Mitchell, or St Michael was a 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....

 consisting of the town (or village) of Mitchell, Cornwall

Mitchell, Cornwall

Mitchell is a village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated 14 miles northeast of Redruth and 17 miles west-southwest of Bodmin on the A30 trunk road....

. From the first Parliament 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...

, in 1547, it elected two members to the 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...

.

History

The borough encompassed parts of two parishes, Newlyn East and St Enoder

St Enoder

St. Enoder is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated five miles southeast of Newquay.The nearest village is Summercourt half-a-mile to the south and other settlements include Fraddon, Penhale, Indian Queens and Trevarren.The parish church is 15th century...

. Like most of the Cornish 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...

 enfranchised or re-enfranchised 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...

, it was a rotten borough from the start.

The franchise in Mitchell was a matter of controversy in the 17th century, but was settled by a House of Commons resolution on 20 March 1700 which stated "That the right of election of members to serve in Parliament for the Borough of St Michael's, in the County of Cornwall, is in the portreeves, and lords of the manor, who are capable of being portreeves, and the inhabitants of the said borough paying scot and lot

Scot and lot

Scot and lot is a phrase common in the records of English medieval boroughs, applied to householders who were assessed for a tax paid to the borough for local or national purposes.They were usually members of a merchant guild.Before the Reform Act 1832, those who paid scot and bore...

": this gave the vote to most of the male householders.

The borough was often not in the complete control of a single proprietor, the voters being swayed between those of the lords of the manor from whom they expected to receive most benefit in return. Namier quotes a memorandum on the state of the Cornish boroughs from Lord Edgcumbe

Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe

Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe PC was a British nobleman and politician.The eldest surviving son of Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe and his wife Matilda Furnese, he was educated at Eton from 1725 to 1732...

 to Prime Minister Newcastle

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.A protégé of Sir Robert Walpole, he served...

 in 1760, describing the Mitchell voters as "in general low, indigent people, [who] will join such of the Under Lords from whom they have reason to expect most money and favours. Admiral Boscawen

Edward Boscawen

Admiral Edward Boscawen, PC was an Admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament for the borough of Truro, Cornwall. He is known principally for his various naval commands throughout the 18th Century and the engagements that he won, including the Siege of Louisburg in 1758 and Battle of Lagos...

..., by supplying some of the voters with money and conferring favours on others, seems to be adding very considerably to the strength of his interest."

The landowners, however, had other expedients for gaining control. The number of voters, which in 1784 had been at least 39, was reduced by 1831 to just seven, achieved by pulling down a number of houses in the borough and letting those houses that still stood on conditions which prevented the occupiers appearing on the parish rates. The proprietors by the 1820s were the Earl of Falmouth

Edward Boscawen, 1st Earl of Falmouth

Edward Boscawen, 1st Earl of Falmouth , known as the Viscount Falmouth between 1808 and 1821, was a British peer and politician.-Political career:...

 (a Boscawen) and Sir Christopher Hawkins, Hawkins having purchased his interest some years previously from Sir Francis Basset

Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset

Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset FRS was an English nobleman and politician. He was the first son of Francis Basset and Margaret St...

; but Mitchell having thus been reduced to one of the smallest of all the rotten boroughs (in 1831, the borough had a population of approximately 90, and 23 houses), it was naturally disfranchised by the Great Reform Act

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...

 of 1832.

Mitchell's early MPs

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,...

 included the explorer and statesman Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....

, who sat briefly for the borough in the 1590s while out of favour at court and so unable to secure a more prestigious seat. A later MP was the future Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...

, who as Sir Arthur Wellesley represented the borough from January to May 1807, for part of which time he was a junior minister (Chief Secretary for Ireland

Chief Secretary for Ireland

The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...

) in the Duke of Portland's

William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, KG, PC was a British Whig and Tory statesman, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility—Duke,...

 second government.

