MANATON, Henry (1650-1716), of Harewood, Calstock, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1689 - 1695
1698 - 21 Dec. 1703
21 Dec. 1703 - 3 Feb. 1711
26 Mar. - 8 May 1711
11 Feb. 1712 - 1713

Family and Education

bap. 17 Sept. 1650, ?3rd s. of Ambrose Manaton† of Trecarrell, Cornw. by his 2nd w.; bro. of Ambrose Manaton*.  educ. G. Inn 1671, called 1686.  m. 3 Aug. 1693, Martha (d. 1721), da. of Solomon Andrew, merchant, of Lyme Regis, Dorset, s.psuc. bro. 1696.1

Offices Held

Stannator, Foymore 1710; recorder, Camelford by 1711–d.

Biography

In 1690 Manaton was re-elected for Camelford alongside his elder brother, and like him was classed as a Tory in Lord Carmarthen’s (Sir Thomas Osborne†) list of the new Parliament and as a supporter in December. A defaulter on a call of the House on 16 Nov. 1691, he was sent for into custody, being discharged on the 28th. On 4 Dec. 1693, he was again absent following a call of the House and excused for one week. When the House was called over again on the 20th he was excused on health grounds. In the 1693–4 session he was absent from a call of the House on 14 Mar. and ordered into custody, being released on 4 Apr. In the last session of the Parliament, on 9 Mar. 1695, he received another grant of leave. He did not stand in 1695 and did not contest the by-election at Camelford when his brother elected to sit for Tavistock in March 1696, but following the death of his brother later in 1696, he did contest the by-election at Tavistock, petitioning on 25 Nov. when defeated. He was unsuccessful. As heir to his brother at Trecarrell, Manaton’s interest in Camelford was so strengthened that he was returned there in 1698. Listed as a supporter of the Country party in a comparative analysis of the old and new Parliaments, he was listed as likely to oppose a standing army. He again proved himself a poor attender of debates, being absent from a call of the House on 11 Dec. 1699 and ordered into custody. When he missed another call on 8 Jan. 1700 the serjeant-at-arms was asked to report on the execution of his previous warrant. He reported that he had

sent one of his messengers to the said Mr Manaton’s house at Calstock and . . . was there informed that he was gone towards London 15 Dec. last, and that although the messenger stayed thereabouts and that several days he could not hear of him there nor yet about this town [London] since that time.

Manaton was ordered by the House to surrender himself within a fortnight ‘upon pains of incurring the further displeasure of this House’. He was released on 23 Jan., and later in the session was involved in the management of a private estate bill. Returned again for Camelford in January 1701, he was included in a list of those who would probably support the Court in a supply resolution to continue the ‘Great Mortgage’. Later in the session he managed a private bill to discharge a mortgage on a Cornish estate. Before the second general election of 1701 he was blacklisted as having opposed the preparations for war against France, and after his return was included with the Tories in Robert Harley’s* list of that Parliament. In 1702 Manaton stood at Tavistock as well as Camelford. Although returned for the latter, he presented a petition relating to his defeat at Tavistock, which he renewed the following session. He was eventually seated on 21 Dec. 1703, whereupon on 3 Jan. 1704 he resigned his seat at Camelford. He was absent from a call of the House on 25 Nov. 1704 and a motion to excuse his non-attendance was carried by 127 votes to 91. This would make it likely that he was absent from the division on the Tack on the 28th, and he was again granted leave of absence on 2 Dec.2

Confusion over his position on the Tack may account for his description as ‘Low Church’ in a list of the 1705 Parliament. He was absent on 25 Oct. 1705 from the division on the Speaker. However, his political position was clear as he was listed as a Tory in two lists of 1708, one before and one after the general election. He was returned again for Tavistock, but had also stood unsuccessfully at Camelford, being defeated by a Tory, John Manley*, supported by the Granvilles. He was listed as voting against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710, and on 17 Mar. was granted further leave of absence, this time for a month. Having been elected a stannator for Foymore in a by-election for the convocation of tinners in Cornwall, he excused himself as unwell on 26 Apr. After being returned again for Tavistock in 1710, being classified as a Tory in the ‘Hanover list’, and featuring as one of the ‘Tory patriots’ voting for peace, he was unseated on petition on 3 Feb. 1711 for ‘flagrant’ bribery. Although returned for Camelford at a conveniently timed by-election on 26 Mar., he was again unseated on petition. He seems thereafter to have lost his influence in both boroughs, and sought refuge instead at Callington in a by-election in 1712. In preparation for proceedings against the Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill†), Harley (now Lord Oxford) included Manaton on a canvassing list, deputing Francis Gwyn* to approach him for his vote. Rather surprisingly he voted against the ministry on 18 June 1713 over the French commerce bill, possibly having been provoked by his treatment in Camelford at the hands of the Granvilles. A subsequent list of this division classed him as a ‘whimsical’. At the 1713 general election, however, he could find no bolt-hole, and did not stand again. He made his will in January 1714, leaving his estates in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset in trust for his cousin Francis Manaton of Manaton, his executor. He died shortly before 16 May 1716, when Francis, receiver-general of the duchy of Cornwall, succeeded him as recorder of Camelford.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

  • 1. IGI, Cornw., Devon; Western Antiq. ix. 86.
  • 2. R. Inst. Cornw. Tonkins’ mss hist. Cornw. 2, p. 252; J. Maclean, Trigg Minor, ii. 334.
  • 3. Tonkins’ mss hist. Cornw. 2, p. 252; Add. 29763, f. 34; 70331, canvassing list c.1712; PCC 117 Whitfield.