Stephen Cornwallis
Major-General Stephen Cornwallis (23 December 1703 – 12 May 1743) was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1743.
Cornwallis was the third son of Charles Cornwallis, 4th Baron Cornwallis, and his wife Lady Charlotte Butler, daughter of Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran. He was at school at Eton College in 1718, and then joined the army. He joined the 2nd Foot Guards in 1719 as Ensign and was a captain in the Dragoons in 1723. By 1725 he was captain and lieutenant-colonel in the 34th Foot.
At the 1727 British general election, Cornwallis was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for the family borough of Eye together with his brother John. They both voted regularly with the Government but it is not always possible to identify which brother is referred to in the Parliamentary records. He may have spoken for the Hessians in 1731, or the army in 1733, but did speak on the Address in 1732 - apparently ‘little to the purpose’. He was promoted to Colonel of 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot in 1732. He and his brother were returned unopposed again for Eye at the 1734 British general election. He spoke against a place bill in 1735 and possibly on the Spanish convention in 1739. He became Colonel of Devonshire Regiment in 1738 and Brigadier General in 1739. He and his brother were returned again at the 1741 British general election. In 1742 he was promoted to Major General.
Cornwallis married Mrs Pearson in August 1732 but had no issue. He died on 12 May 1743. His other brothers were his elder brother Charles Cornwallis, 1st Earl Cornwallis, and his younger brothers Edward Cornwallis, and Frederick Cornwallis.
References
- Romney R. Sedgwick, CORNWALLIS, Hon. Stephen (1703-43). in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754 (1970).
- Patrick Cracroft-Brennan, Cornwallis, Baron (E, 1661 - 1852) in Cracroft's Peerage. Accessed 5 December 2012.
- Richard Cannon, Historical Record of the Thirty-Fourth, or the Cumberland Regiment of Foot (1844) page 81.
- 1703 births
- 1743 deaths
- Younger sons of barons
- People educated at Eton College
- 9th Queen's Royal Lancers officers
- Coldstream Guards officers
- Scots Guards officers
- Devonshire Regiment officers
- 34th Regiment of Foot officers
- British Army generals
- British MPs 1727–34
- British MPs 1734–41
- British MPs 1741–47
- British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession
- Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
- Great Britain MP (1707–1800) for England stubs