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 (MPs) by the bloc vote system of election.

East Cornwall
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Context of 1832-1868. Extract from 1837 result: the middle, striped area.
County	Cornwall
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Created from	Cornwall, Bossiney, Callington, Camelford, East Looe, Lostwithiel, St Germans, Saltash and West Looe
Replaced by	Bodmin, Launceston and St Austell

Boundaries

In 1832 the county of Cornwall, in south west England, was split for parliamentary purposes into two county divisions. These were the East division (with a place of election at Bodmin) and West Cornwall (where voting took place at Truro). Each division returned two members to Parliament.^[1]

The parliamentary boroughs included in the East division, from 1832 to 1885 (whose non-resident 40 shilling freeholders voted in the county constituency), were Bodmin, Launceston and Liskeard.^[2]

1832–1885: The Hundreds of East, West, Lesnewth, Stratton, and Trigg, and in the hundred of Powder, the eastern division, i.e. the parishes of St Austell, St Blazey, St Dennis, St Ewe, Fowey, Gorran, Ladock, Lanlivery, Lostwithiel, Luxulyan, Mevagissey, St Mewan, St Michael Caerhays, Roche, St Sampson's, St Stephen-in-Brannel, and Tywardreath, and in the hundred of Pydar, the parishes of St Breock, Colan, St Columb Minor and St Columb Major, St Ervan, St Eval, St Issey, Lanhydrock, Lanivet, Mawgan, St Merryn, Padstow, Little Petherick, St Wenn, and Withiel.^[3]

History

In 1885 this division was abolished, when the East and West Cornwall county divisions were replaced by six new single-member county constituencies. These were Bodmin (the South-Eastern division), Camborne (North-Western division), Launceston (North-Eastern division), St Austell (Mid division), St Ives (the Western division) and Truro. In addition the last remaining Cornish borough constituency was Penryn and Falmouth.

Members of Parliament

Election			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		1832	Sir William Molesworth, Bt	Radical[4][5][6][7][8]	Sir William Salusbury-Trelawny, Bt	Whig[4]
		1837	Lord Eliot	Conservative[4]	Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt	Whig[4][9]
		1841			William Rashleigh	Conservative[4]
		1845 by-election	William Pole-Carew	Conservative
		1847			Thomas Agar-Robartes	Whig[10][11]
		1852	Nicholas Kendall	Conservative
		1859				Liberal
		1868	Sir John Salusbury-Trelawney, Bt	Liberal	Edward Brydges Willyams	Liberal
		1874	Sir Colman Rashleigh, Bt	Liberal	John Tremayne	Conservative
		1880	Hon. Thomas Agar-Robartes	Liberal	William Copeland Borlase	Liberal
		1882 by-election	Thomas Dyke Acland	Liberal
		1885	Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1832: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[12][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Radical	William Molesworth	Unopposed
	Whig	William Salusbury-Trelawny	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,462
	Radical win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

General election 1835: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[12][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Radical	William Molesworth	Unopposed
	Whig	William Salusbury-Trelawny	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,392
	Radical hold
	Whig hold

General election 1837: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[13][12][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Edward Eliot	2,430	34.8
	Whig	Hussey Vivian	2,294	32.9
	Whig	William Salusbury-Trelawny	2,250	32.3
Turnout			4,648	85.0
Registered electors			5,469
Majority			136	1.9
	Conservative gain from Radical
Majority			44	0.6
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[13][12][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Eliot	3,006	40.3	+22.9
	Conservative	William Rashleigh	2,807	37.6	+20.2
	Radical	John Trelawny[14]	1,647	22.1	N/A
Majority			1,160	15.5	+13.6
Turnout			4,549	74.9	−10.1
Registered electors			6,076
	Conservative hold		Swing	+22.9
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+20.2

Eliot was appointed Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 22 September 1841: East Cornwall^[12][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Eliot	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Eliot was elevated to the peerage, becoming 3rd Earl of St Germans and causing a by-election.

By-election, 20 February 1845: East Cornwall^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Pole-Carew	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1847: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Pole-Carew	Unopposed
	Whig	Thomas Agar-Robartes	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,270
	Conservative hold
	Whig gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[13][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Thomas Agar-Robartes	2,609	39.6	N/A
	Conservative	Nicholas Kendall	1,996	30.3	N/A
	Conservative	William Pole-Carew	1,979	30.1	N/A
Majority			613	9.3	N/A
Turnout			4,597 (est)	80.7 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			5,694
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1857: East Cornwall (2 seats) ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Thomas Agar-Robartes	Unopposed
	Conservative	Nicholas Kendall	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,261
	Whig hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Agar-Robartes	Unopposed
	Conservative	Nicholas Kendall	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,240
	Liberal gain from Whig
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Kendall	Unopposed
	Liberal	Thomas Agar-Robartes	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,781
	Conservative hold
	Liberal hold

General election 1868: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Salusbury-Trelawny	Unopposed
	Liberal	Edward Brydges Willyams	Unopposed
Registered electors			8,701
	Liberal hold
	Liberal gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[13][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Colman Rashleigh	3,395	26.6	N/A
	Conservative	John Tremayne	3,276	25.7	New
	Conservative	William Pole-Carew	3,099	24.3	New
	Liberal	Reginald Kelly	2,978	23.4	N/A
Turnout			6,374 (est)	71.0 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			8,982
Majority			296	2.3	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
Majority			298	2.3	N/A
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: East Cornwall (2 seats)^[13][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Agar-Robartes	4,018	30.1	+3.5
	Liberal	William Copeland Borlase	3,883	29.1	+5.7
	Conservative	John Tremayne	3,033	22.7	−3.0
	Conservative	Digby Collins[15]	2,403	18.0	−6.3
Majority			850	6.4	N/A
Turnout			6,669 (est)	72.9 (est)	+1.9
Registered electors			9,150
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Robartes was elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Robartes.

By-election, 3 Apr 1882: East Cornwall (1 seat)^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Dyke Acland	3,720	51.4	−7.8
	Conservative	John Tremayne	3,520	48.6	+7.9
Majority			200	2.8	−3.6
Turnout			7,240	76.3	+3.4 (est)
Registered electors			9,484
	Liberal hold		Swing	−7.9

There were 86 spoiled papers, which was considered an unusually high number.^[16]

See also

• Cornwall portal

• List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies