East Cornwall (UK Parliament constituency)

East Cornwall
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Cornwall
1832–1885
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	Bodmin, Launceston and St Austell
Created from	Cornwall, Bossiney, Callington, Camelford, East Looe, Lostwithiel, St Germans, Saltash and West Looe

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.

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]

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	Liberal	Sir William Salusbury-Trelawny, Bt	Liberal
		1837	Lord Eliot	Conservative	Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt	Liberal
		1841			William Rashleigh	Conservative
		1845 by-election	William Pole-Carew	Conservative
		1847			Thomas Agar-Robartes	Liberal
		1852	Nicholas Kendall	Conservative
		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	Charles Dyke Acland	Liberal
		1885	Constituency abolished

Election results

^[3]

General Election 1837: East Cornwall (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Lord Eliot	2,430	34.8%
	Whig	Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt	2,294	32.9%
	Whig	Mr J S Trelawny	2,250	32.3%
Majority
Turnout			6,974
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing
	Whig hold		Swing

^[3]

General Election 1841: East Cornwall (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Lord Eliot	3,006	40.3%
	Conservative	William Rashleigh	2,807	37.6%
	Whig	Mr J S Trelawny	1,647	22.1%
Majority
Turnout			7,460
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing

^[3]

General Election 1852: East Cornwall (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Whig	Thomas Agar-Robartes	2,609	39.6%
	Conservative	Nicholas Kendall	1,996	30.3%
	Conservative	William Pole-Carew	1,979	30.1%
Majority
Turnout			6,584
	Whig hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

^[3]

General Election 1874: East Cornwall (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Colman Rashleigh	3,396	26.6%
	Conservative	John Tremayne	3,276	25.7%
	Conservative	William Pole-Carew	3,099	24.3%
	Liberal	Reginald Kelly	2,976	23.3%
Majority
Turnout			12,747
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

^[3]

General Election 1880: East Cornwall (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Hon Thomas Agar-Robartes	4,018	30.1%
	Liberal	William Copeland Borlase	3,883	29.1%
	Conservative	John Tremayne	3,033	22.7%
	Conservative	Collins	2,403	18.0%
Majority
Turnout			13,337
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

See also

• List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies

References

1. Writing about differences in dialects within Cornwall Thomas Q. Couch wrote in 1880: "If asked to define roughly a boundary, I know none better than the Parliamentary line from Crantock Bay, on St. George's Channel, to Veryan Bay, on the English Channel, which bisects the county."
2. Smith (1844) The Parliaments of England
3. "East Cornwall Election". The Cornishman (92). 15 April 1880. p. 6.

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977)
• The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886-1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1978)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)