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[Bembrandf  Stiidio,  Keucastle-on-Tyne. 


MEN   OF   MARK 

TWIXT 

TYNE  AND  TWEED. 

By   RICHARD  WELFORD, 

AUTHOR  OF   "A   HISTORY   OF  THE   PARISH  OF    GOSFORTH "  ;     "ST.    NICHOLAS' 

CHURCH,   NEWCASTLE,    ITS   MONUMENTS,    ETC.";     "PICTURES    OF 

TYNESIDE  SIXTY  YEARS  AGO  "  ;    "  CHRONOLOGICAL  HISTORY 

OF   NEWCASTLE   AND   GATESHEAD,"   ETC.,  ETC. 


IN  THREE  VOLUMES. 


VOL.    III. 


LONDON: 
WALTER  SCOTT,  LTD.,  PATERNOSTER  SQUARE, 
AND   NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 
1895. 


PRINTED  BY  WALTER  SCOTT,   LIMITED, 
FELLING,   NEWCASTLE-ON-TVNE. 


\ 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

ROBERT   LAMBE I 

CHARLES    LARKIN 6 

JAMES    LAWSON 13 

DOROTHY   LAWSON 1 9 

HENRY    LEAVER 2$ 

ROBERT   LEE 31 

SIR   THOMAS    LIDDELL 37 

SIR    THOMAS    LIDDELL 42 

SIR    HENRY    LIDDELL 4^ 

HENRY,    BARON    RAVENSWORTH 48 

THOMAS   HENRY,    BARON   RAVENSWORTH 50 

HENRY   THOMAS,    EARL   RAVENSWORTH             ....  54 

THOMAS   CARR    LIETCH 60 

WIL-LIAM    KENNETT   LOFTUS 66 

THE   LORAINES          .            . 73 

GEORGE   LOSH 80 

JAMES    LOSH 82 

JAMES    LOSH           .........  89 

JOHN    LOSH 90 

WILLIAM    LOSH 92 

JOHN    GRAHAM    LOUGH 97 

LOWES   OF    RIDLEY    HALL       . I07 

ENEAS    MACKENZIE II4 

LIONEL   MADDISON II9 


iv  ,  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

SIR   LIONEL   MADDISON 1 24 

JOHN    MAGBRAY 130 

EDWARD    MAN I33 

SIR    HENRY    MANISTY 1 39 

JOHN    MARCH 142 

SIR   JOHN    MARLEY 1 49 

GEORGE   MARSHALL 1 59 

JOHN    MARSHALL 160 

JOHN    MARTIN 164 

JONATHAN    MARTIN 1 68 

WILLIAM    MARTIN 171 

JAMES   MATHER 1 78 

GILBERT   MIDDLETON 185 

THOMAS    MIDDLETON 1 88 

SIR   WILLIAM    MIDDLETON 1 89 

SIR   WILLIAM    MIDDLETON     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  190 

JOHN    MITCHELL 191 

WILLIAM    ANDREW    MITCHELL 1 99 

HENRY    ARMSTRONG    MITCHELL 205 

SIR   CHARLES    MILES    LAMBERT   MONCK  ....  2o6 

JAMES    MURRAY 212 

WILLIAM    NEWTON 2  20 

SIR   CHALONER    OGLE 224 

SIR   CHARLES   OGLE 229 

HENRY    OGLE 23O 

LUKE   OGLE 232 

NEWTON    OGLE 234 

WILLIAM    ORD       .........  235 

SIR   JOHN   ORDE 239 

THOMAS   ORDE 243 


CONTENTS.  V 

PAGE 

WILLIAM    ORDE 244 

AMOR   OXLEY 246 

HENRY    PERLEE    PARKER 249 

DAVID   PATERSON 254 

RICHARD   PENGILLY 256 

GEORGE    HARE   PHILIPSON 259 

RALPH   PARK    PHILIPSON 263 

GEORGE   PICKERING 267 

THE   WILLIAM    PROCTERS 270 

JOHN    RAWLET 273 

SIR   WILLIAM   READE 277 

ARCHIBALD   REED 282 

ROBERT   RHODES 286 

JOSEPH    RICHARDSON 292 

M.  A.  AND  G.  B.  RICHARDSON 294 

THOMAS   MILES    RICHARDSON 299 

WILLIAM   RICHARDSON 3©  I 

WILLIAM   RICHARDSON 303 

SIR   THOMAS   RIDDELL 305 

WILLIAM   RIDDELL 309 

EDWARD   RIDDLE 3" 

NICHOLAS    RIDLEY 314 

MATTHEW    RIDLEY 31? 

SIR   MATTHEW   WHITE   RIDLEY 320 

SIR    MATTHEW    WHITE   RIDLEY 32  2 

SIR    MATTHEW   WHITE    RIDLEY 324 

ROBERT   RODDAM 3^4 

JOHN    AND    EDWARD    ROTHERAM                .....  328 

JOHN    ROTHERAM 33^ 

ROBERT    ROXBY   335 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

JOHN    HUNTER   RUTHERFORD  .           .           .           .           ,           .           .  338 

JOHN    SALKELD 342 

RICHARD    BURDON-SANDERSON 345 

RICHARD   BURDON-SANDERSON 352 

JOHN   SCOTT 356 

JOHN   SCOTT,    LORD   ELDON 360 

WILLIAM   SCOTT,    LORD   STOWELL 366 

WILLIAM   AND   WALTER   SCOTT 370 

SIR   GEORGE   SELBY 373 

THOMAS    AND   JOHN    SHARP 378 

JOHN    SHAW 385 

WILLIAM   SHIELD 390 

GEORGE   SILVERTOP 394 

PETER,    ROBERT,    AND   JOHN    SMART 399 

THOMAS    SMITH 404 

THOMAS   AND   WILLIAM    SMITH 406 

THOMAS    SOPWITH 41O 

THOMAS   SPARKE 416 

RALPH    SPEARMAN 419 

JOSEPH   SPENCE   422 

ROBERT    SPENCE       .........  426 

THOMAS   SPENCE 429 

DAVID   STEPHENSON 434 

GEORGE   STEPHENSON 437 

JOHN   STEPHENSON 445 

ROBERT   STEPHENSON 448 

WILLIAM    STEPHENSON 453 

GEORGE    STRAKER           .            .            .            .            .            .            .            .  458 

AUBONE   SURTEES                465 

WILLIAM    SURTEES 470 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

SIR   JOHN    SWINBURNE 472 

SIR   JOHN    EDWARD    SWINBURNE 476 

HENRY   SWINBURNE 478 

CUTHBERT   SYDENHAM 483 

GEORGE  TATE 488 

GEORGE   RALPH   TATE 493 

HUGH   TAYLOR 494 

THOMAS   JOHN    TAYLOR 497 

BENJAMIN   THOMPSON 502 

ISAAC  THOMPSON 506 

THOMAS   THOMPSON 511 

WILLIAM    GILL   THOMPSON 514 

ROGER   THORNTON 517 

CHARLES   THORPE 52 1 

JOHN   TINLEY 526 

SIR   JOHN   TREVELYAN 53 1 

SIR   W.    C.    TREVELYAN 533 

GEORGE   TULLIE 538 

GEORGE   TUNSTALL 539 

WILLIAM    TURNER 54 1 

JOHN   TWEDDELL 545 

GEORGE   WALKER 549 

JAMES   WALLACE 553 

THOMAS,    LORD    WALLACE 555 

JOHN    WALLIS 556 

JOHN    WALSH 560 

RALPH    WALTERS 56 1 

BRIAN    WALTON 565 

WILLIAM   WARMOUTH 569 

WILLIAM   WARRILOW 574 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

WILLIAM    HENRY   WATSON 576 

ROBERT   WATSON 580 

JANE   (wALDIE)   WATTS 583 

CHARLES   NEWBY   WAWN 585 

JAMES    DENT   WEATHERLEY 589 

FREDERICK   AUGUSTUS   WEATHERLEY 593 

THOMAS   WELD 596 

JOHN    WHITE 599 

ROBERT   WHITE 604 

HUGH   WHITFIELD 609 

THOMAS   WHITTELL 610 

THE   FOUR   LORDS   WIDDRINGTON 615 

RALPH    WIDDRINGTON 62 1 

SIR   THOMAS    WIDDRINGTON 624 

GEORGE   HUTTON   WILKINSON 63 1 

ROBERT   HOPPER   WILLIAMSON 637 

JOSEPH    REED   WILSON 64 1 

DAVID    HAMILTON    WILSON 645 

MATTHEW   WILSON 647 

THOMAS   WILSON 650 

NATHANIEL   JOHN    WINCH 653 

GEORGE    WISHART 657 

NICHOLAS   WOOD 662 

WILLIAM    WOODS 669 

WESLEY   S.    B.    WOOLHOUSE 673 

JAMES   WORSWICK 677 

JOHN    WRIGHT 680 

WILLIAM    WRIGHT 682 

WILLIAM    WRIGHTSON 686 

JOHN    YELLOLV 689 


flDen  of  HDark  'twiyt  ^^ne  s,  Zwcc^. 

IRobcrt  Xambc, 

PARSON    OF    NORHAM. 

But  little  information  has  come  down  to  us  respecting  the  early  days 
of  a  learned  but  eccentric  country  parson — Robert  Lambe,  M.A., 
vicar  of  Norham.  It  is  believed  that  he  was  a  native  of  Durham, 
born  there  a  year  or  two  before  the  accession  of  the  first  George  to 
the  English  throne.  But  of  his  parents,  their  names,  and  position  in 
life,  no  record  has  been  preserved.  Educated  at  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  took  his  Arts  degrees,  he  was  preferred  to  a 
minor  canonry  in  Durham  Cathedral,  and,  in  1747,  obtained  the 
curacy  of  South  Shields,  being  then  about  thirty-six  years  of  age. 
Within  a  few  weeks  from  the  date  of  this  appointment,  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  living  of  Norham  became  vacant,  and  it  was  conferred 
upon  him.  In  October,  1747,  he  migrated  from  the  southern 
harbour  town  of  the  Tyne  to  the  charming  village  in  which  "  Nor- 
ham's  castled  steep,  and  Tweed's  fair  river  broad  and  deep,"  form 
a  picturesque  retreat  for  a  contemplative  mind.  At  Norham  his 
history  may  be  said  practically  to  begin. 

A  singular  story  of  Mr.  Lambe's  courtship  and  marriage  was 
told  by  the  Rev.  James  Raine,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  New- 
castle Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  published  in  the  "  Archteologia 
^.liana":— 

"  He  had  not  long  been  settled  at  Norham  before  he  began  to 
feel  the  want  of  a  wife;  and  along  with  the  want  came  the  recollec- 
tion of  a  young  woman  who  resided  in  Durham,  of  the  name  of 
Philadelphia  Nelson,  the  daughter  of  a  well-known  carrier  between 
London  and  Edinburgh,  and  a  female  of  high  character  and  respecta- 
bility, upon  whom  he  was  not  long  in  setting  his  affections.  The 
result  was  a  proposal  by  letter;  and  in  due  time  the  love-sick  vicar 
was  accepted.     Another  request  was  then  made,  which,  even  to  the 

VOL.  III.  I 


2  ROBERT  LAM  BE. 

carrier's  daughter,  must,  I  think,  have  appeared  to  be  of  somewhat 
an  unusual  kind : — '  I  cannot  leave  my  parish  to  come  to  you.  I 
really  wish  you  would  put  yourself  into  one  of  your  father's  waggons, 
and  come  down  to  me.  I  will  meet  you  on  such  a  day  at  Berwick; 
but  as  I  want  our  meeting  to  be  as  private  as  possible,  and  as  I  have 
no  very  distinct  recollection  of  your  personal  appearance,  I  have 
to  propose  that  you  will  meet  me  upon  the  pier  there,  with  a  tea- 
caddy  under  your  arm,  to  prevent  any  chance  of  mistake.'  There 
was  then  living  in  Berwick  a  person  of  the  name  of  Howe,  who  had 
risen  to  high  rank  in  the  navy,  and  who,  thrice  a  day,  for  the  sake  of 
exercise,  walked  to  the  end  of  this  said  pier,  and  then  returned  home 
to  his  meals.  One  day,  before  dinner,  the  gallant  old  admiral  met 
in  his  walk  a  young  woman  with  a  tea-caddy  under  her  arm,  w^ho,  as 
he  saw  at  once,  was  a  stranger;  but  he  took  no  further  notice  of  the 
matter.  Before  tea,  after  an  interval  of  three  or  four  hours,  he  met 
in  the  same  place  the  same  person  walking  up  and  down  with  the 
tea-caddy  under  her  arm,  and  looking  townwards  with  an  anxious  eye; 
but  still  he  spake  not — neither  did  she.  Late  in  the  evening,  the 
admiral  went  out  for  his  third  and  concluding  walk;  and,  sure 
enough,  there  was  the  self-same  female,  no  longer  walking  up  and 
down  with  the  tea-caddy,  but  sitting  upon  a  stone,  fairly  worn  out, 
with  the  tea-caddy  beside  her,  and  apparently  anxiously  wishing  to 
be  spoken  to,  that  she  might  have  an  opportunity  of  telling  her  tale 
of  distress.  The  admiral's  gallantry  was  touched  by  her  beseeching 
eye.  He  addressed  her,  and  heard  her  tale  of  Lambe,  and  his 
breach  of  promise  to  meet  her  there  on  that  very  day,  and  make  her 
his  wife  at  Norham.  '  Ha  ! '  said  he,  '  Robin  Lambe  is  a  great 
friend  of  mine.  This  is  just  like  him.  He  has  forgot  all  about  it. 
But  he'll  make  you  a  capital  husband.  Come  home  with  me,  young 
woman,  and  you  shall  be  kindly  treated  for  the  night'  The  girl, 
nothing  fearing,  complied.  Li  the  morning  he  put  her  into  a  coach, 
and  went  along  with  her  to  Norham.  Lambe  blushed  and  apolo- 
gised; and  the  two  were  married  a  few  days  afterwards — the  admiral 
giving  the  bride  away. 

"  Robert  Lambe,  of  this  parish,  in  the  diocese  of  Durham,  batchelor,  and 
Philadelphia  Nelson,  of  the  parish  of  Kensington,  in  the  diocese  of  London, 
spinster,  were  married  in  this  church,  by  license,  the  nth  day  of  April,  1755,  by 
me,  Thomas  Wrangham,  curate.     Present,  Thomas  Taylor,  Margaret  Peacock." 

So  runs  the  parish  register  of  Norham,  as  communicated  to  Notes 
and  Queries,  October  26th,  1878,  the  correspondent  remarking  that 


ROBERT  LAMBE.  3 

the  bride  had  come,  not  simply  from  Durham,  but  all  the  way  from 
London. 

Dr.  Raine,  in  the  paper  above  quoted,  states  that  "The  poor  girl 
died  in  child-bed  of  her  first  child — a  daughter — who  became  in  due 
time  the  wife  of  a  gentleman  in  Berwickshire;  and  her  descendants 
are  now  numerous  and  respectable."  About  this  matter  Dr.  Raine 
must  have  been  mistaken,  for  in  his  own  "  History  of  North  Durham  " 
he  gives  the  date  of  the  lady's  interment  "at  Gilligate,  Durham,  13th 
January,  1772,"  and  quotes  Lambe  as  ascribing  to  her  death,  and 
that  of  his  "son,"  the  preparation  of  his  "History  of  the  Battle  of 
Flodden,"  published  in  1774: — "One  chief  end  proposed  in  this 
work  was  to  divert  my  mind,  oppressed  with  the  severe  weight  of  a 
recent  complicated  afifliction — the  death  of  an  only  son,  and  of  an 
amiable  and  most  affectionate  wife."  And  then  he  continues, 
though  Dr.  Raine  overlooked  it: — "The  fortitude  with  which  she 
underwent  a  most  excruciating  excision  of  a  tumour  in  her  breast, 
was  the  admiration  of  all  who  knew  her.  The  loss  of  her  son, 
whilst  a  slow  and  painful  illness  consumed  her,  she  supported  with 
no  less  resolution."  From  which  it  would  appear  that  the  marriage 
so  curiously  begun  lasted  seventeen  years,  and  that  the  lady  had 
other  offspring  besides  the  daughter  mentioned  in  Dr.  Raine's 
story. 

Mr.  Lambe  was  the  author  of  "The  History  of  Chess,  together 
with  Short  and  Plain  Instructions,  by  which  any  one  may  easily  play 
at  it  without  the  Help  of  a  Teacher" — a  book  of  148  pages  octavo, 
published  in  London  in  1764.  His  "History  of  the  Battle  of 
Flodden  "  was  ostensibly  taken  from  a  MS.  in  verse,  preserved  in 
the  library  of  Mr.  Askew,  of  Pallinsburn.  Ostensibly,  for  Thomas 
Gent,  the  famous  York  printer,  had  issued  an  edition  of  this  MS.  a 
dozen  years  before,  and  Lambe  simply  adapted  Gent's  copy,  with  all 
its  errors  and  interpolations,  taking  no  trouble,  apparently,  to  com- 
pare it  with  the  original.  He,  however,  added  voluminous  notes  of 
a  rambling  and  prolix  character.  In  the  latest  edition,  published 
1809,  "by  and  for  S.  Hodgson,  and  sold  by  E.  Charnley  &  Son, 
and  the  other  booksellers  in  Newcastle,"  the  poem  occupies  124 
pages,  and  the  "Notes,"  with  eight  appendices,  103  pages!  Dr. 
Raine  describes  these  "  Notes  "  as  teeming  with  discursive  disquisi- 
tions upon  subjects  of  the  highest  interest  in  classical  and  ancient 
literature,  exhibiting  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  best  writers 
of  ancient  and  modern  times,  whether  sacred  or  profane,  and  mani- 


4  ROBERT  LAM  BE. 

festing  much  philological  and  critical  knowledge.  "  Teeming  with 
discursive  disquisitions  "  is  a  descriptive  phrase  aptly  chosen. 

It  was  in  these  "  Notes  "  that  first  appeared  the  marvellous  story 
of  St.  Cuthbert's  body  floating  down  the  Tweed  in  a  stone  coffin : — 

"  It  hath  been  mentioned  above  that  St.  Cuthbert  was  deposited 
at  Norham.  Whether  he  at  last  disliked  his  damp  situation,  for  he 
was  buried  near  a  well,  which  now  bears  his  name ;  or  whether, 
being  only  seven  miles  from  the  sea,  he  began  to  fear  another  visit 
from  his  old  foes,  the  Danes,  is  not  at  present  known.  But  this  is 
certain,  that  he  ordered  his  monks  to  carry  him  twenty  miles  up  the 
Tweed,  to  Melross,  in  Scotland.  In  process  of  time  he  quarrelled 
with  this  place  also ;  upon  which,  by  his  direction,  they  put  him 
into  a  stone  boai,  in  which  he  sailed  down  the  Tweed  to  Tilmouth, 
where  he  landed.  We  cannot  find,  after  the  most  diligent  inquiry, 
how  long  he  abode  there. 

"  Not  many  years  since,  a  farmer  of  Cornhill  coveted  the  Saint's 
stone  boat,  in  order  to  keep  pickled  beef  in  it.  Before  this  profane 
loon  could  convey  it  away,  the  Saint  came  in  the  night  time,  and 
broke  it  in  pieces,  which  now  lie  at  St.  Cuthbert's  Chapel,  to  please 
the  curious,  and  confute  the  unbeliever. 

"  The  unlearned  reader  will  readily  believe  the  possibility  of  this 
fact,  and  the  undermentioned  classic  authors  will  remove  all  scruples 
relating  to  it  from  the  learned  one.  Juvenal,  Sat.  15,  says  that  the 
Egyptians  navigated  the  River  Nile  in  painted  earthen  pots :  Pliny, 
Uiodorus  Siculus,  and  Strabo  say  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  isles  of 
the  Red  Sea  used  tortoise  shells  for  boats.  These  were  not  more 
proper  for  the  purpose  of  sailing  than  the  Saint's  stone  boat." 

The  flippant  style  in  which  the  legend  is  narrated  suggests  a  hoax; 
yet  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  deceived  by  it.  In  the  second  canto  of 
"  Marmion,"  describing  St.  Cuthh^xi's  posf-vwrfon  wanderings,  occur 
the  well-known  lines  : — 

"  In  his  stone  coffin  forth  he  rides 
A  ponderous  bark  for  river  tides, 
Yet  light  as  gossamer  it  glides 

Downward  to  Tilmouth  cell." 

At  these  literary  tricks  Mr.  Lambe  was  an  adept.  He  was  one 
of  three  or  four  persons  whom  Dr.  Raine  suspected  of  writing  the 
enigmatical  inscriptions  at  Chillingham  Castle,  which,  as  the  first 
Earl  of  Ravensworth,  translating  them  in  1858,  remarked,  had 
"mystified  Northumbrians  for  a  hundred  years,  and  doubtless  caused 


ROBERT  LAMBE.  5 

many  sleepless  nights  to  bishops  and  rural  incumbents,  to  say  no- 
thing of  lords  and  baronets  and  squires,  who  lived  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Cheviots."  That  was  a  case  of  suspicion  only.  But  about 
his  authorship  of  another  literary  hoax  of  the  period  there  is  no 
doubt  whatever.  Hutchinson,  writing  the  second  volume  of  his 
"View  of  Northumberland  "  in  1776,  received  from  Mr  Lanibe,  and 
printed  on  pages  162-164  of  his  book,  a  ballad  entitled  "  The  Laidley 
Worm  of  Spindleston  Heughs,"  which  he  represented  to  be  "a  song 
500  years  old,  made  by  the  old  mountain  bard,  Duncan  Fraser, 
living  on  Cheviot,  a.d.  1270,  from  an  ancient  manuscript."  With 
this  effusion.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  compiling  some  years  later  his  Border 
Minstrelsy,  was  not  so  readily  deceived.  He  accepted  without  sus- 
picion ballads  forged  by  Surtees,  but  "  The  Laidley  Worm  "  was  too 
palpable  an  imitation  to  pass  muster.  Inquiring  as  to  its  authen- 
ticity from  Ritson,  that  famous  collector  confirmed  his  doubts,  and 
disclosed  the  authorship.  "  The  Laidley  Worm  of  Spindleston 
Heughs,"  he  wrote,  "  was  the  composition  of  Robert  Lambe,  Vicar 
of  Norham,  as  he  told  me  himself." 

Mr.  Lambe  dabbled  a  good  deal  in  archaeology,  and  sent  Hutchin- 
son various  communications  about  "  finds  "  of  stones  and  other  relics 
of  the  past.  Three  of  his  letters  to  the  historian  were  read  at  the 
November  meeting  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries  in  1S58. 
In  one  of  them  he  suggested  that  a  celt  which  had  been  found,  with 
a  spear  head  of  brass,  near  Melrose,  had  been  hung  by  the  eye  to 
the  spear  top,  and  was  the  melon  chalkotin,  or  "  brazen  apple " 
alluded  to  by  Dion  Cassius,  per  Xiphiline,  as  attached  to  the  spears 
of  the  Britons,  to  terrify  the  enemy  by  its  noise  w'hen  shaken.  In 
another  of  the  letters  he  placed  in  the  Roman  settlement  the  origin 
of  the  spindles  with  which  women  near  the  Tweed  make  round 
thread,  the  bagpipes,  the  Highland  costume,  the  broad  ribbon,  or 
zone,  round  the  waists  of  Tweedside  brides,  British  cheese,  and 
British  cherries !  And  he  wound  up  by  a  statement  that  from 
whelks,  in  Scotland  called  "bukkies,"  he  had  extracted  the  famous 
Tyrian  purple  ! 

There  is  an  illustration  of  one  of  Lambe's  remarkable  discoveries 
in  Hutchinson's  second  volume.  It  is  a  drawing  of  a  stone  which 
the  parson  professed  to  have  found  at  the  east  end  of  Norham 
Church.  Upon  it  are  five  heads,  a  broken  bust,  and  an  undecipher- 
able inscription.  The  eyes  of  the  figures  so  clearly  express  banter 
and  derision  that  one  can  hardly  escape  the  suspicion  that  the  whole 


6  CHARLES  LARKIN. 

thing  is  one  of  the  parson's  jokes.  Lambe's  own  description  of  the 
stone,  in  his  "  Notes  "  to  the  "  Battle  of  Flodden,"  is  so  ludicrously 
inaccurate  as  to  strengthen  the  suspicion.  It  is  to  be  noted,  too, 
that  Hutchinson  does  not  say  that  he  saw  the  stone  itself,  and  there 
is  no  record  of  anybody  else  having  seen  it.  Well  might  Dr.  Raine 
dub  the  jocose  vicar  a  "  fanciful  antiquary";  the  fulness  of  his  fancy 
exhibited  itself  in  practical  jokes  upon  other  antiquaries. 

Mr.  Lambe  died,  during  a  visit  to  Edinburgh,  on  the  yth  of  May, 
1795,  having  held  the  living  of  Norham  for  nearly  half  a  century. 
He  left  no  male  issue  to  transmit  his  name  to  posterity,  but  one 
of  his  daughters  became  the  mother  of  two  well-known  ministers 
in  the  Church  of  Scotland — the  Rev.  George  Robertson,  of  Lady- 
kirk,  and  the  Rev.  James  Robertson,  of  Coldingham. 


(Tbarlcs  Xart^in, 

ORATOR    AND    POLITICAL    REFORMER. 

Charles  Larkin,  whose  name  is  inseparably  associated  in  the 
North  of  England  with  the  political  struggles  that  preceded  the 
passing  of  the  great  Reform  Bill,  was  born  at  Kensington  in  1800. 
It  was  in  the  same  room  of  the  same  house  (Holland  House)  in 
Avhich  Charles  James  Fox,  the  statesman,  was  born  that  he  first 
saw  the  light,  and  from  that  circumstance  received  the  baptismal 
name  of  Charles  Fox  Larkin. 

Larkin  the  elder,  who  began  life  in  the  North  as  gardener  at 
Ravensworth  Castle,  and  afterwards  became  landlord  of  the  Black 
Boy,  Groat  Market,  was  of  Irish  extraction;  his  wife,  Charles's 
mother,  was  an  English  woman  belonging  to  one  of  the  Midland 
counties.  They  were  both  Catholics,  and  they  brought  up  their 
family  in  that  faith.  One  of  their  sons,  John  Larkin,  trained  to 
the  priesthood,  rose  to  the  high  position  of  Bishop  of  Toronto. 
Similar  honours  were  intended  to  fall  upon  Charles,  and  with  that 
object  in  view  he  was  sent  to  Ushaw  College  to  be  educated,  but 
the  experiment  proved  a  failure.  Preferring  the  study  of  medicine 
to  that  of  divinity,  he  left  Ushaw,  and  was  placed  with  William 
Ingham,  the  eminent  Newcastle  surgeon,  to  be  trained  for  the 
profession  of  a  doctor. 

Having  passed  the  usual  examinations  and  obtained  the  necessary 


CHARLES  LARKIN.  7 

licence  to  practise,  Charles  Larkin  married  and  established  himself 
as  a  surgeon  in  Pilgrim  Street,  Newcastle.  He  made  his  mark  in 
1 83 1,  during  a  cholera  visitation,  by  assiduous  attention  to  the  poor 
of  Westgate  district,  committed  to  his  care  by  the  Board  of  Health; 
and  if  he  could  have  restrained  his  political  ardour  he  would  probably 
have  taken  a  high  position  among  the  medical  practitioners  of  Tyne- 
side.  But  that  was  not  to  be.  He  had  not  been  long  in  practice 
before  he  began  to  air  his  political  views  upon  public  platforms;  he 
had  not  been  long  on  public  platforms  before  his  fellow-townsmen 
discovered  that  an  orator,  full  of  fire  and  passion,  had  risen  up 
among  them.     They  heard  him  expound  his  principles  in  fluent  and 


commanding  tones;  they  heard  him  denounce  the  views  of  his 
opponents  with  bitter  sarcasm  and  scathing  invective.  Before  he 
was  thirty,  young  Doctor  Larkin  had  gained  the  reputation  of 
being  one  of  the  most  effective  political  agitators  in  the  Northern 
Counties. 

The  origin,  composition,  and  procedure  of  the  Northern  Political 
Union  have  been  already  explained  in  these  volumes  under  the  head- 
ings of  Attwood,  Blakey,  Doubleday,  and  Fife.  Of  that  active  and 
belligerent  association  Charles  Larkin  was  a  leading  member.  It 
was  he  who  at  the  great  meeting  on  the  Town  Moor,  in  October, 
£831,  denounced    "the  Ravensworths  and  Londonderrys,  and  all 


8  CHARLES  LARKIN. 

the  tribe  who  sully  and  disgrace  the  peerage,"  including  that  "  de- 
generate descendant,  though  not  in  the  right  line,  of  the  illustrious 
family  that  gave  birth  to  the  bold  and  fiery-spirited  Hotspur."  "  If 
they  persist  in  their  opposition,"  he  exclaimed,  "  the  people  will  rise 
in  their  indignation,  and  appeal  from  remonstrance  to  the  sword." 

It  was  he  who,  at  a  similar  gathering  in  March,  1832,  threatened 
the  Lords  with  Revolution  : — 

"  A  desperate  despondency  has  come  over,  and  clouded  the  minds 
of  multitudes,  who  mutter  to  the  secret  winds  rather  than  give  an 
open  revelation  and  sacred  expression  to  their  evil  forebodings :  to 
the  vengeful  and  wrathful  feelings  which  they  repress  and  curb 
within  their  heaving  and  indignant  bosoms.  Revolution — and  let  us 
not  disguise  the  fact — revolution  is  the  alternative  of  reform.  But, 
while  I  shudder  at  the  contemplation  even  of  the  probability  of 
revolution,  still  with  boldness  I  assert  that  the  dread  of  revolution, 
dreadful  as  it  is,  should  rather  infuse  the  spirit  of  wisdom  into  the 
councils  of  our  legislators,  than  depress  the  people  into  a  tame,  quiet 
submission  to  tyranny  and  oppression." 

And  it  was  he  who,  in  May  following,  made  the  speech  which 
sent  a  thrill  through  all  the  United  Kingdom — so  outspoken  was  it, 
so  daring,  so  rash,  so  terrible: — 

"  The  King  has  refused  to  create  peers,  he  has  refused  to  furnish 
his  Minister  with  the  means  of  carrying  to  a  successful  issue  that 
bill  of  reform  with  which  the  hopes  of  this  too  credulous  people 
have  been  so  long  deluded.  He  has  lent  his  name  as  a  tower  of 
strength  to  the  borough-mongers.  He  has  identified  his  cause  with 
that  of  the  enemies  of  his  people.  The  determination  on  the  part 
of  the  King  to  transfer  his  confidence  to  men  whom  the  people 
detest  and  scorn,  and  to  support  a  faction  in  opposition  to  the 
people  and  the  votes  of  the  House  of  Commons,  cannot  be 
regarded  in  any  other  light  than  an  act  exceeding  in  rashness,  in 
atrocity,  and  in  guilt  the  most  unconstitutional  proceedings  of  the 
first  Charles  or  the  ordinances  of  Charles  the  Tenth.  To  this  rash 
step  he  has  been  urged  by  the  entreaties  of  a  foreign  female  and 
the  importunities  of  certain  bastards  who  infest  the  royal  palace. 
It  is  said  there  is  an  irresistible  power  behind  the  throne  greater 
than  the  power  of  the  Minister,  and  sufficient  to  hurl  from  his  place 
the  man  who  has  obtained  the  confidence  of  the  people.  Should 
not  William  IV.  remember  the  fate  of  Louis  XVI.  ?  Should  not  a 
Queen  who  makes  herself  a  busy  intermeddling  politician,  recollect 


CHARLES  LARKIN.  9 

the  fate  of  Marie  Antoinette  ?  From  this  hustings  I  bid  the  Queen 
of  England  recollect  that,  in  consequence  of  the  opposition  of  that 
ill-fated  woman  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  France,  a  fairer  head 
than  ever  graced  the  shoulders  of  Adelaide,  Queen  of  England, 
rolled  upon  the  scaffold." 

Had  these  words  been  uttered  a  few  years  earlier  they  would 
probably  have  cost  the  speaker  his  life.  As  it  was  they  formed  the 
subject  of  debate  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  a  warrant  was  issued 
for  the  apprehension  of  the  orator  on  a  charge  of  high  treason;  but 
the  Reform  Bill  was  passed  a  short  time  after,  and,  in  the  general 
jubilation  which  followed,  the  heated  language  of  the  Newcastle 
surgeon  was  overlooked,  if  not  forgotten. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  Mr.  Larkin,  true  to  his  prin- 
ciples, allied  himself  with  those  who  demanded  still  further  reforms 
than  the  mere  extension  of  the  suffrage,  and  the  extinction  of  rotten 
boroughs,  was  calculated  to  produce.  At  a  Town  Moor  meeting  in 
1833,  with  all  his  former  vigour,  he  advocated  vote  by  ballot,  universal 
suffrage,  annual  parliaments,  and  the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws,  as 
moderate  instalments  of  the  just  requirements  of  the  English  people. 
Three  years  later  he  started  a  newspaper  to  promulgate  more  widely 
his  views  on  political  and  social  questions — the  Newcastle  Standard, 
but  the  experiment  was  not  successful,  and  after  a  chequered 
existence  of  six  months  it  ceased  to  appear. 

Upon  the  formation,  in  the  later  fifties,  of  the  Northern  Reform 
Union,  Mr.  Larkin  became  a  member  of  its  administrative  council, 
and  in  conjunction  with  Mr,  Joseph  Cowen,  Jun.,  Mr.  R.  B.  Reed, 
Mr.  Thomas  Gregson,  and  other  of  its  leading  spirits,  addressed 
numerous  public  meetings  in  Northumberland  and  Durham  in  fur- 
therance of  its  objects.  At  the  general  election  in  April,  1859,  he 
nominated  Mr.  Peter  Alfred  Taylor,  the  Radical  candidate  for 
Newcastle,  and  delivered  a  stirring  speech  in  his  favour.  His  last 
appearance  on  the  political  platform  was  at  a  demonstration  on  the 
Town  Moor  of  Newcastle,  in  October,  1872,  in  favour  of  the  release 
of  Fenian  prisoners. 

But  it  was  not  in  the  field  of  politics  alone  that  Mr.  Larkin  dis- 
played his  eloquence.  One  of  his  earliest  public  efforts  was  made 
upon  the  religious  platform — in  Brunswick  Place  Wesleyan  Chapel, 
Newcastle.  An  anti-Popery  lecturer,  one  Captain  Gordon,  was  there, 
denouncing  the  Papacy  as  the  "  mother  of  harlots  and  abominations 
of  the  earth."     Young  Doctor  Larkin,  as  he  was  called,  characterising 


lo  CHARLES  LARKIN. 

the  lecture  as  a  tissue  of  falsehoods  and  misrepresentations,  chal- 
lenged the  lecturer  to  a  discussion.  The  challenge  was  accepted, 
and  the  debate  took  place,  but  the  disputants  were  changed — the 
Rev.  Mr.  Armstrong,  an  Irish  convert  from  Catholicism,  taking  the 
Protestant  side,  and  Mr.  Falvey,  a  barrister,  representing  the 
Catholics.  When  the  discussion  was  over  Mr.  Larkin  published 
a  pamphlet  on  the  subject,  in  which  he  defended  the  Catholic 
position  with  remarkable  force  and  fervency.  Again,  in  1836,  when 
the  public  mind  was  excited  by  a  disgusting  book  entitled  "  The 
Awful  Disclosures  of  Maria  Monk,"  in  which  gross  immoralities 
were  described  as  occurring  in  a  nunnery  at  Montreal,  Mr.  Larkin 
published  "  A  Letter  to  the  Protestants  of  Newcastle,"  containing  a 
refutation  of  the  book  so  effective  that  the  Catholic  Defence  Society, 
testifying  its  admiration,  presented  to  him  a  tea  and  coffee  service 
and  ;!^ioo.  Later  in  the  same  year  he  delivered  a  series  of  lectures 
upon  the  evils  attending  the  connection  of  Church  and  State,  and 
these  made  him,  for  the  time,  as  popular  among  Nonconformists  as 
he  was  in  his  own  denomination.  During  the  agitation  against  the 
"Papal  Aggression,"  in  1850,  he  delivered  lectures  on  the  "Pope 
and  Cardinal  Wiseman,"  on  Lord  John  Russell's  famous  "  Durham 
Letter,"  and  on  the  re-establishment  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy. 
When  Gavazzi  visited  Newcastle  in  1854,  he  replied  to  that  eminent 
orator's  address  with  an  eloquence  scarcely  less  striking  than  that 
of  the  distinguished  Italian.  In  1852,  having  discussed  the  Catholic 
question  with  Dr.  Haigh  in  Dumfries,  the  Catholics  of  that  town 
presented  him  wnth  a  gold  watch  to  show  their  appreciation  of  his 
championship. 

Although  a  fearless  defender  of  his  church  against  the  attacks  of 
outsiders,  he  was  equally  fearless  in  denouncing  what  he  considered 
to  be  blemishes  within  its  pale.  Thus,  in  September,  1844,  when  it 
was  announced  that  at  the  opening  of  St.  Mary's  Catholic  Cathedral, 
Newcastle,  admission  would  be  by  ticket  only,  Mr.  Larkin  issued  a 
pamphlet  protesting  against  the  innovation.  Strong  and  fiery  were 
the  phrases  in  which  he  indulged,  declaring,  among  other  things,  that 
"  never  since  Judas  sold  the  actual  and  veritable  body  and  blood  of 
our  Lord,  was  there  anything  more  treacherous  to  the  interests  of 
eternal  and  sacred  truth  ;  nor  could  the  world's  baseness,  in  the 
wildest  imagination  of  its  corruption  and  depravity,  offer  a  greater 
insult  to  God  and  to  his  religion  than  to  sell  the  mystical  sacrifice  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  his  most  sacred  Son  as  an  exhibition  for  money." 


CHARLES  LARKIN.  ii 

In  the  sphere  of  invective  Mr.  Larkin  was  unrivalled.  Among  the 
local  orators  of  the  past  generation  were  many  hard  hitters,  but  none 
of  them  hit  so  hard  as  he.  There  are  men  yet  living  who  remember 
the  sensation  which  he  created  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  sub- 
scribers to  the  Central  Exchange  News  Room,  Newcastle,  in  1842, 
when  Mr.  William  Chapman,  "  the  pious  banker,"  moved  a  resolution 
to  close  the  rooms  on  Sundays,  on  the  ground  that  their  opening  on 
that  day  was  a  desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  and  a  violation  of  the 
fourth  commandment.  "  I  tell  Mr.  Chapman,  and  all  in  this  room 
who  support  him,  boldly  and  to  their  very  beards,"  said  Mr.  Larkin, 
"  that  in  coming  forward  on  this  occasion  and  attempting  to  force 
their  notions  of  Sabbatical  observance  on  us,  they  exhibit  the  grossest 
and  thickest  theological  and  Scriptural  ignorance.  The  whole  of  the 
Old  Testament,  from  Genesis  to  the  last  of  the  Prophets,  has  ceased 
to  be  of  any  binding  obligation  upon  Christians.  I  have  the 
authority  of  an  Evangelist  for  the  correctness  of  my  theology  and  my 
assertion.  'The  law  and  the  Prophets,' says  St.  Luke,  'were  until 
John;  since  that  time  the  kingdom  of  God  is  preached  and  every  one 
presseth  into  it.'  Who  is  it  that  dares  impugn  or  oppugn  this 
emphatic  language  ?  No  one  can  have  the  brazen-faced  assurance 
to  do  so.  The  whole  Judaic  system  has  been  abolished,  and  the 
law  of  Moses  and  the  books  of  the  Prophets,  which  gentlemen  quote 
with  so  much  glibness  and  volubility,  are  entirely  out  of  date.  There 
is  not,  and  it  never  was  intended  that  there  should  be,  in  Christianity, 
a  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath  belongs,  and  belonged  to  Judaism  alone. 
For  any  command  to  the  contrary  in  the  New  Testament,  we  might, 
without  any  breach  of  any  Scriptural  injunction,  follow  all  our  usual 
avocations  on  the  Sunday.  We  might  work,  plough,  dig,  sow,  reap, 
buy,  and  sell,  even  change  money  and  discount  bills.  At  any  rate, 
you  have  no  right  to  compel  me,  who  dissent  from  your  views,  to 
spend  the  Sunday  according  to  your  ideas  of  holiness,  and  your 
fashions  of  Sabbatical  observances.  Why  cannot  you  be  content 
with  being  holy  yourselves  without  forcing  me  to  adopt  your  legal 
and  ceremonial  affectation  of  sanctity  ?  What  right  have  you  to  take 
your  pail  of  whitening  and  your  whitening  brush  and  whitewash  me 
into  a  spectre  of  holiness  ?  What  right  have  you  to  whitewash  us 
into  as  nice  and  clean-looking  sepulchres  of  sanctity  as  yourselves  ? 
I  protest  against  your  right  to  drive  me  into  sanctimony — to  compel 
me  to  wear  a  white  cravat,  a  black  coat,  and  a  long  face.  Supposing 
that  whips  and  thongs  and  scourges  were  put  into  your  hands,  that 


12  CHARLES  LARKIN. 

you  drove  us  to  church,  and  compelled  us  to  pray  and  warble  forth 
hymns  and  psalms,  what  else  would  this  compelled  devotion  be  but 
to  insult  God  with  a  lip-service  and  mock  him  with  a  knee  homage  ? 
In  addition  to  tyranny  to  man,  you  would  be  guilty  of  impiety  to 
God.  God  will  accept  of  no  service  but  that  which  is  willing,  and 
one  heartfelt  burst  of  prayer  and  penitence  at  any  moment  is  worth 
all  the  Sabbaths  and  all  the  sacrifices  of  all  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
of  the  world.  It  amazes  me  that  before  this  day,  this  evil  spirit  of 
tyranny  has  not  been  exorcised  out  of  religion,  and  that  a  just  senti- 
ment of  indignation  does  not  burst  forth  from  all  sides  to  quell 
into  instantaneous  silence  the  fanatical  audacity  of  the  man  who,  in 
a  society  of  truly  Christian  and  liberal-minded  men,  should  rise  to 
make  motions  of  this  nature,  that  are  an  insult  to  Christian  liberty, 
and  an  affront  to  common  sense." 

Mr.  Larkin  was  an  able  and  accomplished  lecturer  on  other  topics 
than  those  of  politics  and  religion.  Two  of  his  most  popular  themes 
were  "A  Hair"  and  "A  Feather."  On  poetry  and  philosophy,  on 
science,  on  capital  punishment,  on  the  laws  of  health,  and  other 
subjects  of  a  social  and  sanitary  character,  he  discoursed  frequently 
and  eloquently.  His  lectures  on  these  subjects,  though  less  brilliant 
in  many  respects  than  his  political  speeches  and  pamphlets,  had 
more  of  solid  merit  in  them.  The  brilliancy  of  one  was  marred  by 
the  temper  of  the  partisan;  in  the  other  Mr.  Larkin  was  seen  in 
the  higher  character  of  the  scholar  and  cultivated  gentleman.  His 
last  contribution  to  literature  was  a  series  of  articles  on  political 
and  other  current  topics,  which  appeared  in  the  Newcastle  Weekly 
Chronicle  during  the  year  1868. 

Mr.  Larkin  died  on  the  28th  of  February,  1879,  aged  seventy-nine, 
and  was  interred  in  Elswick  Cemetery.  Over  his  grave  his  political 
and  literary  friends  erected  a  monument  upon  which,  under  a  pro- 
tecting canopy,  a  bust  preserves  his  once  familiar  features.  The 
monument  was  unveiled,  with  an  eloquent  address,  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Cowen,  M.P.,  followed  by  eulogistic  speeches  from  Mr.  T.  P.  Barkas, 
Mr.  George  Crawshay,  and  Councillor  H.  W.  Newton.  It  bears 
on  the  front  panel  the  inscription — 

"  This  monument  was  erected  by  Public  Subscription  to  the  Memory  of  Charles 
Larkin,  Philosopher  and  Orator,  who  died  28th  February,  1879,  aged  79  years. 

The  orator  is  gone,  and  from  this  hour 

Hath  passed  a  voice,  a  presence,  and  a  power." 


J  A  MES  LA  WSON.  1 3 

3ninc6  Xaweon, 

MAVOR    OF    NEWCASTLE   AT   THE    REFORMATION. 

"William  de  Cramlington,  dying  without  issue  male  in  the  latter  end  of  the 
reign  of  K.  Henry  V.,  was  succeeded  in  his  estate  by  his  two  daughters  and 
co-heirs,  Agnes  and  Alice,  who  were  found  by  an  inquisition  to  be  in  possession 
of  it,  3  K.  Henry  VI.;  the  former  first  married  to  John  Heselrigge,  and  after- 
wards to  William  Lawson;  the  latter  to  Nicholas  Gobeford;  the  Lawsons 
afterwards  having  the  whole  mediety." — Wallis's  HISTORY  OF  Northumber- 
land. 

Of  the  great  local  family  of  Lawson,  established  during  many 
generations  in  the  near  neighbourhood  of  Newcastle — at  Cramling- 
ton and  Longhirst,  Chirton  and  Usworth — two  members  distin- 
guished themselves  in  the  public  life  of  the  town,  and  one  occupied 
the  chief  seat  of  the  municipality.  That  one  was  James,  great- 
grandson  of  the  William  Lawson,  whose  marriage  with  John  Hesel- 
rigge's  widow,  as  described  by  Wallis  in  the  paragraph  quoted  above, 
brought  a  large  portion  of  the  manor  of  Cramlington  into  the 
family. 

James  Lawson  was  the  second  son  of  his  father,  William  Lawson, 
the  younger,  of  Cramlington,  his  mother  being  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Horsley,  of  Thernham.  His  position  as  second  son  made  it  neces- 
sary that  he  should  follow  a  trade  or  profession,  and  at  the  proper 
age  he  was  sent  to  Newcastle  (where  his  father's  sister,  Joanna,  was, 
or  had  recently  been,  prioress  of  the  Nuns  of  St.  Bartholomew),  to 
learn  the  business  of  a  merchant  adventurer.  Acquiring  his  freedom 
in  due  course,  he  took  to  himself  a  wife — Alice,  daughter  of  George 
Bartram,  of  Brinkley,  a  Newcastle  merchant,  who  lived  at  the  old 
mansion  in  Westgate  Street,  where  now  stands  the  library  of  the 
Newcastle  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society.  His  mercantile 
speculations  proved  successful,  and  in  no  long  time  he  was  a  pros- 
perous and  rising  citizen.  In  April,  1522,  he  purchased  from 
William  W' erdale,  or  Wardel,  a  messuage  and  horse-mill  in  the  Meal 
Market,  abutting  on  Pudding  Chare,  and  the  following  year  he 
entered  into  the  public  life  of  the  municipality  by  accepting  the 
Shrievalty. 

Shortly  before  James  Lawson's  appointment  to  the  office  of  Sheriff 
a  curious  dispute  occurred  respecting  an  election  in  which  he  was 


14  JAMES  LAWSON. 

interested.  Joan  Baxter,  who  succeeded  his  aant,  Joanna  Lawson, 
as  prioress  of  the  nunnery  in  Newcastle,  died,  and  his  sister,  Agnes 
Lawson,  a  lady  under  thirty  years  of  age,  was  installed  as  her 
successor.  The  Abbot  of  Newminster  had  conducted  the  installa- 
tion, "  with  the  whole  consent  of  all  the  convent  of  the  house," 
but  Cardinal  Wolsey,  then  Bishop  of  Durham,  claiming  the  right  of 
appointment,  through  his  vicar-general,  annulled  the  election.  Lord 
Dacre,  Warden  of  the  Marches,  and  a  good  friend  of  the  Lawsons, 
interested  himself  on  the  lady's  behalf,  and  wrote  letters  in  her  favour 
to  the  Abbot  of  Fountains,  and  to  Dr.  Clifton,  the  cardinal's  vicar- 
general,  all  of  which  may  be  read  at  length  in  Hearne's  Collections. 
It  transpired,  after  much  research  and  inquiry,  that  the  right  of 
presentation  belonged  to  the  See  of  Durham,  and  in  the  end,  that 
right  being  acknowledged,  the  vicar-general  consented  to  reinstate 
Agnes  Lawson,  advising  her  friends,  meanwhile,  to  obtain  a  dispen- 
sation for  her  nonage,  and  promising,  in  consideration  of  the  poverty 
of  the  convent,  a  mitigation  of  the  fees  for  election  and  institution. 

James  Lawson's  term  of  office  expired  on  Michaelmas  Monday, 
1524,  and  the  following  year  we  read  of  him  as  being  engaged  in  a 
commercial  dispute  with  one  Raymond  Gutters,  a  merchant  of  Calais. 
The  facts  of  the  quarrel  are  of  no  public  interest,  but  the  episode  out 
of  which  it  originated  exhibits  the  ex-sheriif  as  a  man  of  spirit  and 
enterprise,  who  even  in  those  days  of  slow  and  difificult  transit  was 
capable  of  undertaking  a  journey  to  the  English  possessions  in 
France  for  the  purpose  of  making  personal  bargains,  and  of  dealing 
direct  with  merchants  and  traders  on  the  other  side  of  the  English 
Channel. 

Following  the  usual  course  of  events,  Mr.  Lawson,  after  six  years' 
interval,  rose  from  the  Shrievalty  to  the  Mayoralty.  He  was  elected 
to  the  higher  post  in  October,  1529.  Nothing  remarkable  occurred 
to  him,  or  to  the  town  over  which  he  exercised  authority,  during  his 
year  of  office.  But,  not  long  afterwards,  something  unusual  did 
happen,  and  he  was  the  principal  actor  in  the  business.  Upon 
Michaelmas  Monday,  1532,  when  the  electors  met,  according  to 
annual  custom,  to  choose  the  civic  dignitaries,  it  was  found  that  some 
of  their  number  being  absent,  they  were  unable  to  proceed  to  an 
election.  The  absentees  were  Mr.  James  Lawson  and  a  few  of  his 
known  friends  and  partisans,  and  a  general  suspicion  prevailed  in  the 
town  that  their  omission  to  attend  had  been  arranged  beforehand. 
It  may  be  noted  in  passing,  that  most  of  the  details  of  Mr.  Lawson's 


JAMES  LA  IVSON.  15 

life  that  have  come  down  to  us,  relate  to  disputation  of  some  kind, 
indicating  that  the  ex-mayor  had  an  imperious  temper,  and  was  of  a 
contentious  disposition.  In  this  instance  he  contrived  for  a  time  to 
upset  the  whole  mechanism  of  corporate  organisation,  and  to  block 
up  the  fountain  of  municipal  honour.  It  was  not  possible,  in  the 
absence  of  the  Lawson  party,  to  elect  a  new  Mayor  and  Sheriff,  and 
the  retiring  occupants  of  those  ofifices,  Robert  Brandling  and  Ralph 
Carr,  were  obliged  to  retain  their  seats  pending  the  arrival  of  advice 
and  instructions  from  the  Privy  Council.  The  letter  in  which  these 
worshipful  persons  reported  the  deadlock  to  Secretary  Cromwell  is 
preserved  in  the  Record  Office,  and  although  rather  long  for  a 
biography,  it  is  altogether  too  interesting  to  suffer  material  abridg- 
ment.    Thus  they  wrote  : — 

"  Right  worshipful  and  our  very  good  master.  Please  it  you  to  be 
advertised  how  that  in  time  past  great  division  was  amongst  the 
burgesses  of  this  town  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  for  the  election  of 
the  mayor  and  other  officers  of  this  town,  which,  by  the  king's 
highness  and  his  most  honourable  council,  was  tried,  and  the 
offenders  sore  punished  by  imprisonment  by  a  long  season  in  the 
Tower  of  London;  and  then  was  ordained  and  decreed  by  his 
highness  and  his  said  council  in  what  manner  and  form  the  said 
election  for  ever  should  be  had  and  used,  upon  great  pains  to  the 
breakers  of  the  same.  Which  decree  and  ordinance,  exemplified 
under  the  king's  great  seal,  we  have  remaining  with  us  here  within 
this  town,  and  it  is  recorded  in  the  king's  chancery  at  London. 
Amongst  other  things  it  is  decreed  and  ordained  that  the  said 
election  shall  yearly  be  made  by  twenty-four  persons,  burgesses  of 
this  town,  of  which  twelve  shall  be  such  as  have  been  mayors,  sheriffs, 
or  aldermen  of  the  same.  That  decree  hath  inviolably  been  kept 
sith  the  making  of  the  same,  to  Michaelmas  last  past,  the  accustomed 
time  of  the  election  of  officers.  That  one  J'T-mes  Lawson,  sheriff  and 
sometime  mayor  of  this  town,  with  certain  other  his  company  who 
hath  been  sheriffs  of  the  same  town,  at  that  time  absented  themselfs 
from  the  said  election,  of  intent  to  break  the  said  decree,  and  disturb 
the  said  election.  Being  well  assured  that  in  default  of  twelve 
persons,  mayors,  sheriffs,  or  aldermen,  the  said  election  could  not 
be  had,  according  to  the  said  decree,  for  without  them  who  absented 
themselfs  and  withdrew  them  from  the  said  election,  there  were  not 
in  all  the  town  so  many  freemen  of  that  sort.  And  so  the  said  decree 
is  broken,  and  the  said  James  Lawson  absenteth  himself  out  of  the 


1 6  JAMES  LA  WSON. 

town,  and  for  his  offences  will  not  undergo  such  correction  as  is 
limited  in  the  said  decree,  intending  by  labouring  above  at  London 
to  avoid  correction  here  (which  God  defend),  for  thereupon  shall 
great  disobedience  and  other  misdemeanours  ensue,  and  this  town 
thereby  shall  be  out  of  order.  He  will  labour  a  commission  directed 
to  foreign  lords,  and  to  take  order  at  their  hands,  which  hath  not 
been  seen  within  this  town,  and  so  to  avoid  him  from  our  correction  as 
though  he  was  no  freeman  of  this  town,  and  the  king's  decree  shall 
so  be  broken,  whereby  all  offenders  at  this  day  be  bridled  and  kept 
in  good  stay  and  order.  Sir,  if  he  be  corrected  to  his  demerit,  as 
divers  of  his  company  be,  which  is  as  is  limited  in  the  said  decree 
and  not  otherwise,  this  town  shall  continue  well  ruled  and  ordered, 
and  the  king's  highness  well  served  in  peace  and  war  by  the  in- 
habitants of  the  same.  Whereunto,  as  our  special  trust  is  in  your 
mastership,  we  humbly  beseech  you,  as  we  may  desire  it,  to  be  our 
good  master  herein,  and  help  that  the  said  James  Lawson  may  be 
ordered  at  home,  and  punished  here  for  his  said  offences.  And  in 
so  doing  ye  bind  us  to  be  at  your  commandment  with  such  poor 
pleasures  as  we  may  do  for  you.  Eftsoons,  we  require  you  at  the 
reverence  of  God  to  be  our  good  master  in  the  premises.  And  our 
Lord  God  preserve  you.  Your  loving  friends,  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  Robert  Brandling,  Mayor; 
John  Blaxton,  Edward  Baxter,  Edward  Swinburne,  Gilbert 
MiDDLETON,  Ralph  Carr,  Thomas  Horslev." 

There  is  no  record  of  the  way  in  which  Mr.  Lawson  and 
his  friends  were  "bridled  and  kept  in  good  stay  and  order." 
But,  by  some  means  or  other,  they  were  reduced  to  obedience,  and 
the  election  proceeded — Henry  Anderson  being  appointed  Mayor, 
and  John  Sanderson  Sheriff,  without  further  let  or  hindrance.  Six 
years  later,  when  Sanderson  was  Mayor,  and  the  North-Country  had 
been  roused  to  revolt  by  the  innovations  and  confiscations  which 
heralded  the  Reformation,  James  Lawson's  name  appears  in  the 
State  Papers  as  one  of  the  aldermen  of  Newcastle  who  w^ere 
distinguished  by  their  loyalty  to  the  king's  new  ideas.  Sir  Ralph 
Sadler,  passing  through  Newcastle  on  his  way  to  Scotland,  reported 
to  Secretary  Cromwell  that  the  Mayor  and  aldermen  were  "  honest, 
faithful,  and  true  men  to  the  king."  The  burgesses  had  been  at  first 
unruly,  but  the  Mayor  and  aldermen  had  managed  them  so  well  that, 
at  length,  they  were  "  determined  to  live  and  die  with  the  Mayor  and 
his  brethren  in  the  defence  and  keeping  of  the  town  to  the  King's 


JAMES  LAU'SON.  17 

use."  Furthermore,  the  Mayor,  "a  wise  fellow  and  a  substantial," 
and  "James  Lawson,  one  of  the  aldermen,"  had  taken  him  upon  the 
walls,  explained  the  strength  of  the  fortifications,  and  the  provision 
that  had  been  made  for  victualling  the  town,  with  all  of  which  he 
was  so  well  satisfied  that  "if  it  pleased  the  king's  highness  to  send 
them  a  letter  of  thanks  it  would  greatly  encourage  them,"  and  so  on. 
Clearly,  Alderman  Lawson  and  his  brethren  had  made  a  good 
impression  upon  Sir  Ralph  Sadler. 

