Grampound (constituency)

Grampound in Cornwall was a borough constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1826. It was represented by two Members of Parliament.

History Grampound's market was on a Saturday and the town had a glove factory. Grampound was created a Borough by a charter of King Edward VI with a Mayor, eight Aldermen, a Recorder, and a Town Clerk. In 1547 it sent members to Parliament for the first time, one of a number of rotten boroughs in Cornwall established during the Tudor period.

Boundaries The constituency was a Parliamentary borough in Cornwall, covering Grampound, a market town from Truro on the River Fal.

Franchise The franchise for the borough was in the hands of Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen and any Freemen created by the council. In 1816, T. H. B. Oldfield wrote that there were 42 voters in all. Given that the borough had 80 houses, this meant that the franchise was extended well into the working class.

While several patrons (including the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe, Lord Eliot, Sir Christopher Hawkins and Basil Cochrane) attempted to exert their influence over the choice of members to serve Grampound, the electors were more interested in the monetary value of their vote. Oldfield wrote "The freemen of this borough have been known to boast of receiving three hundred guineas a man for their votes at one election." The voters were used to getting regular payments through the year and received special payments for events like sickness and funerals, with one historian comparing the arrangement to "general free insurance".Page 344-355, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957) So notorious and unmanageable did the borough become that Grampound became a byword for electoral corruption, and Edward Porritt noted its use was continuing in 1903.

Disfranchisement for corruption

Finally, after the return of two members in the 1818 general election was overturned by a petition alleging gross bribery, Lord John Russell moved to disfranchise Grampound and to transfer the two members to a new Parliamentary Borough of Leeds. The usual treatment for a borough which had perpetual bribery (as practiced in New Shoreham in 1770, Cricklade in 1782, Aylesbury in 1804 and East Retford in 1828) was to expand its boundaries and franchise into an area free of corruption but that was not possible in Grampound where the neighbouring towns were also parliamentary boroughs and increasing the electorate would simply increase the pool of potential bribed voters.

After a delay caused by the accession of King George IV and the scandal of Queen Caroline's return and the Pains and Penalties Bill 1820, Russell introduced a Bill in January 1821. The suggestion of Leeds as a new borough met with resistance because of the large number of working class voters who would be enfranchised, and when an amendment to raise the qualification was passed, Russell withdrew his Bill; however, the mover of the amendment introduced his own. The House of Lords amended the Bill to give the two members instead to the county of Yorkshire, an amendment accepted and which eventually went into law. Grampound was disfranchised by the (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 47), with royal assent on 8 June 1821.

The two members who had been returned in the 1820 general election, John Innes and Alexander Robertson, retained their seats under the Act until the end of the Parliament, with a provision that if they should die or resign their seats, then replacements would be elected by the Yorkshire constituency rather than Grampound. They both retained their seats until the dissolution of Parliament in 1826, whereupon their constituency ceased to exist.

Members of Parliament

1547–1629 ParliamentFirst memberSecond memberParliament of 1547Henry KnollysPeter SainthillFirst Parliament of 1553Thomas NicollsEgidius WilsonSecond Parliament of 1553Sir Thomas SmithSir William SmythwickParliament of 1554Richard ChappellSir Thomas CornwallisParliament of 1554–1555Robert VaughanGeorge TedloweParliament of 1555Richard ChappellJohn HarrisParliament of 1558Thomas HerleRobert RychersParliament of 1559Sir John RadcliffeRalph CouchNo members are listed for Grampound in 1559 in the Return of Members, but Browne Willis (who supplemented the returns from other sources) names Pollard and Perne for 1559 as well as 1563Parliament of 1562Sir John PollardChristopher Perne1566Perne declared lunatic, replaced by John DodmerParliament of 1571Edward ClereJohn HusseyParliament of 1572–1581Edmund SlyfieldParliament of 1584–1585William StoughtonCharles TrevanionParliament of 1586–1587Thomas CromwellJohn HerbertParliament of 1588–1589Richard SayerParliament of 1593Richard EdgecumbeEdward JonesParliament of 1597–1598Sir John LeighRobert NewdigateParliament of 1601Sir John GrayJohn AstellParliament of 1604–1611William Noy(Sir) Francis BarnhamAddled Parliament (1614)Thomas St AubynParliament of 1621–1622John HampdenSir Robert CareyHappy Parliament (1624–1625)John MohunRichard EdgcumbeUseless Parliament (1625) Sir Samuel RolleParliament of 1625–1626 Edward ThomasThomas St AubynParliament of 1628–1629Lord CareySir Robert PyeNo Parliament summoned 1629–1640

