UK Parliamentary Archives

• Held At: Parliamentary Archives: GB-061
• Catalogue Reference: HL/PO/RO/1/131
• Accession Number: 2999
• Former Archival Reference: Historical Collection 394
• Ref No: HL/PO/RO/1/131
• Date: c 1770
• Level: File
• Extent: 1 volume
• Creator Name: Cooper; Sir; Grey (c.1726-1801); Baronet, MP
• Administrative or Biographical History: The Middlesex election relates to the election as MP for Middlesex of John Wilkes (1725-1797). He was returned on 28 March 1768 and was soon after arrested for blasphemy and libel for which he was imprisoned for one year and 10 months. Wilkes appealed by writ of error to the House of Lords and also presented a petition to the House of Commons; both were dismissed in Jan 1769 and he was expelled from the House of Commons on the 4 Feb 1769. To make his expulsion legal, an account was given of previous offences and of his present position as a condemned criminal.
• Acquisition: Purchased by Parliamentary Archives from JLM Gulley on 7 July 1995. Accession number 2999.
• Description: This volume consists of private jottings, and is divided in two parts. The first part (folios 1-15) bears the heading "On the late decision of the House of Commons on the case of the Middlesex election" (folio 2) and relates to John Wilkes' election as MP for Middlesex and his subsequent expulsion from the House of Commons, as well as notes on the legal procedures of the case. The second part (folios 16-28) consists of precedents from 1549 to 1711.
• Terms:
  • Elections,
  • Politicians,
  • Journalists,
• Language: English
• System of Arrangement: The volume has been arranged in 28 folios by JM Gulley, Manuscript Dealer.
• Related Material: See also HL/PO/RO/1/151 Order of the House of Commons relating to the Middlesex Election. Additional correspondence and papers (1761-64) can also be found in the Guildhall Library, in 14173-76 and Ms 31900; some correspondence and papers are held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections, in Add MSS 30865-96; other correspondence and manuscripts are also held at the William L Clements Library, University of Michigan, 909 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan MI 48109, U.S.A., in Wilkes papers; correspondence with James Boswell (1765-95) can be found at Beinecke Library, Yale University Libraries, 121 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticut CT 06520 U.S.A., in L1279-1302, C3088-3109; copies of letters to John Dell (1753-81) are held at the Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, Oxford University in MS Eng lett c 57; letters to William FitzHerbert (1765-68) are held at the Derbyshire Record Office, in 239/F8247-64, 8365.
• Access Status: Open
• Physical Description: Manuscript volume.

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