THE CHESHIRE GENTRY IN THE 18TH & EARLY 19TH CENTURIES: POLITICS AND RELIGION

The second edition of Ormerod's work was published in 1882 and Earwaker's book appeared in 1877. These authors give us chapter and verse on gentry pedigrees but the indices do not contain the terms Tory, Whig, Catholic, Royalist or Jacobite. Ormerod gives a brief history of Cheshire and outlines the English Civil War in the County. A list of the parliamentary representatives from 1547 to 1880 is shown a the end of this article. Several sources have been examined to cast more light on the political affiliations of those representing the county in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Today we may think that knighthoods and other honours are earned by people who make a significant contribution to the life of the nation. During most of the last 900 years appointments to the aristocracy were made by the monarch to reward those who supported him with military or political power. In 1630, Charles I, resurrected a medieval law that all gentlemen with an annual income of £40 at the time of his coronation and who had not asked to be knighted should be fined. His father, James I had introduced the new rank of baronet, in effect an hereditary knighthood. This innovation had three benefits and contributed to problem that remains to this day. Baronets were not allowed to sit in the House of Lords so the aristocracy did not feel threatened and their power was not diluted. The gentry who may have formerly enjoyed knighthoods for their lifetime could now obtain a baronetcy which their sons would inherit thus establishing the family on the social scene. The baronetcies were sold by James I for a several thousand pounds each and he used the money to fund the Protestant settlement of Ulster!

At the beginning of the Civil War, both King and Parliament appointed men to recruit forces for them. In Cheshire the Commissioners of Array (Royalist) were Lord Cholmondeley, Earl Rivers (John Savage of Rock Savage) his brother Thomas Savage, Sir Peter Leicester of Tabley, Thomas Cowper of Chester. There are also references to Lord Strange, Robert Needham (Viscount Kilmorey) of Shavington Park, Shropshire, and Alderman William Edwards of Chester.

For Parliament the Commissioners for the Militia were Sir William Brereton of Handforth, Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey, William Mainwaring of Kermincham, and William Marbury of Marbury. They answered to Lord Essex, who was appointed Lord General of the Parliamentary Armies on 8 August 1642. (Source Civil War in Cheshire; The King's Divided Palatine, by D. J. Brownsword-Hulland, published by Guildmaster Books, Welsh Row, Nantwich, 1994.

Royalists and Parliamentarians

The following list of Cheshire gentry who compounded for their estates under the Commonwealth, that is they paid fines to retain them. It is reduced from the list found in Ormerod's 2nd edition Vol 1, page LXIII. The spellings vary from modern ones and confuse the Leghs and Leighs of High Legh

Among the leading Cheshire gentlemen on the parliamentary side were the following, whose families tended towards Puritanism:

Among the prominent royalists in East Cheshire were Sir Peter Leicester, who was created a baronet for his troubles after the Restoration. His neighbour, Sir Geoffrey Shakerley of Hulme Hall, was involved in military action for the King's cause at Chester and became govenor of Chester Castle in 1663. He was noted for his rigourous implementation of the laws against dissenters. William, Lord Brereton of Leighlin was a Royalist unlike his relative General Brereton of the Handforth branch of the family. Peter Venables of Kinderton, was succeeded as MP on his death in 1669, by Thomas Cholmondeley of Vale Royal; both were Royalists.

Sir Peter Brooke was the second son of Thomas Brooke of Norton Priory. He purchased the Mere estate from John Mere Esq. in 1652 and was one of the last people to be knighted under the Commonwealth in 1660. He was an MP for Cheshire during the Commonwealth Period but went on to be High Sheriff of Cheshire after the Restoration in 1669. Towards the end of the Commonwealth Period, in 1659, Sir George Booth led an insurrection, believing that the principles for which he had fought the royalists had been betrayed and that too great a power was vested in the Lord Protector. His supporters came from former royalists as well as disillusioned parliamentarians. They captured Chester but not the castle. Subsequently they were defeated by Lambert at Winnington and captured while fleeing. The following people from prominent Cheshire families were among Sir George Booth's supporters who were taken prisoner.

