Sir Edward Turner 2nd Bt and THE OXFORDSHIRE ELECTION OF 1754
Sir Edward Turner 2nd Bt and THE OXFORDSHIRE ELECTION OF 1754 An Election Entertainment by William Hogarth The Oxfordshire Election of 1754 excited national interest as well as intense and bitter party feeling in the county It was the first Oxfordshire election to be contested since 1710. The Septennial Act of 1715 had lengthened the life of a Parliament from a maximum of three to seven years: as the expenses of an election fell on the candidates there had been a local gentleman’s agreement to avoid them as far as possible. The Tories represented the county while the Whigs sat for the boroughs of Banbury and Woodstock. This arrangement while convenient for the gentry, meant that in Oxfordshire nobody born since 1690 had ever been able to exercise the right to vote for the two knights of the shire who theoretically represented them. This particular franchise was confined to 40/— freeholders of whom there were a large number in this county. Although the actual po