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Yorkshire Archaeological Journal
A Review of History and Archaeology in the County
Volume 84, 2012 - Issue 1
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Original Article

A County Election in Miniature? Electing the Yorkshire Registrars of Deeds, 1704–1884

Brian Barber Sheffield, UKView further author information
Pages 160-187 | Published online: 12 Nov 2013

  • Law of Property Act, 1969, Ch. 59, Part II (sections 16–22). The process was begun by the Registration of Title (Teesside, Leeds and Sheffield) Order, 1970.
  • Sheppard F., Belcher V., ‘The Deeds Registries of Yorkshire and Middlesex‘, Journal of the Society of Archivists, 6 (5) (April 1980), 274–86; see also W. E. Tate, ‘The Five English Statutory Registers of Deeds’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 20 (1943–5), 97–105. An earlier account may be found in ‘An Historical Account of the Progress of Registration in England, so far as respects Assurances of Land’ [1535–1830] in the First Report of the Royal Commission on Registration and Conveyancing, xxxii [1261] (1850), pp. 232–44. For the archives of the West Riding registry, see B. J. Barber, A Guide to the Quarter Sessions of the West Riding of Yorkshire 1637–1971 and Other Official Records, 2nd ed., Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Occasional Paper No. 8, 2011 (hereafter WRQS Guide), pp. 13–14 and 37–8.
  • West Yorkshire Archive Service (hereafter WYAS), Wakefield, QD1/324, The Ballot-Book…for the Office of Register, for the West Riding of the County of York in the year 1809 (Leeds, 1809) (hereafter Ballot Book), p. 61.
  • Smith E.A., ‘The Yorkshire Elections of 1806 and 1807: a Study in Electoral Management’, Northern History, II (1967).
  • West Riding Registry Act, 2 Anne c. 4; East Riding Registry Act, 6 Anne c. 35; and North Riding Registry Act, 8 Geo II. c. 11. For copies of the registries Acts, see WYAS, Wakefield, QD5/9/10.
  • WYAS, Bradford, Spencer Stanhope archive, SpSt/11/5/5/6, agreement, 23 Oct. 1749, and printed in the Leeds Mercury (hereafter LM), 31 Oct. 1749; and for the North Riding in 1757 at North Yorkshire County Record Office (hereafter NYCRO), ZHQ 11/25 and in 1774 at NYCRO, QR3/12/2/2/1.
  • Ballot Book, pp. 94–5; Yorkshire Gazette (hereafter YG), 16 Nov. 1872. These provisions were probably derived from the practice for the parliamentary franchise set out in the Act for Further Regulating Elections of Members to serve in Parliament, 7 & 8 Wm. III, c. 25, section 7.
  • WRQS Guide, p. 19.
  • WRQS Guide, p. 40.
  • LM, 5 April 1817; Sheffield and Rotherham Independent (hereafter SRI), 12 Nov. 1842.
  • Ballot Book; there were 567 challenges to Hodgson voters and 466 to those of Lascelles in a total vote of 3,393.
  • YG, 16 Nov. 1872.
  • NYCRO, QR3/12/3/1.
  • Hull Advertiser (hereafter HA), 8 May 1846.
  • LM, 17 May 1817.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QS 10/11, QS Order Book, 1698–1704, 2 Dec. 1702, 6 April 1703, 25 April 1704; QS 10/12, Order Book, 1704–12, 17 April 1705. See also Brian Barber, ‘Theophilus Shelton (1645–1717), Yorkshire Land Steward, Attorney and Gentleman Architect’ (in preparation).
  • He advertised his intention of standing in the London Gazette of 9–12 Nov. 1717 and in the Evening Post of 5–7 Dec. 1717.
  • ‘Pedigree of Wentworth of Woolley’ [by G. E. Wentworth], prefacing both parts of his article ’The History of the Wentworths of Woolley’, YAJ, XII (1893), 159–94. There is no information in the order books of quarter sessions to assist in this respect.
  • LM, 7 Nov. 1749.
  • Leeds Intelligencer (herafter LI), 21 May 1765.
  • Sheffield Archives (herafter SA), WWM F/52a/1,2, letters to Fitzwilliam from F. Hawksworth, 13 Mar. 1804; WYAS, Bradford, DB5/C7, Papers of William Wainman of Carr Head Craven, item (a), letter from F. Hawksworth to W. Wainman, 13 Mar. 1804; item (b), letter from T. Norton to W. Wainman, 15 Mar. 1804; item (c), letter from J. A. Busfield to W. Wainman, 17 Mar. 1804.
  • Allison J., ‘The Bradford Canal: the First Promoters’, Bradford Antiquary, 3rd series, 7 (1999), 3–15.