At  the  great  muster  of  the  fencible  inhabitants  of  Newcastle,  in 
1539,  Alderman  Lawson  had  in  charge  the  four  wards  of  Westgate, 
Gunner  Tower,  Stank  Tower,  and  Pink  Tower,  and  was  able  to 
provide  for  the  king's  service  six  servants  with  coats  of  plate,  jacks, 
steel  bonnets,  bows,  and  bills.  ^Vhen  the  final  surrender  and  dis- 
solution of  the  religious  houses  took  place,  being  a  faithful  and 
ardent  partisan  of  his  royal  master,  he  secured  a  considerable  share 
of  the  plunder.  Out  of  the  property  of  the  White  Friars  in  New- 
castle he  obtained,  for  5s.  a  year,  "the  site  of  the  said  house,  with 
the  buildings  annexed,  and  the  garden  to  the  same  belonging"; 
while,  for  20s.  per  annum,  he  secured  a  meadow  of  three  acres, 
and  a  house  belonging  to  the  Dominicans.  From  the  nunnery  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  of  which  his  sister  Agnes  was  prioress,  he  had  for 
^8  a  year  "  the  farm  and  site,  late  the  priory  or  house  of  the  Nuns," 
thirty  acres  of  pasture  in  the  field  of  Jesmond,  and  Ouston,  near 
Chester-le-Street ;  for  £,6  iis.  6d.  a  year  "messuages,  lands,  etc., 
with  the  Nun's  jNIoor,  as  well  aboveground  as  underground,  within 
the  town  and  fields  of  Newcastle" ;  for  ^16  a  year  "the  coal-mines 
of  the  late  nunnery  in  Gateshead."  Of  the  Abbey  of  Neasham,  near 
Darlington,  of  which  his  sister  Jane  was  abbess,  he  purchased  for 
;^2  2  7  5s.  the  whole  estate — house,  church  bells,  burial-ground,  and 
all  the  buildings,  gardens,  and  orchards  adjoining  it,  with  the  posses- 
sions belonging  thereto  in  Neasham,  Hurworth,  Dinsdale,  Burdon, 
and  Cockfield.  A  few  days  after  this  last-named  transaction  had 
been  completed  he  was  elected  for  the  second  time  Mayor  of 
Newcastle. 

During  Alderman  I.awson's  second  ^Liyoralty,  in  August,  1541, 
the  king  came  to  York,  with  his  new  wife,  Catherine  Howard,  to 
meet  his  nephew,  James,  King  of  Scots.  His  ^Lljesty  had  never 
been  nearer  to  his  good  town  of  Newcastle,  and  while  he  waited  for 
his  tantalising  nephew,  who,  by  the  way,  did  not  keep  the  appoint- 
ment,  the  devoted  burgesses  sent  him  a  present  of  ;j^ioo.     The 

VOL.  III.  2 


1 8  JAMES  LA  WSON. 

bearer  of  their  thank-offering  was  the  Mayor,  who,  a  few  weeks 
before,  had  himself  received  a  thank-offering  from  a  local  admirer, 
though  of  a  much  less  valuable  character.  Peter  Chator,  of 
Newcastle,  merchant,  making  his  will  on  the  23rd  of  April  in  that 
year,  testified  his  friendship  to  the  chief  magistrate  in  the  following 
curious  manner: — "Whereas  much  good  amity  and  love  hath  been 
betwixt  James  Lawson,  master  mayor  of  Newcastle,  and  me,  and 
divers  reckonings  hanging,  not  yet  clearly  finished,  so  that  I  think, 
so  nigh  as  my  conscience  doth  serve  me,  I  am  indebted  to  him  4/. 
or  some  more,  at  the  most  it  passeth  not  5/.,  and  in  contentation 
and  payment  of  the  said  sum,  and  most  partly  for  the  good  love  I 
bear  towards  him,  I  give  him  my  best  gown,  faced  throughout  with 
marterons,  and  to  my  cousin,  his  wife,  a  gold  ring." 

In  July,  1543,  Alderman  Lawson  purchased  from  the  Crown  the 
manor  of  Byker.  From  this  acquisition  arose  another  great  local 
disputation.  For  the  Corporation  wanted  to  extend  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  town,  from  the  Swirle  rivulet  into  Byker,  in  order  to 
gain  more  room  for  depositing  the  ever-increasing  heaps  of  ballast 
that  the  collier  fleet  brought  up  the  river,  and  they  could  not  bring 
Alderman  Lawson  to  accept  reasonable  terms  of  surrender.  A  year 
later  (April,  1544),  he  executed  a  deed  by  which  he  settled  the 
manors  of  Byker  and  West  Matfen  upon  his  son  Edmund,  and  the 
property  at  Neasham,  Cockfield,  etc.,  upon  his  son  Henry.  Soon 
afterwards  he  must  have  died.  In  November,  1547,  Alice  Lawson, 
described  as  his  "widow,"  made  her  will,  and  in  the  same  year  the 
dispute  with  the  Corporation  was  carried  to  a  final  issue  in  the  name 
of  his  son  Edmund. 

Besides  Edmund  and  Henry,  Alderman  Lawson  had  two  sons 
and  two  daughters — six  in  all.  These,  and  their  descendants, 
marrying  into  well-known  families,  united  the  Lawsons  of  Cram- 
lington  with  Fenwicks  and  Swinburnes,  Constables  and  Hodgsons, 
Burghs  and  Inglebys,  and  other  of  the  oldest  and  wealthiest  land- 
owners in  the  Northern  Counties. 


DOROTHY  LA  WSON.  1 9 

Dorotb^  Xa\V6on, 

THE    LADV    BOUNTIFUL   OF    ST.    ANTHONY's. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  faith  of 
Rome  in  England  lay  under  a  ban,  and  persecution  of  those  who 
professed  it  ran  hot  and  strong,  there  dwelt  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Tyne  a  pious  Catholic  lady,  whose  blameless  life  and  charitable 
disposition,  enabled  her  to  enjoy  undisturbed  serenity  amid  all  the 
intolerance  and  bigotry  of  the  time.  This  lady  was  Dorothy,  widow 
of  Roger  Lawson,  of  Heaton,  who  was  a  son  of  Edmund  Lawson,  of 
Byker,  and  therefore  grandson  of  Alderman  James  Lawson,  the 
subject  of  the  preceding  biography.  Details  of  her  life,  written  by 
Father  Palmes,  or  Palmer,  a  Jesuit  Father  whom  she  sheltered,  were 
published,  in  1855,  by  George  Bouchier  Richardson,  from  a  MS.  in 
the  possession  of  Sir  William  Lawson,  of  Brough.  A  curious,  almost 
fascinating,  biography  it  is;  scarcely  inferior  in  interest  to  that  other 
famous  local  MS. — the  "  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes."  By  way  of 
a  change,  and  with  necessary  abridgment,  we  may  allow  the  old 
priest  to  tell  the  story  of  his  heroine  in  his  own  quaint  and  impressive 
language  : — 

"  Dorothy  Lawson  visibly  took  her  first  breath  at  Wing  in 
Bukingam-shire,  a  house  belonging  to  her  grandfather  Dormer,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1580.  Her  father  was  Henry  Constable,  lord 
of  Burton  Constable,  in  Holderness,  a  name  in  estate  and  canonicall 
pedigree,  inferiour  to  none  within  the  vast  extent  of  Yorkshire. 
Her  mother,  the  lady  Marget  Constable,  a  flourishing  branch 
derived  from  the  honourable  linage  of  the  Dormers,  earls  of  Caer- 
narvon, rarely  parted  by  nature,  embellished  with  singular  endow- 
ments in  the  internall,  full  of  majesty,  tall  in  stature,  sweet  in 
countenance,  fair  in  complexion,  qualified  with  a  proportion  of 
Vermillion,  of  an  accomplished  gracefullness,  and  in  her  whole  com- 
position so  attractive  that  she  was  commonly  stiled  the  Star  of  the 
Court,  and  a  mirrour  or  looking-glass  in  the  country.  From  this 
matchless  pair  came  our  divine  Dorothy,  bearing  in  her  name  the 
gift  of  God  (Dorothea  Donum  Dei),  a  true  daughter  of  such  parents. 
She  was  so  lively  a  piece  of  her  mother  in  stature,  voice,  proportion, 
comliness,  and  all  other  lineaments,  that  they  were  scarce  by  any 
thing  but  age  distinguishable. 


20  DOROTHY  LA  WSON. 

"  Amongst  many  eminent  for  means  and  quality,  Roger  Lawson, 
Esq.,  son  and  heire  to  Sir  Ral.  Lawson  of  Brough,  in  Richmondshire, 
made  tender  of  his  respects  in  noble  way  of  matrimony;  to  which 
her  modesty  did  so  Httle  bend,  that  none  but  parents  could  persuade 
her  to  appear  in  his  presence,  and  a  virginal!  blush  cast  visibly  a 
rosy  tincture  uppon  her  face,  whensoever  she  heard  him  named  in 
absence.  Having  attained  to  her  17th  year  of  her  age,  the  desired 
impression  was  soon  wrought  in  her  thoughts ;  forthwith  ensued  the 
result  of  marriage,  which  not  long  after  was  celebrated  with  universal 
acclamations  of  friends,  and  splendour  in  every  particular,  corre- 
spondent to  their  calling." 

The  marriage  deed,  dated  the  loth  of  March,  1596-97,  brought 
the  manors  of  Burgh  in  Yorkshire,  Burn  Hall  in  the  county  of 
Durham,  and  Byker,  Cramlington,  Scremerston,  West  Matfen, 
Cambois,  and  Blyth,  with  lands  in  West  Sleekburn,  all  in  the  county 
of  Northumberland,  into  settlement,  and  gave  to  the  bride  the  manor 
of  Burn  Hall  for  life,  in  bar  of  dower.  After  their  marriage,  Dorothy 
and  her  husband  resided  for  a  while  at  Brough,  but  the  lady  proved 
to  be  a  fruitful  vine,  and  it  became  necessary  to  enlarge  the  mansion 
or  find  another  residence.  Thereupon,  in  1605,  Burn  Hall  was  sold, 
and  in  recompense  of  the  jointure  thus  alienated,  a  moiety  of  the 
manor  of  Heaton,  and  so  much  of  the  manor  of  Byker  as  lay  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Ouseburn,  were  conveyed  to  trustees  for  her  benefit. 
To  Heaton,  soon  after  the  date  of  the  conveyance,  she  and  her 
husband  removed,  and  there,  and  at  St.  Anthony's,  she  brought  up 
her  family. 

While  residing  at  Heaton  this  estimable  woman  lost  her  husband. 
He  was  in  London,  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession  as  a 
member  of  the  Inner  Temple,  when,  at  the  end  of  the  year  16 13,  or 
beginning  of  16 14,  he  sickened  and  died.  K  devout  Catholic,  Mrs. 
Lawson  had  contrived  to  practise  her  religion,  and  to  train  up  all  her 
children  in  the  faith  of  Rome,  without  giving  offence  to  her  Protest- 
ant husband,  or  his  family.  And  now,  upon  his  death-bed,  she  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him,  also,  reconciled  to  the  church  of  her 
choice.  Returning  to  Heaton,  she  determined  to  consecrate  the  rest 
of  her  days  to  religion  and  good  works. 

"When  she  had  again  made  her  house  fitt  for  the  service  of  God, 
and  use  of  her  children.  Sir  Ralph  Lawson  [her  father-in-law] 
desirous  to  sell  it,  moves  her  to  condescend  to  the  exigency  of  his 
occasions,  proferring,  in  lieu  of  it,  a  place  more  advantagious  for  her 


DOROTII Y  LA  WSON.  2 1 

designs,  called  St.  Antonys — a  seat  incomparably  more  pleasant,  but 
no  house  unless  shee  would  erect  one  att  her  own  charges.  Hope 
and  confidence  in  (lod  gave  courage  to  commence  a  new  building, 
and  charity  facilitated  the  work  ;  first,  because  the  place  was  holy, 
dedicated  in  Catholic  times  to  St.  Antony,  his  picture  being  decently 
plac'd  in  a  tree  near  the  river  Tine,  for  the  comfort  of  seamen ; 
secondly,  for  that  it  was  more  private  than  Heton,  and  free  to 
frequent  her  chapell.  At  the  end  of  the  house  opposite  to  the  water, 
shee  caused  to  be  made  the  sacred  name  of  Jesus,  large  in  i)ropor- 
tion,  and  accurate  for  art,  that  it  might  serve  the  mariners  instead  of 
St.  Antony's  picture  ;  and  when  the  fabric  was  ended  shee  dedicated 
the  whole  to  St.  Michael  and  St.  Antony,  and  each  room  (the  chapel 
excepted)  was  nominated  and  publicly  known  by  the  name  of  some 
particular  saint. 

"  This  seat  was  most  commodious  for  pleasure,  and  pleasant  for 
all  commoditys;  the  rich  and  renown'd  river  Tine  ebbing  and  flowing 
in  such  a  proportionable  distance  from  the  house,  that  neither  the 
water  is  inconvenient  to  it,  nor  does  it  want  the  convenience  of  the 
water.  The  vast  confluence  of  ships  which  it  brings  to  Newcastle  for 
coles  (and  this  is  looked  uppon  one  of  the  greatest  sorts  of  traffic  in 
the  kingdom)  pass  under  the  full  view  of  the  house,  and,  notwith- 
standing, Catholicks  may  resort  thither  with  such  privacy  that  they 
are  not  exposed  to  the  aspect  of  any.  The  name  of  Jesus  shee  caus'd 
to  be  drawn  so  publick  for  two  reasons.  The  first  her  own  safeguard 
and  protection ;  and  verily  it  so  prov'd,  for  whereas  all  Catholick 
houses  were  severely  search'd,  this  mercifully  escap'd,  and  when,  in 
harder  times,  allmost  all  were  demolish'd  by  disaster  and  war,  this 
was  daily  visited  in  way  of  curiosity  by  soldiers  of  all  ranks,  till  the 
king's  men  (not  out  of  spleen  but  fear),  conceiving  it  a  fit  place  for 
the  Scots  to  make  a  garrison,  made  it,  as  I  am  informed,  by  fire, 
even  with  the  ground.  The  second  reason,  that  sea-fairing  men  of 
other  nations  might  know  it  to  be  a  Catholick  house,  and  fly  thither, 
as  truly  they  did  in  swarmes  for  their  spirituall  refection." 

Mrs.  Lawson's  first  trouble  at  St.  Anthony's  was  the  death  of  her 
resident  priest.  The  Superior  of  the  Jesuits  sent  her  Father  Henry 
Morse  to  supply  the  vacancy,  but  within  a  year  of  his  coming  he  was 
apprehended  and  imprisoned  at  Newcastle.  A  third  priest  despatched 
on  the  same  errand,  Father  Robinson,  was  committed  to  the  same 
gaol.  Father  Palmes,  the  writer  of  the  narrative,  succeeded  Father 
Robinson,  and  managed  to  elude  detection.     But  Mrs.   Lawson's 


2  2  DOROTHY  LAWSON. 

connection  with  these  victims  of  persecution  did  not  escape  notice. 
Bishop  Neile  wrote  to  the  Privy  Council  in  June,  1626,  that  the 
houses  of  Sir  Robert  Hodgson  at  Hebburn,  of  Anthony  Berry  and 
John  Davel  at  Jarrow,  and  "  one  Mrs.  Lawson's  at  St.  Anthonie's, 
over  against  them  on  ye  North  side,  they  all  being  convicted  recus- 
ants, and  reputed  pragmaticall  in  ill  offices  of  conveyinge,  recevinge, 
and  harboringe,  of  persons  of  all  sorts  ill-afifected  to  ye  State,  is  very 
inconvenient  and  dangerous."  Thomas  Liddell,  the  Mayor  of  New- 
castle, who  received  a  warning  to  the  like  effect  from  the  bishop  in 
the  preceding  November,  had  refused  to  become  a  persecutor  of  his 
neighbours,  and  answered  that  he  could  find  "  noe  matter  thereof  but 
idle  reports."  Several  suspected  Papists  were  seized  at  Shields, 
coming  from  beyond  sea  about  this  time,  with  "  great  store  of  books 
and  many  MSS.,  with  abundance  of  pictures  and  popish  relics,"  but 
Mrs.  Lawson  was  not  molested,  although  her  sympathy  with  such 
persons,  and  the  shelter  she  afforded  them,  must  have  been  matter 
of  common  knowledge. 

After  describing  the  devotion  with  which  Mrs.  Lawson  kept  the 
feasts  and  fasts  of  the  church  in  her  retreat  at  St.  Anthony's,  Father 
Palmes  dilates  on  her  charity  and  benevolence : — 

"  Her  liberallity  did  bountifully  extend  to  the  poor,  both  by  vow 
and  necessity;  these  shee  hourly  reliev'd,  feeding  the  hungry,  cloath- 
ing  the  naked,  and  because  shee  was  a  widdow  herself,  shee  kept 
a  purse  of  twopences  for  widows.  The  two  prisoners  in  Newcastle 
shee  furnish'd  with  church-stuff,  washed  their  linnen,  provided  with 
all  necessary's  for  cloths  and  victualls,  and  though  Mr.  Morse  was 
known  to  belong  to  her,  nevertheless  preferring  his  conveniency 
before  her  own  safety,  shee  adventur'd  to  visite  him  in  the 
jayle,  and  suted  the  magistrate  he  might  enjoy  the  liberty  of  the 
town  for  his  health.  To  her  ghostly  father  nothing  was  wanting  fitt 
for  the  condition  of  a  religious  man.  According  to  the  custome  of 
colledges,  shee  gave  him  a  viaticum  when  he  went  abroad,  the 
remainder  of  which  he  restor'd  when  he  return'd  home.  I  dare 
avouch,  that  for  the  space  of  seaven  years,  I  neither  knew  what  was 
in  my  purse  when  I  took  journey  nor  shee  what  I  expended  out  of 
it,  when  I  gave  it  to  her  att  my  returne.  Half  a  dozen  of  the  society 
made  each  year  the  spirituall  exercise  in  her  house  for  eight  days 
with  collegiall  form  and  discipline;  for  which  shee  provided  gowns, 
a  refectory,  etc.,  hearing  every  day  all  the  masses.  In  the  govern- 
ment of  her  family,  her  authority,  prudence,  sweetness,  and  gravity 


DOROTH  Y  LA  WSON.  23 

was  such  that  every  one  lov'd  her  with  fear,  and  fear'd  her  with  love. 
Shee  gave  her  servants  more  than  was  due  in  temporalis  as  a  bounti- 
full  mistress,  often  relating  Saints  lives  to  her  maids,  and  reading 
pious  books  in  their  company.  A  retainer  to  her  father-in-law  tould 
me  that  he  was  converted  to  the  Catholick  religion  by  the  many 
stories  shee  recounted  out  of  the  Old  Testament  as  he  rid  before  her 
out  of  Northumberland  into  Holderns.  In  journeying  shee  was  so 
carefuU  of  devotion,  that  if  shee  took  but  a  walk  for  recreation  shee 
premized  the  Littanies  of  Loretto,  which  were  said  publickly  if  the 
liberty  of  company  permitted,  if  not,  shee  said  them  privately  herself. 
Every  night  shee  conferr'd  with  him  that  had  care  in  chief  of  her 
husbandry,  knowing  what  he  had  done  that  day,  and  what  he  was  to 
take  in  hand  the  next.  To  the  servant  who  had  charge  of  market- 
ting  shee  deliver'd  her  commands  over-night,  that  without  impediment 
he  might  take  his  best  time  in  the  morning. 

"  After  seaven  years  passed  in  this  divine  manner,  under  my 
conduct,  God  visited  her  with  such  a  sickness  as,  if  we  may  credit 
Gregorious  the  Great,  was  an  uncontrolable  argument  of  his  love, 
and  her  predestination.  Our  Lord  came  not  to  her  suddainly,  or  att 
unawares  (much  less  unprovided);  he  knock'd  and  gave  her  above 
six  months  warning  by  a  languishing  consumption  or  cough  of  the 
lungs,  and  shee,  expecting  his  coming,  with  the  resign'd  patience  of 
Judith,  and  indefatigable  love  of  Jacob,  open'd  willingly  the  gardin 
door  of  her  soul,  that  he  might  enter,  and  reap  the  fruit  he  planted. 
Her  patience  was  try'd  to  the  quick  in  taking  without  sign  of  trouble 
(tho'  shee  had  a  sharp  taste  and  delicate  stomack),  an  infinity  of 
distastfull  ingrediencies,  all  which  shee  sugar'd  with  the  sweet  and 
wholesome  preparative  of  a  foregoing  intention.  Her  obedience 
admirable,  and  physitians  that  understood  the  nature  of  her  infirmity 
likewise  afifirme  it  miraculous.  I  never  needed  advise  one  thing 
twice,  except  the  distribution  of  her  personall  estate  by  will,  wherein 
I  thought  shee  took  too  much  from  her  children  for  her  soul,  and 
to  moderate  this  I  spoak  twice,  and  so  did  I  never  in  anything  before 
or  after.  Her  charity,  cedar-like,  surmounted  the  rest,  bowing  nothing 
from  the  top  of  sublimity  to  the  depth  of  her  neighbours'  misery, 
for  shee  took  care  of  all  her  children,  providing  them  with  competent 
livlihood,  care  to  her  servants  and  neighbours,  bequeathing  large 
legacies;  care  to  her  own  soul,  distributing  to  the  value  of  two 
hundred  pound  in  pious  uses;  lastly  care  of  those  that  were  out  of  the 
true  church,  with  a  zeal  so  compassionately  ardent  that  shee  main- 


24  DO  ROTH  Y  LA  WSON. 

tained  many  long  and  vehement  encounters  in  matters  of  religion, 
when  shee  was  hardly  able  to  utter  one  word  about  her  temporal! 
occasions. 

"  On  Palm  Sunday,  in  the  night,  which  that  year  fell  upon  the 
Annuntiation  of  our  Blessed  Lady,  the  messenger  of  death  delivered 
his  finall  summons.  I  raisd  the  house,  but  shee  was  so  far  from 
dying  suddenly,  that  God  hearing  her  former  prayer  (to  witt,  that  her 
ghostly  father  might  be  present  at  her  death),  preserved  her  life  till 
twelve  at  noon,  her  children,  servants,  friends,  and  another  priest 
beside  myself,  kneeling  with  dewy  eyes  at  her  bedside.  When  we 
thought  her  epilogue  had  been  ended,  and  was  about  to  draw  the 
curtain,  or  going  to  close  her  eyes,  to  our  amazement  shee  elevated 
her  hand,  and  imparted  her  benediction  in  the  form  of  a  large  cross; 
then  pronouncing,  or  rather  repeating  the  life-giving  name  of  Jesus, 
to  gain  the  pardon  of  the  sin  last  committed,  as  in  manner  of  jubily, 
with  Jesus  in  her  mouth,  and  a  jubily  in  her  soul,  shee  sweetly 
departed  about  twelve  of  the  clock  [Monday,  March  26],  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  1632,  and  of  her  own  age  fifty-two. 

"  Her  private  exequies  were  celebrated  that  night,  about  eleven 
a'clock,  in  the  place  where  shee  died,  with  the  presence  of  a  hundred 
Catholicks,  who  spiritually  depended  of  her.  Her  eldest  son,  sparing 
no  cost,  caused  her  to  be  honorably  interr'd  in  the  Church  of  All 
Saints'  at  Newcastle.  The  next  day  after  her  death  all  the  gentry 
thereabouts  were  invited,  and  a  dinner  were  prepar'd  for  them.  The 
poor  of  that  and  the  bordering  parishes  were  served  that  day  with 
meat;  the  next  with  money.  Divers  boats  full  of  people  came  in 
the  afternoon  from  Newcastle,  all  plentifully  entertained  with  a 
banquet;  and  when  these  civill  respects  were  ended,  we  carried  the 
corps  in  the  evening  to  Newcastle,  in  her  own  boat,  accompanied 
with  at  least  twenty  other  boats  and  barges,  and  above  twice  as  many 
horse,  planting  them  on  both  sides  of  the  shore,  till  their  arrival  at 
the  city.  They  found  the  streets  shining  with  tapers,  as  light  as  if  it 
had  been  noon.  The  magistrates  and  aldermen,  with  the  whole  glory 
of  the  town,  which  for  state  is  second  only  to  London,  attended  att 
the  landing  place  to  wait  on  the  cofiin,  which  they  received  covered 
with  a  fine  black  velvet  cloth,  and  a  white  satin  cross,  and  carried  it 
but  to  the  church  door,  where  with  a  ceremony  of  such  civility  as 
astonish'd  all  (none,  out  of  love  of  her,  and  fear  of  them,  daring  to 
oppose  itt),  they  deliver'd  it  to  the  Catholicks  only,  who,  with  another 
priest  (for  I  was  not  worthy  of  the   honour),  laid  it  with  Catholick 


HENR  V  LEA  VER.  25 

ceremonies  in  the  grave.  In  the  interim,  a  gentleman  was  appointed 
to  conduct  the  ladies  and  magistrates  to  a  sumptuous  banquet  in  the 
finest  house  in  the  town,  where  they  expected,  enlarging  themselves  in 
discourses  upon  her  praises,  till  all  was  ended  in  the  church.  Then 
her  son  waited  on  them,  and  with  more  tears  than  courtship  (unless 
it  be  a  point  of  courtship  for  ceremony  at  such  a  time  to  swim  in 
tears),  rendered  many  thanks  for  their  noble  civilities." 

The  son  who  acted  as  chief  mourner  in  these  remarkable  obse- 
quies, Henry  Lawson,  second  son  of  the  family  (his  elder  brother, 
Ralph,  having  died  young  while  a  student  at  Douay  College),  was 
himself  interred  beside  his  mother  barely  four  years  later,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-four.  He  married  Annie,  sister  of  Sir  Robert  Hodgson,  of 
Hebburn,  and  had,  among  other  issue,  Henry  Lawson,  of  Brough 
Hall,  a  colonel,  and  John  Lawson,  a  captain,  in  the  king's  service 
during  the  Civil  ^^'ar.  Henry,  the  colonel,  fell  fighting  for  the  king 
at  the  battle  of  Melton  Mowbray,  in  1644,  leaving  a  daughter, 
Isabella,  who  became  the  wife  of  Sir  John  Swinburne,  of  Capheaton, 
while  his  widow  Catherine,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Sir  William 
Fenwick,  of  Meldon,  married  Francis,  first  Earl  of  Derwentwater. 
John,  the  captain,  succeeded  his  brother,  and  after  the  Restoration 
(having  married  Katherine,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Howard,  of 
Naworth,  and  sister  of  Charles,  first  Earl  of  Carlisle),  he  was  created 
a  baronet. 

Concerning  the  rest  of  Dorothy  Lawson's  family  and  the  total 
number  of  them  genealogists  are  not  agreed.  Father  Palmes 
mentions  her  having  fifteen  children;  a  family  pedigree  at  Brough 
Hall  gives  her  as  many  as  nineteen;  but  Mr.  G.  B.  Richardson 
could  not  find  notice  of  more  than  thirteen — seven  sons  and  six 
daughters.  Four  of  the  sons  died  without  issue;  two  of  the 
daughters  married  into  the  families  of  Yorke  of  Garthwaite,  and 
Witherington  of  Buckland;  to  the  remainder  no  historical  interest 
attaches. 

1bcnr^  Xcavcr, 

AX    EJECTED    CLERGYMAN. 

Among  the  English  clergy  w-ho  fled  to  the  Continent  when  Queen 
Mary  came  to  the  throne,  was  Thomas  Leaver,  B.D.,  ex-Master  of 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  and  one  of  the  chaplains  to  the 


26  HENRY  LEAVER. 

deceased  king,  Edward  VI.  Dr.  Leaver  was  a  distinguished 
preacher,  and  but  for  the  early  death  of  the  youthful  monarch, 
would  probably  have  attained  to  high  preferment.  Driven  into 
exile,  he  sought  the  friendship  of  Calvin  and  Bullinger,  and,  after 
wandering  about  for  some  time,  settled  in  Switzerland  as  the  chief 
pastor  of  a  congregation  of  English  Puritans.  After  Queen  Mary's 
death,  he  returned  to  England,  and  was  received  with  some  degree 
of  favour  at  Court.  Queen  Elizabeth  made  him  Archdeacon  of 
Coventry,  and  under  his  advice  refused  the  title  of  "  Supreme  Head 
of  the  Church."  His  old  college  friend,  Pilkington,  Bishop  of 
Durham,  collated  him,  in  the  early  part  of  1562,  to  the  Mastership 
of  Sherburn  Hospital,  and  gave  him  the  eighth  stall  in  Durham 
Cathedral.  But  here  the  Puritanical  views  which  he  had  imbibed 
abroad  stood  in  his  way,  and  in  1567,  because  he  refused  to  submit 
to  the  Queen's  rigid  views  of  uniformity,  the  prebend  was  taken 
away  from  him.  Being  a  man  of  good  parts,  much  learning,  and 
exemplary  piety,  he  secured  the  friendship  of  Bernard  Gilpin,  who 
sympathised  with  him  in  his  troubles,  though  he  did  not  share  his 
views.  For  fifteen  years  Dr.  Leaver  remained  Master  of  Sherburn, 
labouring  zealously  all  that  time  to  restore  the  ancient  discipline  of 
the  hospital,  and  prevent  the  further  dilapidation  of  its  possessions. 
Dying  in  July,  1577,  he  was  buried  within  Sherburn  altar  rails, 
under  a  blue  marble  stone,  bearing  a  cross  flory,  wuth  a  Bible  and 
chalice,  and  the  inscription — "  Thomas  Leaver,  Preacher  to  King 
Edward  the  Sixte." 

Dr.  Leaver  was  better  known  as  a  preacher  than  an  author,  but  he 
published  "A  Comment  on  the  Lord's  Prayer";  several  sermons 
(one  preached  in  "Poule's  Churche  at  London,  in  the  Shroudes," 
which  Surtees  curiously  misquotes  as  "  shrouds  on  shipboard,"  two 
delivered  before  Edward  VL,  and  another  preached  at  Paul's 
Cross);  and  a  volume  with  the  title  of  "A  Treatise  of  the  Right 
Way  from  the  Danger  of  Sinne  and  Vengeance  in  this  Wicked 
Worlde,  unto  Godly  Wealth  and  Salvation  in  Christe." 

In  his  office  of  Master  of  Sherburn,  Dr.  Leaver  was  succeeded 
by  his  brother  and  fellow-exile,  Ralph  Leaver,  described  by  Allan, 
in  his  "Collections,"  as  a  "troublesome  Nonconformist,  and  very 
disobedient  to  his  patron  in  trifles  and  frivolous  matters."  The 
authors  of  the  "  Athenae  Cantabrigienses "  enter  him  as  a  senior 
fellow  of  St.  John's,  in  July,  1559,  and  incorporated  M.A.  at 
Oxford  the  year  following;  collated  to  the  rectory  of  Washington, 


HENR  V  LEA  VER.  2  7 

county  Durham,  November  5th,  1565;  appointed  Archdeacon  of 
Northumberland,  August  21st,  1566,  and  installed  a  canon  of  Durham 
(5th  stall)  October  17th,  1567.  He  resigned  the  archdeaconry  of 
Northumberland  in  1573,  and  on  the  17th  November,  1575,  was 
collated  to  the  rich  rectory  of  Stanhope,  resigning  Washington  three 
years  afterwards.  Being,  during  the  vacancy  in  the  See  of  Durham 
occasioned  by  the  death  of  Bishop  Pilkington,  appointed,  by  the 
Dean  and  Chapter,  a  commissary  to  exercise  episcopal  jurisdiction, 
he,  with  Fawcett,  another  prebendary,  petitioned  the  Queen  against 
certain  of  the  Chapter  leases  and  asked  for  a  Royal  Commission. 
Upon  his  succession  to  the  mastership,  the  University  of  Cambridge 
gave  him  the  degree  of  D.D.  About  the  same  time  he  gave  up 
Stanhope,  and,  retiring  to  Sherburn,  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in 
reforming  abuses  and  disputing  with  Bishop  Barnes.  Shortly  before 
his  decease  in  March,  1584-85,  he  succeeded  in  procuring  an  Act 
for  the  incorporation  of  the  hospital,  by  which  that  institution  was 
placed  upon  a  new  footing,  and  guarded  against  peculation  and 
neglect.  He  was  the  author  of,  among  other  things,  a  curious  work 
on  chess,  which,  enlarged  by  William  Fulke,  was  issued  in  1563, 
without  his  consent: — 

"The  Most  Ancient  and  Learned  Play,  called  the  Philosopher's  Game, 
invented  for  the  honest  recreation  of  Studients,  and  other  Sober  Persons,  in 
passing  the  Tediousness  of  Tyme,  to  the  Release  of  their  Labours,  and  the 
Exercise  of  their  Wittes.  Set  forth  with  such  playne  Precepts,  Rules,  and 
Tables,  that  All  Men  with  care  may  understand  it,  and  Most  Men  with  pleasure 
practise  it."     By  W.  F.     London:  8vo,  1563. 

Henry  Leaver,  the  subject  of  this  biography,  was  one  of  the 
sons  of  Sampson  Leaver  (son  and  heir  of  Bernard  Gilpin's  friend, 
Dr.  Thomas  Leaver,  of  Sherburn),  and  Margaret,  his  wife,  daughter 
of  Philip  Hall,  of  Wingate  Grange.  Upon  his  father's  estate  of 
Aldernage  and  Scuttes  House,  in  the  bishopric,  it  is  supposed  that, 
soon  after  the  accession  of  J^mes  I.  to  the  English  throne,  he  was 
born.  Of  his  early  years  nothing  is  known.  That  he  was  trained 
to  follow  the  profession  of  Thomas,  his  grandfather,  and  Ralph, 
his  great-uncle,  is  evident,  but  at  what  school  or  college  has  not 
transpired.  His  first  appearance  in  North-Country  history  occurs 
at  Alnwick,  where  he  is  found,  in  1637,  a  B.A.,  officiating  as  master 
of  the  Grammar  School,  and  monthly  preacher  at  the  parish  church. 
Tate,  the  Alnwick  historian,  quotes  from  the  town  books  for  1639, 


2 8  HENR  Y  LEA  VER. 

an  entry  of  33s.  paid  to  him  "  to  make  his  preaching  money  6/.," 
and  another  of  Uke  amount  "parte  of  the  Schoolemaster's  wages." 

It  would  appear  that,  at  this  early  period  of  his  career,  Henry 
Leaver  had  shown  a  decided  leaning  towards  the  Nonconforming 
views  of  his  grandfather.  These  views  were  coming  into  a  position 
of  ascendency,  and  his  enunciation  of  them  recommended  him  to 
the  notice  of  "  Alnwick's  lofty  lord,"  Algernon,  tenth  Earl  of  North- 
umberland. The  earl,  dissatisfied  with  the  policy  of  the  king,  was 
drifting  into  sympathy  with  the  rising  power  of  Parliament;  Henry 
Leaver,  from  the  pulpit  of  Alnwick  Church,  was  preaching,  as  far  as 
he  dared,  in  favour  of  liberty  of  conscience  and  freedom  of  worship, 
and  against  prelatical  uniformity  and  royal  prerogative.  Appreci- 
ating his  gifts,  and  approving  of  his  principles,  the  earl  gave  the 
young  preacher  his  first  benefice — the  living  of  Long  Houghton. 
He  entered  upon  his  duties  at  Long  Houghton  on  the  3rd  of 
February,  1640-41. 

Mr.  Leaver's  zeal  for  the  cause  of  the  Parliament,  and  his  pronounced 
views  upon  the  great  questions  that  were  tearing  the  nation  asunder 
at  this  time,  marked  him  out  for  higher  preferment.  Just  before  he 
obtained  possession  of  Long  Houghton,  Dr.  Cosin,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Durham,  had  been  stripped  by  order  of  the  House  of 
Commons  of  all  his  ecclesiastical  benefices.  One  of  these  benefices 
— the  rectory  of  Brancepeth — was  conferred,  a  year  or  two  later, 
upon  Henry  Leaver.  Leaving  Long  Houghton,  the  quondam  school- 
master of  Alnwick  took  up  his  abode  upon  the  banks  of  the  Wear. 
There  he  remained  throughout  the  exciting  period  of  the  Civil  War, 
living  in  good  repute  with  his  Royalist  neighbours,  and  working  in 
harmony  with  all  other  branches  of  triumphant  Puritanism,  while 
holding  firmly  to  the  belief  that  the  Presbyterian  order  of  Church 
government  was  the  only  complete  embodiment  of  apostolic  practice. 
Oliver  Cromwell,  issuing  letters  patent  in  May,  1657,  for  a  college  to 
be  endowed  out  of  the  wreck  of  the  See  of  Durham,  appointed  him 
one  of  the  first  visitors  of  the  proposed  foundation.  In  connection 
with  that  abortive  undertaking  Calamy  relates  an  incident  greatly  to 
Mr.  Leaver's  credit : — 

"When  the  design  was  set  on  foot  of  erecting  a  college  at 
Durham,  he  [Henry  Leaver]  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to  settle 
that  foundation,  and  in  that  capacity  had  an  opportunity  both  of 
shewing  his  own  candor  and  moderation,  and  of  doing  a  piece  of 
service  to  one  of  the  sequestered  gentlemen.  Dr.  Naylour,  the  late 


HEXRY  LEAVER. 


29 


parson  of  the  rich  liviiif;  of  Sedgficld.  The  Dr.  was  informed  that 
the  whole  of  his  tjuondam  parsonage  (as  he  calls  it)  excepting  Mr. 
Lapthorn's  salary,  who  was  then  incumbent,  was  designed  for  the 
endowment  of  this  new  college,  no  exception  or  reservation  being 
made  for  his  wife's  fifths.  Upon  this  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Leaver,  de- 
siring him  to  use  his  interest  with  the  gentlemen,  his  co-assessors,  to 
save  his  family  from  so  great  a  loss.  And  it  should  seem  that  Mr. 
Leaver,  not  only  heartily,  but  effectually,  recommended  his  case; 
for  the  Dr.  wrote  him  a  long  letter  of  thanks  for  the  kindness  he 
had  therein  done  him." 

From  Brancepeth,  on  the  invitation  of  Ambrose  Barnes,  Mr.  Leaver 
came  to  Newcastle.  "When  the  wars  were  over,"  writes  Barnes's 
biographer,  "there  came  to  Newcastle,  by  Alderman  Barnes,  his 
means,  Mr.  Cole,  a  polite  man,  and  an  eloquent  preacher,  who  after- 
wards conformed ;  Mr.  Henry  Lever,  from  Branspeth,  whose  prede- 
cessors, one  of  whome,  in  times  of  Popery,  was  a  prebend  of  Durham, 
had  purchast  an  handsome  estate  which  descended  to  him,"  etc.  It 
was  as  successor  to  Mr.  Cole,  preacher  at  St.  John's  Church,  that 
Mr.  Leaver  accepted  the  alderman's  invitation.  "About  Candle- 
mas, 1659,"  which  would  be  the  2nd  of  February,  1659-60,  he 
entered  upon  his  clerical  career  in  Newcastle.  Short  and  disastrous 
it  proved  to  be.  General  Monk  and  his  "  Coldstream  Ciuards " 
had  passed  through  the  town  a  week  or  two  before  on  their  way  to 
London ;  the  restoration  of  the  Monarchy  had  practically  begun. 
Though  the  Puritan  preachers  retained  their  places  after  the  return 
of  the  king  and  the  bishops,  it  was  not  for  long.  "Black  Bartholo- 
mew's Day,"  August  24th,  1662,  arrived;  the  Act  of  Uniformity 
came  into  force;  two  thousand  Presbyterian  and  Lidependent 
ministers,  unable  to  comply  with  the  new  law,  were  ejected  from 
their  preferments.  Henry  Leaver  quitted  St.  John's,  and  being  a 
widower,  without  children,  sought  refuge  with  his  stepson,  Thomas 
Dixon,  at  Shincliffe. 

For  three  years  Mr.  Leaver  lived  a  quiet  life  at  Shincliffe,  and 
then,  returning  to  Newcastle,  and  marrying  again,  he  commenced  to 
preach.  He  was  one  of  the  four  "chief  leaders  and  abettors  "  at  the 
conventicles  in  the  town  about  which  Bishop  Cosin  wrote  so  strongly 
to  the  Mayor  in  the  latter  part  of  1668,  and  one  of  the  preachers 
against  whom  Cuthbert  Nicholson,  town  sergeant,  lifted  up  his 
parable  in  the  July  following.  So  he  continued  till  the  Declaration 
of  Lidulgence  in  March,   1671-72,  when,  after  at  least  one  refusal, 


so  HENR  Y  LEA  VER. 

Dr.  Gilpin,  Mr.  Pringle,  and  he  obtained  licences  to  minister  to 
congregations  of  Nonconformists  in  proper  form.  Mr.  Leaver's 
licence  ran  thus: — 

"  Charles  R.  Charles,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  England, 
Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  etc.,  etc.  To 
all  Mayors,  Bailiffs,  Constables,  and  other  our  Officers  and  Ministers, 
Civill  and  Military  whom  it  may  concerne,  Greeting.  In  pursuance 
of  our  Declaration  of  the  15th  of  March  1671-72  Wee  doe  hereby 
permitt  and  licence  Henry  Lever  of  the  Persuasion  commonly  called 
Presbyterian  to  be  a  Teacher  and  to  teach  in  any  place  licenced  and 
allowed  by  Us  according  to  our  said  Declaracon.  Given  at  Our 
Court  at  Whitehall,  the  13th  day  of  May,  in  the  24th  Year  of  Our 
Reigne,  1672. 

"  By  His  Maties  Command,  Arlington." 

Mr.  Leaver  received  a  call  from  a  congregation  at  Darlington  in 
the  autumn  of  1672,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  accepted  it.  He 
died  the  summer  following,  his  death  being  occasioned,  Calamy  tells 
us,  by  the  unskilful  cutting  of  a  corn.  He  was  buried  at  St.  Nicholas' 
Church,  Newcastle,  on  the  6th  of  June,  1673. 

Little  has  come  down  to  us  of  the  actual  life  of  this  sturdy  old 
Nonconformist  in  Newcastle;  still  less  of  his  "walk  and  conversation" 
among  the  Tyneside  people.  The  biographer  of  Ambrose  Barnes 
tells  a  story  wherein  he  appears  as  a  humorist,  as  well  as  a  preacher — 
the  story  being  one  which  Barnes,  who  liked  not  "airy  flights  that 
inconsiderate  people  call  witticisms,"  was  accustomed  to  relate  when 
in  his  most  cheerful  vein : — 

"  Mr.  Henry  Lever,  passing  through  the  Castle  Yard  meets  a  man 
full  of  becks  and  bows,  asking  him  if  he  knew  him,  for  if  he  remem- 
bered it,  he  was  the  person  who  married  him.  '  It  may  be  so,'  sais 
Mr.  Lever,  '  but  verily  friend  I  have  forgot  you.'  '  Ay,  sir,'  sais  the 
man,  '  but  can  you  unmarry  me  again  ?  '  '  No,  truly,'  sais  Mr.  Lever> 
'that  I  cannot  do.'  'Ah!  God  forgive  you,' sais  the  man,  'it  was 
the  worst  deed  you  ever  did  in  your  life,  for  she  is  such  a  shrew  I 
have  never  had  a  quiet  day,  and  the  worst  is,  she  is  contriving  to  get 
me  presst  away  for  a  soldier  ! '  '  Why,'  sais  Mr.  Lever,  '  that  is  the 
way  to  get  rid  of  her,  and  methinks  'tis  better  to  take  up  quarters 
amongst  soldiers  than  live  with  a  woman  with  whome,  thou  sayest, 
thou  canst  have  no  quarter.'  '  Ay,  but  I  like  not  a  soldier's  life,  for 
it  will  take  me  from  my  trade,  just  when  I  am  fal'n  into  a  way  to  live; 


ROBERT  LEE.  31 

therefore,  Sir,'  sais  the  man,  '  I  entreat  your  help  to  get  me  off.'  The 
commission-officer  who  was  raising  recruits,  was  an  Italian  by  birth, 
and  Mr.  Lever,  by  the  merry  conceit  of  an  Oltromontain  proverb, 
prevailed  for  the  poor  fellow's  discharge,  that  a  man  whose  house  lets 
in  rain,  whose  chimney  carries  not  out  the  smoke,  and  whose  wife  is 
never  quiet,  should  be  exempt  from  going  to  the  warrs,  as  having 
warr  enough  at  home." 

According  to  Calamy,  Mr.  Leaver  had  a  close  correspondence  for 
many  years  with  Philip,  Lord  Wharton,  by  whom,  and  by  his  lady, 
he  was  greatly  respected.  He  is  described  as  having  a  large  heart 
and  a  liberal  hand,  and  as  being  much  of  a  gentleman,  affable  and 
courteous,  and  very  agreeable  in  conversation.  Remarkable  for  his 
generosity,  he  had  nothing  in  hand  when  he  was  ejected,  though  he 
possessed  an  estate  of  his  own  (worth  ;^ioo  per  annum)  and  his 
wife's  jointure,  which  latter,  upon  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Dixon,  his  step- 
son, he  handed  over  to  him.  His  estate,  and  most  of  his  library,  he 
left  to  his  nephew,  Robert  Leaver,  who,  being  ejected  from  Bolam, 
preached  for  some  time  in  the  western  parts  of  the  county,  among  the 
miners  and  workers  at  the  forges. 

IRobert  Xec, 

MINISTER    OF   OLD    GREY    FRIARS'   CHURCH,    EDINBURGH. 

FiVE-AND-TWENTY  years  ago,  because  he  was  the  promoter  of  some 
trifling  improvements  in  public  worship  in  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
there  was  no  better  abused  cleric  between  Pentland  Firth  and  the 
English  Border  than  Dr.  Robert  Lee,  of  the  Old  Grey  Friars,  Edin- 
burgh. It  is  difficult  at  the  present  day,  when  organs  and  trained 
choirs,  prayer-books  and  stained  glass,  are  common  accompaniments 
of  Presbyterian  worship,  to  understand  why,  no  longer  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  their  introduction  was  so  stoutly  opposed,  and  so 
bitterly  resented.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  upon  non-essentials  such 
as  these  Dr.  Lee  was  harried,  and  worried,  and  persecuted  to  the  day 
of  his  death.  That  he  was  able  to  maintain  his  position  and  defy  his 
opponents  so  long  may,  perhaps,  be  attributed  to  his  birth  and 
training.  For  he  was  not  a  Scotchman,  inheriting  the  traditions  of 
Covenanters  and  martyrs,  but  an  Englishman,  with  liberal  and 
reforming  tendencies — a  North  Northumbrian,  with  the  clear  head, 
and  the  sound  judgment,  which  are  the  attributes  of  his  race. 


32  ROBERT  LEE. 

Robert  Lee,  the  son  of  a  boat-builder  at  Tweedmouth,  was  born 
in  November,  1804.  He  received  his  education  at  the  Grammar 
School  of  Berwick,  then,  and  for  many  years  afterwards,  conducted 
by  a  well-known  dominie — Mr.  Guy  Gardiner.  Being  a  studious 
youth,  he  made  such  progress  under  Mr.  Gardiner's  tuition  that  his 
friends  were  desirous  of  training  him  for  the  ministry,  but  the  means 
of  realising  their  desires  were  not  available,  and  he  went  back  to  his 
father's  workshop,  and  learned  the  trade  of  boat-building.  His  own 
wishes  ran  in   the  same  groove  as  those  of  his  friends,  and  while 


working  at  the  bench  he  continued  his  studies,  in  the  hope  of  being 
able,  at  some  time  or  other,  to  realise  the  object  of  their  united 
ambition.  When  he  was  twenty  years  old,  the  opportunity  arrived. 
He  built  a  boat  with  his  own  hands,  and,  with  the  proceeds  of  its 
sale,  added  to  the  little  savings  he  had  accumulated,  he  entered  him- 
self, in  the  session  1824-25,  as  a  student  at  the  University  of  St. 
Andrews. 

Determined  to  succeed,  young  Mr.  Lee  applied  himself  diligently 
to   the  prescribed  course   of   study,   and  distinguishing   himself  by 


ROBERT  LEE.  33 

exemplary  conduct,  and  purity  of  manners,  as  well  as  by  proficiency 
in  scholarship,  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  his  class.  His 
early  vacations  were  spent  with  his  father  at  Tweedmouth  ;  his  later 
ones  with  Mr.  White  Melville,  to  whose  eldest  son,  afterwards  the 
well-known  novelist,  he  acted  as  tutor.  Thus  passed  his  eight  years' 
theological  curriculum.  When  he  had  finally  quitted  St.  Andrews,  in 
I  S3  2,  he  had  taken  first  prize  in  senior  Greek,  the  same  in  Moral 
Philosophy,  and  had  received  six  firsts  for  essays  on  other  subjects. 

Entering  upon  his  mission  as  a  licentiate  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land with  great  zeal,  Mr.  Lee  was  not  long  waiting  for  a  settled  con- 
gregation. In  less  than  a  twelvemonth  after  leaving  the  university 
he  was  elected  minister  of  St.  Vigean's  Chapel  of  Ease,  subsequently 
known  as  Inverbrothock  Church,  at  Arbroath,  and  two  years  later 
he  succeeded  Dr.  McLeod,  father  of  Dr.  Norman  McLeod,  at 
Campsie,  near  Glasgow. 

About  the  time  of  his  settlement  in  Arbroath  the  struggle  began 
which  ended,  after  ten  years'  conflict,  in  the  great  secession  of  1843. 
In  its  early  stages  Mr.  Lee  took  no  active  interest,  but  as  it  pro- 
gressed he  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  defenders  of  patronage,  and 
decided  to  remain  in  the  church  which  Dr.  Chalmers,  Dr.  Candlish, 
and  four  hundred  and  fifty  other  clergymen  forsook. 

By  this  secession,  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  bereft  of  its  most 
distinguished  preachers,  and  the  churches  in  Edinburgh,  which  had 
been  the  chief  seat  of  the  movement,  were  left  empty  and  bare.  To 
fill  their  vacant  pulpits,  the  Town  Council,  in  which  the  patronage 
was  vested,  made  choice  of  the  best  of  the  country  ministers  who 
had  remained  faithful.  Among  the  more  prominent  of  them  was 
Mr.  Lee,  and  him  the  Council  appointed  to  the  church  of  the  Old 
Grey  Friars — a  church  in  and  around  which  cluster  memories  of 
men  famous  in  Scottish  history,  and  of  events  fraught  with  the 
highest  interest  to  the  people  of  both  kingdoms.  Within  the  walls 
of  the  Old  Grey  Friars,  on  the  28th  of  February,  1638,  the  National 
Covenant — "  a  piece  of  parchment  one  ell  square,  and  so  named 
because  it  resembled  the  covenant  which  God  is  said  to  have  made 
with  the  children  of  Israel " — was  laid  before  the  representatives  of 
the  nation,  and  there  it  was  signed  "  by  a  mighty  concourse,  who, 
with  uplifted  hands,  with  weeping  eyes,  and  drawn  swords,  animated 
by  the  same  glorious  enthusiasm  which  fired  the  crusaders  at  the 
voice  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  vowed,  with  the  assistance  of  the  supreme 
God,  to  dedicate  life  and  fortune  to  the  cause  of  Scotland's  Church." 

VOL.  III.  3 


34  ROBERT  LEE. 

Among  its  ministers  were  Robert  RoUock,  first  Principal  of  Edin- 
burgh University;  Carstares,  the  friend  of  WiUiam  of  Orange ;  Dr. 
Wallace,  the  philosopher ;  Robertson,  the  historian ;  and  Dr.  John 
Erskine.  In  its  capacious  churchyard  were  buried  so  vast  a  number 
of  eminent  men — noblemen,  gentlemen,  professors,  ministers,  and 
leading  citizens,  distinguished  by  their  genius,  piety,  and  public 
usefulness — that  a  mere  enumeration  of  their  names  would  fill  a 
moderate-sized  volume.  To  this  heritage  of  historical  associations 
Mr.  Lee  was  inducted  in  November,  1843,  his  Alma  Mater  con- 
ferring upon  him  the  degree  of  D.D.,  in  honour  of  his  elevation,  a 
few  months  afterwards. 

While  at  Campsie,  Dr.  Lee  had  contributed  various  "  discourses  " 
to  the  Scottish  Christian  Herald,  had  issued  an  "  Address  to  People 
who  Never  go  to  Church,"  and  had  published  "A  Catechism,  in- 
tended to  assist  Young  Persons  in  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
Truths  of  Christianity."  But  now,  having  to  defend  his  position  as 
a  minister  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  among  the  cultured  Free 
Churchmen  of  the  modern  Athens,  he  ventured  into  the  sphere  of 
discussion.  With  an  explanatory  introduction,  he  issued  a  transla- 
tion of  "  The  Theses  of  Erastus  touching  Excommunication,"  his 
object  being  to  repel  the  taunt,  levelled  against  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land by  the  Seceders,  of  being  "an  Erastian  and  residuary  estab- 
lishment." A  year  later,  in  1845,  he  published  the  first  of  the  many 
collections  of  prayers  which,  at  various  times  afterwards,  he  con- 
tributed to  devotional  literature,  under  the  title  of  "  A  Handbook  of 
Devotion." 

Although  delighting  in  pastoral  work,  the  bent  of  Dr.  Lee's  mind 
set  strongly  in  the  direction  of  theological  study  and  exposition.  In 
1840  he  had  been  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  Chair  of  Theology 
in  Glasgow  University,  and  now,  as  minister  of  Grey  Friars,  his 
aspirations  towards  a  professorship  were  to  be  realised  without  the 
turmoil,  the  humiliation,  and  the  uncertainty  of  a  contested  election. 
By  the  death,  in  1846,  of  Dr.  Bennie,  one  of  the  Queen's  chaplains, 
and  dean  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  the  way  was  cleared  for  a  long  pro- 
jected endowment  of  a  chair  of  Biblical  criticism  in  Edinburgh 
University.  The  Government  sanctioned  the  endowment,  appointed 
Dr.  Lee  to  the  Professorship,  bestowed  upon  him  the  deanery  and 
the  chaplaincy,  and  permitted  him  to  minister  to  his  congregation  of 
the  Old  Grey  Friars,  then  worshipping  in  the  Assembly  Hall,  the 
old  church  having  been,  the  year  before,  burnt  to  the  ground.     His 


ROBERT  LEE.  35 

assumption  of  all  these  offices  was  attacked,  on  the  ground  of 
plurality,  both  in  the  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh  and  the  General 
Assembly,  but  the  opposition  gradually  died  out,  and  the  doctor  was 
permitted  to  enjoy  his  position  and  emoluments,  for  a  time  at  least, 
in  peace. 

Although  firmly  attached  to  his  Church  and  its  doctrines,  Dr.  Lee 
held,  upon  many  questions  of  the  day,  views  that  did  not  harmonise 
with  those  of  his  ministerial  brethren.  He  was,  for  example, 
opposed  to  their  idea  of  the  proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath ; 
advocated  the  acceptance  of  Government  grants  for  denominational 
education ;  favoured  private  administration  of  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  supper ;  opposed  University  tests ;  spoke  against  Lord  John 
Russell's  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill ;  and  joined  the  acting  committee 
of  the  "  United  Industrial  School " — an  unsectarian  organisation,  in 
which  religious  was  separated  from  secular  instruction.  These  and 
other  independent  courses  gradually  isolated  him  from  his  fellow 
clerics.  "  He  could  not  stand  what  appeared  to  him  their  narrow- 
mindedness,  their  dull  and  supine  conservatism ;  they  could  not 
stand  his  liberal  views,  his  love  of  progress,  his  indifference  to  the 
shibboleths  of  party,  and  the  time-worn  dogmas  of  current  inter- 
pretations of  religious  truth."  In  time  evil  tongues  wagged  over  his 
alleged  heterodoxy,  and  their  owners  began  to  regard  him  as  a 
Moderate,  a  Rationalist,  a  Unitarian,  and,  finally,  as  a  lost  sinner 
verging  on  a  state  of  reprobation.  Separated,  in  this  way,  from 
intimate  association  with  the  clerical  element  in  his  communion,  he 
sought  the  friendship  of  cultured  laymen.  Attracted  by  his  preach- 
ing and  liberal  views  were  leaders  of  thought  in  Edinburgh  like  Lord 
Murray,  George  Combe,  and  Alexander  Russel,  of  the  Scotsman,  and 
as  the  rigidly  orthodox  withdrew,  their  places  were  filled  by  advanced 
thinkers,  till  his  congregation  comprised  the  most  intelligent  people  in 
the  city — the  only  congregation  in  which  men  outnumbered  women. 

Grey  Friars'  Church,  restored,  and  beautified  with  carving  and 
stained  glass,  was  re-opened  in  June,  1857.  Then  began  Dr.  Lee's 
improvements,  or  "  innovations "  as  they  were  called,  in  the  order 
of  public  worship ;  then  began  a  bitter  and  unrelenting  persecution 
of  the  innovator.  What  were  these  charges  which  created  so  much 
ill-feeling  throughout  the  Presbyterian  body,  and  made  their  up- 
holder an  object  of  reproach  to  both  cleric  and  laymen  in  all  the 
churches,  whether  established  or  free  ?  Firstly,  instead  of  standing 
at  prayer  and  sitting  down  to  sing,  Dr.  Lee  taught  his  people  to 


36  ROBERT  LEE. 

kneel  during  prayer,  and  to  stand  up  when  they  sang.  Secondly,  in 
lieu  of  commencing  the  service  with  a  hymn  or  a  psalm,  he  opened 
it  with  prayer.  Thirdly,  instead  of  praying  extemporaneously,  he 
read  prayers  of  his  own  composing,  out  of  a  printed  book,  copies  of 
which  were  supplied  to  the  worshippers.  Fourthly,  he  introduced  an 
organ  into  his  church.  These  were  the  changes  which  Dr.  Lee's 
opponents  denounced  as  "  abominations  "  unknown  to  true  Presby- 
terian worship,  a  "playing  at  Episcopacy,"  an  attempt  to  ritualise 
the  simple  service  which  had  been  consecrated  by  ancient  usage,  and 
sanctified  by  the  blood  of  heroes  and  martyrs.  These  were  the 
innovations  for  which  Dr.  Lee  was  hauled  before  the  Church  Courts, 
carried  from  Presbytery  to  Synod,  and  from  Synod  to  General 
Assembly,  until  everybody  but  the  complainants  grew  weary  of  the 
strife. 

And  all  this  time,  amid  the  pain,  the  disturbance,  the  suffering  of 
the  conflict,  Dr.  Lee  endured  the  agony  of  seeing  the  members  of 
his  domestic  circle  droop,  fade,  and  sink  into  premature  graves.  A 
favourite  daughter  died  in  1857;  another,  married  to  Mr.  Lockhart 
Thomson,  passed  away  in  1862;  his  only  son  died  the  same  year; 
in  1863  he  lost  a  third  daughter,  and  the  following  spring  his  grand- 
child, the  one  surviving  link  of  Mrs.  Thomson's  marriage,  departed 
also.  His  wife  and  one  daughter  alone  remained  to  comfort  de- 
clining days  which,  fortunately  perhaps  for  him  and  for  them,  were 
not  destined  to  be  long.  While  "  the  Grey  Friar's  case "  was 
passing  through  one  of  its  everlasting  phases  in  the  church  courts, 
towards  the  end  of  May,  1867,  Dr.  Lee  was  stricken  with  paralysis ; 
in  the  March  following  he  was  summoned  to  a  higher  tribunal  than 
that  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

Besides  the  books  already  named  Dr.  Lee  issued  a  "  Reference 
Bible"  (1854);  "The  Family  and  its  Duties"  (1863);  and  "The 
Reform  of  the  Church  in  Worship,  Government,  and  Doctrine " 
(1864).  His  "  Life  and  Remains"  form  the  subject  of  two  portly 
volumes,  published  in  1870,  by  one  of  his  faithful  friends  and 
admirers — the  Rev.  R.  H.  Story,  minister  of  Rossneath.  To  Mr. 
Story's  interesting  pages  the  reader  is  directed  who  desires  to  know 
more  than  this  brief  narrative  affords  of  a  typical  Northumbrian, 
who,  by  force  of  character  and  strength  of  will,  raised  himself  from 
the  humble  calling  of  a  boat-builder  to  the  position  of  a  profound 
scholar,  an  eloquent  preacher,  an  accomplished  professor,  and  a 
learned  divine. 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH.  37 


Sir  (Thomas  Xi^^cH, 

THE  GALLANT  DEFENDER  OF  NEWCASTLE. 

The  old  Newcastle  family  of  Liddell,  represented  in  these  later  days 
by  the  noble  house  of  Ravensworth,  fills  a  conspicuous  place  in  local 
history.  From  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  our  own  time 
it  has  sent  forth  strong  and  capable  men,  who,  generation  after 
generation,  have  occupied  honourable  and  distinguished  positions  in 
the  public  service.  To  Newcastle  it  has  given  aldermen,  magistrates, 
governors  of  incorporated  companies,  sheriffs  and  mayors;  to  both 
town  and  county  it  has  furnished  a  long  succession  of  representatives 
in  Parliament.  Among  the  more  notable  members  of  this  historical 
family  are  : — 

Thomas   Liddell,    Sheriff  of  Newcastle   in    1563-64;    Mayor   in 

1572-73- 
Thomas  Liddell,  Sheriff,    1592-93;   Mayor  and  Governor  of  the 

Merchants'  Company,  1597-98;  Mayor  and  Governor  of  the 

Hostmen's  Company,  1609-10. 
Sir  Thomas  Liddell,   Sheriff,   1609-10;    Mayor  and  Governor  of 

the  Merchants'  Company,  1625-26;  Mayor  and  Governor  of 

the  Hostmen's  Company,  1636-37;  ALP.  for  Newcastle,  1640. 
Henry  Liddell,  Sheriff,  1621-22. 
Sir  Francis  Liddell,  Sheriff,  1640-41;  Mayor  and  Governor  of  the 

Hostmen's  Company,  1664-65. 
Francis  Liddell,  Sheriff,  1664-65. 
Sir  Henry  Liddell,  M.P.  for  Durham  City,  1688-98;  for  Newcastle, 

1701-5,  1706-10. 
Thomas  Liddell,  M.P.  for  Lostwathiel,  17 15. 
George  Liddell,  M.P.  for  Berwick,  1727-40. 

Sir  Henry  Liddell,  M.P.  for  Morpeth,  1734-47.     Baron  Ravens- 
worth,  1747. 
Richard  Liddell,  M.P.  for  Bossiney,  1741-46. 
Sir  Thomas   Henry  Liddell,   M.P.  for   Durham  County,   1806-7. 

Baron  Ravensworth,  182 1. 
Henry   Thomas    Liddell,    M.P.    for    Northumberland,     1826-30; 

Durham,  1837-47;  Liverpool,  1853-55.     Baron  Ravensworth, 

1855;  Earl  of  Ravensworth,  1874. 


38  THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RA  VENSWORTH. 

Henry  George  Liddell,  M.P.  for  South  Northumberland,  1852-78 
— the  present  earl. 

About  Thomas  Liddell,  the  first  on  the  roll,  and  practically  the 
founder  of  the  family,  local  history  has  little  to  relate.  He  was  a 
merchant  adventurer  at  a  time  when  the  whole  mercantile  fleet  of 
the  Tyne  consisted  of  thirty-six  ships,  with  an  aggregate  burthen  of 
1892  tons,  and  the  population  of  Newcastle  did  not  exceed  10,000 
souls.  Yet,  being  shrewd  and  enterprising,  he  was  able  to  accumu- 
late property,  and  to  leave  his  family  well  provided  for.  On  the  day 
that  he  died,  May  the  8th,  1577,  he  made  his  will,  and  from  that 
document,  still  preserved  at  Durham,  we  learn  the  amount  and 
ascertain  the  extent  of  his  worldly  possessions.  He  had  three  places 
of  business  upon  the  Great  Bridge  of  Tyne;  a  house  in  the  Cloth 
Market,  where  his  eldest  son  Thomas  lived;  another  house  at  the 
Head  of  the  Side,  in  which  his  second  son  Francis  resided;  a  third, 
occupied  by  one  John  Fogghearde,  cutler;  his  own  mansion,  with 
its  hall  and  parlour,  kitchen  and  brewhouse,  great  chamber  and  little 
chamber,  men's  room  and  women's  room ;  the  mill  at  the  Barras ;  a 
"  place  called  the  Friars " ;  and,  across  the  water,  a  meadow  at 
Gateshead.  Besides  all  this  real  property  he  had  a  valuable  stock  of 
goods  in  his  warehouses,  ranging  from  Spanish  iron  at  ;^io  6s.  8d., 
and  amyshe  iron  at  J[,^  8s.  6d.  a  ton,  to  pins  at  los.  a  gross,  and 
needles  at  is.  2d.  a  clout;  from  hops  at  21s.  8d.  the  cwt.,  and  soap 
at  48s.  a  barrel,  to  thread  at  2s.  the  lb.,  and  saffron  at  is.  6d.  an 
ounce.  When  he  was  buried  his  grateful  family  placed  upon  his 
tombstone,  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  this  pious  aspiration  : — 

"Thomas  Liddell,  Merchant  Adventurer,  died,  8  May,  1577; 
Whose  soul  in  God  we  trust  went  straight  to  Heaven." 

Thomas  Liddell  (2),  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Liddell  (i),  inheriting 
his  father's  enterprising  spirit,  was  even  more  successful  in  winning 
his  way  to  wealth  and  influence.  He  belonged  to  the  corn  trade 
division  of  the  Merchants'  Company,  but  finding  that  fortunes  were 
being  made  in  the  coal  trade,  he  took  up  his .  freedom  of  the  Host- 
men's  Company,  erected  staiths  near  the  Close  Gate,  and  carried  on 
large  speculations  in  coal  and  corn  at  the  same  time.  While  he  was 
Mayor  of  Newcastle  in  1597-98,  the  great  dispute  about  the  grand 
lease  of  Gateshead  and  Whickham  culminated  in  appeals  to  the 
Privy  Council,  and  before  it  ended  he,  being  one  of  the  grand 
lessees,  was  pretty  roughly  handled.      But  like  other  well-abused 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENS  WORTH.  39 

public  men,  he  survived  the  ordeal  of  criticism,  and  when  Queen 
Elizabeth  settled  the  quarrel  in  1600  by  a  grant  of  the  "Great 
Charter,"  he  was  one  of  the  aldermen,  and  one  of  the  fraternity  of 
Hostmen,  whose  position  the  charter  defined  and  ratified.  Not  long 
afterwards  he  acquired  the  estate  with  whose  name  the  family  of 
Liddell  has,  ever  since,  been  identified.  He  purchased,  in  1607, 
from  Sir  William  Gascoigne,  the  castle  and  manor  of  Ravenshelme, 
the  manor  of  Lamesley,  and  lands  at  Eighton,  Longacres,  Northend, 
Ravensworth,  and  Pockerley.  Two  years  later  he  was  elected  for 
the  second  time  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  and  his  eldest  son  being,  at 
the  same  time,  appointed  Sheriff,  the  unusual  spectacle  was  exhibited 
of  father  and  son — both  Thomas  Liddells — filling  the  two  highest 
offices  in  the  municipality.  He  died  in  August,  1619,  leaving  by 
two  marriages,  first  to  IMargaret,  daughter  of  Alderman  John  Watson, 
and  secondly  to  Jane,  daughter  of  Alderman  Henry  Mitford,  a 
numerous  family. 

Sir  Thomas  Liddell,  whose  name  usually  appears  in  local  history 
with  the  adjunct — "one  of  the  gallant  defenders  of  Newcastle 
against  the  Scots,"  was  the  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Liddell  (2)  by  his 
first  wife,  Margaret  Watson.  He  was  baptised  at  St.  Nicholas' 
Church,  Newcastle,  April  14th,  1578,  and  married  at  St.  John's  on 
the  23rd  February,  1595-96,  to  Isabel,  daughter  of  Henry  Anderson, 
of  HaswelL  Upon  the  death  of  his  father  he  inherited  the  fine 
estate  purchased  from  the  Gascoignes,  and  in  the  old  castle  of 
Ravenshelme  he  went  to  reside.  So,  at  least,  is  to  be  inferred 
from  a  Newcastle  subsidy  roll,  dated  162 1,  in  which  his  name,  as 
owner  of  property  or  goods  in  the  town,  does  not  appear.  He  had 
been  Sheriff  during  his  father's  Mayoralty  as  already  mentioned,  but 
for  some  reason  or  other  he  did  not  take  the  higher  office  for  many 
years  afterwards.  It  was  not  until  Michaelmas,  1625,  a  few  months 
after  Charles  I.  had  succeeded  to  the  throne,  that  he  became  Mayor 
of  Newcastle.  The  year  which  he  had  chosen  for  his  Mayoralty 
proved  to  be  in  every  way  unfavourable.  Plague  came  round  again, 
suspending  nearly  every  kind  of  business  except  that  of  religious 
persecution — for  neither  pestilence  nor  tempest  interfered  with  the 
progress  of  bigotry  and  intolerance.  The  Mayor  found  that,  even 
amidst  the  horrors  of  this  deadly  visitation,  he  was  expected  to  keep 
a  watchful  eye  upon  recusants,  seminary  priests,  and  emissaries 
from  France  and  Rome.  And  not  upon  them  alone.  He  was 
to   act   the   spy   upon   his   Catholic   friends   and   neighbours,    and 


40  THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RA  VENSWORTH. 

report  their  doings  to  the  bishop,  to  the  Privy  Council,  or  to  the 
king. 

This  work  was  distasteful  to  him,  and  he  refused  to  do  it.  He 
was  willing  to  arrest,  examine,  and  detain  foreign  smugglers  of  relics 
and  papistical  literature,  and  he  did  so;  but  to  watch  his  neighbours 
he  declined.  When,  soon  after  his  election,  a  suggestion  came  from 
Bishop  Neile  that  Sir  Robert  Hodgson,  of  Hebburn,  and  Mrs.  Dorothy 
Lawson,  of  St.  Anthony's,  were  dangerous  persons  and  must  be 
watched,  he  sent  back  to  the  bishop's  seneschal  this  spirited  reply : — 

"Sir, — I  received  your  letter  dated  yesterday  [Nov.  19,  1625], 
whereby  I  understand  my  Lord  of  Durham  desires  to  be  satisfied 
concerning  the  danger  of  Sir  Robert  Hogson's  and  Mrs.  Lawson's 
houses,  and  of  the  intercourse  with  each  other  by  boats  over  the 
river;  these  are  to  inform  his  Lo'pp  that  I,  and  the  Aldermen  my 
brethren,  hearing  of  such  reports,  made  enquiry,  and  could  finde  noe 
matter  thereof  but  idle  reports,  other  than  their  keeping  of  boats  for 
crossing  the  river,  etc. — Yor.  loving  brother.        "Tho.  Lyddell." 

Mr.  Liddell's  second  Mayoralty,  in  1636-37,  was  equally  unpro- 
pitious  to  his  dignity  and  comfort.  At  the  date  of  his  election  a 
visitation  of  the  plague  of  unusual  virulence  was  raging  in  Newcastle; 
people  were  dying  at  the  rate  of  from  four  hundred  to  five  hundred 
a  week;  grass  was  growing  in  the  deserted  streets.  Politically,  the 
horizon  was  deeply  overcast,  for  the  king  was  governing  without  a 
Parliament,  and  while  an  unauthorised  assessment  of  ship-money  was 
creating  an  uproar  in  England,  liturgical  innovations  across  the 
Border  were  driving  the  Scots  on  the  high  road  to  rebellion.  Within 
a  year  of  Mr.  Liddell's  retirement  from  his  second  Mayoralty 
he  and  his  brethren  were  called  upon  to  discuss  ways  and  means 
of  fortifying  and  defending  Newcastle  against  invasion. 

Ardently  espousing  the  Royal  cause,  Thomas  Liddell  was  sent  to 
represent  his  fellow-citizens  in  the  great  assembly  of  the  nation 
during  that  abortive  session  of  1640,  which  from  its  brevity  gained 
the  nickname  of  the  Short  Parliament.  On  the  2nd  of  November, 
1642,  King  Charles  rewarded  his  fidelity  with  a  baronetcy.  When, 
therefore,  civil  war  broke  out,  and  Newcastle  was  threatened  with 
siege  and  bombardment,  he  was  one  of  those  who  made  up  their 
minds  to  hold  the  town  for  the  Crown  to  the  last  extremity.  His 
name  is  appended  to  the  letters  of  defiance  which  the  loyal  authori- 
ties sent  to  Sir  William  Armyn  and  the  Earl  of  Leven,  before  the 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH.  41 

storming  began,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was  one  of  the 
five  hundred  defenders  who,  when  the  town  was  taken,  fled  to  the 
Castle,  and  made  terms  for  their  lives.  He  was  certainly  among 
those  who,  a  few  days  later,  were  ordered  by  the  House  of  Commons 
to  be  sent  for  as  delinquents,  and  who,  being  deprived  of  their  seats 
and  offices,  were  afterwards  held  captive  in  various  parts  of  London. 
It  may  be,  as  Surtees  remarks,  that  Sir  Thomas  Liddell  did  not  owe 
his  imprisonment  solely  to  his  loyalty,  for  "  the  Committee  of  both 
Kingdoms  did  conclude  and  agree  amongst  themselves  that  some  of 
the  most  notorious  delinquents  and  malignants,  late  coal-owners  in 
the  town  of  Newcastle,  be  wholly  excluded  from  intermeddling  with 
any  shares  or  parts  of  collieries  "  of  which  they  had  already,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  victorious  party,  made  such  ill  use.  But  as  Parlia- 
ment might  find  a  difficulty  in  driving  on  the  trade,  they  did  not 
consider  it  advantageous  "  to  put  out  all  the  said  malignants  at  once, 
but  were  rather  constrained,  for  the  present,  to  make  use  of  those 
delinquents  in  working  their  own  collieries,  as  tenants  and  servants"; 
so  they  selected  a  few  only  of -the  most  stubborn  and  wealthy — viz.. 
Sir  Thomas  Liddell,  Sir  John  Marley,  Sir  Thomas  Riddell,  and 
three  others,  and  kept  them  in  durance  for  example's  sake. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  Journals,  under  date  February  13th, 
1645-46,  is  an  entry  to  the  effect  that  "Sir  Thomas  Lyddale, 
Baronet,"  being  a  prisoner  in  "  London  House,"  petitioned  for  his 
release,  and  was  "  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Goldsmiths'  Hall  to 
compound  for  his  delinquency."  Three  months  later  the  terms  of 
his  acquittal  were  arranged.  On  the  3rd  of  May,  1646,  the  House 
of  Commons  passed  the  following  resolution  : — "  That  this  House 
doth  agree  with  the  Committee  of  Goldsmiths'  Hall;  and  doth 
accept  of  the  Fine  of  Four  Thousand  Pounds  for  freeing  Sir  Thomas 
Liddall,  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  Baronet,  from  his  Delinquency; 
and  for  the  taking  off  the  Sequestration  of  his  Estate :  He  hath  an 
Estate  in  Lands,  for  Life,  Three  hundred  Seventy  Pounds,  Ten 
Shillings  per  Annum;  in  Fee  a  Hundred  and  Fifty  Pounds  per 
Annum ;  and,  for  one  Life,  in  a  Colliery,  Six  Hundred  Pounds  per 
Annum :  And  that  an  Ordinance  be  passed  for  granting  a  Pardon 
to  him  for  his  Offence,  and  for  Discharge  of  his  Estate,  accordingly." 

Sir  Thomas  Liddell  did  not  live  to  see  the  crowning  triumph  of  his 
opponents — the  Protectorate  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  He  died  in  the 
spring  of  1652,  aged  74,  the  father  of  fourteen  children.  Most  of 
these,  including  his  son  and  heir,  Sir  Thomas  Liddell,  Knight,  pre- 


42  THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RA  VENS  WORTH. 

deceased  him,  and  the  titles  and  estate  descended  to  his  grandson, 
Thomas  Liddell,  who,  marrying  a  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  of 
Raby  Castle,  carried  the  family  name  and  influence  into  an  utterly 
different  political  groove — that  of  the  Puritan  and  the  Presbyter. 


Sir  ^bomas  Xt^^cll, 

SECOND    BARONET. 

The  transition  of  the  Liddell  interest  from  the  Cavalier  to  the  Puritan 
party  is  traceable  to  the  influence  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  the  younger. 
Sir  Henry,  leader  of  the  Independents  in  the  Long  Parliament,  was 
the  brave  Northerner,  "  wisest  and  greatest  of  all  the  Commonwealth 
men,"  who,  when  Cromwell,  with  a  file  of  musketeers,  broke  up  the 
Long  Parliament,  had  the  courage  to  protest  against  his  violence, 
and  provoked  from  the  angry  dictator  the  memorable  exclamation — 
"  Sir  Harry  Vane !  Sir  Harry  Vane !  the  Lord  deliver  me  from  Sir 
Harry  Vane  ! "  While  his  grandfather  lived,  the  young  heir  to  the 
Liddell  baronetcy,  respecting  the  prejudices  of  the  old  Cavalier,  re- 
frained from  any  open  declaration  of  the  sentiments  with  which  his 
brother-in-law  had  inspired  him.  But  as  soon  as  he  had  obtained 
possession  of  the  title  and  estates,  neither  he  nor  his  wife  concealed 
their  sympathies  with  the  leaders  of  the  Commonwealth.  They 
attended  Presbyterian  places  of  worship,  made  friends  with  Ambrose 
Barnes,  whose  biographer  describes  Lady  Liddell  as  "  the  jewel  of 
her  sex,"  and  exercised  generous  hospitality  towards  Puritan  friends 
and  neighbours.  They  even  interested  themselves  in  the  new  sect, 
since  known  as  the  Baptists,  which  had  sprung  up  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  of  which  Major  Paul  Hobson,  deputy-governor  of  New- 
castle, was  a  reputed  founder.  In  "  Records  and  Letters  of  the 
Baptist  Church  at  Hexham,"  published  by  the  Hansard  Knollys 
Society,  and  quoted  by  Douglas  in  his  "  History  of  the  Baptist 
Churches  in  the  North  of  England,"  is  a  complaint  from  the  Baptists 
of  Newcastle  that  Mr.  Tillam,  Baptist  minister  at  Hexham,  had  im- 
properly shown  to  "  Mr.  Liddle,  of  Ravensworth,"  and  others,  a 
letter  respecting  Paul  Hobson  which  they  had  written  for  private 
perusal  only.  In  these  same  "  Records  "  is  a  letter  of  thanks  ad- 
dressed to  the  baronet  and  his  lady  by  the  grateful  Baptists  of 
Hexham,  for  kindness  shown  to  one  of  their  number  in  a  time  of 


THE  LIDDELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH.  43 

trouble,  an  epistle  which,  as  a  specimen  of  the  earnest  but  effusive 
style  adopted  by  sectaries  in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth,  is 
worth  reading : — 

'^^  From  ye  Church  of  Christy  assonhled  at  Hexham, 

"7th  Month,  1654. 
"  For  the  Right  Worshipfull  Sir  Thomas  Liddell 
"  Worthy  Sir, — The  many  and  sweet  experiences  wch  this  poore 
despised  church  hath  had  of  your  and  your  pretious  Ladle's  favours, 
have  solemnly  engaged  us  to  honour  you,  and  we  looke  upon  it  as 
a  duty  incumbent  upon  us,  to  acquaint  you  that  you  have  a  large 
interest  in  our  hearts,  and  a  choice  room  in  our  prayers.  It  hath 
beene  many  times  as  marrow  and  fatnesse  to  our  spirits  when  wee 
have  heard  of  yr  love  wch  you  beare  to  ye  meanest  yt  beare  any- 
thing of  ye  image  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  But,  oh !  what  consolation 
was  it  to  us,  when  wee  heard  of  yr  bowels  and  tender  affection 
towards  our  dearly  beloved  but  now,  (alas  !)  sadly  afflicted  sister 
Elizabeth  Heslopp,  in  this  day  of  her  deepe  distresse.  In  our 
greatest  sadnesse  for  our  sister,  this  was  even  as  life  from  the 
dead  to  our  drooping  spirits,  to  heare  of  those  yearnings  of  bowels 
wch  yr  ever  to  be  honoured  Lady  had  concerning  her,  her  many 
thoughts  of  heart  for  her,  her  sympathizing  wth  her,  her  care  and 
endeavours  how  to  bring  her  back,  and  your  receiving  againe  into 
yr  house  and  respects,  a  poore  afflicted  member  of  Jesus  Christ. 
This  is  such  an  eminent  act  of  yr  goodness,  yt  it  hath  even  over- 
come our  hearts,  and  all  our  thanks  are  below  it.  Only  this  con- 
fidence wee  have  in  o'r  King  (whose  wee  are,  and  whome  wee  serve), 
that  hee  will  not  suffer  yr  goodnesse  to  goe  unrewarded.  If  but  a 
single  cup  of  cold  water,  given  to  one  yt  belongs  to  Christ,  hath  verily 
a  reward,  Mar.  ix.  41,  wee  believe,  and  doe  assure  ourselves,  yt  ye 
good  things  ministered  to  our  sister  in  the  day  of  o'r  Master,  his 
appearance,  will  be  found  to  yr  praise  and  honour.  Christ  scores  up 
yr  favrs  to  her  upon  his  owne  account.  His  answer  in  that  day  of 
his  returne,  Matt.  xxv.  40,  will  be  a  satisfactory  requital.  In  the 
meantime  wee  will  not  cease  to  make  mention  of  you  in  our  prayers, 
yt  God  would  comfort  yr  hearts,  even  in  ye  like  measure  as  she  and 
wee  have  been  consolated  in  yr  loves.  That  hee  would  shew  mercy 
to  you  in  that  hour  wherein  you  shall  stand  most  in  need  of  it. 
That  hee  would  reveal  wh'tsoever  of  his  counsell  and  will  are  wanting 
in  you.     That  he  would  water  wth  ye  dews  of  his  grace  the  sweet 


44  THE  LIDDELLS  OF  RA  VENSWORTH. 

pledges  of  yr  loves,  those  olive  branches  that  are  planted  about  yr 
table.  That  he  would  recompence  yr  loves  sevenfold  into  yr  bosom 
here,  and  fitt  and  prepare  you  for  yt  glory  wch  wee  wait  for  and 
presse  after,  in  waies  of  his  owne  apoentment.  To  his  embraces  wee 
commend  you,  and  take  leave  to  subscribe  ourselves,  Your  thankfuU 
servants  for  Xt's  sake — Henry  Angas,  Hugh  Heslop,"  [and  six 
others]. 

Although  Sir  Thomas  Liddell  showed  a  preference  for  Presby- 
terianism,  and  cultivated  the  friendship  of  leaders  in  the  Common- 
wealth, he  took  no  part  in  public  movements,  made  no  speeches, 
wrote  no  pamphlets,  sought  no  office.  The  only  position  of  import- 
ance that  he  consented  to  occupy,  besides  his  Commission  of  the 
Peace,  was  that  of  visitor — one  of  the  "  constant "  visitors — to  the 
college  which  Cromwell  was  to  have  founded  out  of  the  revenues 
of  the  See  of  Durham.  So  gentle  and  inoffensive  had  been  his 
behaviour  among  his  Royalist  neighbours,  that  when  the  Restoration 
of  the  Monarchy  was  effected  he  suffered  no  inconvenience  or 
disturbance.  Sir  Henry  Vane,  as  we  know,  was  brought  to  the 
scaffold;  Sir  Thomas  Liddell  was  not  in  any  way  molested.  Yet 
he  had  in  nowise  changed  his  views.  He  sent  his  son  George 
to  be  educated  by  Richard  Frankland,  the  ejected  minister  of 
Bishop  Auckland,  and  down  to  the  last  year  of  his  life  he 
attended  a  Presbyterian  place  of  worship.  Under  whose  ministry 
he  sat  does  not  appear,  but  it  may  be  conjectured,  with  much 
probability,  that  he  worshipped  with  Dr.  Gilpin,  at  his  meeting-house 
outside  the  Close  Gate,  Newcastle. 

An  interesting  account  of  the  advanced  views  which  Sir  Thomas 
held  in  his  old  age  appears  in  that  valuable  repertory  of  facts  and 
incidents  relating  to  the  religious  hfe  of  the  country  between  1686 
and  1740 — the  "Journal  "  of  Thomas  Story,  the  Quaker  missionary. 
Story,  a  Cumberland  conveyancer,  who  had  studied  law  under  Dr. 
Gilpin's  son,  "  Counsellor  Gilpin  "  (afterwards  Recorder  of  Carlisle), 
had  been  in  Newcastle  at  an  early  period  of  his  career,  and,  mingling 
among  Puritans,  although  a  Churchman  himself,  had  attracted  the 
kindly  attention  of  the  tolerant  baronet,  who  entertained  him  at 
Ravensworth  Castle.  After  his  conversion  to  Quakerism,  and  at 
the  outset  of  his  wide  wanderings  as  a  missionary,  he  came  to 
Newcastle  again.  One  of  his  visits  occurred  on  the  12th  October, 
1796,  when,  having  attended  a  meeting  of  Friends,  he  went  over 
to  Ravensworth,  and  had  a  long  talk  with  Sir  Thomas  on  religious 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RA  VENS  WORTH.  45 

matters.  The  details  of  their  interview  Story  set  down  at  great 
length  in  his  "Journal,"  which,  by  the  way,  was  published  in 
Newcastle,  "  by  Isaac  Thompson  &  Company,  at  the  New  Print- 
ing Office  on  the  Side,"  in  1747. 

"  Sir  Thomas  Liddel,  of  Ravensivorth  Castle,  Baronet,  having 
taken  notice  of  me,  on  some  Account,  at  his  House,  before  I 
frequented  the  Meetings  of  Friends;  and  hearing  of  my  present 
Profession,  and  being  a  Person  of  great  Civility  and  Candour,  he 
had  desired  John  Fayrer,  a  Friend  of  Newcastle,  to  invite  me  to 
Ravensworth,  to  dine  with  him,  when  at  any  Time  I  might  happen 
to  come  that  Way;  which  the  Friend  informing  me  of,  I  went 
accordingly,  accompanied  by  him  and  another;  and  we  were  kindly 
and  respectfully  received  and  entertained  by  Sir  Thomas  and  his 
Son,  with  whom  we  had  much  Conversation,  in  a  very  friendly 
Manner,  till  near  Night:  And,  among  other  Things  he  told  us  He 
had  a  great  Respect  for  us  as  a  People,  and  liked  our  Way,  being 
sensible  of  that  Principle  of  divine  Light  and  Truth  we  profess'd; 
but  he  commonly  went  to  the  Presbyterian  Meeting :  And  then  he 
asked  me.  Whether  a  Man  might  not  serve  and  worship  God  in 
his  Mind,  among  any  sort  of  People,  tho'  he  might  differ  from  them 
in  his  Sentiments  in  some  Points,  and,  in  his  secret  Judgment,  like 
the  Way  of  some  other  People  better  ? 

"  Thus,  perceiving  he  was  convinced  of  the  Way  of  Truth  in  his 
Understanding,  and  that  he  stumbled  at  the  Cross,  and  the  Mean- 
ness of  the  Appearance  of  Friends,  I  answered,  *  That  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  said,  JVhosoever  shall  deny  me  before  Men,  him  also 
will  I  deny  before  my  Father  and  the  holy  Angels :  And  the  Apostle 
also  saith ' — [A  long  dissertation  follows]. 

"They  heard  me  with  Patience;  but  what  I  said  gave  no  Coun- 
tenance to  the  Way  in  which  this  great  and  rich  Man  had  chosen  to 
conceal  himself,  and  his  real  Sentiments,  from  the  World:  But  I 
found  it  to  be  my  Place  and  Duty  to  be  plain  with  him,  according 
to  all  that  was  presented  in  my  Mind  on  that  Occasion,  that  I  might 
keep  my  own  Peace,  which  remained  in  me.  He  told  me  he  had 
read  some  of  William  Fenn's  Works,  and  would  willingly  ride  a 
Hundred  Miles  to  see  him :  And  had  likewise  read  some  of  George 
Keith's  Books;  and  said,  the  former  wrote  in  a  free,  open,  natural, 
and  flowing  Stile,  and  gave  him  great  Satisfaction;  but  the  Books  of 
the  latter  were  more  laboured  and  artificial,  and  never  afforded  him 
any  Relish  of  Sweetness,  tho'  the  Matter  was,  in  itself,  true,  and  his 


46  THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH. 

Reasoning  often  strong;  But  as  he  was  fallen  away  from  his  Prin- 
ciples, he  was  not  to  be  regarded,  tho'  the  Truths  he  had  writ,  would 
remain  in  their  own  Weight,  whatever  became  of  the  Author. 

"And  in  the  Evening,  when  we  inclined  to  return  to  Newcastle, 
he  took  his  Horse,  and  accompanied  us  till  we  came  near  the  Town, 
and  we  parted  in  free  and  open  Friendship." 

Sir  Thomas  Liddell  died  in  November,  1697,  and  was  buried  on 
the  23rd  of  that  month,  at  Lamesley,  by  the  side  of  his  wife,  who 
had  been  interred  there  on  the  28th  of  January,  1686-87.  He  was 
succeeded  in  the  title  and  estates  by  his  eldest  son.  Sir  Henry 
Liddell,  third  baronet. 


Sir  1benr^  Xlbbell, 

THIRD    BARONET. 

Sir  Henry  Liddell  did  not  follow  his  father's  example  in  avoiding 
public  life.  On  the  contrary,  he  aimed  at  a  Parliamentary  career, 
and  was  successful  in  obtaining  it.  In  December,  1688,  he  was 
elected  with  George  Morland,  son  of  a  local  alderman,  to  represent 
the  city  of  Durham  in  the  second  Parliament  of  King  James  IL 
This  Parliament,  as  is  well  known,  never  met ;  for  before  the 
elections  were  completed  the  king  had  fled,  and  the  government 
of  the  country  was  in  a  state  of  chaos.  But  the  following  month, 
January,  1689-90,  when  the  Convention  Parliament  was  elected, 
both  the  Durham  members  were  re-appointed;  though  not  without 
a  struggle,  for  William  Tempest,  an  old  member  for  the  city,  and 
a  Jacobite,  contested  the  seat,  and  polled  278  votes  against  599 
recorded  for  Morland  and  407  given  to  Liddell.  At  the  next  elec- 
tion for  Durham  (March  3rd,  1689-90),  the  house  of  Liddell  was  not 
represented;  Tempest  and  Morland  were  returned  unopposed.  This 
Parliament  passed  the  Triennial  Act,  and  at  the  first  election  follow- 
ing (October,  1695),  the  Durham  city  electors  made  preparations 
for  a  contest.  Quaint  old  Jacob  Bee  enters  the  result  in  his  diary 
as — "  An  election,  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  day  above  [October  30, 
1695],  betwixt  Montagu  [nephew  of  Bishop  Crewe],  Liddell,  and 
Blackston,  but  Blackston  decHned  it,  and  stood  noe  poll;  Liddell 
and  Montagu  chosen." 

At  the  next  election,  in  July,  1698,  Sir  Henry  Liddell  contested 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENS  WORTH.  47 

the  city  of  Durham  again,  and  was  defeated.  Thenceforward  he 
turned  his  eyes  across  the  water,  to  the  old  liome  of  his  ancestors, 
and  the  burgesses  of  Newcastle  received  him  with  open  arms.  Three 
successive  times,  without  opposition  it  would  appear,  he  and  William 
Carr  were  sent  to  represent  at  Westminster  the  Northern  metropolis. 
At  his  fourth  essay,  he  was  defeated  by  Sir  William  Blackett,  but 
upon  the  death  of  Sir  William,  in  December,  1705,  he  resumed  his 
place,  kept  it  at  another  election  in  1708,  and  in  17 10  finally 
retired  from  Parliament.  He  died  in  London,  and  was  buried  at 
Kensington,  September  3rd,  1723. 

Sir  Henry  Liddell  married  Catherine,  daughter  and  heir  of  Sir 
John  Bright,  of  Badsworth,  Yorkshire,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons 
and  one  daughter.  His  heir,  Thomas  Liddell,  "  the  deaf  and  dumb 
squire,"  as  he  was  called,  took  to  wife  Jane,  daughter  of  James 
Clavering,  of  Greencroft,  and  died  in  his  father's  lifetime;  another 
son,  George  Liddell,  purchased  the  Northumberland  estate  of  Esling- 
ton,  forfeited  by  the  attainder  of  George  Collingwood  in  1715,  and 
sat  in  Parliament  from  1727  to  1740,  as  one  of  the  members  for 
Berwick;  while  his  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  Robert  Ellison,  of 
Hebburn,  grandson  and  namesake  of  Robert  Ellison,  M.P.  for 
Newcastle  in  the  Long  Parliament.  The  title  and  family  property 
descended,  at  Sir  Henry's  decease,  to  the  eldest  son  of  the  deaf  and 
dumb  squire — Sir  Henry  Liddell,  fourth  baronet,  M.P.  for  Morpeth, 
1734-47,  and  first  Baron  Ravensworth. 

The  influence  of  the  old  Puritan  baronet  lingered  long  in  the 
Liddell  family.  Douglas  (before  quoted)  tells  a  story  of  the  toler- 
ance shown  by  Sir  Henry  Liddell  to  his  gardener,  Michael  Wharton, 
who  in  1 710  was  called  by  a  Baptist  congregation  at  Bitchburn  to 
preach  to  them,  and  died,  in  1746,  minister  of  the  united  congre- 
gations of  Rowley  and  Hamsterley.  And  Mr.  Longstaffe,  in  a  note 
to  the  "  Life  of  Ambrose  Barnes,"  points  out  the  fact  that  among 
the  subscribers  to  a  volume'of  sermons  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Hood, 
D.D.,  minister  of  the  old  Nonconformist  chapel  in  Hanover  Square, 
Newcastle,  published  in  1782,  were  the  first  Baron  Ravensworth  and 
his  lady — "  Right  Honourable  Lord  Ravensworth,  6  copies.  Right 
Honourable  Lady  Ravensworth,  6  copies." 


48  THE  LIDDELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH. 

Ibcnr^,  Baron  IRavenawortb, 

THE   FIRST   BARON. 

Sir  Henry  Liddell,  the  fourth  baronet,  succeeding  to  the  title  and 
estates  on  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  in  1723,  became  involved  in 
a  dispute  with  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle.  Unable  to  settle  the 
matter  amicably,  the  municipal  authorities  went  to  law,  and  lost. 
They  were  very  sore  about  the  business,  and  out  of  their  ill-temper 
arose  a  curious  incident,  which  Brand,  quoting  from  "Gyll's  inter- 
leaved Bourne,"  narrates  as  follows: — 

"In  1729,  the  town  had  a  trial  at  the  [August]  Assizes  with  Sir 
Henry  Liddel  about  paying  of  tolls,  wherein  a  verdict  was  given  in 
favour  of  Sir  Henry.  It  was  then  customary  for  the  judges  to  go  in 
the  town's  barge,  attended  by  the  Mayor  and  others  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, to  Tinmouth;  and  in  their  return,  Mr.  Justice  Page,  who  tried 
the  cause,  had  some  hot  words  with  Mr.  Reay  [Henry  Reay,  the 
mayor],  relating  to  the  trial,  and  thereupon  the  judge  threatened  to 
commit  the  mayor;  and  the  mayor  told  the  judge  he  would  commit 
him,  being  then  upon  the  water,  and  in  his  jurisdiction.  This 
squabble  was  the  occasion  of  discontinuing  [for  some  time]  the 
custom  of  going  to  Tinmouth." 

At  the  general  election  in  April,  1734,  Sir  Henry  was  elected 
M.P.  for  Morpeth,  and  the  following  year  married  Anne,  daughter 
and  heir  of  Sir  Peter  Delme,  Lord  Mayor  of  London — a  lady  possess- 
ing the  substantial  dowry  of  ;^67,ooo.  He  was  returned  for  Morpeth 
a  second  time  at  the  election  in  May,  1741,  and  sat  till  the  dissolu- 
tion in  June,  1747,  when  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of 
Baron  Ravensworth,  of  Ravensworth  Castle,  in  the  County  Palatine 
of  Durham. 

During  his  thirteen  years'  membership  of  the  Lower  House  the 
new  peer  had  taken  no  prominent  part  in  the  debates.  But  he  had 
been  a  good  attender,  and  had  shown  himself  a  useful  member  of 
committees,  in  which,  at  that  time,  even  more  than  now  perhaps,  the 
real  business  of  Parliament  was  conducted.  These  services  were 
recognised,  when,  in  1742,  the  House  ordered  a  secret  committee  of 
twenty-one  persons  to  be  appointed  by  ballot  for  the  purpose  of 
inquiring  into  the  conduct  of  Walpole,  Earl  of  Orford,  during  the 


THE  LIDDELLS  OF  RAVEASWORTH.  49 

latter  half  of  his  twenty  years'  administration.  Sir  Henry  Liddell  was 
one  of  the  chosen,  and  would  no  doubt  have  justified  the  trust 
reposed  in  him,  had  not  the  House  of  Lords,  by  refusing  to  in- 
demnify witnesses,  caused  the  collapse  of  the  proceedings. 

After  his  elevation  to  the  peerage,  the  first  Baron  Ravensworth 
maintained  a  keen  and  active  interest  in  public  affairs.  It  was 
through  his  intervention  that,  in  1753,  Christopher  Fawcett, 
Recorder  of  Newcastle,  was  accused  of  Jacobitism,  as  narrated  in 
our  second  volume.  Throughout  his  career  he  was  a  warm  adherent 
of  the  Hanoverian  dynasty,  a  foe  to  jobbery  and  corruption,  the 
steady  friend  of  political  honesty  and  religious  tolerance,  and  an 
earnest  advocate  of  progress  in  agriculture,  and  protection  to  the 
coal  trade.  A  kindly  reference  to  his  lordship's  advocacy  of  generous 
treatment  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  occurs  in  the  "Autobiography  " 
of  Thomas  Bewick.  Bewick,  recommending  landowners  to  improve 
and  fertilise  their  land,  and,  instead  of  squandering  their  money  in 
follies  abroad,  to  spend  it,  as  far  as  possible,  at  home,  adds — "The 
late  good  and  wise  first  Lord  Ravensworth  used  to  say  there  was 
nothing  grateful  but  the  earth.  '  You  cannot,'  said  he,  '  do  too 
much  for  it ;  it  will  continue  to  pay  tenfold  the  pains  and  labour 
bestowed  upon  it.'  " 

"  An  Elegy  to  the  Memory  of  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lord 
Ravensworth  who  died  January  30th,  1784,  aged  76,"  is  the  title  of 
a  poem  written  above  the  initials  "  T,  R."  in  Bell's  "  Rhymes  of 
Northern  Bards."  The  poet  sings  the  praises  of  the  departed  in 
glowing  numbers: — 

"  LIDDELL,  farewell  !  to  all  true  Britons  dear, 
We  mourn  in  heart  and  shed  the  friendly  tear  : 
Yet  not  for  thee  our  eyes  in  tears  we  steep, 
Our  grief  is  selfish — for  ourselves  we  weep. 

O  Ravensworth  !  thy  hospitable  door 
Receiv'd  the  wealthy,  and  reliev'd  the  poor. 
Adorn'd  with  ev'ry  virtue,  ev'ry  grace 
Which  nature  e'er  bestow'd  on  human  race. 

Speak  ye,  who  knew  him  best,  what  man  can  say 
That  Liddell  could  the  distant  friend  betray  ! 
To  friendship  true,  no  scandal  from  his  tongue, 
To  hurt  a  friend,  or  do  his  foe  a  wrong. 
For  truth  he  try'd,  enquir'd  and  careful  sought, 
Yet  loved  the  man  altho'  he  diflerent  thought." 
VOL.  in.  4 


50  THE  LIDDELLS  OF  RAVENS  WORTH. 

It  was  while  this  popular  nobleman  stood  at  the  head  of  his  race, 
that  the  old  castle  of  Newcastle  passed  into,  and  out  of,  the  possession 
of  the  Liddell  family.  A  lease  of  the  building  to  the  Corporation, 
about  which  there  had  been  much  quarrelling  and  litigation,  ran 
out  in  1732,  and  as  the  municipal  authorities  had  permitted  great 
dilapidation  and  decay  to  occur,  the  Government  refused  to  renew 
it.  Colonel  George  Liddell,  of  Hebburn,  uncle  of  the  peer,  petitioned 
for  a  grant  of  the  place,  and  in  1736,  on  payment  of;^i5o  fine,  it 
was  leased  to  him  for  fifty  years,  at  the  old  rental  of  100  chaldrons 
of  coals  per  annum  for  Chelsea  Hospital.  When  Colonel  George 
died,  in  1777,  a  lease  of  the  reversion  for  forty  and  a  half  years,  at 
the  same  rent,  was  granted  to  Lord  Ravensworth  in  trust  for  himself 
and  others  named  in  his  uncle's  will,  and  in  1780  the  lease  was  sold 
by  his  lordship  for  ^^2,625  to  John  Chrichloe  Turner,  one  of  the 
Receivers  of  Greenwich  Hospital. 

Lord  Ravensworth  left  an  only  child,  a  daughter,  who  married 
first  the  third  Duke  of  Grafton,  and  secondly  the  last  Earl  of  Ossory. 
Thus,  through  failure  of  male  issue,  the  peerage  became  extinct,  and 
the  baronetcy,  with  the  estates  of  Ravensworth  and  Eslington,  de- 
volved upon  his  lordship's  nephew,  Henry  George  Liddell — a  man 
of  high  reputation,  possessing  a  warm  and  generous,  though  some- 
what romantic  disposition.  He  was  the  Sir  Henry  George  Liddell 
who  made  that  remarkable  excursion  to  Lapland,  bringing  back  with 
him  two  native  girls,  and  a  collection  of  live  reindeer  for  Ravensworth 
Park,  which  forms  an  oft-quoted  episode  in  local  history.  When  he 
died,  November  26th,  1791,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son.  Sir 
Thomas  Henry  Liddell. 


^bomae  1bcnr^,  Baron  IRavcnsworth, 

THE    SECOND    BARON. 

Sir  Thomas  Henry  Liddell,  eighth  baronet,  and  afterwards  the 
second  Lord  Ravensworth,  was  born  on  the  8th  of  February,  1775, 
and  married,  in  his  twenty-first  year,  Maria  Susannah,  daughter  of 
John  Simpson,  of  Newcastle  and  Bradley,  by  his  marriage  with  Ann, 
daughter  of  Thomas,  Earl  of  Strathmore.  The  early  aspirations 
of  the  young  baronet  pointed  to  a  Parliamentary  career,  and  in 
November,  1806,  he  successfully  wooed  the  electors  of  the  county  of 


5  2  THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RA  YENS  IVOR  TH. 

Durham,  and  was  returned  to  represent  them  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  A  few  months  of  legislative  experience  satisfied  his 
ambition,  and  at  the  general  election  in  May,  1807,  he  declined  to 
renew  his  candidature.  Thenceforward  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
improvement  of  his  estates,  and  the  development  of  the  great 
Northern  coal-field. 

Chief  among  the  improvements  which  Sir  Thomas  Henry  Liddell 
introduced  upon  his  extensive  property  was  the  reconstruction  of  his 
ancestral  home  at  Ravensworth.  If  Buck's  view  may  be  trusted, 
the  old  home  of  the  Liddells  in  the  middle  of  last  century  was  a 
poor,  ill-arranged,  and,  therefore,  inconvenient  residence.  Upon  its 
site,  from  designs  by  Nash,  working-in  the  two  principal  towers  of 
the  old  edifice.  Sir  Thomas  Henry  erected  the  stately  pile  which  the 
last  three  generations  of  Tynesiders  have  known  as  Ravensworth 
Castle. 

A  man  of  gallant  bearing  and  courtly  manners,  the  eighth  baronet 
of  the  house  of  Liddell  was  a  favourite,  though,  it  may  be  hoped,  not 
a  companion,  of  the  Prince  Regent.  Soon  after  the  Prince  ascended 
the  throne,  as  George  IV.,  in  July,  1821,  he  bestowed  upon  his 
friend  a  peerage — reviving  in  his  favour  the  lapsed  title  of  Baron 
Ravensworth  of  Ravensworth. 

Although  a  courtier,  the  new  Lord  Ravensworth  was  an  excellent 
man  of  business.  Believing  that  only  by  combination  could  the  coal 
trade  hope  to  be  prosperous,  he  had  joined,  at  an  early  period  of  his 
career,  the  combination  known  as  the  "  Grand  Allies."  The  noble- 
men and  gentlemen  who  formed  this  alliance  regulated  the  vend  of 
their  collieries,  bought  up  wayleaves  on  both  sides  of  the  Tyne,  so 
that  new  collieries  might  not  be  opened  out  to  compete  with  them, 
and  in  this  way  gained  thorough  control  of  the  London  coal  market. 
The  "  Grand  Allies  "  had  been  in  existence  many  years  (there  are 
complaints  of  them  as  far  back  as  1750),  but  soon  after  Lord  Ravens- 
worth became  their  acknowledged  leader,  they  attained  the  height  of 
their  power  and  influence.  His  lordship's  colleagues  in  this  alliance 
were  the  Lords  Strathmore  and  Wharncliffe,  and  a  few  others. 

As  the  head  of  the  "  Grand  Allies,"  Lord  Ravensworth  had  the 
good  fortune  to  discover  the  engineering  abilities  of  Nicholas  Wood 
and  the  budding  genius  of  George  Stephenson,  and,  having  dis- 
covered them,  had  the  good  sense  to  encourage  and  develop  both, 
to  his  own  and  the  public  advantage.  In  Smiles's  "  Life  of  George 
Stephenson,"  the  story  is  told  how,  during  the  earliest  infancy  of 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENS  WORTH.  53 

steam  locomotion,  the  Killingworth  enginewright,  having  seen  the 
experiments  at  Wylam  and  Coxlodge  with  a  "  traveUing  engine," 
brought  the  subject  under  the  notice  of  his  employers.  "  Lord 
Ravensworth,"  he  writes,  "  had  already  formed  a  very  favourable 
opinion  of  Stephenson  from  the  important  improvements  which  he 
had  efiected  in  the  colliery  engines,  both  above  and  below  ground; 
and,  after  considering  the  matter,  and  hearing  Stephenson's  state- 
ments, authorised  him  to  proceed  with  the  construction  of  a  loco- 
motive, though  his  lordship  was  by  some  called  a  fool  for  advancing 
money  for  such  a  purpose."  "  The  first  locomotive  that  I  made," 
said  Stephenson  many  years  after,  "  was  at  Killingworth  Colliery, 
and  with  Lord  Ravensworth's  money.  Yes !  Lord  Ravensworth 
and  partners  were  the  first  to  entrust  me  with  money  to  make  a  loco- 
motive engine.  That  engine  was  made,  and  we  called  it  '  My  Lord.' 
I  said  to  my  friends  that  there  was  no  Umit  to  the  speed  of  such  an 
engine,  provided  the  works  could  be  made  to  stand." 

By  his  marriage  with  Miss  Simpson,  Lord  Ravensworth  had  a 
family  of  seven  sons  and  seven  daughters.  His  eldest  son,  Sir 
Henry  Thomas,  became  the  first  Earl  of  Ravensworth.  His  fifth 
son,  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Robert  Liddell,  M.A.,  of  All  Souls'  College, 
Oxford,  was  vicar  of  St.  Paul's,  Knightsbridge;  the  sixth,  the  Hon. 
George  Augustus  Frederick,  a  colonel  in  the  army,  held  numerous 
posts  of  honour  about  the  Court;  while  the  seventh  son,  Sir 
Adolphus  Frederick  Octavius,  K.C.B.,  was  a  well-known  Q.C.  on 
the  Northern  Circuit,  and  afterwards  Permanent  Under-Secretary 
of  the  Home  Department.  Of  the  daughters,  five  married  into  noble 
and  illustrious  houses,  and  were  respectively  known  in  after  years 
as  the  Marchioness  of  Normanby,  the  Countess  of  Hardwicke, 
Viscountess  Harrington,  Lady  Bloomfield,  and  Lady  Williamson. 

Lord  Ravensworth  was  a  liberal  patron  of  the  arts,  a  free-handed 
dispenser  of  charity,  and  a  bounteous  entertainer.  The  elections  of 
1826,  in  which  his  eldest  son,  the  late  earl,  stood  the  brunt  of  two 
unparalleled  contests,  must  have  taxed  his  resources,  for  the  cost  of 
them,  extending  as  they  practically  did  over  the  whole  of  the  first 
six  months  of  the  year,  was  enormous.  But  the  lavish  expenditure 
involved  in  the  struggle  did  not  restrict  Lord  Ravensworth's  benevo- 
lence, nor  weaken  the  courtly  and  refined  hospitality  which,  with  sons 
and  daughters  growing  to  maturity  around  him,  he  was  accustomed  to 
exercise.  The  columns  of  the  local  press,  half  a  century  ago,  abound 
with  notices  of  the  brilliant  gatherings  which  assembled  at  one  or 


54  THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RA  VENSWORTH. 

other  of  his  lordship's  stately  houses.  Thus  we  read  how,  on  the 
26th  of  August,  1838,  at  the  close  of  the  "wise  week"  in  Newcastle, 
Lord  and  Lady  Ravensworth  entertained,  at  the  castle,  "  upwards  of 
five  hundred  distinguished  individuals,  including  all  the  nobility  and 
gentry  of  the  district,  the  learned  foreigners,  and  other  eminent 
members  of  the  British  Association."  Then  in  June,  1840,  they  are 
reported  as  receiving  at  a  fete  chafnpetre  in  the  grounds  of  their 
villa,  Percy's  Cross,  Fulham,  "  Her  Majesty,  Queen  Victoria,  Prince 
Albert,  and  about  eight  hundred  of  the  nobility."  Again,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1842,  a  glowing  account  is  given  of  the  reception  of  the  Duke  of 
Cambridge  at  Ravensworth ;  how  his  lordship  brought  his  royal  guest 
to  Newcastle,  showed  him  all  the  sights  of  the  town,  including  the 
Exhibition  of  the  North  of  England  Fine  Arts  Society,  and  piloted 
him  through  the  tedium  of  receiving  addresses  from  the  Corporations 
of  Newcastle  and  Gateshead.  Lastly,  and  most  interesting  of  all,  we 
read  that  in  October  of  the  same  year,  his  lordship  gave  a  brilliant 
entertainment  in  honour  of  the  coming  of  age  of  his  grandson,  the 
present  Earl  of  Ravensworth.  The  Duke  of  Cambridge,  the  Duchess 
of  Gloucester,  Archduke  Frederick  Ferdinand  of  Austria,  and  the 
heads  of  most  of  the  great  families  of  Northumberland  and  Durham 
were  present  at  the  festivities,  which  began  with  a  concert  of  sacred 
music  (Lady  Williamson  singing  the  solos,  and  Dr.  Ions  presiding  at 
the  organ),  and  concluded  with  a  magnificent  banquet  and  ball. 

Lady  Ravensworth  died  on  the  22nd  November,  1845,  and  was 
buried  at  Lamesley,  in  which  village  a  group  of  almhouses,  erected 
and  endowed  at  her  expense  in  1836,  preserve  her  memory.  His 
lordship  lived  to  the  good  old  age  of  eighty  years,  and,  dying  on  the 
7th  of  March,  1855,  was  buried  beside  her.  A  beautiful  mural  monu- 
ment, in  Lamesley  Church,  designed  by  their  son  and  successor,  the 
late  Earl  of  Ravensworth,  marks  their  resting-place. 


Ibenr^  ^bomas,  i£arl  1Ravcn6wortb, 

THE    FIRST    EARL. 

Henry  Thomas  Liddell,  third  Baron  and  first  Earl  of  Ravensworth, 
was  born  on  the  loth  of  March,  1797.  At  Eton,  which  enjoyed  the 
reputation  of  being  the  best  abused  school  in  the  kingdom,  and  the 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH.  55 

credit  of  turning  out  many  of  the  finest  men  of  the  century,  he 
received  his  prehminary  training.  From  Eton  he  proceeded  to  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  and  there  completed  his  academical 
studies.  Then,  having  made  the  grand  tour,  and  seen  as  much  of 
the  world  as  a  run  through  the  principal  cities  of  Europe  afforded, 
he  returned  to  Ravensworth,  married,  in  1S20,  Isabella  Horatia,  eldest 
daughter  of  Lord  George  Seymour,  of  the  Hertford  family,  and  awaited 
an  opportunity  of  utilising  his  position  and  talents  in  the  service  of 
the  public.  Son  of  a  Court  favourite,  heir  to  the  wide-spreading 
estates  of  the  Liddells  and  the  Simpsons,  highly  educated,  and  possess- 
ing great  natural  gifts,  every  avenue  that  leads  to  fame  and  honour 
was  open  to  him.  He  chose  the  thorny  path  of  politics,  and,  armed 
with  accurate  and  solid  learning,  definite  political  views,  and  con- 
siderable independence  of  character,  at  the  beginning  of  1826,  when 
approaching  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  he  set  out  upon  his 
toilsome  journey. 

