Voters 'wallowed in filthy abomination'

CONTESTED parliamentary election in West Sussex allowed candidates six weeks to bribe and corrupt as many electors as possible.

One of the most corrupt elections ever held was at Horsham in 1847.

In his publication A Parliamentary History of Horsham, William Albery wrote: "The law confers on voters the honour of sending a representative to Parliament. And how did they discharge that duty? By selling themselves to the highest bidder. By wallowing in the most loathsome vices; by drunkenness and every low and filthy abomination till the whole country rang with the excesses perpetrated by Horsham voters."

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The candidates in the Horsham election, Fitzgerald and young Jervis, had deep pockets.

Young Jervis's father, Sir John, was Attorney General; very useful for bribing voters with the offer of lucrative public office.

Mr Fitzgerald had purchased an estate at Holbrook with a view to becoming MP for Horsham. His generosity to local causes was well known.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette January 14

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