Chapter One - Bedfordshire and the fall of Walpole, 1734–1741

Summary

How Bedfordshire Voted 1685–1735, volume 2, ended with an account of the 1734 election in Bedfordshire. For the county seat, there had been three candidates: Sir Rowland Alston of Odell (a Walpole Whig), John Spencer (an opposition Whig, related to the Duke of Bedford and the Duchess of Marlborough) and Charles Leigh of Leighton Buzzard (a Tory). The two Whigs defeated the Tory. However Spencer had to represent Woodstock on the instructions of the Duchess of Marlborough. The Duke of Kent and Lord Torrington, Whigs supporting Walpole, asked John Orlebar of Hinwick House to stand but Sir Roger Burgoyne of Sutton pushed him aside, insisting on having the nomination as an opposition Whig.

For the Bedford borough seat, two Tories were returned unopposed: Sir Jeremy Sambrooke, with estates in Keysoe, and Samuel Ongley of Old Warden. Ongley voted for Spencer, opposition Whig, and Leigh, the Tory, in the county election, suggesting cooperation between Tory and opposition Whig at Bedford.

Bedfordshire and politics, 1734–1741

How much did Bedfordshire people worry about politics, how much did they feel affinity to a political party and how much did they care that Walpole was prime minister? For the political classes, the landowners and their supporters, these were important issues. The landowner as a centre of a local interest and a justice of the peace had local political significance in elections, quarter sessions, national governments and political parties, all of which could help enhance a landowner's status and provide patronage for themselves, their families or their supporters within their interest group. For such people, Walpole's continuation as prime minister and the fortunes of the various groups opposing him was of critical importance.

The county élite

The key figures in county politics were the landowners, dukes, earls, baronets and gentlemen. They had important influence in their own areas, played the key role in selection of candidates and, through quarter sessions, administered the county. The chief of these was the 4th Duke of Bedford. To his Bedfordshire estate at Woburn, in the period 1735–1747 he added Oakley (from W. Levinz) and the honour of Ampthill (from the Bruces) in 1738. Significantly he had a stake in the north of the county.

Adjoining the Duke's estates in central Bedfordshire were those of his relations, the Fitzpatricks, Earls of Upper Ossory (after 1751). The widow Ann Dowager Baroness Gowran purchased Ampthill Park in 1737.