POLITICAL HISTORY 



To explain the duke's connexion with the elections for the borough of 

 Bedford, it must be premised that ever since the 1 5th century the representa- 

 tion of the borough appears to have been almost an appanage of one or other 

 of the leading county families. The Earls of Ailesbury or Bolingbroke in 

 the 17th century, and the Duke of Bedford at the beginning of the i8th, 

 were regularly appointed recorders of the town, and as such formed part of 

 the corporation, and were- able to exercise considerable influence upon the 

 election of the borough members. On 12 April 1690 a resolution of the 

 House of Commons declared that the right of election of burgesses to serve 

 in Parliament for the borough of Bedford was ' in the Burgesses Freemen 

 and Inhabitants being Householders of Bedford and not receiving Alms.' *^ 

 This was interpreted in 1744-5 to mean that the inhabitants only, not the 

 burgesses and freemen, must be householders.*" Now, as freemen were 

 admitted by the corporation at discretion until the passing of the 

 Corporations Act of 1835,*'^ a party which could secure a majority in 

 the corporation could always control the election of its candidates for the 

 borough. 



In 1747 representatives of the corporation were in London waiting on 

 the Duke of Bedford 'to settle the point for future elections.' *^^ It is sig- 

 nificant, too, that there was a large admission of freemen in that year. The 

 election took place in August, when Thomas Gore and John Offley were 

 elected. They do not appear to have been local men ; they were never 

 returned again, and from this election onwards the duke's influence in the 

 borough appears to have been established. At the next election in 1754, 

 Henley Ongley, doubtless standing on the support of the influence of his own 

 wealth,*** was returned with Francis Heme,*" and in 1 76 1 Heme was returned 

 with Richard Vernon, who was a close follower of the Duke of Bedford.*** The 

 elections of 1768 are remarkable in the history of England for barefaced 



but agreed to let Rigby, Gower, and others of his party serve, 17 SS i ^^^ Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland under 

 Devonshire's ministry, 1757-61 ; was admitted to the Council, though not a minister, and was on friendly terms 

 with Bute; Lord Privy Seal, 1761 ; ambassador to France, negotiated peace, 1762—3 ; became President 

 of the Council in the Bedford-Grenville ministry on condition of 'Bute's absence,' 1763 ; incurred much 

 unpopularity on account of the Stamp Act, general warrants, and the manner in which he was supposed to 

 have expostulated with the king against Bute's influence ; Bedford House, Bloomsbury, attacked by the mob, 

 17 May 1765 ; Pitt made overtures to him ; the Bedford party, without the duke, joined Duke of Grafton's 

 ministry, 1768 ; death of duke, 1771. 



«» Muggeridge, Bedford Town Election c/^ 1830, p. 63. 



**' Ibid. But there was an old rule that this resolution and interpretation would appear to have ignored, 

 to the effect that 'from Christmas 1565 there be no forrene burgesse made but that he shall have continually 

 remaining in the town goods and chattels to the value of j^io or above, to be distrainable for duties and 

 amercements' ; Extract from Black Bk. Rec. of Corp. 115. 



«' Rec. of Corp. 22. 



«' Ibid. 74. 



*" In August 1 766 Mrs. Osborn writes of her grandson Sir George : ' I am sure his fortune cannot support 

 opposition to Ongley' (op. cit. 14.7); and in September: ' Sir Thomas Alston intends to declare for our 

 county, and as he is very flighty [it is] impossible he can make anything of it yett [I] think it will put your 

 brother in a cleft stick' (ibid. 151)- Mr. Ongley was at the time member for the borough, and stood success- 

 fully for the county at the 1768 election. 



'" Francis Heme, esq., of Luton, was sheriffof the county 1752 ; P.R.O. List. The Records of tie Corpora- 

 tion of Bedford, 83, calendars an address to 'the Right Hon. Lord St. John and Mr. Home, M.P., of this 

 Town,' in 1 747 ; whereas the Parliamentary Return gives Gore and Offley as the borough members 1 747-54, 

 and Francis Heme and R. Henley Ongley, 1754-61. 



*^ He was under secretary to the duke during his lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, 1757-61, and married the 

 widow of the fint Earl of Upper Ossory, thus becoming brother-in-law of the duchess. He was known as 

 the ' Father of the Turf,' was a well-known member of White's, and is said to have been blackballed for the 

 New Club because of his connexion with the Bedford party. 



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