action on the ground that ‘any minister must be a pitiful fellow who would not show military officers that their employments were not held on any surer tenure than those of civil officers’.4 An opposition bill for making army officers not above the rank of colonel irremoveable except by court martial or on an address from either House was defeated without a division in 1734. In 1736 William Pitt was deprived of his cornet’s commission and in 1737 Lord Westmorland of a troop of Life Guards which he had bought for £6,500 but was not allowed to sell. The Place Act of 1742, excluding a number of office holders, did not apply to army officers. In 1747 one of the promises made by the Prince of Wales to secure the support of the Tories was to promote a bill to exclude all army officers under the rank of colonels of regiments and naval officers under the rank of rear-admiral from sitting in the House of Commons, but nothing came of it.

No more army officers were dismissed for political reasons during this period, though two (William Strickland and Charles Ross) spoke and voted against the Government on the Hanoverians in 1744, and two others (Richard Lyttelton and George Townshend), started an attack in the House of Commons on the Duke of Cumberland as captain-general in 1749.

The following 182 army officers were Members during this period.

Alexander AbercrombyWilliam Cadogan
James AbercrombyCharles Campbell
William A’CourtSir James Campbell
Lord AncramHon. James Campbell
Philip AnstrutherJames Campbell
Lord BarrymoreJohn Campbell (of Mamore)
Gregory BeakeJohn Campbell (of Rosneath)
Lord George BeauclerkPatrick Campbell
Lord Henry BeauclerkWilliam Campbell
Lord William BeauclerkSir James Carnegie
Lord George BentinckGeorge Carpenter (d.1732)
Hon. Henry BerkeleyGeorge Carpenter (d.1749)
Lord Robert BertieLord Frederick Cavendish
Maurice BoclandLord James Cavendish
Hon. George BoscawenHon. James Cholmondeley
Hon. John BoscawenCharles Churchill (d.1745)
Phineas BowlesCharles Churchill (d.1812)
William BrayCourthorpe Clayton
Lord BuryThomas Cochrane
Charles CadoganHon. Henry Seymour Conway
John CopeDaniel Leighton
Henry CornewallSir Samuel Lennard
Hon. Edward CornwallisHon. Thomas Leslie
Hon. Stephen CornwallisJohn Louis Ligonier
John DalrympleThomas Littleton
Sir Tristram DillingtonPhilip Lloyd
Hon. Robert DouglasHenry Lumley
William DouglasHon. John Lumley
William DuckettRichard Lyttelton
Giles EarleHon. George Mackay
Hon. William EgertonLord Robert Manners
William ElliotLord Robert Manners Sutton
Cuthbert EllisonLord March
Thomas ErleWilliam Maule
Sir Henry ErskineJohn Maxwell
James ErskineJohn Middleton
Thomas ErskineHon. Robert Monckton
William ErskineEdward Montagu
Richard EvansJohn Montagu
Francis EylesJohn Montgomerie
Hon. Robert FairfaxHon. Harry Mordaunt
Hon. John FaneJohn Mordaunt
Thomas FerrersHon. John Mordaunt
Charles FitzroyAnthony Morgan
John GoreMaurice Morgan
Lord GranbyJohn Mostyn
Alexander GrantSir Harry Munro
John GriffinJohn Munro
Samuel GumleyRobert Munro
George HaldaneLord James Murray
Peter HalkettLord John Murray
James HalyburtonHon. Robert Murray
Roger HandasydeJames Edward Oglethorpe
Daniel HarveyRichard Onslow
Lord Charles HayLord Ossulston
Richard HerbertAdolphus Oughton
Hon. Thomas HerbertJohn Owen
Hon. William HerbertThomas Paget
Lord HertfordJohn Pepper
Lord HinchingbrookeJohn Pitt
Henry HolmesThomas Pitt
John HopeWilliam Pitt
Sir Charles Hotham, 4th Bt.Sir Robert Pollock
Sir Charles Hotham, 5th Bt.Charles Powlett
Hon. Charles HowardCharles Armand Powlett
Lord HoweLord Harry Powlett
Hon. Charles IngramLord Nassau Powlett
Clement KentHarry Pulteney
Hon. William KerrGeorge Reade
Thomas KingSir Robert Rich
Thomas RobinsonRichard Sutton
Hon. Charles Ross (d.1732)Hon. George Townshend
Hon. Charles Ross (d.1745)Hon. Roger Townshend
John SabineHon. William Townshend
Joseph SabineGeorge Treby
Lord George SackvilleJames Tyrrell
Lord John Philip SackvilleDuncan Urquhart
Hon. James St. ClairHenry Vane
James ScottGeorge Wade
Lord ShannonHon. John Waldegrave
James StanhopeLord Wallingford
William StanhopeHon. Bluett Wallop
Hon. William StanhopeJohn Richmond Webb
John StanwixThomas Wentworth
Thomas StanwixHon. John West
Hon. James StewartThomas Whetham
Hon. John Stewart (d1748)William Whitmore
Hon. John Stewart (d.1796)Charles Wills
Hon. William StewartSir John Wittewrong
William StricklandEdward Wortley Montagu
James StuartHon. Joseph Yorke

