1741 Poll Book

The Poll
for
a Representative in Parliament
for the
County of York

In the room of the
Right Honourable Henry, Lord Visc. Morpeth,
Deceas'd ;

Begun at the Castle of York
on Wednesday 13th of January 1741

Candidates:
George Fox, Esq.
Cholmley Turner, Esq.

George Fox (1697-1773) was the Tory MP for the Yorkshire Borough of Hedon from 1734-1741, then MP for the City of York from 1742-1761. He lived at Bramham Park, Yorkshire and in 1751changed his name to George Fox-Lane by Act of Parliament. He was created 1st Baron Bingley in1762, but had no surviving issue to carry on the title.

Cholmley Turner of Kirkleaham, was a Whig (Liberal) MP who served Yorkshire from 1727-1741.

Voting took place in the city of York and lasted 8 days. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings. Turner, defending his seat for the third time, won by a very small margin, though the results below show that he wasn't the popular choice of candidate in Malhamdale.

1741 Yorkshire Election - Malhamdale Entries

Who could Vote?
Prior to the Reform Act 1832, the franchise to vote for a County MP was only held by the owners of freehold land valued at 40 shillings or more, a situation which had persisted since 1430. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the (very large) county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of voters, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system. Contested county elections were unusual due to the expense and the leading families of the county would agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. In the 100 years before the Reform Act there were 20 general elections, but in Yorkshire the 1741 election was one of only 4 that actually went to a ballot.
Yorkshire was the largest of the historic counties and the constituency comprised the whole county, represented at this time by two MPs. Yorkshire also contained several boroughs which each returned two members to Parliament, these included; Aldborough, Beverley, Boroughbridge, Hedon, Kingston-upon-Hull, Knaresborough, Malton, Northallerton, Pontefract, Richmond, Ripon, Scarborough, Thirsk and York.

See also our Register of Electors registered to vote in 1834, the 1807 Poll Book, the 1848 Poll Book and our information page about the Right to Vote 1430-1969.