West Looe (UK Parliament constituency)

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West Looe
Borough constituency
Created: 1553
Abolished: 1832
Type: House of Commons
Members: two

West Looe was a rotten borough represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MP) by the bloc vote system of election. It was disenfranchised in the Reform Act 1832.

Contents

[edit] History

The borough consisted of the town of West Looe in Cornwall, connected by bridge across the River Looe to East Looe, which was also a parliamentary borough. From the reign of Edward VI, West Looe and East Looe were jointly a borough, returning two members of Parliament; however, under Queen Elizabeth the two towns were separated, and each thereafter returned two members except between 1654 and 1658, when they were once again represented jointly, by one member of the First and Second Protectorate Parliaments. At this early period, West Looe was sometimes alternatively referred to as Portby.

The right of election was in the Mayor and members of the Corporation, providing they lived in the town. This corporation, which seems to have been have been set up for the purpose, consisted of 12 "capital burgesses" and an indefinite number of "free burgesses". There were just 12 registered electors in 1816, and 19 in 1831. At the time of the Great Reform Act, the population of the borough was 593.

In practice, this meant that the power to choose the MPs was in the hands of the local landowner or "proprietor", making West Looe (like East Looe) one of the most notorious of the rotten boroughs. For many years at the time of the Reform Act, West Looe had been controlled by the Buller family (which also controlled East Looe and Saltash), and many members of the family sat for the borough in the House of Commons.

After the Reform Act 1832 disenfranchised the borough, it reverted to being represented as part of the county constituency covering its area. Cornwall was divided into two divisions in 1832, East Cornwall (with its place of election at Bodmin) and West Cornwall (which voted at Truro). West Looe was located in East Cornwall.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] 1552-1660

  • 1552: J. Ashley and W. Morice [1]
  • 1553: A. Nevel, R. Clere, W. Bendlus, R. Mounson [1]
  • 1554: C. Heygsham, A. Gilbert, W. St. Aubyn, J. St. Clere, O. Becket, J. Carminowe [1]
  • 1558: J. Carminowe [1]
  • 1562: J. Fouler, J. Young [1]
  • 1570: Clement Throckmorton, J. Fynneux[1]
  • 1571: W. Hammond, W Audley [1]
  • 1572: John Awdeley
  • 1585: R. Champernoune, J. Hammond [1]
  • 1588: M. Patteson, R. Saunderson [1]
  • 1592: J Shelbury, H. Beeston [1]
  • 1596: R. Hitcham, Sir . Lennard, knt. [1]
  • 1600: R. Hare, R. Verney [1]
  • 1603: W. Wade [1]
  • 1620: H. Finch, C. Harris [1]
  • 1625: John Wolstenholme, E. Thomas [1]
  • 1626: John Wolstenholme, J. Rudhall [1]
  • 1627: E. Thomas, J. Parker [1]

Long Parliament

  • 1640-1648: Thomas Arundell (Parliamentarian) - died November 1648
  • 1640-1644: Henry Killigrew (Royalist) - disabled to sit, January 1644
  • 1647-1648: John Arundell - excluded in Pride's Purge, December 1648

West Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament.

First Protectorate Parliament (Single member representing East Looe and West Looe)

  • 1654-1655: ?

Second Protectorate Parliament (Single member representing East Looe and West Looe)

  • 1656-1658: ?

Third Protectorate Parliament

Long Parliament (restored)

  • 1659-1660: ?
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] 1660-1832

Year First member First party Second member Second party
1660 John Buller John Kendall
April 1661 John Trelawny John Nicholas [2]
June 1661 Sir Henry Vernon
1677 John Trelawny
1680 Jonathan Trelawny
1685 James Kendall Henry Trelawny
1689 Percy Kirke [3]
1690 Edward Seymour Jonathan Trelawny
1695 James Kendall John Mountstephen
1701 The Earl of Ranelagh[4]
July 1702 Sidney Godolphin
December 1702 Richard Hele
1703 Charles Seymour Henry Poley [5]
1705 Sir Charles Hedges John Mountstephen
1707 Francis Palmes
1708 John Conyers
1710 Arthur Maynwaring
April 1713 John Trelawny
September 1713 Sir Charles Wager
1715 George Delaval Thomas Maynard
1722 Sir John Trelawny
1724 Edward Trelawny
1727 John Willes
1733 Thomas Walker
1734 Edward Trelawny[6]
1735 John Owen
1737 Sir John Strange
1741 Benjamin Keene Sir Charles Wager
1743 John Frederick
1747 William Noel
1757 William Trelawny
1761 Francis Buller
1765 John Sargent
1767 James Townsend
1768 William Graves
1774 Sir William James Charles Ogilvie
1775 John Rogers
1780 John Buller
1782 John Somers Cocks
January 1784 John Buller
April 1784 John Scott John Lemon
August 1784 James Adams
1790 Sir John de la Pole John Pardoe
May 1796 Sitwell Sitwell John Buller
November 1796 John Hookham Frere
1802 James Buller Thomas Smith
1803 Quintin Dick
1805 Ralph Allen Daniell
1806 James Buller
January 1812 Sir Joseph Yorke
October 1812 Charles Buller Whig Anthony Buller Whig
1816 Sir Charles Hulse Tory Hon. Henry Fitzgerald-de Ros Tory
1818 Henry Goulburn Tory
1826 Charles Buller Whig John Buller Whig
1827 Sir Charles Hulse Tory
1830 Charles Buller Whig
1831 Sir Anthony Buller Whig
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Thomas Bond's Topographical and historical sketches of the boroughs of East and West Looe, in the county of Cornwall (1823) - available online on GoogleBooks. Pages 237 to 242 list Members for West Looe, up to 1820.
  2. ^ Nicholas was also elected for Wilton and Ripon. He chose to represent Ripon, and never sat for West Looe
  3. ^ 1689: Neither the Wikipedia nor the ODNB articles mention Percy Kirke serving as an MP.
  4. ^ Ranelagh was expelled from the Commons on 1 February 1703 when discrepancies were found in his accounts as Paymaster of the Army
  5. ^ The Wikipedia article for Henry Poley does not mention him sitting for West Looe.
  6. ^ 1734: Edward Trelawny was a Commissioner of Customs at the time of election, which made him ineligible, and his election was void

[edit] Elections

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
General Election 1754: West Looe (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Non Partisan John Frederick Unopposed N/A N/A
Non Partisan William Noel Unopposed N/A N/A

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke, The House of Commons 1754-1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
  • D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
  • 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
  • British History Online - list of speakers in the Parliaments of 1656 and 1658-9