Commons 1690-1715

Earlier in the 17th century, the lord of the manor, the bishop of Exeter, held an important interest in Penryn, but with the corporation now holding the manor, even a man of Bishop Trelawny’s calibre could not exert any influence in elections for the borough. The corporation consisted of a portreeve (mayor), 11 aldermen, 12 common councilmen and a recorder, and even though the charter of 1684 vested the franchise in the corporation alone, only in 1685 is there evidence that it was so limited.

Newport was in effect a suburb of Launceston, and suffered under a rudimentary form of manorial government. The lords of the manor were the Morices of Werrington, at whose court leet were chosen the two vianders, who acted as returning officers. For most of William iii’s reign the lord of the manor was Sir Nicholas Morice, 2nd Bt., a minor, and the patronage was exercised by his uncle and trustee Nicholas Morice†, a Whig, who continued to control the interest until his nephew’s coming of age.

According to Browne Willis*, Mitchell was ‘a small hamlet scarce containing 30 houses, all cottages save one, which is a public inn, not long since erected, which is the only tiled house in this poor borough’. Since the lords of the borough (the Arundells of Lanherne) were Roman Catholics, the portreeve who acted as returning officer was chosen by his five deputy lords, usually members of the gentry with estates nearby. Mitchell was keenly contested during the period and there were rival returning officers at most contested elections.Willis, 255; Polsue, Complete Paroch. Hist.

Lostwithiel, the county town of the duchy, was also a coinage town and contained the Stannaries’ common prison. The crown, through the dukes of Cornwall, held the advowson. Defoe, however, found it ‘a decayed town, and as to trade and navigation, quite destitute, which is occasioned by the river being filled up with sands’, while Thomas Tonkin* described it as consisting ‘chiefly of two streets, from east to west, meanly built’.

The dominant political influence at West Looe was Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Bt., bishop of Exeter and then, from 1707, of Winchester (see East Looe, Cornw.). The corporation at West Looe consisted of a mayor and 12 aldermen which was easily overawed. The only alternative interest to the Trelawnys was held by the Kendall family. James Kendall controlled the interest by virtue of his guardianship over his niece Mary (grand-daughter of Thomas Kendall†, who had acquired nearby Killigarth by marriage).

East and West Looe sat astride the River Looe, connected by a bridge. Politically, they were linked through the control of the Trelawny family. Defoe thought that

put together, they would make a very handsome seaport town. They have a great fishing trade here, as well for supply of the country as for merchandise, and the towns are not despicable, but as to sending four Members to the British Parliament, which is as many as the city of London chooses, that I confess seems a little scandalous.

Liskeard was a

considerable town, well-built, has people of fashion in it, and a very great market and is one of the five towns called stannary towns where the blocks of tin are brought to the coinage, an article very much to the advantage of the towns where it is settled, though the money paid goes another way.

When Celia Fiennes visited the borough in the 1690s she described it as ‘the chief town in Cornwall where the assizes are kept’. The main interests at Launceston were those of the corporation, who controlled the admission of freemen, and of the duchy of Cornwall. The Granville family had a longstanding connexion with the borough, monopolizing the recordership during this period. The Morices of Werrington also had an interest, although their main influence was in the adjacent borough of Newport, which lay in the same parish.Journeys of Celia Fiennes ed.

Helston was a duchy manor and a coinage town, much of the tin being loaded on to ships in the local harbour. The corporation (consisting of a mayor, four aldermen and 12 common councilmen) could make freemen at will. The patron was the recorder, Lord Godolphin (Sidney†), whose estate was six miles away.Defoe, Tour ed. Cole, 240; Polsue, Complete Paroch. Hist. Cornw. ii. 169; History, xv. 109.

The chief interest at Grampound was in the corporation consisting of a mayor, eight aldermen, a recorder and a town clerk. On being elected, the mayor

chose from among the aldermen two who were called eligers, who with himself had the power of selecting 11 freemen. Those 14 formed a jury; they made presentments, appointed the municipal officers and created freemen. Payment by scot and lot was the only qualification. By the magistrates and freemen the Members of Parliament were elected.