Ludlow

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:

under 500 in 1722 to about 730 in 1727

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
1 Feb. 1715FRANCIS HERBERT183
 HUMPHREY WALCOT171
 Acton Baldwyn81
26 Mar. 1719SIR ROBERT RAYMOND vice Herbert, deceased 
21 May 1720RAYMOND re-elected after appointment to office 
28 Mar. 1722ABEL KETELBY325
 ACTON BALDWYN350
 Humphrey Walcot200
11 Feb. 1727RICHARD HERBERT vice Baldwyn, deceased 
1 Sept. 1727HENRY ARTHUR HERBERT440
 RICHARD HERBERT438
 William Hall296
 Edmund Pytts232
25 Apr. 1734HENRY ARTHUR HERBERT 
 RICHARD HERBERT 
4 May 1741SIR WILLIAM CORBET 
 HENRY ARTHUR HERBERT 
30 Dec. 1743RICHARD HERBERT, vice Henry Arthur Herbert, called to the Upper House 
30 Oct. 1745HERBERT re-elected after appointment to office 
29 June 1747SIR WILLIAM CORBET 
 RICHARD HERBERT 
21 May 1748CORBET re-elected after appointment to office 
7 Dec. 1748HENRY BRIDGEMAN vice Corbet, deceased 

Main Article

From 1688 and until 1727 there was no predominant interest at Ludlow, which normally chose its representatives from among the neighbouring landowners, notably the Herberts of Oakley, the Baldwyns of Stokesay, and the Walcots of Bitterley and Walcot. The Duke of Chandos also had an interest through his close connexion with Humphrey Walcot as well as from his purchase of the Bishop’s Castle estate. Chandos was mainly responsible for procuring the return in 1719 of Sir Robert Raymond,1 the only non-local Member elected during the period; but in 1722 he withdrew Raymond for fear of prejudicing the return of Walcot, who in the event was defeated by the new recorder of the borough, Abel Ketelby.

All this was changed by H. A. Herbert, created Earl of Powis 1748, who in 1727 secured the return of himself and his brother, Richard, after a contest, thenceforth nominating both Members without opposition. His success was due to his skill in managing the corporation and in mobilizing the out-voters, a factor reflected in the increased poll of 1727.2 He is said to have spent £20-£30,000 on the borough over a period of 20 years.3 In the 2nd Lord Egmont’s electoral survey, c.1749-50, Ludlow is noted as ‘totally in Lord Powis’.

Author: J. B. Lawson

Notes

  • 1. Chandos to John Baldwyn, 9 Nov., 21 Dec. 1721, Chandos letter bks.
  • 2. Chandos to H. A. Herbert, 20, 29 June 1727, Wm. Hall to Samuel Waring, 29 Jan. 1727, 14, 16 Feb. 1727, ibid.
  • 3. G. Lyttelton, Works (1774), p. 738.