Bossiney was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, one of a number of Cornish rotten boroughs

Cornish rotten boroughs

The Cornish rotten boroughs were one of the most striking anomalies of the Unreformed House of Commons in the Parliament that ruled Britain before the Reform Act of 1832...

, and returned two Members of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 to the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 from 1552 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

History

Bossiney was one of a number of small parliamentary borough

Parliamentary borough

Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

s established in Cornwall during the Tudor period

Tudor period

The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...

, and was not a town of any importance even when first enfranchised. The borough consisted of the village of Bossiney

Bossiney

Bossiney is a village in north Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is north-east of the larger village of Tintagel which it adjoins: further north-east are the Rocky Valley and Trethevy.-History:...

 itself and the nearby hamlet of Trevena, both in the parish of Tintagel

Tintagel

Tintagel is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The population of the parish is 1,820 people, and the area of the parish is ....

 on the North Cornwall coast. In 1831, the borough contained only 67 houses, and had a population of 308.

The right to vote was vested in the Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 and freemen

Freedom of the City

Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...

 of the borough, collectively called the burgesses; the freedom of the borough was hereditary, passing to the eldest son of any burgess possessing freehold property within the borough. The number of burgesses was always small, with only 25 being entitled to vote in 1831. In 1816 Oldfield recorded that there were only 9 voters, 8 of whom belonged to the same family.

Like most of the tiny boroughs, Bossiney was completely under the control of its "patrons", who had such influence over the voters that they could in practice choose whoever they wanted as MPs. From the middle of the 18th century, the patrons were the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for George Edgcumbe, 3rd Baron Edgcumbe. The Edgcumbe family descends from Sir Piers Edgcumbe of Cotehele in Cornwall, who acquired the Mount Edgcumbe estate near Plymouth through marriage in the early 16th...

 and the Wortley family. Usually they chose one member each and, indeed, a formal agreement to that effect, dated 3 July 1752, survives. In Bossiney, the patrons habitually secured their interests by obtaining for the burgesses lucrative appointments in the customs-house

Her Majesty's Customs and Excise

HM Customs and Excise was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax , Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and...

 at Padstow

Padstow

Padstow is a town, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately five miles northwest of Wadebridge, ten miles northwest of Bodmin and ten miles northeast of Newquay...

. In 1758, there was a dispute between Lord Edgcumbe

Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe

Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe, PC was an English politician.He was the son of Sir Richard Edgcumbe and Lady Anne Montagu, daughter of the Earl of Sandwich...

 and Samuel Martin

Samuel Martin (Secretary to the Treasury)

Samuel Martin was a British politician and administrator.-Family:He was the son of Samuel Martin, the leading plantation owner on the West Indies island of Antigua, where he was born, and eldest half-brother of Sir Henry Martin, 1st Baronet , for many years naval commissioner at Portsmouth and...

, patron of nearby Camelford

Camelford (UK Parliament constituency)

Camelford was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1552 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...

, over a Commissionership of Customs that both wanted for one of their constituents; a Camelford man was appointed, and at the election that followed in 1761 Edgcumbe was unable to secure the election of his candidate.

The abuse of government patronage was considered a scandal even in the 18th century, and in 1782 an Act of Parliament was passed to disqualify the holders of certain posts, including customs officers, from voting. While the new law was not aimed specifically at Bossiney it had a more dramatic effect there than anywhere else: the borough established an unbeatable record at the general election of 1784

British general election, 1784

The British general election of 1784 resulted in William Pitt the Younger securing an overall majority of about 120 in the House of Commons of Great Britain, having previously had to survive in a House which was dominated by his opponents.-Background:...

, when so many of the burgesses were disqualified that there was only a single qualified voter (the Vicar, Arthur Wade) to return the two MPs.

Bossiney was disfranchised by the Great Reform Act of 1832.

1553-1640

• Constituency created (1553 or possibly earlier)

Parliament	First member	Second member
Parliament of 1547-1552	William Carnsew (?)	John Withypoll (?)
First Parliament of 1553	Humphrey Cavill	Edward Grimston
Second Parliament of 1553	Robert Gayer	Robert Beverley
Parliament of 1554	John Beaumond	William Roscarrock
Parliament of 1554-1555	Richard Forset	George Harrison
Parliament of 1555	Ralph Skinner	?
Parliament of 1558	Thomas Stanley	John Kempthorne
Parliament of 1559	Hugh Owen	Stephen Bradden
Parliament of 1563-1567
Parliament of 1571	Robert Wrothe	George Basset
Parliament of 1572-1581	Francis Kinwellmarsh	Robert Doyly
Parliament of 1584-1585	Sir Francis Drake Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...	John Lewson
Parliament of 1586-1587	William Pool	John Peryam
Parliament of 1588-1589	Henry Savill	John Hinder
Parliament of 1593	Thomas Harris Thomas Harris (Serjeant-at-Law) Thomas Harris was an English politician. In 1601, he was a Member of Parliament for Truro.There is a monument to him and his wife, Dame Elizabeth Harris, at the parish church in Cornworthy, Devon.-Further reading:...
Parliament of 1597-1598		Sir Edward Denny Edward Denny Edward Denny may refer to:*Sir Edward Denny, Knight Banneret of Bishops Stortford *Edward Denny, 1st Earl of Norwich *Sir Edward Denny, 4th Baronet...
Parliament of 1601	William Hakewill William Hakewill -Life:Born in Exeter, Devon, son of John Hakewill and his wife Thomasine . Educated, according to Anthony Wood at Exeter College, Oxford , he later studied law at Lincoln's Inn....	Sir Jerome Horsey Jerome Horsey Sir Jerome Horsey , of Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire, was an English explorer, diplomat and politician in the 16th and 17th centuries....
Parliament of 1604-1611	George Upton (died) 1609-11 George Calvert George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, 8th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I...
Addled Parliament (1614) Addled Parliament The Addled Parliament was the second Parliament of England of the reign of James I of England , which sat between 5 April and 7 June 1614...	John Wood
Parliament of 1621-1622		Anthony Manaton
Happy Parliament (1624-1625) Happy Parliament The Happy Parliament was the fourth and last Parliament of England of the reign of King James I, sitting from 19 February 1624 to 24 May 1624 and then from 2 November 1624 to 16 February 1625...	Sir Richard Weston Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland, KG , was Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Lord Treasurer of England under James I and Charles I, being one of the most influential figures in the early years of Charles I's Personal Rule and the architect of many of the policies that enabled him to rule...	Thomas Bevans
Useless Parliament (1625) Useless Parliament The Useless Parliament was the first Parliament of England of the reign of King Charles I, sitting only from June until August 1625. It gained its name because it transacted no significant business, making it 'useless' from the king's point of view...	Sir Francis Cottington	Jonathan Prideaux
Parliament of 1625-1626	The Lord Lambart Charles Lambart, 1st Earl of Cavan Charles Lambart, 1st Earl of Cavan PC was an MP for the rotten borough of Bossiney and a military commander.-Politics:He held the office of Member of Parliament for Bossiney in 1626....	Paul Specot
Parliament of 1628-1629		Richard Edgecumbe
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640-1832

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
April 1640 Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....		Sir John Clotworthy John Clotworthy, 1st Viscount Massereene John Clotworthy, 1st Viscount Massereene was an Anglo-Irish politician.-Life:He was a son of Sir Hugh Clotworthy, sheriff of county Antrim....	Parliamentarian		Anthony Nicholl Anthony Nicholl Anthony Nicholl was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1656. He supported the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War.Nicholl was a member of the Nicholl family of Penvose in Cornwall...	Parliamentarian
November 1640 Long Parliament The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...					Sir Christopher Yelverton Sir Christopher Yelverton, 1st Baronet Sir Christopher Yelverton, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1648.Yelverton was the son of Henry Yelverton, a lawyer, and his wife Margaret Beale, daughter of Robert Beale...	Parliamentarian
1641 (?)		Sir Ralph Sydenham Ralph Sydenham Sir Ralph Sydenham was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1641 to 1642. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.Sydenham was the son of Sir John Sydenham of Brimpton...	Royalist
September 1642	Sydenham disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1647		Lionel Copley Lionel Copley Sir Lionel Copley was the 1st Royal Governor of Maryland from 1692 through his death in 1693. He was the first official royal governor appointed by the British crown after the colony was removed from the proprietary control of the Calvert family during the Glorious Revolution...
December 1648	Copley excluded in Pride's Purge Pride's Purge Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...  - seat vacant			Yelverton not known to have sat after Pride's Purge Pride's Purge Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...
1653	Bossiney was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament Barebones Parliament Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector...  and the First First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....  and Second Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons...  Parliaments of the Protectorate
January 1659 Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons...		Thomas Povey Thomas Povey Thomas Povey FRS, was a London merchant-politician who was active in colonial affairs from the 1650s, but neutral enough in his politics to be named a member from 1660 of Charles II's Council for Foreign Plantations, making him a powerful figure in the not-yet professionalized First English...			Samuel Trelawney
May 1659 Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....	Not represented in the restored Rump Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....
April 1660		Francis Gerard Sir Francis Gerard, 2nd Baronet Sir Francis Gerard, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1641 and 1660....			Charles Pym Sir Charles Pym, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Pym, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1641 to 1648 and in 1660. He served in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.Pym was the son of John Pym and his wife Anna Hooker or Hooke....
June 1660					Sir William Brereton William Brereton, 3rd Baron Brereton William Brereton, 3rd Baron Brereton FRS was an English mathematician and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and became Baron Brereton in the Irish peerage in 1664....
1661		Robert Robartes Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1660 and 1679...			Richard Rous
1673					Francis Robartes Francis Robartes Francis Robartes FRS was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1673 and 1718....
February 1679		William Coryton			John Tregagle
October 1679		Charles Bodvile Robartes			Narcissus Luttrell Narcissus Luttrell Narcissus Luttrell was an English historian, diarist, and bibliographer, and briefly Member of Parliament for two different Cornish towns...
1681					Sir Peter Colleton
1685		John Cotton			John Mounsteven
1689		Sir Peter Colleton			Humphrey Nicoll
1690					Samuel Travers
1694		Humphrey Nicoll
1695		George Booth			John Manley John Manley (MP) John Manley was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1690. He was Post Master General during the Commonwealth....
1698		Sir John Pole			John Tregagle
January 1701		Francis Robartes Francis Robartes Francis Robartes FRS was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1673 and 1718....
March 1701		Thomas Watson-Wentworth Thomas Watson-Wentworth The Hon. Thomas Watson married Alice, a daughter of Sir Thomas Proby, 1st Baronet....
December 1701		Sir John Molesworth			John Manley John Manley (MP) John Manley was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1690. He was Post Master General during the Commonwealth....
1702		William Hooker
1705		Sir Simon Harcourt Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, PC was Queen Anne's Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. He was her solicitor-general and her commissioner for arranging the union with Scotland...	Tory
1708		Samuel Travers			Francis Foote
October 1710		Francis Robartes Francis Robartes Francis Robartes FRS was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1673 and 1718....			John Manley John Manley (MP) John Manley was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1690. He was Post Master General during the Commonwealth....
December 1710		Henry Campion
1713		Sir William Pole
1714					Paul Orchard
1715		Henry Cartwright			Samuel Molyneux Samuel Molyneux Samuel Molyneux FRS , son of William Molyneux, was an 18th-century member of the British parliament from Kew and an amateur astronomer whose work with James Bradley attempting to measure stellar parallax led to the discovery of the aberration of light...
1722		Robert Corker			Henry Kelsall
1727					John Hedges
1731		James Cholmondeley
1734		The Viscount Palmerston Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston was an Irish nobleman and British politician, the eldest son of Sir John Temple, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons....			Townshend Andrews
1737					Peregrine Poulett
May 1741		Richard Liddell			Thomas Foster
December 1741		John Sabine			Christopher Tower
1742		Richard Liddell			Thomas Foster
1746		William Breton
July 1747		Edward Wortley Sir Edward Wortley Montagu Sir Edward Wortley Montagu was British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, husband of the writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and father of the writer and traveller Edward Wortley Montagu....	Whig		Richard Heath
December 1747		William Ord William Ord of Fenham William Ord was an English land and mine owner.He was the second son of Thomas Ord of Fenham and Anne Bacon and inherited the family estates at Fenham and Newminster Abbey on the death of his elder brother John, in 1745....
1752					William Montagu
1754		Edwin Sandys Edwin Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys Edwin Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys was the eldest son of Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys and his wife Letitia daughter of Sir Thomas Tipping, baronet of Wheatfield, Oxfordshire...			Edward Wortley Montagu Edward Wortley Montagu Edward Wortley Montagu was an English author and traveller.He was the son of Edward Wortley Montagu, MP and of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose talent and eccentricity he seems to have inherited....
1761		John Richmond Webb John Richmond Webb (judge) John Richmond Webb , of Biddesden in Hampshire, was an English lawyer who served briefly as a Member of Parliament and as a Welsh judge....	Tory
1766		Lord Mount Stuart John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, PC, FRS was a British nobleman.He was the son of the 3rd Earl of Bute and the former Mary Wortley Montagu, a granddaughter of the 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull and great-granddaughter of the 1st Earl of Sandwich...	Tory
1768					Henry Lawes Luttrell	Tory
1769					Sir George Osborn Sir George Osborn, 4th Baronet Sir George Osborn, 4th Baronet was born into the British aristocracy. He fought in the American Revolutionary War as a British officer. He served as a Member of Parliament before, during, and after that conflict. In 1777 he led a detachment of the Guards Brigade at the battles of Brandywine and...
1774					Hon. Henry Lawes Luttrell	Tory
1776		Hon. Charles Stuart
1784					Bamber Gascoigne, senior Bamber Gascoyne (senior) Bamber Gascoyne of Childwell Hall, Lancashire , was an 18th century English politician, a member of the House of Commons of Great Britain....
1786					Matthew Montagu Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby Matthew Montagu was a British Member of Parliament and Peer of the Realm.Montagu was born Matthew Robinson, the son of Morris Robinson of the Six Clerks' Office, Chancery Lane and nephew of Matthew Robinson, 2nd Baron Rokeby...
1790		Hon. James Archibald Stuart			Humphrey Minchin
April 1796					Hon. Evelyn Pierrepont
May 1796		John Stuart-Wortley John Stuart-Wortley John Stuart-Wortley , British politician, was the eldest son of Col. James Archibald Stuart-Wortley.As the eldest son, he replaced his father as Member of Parliament for the borough of Bossiney at the 1796 election. However, he died young, in January 1797, and his younger brother James...			John Lubbock Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baronet Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baronet was an eminent English banker. Lubbock was also a merchant and Member of Parliament. He was the first son of a Cambridge don, the Reverend William Lubbock of Lammas, Norfolk, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Cooper of North Walsham, Norfolk...
1797		Hon. James Stuart Wortley James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe Colonel James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe PC , was a British soldier and politician...	Tory
1802					John Hiley Addington John Hiley Addington John Hiley Addington was a British Tory Party politician.-Background and education:Addington was the second son of Anthony Addington and his wife Mary, daughter of Haviland John Hiley. His older brother was Henry Addington, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and under whose...	Tory
1803					George Peter Holford
1806					Henry Baring Henry Baring Henry Baring , of Cromer Hall, Norfolk, was a British banker and politician. He was the third son of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, the founder of the family banking firm that grew into Barings Bank His grandfather John Baring emigrated from Germany and established the family in...
1807					Peter Isaac Thellusson	Tory
1808					The Earl of Desart	Tory
1817					William Yates Peel William Yates Peel William Yates Peel , was a British Tory politician.Peel was the second son of Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet, and his first wife Ellen . He was the younger brother of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, and the elder brother of Jonathan Peel. He was educated at Harrow and St John's College,...	Tory
1818					Sir Compton Pocklington Domvile
1819		Hon. John Ward John William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley John William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, PC, FRS , known as the Honourable John Ward from 1788 to 1823 and as the 4th Viscount Dudley and Ward from 1823 to 1827, was a British politician...	Tory
1823		John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe FRS , was a British Tory politician. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between December 1834 and January 1835.-Background:...	Tory
1826					Edward Rose Tunno	Tory
1830		Charles Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie Charles Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie Charles James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie was a British politician, the second son of James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe.He was an observer at the French siege of Antwerp in 1832, and wrote an account of the affair....	Tory
1831		John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe FRS , was a British Tory politician. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between December 1834 and January 1835.-Background:...	Tory
1832 United Kingdom general election, 1832 -Seats summary:-Parties and leaders at the general election:The Earl Grey had been Prime Minister since 22 November 1830. His was the first predominantly Whig administration since the Ministry of all the Talents in 1806-1807....	Constituency abolished

Notes

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