UK Parliamentary Archives

• Held At: Parliamentary Archives: GB-061
• Catalogue Reference: HL/PO/RO/1/151
• Accession Number: 3667
• Ref No: HL/PO/RO/1/151
• Date: 8 Dec 1768
• Level: File
• Extent: 2 folios
• Creator Name: Hatsell; John (1733-1820) Clerk of the House of Commons
• 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 was also expelled from the House of Commons. On the 8th December, the Commons attempted to organise a re-election of the Middlesex seat, presumably with a view that another candidate other than Wilkes, should be elected. However, a mob in favour of Wilkes interrupted the elections and the Commons had to enlist the help of the Sheriffs of London and Police Constables to ensure that the next election would take place peaceably. A separate short note in a different hand is attached headed "John Wilkes born 1727 died 1797" with a very brief summary of the contents of the Order.
• Acquisition: Purchased by Parliamentary Archives from Stride & Son, Auctioneers, Chichester, in Oct 1999. Accession number 3667.
• Description: In this Order, Hatsell enpowers the Sheriffs of London to recover the "Poll Books if that cannot be done that they do apply to the Cheque Clerks of each candidate for the Books kept by them". The books are to be compared and a report produced fo the House. The Sheriffs are then to inform the Middlesex Magistrates that another election is to take place and that a number of Police Constables be appointed "to preserve the peace and freedom of these elections".
• Terms:
  • Politicians,
  • Journalists,
  • Elections,
• Language: English
• System of Arrangement: Arranged in 35 pages by the writer himself
• Related Material: See also HL/PO/RO/1/131: Notebook on the Middlesex election and the Wilkes affair. 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

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