 

NAVAL OFFICERS

Naval officers in the House of Commons, like their army counterparts, were expected to vote with the Government. Those who voted with the Opposition were liable to be deprived of their commands, like Sir John Norris, or passed over for promotion, like Edward Vernon. Among the terms offered to the Tories by the Prince of Wales in 1747 was the promotion of a bill for excluding naval officers under the rank of rear admiral from sitting in the House of Commons.5 In 1749 Sir John Norris presented and Sir Peter Warren supported a petition signed by three admirals and forty-seven captains, not Members of the House, against a proposal to make half-pay naval officers subject to court martial, which achieved its object.6

The following 54 naval officers were Members during this period.

  
Matthew AylmerCharles Cornwall
Hercules BakerHon. James Cornwallis
John BakerFrancis Delaval
Lord Vere BeauclerkGeorge Delaval
Hon. Edward BoscawenHon. George Edgcumbe
Sir George ByngLord Augustus Fitzroy
Hon. John ByngLord Forbes
Philip CavendishThomas Frankland
St. John CharltonLord George Graham
Thomas GrenvilleGeorge Purvis
Nicholas HaddockNicholas Robinson
Sir Charles HardyGeorge Brydges Rodney
Edward HawkeWilliam Rowley
Sir John JenningsCharles Saunders
Charles KnowlesSir George Saunders
Hon. Edward LeggeJames Steuart
James LittletonHon. Charles Stewart
Thomas MathewsThomas Swanton
Matthew MichellIsaac Townsend
John MontaguThomas Trefusis
Hon. William MontaguCharles Vanbrugh
Savage MostynEdward Vernon
Sir John NorrisSir Charles Wager
Matthew NorrisGalfridus Walpole
Sir Chaloner OgleSir Peter Warren
Harry PowlettTemple West

 

LAWYERS

Of the 492 Members who had been admitted to the Inns of Court, 238 had been called to the Bar and 36 were advocates (Scotland), including six who had also been admitted to the Inns of Court. The 209 Members known to have practised as lawyers or held legal office, listed below, consisted of 151 Whigs, 80 of whom, marked with an asterisk, were office holders, including 21 Welsh judges, and 58 Tories, marked (T). The offices include that of a K.C., which was treated as an office under the Crown, involving re-election. As a K.C. not already a bencher was always made one, it has been thought unnecessary to include the office of bencher in the biographies of Members when this was the consequence of becoming a K.C. Nor have the offices of reader and treasurer of one of the Inns of Court been included as these were purely honorary appointments consequent upon becoming a bencher.

Richard Abell*John Birch
(T) Marmaduke AlingtonDenis Bond
Charles AllansonJohn Bond (d.1744)
(T) Francis AnnesleyJohn Bond (d.1784)
(T) John AnstisRobert Booth
Henry Archer*Thomas Bootle
(T) William Archer(T) Samuel Bracebridge
*Charles Areskine(T) Thomas Bramston
Edward Bacon(T) Owen Brigstocke
(T) Henry BankesRobert Britiffe
Robert Barbor*Lord Brodrick
*Hon. Henry Bathurst(T) John Browne
(T) John BelfieldJohn Buller
William Bellamy(T) Shilston Calmady
Arthur Bevan(T) John Carnegie
*Lawrence CarterArchibald Grant
Robert ChaplinLudovick Grant
*William Chapple*William Grant
*Francis Chute(T) Charles Gray
*Charles ClarkeGeorge Grenville
(T) George ClarkeWilliam Guidott
Sir Thomas Clarke*Nathaniel Gundry
*Thomas ClarkePatrick Haldane
(T) Richard ClaytonPaggen Hale
*Edward Clive*Nicholas Hardinge
*John Comyns(T) Edward Harley
(T) John Conyers(T) Robert Harley
(T) George Cooke*James Hayes
*Spencer CowperThomas Hayward
(T) Charles CoxeHenry Holt Henley
(T) John Coxe*Robert Henley
*Anthony Cracherode*John Hervey
*Robert Craigie*Sir Henry Hoghton
(T) Sir Alexander Cumming*Rogers Holland
(T) William Curzon(T) Hon. Thomas Howard
*Hon. Sir David Dalrymple*Hon. Alexander Hume Campbell
*Alexander Denton(T) John Hungerford
John Dickson(T) Archibald Hutcheson
Fleetwood Dormer(T) Sir Edmund Isham
(T) Francis Drewe(T) Edward Jefferies
Sir Thomas Drury*Sir Joseph Jekyll
*Robert DundasPhilip Jennings
(T) Thomas Edwards*William Jessop
Francis EldeJohn Jewkes
*Sir Gilbert Elliot*Paul Jodrell
Gilbert Elliot*Thomas Kennedy
Charles Erskine(T) Abel Ketelby
(T) Hon. James ErskineWilliam Kinaston
(T) William Ettrick*William Kirkpatrick
John Eyre*Matthew Lamb
Robert Eyre*Nicholas Lechmere
*Francis Fane*George Lee
William Farrer*William Lee
(T) Nicholas Fazackerley*John Lloyd
Robert Fenwick*Richard Lloyd
*Sir James Fergusson*Walter Lloyd
*Hon. John Finch (d.1763)(T) Charles Longueville
(T) Hon. John Finch (d.1740)James Lowther
(T) Paul Foley(T) Thomas Lutwyche
(T) Richard FoleySamuel Martin
*Duncan ForbesEdward Marton
*William Fortescue*Thomas Martyn
*John Fortescue Aland*John Maule
Jeffrey FrenchNathaniel Mead
(T) Thomas GeersJames Medlycott
Thomas Medlycott*John Strange
Sir Roger Meredith(T) Humphrey Sydenham
(T) Sir Peter Mews*Charles Talbot
*Edmund Miller*Hon. John Talbot
(T) Samuel MillesCharles Taylor
Charles Monson(T) Joseph Taylor
George Monson(T) William Taylor
*Thomas Morgan*William Thompson
(T) John MortonThomas Tower
William MureSamuel Travers
*Hon. William Murray*Hon. John Trevor
(T) Robert MyddeltonSamuel Tufnell
*William NoelSir John Turner
*Sir Edward Northey(T) Sir Edward Turnor
*Arthur Onslow*Richard Vaughan
*Robert Ord*Hon. John Verney
John OrlebarThomas Vernon
David PapillonHarry Waller
(T) Thomas Paske(T) John Ward
*Thomas Pengelly*Sir Clement Wearg
Charles PilsworthJohn Weaver
William PlumerJames West
*John Pollen*Richard West
*Edward Poore(T) Sir William Whitlock
*Richard Potenger(T) Isaac Whittington
*John Pringle(T) Randle Wilbraham
George Proctor*Edward Willes
*Sir Robert Raymond*John Willes
*James ReynoldsJohn Willes jun.
Matthew Ridley*Sir Nicholas Williams
(T) John Robins(T) Robert Williams
Luke RobinsonWilliam Peere Williams
*Dudley RyderFrancis Winnington
*Exton Sayer(T) Charles Worsley
(T) Thomas SclaterJohn Wright
David ScottThomas Wyndham
*John Scrope*Hon. Charles Yorke
James SheppardHon. John Yorke
(T) Matthew Skinner*Philip Yorke
*Sydney Stafford Smythe 

