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Saltash (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saltash
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyCornwall
Major settlementsSaltash
1552–1832
SeatsTwo
Replaced byEast Cornwall

Saltash, sometimes called Essa, 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.

History

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The borough consisted of the town of Saltash, a market town facing Plymouth and Devonport across the Tamar estuary, and the inhabitants by 1831 were mainly fishermen or Devonport dockworkers. Like most of the Cornish boroughs enfranchised or re-enfranchised during the Tudor period, it was a rotten borough from the start.

Saltash was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote rested with the tenants of certain specified properties. For a long period in the 18th century, there was a contest for control of the borough between the government and the Buller family of Morval, depending partly on legal uncertainties over the precise number and identity of the burgage properties to which votes were attached. In the 1760s it was considered an entirely secure Admiralty borough, where the naval influence could sway all the voters,[1] but by 1831 the Bullers owned all the tenancies and considered themselves the patrons.

In 1831, the borough had a population of 1,637, and 245 houses.

Members of Parliament

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MPs 1547–1629

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Parliament First member Second member
Parliament of 1547 Christopher Smith Henry Fisher[2]
Parliament of 1553 (Mar) George Kekewich Edward Saunders
Parliament of 1553 (Oct) Richard Weston Thomas Martin
Parliament of 1554 (Apr) Peter St Hill Humphrey Cavell
Parliament of 1554 (Nov) Oliver Debett Humphrey Cavell
Parliament of 1555 Alexander Nowell Nicholas St John (?)
Parliament of 1558 Thomas Williams Francis Yaxley
Parliament of 1559 Richard Reynell Richard Forsett
Parliament of 1562 Thomas Carew James Dalton
By-election 1566 Henry Killagrew
Parliament of 1571 William Page
Parliament of 1572-1581
Parliament of 1584 Richard Carew Dr William Clerk
Parliament of 1586-1587 George Carew John Acland
Parliament of 1588-1589 Arthur Gorge
Parliament of 1593 Jerome Horsey
Parliament of 1597-1598 Gregory Downhall Ellis Wynn
Parliament of 1601 Sir Robert Cross Alexander Nevill
Parliament of 1604-1611 Sir Peter Manwood Thomas Wyvell
Addled Parliament (1614) Ranulph Crewe Sir Robert Phelips
Parliament of 1621-1622 Sir Thomas Trevor Sir Thomas Smith
Happy Parliament (1624-1625) Francis Buller
Useless Parliament (1625) Sir Richard Buller
Parliament of 1625-1626 Sir John Hayward
Parliament of 1628-1629 Sir Francis Cottington
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

MPs 1640–1832

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Year First member First party Second member Second party
April 1640 George Buller Parliamentarian Francis Buller Parliamentarian
November 1640 Edward Hyde Royalist
August 1642 Hyde disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1646 John Thynne Henry Wills
December 1648 Thynne and Wills excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant
1653 Saltash was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Edmund Prideaux (of Prideaux Place, Padstow) John Buller
May 1659 Not represented in the restored Rump
April 1660 Francis Buller Anthony Buller
1661 John Buller
February 1679 Bernard Granville Nicholas Courtney
September 1679 William Jennens Sir John Davie
1681 Bernard Granville
1685 Sir Cyril Wyche Edmund Waller
1689 Bernard Granville John Waddon
1690 Sir John Carew Richard Carew
1691 Narcissus Luttrell
1692 Michael Hill
1695 Francis Buller Walter Moyle Whig
March 1698 Francis Pengelly
August 1698 John Specott John Morice
1699 James Buller
January 1701 Alexander Pendarves Tory
March 1701 Thomas Carew
1702 Benjamin Buller
1703 John Rolle
1705 James Buller Joseph Moyle
May 1708 Alexander Pendarves Tory
December 1708 Sir Cholmeley Dering, Bt Tory
1710 Jonathan Elford Tory
1711 Sir William Carew
1713 William Shippen Tory
1715 Shilston Calmady John Francis Buller
1722 Thomas Swanton Edward Hughes
1723 Philip Lloyd
1727 Lord Glenorchy
1734 Thomas Corbett
1741 John Clevland
1743 Stamp Brooksbank
July 1747 Edward Boscawen
December 1747 Stamp Brooksbank
1751 George Brydges Rodney
1754 Viscount Duncannon George Clinton
1756 Charles Townshend Whig
1761 John Clevland George Adams Whig
1763 Hon. Augustus Hervey
1768 Martin Hawke Thomas Bradshaw
1772 John Williams
1772 Thomas Bradshaw
1774 Grey Cooper
1775 Sir Charles Whitworth
1778 Henry Strachey
1780 Paul Wentworth
1780 Charles Jenkinson
1784 Charles Ambler
1786 The Earl of Mornington
1787 John Lemon
1790 Edward Bearcroft Viscount Garlies
1795 William Stewart Tory
May 1796 The Lord Macdonald
December 1796 Charles Smith
1802 Matthew Russell Robert Deverell
1806 Arthur Champernowne
February 1807 Hon. Richard Griffin Whig William Henry Fremantle
May 1807 Matthew Russell John Pedley
1809 Michael Prendergast
1818 James Blair
March 1820 Michael Prendergast
June 1820 John Fleming
1822 William Russell Whig
June 1826 Andrew Spottiswoode Henry Monteith
December 1826 Colin Macaulay
1830 Earl of Darlington John Gregson
February 1831 Philip Cecil Crampton
May 1831 Frederick Villiers Whig Bethell Walrond
1832 Constituency abolished

References

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  1. ^ Page 302, Lewis Namier, "The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III" (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
  2. ^ "SMITH, Christopher (By 1510-89), of London and Annables, Herts. | History of Parliament Online".

Sources

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