Plympton Erle (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Plympton Erle
Type:	Borough
Parliament:	uk
Year:	1295
Abolished:	1832
Elects Howmany:	Two

Plympton Erle, also spelt Plympton Earle, was a parliamentary borough in Devon. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Members of Parliament

1295–1640

Parliament	First member	Second member
1381	William Burlestone^[1]	Thomas Raymond^[2]
1386	John Golde	Richard Golde^[3]
1388 (Feb)	Ellis Beare	John Boys
1388 (Sep)	Peter Hadley	John Brendon
1390 (Jan)	John Selman I	John Lane
1390 (Nov)
1391	John Selman I	John Jaycock
1393	Thomas Branscombe	John Jaycock
1394	John Selman I	John Jaycock
1395	Thomas Norris II	John Jaycock
1397 (Jan)	Thomas Norris II	William Selman I
1397 (Sep)
1399
1401
1402	Thomas Topcliffe	...? More
1404 (Jan)
1404 (Oct)
1406	John Selman I	Thomas Prous
1407	William Isabel	Richard Hurston
1410
1411	John Selman I	John Jaybien
1413 (Feb)
1413 (May)	Thomas Barry	Roger Wyke
1414 (Apr)
1414 (Nov)	John Selman II	John Serle
1415
1416 (Mar)
1416 (Oct)
1417
1419
1420	William Selman II	John Selman II
1421 (May)	William Selman II	John Selman II
1421 (Dec)	William Selman II	John Selman II
1425	John Selman II
1427	John Selman II
1431	John Selman II
1432	John Selman II
1433	John Selman II
1435	John Selman II
1467	Thomas Fitzwilliam^[4]
1510–1523	No names known^[5]
1512	Richard Strode I	?
1515	?
1523	?
1529	Thomas Gregory	John Martin alias Honychurch I
1536	?
1539	?
1542	?
1545	Edmund Sture	Adam Ralegh
1547	Thomas Dynham	Edward Darrell
1553 (Mar)	Sir John Pollard	Richard Strode II
1553 (Oct)	?John Foster	Reginald Mohum
1554 (Apr)		John Martin alias Honychurch II
1554 (Nov)	Richard Calmady	William Strowbridge
1555	Sir William Courtenay	Sir Arthur Champernowne
1558	Thomas Southcote	?Christopher Perne
1558–9	Sir Gawain Carew	Richard Strode II^[6]
1562–3	Nicholas Ogle	Thomas Percy, died and replaced 1566 by Edmund Wiseman
1571	Robert Guynes	Roger Hill
1572	Peter Osborne	William Strode
1584		Hannibal Vyvyan
1586	Richard More	Jasper Cholmley
1588		Edwin Sandys
1593		Richard Southcote
1597	George Southcote	Edward Hancock
1601	Sir William Strode	John Hele
1604	Sir William Strode
1614	Sampson Hele	Sir Warwick Hele
1621–1622	Sir William Strode	Sir Warwick Hele
1624	Sir Francis Drake	John Garret
1625	Sir William Strode
1626	Sir William Strode	Sir Thomas Hele
1628–1629	Thomas Hele Bt	Sir James Bragge
1629–1640	No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640		Sir Thomas Hele			Sir Richard Strode Sir Nicholas Slanning (Double return)
November 1640		Michael Oldisworth^[7]	Parliamentarian		Sir Nicholas Slanning^[8]
1640 (?)		Sir Thomas Hele			Hugh Potter
January 1644	Hele disabled from sitting – seat vacant
1646		Christopher Martyn
December 1648				Potter excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant
1653	Plympton Erle was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
		Christopher Martyn
May 1659	Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660		Christopher Martyn			Sir William Strode	<	-- party -->
1661		Thomas Hele
1666		Sir Edmund Fortescue
1667		Sir Nicholas Slanning	<				-- party -->
1677					Sir George Treby	<	-- party -->
February 1679		Richard Hillersdon
August 1679		John Pollexfen
1685		Richard Strode			Sir Christopher Wren
1689		Sir George Treby			John Pollexfen
March 1690^[9]		Richard Strode			George Parker
April 1690		Sir George Treby			John Pollexfen	<	-- party -->
1692		Sir Thomas Trevor	<				-- party -->
1695					Courtenay Croker	<	-- party -->
1698		Martin Ryder
1701		Richard Hele
1702		Richard Edgcumbe^[10]	Whig		Thomas Jervoise^[11]
1703					Richard Hele
1705					Sir John Cope
1708					George Treby^[12]
1728					John Fuller
1734					Thomas Clutterbuck	<	-- party -->
1735		Thomas Walker
1741		Richard Edgcumbe	Whig
May 1742		The Lord Sundon	<				-- party -->
December 1742					Hon. Richard Edgcumbe^[13]	<	-- party -->
July 1747		Hon. George Edgcumbe^[14]
December 1747		(Sir) William Baker^[15]	<	-- party -->		George Treby
1761					George Hele Treby
1763					Paul Henry Ourry	<	-- party -->
1768		William Baker
1774		Sir Richard Philipps, Bt	<				-- party -->
1775					John Durand	<	-- party -->
1779		William Fullarton
September 1780		Viscount Cranborne			Sir Ralph Payne	<	-- party -->
November 1780		Hon. James Stuart
April 1784		Paul Treby Ourry			John Stephenson	<	-- party -->
August 1784		John Pardoe
1790		The Earl of Carhampton	Tory		Philip Metcalfe	<	-- party -->
1794		William Manning
1796		William Adams	<	-- party -->		William Mitchell
1799					Richard Hankey	<	-- party -->
1801		Sylvester Douglas, Lord Glenbervie
1802		Edward Golding			Philip Metcalfe
1806		Viscount Castlereagh	<	-- party -->		Sir Stephen Lushington
1807					Hon. William Harbord
1810					Henry Drummond
October 1812		Ranald George Macdonald	<	-- party -->		George Duckett
December 1812					William Douglas
1816					Alexander Boswell	Tory
1821					William Gill Paxton	Independent
1824		John Henry North	Tory
June 1826		George Edgcumbe	Tory		Gibbs Antrobus	Tory
December 1826		Sir Charles Wetherell	Ultra-Tory
August 1830		Viscount Valletort	Tory
December 1830		Sir Compton Domvile	Tory
1832	Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in Plympton Erle were normally uncontested. The only contest between the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 and the abolition of the borough in 1832 was at the general election of 1802.

References

• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh2wKY2rkDUC&q=Return+of+Members+of+Parliament
• 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) http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=p-000-00---0modhis06--00-0-0-0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=CL1
• Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
• 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)

Notes and References

1. Web site: BURLESTONE (BORLESTON), William (D.1406), of Harberton, Devon. | History of Parliament Online.
2. Web site: RAYMOND, Thomas (D.1418), of Simpson in Holsworthy, Devon. | History of Parliament Online.
3. Web site: History of Parliament. History of Parliament Trust. 2004-11-20.
4. Fitzwillam, Sir Thomas, speaker of the House of Commons. 2006. 10.1093/ref:odnb/92985. Payling. S. J..
5. Web site: History of Parliament. History of Parliament Trust. 2004-11-20.
6. Web site: History of Parliament. History of Parliament Trust. 2004-11-20.
7. Oldisworth was also elected for Salisbury, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Plympton Erle
8. Slanning was also elected for Penryn, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Plympton Erle
9. The election of 1690 was declared void by the House of Commons, and a writ for a by-election was issued
10. Edgcumbe was re-elected in 1734, but had also been elected for Lostwithiel, which he chose to represent, and did not sit in this Parliament for Plympton Erle
11. Jervoise was originally declared elected, but on petition (in a dispute over the franchise) his opponent Hele was declared to have been duly elected
12. Treby was re-elected in 1727, but had also been elected for Dartmouth, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Plympton Erle
13. Richard Edgcumbe was re-elected in 1747, but had also been elected for Lostwithiel, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Plympton Erle
14. George Edgcumbe was also elected for Fowey, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Plympton Erle
15. Knighted November 1760