Although East Retford was technically a parliamentary borough for the whole of its existence, in 1830 its franchise had been widened and its boundaries had been extended to include the whole Wapentake of Bassetlaw as a remedy for corruption among the voters, and from that point onward it resembled a county constituency in most respects.
[citation needed] However, the borough was no more independent than it had been in Elizabethan times, and by 1800 had been under the influence of the main local landowner, the Duke of Newcastle, for well over a century.
This influence was strongest in the second half of the 18th century when the borough was managed for the Duke by one of the sitting MPs, John White: there were no contested elections between 1741 and 1796.
The Newcastle influence became very limited while that of Earl Fitzwilliam waxed (though he himself and his Whig allies were apparently unconvinced of their own power), and the borough eventually became notorious for bribery.
Both sides bought up all the votes they could at the usual rate, and several pubs were kept open for months before the election, serving free beer from six in the morning until midnight.
The Tory stood on a "no popery" platform, with his supporters openly boycotting tradesmen who opposed them, and election day ended in a riot.
The two Fitzwilliam candidates won, but the loser petitioned against the result and the extent of East Retford's corruption was displayed to the world.
In the last years of the 18th century, several other boroughs found guilty of similar offences had been "thrown into the hundred" (had their boundaries extended to include the freeholders from the whole surrounding division of the county, so as to ensure that the corrupt townsmen could no longer sway the vote).
[citation needed] There were therefore vigorous debates as to whether Retford's franchise should not be transferred to one of the larger unrepresented towns such as Manchester or Birmingham.
During the House of Lords debates on the Disfranchisement Bill, it emerged that the town had an active committee, led by a couple of attorneys and meeting at the Turk's Head Inn, trying to make the borough seem even more corrupt than it was and ensure its extinction.