Velters Cornewall

'''Velters Cornewall''' (1697 – 3 April 1768) was an English politician. thumb|Moccas Court He was born in 1697, the second surviving son of Henry Cornewall, and the first with his second wife Susanna.<ref name=corn>{{cite book|last1=Foljambe|first1=Cecil George|author1-link=Cecil Foljambe, 1st Earl of Liverpool|last2=Reade|first2=Compton|title=The House of Cornewall|date=1908|publisher=Jakeman and Carver|location=Hereford|pages=107–110|url=https://archive.org/stream/houseofcornewall00live#page/n131/mode/2up}}</ref> He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 8 July 1714 and entered Lincoln's Inn.<ref>{{alox1|title=Cornewall, Velters}}</ref> He succeeded his father in 1717, inheriting property in Herefordshire which included Moccas Park.

In 1721 he made his first move into politics, writing to his cousin the Earl of Oxford, seeking to be appointed parliamentary candidate at Leominster. Oxford replied that he had already promised the seat to Sir Archer Croft, but "I have the greatest regard for your family, and should be glad of any opportunity to show the esteem for your person." The following year, he was selected to represent Herefordshire, a seat that he would hold for the next 46 years.<ref name=hop1>{{HistoryofParliament |1715 |last=Lea|first=R. S.|title=Cornewall, Velters (?1697-1768)|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/cornewall-velters-1697-1768}}</ref>

On 26 February 1745 he seconded a motion calling for a parliamentary enquiry into the Battle of Toulon the previous year, in which his younger brother James Cornewall had been killed. The motion was passed, and Cornewall appointed to chair a Committee of the Whole House to look into the matter.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harding|first1=Richard|title=The emergence of Britain's global naval supremacy : the war of 1739-1748|date=2010|publisher=Boydell Press|location=Woodbridge|isbn=9781843835806|page=231|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lyb96ZV6Z4YC&pg=PA231}}</ref>

Cornewall spoke on several occasions in opposition to the Cider Bill of 1763.<ref name=hop2>{{HistoryofParliament |1754 |last=Namier|first=Lewis|title=Cornewall, Velters (?1697-1768)|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/cornewall-velters-1697-1768}}</ref> This stand was popular back home, with Herefordshire a prominent cider-producing county to this day. Ballads were written in his honour,<ref>{{cite web|title=A Song Written on the Repeal of the Cider-Tax|url=http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/view/sheet/316|website=Broadside Ballads Online|publisher=Bodleian Libraries|access-date=29 June 2015}}</ref> and on 6 June 1763 "the High Sheriff, Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders [of Herefordshire] presented an address [...] expressing warmest thanks for [his] diligence and steadiness in opposing the late tax."<ref name=corn/>

He married three times. First, in April 1722, to Judith, the daughter of Sir James Herbert and widow of Sir Thomas Powell.<ref name=hop1/> Together they had a son who died in infancy. His second wife was Jane, the daughter of Edmund Bray MP, whom he married in October 1734. She died on 10 April the following year. Finally, on 2 April 1737, he married Catherine (d. 1777) the youngest daughter and co-heir of William Hanbury of Byfleet, Surrey. Catherine bore him two children:<ref name=corn/>

* Frederick Henry Cornewall, baptised 10 October 1749 but died the same year * Catherine Cornewall (1752-1835), who became his sole heir.

Velters died on 3 April 1768 and was buried in Hereford Cathedral. A monument to his memory was erected on the South wall of the Nave. It was moved to the cloister as part of the renovations performed by George Gilbert Scott a century later.<ref name=corn/>

His daughter married Sir George Amyand on 18 July 1771 at St George's, Hanover Square. Following his late father-in-law's bequest (including Moccas Court), Sir George took on his wife's surname.<ref>{{ London Gazette | issue = 11162 |page=1 | date = 16 July 1771 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|gb}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Herefordshire | with = Sir Edward Goodere (1722-27) | with2 = Edward Harley (1727-42) | with3 = Thomas Foley (1742-47) | with4 = Lord Harley (1747-55) | with5 = Sir John Morgan (1755-67) | with6 = Thomas Foley (1767-68) | years = 1722–1768 | before = Richard Hopton | before2= Sir Hungerford Hoskyns | after = Thomas Foley | after2 = Thomas Foley }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornewall, Velters}} Category:1697 births Category:1768 deaths Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Category:British MPs 1722–1727 Category:British MPs 1727–1734 Category:British MPs 1734–1741 Category:British MPs 1741–1747 Category:British MPs 1747–1754 Category:British MPs 1754–1761 Category:British MPs 1761–1768 Category:Burials at Hereford Cathedral