in the corporation
Number of voters: 24
| Date | Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan. 1715 | GALFRIDUS WALPOLE | |
| THOMAS LIDDELL | ||
| 26 Nov. 1718 | EDWARD ELIOT vice Liddell, deceased | |
| 25 June 1720 | JOHN NEWSHAM vice Eliot, appointed to office | |
| 1 May 1721 | WILLIAM CAVENDISH, Mq. of Hartington, vice Walpole, appointed to office | |
| 14 Apr. 1722 | WILLIAM CAVENDISH, Mq. of Hartington | |
| PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, Lord Stanhope | ||
| Sir Thomas Hardy | ||
| Charles Legh | ||
| 25 Feb. 1724 | SIR ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN vice Hartington, chose to sit for Grampound | |
| HENRY PARSONS | ||
| Thomas Digges | ||
| 26 Jan. 1727 | SIR WILLIAM STANHOPE vice Parsons, appointed to office | |
| Darrell Trelawny | ||
| 25 Aug. 1727 | SIR ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN | |
| DARRELL TRELAWNY | ||
| 29 Feb. 1728 | ANTHONY CRACHERODE vice Bridgeman, chose to sit for Bletchingley | |
| SIR EDWARD KNATCHBULL | ||
| 29 Apr. 1734 | RICHARD EDGCUMBE | |
| PHILIP LLOYD | ||
| 31 Mar. 1735 | MATTHEW DUCIE MORETON vice Lloyd, deceased | |
| 19 Mar. 1736 | JOHN CROSSE vice Moreton, called to the Upper House | |
| 11 May 1741 | SIR JOHN CROSSE | |
| SIR ROBERT SALUSBURY COTTON | ||
| 3 July 1747 | RICHARD EDGCUMBE | |
| JAMES EDWARD COLLETON |
In 1715 Lostwithiel was under the control of a local family named Johns, who had acquired an hereditary hold on the office of mayor, carrying with it that of returning officer. They placed both seats at the disposal of the Administration,1See Thos. Digges to Walpole, 21 Feb. 1724, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss; HMC Townshend, 347. whose expenses there in 1727 were forecast2J. Wolrige to Walpole, 1 July 1727, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss. at £460:
| 8 votes at £20 each | £160 |
| Johns for returning and to his wife and daughters | £300 |
In 1733 the borough was given a new charter under which control passed from the Johns family to Richard Edgcumbe, the government manager for the Cornish boroughs, who thenceforth returned both Members without a contest. In 1740 Thomas Pitt, the Prince of Wales’s election manager in Cornwall, ’determined to attack Mr. Edgcumbe in his headquarters’ at Lostwithiel,3Chatham mss. but in the end gave up. In 1747 he spent about £2,000 in fomenting an opposition,4HMC Fortescue, i. 110, 114, 122. which again failed to materialize, the Administration holding both seats at a cost of £1,271.5Namier, Structure, 348 n. 4.