Cornwall | |
---|---|
Former County constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Cornwall |
1290–1832 | |
Seats | Two |
Replaced by | East Cornwall and West Cornwall |
Cornwall is a former county constituency covering the county of Cornwall, in the South West of England. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of England then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of the Shire, elected by the bloc vote system.
Under the Reform Act 1832, it was divided between the constituencies of East Cornwall and West Cornwall.
The constituency consisted of the whole of the historic county of Cornwall, the most south-westerly county of England, occupying the part of the South West peninsula to the west of the River Tamar which divides the county from Devon. (Although Cornwall contained a number of parliamentary boroughs, each of which elected two MPs in their own right, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within a borough could confer a vote at the county election. For a summary of the boroughs represented before 1832 see Parliamentary representation from Cornwall.)
As in other county constituencies the franchise between 1430 and 1832 was defined by the Forty Shilling Freeholder Act, which gave the right to vote to every man who possessed freehold property within the county valued at £2 or more per year for the purposes of land tax; it was not necessary for the freeholder to occupy his land, nor even in later years to be resident in the county at all.
By the time of the Great Reform Act in 1832, the population of Cornwall was about 300,000. Only a tiny fraction of these were entitled to vote. Sedgwick estimated there were about 2,300 electors in this constituency in the 1715–1754 period, and Namier and Brooke suggest this had increased to about 2,500 electors in the 1754–1790 period. At the vigorously contested election of 1790, when a high turnout can be assumed, 4,656 valid votes were cast (each voter being entitled to vote twice). At Cornwall's final election, in 1831, 5,350 votes were cast.
As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments held in this period, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given. Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or (before 1558) is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry unknown is entered in the table.
The Roman numerals after some names are those used in The House of Commons 1509–1558 to distinguish a member from another politician of the same name.
In 1529 alternative versions are given of the names for one member. The first comes from the above book on the House of Commons. The second originates from another source.
Elected | Assembled | Dissolved | First Member | Second Member |
---|---|---|---|---|
1510 | 21 January 1510 | 23 February 1510 | unknown | unknown |
1512 | 4 February 1512 | 4 March 1514 | unknown | unknown |
1515 | 5 February 1515 | 22 December 1515 | Sir Peter Edgecombe | unknown |
1523 | 15 April 1523 | 13 August 1523 | unknown | unknown |
1529 | 3 November 1529 | 14 April 1536 | Sir Peter Edgecombe | Richard Grenville |
1536 | 8 June 1536 | 18 July 1536 | unknown | unknown |
1539 | 28 April 1539 | 24 July 1540 | Sir John Chamond | William Godolphin I |
1542 | 16 January 1542 | 28 March 1544 | Richard Edgcumbe | unknown |
1545 | 23 November 1545 | 31 January 1547 | Richard Chamond | John Beauchamp |
1547 | 4 November 1547 | 15 April 1552 | (Sir) Richard Edgecumbe | John Reskymer |
1553 | 1 March 1553 | 31 March 1553 | (Sir) William Godolphin I | Henry Chiverton |
1553 | 5 October 1553 | 5 December 1553 | John Carminowe | Richard Roscarrock |
1554 | 2 April 1554 | 3 May 1554 | Sir John Arundell | |
1554 | 12 November 1554 | 16 January 1555 | ? Thomas Trefry I | Henry Chiverton |
1555 | 21 October 1555 | 9 December 1555 | Richard Chamond | |
1558 | 20 January 1558 | 17 November 1558 | John Arundell | John Polwhele |
1559 | 23 January 1559 | 8 May 1559 | John Trelawny | Richard Chamond |
1562 or 1563 | 11 January 1563 | 2 January 1567 | Peter Edgcumbe | John Trelawny died and repl. 1566 by Richard Chamond |
1571 | 2 April 1571 | 29 May 1571 | Richard Grenville | William Mohun |
1572 | 8 May 1572 | 19 April 1583 | Peter Edgcumbe to 1581 (Unknown from 1581) | Richard Chamond |
1584 | 23 November 1584 | 14 September 1585 | Richard Grenville | (Sir) William Mohun |
1586 | 13 October 1586 | 23 March 1587 | Peter Edgcumbe | |
1588 | 4 February 1589 | 29 March 1589 | Sir Francis Godolphin | |
1593 | 18 February 1593 | 10 April 1593 | William Bevil | |
1597 | 24 October 1597 | 9 February 1598 | William Killigrew | Jonathan Trelawny |
1601 | 27 October 1601 | 19 December 1601 | Sir Walter Raleigh | John Arundell |
1604 | 19 March 1604 | 9 February 1611 | Sir Anthony Rous | Sir Jonathan Trelawny died 1604 Sir William Godolphin |
1614 | 5 April 1614 | 7 June 1614 | Richard Carew | John St Aubyn |
1620 or 1621 | 16 January 1621 | 8 February 1622 | Bevil Grenville | John Arundell |
1623 or 1624 | 12 February 1624 | 27 March 1625 | William Coryton | |
1625 | 17 May 1625 | 12 August 1625 | Sir Robert Killigrew | Charles Trevanion |
1626 | 6 February 1626 | 15 June 1626 | Sir Francis Godolphin | William Coryton |
1628 | 17 March 1628 | 10 March 1629 | Sir John Eliot |
Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
April 1640 | William Godolphin | Richard Buller | Parliamentarian | |||
November 1640 | Sir Bevil Grenville | Royalist | Alexander Carew | Royalist [9] | ||
September 1642 | Grenville disabled to sit – seat vacant | |||||
September 1643 | Carew expelled – seat vacant | |||||
1646 | Hugh Boscawen [10] | Nicholas Trefusis | ||||
December 1648 | Boscawen not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge | Trefusis excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant |
Year | First member | Second member | Third member | Fourth member |
---|---|---|---|---|
1653 | Robert Bennet | Francis Langdon | Anthony Rous | John Bawden |
Year | First member | Second member | Third member | Fourth member | Fifth member | Sixth member | Seventh member | Eighth member |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1654 | Anthony Rous | Anthony Nicholl | Thomas Silly | Richard Carter | Walter Moyle | Charles Boscawen | Thomas Gewen | James Launce |
1656 | Francis Rous | William Braddon | John St Aubyn |
The bloc vote electoral system was used in two seat elections and first past the post for single member by-elections. Each elector had as many votes as there were seats to be filled. Votes had to be cast by a spoken declaration, in public, at the hustings, which were usually held at the county town. The expense and difficulty of voting at only one location in the county, together with the lack of a secret ballot contributed to the corruption and intimidation of electors, which was widespread in the unreformed British political system.
