Blackburne - Elections
124
PARLIAMENT – LIVERPOOL BY-ELECTION OF 1670
Archive of some fifty letters addressed to Sir Gilbert Ireland of Hale Hall, Childwell, during the Liverpool parliamentary elections of 1670, correspondents including the Duke of Monmouth (a letter signed, opening: "I writ by the last Post to my Lord of Derby in behalfe of my Secretary (Mr Ross) whom I have recommended to bee Burgess for Leverpoole, lately vacant by the death if my Cornet Mr Wm Stanley, and understanding that you are the other Burgess, for that Corperacion, I doe very heartily recommend this Person to You..."), the eighth Earl of Derby and the second Earl of Ancram (MP for Wigan), John Otway, Sir George Lane and others, the election occasioned by the death of Ireland's fellow Burgess, William Stanley, and many of the letters written by or on behalf of candidates seeking the post, others about the early moving of the Writ; later letters discussing general parliamentary business, such as a navigation bill for the River Weaver; nearly all the letters with address panels and many with postal markings, thirteen bearing Bishop Marks (five of which have been struck twice), over 50 pages, some dust-staining but overall in attractive original condition, loose in late nineteenth century boards, mostly folio, October to December 1670
Sold for £2,250 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • A FINE PARLIAMENTRY ARCHIVE: Sir Gilbert Ireland (1624-1675) had served as MP for Lancashire during the Interregnum (being one of those who voted for the crown to be given to Cromwell) and Governor of Liverpool. He was knighted and elected MP for Liverpool in 1660, a post he held until his death: 'Ireland, described as "a man of unbounded hospitality", with a haughty disposition and a stately demeanour, is said to have ruined both his health and his fortune at the Liverpool by-election of 1670. He was certainly much courted by the principal candidates and invited to "treat the town" at their expense. He worked assiduously but without success first for the son of Humphrey Wharton and then for Ormonde's candidate, Sir George Lane, and in the following year the Opposition listed him as a court supporter, though he defaulted on a call of the House. He was still consulted over measures of local interest, such as the Weaver navigation bill, and the corporation begged him to appear in Parliament to support complaints against the lighthouse patent; but there is no evidence that he did so. He was restored to the lieutenancy in 1673 and completed the rebuilding of Hale in the following year. In October 1674 he was elected mayor, but he had served out barely half his term of office when he died of apoplexy on 30 Apr. 1675' (The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, edited by B.D. Henning, 1983).

Category: Books / Books, Maps and Manuscripts

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