 

OTHER PROFESSIONAL MEN

Besides its Members from the military, naval, and legal professions, the House during this period included 14 writers (Joseph Addison, John Anstis, Isaac Hawkins Browne, George Duckett, Fulke Greville, James Hammond, Charles Hanbury Williams, Soame Jenyns, Robert Molesworth, Lord Paget, Hon. Francis Robartes, Richard Steele, John Trenchard, Hon. Horatio Walpole), one painter (Sir James Thornhill), five physicians and surgeons (Charles Cotes, John Freind, Robert Gay, Edward Norris, Charles Oliphant), one apothecary (George Bruere), and one quack (Joshua Ward).

 

MERCHANTS

The following list of 198 merchants includes 12 bankers (Brassey, two Caswalls, two Childs, Colebrooke, Decker, Hoare, three Martins, and Sawbridge), 17 brewers (three Calverts, Cotton, Crosse, Halsey, two Hucks, Inwen, Lade, Meggott, Page, two Parsons, Raymond, Ridge and Thrale), and some of the principal industrialists listed on p. 150, as well as traders with overseas contracts. Those marked with an asterisk held government contracts, ‘the “places” of merchants’ (Namier, Structure, 51). The number and politics of merchants returned at each general election or at subsequent by-elections were:

 Whigs

Opposition

Whigs

Tories Totals
1715601373
172249958
172751859
17343971157
17413111951
1747438354


William AsheJohn Burridge
Solomon AshleyFelix Calvert
*William BakerJohn Calvert
John BanceWilliam Calvert
John BarnardDaniel Campbell
Sir James BatemanJohn Campbell (of Edinburgh)
William BeckfordWilliam Carr
William BelchierGeorge Caswall
*Thomas BensonJohn Caswall
Slingsby BethellWilliam Cayley
William BettsFrancis Chamberlayne
John BlackwoodGeorge Champion
Jacob des BouverieSir John Chapman
Sir Jacob BouverieFrancis Child
Nathaniel BrasseySamuel Child
*John BristowRichard Chiswell
Robert BristowWilliam Churchill
Stamp BrooksbankJames Colebrooke
Sir Robert BrownBenjamin Collyer
Neil BuchananValens Comyn
John BuckCharles Cooke
*Merrick BurrellJames Cooke
*Peter BurrellSir John Cope
Robert CorkerWilliam Heathcote
Anthony CornishJoseph Herne
John Hynde CottonRobert Heysham
Sir Thomas CrosseWilliam Heysham
John CrowleyThomas Hill
Thomas D’AethHenry Hoare
Sir William DainesSamuel Holden
John DeacleJohn Hopkins
Sir Matthew DeckerSir Richard Hopkins
Josiah DistonRobert Hucks
Paul DocminiqueWilliam Hucks
George Dodington*Abraham Hume
John DrummondAlexander Hume
Richard Du CaneSir William Humfreys
Lawrence DundasThomas Inwen
Joseph EarleRichard Jackson
Sir Abraham EltonRobert Jacombe
Abraham EltonAbraham Janssen
George EnglandStephen Theodore Janssen
Charles EwerSir Theodore Janssen
John EylesSir Thomas Johnson
*Joseph EylesSir William Jolliffe
James FallSamuel Kent
Nicholas FenwickJames Ker
*Thomas FonnereauJohn Lade
*Zachary Philip FonnereauDaniel Lambert
Frederick Meinhardt FranklandSir Richard Lane
*Henry FurneseJohn Laroche
Richard FydellDaniel Lascelles
Thomas GibsonHenry Lascelles
Richard GildartSir William Lewen
John GoddardPatrick Lindsay
Peter GodfreyWilliam Lock
Sir Robert GodschallRichard Lockwood
John GoodallThomas Lockyer
*John Gore*John London
Henry GoughHenry Maister
Sir Henry GoughWilliam Maister
Sir Richard GoughHenry Marshall
John GouldJames Martin

