Description:As the Lichfield Election Campaign for the December 1754 election got underway, Gilbert wrote a letter to Earl Gower reporting on the Gower-Anson party’s Election Campaign. Gilbert had been attending Henry Vernon, the Gower-Anson candidate, on his canvas of the Borough. He reports back to Gower with ‘great pleasure’, stating that the party’s supporters in Lichfield ‘exert themselves with harmony upon this occasion’. Referring to his report on the expenses of previous elections, Gilbert writes ‘I hope we shall not split upon the same Rock this time’, adding that ‘all the gentlemen here are very desirous of Establishing a plan of economy, & avoiding the great expence of alehouses’.
In order to rally support at a reduced cost, Gilbert had organised evening entertainment outside of the local public houses. He reports that the agents had sent ‘about 8 or 10 Hogsheads of ale into the Fryery’ for an evening event to which ‘voters that are in our Interest’ had been invited. Pleased with his plans for more economical entertainments, Gilbert adds ‘our adversarys are not less mortified at this than the publicans themselves & begin to know that we can support our Interest at as moderate an expence as they can.’
However, the local publicans weren’t happy about what was going on. Many attempted to bribe Gower-Anson agents with their votes to try and get a better deal and ensure that their extortionate bills for the last election were paid more quickly. Gilbert writes ‘the Publick House People want to have promises that all their Bills shall be paid’ before they would cast their votes. He adds that ‘we tell them that nothing of that sort can be undertaken’, informing the publicans that ‘those that behave well upon this occasion will stand in a more favourable light than the others’.
Gilbert describes his ‘scheme of economy’ for future election campaigns and reports on events that evening at the Friary. He writes that ‘the scheme of entertaining there goes down very well’, estimating that about 100 of the party’s ‘friends’ were present there ‘that have votes’.
However, the loss of votes from local publicans was still a concern for Gilbert. His letter contains an account of ‘the voters that live in or about London or who can be influenced from thence, & your friends here think it will be right to apply to them directly’. Gilbert advocated applying to the London voters to replace the votes of publicans who had refused to support ‘this Scheme of Entertaining at the Fryery’. He writes ‘rather than indulge them in their extravagance I should think it would be better to be at the Expence of bringing all the London voters down’.