Grantham

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 the freemen

Number of voters:

about 400

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
1 Feb. 1715EDWARD ROLT302
 JOHN HEATHCOTE195
 Andrew Hackett147
23 Mar. 1722FRANCIS FISHER 186
 JOHN BROWNLOW, Visct. Tyrconnel166
 Edward Rolt156
18 Aug. 1727JOHN BROWNLOW, Visct. Tyrconnel 
 SIR MICHAEL NEWTON 
26 Apr. 1734JOHN BROWNLOW, Visct. Tyrconnel 
 SIR MICHAEL NEWTON 
4 May 1741JOHN MANNERS, Mq. of Granby 
 SIR MICHAEL NEWTON 
18 Apr. 1743SIR JOHN CUST vice Newton, deceased 
31 Oct. 1745JOHN MANNERS, Mq. of Granby, re-elected after appointment to office 
30 June 1747JOHN 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.

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. J. Garner to John Heathcote, 18 Mar. 1722, I Ancaster mss 13/B/2, Lincs. Archives Office.
  • 2. Ibid. 24 Mar. 1722.
  • 3. Monson mss 28B/10/82, Lincs. Archives Office.