A Tale of Bribery and Electoral Intrigue From the Thames Town of Marlow

One of the difficulties I found  in writing a book about the river Thames was making  those really hard decisions about what should go in! So much history…..so much intrigue and scandal.

Naturally  I was tempted to include far too  much about my beloved Harleyford Estate at riverside Marlow, where my husband and I had a holiday home for many years.  Below is a photo of our lodge under a light dusting of snow.

No intrigue or scandal took place here of course (although we did have some interesting tenants!).   Harleyford Manor, on the other hand, is a far more imposing residence.

The following is a little  story that did not make the cut.

From Harleyford to the township of Marlow,  a path leads across what has long been known as the Sheep Paddock. During our first years in the lodge, sheep  still grazed  here, but now a community of moles and the occasional grass snake have it to themselves.

While delving into the history of Harleyford at Marlow library  I was intrigued  to find that the flock  once figured in a huge  row.   Marlow habitually supplied two Members of Parliament. In  the 1841 election there were three candidates; Sir William Clayton of Harleyford Manor, who was a Whig; Thomas Peers Williams, who was a Tory and Renn Hampden, also a Tory.  Now Sir William  came  in second, but only defeated the third placed Hampden by a single vote. Hampden subsequently  protested, claiming that  the deciding vote was gained illegally as Sir William’s  farming agent  had bribed  debt ridden  local butcher  Jason Povey with some of Harleyford’s  plump, Southdown sheep.

A House of Commons select committee  agreed that Povey’s vote was ‘bad’ and struck it from the roll,  creating a dead heat.  However,  it became obvious that another voter, William Plumridge, had  also received  ‘parochial relief’ from Clayton (perhaps another sheep?)  and his counsel was unable to offer any defense  whatsoever. With a second Whig vote declared bad, Renn Hampden took the lead and despite evidence that  Thomas Williams had also bought votes by allowing his tenants to live rent free, poor old  William  Clayton lost his seat.  A damned bad business in my opinion. I’m sure  Sir William’s generous heart was deliberately misinterpreted as bribery!  Of course I could be a little  biased.

FOR  SOME MORE  MATERIAL I MIGHT HAVE TO INCLUDE IN BOOK  II, CLICK HERE

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