# West Looe (UK Parliament constituency)

West Looe, often spelt Westlow or alternative Westlowe, in Cornwall, England, was a rotten borough represented in the House of Commons of England from 1535 to 1707, in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It elected two Members of Parliament (MP) by the bloc vote system of election. It was disfranchised in the Reform Act 1832.

## History

West Looe was one of a number of Cornish boroughs enfranchised in the Tudor period, and like almost all of them it was a rotten borough from the start, with the size and importance of the community that comprised it quite inadequate to justify its representation. The borough consisted of the town of West Looe in Cornwall, connected by bridge across the River Looe to East Looe, which was also a parliamentary borough. From the reign of Edward VI, West Looe and East 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. At this early period, West Looe was sometimes alternatively referred to as Portby or Portpigham.

### Franchise

In 1660, the Commons had resolved that "the right of election is in the freemen and inhabitants paying scot and lot". But this determination proved to be ambiguous. It was presumably intended to secure the vote to the inhabitants whether or not they were freemen, but it was quickly re-interpreted as restricting the vote to those who were both freemen and residents. This arrangement was eventually formalised into a franchise held by the Mayor and members of the Corporation, providing they lived in the town. This corporation, which seems to have been set up for the purpose, consisted of 12 "capital burgesses" and an indefinite number of "free burgesses". The free burgesses were appointed by the corporation and tended to be few in number; furthermore, a small number of prominent local families provided the majority of both the corporation and the free burgesses. There were just 12 registered electors in 1816, and 19 in 1831.
In practice, this meant that the power to choose the MPs was in the hands of the local landowner or "proprietor", making West Looe (like East Looe) one of the most notorious of the rotten boroughs. For many years at the time of the Reform Act, West Looe had been controlled by the local gentry families of first the Trelawneys and later the Bullers of nearby Morval (which also controlled East Looe and Saltash), and many members of the Buller family sat for the borough in the House of Commons; nevertheless, they generally assuaged local feelings by allowing other local families some influence over one of the two seats.

### Elections

Elections at West Looe were almost always uncontested. There was not one contest at a general election between 1700 and 1832, although a by-election in 1765 was fought out when an alliance of local families clearly felt they had enough sway on the corporation to challenge the Buller domination; the Buller candidate won.
Their uncontested nature did not guarantee that elections ran smoothly. West Looe waited only until its second Parliament to have its first controversial election, choosing Dr Alexander Nowell, a Prebendary of Westminster, as one of its members in the second Parliament of 1553. At this stage the eligibility or otherwise of clergy to sit in the Commons was not established, and a committee of six was appointed to consider the case on 12 October 1553. The following day it reported that, since his ecclesiastical rank entitled him to a vote in Convocation, he could not sit in the House of Commons. A writ to elect a new member in his place was ordered, though there is no record that such an election was ever made. Nowell's case became established precedent as to the eligibility of similar candidates in future places. (The situation was not finally clarified until clergy were declared ineligible by statute early in the 19th century.)
Nearly two centuries later, West Looe was again found to have elected an ineligible candidate when it chose Edward Trelawny in 1734, who was a Commissioner of Customs at the time.

### Abolition

In 1831, when commissioners were collecting the statistics on which the Reform Act was founded, West Looe had a population of 593 and 126 houses; the borough and town were coterminous, giving no scope for expanding the boundaries to save it from disfranchisement. The borough was abolished by the Reform Act 1832, its voters being absorbed into the new Eastern Cornwall county division, which had its place of election at Bodmin.

