Cornwall

Lord Edgcumbe’s agent, Thomas Jones, wrote about Camelford in June 1760:

In 1754 Callington was controlled by Lady Orford, heiress of the Rolle family, who owned the manor and a good deal of property in the borough, and she selected the candidates: her friend John Sharpe and Sewallis Shirley, her second husband. When on a vacancy in 1756 her son George, 3rd Earl of Orford, thought of running a candidate of his own, he was warned by one of his agents that should the Orford interest be divided the borough might be lost; and that he would best support his future interest by acquiescing in his mother’s nomination.John Yeo to Orford, 30 Oct., 16 Nov.

Bossiney had no charter and the right of election had never been determined by Parliament. According to most authorities it was in the resident freemen, but in fact Bossiney behaved as a corporation borough. A titular mayor existed, associated with a number of so-called freemen, who exercised the franchise to the exclusion of their fellows. Though little is known of the method of recruitment, they appear to have constituted a self-perpetuating oligarchy. Their number varied: the highest known in this period was 28 in 1767;Cory Carpenter to Lady Bute, 22 Nov.

There was no one exclusive patron, but neighbouring squires had a natural interest in the borough: in the first place George Hunt of Lanhydrock, heir to the Robartes family; Thomas Pitt, sen. and jun., of Boconnoc; and Christopher Treise and his nephew John Morshead, of Lavethan. The Hunt family held one seat throughout the period 1754-90; but their hold was not absolute. The last attempt within this period to assert the Boconnoc interest was made at the by-election of 1762.

The Boscawens of nearby Tregothnan, Viscounts Falmouth, were recorders and patrons of Truro. In 1788 George Evelyn, 3rd Viscount, reached a compromise with Sir Francis Basset, who had been contesting the borough since 1780, whereby Basset agreed to leave him in peace at Truro in exchange for the purchase of Falmouth’s property at Tregony. After this there was no contest until 1818, but it did not mean that Falmouth was secure.

Tregony, ‘an inconsiderable village, without trade’, had a turbulent electoral history in this period. In 1788 Lord Falmouth, who had the principal interest, disposed of his property there to Sir Francis Basset, who had challenged him in 1784 and had also bought up property in other hands. It was he who in June returned Hugh Seymour Conway.

From 1790 George Nugent Temple Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham, assumed sole parliamentary patronage of St. Mawes, having inherited in 1788 his father-in-law Earl Nugent’s moiety and having purchased the interest of the co-patron Hugh Boscawen, who accordingly gave up the seat he had personally occupied for 16 years at the dissolution. The Whigs found that they had no chance when they contemplated contesting the borough in 1790.Ginter, Whig Organization, 190.

Since 1780 William Praed, the banker, whose family’s parliamentary interest in the borough had existed for over a century, had been in undisputed control of St. Ives, of which he was recorder, after a spate of contests. There was no opposition in 1790, 1796 or 1802, though in 1790 the Duke of Leeds was informed by an agent:

St. Germans was under the sole patronage of the Lords Eliot of Port Eliot, from 1815 Earls of St. Germans. The 1st Baron Eliot returned his sons for one seat and friends of government for the other, except in 1802. His heir tended to do likewise, returning in-laws and cousins for one seat. In 1806 the prime minister Lord Grenville was uncertain of Eliot’s support and the latter accused him of encouraging an opposition (chiefly at Liskeard but also at St. Germans) against the patron’s own brother-in-law Sir Joseph Yorke, 7 Nov.

The principal property owners at Penryn were Sir Francis Basset, its recorder; the Duke of Leeds, who held the manor and some leases from the bishop of Exeter; the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and Mr Trefusis. The two former, who were then political opponents, agreed to return one Member each in 1790, Basset returning himself and the duke his friend Glover, at no charge to the latter: an opportunist had offered £4,000 for a seat for the borough.Oldfield, Boroughs, i. 96; Add. 28066, f. 36; 33110, f.