Lostwithiel

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Elections

DateCandidate
1558/9THOMAS MILDMAY I 1
 JOHN COSWORTH 2
22 Dec. 1562THOMAS MILDMAY II
 JOHN KILLIGREW I
1571ROBERT SNAGGE 3
 WILLIAM KENDALL 4
21 Apr. 1572JOHN BERKELEY
 ROBERT SNAGGE
13 Nov. 1584JAMES DALTON
 JOHN SHURLEY I
17 Oct. 1586JOHN AGMONDESHAM II
 JAMES DALTON
11 Nov. 1588WILLIAM FITZWILLIAM
8 Nov. 1588WILLIAM GARDINER
1593SIR FRANCIS GODOLPHIN
 ROBERT BEALE
3 Oct. 1597JOHN COOKE
 SIR WILLIAM CORNWALLIS
28 Oct. 1601NICHOLAS SAUNDERS I
 RICHARD CROMWELL

Main Article

Lostwithiel was the administrative centre of the duchy of Cornwall. Its privileges were confirmed in 1565 and a charter of incorporation granted in 1608. William Kendall (1571) was the only known Elizabethan MP who was a local man.

In 1559 and 1563 respectively the senior seat was taken by the auditor of the duchy and his son. John Cosworth (1559) was also a duchy official, and the family of John Killigrew I was related to Burghley, and had many offices in county and duchy. It is not known how the lawyer Robert Snagge came to be returned in 1571 and 1572. The only person whose return can reasonably be ascribed to the 2nd Earl of Bedford is John Berkeley, the other 1572 Member, which is surprising, considering that Bedford was lord lieutenant, warden of the stannaries, and owned the neighbouring manor of Boconnoc. During the later part of the reign the influence of the Cecils is apparent (Dalton, Fitzwilliam, Beale, Cornwallis, Cromwell). It is not known how John Shirley I (1584) came to be returned. John Agmondesham II was a puritan lawyer, a friend of James Dalton and his fellow-Member in 1586. William Gardiner (1589) was a London merchant who lent money to Ralegh, by then warden of the stannaries; Sir Francis Godolphin (1593) was a duchy official; John Cooke (1597) a relation of Godolphin, and Nicholas Saunders I (1601) a government agent connected with the Killigrews.5

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes

  • 1. E371/402(1).
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. De Tabley.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. Weinbaum, Charters, 16; F. M. Hext, Memorials Lostwithiel, 23, 35, 211; Carew’s Surv. Cornw. ed. Halliday, 100; G. R. Lewis, The Stannaries, 99.