# East Looe (UK Parliament constituency)

East Looe was a parliamentary borough represented in the House of Commons of England from 1571 to 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 until its abolition in 1832. It elected two Members of Parliament (MP) by the bloc vote system of election. It was disenfranchised in the Reform Act 1832.

## History

The borough consisted of the town of East Looe in Cornwall, connected by bridge across the River Looe to West Looe, which was also a parliamentary borough. From the reign of Edward VI, East Looe and West Looe were jointly a borough, returning two members of Parliament; however, under Queen Elizabeth the two towns were separated, and each thereafter returned two members except between 1654 and 1658, when they were once again represented jointly as East Looe and West Looe, by one member of the First and Second Protectorate Parliaments.
The right of election was in Mayor and members of the corporation, together with a number of freemen of the borough. Namier and Brooke estimated that there were about fifty voters in this constituency in the second half of the eighteenth century. It is estimated that by 1800 there were still about fifty electors, and in 1831 the number of eligible voters was 38 while the population of the borough was 865.
In practice, this meant that the power to choose the MPs was in the hands of the local landowner or "proprietor", making East Looe (like West Looe) one of the most notorious of the rotten boroughs. The borough was long controlled by the Trelawny family of the nearby manor of Trelawny in the parish of Pelynt. For many years at the time of the Reform Act, East Looe had been controlled by the Buller family of Morval (which also controlled West Looe and Saltash), and many members of the family sat for the borough in the House of Commons.
After the Reform Act 1832 disenfranchised the borough, it reverted to being represented as part of the county constituency covering its area. Cornwall was divided into two divisions in 1832, East Cornwall (with its place of election at Bodmin) and West Cornwall (which voted at Truro). East Looe was located in East Cornwall.

## Members of Parliament
### 1571–1629

| Parliament | First member | Second member |
| Parliament of 1571 | John Wolley | Edward Cordel |
| Parliament of 1572–1583 | Thomas Stone | Thomas West |
| Parliament of 1584–1585 | Richard Spencer | Anthony Rous |
| Parliament of 1586–1587 | Abraham Hartwell | Edward Trelawny |
| Parliament of 1588–1589 | Anthony Everard | Sir Robert Jermyn |
| Parliament of 1593 | William Hampden | Gregory Downhall |
| Parliament of 1597–1598 | Ambrose Bellot | Robert Gawdy |
| Parliament of 1601 | John Hanham | Robert Yardley |
| Parliament of 1604–1611 | Sir Robert Phelips | Sir John Parker |
| Addled Parliament (1614) | George Chudleigh | Sir Reginald Mohun |
| Parliament of 1621–1622 | Sir John Walter | Sir Jerome Horsey |
| Happy Parliament (1624–1625) | Sir John Walter | Bartholomew Specot |
| Useless Parliament (1625) | Sir James Bagge | Sir John Trevor |
| Parliament of 1625–1626 | Sir James Bagge | John Chudleigh |
| Parliament of 1628–1629 | William Murray | Paul Specot |
| No Parliament summoned 1629–1640 |||

