Camelford (UK Parliament constituency)

Camelford
Camelford
Former Borough constituency ; for the House of Commons
1552–1832
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	East Cornwall

Last updated November 06, 2022

Camelford was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1552 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

History

The borough consisted of the town of Camelford, a market town in northern Cornwall, and part of the surrounding Lanteglos-by-Camelford parish. Like most of the Cornish boroughs enfranchised or re-enfranchised during the Tudor period, it was a rotten borough from the start.

The right to vote was disputed in the 18th century, but according to a judgment of 1796, belonged to those "free burgesses" who were resident householders paying scot and lot. The number of voters varied as new free burgesses were created, but was estimated to be 31 in 1831. Free burgesses were made only by nomination of the "patron", who owned all the houses in the borough, and the voters always voted in accordance with the patron's instructions.

The patronage, and the borough, changed hands several times. In the 1760s, before the exclusive voting rights of the free burgesses were established, the elections were managed by Charles Phillips for the government,^[1] and Camelford was considered a secure Treasury Borough (one where ministers could nominate the MPs as a form of patronage). Later the power of the patron became more complete, and in 1812 The Duke of Bedford was able to sell it for £32,000, forcing its MP, Henry Brougham, to find a new seat as his radical politics were unacceptable to the new owner. From 1814 until the Great Reform Act, the owner was the Earl of Darlington (later Marquess and Duke of Cleveland).

Cleveland was forced to secure his influence by regular payments to the voters, making Camelford one of the most notorious examples of corruption that were cited at the time of the Reform Act. In 1819, after two successive elections had been declared void and all the candidates disqualified for "treating", the writ was suspended, temporarily depriving the borough of its representation, although this only lasted until a new Parliament was summoned the following year. The Morning Chronicle noted in 1830 that "Everyone has heard of what Camelford cost the Marquess of Cleveland till the arrangement with the Marquess of Hertford. The Members who were returned for the marquess paid the voters in £1 notes enclosed in a deal box marked 'China'."

In 1831, the borough had an estimated population of 597, and 110 houses.

