StAubyn (Molesworth-StAubyn Baronets) Arms

Sir William Molesworth, 6th Baronet (30 June 1758 – 22 February 1798) was one of the

Molesworth baronets The Molesworth, later Molesworth-St Aubyn Baronetcy, of Pencarrow near St Mabyn in Cornwall, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 19 July 1689 for Hender Molesworth, Governor of Jamaica. The second Baronet sat as Member o ...

Pencarrow Pencarrow ( kw, Pennkarow) is a Grade II*-listed country house in the civil parish of Egloshayle, in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated three miles (5 km) east-southeast of Wadebridge and three miles (5 km) nort ...

, Cornwall and a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1784 and 1790.

Early life

Molesworth was the son of Sir John Molesworth, 5th Baronet who was previously MP for Cornwall. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

from 1769 to 1774 and matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge in 1776. He succeeded his father in the Baronetcy as 6th Baronet on 20 October 1775. He married Catherine Treby, daughter of Paul Henry Ourry on 27 May 1786.

Political career

Molesworth was returned unopposed as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

in a by-election on 25 February 1784. He was returned again unopposed at the 1784 general election. He spoke progressively more frequently and pursued an independent line. In September 1789, Molesworth saw he would be opposed at the 1790 general election and decided not to stand. He said: "You called me unsolicited on my part to be your representative, and if you no longer wish for my services I am ready to return to the private situation from whence you took me."

Later life

Molesworth died on 22 February 1798 and his son Arscott Ourry Molesworth (1789 – 26 December 1823) succeeded to the baronetcy. His youngest daughter Caroline Molesworth (1794–1872) was a botanist whose observations were published in 1880 as ''The Cobham Journals: abstracts and summaries of meteorological and phenological observations made by Miss Caroline Molesworth, at Cobham, Surrey, in the years 1825-1850''.

References

1758 births 1798 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Politicians from Cornwall Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall 6

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

British MPs 1784–1790 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub