# Saltash (UK Parliament constituency)

Saltash, sometimes called Essa, 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 1552 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

## History

The borough consisted of the town of Saltash, a market town facing Plymouth and Devonport across the Tamar estuary, and the inhabitants by 1831 were mainly fishermen or Devonport dockworkers. Like most of the Cornish boroughs enfranchised or re-enfranchised during the Tudor period, it was a rotten borough from the start.
Saltash was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote rested with the tenants of certain specified properties. For a long period in the 18th century, there was a contest for control of the borough between the government and the Buller family of Morval, depending partly on legal uncertainties over the precise number and identity of the burgage properties to which votes were attached. In the 1760s it was considered an entirely secure Admiralty borough, where the naval influence could sway all the voters, but by 1831 the Bullers owned all the tenancies and considered themselves the patrons.
In 1831, the borough had a population of 1,637, and 245 houses.

## Members of Parliament
### MPs 1547–1629

| Parliament | First member | Second member |
| Parliament of 1547 | Christopher Smith | Henry Fisher |
| Parliament of 1553 (Mar) | George Kekewich | Edward Saunders |
| Parliament of 1553 (Oct) | Richard Weston | Thomas Martin |
| Parliament of 1554 (Apr) | Peter St Hill | Humphrey Cavell |
| Parliament of 1554 (Nov) | Oliver Debett | Humphrey Cavell |
| Parliament of 1555 | Alexander Nowell | Nicholas St John (?) |
| Parliament of 1558 | Thomas Williams | Francis Yaxley |
| Parliament of 1559 | Richard Reynell | Richard Forsett |
| Parliament of 1562 | Thomas Carew | James Dalton |
| By-election 1566 | Henry Killagrew | James Dalton |
| Parliament of 1571 | William Page | James Dalton |
| Parliament of 1572-1581 | William Page | James Dalton |
| Parliament of 1584 | Richard Carew | Dr William Clerk |
| Parliament of 1586-1587 | George Carew | John Acland |
| Parliament of 1588-1589 | George Carew | Arthur Gorge |
| Parliament of 1593 | George Carew | Jerome Horsey |
| Parliament of 1597-1598 | Gregory Downhall | Ellis Wynn |
| Parliament of 1601 | Sir Robert Cross | Alexander Nevill |
| Parliament of 1604-1611 | Sir Peter Manwood | Thomas Wyvell |
| Addled Parliament (1614) | Ranulph Crewe | Sir Robert Phelips |
| Parliament of 1621-1622 | Sir Thomas Trevor | Sir Thomas Smith |
| Happy Parliament (1624-1625) | Sir Thomas Trevor | Francis Buller |
| Useless Parliament (1625) | Sir Richard Buller | Francis Buller |
| Parliament of 1625-1626 | Sir Richard Buller | Sir John Hayward |
| Parliament of 1628-1629 | Sir Richard Buller | Sir Francis Cottington |
| No Parliament summoned 1629-1640 |||

### MPs 1640–1832

| Year | | First member | First party | | Second member | Second party |
| April 1640 | | George Buller | Parliamentarian | | Francis Buller | Parliamentarian |
| November 1640 | | George Buller | Parliamentarian | | Edward Hyde | Royalist |
| August 1642 | | George Buller | Parliamentarian | Hyde disabled from sitting - seat vacant | Hyde disabled from sitting - seat vacant | Hyde disabled from sitting - seat vacant |
| 1646 | | John Thynne | | | Henry Wills | |
| December 1648 | Thynne and Wills excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Thynne and Wills excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Thynne and Wills excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Thynne and Wills excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Thynne and Wills excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant | Thynne and Wills excluded in Pride's Purge - both seats vacant |
| 1653 | Saltash was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Saltash was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Saltash was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Saltash was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Saltash was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | Saltash was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate |
| January 1659 | | Edmund Prideaux (of Prideaux Place, Padstow) | | | John 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 | | Francis Buller | | | Anthony Buller | |
| 1661 | | Francis Buller | | | John Buller | |
| February 1679 | | Bernard Granville | | | Nicholas Courtney | |
| September 1679 | | William Jennens | | | Sir John Davie | |
| 1681 | | Bernard Granville | | | Sir John Davie | |
| 1685 | | Sir Cyril Wyche | | | Edmund Waller | |
| 1689 | | Bernard Granville | | | John Waddon | |
| 1690 | | Sir John Carew | | | Richard Carew | |
| 1691 | | Sir John Carew | | | Narcissus Luttrell | |
| 1692 | | Michael Hill | | | Narcissus Luttrell | |
| 1695 | | Francis Buller | | | Walter Moyle | Whig |
| March 1698 | | Francis Pengelly | | | Walter Moyle | Whig |
| August 1698 | | John Specott | | | John Morice | |
| 1699 | | James Buller | | | John Morice | |
| January 1701 | | James Buller | | | Alexander Pendarves | Tory |
| March 1701 | | James Buller | | | Thomas Carew | |
| 1702 | | Benjamin Buller | | | Thomas Carew | |
| 1703 | | John Rolle | | | Thomas Carew | |
| 1705 | | James Buller | | | Joseph Moyle | |
| May 1708 | | James Buller | | | Alexander Pendarves | Tory |
| December 1708 | | Sir Cholmeley Dering, Bt | Tory | | Alexander Pendarves | Tory |
| 1710 | | Jonathan Elford | Tory | | Alexander Pendarves | Tory |
| 1711 | | Jonathan Elford | Tory | | Sir William Carew | |
| 1713 | | Jonathan Elford | Tory | | William Shippen | Tory |
| 1715 | | Shilston Calmady | | | John Francis Buller | |
| 1722 | | Thomas Swanton | | | Edward Hughes | |
| 1723 | | Philip Lloyd | | | Edward Hughes | |
| 1727 | | Lord Glenorchy | | | Edward Hughes | |
| 1734 | | Lord Glenorchy | | | Thomas Corbett | |
| 1741 | | John Clevland | | | Thomas Corbett | |
| 1743 | | Stamp Brooksbank | | | Thomas Corbett | |
| July 1747 | | Edward Boscawen | | | Thomas Corbett | |
| December 1747 | | Stamp Brooksbank | | | Thomas Corbett | |
| 1751 | | Stamp Brooksbank | | | George Brydges Rodney | |
| 1754 | | Viscount Duncannon | | | George Clinton | |
| 1756 | | Charles Townshend | Whig | | George Clinton | |
| 1761 | | John Clevland | | | George Adams | Whig |
| 1763 | | Hon. Augustus Hervey | | | George Adams | Whig |
| 1768 | | Martin Hawke | | | Thomas Bradshaw | |
| 1772 | | Martin Hawke | | | John Williams | |
| 1772 | | Martin Hawke | | | Thomas Bradshaw | |
| 1774 | | Grey Cooper | | | Thomas Bradshaw | |
| 1775 | | Grey Cooper | | | Sir Charles Whitworth | |
| 1778 | | Grey Cooper | | | Henry Strachey | |
| 1780 | | Grey Cooper | | | Paul Wentworth | |
| 1780 | | Grey Cooper | | | Charles Jenkinson | |
| 1784 | | Charles Ambler | | | Charles Jenkinson | |
| 1786 | | Charles Ambler | | | The Earl of Mornington | |
| 1787 | | Charles Ambler | | | John Lemon | |
| 1790 | | Edward Bearcroft | | | Viscount Garlies | |
| 1795 | | Edward Bearcroft | | | William Stewart | Tory |
| May 1796 | | Edward Bearcroft | | | The Lord Macdonald | |
| December 1796 | | Charles Smith | | | The Lord Macdonald | |
| 1802 | | Matthew Russell | | | Robert Deverell | |
| 1806 | | Matthew Russell | | | Arthur Champernowne | |
| February 1807 | | Hon. Richard Griffin | Whig | | William Henry Fremantle | |
| May 1807 | | Matthew Russell | | | John Pedley | |
| 1809 | | Matthew Russell | | | Michael Prendergast | |
| 1818 | | Matthew Russell | | | James Blair | |
| March 1820 | | Matthew Russell | | | Michael Prendergast | |
| June 1820 | | Matthew Russell | | | John Fleming | |
| 1822 | | William Russell | Whig | | John Fleming | |
| June 1826 | | Andrew Spottiswoode | | | Henry Monteith | |
| December 1826 | | Andrew Spottiswoode | | | Colin Macaulay | |
| 1830 | | Earl of Darlington | | | John Gregson | |
| February 1831 | | Earl of Darlington | | | Philip Cecil Crampton | |
| May 1831 | | Frederick Villiers | Whig | | Bethell Walrond | |
| 1832 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |