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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 July 2014
A careful examination of the conduct of the Verney and Temple interests in the Buckinghamshire election of 1784 reveals that interest, not party, was the major determinant of political conduct in the eighteenth century English county constituency. The freeholder voted in deference to his head of interest, and he did so through an agent's performance of an unwritten but clearly understood code of electioneering conduct. By contrast, the more tangible relationship between tenant and landlord explains little about how individuals voted in the county.
The importance of parliamentary politics in the 1784 election cannot be denied. The attempt of William Pitt the Younger to wrest the majority in the House of Commons from the Fox-North coalition occasioned this election three years earlier than a general election would normally have occurred. Yet to assume that party determined the course of the election far exceeds the evidence available at the level of the county constituency. The political awareness and rising interest in issues, described by J. H. Plumb and others, certainly existed in this election. But this tells us very little about the acquistion and exercise of political power, which Plumb rightly identifies as the essence of politics, though a great deal may thus be learned about literacy, public opinion, interests, tastes, and electoral tactics.
Three aspects of the problem of party have dominated the studies of the period: the emergence of the modern political party in the sense of a group of electors consistently joined together because of a common devotion to a particular political philosophy; the emergence of the modern political party in the sense of a group of electors consistently joined together because of common attitudes toward government policies; and, the emergence of the modern political party in the sense of a group of electors consistently joined together in a structure suited to the winning of an opportunity to translate its desires and beliefs into government policies through success in elections. The 1784 Buckinghamshire election refutes the importance of party in any of these senses in the county constituency.
Read before the joint meeting of the Conference on British Studies and American Historical Association, Pacific Coast Branch, in Santa Barbara, August 1972.
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9 Joseph Parrott to John Smith, 9 November 1784, San Marino, Calif., Huntington Library, Stowe MSS, Box 230. The Stowe MSS are still being catalogued, hence the precise location of a given document may change.
10 John Aubrey to William Pitt, 9 June [1786], and 9 June 1787, Public Record Office, Chatham MSS, PRO 30/8/109, fols. 164 and 176.
11 Joseph Parrott to John Smith, 9 November 1784 and n.d.; Joseph Parrott to [Mr. Bedford], 23 November 1784; Joseph Parrott to [Robert Charsley], 31 October 1784, HL. Stowe MSS, Box 230.
12 See correspondence of Joseph Parrott and various agents about the settlement of election bills, 1784-1790, HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes 230-237.
13 Robert Charsley to Joseph Parrott, 27 October 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 232.
14 James Field to Joseph Parrott, n.d. [1784], HL, Stowe MSS, Box 233.
15 William Wyndham Grenville, Minute on Copy of Letter from John Nash to Mr. Silver, Blacksmith, Wulwich, 27 April 1784, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Hartwell MSS, BRO 10/77.
16 James Field to Joseph Parrott, 21 August 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 233.
17 Joseph Parrott to Henry Allnutt, 10 April 1787, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 231.
18 Henry Allnutt to Joseph Parrott, 9 January 1788, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 232.
19 Luke Medwin to Joseph Parrott, 19 June 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 235; and various correspondence between Acton Chaplin and Joseph Parrott, HL. Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, L7G3, and 230-237.
20 See correspondence of Joseph Parrott, HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, L7G3, and 230-237.
21 See correspondence between Acton Chaplin and Joseph Parrott, HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, L7G3, and 230-237.
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25 Acton Chaplin to Joseph Parrott, 10 September 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 232; John Langham Dayrell to Joseph Parrott, 5 April 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 233; Rev. Thomas a Beckett to Joseph Parrott, 2 April 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 232; Luke Medwin to Joseph Parrott, 19 January 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 235; Lord Temple's Rentals, 1771-1790, HL, Stowe MSS; Buckinghamshire Record Office, Land Tax Assessments for Buckingham Hundred, 1780-1785.
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29 Sir William Lee to Duke of Portland, 28 March 1784, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 9/13.
30 Sir William Lee to Duke of Portland, 18 April 1784, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 9/14.
31 Sir William Lee to Duke of Portland, 18 April 1784, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 9/14.
32 Edmund Burke to Sir William Lee, 27 March 1784, in The Correspondence of Edmund Burke, ed. by Furber, Holden, 9 vols, to date (Cambridge, England, 1965), V, 135.Google Scholar
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35 HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, and L7G3.