## Members of Parliament
### 1553–1629

| Parliament | First member | Second member |
| First Parliament of 1553 | John Ashley | William Morice |
| Second Parliament of 1553 | Dr Alexander Nowell | Ralph Clive |
| Parliament of 1554 | William Bendlowes (?) | Robert Monson (?) |
| Parliament of 1554–1555 | Clement Higham | Ambrose Gilbert |
| Parliament of 1555 | William St Aubyn | John St Clair |
| Parliament of 1558 | | Oliver Becket |
| Parliament of 1559 | John More | William Pole |
| Parliament of 1563–1567 | John Fowler | John Young |
| Parliament of 1571 | Clement Throckmorton | John Fineux |
| Parliament of 1572–1581 | John Audley | William Hammond |
| Parliament of 1584–1585 | Thomas Lancaster | Geoffrey Gates |
| Parliament of 1586–1587 | Richard Champernowne | John Hammond |
| Parliament of 1588–1589 | Matthew Patteson | Robert Sanderson |
| Parliament of 1593 | John Shelbury | Hugh Beeston |
| Parliament of 1597–1598 | Robert Hitcham | Sir Henry Lennard |
| Parliament of 1601 | John Hare | Richard Verney |
| Parliament of 1604–1611 | Sir George Harvey, replaced after his death by Sir William Wade | Sir Henry Goodyer |
| Addled Parliament (1614) | Sir Edward Lewknor | John Harris |
| Parliament of 1621–1622 | Heneage Finch | Christopher Harris |
| Happy Parliament (1624–1625) | George Mynn | James Bagg |
| Useless Parliament (1625) | John Wolstenholme | Edward Thomas |
| Parliament of 1625–1626 | John Wolstenholme | John Rudhale |
| Parliament of 1628–1629 | John Parker | Edward Thomas |
| No Parliament summoned 1629–1640 |||