  • Thorne R.G., The House of Commons, 1790–1820, Vol. II, Constituencies (London, 1980), p. 437. Hawksworth was the family name (misspelt as ‘Hawkesworth‘ in the entry for W. R. Fawkes in the ODNB) adopted as a result of inheritance; see M. Sharples, The Fawkes Family and Their Estates in Wharfedale 1819–1936, Publications of the Thoresby Society, 2nd. series, vol. 6 (1997).
  • This paragraph and the next are based on letters to Lord Fitzwilliam in SA, WWM/F52, items 10 and 13, letters from W. Fawkes, undated and 31 Aug. 1809; 16–17, Hawksworth, undated and Fitzwilliam‘s reply, 1 Sept. 1809; 20, Lord Thanet, 12 Sept. 1809; 21, Hawksworth, 16 Sept. 1809; 22, Hawksworth, 22 Oct. 1809.
  • SA, WWMF/52/22, letter of 22 Oct. 1809, in which the total given ignores the estimated 60 ‘miscellaneous‘ votes; Spencer Perceval (1762–1812), Tory Prime Minister from 1809 until assassinated in 1812; Thomas Creevy (1768–1838) was a Whig MP, whose postal frank as an MP would have allowed the letter free transmission.
  • [Sheffield] Iris, (hereafter SI) 7 Nov. 1809.
  • SI, 14 Nov. 1809.
  • NYCRO, Wyvill of Constable Burton, ZFW 7/2/211/10, Wrightson to Wyvill, 10 Nov. 1809. Wrightson himself had voted for Hawksworth.
  • So Francis Maude of Wakefield believed: see SA, WWM/F/52/23, Maude to Fitzwilliam, 10 Oct. [properly Nov.] 1809, and undated LM cutting in WYAS, Bradford, DB5/C7, item (s).
  • SI, 14 Nov. 1809.
  • Source as footnote 29.
  • Ballot Book, 1807.
  • WYAS, Bradford, DB5/C7, items (p) and (s), cutting from the Leeds Mercury; and letter from an unidentified correspondent, 8 Mar. 1809.
  • SA, WWM F/41/27, letter of 10 Apr. [1817].
  • LM, 12 Apr., 19 Apr., and 3 May 1817.
  • SA, WWM/F/41/29, N. Stocks to Hawksworth, 25 Apr. 1817. The reference is to the Aire and Calder Navigation, which passed through Wakefield.
  • LM, 17 May 1817. The three market towns were Huddersfield, Leeds and Sheffield.
  • LI, 7 Apr. 1819; also 5, 12 and 19 May 1819.
  • LM, 24 May 1817.
  • F. M. L. Thompson, ‘Whigs and Liberals in the West Riding, 1830–60’, English Historical Review, 74 (1959), 218.
  • SA, WWM F/41/32, Hawksworth to Fitzwilliam, 3 Oct. 1809; R. G. Thorne, The House of Commons, 1790–1820, vol. II, Constituencies (London, 1980), pp. 439 and 440.
  • LI, 25 Aug. and 1 Sept. 1825; LM, 3 Sept. 1825. The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent (hereafter SRI), 15 Oct. 1842, estimated Scott’s costs in 1817 at £10,000.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QD2/52, Accounts of the Treasurer, 1838.
  • R. Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (London, 1970), pp. 141–4.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QD1/324, An Alphabetical List… (Wakefield, 1842), p. 93. Select Committee of the House of Commons on Votes of Electors, Parliamentary Paper (hereafter PP) 451 of 1846, contains evidence from both Baxter (qu. 4438–qu. 4600) and Alexander (qu. 4678–qu. 5208).
  • This is amongst the papers of George Keir in the John Goodchild Collection, Wakefield, (hereafter JGC). John Marsden was also Solicitor to the West Riding Court of Quarter Sessions.
  • JGC, Keir Papers, Marsden and Ianson to Keir, 21 Oct. 1842.
  • JGC, Keir Papers, William Birks to Mr Harrison, 24 Oct. 1842.
  • JGC, Keir Papers, John Dranfield to George Harrison, 26 Oct. 1842.
  • JGC, Keir Papers, Marsden and Ianson to Keir, 31 Oct. 1842.
  • LM, 26 Sept. 1842.
  • JGC, Keir Papers, 19 Nov. 1842
  • JGC, Keir Papers, Keir to Marsden and Ianson, 17 Dec. 1842
  • LM, 26 Sept. 1842.
  • Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, (hereafter SRI) 16 Apr. 1863.
  • SRI, 16 Apr. 1863.
  • SRI, 13 Apr. 1863. For Dibb’s work, see WRQS Guide, 2nd. ed., p. 38.
  • J. N. D. Legard, The Legards of Anlaby and Ganton, Their Neighbours and Neighbourhood (London, 1926), p. 89.
  • The Poll for the Southern Division of the West Riding of the County of York on 21st July 1865 (Wakefield, 1866). The Division was more extensive than present-day South Yorkshire and extended northward to include Saddleworth, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Sherburn and Tadcaster.
