On this day in 1681, on the basis of 90 public voters, John Tanner was re-elected having been a Member of Parliament for the previous twenty-one years. 

Grampound was one of the so-called rotten boroughs where the Parliamentary membership was in the gift of two families: the Herles of Prideaux (in the Luxulyan valley) and the Tanners of Courte (three miles from Grampound itself) both of which were controlled by Edward Boscawen of Tregothnan (east of Truro).

Boscawen had married into the Godolphin family (west of Helston) consolidating both his wealth and his influence in the county. At this time, Cornwall returned an extraordinary 44 members to the Commons, of whom two were County MPs.  The requirements for eligibility to vote were extremely tight and elections were held in public.  Those few electors who did not choose the patron’s favoured candidate were made to pay in terms of wealth, opportunity and their position in polite society.