In  the  biographies  of  T.  W.  Beaumont  and  Matthew  Bell  the 
struggle  and  the  strife  of  the  Northumberland  elections  in  1826  have 
been  sufiiciently  described.  It  is  only  necessary  here  to  state  that 
upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Charles  John  Brandling,  on  the  ist  of  February' 
in  that  year.  Lord  Ravensworth,  then  the  Hon.  Henry  Thomas 
Liddell,  who  belonged  to  the  Canning  section  of  the  Tory  party, 
and  Viscount  Howick,  representing  the  Whigs,  entered  the  field 
together.  Mr.  Liddell  issued  his  address  from  Eslington  House  on 
the  2nd  February,  and  Lord  Howick  dated  his  at  Alnwick  the  same 
day.  A  few  days  afterwards  Lord  Howick  retired,  promising  to  fight 
the  battles  of  his  party  at  the  general  election  in  the  summer,  and 
Matthew  Bell,  a  follower  of  the  Liverpool  division  of  the  Tory  party, 
stepped  into  the  arena.  The  contest  was,  therefore,  limited  to  two 
candidates  of  the  same  political  colour.  The  struggle  was  fierce, 
and  close,  and  bitter.  Mr.  Liddell  was  stigmatised  as  an  intruder 
from  Durham,  a  peer's  son,  a  bookish  man,  who  did  not  mix  with 
the  county  squires  and  share  their  conviviality.  The  Whig  leaders 
threw  their  influence  into  the  scale  against  him.  From  beginning  to 
end  he  fought  an  uphill  battle.  True,  he  secured  at  the  nomination 
the  show  of  hands,  but  at  the  close  of  the  first  day's  poll  he  was 
thirty-one  votes  behind  his  opponent.  Then  ensued  a  neck  and  neck 
race.  At  the  end  of  the  fifth  day  Mr.  Liddell  was  five  votes  to  the 
good;  the  sixth  day  placed  him  one  vote  in  the  rear;  the  seventh 
day  he  was  eight  votes  ahead,  and  so  on,  till,  on  the  thirteenth  day, 


56  THE  LIDDELLS  OF  RAVENS  WORTH. 

when  only  five  voters  altogether  came  to  the  poll,  he  retired  from  the 
struggle  beaten  by  thirty-six  votes. 

So  close  had  been  the  contest  that  the  homeward  journey  of  the 
rejected  candidate  more  nearly  resembled  a  triumph  than  a  defeat. 
When  he  finally  left  the  polling  station  at  Alnwick  thousands  of 
persons  accompanied  him,  his  horses  were  unyoked,  and  he  was 
drawn  to  the  borough  boundary  amid  joyous  acclamations.  At 
Morpeth  a  similar  scene  was  enacted,  while  in  Newcastle  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  admirers  knew  no  limit.  They  met  him  on  the 
Town  Moor,  and  not  only  drew  his  carriage  to  his  headquarters,  the 
Queen's  Head  Inn,  but  all  the  way  to  Farnacres.  In  one  of  his 
speeches  during  this  triumphal  march,  Mr.  Liddell  foreshadowed 
his  course  at  the  general  election  which  every  one  knew  was 
impending: — 

"I  am  one  of  a  large  family;  I  must  think  of  objects  near  and 
dear  to  me;  I  cannot  be  a  further  burden  to  an  affectionate  and 
beloved  father  and  mother.  But  I  have  promised,  and  if  the  public 
voice,  which  never  speaks  in  vain,  should  call  upon  me,  and  if  I  ob- 
tain the  sanction  of  my  family  and  of  my  friends,  and  circumstances 
"  warrant  the  attempt,  I  pledge  myself  again  to  come  forward,  again 
to  stand  the  contest,  not  again,  I  trust,  to  suffer  defeat." 

The  pubhc  voice  did  call — called  loudly.  The  poll  for  the 
by-election  closed  on  the  yth  of  March,  and  three  days  later  a 
meeting  of  freeholders  at  North  Shields  not  only  passed  a  series 
of  resolutions,  but  canvassed  the  town,  in  Mr.  Liddell's  favour. 
The  next  few  days  produced  similar  meetings  in  Newcastle  and 
Alnwick,  Hexham  and  Corbridge,  Gateshead  and  South  Shields, 
Belford  and  Wooler.  By  the  13th  Mr.  Liddell  had  announced 
his  acceptance  of  the  call;  the  next  day  he  went  down  to  Shields 
and  opened  the  campaign.  Meanwhile  his  rivals  had  not  been 
inactive.  The  old  member,  T.  W.  Beaumont,  the  new  member, 
Matthew  Bell,  and  the  retired  February  candidate.  Viscount  Howick, 
were  in  the  field.  Thus,  in  the  space  of  one  week  from  the  declara- 
tion of  the  poll  at  Alnwick,  the  longest,  most  obstinate,  and  most 
exciting  electoral  contest  of  the  century  had  begun. 

The  style  in  which  Mr.  Liddell  was  received  by  his  friends  and 
supporters  is  illustrated  in  a  report  of  his  journey  to  Shields  at  the 
date  above  mentioned: — 

"  By  two  o'clock  an  immense  concourse  of  persons  assembled  near 
Byker  Hill,  accompanied  by  several  societies  of  seamen,  shipwrights, 


THE  LIDDELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH. 


57 


etc.,  of  North  Shields,  Howdon,  etc.,  with  their  respective  banners. 
Having  met  Mr.  Liddell  and  his  party,  consisting  of  his  lady,  the 
Hon.  Miss  Liddell,  the  Hon.  T.  Liddell,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Liddell,  the  horses  were  unyoked  from  the  carriages,  ropes  fastened 
to  them,  and  they  were  drawn  forward  by  the  assembled  numbers. 
The  cavalcade  proceeded  in  the  following  order — a  large  body  of 
gentlemen  on  horseback ;  the  Good  Design  Association  of  Seamen, 
four  abreast,  with  their  banners ;  a  band  of  music ;  then  followed 
three  flags — the  first  a  large  white  one,  with  a  red  border  [Mr. 
Liddell's  colours],  displaying  the  words  '  Liddell,  the   I^Lin   of  the 


People,'  the  second  bearing  the  arms  of  Ravensworth,  motto  '  Unus 
et  Idem,'  and  the  third  bearing  a  Raven  flying  away  with  a  wreath 
of  Roses;  then  followed  the  carriages,  the  rear  of  which  was  closed 
by  a  number  of  horsemen  and  others  displaying  banners.  All  along 
the  line  of  road  Mr.  Liddell  was  repeatedly  cheered,  and  with  the 
exception  of  very  few,  there  was  not  a  window  or  a  chimney-top  but 
displayed  red  and  white  flags.  At  Chirton  Bar  a  very  considerable 
number  of  gentlemen  freeholders  and  others  awaited  his  arrival,  by 
whom  he  was  cheered  in  the  most  cordial  manner,  and  who  joined 
the  cavalcade  and  proceeded  to  North  Shields.  On  entering  the 
town  amidst  the  ringing  of  bells  and  firing  of  guns,  the  most  dis- 


58  THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENSWORTH. 

tinguished  honour  was  shown  him  by  the  assembled  concourse  in 
the  streets,  windows,  and  on  the  housetops,  which  were  crowded 
to  excess  with  an  assemblage  of  beauty  and  fashion,  wearing  Mr. 
Liddell's  favours." 

The  enthusiasm  in  favour  of  Mr.  Liddell  was  so  great  throughout 
the  county  that  Mr.  Beaumont  published  a  protest  against  it,  express- 
ing regret  that  in  their  anxiety  to  assist  one  whom  they  considered 
to  be  injured,  the  freeholders  should  be  led  into  a  sort  of  injustice 
towards  the  remaining  candidates.  The  alleged  injury  was  Mr. 
Bell's  entering  into  the  February  contest  ten  days  after  Mr.  Liddell 
had  announced  his  candidature,  thereby  involving  the  county  in  the 
heat  and  turmoil  of  a  close  fought  election  for  the  sake  of  a  seat  in 
Parliament  that  could  be  held  at  the  most  for  a  few  months  only. 
This  grievance  was  worked  up  with  telling  effect;  Mr.  Liddell  was 
the  popular  candidate  from  the  outset,  and  he  maintained  his 
position  to  the  end.  As  one  of  his  admirers  expressed  it  in  senti- 
mental verse — 

"  Our  strife  is  who  shall  love  hini  most, 

Who  most  behold,  and  near  him  tarry; 
Our  greatest  pride,  our  country's  boast 

Is  gallant,  noble,  matchless  Harry." 

While  another,  less  mellifluous,  but  more  heroic,  bade  his  fellows — 

"Strike,  strike,  Northumbria's  harp  again  ! 
Exhaustless  still  the  glorious  strain 

Great  Liddell's  worth  inspires  ; 
His  honest  heart,  his  judgment  clear, 
His  eloquence  to  thousands  dear 

Each  patriot's  bosom  fires." 

Thus,  through  the  scorching  days  of  the  hottest  summer  on  record, 
the  strife  went  on,  till  after  a  fifteen  days'  poll  (from  June  20th  to 
July  6th)  the  great  election  of  1826  came  to  an  end,  and  the  Hon. 
H.   T.   Liddell,  who  headed  the  lists  the  first  day,  and  kept  his 
position  to  tlie  close,  was  triumphantly  returned.     The  figures  were 
declared  to  be,  for 

The  Hon.  H.  T.  Liddell         ...  ...     1,562 

Matthew  Bell,  Esq.  ...  ...  ...     1,380 

T.  W.  Beaumont,  Esq.  ...  ...      1,335 

Viscount  Howick  (retired)       ...  ...        977 

The  expense  of  these  two  contests  must  have  been  enormous. 
Small  wonder  that,  four  years  later,  when  William  IV.  came  to  the 


THE  LID  DELLS  OF  RAVENS  WORTH.  59 

throne,  Air.  Liddell  withdrew  and  allowed  Mr.  Bell  and  Mr.  Beau- 
mont to  walk  over  the  course.  Indeed  it  was  not  until  1837,  upon 
the  accession  of  her  present  Majesty,  that  he  ventured  again  into  the 
arena  of  political  conflict.  Upon  that  occasion  he  contested  North 
Durham  and  won.  At  the  next  election,  in  1841,  he  was  returned 
for  the  same  constituency  unopposed;  in  1847  he  retired  without  a 
contest;  in  1852  he  was  beaten  at  South  Shields  by  Mr.  Robert 
Ingham;  and  in  1853  he  was  returned  for  Liverpool,  which 
borough  he  continued  to  represent  till  his  father's  death,  in  March, 
1855,  called  him  to  the  House  of  Lords.  Soon  afterwards  (August 
5th,  1856)  he  lost  his  partner  in  life,  the  mother  of  four  sons  and 
seven  daughters,  all  of  whom,  at  the  date  of  her  decease,  were  living. 
Released  from  the  responsibilities  of  political  life  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  Lord  Ravensworth  found  more  time  to  cultivate  the  gifts 
with  which  Nature  had  endowed  him.  His  lordship  was  a  man  of 
many  and  widely  varied  parts.  An  excellent  classical  scholar,  he 
could  use  with  great  effect  both  brush  and  pencil;  a  poet  of  no 
mean  order,  he  was  equally  at  home  in  Natural  History  or  Roman 
Antiquities;  a  fluent  and  effective  orator,  he  wielded,  at  the  same 
time,  the  pen  of  a  ready  and  graceful  writer.  So  early  as  1833  he 
had  ventured  into  print  with  a  small  volume  of  poetry,  entitled, 

"The  Wizard  of  the  North;  The  Vampire  Bride,  and  other   Poems."     8vo. 
Edinburgh. 

And  shortly  after  his  accession  to  the  peerage  he  published,  with  a 
dedication  in  Latin  verse  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  a  handsome  book 
of  500  pages,  royal  octavo — 

"  The  Odes  of  Horace,  in  Four  Books;  Translated  into  English  Lyric  Verse." 
London :  1858. 

In  1865  his  lordship  issued  a  volume  of  songs  in  Latin,  being 
partly  original  and  partly  English  rhymes  turned  into  Latin  metre 
(an  exercise  in  which  he  was  an  adept,  and  one  in  which  his  son  and 
successor,  the  present  Earl  Ravensworth,  is  said  to  excel),  entitled, 

"  Carmina  Latina,  partim  nova,  partam  e  lingua  Britannica  expressa." 

These  were  followed,  in  1872,  by  a  translation  of  five  books  (7  to  12) 
of  the  /Eneid  of  Virgil,  in  continuation  of  a  version  (books  i  to  6) 
begun  by  Mr.  G.  K.  Rickards;  and  lastly,  in  1877,  by  a  book  of 
"  Minor  Poems  in  English  Verse." 

To  the  "  Proceedings  "  of  the  Natural  History  Society  of  North- 


6o  THOMAS  CARR  LIETCH. 

umberland  and  Durham,  and  the  Tyneside  Naturalists'  Field  Club, 
his  lordship  contributed  papers  on  the  following  subjects : — 

"Some  Notice  of  the  Falco  Apivorus,  or  Honey  Buzzard,  shot  in  Thruston 
Woods,  Whittingham."     1829. 

"  Observations  on  the  Young  of  Salmon,  and  Some  Remarks  on  the  Migration 
of  Eels."     1833. 

"  On  Certain  Changes  in  the  Plumage  of  the  Pheasant."     1861. 

"Notice  of  some  Rare  Birds  seen  recently — the  Roller,  Spotted  Woodpecker, 
Pintail  Duck,  Shoveller,  and  Gannet."     1868. 

"  On  the  Capercailzie."     1876. 

"  Note  on  the  Bar-tailed  Pheasant  (Phasianus  Reevesii,  Gray)."     1877. 

Before  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries,  over  whose  meetings, 
first  as  vice-president,  and  afterwards  as  president,  he  frequently 
presided,  his  lordship  read  papers  as  follows  : — 

"  On  Two  Curious  Inscriptions  in  Chillingham  Castle  [The  Toad  Tablet,  and 
the  Egg  Tablet],  with  Translations,  Notes,  and  Explanations."     1858. 
"  Some  Notice  of  the  Corbridge  Lanx."     1862. 
"  Additional  Note  on  Corbridge  Lanx."     1869. 
"  Military  Roads  of  the  Romans  and  Incas."     1869. 

Lord  Ravensworth's  felicitous  power  of  expression,  and  the  rich 
garniture  of  classical  imagery  with  which  he  studded  his  public 
addresses,  were  the  delight  of  cultivated  audiences.  Rarely,  during 
his  later  life,  did  a  great  public  function  occur  in  the  North  of 
England  at  which  his  lordship  was  not  a  welcome  president, 
celebrant,  or  guest. 

On  the  2nd  of  April,  1874,  when  he  had  entered  his  seventy-eighth 
year,  his  lordship  was  advanced  a  step  in  the  peerage,  being  created 
Earl  of  Ravensworth  and  Baron  Eslington.  He  died  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1878,  having  enjoyed  his  added  honours  barely  four  years, 
and  was  buried  among  his  ancestors  at  Lamesley. 


ITbornaa  Carr  Xietcb, 

RIVER    REFORMER. 

Within  a  mile  of  the  rural  dwelling  from  which,  in  the  days  of 
Cromwell,  Ralph  Gardiner  launched  his  ineffective  shafts  against  the 
mismanagement  of  the  River  Tyne  by  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle, 
there  arose,  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  in  the  person  of  Thomas 


THOMAS  CARR  LEITCII.  6i 

Carr  Lietch,  a  river  reformer  of  an  altogether  different  type  and 
calibre.  That  which  the  old  Commonwealth  agitator,  with  his  rough 
rhetoric  and  fiery  invective,  essayed  in  vain,  the  modern  reformer, 
learned  in  the  law  and  courteous  in  his  bearing,  successfully  accom- 
plished. Under  his  skilful  guidance  the  Tyne,  emancipated  from 
the  influences  which  hampered  its  development,  was  placed  under 
enlightened  control,  to  become,  in  due  time,  one  of  the  greatest 
commercial  waterways  in  the  kingdom. 

Thomas  Carr  Lietch  was  the  third  son  of  the  Rev.  William  Lietch, 
a  licentiate  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  who,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century,  established  himself  as  a  schoolmaster  in  the  rising 
town  of  North  Shields.  Some  years  before  his  arrival,  a  well-known 
tradesman  and  banker  in  that  town — George  Wakefield,  of  the  firm 
of  Horner  &  Wakefield,  drapers — had  erected,  upon  a  plot  of  ground 
facing  what  is  now  called  Northumberland  Square,  a  house,  to  which 
he  gave  the  family  name  of  "Wakefield  Hall."  After  ]\Ir.  Wake- 
field's death,  which  occurred  in  July,  1806,  the  hall  was  pulled 
down,  and  the  stones  of  which  it  was  composed  were  utilised  in  the 
frontages  of  the  substantial  houses  that,  ever  since,  have  formed  the 
north  side  of  the  square.  It  was  in  the  rear  premises  of  Wakefield 
Hall,  abutting  on  Albion  Street,  and  facing  the  parish  church,  that 
the  Rev.  William  Lietch  opened  his  academy,  and  there,  on  the  24th 
of  May,  1 81 5,  his  son  Thomas  was  born. 

Lietch,  the  elder,  had  the  reputation  of  being  an  accomplished 
and  successful  teacher,  possessing  the  happy  art  of  discovering  and 
developing  latent  talent,  and  of  bringing  out  the  best  qualities  of  the 
lads  entrusted  to  his  care.  Specially  gifted  with  a  knowledge  of 
mathematics,  he  was  fortunate  in  imparting  to  all  his  pupils  a  love 
of  his  favourite  science.  One  of  his  scholars — Mr.  W.  S.  B.  Wool- 
house,  afterwards  an  eminent  actuary,  and  co-editor  of  the  "  Nautical 
Almanack,"  won  a  mathematical  prize  in  the  "  Ladies'  Diary,"  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  and  published  a  book  on  geometry  before  he  was 
twenty !  With  him  young  Lietch  was  educated,  and  through  him, 
encouraged  by  his  father,  he  imbibed  a  love  of  geometry  and 
mathematical  exercises  that  provided  him  with  recreation  through 
a  laborious  life. 

Having  completed  his  education  under  his  father's  care,  Thomas 
Carr  Lietch  was  articled,  in  1829,  to  John  Lowery,  an  attorney  of 
the  old  school,  who  practised  his  profession  in  Norfolk  Street,  not 
far  from  the  paternal  domicile.    Admitted  a  solicitor,  at  Hilary  Term, 


62 


THOMAS  CARR  LIETCH. 


1840,  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Benjamin  Tyzack,  and  com- 
menced practice.  Shortly  afterwards,  Mr.  Tyzack  fell  into  ill-health, 
the  partnership  was  dissolved,  and  Mr.  Lietch  started  on  his  own 
account  as  a  solicitor  and  notary.  From  the  first  his  venture  was 
successful.  Clients  gathered  round  him,  important  interests  were 
committed  to  his  charge,  and  he  was  rapidly  making  his  way  in  the 
world,  when  the  first  great  local  crash  of  1847 — the  failure  of  the 
North  of  England  Joint  Stock  Bank — occurred.  He  was  a  share- 
holder in  that  wretched  concern,  and,  in  common  with  420  other 


I  6  Tg  i^, 


unfortunates,  lost  heavily.  But,  as  sometimes  happens,  good  came 
out  of  evil  fortune,  for  he  was  employed,  with  the  late  John  Fleming, 
as  solicitor  to  the  liquidators,  and  the  connection  thus  formed,  ex- 
tending his  reputation  as  a  careful  and  clear-headed  lawyer,  brought 
him  a  large  accession  of  business. 

About  this  time  an  agitation  for  extension  of  Custom  House 
facilities  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne,  which  had  arisen  at  various 
periods  from  the  beginning  of  the  century,  was  revived  with 
some  vigour.     The  movement  had  attained  a  high  stage  of  develop- 


THOMAS  CARR  LIETCH.  63 

ment  in  1816,  as  may  be  read  in  John  Bell's  rare  brochure,  "The 
Custom-House  Garland;  or  Nine  Pleasant  Ditties;  Sung  while  the 
Question  was  Pending,  whether  or  no  a  Branch  of  the  Custom- 
House  at  Newcastle  should  be  established  at  North  Shields."  In 
the  meantime  authority  had  been  given  to  clear  vessels  coastwise  on 
the  north  side,  and  to  open  bonded  warehouses  on  both  sides  of  the 
harbour;  but  beyond  these  concessions  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury 
had  not  consented  to  advance.  The  renewed  agitation  aimed  at 
securing  a  division  of  the  port,  and  the  creation  of  separate  and 
independent  custom-houses  for  each  of  the  harbour  towns. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1847,  a  Commissioner  of  Customs  came 
down  to  Newcastle  to  hold  an  inquiry  on  the  subject,  and  Mr.  Lietch 
was  one  of  the  persons  deputed  by  shipowners  and  merchants  of 
Shields  to  represent  them  at  the  investigation.  Although  they  did 
not  obtain  all  they  desired,  the  deputation  effected  a  reasonable 
compromise — the  creation  of  auxiliary  establishments  which  should 
provide,  at  North  and  South  Shields,  the  same  facilities  of  entry 
and  clearance  that  were  enjoyed  by  shipowners  and  merchants  at 
Newcastle.  Accepting  this  as  an  instalment  only,  Mr.  Lietch  and 
his  colleagues  kept  up  the  agitation  for  complete  severance,  and 
they  had  their  reward.  On  the  6th  of  April,  1848,  amid  the  firing 
of  guns,  and  the  ringing  of  bells,  accompanied  by  flags  and  banners, 
music,  and  fireworks,  the  "  Port  of  Shields  "  was  formally  constituted, 
free,  separate,  and  independent  of  the  Custom  House  of  Newcastle. 

While  this  movement  was  progressing  Mr.  Lietch  was  engaged 
upon  another  scheme  of  local  improvement.  The  ferry  service 
between  North  and  South  Shields,  established  in  1829,  had  proved 
unequal  to  public  requirement.  Its  route  was  indirect,  the  harbour 
was  full  of  shoals,  and  nobody  could  predict  with  certainty  when  a 
passenger,  who  embarked  in  the  ferryboat,  especially  on  the  ebbing 
tide,  would  reach  his  destination.  To  remedy  this  inconvenience, 
Mr.  Lietch  and  his  friends  organised  a  new  company  to  run  boats 
straight  across  the  river.  The  adventure  was  a  hazardous  one,  for  the 
old  company  had  a  monopoly  of  the  traffic  secured  to  them  by  Act  of 
Parliament,  and  they  threatened  immediate  legal  warfare.  On  the 
24th  of  May,  1847,  the  new  undertaking  was  launched,  and  during  the 
first  week  of  its  operations  13,296  passengers — one-fourth  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  two  towns — were  safely  carried  to  and  fro.  The 
threatened  warfare  followed;  but  wise  counsels  rendered  it  abortive. 
Mr.  Lietch,  acting  with  John  Tinley,  clerk  to  the  old  company,  drew 


I 


64  THOMAS  CARR  LI  ETC  II. 

up  a  Bill,  which  in  June,  1848,  passed  through  Parliament,  empower- 
ing the  original  Ferry  Company  to  purchase  the  property  of  the 
new  organisation,  and  to  work  the  traffic  as  a  united  undertaking. 
Amalgamation  of  the  two  bodies  was  speedily  effected,  and  Mr. 
Lietch  and  Mr.  Tinley  became  joint-secretaries  of  the  reconstructed 
"North  and  South  Shields  Ferry  Company."  Mr.  Tinley  died  in 
1862,  and  Mr.  Lietch  conducted  the  negotiations  which  led,  the 
following  year,  to  the  acquisition  of  the  ferries  by  the  River  Tyne 
Commissioners. 

In  the  midst  of  the  agitation  for  customs  and  ferry  improvements, 
the  active  mind  of  Mr.  Lietch  had  been  directed  to  the  possibility  of 
obtaining  still  higher  privileges,  still  greater  reforms,  for  his  native 
town.  These  comprised  no  less  important  schemes  than  the  incor- 
poration of  North  Shields  as  a  municipal  borough,  and  the  transfer- 
ence of  river  management  and  river  improvement  upon  the  Tyne  to 
an  elective  body,  wherein  the  rapidly-increasing  population  at  the 
harbour  mouth  should  be  properly  and  adequately  represented. 

An  effort  made  in  1840  to  procure  an  Act  of  Incorporation  for 
the  town  had  failed  because  local  opinion  was  not  unanimous  in 
favour  of  the  application.  On  this  occasion  Mr.  Lietch,  Captain 
Linskill,  and  other  leading  spirits,  converted  opponents  and  con- 
vinced waverers,  until  only  one  prominent  resident — sturdy  William 
Richmond — remained  intractable.  Their  energy  and  perseverance 
triumphed.  On  the  6th  of  May,  1849,  the  Queen  in  Council  signed 
a  charter  incorporating  North  Shields  and  its  seaside  suburb  under 
the  denomination  of  "The  Borough  of  Tynemouth."  The  two 
leaders  in  this  successful  agitation  received  the  highest  honours 
which  the  new  municipality  had  the  power  to  bestow.  Captain 
Linskill  was  elected  the  first  Mayor  of  the  borough-  Mr.  Lietch  was 
appointed  its  first  town  clerk. 

The  story  of  the  contest  which  ended  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Tyne  Conservancy  was  told  in  the  Monthly  Chronicle  for  March, 
1890.  From  the  graphic  pen  of  the  late  William  Brockie  we  learn 
how,  being  in  London  in  February,  1848,  on  business  connected 
with  the  Ferry  Bill,  Thomas  Carr  Lietch  and  Thomas  Hudson  heard 
that  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle  was  preparing  to  consoHdate  its 
authority  over  the  Tyne;  how  they  returned  to  Shields,  consulted 
their  friends,  and  devised  ways  and  means  of  thwarting  the  Corpor- 
ation; how  they  drew  up  a  Bill  giving  to  the  seaside  towns,  the 
borough  of  Gateshead,  and  the  mercantile  community  west  of  New- 


THOMAS  CARR  LIETCH.  65 

castle  a  proportionate  share  in  the  management  of  the  river;  how 
they  struggled,  fought,  and  won.  Mr.  Lietch  was  the  foremost 
figure  in  that  memorable  contest,  and  the  remarkable  skill  with  which 
he  led  his  party  to  victory  won  the  admiration  and  the  respect  of  his 
opponents.  In  after  years,  when  the  Conservancy  Board,  which  he 
had  done  so  much  to  establish,  were  carrying  out  their  gigantic 
schemes  of  river  improvement,  they  frequently  resorted  to  him  for 
advice  in  shipping  matters,  and  in  one  notable  case — an  arbitration 
with  the  contractor  for  the  piers — they  appointed  him  to  represent 
them  before  the  arbitrator. 

Besides  his  office  of  Town  Clerk,  Islx.  Lietch  held  the  position  of 
clerk  to  the  Tyne  Pilotage  Commissioners,  to  the  North  Shields 
Burial  Board,  and  to  the  local  Marine  Board.  From  the  vantage 
ground  which  these  appointments  gave  him  he  was  able  to  lend 
powerful  aid  to  a  variety  of  movements  which  had  for  their  object 
the  progress  and  prosperity  of  his  native  town.  Whenever  oppor- 
tunities came  to  him  of  being  useful,  whether  in  developing 
commercial  and  manufacturing  industry,  encouraging  maritime 
enterprise  and  adventure,  promoting  sanitary  improvement,  or  in- 
creasing facilities  for  intellectual  and  recreative  enjoyment  among 
his  fellow-townsmen,  he  spared  no  service  of  tongue  or  pen  that 
he  could  effectually  render.  His  politics  were  Liberal,  and  he  took 
an  active  interest  in  the  local  fortunes  of  his  party;  yet,  though  he 
held  his  views  firmly,  he  was  tolerant  of  adverse  opinions,  and  made 
no  political  enemies.  Gifted  with  a  high  sense  of  honour,  and 
possessing  a  lively  appreciation  of  the  value  of  time,  he  never  spoke 
upon  politics,  or,  indeed,  any  other  topic,  unless  he  had  something 
of  importance  to  communicate,  and  then  the  precision  of  his  facts, 
the  clearness  of  his  arguments,  and  the  quiet  earnestness  of  his 
manner,  commanded  attention  and  inspired  respect. 

When  he  had  been  Town  Clerk  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
Mr.  Lietch  found  his  health  giving  way,  and,  seeking  its  renewal  by 
retirement  from  the  more  laborious  part  of  his  public  duties,  an 
nounced  his  resignation.  His  fellow-townsmen,  mindful  of  his  long 
and  faithful  services,  marked  their  appreciation  of  his  career  by 
presenting  him  with  a  handsome  piece  of  plate,  and  commissioning 
a  famous  artist,  Rudolph  Lehmann,  R.A.,  to  paint  his  portrait  for 
the  Council  Chamber  of  the  town.  On  the  25th  of  September, 
1874,  Thomas  Eustace  Smith,  M.P.  for  the  borough,  made  the 
presentation — a  silver  urn  of  beautiful  workmanship,  inscribed — 

VOL.  III.  5 


66  WILLIAM  KENNETT  LOFTUS. 

"Presented  to  Thos.  Carr  Lietch,  Esq.,  first  Town  Clerk  of  Tynemouth  (on  his 
retirement  from  office,  after  having  filled  it  for  24  years),  by  his  friends  and  fellow- 
townsmen,  who  have  placed  his  portrait  in  the  Council  Chamber,  as  a  memorial  of 
the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  them,  and  of  the  ability  and  success  with  which 
he  has  served  his  native  town." 

Although  retired  from  active  business,  Mr.  Lietch  continued  to 
take  an  interest  in  local  matters,  and,  when  health  permitted,  to  be 
of  use  to  the  community  in  which  his  life  had  been  spent.  He  had, 
long  before,  set  his  heart  upon  improving  the  supply  of  fresh  water 
to  the  borough,  the  sources  of  which  had  been  tapped  or  con- 
taminated by  the  workings  of  the  adjacent  collieries.  With  the 
assistance  of  his  friend  Thomas  Fenwick,  C.E.,  now  of  Leeds,  he 
devised  a  comprehensive  project,  known  as  "  The  East  Northumber- 
land Water  Scheme,"  by  which  it  was  sought  to  supply  from  the 
springs  of  Tosson  and  the  tributaries  of  the  Alwine,  not  only  North 
Shields,  but  the  whole  south-eastern  corner  of  the  county,  between 
Widdrington  and  the  Tyne,  including  Bedlington,  Blyth,  and 
Morpeth.  Unfortunately,  the  plan  proved  too  big  to  be  realised 
just  then.  At  the  last  moment,  when  a  Bill  for  securing  its  realisa- 
tion had  passed  through  several  stages  in  Parhament,  influential 
supporters  fell  away,  and  Mr.  Lietch  had  the  mortification  of  seeing 
it  withdrawn,  and  of  recording  his  first  public  failure.  The  dis- 
appointment hastened  his  end.  Declining  rapidly,  he  died  at  his 
residence,  Hylton  Lodge,  North  Shields,  on  the  24th  of  September, 
1876,  aged  sixty-one  years. 


Mtlliain  Ikcnnett  Xoftue, 

NATURALIST,    GEOLOGIST,    AND    EXPLORER. 

William  Loftus,  the  famous  coach  proprietor  of  the  Turf  Hotel,  in 
CoUingwood  Street,  Newcastle^  had  an  only  son,  who  bore  his  name. 
Like  many  other  young  men  of  his  time,  he  preferred  a  military 
career  to  the  commercial  pursuits  of  his  family,  became  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Durham  Light  Infantry,  and  served  with  his  regiment  in  some 
of  the  stirring  scenes  of  the  Peninsular  War.  During  the  long  peace 
which  followed  that  great  conflict,  he  lived  a  quiet  and  retired  life, 
first  in  the  South  of  England,  then  near  Newark,  and  lastly,  in  the 
county  town   of  Lancaster,  where  he  passed  away  about  the  year 


WILLIAM  KENNETT  LOFTUS. 


67 


i860.  But,  although  he  made  no  great  mark  in  the  world  himself, 
William  Loftus  the  younger  became  the  father  of  two  boys  whose 
devotion  to  science  and  love  of  adventure  have  given  them  a  high 
position  on  the  roll  of  fame.     Twice  married,  he  had  by  his  first 


^■'  (till  ^*"i  •  "  '  E»»fe 

p3  ■I'-'n    Ck»»  tfc.^6.,  .L_J 

^1  I-Lll  i.KjU[|='    i,£fefeit.{_|  f^_ 


WM0m 


'11  ill  '■I  ^§^^c^'\ , '.  p&« 


I. .-...it' 


wife,  William  Kennett  Loftus,  F.G.S.,  the  subject  of  this  narrative, 
and  by  his  second  wife,  Captain  A.  J.  Loftus,  F.R.G.S.,  Knight 
Commander  of  Siam. 

Although  not  actually  a  native  of  Northumberland,  for  it  happened 
that  he  was  born  at  Rye,  in  Sussex,  William  Kennett  Loftus  always 


68  WILLIAM  KENNETT  LOFTUS. 

regarded  himself  as  a  "  Son  of  Father  Tyne,"  and  as  a  thorough-bred 
Newcastle  boy.  In  was  in  Newcastle  that  his  childhood  was  spent ; 
at  its  celebrated  Grammar  School,  under  Dr.  Mortimer,  he  received 
the  first  rudiments  of  his  education ;  from  the  example  of  its  leading 
citizens  he  acquired  the  tastes  which  controlled  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  For  while  he  was  a  boy  at  the  Grammar  School,  the  Natural 
History  Society  of  Northumberland,  Durham,  and  Newcastle  started 
upon  its  successful  career  of  investigation  and  discovery.  The  study 
of  birds  and  beetles,  molluscs  and  minerals,  was  uppermost  just  then 
in  the  town,  and  young  Loftus  joined  in  the  pursuit.  He  made  the 
usual  juvenile  collections  of  birds'  eggs  and  butterflies,  adding  speci- 
alities of  his  own  in  metal  and  mineral,  shell  and  stone.  With  many 
of  his  companions  the  mania  for  collecting  passed  away  when  the 
first  excitement  was  over.  Not  so  with  him.  To  know  the  secrets 
of  Nature,  to  investigate  the  sources  of  life,  to  unfold  the  story  of 
the  rock  and  explore  the  wonders  of  the  water,  became  his  principal 
study  and  delight.  With  these  tastes  in  the  ascendant,  he  passed 
through  Old  Park  School,  Durham,  and  an  academy  at  Twickenham, 
to  Caius  College,  Cambridge. 

At  the  University  Mr.  Loftus's  ardour  in  geological  investigations 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Woodwardian  Professor,  Adam  Sedg- 
wick— one  of  the  ablest  and  one  of  the  most  advanced  geologists  of 
the  day.  Professor  Sedgwick  enjoyed  a  reputation  for  success  in 
detecting  latent  talent  among  his  students,  and  bringing  it  out  to  the 
front,  at  the  same  time  stimulating  and  encouraging  the  possessor 
and  helping  him  to  honours  and  emoluments.  It  was  so  in  the  case 
of  Mr.  Loftus.  Noting  the  intellectual  grasp  of  the  young  man,  and 
the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  he  solved  difficult,  and  elucidated 
doubtful  problems,  the  Professor  honoured  him  with  special  advice 
and  assistance,  and  secured  his  election  as  a  Fellow  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society.  Attendance  at  the  meetings  of  this  learned  body 
brought  Mr.  Loftus  under  the  observation  of  other  eminent  men. 
Sir  Henry  de  la  Beche,  founder  of  the  Museum  of  Practical  Geology 
and  the  School  of  Mines,  and  head  of  the  Geological  Survey,  was 
particularly  attracted  by  the  promise  of  future  usefulness  which  he 
perceived  in  Mr.  Loftus,  and  admitting  him  to  his  friendship,  waited 
an  opportunity  to  utilise  his  undoubted  abilities  in  the  public 
service. 

Meanwhile,  his  collegiate  course  completed,  Mr.  Loftus  returned 
to  Newcastle,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  the  Grand  Stand  on  the 


WILLIAM  KENNETT  LOFTUS.  69 

Town  Moor,  inherited  from  his  grandfather.  He  was  living  there 
in  the  spring  of  1846,  when  the  Tyneside  Naturalists'  Field  Club  was 
started,  and  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  committee  of  manage- 
ment, and  one  of  the  sub-committee  on  geology.  In  October  of 
that  year  he  accompanied  the  Club  upon  its  fifth  ramble  (which 
embraced  Tynemouth,  Whitley,  and  Cullercoats),  and  contributed 
three  papers — viz.,  (i)  "An  Account  of  the  Occurrence  of  the  Glow- 
worm near  Gibside";  (2)  "A  List  of  New  Localities  of  Several 
Rare  British  Shells  " ;  and  (3)  "  A  Letter  to  the  President,  recom- 
mending that  the  Members  of  the  Club  should  communicate  at  the 
Meetings  any  information  with  respect  to  Natural  History  which  they 


may  have  obtained  in  their  researches  in  the  Intervals  between  those 
Meetings."  Notices  of  his  attendances  at  other  gatherings  of  the 
club  occur  in  the  "  Transactions."  At  one  of  them,  held  at  Dunston 
Hill,  in  May,  1848,  he  read  a  paper  on  "  Evidences  of  Diluvial 
Action  at  Belsay,  etc."  This  was  his  last  contribution  to  the  literature 
of  the  Club.  A  few  months  later  he  was  setting  out  for  a  far  distant 
clime,  entering  upon  a  career  of  exploration  and  discovery  of  the 
utmost  interest  and  value. 

For  many  years  prior  to  1840  there  had  been  disputes  between  the 
Turkish  and  Persian  Governments  respecting  the  boundary  line  of 
the  two  countries.     In  that  year  these  disputes  culminated,  and  an 


70  WILLIAM  KENNETT  LOFTUS. 

outbreak  of  hostilities  appeared  to  be  imminent.  The  Cabinets  of 
England  and  Russia,  interested  in  the  quarrel  by  the  proximity  of 
their  own  frontiers  in  India  and  Georgia  to  the  region  affected, 
proffered  friendly  mediation.  Their  offer  was  accepted.  Commis- 
sioners from  the  four  Powers  assembled  at  Erzeroum,  and,  in  1847, 
concluded  a  treaty,  one  article  of  which  provided  that  qualified 
persons  should  be  sent  to  survey  and  define  a  boundary  line  between 
the  two  countries  that  should  not  admit  of  further  dispute.  Colonel 
William  Fenwick  Williams  (afterwards  the  hero  of  Kars),  who  had 
represented  the  British  Government  at  the  treaty  of  Erzeroum,  was 
selected  by  Lord  Palmerston  to  take  charge  of  the  English  detachment 
of  the  surveying  party;  Colonel  Tcherikoff  headed  the  Russian  group ; 
Dervish  Pasha  and  Miza  Jafer  Khan  were  the  commissioners  for 
Turkey  and  Persia  respectively.  It  was  represented  to  Lord  Palmer- 
ston that  in  the  interests  of  science  a  geologist  and  naturalist  should 
accompany  the  expedition,  and  in  January,  1849,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Sir  Henry  de  la  Beche,  Mr.  Loftus  was  appointed  to  that 
responsible  position. 

Mr.  Loftus  was  engaged  in  the  expedition  about  four  years,  suffer- 
ing at  times  much  hardship  and  privation.  On  the  28th  of  May, 
1 85 1,  the  Geological  Society  of  London  received  from  him  a  short 
communication  "  On  the  Geological  Structure  of  the  Mountain 
Range  of  Western  Persia."  Three  years  later,  on  the  21st  of  June, 
1854,  an  elaborate  paper  of  his,  copiously  illustrated,  "communicated 
by  the  Foreign  Office  by  order  of  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,"  was  read 
to  the  Society,  "  On  the  Geology  of  the  Turko-Persian  Frontier,  and 
of  the  Districts  Adjoining."  This  paper  was  described  in  terms  of 
commendation  by  the  President  of  the  Society  at  the  anniversary 
meeting  as  "  confirming  the  existence  of  the  nummulitic  and  other 
formations  from  the  Western  Shores  of  Europe,  through  the  Alps, 
Bulgaria,  and  Asia  Minor,  to  the  very  heart  of  India,  and  the  moun- 
tains of  Scinde."  During  his  absence,  Mr.  Loftus  sent  home  large 
collections  of  rock  specimens  and  fossils,  which  were  deposited  in 
the  British  Museum,  the  Museum  of  Practical  Geology,  and  the 
Museum  of  the  Geological  Society.  Some  of  his  gatherings  he 
presented  to  the  Natural  History  Museum  in  Newcastle. 

Delays  in  the  work  of  frontier  delineation,  arising  from  various 
causes,  were  utilised  by  Mr.  Loftus  for  the  purposes  of  exploration. 
In  the  plains  of  Babylonia  a  wide  field  of  investigation  lay  before 
him,  and  he  entered  it  with  great  zeal  and  ardour.     He  unearthed 


WIL  LJA  M  KENNE  TT  L  OFTUS.  7 1 

the  buried  city  and  cemetery  of  Warka,  the  supposed  birthplace  of 
Abraham,  and  enriched  the  national  collection  at  the  British  Museum 
with  specimens  of  the  remarkable  earthenware  coffins  in  which  the 
Parthians  buried  their  dead,  together  with  innumerable  relics  of  the 
departed — tools  and  weapons,  jewellery  and  pottery,  tablets  and  seals. 
In  like  manner,  he  opened  the  mounds  of  Sinkara,  and  obtained 
similar  remains,  the  clay  tablets,  on  which  were  depicted  the  every- 
day life  of  the  people,  being  especially  interesting  and  valuable.  His 
greatest  achievement  in  this  direction  was  the  discovery  and  excava- 
tion of  the  great  palace  of  Darius  at  Susa — "  Shushan  the  Palace  " — 
the  probable  scene  of  Vashti's  deposition  at  the  great  feast  of 
Ahasuerus,  and  of  Mordecai's  triumph  over  Haman,  as  recorded  in 
the  book  of  Esther.  Here  he  found  shafts  and  pedestals,  bases  and 
capitals,  mixed  in  inextricable  confusion  ;  but  he  was  able  to  de- 
termine by  actual  measurement  that  the  Great  Hall  consisted  of 
magnificent  groups  of  columns  having  a  frontage  of  343  feet  9  inches, 
and  a  depth  of  244  feet ;  that  these  groups  were  arranged  with  a 
centre  phalanx  of  36  columns  (six  rows  of  six  each) ;  and  that  they 
were  flanked  on  the  west,  north,  and  east  by  an  equal  number, 
disposed  in  double  rows  of  six  each,  and  distant  from  them  64  feet 
2  inches.  Here  also  he  found  copper  coins,  clay  vases,  alabaster 
statuettes,  rude  coffins  of  Parthian  or  Sassanian  origin,  sculptured 
slabs,  spear  heads,  and  a  number  of  alabaster  vases  bearing  trilingual 
inscriptions  in  honour  of  Xerxes.  Many  of  these  "  finds  "  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  British  Museum. 

Shortly  before  Mr.  Loftus's  appointment  on  the  Frontier  Com- 
mission great  interest  in  Eastern  exploration  had  been  excited  by  the 
excavations  of  Mr.  Layard  at  Nineveh.  The  natural  outcome  of 
these  discoveries  was  the  formation  of  a  society  to  prosecute  further 
investigations.  Funds  were  subscribed,  and  the  Assyrian  Excava- 
tion Society  came  into  being.  Scarcely  had  Mr.  Loftus,  returning 
from  Babylonia  in  1852,  found  time  to  visit  his  friends  in  Newcastle, 
and  relate  to  them  his  wonderful  adventures,  when  the  Assyrian 
Society  sought  him  out,  and  sent  him  back  to  explore  the  mounds  of 
Nineveh,  the  remains  of  Babylon,  and  the  debris  of  other  once  proud 
cities  of  the  East.  The  Russian  War  of  1854  stopped  these  interest- 
ing researches,  but  he  had  in  the  meantime  sent  valuable  consign- 
ments of  disentombed  relics  to  the  Exploration  Society  and  the 
British  Museum.  Nor  was  Tyneside  forgotten.  On  the  staircase  of 
the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Institution,  four  beautiful  historical 


72  WILLIAM  KENNETT  LOFTUS. 

slabs  from  Nineveh,  covered  with  inscriptions  that  are  as  sharp  and 
clear  as  on  the  day  they  were  cut  by  the  Assyrian  artist,  testify  to 
the  affection  with  which  Mr.  Loftus  regarded  Newcastle,  and  form 
the  most  appropriate  monument  which  the  town  possesses  of  his 
genius  and  of  his  enterprise. 

After  his  return  home  in  1855,  Mr.  Loftus  pubHshed  an  illustrated 
volume  describing  his  journeyings,  his  researches,  and  his  discoveries, 
entitled — 

"Travels  and  Researches  in  Chaldjea  and  Susiana ;  With  an  Account  of 
Excavations  at  Warka,  the  '  Erech '  of  Nimrod,  and  Shush,  '  Shushan  the 
Palace '  of  Esther,  in  1849-52,  under  the  Orders  of  Major-General  Sir  W.  F. 
Williams  of  Kars,  Bart.,  K.C.B.,  M.P. ;  and  also  of  the  Assyrian  Excavation 
Fund,  in  1853-54."     London  :  James  Nisbet  &  Co.,  1857.     Svo. 

While  this  book  was  passing  through  the  press,  Mr.  Loftus 
received  an  appointment  on  the  staff  of  the  Geological  Survey  of 
India ;  but  in  India,  as  in  his  last  Assyrian  expedition,  his  labours 
were  interrupted  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  mutiny  and  war.  His 
health  having  suffered  from  a  sunstroke,  received  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties,  and  also  from  repeated  attacks  of  fever,  caught  on  the 
low-lying  shores  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  and  in  the  marshy 
grounds  of  Assyria,  which  had  sapped  a  constitution  previously  sound 
and  vigorous,  he  was  ordered  to  Rangoon  to  recruit.  There  he 
remained  till  the  month  of  November,  1858,  when  he  took  passage 
in  the  ship  Tyburnia  for  England.  To  England,  however,  he  was 
fated  never  to  return.  He  died  at  sea  on  the  27th  of  that  month, 
within  a  week  of  his  embarkation,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-seven. 

Those  w'ho  enjoyed  Mr.  Loftus's  friendship  concur  in  ascribing 
to  him  a  kind  and  amiable  disposition,  and  a  winning  manner  that 
attracted  every  one  who  came  under  its  influence.  General  Williams, 
with  whom  he  was  so  closely  associated,  writing  a  letter  of  con- 
dolence to  surviving  friends  at  the  time  of  his  death,  expressed  the 
opinion  that  "a  better  man,  a  more  zealous  and  faithful  public 
servant,  never  lived." 


THE  LO RAINES.  73 

ZX')^  Xoraince, 

ROnERT,    THOMAS,    AND    SIR    WILLIAM. 

OxE  of  Collins's  elaborate  genealogical  works,  published  in  the  early 
part  of  last  century,  contained  a  detailed  history  of  the  Loraines, 
which  was  afterwards  issued  (by  some  member  of  the  family, 
perhaps)  as  an  authentic  narrative.  Enlarged  and  amended,  the 
pamphlet  was  sent  out  by  John  White,  under  the  title  of — 

"An  Account  of  the  Genealogy  and  other  Memoirs  Concerning  the  Family  of 
Loraine,  of  Kirkharle-Tower,  in  the  County  of  Northumberland ;  with  Remarks 
upon  some  others  {obiter)  Anno  Dom.  1738."  Newcastle:  Printed  by  John 
White,  1740. 

White's  publication  was  reprinted  in  1843  by  M.  A.  Richardson, 
of  whose  series  of  "  Rare  Local  Tracts  "  it  forms  a  part,  and  it  is  the 
foundation  of  all  subsequent  accounts  of  the  family  in  local  history. 
The  Rev.  John  Hodgson,  although  he  regarded  the  story  of  Robert 
Loraine,  the  alleged  founder  of  the  race  in  England  as  altogether 
apocryphal,  makes  good  use  of  the  rest  of  the  pamphlet  in  the 
pedigree  of  the  Loraines  which  appears  in  part  2,  vol.  i.,  of  his 
"  History  of  Northumberland." 

The  narrative  which  Mr.  Hodgson  rejects  as  legendary,  pointing 
out  that  the  Loraine  estates  of  Offerton  and  Kirkharle  were  both 
obtained  by  marriage  with  the  Strothers,  till  which  event  the  name 
does  not  occur  in  either  Northumberland  or  Durham,  reads  as 
follows  : — 

"  Robert,  the  first  of  this  Family  in  England,  came  an  Officer  in 
the  Army  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who,  for  his  Service  in  that 
Expedition,  and  after  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  Reign  of  his  Son 
William  U.  against  Malcolm  King  of  Scots  (a  valiant  Prince)  whom 
the  English  Rebels  in  the  North  join'd  in  his  Excurtion  into  North- 
umberland, whereby  many  Estates  in  that  County  and  Durham  were 
forfeited  to  the  Crown,  was  rewarded  with  several  Hides  of  Land 
in  Ufferton;  East,  Middle  and  West  Harrington;  with  free  Fishing 
in  Aqua  de  Were  to  him  and  his  Heirs  for  ever,  to  be  holden  in 
Knight's  service  : 

"  Where  he  settled  himself  and  Family,  and  whose  Descendants 
intermarried  with  some  of  the  ancient  and  chief  FamiUes  of  the 
Gentry  in  that  County. 


74  THE  LO RAINES. 

"He  was  (as  well  as  a  Soldier)  a  considerable  Scholar  for  that 
age;  as  recorded  in  'Baker's  Chronicle,'  amongst  the  Men  of 
Note  in  that  Reign,  for  epitomizing  the  Chronicle  of  Marianus 
Scotus. 

"  He  lived  in  the  said  County  of  Durham  till  the  Reign  of  Henry 
N.  [i.e.,  300  years  !]  about  which  Time  there  was  one  William  del- 
Strother,  presum'd  of  the  Natives  and  ancient  Inhabitants  of  the 
County  of  Northumberland,  who  was  a  Man  of  great  Power  and 
Possessions,  and  had  his  chief  Seat  and  Mansion-house  at  Kirkharle 
Tower  in  the  said  County,  distant  fourteen  miles  from  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne;  situate  upon  the  Bank,  and  overlooking  a  spacious 
Lake;  surrounded  with  Timber  and  Under-wood ;  interspersed 
with  Apertures,  Lawns  and  Savanas;  cloathed  with  the  finest 
Herbage  : 

"  Which  William  del-Strother  died  without  Issue-male,  leaving 
only  three  Daughters,  viz.,  Johanna,  Alicia,  and  Maria,  to  whom  all 
his  Estate  descended,"  etc. 

Now  we  come  upon  firmer  ground,  for  it  is  admitted  that  in  the 
first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century  a  Loraine  married  Joan,  sister  of 
William  del  Strother,  grandson  of  Alan  del  Strother,  who  was  a 
contemporary  of  Chaucer  at  Cambridge,  and  one  of  the  two  clerks 
who  tricked  the  miller  of  Trumpington  in  "  The  Reeve's  Tale." 
His  name,  however,  was  Edward,  not  William,  and  his  sister  Alicia 
married  Robert  Michelson,  not  Nicholson.  With  these  corrections 
we  read  on  : — 

"  Which  Johanna,  eldest  Daughter  and  Co-heir  of  the  said 
Strother,  William  Loraine,  Heir  of  this  Family,  married.  Alicia, 
the  second  Daughter,  married  one  John  Nicholson,  in  the  county 
of  Northumberland.  John  Fenwick,  of  Fenwick-Tower,  in  North- 
umberland, married  Maria,  the  third  Daughter:  who,  with  their 
three  Wives  enjoy'd  all  the  said  Estate,  in  Common  and  undivided,  till 
the  said  Nicholson,  with  his  wife  and  Son,  released  all  their  Right 
and  Title  to  the  Father's  Estate  to  Loraine  and  Fenwick,  in  con- 
sideration of  having  for  their  Share  thereof  the  Manor  of  Eabington, 
alias  Bavington,  c/an  membris;  whereof  Thockrington  is  specially 
nam'd. 

"  Whereupon  Loraine  and  Fenwick  made  a  Partition  of  the  rest 
of  the  Estate  betwixt  them,  whereby  the  Tower  (being  the  chief  seat 
of  the  said  Strother),  the  Manor,  and  Lordship  of  Kirkharle,  with  the 
Advowson  of  the  Church  was  allotted  to  Johanna,  with  about  1,900 


THE  LO RAINES.  75 

Acres  of  Arable  Land,  etc.,  all  situate  on  the  South-side  of  the  River 
Wansbeck. 

"  And  John  Fenwick  had  the  other  half  of  the  Estate  for  his  part, 
viz.,  the  Tower,  Manor,  and  Lordship  of  Wallington,  Sweethop, 
Hawick,  Crookden,  etc.,  lying  mostly  on  the  North-side  of  the  said 
River. 

"  After  which  marriage  the  said  William  Loraine  removed  out 
of  the  County  of  Durham  with  his  Family,  to  his  wife's  Estate  at 
Kirkharle,  aforesaid;  whose  Posterity  intermarried  with  several  of 
the  reputable  and  ancient  Families  of  both  the  said  Counties,  who, 
by  the  prudent  iNLinagement  of  their  Affairs,  acquired  other  Estates 
there;  some  of  Lands  of  Inheritance,  Coal-mines;  others  consisting 
of  Chattels,  Ecclesiastical  Leases,  etc.,  Being  in  their  respective 
Generations  generally  Ivlen  of  Learning,  Virtue,  and  Sobriety." 

Robert,  grandson  of  Edward  Loraine,  and  the  heiress  of  Strother, 
came  to  a  sad  end,  being  murdered  by  the  Scots  within  sight  of  his 
home  : — 

"  He  was  so  zealous  a  Prosecutor  of  Robbers,  Thieves,  and  Moss- 
troopers (called  the  Border-service),  that  he  kept  a  certain  number  of 
Horses  and  Arms  always  ready,  suitable  to  his  Estate :  As  others  of 
the  chiefest  Families  in  the  Neighbourhood  did,  as  Fenwick  of 
Wallington,  Swinburne  of  Capheaton,  ISIiddleton  of  Belsay,  Shaftoe 
of  Babington,  etc.,  to  pursue  the  same,  upon  all  occasions  of  theirs 
and  the  Scots  Excursions  and  Depredations  into  Northumberland. 

"For  which  Service  to  his  Country,  they  conseived  such  a  Malice 
to  him,  that  a  Party  of  them  lay  in  Ambush  between  his  House  and 
the  Church  (where  he  frequently  resorted  for  his  private  Devotions), 
and  in  his  Return  home,  sudently  surprised  and  dragg'd  him  into  an 
adjacent  Close,  where  they  barbarously  murdered  him,  and  cut  him, 
as  they  had  often  threatened,  as  small  as  flesh  for  the  Pot. 

"  In  Memory  whereof,  his  Successor,  set  up  a  great  Stone  in  the 
Place,  which  the  present  Gentleman  finding  defaced  and  broken  down, 
erected  a  new  one  in  its  Place,  engraven  with  the  same  Account." 

So  far  Collins  and  the  anonymous  tract  writer,  to  whose  narrative 
Mr.  Hodgson  adds  Sir  William's  inscription : — 

"This  new  stone  was  set  up  in  the  place  of  an  old  one,  by  Sir  William  Loraine, 
Bart,  in  1728,  in  memory  of  Robert  Loraine,  his  ancestor,  who  was  barbarously 
murdered  in  this  place  by  the  Scots  in  1483,  for  his  good  services  to  his  country 
against  their  thefts  and  robber}',  as  he  was  returning  from  the  church  alone,  where 
he  had  been  at  his  private  devotions." 


76  THE  LO RAINES. 

Fifth  in  descent  from  the  murdered  chief,  came  Thomas  Loraine, 
who  at  his  father's  death  in  June,  1619,  was  barely  three  years  old, 
and  in  1631,  chose  Sir  John  Fenwick,  Bart.,  for  his  tutor.  Educated 
at  Christ  Church,  Cambridge,  under  the  celebrated  Dr.  Mede,  he 
became  an  elegant  classical  scholar.  He  married,  January  14th, 
1637-38,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  Maddison  (Mayor  of  Newcastle 
in  1623-24),  and  widow  of  William  Bewicke,  son  of  Robert  Bewicke, 
the  Puritan  chief  magistrate. 

Thomas  Loraine  the  writer  of  White's  Tract  describes  as  follows : — 

"  He  was  so  great  a  Lover  of  Learning  (though  then  the  sole  male 
heir  of  his  family),  that  he  continued  with  that  learned  Gentleman, 
Mr.  Mede,  of  Christ's-CoUege,  Cambridge,  in  pursuit  thereof  till  he 
was  reputed  as  great  a  Proficient  in  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew 
Tongues  as  any  Layman  in  that  University. 

"  He  was  so  loyal  and  serviceable  to  the  King  (as  his  Ancestors 
had  been)  that  a  party  of  Oliver's  soldiers  burnt  a  small  Seat-house 
of  his,  and  seven  or  eight  more  belonging  to  it,  to  the  Ground  in 
Ufferton  aforesaid. 

