# Callington (UK Parliament constituency)

Callington was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1585 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Reform Act 1832.

## History

The borough consisted of most of the town of Callington in the East of Cornwall. Callington was the last of the Cornish rotten boroughs to be enfranchised, returning its first members in 1585; like most of the Cornish boroughs enfranchised or re-enfranchised during the Tudor 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 the Great Reform Act in 1832.

## Patrons of pocket borough

The two patrons of the pocket borough of Callington were the Rolle family of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon (a junior branch of the Rolle family of Stevenstone and Bicton in Devon) and the Coryton family of the adjacent manor of St. Mellion, Cornwall.

### Rolle patronage

In 1601 Robert Rolle (died 1633) of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon (a grandson of George Rolle (d.1552) of Stevenstone, founder of the Rolle family in Devon), purchased the manor of Callington in Cornwall, thereby gaining the pocket borough seat of Callington in Parliament, 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 John Rolle (born 1563) in 1601, his brother William Rolle (died 1652) in 1604 and 1614, his son Sir Henry Rolle (1589–1656), of Shapwick, in 1620 and 1624, his son Samuel's father-in-law Thomas Wise (died March 1641) of Sydenham in Devon, in 1625, and another son John Rolle (1598–1648), in 1626 and 1628. The manor and borough were later inherited by the Rolle heiress Margaret Rolle (1709-1765), suo jure 15th Baroness Clinton, wife of Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford whose son and heir George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (d.1791) died without progeny. It then passed by inheritance to her cousin George William Trefusis, of Trefusis in Cornwall. Robert George William Trefusis (1764–1797) successfully claimed the title (17th) Baron Clinton in 1794. By 1816 it had passed to Robert 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.

## Members of Parliament
### 1585–1640

| 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 | Sir William Rolle |
| Parliament of 1621–1622 | Lord Wriothesley | Henry Rolle |
| Happy Parliament (1624–1625) | Sir Edward Seymour | Henry Rolle |
| Useless Parliament (1625) | Sir Richard Weston | Thomas Wise |
| Parliament of 1625–1626 | Sir Clipseus Carew | John Rolle |
| Parliament of 1628–1629 | Sir William Constable | John Rolle |
| No Parliament summoned 1629–1640 |||

### 1640–1832

| Year | | First member | First party | | Second member | Second party |
| April 1640 | | Sir Samuel Rolle | Parliamentarian | | Thomas Gardiner | Royalist |
| November 1640 | | Sir Arthur Ingram | Parliamentarian | | Hon. George Fane | Royalist |
| August 1642 | Ingram died August 1642 - seat vacant | Ingram died August 1642 - seat vacant | Ingram died August 1642 - seat vacant | | | | Hon. George Fane | Royalist |
| January 1643 | Ingram died August 1642 - seat vacant | Ingram died August 1642 - seat vacant | Ingram died August 1642 - seat vacant | Fane disabled from sitting - seat vacant | Fane disabled from sitting - seat vacant | Fane disabled from sitting - seat vacant |
| 1646 | | Lord Clinton | | | Thomas Dacres | |
| December 1648 | Clinton and Dacres excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Clinton and Dacres excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Clinton and Dacres excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Clinton and Dacres excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Clinton and Dacres excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Clinton and Dacres excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant |
| 1653 | Callington was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Callington was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Callington was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Callington was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Callington was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Callington was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate |
| January 1659 | | Thomas Carew | | | Anthony Buller | |
| May 1659 | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump | Not represented in the restored Rump |
| April 1660 | | Robert Rolle | | | Edward Herle | |
| June 1660 | | Robert Rolle | | | John Coryton | |
| July 1660 | | Sir Hugh Pollard | | | John Coryton | |
| May 1661 | | Allen Brodrick | | | Sir Cyril Wyche | |
| June 1661 | | Sir Henry Bennet | | | Sir Cyril Wyche | |
| 1665 | | Samuel Rolle | | | Sir Cyril Wyche | |
| February 1679 | | Samuel Rolle | | | John Coryton | |
| October 1679 | | Richard Carew | | | William Trevisa | |
| 1681 | | Richard Carew | | | William Coryton | |
| 1685 | | Sir John Coryton | | | William Coryton | |
| 1689 | | Sir John Coryton | | | Jonathan Prideaux | |
| February 1690 | | Sir John Coryton | | | Francis Fulford | |
| October 1690 | | Jonathan Prideaux | | | Francis Fulford | |
| 1695 | | Sir William Coryton | | | Francis Gwyn | |
| 1698 | | Sir William Coryton | | | Francis Fulford | |
| January 1701 | | Sir William Coryton | | | Robert Rolle | |
| December 1701 | | Samuel Rolle | | | Robert Rolle | |
| 1702 | | Samuel Rolle | | | John Acland | |
| 1703 | | Samuel Rolle | | | Sir William Coryton | |
| 1712 | | Samuel Rolle | | | Henry Manaton | |
| 1713 | | Samuel Rolle | | | Sir John Coryton | |
| 1719 | | Thomas Coplestone | Whig | | Sir John Coryton | |
| 1722 | | Thomas Coplestone | Whig | | Thomas Lutwyche | |
| 1727 | | Thomas Coplestone | Whig | | Sir John Coryton | |
| 1734 | | Thomas Coplestone | Whig | | Isaac le Heup | |
| 1741 | | Thomas Coplestone | Whig | | Hon. Horatio Walpole | Whig |
| 1748 | | Edward Bacon | | | Hon. Horatio Walpole | Whig |
| 1754 | | Hon. Sewallis Shirley | | | John Sharpe | |
| 1756 | | Hon. Sewallis Shirley | | | Fane William Sharpe | |
| 1761 | | Richard Stevens | | | Fane William Sharpe | |
| 1768 | | Thomas Worsley | | | Fane William Sharpe | |
| 1771 | | Thomas Worsley | | | William Skrine | |
| 1774 | | John Dyke Acland | | | William Skrine | |
| 1778 | | George Stratton | | | William Skrine | |
| 1780 | | George Stratton | | | John Morshead | |
| 1784 | | Sir John Call | | | Paul Orchard | |
| 1801 | | John Inglett-Fortescue | | | Paul Orchard | |
| 1803 | | Ambrose St John | | | Paul Orchard | |
| 1806 | | William Wickham | | | William Garrow | Whig |
| 1807 | | Lord Binning | Tory | | Thomas Carter | |
| 1810 | | Lord Binning | Tory | | William Stephen Poyntz | Whig |
| 1812 | | Sir John Leman Rogers | | | William Stephen Poyntz | Whig |
| 1813 | | Hon. Charles Trefusis | Tory | | William Stephen Poyntz | Whig |
| 1818 | | Hon. Edward Pyndar Lygon | Tory | | Sir Christopher Robinson | Tory |
| 1820 | | Matthias Attwood | Whig | | William Thompson | Whig |
| 1826 | | Matthias Attwood | Whig | | Alexander Baring | Whig |
| 1830 | | Bingham Baring | Whig | | Alexander Baring | Whig |
| 1831 | | Henry Bingham Baring | Tory | | Hon. Edward Herbert | Tory |
| 1832 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |