Fowey (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fowey Borough constituency |
|
|---|---|
| Created: | 1572 |
| Abolished: | 1832 |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Members: | two |
Fowey 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 1572 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.
Contents |
[edit] History
The borough consisted of the town of Fowey, a seaport and market town, and the neighbouring hamlet of Mixtow. Unlike many of the most notorious Cornish rotten boroughs which were enfranchised in Tudor times, Fowey had once been a town of reasonable size, and returned members to a national council in 1340, although it had to wait until 1572 for representation in Parliament.
Fowey was a feudal tenure of the Prince of Wales, and by a judgment of 1701 the right to vote was held to rest with "the Prince's tenants", which in practice was interpreted to include all the householders paying scot and lot; there were 331 voters in 1831. However, most of the property in the borough was owned by the Rashleigh family, and in 1816 they and the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe shared the "patronage", each having considerable influence if not quite absolute power to choose one of the MPs.
In 1831, the borough had a population of 1,600, and 340 houses.
[edit] Members of Parliament
[edit] 1572-1660
- 1628-1629: Sir Richard Grenville
- 1640-1642: Sir Richard Buller
- 1640-1644: Jonathan Rashleigh
- 1648-1652: Gregory Clement (Expelled from the Commons, May 1652)
- 1648-1653: Nicholas Gould
- 1659: John Barton
- 1659: Edward Herle
- 1659-1660: Nicholas Gould
[edit] 1660-1832
| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1660 | John Barton | Edward Herle | ||||
| 1661 | Jonathan Rashleigh | John Rashleigh | ||||
| 1675 | Jonathan Rashleigh | |||||
| 1679 | John Treffry | |||||
| 1685 | Bevil Granville | |||||
| 1689 | Jonathan Rashleigh | Shadrach Vincent | ||||
| 1695 | Thomas Vivian | Sir Bevil Granville | ||||
| January 1701 | John Williams | John Granville | ||||
| December 1701 | John Hicks | |||||
| 1702 | George Granville | |||||
| 1708 | Henry Vincent (junior) | |||||
| 1710 | Viscount Dupplin | |||||
| 1712 | Bernard Granville | |||||
| 1713 | Jermyn Wych | |||||
| 1715 | Jonathan Elford | |||||
| 1719 | Nicholas Vincent | |||||
| 1722 | John Goodall | |||||
| 1725 | William Bromley (junior0 | |||||
| January 1727 | The Viscount FitzWilliam | |||||
| August 1727 | Jonathan Rashleigh | |||||
| 1734 | John Hedges | |||||
| 1737 | William Wardour | |||||
| 1746 | George Edgcumbe | |||||
| 1761 | Hon. Robert Walsingham | |||||
| 1765 | Philip Rashleigh | Tory | ||||
| 1768 | James Modyford Heywood | |||||
| 1774 | The Lord Shuldham | Whig | ||||
| 1784 | John Grant | Tory | ||||
| 1786 | Hon. Richard Edgcumbe[1] | Tory | ||||
| 1795 | Sylvester Douglas | Tory | ||||
| 1796 | Reginald Pole-Carew | Tory | ||||
| 1799 | Edward Golding[2] | Tory | ||||
| July 1802 | Reginald Pole Carew | Tory | ||||
| December 1802 | Robert Wigram (senior) | Tory | ||||
| 1806 | Robert Wigram (junior) | Tory | ||||
| 1812 | William Rashleigh | Tory | ||||
| 1818 | George Lucy | Tory | Hon. James Hamilton Stanhope | |||
| 5 March 1819[3] | Seat vacant (death of Viscount Valletort) | Alexander Glynn Campbell | Tory | |||
| 24 March 1819 | Matthias Attwood[4] | Tory | ||||
| May 1819 | Viscount Valletort | Tory | ||||
| 1820 | George Lucy | Tory | ||||
| 1826 | Hon. Robert Henley Eden | Tory | ||||
| February 1830 | Lord Brudenell | Tory | ||||
| July 1830 | John Cheesment Severn | Tory | ||||
| 1832 | Constituency abolished | |||||
Notes
- ^ Styled Viscount Valletort from August 1789
- ^ In 1802 Golding was also elected for Plympton Erle, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Fowey
- ^ At the 1818 election Lucy and Stanhope were declared to have defeated Viscount Valletort and Alexander Glynn Campbell, but on petition the result was reversed. However, Valletort had died in the interim and a by-election was held to fill his seat
- ^ Attwood was initially declared to have defeated Valletort at the by-election, but the result was reversed on petition
[edit] References
- 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)
- This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.
