Camelford (UK Parliament constituency)

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Camelford
Borough constituency
Created: 1552
Abolished: 1832
Type: House of Commons
Members: two

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.

Contents

[edit] 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, 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.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] 1552-1640

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] 1640-1832

Year First member First party Second member Second party
November 1640 Piers Edgcumbe Royalist William Glanville[1] Royalist
January 1644 Edgcumbe and Glanville disabled from sitting - both seats vacant
1647 William Say Gregory Clement (?) [2]
May 1652 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 William Godolphin
February 1679 Sir James Smyth William Harbord
April 1679 Robert Russell
1681 ?
April 1685 Humphrey Langford Nicholas Courtney
September 1685 Sir Charles Scarborough
1689 Ambrose Manaton Henry Manaton
1695 Robert Molesworth
1696 Sidney Wortley Montagu
1698 Henry Manaton Dennys Glynn
1704 William Pole
1705 Henry Pinnell
1708 Richard Munden John Manley
1710 Bernard Granville Jasper Radcliffe
March 1711 Henry Manaton
May 1711 Paul Orchard
1712 Sir Bourchier Wrey
1713 James Nicholls
1715 James Montagu Richard Coffin
1722 The Earl of Drogheda[3] William Sloper
1727 Thomas Hales 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[4]
1759 Bartholomew Burton
1768 Charles Phillips William Wilson
1774 John Amyand Francis Herne
1776 Sir Ralph Payne
1780 John Pardoe James Macpherson [5]
April 1784 Jonathan Phillips
July 1784 Sir Samuel Hannay
1791 William Smith Whig
March 1796 Lord William Bentinck Whig
May 1796 William Joseph Denison John Angerstein
1802 Robert Adair Whig John Fonblanque Whig
1806 Viscount Maitland Whig
1807 Lord Henry Petty Whig
1810 Henry Brougham Whig
1812 William Leader Samuel Scott
1818[6] Mark Milbank Whig John Bushby Maitland Whig
1819[7] John Stewart Tory Lewis Allsopp Tory
1819 Camelford's representation suspended 1819-1820
1820 Mark Milbank Whig Earl of Yarmouth Tory
1822 Sheldon Cradock Whig
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. ^ William Glanville MP was NOT William Glanville (1900-1976).
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ See Earl of Droghedafor more information.
  4. ^ Created a baronet as Sir John Lade, March 1758
  5. ^ 1782: Probably NOT James Macpherson 1736 – 1796) the "translator" of the Ossian.
  6. ^ The 1818 election was declared void and a new poll was ordered
  7. ^ 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

[edit] References

  • Michael Brock, "The Great Reform Act" (London: Hutchinson, 1973)
  • 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) [1]
  • Lewis Namier, "The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III" (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
  • 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 FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page


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