1750 Westminster by-election

Contentious by-election in Westminster in 1750 The 1750 Westminster by-election was a ministerial by-election to the Parliament of Great Britain for the Westminster constituency which took place between November 1749 and May 1750. The final result was declared on 15 May 1750, with the incumbent, Viscount Trentham, retaining his seat.Sedgwick The by-election was notable for being highly contentious, even by the standards of 18th-century British elections. This materialised in the involvement of George II, Frederick, Prince of Wales and Jacobite agents, an intense Paper War between supporters of the candidates, mob violence, and the arrest of an election agent, Alexander Murray of Elibank. It was also the first British election in which a black person, John London, is recorded to have voted.Williamson Background thumb|upright|Viscount Trentham, whose appointment to the ministry in 1749 led to the by-election. Trentham was eventually declared to have retained the seat. Viscount Trentham had been elected to represent the prestigious Westminster constituency at the 1747 British general election on the interest of the government, despite strong opposition from the local Jacobite dominated Association of Independent Electors.Stewart A by-election was called in November 1749 when, in accordance with parliamentary convention, Viscount Trentham was required to seek re-election to his seat following his appointment to the Broad Bottom ministry as a lord of the admiralty.Barker The Whig statesman, the Duke of Bedford, who was Trentham's patron and controlled many properties in Westminster, expected the election to be won with little contest. Bedford accordingly directed his tenants to vote for Trentham. The franchise in the constituency, dictated by scot and lot, was the largest of any borough in the country. It numbered around 9,465 men in 1750, including many unskilled laborers. Trentham's family had become unpopular among Tories owing to his father, Lord Gower's, desertion of the party during the 1740s. Trentham was also disliked by some in the Westminster constituency for his family's supposed support for a group of French actors in London amidst the suppression of English theatre under the Licensing Act 1737. As such, a November 1749 meeting of those supporting the independent (and anti-ministerial) interest decided to put forward a candidate to contest the election. George Cooke was initially proposed, but after he declined, the Tory Sir George Vandeput was chosen. The Lord Mayor of London, Samuel Pennant, promised £12,000 to cover Vandeput's election expenses. The campaign and election thumb|upright|Sir George Vandeput, who contested and ultimately lost the by-election as the Tory candidate Upon the selection of an opposition candidate, Bedford inflamed tensions by threatening tenants who voted for Vandeput with eviction or an increase in rent. The ministry led by Henry Pelham, indignant at having its authority contested in the seat containing the Palace of Westminster and explicitly encouraged by George II, also threw its weight behind Trentham's re-election. All the power of the court was employed to secure Trentham's re-election, including the extensive entertaining of voters at hostelries, artificially enlarging the electorate to include well-disposed voters, and intimidation. An extensive pamphlet campaign was launched by the end of 1749, charging Vandeput's supporters and independents with having been tacit supporters of the Jacobite rising of 1745 and of being "publicly drunk in their meetings and assemblies". Henry Fielding was among the satirists who gave their support to the ministry. Bedford paid for the publication of the hoax Covent-Garden Journal to mock Vandeput and his supporters, of which 13,000 copies were printed on 5–6 December.Battestin and Battestin (1993) pp. 491–492 Vandeput, meanwhile, received support from the Prince of Wales's faction, leading Tory MPs, and the Association of Independent Electors of Westminster. His campaign was fueled by popular resentment of the government following the execution of Bosavern Penlez and the unpopularity of the recently signed Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The satirist Paul Whitehead was employed to compose advertisements and handbills in support of Vandeput. In the increasingly febrile atmosphere in Westminster, street battles ensued between the rival groups.Douglas (2004) The History of Parliament describes the by-election as having seen "scenes of unprecedented violence". On 6 February 1750 the suspected Jacobite Alexander Murray of Elibank, who had served as Vandeput's chief election