1547-1629

Parliament	First member	Second member
Parliament of 1547-1552	Ralph Cholmley	Hugh Cartwright
First Parliament of 1553	Robert Beverley	Humphrey Moseley
Second Parliament of 1553	Francis Goldsmith	Edward Chamberlain
Parliament of 1554	Clement Tussard	Andrew Tussard
Parliament of 1554-1555	Paul Stamford
Parliament of 1555	John Arundell John Arundell (of Trerice, died 1580) Sir John Arundell , of Trerice in Cornwall, was an English landowner and Member of Parliament.Sir John was the son of Sir John Arundell...	John Thomas
Parliament of 1558		Thomas Gardiner Thomas Gardiner Thomas Gardiner was the manager of the San Diego Union and a founder of the Los Angeles Daily Times, the precursor to today's Los Angeles Times....
Parliament of 1559	Robert Hopton	Francis Goldsmith (?)
Parliament of 1563-1567		Thomas Wilson
Parliament of 1571	Edward Stafford	Francis Alford
Parliament of 1572-1581	Charles Lister	Thomas West
Parliament of 1584-1585	Edward Barker	James Erisey James Erisey James Erisey was born at Erisey House near Mullion, in the parish of Grade in Cornwall. He sailed as a privateer with Sir Francis Drake.In 1585 Drake hired James Erisey to captain a man-o-war, following a message from Queen Elizabeth I that "privateers were at liberty to attack Spanish shipping".In...
Parliament of 1586-1587	Thomas Cosworth	Henry Sumaster
Parliament of 1588-1589	Edward Cosworth	James Clerk
Parliament of 1593	Sir Walter Raleigh Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....	Richard Reynell Richard Reynell Richard Reynell may refer to:*Sir Richard Reynell, of Pyttney*Sir Richard Reynell, knight of Pyttney*Richard Reynell , English MP*Sir Richard Reynell , barrister and probably MP for Mitchell...
Parliament of 1597-1598	John Arundell (of Trerice) John Arundell (born 1576) Sir John Arundell , nicknamed "Jack for the King", was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1640. He was Royalist governor of Pendennis Castle during the English Civil War....	John Carew
Parliament of 1601	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....	William Cholmley
Parliament of 1604-1611	William Cary (died) Denzil Holles	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....
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...	Christopher Hodson	Walter Hickman
Parliament of 1621-1622	Richard Carew Sir Richard Carew, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Carew, 1st Baronet , of Antony in Cornwall, was an English writer and Member of Parliament.Carew was the eldest son of the antiquary Richard Carew . He was educated at Oxford, probably at Merton, and studied law at the Middle Temple...	Richard Thelwall
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...	John Holles John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare -Family:He was born in Haughton, Nottinghamshire, the eldest son of John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare and Anne Stanhope, and the brother of Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles.... Denzil Holles	John Sawle
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...	Henry Sandys	(Sir) John Smith
Parliament of 1625-1626	Francis Crossinge
Parliament of 1628-1629	Francis Buller	John Sparke
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....	Double return
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...		William Chadwell William Chadwell William Chadwell was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1644. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War....	Royalist		John Arundell	Royalist
1640					Robert Holborne Robert Holborne Sir Robert Holborne was an English lawyer and politician, of Furnival's Inn and Lincoln's Inn . He acted as counsel for John Hampden in the ship-money case. He sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1642 and supported the Royalist[ cause in the English Civil War...	Royalist
August 1642				Holborne disabled from sitting - seat vacant
January 1644	Chadwell disabled from sitting - seat vacant
1647		Lord Kerr Charles Kerr, 2nd Earl of Ancram Charles Kerr, 2nd Earl of Ancram was a Scottish peer and a member of the English House of Commons.-Biography:Charles was born on 6 August 1624 at Richmond, Surrey to Anne daughter of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby and the second wife of Robert Kerr, 1st Earl of Ancram...
December 1648	Kerr 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	Mitchell 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...		James Launce			Richard Lobb
