# Mitchell (UK Parliament constituency)

Mitchell, or St Michael (sometimes also called St Michael's Borough or Michaelborough), was a rotten borough consisting of the town (or village) of Mitchell, Cornwall. From the first Parliament of Edward VI, in 1547, it elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons.

## History

The borough encompassed parts of two parishes, Newlyn East and St Enoder. Like most of the Cornish boroughs enfranchised or re-enfranchised during the Tudor period, it was a rotten borough from the start.
The franchise in Mitchell was a matter of controversy in the 17th century, but was settled by a House of Commons resolution on 20 March 1700 which stated "That the right of election of members to serve in Parliament for the Borough of St Michael's, in the County of Cornwall, is in the portreeves, and lords of the manor, who are capable of being portreeves, and the inhabitants of the said borough paying scot and lot": this gave the vote to most of the male householders.
The borough was often not in the complete control of a single proprietor, the voters being swayed between those of the lords of the manor from whom they expected to receive most benefit in return. Namier quotes a memorandum on the state of the Cornish boroughs from Lord Edgcumbe to Prime Minister Newcastle in 1760, describing the Mitchell voters as
   "in general low, indigent people, [who] will join such of the Under Lords from whom they have reason to expect most money and favours. Admiral Boscawen..., by supplying some of the voters with money and conferring favours on others, seems to be adding very considerably to the strength of his interest."
The landowners, however, had other expedients for gaining control. The number of voters, which in 1784 had been at least 39, was reduced by 1831 to just seven, achieved by pulling down a number of houses in the borough and letting those houses that still stood on conditions which prevented the occupiers appearing on the parish rates. The proprietors by the 1820s were the Earl of Falmouth (a Boscawen) and Sir Christopher Hawkins, Hawkins having purchased his interest some years previously from Sir Francis Basset; but Mitchell having thus been reduced to one of the smallest of all the rotten boroughs (in 1831, the borough had a population of approximately 90, and 23 houses), it was naturally disfranchised by the Reform Act 1832.
Mitchell's early MPs included the explorer and statesman Walter Raleigh, who sat briefly for the borough in the 1590s while out of favour at court and so unable to secure a more prestigious seat. A later MP was the future Duke of Wellington, who as Sir Arthur Wellesley represented the borough from January to May 1807, for part of which time he was a junior minister (Chief Secretary for Ireland) in the Duke of Portland's second government.

## Members of Parliament
### 1547–1629

| Parliament | First member | Second member |
| Parliament of 1547–1552 | Ralph Cholmley | Hugh Cartwright |
| First Parliament of 1553 | Robert Beverley | Humphrey Moseley |
| Second Parliament of 1553 | Francis Goldsmith | Edward Chamberlain |
| Parliament of 1554 | Clement Tussard | Andrew Tussard |
| Parliament of 1554–1555 | Paul Stamford | Andrew Tussard |
| Parliament of 1555 | John Arundell | John Thomas |
| Parliament of 1558 | John Arundell | Thomas Gardiner |
| Parliament of 1559 | Drue Drury | Robert Colshill |
| Parliament of 1562 | Robert Hopton | Thomas Wilson |
| Parliament of 1571 | Edward Stafford | Francis Alford |
| Parliament of 1572–1581 | Charles Lister | Thomas West |
| Parliament of 1584–1585 | Edward Barker | James Erisey |
| Parliament of 1586–1587 | Thomas Cosworth | Henry Sumaster |
| Parliament of 1588–1589 | Edward Cosworth | James Clarke |
| Parliament of 1593 | Sir Walter Raleigh | Richard Reynell |
| Parliament of 1597–1598 | John Arundell (of Trerice) | John Carew |
| Parliament of 1601 | George Chudleigh | William Cholmley |
| Parliament of 1604–1611 | William Cary | William Hakewill |
| Addled Parliament (1614) | Christopher Hodson | Walter Hickman |
| Parliament of 1621–1622 | Richard Carew | John St Aubyn |
| Happy Parliament (1624–1625) | John Holles Denzil Holles | John Sawle |
| Useless Parliament (1625) | Henry Sandys | Sir John Smith |
| Parliament of 1625–1626 | Francis Crossing | Sir John Smith |
| Parliament of 1628–1629 | Francis Buller | John Sparke |
| No Parliament summoned 1629–1640 |||

