Newport (Cornwall) (UK Parliament constituency)

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For other UK Parliament constituencies of the same name, see Newport (UK Parliament constituency).
Newport
Borough constituency
Created: 1529
Abolished: 1832
Type: House of Commons
Members: two

Newport was a rotten borough situated in Cornwall. It is now within the town of Launceston, which was itself also a parliamentary borough at the same period.

From 1529 until it was abolished by the great reform act of 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, 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.

Contents

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] 1529-1640

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

[edit] 1640-1832

Year 1st Member 1st Party 2nd Member 2nd Party
November 1640 Richard Edgcumbe Royalist John Maynard [1] Parliamentarian
December 1640 Seat left vacant after Maynard chose to sit for Totnes
January 1644 Edgcumbe disabled from sitting - seat vacant
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[2]
August 1660 Hon. Laurence Hyde
1661 John Speccot
1662 Piers Edgcumbe
1667 Nicholas Morice
1678 Ambrose Manaton
February 1679 John Coryton
September 1679 William Coryton
1681 William Morice
1685 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
January 1701 John Prideaux
December 1701 William Pole John Spark
1702 Sir Nicholas Morice
1707 Sir John Pole
1708 Sir William Pole
1710 George Courtenay
1713 Humphry Morice
April 1722 Sir William Pole[3]
December 1722 John Morice
1726 Thomas Herbert
1727 Sir William Morice
1734 Sir John Molesworth
1740 Nicholas Herbert
1741 Thomas Bury
1754 John Lee Edward Bacon
1756 Richard Bull
1761 William de Grey
1770 Richard Henry Alexander Bennett
October 1774 Humphry Morice[4]
December 1774 John Frederick
1780 Viscount Maitland John Coghill[5]
1784 Sir John Riggs-Miller
1785 William Mitford
1790 Viscount Feilding Charles Rainsford
1796 William Northey Tory Joseph Richardson
1803 Edward Morris Whig
1812 Jonathan Raine Tory
1826 Charles Bertie Percy Tory
1829 William Vesey-Fitzgerald Tory
July 1830 John Doherty Tory
December 1830 Sir Henry Hardinge Tory
1831 Viscount Grimston Tory
1832 constituency abolished

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Maynard was also elected for Totnes, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
  2. ^ Morice was also elected for Plymouth, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Newport
  3. ^ Pole was also elected for Honiton, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
  4. ^ Morice was also elected for Launceston, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Newport
  5. ^ Created a baronet as Sir John Coghill in March 1781

[edit] 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) [1]
  • 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 FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page