As a result of this insurrection, Parliament passed an act to sequester the estates of Randolph Egerton, Robert Werden, Sir George Booth and Sir Thomas Middleton and their supporters. Sir George was taken to the tower of London but liberated in February of 1659/60 and his property restored. He was rewarded with £10,000 and the Barony of Delamere of Dunham Massey by Charles II. He was also allowed to propose six knights and two baronets. Later he disapproved of some of the actions of the King and was ignored by both Charles and his successor James II.

In the period immediately after the Restoration, dissenters were often seen as the possible causes of disaffection. By 1678 and the "Popish Plot" to replace Charles by his brother James, Roman Catholics were seen as the major threat. The Cavalier Parliament was dissolved in 1679 and the election that followed was the first on party lines. Henry Booth, a Whig, gained a Cheshire seat. At a second election that year, two Whigs were returned for the county, Henry Booth and Sir Robert Cotton. However, in the city of Chester the two MPs were both Tory - Sir Thomas Grosvenor and Colonel Robert Werden. Parliament was dissolved again in January 1681 an election was held in February. The main issue was the bill to exclude James II from succeeding to the throne as he was a Catholic. In March, Charles obtained promise of a loan from France, and dismissed what proved to be the last parliament of his reign.

The Duke of Monmouth in Cheshire

The Duke of Monmouth made a tour of Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in September 1682. He arrived first at Coventry on 7 September then proceeded via Lichfield to Stone. At Stone they were met by a number of gentry including Mr. Offley of Madeley, Mr. Ralph Sneyd of Bradwall and Mr. Crompton of Stone Parke. The Duke was received at Trentham Hall by William Leveson-Gower, and a large number of Staffordshire gentlemen. On Saturday 9 September he left Trentham for Nantwich in Leveson-Gower's coach with about 120 of the nobility and gentry of Staffordshire and Cheshire, all on horseback and armed. The Duke had dinner at the Crown Inn in Nantwich then moved to Chester and dined at the Plume of Feathers in Bridge Street. Earwaker quotes a letter from Sir Peter Shakerley, the newly appointed governor of Chester Castle, in which described the journey of the Duke as far as Chester.

On 11 September Monmouth attended Wallasey races while the loyalist gentry of Cheshire and Shropshire supported a rival meeting at Delamere. Monmouth went on to Liverpool on the 13th and stayed the night at Rock Savage. The next night he spent with Lord Delamere of the Booth family of Dunham Massey. (Note that the barony of Delamere became extinct and was later awarded to the Cholmondeley family of Vale Royal). Subsequently he was at Stockton Heath to meet people from Warrington, then at Mere. On Friday 17 September, Monmouth proceeded via Knutsford to Gawsworth and was entertained by the Earl of Macclesfield. On the 20th he went to Congleton and then on to London. He received widespread support from those who did not wish to see James succeed his brother Charles II. Monmouth was arrested at Lichfield and released on bail but the reports of his successful tour alarmed the authorities.

Sir Lionel Jenkins, Principal Secretary of State wrote on 15 September to Richard Legh of Lyme one of the JPs for Cheshire. He required that the justices make enquiries of where the Duke dined and what methods had been used to rouse the people. Richard Legh, together with to other justices, Sir John Ardern and Edward Warren of Poynton complied. They issued search warrants and arms were confiscated at the houses of Lord Macclesfield, Booth of Mere, Bradshaw of Marple, Legh of Adlington, Mainwaring of Peover, and Legh of High Legh.

At the time of the visit of Monmouth there was a preponderance of Whigs among the Cheshire gentry. Among the Whig peers were Brandon, Colchester, Delamere, Gerard and Macclesfield. Whig baronets were Aston, Bellott, Brooke, Cotton, Dukinfield, Mainwaring and Stanley of Alderley. Other Whig families included: the Booths of Dunham Massey, Mere and Mottram; Davenports of Brahmall and Woodford; Leghs of Adlington, Booths, High Legh and Swineyard; and the Mainwarings of Baddiley, Calveley, Kermincham and Peover.

The Tories peers were Kilmorey (the Needham family of Cranage) and Lord Brereton. Tory baronets were Grosvenor of Eaton and Leicester of Tabley.

The Rye House Plot and Monmouth Rebellion

In 1683 there was the so called Rye House plot to kill both Charles and James and ensure a protestant monarch. This caused the authorities to switch their attention back to Whigs and dissenters rather than catholic plotters. Further searches were made for arms by the justices and the home of Sir John Crewe of Utkinton was raided by his cousin, Sir John Arderne of Harden.

In September 1683 at the assizes, a grand jury of 19 headed by Sir Thomas Grosvenor were given details of a conspiracy.  A list of the Cheshire supporters of Monmouth who were considered by the assizes is found in a footnote to Ormerod, 2nd edition, volume 1 page LXVII. From this we see a very large representation of the Cheshire gentry.

The nineteen members of the grand jury were listed as follows:

Matters finally came to a head in 1685 when Monmouth decided to invade England from Holland. Lord Delamere of Dunham Massey hoped to raise 20,000 men in Cheshire but he was still on bail under suspicion of involvement in the Rye House Plot. In May he made two secretive visits from London to Cheshire. On 27 May, after hearing of the impending invasion, he set out for Chester. Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis on 11 June 1685. Delamere. On 20th June there was a royal proclamation for the Lord Lieutenant to arrest all the leading Monmouth supporters in Cheshire including Lord Delamere and Colonel Peter Venables. The latter, on account of his age, was arrested but released on bail. The battle of Sedgefield was on 6 July and the infamous trials of the rebels under Judge Jeffries ensued. Delamere appeared before Jeffries and a jury of thirty peers in early 1686. Delamere claimed that his visits to Cheshire in May of 1685 had been to visit his sick child. He was found not guilty.

The Glorious Revolution: Jacobites and Hanoverians

At the time of the Restoration some believed that government of the county was returning to that pertaining before the Civil War. However, parliament did not see it in that way; they believed there was a shift in power and anticipated a new relationship with the monarch. James II did not share this view. He united Anglicans and protestant nonconformists against him because of his catholicism and his subservience to France in foreign policy. His mother, Henrietta Maria, was French and his first cousin was Louis XIV.

In November 1688, William of Orange arrived to displace James II, only three years after his accession to the throne. He was successful where Monmouth had failed because James had united the gentry against him by numerous actions, including dismissing Lord Derby as Lord Lieutenant of both Lancashire and Cheshire. Lord Delamere was a leading light in the cause against James and mobilised his forces in support of William about a week before the latter left Exeter. On this occasion there was no pre-emptive arrest of Whig supporters in Cheshire.

J. Howard Hodson, refers to the views of R. N. Dore in considering the shift of opinion among the Cheshire Gentry between 1660 and 1688. He claimed that many of the gentry in Cheshire, including former Royalist families became sympathetic to the Whigs. Hodson, however, believes that the families of Aston, and Cotton, two of the Davenports, some Leghs and some Mainwarings had been only luke warm Royalists. Some of the support for Monmouth was because of the gentry opposition to central government infererence in county affairs. However, when real action to support Monmouth was necessary in 1685 many of these Whigs adopted a low profile. Following the arrival of William and Mary, only a few Tories refused to recognise them, including Richard Legh.

Jacobite plots started from 1690. William Massey of Puddington was the only member of the Cheshire gentry believed to be sympathetic to the cause. In the Parliament of 1689 the two county seats were held by Whigs, Sir Robert Cotton of Combermere and John Mainwaring of Peover. The two Chester seats were also held by Whigs but in the election of 1690 they were replaced by Tories, Sir Thomas Grosvenor and Richard Leving.

In the so called Lancashire Plot of 1694, Cheshire was said to have 13 gentry families sympathetic to the Jacobites. Seven Lancashire gentlemen together with Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton were tried at Manchester and Sir Thomas Stanley of Alderley and Peter Legh of Lyme were tried at Chester but the case was dismissed.

From 1690 to 1713 Chester returned Tories - Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Sir Henry Bunbury and Peter Shakerley. For the county seats the representatives were the two Whigs, Sir Roger Cottona and John Mainwaring. In Queen Anne's first parliament they were replaced by two Tories, Sir George Warburton of Arley and Sir Roger Mostyn of Beeston. However, they were replaced by two Whigs in 1715, Langham Booth, son of Lord Delamere and John Crewe Offley.

The Fifteen and Forty Five Rebellions

Hugh, Earl of Cholmondeley was promoted rapidly immediately following the accession of George I. In October 1714 he became lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the county and city of Chester. Only three days later he became a privy councillor and then six days later govenor of Chester Castle. Three days later again he became Lord Lieutenant of North Wales.

In the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 there were a number of sympathisers among the Cheshire gentry but few took an active role. When news arrived that rebels were between Preston and Wigan, a troop and three companies of Cheshire militia were led by Sir Samuel Daniel of Over Tabley towards Manchester on 11 November. Sir Samuel had served as a colonel in the army of William III and was knighted by him. Major Roger Mainwaring of Kermincham, deputy lord lieutenant, led a similar party towards Warrington but they saw no action. On 12 November, Cholmondeley and a party of 50 gentlemen volunteers and half pay officers marched from Chester to Warrington but by the 13th news came of the rebels being beaten at Preston. Captain Francis Legh, younger son of Richard Legh of Lyme, made good his escape from at Preston. His elder brother, Peter, is mentioned on a list of estates owned by papists. Members of the Jacobite Cheshire Club, included Lord Barrymore of Rock Savage, Sir Robert Grosvenor and Peter Legh of Lyme decided not to join the rebellion.

In 1739, Lord Barrymore, then aged 73, was called upon to act as a military advisor to the cause of the Young Pretender. In 1745 the Scottish Army travelled through Lancashire, crossed the Mersey and entered Cheshire, proceeding via Macclesfield and Congleton to Leek in Staffordshire. On reaching Derby they lost confidence and returned as they had come. Few of the Cheshire gentry gave active support. Peter Legh of Lyme, who lived only a few miles from the line of the march, did not joint the Pretender's forces. Indeed, he gave the casting vote of the Cheshire Club to oppose involvement. Lord Barrymore's son arrived in Derby too late to offer support.

Tories and Whigs

The Victoria County History summarises parliamentary representation for several periods including that of interest in looking at contemporaries of Sir Peter and Sir John Fleming Leicester. From 1660 to 1832 only 26 men from 13 families represented Cheshire. Eight of these families had provided county members before 1640 and ten were descended from men who had served on the commission of the peace in the time of Henry VIII. Sir Robert Cotton served in 8 parliaments between 1679 and 1701. Davis Davenport served in all 8 between 1806 and 1832. Charles Cholmondeley was in 7 parliaments between 1710 and 1756 while Sir John Mainwaring served 1689-1702 and John Crewe sat in 6 parliaments between 1765 and 1802.

In the 96 years from 1734 to 1830, representatives were drawn from only five families. These can be identified from Ormerod's table as Crewe, Cotton of Combermere, Davenport of Capesthorne, Egerton of Tatton and Cholmondeley of Vale Royal. Of the ten members who served, four remained until they died and six sat for between 12 and 34 years. Elections were rarely contested but the Victoria County History mentions one situation in a which a poll nearly arose. In 1796 Sir Robert Cotton decided to retire. Lord Grey the son of the Earl of Stamford (Dunham Massey) and Thomas Cholmondeley of Vale Royal showed an interest in the seat. In the event Grey withdrew. It is believed that Thomas Cholmondeley had the support of the Grosvenor family and both supported Pitt.