The expense, to candidates and their supporters, of contested elections encouraged the leading families of the county to agree on the candidates to be returned unopposed whenever possible. Contested county elections were therefore unusual.
There were no contested general election polls in Cornwall between 1710 and 1774. Leading Whig politicians, like Sir Robert Walpole, were happy to let Tory squires represent the county; to avoid them interfering with Whig plans in the county's numerous borough constituencies. The related families of Carew, Molesworth, St Aubyn and Buller monopolised the representation for much of the 18th century, until the partners in the Miners' Bank at Truro, Humphrey Mackworth Praed and William Lemon, became involved in elections in the 1770s.
Note on percentage change calculations: Where there was only one candidate of a party in successive elections, for the same number of seats, change is calculated on the party percentage vote. Where there was more than one candidate, in one or both successive elections for the same number of seats, then change is calculated on the individual percentage vote.
Note on sources: The information for the election results given below is taken from Sedgwick 1715–1754, Namier and Brooke 1754–1790 and Stooks Smith 1790–1832.
1710s – 1720s – 1730s – 1740s – 1750s – 1760s – 1770s – 1780s – 1790s – 1800s – 1810s – 1820s – 1830s |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir William Carew, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | John Trevanion | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir William Carew, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | Sir John St Aubyn, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir William Carew, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | Sir John St Aubyn, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir William Carew, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | Sir John St Aubyn, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir William Carew, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | Sir John St Aubyn, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir Coventry Carew, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir John Molesworth, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir Coventry Carew, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | Sir John Molesworth, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | James Buller | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir John Molesworth, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | James Buller | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Sir John St Aubyn, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | James Buller | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | John Molesworth | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Nonpartisan gain from Tory | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Sir John St Aubyn, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Nonpartisan | Sir John Molesworth, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Humphrey Mackworth Praed | Elected | N/A | N/A | |
Nonpartisan | William Lemon | Defeated | N/A | ||
Nonpartisan hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Sir William Lemon, Bt | 1,099 | 27.48 | N/A | |
Nonpartisan | Sir John Molesworth | 1,050 | 26.26 | N/A | |
Nonpartisan | John Buller, junior | 960 | 24.01 | N/A | |
Nonpartisan | Humphrey Mackworth Praed | 890 | 22.26 | N/A | |
Turnout | 3,999 | N/A | N/A |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Edward Eliot | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Nonpartisan hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Nonpartisan | Edward Eliot | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Sir William Molesworth, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Nonpartisan hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Sir William Molesworth, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Nonpartisan | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | 2,250 | 48.32 | N/A | |
Tory | Francis Gregor | 1,270 | 27.28 | N/A | |
Whig | Sir Jonathan St Aubyn, Bt | 1,136 | 24.40 | N/A | |
Turnout | 4,656 | N/A | N/A |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | Francis Gregor | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | Francis Gregor | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | John Hearle Tremayne | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | John Hearle Tremayne | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | John Hearle Tremayne | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | John Hearle Tremayne | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Sir William Lemon, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory | John Hearle Tremayne | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Tory gain from Whig | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Whig | Edward William Wynne Pendarves | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tory | Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, Bt | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Whig | Edward William Wynne Pendarves | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Whig | Edward William Wynne Pendarves | 1,819 | 35.42 | N/A | |
Whig | Sir Charles Lemon, Bt | 1,804 | 35.13 | N/A | |
Tory | Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, Bt | 901 | 17.55 | N/A | |
Tory | Viscount Valletort | 611 | 11.90 | N/A | |
Majority | 903 | 17.58 | N/A | ||
Whig gain from Tory | Swing | ||||
Turnout | 5,135 | N/A | N/A |
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