### 1640–1832

| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party |
| April 1640 | William Scawen | | William Code | |
| November 1640 | Thomas Lower | Royalist | Francis Buller | Parliamentarian |
| January 1644 | Lower disabled to sit – seat vacant | Lower disabled to sit – seat vacant | | Francis Buller | Parliamentarian |
| 1647 | John Moyle | | Francis Buller | Parliamentarian |
| December 1648 | John Moyle | | Buller excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | Buller excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant |
| 1653 | East Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament | East Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament | East Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament | East Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament |
| 1654 | Major John Blackmore | | In the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate, one MP was elected jointly for East Looe and West Looe | In the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate, one MP was elected jointly for East Looe and West Looe |
| 1656 | John Buller | | In the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate, one MP was elected jointly for East Looe and West Looe | In the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate, one MP was elected jointly for East Looe and West Looe |
| January 1659 | John Buller | | John Kendall | |
| 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 |
| 1660 | Henry Seymour | | Jonathan Trelawny | |
| 1661 | Henry Seymour | | Robert Atkyns | |
| 1673 | Henry Seymour | | Walter Langdon | |
| 1677 | Henry Seymour | | Charles Osborne | |
| 1679 | Henry Seymour | | Sir Jonathan Trelawny | |
| 1681 | John Kendall | | Sir Jonathan Trelawny | |
| 1685 | Charles Trelawny | Tory | Sir William Trumbull | Whig |
| 1689 | Charles Trelawny | Tory | Henry Trelawny | |
| 1699 | Sir Henry Seymour | | Henry Trelawny | |
| 1701 | Sir Henry Seymour | | Francis Godolphin | |
| February 1702 | Sir Henry Seymour | | George Courtenay | |
| July 1702 | Sir Henry Seymour | | Sir John Pole | |
| 1705 | Sir Henry Seymour | | George Clarke | |
| 1708 | Sir Henry Seymour | | Harry Trelawny | |
| 1710 | Sir Henry Seymour | | Thomas Smith | |
| 1713 | Sir Charles Hedges | Tory | Edward Jennings | |
| 1715 | John Smith | Whig | Sir James Bateman | |
| 1718 | John Smith | Whig | Horatio Walpole | |
| 1722 | John Smith | Whig | William Lowndes | |
| January 1724 | Viscount Malpas | Whig | William Lowndes | |
| February 1724 | Viscount Malpas | Whig | Sir Henry Hoghton | |
| 1727 | Charles Longueville | | Sir John Trelawny | |
| 1734 | Charles Longueville | | Edward Trelawny | |
| 1735 | Charles Longueville | | Samuel Holden | |
| 1740 | Charles Longueville | | Henry Legge | Whig |
| 1741 | Francis Gashry | Whig | James Buller | Tory |
| 1747 | Francis Gashry | Whig | John Buller | |
| 1762 | The Viscount Palmerston | | John Buller | |
| 1768 | Richard Hussey | | John Buller | |
| 1770 | Richard Leigh | | John Buller | |
| 1772 | John Purling | | John Buller | |
| 1774 | Sir Charles Whitworth | | John Buller | |
| January 1775 | Thomas Graves | | John Buller | |
| June 1775 | William Graves | | John Buller | |
| 1783 | John Hamilton | Tory | John Buller | |
| 1784 | William Graves | | John Buller | |
| May 1786 | Alexander Irvine | Tory | John Buller | |
| September 1786 | Alexander Irvine | Tory | Richard Grosvenor | Tory |
| 1788 | Alexander Irvine | Tory | Viscount Belgrave | Tory |
| February 1790 | The Earl of Carysfort | Tory | Viscount Belgrave | Tory |
| June 1790 | Robert Wood | Tory | Hon. William Wellesley-Pole | Tory |
| 1795 | Robert Wood | Tory | Charles Arbuthnot | Tory |
| 1796 | John Buller | Tory | William Graves | Tory |
| 1798 | John Buller | Tory | Frederick William Buller | Tory |
| May 1799 | John Smith | Tory | Frederick William Buller | Tory |
| July 1799 | Sir John Mitford | Tory | Frederick William Buller | Tory |
| February 1802 | James Buller | Tory | Frederick William Buller | Tory |
| July 1802 | Sir Edward Buller | Tory | John Buller | Tory |
| 1807 | Sir Edward Buller | Tory | David Vanderheyden | Tory |
| 1816 | Sir Edward Buller | Tory | Thomas Potter Macqueen | Tory |
| 1820 | George Watson-Taylor | Tory | Thomas Potter Macqueen | Tory |
| March 1826 | Lord Perceval | Tory | Thomas Potter Macqueen | Tory |
| June 1826 | William Lascelles | Tory | James Drummond Buller-Elphinstone | Tory |
| 1829 | William Lascelles | Tory | Henry Thomas Hope | Tory |
| 1830 | Thomas Arthur Kemmis | Tory | Henry Thomas Hope | Tory |
| 1832 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |