| Callington | |
|---|---|
| Formerborough constituency for theHouse of Commons | |
| 1585–1832 | |
| Seats | Two |
| Replaced by | East Cornwall |
Callington was arotten borough inCornwall which returned twoMembers of Parliament to theHouse of Commons in theEnglish and laterBritish Parliament from 1585 to 1832, when it was abolished by theReform Act 1832.
The borough consisted of most of the town ofCallington in the East of Cornwall. Callington was the last of theCornish rotten boroughs to be enfranchised, returning its first members in 1585; like most of the Cornish boroughs enfranchised or re-enfranchised during theTudor period, it was a rotten borough from the start, and was never substantial enough to have a mayor and corporation.
The right to vote in Callington was disputed until a decision of the House of Commons in 1821 settled it as resting with "freeholders of the borough and ... life-tenants of freeholders, resident for 40 days before the election and rated to the poor at 40 shillings or more". This considerably enlarged the electorate, for there had been only 42 voters in the borough in 1816, but the Parliamentary return of 1831 reported that 225 were qualified. In the 18th century the power of the "patron" to influence the voters in Callington was considered absolute. In 1831 the borough had a population of 1,082, and 225 houses; the part of the town outside the borough boundaries contained only a further eight houses, leaving no scope to enlarge it. It was disfranchised by theGreat Reform Act in 1832.
The two patrons of thepocket borough of Callington were the Rolle family ofHeanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon (a junior branch of the Rolle family ofStevenstone andBicton in Devon) and the Coryton family of the adjacent manor of St. Mellion, Cornwall.[1]
In 1601 Robert Rolle (died 1633) ofHeanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon (a grandson ofGeorge Rolle (d.1552) ofStevenstone, founder of the Rolle family in Devon), purchased the manor ofCallington in Cornwall, thereby gaining thepocket borough seat of Callington in Parliament,[2] which in future served to promote the careers of many Rolles and descendants of that family. He nominated to this seat his first cousin once-removed[3]John Rolle (born 1563)[4] in 1601, hisbrotherWilliam Rolle (died 1652) in 1604 and 1614, his son SirHenry Rolle (1589–1656), ofShapwick, in 1620 and 1624, his son Samuel's father-in-lawThomas Wise (died March 1641) ofSydenham in Devon, in 1625, and another sonJohn Rolle (1598–1648), in 1626 and 1628.[5] The manor and borough were later inherited by the Rolle heiressMargaret Rolle (1709-1765),suo jure15th Baroness Clinton, wife ofRobert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford[6] whose son and heirGeorge Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (d.1791) died without progeny. It then passed by inheritance to her cousin George William Trefusis, ofTrefusis in Cornwall.[7]Robert George William Trefusis (1764–1797) successfully claimed the title (17th) Baron Clinton in 1794.[8] By 1816 it had passed toRobert Cotton St John Trefusis, 18th Baron Clinton but was no longer as secure as it had been, so that the Coryton family was sufficiently influential to challenge his power on occasion.
| Parliament | First member | Second member | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parliament of 1584–1585 | Thomas Lawton | Thomas Harris | |
| Parliament of 1586–1587 | Edward Aylworth | William Herle | |
| Parliament of 1588–1589 | Robert Worsley | Henry Golding | |
| Parliament of 1593 | Robert Carey | Carew Reynell | |
| Parliament of 1597–1598 | Henry Ferrers | John Egerton | |
| Parliament of 1601 | Miles Raynesford | John Rolle | |
| Parliament of 1604–1611 | Sir Roger Wilbraham | Sir William Rolle | |
| Addled Parliament (1614) | Humphrey Were | ||
| Parliament of 1621–1622 | Lord Wriothesley | Henry Rolle[9] | |
| Happy Parliament (1624–1625) | Sir Edward Seymour | ||
| Useless Parliament (1625) | Sir Richard Weston | Thomas Wise | |
| Parliament of 1625–1626 | Sir Clipseus Carew | John Rolle | |
| Parliament of 1628–1629 | Sir William Constable[10] | ||
| No Parliament summoned 1629–1640 | |||
