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Seaford (UK Parliament Constituency)
The UK parliamentary constituency of Seaford was a Cinque Port constituency, similar to a parliamentary borough, in Seaford, East Sussex. A rotten borough, prone by size to undue influence by a patron, it was disenfranchised in the Reform Act 1832. It was notable for having returned three prime ministers as its members – Henry Pelham, who represented the town from 1717 to 1722, William Pitt the Elder from 1747 to 1754 and George Canning in 1827 – though only Canning was Prime Minister while representing Seaford. History Enfranchisement and re-establishment Seaford was a Cinque Port constituency, which was technically a separate category although in practice it was to all intents and purposes a parliamentary borough. The Cinque Ports were not under the jurisdiction of the counties in which they stood, and as a result were not represented in the earliest English parliaments because the boroughs were chosen by sheriffs from the towns within their counties. However, Seaford ...
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Lewes (UK Parliament Constituency)
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the South Downs. A traditional market town and centre of communications, in 1264 it was the site of the Battle of Lewes. The town's landmarks include Lewes Castle, Lewes Priory, Bull House (the former home of Thomas Paine), Southover Grange and public gardens, and a 16th-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House. Other notable features of the area include the Glyndebourne festival, the Lewes Bonfire celebrations and the Lewes Pound. Etymology The place-name "Lewes" is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter circa 961 AD, where it appears as ''Læwe''. It appears as ''Lewes'' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The addition of the suffix seems to have been part of a broader trend of Anglo-Norman scribes pluralising Anglo-Saxon place-names (a fam ...
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Her Majesty's Customs And Excise
HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at the time of its dissolution) was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the collection of customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes. The payment of customs dues has been recorded in Britain for over one thousand years and HMCE was formed from predecessor bodies with a long history. With effect from 18 April 2005, HMCE merged with the Inland Revenue (which was responsible for the administration and collection of direct taxes) to form a new department: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Activities The three main functions of HMCE were revenue collection, assessment and preventive work, alongside which other duties were performed. Revenue collection On behalf of HM Treasury, officers of HM Customs and Excise levied customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes (such as Air Passenger ...
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Roundheads
Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute monarchy and the principle of the divine right of kings. The goal of the Roundheads was to give to Parliament the supreme control over executive administration of England. Beliefs Most Roundheads sought constitutional monarchy in place of the absolute monarchy sought by Charles; however, at the end of the English Civil War in 1649, public antipathy towards the king was high enough to allow republican leaders such as Oliver Cromwell to abolish the monarchy completely and establish the Commonwealth of England. The Roundhead commander-in-chief of the first Civil War, Thomas Fairfax, remained a supporter of constitutional monarchy, as did many other Roundhead leaders such as Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Mancheste ...
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Sir Francis Gerard, 2nd Baronet
Sir Francis Gerard, 2nd Baronet (12 October 1617 – December 1680) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons variously between 1641 and 1660. Gerard was the son of Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Baronet of Harrow on the Hill and his wife Mary Barrington, a daughter of Sir Francis Barrington and Joan Cromwell, and a cousin of Oliver Cromwell. In 1641, Gerard was elected Member of Parliament for Seaford (UK Parliament constituency), Seaford the Long Parliament and sat until 1648. In 1659 he was elected MP for Middlesex (UK Parliament constituency), Middlesex in the Third Protectorate Parliament. In 1660, Gerard was elected Member of Parliament for Bossiney (UK Parliament constituency), Bossiney in the Convention Parliament (1660), Convention Parliament. He inherited the Gerard Baronets, baronetcy on the death of his father in 1670. Gerard died at the age of 63. Gerard married Isabel Cheek, daughter of Thomas Cheek, Sir Thomas Chee ...
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East Sussex (UK Parliament Constituency)
East Sussex (formally the Eastern division of Sussex) was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency in the county of Sussex, which returned two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the Plurality-at-large voting, bloc vote system. It was created under the Great Reform Act for the 1832 United Kingdom general election, 1832 general election, when the existing Sussex (UK Parliament constituency), Sussex constituency was divided into two. It consisted of the Rape (country subdivision), rapes of Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings, an area broadly similar to but not identical with the modern county of East Sussex. The "place of election", where nominations were taken and the result declared, was Lewes. East Sussex was abolished for the 1885 United Kingdom general election, 1885 general election, being divided between four new single-mem ...
