St Mawes is a sea port in Cornwall. In 1562 the manor was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Reginald Mohun of Hall and St Mawes was incorporated and invested with the right of returning two members to the House of Commons. The manor passed through several hands until sold to John Knight. Knight's widow married Robert Nugent, afterwards Earl Nugent, whose daughter, Mary, married Nugent Buckingham. 

The Buckinghams controlled politics in St Mawes until the Reform Act of 1832. 

The corporation, founded in 1562, consisted of a mayor, or portreeve, and other officers elected by about twenty free tenants. It was dissolved under the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835 and its silver mace now belongs to the corporation of Wolverhampton, to whom it passed after the sale at Stowe in 1848.

There is an extensive collection of documents relating to St Mawes affairs in the Huntington Library.

See also:

• Poor relief at St Mawes, 1820 (HEH STG 294)
• St Mawes Mace