Canvassing, Constituents And Cobblers: Richard Brinsley Sheridan As MP For Stafford 1780-1806 And Late Eighteenth-Century Electioneering

ABSTRACT This article explores Whig MP, playwright, theatre manager, press manager and orator Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s relationship with his constituency of Stafford and his role as a constituency MP. It addresses the web of patronage that was important for obtaining and maintaining a freeman borough seat such as Stafford in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It considers a range of electoral behaviours throughout Sheridan’s time as MP for Stafford and how this fits into the unreformed electoral system, as well as the relationships, expectations, and obligations of a constituency MP in Stafford, at that time.