Newton

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 burgage holders1

Number of voters:

about 36

Elections

DateCandidate
7 Feb. 1715SIR FRANCIS LEICESTER
 WILLIAM SHIPPEN
27 Mar. 1722SIR FRANCIS LEICESTER
 WILLIAM SHIPPEN
22 Aug. 1727LEGH MASTER
 WILLIAM SHIPPEN
29 Apr. 1734LEGH MASTER
 WILLIAM SHIPPEN
8 May 1741LEGH MASTER
 WILLIAM SHIPPEN
15 Dec. 1743PETER LEGH vice Shippen, deceased
1 July 1747PETER LEGH
 SIR THOMAS EGERTON

Main Article

Newton, a proprietary borough, was under the absolute control of the Leghs of Lyme who held the barony and nominated the returning officers.2 In 1715 the proprietor was Peter Legh, a non-juror,3 who returned Tory friends and members of his family till his death in 1744, when it passed to his nephew and heir, Peter Legh.

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Supersedes Namier & Brooke, i. 318.
  • 2. Oldfield, Boroughs (1794), i. 348-9.
  • 3. VCH Lancs. i. 375.