Newport (Cornwall) (UK Parliament constituency)

Newport
Newport
Former borough constituency ; for the House of Commons
1529–1832
Seats	Two
Created from	Dunheved
Replaced by	Launceston

Last updated January 23, 2025

Newport was a rotten borough situated in Cornwall. It is now the suburb of Newport within the town of Launceston, which was itself also a parliamentary borough at the same period. It is also referred to as Newport iuxta Launceston,^[1] to distinguish it from other constituencies named Newport.

History

From 1529 until it was abolished by the Reform Act 1832, Newport returned two Members of Parliament. Until the early 18th century, the right to vote was held by all inhabitants paying scot and lot, but subsequently it was converted to a burgage franchise, meaning that the right to vote was tied to ownership of certain properties within the borough, which could be bought and sold at will. This reduced the number of qualified voters: under the scot and lot qualification around 70 people had had the right to vote, but by 1831 the number was only about 12.

The borough had a population of 595 in 1831. The Lord of the Manor, owning extensive property within the borough and with the effective power of choosing both members of parliament, was the Duke of Northumberland.

By the Reform Act 1832, Newport was abolished as a separate borough, but the boundaries of Launceston were extended to include Newport. As Launceston's representation was halved by the same measure, the combined borough was thereafter represented by a single MP whereas previously there had been four members.

Members of Parliament

1529–1629

Constituency created 1529

Parliament	First member	Second member
Parliament of 1529	Simon Mountford	William Harris ^[2]
Parliament of 1536	?
Parliament of 1539	?
Parliament of 1542	?
Parliament of 1545	Richard Grenville	Walter Skinner ^[2]
Parliament of 1547	Reginald Mohun	James Trewynnard ^[2]
First Parliament of 1553	Henry Killigrew	Francis Roscarrock
Second Parliament of 1553	William Smith	John Gayer
Parliament of Apr 1554	Roger Tavernor	Thomas Prideaux
Parliament of Nov 1554	Robert Monson	Robert Browne
Parliament of 1554/5	William Stourton	Robert Monson
Parliament of 1558	Thomas Hungate	Thomas Roper
Parliament of 1559	(Richard) Grenville	Thomas Hickes
Parliament of 1563-1567	George Basset	Ayshton Ayleworth
Parliament of 1571	Edward Holte	Robert Colshill
Parliament of 1572-1581	George Basset	William Marbury
Parliament of 1584-1585	Robert Mordaunt	Walter Covert
Parliament of 1586-1587	John Osborne	Edward Winter
Parliament of 1588-1589	William Cavendish	Daniel Rogers
Parliament of 1593	Richard Stephens	Emanuel Chamond
Parliament of 1597-1598	Morgan Coleman	Edward Lewknor
Parliament of 1601	Tobie Matthew	Sir John Leigh
Parliament of 1604-1611	Sir Robert Killigrew	Sir Edward Seymour
Addled Parliament (1614)	Thomas Trevor	Sir Thomas Cheek
Parliament of 1621-1622	Sir Robert Killigrew	Sir Edward Barrett
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)	Sir John Eliot	Richard Estcourt
Useless Parliament (1625)	Sir John Eliot	Ralph Speccot
Parliament of 1625-1626	Sir Henry Hungate	Thomas Williams, junior
Parliament of 1628-1629	Piers Edgcumbe	Sir William Killigrew ^[3] Nicholas Trefusis
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640–1832

Year	First member		First party	Second member		Second party
April 1640		Nicholas Trefusis	Parliamentarian		John Maynard ^[4]	Parliamentarian
1640		Nicholas Trefusis	Parliamentarian		Paul Speccot
November 1640		Richard Edgcumbe	Royalist		John Maynard ^[4]	Parliamentarian
December 1640		Richard Edgcumbe	Royalist	Seat left vacant after Maynard chose to sit for Totnes
January 1644	Edgcumbe disabled from sitting - seat vacant			Seat left vacant after Maynard chose to sit for Totnes
1647		Sir Philip Perceval (died November 1647)			Nicholas Leach (died May 1647)
1648		William Prynne			Alexander Pym
December 1648	Prynne excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacant			Pym not recorded as sitting after Pride's Purge
1653	Newport was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		Sir John Glanville			William Morice
May 1659	Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		Sir Francis Drake			William Morice ^[5]
August 1660					Hon. Laurence Hyde
1661					John Speccot
1662		Piers Edgcumbe
1667		Nicholas Morice
1678		Nicholas Morice			Ambrose Manaton
February 1679		John Coryton
September 1679		William Coryton
1681		William Morice
1685		William Morice			John Speccot
1689		Sir William Morice
February 1690		The Viscount Newhaven
December 1690		John Morice
1695					The Viscount Newhaven
1698					John Granville
1699		Francis Stratford			John Granville
January 1701		Francis Stratford			John Prideaux
December 1701		William Pole			John Spark
1702		Sir Nicholas Morice			John Spark
1707					Sir John Pole
1708					Sir William Pole
1710					George Courtenay
1713					Humphry Morice	Whig
April 1722					Sir William Pole ^[6]
December 1722					John Morice
1726		Thomas Herbert			John Morice
1727					Sir William Morice
1734					Sir John Molesworth
1740		Nicholas Herbert			Sir John Molesworth
1741		Nicholas Herbert			Thomas Bury
1754		John Lee			Edward Bacon
1756		John Lee			Richard Bull
1761		William de Grey
1770		Richard Henry Alexander Bennet
October 1774		Humphry Morice ^[7]	Whig
December 1774		John Frederick
1780		Viscount Maitland	Whig		John Coghill ^[8]	Tory
1784		Sir John Riggs-Miller			John Coghill ^[8]	Tory
1785		Sir John Riggs-Miller			William Mitford	Tory
1790		Viscount Feilding			Charles Rainsford
1796		William Northey	Tory		Joseph Richardson
1803					Edward Morris	Whig
1812					Jonathan Raine	Tory
1826		Lord Charles Greatheed Bertie Percy	Tory
1829		William Vesey-Fitzgerald	Tory
July 1830		John Doherty ^[9]	Tory
December 1830		Sir Henry Hardinge	Tory
1831		Sir Henry Hardinge	Tory		Viscount Grimston	Tory
1832	constituency abolished

Notes

↑ Hasler 1981.
1 2 3 "History of Parliament" . Retrieved 2 November 2011.
↑ Killigrew was also elected for Penryn, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
1 2 Maynard was also elected for Totnes, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
↑ Morice was also elected for Plymouth, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Newport
↑ Pole was also elected for Honiton, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
↑ Morice was also elected for Launceston, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
↑ Created a baronet as Sir John Coghill in March 1781
↑ Appointed judge and resigned, December 1830. Replaced by Sir Henry Hardinge

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References

D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808)
Hasler, P W. (1981), "Newport Iuxta Launceston, Borough", in Hasler, P.W. (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, Boydell and Brewer
Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
J. E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
J. Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by F. W. S. Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. p. 1.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 1)