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Grantham
Borough
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Background Information
Right of Election:
in the freemen
Number of voters:
about 400
Elections
Date | Candidate | Votes |
---|---|---|
1 Feb. 1715 | EDWARD ROLT | 302 |
JOHN HEATHCOTE | 195 | |
Andrew Hackett | 147 | |
23 Mar. 1722 | FRANCIS FISHER | 186 |
JOHN BROWNLOW, Visct. Tyrconnel | 166 | |
Edward Rolt | 156 | |
18 Aug. 1727 | JOHN BROWNLOW, Visct. Tyrconnel | |
SIR MICHAEL NEWTON | ||
26 Apr. 1734 | JOHN BROWNLOW, Visct. Tyrconnel | |
SIR MICHAEL NEWTON | ||
4 May 1741 | JOHN MANNERS, Mq. of Granby | |
SIR MICHAEL NEWTON | ||
18 Apr. 1743 | SIR JOHN CUST vice Newton, deceased | |
31 Oct. 1745 | JOHN MANNERS, Mq. of Granby, re-elected after appointment to office | |
30 June 1747 | JOHN MANNERS, Mq. of Granby | |
SIR JOHN CUST |
Main Article
The chief interests at Grantham were in two neighbouring Whig families, the dukes of Rutland, seated at Belvoir, seven miles from the borough, and the Brownlows of Belton and Humby, also not far away. The 3rd Earl of Cardigan, whose estate at Hougham was six miles from Grantham, supported the local Tories till his death in 1732. Most of the corporation were Tories.1
At a three-cornered contest in 1715 Edward Rolt, a Tory, standing on his own interest, was returned with John Heathcote, a Whig, whose father, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, owned estates in Lincolnshire. In 1722 Lord Cardigan put up a second Tory, Francis Fisher,2 who headed the poll, Rolt losing his seat to John Brownlow, Lord Tyrconnel, a Whig. In 1727 Fisher retired in favour of Sir Michael Newton,3 an opposition Whig, who was returned unopposed with Tyrconnel, both being re-elected without a contest in 1734. Tyrconnel was succeeded in 1741 by the Duke of Rutland’s son, Lord Granby, and Newton in 1743 by Tyrconnel’s nephew and heir, Sir John Cust, whose families thenceforth controlled both seats.