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 1 History 2 Members of Parliament 2.1 1552-1640 2.2 1640-1832 3 References

[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

• 1604-1611: John Good
• 1604-1611: Anthony Turpin
• 1621-1622: Sir Henry Carey
• 1621-1622: Edward Carr
• 1624-1625: Francis Cottington

[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