Nathaniel Gould (d.728)

John Martin
Nathaniel Gould (d.1738)Thomas Martin
*Joseph GulstonGeorge Meggott
*John GumleyLascelles Metcalfe
Edmund HalseyJohn Michell
*Richard Harnage*James Milner
Thomas Heath*Thomas Missing
George HeathcoteThomas Missing jun.
*Sir Gilbert HeathcoteArthur Moore
John HeathcoteHumphry Morice
Albert NesbittWilliam Steele
Arnold NesbittEdward Stephenson
Nathaniel NewnhamArchibald Stewart
Sir Gregory PageSamuel Swift
Philip PapillonSir Peter Thompson
*Henry ParsonsRichard Thompson
Humphry ParsonsRalph Thrale
Sir John ParsonsRichard Tonson
Thomas PearseChristopher Tower
Micajah Perry*Chauncy Townsend
John PhillipsonHoratio Townshend
John RaymondEdward Tucker
Sir Isaac RebowThomas Vere
*Thomas RevellSir Charles Vernon
Thomas Ridge*Thomas Vernon
Matthew RidleyHumphrey Walcot
George RobinsonPeter Walter
John RudgeSir John Ward
John RushJohn Ward
Samuel RushGeorge Warrender
John SambrookeThomas Watts
John SargentThomas Western
Jacob SawbridgeSir John Williams
Sir Thomas ScawenRobert Willimot
*Sir William ScawenWilliam Willy
Thomas Smith*Hitch Younge

 

PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIALISTS

The 43 Members listed below were of two different types. Over half, shown by asterisks, would have regarded themselves as country gentlemen exploiting the mineral wealth on their estates, mainly in the north-east and South Wales, such as George Bowes, Henry Lambton, the Wortley Montagus, the Hanburys and the Liddells. The remainder were men who owned and developed their businesses or works but were not large landowners. As noted above, the brewers are treated as merchants.

Solomon Ashley (copper)Abraham Elton (pottery, copper, brass)
*Norborne Berkeley (coal)Richard Gildart (salt)
*Sir William Calverley Blackett (coal, lead)         
John Gumley sen. (plate-glass)
*Sir William Blackett (coal, lead)John Gumley jun. (plate-glass)
*George Bowes (coal)*Capel Hanbury (iron)
William Bowles (glass)*John Hanbury (iron)
*Sir Roger Bradshaigh (coal)*John Hedworth (coal)
*Thomas Chester (coal)*Robert Hoblyn (tin, brass)
Thomas Coster (copper, tin)Stephen Theodore Janssen (French enamel)
John Crowley (iron)Sir Henry Johnson (shipbuilding)

Sir Abraham Elton (brass, iron,

weaving, glass, pottery)

Sir Thomas Johnson (salt, building)
 *Henry Lambton (coal)
Sir Richard Lane (salt)Sir Gregory Page (shipping)
*George Liddell (coal)*George Pitt (coal)
*Sir Henry Liddell (coal)*Matthew Ridley (coal)
*Thomas Liddell (coal)*Sir John St. Aubyn (tin)
*James Lowther (coal)Chauncy Townsend (coal)
*Herbert Mackworth (coal, copper)*Cholmley Turner (lead)
*James Montagu (coal)John Ward (alum)
William Ockenden (copper, brass)*Edward Wortley Montagu (coal)
*John Ord (coal)*Hon. Sidney Wortley Montagu (coal)
*William Ord (coal)*George Wynne (lead)

 

ALDERMEN OF LONDON

All the 31 London aldermen listed below figure in the preceding lists of merchants and principal industrialists, except Edward Gibbon, the historian’s father. Ten of them (Baker, Bateman, Child, John and Joseph Eyles, both Heathcotes, Hopkins, Humfreys, and Scawen) were directors of the three ‘great monied companies’ (see below). Fifteen were government supporters and 16 opposition, including 12 Tories.