agent, was brought before the House of Commons on charges of inciting the mob and seditious behaviour. On polling day itself, the Tories alleged that prisoners and debtors from Fleet Prison had been released to vote for Trentham, and that some electors had voted multiple times. Scrutiny and result thumb|The name of John London, or "Loudon", recorded in A Copy of the Poll for a Citizen for the City and Liberty of Westminster (1749) The high bailiff of Westminster, Peter Leigh, declared Trentham to have been elected with 4,811 votes to Vandeput's 4,654. Vandeput requested an ex post facto scrutiny of the ballot for disqualified voters, a process which continued throughout the spring of 1750. This was an expensive legalistic process, costing Vandeput over £20 per day, and the Prince of Wales donated at least an additional £300 to help pay for the scrutiny. Horace Walpole wrote that the election campaign cost the Duke of Bedford at least £7,000, and that scrutiny in favour of Trentham was being paid by Lord Gower and "will be at least as much". It was during the vote scrutiny that it was noted that John London was a "Blackamoor" who had voted for Trentham, thereby recording the earliest known vote by a black person in Great Britain. On 15 May 1750, the high bailiff declared Trentham to have a revised majority of 170 following the scrutiny. Petitions were prepared by Lord Elibank, Alexander Murray and the Earl of Egmont in favour of Vandeput and accusing the high bailiff of failing to publish parish lists of eligible voters. One petition further charged Leigh with prolonging the scrutiny unnecessarily in order to extort "four guineas a day from each of the said candidates during the scrutiny, which lasted upwards of ninety days".Walpole The enquiry was frustrated by Trentham's supporters and the petitions were rejected; the high bailiff subsequently gave evidence against Alexander Murray to the Commons in January 1750.Douglas (2004)Henderson By-Election 15 May 1750: Westminster Whigs (British political party) Granville Leveson-Gower, Viscount Trentham 4,811 50.8 +8.5 Tories (British political party) George Vandeputhttps://books.google.com/books?id=8LRBAAAAcAAJ&q=george+vandeput&pg=PA205 The Baronetage of England, Or the History of the English Baronets, &c 3 William Betham William Betham (1749–1839) 205 1803 2 October 2016 14 April 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230414184132/https://books.google.com/books?id=8LRBAAAAcAAJ&q=george+vandeput&pg=PA205 live 4,654 49.2 +49.2 157 1.6 N/A Whigs (British political party) N/A After the scrutiny the member returned was unchanged and vote totals were amended to Trentham 4,103; Vandeput 3,933. Notes References Leveson-Gower, Granville (1721-1803) George Fisher Russell Barker 33 Henry Fielding: a Life Battestin Martin Battestin Ruthe London Routledge 1993 0-415-09715-0 Blackburn Jack Cursive clue proves that first black Briton voted in 1749 The Times 24 October 2024 17 Douglas, Hugh, 10.1093/ref:odnb/19586 Murray, Alexander, of Elibank, Jacobite earl of Westminster Murray, Alexander (d.1777) Thomas Finlayson Henderson Thomas Finlayson Henderson 39 344-345 Sedgwick R. 1970 'LEVESON GOWER, Granville, Visct. Trentham (1721-1803).' in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754 https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/leveson-gower-granville-1721-1803 historyofparliamentonline.org London The History of Parliament Trust 20 January 2026 1 December 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20241201201804/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/leveson-gower-granville-1721-1803 dead Sedgwick R. 1970 'Westminster Borough' in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754 http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/constituencies/westminster historyofparliamentonline.org London The History of Parliament Trust 19 January 2026 Stewart Carol 2014 The Invisible Spy https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781317303886_A25891458/preview-9781317303886_A25891458.pdf Abingdon Routledge xv-xvi 978-1-84893-441-2 21 January 2026 Walpole Horace 1937 The Yale edition of Horace Walpole's correspondence https://libsvcs-1.its.yale.edu/walpoleimages/hwcorrespondence/20/245.pdf Lewis W.S. Yale University Press 223 21 January 2026 Williamson Dr Gillian John London: Britain's First Black Voter? https://historyofparliament.com/2024/10/21/john-london-first-black-voter/ historyofparliament.com The History of Parliament 21 October 2024 24 October 2024 Category:1750 in England Category:1750s in London Category:1750 in politics Category:By-elections to the Parliament of Great Britain