  • All the MPs were identified through M. Stenton, Who’s Who of British Members of Parliament, vols 1 and 2 (Hassocks, 1976 and 1978).
  • B. Barber, ‘Sheffield Borough Council, 1843–95’, The History of the City of Sheffield 1843–1993, Politics, ed. C. Binfield et al., (Sheffield, 1993), esp. pp. 37–43.
  • Henry was the last of the Legards of Anlaby, who bequeathed his estate to his relative, Sir Thomas Legard, 7th baronet, of Ganton; see J. T. Ward, East Yorkshire Landed Estates in the Nineteenth Century (East Yorkshire Local History Society, 1978), p. 31.
  • Legard, Legards of Anlaby and Ganton, pp. 88–9.
  • M. E. Ingram, The Maisters of Kingston upon Hull, 1560–1840, Portrait of a Merchant Family (1984), pp. 104–9, 119–21.
  • HA, 17 Jul. 1819.
  • HA, 6 Feb. 1846.
  • HA, 6 Feb. 1846.
  • East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service (hereafter ERALS), DDTR/407 (1), Yorkshire Gazette, undated cutting.
  • Hansard, 285, 12 Mar. 1884, col. 1297.
  • Hull Times, 25 Feb. 1882.
  • Ward, East Yorkshire Landed Estates, pp. 65 and 72; J. Bateman, The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland (4th ed., 1883, reprinted, Leicester, 1971), p. 501.
  • A canvasser’s register of voters for this election is to be found at ERALS, DDX 328/7.
  • For Sir Alfred K. Rollitt, see the ODNB, (Oxford, 2004), vol. 47, p. 627; Legard, Legards of Anlaby and Ganton, p. 88.
  • ERALS, DDTR/407-9, Taylor, Broome and Co., solicitors of Howden. Canvass returns are at 407/6 and accounts at 407/8.
  • ERALS, DDTR/407/6.
  • Legard, Legards of Anlaby and Ganton, p. 88; Debrett’s Baronetage and Knightage 1881 (London, 1881), p. 91.
  • Hansard, 12 Mar. 1884, vol. 285, col. 1297.
  • Quarter Sessions Records, volume VIII, ed. J. C. Atkinson, North Riding Record Society, (London, 1890), p. 213.
  • J. W. Ord, The History and Antiquities of Cleveland, (London, 1845), pp. 368–9.
  • York Courant, (hereafter YC) 16 Aug. 1774.
  • H. Jaques, ‘The Kiplin Hall Archive’, NYCRO Publications No. 13, Journal 5, (June, 1977) pp. 59–70.
  • YC, 4 Feb. 1783. There are manuscript standard letters from the candidates written to electors in NYCRO, Chator of Croft, ZHQ 11/25.
  • YC, 2 Jun 1829; 150 paired off and 1,106 polled. There is a printed pool book for the 1829 election (see Appendix), but in the 28 manuscript poll books for the North Riding parliamentary election of 1832 (NYCRO, QDE(P) 1/15), names were entered in the order in which electors cast their votes, so making a comparison with the alphabetical list in the 1828 poll book impracticable.
  • Hansard, 285, 12 Mar. 1884, col. 1297.
  • NYCRO, NRRD, book GN, deeds nos. 79 and 88–90.
  • YC, 28 Dec. 1844; 11 Jan. 1845.
  • All quotations relating to this election are taken from YG, 16 Nov. 1872.
  • Sir Digby Cayley possessed an estate of 8,459 acres with a gross annual rental of £9,126, according to Bateman, Great Landowners, p. 83.
  • YG, 16 Nov. 1872.
  • J. E. Dibb, The Landed Interest: an Examination of the New General Registry Bill (London, 1849); General Register Bill. Address from the Solicitors practising in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to Owners, Mortgagees and All Others…Agreed at a Meeting At Wakefield on Friday 31 May 1833 (Leeds, 1833); Speech delivered at a meeting of the solicitors practising in the West Riding of York for the purpose of taking the General Register Bill into consideration, by John Hope Shaw, (London and Leeds, 1851). A copy of the latter is held in the JGC.
  • SRI, 15 Apr. 1863, contains a letter from Edwin Eddison, a prominent Leeds solicitor.
  • SRI, 29 Oct. 1842.
  • WYAS, Bradford, SpSt/9/2, catalogue, 8 Mar. 1717; YAS, MS 538, Reports…on Public Records (1800), pp. 328–31; Report of the House of Commons Select Committee on Land Titles and Transfer, PP 1878 (291), xv, p. 1219, qu. 2724.
  • Hansard, 285, 12 Mar. 1884, col. 1297.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QD1/254, Clerk’s Sessions Papers, 1859.
