In 1790 the Devizes corporation was under the prevailing influence of the leading clothier and former Member, James Sutton, whose brother-in-law Henry Addington was both recorder and Member; and of the London merchant Joshua Smith, whose residence was at Erlestoke, three miles away. In 1805, on Addington’s elevation to the peerage, Sutton’s brother-in-law was replaced by his son-in-law, a member of the corporation who, as Addington expected, was ‘chosen unanimously’.2 But Smith’s retirement in 1818 occasioned a contest. In a manoeuvre which caused some indignation in the borough,3 a stranger, John Pearse, put up by William Salmon, banker, attorney and deputy-recorder, who stood as well, defeated a local gentleman and succeeded in establishing his hold. His opponent, Wadham Locke, a native banker married to a Sutton, led the reform movement in the borough and later won a seat.