1754 Taunton by-election

UK Parliamentary by-election April 2022 1754 Taunton by-election presidential Kingdom of Great Britain 1707 no 1754 British general election 1754 1761 British general election 1761 1754 12 24 y Robert Maxwell Whigs (British political party) 198 Sir John Pole, Bt Tories (British political party) 142 MP Subsequent MP John Halliday Whigs (British political party) Robert Maxwell Whigs (British political party) x160px 58.2% 41.8% Whig Constituency of Taunton 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 Whig Member 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.https://books.google.com/books?id=ouyiW8s3jUoC&pg=PA321 Religion and the Enlightenment, 1600–1800: Conflict and the Rise of Civic Humanism in Taunton Gibson William Peter Lang AG 978-3-03910-922-7 2007 321–6 84743774 Nationally, parliament had been controlled by the Whigs since 1715, in what was dubbed the "Whig Supremacy" by Basil Williams.Stasavage David David Stasavage 2007 Partisan politics and public debt: The importance of the 'Whig Supremacy' for Britain's financial revolution European Review of Economic History Cambridge University Press II 124–128 10.1017/S1361491606001900 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. 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. thumb|right|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. 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. 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).http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/survey/ii-elections The General Election of 1754 The History of Parliament Trust https://web.archive.org/web/20150407144430/http://historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/survey/ii-elections 2015-04-07 27 January 2015 live 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. 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.https://books.google.com/books?id=5ikwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA349 The Baronetage of England Betham William 1801 William Miller 349–54 71617621 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.http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/maxwell-robert-1720-1779 MAXWELL, Robert (c.1720–1779) The History of Parliament Trust https://web.archive.org/web/20150920192532/http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/maxwell-robert-1720-1779 2015-09-20 27 January 2015 live 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.https://books.google.com/books?id=jw0jAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA328 The history of Taunton, in the county of Somerset Toulmin Joshua Joshua Toulmin James Savage (antiquary) Savage James 1822 John Poole & James Savage Taunton 328–9 751836236 This extended the election campaign to run for six months, causing major disruption to the wool trade in the town. 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." 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.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.http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/RP99-20.pdf Inflation: the Value of the Pound 1750–1998 Twigger Robert Robert Twigger House of Commons Library 23 February 1999 28 January 2015 Both men had plates and mugs made which were given free to the voters, generally full of food and drink. 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.https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5490330 An English Delft blue and white electioneering plate Christie's https://web.archive.org/web/20150227053502/http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/an-english-delft-blue-and-white-electioneering-5490330-details.aspx 2015-02-27 28 January 2015 live A drinking glass with a similar inscription is housed at the British Museum in London.https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/d/drinking_glass_with_election_i.aspx Drinking glass with election inscription British Museum https://web.archive.org/web/20150227132442/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/d/drinking_glass_with_election_i.aspx 2015-02-27 28 January 2015 live 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." 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."https://books.google.com/books?id=Uh4Vfn-FFekC&pg=PA380 Report on the manuscripts of Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Northamptonshire Greggs Press 447313 1904 1972 London 380 0-8398-0803-8 Hewlett W. O. Lomas S. C. Maxwell travelled down to Taunton in August to contest the seat,http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000189/17540816/005/0002 London, August 15 Derby Mercury 23 August 1754 29 January 2015 British Newspaper Archive subscription and the vacancy was nationally advertised in October.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000073/17541026/011/0002 Dead Oxford Journal 26 October 1754 29 January 2015 British Newspaper Archive subscription Despite this, the voting did not commence until 10 December 1754.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000189/17541220/008/0003 London, December 21 Derby Mercury 27 December 1754 29 January 2015 British Newspaper Archive subscription 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.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000189/17551220/009/0003 London Derby Mercury 27 December 1755 29 January 2015 British Newspaper Archive subscription During the course of the voting, over 700 votes were discounted, and it has been referred to as being "notoriously corrupt".https://books.google.com/books?id=t675Zg3oiGAC&pg=PA352 Religion, Revolution and English Radicalism Bradley James E. 2002 1990 Cambridge University Press Cambridge 0-521-38010-3 352 486194232 When the result was announced, the public showed "their displeasure by assaulting the friends of Mr Maxwell." Maxwell himself had to be escorted back to where he was staying, but during the rioting that ensued, the houses of those known to support Maxwell were attacked. The Derby Mercury reported that Robert Pearsall, a Dissenter minister who had been prominent in Maxwell's campaign, was threatened with having his house pulled down and being sacrificed. Two people, a man and a woman, were killed during the rioting, which prompted two troops of dragoons to be sent to the town, placed at the command of the Mayor, in case of emergency.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000191/17550111/006/0001 Wednesday's Post Ipswich Journal 11 January 1755 29 January 2015 British Newspaper Archive subscription One of the murderers was caught and sent to the County Jail in Ilchester, but the other escaped.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000189/17550117/012/0004 London, January 21 Derby Mercury 24 January 1755 29 January 2015 British Newspaper Archive subscription By-Election: Tauntonhttp://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/constituencies/taunton Taunton: Double Member Borough The History of Parliament Trust https://web.archive.org/web/20150924190916/http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/constituencies/taunton 2015-09-24 27 January 2015 live Whigs (British political party) Robert Maxwell 198 58.2 – Tories (British political party) Sir John Pole, Bt 142 41.8 – 56 Aftermath 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. 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",https://books.google.com/books?id=jw0jAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA328 The history of Taunton, in the county of Somerset Toulmin Joshua Savage James 1822 John Poole & James Savage Taunton 570–1 751836236 and vowed to spend the money that would have otherwise been spent on campaigning on improving Taunton. They put forward two candidates in 1768, who after the withdrawal of Maxwell and another, were returned unopposed for Taunton. Notes and references Notes References 30em Category:1754 in England Category:1754 in politics Category:18th century in Somerset Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Somerset constituencies Category:History of Taunton Category:By-elections to the Parliament of Great Britain