In 1812, Cholmondeley was challenged by a group comprising the Earl of Stamford, Lord Crewe and Sir John Stanley of Alderley who proposed Stanley as a candidate. They had a Whig sympathies but challenged Cholmondeley mainly on his lax approach to parliamentary business and is poor attendance. A compromise was reached in which Cholmondeley and Stanley both stepped down and the seat was taken by Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton who largely supported Lord Liverpool's Tory administration. The second seat went once more to Davies Davenport of Capesthorne who although independent, frequently leaned to the Whig cause. Both MPs were returned again in 1818 without contest.

In 1820, Davies Davenport stood down on health grounds. On this occasion there was little time for the gentry to agree a compromise and two candidates came forward - George Legh of High Legh and Richard Legh of Lyme. However, Davenport was persuaded to stand again and George Legh, an independent then withdrew. After mediation by Sir John Stanley, Richard Legh also withdrew thus avoiding conflict.

At this period there were many independent MPs and the distinctions between Whig and Tory groupings much less closely defined than in party politics of the say the early 20th century. There were some major splits, such as the Tories over the repeal of the corn laws, and not infrequent changes of allegiance. The Victoria County History notes that none of the ten representatives in the period from 1734 to 1830 were strong "party men"; they voted according to conscience and on occasion opposed the party they normally supported.

Samuel Egerton was said to be a Tory by Lord Bute in 1762 and also by Newcastle in 1765. However, Rockingham classed him as a Whig in 1765. He made only one speech in 36 years in parliament and that was in 1771.

John Crewe supported the Fox-North coalition and opposed the war against the American revolutionaries and opposed Pitt in the 1790s. On the other hand he opposed the abolition of slavery and the legislation on apprentices in the cotton manufacturing industry. He spoke in the commons only in support of economic reforms and against a tax on maidservants.

Thomas Cholmondeley MP for sixteen years from 1796 spoke only once in that time, to oppose Fox's proposal to repeal the antisedition laws in 1797. Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton never spoke in the house in 16 years as a member. However, for the most part the Cheshire members did attend the debates and cast their votes. They had between them some expertise of interest to the county. John Crewe was an exponent of new agricultural methods, and a friend of the Thomas Coke. Davies Davenport and Wilbraham Egerton were familiar with the cotton and salt industries respectively.  As The Victoria County History records:

"Although their attitudes to government were outmoded in an industrializing society, they were acceptable to sufficient voters to keep the Cheshire gentry dominant at county elections for fifty more years after the Reform Bill".

Parliamentary Representatives for Cheshire: 1547 to 1880

Ormerod gives a list of "knights of the shire" or parliamentary representatives and the information in the table below is modified from this source. There were two representatives for the county until the Reform Act of 1832, after which it split into was a Southern Division and a Northern Division. The Reform Act also gave two parliamentary seats to Macclesfield, Stockport. The information in the table goes back to the time of Edward VI to show the continuity of many of the families involved. The two columns are not intended to distinguish between the representatives prior to 1832; thereafter they show the representatives in the Southern and Northern Divisions respectively. After 1865 there were electoral changes resulting in two MPs each for the East, Mid, and West Divisions.

Sources:

Victoria County History of the County of Chester, 3 Vols., OUP 1987.

A History of Cheshire, J. J. Bagley, general editor, in ten volumes, published by Cheshire Community Council Publications Trust. Each volume has a different author. Vol. 9, Cheshire 1660-1780: Restoration to Industrial Revolution, J. Howard Hodson, 1978, ISBN 0 903119 10 2.

The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, incorporated with a republication of King's Vale Royal and Leycester's Cheshire Antiquities, 2nd Ed., revised and enlarged by Thomas Helsby, Esq., published by George Routledge and sons, Ludgate Hill, London, 1882.

The Progress of the Duke of Monmouth in September 1682, by J. P. Earwaker, MA, FSA, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Vol 46, 1895, page 71.

The Cheshire Sheaf, 3rd Series, Vol XXXVII, 1942. A series of short articles during the year on Cheshire and the Fifteen, based on the diary of Henry Prescott, deputy registrar of the diocese of Chester.

The Civil War in Cheshire, The King's Divided Palatine, by D. J. Brownsword-Hulland, Weaver Valley Press, 1994.