46-612: Egleston may refer to: People [ edit ] William Egleston , Member of Parliament 1553, 1554, and 1586, for Winchelsea Nathaniel Egleston (1822–1912), American clergyman and forester Olivia Egleston (1784–1859), wife of businessman Anson Greene Phelps, co-founder of the Phelps Dodge Company Thomas Egleston (1832–1900), American engineer who helped found Columbia University's School of Mines Hawley Egleston , of Michigan, finished 3rd place at
92-585: A guinea (10s. 6d.) each. Nor was the expense confined to bribing the voters. Oldfield records that in 1811, with only 11 voters to poll, the Mayor demanded – and received – a fee of £200 for his services as returning officer . However, he presumably carried out his duties more satisfactorily than his predecessor in 1624, who was "brought to the bar [of the House of Commons], and on his knees severely reprimanded, and sentenced to be committed to prison" for threatening some of
138-464: A larger party, have been won by a minor party , enabling that party to gain more seats under the country's proportional representation system . The Spectator has described the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as a "rotten borough", and in 2015 The Independent reported that Tower Hamlets was to be the subject of an investigation into electoral fraud. The Electoral Reform Society produced
184-514: A list of "Rotten Boroughs" for the 2019 United Kingdom local elections , with Fenland District Council at the top. The Corporation of the City of London has been referred to as the UK's Last Rotten Borough due to the fact that only four of its 25 electoral wards hold elections where voting by residents decides the result. The other wards are decided on votes cast by business leaders, not residents, making this
230-555: A new site nearby ("New Sarum"). The new site immediately attracted merchants and workers who built up a new town around it. Despite this dramatic loss of population, the constituency of Old Sarum retained its right to elect two MPs, putting them under the control of a landowning family. Many rotten boroughs were controlled by landowners and peers who might give the seats in Parliament to their like-minded friends or relations, or who went to Parliament if they were not already members of
276-415: A sitting MP wresting control of a pocket borough from its "patrons", so as to be able to be sure of securing re-election on his own account. In the first half of the 18th century, Winchelsea was a "treasury borough", that is one where the influence of the government was so strong that ministers were able to consider themselves the patrons and were sure of the power to choose both MPs. In 1754, however, one of
322-425: A small settlement into a large city, was merely part of the larger county constituency of Lancashire and did not elect its own MPs. Many of these ancient boroughs elected two MPs. By the time of the 1831 general election , out of 406 elected members, 152 were chosen by less than 100 voters each, and 88 by fewer than fifty voters. By the early 19th century moves were made towards reform, with eventual success when
368-638: A valuable method of ensuring the representation of the landed interest in the House of Commons. Significantly diminished by the Reform Act 1832, pocket boroughs were for all practical purposes abolished by the Reform Act 1867 . This considerably extended the borough franchise and established the principle that each parliamentary constituency should hold roughly the same number of electors. Boundary commissions were set up by subsequent Acts of Parliament to maintain this principle as population movements continued. In
414-583: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Winchelsea (UK Parliament constituency) Winchelsea was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1366 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act . Winchelsea was a Cinque Port , rather than a parliamentary borough , but
460-454: Is not admitted to send any. Is there any principle in these things? Sir Joseph Porter: I grew so rich that I was sent By a pocket borough into Parliament. I always voted at my party's call, And I never thought of thinking for myself at all. Chorus: And he never thought of thinking for himself at all. Sir Joseph: I thought so little, they rewarded me By making me the Ruler of
506-480: The Reform Act 1832 abolished the rotten boroughs and redistributed representation in Parliament to new major population centres. The Ballot Act 1872 introduced the secret ballot , which greatly hindered patrons from controlling elections by preventing them from knowing how an elector had voted. At the same time, the practice of paying or entertaining voters (" treating ") was outlawed, and election expenses fell dramatically. The term rotten borough came into use in
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#1732848694808552-680: The Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Other uses [ edit ] List of minor planets: 8001–9000#601 Egleston (MBTA station) , a former rapid transit station in the Greater Boston area. Egleston Substation an electrical substation in Boston, Massachusetts. Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children in Atlanta, Georgia. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
598-459: The United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832 , which had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain unrepresentative influence within the unreformed House of Commons . The same terms were used for similar boroughs represented in the 18th-century Parliament of Ireland . The Reform Act 1832 abolished the majority of these rotten and pocket boroughs. A parliamentary borough
644-528: The United Nations General Assembly to "rotten boroughs". The term "rotten borough" is sometimes used to disparage electorates used to gain political leverage. In Hong Kong and Macau, functional constituencies (with small voter bases attached to special interests) are often referred to as "rotten boroughs" by long-time columnist Jake van der Kamp. In New Zealand , the term has been used to refer to electorates which, by dint of an agreement for
690-414: The " burgage tenements ", the occupants of which had the right to vote in the borough's parliamentary elections. A wealthy patron therefore had merely to buy up these specially qualified houses and install in them his own tenants, selected for their willingness to do their landlord's bidding, or given such precarious forms of tenure that they dared not displease him. As there was no secret ballot until 1872,
736-414: The "owner" of the borough. Only rarely were the views or personal character of a candidate taken into consideration, except by the minority of voters who were not beholden to a particular interest. Typically, rotten boroughs had gained their representation in Parliament when they were more flourishing centres, but the borough's boundaries had never been changed or they had become depopulated or deserted over
782-423: The 120-yard high hurdles of the 1933 NCAA Track and Field Championships Rita Egleston, nominated for an Outstanding Sound Editing 27th Daytime Emmy Awards for The Phantom Eye John Egleston Paterson (1800–?), an American farmer, lawyer and politician from New York Places [ edit ] United States Egleston Square, at the intersection of Washington Street and Columbus Avenue in
828-430: The 18th century; it meant a parliamentary borough with a tiny electorate, so small that voters were susceptible to control in a variety of ways, as it had declined in population and importance since its early days. The word rotten had the connotation of corruption as well as long-term decline. In such boroughs most or all of the few electors could not vote as they pleased, due to the lack of a ballot and their dependency on
874-686: The 19th century, there were moves toward reform, which broadly meant ending the over-representation of boroughs with few electors. The culmination of the process of Catholic Emancipation in 1829 finally brought the reform issue to a head. The reform movement had a major success in the Reform Act 1832 , which disfranchised the 56 boroughs listed below, most of them in the south and west of England. This redistributed representation in Parliament to new major population centres and places with significant industries, which tended to be farther north. A substantial number of Tory constituencies were rotten and pocket boroughs, and their right to representation
920-405: The House of Lords. They also commonly sold them for money or other favours; the peers who controlled such boroughs had a double influence in Parliament as they held seats in the House of Lords . This patronage was based on property rights which could be inherited and passed on to heirs or sold, as a form of property. Despite the small number of voters in each district listed below, for all or much of
966-566: The MP who had been returned was not duly elected, but the whole House voted it down, and the election was allowed to stand. In 1702, again, the Mayor was taken into custody for corrupt practices, and expelled from all his offices in the Customs by resolution of the Commons, against the opposition of government ministers, in whose interests the corruption had been executed. Winchelsea affords an unusual instance of
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#17328486948081012-458: The Nesbitt interest in the borough back to the government's supporters (in the person of The Earl of Darlington ) for the very considerable sum of £15,000, shortly before the court's decree came into force. Ministers were free once more to consider both seats at the ministry's disposal. However, Oldfield notes that Nesbitt's power in the borough was one of influence rather than of any direct property in
1058-448: The Queen's Navee! Fairy Queen: Let me see. I've a borough or two at my disposal. Would you like to go into Parliament? "Could you not spend an afternoon at Milport, to meet the electors? There are not many of them, and those few are all my tenants, so it is no more than a formality; but there is a certain decency to be kept up. The writ will be issued very soon." When Colonel Dobbin quitted
1104-614: The boroughs should be retained, as Britain had enjoyed periods of prosperity while they were part of the constitution of Parliament. Because British colonists in the West Indies and British North America , and those in the Indian subcontinent , had no representation of their own at Westminster, representatives of these groups often claimed that rotten boroughs provided opportunities for virtual representation in Parliament for colonial interest groups. The Tory politician Spencer Perceval asked
1150-473: The centuries. Some had once been important places or had played a major role in England's history but had fallen into insignificance as for example when industry moved away. In the 12th century Old Sarum had been a busy cathedral city , reliant on the wealth expended by Sarum Cathedral within its city precincts, but it was abandoned when the cathedral was moved to create the present Salisbury Cathedral , built on
1196-427: The difference was purely a nominal one, and it was considered an egregious example of a rotten borough . The constituency consisted of the town and parish of Winchelsea , once a market town and port but by the 19th century much reduced in importance, a mile-and-a-half inland with its harbour destroyed. In 1831, the population of the constituency was estimated at 772, and the town contained 148 houses. The right to vote
1242-482: The election was uncontested, because other candidates saw it as futile to stand. Thus an MP might be elected by only a few voters (although the number of constituents would usually be higher), while at the same time many new towns, which had grown due to increased trade and industry, were inadequately represented. Before 1832 the town of Manchester , which expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution from
1288-551: The free-spending of the Treasury's agents; on one occasion, it appears that the town clerk was directing the government campaign and finding himself needing more funds for the purpose than had been provided pawned the town's charters and civic regalia. However, in 1779 Nesbitt died £100,000 in debt, and the Court of Chancery made a decree to auction his property for the relief of his creditors, but his nephew anticipating this managed to sell
1334-577: The government candidates was an Irishman named Arnold Nesbitt . Once elected, Nesbitt began to buy houses in Winchelsea so as to secure influence over the freemen, and was so far successful that by the time of the next election it was accepted that he had the absolute command of one of the seats; indeed, when he stood well with the Treasury he was also allowed to nominate for the other. For the rest of his life he successfully defended his control of Winchelsea from
1380-459: The landowner could evict electors who did not vote for the two men he wanted. A common expression referring to such a situation was that "Mr A had been elected on Lord B's interest". There were also boroughs which were controlled not by a particular patron but rather by the Crown, specifically by the departments of state of the Treasury or Admiralty , and which thus returned the candidates nominated by
