Description:The letters sent to Lord Gower - George Granville Leveson-Gower (1721-1833), Marquis of Stafford, - by people declining to support him at the Staffordshire Election suggest that the countywide popularity of Gower's party was declining. Eric Richards suggests that ‘a rising intellectual doubt about the propriety of pre-Reform electioneering methods’ was influencing ‘Staffordshire politics’ at this time.
Sir John Boughey opposed Lord Gower, contesting his election as the County Representative. Eric Richards notes that Boughey stood representing political independence, opposing what he called the ‘private and unconstitutional influence’ of the Gower party. As the letters declining to support the Trentham interest demonstrate, by appealing to ideals of political reform, Boughey gathered supporters from all over Staffordshire.
With the prospect of a public political struggle and a lack of support in Staffordshire, Lord Gower suddenly withdrew from the election in March 1820. The Sutherland Papers contain a number of documents relating to what Eric Richards describes as Gower’s ‘sensational withdrawal’ from the contest. The printed notices and correspondence between Lord Gower’s agents tell us a great deal about the political atmosphere in Staffordshire during the early eighteenth century.
Contextual information from Eric Richards, ‘The Social and Electoral Influence of the Trentham Interest, 1800-1860’, Midland History, Autumn 1975, Volume III, No. 2.