"  His  great  Learning  and  Endowments  brought  him  into  so  great 
an  Esteem  and  Familiarity  with  Cosin,  then  Bishop  of  Durham,  that 
he  stood  God-father  to  his  son  Thomas,  to  whom  he  gave  a  hand- 
some Present  of  a  silver  Censer  upon  that  Occasion. 

"  He  was  a  proper  Person,  and  of  a  comely  Aspect;  a  virtuous, 
sober,  honest  Man.  He  lived,  and  died  of  a  Fever,  in  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  in  the  thirty-fifth  Year  of  his  Age  [October  24th,  1649] 
to  the  great  Grief  and  Loss  of  his  Family  and  Relations,  and  Regret 
of  his  Acquaintance,  and  was  interred  in  the  South  Isle  of  St. 
Nicolas's  Church,  next  the  Maddison's  Monument,  under  a  large 
Marble  Stone,  with  a  Brass  Plate,  and  his  character  engraven  upon  it 
(which  being  torn  up  and  stol'n)  the  present  Gentleman  put  a  new 
one  upon  it,  engraven  with  the  same  Character." 

This  stone  may  still  be  seen,  and  the  inscribed  brass  plate  may  be 
read,  on  the  floor  of  the  church.  The  original  plate  contained  ten 
lines  of  Latin,  quoted  by  Bourne  and  Brand  in  their  Histories  of 
Newcastle;  the  present  inscription  epitomises  the  facts  recorded 
above. 

Sir  William  Loraine,  Bart,  grandson  of  Thomas  Loraine,  the 
scholar,  was  "  the  present  gentleman  "  of  White's  Tract,  i.e.,  the  head 
of  the  family  at  the  time  the  narrative  was  written.  He  was  the 
eldest  son  of  fourteen   sons  and  five  daughters   born   to  Thomas 


THE  LO RAINES.  77 

Loraine  the  younger,  by  the  marriage  with  Grace,  eldest  daughter  of 
Sir  William  Fenwick,  of  Wallington,  Bart.  Charles  II.  advanced  his 
father  to  the  dignity  of  a  baronet  on  the  26th  September,  1664,  and 
he  inherited  the  dignity  and  the  estates  at  his  father's  death  in  17 18. 
He  had  been  trained  to  the  law  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  practised  as  a 
barrister  till  family  affairs  required  his  continual  presence  in  the 
North.  One  great  object  of  his  life  was  to  build  up  and  extend  the 
family  property.  With  this  object  he  acquired  the  estates  of  Little 
Swinburne,  Deanham,  and  part  of  Bavington,  forfeited  by  the 
Swinburnes  at  the  rebellion  of  1715;  though  this  acquisition  led  to 
a  protracted  law-suit  and  much  ill-feeling  between  the  two  families. 
At  the  general  election  in  December,  1701,  he  contested  the  re- 
presentation of  the  county  of  Northumberland  with  Sir  Francis 
Blake  and  Bertram  Stote,  and  he  and  Sir  Francis  were  elected. 

Arising  out  of  this  election  a  curious  error  has  crept  into  local 
history.  Richardson,  in  his  preface  to  AVhite's  Tract,  makes  a  state- 
ment that  Bertram  Stote  petitioned  the  House  of  Commons  for  the 
seat  on  the  ground  that  many  unqualified  persons  were  permitted  to 
poll  against  him,  and  that  by  the  illegal  practices  of  Mr.  Loraine  and 
his  agents,  and  also  of  the  High  Sheriff,  Mr.  Loraine  was  unduly 
returned.  He  adds  that  the  petition  was  referred  to  the  committee 
on  privileges  and  elections,  "  and  Mr.  Loraine  declared  unduly 
elected."  Mr.  Hodgson  makes  a  similar  entry  in  the  pedigree. 
Now,  a  search  through  the  Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons  does 
not  afford  confirmation  of  the  statement  that  Mr.  Loraine  was 
unseated.  The  petition  of  Stote  is  there,  the  reference  to  the 
committee  is  there,  but  no  further  account  appears  in  the  Journals. 
Mr.  Loraine's  name  occurs  as  serving  on  committees  down  to  the 
29th  April,  1702,  and,  within  a  month  afterwards,  that  Parliament 
was  prorogued,  never  to  meet  again.  To  the  new  Parliament, 
appointed  to  assemble  the  following  August,  Sir  Francis  Blake  and 
Bertram  Stote  were  duly  elected. 

Soon  after  he  succeeded  to  the  title.  Sir  William  Loraine  began  to 
indulge  a  taste  for  cultivation  and  tree  planting.  First  of  all  he 
restored  the  parish  church;  then  he  built  himself  a  new  mansion, 
"  of  his  own  plan  and  contrivance,"  with  all  the  "  offices,  outhouses, 
gardens,  fountains,  fish-ponds,  etc.  (the  first  regular  ones  that  ever 
were  in  this  part  of  the  country),  belonging  to  them."  It  was  while 
these  operations  were  going  on  that  young  Lancelot  Brown  obtained 
employment  at  Kirkharle,  and  gained  the  knowledge  which,  expanded 


78 


THE  LORAINES. 


and  improved  in  after  years,  enabled  him  to  obtain  world-wide 
celebrity  as  "Capability  Brown,"  the  landscape  gardener,  and  to 
marry  his  brother  to  one  of  Sir  William's  daughters. 

The  writer  of  White's  Tract  describes  Sir  William  as  a  living 
person  in  these  terms  : — 

"  He  is  competent  in  Judgment  of  Architecture  and  Physick, 
exemplary  in  Planting  and  Enclosure;  having  from  the  Year  1694  to 
1738,  inclusive,  planted  of  Forest  Trees,  Twenty-four  thousand,  and 
of  Quick-Sets  above  Four  hundred  and  eighty-eight  thousand;  and 
being  skilfull  in  the  Fruit-Garden,  planted  of  Fruit  Trees  Five 
hundred  and  eighty. 

"Who,  by  his  various  Industry  besides;  as  dividing  the  Grounds, 
building  new  Farms  upon  them,  draining  Morasses,  clearing  the  Lands 
of  ponderous,  massy,  and  hard  Stones,  to  prepare  them  for  Tillage : 


/dt^/i^yt^     t^^iytO^. 


By  which  means  (with  the  Assistance  of  his  Wives  Portions)  he  hath 
redeemed  a  good  Part  of  his  Estate,  adding  some  others  to  it  of  his 
own  Purchase.  By  struggling  with,  and  the  assiduous  Application 
of  above  fifty  Years,  he  hath  reduced  his  Family  to  pretty  easy 
Circumstances,  from  difficult  and  numerous  Troubles  and  Incum- 
brances. 

"The  Heirs  of  the  Family  having  the  Misfortune,  during  those 
dreadful  and  pernicious  Times  of  Court  of  Wards  and  Liveries,  of 
falling  three  Times  successively  into  Wardship,  etc.,  were  defrauded 
by  covetous  and  perfidious  Guardians,  and  others,  from  time  to  time, 
of  several  considerable  Members  of  their  Estates. 

"And  particularly  the  present  Gentleman's  Predecessor,  by  his 
imprudent  Credulity,  was  circumvented  and  defrauded  of  one,  to  the 
Amount  of  the  best  Part  of  Twenty  thousand  Pounds :  by  a  certain 


THE  LO RAINES.  79 

Gentleman  whose  honourable  and  laudable  character  was  *  Double 
tongue  Jemmy '  in  an  ancient  and  worthy  Corporation  in  the  North, 
which  he  lived  near,  where  William  Rufus  finished  a  Castle  (pardon 
the  .-Enigma).  And  this  he  practised  under  the  greatest  Confidence, 
Trust,  and  seeming  Friendship  imaginable,  and  the  Relation  of  an 
Uncle." 

Sir  William  Loraine  died  in  January,  1743-44,  aged  eighty-three 
years.  A  monument  in  Kirkharle  Church  supplies  further  genea- 
logical details  respecting  him,  as  follows  : — 

"Under  the  stone  below,  lyes  the  body  of  Sir  William  Loraine,  baronet,  who 
marryed  two  wives.  The  first  Elizabeth,  a  daur.  of  Sir  John  Lawrence,  kt.  and 
alderman  of  the  city  of  London,  who  dy'd  lea^^ng  him  no  issue.  Then  marry'd 
Anne,  onely  daughter  of  Richard  Smith,  of  Preston,  in  the  county  of  Bucks, 
Esqr.,  by  whom  he  had  issue  five  sons  and  four  daughters.  He  and  his  wife  lived 
together  very  happily  for  51  years,  then  Sir  William  dy'd,  the  22nd  day  of 
Januar}',  1743,  ii^  the  84th  year  of  his  age.  Hie  fuit  homo  qui  divina  providentia 
recuperabat  familiam  prope  ruinosam.  Under  the  next  stone  lyes  the  body  of 
dame  Anne  his  wife,  a  comely  person,  of  a  good  aspect  and  stature,  a  neat  and 
prudent  housekeeper;  as  to  herself  moderate  in  all  things:  She  was  a  serious  and 
religious  woman,  and  consequently,  a  good  wife,  and  a  good  mother  :  She  dy'd  the 
24th  day  of  Sept.  1756,  in  the  88  year  of  her  age. 

"  Here  lyes  the  body  of  Richard  Loraine,  Esq.,  who  was  a  proper  handsome 
man,  of  good  sense  and  behaviour;  he  dy'd  a  batcheler  of  an  appoplexy,  walking 
in  a  green-field  near  London,  October  26th,  1738,  in  the  38  year  of  his  age." 

At  the  death  of  Sir  William  Loraine,  M.R,  his  son,  Sir  Charles, 
inherited  the  title.  He  married,  first,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Ralph 
Lambton,  of  Lambton,  great-grandfather  of  the  first  Earl  of  Durham, 
and  secondl)-,  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Ralph  Millot,  of  Whitehill, 
Chester-le-Street.  From  this  second  marriage  came  Sir  William 
Loraine,  the  fourth  baronet,  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland  in 
1774,  and,  like  his  ancestor,  the  first  Sir  William,  a  noted  culti- 
vator and  improver.  He  enlarged  the  mansion-house  at  Kirkharle, 
beautified  the  grounds,  formed  new  plantations,  restored  farmsteads 
and  cottages,  and  was  the  Squire  Bountiful  of  his  time  and  place. 
When  he  died,  19th  December,  1809,  aged  sixty-one,  it  was  written  of 
him  that  "he  still  lives  in  the  affectionate  remembrance  of  his  friends, 
and  the  grateful  recollection  of  the  poor,  whom  he  employed  in  the 
improvement  of  his  estate."  He  also  was  twice  married.  By  his 
first  wife,  Hannah,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Lancelot  AUgood,  of 
Nunwick,  he  had  eight  children;  by  his  second,  Frances,  daughter 
of  Francis  Campart,  of  London,  six — fourteen  in  all.     Among  the 


So  GEORGE  LOSH. 

elder  children  were  Charles,  who  succeeded  him  as  fifth  baronet; 
Isabella,  who  married  Alderman  Thomas  Emerson  Headlam,  M.D.; 
William,  a  banker  and  magistrate  in  Newcastle;  and  John  Lambton, 
for  many  years  postmaster  of  that  town. 

Sir  Charles  Loraine,  the  fifth  baronet,  died  in  1833,  and  the  title 
descended  to  his  son  William,  after  whose  death,  unmarried,  at 
Elsinore,  May  29th,  1849,  aged  48,  an  extraordinary  mortality 
occurred  among  the  heirs  of  this  family.  By  the  decease  of  the 
sixth  baronet,  without  issue,  the  title  came  to  his  brother,  Charles 
Vincent,  who  bore  it  for  fifteen  months  only,  and  died  August 
19th,  1850,  aged  43.  Another  brother,  Henry  Claude,  succeeded, 
and  he  died  on  the  4th  January,  1851,  aged  38.  Then  the  title 
reverted  to  the  brothers  of  the  fifth  baronet,  uncles  of  the  three 
young  men  who  had  so  rapidly  departed,  and  brothers-in-law  of 
Dr.  Headlam.  Of  these,  William,  the  banker,  was  the  elder,  and  he, 
enjoying  his  unexpected  honours  only  eight  weeks,  died  unmarried, 
March  ist,  185 1,  aged  70.  John  Lambton  Loraine,  who  succeeded 
as  tenth  baronet,  held  the  title  a  little  longer,  dying  on  the  nth  July, 
1852,  aged  67.  Thus  between  the  end  of  May,  1849,  and  the  early 
part  of  July,  1852,  i.e.,  within  the  space  of  three  years  and  a  quarter, 
four  heirs  of  the  ancient  house  of  Loraine  had  worn  the  family 
honours  and  departed. 

Sir  John  Lambton  Loraine  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  the 
present  Sir  Lambton  Loraine,  Bart.,  a  distinguished  naval  officer. 
The  second  son,  William  Charles  Loraine,  M.A.,  for  some  years 
assistant  commissioner  in  the  district  of  Cachar,  India,  died  at  sea, 
April  nth,  1877.  To  his  memory,  erected  by  his  friends  at  Cachar, 
there  is  a  monument  in  St.  Nicholas'  Cathedral,  Newcastle,  where 
also  a  monumental  brass  commemorates  his  father,  Sir  John,  and  his 
mother,  Caroline  Isabella,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  F.  Ekins,  rector  of 
Morpeth. 


MERCHANT    AND    MANUFACTURER. 

Most  of  the  eminent  men  who  bore  the  name  of  Losh  upon 
Tyneside  were  of  Cumberland  birth.  They  came  hither  from  the 
family  seat  of  Woodside,  about  four  miles  south  of  Carlisle,  at  which 


GEORGE  LOSff.  8i 

place  their  forefathers  had  been  settled  since  the  time  of  Henry 
VIIL,  and  perhaps  from  an  earlier  date.  The  situation  of  Woodside 
is,  in  one  respect,  fortunate  for  them  and  for  us.  Its  contiguity  to 
Carlisle  enabled  Dr.  Lonsdale,  the  most  genial  of  North-Country 
biographers,  to  become  acquainted  with  the  family,  to  describe  them 
in  his  "Worthies  of  Cumberland"  as  familiar  friends,  and  to  endow 
all  succeeding  biographers  with  a  rich  store  of  materials  relating  to 
their  lives  and  labours. 

The  laird  of  AVoodside  in  the  middle  of  last  century  was  John 
Losh,  who  had  married  the  sister  of  Joseph  Liddell,  of  Moorhouse, 
near  Carlisle — a  descendant  of  the  Liddells,  of  Ravensworth.  From 
that  marriage  came,  among  other  progeny,  four  eminent  men — John, 
born  in  1756;  James,  in  1763;  George,  in  1766;  and  William,  in 
1770.  All  four  of  them  became  in  after  years  identified  with  the 
commercial  and  public  life  of  Tyneside,  though  in  different  degrees 
and  capacities.  John  founded  the  Walker  Alkali  Works;  James 
became  Recorder  of  Newcastle;  George  carried  on  business  as  a 
chemical  manufacturer;  William  managed  Walker  Works  for  his 
brother,  and  started  the  equally  well-known  iron  works  of  Messrs. 
Losh,  Wilson,  &  Bell. 

Born,  as  already  stated,  in  1766,  George  Losh  was  educated  for 
commercial  life  in  Newcastle.  While  his  brothers  John  and  William 
devoted  themselves  to  manufacturing  chemistry,  and  James  to  the 
law,  he  conceived  a  strong  liking  for  scientific  and  technical  work. 
Marrying,  in  1798,  Frances  Wilkinson,  one  of  the  "three  beauties 
of  Carlisle,"  he  settled  in  Newcastle,  and  entered  into  various  manu- 
facturing and  commercial  undertakings.  One  of  his  ventures  was 
the  production  of  alkali,  by  similar  processes  to  those  adopted  at 
Walker.  He  was  a  ship  and  insurance  broker  in  Trinity  Chare, 
head  of  the  firm  of  Losh,  Lubbren,  «S:  Co.,  merchants  on  the  Quay- 
side, and  a  proprietor  in  the  Newcastle  Fire  Office  and  Water  Com- 
pany. At  the  turn  of  the  century  he  was  living  in  Westgate  Street, 
probably  in  one  of  the  fine  substantial  houses  which  faced  the 
Vicarage  and  St.  John's  Church.  Subsequently,  through  the  failure 
of  Messrs.  Surtees  &  Burdon's  Bank,  his  affairs,  became  involved 
and  he  withdrew  to  a  house  at  Saltwellside,  near  Gateshead,  belong- 
ing to  his  uncle  Liddell.  After  a  time  he  removed,  wnth  his  family 
of  five  daughters,  to  France,  and,  while  there,  continuing  his  interest 
in  the  progress  of  chemistry,  he  kept  a  watchful  eye  upon  the 
development    of    chemical    manufacture,    and    communicated    the 

VOL.   III.  6 


82  JAMES  LOSH. 

results  to  his  brother  WilHam  at  Walker.  In  his  old  age  he 
returned  to  Tyneside,  and  died  at  Low  Heaton  on  the  3rd  of 
April,  1846,  aged  eighty  years. 

Dr.  Lonsdale  describes  George  Losh  as  a  man  of  powerful  intellect 
and  fine  physique.  "  His  conversation  was  copious,  engaging,  and 
instructive.  In  his  tall,  handsome  figure  and  well-developed  head 
was  discernible  a  marked  superiority  of  character;  and  his  clever- 
ness, geniality,  and  worth  gained  him  hosts  of  friends.  During  a 
winter's  visit  to  St.  Petersburg,  he  surprised  the  Russians  by  walking 
out  on  days  of  intense  cold  without  a  topcoat,  whilst  they  were 
wrapped  in  furs.  His  bodily  temperament,  so  fair  and  sanguine, 
explained  this  power  of  resistance  to  cold,  on  the  same  ground  that 
Nature  has  clothed  the  bear  of  the  Arctic  regions  in  white,  and  given 
dark  skins  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  tropics." 


3amc6  Xo0b  (i), 

RECORDER     OF     NEWCASTLE. 

James  Losh,  second  of  the  four  famous  sons  of  John  Losh,  laird  of 
Woodside,  was  born  at  the  family  seat  on  the  loth  of  June,  1763. 
His  preliminary  education,  with  that  of  his  elder  brother,  was  obtained 
at  the  Grammar  School  of  Wreay,  adjoining  the  paternal  home.  As 
soon  as  they  were  old  enough  both  lads  were  sent  across  the  West- 
morland border  to  Sedbergh,  to  read  mathematics  with  John 
Dawson,  a  famous  surgeon-mathematician,  whose  pupils  lived  at  the 
neighbouring  farmhouses  or  boarded  at  the  village  inn,  where  the 
ordinary  charge  for  breakfast  was  2d.  and  for  dinner  lod. !  About 
the  year  1782  they  proceeded  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where 
James  distinguished  himself  in  chemistry,  theology,  and  juris- 
prudence, and  became  the  centre  of  a  group  of  young  men  who,  in 
after-life,  filled  high  positions  in  various  spheres  of  public  usefulness. 
Among  them  were  John  Tweddell,  of  Threepwood,  near  Haydon 
Bridge,  classical  scholar  and  traveller,  in  whose  "  Literary  Remains" 
are  thirteen  letters,  some  of  them  in  French,  written  to  Mr.  Losh 
from  various  parts  of  Europe ;  John  Bell,  afterwards  King's  Counsel, 
and  an  eminent  Chancery  barrister ;  and  the  Hon.  Charles  Warren, 
who  also  became  a  K.C.,  and  was  for  some  years  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Palatinate  Court  of  Chester.     Taking  his  B.A.  degree  in  1786,  Mr. 


JAMES  LOSH.  83 

Losh  prepared  for  holy  orders,  but,  imbibing  Unitarian  views,  he 
forsook  theology  for  the  law,  entered  himself  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and 
in  due  time  was  called  to  the  13ar. 

At  the  outset  of  his  legal  career  Mr.  Losh  fell  into  ill-health,  due 
probably  to  excessive  study,  and  was  ordered  to  Bath  to  recruit.  In 
that  health-giving  city  he  found  new  friends,  and  formed  fresh  friend- 
ships. His  more  intimate  acquaintance  included  the  Rev.  Richard 
Warner,  the  antiquary  and  topographer,  and  Dr.  Beddoes,  of  Clifton, 
an  eminent  physicist,  the  teacher  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy.  With 
these  and  others  he  co-operated  in  the  promotion  of  education  among 
the  poor,  interesting  himself  especially  in  a  local  institution  desig- 
nated by  the  name  of  "The  Bath  Sunday  Schools,  and  Schools  of 
Industry."  So  well  was  he  known  in  connection  with  this  philan- 
thropic movement,  that  when  an  admirer  asked  Dr.  Beddoes  for  his 
address,  the  doctor  replied  that  he  did  not  remember  just  then  the 
name  of  the  street,  but  the  inquirer  had  only  to  ask  the  first  poor 
boy  that  he  met  in  Bath  where  James  Losh  lived,  and  he  would  be 
sure  to  find  him. 

Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution,  fired  with  the 
enthusiasm  which  the  preliminary  stages  of  that  tremendous  upheaval 
excited  among  liberal-minded  men  in  this  country,  Mr.  Losh  went 
over  to  Paris  to  study  and  watch  the  progress  of  the  movement  on 
the  spot.  Whether  he  joined  his  brother  William  there,  or  followed 
after  that  less  enthusiastic  spectator  of  events  had  considered  it 
prudent  to  leave  the  country,  does  not  appear.  Dr.  Lonsdale  tells 
us  that — 

"He  arrived  in  Paris  when  the  frightful  events  of  the  loth  of 
August  [1792]  were  the  freshest  news,  and  the  departure  of  the 
English  ambassador  was  not  without  its  significance.  He  attended 
the  meetings  of  the  Convention,  and  listened  to  the  classical  appeals 
of  Vergniaud  and  the  Girondists;  and  saw  that  'grim  son  of  France 
and  son  of  Earth,'  as  Carlyle  describes  Danton,  and  probably  heard 
his  stentorian  voice  proclaim,  '  //  nous  faut  de  Vaudace,  et  encore  de 
raudace,  et  toujoiirs  de  Vaudace ' — to  dare,  and  again  to  dare,  and 
without  end  to  dare — words  that  'thrilled  abroad  over  France  like 
electric  virtue.'  The  daring  of  the  mob  soon  merged  into  a  sans- 
culotte  despotism,  encouraged  by  the  '  Commune,'  whose  conscience 
was  JNIarat.  This  came  home  to  Mr.  Losh  whilst  walking  along  the 
Rue  de  Richelieu.  Let  it  be  premised  that  he  was  a  handsome  and 
conspicuous   figure,   and  elegantly  dressed;   his  hair,   lustrous   and 


84 


JAMES  LOSH. 


abundant,  hung  in  long  tresses  over  his  shoulders.  Such  a  per- 
sonalit}',  savouring  of  aristocratic  life,  could  not  fail  to  attract  the 
sans-cniotles,  one  of  whom  stared,  and  growled,  and  then  exclaimed, 
''Aristocrat !  quelle  belle  tete  pour  la  lanterne  P  A  pretty  compli- 
ment, forsooth,  to  a  man's  head,  that  it  would  grace  a  lamp-post !  " 

Mr.  Losh  owed  his  safety  to  the  influence  of  Marat,  who,  as  is 
well  known  to  readers  of  North-Country  history,  had  practised  as  a 
veterinary  surgeon  in  Newcastle  and  visited  Carlisle  and  Penrith 
twenty  years  earlier.     Knowledge   of  horseflesh  recommended  the 


versatile  Frenchman  to  the  fox-hunting  squires  of  Northumberland 
and  Cumberland,  and  Mr.  Losh  had  a  distinct  recollection  of  seeing 
"  dog-leach  Marat,"  as  Carlyle  terms  him,  visiting  his  father's  house 
when  he  was  a  boy  of  about  ten  years  old. 

Having  regained  his  health,  Mr.  Losh  began  to  practise  his  profes- 
sion on  the  Northern  Circuit.  He  published,  in  1797,  a  translation 
of  Benjamin  Constant's  "  Observations  on  the  Strength  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  France,"  married,  in  February,  1798,  Cecilia,  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Baldwin,  of  Aldingham,  near  Ulverston,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  took  up  his  residence  in  Newcastle.     His  friend  Thomas 


JAMES  LOSIL  85 

Bigge,  of  Longbenton,  was  at  this  time  publishing  a  cheap  monthly 
for  the  enlightenment  of  the  masses,  and  to  this  modest  and  unsuc- 
cessful venture,  "  The  Q^lconomist  or  Englishman's  Magazine,  Printed 
by  ]\I.  Angus,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  and  sold  by  all  the  Booksellers 
in  Great  Britain,"  first  at  three-halfpence  and  then  at  twopence,  he 
became,  with  Dr.  Beddoes  and  the  Rev.  William  Turner,  a  frequent 
contributor.  Joining  the  cultured  congregation  which  worshipped 
under  Mr.  Turner's  pastorate  at  the  Unitarian  Chapel  in  Hanover 
Square,  he  assisted  that  eminent  teacher  in  many  excellent  schemes 
for  promoting  the  social  and  educational  improvement  of  the  Tyne- 
side  people.  Early  in  1799  ^^  joined  the  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society,  of  which  the  following  year  he  was  elected  a  vice-president. 
In  1802  he  contributed  to  the  establishment  of  the  "  New  Institution 
for  Permanent  Lectures  "  in  connection  with  the  Society,  and  was 
a  regular  attender  at  the  remarkable  scientific  expositions  which, 
during  many  years  afterwards,  at  the  rate  of  about  twenty  per  annum, 
his  friend  and  pastor,  Mr.  Turner,  delivered  there.  The  efforts  of 
Dr.  John  Clark  to  improve  and  extend  the  benefits  of  Newcastle 
Infirmary  had  his  warm  approval,  and  he  was  one  of  the  chief  pro- 
moters of  the  Royal  Jubilee  School,  of  which  admirable  institution, 
opened  in  ]March,  181 1,  he  was  appointed  a  vice-president.  The 
establishment  in  Newcastle  of  a  ISIechanics'  Institute,  too,  enlisted 
his  sympathies  and  secured  his  assistance ;  indeed,  every  local 
organisation  that  had  for  its  object  the  relief  of  indigence,  the 
amelioration  of  suffering,  and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  received 
his  cordial  and  personal  support. 

True  to  the  political  principles  which  he  had  adopted  in  his  college 
days,  Mr.  Losh  was  an  active  worker  in  the  two  great  movements  of 
his  time — civil  and  religious  liberty  and  Parliamentary  reform.  Upon 
his  return  from  Paris  he  joined  the  "  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the 
People,"  and  is  said  to  have  assisted  Mr.  Tierney  in  drawing  up  the 
remarkable  petition  from  that  Society  which,  presented  to  the  House 
of  Commons  in  May,  1793,  by  Mr.  Charles  Grey  himself,  when  mov- 
ing his  famous  resolution  for  a  reform  of  the  representation,  "excited 
a  strong  sensation "  in  all  parts  of  the  House — so  ably  marshalled 
were  its  facts,  so  masterly  its  analysis  of  electoral  incongruities. 
During  the  long  struggle  which  preceded  the  Reform  Act,  j\Ir.  Losh 
was  the  chief  spokesman  of  the  Whig  party  in  Newcastle — that  party 
which  Armorer  Donkin  and  Ralph  Park  Philipson  organised,  the 
Newcastle  Chronicle  championed,  and  Dr.  Headlam  led  to  victory. 


86  JAMES  LOSH. 

It  is  difificult  to  turn  over  the  pages  of  the  Chronicle  from  1820  to 
1832,  without  coming  across  his  name  as  a  speaker  at  some  meeting 
or  other,  called  together  to  reform  the  institutions  of  the  country, 
resist  oppression,  advance  the  liberties  of  the  people,  promote  the 
spread  of  education,  or  increase  the  national  prosperity.  Three  of 
his  Newcastle  addresses  were  published  in  pamphlet  form,  and  cir- 
culated far  and  wide.  One,  delivered  January  20th,  1820,  treated  of 
Parliamentary  Reform ;  the  other  two,  delivered  April  29th,  1823, 
and  March  31st,  1824,  were  stirring  calls  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  colonies.  Of  the  first  named,  so  cautious  a  man  as  the  Rev. 
John  Hodgson,  the  historian  of  Northumberland,  who  never  meddled 
with  politics,  expressed  his  cordial  approval.  Writing  to  Mr.  Swin- 
burne, a  few  days  after  it  was  uttered,  he  described  it  as  "  moderate 
and  full  of  discretion,"  adding,  as  his  private  opinion,  that  "  there 
will  never  be  any  reform,  either  in  the  representation  of  the  country, 
or  in  the  use  of  its  money,  till  the  moderate  of  all  parties  join  and 
firmly  and  perseveringly  demand  it." 

While  the  agitation  for  Parliamentary  Reform  was  approaching  its 
climax,  the  country  was  excited  by  the  rapid  development  of  steam 
locomotion.  To  the  inhabitants  of  the  Tyne  valley  this  movement 
was  of  surpassing  interest,  for  in  their  midst  the  locomotive  had  had 
its  birth;  to  Mr.  Losh  the  question  was  one  of  personal  concern,  for 
his  brother  William  was  George  Stephenson's  co-patentee  in  the 
most  successful  engine  that  had  then  been  constructed.  When, 
therefore,  in  the  spring  of  1825,  it  was  proposed  to  abandon  the 
long-debated  project  of  a  canal  between  Newcastle  and  Carlisle, 
and  unite  those  towns  by  a  railway,  Mr.  Losh  became  one  of  the 
principal  supporters  of  the  scheme.  He  was  one  of  twelve  gentle- 
men elected,  on  the  9th  of  April  in  that  year,  a  Board  of  Directors 
to  carry  out  the  project,  and  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board  he  was 
appointed  chairman.  Later  on,  when  the  contract  was  signed  for 
the  construction  of  the  line,  his  name  appears  in  the  list  of  share- 
holders as  a  contributor  of  ;^6,3oo,  and  his  brother  William  as  a 
subscriber  of  ^4,300  towards  the  capital  required  for  the  under- 
taking. 

With  advancing  age  Mr.  Losh's  interest  in  public  questions 
appears  to  have  increased  rather  than  diminished.  Taking  the  year 
1829  as  an  example,  we  find  his  active  mind  and  eloquent  tongue 
engaged  in  useful  labours  like  the  following : — 

February  i8th.     Making  the  principal  speech  at  a  town's  meeting 


JAMES  LOSH.  87 

in  the  Guildhall  to  petition  Parliament  in  favour  of  the  Bill  for  the 
Newcastle  and  Carlisle  Railway,  and  receiving  the  thanks  of  the 
meeting  for  his  "  luminous  exposition." 

March  loth.  Addressing  a  meeting  of  five  thousand  townspeople 
in  the  Spital  in  favour  of  Catholic  Emancipation. 

April  2ist.  Taking  his  seat  at  Hexham  for  the  first  time  as 
Chairman  of  the  Manor  Court,  amid  the  ringing  of  the  Abbey 
Church  bells,  and  other  joyous  demonstrations. 

December  ist.  Making  a  speech  "of  great  length  and  brilliancy," 
at  a  public  meeting  in  the  Guildhall,  Newcastle,  in  favour  of  forming 
an  Association  to  obtain  free  trade  with  India  and  China. 

December  3rd.  Presiding  at  a  meeting  of  subscribers  to  the 
Nonconformist  Cemetery  at  the  top  of  Westgate  Hill  (of  which  he 
had  been  an  active  promoter),  and  announcing  that  the  ground  was 
ready  for  interments. 

On  the  eve  of  the  Whig  triumph  of  1832,  Mr.  Losh  published  a 
pamphlet  of  thirty-two  pages,  entitled — 

"  Observations  on  Parliamentary  Reform ;  to  which  is  added  the  Petition 
from  the  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  People  presented  to  the  House  of 
Commons  by  Charles  Grey,  Esq.,  in  1793."  Newcastle:  Emerson  Charnley, 
1S31. 

At  the  great  meeting  in  the  Spital  on  the  15th  May,  1832,  con- 
vened to  protest  against  the  hostile  influences  which  had  compelled 
Earl  Grey  to  resign  the  Premiership,  Mr.  Losh  made  a  vigorous 
defence  of  his  lordship's  action,  and  a  few  weeks  later  participated  in 
the  double  joy  which  animated  the  burgesses  of  Newcastle  when  it 
became  known  that  the  Newcastle  and  Carlisle  Railway  Bill  had 
passed  the  House  of  Commons,  and  that  the  Reform  Bill  had 
received  the  Royal  Assent. 

While  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts  were  in  operation,  Mr. 
Losh,  being  a  Unitarian,  had  been  unable  to  receive  civic  appoint- 
ments, or  to  accept  public  office;  and  now  that  these  stumbling- 
blocks  had  been  removed,  and  the  chief  aims  of  his  political  career 
had  been  achieved,  he  was  passing  the  age  when  office  is  no  burden, 
and  honours  can  be  worn  in  healthful  ease,  with  promise  of  con- 
tinuance. Offices  and  honours  both  came  to  him,  but  came  almost 
too  late.  In  the  summer  of  1832,  about  the  time  that  the  Great 
Reform  Bill  was  passing  through  its  final  stages,  the  Corporation  of 
Newcastle  invested  him  with  the  highest  judicial  function  in  their 
gift — the  Recordership.     A  few  weeks  later  he  became  one  of  the 


88  JAMES  LOSH. 

Revising  Barristers  for  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  and  on  the 
1 6th  January,  1833,  he  received  the  honorary  freedom  of  Newcastle. 
The  appointments  honoured  the  givers  and  strengthened  in  his 
principles  and  conduct  the  recipient.  From  the  exalted  position 
of  Recorder  he  made  one  great  speech  upon  the  one  great  public 
question  that,  among  all  those  for  which  he  had  done  battle,  still 
remained  unsettled — the  question  of  slavery.  This  was  his  last 
public  address,  and  the  effect  of  it  is  described  by  an  eye-witness 
as  thrilling.  "  It  seemed  as  though  he  had  summoned  the  whole 
energy  of  a  long  and  active  life,  and  concentrated  in  a  focus  the 
resources  of  a  powerful  and  comprehensive  mind — outpouring  the 
ardent  hope  of  his  life,  that 

Wherever  Britain's  power  is  felt. 
Mankind  shall  feel  her  mercy  too  !  " 

Mr.  Losh  died  at  Greta  Bridge  in  Yorkshire  on  the  23rd  of 
September,  1833,  and  his  remains  were  brought  to  the  Tyne  and 
honoured  by  a  public  funeral  in  Gosforth  Churchyard.  On  the 
staircase  of  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  stands 
a  life-size  figure  in  white  marble,  executed  by  Lough  while  in  Italy, 
bearing  the  following  inscription : — 

"James  Losh, 
Recorder  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
Vice-President  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society. 
Died  the  xxiii  Sepr.  in  the  Year  1833,  Aged  Ixxi. 
Zealous  in  promoting  the  moral  and  intellectual  improvement  of  mankind,  he 
was  one  of  the  earliest   patrons   of  this   institution.     Distinguished   in   private 
society  for  the  gentleness  of  his  manners  and  the  kindness  of  his  heart ;  in  public 
for  the  consistency  and  firmness  of  his  political  principles,  the  course  of  his  life 
was  equally  marked  by  benevolence  and  integrity.     From  early  youth  the  ardent 
friend  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  he  rejoiced  in  witnessing  the  successful  pro- 
gress of  that  great  and  good  cause  of  which  he  was  on  all  occasions  the  willing 
and  fearless  advocate.     He  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  humiliating  distinctions 
between  religious  sects  erased  from  the  statute  book,  slavery  abolished  throughout 
the   British   dominions,   and    the    representation   of    the   people    in    Parliament 
reformed.     This  statue  was  erected  by  his  friends   and  fellow-townsmen   as   a 
testimony  of  their  esteem  for^his  distinguished  virtues,  and  of  their  gratitude  for 
his  eminent  public  services." 

Within  the  library  (where  also  is  deposited  a  MS.  volume  of 
Meteorological  Observations  taken  by  him  at  his  residence,  Jesmond 
Grove,  from  1802  to  1833)  is  a  marble  bust  of  Mr.  Losh,  by 
Dunbar. 


JAMES  LOSH. 


89 


3amc5  Xo5b  (2), 

COUNTY     COURT    JUDGE. 

James  Losh,  eldest  son  of  the  Recorder,  was  born  at  Jesmond  in 
1803.  He  was  educated  at  Durham  Grammar  School,  matriculated 
at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and,  being  destined  for  the  profession 
of  the  law,  became  a  pupil  of  his  father's  friend,  John  Bell,  K.C. 
Called  to  the  Bar  by  the  Honourable  Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  in 
1829,  he  practised  on  the  Northern  Circuit,  and  after  the  death  of 
his  father  succeeded  to  the  stewardship  of  the  ]\Ianor  Courts  of 


^^^ 


Hexham,  and,  eventually,  to  the  chairmanship  of  the  Newcastle  and 
Carlisle  Railway.  He  inherited  the  Liberal  opinions  of  the  Recorder, 
but  took  no  active  part  in  politics.  His  tastes  ran  in  the  direction 
of  municipal  rather  than  political  life,  and  as  soon  as  the  doors  of 
the  Newcastle  Council  Chamber  were  opened  to  non-freemen  by  the 
Reform  Act  of  1835,  he  entered  the  extended  circle,  and  had  the 
honour  of  being  elected  an  alderman.  In  the  early  volumes  of  the 
"  Proceedings  of  Newcastle  Council "  his  name  frequently  appears 
among  the  debaters  of  public  questions.      He  was  scarified,  like 


90  JOHN  LOSH. 

most  of  the  Whig  members,  by  the  author  of  "  Random  Recollec- 
tions of  the  Reformed  Town  Council,"  and  perhaps  enjoyed  the 
joke,  as  many  of  them  did.  John  Selkirk,  Council  reporter  in  1841, 
describes  him  as  "  a  rather  agreeable  speaker,"  many  of  whose  obser- 
vations were  just  and  pertinent,  "  but  the  whole  wants  impressive- 
ness,  particularly  as  to  producing  immediate  effect  upon  his  hearers. 
His  opinions  are  much  in  advance  of  those  held  by  a  number  of  his 
fellow-councillors ;  but  his  demeanour  is  always  gentle  and  con- 
ciliatory," 

Alderman  Losh  remained  in  the  Council  till  May,  1853,  when, 
being  appointed  to  succeed  Mr.  George  Hutton  Wilkinson  as  judge 
of  the  Northumberland  County  Courts,  he  resigned  his  gown  and 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Newcastle  and  Carlisle  Railway.  In  August, 
1858,  he  was  seized  with  paralysis,  and  on  the  ist  of  October  in  that 
year  he  died,  aged  fifty-five.  During  his  five  years'  judgeship  he 
won  universal  respect  by  his  impartiality,  and  throughout  his  career 
his  quiet  and  amiable  disposition  endeared  him  to  all  classes  of  the 
community. 


3obn  Xo6b, 

FOUNDER    OF    WALKER    ALKALI    COMPANY. 

John  Losh,  educated  at  the  Grammar  School  of  Wreay,  accom- 
panied his  brother  James  to  Sedbergh  and  to  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.  At  the  time  of  their  matriculation,  Dr.  Richard 
Watson,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  a  native  of  Westmorland, 
was  delivering  a  series  of  lectures  on  chemistry.  These  lectures 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  two  Cumberland  lads,  developing 
within  them  a  love  of  science  which,  transmitted  to  their  younger 
brothers,  George  and  William,  took  permanent  hold,  and  gave  a 
direction  to  their  lives. 

Heir  to  his  father's  estate,  John  Losh  was  brought  up  as  the  squire 
of  Woodside,  and  after  enlarging  his  experience  of  the  world  by 
Continental  travel,  he  came  to  Tyneside  for  a  wife.  The  lady  of  his 
choice  was  Isabella,  daughter  of  Thomas  Bonner,  of  Callerton,  the 
representative  of  an  old  and  honourable  family  of  merchants  and 
municipal  rulers  in  Newcastle.  He  was  married  about  the  year 
1785,  and,  shortly  afterwards,  took  up  his  residence  as  the  head  of 


JOHN  LOSH.  91 

his  house  at  ^\'oodside.  Inheriting  from  his  parents  an  active  and 
energetic  disposition,  he  became  a  model  country  gentleman — a 
pattern  to  the  whole  shire.  He  practised  high  farming,  introduced 
Italian  rye-grass  to  local  cultivation,  and  planted  oaks  and  larches, 
and  other  forest  trees,  in  every  direction.  He  was  an  enthusiastic 
volunteer  officer;  a  daring  sportsman,  famous  for  his  horsemanship; 
a  convivial  host,  entertaining  the  Howards  and  Curwens,  and  other 
leaders  of  the  Whig  party;  the  guiding  spirit  of  his  district  in  the 
business  of  the  county;  and  in  all  respects  one  of  the  most  popular 
of  men. 

Devotion  to  the  allied  pursuits  of  agriculture  and  forestry  brought 
John  Losh  into  friendly  communion  with  two  kindred  spirits  across 
the  Scottish  Border — the  Duke  of  Athole  and  Sir  John  Sinclair. 
Knowledge  of  chemistry  procured  for  him  the  acquaintance  of  their 
mutual  friend,  Archibald,  ninth  Earl  of  Dundonald,  afterwards  author 
of  "  A  Treatise,  showing  the  Intimate  Connection  that  Subsists 
between  Agriculture  and  Chemistry."  To  JNIr.  Losh  the  earl  ex- 
plained the  progress  which  he  had  made  towards  imparting  com- 
mercial value  to  chemical  experiment,  and  the  practical  mind  of  the 
Cumberland  squire,  stimulated  by  the  concurrent  researches  of  his 
brothers  in  the  same  field  of  inquiry,  readily  lent  itself  to  a  solution 
of  the  problem.  Woodside  became  the  theatre  of  chemical  opera- 
tions, which  created  among  the  neighbouring  peasantry  unpleasant 
suspicions  of  sorcery  and  witchcraft.  At  length,  in  1793  or  1794, 
Mr.  Losh  and  Lord  Dundonald  commenced  the  manufacture  of 
alkali,  or  conducted  further  experiments  with  that  object  (for  the 
record  is  not  quite  clear  on  the  subject)  at  Bell's  Close,  near  Scots- 
wood,  where  the  earl  took  out  a  patent  (October  4th,  1794)  for 
making  sulphate  of  soda,  and  another  (February,  28th,  1795)  for 
obtaining  caustic  soda  from  the  decomposition  of  the  sulphate 
through  the  agency  of  potash. 

While  these  operations  were  progressing,  Mr.  Losh's  uncle, 
Squire  Liddell,  of  Moorhouse,  inherited  a  share  in  Walker  Colliery. 
At  that  place  work  had  been  impeded  by  the  irruption  of  a  salt 
spring.  Availing  themselves  of  this  beneficent  provision  of  Nature, 
Mr.  Losh  and  the  earl  removed  their  establishment  from  Bell's  Close 
to  Walker  in  1797,  and  taking  into  partnership  Lord  Dundas,  William 
Losh,  and  John  and  Aubone  Surtees,  formed  the  firm  known  to 
many  generations  of  Tynesiders  as  the  Walker  Alkali  Company. 
John  Losh  was  the  moneyed  partner  of  the  concern,  and  took  no 


9  2  WILLIAM  L  OSH. 

active  personal  share  in  the  management.  He  had  his  property  at 
Woodside  to  look  after,  his  public  duties  to  fulfil,  his  agricultural  and 
sporting  proclivities  to  cultivate,  and  although  he  had  taken  a  lively 
interest  in  the  experiments  that  created  the  partnership,  he  left  the 
working  details  of  the  business  to  his  brother  William.  When  the 
partnership  expired,  the  works  at  Walker  became  his  exclusive 
property.  Thenceforward  he  carried  them  on  for  his  own  account; 
the  enterprising  brother  became  the  manager;  between  them  they 
made  Walker  Alkali  Works  one  of  the  most  successful  manufacturing 
establishments  in  the  kingdom. 

Mr.  John  Losh  died  in  1814,  aged  58,  leaving  a  son,  whose  mental 
faculties  were  inadequate  to  the  serious  business  of  life,  and  two 
daughters.  Sara  Losh,  the  eldest  daughter,  inherited  Woodside,  and 
carried  on  the  works  at  Walker  till  1847,  when  she  sold  them  to  her 
uncle  William.  She  was  a  lady  of  rare  accomplishments  in  classical 
literature,  of  remarkable  taste  and  refinement,  of  large-hearted  phil- 
anthropy, and  of  most  amiable  character.  She  died  at  Woodside, 
unmarried,  on  the  29th  March,  1863,  her  sister  Margaret,  also 
unmarried,  having  long  predeceased  her. 


TOilliam  Xosb, 

FOUNDER    OF   WALKER    IRON    WORKS. 

William  Losh,  trained  in  Newcastle  with  his  brother  George  for  a 
commercial  career,  was  sent  to  Hamburg  in  early  youth  to  complete 
his  education.  There  he  formed  a  friendship  with  a  fellow-student 
— Alexander  von  Humboldt,  famed  in  after  years  as  traveller, 
philosopher,  and  naturalist.  "Humboldt  and  Losh  were  companions, 
and  one  day  ventured  out  to  sea  in  an  open  boat,  when  a  storm 
arose  that  baffled  their  exertions  for  hours.  Humboldt  felt  the 
cold,  became  desponding,  and  might  have  succumbed  had  not  Losh 
stripped  off  his  own  coat  and  vest  and  wrapped  his  friend  in  them, 
at  the  same  time  encouraging  him  by  hopeful  words,  and  showing 
redoubled  vigour  at  the  oar ;  in  this  way  the  German's  spirits  and 
bodily  circulation  were  kept  up.  They  parted  in  their  teens;  yet  so 
true  had  been  their  friendship  that  Humboldt,  after  forty  years 
engaged  in  travel  and  exploration  of  the  earth's  surface,  making  the 


WILLIAM  LOSH.  93 

civilised  world  largely  his  debtor,  retained  a  thoroughly  kind  regard 
for  his  collegiate  friend,  and  in  his  old  age  stood  godfather  to  a 
grand-daughter  of  Mr.  Losh's,  christened  in  Paris." 

Having  finished  his  educational  course,  William  Losh  resided  in 
Sweden  for  a  time,  studying  the  language,  and  making  himself 
acquainted  with  the  metallurgy  of  the  country.  Thence  he  travelled 
through  the  Baltic  provinces,  and  visited  the  principal  cities  of 
Europe.  He  was  in  Paris,  studying  chemistry  under  Lavoisier, 
when  the  Revolution  broke  out,  was  a  spectator  of  the  memorable 
scene  in  the  French  Chamber  when  Louis  XVL  was  brought  back 
from  his  flight  to  Varennes,  and  remained  in  the  city  till  it  was  no 
longer  safe  for  Englishmen  to  stay  there.  He  had  learned  enough 
of  French  chemical  methods  to  justify  him  in  returning  to  Newcastle, 
marrying  Alice  Wilkinson,  sister  of  his  brother  George's  wife,  and 
joining  his  brother  John  and  the  Earl  of  Dundonald  in  the  develop- 
ment of  alkali  manufacture  at  Walker. 

The  progress  of  revolution  in  France  closing  up  the  ordinary 
channels  of  commerce,  and  stopping  amongst  other  things  the  supply 
of  saltpetre  to  the  gunpowder  mills,  induced  the  National  Convention 
to  institute  a  commission  of  inquiry  into  the  chemical  industry,  and 
especially  into  the  manufacture  of  soda.  The  commission  reported 
in  favour  of  a  process  devised  by  an  apothecary  named  Le  Blanc, 
and  that  process  was  forthwith  adopted  under  Government  sanction. 
British  chemists  were,  however,  unable  to  profit  by  Le  Blanc's  dis- 
coveries till  the  peace  of  Amiens,  in  1802.  As  soon  thereafter  as  it 
was  safe  to  enter  Paris,  Mr.  Losh  went  over  to  learn  what  he  could 
of  the  new  methods  of  soda- making.  His  quest  was  successful. 
"  He  returned  home  and  put  these  processes  in  operation  at  the 
Walker  works,  and  this  was  like  establishing  a  new  era  in  the  trade, 
and  turning  over  a  fresh  page  in  the  history  of  Newcastle.  The  tide 
of  success  in  the  manufacture  of  soda  now  came  flowing  up  the  Tyne, 
and  to  Mr.  William  Losh  the  credit  is  attached  of  giving  an  impetus 
to  the  pursuit  of  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  profitable  of  com- 
mercial undertakings.  The  annual  dividends  of  the  Walker  works 
largely  increased,  of  which  a  fair  proportion  fell  to  the  share  of  the 
active  manager;  and  whilst  individual  capacity  obtained  its  reward, 
the  general  interests  of  Newcastle  were  vastly  promoted,  and  not  the 
least  by  the  alkali  trade  opening  up  fresh  commercial  relations  with 
the  nations  on  the  Continent." 

A  few  months  before  his  visit  to  Paris,  Mr.   Losh  had  put  his 


94  WILLIAM  LOSH. 

metallurgical  studies  to  practical  use  by  establishing,  "near  New- 
castle," slitting  mills,  in  which  Swedish  bar  iron  was  utilised  as  a 
material  for  making  nail-rods.  Whether  these  mills  were  at  Walker, 
or  at  the  Teams,  where  the  Newcastle  Directory  for  1801  has  "Losh, 
Robinson  &  Co.,  ironfounders  and  edge  tool  makers,"  cannot  now 
be  ascertained.  The  Losh  of  the  Teams  firm  may  have  been  his 
brother  George,  but  in  1809  we  certainly  find  William  Losh  starting 
the  business  of  an  ironfounder  and  engineer  upon  a  piece  of  land 
contiguous  to  the  alkali  works.  In  this  enterprise  he  was  assisted 
by  two  young  friends  of  his — Thomas  Wilson  and  Thomas  Bell. 
Mr.  Wilson,  born  at  Gateshead  Low  Fell  in  1773,  had  served  in  the 
counting-house  of  Messrs.  Losh,  Lubbren,  &  Co.;  Mr.  Bell,  son  of 
a  farmer  on  the  Losh  estate  of  Woodside,  where  he  was  born  in 
1784,  was  a  clerk  in  the  alkali  factory.  Together  they  formed  an 
admirable  co-partnery.  Mr.  Losh,  a  practical  engineer  and  inventor, 
superintended  plans  and  specifications,  and  looked  after  finance; 
Mr  Wilson,  bookish  and  retiring  (author,  in  later  years,  of  "The 
Pitman's  Pay,"  and  other  efforts  in  local  versification),  attended  to 
the  accounts;  Mr.  Bell  managed  the  works  and  the  workmen. 
Thus  were  created  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Losh,  Wilson,  &  Bell,  and 
the  far-famed  Walker  Iron  Works. 

At  a  time  when  North-Country  engineers  were  seeking  the  philo- 
sopher's stone  in  successful  application  of  steam  to  haulage,  it  was 
but  natural  that  Mr.  Losh  should  turn  his  thoughts  in  the  same 
direction.  The  full  extent  of  the  assistance  which  he  rendered  to 
George  Stephenson  in  solving  that  great  problem  will  never  be  accur- 
ately known.  That  he  did  help  him  considerably  appears  from  the 
records  of  the  Patent  Office.  On  the  30th  September,  181 6,  a 
patent  was  granted  "  unto  William  Losh,  of  the  town  and  county  of 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  ironfounder,  and  George  Stephenson,  of  Kil- 
lingworth,  in  the  county  of  Northumberland,  engineer,  for  their 
invented  new  method,  or  new  methods,  of  facilitating  the  conveyance 
of  carriages,  and  all  manner  of  goods  and  materials  along  railways 
and  tramways,  by  certain  inventions  and  improvements  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  machine,  carriages,  carriage  wheels,  railways,  and 
tramways,  employed  for  that  purpose."  The  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  the  patent  are  very  clearly  set  forth  in  the  specification : 
— "  In  what  relates  to  the  locomotive  engines,  our  invention  consists 
in  sustaining  the  weight,  or  a  proportion  of  the  weight,  of  the  engine 
upon  pistons,  moveable  within  the  cylinders,  into  which  the  steam 


WILLIAM  LOSH.  95 

or  water  of  the  boiler  is  allowed  to  enter,  in  order  to  press  upon  such 
pistons  ;  and  which  pistons  are,  by  the  intervention  of  certain  levers 
and  connecting  rods,  or  by  any  other  effective  contrivance,  made  to 
bear  upon  the  axles  of  the  wheels  of  the  carriage  upon  which  the 
engine  rests." 

Into  the  respective  shares  of  merit  due  to  the  two  patentees  we 
need  not  enter.  It  may  be  as  Dr.  Smiles  indicates,  that  Stephenson 
was  the  real  designer  and  Mr.  Losh  merely  the  moneyed  man,  who 
found  the  means  of  taking  out  the  patent,  which  in  those  days  was  a 
costly  and  troublesome  matter.  Yet  we  know  from  the  same  official 
records  that  Mr.  Losh  was  an  ingenious  and  capable  inventor  him- 
self The  year  before  (April  i8th,  1815)  he  had  patented  an  invention 
relating  to  the  construction  of  "  fireplaces  and  furnaces  employed  for 
heating  steam  and  other  boilers,  ovens,  pans,  and  similar  articles," 
which,  embracing  a  double  furnace  for  the  prevention  of  smoke, 
attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention.  Whatsoever  may  be  the  claims 
of  Stephenson  in  the  matter,  the  patent  locomotive  was  a  success. 
When  the  line  between  Manchester  and  Liverpool  was  projected,  the 
surveyor,  Mr.  William  James,  came  to  Killingworth,  met  Mr.  Losh 
and  Mr.  Stephenson,  saw  the  locomotive  at  work,  pronounced  it 
"  the  greatest  wonder  of  the  age,"  recommended  its  adoption,  and 
secured  an  assignment  of  one-fourth  of  any  profits  that  might  arise 
from  its  introduction  south  of  a  line  drawn  from  Hull  to  Liverpool. 

Pursuing  his  investigations  into  the  laws  of  traction  and  haulage, 
Mr.  Losh  patented  in  1830  (August  31st)  "certain  improvements  in 
the  construction  of  wheels  for  carriages  to  be  used  on  railways." 
The  "  improvements  "  consisted  chiefly  in  making  the  spokes,  felloes, 
and  tires  of  malleable  iron.  A  further  patent  of  his,  dated  June 
26th,  1841,  related  to  "the  application  of  wood,  felt,  rope,  or  such- 
like flexible  and  yielding  material "  between  the  tyre  and  the  felloe 
to  lessen  vibration.  Another,  for  still  greater  improvements  in 
wheels,  was  taken  out  by  Mr.  Losh  in  April,  1842,  and  in  February, 
1844,  ^he  patented  a  process  of  manufacturing  "metal  chains  for 
mining  and  other  purposes."  In  chemistry,  also,  he  distinguished 
himself  by  discovering  improved  processes  of  manufacture.  One  of 
his  patents  in  this  department  of  research  bears  date  the  23rd 
December,  1837,  and  relates  to  a  method  of  decomposing  muriate 
of  soda,  applicable  to  the  condensing  vapours  of  other  processes; 
while  another,  dated  December  ist,  i860,  describes  a  new  plan 
of  preparing  sulphurous  acid  in  solution. 


96  WILLIAM  LOSH. 

Although  ably  assisted  in  the  management  and  development  of 
Walker  Ironworks  by  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Bell,  and  in  later  years 
by  the  son  of  the  latter,  now  Sir  Lowthian  Bell,  Mr.  Losh  attended 
to  the  minutest  detail  of  their  extensive  operations.  Dr.  Lonsdale 
describes  him  as  "a  shabbily  dressed  person,  regardless  of  the 
pomps  and  vanities  of  the  tailoring  man."  "Appearing  in  a  well- 
worn  coat,  and  almost  buttonless  vest,  or  buttoned  by  the  odds  and 
ends  taken  from  his  nether  garment  in  the  '  days  when  we  wore 
straps,'  he  now  and  then  escaped  the  attention  due  to  his  position, 
and  came  in  for  the  '  hail  fellow,  well  met,'  of  casual  visitors  of  the 
works."  An  amusing  instance  of  this  occurred  during  the  visit  of  a 
ship  captain — master  of  a  vessel,  named  The  Ark,  belonging  to  the 
Walker  firm : — 

•'  The  captain  of  The  Ark,  then  lying  in  the  Tyne,  entered  the 
premises  at  Walker  about  noon,  and  finding  Mr.  Bell,  whom  he 
wanted  to  see,  absent,  he  entered  into  conversation  with  the  first 
person  in  his  way,  and  this  happened  to  be  Mr.  Losh,  whom  he  took 
to  be  'a  loafing  old  fellow.'  The  captain,  knowing  it  was  dinner- 
time, said  to  Mr.  Losh,  'You  seem  to- have  nothing  to  do;  come  on 
board  The  Ark  and  take  a  bit  of  boiled  beef  with  me ; '  and  Mr. 
Losh  good-humouredly  consented.  In  sailor  fashion,  mine  host 
pressed  his  new  acquaintance  to  eat  and  drink  without,  however, 
eliciting  much  talk,  and  certainly  no  clue  to  his  companion's  em- 
ployment. At  length,  he  pointedly  addressed  Mr.  Losh  in  bluff 
Cumbrian,  '  Well,  old  boy,  you  seem  to  have  quite  a  '  loafing  time,' 
as  the  Yankees  say,  about  the  Walker  Works;  what  are  you,  and 
what's  your  name  ? '  '  Oh,'  replied  the  seedy-coated  old  gentleman, 
'  I  am  Mr.  Losh.'  This  was  a  stopper,  down  went  the  knife  and  fork 
of  the  astonished  captain,  who  wished  as  ardently  as  ever  old  Noah 
did  in  the  days  of  the  Flood,  to  escape  from  his  Ark." 

