Plympton Erle, also spelt Plympton Earle, was a parliamentary borough in Devon. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

Members of Parliament

1295–1640

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1381William Burlestone Thomas Raymond 1386John Golde Richard Golde 1388 (Feb) Ellis Beare John Boys 1388 (Sep) Peter Hadley John Brendon 1390 (Jan) John Selman I John Lane 1390 (Nov) 1391John Selman I John Jaycock 1393Thomas Branscombe John Jaycock 1394John Selman I John Jaycock 1395Thomas Norris II John Jaycock 1397 (Jan) Thomas Norris II William Selman I 1397 (Sep) 1399 1401 1402Thomas Topcliffe ...? More 1404 (Jan) 1404 (Oct) 1406John Selman I Thomas Prous 1407William Isabel Richard Hurston 1410 1411John Selman I John Jaybien 1413 (Feb) 1413 (May) Thomas Barry Roger Wyke 1414 (Apr) 1414 (Nov) John Selman II John Serle 1415 1416 (Mar) 1416 (Oct) 1417 1419 1420William Selman II John Selman II 1421 (May) William Selman II John Selman II 1421 (Dec) William Selman II John Selman II 1425John Selman II 1427John Selman II 1431John Selman II 1432John Selman II 1433John Selman II1435John Selman II 1467Thomas Fitzwilliam 1510–1523 No names known 1512Richard Strode I ? 1515 ? 1523 ? 1529 Thomas Gregory John Martin alias Honychurch I 1536 ? 1539 ? 1542 ? 1545Edmund Sture Adam Ralegh 1547Thomas Dynham Edward Darrell 1553 (Mar) Sir John Pollard Richard Strode II 1553 (Oct) ?John Foster Reginald Mohum 1554 (Apr) John Sparke John Martin alias Honychurch II 1554 (Nov) Richard Calmady William Strowbridge 1555Sir William Courtenay Sir Arthur Champernowne 1558Thomas Southcote ?Christopher Perne 1558–9 Sir Gawain Carew Richard Strode II 1562–3 Nicholas Ogle Thomas Percy, died and replaced 1566 by Edmund Wiseman 1571Robert Guynes Roger Hill 1572Peter Osborne William Strode 1584 John Hele Hannibal Vyvyan 1586Richard More Jasper Cholmley 1588 Richard Grafton II Edwin Sandys 1593 Edwin Sandys Richard Southcote 1597George Southcote Edward Hancock 1601Sir William Strode John Hele 1604 Sir William Strode Sir Henry Beaumont, replaced by John Hele 1614 Sampson Hele Sir Warwick Hele 1621–1622 Sir William Strode Sir Warwick Hele 1624 Sir Francis Drake John Garret 1625 Sir William Strode Sir Warwick Hele 1626 Sir William Strode Sir Thomas Hele 1628–1629 Thomas Hele Bt Sir James Bragge 1629–1640No Parliaments summoned

1640–1832 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 Sir Thomas Hele Sir Richard Strode Sir Nicholas Slanning (Double return) November 1640 Michael OldisworthParliamentarian Sir Nicholas SlanningRoyalist 1640 (?) Sir Thomas HeleRoyalist Hugh Potter Parliamentarian January 1644Hele disabled from sitting – seat vacant1646Christopher MartynDecember 1648Potter excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant1653Plympton Erle was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Christopher MartynCaptain Henry Hatsell May 1659Not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660 Christopher Martyn Sir William Strode 1661 Thomas Hele 1666 Sir Edmund Fortescue 1667 Sir Nicholas Slanning 1677 Sir George Treby February 1679 Richard Hillersdon August 1679 John Pollexfen 1685 Richard Strode Sir Christopher Wren 1689 Sir George Treby John Pollexfen March 1690 Richard Strode George Parker April 1690 Sir George Treby John Pollexfen 1692 Sir Thomas Trevor 1695 Courtenay Croker 1698 Martin Ryder 1701 Richard Hele 1702 Richard Edgcumbe Whig Thomas Jervoise 1703 Richard Hele 1705 Sir John Cope 1708 George Treby 1728 John Fuller 1734 Thomas Clutterbuck 1735 Thomas Walker 1741 Richard Edgcumbe WhigMay 1742 The Lord Sundon December 1742 Hon. Richard Edgcumbe July 1747 Hon. George Edgcumbe December 1747 (Sir) William Baker George Treby 1761 George Hele Treby 1763 Paul Henry Ourry 1768 William Baker 1774 Sir Richard Philipps, Bt 1775 John Durand 1779 William Fullarton September 1780 Viscount Cranborne Sir Ralph Payne November 1780 Hon. James Stuart April 1784 Paul Treby Ourry John Stephenson August 1784 John Pardoe 1790 The Earl of Carhampton Tory Philip Metcalfe 1794 William Manning 1796 William Adams William Mitchell 1799 Richard Hankey 1801 Sylvester Douglas, Lord Glenbervie 1802 Edward Golding Philip Metcalfe 1806 Viscount Castlereagh Sir Stephen Lushington 1807 Hon. William Harbord 1810 Henry Drummond October 1812 Ranald George Macdonald George Duckett December 1812 William Douglas 1816 Alexander Boswell Tory 1821 William Gill Paxton Independent 1824 John Henry North ToryJune 1826 George Edgcumbe Tory Gibbs Antrobus ToryDecember 1826 Sir Charles Wetherell Ultra-ToryAugust 1830 Viscount Valletort ToryDecember 1830 Sir Compton Domvile Tory1832 Constituency abolished

Elections Elections in Plympton Erle were normally uncontested. The only contest between the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 and the abolition of the borough in 1832 was at the general election of 1802.

Notes

References

Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) Maija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1988) J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 – England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965) Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig – Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)