William BakerSir Gilbert Heathcote
John BarnardRobert Heysham
Sir James BatemanSir Richard Hopkins
William BeckfordSir William Humfreys
Slingsby BethellStephen Theodore Janssen
William CalvertDaniel Lambert
George ChampionSir William Lewen
Francis ChildHenry Marshall
Charles CookeHumphry Parsons
John CrowleySir John Parsons
Charles EwerMicajah Perry
John EylesSir Thomas Scawen
Joseph EylesSir John Ward
Edward GibbonSir John Williams
Sir Robert GodschallRobert Willimot
George Heathcote

 

DIRECTORS

With few exceptions the 77 directors of one or more of the ‘great monied companies’ listed below were government supporters.

Bank of England (27)

John BanceRichard Chiswell
Robert BristowSir John Cope
Stamp BrooksbankJosiah Diston
Merrick BurrellRichard Du Cane
John EylesSir William Jolliffe
Joseph EylesHumphry Morice
Frederick Meinhardt FranklandJohn Rudge
Nathaniel GouldJohn Sargent
Nathaniel GouldSir Thomas Scawen
Sir Gilbert HeathcoteSir William Scawen
John HeathcoteChristopher Tower
Samuel HoldenHon. Horatio Townshend
Sir William HumfreysSir John Ward
Sir Theodore Janssen 

 

East India Company (29)

William AislabieEdward Harrison
William BakerThomas Heath
Stephen BisseJohn Heathcote
Charles BooneJoseph Herne
Robert BristowAlexander Hume
Francis ChildMatthew Martin
Sir Matthew DeckerNathaniel Newnham
John DrummondSir Gregory Page
John EylesJohn Page
Zachary Philip FonnereauSamuel Shepheard
Peter GodfreyWilliam Steele
Henry GoughWilliam Steuart
Sir Henry GoughJohn Ward (of Hackney)
Sir Richard GoughWilliam Willy
John Gould 

 

South Sea Company (28)

Sir James BatemanSir Richard Hopkins
William BowlesRichard Jackson
John BristowSir Theodore Janssen
Peter BurrellJohn Lade
George CaswallJames Lowther
Robert ChaplinJohn Merrill
Sir Thomas CrosseThomas Pearse
Francis EylesJohn Phillipson
John EylesGeorge Pitt (d.1735)
Francis GashryGabriel Roberts
Joseph GulstonJohn Rudge
Edmund HalseyJacob Sawbridge
John HanburyFisher Tench
George HeathcoteHon. Horatio Townshend

 

EAST INDIANS

East Indian Members can be divided into two groups: (i) 29 directors of the Company (see above), usually big London merchants and bankers, most of whom did not go out to India; and (ii) 12 former members of the Company’s civil or naval service, the later ‘nabobs’, who had returned to England with fortunes made in India. Of these 12 listed below, Aislabie, Boone Gough, Harrison and Martin became directors of the Company after retirement.

William AislabieMatthew Martin
Charles BooneJames Peachey
Sir Robert CowanGeorge Morton Pitt
Henry GoughThomas Pitt
Gabriel HangerGabriel Roberts
Edward HarrisonEdward Stephenson

 

WEST INDIANS

The following 27 Members owned estates in the West Indies, those who are known to have been born in the islands or to have lived there being indicated by an asterisk. Most of them were absentee landlords for the greater part of their lives. Only Beckford, Bethell, two of the Lascelles, and Thompson were merchants.

*Charles BarrowChristopher Jeaffreson
*William BeckfordDaniel Lascelles
*Slingsby BethellEdwin Lascelles
Martin Bladen*Henry Lascelles
Henry Bromley*Charles Long
*John BromleySamuel Lowe
*Sir William Codrington, 1st Bt.*Martin Madan
Sir William Codrington, 2nd Bt.*Samuel Martin
*James Edward Colleton*John Frederick Pinney
*Sir Robert Davers*Anthony Langley Swymmer
*James DawkinsTheobald Taaffe
*Thomas Foster*Richard Thompson
Jeffrey French*John Walter
*Samuel Greathead 

 

ROGUES

The 12 Members listed below were expelled from the House of Commons for financial frauds. Two others, William Burroughs and Humphry Morice, would have been expelled for the same reason if Burroughs had not already ceased to be a Member and Morice had not committed suicide. Two other notable rogues were Theobald Taaffe, a professional card-sharper, and his associate, the younger Edward Wortley Montagu, a life-long delinquent.

