Sept
1780
Liverpool
Contested
GENERAL ELECTION
In the general election of Sept 1780, 1153 people voted. There were 3 candidates, with Bamber Gascoyne & Henry Rawlinson elected.
Poll book data from:
Citation: A collection of papers... To which is annexed an alphabetical list of the poll… (Liverpool: P. Johnson, 1780)
Source: John Sims (ed.), A Handlist of British Parliamentary Poll Books (Leicester, 1984); Jeremy Gibson and Colin Rogers (eds.), Poll Books, 1696–1872: A Directory of Holdings in Great Britain (4th edn., Bury, 2008); L. W. L. Edwards (ed.), Catalogue of Directories and Poll Books in the Possession of the Society of Genealogists (4th edn., 1984).
Timeline & Key Statistics
Contexts & Remarks
- In 1780 Sir William Meredith and Richard Pennant (who were both usually classified as Whigs) were set to stand jointly as candidates. They had been returned unopposed for Liverpool in the general elections of 1768 and 1774. Against them stood two corporation candidates who supported the North Administration: Bamber Gascoyne and Henry Rawlinson, who each repeatedly denied that they were formally connected with the other. In the end, Meredith withdrew nine days before polling began because of illness and Pennant declined on the fifth day of the poll, leaving Gascoyne and Rawlinson as victors.
- The first 100 pages of the poll book are composed of the various papers, addresses, songs, and other printed election literature produced during the contest.
- On 9 September, the town magistrates requested that the candidates would not distribute ribbons, as they provoked 'ill humour, incite quarrels, and create confusion, dangerous to the public tranquility' (p. 32).
- Following Pennant's retirement, 'Mr. Gascoyne and Mr. Rawlinson were chaired, and carried from the 'Change to their respective abides, amidst the acclamations of several thousand people, with music playing and banners flying.?And on the Monday following Mr. Gascoyne was again chaired from the house of Mr. Baker, in School-lane, to his father's house at Childwall, about three miles distant, attended with, at least, 15,000 persons, accompanied with music, and near thirty colours elegantly painted (with different arms and inscriptions,) where they were abundantly supplied with provisions and liquor...' (p. 98).
Cultural Artefacts
Poll Book
Below is a digitised version of the poll book for this election:
