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Members of Parliament
1807-1809

As the Napoleonic Wars raged across Europe, the politics of rural England proceeded at a more gentle pace. Influence over the town of Huntingdon was exercised by the Earls of Sandwich who vetted potential MP's for the borough. The newly built manor house of Somersham was still a substantial enough house to provide credible candidates to represent the county town in parliament.

From Burgesses of Huntingdon by Granville Proby

.....at the election of 1796, the first which took place after the death of the 4th earl in 1792, his successor, the fifth earl withdrew his support from Captain Payne and Henry Speed who had represented the borough (of Huntingdon) and secured the return of William Henry Fellowes of Ramsey and John Calvert of Albury Hall, Herts. the latter of whom continued to represent the borough until 1831.

Fellowes was replaced on becoming a candidate for the county in 1807, by William Meeke Farmer of Somersham who in 1809 received the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds and was succeeded by Samuel Farmer of Somersham Park.

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