Henry Manaton

Henry Manaton (* before September 17, 1650 , † before May 16, 1716 ) was a British politician who was elected twelve times as a member of the House of Commons .

origin

Henry Manaton came from a branch line of the Manaton family , a family of the gentry of Cornwall . He was baptized as the third, but second surviving son of Ambrose Manaton and his second wife Jane Mapowder on September 17, 1650. His father died in 1651. While Henry's older brother Ambrose inherited Manaton Trecarrell and her father's other estates, Henry was to become a lawyer. He studied at Gray's Inn in London in 1671 . 1686 he became a barrister admitted.

Activity as a politician

Member of the House of Commons

In 1685 Manaton leased the Harewood estate near Calstock in Cornwall. In the general election in 1689, he was elected together with his brother Ambrose as MP for the Borough of Camelford , where his brother owned extensive estates. He subsequently took on several local offices, including that of Justice of the Peace for Cornwall in 1691 . He was assigned to the Tories , but like his brother he was hardly active in the House of Commons. On July 19, he took a month's leave of absence. In the general election in 1690, both brothers were re-elected. He was also repeatedly absent from the House of Commons meetings. In the general election of 1695 he did not run again, not even when his brother renounced his election for Camelford in March 1696 and accepted the election in Borough Tavistock . After his brother's childless death in the same year, he inherited most of his property. In the November 1696 by-election in Tavistock, he ran to succeed his brother, but was defeated by Francis Drake, 3rd Baronet . His contestation of the election was dismissed. Manaton had also inherited his brother's estates at Camelford, where he successfully ran again in the 1698 general election. He was still considered a Tory and rejected a standing army for England. On several occasions, however, he stayed away from the meetings, sometimes without excuse. However, before 1701 he was Justice of the Peace for Devon and Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall. In the general election in January 1701 and December 1701 he ran successfully in Camelford. In the 1702 election, he ran for both Camelford and Tavistock. While winning the election at Camelford, he was beaten at Tavistock. Again he lodged an objection, which this time was granted on December 21, 1703. He then resigned his mandate for Camelford on January 3, 1704 and accepted the mandate for Tavistock. In the House of Commons he was again absent from several meetings and votes, so that at times it was uncertain whether he would still support the Tories. In the general election in 1705 and 1708 he was re-elected as a Member of Parliament for Tavistock. In 1708 he had also run as MP for Camelford, but was beaten by John Manley , another candidate of the Tories.

Declining political influence

In the general election in October 1710, Manaton was re-elected as MP for Tavistock, he succeeded in getting his brother-in-law Jasper Radcliffe elected as MP for Camelford. On February 3, 1711, however, his mandate was withdrawn because of open bribery. Radcliffe died shortly thereafter, whereupon Manaton ran in the by-election in Camelford in March 1711 and was also elected. But this election was also successfully challenged, so that his mandate was withdrawn on May 8, 1711. With this he had apparently lost his political influence in Tavistock and Camelford, although he had held the office of recorder there since 1711 at the latest . Therefore, he applied for a by-election in Callington and was elected as a member of parliament on February 11, 1712. Although the Lord High Treasurer Robert Harley tried to get his support in the House of Commons, he voted against the government on June 18, 1713, presumably in revenge for the lack of support in his candidacy in Camelford in 1708. In the general election in 1713 he found thereupon no constituency in which he could run promisingly, and thus left the House of Commons for good.

Marriage and inheritance

On August 3, 1693 Manaton had married Martha Andrew († 1721), a daughter of the merchant Solomon Andrew from Lyme Regis . The marriage remained childless. In his will drawn up in January 1714 he bequeathed his lands in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset to his cousin Francis Manaton from Manaton , whom he also appointed as his executor . After Henry Manaton's death shortly before May 16, 1716, Francis Manaton also succeeded him as Camelford recorder.

Web links

• Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley: MANATON, Henry (1650-1716), of Harewood, Calstock, Cornw. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1690-1715)
• Paula Watson: MANATON, Henry (1650-1716), of Harewood, Calstock, Cornw. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1660–1690)