### 1640–1832

| Year | | First member | First party | | Second member | Second party |
| April 1640 | Double return | Double return | Double return | Double return | Double return | Double return |
| November 1640 | | William Chadwell | Royalist | | John Arundell | Royalist |
| 1640 | | William Chadwell | Royalist | | Robert Holborne | Royalist |
| August 1642 | | William Chadwell | Royalist | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant |
| January 1644 | Chadwell disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Chadwell disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Chadwell disabled from sitting – seat vacant | | | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant |
| 1647 | | Lord Kerr | | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant |
| December 1648 | Kerr excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | Kerr excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | Kerr excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | | | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant | Holborne disabled from sitting – seat vacant |
| 1653 | Mitchell was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Mitchell was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Mitchell was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Mitchell was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Mitchell was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Mitchell was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate |
| January 1659 | | James Launce | | | Richard Lobb | |
| 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 | | Thomas Carew | | | Heneage Finch | |
| May 1660 | | Thomas Carew | | | John Alleyn | |
| 1661 | | Matthew Wren | | | Sir Edward Mosley | |
| 1665 | | Matthew Wren | | | The Lord Hawley | |
| 1673 | | Humphrey Borlase | | | The Lord Hawley | |
| 1679 | | Sir John St Aubyn | | | Walter Vincent | |
| 1681 | | Sir William Russell | | | Henry Vincent | |
| 1685 | | Thomas Price | | | John Vivian | |
| January 1689 | | The Viscount Fanshawe | Tory | | Francis Vyvyan (MP for Mitchell) | |
| September 1689 | | William Coryton | | | Francis Vyvyan (MP for Mitchell) | |
| December 1689 | | Humphrey Courtney | | | Francis Vyvyan (MP for Mitchell) | |
| March 1690 | | Anthony Rowe | | | Francis Scobell | |
| November 1690 | | Humphrey Courtney | | | Francis Scobell | |
| 1695 | | Humphrey Courtney | | | Thomas Vyvyan | |
| 1697 | | John Tregagle | | | John Povey | |
| 1698 | | Sir John Hawles | Whig | | John Povey | |
| January 1701 | | William Beaw | | | Anthony Rowe | |
| March 1701 | | William Beaw | | | Sir Richard Vyvyan | |
| December 1701 | | William Courtney | | | Sir Richard Vyvyan | |
| 1702 | | Renatus Bellott | | | Francis Basset | |
| 1705 | | Sir William Hodges | | | Hugh Fortescue | |
| 1710 | | Abraham Blackmore | | | Richard Belasyse | |
| 1713 | | Sir Henry Belasyse | | | John Statham | |
| 1715 | | Nathaniel Blakiston | | | Robert Molesworth | Whig |
| 1722 | | Charles Selwyn | | | John Hedges | |
| 1727 | | Henry Kelsall | | | Thomas Farrington | |
| 1734 | | Thomas Watts | | | Robert Ord | |
| 1741 | | Edward Clive | | | John Ord | |
| May 1745 | | Richard Lloyd | | | John Ord | |
| November 1745 | | Richard Lloyd | | | Sir Edward Pickering | |
| 1747 | | Thomas Clarke | | | Albert Nesbitt | |
| 1753 | | Thomas Clarke | | | Arnold Nesbitt | |
| 1754 | | John Stephenson | | | Robert Clive | |
| 1755 | | Simon Luttrell | | | Richard Hussey | |
| 1761 | | John Stephenson | | | James Scawen | |
| 1774 | | John Stephenson | | | Hon. Thomas Howard | |
| 1779 | | John Stephenson | | | Francis Hale | |
| 1780 | | Hon. William Hanger | | | Francis Hale | |
| 1784 | | David Howell | | | Sir Christopher Hawkins | Tory |
| 1796 | | Sir Stephen Lushington | Whig | | Sir Christopher Hawkins | Tory |
| 1799 | | Sir Stephen Lushington | Whig | | John Simpson | |
| 1802 | | Robert Dallas | Tory | | Robert Sharpe Ainslie | |
| 1805 | | Earl of Dalkeith | | | Robert Sharpe Ainslie | |
| 1806 | | Sir Christopher Hawkins | Tory | | Frederick Trench | Tory |
| January 1807 | | Hon. Sir Arthur Wellesley | Tory | | Henry Conyngham Montgomery | |
| May 1807 | | Edward Leveson-Gower | Tory | | George Galway Mills | |
| July 1807 | | Sir James Hall, Bt | | | George Galway Mills | |
| 1808 | | Sir James Hall, Bt | | | Charles Trelawny-Brereton | |
| 1809 | | Sir James Hall, Bt | | | John Bruce | |
| 1812 | | George Hobart | | | John Bruce | |
| 1813 | | Hon. Edward Law | Tory | | John Bruce | |
| August 1814 | | Hon. Edward Law | Tory | | Charles Trelawny-Brereton | |
| December 1814 | | Hon. Edward Law | Tory | | Lord Binning | Tory |
| 1818 | | Sir George Staunton, Bt | | | William Leake | |
| 1820 | | Sir George Staunton, Bt | | | William Taylor Money | |
| April 1826 | | Sir George Staunton, Bt | | | Henry Labouchere | Whig |
| June 1826 | | William Leake | Whig | | Henry Labouchere | Whig |
| 1830 | | Hon. Lloyd Kenyon | Tory | | John Heywood Hawkins | Whig |
| 1831 | | Hon. Lloyd Kenyon | Tory | | Hon. William Best | Tory |
| 1832 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |