- Launceston (UK Parliament constituency)
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Launceston Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons 1295–1885 Number of members Two (1295–1832); one (1832–1885) Replaced by Launceston Cornwall, North-Eastern or Launceston Former County constituency for the House of Commons 1885–1918 Number of members One Replaced by North Cornwall Created from East Cornwall, Launceston Launceston, also known at some periods as Dunheved, was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and one member from 1832 until 1918. It was a parliamentary borough until 1885, and a county constituency thereafter.
Contents
History
Launceston was one of 21 parliamentary boroughs in Cornwall between the 16th and 19th centuries; unlike many of these, which had been little more than villages even when established and were rotten boroughs from the start, Launceston had been a town of reasonable size and importance though much in decline by the 19th century. The borough consisted of only part of the present town, as Newport was a separate borough in itself from 1554, though Newport and Launceston were joined together as Dunheved, collectively returning members, earlier in that century.
The right to vote was vested theoretically in the Mayor, aldermen and those freemen of the borough who were resident at the time they became freemen; but in practice the vote was exercised only by members of the corporation, who were chosen mainly with a view to maintaining the influence of the "patron". Up to 1775, this was generally the head of the Morice family, who also controlled Newport, but in that year Humphry Morice sold his interest in both boroughs to the Duke of Newcastle, whose family retained hold on both until the Reform Act. There were about 17 voters in Launceston in 1831, by which time the borough was as rotten as any of the others in Cornwall.
In 1831 the borough had a population of 2,669 and 429 houses. Under the Great Reform Act of 1832 the boundaries were extended to encompass the whole town (including Newport, which was abolished as a separate borough), bringing the population up to 5,394. This was sufficient for Launceston to retain one of its two seats.
The borough was eventually abolished in 1885, but the name of the town was transferred to the new county constituency in which it was placed, strictly the North-Eastern or Launceston Division of Cornwall, which also elected a single member. This covered a much larger, rural, area including Callington, Calstock and Bude-Stratton. This constituency in its turn was abolished in 1918, being absorbed mostly into the new Cornwall North constituency.
Members of Parliament
Launceston borough
MPs 1295–1629
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- Constituency created (1295)
Parliament First member Second member 1386 John Cokeworthy I Roger Leye [1] 1388 (Feb) John Cokeworthy I William Bodrugan [1] 1388 (Sep) Thomas Trereise Thomas Treuref [1] 1390 (Jan) John Cokeworthy I John Syreston [1] 1390 (Nov) 1391 John Cokeworthy I Richard Lovyn [1] 1393 John Cokeworthy I Richard Lovyn [1] 1394 1395 John Cokeworthy I Richard Lovyn [1] 1397 (Jan) John Cokeworthy I Richard Tolle [1] 1397 (Sep) Roger Menwenick William Holt [1] 1399 John Cokeworthy I John Goly [1] 1401 1402 Thomas Colyn Richard Raddow [1] 1404 (Jan) 1404 (Oct) 1406 Walter Tregarya John Colet [1] 1407 Richard Brackish ?John Pengersick [1] 1410 Edward Burnebury John Cory [1] 1411 Edward Burnebury Richard Trelawny [1] 1413 (Feb) 1413 (May) Edward Burnebury John Mayhew [1] 1414 (Apr) 1414 (Nov) Edward Burnebury John Cory [1] 1415 1416 (Mar) Oliver Wyse Edward Burnebury [1] 1416 (Oct) 1417 Edward Burnebury John Cory [1] 1419 Edward Burnebury Edward Burnebury [1] 1420 Simon Yurle Edward Burnebury [1] 1421 (May) Simon Yurle John Cory [1] 1421 (Dec) John Treffriowe Edward Burnebury [1] 1510–1523 No names known [2] 1529 Sir Edward Ryngley John Rastell [2] 1536 ? 1539 ? 1542 ? 1545 William Cordell Robert Taverner [2] 1547 William Cordell Nicholas Carminowe [2] First Parliament of 1553 Wiilam Ley alias Kempthorne John Kempthorne Second Parliament of 1553 Robert Monson Parliament of 1554 Arthur Welsh Parliament of 1554–1555 William Bendlow Parliament of 1555 Robert Grenville Parliament of 1558 Robert Monson John Heydon Parliament of 1559 George Basset Ayshton Aylworth Parliament of 1563–1567 Richard Grenville Henry Chiverton Parliament of 1571 George Grenville Sampson Lennard Parliament of 1572–1581 George Blyth George Grenville Parliament of 1584–1585 Roland Watson John Glanville Parliament of 1586–1587 John Spurling Parliament of 1588–1589 Parliament of 1593 George Grenville Parliament of 1597–1598 Herbert Croft ? Parliament of 1601 George Parker George Downhall Parliament of 1604–1611 Sir Thomas Lake Ambrose Rous Addled Parliament (1614) Sir Charles Wilmot William Croft Parliament of 1621–1622 John Harris Thomas Bond Happy Parliament (1624–1625) Sir Francis Crane Miles Fleetwood Useless Parliament (1625) Sir Bevil Grenville Richard Scott Parliament of 1625–1626 Parliament of 1628–1629 No Parliament summoned 1629–1640 MPs 1640–1832
Year First member First party Second member Second party April 1640 Sir Bevil Grenville Royalist Ambrose Manaton Royalist November 1640 William Coryton[3] 1641 John Harris Parliamentarian January 1644 Manaton disabled from sitting – seat vacant 1645 Thomas Gewen December 1648 Harris and Gewen excluded in Pride's Purge – both seats vacant 1653 Launceston was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament 1654 Robert Bennet Launceston had only one seat in the First and
Second Parliaments of the Protectorate1656 Thomas Gewen January 1659 Robert Bennet May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump April 1660 Edward Eliot Thomas Gewen June 1660 John Cloberry 1661 Richard Edgcumbe Sir Charles Harbord February 1679 Bernard Granville September 1679 Sir John Coryton Sir Hugh Piper 1680 Lord Lansdowne 1681 William Harbord 1685 John Granville 1689 William Harbord Edward Russell Whig 1690 Bernard Granville 1692 Lord Hyde Tory 1695 William Cary 1710 Francis Scobell 1711 George Clarke 1713 Edward Herle John Anstis 1721 Alexander Pendarves Tory 1722 John Freind [4] 1724 John Willes 1725 John Freind 1726 Henry Vane Whig 1727 Hon. John King Arthur Tremayne 1734 Sir William Morice 1735 Sir William Irby 1747 Sir John St Aubyn 1750 Humphry Morice 1754 Sir George Lee 1758 Sir John St Aubyn 1759 Peter Burrell 1768 William Amherst 1774 John Buller September 1780 Viscount Cranborne Thomas Bowlby November 1780 Hon. Charles Perceval[5] Tory 1783 Sir John Jervis Whig 1784 George Rose Tory 1788 Sir John Swinburne, Bt 1790 Hon. John Rodney Tory Sir Henry Clinton Tory 1795 William Garthshore Tory 1796 Hon. John Rawdon James Brogden Tory 1802 Richard Bennet Whig 1806 Earl Percy Tory 1807 Captain Richard Bennet Whig May 1812 Jonathan Raine October 1812 Pownoll Bastard Pellew Tory 1830 Sir James Willoughby Gordon Tory 1831 Sir John Malcolm Tory 1832 Representation reduced to one member MPs 1832–1885
Election Member Party 1832 Sir Henry Hardinge Conservative 1844 by-election William Bowles Conservative 1852 Hon. Josceline Percy Conservative 1859 Thomas Chandler Haliburton Conservative 1865 Alexander Henry Campbell Conservative 1868 by-election Henry Charles Lopes Conservative February 1874 James Henry Deakin (senior)[6] Conservative July 1874 by-election James Henry Deakin (junior) Conservative 1877 by-election Sir Hardinge Giffard Conservative July 1885 by-election Richard Everard Webster Conservative 1885 Borough abolished; name transferred to county constituency North-Eastern or Launceston Division of Cornwall
MPs 1885–1918
Election Member Party 1885 Sir Charles Dyke-Acland Liberal 1892 Thomas Owen Liberal 1898 by-election Sir John Fletcher Moulton Liberal 1906 Sir George Croydon Marks Liberal 1918 constituency abolished Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/constituencies/launceston-%28dunheved%29. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ a b c d "History of Parliament". History of Parliament Trust. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/constituencies/launceston-dunheved. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ Expelled from the House, August 1641. Coryton was Vice-Warden of the Stannaries and as such had the responsibility for making the return of members (officially notifying the House of Commons who had been elected) for some of the Cornish boroughs. He himself was returned as Member for both Launceston and Grampound, and initially sat for Launceston, but having been found guilty of falsifying the return for Bossiney the House resolved "That Mr. Coryton shall not be admitted to sit as a Member in this Parliament" on 18 August 1641
- ^ On petition concerning a dispute over who had the right to vote, Freind was found not to have been duly elected, and Willes was declared elected in his place
- ^ The Lord Arden (in the peerage of Ireland) from 1784
- ^ This election was held void on petition, and a by-election was held
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]
- F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
- Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988)
- Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
- 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, Volume 1 (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1844) [2]
- Browne Willis, Notitia Parliamentaria (London, 1750) [3]
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
- House of Commons journals and other records at British History Online
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
Categories:- Parliamentary constituencies in Cornwall (historic)
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 1295
- United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies disestablished in 1918
- Rotten boroughs
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