36 Edward Grant to Joseph Parrott, 26 March 1784, HL, Stowe MSS. Box 234.
37 Acton Chaplin to Joseph Parrott, 17 March 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 156; Acton Chaplin to Joseph Parrott, 21 March 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 232; Edward Grant to Joseph Parrott, 26 March 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 234; and Robert Pearson to Joseph Parrott,. 26 March 1784, HL, Stowe NSS, Box 235.
38 John Marshall, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 26 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003; Robert Charsley, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 24 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003.
39 HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, L7G3, and 230-237.
40 HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, L7G3, and 230-237.
41 Robert Nash to Acton Chaplin, 21 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-004.
42 HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, L7G3, and 230-237.
43 Robert Nash to Acton Chaplin, 21 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-004.
44 Joseph Parrott to [John Smith], [May 1784], HL, Stowe MSS, Box 230; Joseph Parrott to [Robert Charsley], 31 October 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 230; Joseph Parrott to John Smith, 9 November 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 230.
45 Acton Chaplin to John Smith, 26 April 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 232; Joseph Parrott to John Smith, 9 November 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 230; and Joseph Parrott to [Mr. Bedford], 23 November 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 230.
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48 Temple Rentals, 1771-1790, HL, Stowe MSS; and Buckinghamshire Record Office, Land Tax Assessments, Buckingham Hundred, 1780-1785.
49 An Alphabetical List of the Names of the Several Persons Who Voted at the Election of Knights of the Shire for the County of Buckingham … 1784 … (Aylesbury, 1785), pp. 4–7Google Scholar; Buckinghamshire Record Office, Manuscript Poll for General Election of 1784, BRO PB/3/1-9. The printed poll book is hereafter referred to as PB 1784 and the Manuscript Poll as MPB 1784. See also, HL, Stowe MSS, Box L7G3.
50 HL, Stowe MSS, Boxes T3-003, T3-004, L7G3, and 230-237.
51 James Burnham, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 9 August 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003; PB 1784; MPB 1784.
52 Robert Charsley, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 24 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003; PB 1784; MPB 1784.
53 George Clark, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 9 February 1786, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003; PB 1784; MPB 1784.
54 John Marshall, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 26 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003; PB 1784; MPB 1784.
55 Robert Nash to Acton Chaplin, 21 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-004; PB 1784; MPB 1784.
56 James Payn, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 7 August 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003; PB 1784; MPB 1784.
57 Robert Nash to Acton Chaplin, 21 May 1785, HL, Stowe MSS, Box L7G3.
58 PB 1784; MPB 1784.
59 Charles Wenman, Account of Expenses for 1784 Election, 3 August 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box T3-003.
60 Robert Sibson to Joseph Parrott, 4 March 1785; 18 April 1785; 8 May 1785; HL, Stowe MSS, Box 237.
61 Joseph Bullock, Esq., to Sir William Lee, 4 April 1784, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 242 1/54.
62 PB 1784, pp. 37-39, 100-105, 108-109; MPB 1784.
63 PB 1784, p. 121; MPB 1784.
64 Sir William Lee to Duke of Portland, 25 March 1784, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 242 9/11; Sir William Lee to Lord George Cavendish, 27 February 1785, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 242 2/32, copy; Lord George Cavendish to Sir William Lee, 29 January 1785, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 242 2/30; Lord George Cavendish to Sir William Lee, Buckinghamshire Record Office, Lee of Hartwell MSS, BRO 242 2/31.
65 PB 1784, p. 121; MPB 1784.
66 Joseph Bullock to Lord Abingdon, Thame MSS at Oxford County Record Office, quoted in Cannon, , Coalition, p. 214.Google Scholar
67 PB 1784, p. 121; MPB 1784.
68 John Langham Dayrell to Joseph Parrott, 5 April 1784, HL, Stowe MSS, Box 233.
69 PB 1784, pp. 46-47; MPB 1784.
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72 PB 1784, pp. 36-47; MPB 1784.
73 PB 1784, p. 38; MPB 1784.
74 von den Steinen, “Fabric,” pp. 143-186.
75 PB 1784, pp. 36-47; MPB 1784.
76 Bagehot, Walter, The English Constitution (Ithaca, N. Y., 1963), p. 271.Google Scholar
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