MOLESWORTH, Sir John, 4th Bt. (1705-66), of Pencarrow, Cornw.

Molesworth was a Tory; and was returned unopposed for Cornwall in 1744 and 1747.

The prospect of an election contest seemed greatly to affect him. In 1753, faced by an opposition which was soon withdrawn, he expostulated with his fellow-Member, James Buller, for having left home ‘whilst this affair was in agitation and when so much application is to be made ... I will not presume to take the affair wholly on myself, neither ... am I able, being much out of order.’11 Oct. 1753, Buller mss at Antony. And when at the county meeting on 10 Oct. 1760 Admiral Edward Boscawen declared his candidature, Molesworth despondingly wrote to Buller on the 13th that if the gentlemen and clergy ‘will not solicit the freeholders in their several neighbourhoods and endeavour to secure them in our behalfs, why ... ’tis in vain to think you and I can do everything’. He concluded: ‘I get cold and am now much out of order, my eyes and nerves so bad that I can hardly see.’ Three days later he declined the contest.

He died 4 Apr. 1766.