John AislabieSir Archibald Grant
John, Lord BarringtonSir Theodore Janssen
Denis BondGeorge Robinson
John BirchJacob Sawbridge
Sir George CaswallSir Robert Sutton
Sir Robert ChaplinJohn Ward (of Hackney)

 

RUINED MEN

Apart from building, drink, gambling, speculation, and general extravagance, the chief cause of the ruin of Members was election expenses, which account for that of the 19 marked with an asterisk in the following list of 82 ruined men:

William Belchier*Michael Harvey
Philip Bennet*Sir Humphrey Howorth
Thomas BensonJohn Jeffreys
John BotelerSir Thomas Johnson
John Thurloe BraceSir William Keyt
William BretonEdward Lisle
Sir Orlando Bridgeman*Robert Lloyd
John BristowCharles Long
*Henry Bromley, later Lord MontfortAlexander Luttrell
*John BurridgeSir George Mackenzie
Charles Caesar*Sir Thomas Mackworth
John CaswallNorman Macleod
George ChaffinCharles Mason
Francis Chamberlayne*James Medlycott
Walter Chetwynd*Sir William Middleton
William ChetwyndEdward Minshull
*Hon. George CholmondeleyArthur Moore
John CockburnDaniel Moore
Robert ColebrookeWilliam Moore
Robert CorkerHumphry Morice
John CottonHon. James Murray
*George CrowleMicajah Perry
Sir Alexander CummingJohn Pitt
Henry Cunningham*Thomas Pitt (of Boconnoc)
Josiah DistonRichard Powys
Hon. John DouglasJohn Proby, later Lord Carysfort
Lord Drogheda*Morgan Randyll
Edward DunchJohn Robins
Richard EliotThomas Robinson
George EnglandThomas Smith
John EssingtonWilliam Stephens
*Hon. Robert Fairfax*Sir Edmund Thomas
Henry Fleetwood*Edward Thompson
Thomas Forster*Sir John Trelawny
Charles FrederickAlexander Urquhart
Sir Henry Goring*Lord Verney
David GraemeNicholas Vincent
Henry Grey (formerly Neville)*John Walcot
*Patrick HaldaneWilliam Wallis
Richard HampdenRichard West
Lord Harley, later and Earl of OxfordAndrew Wilkinson

 

Other Members who got into financial difficulties without being absolutely ruined were Sir Robert Austen, Sir Roger Bradshaigh, Thomas Chapman, Francis Clerke, Sir Robert Clifton, and Edward Gibbon, the historian’s father.

 

SUICIDES AND MADMEN

Nine Members returned during this period committed suicide and 13 became permanently or intermittently insane. In the following lists those who committed suicide or became insane while Members of the House of Commons are shown by an asterisk.

Suicides

Henry Bromley, later Lord MontfortSir Danvers Osborn
Sir William KeytNicholas Philpott
*James MilnerCharles Powlett, later 5th Duke of Bolton
*Humphry Morice*Hans Stanley
William Ord 

 

Madmen

*Thomas Alston*Lord Charles Hay
Charles Bathurst*Richard Herbert
William BensonNicholas Philpott
Henry Calthorpe*Lord John Sackville
*Lord Carteret*John Trevor
*Sir Thomas Frankland*Sir Charles Hanbury Williams
*Alexander Grant 

 

Francis Annesley, against whom a commission of lunacy was taken out, was probably senile.

 

MAIN CATEGORIES IN EACH PARLIAMENT

                                                                
1715-22    
1722-7    
1727-34    
1734-41    
1741-7    
1747-54
Members739673684690685671
New Members266250243245255248
Army officers585353556568
Naval officers111411141921
Practising lawyers767374687074
Merchants (including bankers and brewers)735859575154

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

End Notes

  • 1. Add. 33038 f. 415.
  • 2. Add. 33038 f. 357.
  • 3. HMC Egmont Diary, i. 323.
  • 4. Hervey, Mems. 707.
  • 5. Owen, Pelhams, 312-13.
  • 6. Coxe, Pelham, ii. 64.