Mr.  Losh  had  been  relieved  of  the  supervision  of  Walker  alkali 
works  in  1831,  by  his  nephew,  William  Septimus  Losh,  but  he 
retained  an  interest  in  the  firm,  and,  as  previously  stated,  bought 
out  his  niece,  Sara  Losh,  in  1847.  As  long  as  his  health  permitted 
he  took  his  share  in  the  management  of  the  iron  works,  and  con- 
ducted the  business  of  three  consulates  in  Newcastle,  for  he  had 
been  honoured  early  in  life  by  the  appointments  of  vice-consul  for 
Prussia,  and  for  Sweden  and  Norway,  and  in  later  years  had  become 
vice-consul  for  Turkey.  Both  he  and  his  accomplished  partner  in 
life  were  favoured  with  vigorous  health  and  length  of  days.     She 


k 


JOHN  GRAHAM  LOUGH.  97 

died  at  their  residence  in  Ellison  Place,  Newcastle,  January  31st, 
1S59,  an  octogenarian;  and  he  followed  her  on  the  4th  of  August, 
1 86 1,  having  attained  the  venerable  age  of  ninety-one  years. 


3obn  (Brabam  Xouob, 

SCULPTOR. 

"  The  live  air  that  waves  the  lilies  waves  the  slender  jet  of  water, 
Like  a  holy  thought  sent  feebly  up  from  soul  of  fasting  saint : 
Whereby  lies  a  marble  Silence,  sleeping  (Lough,  the  sculptor,  wrought  her), 
So  asleep  she  is  forgetting  to  say  Hush  ! — a  fancy  quaint. 

Mark  how  heavy  white  her  eyelids  !  not  a  dream  between  them  lingers ; 

And  the  left  hand's  index  droppeth  from  the  lips  upon  the  cheek : 
While  the  right  hand — with  the  symbol-rose  held  slack  within  the  fingers — 

Has  fallen  backward  in  the  basin — yet  this  Silence  will  not  speak  ! " 

Mrs.  Browning:  "Lady  Geraldine'S  Courtship." 

Travellers  who  drive  from  Shotley  Bridge  to  Edmondbyers,  or 
traverse  the  road  from  Allansford  to  Riding  jMill,  will  pass,  at  the 
junction  of  these  two  thoroughfares,  the  curious  old  hall  of  Black 
Hedley,  and  its  dependent  hamlet  of  Greenhead.  In  this  pleasant 
and  fertile  spot,  far  removed  from  the  busy  haunts  of  men,  was  born, 
nearly  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  one  man  whom,  in  the  long  list  of 
eminent  English  sculptors,  Northumberland  can  claim  as  her  own. 
John  Graham  Lough  first  saw  the  light  of  day  at  this  place,  in 
January,  1798. 

ISIany  biographies  of  Mr.  Lough  have  been  written.  In  most  of 
them,  the  privations  of  his  childhood,  the  struggles  of  his  youth, 
and  the  achievements  of  his  prime,  are  described  in  minute  detail 
and  with  graphic  force.  But,  so  far  as  a  vigorous  hunt  through 
accessible  books  enables  one  to  judge,  none  of  his  biographers  has 
explained  the  means  by  which  this  son  of  a  husbandman,  born  in  an 
out-of-the-way  hamlet,  taken  from  school,  with  but  a  scanty  educa- 
tion, to  help  in  the  homestead  and  the  fields,  acquired  a  taste  for 
art,  and  for  a  most  difficult  branch  of  art — that  of  sculpture.  The 
explanation  may  now  be  given. 

Black  Hedley  was,  for  many  generations,  the  property  of  a  branch 
of  the  ancient  local  family  of  Hopper.  About  the  middle  of  last 
century,  a  member  of  this  family,  imbued  with   military  ideas — an 

VOL.  in.  7 


98 


JOHN  GRAHAM  LOUGH 


old  soldier,  perhaps — took  it  into  his  head  to  make  his  home  em- 
blematical of  the  two  burning  questions  of  his  time — war  and  peace. 
With  crude  visions  of  a  barbican  floating  in  his  brain,  he  built  at  the 
Greenhead  end  of  the  avenue  leading  to  the  hall,  a  roofed  and 
embattled  archway,  upon  which  he  planted  wooden  cannon,  and 
seven  military  figures.  There  was  a  figure  at  each  corner,  one  over 
the  centre  of  the  arch,  front  and  back,  and  a  seventh  crowning  the 
apex  of  the  roof.  Having  in  this  manner  exhibited  his  martial  pro- 
pensities, and  bidden  defiance  to  foes  without,  he  manifested  his 
peaceful  proclivities,  and  proclaimed  a  welcome  to  friends  within, 


John  Grahdm  Lougk. 


by  erecting  at  the  hall  figures  of  a  gentler  aspect  and  more  inviting 
character.  Upon  a  dovecote  attached  to  the  mansion  he  placed  two 
shepherds  in  Highland  costume ;  one  of  them  with  a  crook  in  his 
hand,  accompanied  by  a  couple  of  dogs,  the  other  without  a  crook, 
and  enjoying  the  companionship  of  only  one  dog ;  while  upon  a 
wall  behind  the  front  roof  he  set  three  busts.  These  curious  sculp- 
tures (they  are  still  in  situ,  though  the  cannons  are  gone)  were 
among  the  first  things  which  greeted  the  eye  of  John  Graham  Lough 
when  he  became  conscious  of  surrounding  objects ;  they  were  the 
companions  of  his  infancy;  they  excited  the  admiration  of  his  boy- 


JOHN  GRAHAM  LOUGH  99 

hood ;  and  no  doubt  they  inspired  him  with  a  desire  to  emulate  the 
gifted  being  who  made  them.  And  thus  it  happened  that  the  Httle 
farmer's  boy  became  a  great  sculptor. 

With  clay  from  the  ditches  of  Greenhead  the  young  artist  pursued 
his  studies.  Clay  "  dollies  "  came  from  his  hands  of  all  shapes  and 
sizes,  but  mostly  rough  models  of  soldiers,  like  the  warriors  on  the 
archway,  or  fighting  men  of  some  kind.  In  his  father's  cottage,  as 
he  told  Haydon,  the  painter,  in  after  years,  was  an  old  copy  of 
Pope's  Homer;  he  and  a  brother  fell  to  modelling  representations 
of  the  contending  armies  described  in  it — he  fashioning  the  Greeks, 
and  his  brother  the  Trojans.  An  odd  volume  of  Gibbon's  "  Decline 
and  Fall,"  containing  an  account  of  the  Coliseum,  came  in  his  way. 
He  persuaded  his  brother  to  sit  up  with  him  all  night,  and  by  day- 
break the  two  lads  had  constructed  a  model  of  the  Coliseum  in  the 
family  kitchen,  and  filled  it  with  fighting  gladiators.  One  day,  a 
Shotley  Bridge  schoolmaster,  walking  in  the  neighbourhood,  found 
young  Lough  building  up  a  figure  with  clay,  in  the  midst  of  a  group 
of  youngsters,  one  of  whom  stood  naked  before  him.  He  called  at 
the  cottage  of  the  boy's  parents,  and  told  Mrs.  Lough  what  he  had 
seen.  "  Oh  !  "  said  the  matter-of-fact  mother,  "  I'se  warrant  it's 
just  oor  cull  lad  making  clay  dollies  !  "  "  Cull  lad  "  as  they  deemed 
him,  neither  mother  nor  father  put  any  obstacle  in  his  way.  They 
allowed  his  "  clay  dollies  "  to  fill  the  cottage,  and  overflow  into  the 
garden.  The  great  squire  of  Minsteracres,  kind-hearted  George 
Silvertop,  riding  past  one  evening,  on  his  return  from  fox-hunting, 
saw  Lough's  little  plot  strewed  all  over  with  legs  and  arms,  and 
broken  heads.  Curious  to  know  the  meaning  of  it  all,  he  alighted, 
entered  the  cottage,  found  it  similarly  decorated,  and  received  from 
the  complaisant  mother  the  necessary  explanation.  His  interest 
aroused  by  the  proofs  of  genius  which  he  saw  in  these  rude  models, 
Mr.  Silvertop  invited  the  boy  to  Minsteracres,  showed  him  his  works 
of  art,  described  to  him  the  wonders  which,  as  a  far-travelled  man, 
he  had  seen  in  various  countries  of  Europe,  and  gave  him  sound 
advice  and  encouragement. 

The  visit  to  Minsteracres  was  a  decisive  step  in  young  Lough's 
upward  progress,  followed,  as  it  was,  by  his  apprenticeship  to  a 
builder  in  the  hamlet  of  Shotley  Field.  Here  he  acquired  dexterity 
in  the  art  of  stone-cutting,  and  by  the  time  that  his  apprenticeship 
expired,  he  felt  himself  qualified  to  undertake  commissions  on  his 
own  account.     His  first  independent  effort  as  a  stone-cutter  is  still 


I  oo  JOHN  GRAHAM  L O  UGH. 

to  be  seen  in  the  churchyard  of  Muggleswick — to  which  village  his 
parents  during  his  apprenticeship  had  removed.  It  is  a  representa- 
tion of  an  angel's  head,  with  drapery,  on  a  gravestone,  "  In  memory 
of  Jane,  daughter  of  John  and  Ann  Mayor."     A  more  pretentious 


undertaking,  completed  soon  afterwards,  is  shown  in  the  church 
of  Allendale  Town — a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Ann 
Stephenson,  etc.,  "remarkably  well  executed  by  John  Lough,  an 
ingenious  young  man,  of  Low  Muggleswick." 


JOHN  GRAHAM  LOUGH  loi 

While  the  Allendale  monument  was  in  progress,  in  the  autumn 
of  1823,  the  library  of  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society  was  rising  from  its  foundations.  Lough,  then  approach- 
ing his  twenty-sixth  year,  came  to  Newcastle,  and  obtained  employ- 
ment upon  the  new  building.  Before  it  was  completed,  he  felt 
himself  strong  enough  to  venture  upon  the  hazardous  step  of  pro- 
ceeding to  the  metropolis,  and  there  maintaining  himself  while  he 
mastered  the  sculptor's  art.  He  left  the  Tyne  in  one  of  the  old 
sailing  traders,  and  in  due  course  arrived  in  the  great  world  of 
London,  friendless  and  alone.  It  is  said  that  the  skipper  of  the 
vessel  was  so  much  interested  by  Lough's  enthusiasm  and  pluck 
that  he  refused  the  stipulated  guinea  for  passage-money,  allowed  the 
traveller  to  sleep  on  board  while  the  vessel  discharged  her  cargo, 
and  promised  to  bring  him  back  to  "  canny  awd  Newcastle  "  when 
he  should  have  grown  tired  of  the  vain  pursuit  of  fortune  in  town. 
For  a  time  it  seemed  probable  that  the  prediction  involved  in  the 
old  skipper's  offer  might  be  fulfilled.  Lough  took  a  modest  lodging 
in  Burleigh  Street,  Strand,  studied  the  Elgin  marbles,  worked  and 
waited,  but  the  road  to  success  and  the  way  to  fortune  remained  for 
some  time  closed  to  him.  At  the  Royal  Academy  Exhibition,  1826, 
he  exhibited,  with  some  smaller  subject,  a  bas-relief  of  "  The  Death 
of  Turnus,"  slain  in  single  combat  by  yEneas.  Nothing  came  of  it. 
Still  undaunted,  he  set  his  hand  to  a  much  loftier  conception — a 
colossal  statue  of  Milo  the  athlete,  caught  in  the  oak  and  devoured 
by  the  wild  beasts  of  the  wood.  There  is  a  story  told  of  this  remark- 
able undertaking  which,  if  not  true,  deserves  to  be.  Lough's  studio, 
it  is  said,  was  too  low,  and  he  broke  through  the  ceiling  to  obtain 
the  necessary  height  for  his  figure.  The  landlord,  annoyed  at  the 
liberties  taken  with  his  property,  consulted  Brougham,  afterwards 
the  famous  Lord  Chancellor,  who  thought  the  incident  so  remark- 
able that  he  went  to  inspect  the  place  himself.  Amazed  at  the 
wonderful  sight  that  met  his  eyes,  he  went  into  society  and  spread 
the  story.  Society  ran  to  see  the  phenomenon,  were  enchanted, 
enraptured,  and  set  the  artist  at  full  speed  on  the  highway  to  fame 
and  honour. 

Haydon,  in  his  "  Autobiography,"  tells  the  story  of  Lough's  sudden 
accession  to  fame,  with  his  usual  enthusiasm  and  exaggeration  : — 

1827 — May  i8th. — "From  me  Lord  Egremont  went  to  young 
Lough,  the  sculptor,  who  has  just  burst  out,  and  has  produced  a 
great  effect.     His  Milo  is  really  the  most  extraordinary  thing,  con- 


I  o 2  JOHN  GRAHAM  L O  UGH. 

sidering  all  the  circumstances,  in  modern  sculpture.     It  is  another 
proof  of  the  efficacy  of  inherent  genius." 

May  24th. — "  I  went  down  [to  Lough's  studio],  and  was  perfectly 
astonished.  The  feet  and  hands  are  not  equal  to  the  rest,  but  the 
body,  head,  thighs,  legs,  and  whole  expression  and  action,  are  grand 
beyond  description.  It  is  the  most  extraordinary  effort  since  the 
Greeks, — with  no  exception — not  of  Michael  Angelo,   Bernini,   or 


Canova.  To  see  such  a  splendid  effort  of  innate  power  built  up  in 
an  obscure  first  floor  (No.  1 1  Burleigh  Street,  over  a  greengrocer's 
shop),  without  the  aid  of  education,  foreign  travel,  patronage,  money, 
or  even  food,  is  only  another  instance  of  the  natural  power  which  no 
aid  or  instruction  can  supply  the  want  of.  Lough  never  ate  meat  for 
three  months;  and  then  Peter  Coxe,  who  deserves  to  be  named, 
found  him;  he  was  tearing  up  his  shirts  to  make  wet  rags  for  his 
figure  to  keep  the  clay  moist,  and  on  the  point  of  pulling  it  down. 


JOHN  GRAHAM  LOUGH.  103 

Lough  will  be  a  great  man.  He  has  all  the  consciousness  of  genius, 
with  great  modesty." 

June  8th. — "  Interested  for  Lough  and  his  exhibition,  whom  I 
hope  in  God  I  have  rescued  from  a  set  of  harpies,  who  wanted  to 
make  him  a  tool.  Cockerell  got  him  a  room.  I  have  set  him  on 
the  right  road,  and  his  own  energy  will  do  the  rest.  His  is  the  only 
high  and  sound  genius  I  have  ever  known." 

June  9th. — "  Lough  passed  the  evening  with  me.  He  declared 
solemnly  to  me  that  he  had  not  ate  meat  for  three  months,  and 
began  the  fourth.  He  said  every  day  at  dinner-time  he  felt  the 
want,  and  used  to  lie  down  till  it  passed.  He  felt  weak — at  last 
faint — giddy  continually,  and  latterly  began  to  perceive  he  thought 
sillily,  and  was  growing  idiotic.  He  had  only  one  bushel  and  a  half 
of  coals  the  whole  winter,  and  used  to  lie  down  by  the  side  of  his  clay 
model  of  this  immortal  figure,  damp  as  it  was,  and  shiver  for  hours, 
till  he  fell  asleep.  He  is  a  most  extraordinary  being — one  of  those 
creatures  who  come  in  a  thousand  years." 

June  loth. — "Lough's  private  day.  It  was  a  brilliant  one.  I 
wrote  to  Mrs.  Siddons,  and  begged  her  to  come.  She  came,  and  I 
conducted  her  into  the  room.  She  was  highly  delighted.  The  Duke 
of  Wellington  entered  before  Mrs.  Siddons  and  I  had  gone.  The 
duke  felt  great  admiration  indeed,  and  going  to  the  books  opened, 
wrote,  with  his  own  illustrious  right  hand,  an  order  for  Milo  and 
Sampson.  One  of  Lough's  patrons  came  over  and  shook  his  Grace 
by  the  hand,  and  thanked  him.  The  duke  said,  '  He  should  go 
abroad,'  in  his  loud,  distinct,  and  military  voice.  Silvertop  hesitated. 
The  duke,  surprised  at  his  view  not  being  acceded  to,  half-blushed 
and  said,  *  Not  to  stay,  but  to  see — eh — the — eh — great  works,  as 
others  have  done.'  To  conclude,  the  day  was,  I  know,  a  brilliant 
one.  I  saw  it  would  be,  and  first  advised  this  step.  Such  attendant 
circumstances  can  never  concur  again  in  the  execution  of  any  future 
work  of  the  same  man.  I,  therefore,  told  Lough,  '  Be  prompt  and 
decisive ;  get  a  friend  to  do,  I  will  direct,  and  promise  you  a  harvest.' 
He  did  so.  Lord  Egremont  approved.  A  friend  got  all  the  tickets 
ready;  I  marked  the  Court  Guide ;  his  servant  took  them  round ; 
Cockerell  and  Bigge  secured  his  room,  and  God  be  thanked !  we 
have  placed  this  mighty  genius  on  the  road  to  prosperity.  If  his 
health  keep  strong,  which  I  pray  God  it  may,  he  will  be  the  greatest 
sculptor  since  Phidias." 

By  the  following  spring  Lough  had  completed  other  figures,  and 


1 04  JOHN  GRAHAM  L O  UGH 

in  March  he  opened  a  second  exhibition  with  Milo,  Sampson, 
Musidora,  and  Somnus  and  Iris.  A  Httle  handbook  to  this  exhibi- 
tion, signed  by  "  Buonarroti,"  described  these  creations  of  Lough's 
genius  in  terms  scarcely  less  eulogistic  than  those  employed  the  year 
before  by  Haydon.  Somnus  was  praised  for  its  bold  form  and  pro- 
portion ;  Iris  for  its  contour,  flexibility  of  skin,  and  rich  expression 
of  the  flesh ;  Musidora  for  its  luxuriance  of  form,  dignified  air,  and 
engaging  expression  of  countenance ;  Sampson,  though  sketchy,  and 
open  to  criticism,  as  exhibiting  a  faculty  of  invention  beyond  any- 
thing extant  in  British  art,  etc.  Society  again  flocked  to  the  show, 
and  the  artist  received  unstinted  praise  and  unending  compliment. 
Commissions,  however,  came  but  slowly.  Lough  informed  Haydon, 
ten  days  after  the  exhibition  opened,  that  he  had  not  received  a 
single  order  for  his  Musidora — that  "pure,  virginal,  shrinking,  chaste, 
delightful  creature,"  as  Haydon  described  the  figure.  "  My  God  !  " 
continued  Haydon,  "  to  hear  on  the  private  day  people  saying, 
'  Very  promising  young  man,'  at  works  before  which  Michael  Angelo 
would  have  bowed.  '  Why  does  he  not  do  busts  ?  '  Why  does  not 
the  State  give  him  sufficient  employment  to  prevent  the  neces- 
sity?" 

Mindful  of  his  Tyneside  friends,  Mr.  Lough  sent  down  to  New- 
castle, in  October,  1828,  a  cast  of  his  Milo  to  be  placed  in  the 
library  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Institution — the  building  at 
which  he  had  worked  as  a  journeyman  mason  but  four  years  before. 
It  was  a  thoughtful  act,  highly  appreciated  throughout  the  North 
Country,  where  the  wonderful  achievements  of  the  young  man  from 
Muggleswick  had  been  the  talk  not  only  of  the  "nobility,  gentry, 
and  clergy,"  but  of  every  farmer,  cottager,  and  artisan.  For  many  a 
day  after,  although  frowned  upon  by  some  of  the  more  puritanical 
members  of  the  institution,  who  wanted  a  figure  with  more  clothing 
upon  its  limbs,  the  statue  of  Milo  at  the  Lit.  and  Phil. — "  deun  by 
yen  o'  wor  canny  lads,  aall  oot  o'  his  aan  heed " — was  one  of  the 
"  Rons  "  of  Newcastle. 

Within  the  compass  of  a  sketch  like  this  it  is  not  possible  to  follow 
Mr.  Lough  through  the  details  of  a  prolonged  and  brilliant  career. 
He  married,  in  1832,  Mary,  second  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Henry 
North,  and  sister  to  the  wives  of  Sir  James  Paget,  surgeon,  and  Mr. 
Twining,  the  London  banker.  With  her,  in  1834,  he  did  the 
"Grand  Tour"  of  all  artists — a  pilgrimage  to  Italy.  There  he 
remained  four  years,  studying  the  works  of  the  great  sculptors  of  old, 


JOHN  GRAHAM  LOUGH. 


I  OS 


relying,  as  in  his  youth,  upon   his   own  intellectual  resources,  and 
disdaining  the  aid  of  guide  or  master. 

Upon  his  return  to  England,  the  influence  of  his  Italian  studies 
became  apparent  in  "Boy  giving  Water  to  a  Dolphin,"   "  A  Roman 


Fruit  Girl,"  "A  Bacchanalian  Revel,"  and  similar  groups,  exhibited 
at  the  Royal  Academy  between  1839  and  1844.  In  the  last-named 
year  he  showed  at  Westminster  Hall  Exhibition  one  of  the  most 
effective  and  affecting  productions  of  his  prolific  fancy — a  group 
called  "The  Mourners."     Amonsr  monumental  statues  which  issued 


I  o6  JOHN  GRAHAM  L O  UGH. 

from  his  studio  at  this  time  were  the  figure  of  her  Majesty,  which 
stands  in  the  Royal  Exchange,  London;  the  companion  statue  of 
Prince  Albert,  which  adorns  the  great  room  at  Lloyd's;  a  recumbent 
figure  of  Southey  for  Crosthwaite  Church,  Keswick;  and  a  life-size 
statue  of  the  Marquis  of  Hastings,  erected  over  the  hero's  grave  at 
Malta.  To  the  Great  Exhibition  of  185 1  he  sent  a  colossal  group, 
now  at  the  Free  Library,  Newcastle,  "  Satan  subdued  by  the  Arch- 
angel Michael,"  a  work  that  is  considered  by  competent  judges  to  be 
one  of  the  finest,  if  not  the  finest  production  of  his  chisel;  together 
with  "Duncan's  Fighting  Horses,"  and  several  figures  from  a  Shake- 
spearian series  that  he  executed  for  his  life-long  patron,  the  late  Sir 
Matthew  White  Ridley. 

Time  and  space  do  not  permit  even  an  enumeration  of  Lough's 
further  triumphs.  For  forty  years  altogether,  he  was  actively  at 
work,  endowing  British  art  with  some  of  its  finest  creations.  No 
North-Countryman  needs  to  be  told  of  the  great  things  which  Lough 
accomplished.  In  marble  or  bronze,  in  stone  or  plaster,  all  his 
principal  works  are  with  us  in  the  North  from  day  to  day,  and  from 
year  to  year — a  joy  for  ever.  Facing  the  Chronicle  Office  in  New- 
castle stands  his  monument  of  Robert  Stephenson;  at  Tynemouth, 
overlooking  the  harbour-mouth,  rises  his  statue  of  Lord  Collingwood. 
In  the  castles  of  Alnwick  and  Ravensworth,  the  halls  of  Blagdon 
and  Howick,  on  the  staircase  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society,  and  in  various  parts  of  the  Free  Library  of  Newcastle,  are 
brilliant  examples  of  his  genius  in  the  finished  marble;  while  at 
Elswick  Hall,  in  the  western  park  of  the  town,  are  exhibited,  the 
gift  of  his  widow,  full-sized  plaster  models  of  nearly  every  work  to 
which  he  set  his  hand — classical  and  ideal,  statuesque  and  monu- 
mental. 

Mr.  Lough  died  in  London,  April  8th,  1876;  his  widow  died 
December  29th,  1888.  The  issue  of  their  union  was  two  daughters, 
the  elder  of  whom  married  Rudolph  Scully;  the  younger  was  united 
to  General  Sir  George  Bouchier,  K.C.B. 


LOWES  OF  RIDLE V  HALL.  107 

%o\^c<^    of   1RiMc\>   Iball, 

A  CHAPTER    OF    FAMILY  HISTORY. 

The  vicissitudes  of  families  is  exemplified  in  the  history  of  the 
ancient  house  of  Lowes,  long  established,  and  now  extinct,  in  the 
western  part  of  Northumberland.  Ridley  Hall,  their  principal  seat, 
is  situated  in  the  township  of  Ridley,  at  the  point  where  the 
united  streams  of  the  East  and  West  Allen,  after  running  their 
course  through  the  glorious  woods  of  Staward,  fall  into  the  all- 
absorbing  Tyne.  The  estate  was  part  of  the  possessions  of  the 
Ridleys  of  Willimoteswick,  and  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Lowes 
family  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Disjointed, 
with  many  missing  links,  as  the  pedigree  of  the  Loweses  appears  to 
be,  there  is  evidence  that  the  family  owned  landed  estate  in  the 
neighbourhood  from  a  remote  period.  Robert  Lowes,  of  Thorn- 
grafton,  is  mentioned  in  an  order  for  the  Border  watches  as  far  back 
as  1552,  and  Michael  Lowes  of  Ridley  Hall,  occurs  in  1620.  John 
Lowes,  of  Beltingham,  another  part  of  Ridley  township,  purchased 
lands  there  after  the  sequestration  of  INIusgrave  Ridley,  of  Willi- 
moteswick, at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  From  that 
period  the  family  records  are  continuous  and  clear.  From  John 
Lowes,  of  Beltingham,  came  John  Lowes,  of  Whiteshield,  Thorn- 
grafton,  buried  at  Beltingham,  November  2nd,  1709,  and  of 
William  Lowes  (i),  who  lived  at  Crawhall  (the  home  of  the  family 
until  the  mansion  of  Ridley  Hall  was  erected),  and  died  about  the 
year  1732. 

William  Lowes  (i),  an  attorney,  law  bailiff  to  the  manors  of 
Ridley  and  Thorngrafton,  and  county  keeper  in  1705  and  1709, 
died  a  rich  man.  To  his  eldest  son,  John  Lowes,  gentleman,  he 
left  lands  at  Ridley  Hall,  Moralee,  and  Beltingham,  and  John, 
marrying  Eleanor  Graham,  of  Mosknow,  in  Dumfriesshire,  purchased 
Crawhall  from  the  Ridleys,  and  added  it  to  the  family  property. 
William  Lowes  (2),  the  second  son,  received  a  bequest  of  Lough 
House  and  Steel-rig,  and,  dying  at  Ridley  Hall  on  the  19th 
December,  1750,  in  his  sixty-third  year,  was  described  in  the  New- 
castle Magazine  of  that  year  ("printed  for  J.  Thompson  &  Company 
by  John  Gooding  ")  as  "  a  man  of  great  Honour  and  Integrity,  so 


io8  LOWES  OF  RIDLEY  HALL. 

remarkably  inoffensive  that,  'tis  said,  no  Person  was  ever  known  to 
speak  Evil  of  him."  Edward  Lowes,  the  seventh  son,  was  endowed 
with  lands  at  East  Mains,  while  Joseph,  the  fifth  son,  obtained,  as 
his  share  of  the  estate,  Cockton,  the  Mains,  Rob  Close,  and  the 
Paddocks. 

John  Lowes,  heir  of  William  (i),  had,  like  his  father,  a  numerous 
family.  Among  them  were  William  (3)  and  Robert,  attorneys;  John 
Lowes,  of  Newcastle,  who  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Ralph  Clarke, 
of  North  Shields;  and  Eleanor,  who  was  united  to  Thomas  David- 
son, of  Newcastle,  clerk  of  the  peace  for  Northumberland. 

The  two  attorneys,  William  and  Robert  Lowes,  were  well-known 
persons  upon  Tyneside  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago — the  one 
as  a  munificent  county  magnate,  and  the  other  as  a  sordid  creature, 
whose  friendship  was  a  misfortune,  whose  acquaintance  was  a  dis- 
grace. William  Lowes  was  baptised  on  the  28th  of  July,  1711. 
He  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Robert  Marley,  of  Pelton, 
and,  for  a  time,  practised  as  an  attorney  in  Newcastle.  At  his 
father's  death  he  retired  to  Ridley  Hall,  and  lived  the  life  of  a 
country  squire.  To  him  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle  leased, 
December  18th,  1755,  subject  to  the  right  of  the  boys  to  play 
therein,  the  Spital  Croft,  described  by  Brand,  the  historian,  who 
was  an  usher  in  the  school  from  1778  to  1784,  as  "the  Campus 
Martius "  of  the  Royal  Free  Grammar  School  adjoining.  He  was 
appointed  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland  in  the  autumn  of  1773, 
and  in  that  capacity,  on  the  i6th  of  May  following,  "  in  the  presence 
of  a  great  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  laid  the  foundation- 
stone  of  the  Assembly  Rooms  in  Westgate  Street,  built,  by  contri- 
bution, on  part  of  the  garden  belonging  to  the  vicarage  of  New- 
castle. A  plate,  bearing  the  following  inscription,  was  put  under 
the  stone : — 

"  In  an  Age 

When  the  Polite  Arts, 

By  general  Encouragement  and  Emulation, 

Have  advanced  to  a  State  of  Perfection 

Unknown  in  any  former  Period  : 

The  first  Stone  of  this  Edifice, 

Dedicated  to  the  most  elegant  Recreation, 

Was  laid  by  William  Lowes,  Esq., 

On  the  i6th  day  of  May,  I774-" 

Through  the  medium  of  his  Freemen^s  Magazme,  satirical  James 
Murray,   minister   of  the    High   Bridge  Presbyterian  congregation. 


Z 0  IVES  OF  RIDL E  V  HALL.  1 09 

author  of  "Sermons  to  Asses"  and  other  works  of  an  incisive 
character,  parodied  this  harmless  inscription  in  the  following  tren- 
chant fashion: — 

"  In  an  Age 
When  the  tide  of  corruption, 

By  R 1  encouragement,  deluged  the  land  ; 

When  Luxury  had  advanced  to 

A  state  of  perfection 

Unknown  in  any  former  period, 

The  first  stone  of  this  edifice, 

Dedicated  to  the  most  magical  Cii-ce, 

Was  laid  by  W.  L s,  Esq. 

On  the  i6th  day  of  May,  1774." 


"  When  a  stagnation 

Of  trade,  and  the  high  price  of  provisions, 

Had  reduced  the  poor  to  the  greatest  extremity  ; 

When  the  bridge,  once  over  Tyne, 

At  Newcastle,  remained 

Entomb'd  in  the  depths  of  the  river, 

A  heap  of  ruins, 

A  chaos  of  disorder  ; 

To  their  everlasting  disgrace,  the  gentlemen  of  Newcastle 

Continue  to  waste  their  time, 

And  spend  their  substance. 

In  celebrating  the  rites  of  Venus,  and  the  ceremonies  of  Bacchus. 

Five  thousand 

Pounds  were  rais'd  by  subscription. 

Through  a  vicious  emulation  to  excel  in  politeness; 

And  land,  devoted  to  pious  purposes. 

Was  sold  by  the  Vicar,  a  thing 

Unknown  in  any  former  period  ; 

And  this  fabric 

Was  raised 

On  the  ruins  of  religion,  and  the  morals  of  mankind. 

The  pious  sanction  of  W.  L s,  Esq., 

Engraved  on  brass,  continues  to  show  the  profligacy  of  this  age." 


It  was  this  William  Lowes  who  erected  the  mansion  of  Ridley 
Hall,  described  by  Hodgson  as  occupying  a  situation  very  cheerful 
and  charming,  soft  green  slopes,  and  a  rich  garniture  of  groves, 
environing  it  on  three  sides,  while  to  the  south  it  looks  upon 
a  broad  and  fiat  lawn,  with  the  deep  and  thickly-wooded  chasm 
of  the  river  Allen  full  in  front.     Thomas  Whately,  an  authority  on 


no  LO  WES  OF  RIDLE  V  HALL. 

ornamental  gardening,  quoted  by  Mackenzie,   wrote  of  it  in  these 
glowing  terms : — 

"  The  prospect,  though  bounded,  is  not  confined  in  front ;  and 
the  rich  vale,  both  up  and  down  the  Tyne,  with  a  considerable  reach 
of  that  river,  and  of  the  Allen,  where  it  forms  its  junction  with  it,  are 
in  view  from  the  north  front  of  the  house  ;  when  there  are  added  to 
this  a  bridge  of  two  large  and  handsome  arches,  the  east  window  of 
a  beautiful  chapel  [Beltingham]  shaded  by  some  of  the  largest  yew 
trees  in  the  kingdom,  Willimoteswick  Castle,  and  that  of  Langley, 
with  farmhouses  and  villages,  intermixed  with  woods,  and  scattered 
in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  idea  of  population,  without  encroaching 
on  that  of  retirement,  the  whole  forms  such  a  scene  as  is  perhaps 
scarcely  to  be  paralleled,  and  would,  without  any  other  advantages, 
make  this  a  delightful  residence.  From  the  house  you  pass  by  a 
terrace  to  one  of  those  scenes  which  poets  have  delighted  in  describ- 
ing— a  rapid  river  murmuring  over  pebbles,  or  forcing  its  way  over 
rocks,  confined  by  lofty  mountains  clothed  with  wood.  This  inter- 
esting walk  continues  for  half  a  mile,  when  you  reach  a  point  called 
the  Raven's  Craig,  where  an  opening  in  the  vale  of  a  few  fields  of 
haugh  land,  with  a  farmhouse,  changes  the  scene,  and  recalls  the 
mind  from  the  contemplation  of  romantic  beauty  to  real  life.  After 
passing  the  course  of  the  Allen  for  about  half  a  mile  further,  you 
ascend  the  high  grounds  of  Ridley  Hall  by  a  walk  cut  through  the 
wood,  which  at  various  points  admits  the  view  of  different  and  pleas- 
ing objects.  On  reaching  the  summit,  the  prospect  south  is  highly 
interesting ;  the  ruins  of  Staward  Castle  '  bosom'd  high  in  tufted 
trees,'  and  the  hanging  banks  of  Kingswood,  with  the  river  at  their 
feet,  form  a  scene  at  once  beautiful,  grand,  and  romantic.  On  re- 
turning north  the  prospect  is  that  of  wildness,  grandeur,  and  extent; 
the  vales  of  the  Tyne  and  Allen  are  hidden,  and  it  requires  little 
force  of  imagination  to  suppose  yourself  in  one  of  the  wildest  dis- 
tricts of  a  neighbouring  country.  Perhaps  the  force  of  contrast  is  no- 
where more  strongly  marked  than  at  the  point  of  quitting  this  scene, 
and  embracing  that  of  the  mansion,  with  its  beautiful  and  richly 
cultivated  grounds  below  it,  the  two  rivers,  and  a  considerable  extent 
of  that  almost  matchless  vale  through  which  the  Tyne  meanders." 

Mr.  Lowes  died  in  this  beautiful  retreat  on  the  22nd  November, 
1783,  aged  71,  and  was  buried  in  the  adjoining  churchyard  of 
Beltingham. 

Robert  Lowes,  known  throughout  the  western  part  of  the  county 


L  0  WES  OF  RIDLE  Y  HALL.  1 1 1 

as  "Bobby  Lowes  the  Lawyer,"  was  six  years  younger  than  his 
brother  WilUam,  having  been  baptised  on  the  24th  of  July,  171 7. 
He  married  a  Miss  ColHng,  and  settled  down  to  practice  at  Hexham, 
where,  as  described  by  Joseph  Ridley  of  that  place,  in  Richardson's 
"  Local  Historian's  Table-Book,"  he  embarked  on  a  course  of 
"apparently  successful  knavery,  terminating  in  utter  indigence, 
absolute  beggary,  and  merited  opprobrium."  At  first  he  enjoyed 
considerable  practice,  for,  "  having  wealthy  and  extensive  con- 
nections," displaying  "  much  confidence  and  skill  as  a  pleader,"  and 
being  an  expert  conveyancer,  owners  of  property  round  about 
Hexham  put  their  affairs  into  his  hands,  and  trusted  him  implicitly. 
He  lived  in  the  great  house  opposite  to  the  Abbey  gate  (afterwards 
converted  into  a  Wesleyan  chapel),  had  a  country  residence  at 
Humshaugh,  and  for  a  time  kept  up  a  style  of  living  that  befitted 
a  brother  of  the  owner  of  Ridley  Hall.  His  subsequent  career, 
his  downfall,  and  his  miserable  end,  are  thus  narrated  by  his 
biographer : — 

"  His  chef  d''ceuvre  was  the  getting  possession  of  the  title-deeds  of 
many  lots  of  property,  some  of  which  were  mortgaged  to  him,  and 
others  were  detained  which  came  to  his  hands  in  the  ordinary  way 
of  business.  Many  of  these  documents  he  is  believed  to  have 
destroyed.  Some  of  the  premises  were  held  for  a  length  of  time 
after  his  death,  by  those  who  happened  to  be  the  occupiers,  without 
payment  of  rent;  or  if  they  came  to  be  sold,  were  knocked  down  at 
an  underworth,  in  consideration  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  titles,  and 
are  still  recognised  [1843]  by  the  older  inhabitants  of  Hexham  as 
'  Bobby  Lowes'  property.'  Among  several  men-servants  whom  he 
kept  about  him,  Tom  Wilson,  of  Jobler's  Style,  seems  to  have  had 
most  influence  with  his  master.  Once,  after  Lowes's  failure,  whilst 
the  lawyer  and  his  man  were  overhauling  a  quantity  of  parchments 
which  it  was  thought  prudent  to  dispose  of,  while  some  were 
preserved  and  others  committed  to  the  flames,  a  document  turned 
up  which  it  was  Wilson's  interest  as  a  tenant  to  put  out  of  the 
way.  '  Burn  it,'  said  Tom,  and  the  lawyer,  who  had  kept  his 
carriage,  but  could  not  afford  to  keep  a  conscience,  at  once  freed 
the  man  from  his  responsibility  to  his  landlord. 

"  What  it  was  that  gave  a  turn  to  his  affairs,  what  events  acceler- 
ated his  ruin,  cannot  be  distinctly  traced;  but  he  did  at  length  come 
to  utter  indigence,  and  continued  so  till  his  end,  when  he  literally 
died  in  a  ditch.     He  seems  latterly  to  have  gone  almost  mad,  and 


112  LO  WES  OF  RIDLE  Y  HALL. 

ran  about  the  country  with  a  batch  of  papers  on  his  back;  Hving  in 
great  poverty,  and  lodging  when  in  the  town  [his  wife  died  January 
1 8th,  1777]  with  one  Frank  Armstrong.  He  was  somewhat  small 
in  person  and  peculiar  in  manner  and  dress;  in  the  latter  period  of 
his  life  he  was  ragged  and  dirty,  though  he  was  bred  a  gentleman, 
and  had  kept  his  coach.  He  constantly  wore  a  red  nightcap  under 
his  hat,  which,  with  a  bag  over  his  shoulder,  gave  him  an  air 
of  singularity.  On  one  of  his  excursions  into  Hexhamshire,  he 
called  at  a  gentleman's  house  at  a  late  hour  in  the  evening.  His 
company  was  undesirable,  but  a  recollection  of  his  former  rank  in 
society  procured  for  him  a  night's  quarters,  and  a  servant  was 
ordered  to  provide  him  a  lodging.  The  lawyer,  however,  seemed 
disposed  to  spend  the  night  in  study,  spread  the  contents  of  his 
green  bag  on  the  table,  unrolled  his  briefs,  and  began  transacting 
business  in  his  own  way;  muttering  his  threatenings  in  the  hearing 
of  the  servant,  he  forbade  her  interference  on  pain  of  imprisonment. 
Matters  went  on  thus  till  three  in  the  morning,  when  the  woman, 
being  anxious  for  rest,  swept  his  papers  into  the  fire,  and,  calling  a 
man-servant,  turned  him  out  of  the  house,  raving  at  the  loss  of  his 
documents,  and  indignant  at  the  outrage  on  his  person. 

"  He  was  ultimately  found  dead  in,  or  close  by,  the  Seal  Burn, 
a  little  to  the  west  of  Hexham  Church,  and  was  buried  under  the 
old  vestry  room  near  the  north  door  of  the  building.  His  burial  is 
thus  recorded: — '  i793j  Oct.  13th,  Robert  Lowes,  Attorney-at-Law.' " 

At  the  death  of  William  Lowes  (3),  his  estates  in  Northumberland 
and  Cumberland  descended  to  his  eldest  son  John,  who  married 
Helen,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Stott,  and  had  an  only  child — 
William  Cornforth  Lowes.  John  Lowes  was  High  Sheriff  of  North- 
umberland in  1790-91,  and  died  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1795, 
leaving  his  property  to  this  son,  William  Cornforth  Lowes,  with 
remainder  to  his  cousin  John  Davidson,  successor  to  his  father, 
Thomas  Davidson,  in  the  clerkship  of  the  peace  for  Northumber- 
land. The  son,  William  Cornforth  Lowes,  of  University  College, 
Oxford,  died  in  Newcastle  on  the  eve  of  his  majority,  November 
17th,  1810,  and  was  buried  at  St.  John's  Church  there.  Mr.  John 
Davidson  thereupon  became  possessed  of  the  estates,  but  as  some  of 
them  were  of  copyhold  tenure,  they  could  not  be  "willed,"  and 
Thomas  Lowes,  brother  of  John,  and  uncle  of  William  Cornforth 
Lowes,  claimed  them  as  heir-at-law.  An  amicable  suit  to  try  the 
question  was  entered  at  the  Assizes  in  Newcastle  in   181 2,  but  the 


Z  O  WES  OF  RIDLE  Y  HALL.  1 1 3 

claimant,  the  last  of  his  race,  died  in  September  of  that  year,  within 
the  precincts  of  Holyrood,  leaving  a  natural  daughter.  The  estate 
of  Ridley  Hall  passed  to  this  lady  under  her  father's  will,  and  she 
sold  it  six  years  later  to  Mr.  Thomas  Bates,  and  died  at  Hartlepool 
unmarried,  August  20th,  1832. 

About  Thomas  Lowes  there  is  a  curious  note  in  the  Poll  Book  of 
the  contested  election  for  the  county  of  Northumberland,  in  October, 
1774.  He  had  voted  for  Lord  Algernon  Percy  and  John  Hussey 
Delaval  by  virtue  of  a  freehold  described  as  "  The  Sands,"  and  the 
editor  of  the  Poll  Book  describes  his  qualification  as  follows  : — "  This 
young  gentleman's  name  was  omitted  from  his  own  declaration  during 
the  poll  that  he  had  no  vote;  but,  on  re-examining  the  books,  he 
was  found,  during  the  election,  to  have  discovered  a  freehold  upon 
some  sands,  thrown  up  at  the  ever  memorable  flood,  when  Newcastle 
and  Ridley  Hall  bridges  fell.  This,  it  is  supposed,  his  father  had 
given  him  to  make  a  garden  of,  or  rather  plant  willows  upon — a 
method  of  pleasing  children  frequently  practised  by  parents  to  en- 
courage industry  and  cherish  rising  genius.  His  brother  voted  for 
Henry's  Island,  a  freehold  of  the  same  kind." 

Over  the  remains  of  this  unfortunate  descendant  of  the  house  of 
Lowes,  visitors  to  Holyrood  Abbey  Churchyard  read  the  following 
touching  inscription  : — 

"Here  lies  the  body  of  Thomas  Lowes,  Esq.,  late  of  Ridley  Hall,  in  the 
county  of  Northumberland;  one  instance  among  thousands  of  the  uncertainty  of 
human  life,  and  the  instability  of  earthly  possessions  and  enjoyments.  Born  to 
ample  property,  he  for  several  years  experienced  a  distressing  reverse  of  fortune; 
and  no  sooner  was  he  restored  to  his  former  affluence,  than  it  pleased  Divine 
Providence  to  withdraw  this,  together  with  his  life.  Reader,  be  thou  taught  by 
this  to  seek  those  riches  which  never  can  fail  (etc.,  etc.).  An  only  daughter,  over 
whom  the  deceased  had  long  watched  with  the  tenderest  care,  and  many  friends 
who  admired  his  liberal  and  generous  mind,  unite  in  deploring  his  loss.  He 
departed  this  life  on  the  eighteenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1812,  and  in  the  6lst  year  of  his  age. 


VOL.  III. 


1 1 4  ENEAS  MA  CKENZIE. 

lEitcas  flDact^cnsic, 

PRINTER,    PUBLISHER,    AND    AUTHOR. 

Eneas  Mackenzie  was  born  at  Aberdeen,  January  12th,  1777.  His 
paternal  grandfather  was  a  wild  mountaineer  of  Ross-shire,  who, 
having  in  a  fray  dealt  unmercifully  with  his  antagonist,  was  com- 
pelled to  fly  to  Caithness,  where  he  continued  to  reside  till  Charles 
Stuart  landed  in  Scotland  to  claim  "his  ain."  Animated  by  the  same 
spirit  as  his  friend,  young  Sinclair  of  Olrig,  Mackenzie  determined 
to  join  the  Chevalier,  and,  burning  with  impatience,  he  proceeded 
to  collect  a  party.  His  house  was  soon  filled,  his  cattle  were 
slaughtered,  and  his  corn  distilled  to  entertain  his  adherents,  and, 
full  of  confidence,  they  marched  to  join  him  whom  they  considered 
their  lawful  prince.  The  defeat  at  Culloden  followed,  and  when, 
after  many  adventures  and  hair-breadth  escapes,  the  general  amnesty 
left  Mackenzie  at  liberty  to  return  to  his  home,  he  was  a  ruined  man. 

From  the  fierce,  unsettled,  and  imaginative  cast  of  the  father's 
mind,  his  son,  Angus  Mackenzie,  could  not  be  expected  to  acquire 
habits  of  strict  order  or  economy,  and  he  accordingly  grew  up  a  wild 
fellow,  full  of  frolicsome  gaiety,  and  vain  of  imitating  his  haughty 
and  eccentric  parent.  Even  when  prohibited  by  law,  he  continued 
to  wear  the  kilt,  plaid,  and  blue  bonnet,  and  perhaps  it  was  this 
daring  which  possessed  a  charm  for  Ann  Horn,  whom  he  prevailed 
on  to  accept  his  hand ;  perhaps,  too,  she  hoped  that  her  influence 
would  tame  his  wildness  and  repress  his  irregularities. 

Some  time  after  the  marriage,  Angus  Mackenzie  removed  to 
Aberdeen,  and  thence  to  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  He  had  a  large 
family,  none  of  whom,  however,  arrived  at  maturity  save  Eneas 
and  a  daughter.  While  living  in  Aberdeen,  his  means  had  become 
gradually  more  contracted,  and,  possibly,  pride  prevented  him 
from  returning  to,  and  seeking  assistance  from,  his  clansmen,  or 
from  the  Horns,  Sinclairs,  Omans,  Swansons,  Coghills,  etc.,  with  all 
of  whom  either  himself  or  his  wife  was  connected.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  his  poverty  compelled  him  to  work  at  the  lapstone,  while  his 
frugal,  high-minded  wife  seconded  his  efforts  both  by  precept  and 
example. 

Eneas   Mackenzie  was  three  years  old  when  his  father  removed 


ENEAS  MACKENZIE. 


"5 


from  Aberdeen  to  Newcastle.  The  school  at  which  he  was  placed 
was  in  Silver  Street,  and  the  master's  name  was  Enshaw,  or,  as  he 
was  commonly  called,  "  Old  Enshaw,"  and  here  he  remained  till  the 
old  man  requested  his  father  to  remove  him,  "as  he  could  teach  him 
nothing  the  lad  did  not  already  know."  His  father  then  wished 
him  to  acquire  his  trade  of  shoemaking,  but  for  this  he  was  both 
morally  and  physically  unfitted,  and  the  idea  was  abandoned. 
Meanwhile  the  lad  applied  himself  diligently  to  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  through  the  means  of  books,  which  one  friend  or  another 
lent  him,  while  every  halfpenny  he  could  get  was  laid  out  in  buying 


candles,  and  these,  being  forbidden,  were  used  by  stealth  when  shut 
up  in  his  own  humble  apartment,  where  the  studious  boy  knelt  by 
the  one  chair  it  contained,  and  pored  with  untiring  zeal  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  night  over  the  highly-valued  contents  of  the 
borrowed  volumes. 

An  old  man,  a  neighbour,  having  a  map  which  it  was  forbidden 
to  move,  young  Mackenzie  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  standing 
on  a  chair  to  look  at  it,  and  thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
geographical  knowledge,  which  he  improved  by  drawing  portions  of 
the  map  from  memory  in  the  retirement  of  his  own  chamber.  At 
this  period  both  his  parents  were  members  of  the  Presbyterian  con- 


1 1 6  ENEAS  MA  CKENZIE. 

gregation  in  the  High  Bridge,  and  Eneas,  with  a  young  associate, 
Robert  Morrison  (afterwards  the  celebrated  Chinese  scholar.  Dr. 
Morrison),  was  in  the  habit  of  repeating  portions  of  Scripture,  the 
Psalms,  and  the  Shorter  Catechism,  on  Sunday  evenings,  in  the 
presence  of  the  congregation.  Zealous,  even  as  a  boy,  for  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  he  freely  communicated  the  information 
he  had  so  laboriously  gained,  and,  actuated  by  this  feeling,  he 
taught  his  friend,  Robert  Morrison,  the  elements  of  English  gram- 
mar. Quitting  the  Presbyterians,  young  Mackenzie  joined  the 
Baptists  in  the  newly-erected  Tuthill  Stairs  Chapel,  and  was  one  of 
the  first  baptised  in  the  Baptistry,  the  members  of  the  congregation 
having,  previous  to  this  time,  undergone  the  ceremony  of  immersion 
in  the  river,  at  "  Paradise,"  near  Scotswood.  Such  was  the  influence 
possessed  over  the  members  of  his  own  family  by  the  youth,  that 
soon  after  joining  the  Baptists  he  persuaded  his  father,  mother,  and 
surviving  sister  to  be  also  baptised. 

Before  being  admitted  a  member  of  this  congregation,  Eneas 
underwent  an  examination,  the  result  of  which  gave  so  much  satis- 
faction that  a  proposition  was  made  to  send  him  to  college  forthwith. 
The  detection  of  some  circumstances  opposed  to  his  sense  of  justice 
led  him  to  withdraw  from  the  Tuthill  Stairs  community,  although 
after  his  removal  to  Sunderland,  where  he  started  in  business  as 
a  shipbroker,  he  occasionally  preached  to  outlying  congregations. 
The  shipbroking  venture  proving  unsuccessful,  he  entered  the 
family  of  Mr.  Bilton,  of  Stanton,  as  a  tutor,  and  there  remained 
for  several  years.  All  this  information,  and  much  more,  was  contri- 
buted some  years  since  to  the  Newcastle  Weekly  Chronicle  by  a 
correspondent,  who  appears  to  have  been  intimately  acquainted 
with  Eneas  Mackenzie's  early  history. 

Returning  to  Newcastle  about  the  beginning  of  the  century,  Mr. 
Mackenzie  opened  a  school  in  the  Castle  Garth,  but  finding  the 
accommodation  insufiicient  he  removed  it  to  the  High  Bridge. 
While  there,  in  1805,  he  married,  and  with  the  responsibilities  of 
a  young  family  coming  upon  him  began  to  devise  means  of  engaging 
in  more  profitable  employment.  He  had  a  ready  pen,  which  he  had 
employed  in  contributions  to  the  local  press,  the  publication  of  "  A 
History  of  Egypt "  (published  by  K.  Anderson,  in  the  Side,  Newcastle, 
in  1809,  in  2  vols.,  8vo),  the  issue  of  sundry  pamphlets,  etc.,  and, 
finding  that  his  literary  efforts  were  appreciated,  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  starting  a  printing  and  publishing  business   in  which   his 


ENEAS  MACKENZIE.  117 

readiness  with  the  pen  might  be  more  advantageously  utilised. 
Accordingly,  in  18 10,  he  entered  into  partnership  with  John  Moore 
Dent,  a  practical  printer.  Thus  was  established  the  firm  of 
Mackenzie  «S:  Dent,  whose  imprint  appears  on  the  title-pages  of 
so  many  historical,  topographical,  and  geographical  works  in  local 
collections.  For  twenty  years  Mr.  Mackenzie  conducted  the 
correspondence,  rendered  the  accounts,  and  superintended  the  out- 
door transactions  of  his  firm,  and  at  the  same  time  found  opportunities 
of  writing  histories,  compiling  biographies,  and  acting  as  author  or 
editor  of  many  other  useful  publications,  most  of  which  were  issued 
in  numbers  and  delivered  by  hawkers  to  subscribers  throughout  the 
Northern  Counties. 

Among  his  other  activities  Mr.  Mackenzie  took  a  leading  part 
in  political  warfare.  He  was  a  Radical,  the  associate  of  Larkin, 
Doubleday,  Attwood,  and  Fife.  At  the  great  meeting  in  Newcastle 
over  the  "  Peterloo  Massacre"  in  1819  he  took  the  chair,  and 
delivered  a  stirring  speech,  and  when  the  Northern  Political  Union 
was  formed  he  became  one  of  its  secretaries.  In  or  about  1823, 
under  the  signature  of  "  Peter  Pry,"  he  wrote  a  series  of  trenchant 
articles  in  the  Refor7ner's  Magazine.,  issued  by  Marshall,  the  Radical 
printer  in  the  Groat  Market,  Newcastle,  and  it  is  said  that  some  of 
the  best  of  the  pamphlets  on  burning  questions  of  the  day  which 
issued  from  Marshall's  press  were  the  production  of  his  pen. 

Eneas  Mackenzie  was  an  ardent  social  reformer  as  well  as  an  earnest 
political  agitator.  To  him  is  undoubtedly  due  the  formation  of  the 
Newcastle  Mechanics'  Institute.  In  February,  1824,  he  wrote  to  a 
friend : — "  I  have  been  lately  much  engaged  in  forming  a  Literary, 
Scientific,  and  Mechanics'  Institution.  A  public  meeting  is  to  be  held 
in  Fletcher's  long  room,  on  Thursday  next,  for  the  purpose  of  intro- 
ducing to  the  public  the  nature  of  the  plan.  I  have  written  the 
resolutions  and  appointed  the  speakers.  Though  the  yearly  subscrip- 
tion is  small,  I  have  no  doubt  we  shall  have  as  much  money  to 
expend  on  books  as  the  other  society,  which  is  daily  becoming  more 
exclusive  and  aristocratic.  I  intend  that  one-third  of  our  committee 
shall  be  every  year  ineligible  to  be  re-elected,  and  I  think  we  shall 
not  only  do  a  public  good,  but  also  soon  vie  with  '  the  Dons,'  who 
seem  resolved  to  shut  the  doors  of  their  society  in  the  face  of  all 
who  have  not  a  heavy  purse."  Mr.  Mackenzie  attended  the  meeting 
and  moved  a  resolution,  and  when  the  Institution  was  fairly  started 
he  presented  to  it  many  volumes  of  books,  prepared  the  Library  cata- 


ii8  ENEAS  MACKENZIE. 

logue,  and  read  papers  on  subjects  such  as  "  The  UtiUty  of 
Machinery  in  Promoting  the  Comfort  and  Happiness  of  the  Working 
Classes,"  "  The  History  and  Progress  of  Navigation,"  "  The  Geo- 
graphy of  the  Ancients,"  "  The  Arts  of  Drawing  and  Painting,"  "  The 
Population  of  Nations,"  "  Literary  Institutions,"  "  The  Effects  of 
Steam  on  the  Future  Destinies  of  Mankind,"  etc.,  etc.  Regarded  as 
the  father  of  the  Institute  during  Hfe,  he  was  honoured  after  death 
by  the  placing  of  his  bust  in  marble  in  the  long  room  of  the  Institute 
Library. 

The  books  by  which  Mr.  Mackenzie  is  best  known  are  his 
histories  of  Northumberland  and  Newcastle.  They  are  avowedly 
"popular"  compilations,  based  upon  the  works  of  Wallis  and  Hut- 
chinson, Bourne  and  Brand,  and  brought  down  to  date,  but  evincing 
no  deep  research  or  original  investigation.  To  the  general  reader, 
desirous  of  knowing  only  the  leading  incidents  which  have  gone  to 
make  up  local  history,  they  are  most  interesting,  while  to  the  local 
biographer  the  copious  notes  which  underlie  the  text  afford  a  happy 
hunting-ground  that  never  fails  to  yield  quarry.  Both  of  them  are 
models  of  popular  histories  for  general  use. 

Mr.  Mackenzie  fell  a  victim  to  a  visitation  of  cholera  which  afflicted 
Tyneside  in  1832.  He  died  on  the  21st  of  February  in  that  year 
after  a  few  hours'  illness,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four,  and  was  buried  in 
Westgate  Cemetery.  His  eldest  son,  named  after  him  Eneas,  carried 
on  the  business  for  a  few  years,  issuing,  among  other  publications,  a 
newspaper,  the  Newcastle  Press  (which  lasted  from  July  20th,  1832,  to 
October  4th,  1834),  and  ultimately  emigrating  to  Australia,  where  he 
died.  One  of  the  daughters,  marrying  Mr.  Furniss,  became  the 
mother  of  Harry  Furniss,  the  caricaturist. 

The  principal  works  which  Eneas  Mackenzie  compiled  are 
these: — 

"An  Historical  and  Descriptive  View  of  the  County  of  Northumberland,  and  of 
the  Town  and  County  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  with  Berwick-upon-Tweed,  and 
other  celebrated  Places  on  the  Scottish  Border.  Comprehending  the  various 
subjects  of  Natural,  Civil,  and  Ecclesiastical  Geography,  Agriculture,  Mines, 
Manufactures,  Trades,  Commerce,  Buildings,  Antiquities,  Curiosities,  Public 
Institutions,  Population,  Customs,  Biography,  Local  History,  etc."  Illustrated. 
2  vols.,  8vo.     Newcastle  :  Mackenzie  &  Dent,  181 1. 

"  A  New  and  Complete  System  of  Modern  Geography  ;  Containing  an  Accurate 
Delineation  of  the  World  as  Divided  into  Empires,  Kingdoms,  Republics, 
Colonies,  etc.  With  their  Respective  Situations,  Extent,  Boundaries,  Climate, 
Soil,  Agriculture,  Rivers,  Lakes,  Mountains,  Forests,  Botany,  Zoology,  Miner- 


LIONEL  MAD  D I  SON.  119 

alogy,  Natural  Curiosities,  etc.  Likewise  the  Civil  and  Polilical  State  of  Each 
Country  ;  Embracing  the  various  subjects  of  Population,  Manners  and  Customs, 
Language,  Literature,  Education,  Cities  and  Towns,  Edifices,  Roads,  Canals, 
Manufactures  and  Commerce  ;  also  Religion,  Government,  Laws,  Army,  Navy, 
Revenues,  and  Political  Importance.  With  a  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Origin,  History, 
and  Antiquities  of  Each  Nation  ;  and  an  Introduction,  containing  a  Neat  and 
Comprehensive  System  of  Astronomy  and  Meteorology ;  Forming  a  Complete 
Repository  of  Geographical  Knowledge  ;  Including  every  Recent  Discovery  and 
Political  Alteration.  Illustrated  and  Embellished  with  correct  Statistic  Tables, 
an  accurate  and  beautiful  Atlas,  and  appropriate  Engravings."  2  vols.,  4to. 
Newcastle:  Mackenzie  &  Dent,  1817. 

"An  Historical,  Topographical,  and  Descriptive  View  of  the  County  of  North- 
umberland, and  of  those  Parts  of  the  County  of  Durham  situate  North  of  the 
River  Tyne,  with  Berwick-upon-Tweed,  and  Brief  Notices  of  Celebrated  Places 
on  the  Scottish  Border.  Comprehending  [as  before].  Second  Edition."  Illus- 
trated.    2vols.,4to.     Newcastle:  Mackenzie  &  Dent,  1825. 

"A  Descriptive  and  Historical  Account  of  the  Town  and  County  of  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  Including  the  Borough  of  Gateshead."  Illustrated.  2  vols.,  with 
continuous  pagination,  4to.     Newcastle  :  Mackenzie  &  Dent,  1827. 

"The  Life  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Late  Emperor  of  the  French,  King  of 
Italy,  etc.,  from  his  Birth  in  the  Island  of  Corsica  to  the  period  of  his  Death  at 
St.  Helena,"  etc.     2  vols.,  8vo.     Newcastle  :  Mackenzie  &  Dent.     No  date. 

"An  Historical,  Topographical,  and  Descriptive  View  of  the  County  Pala- 
tine of  Durham;  Comprehending  the  various  subjects  of  Natural,  Civil,  and 
Ecclesiastical  Geography,  Agriculture,  Mines,  Manufactures,  Navigation,  Trade, 
Commerce,  Buildings,  Antiquities,  Curiosities,  Public  Institutions,  Charities, 
Population,  Customs,  Biography,  Local  History,"  etc.  [Completed  after  Mr. 
Mackenzie's  Death  by  Metcalf  Ross,  Co-Editor.]  Illustrated.  2  vols.,  4to. 
Newcastle  :  Mackenzie  &  Dent,  1834, 


Xtoncl  fll^a^^i6on, 

AN    ELIZABETHAN    MAYOR    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Wear,  facing  Stanhope,  half-hidden  by  stately 
beeches,  stands  the  old  manor-house  of  Unthank,  long  the  property 
of  the  Merleys,  or  Marleys,  and  their  descendants,  the  Maddisons, 
of  EUergill.  From  this  picturesque  abode,  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  came  Lionel,  second  son  of  Rowland  Maddison,  the  owner, 
to  learn  the  business  of  a  merchant  adventurer  in  Newcastle.  To 
whom  he  came,  and  with  whom  he  served  his  indentures  at  a  time 
when  the  extravagance  of  Newcastle  merchant  apprentices  had  to 
be  repressed  by  special  mandate  of  the  governor,  do  not  appear. 


I20  LIONEL  MAD D ISO N. 

No  record  of  his  early  life  upon  Tyneside  has  come  down  to  us.  It 
is  to  be  presumed  that  his  training  was  right,  because  his  career  was 
successful;  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  he  became  wealthy,  because  he 
is  found  in  after  years  occupying  high  positions  in  the  town.  Three 
hundred  years  ago,  the  burgesses  of  Newcastle  did  not  usually 
appoint  to  posts  of  dignity  and  honour  men  of  low  degree  or  mean 
estate. 

Lionel  Maddison  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Thomas  Seymour, 
and  by  her,  when  he  was  about  forty-four  years  old,  he  had  issue 
an  only  son.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  he  did  not  enter  into 
the  married  state  early.  He  was  comparatively  late,  too,  in  taking 
upon  himself  the  honour,  or  burden,  of  municipal  office.  He  had 
passed  the  middle  period  of  life  at  the  date  (1584)  of  his  election  to 
the  Shrievalty,  and  he  was  an  elderly  gentleman  of  sixty-three,  or 
thereabouts,  when,  at  Michaelmas,  1593,  he  was  appointed  chief 
magistrate,  with  William  Jenison  as  Sheriff. 

To  whatsoever  cause  his  tardiness  in  attaining  to  the  highest  office 
of  the  municipality  may  have  been  attributable,  the  Mayoralty  of 
Lionel  Maddison  was  distinguished  by  a  profuseness  of  hospitality 
which  few  previous  Mayors  seem  to  have  equalled.  Shortly  after 
his  election  the  thirty-fifth  anniversary  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  accession 
came  round,  and  the  townspeople  celebrated  it  with  noisy  demon- 
strations of  bell-ringing  and  bonfire,  music  and  good  cheer.  In  the 
Municipal  Records  are  entries  of  the  charges  for  ringer  and  gunner, 
flautist  and  drummer,  and  for  all  the  choice  things  with  which  the 
Mayor,  Sheriff,  Aldermen,  and  Common  Council  regaled  themselves 
at  the  Penthouse  on  the  Sandhill.  The  substantial,  if  they  had 
any,  must  have  been  provided  by  the  Mayor  himself,  but  the 
"extras,"  supplied  at  the  cost  of  the  municipality,  included  claret 
and  sack,  cakes  and  apples,  7  lb.  of  sugar  loaf,  12  lb.  of  dried  sweet- 
meats (described  as  almond,  and  cinnamon,  and  violet  comfits),  to 
please  fastidious  tastes,  or  stimulate  jaded  appetites,  and  fourteen 
pennyworth  of  candles  to  light  the  table  withal. 

But  all  this  merry-making  was  put  into  the  shade  by  a  feast  which 
Lionel  Maddison  and  his  brethren  gave  in  September,  1594,  to  two 
representatives  of  the  Low  Countries,  or  Flanders,  who  passed 
through  Newcastle  on  their  way  home  from  the  christening,  at 
Stirling,  of  Prince  Henry,  eldest  son  of  James  VI.  To  Mr.  Mayor 
and  the  municipal  authorities  the  visit  of  these  strangers  was  a  great 
event,  and  they  celebrated  it  with  stately  ceremony  and  convivial 


LIONEL  MADDISON.  121 

joy.  From  the  Municipal  Records  it  is  possible  to  reproduce  the 
scene — enacted,  be  it  remembered,  three  hundred  years  ago.  First, 
the  bellman  is  sent  round  to  command  the  burgesses  to  meet  the 
Mayor,  while  armourers  dight  and  furbish  the  town's  weapons,  and 
the  drummer  wakens  up  the  train-bands  to  provide  a  guard  of 
honour.  Then  the  great  day  and  the  great  men  arrive;  the  artillery 
of  the  town  proclaims  a  welcome  with  "35  lbs.  of  powder";  Lionel 
Maddison,  vested  in  robes  of  fur  and  satin,  receives  his  guests, 
and,  preceded  by  flag-bearer  and  fifer,  mace-bearer  and  sword- 
bearer,  chamberlains  and  sergeants-at-mace,  a  long  procession 
slowly  wends  its  way  through  crowded  streets  of  applauding 
citizens  to  the  Mayor's  residence.  We  know  even  what  the 
banqueters  ate  and  drank,  and  the  sum  that  was  paid  for  every  item 
of  the  entertainment.  As  a  picture  of  festive  life  upon  Tyneside  in 
the  days  of  the  "  Virgin  Queen,"  and  the  year  in  which  Shakespeare 
printed  his  first  play,  the  details,  though  they  look  forbidding,  are  in 
reality  most  interesting  : — 

"  Paide  the  belman  for  going  to  geve  warninge  to  the  burgesses 
to  meete  Mr.  Maior,  3  times;  and  for  the  drum  geving  warninge 
to  muster  to  mette  the  Staites  of  the  Low  Country  cam  fro 
Skotland,  8d. 

"  Paide  for  repairinge  and  mendynge  armor  which  was  broken 
when  the  States  of  Flanders  fro  Skottlande  to  receve  them,  viz., 
for  a  new  briche  and  mending  the  stocke  of  a  musquett,  i8d. ;  for 
a  callever  stocke  peardet  and  plaited  with  iron,  8d. ;  for  a  callever 
sight  and  a  new  skowrer,  i6d. ;  for  a  new  stocke  and  a  breiche 
of  a  callever,  3s.;  for  22  skowrers  and  sticks  that  was  lost  7s.  4d. ; 
for  4  new  hookes  and  nales  lost  of  the  musket  flapes,  2s.;  myselfe 
reparinge  the  same  armor,  4  dales,  4s. ;  for  my  two  men,  3  dales, 
4s.;  a  b'ende  of  leth.,  4s.;  his  men  to  drinke,  i2d. ;  for  nailes,  4d. ; 
— 29s.  2d. 

"Paide  for  a  banquet  to  the  Staites,  in  Mr.  Maior's,  for  good 
chere,  some  suger  and  comfettes,  viz.:  for  manshets,  los. ;  a  kaise  of 
mutton,  6s. ;  a  side  of  veale,  3s. ;  suitt  to  baiken  meate,  2s. ;  a  swan, 
los. ;  4  gease,  4s.  Sd. ;  3  piggs,  4s.;  10  caipons,  15s.;  6  hens,  3s.; 
a  turke  cock  to  baike,  5s. ;  6  couple  of  connyes,  4s.  6d. ;  8  quilles, 
3s.  4d. ;  wilde  fowl,  los. ;  a  cagge  of  struggen  [keg  of  sturgeon],  12s.; 
freshe  fishe,  4s. ;  salte  fishe,  2s. ;  flowre  to  baike  withall,  5s. ;  butter, 
4s.;  a  lb.  of  peper  and  other  spices,  los.  4d. ;  eggs,  2od. ;  milke, 
i6d. ;  fruite,  3s.  4d. ;  a  barrle  of  London  beare,  12s.;  for  Thomas 


122  LIONEL  MAD  D I  SON. 

Hinde  his  cook  paines,  5s.;  the  waits  playinge  musicke,  los.  Some, 
7/.  6s.  2d. 

"For  21  gallons  secke  att  Fo.  Selbies,  2/.  i6s.;  for  23  gallons  and 
a  pottle  of  clarid  wyne,  47s.;  for  3  quartes  of  musketyne,  2s.  6d. ; 
for  2  sugar  loves,  weide  25  lb.,  i8d.  per  lb.,  37s.  8d. ;  for  marche 
paines,  23s.  6d.j  6  1b.  colliander  comfettes,  8s.;  orringe  comfettes, 
3  lb.,  6s.;  senymond  comfettes,  4  lb.,  8s.;  clove  comfettes,  3  lb.,  6s.; 
ginger  comfettes,  2  lb.,  4s.;  rose  comfettes,  2  lb.,  4s.;  vilett  com- 
fettes, 2  lb.,  4s.;  notmeg  comfettes,  2  lb.,  4s.;  muske  comfettes, 
2  lb.,  4s. ;  allmond  comfettes,  4  lb.,  6s.  8d. ;  3  lb.  of  marmylaide, 
7s.;  2  lb.  of  dried  suckett  [liquorice],  6s.  8d. ;  3  lb.  of  biskett 
breade,  5s.  2d.;  of  banquetting  conceites,  5s.;  quarter  pounde  of 
bisketts,  fyne,  5d.;  quarter  pounde  of  carrawaies,  5d. ;  6  lb.  of 
Spanche  suckett,  4s.;  2  lb.  of  preservd  quinches,  los. ;  2  lb.  of 
preservd  cherries,  6s.  8d. ;  2  lb.  of  preservd  damson,  6s.;  2  lb.  of 
preservd  plumes,  6s.;  2  lb.  preservd  barberies,  3s.  4d. ;  2^  lb.  of 
perfumes,  i6s.  7d. — 31/.  9s.  4d. 

"Paide  for  good  chere  to  the  Staites  men,  and  for  wyne  and 
suger,  and  those  that  came  withe  theme  at  dynner  and  supper, 
2/.  i2s.,  and  for  horse  meate  to  their  horses,  12s.  Some  is  at  John 
Carr's  [innkeeper]  3/.  4s. 

"  Paide  for  6  yardes  and  a  quarter  of  searsnett  of  corde  to  Ro. 
Fenwicke  which  carried  the  auncient  before  the  Staites,  5s.  4d.  per 
iearde,  33s.  4d. ;  for  35  lb.  of  powder  which  was  shott  when  they 
cam,  3/.  6s.  lod. 

"Paide  to  Ro.  Askewe  for  playinge  with  his  fife  before  the 
drume,  i6d." 

To  wind  up  the  record,  we  have  the  amount  of  salary,  or  fee, 
which  was  given  to  the  Mayor  and  Sheriff,  at  the  end  of  the 
municipal  year,  to  assist  them  in  bearing  the  burden  of  office: — 
"Paide  to  Mr.  Maddyson,  Maior,  for  his  fee  this  yeare,  100/.  Paide 
Mr.  Will.  Jennyson,  Sherif,  for  his  fee  this  yeare,  30/."  Not  large 
sums,  truly,  but  the  purchasing  power  of  money  was  much  greater 
at  a  time  when  a  side  of  veal  cost  but  3s.,  a  sucking  pig  only  is.  6d., 
and  claret  was  2s.  a  gallon. 

In  the  great  dispute  that  raged  in  the  town  over  the  Grand  Lease 
of  Gateshead  and  Whickham  (see  vol.  i.,  page  71),  Lionel  Maddison, 
although  a  "grand  lessee"  himself,  sided  with  the  anti-monopolists, 
and  joined  in  the  complaints  which  Henry  Sanderson,  the  Queen's 
Customer,  and  others  alleged  against  them.     Sanderson,  in  one  of 


LIONEL  M ADDISON.  123 

his  reports  to  the  Privy  Council,  dated  1597,  sounds  Mr.  Maddison's 
praises  in  the  following  terms: — "  Lionel  Maddison,  alderman,  a  very 
good  townsman;  he  husbanded  the  town's  treasure  in  such  sort,  by 
appointing  but  a  single  surveyor,  that  he  did  many  extraordinary 
things  for  the  common  good  of  the  town,  as  augmenting  the  town's 
armour  greatly,  etc.,  and  yet  left  680/.  in  money  in  the  town  chamber 
when  he  went  out  of  his  mayoralty.  He  proved  the  town's  interest 
in  the  Grand  Lease,  and  sought  to  have  the  same  restored,"  etc. 

Before  the  contest  ended,  Mr.  Maddison  himself  was  drawn  into 
the  fray.  He  and  Robert  Dudley,  a  brother  alderman,  addressed 
a  letter  to  Lord  Burghley  in  which  they  controverted  an  allegation 
from  the  other  side  that  "  but  fifteen  base  and  turbulent  people 
complain  of  their  abuses";  and  they  conclude  with  this  striking 
passage: — "We  think  that  the  imputation  of  baseness,  from  those 
whose  proceedings  are  supported  by  Chamberlains  that  neglect  their 
occupations  to  live  on  their  shares  in  the  town  stock,  and  from 
Common  Council  that  work  at  the  wheelbarrow,  could  only  have 
been  to  prevent  that  objection  from  us.  As  to  turbulency,  we 
deserve  to  be  branded  with  it,  if  our  complaints  are  unjust;  but  as 
Ahab  and  his  father's  house  troubled  all  Israel,  so  Mr.  Chapman, 
the  chief  counsellor  of  the  grand  leases,  and  his  complices,  are 
perturbers  of  this  commonwealth." 

When  this  difficult  quarrel  was  settled  by  Queen  Elizabeth's 
Charter  (1600)  Lionel  Maddison  was  one  of  the  aldermen  of  the 
town  and  one  of  the  members  of  the  fraternity  of  hostmen  that  were 
named  in  the  document.  His  name  occurs  also,  in  the  same  year, 
at  the  head  of  a  commission  to  sit  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church  and 
examine  witnesses  in  a  cause  between  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle 
and  some  of  the  burgesses,  as  well  as  in  a  list  of  the  coal-owners, 
who,  by  order  of  the  Hostmen's  Company,  were  to  observe  the 
regulated  vend  of  coal.  In  the  municipal  year  1605-6  he  was 
Mayor  again,  and  Governor  of  the  Merchants'  Company,  his  son, 
Henry  Maddison,  being  Sheriff,  and  in  the  year  161 7-18  he  occupied 
the  same  exalted  position  for  the  third  and  last  time.  A  subsidy 
roll  of  1 62 1  shows  that  he  was  living  in  St.  Nicholas'  parish,  his  son 
and  grandson  each  having  a  separate  household,  and  the  following 
year,  an  aged  man,  he  appears  as  a  witness  in  a  dispute  between  the 
town  and  certain  grantees  or  farmers  under  the  Crown  of  a  coal 
due  of  twopence  a  chaldron  : — "  Lionel  Maddison,  the  elder,  of 
Newcastle,   Esquire,  aged  eighty-five  years,  or  thereabouts  [he  was 


124  SI/^  LIONEL  M ADDISON. 

ninety-two],  deposed  that  he  knew  none  of  the  complainants;  that 
the  town  was  incorporated  by  the  name  of  the  Mayor  and  burgesses, 
and  had  been  all  the  time  of  his  remembrance;  that  they  are  seised 
of  the  town  and  river,  and  of  all  the  rights  belonging  to  the  same ; 
that  the  town  was  compassed  with  fair  and  stately  walls,  and  is  the 
principal  refuge  for  the  country  in  time  of  war;  that  the  Mayor  and 
burgesses  bore  and  maintained  the  charges  of  repairs,  eta,  and  that 
they  had  received  as  long  as  he  can  remember,  the  said  duty  of 
twopence;  that  he  had  seen  an  exemplification  of  an  inquisition 
taken  in  the  time  of  Henry  VL,  wherein  it  appeared  that  the  said 
duty  of  twopence  was  then,  as  now,  taken  by  the  Mayor  and 
burgesses,"  etc. 

Mr.  Maddison  died  on  the  6th  December,  1624,  aged  ninety-four 
years,  leaving  an  only  son,  Henry,  who  became  the  father  of  Sir 
Lionel  Maddison,  and  fifteen  other  sons  and  daughters.  A  stone  in 
the  nave  of  St.  Nicholas'  Church  marked  the  resting-place  of  the 
venerable  alderman  and  that  of  his  wife,  who  died  July  gth,  161 1, 
while  upon  the  elaborate  sculpture  which  forms  the  principal  attrac- 
tion of  St.  Nicholas',  the  "  Maddison  Monument,"  appears  his  efifigy, 
"  devoutly  postured  "  in  front  of  his  wife,  surrounded  and  supported 
by  his  son  and  daughter-in-law,  and  their  sixteen  children. 


Sir  Xioncl  flDabbison, 

AND   THE    MADDISON    MONUMENT,    NEWCASTLE   CATHEDRAL. 

Henry,  only  son  of  Alderman  Lionel  Maddison,  baptised  at  St. 
Nicholas',  Newcastle,  on  the  30th  of  October,  1574,  married,  May 
14th,  1594,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Alderman  Robert  Barker,  a 
wealthy  Tyneside  merchant,  and,  shortly  afterwards,  entered  into 
public  life  as  one  of  the  town's  chamberlains.  During  the  second 
mayoralty  of  his  father,  in  1605-6,  he  filled  the  ofifice  of  Sheriff,  and 
at  Michaelmas,  1623,  was  elected  Mayor  himself,  being,  at  the  same 
time,  appointed  Governor  of  the  two  great  companies  of  Hostmen 
and  Merchant  Adventurers.  His  name  frequently  appears  in  the 
heated  controversies  that  raged  over  the  monopoly  which  he  and  his 
fellow-hostmen  exercised  in  the  sea-borne  coal  trade,  and  upon  one 
occasion  (May  161 8)  it  figures  in  a  case  before  the  Star  Chamber,  in 
which  he  and  five  others  of  the  fraternity  were  committed  to  the 


SI/?  LIONEL  MADDISON.  125 

Fleet  Prison,  and  ordered  to  pay  a  fine  of  ^[^20  to  the  king,  for 
adulterating,  or  mixing,  coals.  He  died  on  the  14th  July,  1634, 
aged  sixty,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Nicholas'  beside  his  father  and 
mother. 

Lionel,  eldest  of  the  sixteen  children  born  to  Henry  and  Elizabeth 
Maddison,  was  baptised  on  the  i6th  February,  1594-95,  and,  on  the 
14th  of  January,  1616-17,  he  married  Anne,  daughter  of  William 
Hall,  of  Newcastle,  merchant.  Following  the  footsteps  of  his  father 
and  grandfather,  he  entered  the  governing  body  of  the  town,  and  in 
1624,  the  year  of  his  grandfather's  death,  and  of  his  father-in-law's 
mayoralty,  he  received  the  appointment  of  Sheriff.  In  due  course 
the  higher  position  of  Mayor  came  to  him.  He  was  occupying  that 
office,  with  one  of  his  brothers-in-law,  Francis  Bowes,  as  Sheriff,  when 
King  Charles  I.  spent  a  week  in  Newcastle  on  his  way  to  be  crowned 
in  Scotland.  His  Majesty  arrived  in  the  town  on  the  evening  of 
Monday,  the  3rd  of  June,  1633,  dined  with  the  Mayor  the  day 
following,  and,  before  leaving  for  the  North,  gave  his  Worship  the 
accolade  of  a  knight,  bidding  him  rise  up  Sir  Lionel  Maddison. 

When  the  troubles  came  which  developed  into  civil  war,  Sir 
Lionel  Maddison  took  a  leading  part  in  preparing  Newcastle  to 
defy  the  king's  enemies,  and  resist  invasion.  He  was  one  of  the 
municipal  rulers  who  conferred  with  Sir  Jacob  Astley  upon  the 
proper  means  to  prevent  the  town  being  taken  by  surprise,  and  sent 
to  the  lord-lieutenants  (January  27th,  1638-39)  Sir  Jacob's  instruc- 
tions, accompanied  by  this  loyal  declaration  : — "  For  what  concerns 
ourselves  by  these  instructions  to  be  done,  we  shall  not  fail  (God 
willing)  with  all  expedition  to  perform  the  same;  and  for  what  other 
things  therein  contained,  which  we  have  made  bold  to  crave  the 
assistance  of  his  Majesty's  most  honourable  Privy  Council,  our 
humble  suit  to  your  lordships  is  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  do  us 
that  honourable  favour  as  to  commend  our  suit  therein  to  their 
honours;  and  as  duty  binds  us  we  shall  be,  as  we  have  always  been, 
most  ready  and  forward  to  adventure  our  lives  and  fortunes  for  the 
advancement  of  his  Majesty's  service,  in  the  defence  of  this  our 
ancient  town  and  liberties." 

Sir  Lionel  Maddison  did  not  long  continue  to  be  the  ardent 
Royalist  which  the  foregoing  letter  indicates.  Robert  Bewicke, 
Mayor  in  1639-40,  had  married  his  eldest  son  to  one  of  Sir  Lionel's 
sisters,  while  William  Maddison,  one  of  Sir  Lionel's  brothers,  was  the 
husband   of  Rebecca,  sister   of  Ralph  Gray,  a  Puritan    leader  in 


126  SIR  LIONEL  MADDISON. 

Newcastle.  Through  the  influence  of  these  family  connections  it 
was  believed  that  his  loyalty  first  began  to  waver.  Sir  John  Marley, 
writing  to  the  Dean  of  Durham  in  January,  1639-40,  gave  expression 
to  the  prevailing  suspicion,  informing  the  Dean  that  Sir  Lionel 
Maddison  was  "  one  of  the  greatest  favourers  of  the  faction  in  all 
Newcastle,  but  carries  it  warily." 

Later  on,  in  the  autumn  of  1640,  when  the  Scots,  fresh  from  their 
victory  at  Newburn,  took  quiet  possession  of  Newcastle,  the  Earl  of 
Lothian,  whom  they  appointed  governor  of  the  town,  lodged  at  Sir 
Lionel's  house,  and  from  thence  issued  his  requisitions  upon  the 
authorities  of  Northumberland  and  Durham  for  the  support  of  the 
Scottish  army.  Sympathisers  fared  no  better  than  opponents  in 
these  burdensome  levies,  and  both  parties  made  common  cause  in 
seeking  relief  from  them.  Sinking  their  political  differences,  Sir 
Lionel  Maddison  and  Sir  John  Marley  journeyed  to  York,  and  pleaded 
the  cause  of  their  suffering  fellow-townsmen  before  the  king  and 
his  Council.  To  what  extent  they  succeeded  in  benefiting  New- 
castle is  not  apparent;  terms  were  arranged  long  afterwards  in 
London,  and  the  Scots  departed. 

At  the  second  Scottish  invasion,  in  the  beginning  of  1644,  when 
the  Earl  of  Leven  appeared  before  the  walls  of  Newcastle,  and 
requested  a  parley.  Sir  Lionel  Maddison  was  one  of  those  who  signed 
a  defiant  refusal  to  grant  it.  But  in  the  animated  correspondence 
which  preceded  the  storming  of  the  town  in  October  following  he 
took  no  part.  He  had,  in  fact,  three  months  before,  definitely  gone 
over  to  the  side  of  the  Parliament  On  Wednesday,  the  loth  July, 
in  that  year,  as  may  be  read  in  the  Journals  of  the  House  of 
Commons — "Two  letters  from  the  Committee  in  Sunderland;  the 
one  of  June  the  last,  the  other  of  July  this  Sixth ;  and  a  Letter, 
inclosed  in  the  former  from  the  Earl  of  Calander,  near  Blythe- 
nooke,  relating,  that  Sir  Lionel  Maddison  and  Alderman  Clavering, 
of    Newcastle,    were   come  in   to   the  Parliament,    were   this   Day 

read." 

Four  months  later  the  House  took  the  submission  of  these  two 
Newcastle  aldermen  into  consideration,  and  ordered  "  That  Sir 
Lionell  Maddison,  and  Mr.  Clavering,  that  came  and  submitted 
themselves  to  the  Parliament  in  July  last,  as  appears  by  a  Letter 
from  Sir  William  Armyn,  and  the  rest  of  the  Committees  and 
Commissioners  of  both  Houses  residing  in  the  Scotts  Army,  be 
referred  to  the  said  Commissioners  to  deal  with,  and  dispose  of,  as 


S/J?  LIONEL  MADDISON. 


1 27 


they  shall  find  Cause,  upon  Experience  they  have  had  of  their  good 
and  real  Affections  to  the  Parliament." 

No  further  reference  to  the  matter  appears  in  the  Journals.  There 
are  entries  of  the  restoration  of  coals  and  collieries  to  Sir  Lionel's 
brother  Ralph,  the  husband  of  Elizabeth  Hall,  his  wife's  sister,  and 
nearly  a  twelvemonth  later,  in  September,  1645,  by  order  of  the 
House,  Sir  Lionel  was  added  to  the   "Committees  for  the  Town 


lbs    P'jatidisor;  N(oiZUTn£ijr 


and  County  of  Durham  in  the  Ordinance  for  the  Northern  Associa- 
tion." It  would  appear  therefore  that  the  Commissioners  were 
satisfied  of  his  "  good  and  real  affection  to  the  Parliament,"  and  that 
he  was  left  unharmed  in  mind,  body,  or  estate.  He  was  not,  how- 
ever, fortuned  to  participate  in  the  triumphs  of  the  party  to  which 
he  had  allied  himself.  The  Hostmen  appointed  him  their  Governor 
for  the  year  following  that  of  the  siege,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the 


128  SIR  LIONEL  M ADDISON. 

next  year,  on  the  i8th  November,  1646,  he  died.  He  was  buried  on 
the  2ist  of  that  month,  near  the  magnificent  monument  which  he  had 
erected  in  St.  Nicholas'  to  the  memory  of  his  father  and  grandfather. 

The  Maddison  Monument  appears  to  have  been  erected  by  Sir 
Lionel,  soon  after  the  death  of  his  father,  Henry  Maddison.  It  is, 
as  the  drawing  shows,  an  elaborate  composition — one  of  the  chief 
adornments  of  the  Cathedral.  At  the  top  are  statues  of  Faith, 
Hope,  and  Charity.  Faith,  on  the  left,  is  represented  in  a  sitting 
posture,  holding  a  book  in  one  hand  and  a  cross  in  the  other;  Hope, 
to  the  right,  reclines  on  her  anchor  in  an  attitude  of  aspiration; 
Charity,  in  the  centre,  stands  erect,  holding  in  her  right  hand  a 
flaming  heart.  Under  the  statue  of  Faith  are  inscribed  the  words 
MemoricB  Sacrum — "  Sacred  to  the  memory"  ;  below  Hope  is  written 
Memorare  Novissima — "  To  relate  the  last  words." 

In  the  body  of  the  monument  are  six  kneeling  figures — three  men 
and  three  women.  Those  on  the  left  are  Alderman  Lionel  Mad- 
dison and  Jane  Seymour,  his  wife.  The  central  figures  are  Henry 
Maddison,  their  son,  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Barker.  The  effigy  in 
armour  on  the  right  is  Sir  Lionel  Maddison,  and  behind  him  kneels 
Anne  Hall,  his  wife.  Below  the  principal  figures  are  sixteen  smaller 
ones,  representing  Henry  Maddison's  sixteen  children — ten  sons  and 
six  daughters.  The  second  daughter,  it  will  be  observed,  is  repre- 
sented on  a  smaller  scale  than  the  rest,  having  died  in  infancy. 
Above  are  coats-of-arms  indicating  the  family  alliances — Maddison 
quartering  respectively  Marley,  Seymour,  Barker,  and  Hall. 

Under  the  figures  of  Alderman  Lionel  Maddison  and  his  wife,  on 
the  left  side  of  the  monument,  is  the  inscription : — 

"  Here  rests  in  Christian  hope  ye  Bodies  of  Lionell  Maddison,  sone  to  Rowland 
Maddison  of  Vnthanke  in  ye  covnty  of  Durham,  Esq.  and  of  lane  his  wife.  Shee 
Died  Ivly  9,  161 1.  Hee  having  been  thrice  Maior  of  this  Towne,  Departed  Dec. 
6,  1624,  aged  94  Yeares.  Hee  liued  to  see  his  onely  sonne  Henry  Father  to  a 
Fayre  «S:  numerous  Issue." 

The  two  panels  in  front,  beneath  the  figures  of  Henry  and  his  wife, 
are  inscribed  as  follows : — 

"  Here  Interred  also  are  the  Bodys  of  Henry  Maddison  &  Elizabeth  his  Wife 
(Davghter  to  Robert  Barker  of  this  Towne  Alderman)  who  liued  together  most 
comfortably  and  louingly  in  trve  Wedlock  ye  space  of  40  Years,  He  was  some- 
tyme  Maior  of  this  Towne  &  having  liued  in  good  name  &  fame  60  Yeares  Deceased 
in  ye  trve  Faith  of  Christ  the  14th  Ivly  1634. 


S//^:  LIONEL  M ADDISON.  129 

"  Elizabeth  his  only  Wife  had  issve  by  him  ten  sonnes  Sr  Lionell  Maddisoii 
Kt. ,  Raphe,  Robert,  William,  Henry,  Peter,  George,  Timothy  &  Thomas,  &  six 
Davghters  lane,  Svsan,  Elizabeth,  Barbara,  Elenor  &  lane.  All  the  sonns  at  his 
death  were  lining  but  lohn,  who  died  in  ye  late  Expedition  to  Cadiz.  She  liued 
his  Widow  19  Years  and  being  Aged  79  Years  Dyed  the  24  of  September  1653." 

The  panel  to  the  right,  beneath  Sir  Lionel  and  his  wife,  was  left 
blank  for  their  descendants  to  fill  up.  For  some  reason  or  other — 
perhaps,  as  Brand  suggests,  because  of  the  knight's  defection  from 
the  cause  of  the  king — this  panel  remained  unappropriated  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years.  But  when  St.  Nicholas'  was  restored  in 
1873-77,  and  the  monument  was  removed  from  the  western  pillar 
of  the  south  aisle  of  the  chancel,  cleaned,  and  set  up  in  the  south 
transept,  Mr.  Henry  Maddison,  of  Darlington  (who  died  in  New- 
castle, February  6th,  1891),  caused  the  space  to  be  filled  with  the 
following  inscription : — 

"  In  this  chvrch  are  also  interred  the  mortal  remains  of  Sir  Lionel  Maddison, 
Knt.  (descended  from  the  ancient  and  worshipfvl  family  of  Maddison  of  Ellergill 
&  Vnthank,  co.  Dvrham)  who  was  Mayor  of  this  town  in  1632,  &  died  in  Nov. 
1646,  aged  51  years;  &  of  Anne  his  wife,  who  was  sister  and  co-heiress  of  Sir 
Alexander  Hall,  Knt.  and  died  in  April,  1633."  [This  date,  by  the  way,  is  wrong. 
Lady  Anne  Maddison  was  buried  on  the  14th  of  April,  1663.] 

Beneath  the  panels  are  four  Latin  mottoes.  To  the  left,  under 
Lionel's  wife,  AnimcR  svper  cethcra  viviint — "  Souls  live  above  the 
sky."  Beneath  Lionel  and  Henry,  Decus  vitcz  est  honorata  mors — 
"  The  glory  of  life  is  an  honoured  death."  Under  Sir  Lionel  and 
his  mother,  Beatl  mortiii  qui  iti  Domino  jnonvntur — "  Blessed  are 
the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord."  Below  Sir  Lionel's  wife,  Serins 
ant  citins  Metaju  properamns  ad  vnam — "  Sooner  or  later  we  all 
hasten  to  one  goal." 

Originally  the  base  of  the  monument  contained  a  series  of  small 
shields  indicating  the  marriages  of  Sir  Lionel  Maddison's  brothers 
and  sisters,  but  these  have  long  disappeared.  So  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained the  marriages  were  as  follows  : — Ralph,  to  Elizabeth,  sister  to 
Sir  Lionel's  wife ;  Robert,  to  a  Miss  Draper ;  William,  to  Rebecca 
Gray;  Henry  (Sheriff  of  Newcastle,  1642-43,  and  Mayor,  1665-66), 
to  Gertrude,  daughter  of  Sir  George  Tonge ;  Peter  (Sheriff  of  New- 
castle, 1637-38),  to  Elizabeth  Marley;  Thomas,  to  Jane,  daughter  of 
Ralph  Cock  ;  Jane,  to  William,  son  of  Sir  Nicholas  Tempest ;  Eliza- 
beth, first  to  William  Bewicke,  son  of  Robert  Bewicke,  the  Puritan 
Mayor,  and  secondly  to  Thomas  Loraine,  of  Kirkharle ;  Eleanor,, 

VOL.  III.  9 


1 30  JOHN  MA  GBR  A  V. 

to  Sir  Francis  Bowes ;  Jane  (born  after  the  first  Jane's  death),  to  Sir 
James  Clavering. 

Sir  Lionel  Maddison  left  an  only  daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  married, 
February  27th,  1639-40,  Sir  George  Vane  of  Longnewton,  knight, 
second  son  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  of  Raby  Castle,  and  brother  of  Sir 
Harry  Vane  of  the  Commonwealth.  From  this  marriage  the  noble 
house  of  Londonderry  traces  its  descent. 


3obu  riDacjbra^, 

SIXTEEN   YEARS    VICAR    OF   NEWCASTLE. 

Among  those  who  fled  across  the  Border  during  the  persecution 
of  the  Lutherans  in  Scotland  was  a  disciple  of  John  Knox,  belonging 
to  Galloway,  named  John  Magbray  or  IMackbray.  Being  of  gentle 
birth  and  good  education,  he  found  his  way  to  London,  where  he 
entered  into  holy  orders,  and  became  a  minister  of  the  Reformed 
Church  of  England.  His  abilities  in  his  new  sphere  of  action 
brought  him  preferment.  Soon  after  the  Reformation  the  living  of 
Shoreditch  was  conferred  upon  him,  and  in  that  position,  till  the 
death  of  Edward  VI.,  he  remained  —  a  zealous  and  acceptable 
preacher.  There  is  a  passing  reference  to  him  as  a  metropolitan 
vicar  in  the  "  Diary  of  Henry  Machyn,  Citizen  and  Merchant-Taylor 
of  London."  Under  date  1552,  the  diarist,  recording  the  burial, 
at  Stepney,  of  Sir  Anthony  Wakefield,  knight,  adds  a  line  which 
identifies  the  fugitive  from  Galloway : — "  At  the  Communion  did 
preach  the  Vicar  of  Shoreditch,  a  Scot." 

Upon  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  Mr.  Magbray  fled  again — 
taking  refuge  this  time  in  Germany.  For  a  while  he  preached  to  the 
English  congregation  at  Frankfort.  "Afterwards,"  writes  Spotswood 
in  his  "  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,"  "  called  by  some  occa- 
sion to  the  charge  of  a  church  in  the  lower  Germany,  he  continued 
there  the  rest  of  his  dayes.  Some  Homilies  he  left  upon  the  Pro- 
phecies of  Hosea,  and  an  History  of  the  beginning  and  progress  of 
the  English  Church."  It  is  believed  that  Spotswood  was  mistaken 
in  supposing  that  Mr.  Magbray  died  abroad.  Other  authorities  state 
that  shortly  after  Queen  Mary's  death  he  returned,  with  many  other 
fugitives,  to  England,  and  resumed  his  ministrations.  Industrious 
Machyn  makes  a  note  of  his  re-appearance,  though  it  is  to  be  ob- 


JOHN  MA  GBR  A  Y.  131 

served  that  he  does  not  identify  him  with  the  ex-vicar  of  Shoreditch  : 
— "The  3rd  September  [1559]  did  preach  at  Paul's  one  Makebray, 
a  Scot."  Strype,  in  his  "Annals,"  has  a  similar  entry: — "One 
Makebray,  a  Scot,  an  eminent  exile  in  Queen  Mary's  days,  preached 
at  St.  Paul's  Cross  in  1559." 

Through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Best,  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  Mr.  Mag- 
bray  came  to  the  North  of  England.  Lord  Scrope,  writing  from 
Carlisle  to  Secretary  Cecil,  on  the  15th  July,  1564,  informs  him  that 
"  A  chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  a  Scotsman,  named  Maw- 
braye,  and  tw^o  of  the  Prebendaries  of  the  same  church,  preached 
several  days  to  great  audiences,  who  liked  their  sermons  and 
doctrines."  A  year  later  Mr.  Magbray  obtained  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  living  of  Billingham,  near  Stockton,  vacant  by  the  depriva- 
tion of  Prebendary  George  Cliff,  and  on  the  2Sth  November,  1568, 
on  the  death  of  the  Rev.  William  Salkeld,  his  friend,  the  Bishop  of 
Carlisle,  inducted  him  to  the  vicarage  of  Newcastle. 

Neither  of  these  livings  being  too  well  endowed,  Vicar  Magbray 
was  allowed  to  hold  them  both.  It  was  soon  found,  however,  that 
Newcastle  received  the  most  of  his  attention,  and  that  Billingham 
was  neglected.  He  kept  a  curate  in  his  Teesside  benefice,  but 
the  curate  did  not  do  his  dut}',  and  grave  scandal  accrued.  In 
the  Act  Books  of  the  Court  of  Durham,  under  a  date  not  given, 
but  presumably  in  1573,  is  the  record  of  a  case  in  which  the  church- 
wardens of  Billingham  complain  that  for  two  Sundays  running  they 
had  no  service,  and  that  the  parishioners  had  to  obtain  neighbouring 
clergymen  to  baptise  and  marry.  At  a  visitation  of  the  clergy  held 
in  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  Durham,  in  February,  1577,  the  church  of 
Billingham  was  represented  by  two  of  the  churchwardens  only;  the 
vicar,  his  curate,  and  even  the  parish  clerk  being  absent.  For  this 
neglect  Mr.  INIagbray  and  the  curate  were  excommunicated.  The 
following  year  he  appeared  personally  as  vicar  of  Billingham  at  a 
General  Chapter  held  in  Heighington  Church;  his  excommunication 
having  in  the  meantime  been  purged  or  withdrawn.  Soon  afterwards 
— date  uncertain — he  resigned  the  living  to  Prebendary  Cliff,  the 
previous  vicar.  His  withdrawal  from  Billingham  may  have  been 
concurrent  with  his  resignation  of  the  vicarage  of  Newcastle,  which 
happened  on  the  8th  of  April,  157S,  "in  the  Galilee  of  Durham 
Cathedral,  before  the  Bishop  sitting  in  person  in  Visitation."  Of 
this,  how'ever,  there  is  no  evidence.  He  became  repossessed  of  his 
living  of  Newxastle  after  no  long  interval,  and  he  is  heard   of  at 


1 3  2  JOHN  MA  GBR  A  Y. 

Billingham  no  more.  In  a  "deputation"  of  sermons,  allotted  by 
Bishop  Barnes  to  be  preached  between  Michaelmas,  1578,  and  the 
same  date  in  1579,  by  various  clergymen  of  the  diocese  "over 
and  besides  their  ordinary  quarterly  and  monthly  sermons  in  their 
own  peculiar  cures  and  churches,"  Mr.  Magbray  is  put  down  for  nine 
discourses.  He  was  to  preach  before  the  General  Chapter  in  his  own 
church  of  St.  Nicholas',  and  afterwards  at  Bishop  Auckland,  Morpeth, 
Tynemouth,  Gateshead,  Benton,  Earsdon,  Newburn,  and  Norton. 
He  died  in  Newcastle  in  the  early  part  of  November,  1584,  and 
Agnes,  his  wife,  a  few  months  later  followed  him.  "November  i6th, 
John  Mackbray,  preacher,  and  some  time  curate,"  is  the  entry  by 
which  the  keeper  of  St.  Nicholas'  Register  of  Burials  recorded  his 
interment. 

Vicar  Magbray  belonged  to  the  school  of  John  Knox,  and,  like  his 
exemplar,  was  a  fluent  and  earnest  preacher.  He  was  not  content  to 
follow  stereotyped  forms  nor  to  imitate  prescribed  models  of  pulpit 
utterance.  He  claimed  the  liberty,  which  he  had  enjoyed  in  exile, 
to  deliver  his  message  in  his  own  way;  to  expound  the  doctrines  he 
had  received  from  the  Reformers  with  all  the  freedom  of  Luther  and 
Calvin.  The  latitude  of  thought  and  expression  which  characterised 
his  ministrations  became,  in  after  years,  the  subject  of  animadversion 
by  Dr.  Jackson,  one  of  his  successors  in  the  vicarage.  Writing  upon 
"  The  Inordinate  Libertie  of  Prophesying,"  the  Doctor  classes  him 
with  Knox  and  Udale  as  a  sower  of  tares : — "  Since  the  Libertie  of 
Prophesying  was  taken  up,  which  came  but  lately  into  the  Northern 
Parts  (unless  it  were  in  the  towns  of  Newcastle  and  Barwick,  wherein 
Knox,  Mackbray,  and  Udal  had  sown  their  Tares),  all  things  have 
gone  so  cross  and  backward  in  our  Church  that  I  cannot  call  the 
Historic  for  these  fortie  years  or  more  to  mind,  or  express  my 
observations  upon  it  but  with  a  bleeding  heart." 

In  the  archives  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Court  at  Durham  are  pre- 
served the  records  of  a  suit  for  dilapidations  at  the  Vicarage,  brought 
against  Roger  Boston,  administrator  or  receiver  of  Mr.  Magbray's 
effects,  by  the  succeeding  Vicar  of  Newcastle,  the  Rev.  Richard 
Holdsworth.  The  details  are  interesting  and  curious.  Michael 
Frisell,  curate  of  the  church  of  North  Gosforth  (whose  ruins  are  still 
to  be  seen  in  an  enclosure  adjoining  Low  Gosforth  House),  deposed 
that,  after  Mr.  Magbray's  decease,  Boston  took  possession  of  his 
goods — nineteen  bushels  of  wheat  and  a  mare,  worth,  together,  ;^i8 
or  more ;  a  silver  salt,  worth  ^5  or  more ;  a  silk  grogram  gown  and 


EDWARD  MAN.  133 

a  cassock,  worth  ^6  13s.  4(1.  Cuthbcrt  Murray,  slater,  testified  that 
he  and  Richard  Burne  surveyed  the  Vicarage,  and  found  that  it  was 
decayed  in  the  brewhouse  and  a  backhouse  [bakehouse  ?]  adjoin- 
ing, the  repairs  of  which  would  cost  50s.  Burne  and  he  had 
repaired  the  hall,  charging  37s.  Sd.,  and  he  himself  had  renovated 
"the  old  house  by  the  coal-hole"  at  a  cost  of  22s.  yd.  Other 
witnesses  gave  evidence  respecting  carpenter  work,  while  Cuthbert 
Ewbank,  curate  of  St.  Nicholas',  confirmed  Mr.  Frisell's  testimony. 
Boston,  according  to  his  account,  had  taken  away  goods  belonging 
to  Mr.  Magbray  worth,  one  with  another,  he  thought,  ^^40,  besides 
the  silk  grogram  gown  and  the  cassock.  It  was  sought  to  make 
Boston  pay  for  the  repairs  out  of  the  proceeds  of  Mr.  Magbray's 
estate,  but  the  result  of  the  suit  is  not  stated. 

If  there  has  been  no  mistake  in  identifying  the  exile  at  Frankfort 
as  the  Vicar  of  St.  Nicholas',  and  no  error  in  assuming  Magbray  in 
Elizabeth's  days  to  have  been  the  Mackbray  who  fled  from  Galloway 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  then  Newcastle  must  have  had  a 
very  learned  man  at  the  head  of  her  clergy  from  1568  to  1584.  For, 
besides  the  two  works  mentioned  by  Spotswood,  John  Magbray  was 
the  author  of  several  books.  Bale  names  some  of  them,  and  adds 
that  "he  wrote  elegantly  in  Latin." 


TOWN    CLERK    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

One  of  the  figures  that  looms  out  large  and  clear  from  the  haze  and 
mist  of  the  Civil  War  time,  is  that  of  Edward  Man,  merchant,  clerk 
to  the  Merchants  and  Hostmen's  Companies,  and  Town  Clerk  of 
Newcastle. 

Edward  Man  was  a  son  of  Myles  Man,  of  Huttonroof,  a  township 
in  the  parish  of  Kirkby  Lonsdale,  Westmorland.  He  came  to  New- 
castle in  1615,  to  be  bound  apprentice  for  ten  years,  from  the  ist  of 
August,  to  Edwin  Nicholson,  boothman,  or  corn  merchant.  Through 
the  death  or  failure  of  his  master  in  1622,  he  was  "set  over,"  first  to 
Jacob  Farniside,  his  master's  half-brother,  and,  secondly,  to  Mary 
Nicholson,  who  was  probably  his  master's  widow.  Before  August, 
1625,  when  his  apprenticeship   should  have  expired,  he  had  been 


134  EDWARD  MAN. 

admitted  to  the  freedom  of  the  Merchants'  Company,  for  on  the  ist 
of  that  month,  designated  as  a  "merchant  adventurer,"  he  became 
bond  for  a  lad  who  was  indentured  to  a  cooper.  Thenceforward  he 
appears  in  the  books  of  the  fraternity,  following  his  calling,  and 
taking  apprentices  like  other  members  of  the  company.  By  the  year 
1639,  he  had  developed  aptitudes  for  business,  and  skill  in  the 
management  of  affairs,  which  recommended  him  to  his  brethren  as  a 
suitable  person  for  the  office  of  clerk  to  the  company,  and  to  that 
responsible  position  he  was  appointed.  There  is  an  order  of  the 
fraternity  of  that  date  authorising  him  to  make  free  use  of  a  horse 
which  they  owned,  to  enable  him,  w^e  may  presume,  to  ride  to  Shields, 
and  other  places  round  about,  when  engaged  upon  their  business. 

Whatsoever  may  have  been,  at  the  outset,  Mr.  Man's  views  upon 
the  political  and  religious  disputes  which  were  gradually  dividing  the 
kingdom  into  two  great  camps,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  some 
time  before  he  received  the  appointment  of  clerk  to  the  Merchants' 
Company,  he  was  in  active  sympathy  with  the  anti-prerogative  and 
anti-prelatical  party.  Although  in  1635,  when  cited  before  the  High 
Commission  Court  at  Durham  to  answer,  with  other  townspeople, 
for  scandalous  words  about  a  sermon  preached  in  St.  Nicholas' 
Church  by  Dr.  Cosin,  he  backed  out  of  the  case,  and  was  admitted 
a  witness  against  his  co-defendants,  yet,  three  years  later,  when 
summoned  again  before  the  same  court  as  a  witness,  his  tendencies 
were  clearly  exhibited.  On  that  occasion,  John  Blakiston  was  pre- 
sented by  Vicar  Alvey  for  non-conformity  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church,  and  Man  gave  evidence  in  his  favour.  He  deposed 
that  he  was  forty  years  of  age,  and  with  occasional  absences  abroad, 
had  lived  for  twenty-three  years  in  the  chapelry  of  All  Saints ;  that 
he  usually  attended  All  Saints'  Church,  where  Dr.  Jenison  preached, 
though  sometimes  he  attended  St.  Nicholas';  that  Blackiston  attended 
both  places,  and  always  behaved  in  a  decent  and  reverent  manner, 
etc.,  etc. 

Then,  in  February,  1640,  he  was  reported  to  the  Privy  Council  by 
Sir  John  Marley  as  a  participant  in  a  "  conventicle  supper  "  with  Sir 
Walter  Riddell  and  Sir  John  Buchanan,  "two  covenanters  from 
Scotland  of  no  mean  note."  A  month  later,  when  there  was  a  hotly- 
conducted  election  in  Newcastle,  and  Anthony  Errington,  a  warden 
of  the  Merchants'  Company,  prepared  a  petition  for  redress  of  griev- 
ances, his  was  the  pen  which  put  the  petition  into  shape  and  added 
various  stinging  passages.     Again,  in  September,  1641,  being  one  of 


EDWARD  MAN.  135 

the  churchwardens  of  All  Saints',  he  signed  a  resolution,  passed  at  a 
meeting  of  the  "four  and  twentie  and  auntient  of  the  parish,"  refus- 
ing to  admit  George  Wishart,  the  king's  nominee,  to  be  their  preacher 
in  the  place  of  Dr.  Jenison,  suspended  for  non-conformity. 

Occupying  a  prominent  position  as  an  official  of  the  greatest  and 
wealthiest  commercial  corporation  in  the  North  of  England,  Mr. 
Man  was  entrusted  with  business  of  high  importance.  When,  in  the 
summer  of  1641,  the  Scots  quitted  Newcastle,  after  a  full  year's 
occupancy,  he  was  appointed  a  commissioner  to  perfect  accounts  of 
billets  and  other  moneys  due  from  them.  He  was  also  busily  engaged 
in  a  famous  contention,  which  lasted  from  1636  to  1665,  between  the 
Merchant  Adventurers  of  Newcastle  and  London,  respecting  the 
right  of  the  latter  to  levy  a  duty  of  48s.  a  piece  upon  cloth  exported 
to  Rotterdam.  The  records  of  the  Merchants'  Company  exhibit  him 
as  assessed  for  a  sum  of  20s.  towards  the  payment  of  the  garrison, 
while  the  Hostmen's  books  show  that  he  was  clerk  to  their  fraternity 
for  a  time,  and  did  good  service  in  preventing  "unfree"  men  from 
loading  and  selling  coals. 

Mr.  ISIan's  next  appearance  in  local  history  indicates  that  he  had 
suffered  a  reverse  of  fortune.  By  some  mischance  he  was  put  into 
prison,  but  for  what  offence,  whether  for  debt,  breach  of  ecclesiastical 
law,  or  disloyalty,  and  by  whom  incarcerated,  do  not  appear.  All 
that  we  know  about  the  matter  is  disclosed  in  a  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  dated  March  7th,  1642-43: — "Ordered,  That  the 
Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  do  grant  a  Habeas  Corpora 
for  the  Removal  of  the  Bodies  of  Henry  Ogle,  John  Salkeld,  Jo. 
Ridley,  Tho.  Huntley,  Edward  Man,  Nath.  Barnard,  and  Geo. 
Moore,  from  the  Prison  at  Newcastle  where  they  are  now  detained; 
and  of  the  Causes  of  their  Commitment :  And  Mr.  Blakeston  is  to 
present  to  the  House  the  Names  of  such  other  Prisoners  there,  or  in 
the  Bishoprick  of  Durham,  that  like  Habeas  Corpora  may  be  granted 
for  them." 

Ill-fortune  continued  to  pursue  Mr.  Man  at  this  time.  At  the 
election  of  officers  of  the  Merchants'  Company,  on  the  9th  of 
October,  1643,  his  post  of  clerk  was  conferred  upon  another,  and  a 
year  later,  on  the  eve  of  the  siege  and  storming  of  Newcastle,  he  was 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  ranks  of  the  besieging  army.  A  letter 
addressed  to  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  "From  Ben  well, 
within  a  mile  of  Newcastle,"  on  the  day  of  the  final  assault  upon  the 
town,  and  signed  with  the  initials  "  E.  M.,"  is  believed  to  have  been 


136  EDWARD  MAN. 

written  by  him.  He  had  been  a  witness  of  the  struggle,  and, 
rejoicing  over  the  defeat  of  his  fellow-townsmen,  he  announced  his 
intention  of  congratulating  the  victors  : — 

"  I  thought  once  to  have  gone  into  towne  this  night,  but  durst 
not,  till  the  storme  was  wholly  allayed.  To-morrow  I  intend  to  wait 
upon  his  Excellencie  and  Sir  William  Armine,  to  give  God  thanks 
for  this  great  gaine,  being  the  considerablist  place  in  the  Kingdom 
for  the  Parliament. 

"The  storme  lasted  two  houres  or  thereabouts;  it  was  very  hott 
and  managed  bravely  on  both  parts  till  the  Towne  was  overmastered. 
I  forbear  to  enlarge,  wishing  God  may  give  us  thankfuU  hearts  that 
our  and  God's  malicious  and  malignant  enemies  are  thus  happily 
entrapped;  howsoever,  all  my  goods  they  are  like  to  bee  a  prey  to 
the  souldiers  as  well  as  others;  in  common  judgement  there  is 
seldome  difference;  I  have  not  any  manner  of  thing  out  of  towne, 
yet  I  am  happie  God  made  me  a  spectator  of  the  fall  of  those  wicked 
men  who  were  borne  to  ruinate  so  famous  a  towne;  the  Maior's 
house  or  some  other  adjoyning  are  burning,  yet  my  Lord  Generall 
hath  given  order  for  the  staying  off  the  fire  if  possible.  The  Post 
stayeth,  I  may  not  enlarge,  so  with  my  love  to  your  good  wife,  and 
Henery  Dawson  [Mayor  of  Newcastle,  1652-53,  and  first  M.P.  for 
the  county  of  Durham,  1653],  his  Wife,  and  Mistresse  Fenick,  I  rest, 
your  ever  loving  friend,  E.  M." 