1640–1821

ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party April 1640William Coryton John TrevanionRoyalistNovember 1640James CampbellParliamentarian1640Sir John TrevorParliamentarianDecember 1648Campbell excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant1653Grampound was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Thomas Herle Robert Scawen May 1659Sir John TrevorOne seat vacantApril 1660Thomas Herle Hugh Boscawen October 1660John Tanner 1661Charles Trevanion February 1679Sir Joseph Tredenham Tory August 1679John Tanner Nicholas Herle 1685Sir Joseph Tredenham ToryRobert Foley 1689Edward Herle John Tanner 1690Walter Vincent 1692John Buller 1695Hugh Fortescue 1698Sir William Scawen 1699Francis Scobell 1702James Craggs Whig1708Thomas Scawen 1710Thomas Coke 1713Andrew Quick 1715Hon. John West Charles Cooke 1721Richard West 1722Marquess of Hartington WhigHumphry Morice Whig1727Philip Hawkins 1732Isaac le Heup 1734Thomas Hales Whig1739Thomas Trefusis 1741Daniel Boone William Banks 1747Lord George Bentinck Thomas Hawkins 1754Merrick BurrellSir Merrick Burrell, Bt, from 1766Simon Fanshawe 1768Grey Cooper Charles Wolfran Cornwall 1774Hon. Sir Joseph Yorke WhigRichard Neville 1780Sir John Ramsden, Bt Thomas Lucas 1784Hon. John Somers Cocks Francis Baring Whig 1790Thomas Wallace Jeremiah Crutchley 1796Bryan Edwards Robert Sewell 1800Sir Christopher Hawkins Tory1802Benjamin Hobhouse 1806Henry Fawcett 1807Hon. Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone Hon. George Cochrane March 1808The election of 1807, at which Cochrane-Johnstone and Cochrane were returned, was declared void; at the resulting by-election Williams and Teed were initially declared returned, but eventually Cochrane and Holmes were seated, see belowRobert Williams John Teed May 1808 William Holmes ToryHon. George Cochrane 1812Hon. Andrew Cochrane-JohnstoneExpelled from the House of Commons, 18141812John Teed 1814Ebenezer John Collett 1818John Innes Alexander Robertson Constituency disenfranchised for corruption (1821)

Elections

As with most boroughs in the unreformed House of Commons, Grampound was uncontested at most elections. The only contested elections after 1660 were:

1741: The sitting members, Thomas Hales and Thomas Trefusis, (who were supporters of Robert Walpole) were challenged by Daniel Boone and William Banks. Hales and Trefusis were supported by Richard Edgcumbe who was managing the Cornish Boroughs for the Government and controlled the Grampound corporation, but Boone and Banks arranged for an alternate Mayor to be elected and indemnified the Sheriff of the County against any legal expenses if he delivered the writs for the election to their Mayor and was sued. They secured their election by 27 votes to 23, while an alternative poll by the original Mayor returned Hales and Trefusis with 35 votes to 17 for their opponents. However, Hales and Trefusis declined to press their challenge through an election petition.

1754: Sir John St Aubyn, Bt and Francis Beauchamp were proposed as candidates apparently without their knowledge by local malcontent voters who wanted to raise the level of their bribery. They secured 13 votes to 31 for Merrick Burrell and Simon Fanshawe, who were government candidates.

Election declared void, 7 March 1808 1808: Robert Williams (1767–1847) and John Teed 14; George Cochrane and William Holmes 13 by first returning officer. Cochrane and Holmes 27; Williams and Teed 14 by second returning officer. Williams and Teed seated on petition, 10 May 1808.

Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone expelled for committing stock fraud

Grampound (constituency)

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