### 1640–1832

| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party |
| April 1640 | Anthony Mildmay | | George Potter | |
| November 1640 | Henry Killigrew | Royalist | Thomas Arundell | Parliamentarian |
| January 1644 | Killigrew disabled to sit – seat vacant | Killigrew disabled to sit – seat vacant | | Thomas Arundell | Parliamentarian |
| 1647 | John Arundell | | Thomas Arundell | Parliamentarian |
| November 1648 | John Arundell | | Thomas Arundell died – seat left vacant | Thomas Arundell died – seat left vacant |
| December 1648 | John Arundell excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | John Arundell excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | | Thomas Arundell died – seat left vacant | Thomas Arundell died – seat left vacant |
| 1653 | West Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament | West Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament | West Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament | West Looe was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament |
| 1654 | John Blackmore | | East Looe and West Looe jointly elected a single member to the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | East Looe and West Looe jointly elected a single member to the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate |
| 1656 | John Buller | | East Looe and West Looe jointly elected a single member to the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | East Looe and West Looe jointly elected a single member to the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate |
| January 1659 | Dr William Petty | | William Whitelock | |
| 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 |
| April 1660 | John Buller | | John Kendall | |
| April 1661 | John Trelawny | | John Nicholas | |
| June 1661 | John Trelawny | | Sir Henry Vernon | |
| 1677 | John Trelawny | | John Trelawny | |
| 1680 | John Trelawny | | Jonathan Trelawny | |
| 1685 | James Kendall | | Henry Trelawny | |
| 1689 | James Kendall | | Percy Kirke | |
| 1690 | Edward Seymour | Tory | Jonathan Trelawny | |
| 1695 | James Kendall | | John Mountstephen | |
| 1701 | James Kendall | | The Earl of Ranelagh | |
| July 1702 | Sidney Godolphin | | The Earl of Ranelagh | |
| December 1702 | Richard Hele | | The Earl of Ranelagh | |
| 1703 | Charles Seymour | | Henry Poley | |
| 1705 | Sir Charles Hedges | Tory | John Mountstephen | |
| 1707 | Sir Charles Hedges | Tory | Francis Palmes | |
| 1708 | Sir Charles Hedges | Tory | John Conyers | |
| 1710 | Sir Charles Hedges | Tory | Arthur Maynwaring | |
| April 1713 | Sir Charles Hedges | Tory | John Trelawny | |
| September 1713 | Rear Admiral Sir Charles Wager | | John Trelawny | |
| 1715 | Rear Admiral George Delaval | | Thomas Maynard | |
| 1722 | Rear Admiral George Delaval | | Sir John Trelawny | |
| 1724 | Edward Trelawny | | Sir John Trelawny | |
| 1727 | Edward Trelawny | | John Willes | |
| 1733 | Thomas Walker | | John Willes | |
| 1734 | Edward Trelawny | | John Willes | |
| 1735 | John Owen | | John Willes | |
| 1737 | John Owen | | John Strange | |
| 1741 | Benjamin Keene | | Admiral Sir Charles Wager | Whig |
| 1743 | Benjamin Keene | | John Frederick | |
| 1747 | William Noel | | John Frederick | |
| 1757 | William Trelawny | | John Frederick | |
| 1761 | William Trelawny | | Francis Buller | |
| 1765 | William Trelawny | | John Sargent | |
| 1767 | James Townsend | Whig | John Sargent | |
| 1768 | James Townsend | Whig | William Graves | |
| 1774 | Sir William James | | Charles Ogilvie | |
| 1775 | Sir William James | | John Rogers | |
| 1780 | Sir William James | | John Buller I | |
| 1782 | Sir William James | | John Cocks | |
| January 1784 | John Buller I | | John Cocks | |
| April 1784 | John Scott | | John Lemon | |
| August 1784 | John Scott | | James Adams | |
| 1790 | Sir John de la Pole | | John Pardoe | |
| May 1796 | Sitwell Sitwell | | John Buller II | |
| November 1796 | Sitwell Sitwell | | John Hookham Frere | |
| 1802 | James Buller II | | Thomas Smith | |
| 1803 | James Buller II | | Quintin Dick | |
| 1805 | Ralph Daniell | | Quintin Dick | |
| 1806 | Ralph Daniell | | James Buller II | |
| January 1812 | Ralph Daniell | | Sir Joseph Yorke | |
| October 1812 | Charles Buller I | Whig | Anthony Buller | Whig |
| 1816 | Sir Charles Hulse | Tory | Hon. Henry Fitzgerald-de Ros | Tory |
| 1818 | Sir Charles Hulse | Tory | Henry Goulburn | Tory |
| 1826 | Charles Buller I | Whig | John Buller II | Whig |
| 1827 | Charles Buller I | Whig | Sir Charles Hulse | Tory |
| 1830 | Charles Buller II | Whig | Sir Charles Hulse | Tory |
| 1831 | Sir Anthony Buller | Whig | Sir Charles Hulse | Tory |
| 1832 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |
Notes
* ↑ Page 323, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
* ↑ Nowell was declared ineligible to sit by virtue of being a prebendary of Westminster. A writ to elect a new member in his place was ordered, though there is no record that such an election was ever made. (Porritt, pp 125–6).
* ↑ "West Looe 1509–1558". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
* ↑ Thomas Bond's Topographical and historical sketches of the boroughs of East and West Looe, in the county of Cornwall (1823) gives four names as elected to the second Parliament of 1553 – A. Nevel, R.Clere, W. Bendlus and R. Mounson – and none for 1554. Browne Willis renders the first two names as Alexander Nowell and Richard Cleu and lists them for West Looe (Willis 1750, p. 26). He also lists William Bendlowes as elected for Helston and Robert Mounson for "Dunheved" (correctly the alternative name for Launceston but here apparently indicating Newport). His list omits West Looe completely in 1554, but it may be that their appearance in Bond's list, albeit against the wrong date, indicates that Bendlowes and Mounson were the members.
* 1 2 History of Parliament, House of Commons 1558–1603
* ↑ Bond and Browne Willis both only give the same single name for 1559 (Willis 1750, p. 63)
* 1 2 historyofparliamentonline.org, West Looe (1604–1629).
* ↑ Nicholas was also elected for Wilton and Ripon. He chose to represent Ripon, and never sat for West Looe
* ↑ Ranelagh was expelled from the Commons on 1 February 1703 when discrepancies were found in his accounts as Paymaster of the Army
* ↑ 1734: Edward Trelawny was a Commissioner of Customs at the time of election, which made him ineligible, and his election was void
* ↑ Hancock, David (3 January 2008). "Sargent, John (1714–1791)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49963. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

## Elections

General election 1754: West Looe (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Nonpartisan | John Frederick | Unopposed | N/A | N/A |
| | Nonpartisan | William Noel | Unopposed | N/A | N/A |
By-election, 1765: West Looe :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Nonpartisan | John Sargent | 23 | N/A | N/A |
| | Nonpartisan | James Townsend | Unknown | N/A | N/A |
Note: It is known that Townsend claimed 42 votes and that "the greater part" of these were declared invalid by the Returning Officer, but beyond the fact that his final total must have been lower than Sargent's the figure is not determinable