JAMES HALSE 

James Halse was born in Truro in 1769 and was a solicitor. He was Mayor of St Ives in 1807 and was made an Alderman in 1834. There is a possibility that he descended from a John Hals, Justice of Common Pleas in 1423, who sold the Manor of Trembethow in Lelant to Godolphin. In 1820 Halse built himself a large house in Fernlea Terrace in St Ives from which to administer his workforce. Today the house is run as a solicitors’ business. 

By 1830 the Halsetown area was fast becoming a commercial and indeed an industrial ‘suburb’ of St Ives. James Halse was involved in the St Ives Consols Mines which were rich in copper and tin. They were originally worked by Sir Christopher Hawkins in 1818 for electioneering purposes and later were taken over and developed on a much larger scale by James Halse in the 1820s. 

James Halse was able to control most things in the town. Through the Churchwardens he employed friends to repair things in connection with the church; through Justices he controlled licensing, but more importantly, through the Overseers he controlled the Register of persons qualified to vote – so he really was in complete control. 

Following his election to parliament in 1832, due to the added number of men who could vote for him, Halse went on to represent the Borough of St Ives in a total of five parliaments; firstly with a colleague and after the Reform Act of 1832 as a single member for the United Borough of St Ives, Lelant and Towednack. 

James Halse held a vast amount of power in the early 19th century. He died on 14th May 1838 age 69 while attending to his parliamentary duties, and was interred at Kensal Green, London. He was the last person to dominate St Ives in this way. He had lived in the Borough for 48 years and had practiced as a solicitor, Mayor, Alderman, Town Clerk, Clerk to the Pier Trust and Deputy Recorder.