1426-779: The late 18th century, many political societies, such as the London Corresponding Society and the Society of the Friends of the People , called for parliamentary reform. Specifically, they thought that the rotten borough system was unfair and they called for a more equal distribution of representatives that reflected the population of Britain. However, legislation enacted by William Pitt the Younger caused these societies to disband by making it illegal for them to meet or publish information. In
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1472-456: The ministers in charge of those departments. Some rich individuals controlled several boroughs; for example, the Duke of Newcastle is said to have had seven boroughs "in his pocket". One of the representatives of a pocket borough was often the man who controlled it, and for this reason they were also referred to as proprietorial boroughs . Pocket boroughs were seen by their 19th-century owners as
1518-471: The nation to look at the system as a whole, saying that if pocket boroughs were disenfranchised, the whole system was liable to collapse. The magazine Private Eye has a column entitled "Rotten Boroughs", which lists stories of municipal wrongdoing. In this instance, "boroughs" refers to local government districts rather than parliamentary constituencies. In his book The Age of Consent (2003), George Monbiot compared small island states with one vote in
1564-410: The only local government authority in the UK that now lacks a popular franchise . The county of Yorkshire, which contains near a million souls, sends two county members; and so does the county of Rutland which contains not a hundredth part of that number. The town of Old Sarum, which contains not three houses, sends two members; and the town of Manchester, which contains upwards of sixty thousand souls,
1610-487: The physical settlement were no longer the same. For centuries, constituencies electing members to the House of Commons did not change to reflect population shifts, and in some places the number of electors became so few that they could be bribed or otherwise influenced by a single wealthy patron. In the early 19th century, reformists scornfully called these boroughs "rotten boroughs" because they had so few inhabitants left, or "pocket boroughs", because their MPs were elected by
1656-533: The service, which he did immediately after his marriage, he rented a pretty country place in Hampshire, not far from Queen's Crawley, where, after the passing of the Reform Bill, Sir Pitt and his family constantly resided now. All idea of a peerage was out of the question, the baronet's two seats in Parliament being lost. He was both out of pocket and out of spirits by that catastrophe, failed in his health, and prophesied
1702-490: The time of their existence the boroughs had two MPs. Before being awarded a peerage, Arthur Wellesley , later Duke of Wellington , served in the Irish House of Commons as a Member for the rotten borough of Trim . Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh served as a Member for the rotten borough of Plympton Erle . Pocket boroughs were boroughs which could effectively be controlled by a single person who owned at least half of
1748-413: The title Egleston . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Egleston&oldid=740465290 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description
1794-452: The voters and corruptly excluding some others from casting their votes. Almost as troublesome was the election of 1667, when it was alleged that the Mayor had not taken the sacrament – being a communicating member of the Church of England was then a requirement for holding civic office – and that therefore the election he had conducted was void. The committee agreed, and proposed a motion that
1840-466: The votes (as might have been the case in a burgage borough where the right to vote could literally be bought and sold) – and that whatever the bargain between Nesbitt's nephew and Darlington, the voters themselves were not a party to it and had still to be persuaded to co-operate. Therefore, what was sold, in effect, was the unhindered right to bribe the voters without interference, the customary price by this time being apparently £100 per vote. Winchelsea
1886-425: The whim of the patron, thereby being "in his pocket"; the actual votes of the electors were a mere formality since all or most of them voted as the patron instructed them, with or without bribery. As voting was by show of hands at a single polling station at a single time, few would vote contrary to the declared wishes of the patron. Often only one candidate would be nominated (or two for a two-seat constituency) so that
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1932-420: Was a town or former town that had been incorporated under a royal charter , giving it the right to send two elected burgesses as Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. It was not unusual for the physical boundary of the settlement to change as the town developed or contracted over time, for example due to changes in its trade and industry, so that the boundaries of the parliamentary borough and of
1978-470: Was abolished as a separate constituency by the Reform Act, but the nearby Cinque Port of Rye retained one of its two MPs, and Rye's parliamentary boundaries were extended to include Winchelsea from 1832. Notes Rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough , also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough , was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England , Great Britain , or
2024-418: Was declared void, an agent of one of the candidates arrested for bribery by order of the House of Commons , and the representation of the borough suspended until the end of the session. At another controversial election in 1712, the Commons committee which investigated was told that voters had been bribed with £30 each to vote for the sitting MPs, and their female connections received additional payments of half
2070-465: Was defended by the successive Tory governments in office between 1807 and 1830. During this period they came under criticism from figures such as Thomas Paine and William Cobbett . It was argued in defence of such boroughs that they provided stability and were also a means for promising young politicians to enter Parliament, with William Pitt the Elder being cited as a key example. Some MPs claimed that
2116-406: Was exercised by the freemen of the town, of whom by 1831 there were just 11, even though in theory the custom was that every son of a freeman and every freeholder in the town was entitled to his freedom. With so few voters, bribery was the rule rather than the exception, though occasionally it became so blatant that the authorities were able to take steps against it. In 1700 an election at Winchelsea
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