Bossiney was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall, one of a number of Cornish rotten boroughs. It returned two members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1552 until it was abolished by the Great Reform Act 1832.
History Bossiney was one of a number of small parliamentary boroughs established in Cornwall during the Tudor period, and was not a town of any importance even when first enfranchised. The borough consisted of the hamlet of Bossiney itself and the nearby village of Trevena, both in the parish of Tintagel on the North Cornwall coast. Enfranchisement of the two seats of parliament is generally attributed to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford in his capacity of Lord Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall.
The right to vote was vested in the mayor and freemen 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. In 1816, Oldfield recorded that there were only nine voters, eight of whom belonged to the same family. In 1831, the borough contained only 67 houses, and had a population of 308 with only 25 being entitled to vote.
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 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 at Padstow. In 1758, there was a dispute between Lord Edgcumbe and Samuel Martin, patron of nearby Camelford, 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.Page 144, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
The abuse of government patronage was considered a scandal even in the 18th century, and the Parliament Act 1782 (22 Geo. 3. c. 41) 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, 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 1832.
Members of Parliament
1553–1640 Constituency created (1553 or possibly earlier)Most sources state that Bossiney was first represented in the first parliament of 1553, which some (e.g. Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832, p. 22) refer to as the parliament of 1552–53 since it assembled on 1 March 1553 (New Style)/1 March 1552 Old Style. Peter Dyer suggests that MPs were elected before 1552, naming William Carnsew and John Withypoll as those for 1547. (Dyer, Peter, Tintagel: A Portrait of a Parish. Cambridge: Cambridge Books, 2005. ; pp. 500–01).
ParliamentFirst memberSecond memberParliament of 1547–1552William Carnsew (?)John Withypoll (?)First Parliament of 1553Humphrey CavillEdward GrimstonSecond Parliament of 1553Robert GayerRobert BeverleyParliament of 1554John BeaumontWilliam RoscarrockParliament of 1554–1555Richard ForsetGeorge HarrisonParliament of 1555Ralph Skinner?Parliament of 1558Thomas StanleyJohn KempthorneParliament of 1559Robert WarnerFrancis WalsinghamParliament of 1563–1567Hugh OwenStephen BraddenParliament of 1571Robert WrotheGeorge BassetParliament of 1572–1581Francis KinwellmarshRobert Doyly1581–1584Francis BaconRobert RedgeParliament of 1584–1585Sir Francis DrakeJohn LevesonParliament of 1586–1587William PoolJohn PeryamParliament of 1588–1589Henry SavileJohn HenderParliament of 1593Thomas HarrisParliament of 1597Parliament of Oct. 1597John AgmondeshamPercival Hart sat for KentParliament of 1601William HakewillSir Jerome HorseyParliament of 1604–1611George Upton (died)1609–11 George CalvertAddled Parliament (1614)John WoodParliament of 1621–1622Anthony ManatonThis name is given as Ambrose Mannington in Cobbett's Parliamentary History.Happy Parliament (1624–1625)Sir Richard WestonThomas BevansUseless Parliament (1625) Sir Francis CottingtonJonathan PrideauxParliament of 1625–1626 The Lord LambartPaul SpecotParliament of 1628–1629Richard Edgecumbe No Parliament summoned 1629–1640
