In 1715 Lostwithiel was under the control of a local family named Johns, who had acquired an hereditary hold on the office of mayor, carrying with it that of returning officer. They placed both seats at the disposal of the Administration,1 whose expenses there in 1727 were forecast2 at £460:

In 1733 the borough was given a new charter under which control passed from the Johns family to Richard Edgcumbe, the government manager for the Cornish boroughs, who thenceforth returned both Members without a contest. In 1740 Thomas Pitt, the Prince of Wales's election manager in Cornwall, 'determined to attack Mr. Edgcumbe in his headquarters' at Lostwithiel,3 but in the end gave up. In 1747 he spent about £2,000 in fomenting an opposition,4 which again failed to materialize, the Administration holding both seats at a cost of £1,271.5