East Cornwall (UK Parliament constituency)

East Cornwall
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
County Cornwall
18321885
Number of members Two
Replaced by Bodmin, Launceston and St Austell
Created from Cornwall, Bossiney, Callington, Camelford, East Looe, Lostwithiel, St Germans, Saltash and West Looe

East Cornwall was a county constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election.

Boundaries

In 1832 the county of Cornwall, in south west England, was split for parliamentary purposes into two county divisions. These were the East division (with a place of election at Bodmin) and West Cornwall (where voting took place at Truro). Each division returned two members to Parliament.[1]

The parliamentary boroughs included in the East division, from 1832 to 1885 (whose non-resident 40 shilling freeholders voted in the county constituency), were Bodmin, Launceston and Liskeard.[2]

History

In 1885 this division was abolished, when the East and West Cornwall county divisions were replaced by six new single-member county constituencies. These were Bodmin (the South-Eastern division), Camborne (North-Western division), Launceston (North-Eastern division), St Austell (Mid division), St Ives (the Western division) and Truro. In addition the last remaining Cornish borough constituency was Penryn and Falmouth.

Members of Parliament

ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
1832 Sir William Molesworth, BtLiberal Sir William Salusbury-Trelawny, BtLiberal
1837 Lord EliotConservative Sir Hussey Vivian, BtLiberal
1841 William RashleighConservative
1845 by-election William Pole-CarewConservative
1847 Thomas Agar-RobartesWhig[3][4]
1852 Nicholas KendallConservative
1859 Liberal
1868 Sir John Salusbury-Trelawney, BtLiberal Edward Brydges WillyamsLiberal
1874 Sir Colman Rashleigh, BtLiberal John TremayneConservative
1880 Hon. Thomas Agar-RobartesLiberal William Copeland BorlaseLiberal
1882 by-election Thomas Dyke AclandLiberal
1885 Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

[5]

General Election 1837: East Cornwall (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Edward Eliot 2,430 34.8%
Whig Hussey Vivian 2,294 32.9%
Whig John Trelawny 2,250 32.3%
Majority
Turnout 6,974
Conservative gain from Whig Swing
Whig hold Swing

Elections in the 1840s

[5]

General Election 1841: East Cornwall (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Edward Eliot 3,006 40.3%
Conservative William Rashleigh 2,807 37.6%
Whig John Trelawny 1,647 22.1%
Majority
Turnout 7,460
Conservative hold Swing
Conservative gain from Whig Swing

Elections in the 1850s

[5][6]

General Election 1852: East Cornwall (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Whig Thomas Agar-Robartes 2,609 39.6 N/A
Conservative Nicholas Kendall 1,996 30.3 N/A
Conservative William Pole-Carew 1,979 30.1 N/A
Majority 613 9.3 N/A
Turnout 4,597 (est) 80.7 (est) N/A
Registered electors 5,694
Whig hold Swing N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A

[6]

General Election 1857: East Cornwall (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Whig Thomas Agar-Robartes Unopposed
Conservative Nicholas Kendall Unopposed
Registered electors 6,261
Whig hold
Conservative hold

[6]

General Election 1859: East Cornwall (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Thomas Agar-Robartes Unopposed
Conservative Nicholas Kendall Unopposed
Registered electors 6,240
Liberal hold
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1865: East Cornwall (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Nicholas Kendall Unopposed
Liberal Thomas Agar-Robartes Unopposed
Registered electors 5,781
Conservative hold
Liberal hold
General Election 1868: East Cornwall (2 seats)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal John Salusbury-Trelawny Unopposed
Liberal Edward Brydges Willyams Unopposed
Registered electors 8,701
Liberal hold
Liberal gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1870s

General Election 1874: East Cornwall (2 seats)[5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Colman Rashleigh 3,395 26.6 N/A
Conservative John Tremayne 3,276 25.7 N/A
Conservative William Pole-Carew 3,099 24.3 N/A
Liberal Reginald Kelly 2,978 23.4 N/A
Turnout 6,374 (est) 71.0 (est) N/A
Registered electors 8,982
Majority 119 0.9 N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
Majority 177 1.4 N/A
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1880: East Cornwall (2 seats)[5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Thomas Agar-Robartes 4,018 30.1
Liberal William Copeland Borlase 3,883 29.1
Conservative John Tremayne 3,033 22.7
Conservative Digby Collins[7] 2,403 18.0
Majority 850 6.4
Turnout 6,669 (est) 72.9 (est)
Registered electors 9,150
Liberal hold Swing
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing

Robartes was elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Robartes.

By-election, 3 Apr 1882: East Cornwall (1 seat)[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Thomas Dyke Acland 3,720 51.4 7.8
Conservative John Tremayne 3,520 48.6 +7.9
Majority 200 2.8 3.6
Turnout 7,240 76.3 +3.4 (est)
Registered electors 9,484
Liberal hold Swing 7.9

There were 86 spoiled papers, which was considered an unusual number.[8]

See also

References

  1. Writing about differences in dialects within Cornwall Thomas Q. Couch wrote in 1880: "If asked to define roughly a boundary, I know none better than the Parliamentary line from Crantock Bay, on St. George's Channel, to Veryan Bay, on the English Channel, which bisects the county."
  2. Smith (1844) The Parliaments of England
  3. "Election Movements". The Examiner. 24 July 1847. pp. 8–10. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  4. "The General Election". Morning Post. 24 July 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 29 July 2018 via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "East Cornwall Election". The Cornishman (92). 15 April 1880. p. 6.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book)|format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. pp. 364–365. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
  7. "Cornwall". Cornish & Devon Post. 3 April 1880. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 19 December 2017 via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  8. "East Cornwall Election". The Cornishman (195 (185)). 6 April 1882. p. 7.
  • Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
  • British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
  • The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
  • Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
  • Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886-1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
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