biography text
Cornwallis, whose grandfather had acquired Abermarlais by marriage, was put up for Cardiganshire at the suggestion of Lewis Pryse with the support of William Powell of Nanteos,1F. Cornwallis to W. Powell, 7 Apr. and 23 Nov. 1720, Nanteos mss, NLW. joint leaders of the Cardiganshire Tories. Returned unopposed in 1722, he transferred to Cardigan in 1727. He was a member of the society of Sea Serjeants, a reputedly Jacobite organization in South Wales. He died 19 Aug. 1728, described in his obituary as ‘hospitable, obliging and beneficent; a lover of virtue without ostentation, and of mirth without vice’.2Pol. State, xxxvi. 195.