East Looe (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
East Looe was a parliamentary borough
Parliamentary borough
Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

 represented in the House of Commons of England
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 from 1571 to 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain
House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of the Parliament of Scotland, as one of the most significant...

 from 1797 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 until its abolition in 1832. It elected 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,...

 (MP) by the bloc vote
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...

 system of election. It was disenfranchised in the Reform Act 1832
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...

.

History

The borough consisted of the town of East Looe
Looe
Looe is a small coastal town, fishing port and civil parish in the former Caradon district of south-east Cornwall, England, with a population of 5,280 . Looe is divided in two by the River Looe, East Looe and West Looe being connected by a bridge...

 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...

, connected by bridge across the River Looe
River Looe
The River Looe is a river in south-east Cornwall, which flows into the English Channel at Looe. It has two main branches, the East Looe River and the West Looe River....

 to West Looe
West Looe (UK Parliament constituency)
West Looe was a rotten borough represented in the House of Commons of England from 1535 to 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1797 to 1800, and in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election...

, which was also a parliamentary borough. From the reign of Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...

, East Looe and West Looe were jointly a borough, returning two members of Parliament; however, under Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 the two towns were separated, and each thereafter returned two members except between 1654 and 1658, when they were once again represented jointly, by one member of 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 Protectorate Parliament
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...

s.

The right of election was in Mayor and members of the Corporation, together with a number of 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. Namier and Brooke estimated that there were about fifty voters in this constituency in the second half of the eighteenth century. It is estimated that by 1800 there were still about fifty electors, and in 1831 the number of eligible voters was 38 while the population of the borough was 865.

In practice, this meant that the power to choose the MPs was in the hands of the local landowner or "proprietor", making East Looe (like West Looe) one of the most notorious of the rotten borough
Rotten borough
A "rotten", "decayed" or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament....

s. For many years at the time of the Reform Act, East Looe had been controlled by the Buller family (which also controlled West Looe and Saltash
Saltash (UK Parliament constituency)
Saltash, sometimes called Essa, 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:...

), and many members of the family sat for the borough in the House of Commons.

After the Reform Act 1832 disenfranchised the borough, it reverted to being represented as part of the county constituency covering its area. Cornwall was divided into two divisions in 1832, East Cornwall (with its place of election at Bodmin) and West Cornwall (which voted at Truro). East Looe was located in East Cornwall
East Cornwall (UK Parliament constituency)
East Cornwall was a county constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election.- Boundaries :...

.

1571-1629

ParliamentFirst memberSecond member
Parliament of 1571 John Wolley Edward Cordel
Parliament of 1572-1583 Thomas Stone Thomas West
Parliament of 1584-1585 Richard Spencer Anthony Rous
Anthony Rous
Anthony Rous was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1653 and 1660. He was an officer in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War....

Parliament of 1586-1587 Abraham Hartwell
Abraham Hartwell
Abraham Hartwell, the younger , was an English translator and antiquary, and Member of Parliament. Another Abraham Hartwell of the period was also an author, publishing Regina Literata in 1564, and the two have in the past been confused.-Life:A student of Trinity College, Cambridge, he graduated...

Edward Trelawny
Parliament of 1588-1589 Anthony Everard Sir Robert Jermyn
Robert Jermyn
Sir Robert Jermyn was an English politician.He was the eldest surviving son of Sir Ambrose Jermyn and was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1560–61. In 1577 he succeeded to his father's Suffolk estates and seat at Rushbrooke, Suffolk's largest and finest moated Tudor mansion. Around this time he...

Parliament of 1593 William Hampden George Downhall
Parliament of 1597-1598 Ambrose Bellot Robert Gawdy
Parliament of 1601 John Hanham Robert Yardley
Parliament of 1604-1611 Sir Robert Phelips
Robert Phelips
Sir Robert Phelips was an English politician. He was the son of Sir Edward Phelips, Speaker of the House of Commons and Master of the Rolls...

Sir John Parker
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...

George Chudleigh
Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet
Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet was an English politician.Chudleigh was MP for St. Michaels 1601, East Looe 1614, Lostwithiel 1621-1622 and 1625 and Tiverton 1624-1625....

Sir Reginald Mohun
Parliament of 1621-1622 Sir John Walter
John Walter (jurist)
Sir John Walter was an English judge and Member of Parliament.Walter was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford and the Inner Temple. He was called to the bar in 1590 and became a bencher of his inn in 1605...

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....

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...

Bartholomew Specot
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 James Bagge Sir Thomas Trevor
Thomas Trevor (1586-1656)
Sir Thomas Trevor was an English lawyer, judge and Member of Parliament, most notable for having delivered the judgment against John Hampden in the Ship Money case....

Parliament of 1625-1626 Sir John Trevor
Parliament of 1628-1629 William Murray Paul Specot
No Parliament summoned 1629-1640

1640-1832

YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond 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....

William Scawen
William Scawen
William Scawen was a one of the pioneers in the revival of the Cornish Language in England. He was a politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 and fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War....

 
William Code 
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...

Thomas Lower  Royalist Francis Buller
Francis Buller (Parliamentarian)
Francis Buller was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1624 and 1648. He supported the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War....

 
Parliamentarian
January 1644 Lower disabled to sit - seat vacant
1647 John Moyle 
December 1648 Buller 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
1653 East Looe 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...

1654
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....

Major John Blackmore
John Blackmore
John Blackmore was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654.Blackmore was the son of John Blackmore of Exeter, Devon. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford on 12 December 1634, aged 18...

 
In 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, one MP was elected jointly
for East Looe and West Looe
1656
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...

John Buller
John Buller (died 1716)
John Buller was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1656 and 1695.Buller was the son of Francis Buller of Shillingham Cornwall, and his wife Thomasine Honeywood...

 
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...

John Kendall
John Kendall (MP)
John Kendall was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1685.Kendall was the eldest surviving son of John Kendall of Treworgey and his wife Mary. He was baptised on 7 August 1631. In 1649, he entered Lincoln's Inn. He was a commissioner for poor...

 
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....

1660 Henry Seymour
Henry Seymour (Langley)
Henry Seymour of Langley , was a British Royalist.Seymour was the second son of Sir Edward Seymour, 2nd Baronet, and was a Page of Honour to Charles I, who granted him a reversion as Comptroller of the Customs in 1638...

Jonathan Trelawny
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet , of Trelawny in Cornwall, was an English Member of Parliament.He was the fourth child and eldest son of Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet, High Sheriff of Cornwall, and succeeded to the baronetcy on 16 February 1664.He entered Parliament in 1660 as member for East...

 
1661 Robert Atkyns
Robert Atkyns (judge)
Sir Robert Atkyns KB KS was an English Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Member of parliament, and Speaker of the House of Lords.-Early life:...

 
1673 Walter Langdon 
1677 Charles Osborne 
1679 Sir Jonathan Trelawny
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet , of Trelawny in Cornwall, was an English Member of Parliament.He was the fourth child and eldest son of Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet, High Sheriff of Cornwall, and succeeded to the baronetcy on 16 February 1664.He entered Parliament in 1660 as member for East...

1681 John Kendall
John Kendall (MP)
John Kendall was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1685.Kendall was the eldest surviving son of John Kendall of Treworgey and his wife Mary. He was baptised on 7 August 1631. In 1649, he entered Lincoln's Inn. He was a commissioner for poor...

 
1685 Charles Trelawny
Charles Trelawny
Major-General Charles Trelawny was a British Army officer of Cornish descent, the fourth son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet....

Tory Sir William Trumbull
William Trumbull
Sir William Trumbull was an English statesman who held high office as a member of the First Whig Junto.-Biography:...

 
Whig
1689 Henry Trelawny
Henry Trelawny
Brigadier-General Henry Trelawny was a British Army officer of Cornish descent, the seventh and youngest son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet and Mary Seymour.He married Rebecca Hals , by whom he had children, including:...

1699 Sir Henry Seymour
Sir Henry Seymour, 1st Baronet
Sir Henry Seymour, 1st Baronet MP was a British gentleman and politician.He was a Member of Parliament for East Looe from 1699 to 1710. He was created 1st Baronet Seymour, of Langley, on 4 July 1681...

1701 Francis Godolphin
Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin
Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, PC was a British politician, styled Viscount Rialton between 1706 and 1712.-Biography:...

February 1702 George Courtenay 
July 1702 Sir John Pole 
1705 George Clarke
George Clarke
George Clarke , the son of Sir William Clarke, enrolled at Brasenose College, Oxford in 1676. He was elected a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1680. He became Judge Advocate to the Army and was William III of England's Secretary at War from 1690 to 1704...

 
1708 Harry Trelawny
Sir Harry Trelawny, 5th Baronet
Sir Harry Trelawny, 5th Baronet was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.Trelawny was an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough during the War of the Spanish Succession. He also sat as Member of Parliament for East Looe from 1708 to 1710. In 1756, at the age of 68, he succeeded his cousin...

 
1710 Thomas Smith 
1713 Sir Charles Hedges
Charles Hedges
Sir Charles Hedges , of Compton Bassett, Wiltshire, an English lawyer and politician, was a judge in Admiralty Court who later served as one of Queen Anne's Secretaries of State.-Life:...

Tory Edward Jennings 
1715 John Smith
John Smith (Chancellor of the Exchequer)
John Smith was an English politician, twice serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.Smith's father was also called John Smith and he had a sister called Anne, who became Lady Dashwood. He was educated St John's College, Oxford, was at the Middle Temple and was first elected a Member of Parliament...

Whig Sir James Bateman 
1718 Horatio Walpole 
1722 William Lowndes
January 1724 Viscount Malpas
George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley
George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley KB, PC , styled as Viscount Malpas from 1725 to 1733, was a British peer and Whig politician.-Life:...

Whig
February 1724 Sir Henry Hoghton 
1727 Charles Longueville Sir John Trelawny
Sir John Trelawny, 4th Baronet
Sir John Trelawny, 4th Baronet , of Trelawny in Cornwall, was an English Member of Parliament.He was the eldest son of Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet and Bishop of Bristol, Exeter and Chichester, and succeeded to the baronetcy on 19 July 1721.He entered Parliament in 1713 as member for West Looe,...

 
1734 Edward Trelawny
1735 Samuel Holden 
1740 Henry Legge  Whig
1741 Francis Gashry James Buller
James Buller (the younger)
James Buller was a British Tory politician and ancestor of the Viscounts Dilhorne and the Barons Churston.Born at Downes House, near Crediton, he was the oldest son of John Francis Buller and his wife Rebecca Trelawney, daughter of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet...

 
Tory
1747 John Buller
1762 The Viscount Palmerston
Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston
Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston FRS was a British politician.-Life:He succeeded to the peerage in 1757, and was educated at Clare College, Cambridge from 1757 to 1759...

 
1768 Richard Hussey 
1770 Richard Leigh 
1772 John Purling 
1774 Sir Charles Whitworth
Charles Whitworth (MP)
Sir Charles Whitworth was a British Member of Parliament, known for his expertise in statistics and finance.He represented the constituencies of Minehead from 1747 until 1761, and Bletchingley until 1768, in which year he was knighted...

 
January 1775 Thomas Graves
Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves
|-|-...

 
June 1775 William Graves
William Graves (MP)
William Graves was MP for East Looe in Cornwall, until 24 November 1783 and again until 1787.A Chronological Register of Both Houses of the British Parliament describes him as "a Master in Chancery" and "a brother to Thomas Graves....

 
1783 John James Hamilton  Tory
1784 William Graves
William Graves (MP)
William Graves was MP for East Looe in Cornwall, until 24 November 1783 and again until 1787.A Chronological Register of Both Houses of the British Parliament describes him as "a Master in Chancery" and "a brother to Thomas Graves....

 
May 1786 Alexander Irvine Tory
September 1786 Richard Grosvenor  Tory
1788 Viscount Belgrave
Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster
Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, KG was the son of the 1st Earl Grosvenor, whom he succeeded in 1802 as 2nd Earl Grosvenor. He was created Marquess of Westminster in 1831. He was an English Member of Parliament and an ancestor of the modern day Dukes of Westminster...

Tory
February 1790 The Earl of Carysfort  Tory
June 1790 Robert Wood Tory Hon. William Wellesley-Pole
William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington
William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington GCH, PC, PC , known as The Lord Maryborough between 1821 and 1842, was a British politician and an elder brother of the Duke of Wellington....

 
Tory
1795 Charles Arbuthnot
Charles Arbuthnot
Charles Arbuthnot was a British diplomat and Tory politician. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807 and held a number of political offices. He was a good friend of the Duke of Wellington...

 
Tory
1796 John Buller Tory William Graves  Tory
1798 Frederick William Buller Tory
May 1799 John Smith  Tory
July 1799 Sir John Mitford Tory
February 1802 James Buller  Tory
July 1802 Sir Edward Buller
Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet
Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....

Tory John Buller  Tory
1807 David Vanderheyden  Tory
1816 Thomas Potter Macqueen Tory
1820 George Watson-Taylor  Tory
March 1826 Lord Perceval  Tory
June 1826 William Saunders Sebright Lascelles
William Saunders Sebright Lascelles
William Saunders Sebright Lascelles PC was a British Whig politician. He served as Comptroller of the Household from 1847 to 1851.-Background:...

Tory James Drummond Buller-Elphinstone  Tory
1829 Henry Thomas Hope Tory
1830 Thomas Arthur Kemmis  Tory
1832 Constituency abolished

Notes

See also

  • West Looe (UK Parliament constituency)
    West Looe (UK Parliament constituency)
    West Looe was a rotten borough represented in the House of Commons of England from 1535 to 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1797 to 1800, and in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election...

  • MPs elected in the British general election, 1754
    MPs elected in the British general election, 1754
    MPs elected in the British general election, 1754This is a list of MPs or members of Parliament elected to the Parliament of Great Britain in 1754, for the 11th Parliament of Great Britain....

  • Unreformed House of Commons
    Unreformed House of Commons
    The unreformed House of Commons is the name generally given to the British House of Commons as it existed before the Reform Act 1832.Until the Act of Union of 1707 joining the Kingdoms of Scotland and England , Scotland had its own Parliament, and the term refers to the House of Commons of England...

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