Callington 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 1585 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Reform Act 1832.
| Callington | |
|---|---|
| Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
| 1585–1832 | |
| Seats | Two |
| Replaced by | East Cornwall |
History edit
The borough consisted of most of the town of Callington in the East of Cornwall. Callington was the last of the Cornish rotten boroughs to be enfranchised, returning its first members in 1585; like most of the Cornish boroughs enfranchised or re-enfranchised during the Tudor period, it was a rotten borough from the start, and was never substantial enough to have a mayor and corporation.
The right to vote in Callington was disputed until a decision of the House of Commons in 1821 settled it as resting with "freeholders of the borough and ... life-tenants of freeholders, resident for 40 days before the election and rated to the poor at 40 shillings or more". This considerably enlarged the electorate, for there had been only 42 voters in the borough in 1816, but the Parliamentary return of 1831 reported that 225 were qualified. In the 18th century the power of the "patron" to influence the voters in Callington was considered absolute. In 1831 the borough had a population of 1,082, and 225 houses; the part of the town outside the borough boundaries contained only a further eight houses, leaving no scope to enlarge it. It was disfranchised by the Great Reform Act in 1832.
Patrons of pocket borough edit
The two patrons of the pocket borough of Callington were the Rolle family of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon (a junior branch of the Rolle family of Stevenstone and Bicton in Devon) and the Coryton family of the adjacent manor of St. Mellion, Cornwall.[1]
Rolle patronage edit
In 1601 Robert Rolle (died 1633) of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon (a grandson of George Rolle (d.1552) of Stevenstone, founder of the Rolle family in Devon), purchased the manor of Callington in Cornwall, thereby gaining the pocket borough seat of Callington in Parliament,[2] which in future served to promote the careers of many Rolles and descendants of that family. He nominated to this seat his first cousin once-removed[3] John Rolle (born 1563)[4] in 1601, his brother William Rolle (died 1652) in 1604 and 1614, his son Sir Henry Rolle (1589–1656), of Shapwick, in 1620 and 1624, his son Samuel's father-in-law Thomas Wise (died March 1641) of Sydenham in Devon, in 1625, and another son John Rolle (1598–1648), in 1626 and 1628.[5] The manor and borough were later inherited by the Rolle heiress Margaret Rolle (1709-1765), suo jure 15th Baroness Clinton, wife of Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford[6] whose son and heir George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (d.1791) died without progeny. It then passed by inheritance to her cousin George William Trefusis, of Trefusis in Cornwall.[7] Robert George William Trefusis (1764–1797) successfully claimed the title (17th) Baron Clinton in 1794.[8] By 1816 it had passed to Robert Cotton St John Trefusis, 18th Baron Clinton but was no longer as secure as it had been, so that the Coryton family was sufficiently influential to challenge his power on occasion.
Members of Parliament edit
1585-1640 edit
| Parliament | First member | Second member | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parliament of 1584-1585 | Thomas Lawton | Thomas Harris | |
| Parliament of 1586-1587 | Edward Aylworth | William Herle | |
| Parliament of 1588-1589 | Robert Worsley | Henry Golding | |
| Parliament of 1593 | Robert Carey | Carew Reynell | |
| Parliament of 1597-1598 | Henry Ferrers | John Egerton | |
| Parliament of 1601 | Miles Raynesford | John Rolle | |
| Parliament of 1604-1611 | Sir Roger Wilbraham | Sir William Rolle | |
| Addled Parliament (1614) | Humphrey Were | ||
| Parliament of 1621-1622 | Lord Wriothesley | Henry Rolle[9] | |
| Happy Parliament (1624-1625) | Sir Edward Seymour | ||
| Useless Parliament (1625) | Sir Richard Weston | Thomas Wise | |
| Parliament of 1625-1626 | Sir Clipseus Carew | John Rolle | |
| Parliament of 1628-1629 | Sir William Constable[10] | ||
| No Parliament summoned 1629-1640 | |||
1640-1832 edit
Notes edit
- ^ Hunneyball, Paul, "Callington Borough", published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010 [1]
- ^ Hunneyball, Paul, "Callington Borough", published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010 [2]
- ^ He was a younger son of John I Rolle of Stevenstone (d.1570), eldest son of the patriarch George Rolle (d.1552), per Vivian, pp.652-3
- ^ listed in WP article Callington (UK Parliament constituency), and (without date of birth) in History of Parliament overview of constituency [3]
- ^ Hunneyball, Paul, "Callington Borough", with his relationship to Thomas Wise corrected, per Vivian, 1895, pp.654,791
- ^ Page 145 Note 2, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
- ^ Lysons, Daniel & Lysons, Samuel, Magna Britannia, Vol.6, Devonshire, London, 1822, p.387
- ^ P. W. Montague-Smith, Debrett's Peerage (1968), p.265 & see Baron Clinton
- ^ Maija Jansson in Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons)
- ^ Constable was also elected for Scarborough, and probably never sat for Callington
- ^ Stratton's election in 1778 was declared void, but he won the 1779 by-election that resulted
- ^ This Ambrose St John was clearly NOT Ambrose St John (1815-1875)
- ^ The Earls of Haddington were referred to as "Lord Binning", before succeeding their fathers. Thomas Hamilton became the 9th Earl in 1828.
- ^ Robinson and Lygon were initially declared re-elected in 1820, defeating Attwood and Thompson, but the result was reversed on petition
- ^ "Herbert, Hon. Edward Charles Hugh (1802-1852), of Tetton, Som". historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
References edit
- 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) [4]
- 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)
- Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. p. 1.
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 1)