A major player in the election was Lady Susanna Keck whose husband was an MP and they owned the manor of Great Tew.

[1] Prime Minister Henry Pelham promised £7,000 of government funds towards the Whigs' expenses, while the Tories raised £8,000 by public subscription).

A glass inscribed "Hark Wenman & Dashwood Sr Watn & the old Interest forever."

Tho' Lords and great Placemen do with him combine, 'Twill signify nothing when honest Men join; Drink Wenman and Dashwood, and stand to the Tack, We want no old Turner nor new Almanack.

Wenman and Dashwood were ahead in the count of votes, however the returning officer made a "double return" (declaring both pairs of candidates to be elected, leaving the House of Commons to make the decision), and both sides petitioned against the election of their opponents.

The Commons took months to reach its decision, examining the legitimacy of many of the individual votes; but since MPs almost invariably voted in such cases on partisan lines rather than on the merits of the case, the result was a foregone conclusion - the Commons had a Whig majority, and therefore the two Whig candidates were declared elected on 23 April 1755.

[1] Both parties in Oxfordshire were united in their determination to avoid a repetition of such a contest, and managed to reach an amicable compromise before the next general election, the Duke of Marlborough in future to nominate one member and the local Tories the other.