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Good. Ex-library. Original boards, rebacked with replica spine and with new calf tile to spine. Library bookplate to front pastedown and dewey sticker to spine. A little foxed to outermost leaves. Uncut pages. 8 2/3". Published by J. Mawman, 1807, London. This document lists all the voters in the 1807 county election and identifies the candidates for whom each person voted, namely William Wilberforce, Henry Lascelles and Lord Milton. The poll book is arranged by wapentake (a major division of a county), and then by specific locality. Before 1832, polling information for Halifax is only available in county poll books such as this. This was the first time Yorkshire had seen a contested election since 1741 and it is the most famous from the pre-reform eradue to the amount of money spent contesting it. The three candidates spent nearly £250,000 between them, making it the most costly election of any before 1832. Voting took place in the city of York between May 20 and June 5, 1807 and Wilberforce won with 11,808 votes, whilst Viscount Milton gained the second seat with 11,177 votes, only 187 more votes than Lascelles, who came third with 10,990. Viscount Middleton failed to gain much favour with the voters of Malhamdale. A total of 23,007 persons voted; 13,830 from the West Riding, 5,621 from the North Riding and 3,556 from the East Riding. William Wilberforce: (1759 ? 1833) A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 and was the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire (1784?1812). He was also a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade, which resulted in the eventual passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807. He championed many other causes such as the Society for Suppression of Vice, British missionary work in India, the creation of a free colony in Sierra Leone, the foundation of the Church Mission Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, resulting in criticism that he was ignoring injustices at home while campaigning for the enslaved abroad. He resigned from Parliament because of his failing health in 1826, but continued to support the campaign which led to the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. He died just days before the Act, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire, was passed by Parliament. Henry Lascelles: (1767 ? 1841), later the 2nd Earl of Harewood, known as Viscount Lascelles from 1814 to 1820, was was elected to the House of Commons for Yorkshire in 1796, a seat he held until the 1807 Yorkshire election and again from 1812 to 1818, and also represented Westbury from 1807 to 1812 and Northallerton from 1818 to 1820. The latter year he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. Between 1819 and 1841 he also served as Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Viscount Milton: (1786 - 1857) son of the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam also an outspoken politician and supporter of reform. Viscount Milton was elected five times as the MP for York and was also MP for Northampton in 1831. Seller Inventory # 028112
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