1640–1832 YearFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond partyApril 1640 Edward Herle Parliamentarian Anthony Nicholl ParliamentarianNovember 1640 Sir John ClotworthyClotworthy was re-elected to serve in the Long Parliament but had also been elected for Maldon, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Bossiney again. Parliamentarian Sir Christopher Yelverton Parliamentarian 1641 (?) Sir Ralph SydenhamRoyalist September 1642Sydenham disabled from sitting - seat vacant1647Lionel CopleyDecember 1648Copley excluded in Pride's Purge - seat vacantYelverton not known to have sat after Pride's Purge1653Bossiney was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the ProtectorateJanuary 1659 Thomas Povey Samuel Trelawney May 1659Not represented in the restored RumpApril 1660 Francis Gerard Charles Pym June 1660 Sir William Brereton 1661 Robert Robartes Richard Rous 1673 Francis Robartes February 1679 William Coryton John Tregagle October 1679 Charles Robartes Narcissus Luttrell 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 1698 Sir John Pole John TregagleTregagle was re-elected in 1700, but following a petition alleging bribery and diversion of Duchy of Cornwall revenues, the election was declared void and a new writ issued. January 1701 Francis Robartes March 1701 Thomas Watson-Wentworth December 1701 Sir John Molesworth Tory John Manley 1702 William Hooker 1705 Sir Simon Harcourt Tory1708 Samuel Travers Francis Foote October 1710 Francis RobartesRobartes was also elected for Bodmin, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Bossiney in this Parliament. John Manley December 1710 Henry Campion 1713 Sir William Pole 1714 Paul Orchard 1715 Henry Cartwright Samuel Molyneux 1722 Robert Corker Henry Kelsall 1727 John Hedges 1731 James Cholmondeley 1734 The Viscount Palmerston Townshend Andrews 1737 Peregrine Poulett May 1741 Richard Liddell Thomas Foster December 1741Sabine and Tower won the election of 1741, but on petition they were unseated and their defeated opponents, Liddell and Foster, declared elected in their place. John Sabine Christopher Tower 1742 Richard Liddell Thomas Foster 1746 William Breton July 1747 Edward WortleyWortley was also elected for Peterborough, which he chose to represent, and never sat for Bossiney. Whig Richard Heath December 1747 William Ord 1752 William Montagu 1754 Edwin Sandys Edward Wortley Montagu 1761 John Richmond Webb Tory1766 John Stuart Tory1768 Henry Luttrell Tory1769 Sir George Osborn 1774 Hon. Henry Luttrell Tory1776 Hon. Charles Stuart 1784 Bamber Gascoigne (senior) 1786 Matthew Montagu 1790 Hon. James Archibald StuartStuart adopted the surname Wortley in 1794. Humphrey Minchin April 1796 Hon. Evelyn Pierrepont May 1796 John Stuart-Wortley John Lubbock1797 Hon. James Stuart-WortleyWortley was re-elected in 1819, but had also been elected for Yorkshire, which he chose to represent, and did not sit again for Bossiney. Tory1802 John Hiley Addington Tory1803 George Holford 1806 Henry Baring 1807 Peter Thellusson Tory1808 John Otway Cuffe Tory1817 William Yates Peel Tory1818 Sir Compton Domvile 1819 Hon. John Ward Tory1823 John Stuart-Wortley Tory1826 Edward Rose Tunno Tory1830 Charles James Stuart-Wortley Tory1831 John Stuart-Wortley Tory1832 Constituency abolished
Election results Elections in the 1830s
Caused by Stuart-Wortley's resignation
Notes
References
Beatson, Robert (1807) "A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament" London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme Brunton, D.; Pennington, D. H. (1954) Members of the Long Parliament London: George Allen & Unwin. Cobbett, William (1808) Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 London: Thomas Hansard Dyer, Peter (2005) Tintagel: a portrait of a parish. Cambridge: Cambridge Books. A full list of the MPs is given as an appendix. Jansson, Maija (ed.) (1988), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Oldfield, T. H. B. (1816) The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy. Philbin, J. Holladay (1965) Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales New Haven: Yale University Press. Porritt, Edward; Porritt, Annie G. (1903) The Unreformed House of Commons Cambridge University Press. Smith, Henry Stooks (1973) The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847, 2nd ed., edited by F. W. S. Craig. Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications. Taylor, William (1930). History of Tintagel: Compiled from Ancient Records and Modern Writers. Truro: Oscar Blackford. Townshend, Heywood (1680) Historical Collections: or, An Exact Account of the Proceedings of the Four Last Parliaments of Q. Elizabeth (1680)