A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



traffic in constituencies.*" In the Parliament of 1 761-8 the young Marquis 

 of Tavistock sat for the county with Henley Ongley, He had little inclina- 

 tion for a political life, and looked forward to giving up his seat to his young 

 friend the Earl of Upper Ossory, as soon as the latter came of age. The 

 Marquis was living at Houghton House *^* with his young wife and his two 

 baby sons when his life was cut short by an accident in the hunting field. 

 ' Lord Tavistock is an irreparable loss to our County,' writes Mrs. Osborn ;"* 

 ' there will not be a proper head to it when the Duke of Bedford dyes, this 

 must shorten his days and damp all ambitions, he is now extremly ill.' Sir 

 George Osborn at once thought of contesting the seat, but ' the great and 

 principal personages ' were ' so softened by the Duke's affliction ' that they 

 were ' inclyned to pay a tribute of regard to their late worthy member by 

 choosing his relation,'*" and the Earl of Upper Ossory was returned without 

 opposition. At the election of 1768 the two county members were again 

 returned, and the Duke's protege Vernon, with Samuel Whitbread, for the 

 borough.*" But the sympathy felt for the duke in 1767 did not prevent 

 an attack upon his political influence at Bedford in 1769. The method 

 by which he had apparently established his influence in 1747 was now 

 employed against him. Political opponents in London gained over the out- 

 going Mayor of Bedford, and, backed by a majority of the corporation, secured 

 the freedom of the town for a sufficient number of their adherents. They 

 entered Bedford ' at dusk ' upon the evening before the municipal election, 

 headed by Alderman Sawbridge (a prominent London politician), Mr. Horne,*^* 

 and Sir Robert Barnard,*" and, notwithstanding the presence of the duke as 

 recorder, carried the election of their candidates by a large majority to the 

 mayoralty and to vacancies in the corporation.*" Indeed, it is said that as 

 many as 500 non-resident freemen 'were admitted in the interest of Sir Robert 

 Barnard, afterwards the Recorder of the Borough.'*" 



At the three elections of 1774, 1780, and 1784, while the Earl of Upper 

 Ossory was returned for the county, first with R. H. Ongley and then with 

 St. Andrew St. John, the borough was represented by Samuel Whitbread with 

 Sir William Wake or William Calhoun. In 1790 Mr. Calhoun*" of Norfolk 

 was the corporation candidate, against Samuel Whitbread the younger *" and 



"' Mrs. Osborn writes 22 March 1767-8 : ' 'Tis said 2 millions will be spent in Elections, ^^20 and 

 j^30,ooo comes out of every purse. Nabobs, Contractors, Silversmiths, bankrupts, are in high luck, there will 

 hardly be 200 real gentlemen in the House. The landed Interest dyed with the last Parliament ' (op. cit. 

 165). 'Sums unheard of are now given for Cornish Burroughs. George Byng gives ^^3,000 for one . . . 

 j^4,ooo has since been offered for it' (ibid. 178). On the success of her grandson Sir George Osborn at 

 Northampton she writes, 12 April 1768 : 'the losing game to Lord Spencer is at least jf 50,000, but he will 

 dip farther, and try a vexatious petition to the House' (ibid. 181). 



*" WifFen,op. cit. ii, 547-9. «9 Op. cit. 166. 



"° ' Alston, who has great interest, supports him [Sir G. Osborn] with all his power,' she adds ; ibid> 

 167-8. "^Ret.ofMemb.ofParl. "* Better known as Home Tooke. 



"' In September 1767 Mrs. Osborn, writing of the impending general election, says : 'Sir Robert Bar- 

 nard says he has ^^45,000 in his Bankers hands and will spend it all in opposition to Hinchingbrook and Caris- 

 fort for Co. Huntington ' (op. cit. 1 74). Lord Hinchenbrook was the eldest son of the Earl of Sandwich,, 

 one of the leading members of the Bedford party. "* Wiffen, op. cit. ii, 579. 



"^ Rec. of Corp. zi. He presumably became recorder after the death of the Duke of Bedford in 1771. 

 In 1780 Sir Robert lent the corporation £950 on mortgage, and after his death (apparently in 1789) the 

 mortgage passed into other hands and the claim led to a lawsuit. It was not decided till 1 8 14, by which, 

 time the principal, interest, and costs amounted to over jf2,8oo (ibid. 23). 



"^ Given as Colhoun in the Ret. ofMemb. of Pari. 



"' He was the friend at Eton of Charles Earl Grey, whose sister he afterwards married. He sat from 

 1790 till his death in 181 5, and was prominent as a Whig leader, taking a leading part in the impeachment 

 of Lord Melville, 1805, and advocating various reforms ; Did. Nat. Biog. 



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