1701
Henry Paget
Edward Bagot
returned unopposed 28th Jan, 1701
Tory majority, Tory government formed.
1701 – 02
Henry Paget
Edward Bagot
returned unopposed 27th November, 1701
1702 – 05
Reign of Queen Anne
Henry Paget
Edward Bagot
returned unopposed 6th August, 1702
1705 – 08
From 1707, the first Parliament of Great Britain
Henry Paget
Edward Bagot
returned unopposed 10th May, 1705
1708 – 10
Henry Paget T
John Wrottesley
T
returned unopposed 6th May, 1708
1710- 13
Henry Paget T
William Ward T
returned unopposed 19th Oct 1710
Paget resigned in 1711 on taking office as Captain Yeoman of the Guard causing....
by election, 13th December 1711
Henry Paget returned unopposed
Paget sent to House of Lords, 1712 causing .....
by election 7th Feb 1712
Charles Bagot T
returned unopposed
1713 – 15
This Parliament was dissolved 6 months after the death of Queen Anne and the Hanoverian Succession.
Ralph Sneyd T
Henry Vernon T
returned unopposed 17th September, 1713
1715 – 22
Parliament called by George I
Thomas, Lord Paget
T
William Ward T
returned unopposed 3rd Feb, 1715
1722 – 27
Thomas Catesby, Lord Paget
T
William Leveson Gower
T
returned unopposed 22nd March, 1722
1727 -34
Parliament called by George II
William Leveson Gower
T
Sir Walter Bagot
T
returned unopposed 13th
August, 1727
1734 – 41
William Leveson Gower
T
Sir Walter Bagot
T
returned unopposed 2nd May 1734
1741 – 47
William Leveson Gower
Sir Walter Bagot
returned unopposed 21st May, 1741
1747 – 54
The 1747 General Election was
only the second to be contested for the County of Staffordshire and the first for a hundred years. The rise of the Leveson
Gower family, their change from Tory to Whig and joining the government caused the Tory gentlemen of Staffordshire to regard
them as traitors. Two candidates were put up to oust Gower. Earl Gower put up his son-in-law, Wrottesley, as a counter-blast.
Result:
Sir Walter Bagot
(T)
2654
William Leveson Gower
(Bedford Whig) 2602
John Crewe (Ind. Whig) 2433
Sir Richard Wrottesley (Bedford Whig) 2421
This “tie” set
the rule for the next 70 years in Staffordshire: one seat for the Tories and one for the House of Trentham.
1754 – 61
William Leveson Gower
(BW)
William Bagot (T)
returned unopposed 18th April, 1754
Gower died causing a by election....
Henry Frederick Thynne
(BW)
returned unopposed 4th Jan 1757
1761 – 68
George Harry, Lord Grey
(W)
William Bagot (T)
returned unopposed 9th April, 1761
1768 – 74
George Harry (W)
William Bagot (T)
returned unopposed 31st March, 1768
George Harry created Earl of Stamford in 1768 causing a by election...
Captain John Wrottesley
(BW)
returned unopposed 5th July, 1768
1774 – 80
Sir William Bagot
(T)
Sir John Wrottesley
(Gower Whig)
returned unopposed 21st Oct 1774
1780
In the 1780 general election, fought amidst the disasters of the American War of Independence Staffordshire returned,
George Legge, Viscount Lewisham, later
Earl of Dartmouth (Tory)
Sir John Wrottesley (Gower Whig)
elected 28th September 1780, defeating Sir William Wolseley
(Ind. Whig) who did not call for a poll.
1784
A
general election held in 1784 resulted in a great victory for the new Prime Minister,
William Pitt (the Younger). The Gower Whigs supported Pitt for the next 20 years. The Staffordshire County MPs were:
Sir Edward Littleton (Tory)
Sir John Wrottesley (Gower Whig)
who
were elected unopposed and supported Pitt.
Sir Edward Littleton, squire of Penkridge and builder of Teddesley Hall and the Littleton Arms was
MP for Staffordshire from 1784 to 1812, when he died in his 84th year. He took little active part in politics and
appears never to have spoken in the chamber of the House of Commons, though he
promoted the interests of the county and canals in committee and through influence.
1787
In
1787 Sir John Wrottesley died and was replaced by George Granville Leveson-Gower.
George Granville Leveson-Gower, born 1758, was son and heir of the 1st Marquess
of Stafford, who died in 1803. He was described as “a leviathon of wealth” having married the Duchess of Sutherland
in 1785, inherited the vast estates of the Duke of Bridgewater in 1803 as well as his father’s land.
Sir Edward and George Granville Leveson-Gower were returned at the general elections
of 1790 and 1796.
1799
In
1799 George Granville Leveson-Gower was replaced by his brother, Granville Leveson-Gower, who remained MP for Staffordshire
until 1815.
Granville Leveson-Gower, born 1773, was the 3rd son of the Marquess of
Stafford. He was a lord of the Treasury 1800-04, Ambassador to Russia 1804-5 and France 1824-41. He was a great gambler and
accounted the best whist player of his time. He was a supporter of Pitt and then George Canning. He finally became a Whig,
returning from Paris to vote for the Great Reform Bill in 1832.
He
was created Viscount Granville in 1815 and Earl Granville in 1833. He died in 1846 and is buried at Stone.
