The By-Election of 1823

For a picture of the olden time commend me to the elections both for the city and county. Hogarth has described, most graphically, the saturnalia of elections in his day, but the men who remember the contests in Lincoln 60 years ago will acknowledge that his portraits are life-like. 

Most of the evil continues to the present time, and will never be cured until a God-fearing enfranchised people give their votes under the security of the (secret) ballot, but yet our law makers, for the sake of their own pockets, have made improvements, which have rendered late elections comparatively tame affair s .
                                  

Candidates for the county now groan over the expenses of a  contest, which involves a cost of £4,000; but the election for Lincolnshire in 1823 – an election arising from the death of the then Lord Yarborough, and the elevation of the grand-father of the present lord, who was one of the county’s representatives to the House of Lords, caused the late Sir William Ingilby an expense of £14,097 0s 4 d.

Sir William, a radical (Liberal), polled 3,816 votes, his opponent, Sir John H. Thorold, polled 1,575. It will thus be seen that every vote registered cost Sir William very nearly £4.

The following are just a few of Sir William’s expenses at the 1823 election:    ​

Paid publicans

King’s Head, John Ashton . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ship, Sarah Atkinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bull’s Head, Henry Cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adam and Eve, William Scorer . . . . . . . . .
Bull and Chain, Johnathan Fisher . . . . . . . 
Prince of Wales, William Lawther . . . . . . .
Roe Buck, William Wright . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wheat Sheaf, Thomas Grasler . . . . . . . . . 
Dolphins, Elizabeth Lawman . . . . . . . . . .
Saracen’s Head, J. Stevenson . . . . . . . . .
White Hart, Benjamin Draper . . . . . . . . .
Globe, John Slack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Duke William Matthew Mawer . . . . . . . . .
Old Crown, Johnathan Smith . . . . . . . . . .
Reindeer, William Widdowson . . . . . . . .
Sun (Saxilby) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Packet hire

Boston
Favorite, John Temperton . . . . . . . . . . . 
Witham, Bennet Swain . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Countess of Warwick, Clayton/West . . . .
Duke of Sussex, James Smith . . . . . . . . . 

Gainsborough
The Betsy, William Tindall . . . . . . . . . . .
John Bull, Islip and Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nameless, Johnathan Shaw . . . . . . . . . .
Revenue Cutter, William Stokes . . . . . . . 

Miscellaneous
Messengers and doorkeepers . . . . . . . . .
Mrs Gladstone, for Ribbons . . . . . . . . . . .
Musicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    £   s   d

158 16   6
  26   5   6
  60   0   3
  96   5   6
  54   6   2
. 22   5   0
  87   3 10
    3   9   6
  64   0   6
243 14   3
250   0   0
130   0   9
  88   6   0
  63   5   2
210   0   0
    8   4   6




287 19   0
280   0   0
291   0   0
310   0   0


120 14   9
123   0   0
  72   0   0
  74   2   0


  35    6  6
  72  17  4
177    2  0