Camelford (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Camelford
Type:Borough
Parliament:uk
Year:1552
Abolished:1832
Elects Howmany:Two
Next:East Cornwall

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

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
First Parliament of 1553John HuykeNicholas St John
Second Parliament of 1553Francis RoscarockAmbrose Gilbes
Parliament of 1554Thomas ArundellGeorge Stafford
Parliament of 1554-1555Francis RoscarockClement Tyfferd
Parliament of 1555William CarrylGeorge Tadlow
Parliament of 1558Thomas PrideauxWilliam St Aubyn
Parliament of 1559John SmithSir Thomas Chamberlain
Parliament of 1563-1567William PatridgeDrue Drury
Parliament of 1571Nicholas PrideauxEdward Williams
Parliament of 1572-1581John GiffordGeorge Grenville, junior
Parliament of 1584-1585Richard TrefusisEmanuel Chamond
Parliament of 1586-1587Geoffrey Gates
Parliament of 1588-1589Arthur Gorges
Parliament of 1593Humphrey MitchellRichard Leech
Parliament of 1597-1598Jerome HorseyHenry Carnesewe
Parliament of 1601William CarnesewAnthony Turpin
Parliament of 1604-1611John Good
Addled Parliament (1614)George CottonRobert Naunton
Parliament of 1621-1622Sir Henry CareyEdward Carr
Happy Parliament (1624-1625)Sir Francis CottingtonEdward Hare
Sir Henry HungateThomas Coteel
Parliament of 1625-1626 Edward LyndleySir Thomas Monk
Parliament of 1628-1629Francis Crossing
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640-1832

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
April 1640Piers Edgcumbe
November 1640William GlanvilleRoyalist
January 1644Edgcumbe and Glanville disabled from sitting - both seats vacant
1647William SayGregory Clement (?) [2]
May 1652Clement expelled - his seat left vacant
1653Camelford was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
May 1659One seat vacant
April 1660Peter KilligrewSamuel Trelawny
June 1660Thomas VivianWilliam Cotton
1661Thomas Coventry<-- party -->Charles Roscarrock
1665(Sir) William Godolphin
February 1679Sir James Smyth<-- party -->William Harbord
April 1679Robert Russell
April 1685Humphrey LangfordNicholas Courtney<-- party -->
September 1685Sir Charles Scarborough
1689Ambrose Manaton<-- party -->Henry Manaton
1695Robert MolesworthWhig
1696Sidney Wortley-Montagu
1698Henry ManatonDennys Glynn<-- party -->
1704William Pole<-- party -->
1705Henry Pinnell
1708Richard MundenJohn Manley
1710Bernard Granville<-- party -->Jasper Radcliffe
March 1711Henry Manaton
May 1711Paul Orchard<-- party -->
1712Sir Bourchier Wrey<-- party -->
1713James Nicholls
1715James MontaguRichard Coffin
1722The Earl of DroghedaWilliam Sloper
1727Thomas HalesWhigJohn Pitt
1734Sir Thomas LytteltonJames Cholmondeley
1741The Earl of InchiquinCharles Montagu
1747The Earl of LondonderrySamuel Martin<-- party -->
1754John Lade[3]
1759Bartholomew Burton
1768Charles PhillipsWilliam Wilson
1774John Amyand<-- party -->Francis Herne
1776Sir Ralph Payne
1780John Pardoe<-- party -->
April 1784Jonathan Phillips
July 1784Sir Samuel Hannay, Bt
1791William SmithWhig
March 1796Lord William BentinckWhig
May 1796William Joseph DenisonJohn AngersteinWhig
1802Robert AdairWhigJohn Fonblanque[4] Whig
1806Viscount MaitlandWhig
1807Lord Henry PettyWhig
1810Henry BroughamWhig
1812William LeaderSamuel Scott
1818[5] Mark MilbankWhigJohn Bushby MaitlandWhig
1819[6] John StewartToryLewis AllsoppTory
1819 Camelford's representation suspended 1819-1820
1820Mark MilbankWhigEarl of YarmouthTory
1822Sheldon CradockWhig
1832Constituency abolished

Notes

  1. Page 336, Namier, Lewis (1957) The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III, 2nd ed. London: St Martin's Press
  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. Created a baronet as Sir John Lade, March 1758
  4. John Anthony (later de Grenier) Fonblanque, elected 1802: see ODNB article, NOT his son, John Samuel Martin Fonblanque.
  5. The 1818 election was declared void and a new poll was ordered
  6. 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

References

Further reading

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