  • John Walbanke Childers (1798–1886), was Whig MP for Cambridgeshire 1832–5 and for Malton (North Yorks.) 1836–46 and 1847–52, where no election was contested between 1807 and 1874: see D. R. Fisher, The House of Commons 1820–1832, (Cambridge, 2009) vol. 2, Part 2, p. 273.
  • SRI, 5 May 1863.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QD4/204, R. Palmer to J. B. Marsden, 6 Jan. 1864.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QD4/204, letters by W. Spencer Stanhope, 10 Sept. 1864, Thomas Dunn, 14, 16 and 20 Sept. 1864, to J. B. Marsden.
  • Wakefield Journal and Advertiser, 23 Sept. 1864; Wakefield Free Press, 24 Sept. 1864.
  • The proposer was J. G. Smyth of Heath (1815–69), Conservative MP for the City of York, 1847–8 and 1852–65.
  • JGC, letter of J. B. Greenwood of Dewsbury to an unnamed correspondent, 17 Mar. 1863; WYAS, Wakefield, QD4/204, letters of W. S. Stanhope, 26 Sep. 1864, J. B. Greenwood, 27 Sept. 1864, and E. B. W. Balne, 1 Oct. 1864 to J. B. Marsden.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QD 4/204, letter of T. Coats to J. B. Marsden, 10 Oct. 1864.
  • PP 1883 (Bill 221) vol. X, p. 589 (properly 591).
  • PP (Bill 24) vol. VII, p. 703.
  • PP (Bill 80) vol. VII, p. 725.
  • Hansard, 285, 12 Mar. 1884, cols. 1292–1307.
  • PP (243) vol. XVI, p. 591, Report from the Select Committee.
  • Hansard (Commons) 20 May 1884, 288, cols. 795–6; (Lords) 10, 21 and 28 July 1884, 290, cols. 788–92, 1716–21; 291, col. 626. On 4 August 1884, the Bill became law as the Yorkshire Registries Act, 1884, 47 & 48 Vict., ch. 54.
  • See B. J. Barber and M. W. Beresford, The West Riding County Council 1889–1974, Historical Studies (Wakefield, 1978), pp. 2–5, 145–7 and 179–83. The quotation is taken from LM, 22 Dec. 1888.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, QD 4/216, copy letter of W. L. Williams to G. E. Lascelles, 26 Sept. 1889.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, WRD1/7/7/Box 7, item B592, Surrender of Registrarship by G. E. Lascelles; WR/1, West Riding County Council, minutes, 1 Mar. 1890.
  • WYAS, Bradford, SpSt/11/5/5/4, circular letter of J. Stanhope on behalf of his brother, 27 Mar. 1749. For Nevile, see Doncaster Archives, DX Bax/S/61602/1–62; DZMZ/69; and for Parker, BX/BAX/S/61722–61741. For Vavasour, see J. Debrett, The Baronetage of England (London, 1839) and Ward, East Yorkshire Landed Estates, pp. 35–6.
  • SRI, 2 May 1863; YG, 16 Nov. 1872.
  • For the advice of professionals in conducting a canvass, see the extracts from ‘Hints to Solicitors for the conduct of Elections’ from The New Law and Practice of Registration and Elections by E. W. Cox and S. G. Grady (10th ed., 1868), reproduced in C. R. Dodd, Electoral Facts from 1832 to 1853 Impartially Stated (1853), ed. H. J. Hanham (Brighton, 1972).
  • J. E. Dibb, Practical Guide to Registration (Wakefield, 1846), p. 11.
  • WYAS, Bradford, SpSt 11/5/3/43, F. Hawksworth to W. S. Stanhope, 22 Mar. [1809].
  • NYCRO, Elections of Registrars of Deeds (1771–1872), QR 3/12, where the manuscript and proof copy of the poll book of 1829 are to be found at QR 3/12/4/14–15; printed poll book, 1829 (NYCRO, ZFM, MIC 1441, frames 000498–000533); and North Riding Registry of Deeds, 1738–1972, NRRD 1/1–3/5.
  • The number of voters and the names of the candidates in the North Riding election of 1757 is taken from NYCRO, Chator of Croft, ZQH 11/25, ‘Observations on the Election of Register, Nov. 1757’ in Letters and Papers relating to the elections for the North Riding Registrar of Deeds, 1735, 1757 and 1782, includes a manuscript list of voters for 1757 which regrettably does not identify the candidate chosen by each voter.
  • WYAS, Wakefield, Clerk of the Peace: Registrar of Deeds, Elections, 1734–1863 (QD1/260-353), where the poll book for 1809 is to be found at QD1/287 and that for 1842 at QD1/324.
  • Although printers in both Wakefield and York produced lists of voters in the 1749 contest (to be found at WYAS, Bradford, SpSt 11/5/5/9), neither identifies the candidate for whom the electors voted.

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