GODALMING HUNDRED 



HASLEMERE 



Haslemere ceased to be a borough after the Mu- 

 nicipal Reform Act of 1835." 



Although the charter of I 596 asserts that Haslemere 

 sent two burgesses to Parliament from time imme- 

 morial," the first extant return of burgesses for the 

 town dates from 1584, only twelve years before.* 8 

 It is evident, therefore, that Haslemere was one of 

 the towns which Elizabeth caused to return members 

 in order to increase her influence in the House, a 

 supposition strengthened by her own statement that 

 she granted the market and fairs in the hope that if 

 the inhabitants of the town should thereby enjoy 

 greater prosperity they would feel themselves the more 

 bound to do all possible service to her and her suc- 

 cessors. 



The electors were inhabitant freeholders, whether 

 paying rent to the lord of the manor or not, the bur- 

 gage holders in fact." Tenants of land which had 

 been part of the waste of the manor, or of houses 

 upon it, could not vote from such qualification only. 

 The number of such burgage holders varied consider- 

 ably, because as different owners represented different 

 interests the burgages were deliberately divided into 

 small parts to multiply votes. Haslemere was a 

 rotten borough in the sense of being thoroughly 

 penetrated with corruption, and was the scene of very 

 violent electoral contests," till in 1784 Sir James 

 Lowther, afterwards Earl of Lonsdale, bought the manor 

 and many freeholds in it, and made it a close borough, 

 though a rival interest, that of the Burrell family, 

 existed. The second Earl of Lonsdale in fact abolished 

 many of the freeholds, creating them only for the pur- 

 pose of an election, when the burgages required are said 

 to have been conveyed to the charcoal-burners and 

 others of the neighbourhood, or to servants of his friends, 

 with the understanding that they should be surrendered 

 for a consideration when the need was over. But 

 there were a few distinguished members for Haslemere. 

 Carew Raleigh, son of Sir Walter, was elected to fill 

 the vacancy in the Long Parliament caused by the 

 death of Sir Poynings More in 1 649, and the famous 

 General Oglethorpe sat from 1722 to 1754. The 

 Rt. Hon. Sir John Beckett was one of the last two 

 members. It was among the forty-six boroughs whose 

 population stood lowest at the 

 time of the Reform Bill of 

 1832, and accordingly was then 

 disfranchished. 89 



The manor of 

 MANORS H4SLEMERE 

 descended with 

 the hundred and manor of 

 Godalming till 1784, when 

 the sisters of Thomas More- 

 Molyneux and their trustees 

 sold to Sir James Lowther 

 under a private Act.*" Sir James 

 was created Earl of Lonsdale 

 the same year, and died in 1802. The manor passed 

 to his cousin Sir William Lowther, who inherited the 



LOWTHER, Earl of 

 Lonsdale. Or tix rings 



table. 



title of Viscount Lowther, and was created Earl of 

 Lonsdale in 1807. He died in 1844. The manor 

 was purchased from his heirs by James Stewart Hodgson 

 of Lythe Hill, Haslemere, in 1870. His widow held 

 it, and died 1907. Mr. J. Whateley Simmonds, J.P. 

 has lately bought the manor. A description of the manor 

 in 1814 says that ' the manor was held by burgage 

 tenure, the Burgesses paying for their several tenements 

 a burgage rent of I2/. \d. to the lord of Godalming. 

 The Borough and Manor are not co-extensive, as some 

 of the lands in the borough are in the manor of 

 Godalming. Officers are elected at a Court Leet in 

 April or May, a Bailiff, a Constable, Searchers and 

 Sealers of Leather and and an Ale taster. No Court 

 Baron has been held since 1694.' 



The court leet was held up to 1839, when the 

 practice was discontinued." 



The manor of IMBHAMS (Imbeham xiii-xv cents. ; 

 Imbhams and Embornes, xvi cent.) was parcel of 

 Loseley Manor, held of the honour of Gloucester, but 

 adjacent land bearing the same name was held of the 

 Bishop of Salisbury's manor of Godalming. 



In 1285 Eleanor widow of Robert de Dol, late 

 lord of Loseley, had dower in Imbhams, 31 and re- 

 covered land in Chiddingfold from various tenants 

 including Alan of Imbhams. 33 From her time the 

 manor descended with Loseley to her son Robert, at 

 whose death in March 13567 it was found that he 

 held two holdings of the name. The one was held of the 

 Earl of Gloucester, and the other of the Bishop of 

 Salisbury for 1 Ss. SJ. and suit of court at Godalming. 

 The manor-house was in that part of Imbhams which 

 was held of the earl. None of the arable land seems 

 to have been profitable, since it lay in the Weald, and 

 the pasture was of no value on account of the great 

 size of the trees. 31 Imbhams was not included in 

 Robert de Dol's agreement with his daughter Joan de 

 Bures, 35 but was assigned immediately after his death 

 to his heirs, the same Joan and John Norton. 36 



Joan died in 1371, her heir being her son William 

 Bures, 37 who succeeded to the moiety of Loseley, 

 including presumably a moiety of Imbhams, which she 

 held in her own right. The other moiety, afterwards 

 known as NORTH IMBH4MS, passed to John Nor- 

 ton, descended from her sister Margaret, 38 who must 

 have died almost immediately after her, for in 1375 he 

 had been dead about four years, having been seised of 

 a moiety of a piece of land called ' Imbeham,' held of 

 the king in chief, owing to the vacancy of the see of 

 Salisbury, but formerly held of the bishop at a rent of 

 6/. 39 His heir John Norton was under age. This was 

 parcel of the manor of Loseley. It was the portion in 

 Haslemere, and by an unknown process passed to the 

 Coverts. It did not pass first to the Sidneys, to whom 

 the Norton moiety of Loseley proper came, for in the 

 proceedings by which Humphrey Sidney established 

 his claim to the inheritance in 1508,* though land 

 in Chiddingfold (which then of course included 

 Haslemere) is mentioned, this land was held of the 

 manor of Bramley." The Norton portion was already 



5 & 6 Will IV, cap. 76. 



* Writs of Privy Seal, May 38 Eliz. 



" Rft. of Mtmb. of Part. i. The first 

 members recorded aa representing Hasle- 

 mere were Christopher Rythe of Lincoln's 

 Inn, and Miles Rythe of the same. 



a " Journ, of the Houie of Common*, 

 20 May 1661, p. 253. 



** Ibid, xxxii, 49 ; xxxv, 361 ; Mere- 



wether and Stephens, Hist, of Boroughs, ii, 

 1380. 



99 Part. Papers, 1831-2, xxxvi, 3, 5, 

 41. 



80 20 Geo. Ill, cap. 45. 



81 Privately communicated. 



M De Banco R. 60 (Mich. 1 3-14 

 Edw. I), m. 83. 



88 Close, 1 5 Edw. I, m. i d. 



47 



84 Chan. Inq. p.m. 30 Edw. Ill, no. 45. 

 84 See under Loseley. 

 88 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 241. 



07 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4; Edw. Ill, no. 4. 



88 See Loseley. 



89 Chan. In.], p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, no. 1 8. 

 *> See under Loseley. 



41 Inform. Rev. T. S. Cooper. 