Members of Parliament

1553-1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
First Parliament of 1553	John Huyke	Nicholas St John
Second Parliament of 1553	Francis Roscarock	Ambrose Gilbes
Parliament of 1554	Thomas Arundell	George Stafford
Parliament of 1554-1555	Francis Roscarock	Clement Tyfferd
Parliament of 1555	William Carryl	George Tadlow
Parliament of 1558	Thomas Prideaux	William St Aubyn
Parliament of 1559	John Smith	Sir Thomas Chamberlain
Parliament of 1563-1567	William Patridge	Drue Drury
Parliament of 1571	Nicholas Prideaux	Edward Williams
Parliament of 1572-1581	John Gifford	George Grenville, junior
Parliament of 1584-1585	Richard Trefusis	Emanuel Chamond
Parliament of 1586-1587		Geoffrey Gates
Parliament of 1588-1589		Arthur Gorges
Parliament of 1593	Humphrey Mitchell	Richard Leech
Parliament of 1597-1598	Jerome Horsey	Henry Carnesewe
Parliament of 1601	William Carnesew	Anthony Turpin
Parliament of 1604-1611	John Good	Anthony Turpin
Addled Parliament (1614)	George Cotton	Robert Naunton
Parliament of 1621-1622	Sir Henry Carey	Edward Carr
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)	Sir Francis Cottington	Edward Hare
Useless Parliament (1625)	Sir Henry Hungate	Thomas Coteel
Parliament of 1625-1626	Edward Lyndley	Sir Thomas Monk
Parliament of 1628-1629	Francis Crossing	Evan Edwards
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640-1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Piers Edgcumbe	Royalist		Edward Reade
November 1640		Piers Edgcumbe	Royalist		William Glanville	Royalist
January 1644	Edgcumbe and Glanville disabled from sitting - both seats vacant
1647		William Say			Gregory Clement (?) ^[2]
May 1652		William Say		Clement expelled - his seat left vacant
1653	Camelford was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659		John Maynard			William Bradden
May 1659		William Say		One seat vacant
April 1660		Peter Killigrew			Samuel Trelawny
June 1660		Thomas Vivian			William Cotton
1661		Thomas Coventry			Charles Roscarrock
1665		Thomas Coventry			(Sir) William Godolphin
February 1679		Sir James Smyth			William Harbord
April 1679		Sir James Smyth			Robert Russell
April 1685		Humphrey Langford			Nicholas Courtney
September 1685		Sir Charles Scarborough			Nicholas Courtney
1689		Ambrose Manaton			Henry Manaton
1695		Ambrose Manaton			Robert Molesworth	Whig
1696		Sidney Wortley-Montagu			Robert Molesworth	Whig
1698		Henry Manaton			Dennys Glynn
1704		William Pole			Dennys Glynn
1705		William Pole			Henry Pinnell
1708		Richard Munden			John Manley
1710		Bernard Granville			Jasper Radcliffe
March 1711					Henry Manaton
May 1711					Paul Orchard
1712		Sir Bourchier Wrey			Paul Orchard
1713		Sir Bourchier Wrey			James Nicholls
1715		James Montagu			Richard Coffin
1722		The Earl of Drogheda			William Sloper
1727		Thomas Hales	Whig		John Pitt
1734		Sir Thomas Lyttelton			James Cholmondeley
1741		The Earl of Inchiquin			Charles Montagu
1747		The Earl of Londonderry			Samuel Martin
1754		John Lade ^[3]
1759		Bartholomew Burton
1768		Charles Phillips			William Wilson
1774		John Amyand			Francis Herne
1776		John Amyand			Sir Ralph Payne
1780		John Pardoe			James Macpherson
April 1784		Jonathan Phillips
July 1784		Sir Samuel Hannay, Bt
1791		William Smith	Whig
March 1796		William Smith	Whig		Lord William Bentinck	Whig
May 1796		William Joseph Denison			John Angerstein	Whig
1802		Robert Adair	Whig		John Fonblanque ^[4]	Whig
1806					Viscount Maitland	Whig
1807					Lord Henry Petty	Whig
1810					Henry Brougham	Whig
1812		William Leader			Samuel Scott
1818^[5]		Mark Milbank	Whig		John Bushby Maitland	Whig
1819^[6]		John Stewart	Tory		Lewis Allsopp	Tory
1819	Camelford's representation suspended 1819-1820
1820		Mark Milbank	Whig		Earl of Yarmouth	Tory
1822		Mark Milbank	Whig		Sheldon Cradock	Whig
1832	Constituency abolished

Notes

↑ Page 336, Namier, Lewis (1957) The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III , 2nd ed. London: St Martin's Press
↑ Sources differ. Cobbett's Parliamentary History lists Clement as MP for Camelford, and the Dictionary of National Biography agrees; however, Brunton & Pennington state that Clement was elected for Fowey, though they list no alternative name for Camelford.
↑ Created a baronet as Sir John Lade, March 1758
↑ John Anthony (later de Grenier) Fonblanque, elected 1802: see ODNB article, NOT his son, John Samuel Martin Fonblanque.
↑ The 1818 election was declared void and a new poll was ordered
↑ The 1819 election was declared void. All the candidates (Stewart, Allsopp, Milbank and Maitland) were barred from sitting for any constituency for the remainder of the Parliament for violating the Treating Act, and Camelford's writ was suspended

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References

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Brunton, D. & Pennington, D. H. (1954) Members of the Long Parliament London: George Allen & Unwin
Cobbett, William (1808) Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803" London: Thomas Hansard
Courtney, William Prideaux (1889) The Parliamentary Representation of Cornwall to 1832. London: Printed for private circulation (75 copies only)
Jansson, Maija (ed.) (1988) Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society
Philbin, J. Holladay (1965) Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales New Haven: Yale University Press
Smith, Henry Stooks (1973) The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, 2nd ed., edited by F. W. S. Craig. Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications
Townshend, Heywood (comp.) (1680) Historical Collections:: or, An exact account of the proceedings of the four last Parliaments of Q. Elizabeth of famous memory: wherein is contained the complete journals both of the Lords and Commons, taken from the original records of their Houses. ... Together with the most considerable passages of the history of those times London: Printed for T. Basset, W. Crooke, and W. Cademan
British History Online - list of speakers in the Parliaments of 1656 and 1658-9