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		Thomas Carew Thomas Carew (died 1681) Sir Thomas Carew was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1681....			Heneage Finch Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, PC , Lord Chancellor of England, was descended from the old family of Finch, many of whose members had attained high legal eminence, and was the eldest son of Sir Heneage Finch, recorder of London, by his first wife Frances Bell, daughter of Sir Edmond Bell of...
May 1660					John Alleyn John Alleyn (MP) John Alleyn or Allen was a Cornish politician.John Alleyn was the son of Giles Allen, Rector of Little Waltham and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Massam. John was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1629, before being admitted to Gray's Inn in 1642.He was...
1661		Matthew Wren			Sir Edward Mosley
1665					The Lord Hawley
1673		Humphrey Borlase
1679		Sir John St Aubyn			Walter Vincent Walter Vincent Walter Vincent was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1656 and 1680....
1681		Sir William Russell			Henry Vincent
1685		Thomas Price			John Vyvyan
January 1689		The Viscount Fanshawe	Tory		Francis Vyvyan Francis Vyvyan Sir Francis Vyvyan , of Trelowarren in Cornwall, was an English Member of Parliament ; his surname is sometimes spelt Vivian...
September 1689		William Coryton
December 1689		Humphrey Courtney
March 1690		Anthony Rowe			Francis Scobell
November 1690		Humphrey Courtney
1695					Thomas Vyvyan
1697		John Tregagle			John Povey
1698		Sir John Hawles John Hawles -Life:The second son of Thomas Hawles of Moanton in Wiltshire, by Elizabeth Antrobus of Hampshire, was born in the Close at Salisbury. His father, whose name is sometimes spelled Hollis, belonged to the family of Hawles of Upwimborne, Dorset...	Whig
January 1701		William Beaw			Anthony Rowe
March 1701					Sir Richard Vyvyan Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd Baronet Sir Richard Vyvyan of Trelowarren, 3rd Baronet was a prominent Jacobite.Richard Vyvyan was born in Colan, Cornwall...
December 1701		William Courtney
1702		Renatus Bellott			Francis Basset
1705		Sir William Hodges			Hugh Fortescue Hugh Fortescue Hugh Fortescue was a British politician.He married Bridget Boscawen, the daughter of Hugh Boscawen . Bridget's mother Margaret was the daughter of Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln, and was one of the coheirs of the Barony of Clinton upon the death of the 5th Earl in 1692...
1710		Abraham Blackmore			Richard Belasyse
1713		Sir Henry Belasyse Henry Belasyse Henry Belasyse , also known as Henry Bellasis was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England variously between 1625 and 1642....			John Statham
1715		Nathaniel Blakiston			Robert Molesworth Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth PC came of an old Northamptonshire family. He married Letitia Coote, daughter of Richard Coote, 1st Lord Coote of Coloony and Mary St. George.His father Robert Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth PC (7 September 1656 – 22 May 1725) came of an old...	Whig
1722		Charles Selwyn			John Hedges
1727		Henry Kelsall			Thomas Farrington
1734		Thomas Watts			Robert Ord Robert Ord Robert Ord was a British politician.He was a Member of Parliament for Morpeth, Northumberland from to .He died aged 77....
1741		Edward Clive Edward Clive (judge) Sir Edward Clive was a British politician and judge. Born in 1704 to Edward Clive and Sara Key, he joined Lincoln's Inn in 1719 and matriculated to University College, Oxford three years later. In 1725 he was called to the Bar, and after practise as a barrister became Member of Parliament for...			John Ord
May 1745		Richard Lloyd
November 1745					Sir Edward Pickering
1747		Thomas Clarke Thomas Clarke (judge) Sir Thomas Clarke, KC, FRS, PC was a British judge who served as Master of the Rolls. He was the son of a carpenter and a pawnbroker from St Giles in the Fields, and was educated at Westminster School between 1715 and 1721 thanks to the help of Zachary Pearce. On 10 June 1721 he matriculated to...			Albert Nesbitt
1753					Arnold Nesbitt
1754		John Stephenson John Stephenson (MP) John Stephenson was a British merchant from Brentford, Middlesex, and a Member of Parliament for various western boroughs from 1754 to 1755 and 1761 until his death in 1794....			Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB , also known as Clive of India, was a British officer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and the wealth that followed, for the British crown...
1755		Simon Luttrell Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton was a British politician and Irish nobleman.He was the second son of Col. Henry Luttrell, of Luttrellstown...			Richard Hussey
1761		John Stephenson John Stephenson (MP) John Stephenson was a British merchant from Brentford, Middlesex, and a Member of Parliament for various western boroughs from 1754 to 1755 and 1761 until his death in 1794....			James Scawen
1774					Hon. Thomas Howard Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Suffolk Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Suffolk, 7th Earl of Berkshire was a British peer, styled Hon. Thomas Howard until 1779....
1779					Francis Hale
1780		Hon. William Hanger
1784		David Howell			Sir Christopher Hawkins	Tory
1796		Sir Stephen Lushington Sir Stephen Lushington, 1st Baronet Sir Stephen Lushington, 1st Baronet , of South Hill Park in Easthampstead, Berkshire, was an English Member of Parliament and Chairman of the East India Company....	Whig
1799					John Simpson
1802		Robert Dallas Robert Dallas Sir Robert Dallas , PC, SL KC was an English judge, of a Scottish family.Robert Charles Dallas was born at Kingston, Jamaica in 1756. Dallas and his brother George were educated first at James Elphinstone's school in Kensington, and then in Geneva, by the pastor Chauvet. He entered Lincoln's Inn...	Tory		Robert Sharpe Ainslie
1805		Earl of Dalkeith Charles Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch Charles William Henry Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch & 6th Duke of Queensberry, KT was the son of Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch and Lady Elizabeth Montagu...
1806		Sir Christopher Hawkins	Tory		Frederick Trench Frederick Trench (British Army officer) General Sir Frederick William Trench KCH , was a British soldier and Tory politician.Trench was the son of Michael Frederick Trench, a barrister and amateur architect, of Heywood, only son of Reverend Frederick Trench, of Ballinakill, in Queen's County...	Tory
January 1807		Hon. Sir Arthur Wellesley Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...	Tory		Henry Conyngham Montgomery
May 1807		Edward Leveson-Gower Edward Leveson-Gower Edward Frederick Leveson-Gower DL, JP , styled The Honourable from birth, was a British barrister and Liberal politician...	Tory		George Galway Mills
July 1807		Sir James Hall, Bt
1808					Charles Trelawny-Brereton
1809					John Bruce
1812		George Hobart George Hobart-Hampden, 5th Earl of Buckinghamshire George Robert Hobart-Hampden, 5th Earl of Buckinghamshire , known as George Hobart until 1816, was a British peer and politician.-Background:...
1813		Hon. Edward Law Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough GCB, PC was a British Tory politician. He was four times President of the Board of Control and also served as Governor-General of India between 1842 and 1844.-Background and education:...	Tory
August 1814					Charles Trelawny-Brereton
December 1814					Lord Binning Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington KT PC FRS , known as Lord Binning from 1794 to 1828, was a British Conservative politician and statesman.-Background and education:...	Tory
1818		Sir George Staunton, Bt			William Leake
1820					William Taylor Money
April 1826					Henry Labouchere Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton PC was a prominent British Whig and Liberal Party politician of the mid-19th century.-Background and education:...	Whig
June 1826		William Leake	Whig
1830		Hon. Lloyd Kenyon Lloyd Kenyon, 3rd Baron Kenyon Lloyd Kenyon, 3rd Baron Kenyon , was a British peer and Member of Parliament.Kenyon was the son of George Kenyon, 2nd Baron Kenyon, and Margaret Emma Hanmer. His grandfather was Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon, Master of the Rolls and Lord Chief Justice of England...	Tory		John Heywood Hawkins	Whig
1831					Hon. William Samuel Best William Best, 2nd Baron Wynford William Samuel Best, 2nd Baron Wynford , was a British peer.-Background:Wynford was the son of William Best, 1st Baron Wynford, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and his wife, Mary Anne, daughter of Jerome Knapp Junior of Chilton in Berkshire , Clerk of the Haberdashers' Company, by his second...	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