Sir Lewis Molesworth, 11th Baronet

Sir Lewis William Molesworth, 11th Baronet (31 October 1853 – 29 May 1912) was an English landowner from Cornwall and a Liberal Unionist Party politician.

[8] It is likely he inherited substantially from the earlier Molesworth baronets, who as recently as the time of Lewis' birth, had income from estates in Huntingdonshire and Jamaica as well as interests in mining and banking.

[10] Consequently, Sir Lewis Molesworth had sufficient private income and was in the privileged position of being able to give his time and commitment to his public career.

The political views of the former MP, Leonard Courtney, had been gradually diverging from those of his Liberal Unionist supporters in Bodmin and his opposition to the policy of the government on South Africa proved decisive.

[13] He duly addressed a meeting of the Liberal Unionist Association at Liskeard on 30 June when he was adopted by 31 votes to 5; the dissenting voices apparently feeling his views on temperance issues were sufficiently advanced.

[16] Courtney gradually reverted to formal membership of the Liberal party and, in January 1906, unsuccessfully contested Edinburgh West as a supporter of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman at the general election.

At the beginning of 1905, he wrote to the Liberal Unionist Association advising them that, because of his general state of health, he could not undertake another election campaign and tendered his resignation.