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Old Sarum
Borough
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Background Information
Right of Election:
in burgage holders
Number of voters:
3 in 1728, 5 in 1734
Elections
Date | Candidate | Votes |
---|---|---|
28 Jan. 1715 | THOMAS PITT sen. | |
ROBERT PITT | ||
Richard Jones | ||
Charles Tucker | ||
3 Aug. 1716 | SIR WILLIAM STRICKLAND vice Thomas Pitt, appointed to office | |
14 June 1720 | STRICKLAND re-elected after appointment to office | |
21 Mar. 1722 | THOMAS PITT sen. | |
ROBERT PITT | ||
3 Nov. 1722 | GEORGE MORTON PITT vice Robert Pitt, chose to sit for Okehampton | |
20 Jan. 1724 | JOHN PITT vice George Morton Pitt, appointed to office | |
30 May 1726 | GEORGE PITT vice Thomas Pitt sen. deceased | |
16 Aug. 1727 | THOMAS PITT jun. | |
THOMAS PITT, Earl of Londonderry | ||
1 Mar. 1728 | MATTHEW CHITTY ST. QUINTIN, vice Thomas Pitt, chose to sit for Okehampton | |
30 May 1728 | THOMAS HARRISON vice Londonderry, appointed to office | 2 |
Henry Fox | 1 | |
26 Apr. 1734 | THOMAS PITT | |
ROBERT NEDHAM | ||
18 Feb. 1735 | WILLIAM PITT vice Thomas Pitt, chose to sit for Okehampton | |
8 May 1741 | WILLIAM PITT | |
GEORGE LYTTELTON | ||
5 Jan. 1742 | JAMES GRENVILLE vice Lyttelton, chose to sit for Okehampton | |
26 Feb. 1746 | GRENVILLE re-elected after appointment to office | |
26 Feb. 1746 | PITT re-elected after appointment to office | |
12 May 1746 | PITT re-elected after appointment to office | |
28 May 1747 | EDWARD WILLES vice Grenville, appointed to office | |
3 July 1747 | THOMAS PITT | |
SIR WILLIAM IRBY | ||
17 Dec. 1747 | CHARLES SACKVILLE, Earl of Middlesex, vice Pitt, chose to sit for Okehampton | |
17 Dec. 1747 | ARTHUR MOHUN ST. LEGER, Visct. Doneraile, vice Irby, chose to sit for Bodmin | |
25 Jan. 1751 | PAUL JODRELL vice Doneralie, deceased | |
22 Nov. 1751 | SIMON FANSHAWE vice Jodrell, deceased | |
James Pitt | ||
John Thorold |
Main Article
Old Sarum was an ancient but entirely depopulated borough, the site of which was bought in 1692 by Governor Thomas Pitt, who ‘ploughed and sowed’ the castle area. The few burgages lay in the meadows to the south of the castle alongside the Roman road running to the Avon ford. Elections were held at the parliamentary tree, which stood till 1905 in the ‘electing acre’ nearly half-way to the river on the north-west side of the road.1 Complete control was soon exercised by the Pitts who provided enough voters to quell opposition on election day. Thus Thomas Winnington wrote to Henry Fox at the end of September 1728:
It was your fortune to lose the election [at old Sarum] by one voice only, for Pitt, not suspecting any opposition, had but two voters there except the person who voted for you.2
In 1749 Thomas Pitt, the Governor’s grandson, ‘representing the desperate embarrassment of his affairs’,3 transferred his right of nominating both members to the Prince of Wales for £3,000 and a pension. At the next by-election, in January 1751, the Prince put in Paul Jodrell, his solicitor-general. When two months later Frederick died, Pitt pawned all his electoral interests, including Old Sarum, to the Administration.4 As a result of this deal Simon Fanshawe, a Pelhamite, was returned at another by-election in November 1751, though opposed by James Pitt, younger brother of George Pitt of Strathfieldsaye, and another candidate.