Sorry I got the election the wrong way around in my previous note.
The original story is outlined by Samuel Foote, the nephew of the two brothers, in his (not always strictly factual) pamphlet "Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Dineley Goodere, Bart.,", but some information from the Historian E.A.B.Barnard from his weekly local history column in the Evesham newspaper published in the first half of the 20th Century matches some of this to Evesham records. My best interpretation of the most likely series of events is,
Samuel had lost his Captaincy in the Navy and was offered the opportunity to get it back from a candidate for the Evesham MP elections in return for getting his brother and father to support the candidate's election (they had considerable influence in the area). Samuel then found out that the candidate was not in a position to do as he promised, so switched his allegiance to a rival candidate. His brother and father, having given their oaths to the first, refused to switch sides, and the three fell out. Samuel resolved to get himself elected Mayor, probably in order to further influence the election, and was duly elected. It seems he got no further success in getting his candidate elected and probably left the area, for he was elected Mayor on 28th August 1733 and was sworn into office on 2nd October. However, records apparently show that, Samuel never sat as Mayor at any of the deliberations of the Council and on 23rd April 1734 John Dineley was sworn in as Mayor. He signed the minutes of a meeting held on the 7th August and remained in office until the following October.
The story of the 'unseating' comes from Foote, but should probably be put in the context of John having been sworn in, due to Samuel's 'not attendance' and Samuel coming back to Evesham and not wanting to accept his eviction. So, on a certain Mayor's Sunday at All Saints Church both brothers led separate parades of their supporters to the church as Mayor. John arrived first, took up position in the Mayor's chair and (after the service started?) Samuel's entourage arrived and Samuel (to quote Foote) " .. ordered his servants, to dethrone Mr. Mayor, which orders were executed": Sir John was removed and the Captain solemnly installed. Further according to Foote, Sir John "... had prudence enough to stifle his resentment and, considering that it was neither a time nor place for wrangleing, sat very contentedly, in an humble place".
Neil