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Charles Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford
Charles Rose Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford (19 December 1771 – 9 July 1845) was a British politician. John Ellis and Charles' early life Charles was the second son of John Ellis of Colony of Jamaica, Jamaica, who acquired a significant amount of wealth from sugar and slavery at a number of estates, including Montpelier, Jamaica in Saint James Parish, Jamaica, Saint James Parish, the Newry plantation in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, St Mary, and the Palm estate in Saint Thomas in the Vale Parish, Jamaica, St Thomas-in-the-Vale. When John's brother George died young, he ran his estates on behalf of his young nephew, George Rose Ellis. However, the younger George Ellis (poet) would later complain to his maternal uncle, Edward Long (colonial administrator), Edward Long, about John's avarice. Across his six Jamaican estates, John owned over 1,200 slaves, and he was ranked among the top one percent of wealthy Sugar plantations in the Caribbean, sugar planters in Jamaica. In 1782, John an ...
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John Leach (judge)
Sir John Leach (28 August 1760 – 14 September 1834) was an English judge, and Master of the Rolls. Life The son of Richard Leach, a coppersmith of Bedford, he was born in that town on 28 August 1760. After leaving Bedford School he became a pupil of Sir Robert Taylor the architect. In his office he is said to have made the working drawings for the erection of Stone Buildings, which are still preserved at Lincoln's Inn, and to have designed Howletts, in the parish of Bekesbourne, Kent. On the recommendation of his old fellow-pupil, Samuel Pepys Cockerell, and other friends, Leach abandoned architecture for the law, and was admitted a student of the Middle Temple on 26 January 1785. Having studied of conveyancing and equity drafting in the chambers of William Alexander, he was called to the bar in Hilary term 1790, and joined the home circuit and Surrey sessions. In 1792 he was engaged as counsel in the Seaford election petition, and in 1795 was elected recorder of that C ...
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Quarter Sessions
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland established quarter sessions in the 17th century. Quarter sessions were also established in Ireland and British colonies overseas. Quarter sessions generally sat in the seat of each county and county borough, and in numerous non-county boroughs which were entitled to hold their own quarter sessions, although some of the smaller boroughs lost theirs in 1951; these non-county boroughs were mainly, but not exclusively, ancient boroughs. In 1972, all quarter sessions were abolished in England and Wales with the commencement of the Courts Act 1971, which replaced them and the assizes with a single permanent Crown Court. In Scotland, they survived until 1975, when they were abolished and replaced by district courts and later by justice of the pea ...
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Crewe's Act
The Parliament Act 1782 ( 22 Geo. 3. c. 41), also known as Crewe's Act, was an act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1782. The act, which was passed by Rockingham's government at the instance of John Crewe, disqualified all officers of Customs and Excise and the Post Office from voting in parliamentary elections. The purpose of this disfranchisement was to end the abuse by which government patronage was used to bribe the voters in rotten boroughs such as Bossiney and New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w .... It failed in practice, however, since the patronage was quickly diverted from the voters themselves to their relatives. It was repealed by the Revenue Officers' Disabilities Act 1868 ( 31 & 32 Vict. c. 73). See also * Parliam ...
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George Medley
George Medley (1720–1796) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1768 and 1790. Medley was the son of Thomas Medley of Buxted Place and his wife Annabella Dashwood, daughter of Sir Samuel Dashwood MP former Lord Mayor of London and was born on 6 August. 1720. He is reported to be a descendant of Margaret Wotton, Marchioness of Dorset (1485 – 6 October 1535) through his paternal line. He is reported a descendant of Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG (died 3 March 1542) through his paternal line. He became a wine merchant in Portugal, where he amassed an immense property. He succeeded his brother in 1751. In 1755 he lost a part of his property as a result of the Lisbon earthquake. He subsequently returned to England and settled as a country gentleman in Sussex. He married firstly Elizabeth Jemima Palmer daughter of Sir Thomas Palmer, 4th Baronet, of Carlton on 2 June 1757 but she died soon after and was buried on 30 June 1757. He marrie ...
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Scot And Lot
Scot and lot is a phrase common in the records of English, Welsh and Irish medieval boroughs, referring to local rights and obligations. The term ''scot'' comes from the Old English word '' sceat'', an ordinary coin in Anglo-Saxon times, equivalent to the later penny. In Anglo-Saxon times, a payment was levied locally to cover the cost of establishing drainage, and embankments, of low-lying land, and observing them to ensure they remain secure. This payment was typically a sceat, so the levy itself gradually came to be called ''sceat''. In burghs, ''sceat'' was levied to cover maintenance of the town walls and defences. In Norman times, under the influence of the word ''escot'', in Old French, the vowel changed, and the term became ''scot''. In 19th century Kent and Sussex, low-lying farmland was still being called scot-land. ''Scot'', though, gradually became a general term for local levies; a person who was not liable for the levy, but received its benefits, ''got off ' s ...
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