After  this  great  triumph  of  his  party  Mr.  Man  received  some  of 
the  rewards  which  the  victors  were  able  to  confer  upon  their  friends. 
Parliament  appointed  him  on  the  5th  December,  1644,  a  member  of 
the  local  committee  for  sequestrating  the  estates  of  delinquents,  and 
the  following  year  he  was  promoted  to  the  important  office  of  Town 
Clerk  of  Newcastle.  The  order  of  both  Houses,  by  authority  of 
which  the  Royalist  Mayor,  Sheriff,  Recorder,  Town  Clerk,  and  other 
municipal  dignitaries  were  removed,  and  Edward  Man  and  his 
friends  were  set  up  in  their  places,  has  not  been  published  by  local 
historians.  A  terrible  stern  and  unrelenting  document  it  is.  Copied 
from  the  Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords  under  date  May  26th, 
1645,  it  runs  in  this  fashion  : — 

"  Forasmuch  as  the  Town  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  and  the 
County  thereof,  hath  by  a  malignant  and  wicked  Party,  ill-affected 
to  the  King  and  Parliament,  and  the  true  Protestant  Religion,  been 
brought  to  great  Extremity  and  Misery ;  and  for  that  the  said  Town 
cannot  be  reduced  to  due  Obedience,  and  well  governed,  except  the 


ED  WARD  MAN.  137 

Delinquents  therein  be  removed  from  the  Offices  and  Places  of 
Trust  which  formerly  they  held  and  enjoyed  there,  and  have  abused 
to  the  great  Prejudice  and  almost  Ruin  of  the  said  Town;  and  that 
others,  of  Fidelity  to  the  King  and  Parliament,  be  put  into  their 
Rooms  and  Places;  the  which  cannot  be  so  speedily  effected,  in  the 
ordinary  and  useful  Way  of  Elections,  by  and  according  to  the 
Charters  of  the  said  Town,  as  Necessity  requireth:  It  is  therefore 
Ordered  and  Ordained,  by  the  Lords  and  Commons  in  this 
present  Parliament  assembled,  That  Sir  John  Marley  Knight,  the 
present  Mayor  of  the  said  Town,  be  forthwith  displaced,  disabled, 
and  disfranchised,  and  be  removed  from  being  ]Mayor,  Alderman, 
and  Freeman  of  the  said  Town;  and  that  Henry  Warmouth,  Esquire, 
Alderman  of  the  said  Town,  and  unduly  removed  by  the  said  malig- 
nant Party,  be  restored  to  his  Place  of  Alderman,  and  be  the  present 
]\Iayor  of  the  said  Town ;  and  that  he  the  said  Henry  Warmouth 
shall  exercise  the  Power  and  Authority  of  the  Mayor  there,  and  shall 
have,  receive,  and  take,  all  the  Profits,  and  Advantages,  and  Emolu- 
ments belonging,  or  in  any  Wise  of  Right  appertaining,  unto  the 
Mayor  of  the  said  Town  for  the  Time  being,  in  as  large,  ample,  and 
beneficial  a  Manner  as  any  Mayor  of  the  said  Town  for  the  Time 
being  heretofore  had,  used,  or  enjoyed  the  same:  And  the  said 
Lords  and  Commons  do  hereby  will  and  require  all  and  every  the 
Inhabitants  and  Townsmen  of  the  said  Town  of  Newcastle,  and  all 
and  every  other  Person  and  Persons,  that  they  give  Obedience  to 
the  said  Henry  Warmouth,  as  to  the  Mayor  of  the  said  Town  for  the 
Time  being:  And  it  is  further  Ordained  by  the  said  Lords  and 
Commons  that  Sir  George  Baker,  Knight,  Recorder  of  the  said 
Town,  for  his  notorious  Delinquency,  be  displaced  and  removed ; 
and  that  Edmond  Wright,  of  Greyes  Inn,  Esquire,  be  Recorder  of 
the  said  Town ;  and  that  Sir  Nicholas  Cole,  Baronet,  Thomas  Lidell, 
Esquire,  Sir  Francis  Bowes,  Knight,  Ralph  Cole  and  Ralph  Cocke, 
Esquires,  Aldermen  of  the  said  Town,  and  notorious  Delinquents 
against  the  King  and  Parliament,  be  displaced,  disabled,  and  dis- 
franchised, and  be  removed  from  being  Aldermen  and  Freemen  of 
the  said  Town;  and  that  John  Blakiston,  Esquire,  a  Member  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  Burgess  of  the  said  Town,  be  Alderman  in 
the  Place  of  Sir  Alexand'r  Davison,  Knight,  lately  deceased ;  and 
that  Henry  Lawson,  Henry  Dawson,  Thomas  Legard,  John  Cosin, 
and  Thomas  Bonner  be  Aldermen  of  the  said  Town;  also  that  James 
Cole,  now  Sheriff  of  the  said  Town,  who  is  a  notorious  Delinquent 


138  EDWARD  MAN. 

against  the  King  and  Parliament,  be  disabled  and  disfranchised,  and 
be  removed  from  the  said  Office  of  Sheriff,  and  from  enjoying  the 
Privilege  and  Benefit  of  Free  Burgess  of  that  Town;  and  that 
Robert  Ellison  be  Sheriff;  and  also  that  Edward  Man  be  Town 
Clerk  of  the  said  Town  in  the  Place  of  Doctor  William  Greene, 
lately  deceased ;  and  also  that  Henry  Marley,  Clerk  of  the  Chamber 
of  that  Town,  who  is  also  a  notorious  Delinquent  against  the  King 
and  Parliament,  be  displaced,  disabled,  and  disfranchised,  and  be 
removed  from  being  Clerk  of  the  Chamber,  and  no  longer  enjoy  the 
Privilege  and  Benefit  of  a  Free  Burgess  of  that  Town ;  and  that 
Edward  Wood  be  clerk  of  the  said  Town  in  his  Place :  And  it  is 
further  Ordained  by  the  said  Lords  and  Commons,  that  Yeldred 
Alvey,  now  Vicar  of  that  Town,  who  is  a  notorious  Delinquent,  be 
displaced  and  removed  from  his  Vicarage  and  Cure  there ;  and  that 
Doctor  Robert  Jenison  be  Vicar  of  the  said  Town  in  his  Place,  and 
have,  receive,  and  enjoy,  to  his  own  Use,  all  Profits  and  Advantages 
belonging  to  the  said  Vicarage  and  Lecture  in  as  large  and  ample 
Manner  as  the  said  Mr.  Alvey  might  or  ought  to  have  enjoyed  the 
same;  and  that  Mr.  Christopher  Love,  and  Mr.  William  Struther, 
Two  Ministers  of  God's  Word,  or  some  other  learned  Reverend 
Divines,  be  sent  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  there." 

The  patent  granted  to  Mr.  Man  to  exercise  the  office  of  Town 
Clerk  is  dated  the  4th  of  September,  1645,  but  it  is  probable  that  he 
entered  upon  his  duties  when  the  resolution  of  both  Houses  had 
been  officially  communicated  to  the  local  authorities.  Shortly  before 
that  time,  in  order  to  prevent  a  coal  famine  in  London,  he  and 
Robert  Ellison,  M.P.,  had  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons  a  scheme 
for  working  collieries  belonging  to  delinquent  owners.  In  the 
Journals  of  the  House,  June  20th,  1645,  the  proposal  finds  a  place 
in  the  following  form  : — 

"  Mr.  Lisle  further  reported  a  Letter  from  Sir  ^Vm.  Armyn  and 
Mr.  Fenwick  from  Newcastle  of  7th  Martii,  1644-45;  ^^i'^h  Proposi- 
tions signed  by  Edward  Man  and  Robert  EUeson,  in  the  Names  of 
themselves,  and  the  rest  of  the  Undertakers,  concerning  the  Manage- 
ment of  Delinquents  Collieries :  Which  was  read.     And, 

"  It  was  thereupon  Ordered,  That  the  said  Letter  and  Propositions 
be  referred  to  the  Committee  of  both  Kingdoms  upon  the  Place;  to 
treat  with  the  Makers  of  those  Propositions,  or  any  other  well-affected 
Persons,  for  the  Managing  of  Delinquents  Collieries,  for  the  best 
Advantage  of  the  State;  and  to  consider  of,  and  settle,  the  Measure 


S/J^  HEi\R  Y  MANISTY.  1 39 

of  Coals  at  Sunderland,  and  at  Newcastle,  the  Price  of  Coals  there; 
and  for  giving  an  Oath  to  the  Fillers,  Staithmen,  and  Owners  of 
Coals,  as  well  as  to  the  Masters  of  Ships  there." 

In  the  municipal  accounts  of  Newcastle  under  date  March,  1646, 
appears  the  item — "Paid  Mr.  E.  Man  his  charges  in  goeing  to 
Scotland  for  to  demand  debts  for  the  Burgesses  of  this  Towne,  but 
gott  not  one  penny — 12/." — an  entry  which  indicates  that  the  new 
Town  Clerk  was  not  so  successful  among  his  Presbyterian  friends 
across  the  Border  as  he  had  been  with  the  unfree  men  of  the  Tyne. 

Mr.  Man  did  not  long  enjoy  the  office  and  emoluments  of  Town 
Clerk.  His  domestic  life,  like  his  public  career,  had  been  full  of 
trouble.  He  had  married  Dorothy,  daughter  of  George  Bindlosse, 
of  Kendal,  and  out  of  eleven  children  born  to  him  only  one  attained 
to  the  age  of  manhood.  In  the  prime  of  life,  on  the  loth  of  Decem- 
ber, 1654,  he  was  buried  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  beside  them. 
Upon  a  mural  tablet,  which  still  exists  there,  may  be  read  his  epitaph, 
and  eleven  punning  verses,  enumerating  in  florid  Latin  his  manifold 
virtues.  Freely  translated,  the  epitaph,  and  some  of  the  lines,  read 
as  follows  : — 

"  In  memorj-  of  Edward  Man,  truly  noble,  most  truly  Christian,  having  long 
laboured  as  a  merchant  in  foreign  marts,  as  a  prudent  elder  in  the  public  govern- 
ment of  the  churches,  and  most  faithfully  as  Town  Clerk  in  the  more  private 
councils  of  this  noble  Town  of  Newcastle,  he  rested  in  the  Lord,  December  9th, 
1654. 

"A  Man  of  sweetest  disposition.  A  Man  pregnant  with  wit.  A  Man  of 
Liberal  spirit.  A  Man  of  public  course  of  life.  A  Man  truly  pleasing  to  the 
people.  A  Man  the  darling  of  the  human  race.  A  Man  of  the  Church  an  elder, 
and  a  happy  part  of  its  government.  Wail,  ye  tribunals,  bereft  of  Man's  calm  and 
gentle  direction  ! " 


Sir  1bciu\>  nDani6t\>, 

ONE    OF    HER    MAJESTV's    JUDGES. 

Henrv  ]SL\ni.stv  was  the  second  son  of  the  marriage,  recorded 
on  page  239  of  our  second  volume,  between  Eleanor,  daughter  of 
Francis  Forster,  of  Seaton  Burn,  twice  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  and  the 
Rev.  James  Manisty,  B.D.,  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  then 
newly  appointed  Vicar  of  Edlingham,  near  Alnwick.  The  marriage 
was  solemnised  at  St.  John's  Church,  Newcastle,  in  1804,  and  Henry 


140  SIR  HENRY  MANISTY. 

was  born  at  the  vicarage  house  of  Edlingham  on  the  13th  of 
December,  1808.  Educated  at  Durham  Grammar  School,  he  was 
articled  to  a  firm  of  solicitors  in  Bailiffgate,  Alnwick — Messrs. 
Thorpe  &  Dickson.  Having  been  admitted  an  attorney  he  be- 
came a  partner  with  Messrs.  Meggison  &  Pringle  of  London, 
forming  thereby  the  firm  of  Meggison,  Pringle,  &  Manisty,  well- 
known,  fifty  years  ago,  as  the  London  agents  of  several  leading 
North-Country  solicitors. 

After  a  dozen  years'  practice  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  profession, 
Mr.  Manisty  shaped  his  course  for  the  Bar.  The  Admission  Register 
of  Gray's  Inn  records  his  entrance  into  that  great  legal  training 
school  on  the  20th  of  April,  1842. 

Called  to  the  Bar  on  the  23rd  of  April,  1845,  Mr.  Manisty  obtained 
a  considerable  practice  from  the  very  outset  of  his  career.  In  cases 
affecting  manorial  rights,  or  involving  points  of  ecclesiastical  law, 
he  achieved  his  greatest  distinction,  but  he  was  a  good  all-round 
advocate,  solid,  clear,  and  precise  in  his  arguments,  fair,  courteous, 
and  considerate  towards  opponents,  and  utterly  free  from  trickery,  or 
straining  after  effect.  He  naturally  selected  the  Northern  Circuit — 
which  included  York,  Durham,  Newcastle,  and  Carlisle — for  his 
practice  in  Assize  work,  and  was  able  through  his  local  connections, 
and  especially  by  painstaking  zeal  for  the  interests  committed  to  his 
charge,  to  command  the  confidence  of  North-Country  attorneys,  and 
secure  briefs.  It  has  been  written  of  him  that  "  he  bore  the  very 
stamp  of  a  lawyer,  and  any  physiognomist  would  have  declared  that 
his  eagle-like  features  and  his  penetrating  eyes  could  belong  to  no 
other  than  a  discriminating  jurist.  Notwithstanding  his  long  absence 
from  the  North,  Mr.  Manisty  preserved  in  his  speech  a  tinge  of  the 
Northumbrian  language,  with  which  he  was  familiar  in  his  boyhood. 
This  was  particularly  noticeable  in  his  sustained  pronunciation  of 
the  vowels  a  and  o ;  and  it  was  all  the  more  noticeable  because  his 
speech  was  always  deliberate,  and  somewhat  monotonous.  His  early 
recollections  helped  him  wonderfully  in  the  examination  of  witnesses 
from  the  pit  villages  of  Northumberland  and  Durham,  whose  uncouth 
and  unfamiliar  expressions  have  many  a  time  perplexed  both  judge 
and  counsel  at  an  assize  trial." 

On  the  7th  of  July,  1857,  Mr.  INIanisty  was  made  a  Q.C.,  and  for 
some  years  occupied  the  position  of  leader  of  the  Northern,  or,  as 
it  was  afterwards  called,  the  North  Eastern  Circuit.  He  became  a 
bencher  of  his  Inn  on  the  22nd  July,  1857,  was  treasurer  in  1861,  and 


SIR  HENRY  MANISTY.  141 

received  the  appointment  of  Judge  of  the  Queen's  Bench  Division 
of  the  High  Court  of  Justice  in  November,  1876.  Although  at  the  date 
of  his  appointment  verging  upon  the  Psalmist's  limit  of  threescore 
years  and  ten,  his  physical  and  mental  faculties  were  in  their  fullest 
vigour.  "  He  was  a  most  painstaking  judge,  and  whether  in  criminal 
or  civil  cases,  spared  neither  time  nor  trouble  to  arrive  at  a  right 
apprehension  of  truth  and  justice  in  a  cause.  A  copious  and  care- 
ful note-taker,  his  summing-up  was  always  a  model  of  accuracy  and 
comprehensiveness. " 

Mr.  Justice  Manisty  died  on  the  31st  of  January,  1890,  and  was 
buried  at  Kensal  Green  Cemetery.  He  was  twice  married,  first  to 
Constantia,  daughter  of  Mr.  Patrick  Dickson,  of  Berwick-on-Tweed, 
who  died  August  9th,  1836,  and  secondly  to  Mary  Ann,  daughter  of 
Mr.  Robert  Stevenson,  of  the  same  place,  by  whom  he  had  issue. 
One  of  his  sons,  Herbert  Francis,  LL.B.  of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge, 
born  March  2nd,  1854,  student  of  the  Inner  Temple,  called  to  the 
Bar  on  the  17th  November,  1877,  is  the  editor  of  the  sixth  edition  of 
"  Broom's  Legal  Maxims." 

Two  other  sons  of  the  Rev.  James  Manisty,  brothers  of  the  judge, 
rose  to  positions  of  distinction  in  their  respective  professions.  The 
eldest  brother,  James,  born  in  1807,  matriculated  at  Lincoln  College, 
Oxford,  in  1824,  took  his  degrees  of  B.A.  in  1828  and  M.A.  in  1831, 
and  was  for  a  time  curate  of  St.  Andrew's,  Newcastle.  He  obtained 
the  perpetual  curacy  of  Shildon  in  1834,  where  he  ofificiated  for  twenty- 
eight  years,  was  transferred  from  thence  in  1862  to  the  rectory 
of  Easington,  at  which  place  he  died  on  the  12th  of  April,  1872. 
By  his  marriage,  December  28th,  1830,  to  Junie  Gombert,  widow  of 
Joseph  Francis  Forster,  of  Seaton  Burn,  his  mother's  nephew,  he 
left  numerous  issue. 

A  younger  brother,  Francis  ALinisty,  trained  to  the  practice  of 
medicine,  became  an  ALD.,  and  obtained  considerable  reputation 
in  Bombay,  where  he  lived  for  many  years.  He  married  Eliza- 
beth Dale,  of  Coleshill,  in  Warwickshire,  and  died  in  1889  at 
Gresford,  in  North  Wales. 


142  JOHN  MARCH. 


3obn  ni>arcb, 

A    JACOBITE    VICAR    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

"  An  admirable  Scholar,  a  Man  of  strict  Piety,  and  a  most  powerful  Preacher." 
— Bourne's  "  History  of  Newcastle." 

One  of  the  few  natives  of  Newcastle  who  have  been  entrusted  with 
the  spiritual  oversight  of  the  town  was  the  Rev.  John  March,  B.D., 
who  filled  the  post  of  Vicar  during  the  latter  part  of  that  difficult  and 
dangerous  period  which  ended  in  the  Revolution  of  1688.  Mr. 
March  was  a  firm  adherent  of  the  dynasty  which  the  Revolution 
overthrew,  and  his  career  of  strife  and  struggle,  amidst  the  changes 
of  religion  that  followed  the  death  of  Charles  11.  and  the  accession 
of  William  III.,  form  an  interesting  chapter  of  local  history. 

The  son  of  Anabaptist  parents,  born  about  the  year  1640,  Mr.  March 
obtained  his  early  education  at  the  Royal  Free  Grammar  School 
of  Newcastle,  under  the  learned  Bohemian,  Dr.  George  Ritschel. 
When  he  was  about  twelve  years  old,  in  July,  1652,  his  father, 
Richard  March,  merchant,  died,  leaving  him  to  the  care  of  trustees, 
one  of  whom  it  is  supposed  was  Ambrose  Barnes.  By  them  he  was 
sent,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  to  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  to  be 
trained  by  a  celebrated  tutor,  Mr.  Thomas  Tullie.  Within  the  year, 
Mr.  Tullie  removed  to  St.  Edmund's  Hall,  of  which  institution  he 
became  Principal,  and  his  pupil  followed  him.  At  St.  Edmund's  Mr. 
March  completed  his  studies,  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  waited 
for  preferment.  Meanwhile  he  practised  as  a  tutor,  numbering 
among  his  pupils  the  learned  and  pious  John  Kettlewell,  known  in 
after-life  as  the  author  of  "  Measures  of  Christian  Obedience,"  and 
other  works  of  merit  and  repute.  He  remained  at  St.  Edmund's 
Hall  fourteen  years  altogether,  acting  part  of  the  time  as  Vice- 
Principal  of  the  College,  and  then,  in  September,  1672,  he  received 
promotion.  The  Warden  and  Fellows  of  Merton  College  presented 
him  to  the  Northumbrian  living  of  Einbleton,  adjoining  Dunstan- 
borough  Castle. 

Mr.  March  had  taken  his  Arts  degrees,  B.A.  in  1661,  and  M.A. 
in  1664;  and  now,  settling  down  as  a  country  parson,  he  obtained  a 
bachelor's  degree  in  divinity  (1674),  and  married  Elizabeth,  only 
daughter  of  Humphrey  Pibus,  of  Newcastle,  mercer  and  hostman. 


JOHX  MARCH. 


143 


On  the  30th  of  August,  1676,  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle,  which, 
since  the  Restoration,  had  become  conspicuously  loyal,  finding  in 
the  Vicar  of  Embleton  a  man  after  their  own  heart,  conferred  upon 
him  the  lectureship  of  St.  Nicholas'.  His  preaching  justified  their 
choice.  He  upheld  royal  prerogative,  inculcated  passive  obedience, 
and  denounced,  with  scathing  invective,  dissenters  and  reformers  of 
every  grade.  The  biographer  of  Ambrose  Barnes,  while  assigning 
to  Mr.  March  the  character  of  "  an  excellent  practical  preacher," 
laments  that  "  being  sent  to  the  university  after  the  Dissenters 
were  crusht,  he  had  imbibed  High-Church  principles,  and  blemisht 


^^^"^^ 


i^r^C^  o/f^ci^rvA., 


himself  with  a  virulent  animosity  against  Nonconformists."  His 
method  of  dealing  with  these  grave  questions  is  exemplified  in  a 
sermon  which  he  preached  at  St.  Nicholas'  Church  (from  Judges  xix. 
30),  on  the  30th  January  1676-77 — the  first  anniversary  fast  for  the 
death  of  King  Charles  I.  that  occurred  after  his  appointment.  The 
sermon  was  published  by  request  of  the  Corporation,  and  it  therefore 
bears  a  dedication  "  To  the  Right  Worshipful  Sr.  Ralph  Carr,  Mayor; 
the  Right  Worshipful  Sr.  Robert  Shafto,  Recorder,  And  to  the  Right 
Worshipful,  and  Worshipful  the  Aldermen  and  Sheriff,  etc.,  of  the 
Town  and  County  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne."     Thus  it  begins: — 


144  JOHN  MARCH. 

"We  may  justly  take  up  the  Lamentation  of  the  Holy  Martyr 
Polycarp :  Good  God,  for  what  times  of  wickedness  hast  thou  been 
pleased  to  reserve  us !  Times  which  have  produced  such  horrid 
Abominations  as  former  Ages  were  willingly  ignorant  of,  and  suc- 
ceeding Generations  will  never  sufificiently  abhor  !  We  have  lived 
to  see  the  Christian  Calendar  stain'd  with  Protestant,  as  well  as 
Popish,  Rebellions:  a  Thirtieth  of  January  made  blacker  than  the 
Fifth  of  November.  We  have  seen  Treason  made  a  sign  of  Grace: 
A  Corah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram  once  more  Canoniz'd  for  Saints, 
and  Blasphemously  styled  the  People  of  the  Lord.  We  have  seen 
Painted  Jezebels  proclaiming  Fasts,  that  they  might  glut  themselves 
with  the  blood  of  the  Innocent,  and  with  keener  Appetites  devour 
Naboth's  Vineyard.  We  have  heard  our  Steeples  Ring  for  Victories 
that  deserv'd  no  Triumphs:  our  Pulpits  loading  innocent  Majesty 
with  direful  imprecations,  and  sounding  forth  Thanksgivings  for 
prosperous  and  too  successful  Rebellion.  Nay,  we  have  known  this 
Famous  Town  made  the  Market  of  our  King,  Men  of  Belial,  like 
Judas,  selling  their  Master,  and  in  this  at  least  more  wicked  than 
He,  in  that  they  were  guilty  of  a  far  greater  Covetousness.  We  are 
called  not  only  by  Providence,  but  also  by  publick  Authority,  to 
solemnize  this  day.  A  Day  as  black  as  Hell !  and  such  as  deserves 
more  Curses  than  Job  or  Jeremy  bestowed  upon  their  Birthdays. 

"  Let  us  consider  the  Person  that  was  Murder'd.  He  was  a  King, 
who,  as  he  had  the  bloud  of  all  the  Princes  of  Christendom  running 
in  his  Veins,  so  he  had  more  than  all  their  Vertues  shining  in 
his  Soul.  As  Saul  overlooked  the  rest  of  the  Israelites  by  the  stature 
of  his  body,  so  this  mighty  Monarch  overtop'd  all  other  Princes  by 
the  size  and  stature  of  his  mind.  He  was  more  Chast  than  Scipio, 
more  Valiant  than  Caesar;  nor  did  he  yield  in  Temperance  to  the 
severest  Stoick.  His  Graces,  like  his  Person,  were  truly  Royal. 
He  was,  like  David,  a  Man  after  God's  own  heart;  wise  like 
Soloman,  and  Patient  like  Job:  For  his  zeal  he  was  a  Josias;  a 
Moses  for  his  Meekness;  and  tho'  none  deserved  less  to  endure  the 
Cross,  yet  none  knew  better  to  wear  it  above  the  Crown." 

This  remarkable  sermon  (there  are  thirty  pages  of  it  altogether) 
gave  such  pleasure  to  the  Corporate  authorities,  and  to  the  ecclesi- 
astical patrons  of  the  living,  as  induced  them  to  mark  the  preacher 
for  early  promotion.  Their  opportunity  soon  came.  In  the  summer 
of  1679  the  Rev.  Thomas  Nailor,  Vicar  of  Newcastle,  died,  and 
Mr.  March  obtained  the  living.     The  Corporation  gave  him   their 


JOHN  MARCH.  145 

stipendiary  contribution  of  ;^6o  per  annum,  with  ^\o  for  turns  at 
Thursday's  lecture;  the  Bishop  of  Durham  made  him  one  of  his 
chaplains;  the  clergy  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  Northumberland 
elected  him  as  their  Proctor  in  Convocation.  Everybody  conspired 
to  do  him  honour,  and  he  entered  into  the  work  of  his  new  cure 
with  renewed  zeal,  and  with  fresh  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his 
Church  and  his  King.  In  March,  1682,  the  Corporation  increased 
their  annual  allowance  to  him  from  ^Q^o  to  £,^0. 

As  Vicar  of  Newcastle,  Mr.  March  became,  if  possible,  more 
devoutly  loyal,  and  less  tolerant  of  heterodox  opinion,  than  before. 
In  the  preface  to  a  sermon  which  he  preached  before  the  Mayor 
and  Corporation  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1682,  and  published  at  their 
instance,  with  the  title  of  "The  Encaenia  of  St.  Ann's  Chappel  in 
Sandgate,"  he  told  his  "right  worshipful  and  worshipful"  patrons, 
that  as  there  was  no  town  which  could  equal  Newcastle  for  "  trade, 
populousness,  and  wealth,"  so  there  was  none  that  surpassed  it,  and 
"but  very  few  that  equal  it,  in  point  of  Loyalty  and  Conformity." 
"  This  Happiness  and  Glory,"  he  continued,  "  we  owe  in  great 
measure  to  that  Loyalty  and  Conformity  which  shine  forth  in  your 
own  Examples;  partly  also  to  that  great  encouragement  you  give 
unto  the  Loyal  and  Orthodox  Clergy  of  the  place,  but  chiefly  to 
the  due  exercise  of  your  Authority,  suppressing  Conventicles,  those 
notorious  Seminaries  of  Popery,  Schism,  and  Rebellion."  Again, 
in  another  of  his  "  Royal  Martyr  Anniversary"  Sermons,  preached 
the  following  January,  he  denounced  "  factious  schismatics,"  who 
"  paint  their  impious  Innovations  with  the  specious  colours  of  Piety 
and  Religion";  asked  "how  many  Thousand  Ignorant  Souls  did 
they  hurry  into  Rebellion,  and  afterwards  to  Hell";  maintained  that 
"  Kings  and  Princes  derive  their  Power  and  Authority  from  God, 
and  not  from  the  people";  and  showed  how  "heinous  a  sin"  it 
was  to  make  schism  in  the  Church,  or  promote  rebellion  against 
the  State. 

The  compliments  which  Vicar  March  paid  to  the  Corporate 
authorities  for  their  energy  in  suppressing  conventicles  had  a  sub- 
stantial foundation.  Through  their  watchfulness,  and  his  own  untir- 
ing zeal,  Dissenters  found  it  difficult  to  meet  in  Newcastle  without 
detection.  Dean  Granville,  in  his  diary  of  this  date,  notes  with 
much  approval  the  excellent  work  done  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  Vicar,  and  the  Official  of  Northumberland,  Isaac  Basire. 
They   had   been  so  watchful  that,  as  he   told  the   Archbishop  of 

VOL.  III.  10 


146  JOHN  MARCH. 

Canterbury,  "there  was  not  now  (16S2-83)  one  publick  conventicle 
in  the  town,  and  if  there  were  any  that  did  meet  at  all,  it  were  some 
few  by  night,  according  to  the  example  of  the  primitive  Christians." 
What  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  Ambrose  Barnes,  leader  and 
head  of  the  Tyneside  Nonconformists,  as  he  saw  his  friends  hunted 
down  by  a  Vicar  whose  parents  were  Dissenters,  and  whose  youthful 
steps  he  had  himself  assisted  to  guide  in  paths  of  learning  and 
toleration?  Barnes's  biographer  makes  it  appear  that  Mr.  March 
had  all  along  a  great  respect  for  the  sturdy  alderman,  and  that 
he  secretly  favoured  him  with  explanations  and  excuses: — "Vicar 
March,  most  of  whose  sermons  were  invectives  against  Dissenters, 
and  who  clamoured  against  such  magistrates  as  showed  them  any 
marks  of  sivility  or  good-will,  telling  them  they  let  these  frogs  of 
divines  creep  into  their  halls  and  bed-chambers,  when  orthodox 
divines  could  not  be  admitted;  even  this  Vicar  March  would  step 
privately  out  by  night,  and  make  him  respectfuU  visits,  throwing 
the  blame  of  these  rigorous  proceedings  upon  the  misfortunes  of 
the  times." 

"The  misfortunes  of  the  times"  had  quite  a  different  meaning 
before  Vicar  March  was  much  older.  Charles  II.  died  on  the  6th 
of  February,  1685,  and  his  brother,  James  II.,  ascended  the  throne. 
Mr.  March  had  given  offence  to  his  friends  of  the  Corporation  by 
appointing  Nathaniel  EUison  (afterwards  Vicar)  to  the  curacy  of  All 
Saints',  and  now  he  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  all  sorts  of 
sectaries  tolerated,  petted,  patronised,  and  installed  in  high  places. 

"The  misfortunes  of  the  times,"  like  a  flowing  tide,  had,  indeed, 
set  in  strongly  against  him.  But  they  did  not  move  him.  Holding 
his  principles  firmly,  he  refused  to  follow  the  humour  or  caprice  of 
the  hour.  He  saw  the  last  of  the  Stuart  kings  fly  from  the  country, 
but  it  did  not  weaken  his  faith.  On  the  contrary,  the  more  his 
loyalty  and  allegiance  were  tested  by  the  course  of  events,  the 
stronger  they  became,  and  the  fiercer  were  his  criticisms  of  those 
who,  in  his  opinion,  had  again  brought  their  sovereign  to  shame,  and 
their  country  to  disgrace.  Between  the  abdication  of  James  II.  and 
the  accession  of  William  and  Mary,  another  Anniversary  Fast  for  the 
death  of  the  Royal  Martyr  came  round,  and  Vicar  March,  as  he  had 
done  on  every  recurrence  of  the  day  since  his  appointment,  preached 
an  eloquent  sermon  in  defence  of  loyalty  and  conformity.  He  main- 
tained in  this  discourse  that  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance  to 
the  higher  powers  was  a  principle  founded  on  the  word  of  God; 


JOHN  MARCH.  147 

stigmatised  the  proceedings  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  of  the 
nobility  and  gentry  who  had  invited  him  over,  as  rebelhon;  and 
asserted  that  "whosoever  meddled  with  the  king's  forts,  castles, 
militia  and  revenue,"  were  "  guilty  of  Damnation."  Among  his  hearers 
was  Dr.  James  Welwood,  a  Scotch  physician,  practising  in  Newcastle 
(afterwards  author  of  "  Observator  Reformatus  "),  and  he,  taking  up 
the  cudgels  on  behalf  of  the  Revolution,  entered  into  a  vigorous 
correspondence  with  the  Vicar  on  the  subject  of  his  sermon.  The 
controversy  was  published  shortly  afterwards  in  a  small  quarto  of 
thirty-six  pages,  entitled — 

"A  Vindication  Of  the  present  Great  Revolution  in  England;  In  Five 
Letters  Pass'd  betwixt  James  Welwood,  M.D. ,  and  Mr.  John  March,  Vicar  of 
Newcastle  upon  Tyne.  Occasion'd  by  a  Sermon  Preach'd  by  him  on  January  30, 
16S8-9,  before  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  for  Passive  Obedience  and  Non- 
Resistance.     Licensed,  April  8,  1689."     Sm.  4to.     London,  1689. 

With  indomitable  will  and  undaunted  spirit,  Vicar  March  con- 
tinued to  fight  against  fate.  While  he  was  disputing  with  Dr. 
Welwood,  a  general  thanksgiving  was  observed  all  over  England 
"  for  the  great  deliverance  of  the  country  by  the  Prince  of  Orange." 
To  give  thanks  for  that  which  he  considered  in  the  light  of  a 
calamity  was,  in  Mr.  March's  opinion,  an  insult  added  to  injury.  He 
declined  to  hold  a  thanksgiving  service,  but  publicly  read,  or  caused 
to  be  read,  the  "  Homily  against  Rebellion."  By  some  means  or 
other  he  was  induced  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  William  and 
Mary,  but  he  adopted  the  form  called  the  short  oath,  which  left  him 
free  to  serve  the  abdicated  monarch  "  whenever  his  Majesty  should 
be  in  a  condition  to  demand  his  allegiance  within  any  of  these  king- 
doms." An  Order  of  Council  altering  the  prayers  for  the  Royal 
Family,  he  positively  refused  to  obey.  For  more  than  a  year  he 
persisted  in  this  refusal — reading  the  prayers,  but  omitting  the  name 
of  the  king  and  queen.  At  length  the  Corporation  interfered.  In 
the  Common  Council  books,  under  date  the  15th  of  July,  1690, 
appears  this  ominous  entry: — "Mr.  March,  Vicar. — Ordered  that 
Mr.  Maior  acquaint  him  his  salary  will  be  stopped  unless  he  pray  for 
King  William  and  Queen  Mary  by  name." 

Worried  and  baffled.  Vicar  March  bowed  to  the  inevitable.  His 
dearest  hopes  had  been  shattered,  his  spirit  was  broken,  his  health 
was  giving  way,  he  was  incapable  of  offering  further  resistance  to 
"the  misfortunes  of  the  times."  On  Sunday,  the  27th  of  November, 
1692,  he  preached  a  sermon  from  the  text,  "  How  shall  we  escape  if 


148  JOHN  MARCH. 

we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ? "  and  before  the  next  Sunday  came 
round,  death  had  released  him  from  his  burden.  He  died  on 
Friday,  the  2nd  December,  and  two  days  later  his  remains  were 
buried  near  his  pulpit  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church. 

While  the  restorations  at  St.  Nicholas'  were  progressing,  in  1876, 
under  the  direction  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  a  tombstone  was  discovered 
in  the  south  aisle  of  the  Chancel  with  its  face  downwards — so  placed, 
no  doubt,  during  the  alterations  of  1783.  Traversed  by  the  feet  of 
countless  worshippers  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  the  inscription  had 
undergone  the  usual  process  of  obliteration.  But  cleaned,  restored, 
and  carefully  replaced  in  its  proper  position,  the  stone  may  be  read 
by  the  present  day  worshipper  as  follows : — 

"[In  memory  of  Humphrey  Pibus  who]  departed  this  life  .  .  .  Anno  Domini, 
1694.  And  of  his  only  daughter  Elizabeth,  wife  of  John  March,  Vicar  of  this 
Parish.  She  Depted  this  life  .  .  .  of  April,  Anno  Domini,  1680.  And  of  Ann, 
daughter  to  the  said  John  and  Elizabeth  March,  who  departed  this  life  the  9  day 
of  .  .  .  Anno  Domini,  1681.  And  of  Grace,  second  wife  of  the  said  Humphrey 
Pibus.     She  depted  this  life  ye  24th  day  of  February  Anno  Domini,  1682. 

"John  March,  Bachelor  of  Arts  [Divinity]  and  late  Vicar  of  Newcastle,  depted 
this  Life  the  second  of  December,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1692," 

Sermons  published  by  Vicar  March  during  his  lifetime,  and  quoted 
in  the  preceding  narrative,  bore  these  titles : — 

"A  Sermon  Preached  before  the  Right  Worshipful,  The  Mayor,  Recorder, 
Aldermen,  Sheriff,  etc.,  of  the  Town  and  County  of  Newcastle  upon  Tyne,  On 
the  30th  of  January,  1676-7,  At  St.  Nicolas  their  Parish  Church.  By  John  March, 
B.D.,  Vicar  of  Embleton  in  Northumberland,  and  Lecturer  to  that  Congregation. 
'  My  Son,  fear  thou  God,  and  the  King,  and  meddle  not  with  those  that  are  given 
to  change.  Prov.  xxiv.— 21.'  '  And  Pilate  said  unto  them.  What,  shall  I  Crucifie 
your  King?  Joh.  xix.  — 15.'  London  :  Printed  by  Thomas  Hodgkin,  for  Richard 
Randell  and  Pet.  Maplisden,  Booksellers  in  Newcastle  upon  Tyne,  1677."  Sm. 
4to,  30  pp. 

"Th'  Encffinia  of  St.  Ann's  Chappel  in  Sandgate.  Or  a  Sermon  Preached 
May  3,  1682.  Before  the  Right  Worshipful  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  Sheriff,  etc., 
of  the  Town  and  County  of  Newcastle  upon  Tyne,  Upon  their  erecting  a  School 
and  a  Catechetical  Lecture  for  the  Instruction  of  poor  Children,  and  such  as  are 
ignorant.  By  John  March,  B.D.,  and  Vicar  of  St.  Nicholas  in  Newcastle  upon 
Tyne.  London :  Printed  for  Richard  Randal  and  Peter  Maplisden,  Booksellers, 
at  the  Bridge-foot  in  Newcastle  upon  Tyne."     1682.     Sm.  4to,  32  pp. 

"The  False  Prophet  Unmask't,  Or,  the  Wolfe  Stript  of  his  Sheeps-clothing, 
In  a  Sermon  Preached  before  the  Right  Worshipful  (etc.,  as  above);  on  the 
Anniversary  Fast  for  the  most  Execrable  Murder  of  K.  Charles,  the  first  Royal 
Martyr.  By  John  March,  (etc.,  as  above).  London:  Printed  by  J.  R.  for 
Richard  Randell,  and  Peter  Maplisden,  Booksellers  in  New-Castle-upon-Tyne." 
1683.     Sm.  4to,  32  pp. 


S/J^  JOHN  MARLE  V.  1 49 

After  Mr.  March's  death  a  volume  of  his  discourses,  with  a 
portrait  engraved  by  Sturt,  and  a  preface  written  by  Dr.  John  Scot, 
was  pubhshed,  bearing  the  title  of — 

"Sermons  Preach'd  on  Several  Occasions  by  John  March,  B.D.,  Late  Vicar  of 
Newcastle-upon-Tine.  The  last  of  which  was  Preach'd  the  Twenty-Seventh  of 
November,  1692,  Being  the  Sunday  before  he  Died."  London  :  Printed  for 
Robert  Clavell,  and  sold  by  Joseph  Hall,  Bookseller,  in  Newcastle,  1693.  Post 
Svo,  288  pp. 

(To  a  second  edition,  issued  in  1699,  was  added  "A  Sermon  Preach'd  at  the 
Assizes  in  New  Castle  upon  Tine  in  the  Reign  of  the  late  King  James.") 

Dr.  Scot's  estimate  of  Mr.  March,  in  the  Preface  to  these  Sermons, 
is  high  and  honourable: — "He  was  a  very  diligent  Pastor  of  the 
Flock  committed  to  his  charge;  and  that  not  only  in  the  course  of 
his  Public  Ministry,  from  which  without  some  necessary  Occasion  he 
very  rarely  absented  himself,  but  also  in  his  private  Converses :  for 
besides  that,  every  Lord's  Day  in  the  Evening  he  generally  spent  a 
considerable  Portion  of  time  in  Instructing  the  Youth  of  his  Parish 
(from  which  Pious  and  Charitable  Exercise  he  very  rarely  suffered 
himself  to  be  diverted,  even  by  the  Visits  of  his  best  and  greatest 
friends)  besides  which,  I  say,  his  known  Abilities  in  resolving  cases 
of  Conscience,  drew  after  him  a  great  many  good  People,  not  only  of 
his  own  Flock,  but  from  remoter  Distances,  who  resorted  to  him  as 
to  a  common  Oracle,  and  commonly  went  away  from  him  intirely 
satisfied  in  his  Wise  and  Judicious  Resolutions," 


Sir  3obn  (TDarle^, 

THE  BRAVE  DEFENDER  OF  NEWCASTLE. 

"  Oh,  what  a  brave  knight  was  Governor  Marley  ! 
Stout  Sir  John  Marley  ! 
Who  fought  late  and  early  ; 
Though  the  garrison  liv'd,  and  fed,  rather  bar'ley." 

Foremost  among  Tyneside  worthies  whose  valorous  deeds  local 
historians  have  conspired  to  praise,  stands  Sir  John  Marley,  the 
gallant  defender  of  Newcastle  against  the  Scots  in  1644. 

John  Marley  was  the  son  of  William  Marley,  a  merchant  who 
flourished  in  Newcastle  during  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century.     Whether  the  old  merchant  was  related  to  the  Merleys  of 


L 


1 50  SIR  JOHN  MARLE  Y. 

Unthank  in  Weardale,  and  their  descendants  the  Maddisons,  or  to 
the  Marleys  of  Marley  Hill  and  Gibside,  and  whether  he  or  they 
could  trace  descent  from  the  Merleys  who  anciently  held  the  barony 
of  Morpeth,  are  speculations  of  interest,  but  of  no  great  importance. 
All  that  is  positively  known  about  him  is  that  he  was  a  son  of  John 
Marley,  also  a  Newcastle  merchant,  who  was  buried  in  St.  George's 
Porch,  St  Nicholas'  Church,  in  October,  1561;  that  he  had  a 
brother  named  Simon,  and  a  sister  named  Eleanor  (wife  of  Ralph 
Carr,  of  Cocken) ;  that  his  mother  married,  for  her  second  husband, 
Alderman  Mark  Shafto,  who,  by  his  will,  dated  November  8th,  1592, 
bequeathed  to  him,  subject  to  the  life-interest  of  the  widow,  a  house 
in  the  Side,  Newcastle;  that  at  his  mother's  death,  in  1604,  he,  and 
his  brother  and  sister,  were  joint  administrators  of  her  estate;  and  that 
he  himself  was  interred  at  St.  Nicholas'  on  the  28th  of  December,  1609. 

No  register  of  the  baptism  of  John,  son  of  William  Marley,  has 
been  found,  but,  as  the  inscription  on  the  family  tombstone  states 
that  Sir  John  Marley  was  "  83  years  and  3  days  "  old  when  he  died, 
and  as  he  was  buried  in  St.  George's  Porch,  on  the  24th  of  October, 
1673,  it  may  be  safely  calculated  that  he  was  born  on  the  19th  or 
20th  of  October,  1590.  More  of  him  we  know  not  until,  in  1634-35, 
his  name  occurs  in  the  municipal  roll  as  Sheriff  of  Newcastle.  That 
he  was  engaged  in  the  coal  trade  appears  from  the  books  of  the 
Hostmen's  Company,  wherein,  under  date  March  nth,  1636,  is  an 
entry  of  his  being  fined,  with  Robert  Bewick  and  John  Cock,  "  for 
fitting  other  men's  coals."  When,  on  Michaelmas  Monday,  1637, 
he  was  appointed  chief  magistrate,  his  brethren  of  the  Hostmen's 
Company  elected  him  Governor. 

John  Marley's  first  Mayoralty  occurred  at  a  time  of  great  trouble 
in  the  North  of  England.  Before  he  had  been  three  months  Mayor, 
the  National  Covenant  was  signed;  by  the  time  that  he  went  out 
of  office  the  attitude  of  the  Covenanters  had  become  sufficiently 
threatening  to  create  alarm  for  the  safety  of  Newcastle.  Sir  Jacob 
Astley,  and  other  officers,  sent  northwards  to  inspect  fortifications 
and  muster  the  train-bands,  found  in  him  a  competent  and  willing 
coadjutor,  for  he  was  a  man  of  energy  and  resource,  and  a  strong 
supporter  of  Church  and  Crown.  Dividing  public  attention  at  the 
same  time  with  the  Scottish  upheaval,  were  difficulties  about  the 
Newcastle  coal  monopoly,  and  in  that  matter  also  Mr.  Marley's 
knowledge  and  experience  were  of  great  value.  On  the  4th  of  April, 
1638,  he  appeared  before  the  king  in  Council  to  discuss  the  grievances 


SIR  JOHN  MARLE  Y.  151 

of  "  merchants,  shipowners,  and  masters  and  mariners  "  trading  in 
Newcastle  coals,  and  was  able  to  arrange  terms  with  them  and  his 
fellow-hostmen,  which,  for  a  time  at  least,  gave  satisfaction  to  them 
all.  If  only  Scottish  discontent  could  have  been  as  easily  overcome  ! 
That,  however,  was  a  task  not  so  readily  accomplished.  The  King 
and  Laud  were  obstinate;  the  Scots  persistent;  and,  day  by  day,  as 
the  quarrel  deepened,  preparations  were  made  on  both  sides  of  the 
Border  for  open  warfare.  In  all  the  conferences  between  the  king's 
representatives  and  the  local  authorities  respecting  the  defences  of 
Newcastle,  Mr.  Marley  took  a  leading  part,  and  his  name  appears 
attached  to  most  of  the  detailed  reports  which  went  up  from  the 
town  to  the  Privy  Council.  These  loyal  services  of  his  were  noted 
by  the  king,  and  when,  on  the  8th  of  May,  1639,  his  Majesty,  lead- 
ing a  considerable  army  into  Scotland,  came  to  Newcastle,  he 
thanked  him  for  his  zealous  exertions.  A  couple  of  months  later, 
the  king  having  signed  articles  of  pacification  with  the  Scots,  con- 
ferred the  honour  of  knighthood  upon  his  faithful  servant — to  be 
known  thenceforward  as  "Sir  John  Marley." 

Stimulated  by  Royal  recognition,  and  quickened  by  the  increasing 
perils  of  the  time,  Sir  John  Marley  kept  an  active  watch  over  the 
interests  of  his  sovereign  in  Newcastle.  The  State  Papers  abound 
with  his  letters  to  the  Privy  Council,  and  to  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  at  Durham  and  York,  on  the  growth  of  Puritanism  in  the 
town,  and  the  doings  of  its  adherents  and  abettors.  In  the  midst  of 
it  all  came  news  that  the  pacification  at  Berwick  had  pacified  no- 
body, and  that  the  Scots  were  again  preparing  for  war.  Then 
followed  renewed  conferences,  hasty  movements  of  troops  and 
munitions,  and  fresh  plans  for  defending  Newcastle.  Sir  John 
Marley  was  foremost  in  everything  that  tended  to  help  the  Royal 
cause,  and  was  the  trusted  friend  and  confidant  of  all  those  who 
were  sent  down  to  promote  it.  Of  all  save  one.  The  great  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  lord  general  of  his  Majesty's  forces  in  the  North, 
had  no  confidence  in  him.  The  cause  of  their  estrangement  does 
not  appear,  but  the  quarrel  was  wide  and  deep,  and  not  to  be  healed, 
even  by  identity  of  aim  and  fellowship  of  peril.  In  a  correspondence 
which  followed  the  arrival  of  Lord  Conway  in  the  town,  to  take 
charge  of  the  Royal  Army,  the  earl's  antipathy  to  Sir  John  found 
strong  expression.  Conway,  writing  to  his  lordship  on  the  23rd  of 
April,  1640,  stated  that  he  would  have  preferred  to  take  up  his 
quarters  in    Sir   John  Marley's   house,    as   being    most   convenient 


1 5  2  SIR  JOHN  MA  RLE  V. 

for  his  needs,  but  accepted  a  worse  residence  because  Sir  John  was 
"  not  in  benign  aspect "  with  his  Excellency.  The  earl,  in  reply, 
warned  Conway  that  Sir  John  and  Mr.  Pinkney  (the  commissary 
general)  would  try  to  "  put  off,"  for  the  use  of  the  army,  some  corn 
of  the  previous  year's  providing,  and  that  it  must  not  be  purchased 
till  he  (the  earl)  was  satisfied  of  its  goodness.  Conway  rejoined  that 
he  had  had  the  grain  turned  over,  and  found  much  of  it  bad  and 
inferior,  adding  that  those  whom  he  employed  to  examine  it  were 
extremely  afraid  of  Sir  John,  "  lest  he  should  fetch  them  up  to 
London  upon  some  accusation."  Then  the  earl,  seeing  his  oppor- 
tunity, gave  Conway  his  opinion  of  Sir  John  Marley's  character : — 

"  If  I  thought  it  possible  for  a  man  who  has  lived  twenty  years 
a  knave  to  prove  afterwards  an  honest  man,  I  should  entertain  a 
more  charitable  opinion  of  Sir  John  Mariey.  He  has  all  this  while 
made  himself  believe,  that  what  oppressions  soever  he  did  amongst 
his  neighbours,  he  should  be  supported  in  it  by  his  friends  at  Court, 
some  of  whom  have,  perhaps,  deceived  his  expectations,  which  makes 
him  now  contented  to  set  himself  right  in  my  good  opinion.  But  he 
is  a  person  I  desire  not  to  have  to  do  with,  only  if  his  corn  upon  a 
survey  appear  to  be  nought,  it  shall  go  hard,  but  I  will  make  him 
pay  for  it." 

What  became  of  Sir  John  a  few  weeks  later,  when  the  Scots, 
flushed  with  their  success  at  Newburn  fight,  took  possession  of 
Newcastle,  is  not  recorded.  Chuckling  John  Fenwick  alleges  that 
he  ran  away,  along  with  Sir  Alexander  Davison,  Sir  Thomas  Riddell, 
"and  others  that  were  conscious  of  the  guilt  of  their  good  service 
against  the  Scots,  for  which  they  got  the  honour  of  knighthood  at 
Newcastle  and  Barwicke;  though  Sir  Marloe,  some  say,  came  hardly 
by  his,  and  had  well  nigh  missed  if  some  others  merits  had  not 
surmounted  his;  the  Boyes  say  that  Cuckold  luck  has  raised  his 
fortunes  from  a  Tap-house  and  'et  cetera,'  to  a  Carpet  Knight." 
Further,  "  The  swiftest  flight  was  the  greatest  honour  to  the  New- 
castilian  new  dubd  knights;  a  good  Boat,  a  paire  of  Oares,  a  good 
horse  (especially  that  would  carry  two  men),  was  worth  more  than 
the  valour  or  honour  of  new  knighthood."  If  Sir  John  did  fly, 
as  Fenwick  asserts,  he  was  soon  back  again,  for  he  was  the  leader 
of  the  deputation  that  waited  upon  the  king  at  York,  shortly 
after  the  Scottish  occupation  began,  to  discuss  ways  and  means 
of  meeting  the  invaders'  assessment,  and  getting  rid  of  them. 

In  May,  1642,   Sir  John   Mariey  was  summoned  before  a  com- 


SIJi  JOHN  MA  RLE  V.  153 

mittee  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  answer  a  heavy  indictment 
brought  against  him  and  his  fellow-Royahsts  by  his  Puritan  fellow- 
townsmen.  The  House  considered  the  charges  proved,  and  on 
the  20th  of  September  in  that  year,  they  ordered  that  he  and  other 
municipal  magnates  should  be  sent  for  as  delinquents.  It  is  not 
known  whether  the  order  was  obeyed,  but,  a  month  later,  the  king 
sent  down  to  Newcastle  a  mandamus,  directing  the  Corporation  to 
choose  Sir  John  for  a  second  term  Mayor  of  the  town,  and  he  was 
elected  accordingly — the  Hostmen's  Company,  as  on  the  previous 
occasion,  appointing  him  their  Governor.  When  his  year  of  office 
expired  he  was  re-elected,  and  he  was  occupying  the  post  when,  once 
more,  in  the  beginning  of  1644,  the  Scots  crossed  the  Border. 

The  story  of  the  siege  and  storming  of  Newcastle  has  been  told 
over  and  over  again;  it  can  be  read  in  the  local  histories,  and  is 
related,  with  copious  detail,  in  a  pamphlet  published  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Allan,  of  Newcastle.  Passing  over,  therefore,  the  well- 
known  incidents  of  that  daring  enterprise,  and  the  elaborate  corre- 
spondence between  Sir  John  Marley  and  the  Earl  of  Leven  which 
preceded  it,  we  take  up  the  narrative  at  the  point  where,  beaten  but 
not  dismayed.  Sir  John,  Mayor  for  the  fourth  time,  with  the  added 
dignity  of  Governor,  fled  to  the  Castle,  and  began  to  parley  with 
the  conqueror. 

Shut  up  in  the  Castle  keep,  with  no  chance  of  escape,  the  gallant 
knight,  on  the  morning  after  the  storming  and  capture  of  the  town, 
sent  a  dignified  letter  to  the  Scottish  leader,  desiring  liberty  for  him- 
self and  comrades,  within  fourteen  days,  to  stay,  or  leave  the  town, 
with  horses,  pistols,  and  swords,  and  a  guarantee  that  no  wrong 
should  be  done  to  them  by  "  ignoble  spirits  of  the  vulgar  sort,"  and 
adding  that,  rather  than  be  "  a  spectacle  of  misery  and  disgrace,"  he 
would  bequeath  his  soul  to  Him  that  gave  it,  and  his  body  to  the 
victor's  severity. 

Sir  John's  letter  was  unheeded ;  Lord  Leven  would  give  no  terms; 
and  after  holding  out  for  a  couple  of  days,  the  knight,  and  his  com- 
panions in  misfortune,  surrendered  at  mercy.  Conducted  under 
strong  guard  to  his  own  house,  till  the  tumult  in  the  town  had  abated, 
for  the  populace  were  terribly  excited  against  him,  he  was  brought 
back  to  the  Castle,  and  shut  up  in  the  dungeon  to  await  the  orders 
of  Parliament.  What  those  orders  were  we  learn  from  the  Parlia- 
mentary Journals.  Writing  to  the  Speaker  on  the  22nd  of  October, 
Sir  William  Armyn  and  Robert  Fenwick,  Commissioners  in  New- 


1 5 4  SIjR  JOHN  MARLE  V. 

castle  of  both  Houses,  reported  that  "  This  Day  the  proud  and 
insolent  Mayor,  and  the  rest  of  his  Fellows  came  forth  of  the  Castle, 
and  the  People  in  the  Town  were  ready  to  tear  the  Mayor  in  Pieces, 
having  now  discovered  how  much  he  had  deluded  them,  and  what 
Miseries  he  had  brought  them  to.  We  earnestly  desire  the  House 
would  be  pleased  to  think  of  some  exemplary  Punishment  upon  this 
wicked  Mayor;  otherwise  all  their  Friends  will  be  disheartened,  and 
their  Enemies  still  encouraged  to  upbraid  them  to  their  Faces ;  and 
the  Blood  and  Loss  of  so  many  Men,  besides  the  Undoing  of  many 
of  the  poorer  Sort  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Town,  through  his 
wicked  Government,  will  cry  up  to  Heaven  against  us." 

Thereupon  both  Houses  fell  to  considering  what  should  be  done 
to  this  "  proud  and  insolent  Mayor,"  and  on  the  last  day  of  the 
month  the  Commons,  and  next  day  the  Lords,  agreed  "  That  it  be 
signified  to  the  Commissioners  of  both  Houses,  by  Way  of  Answer 
to  that  Particular  of  the  Letter  concerning  Sir  John  Marley,  That 
the  Houses  have  thought  fit  to  except  Sir  John  Marley  from  all  Mercy 
and  Pardon;  and  do  therefore  appoint  and  direct  that  he  may  be 
proceeded  with  according  to  the  Course  of  War." 

The  result  of  further  deliberations  in  Parliament  upon  the  affairs 
of  Newcastle  was  the  issue  of  that  notable  ordinance,  quoted  at 
length  in  our  sketch  of  Edward  Man,  which  disfranchised  and  dis- 
placed the  Mayor,  Sheriff,  Recorder,  and  aldermen — an  ordinance 
that  was  gleefully  entered  by  their  successors  in  a  "  Black  Book," 
with  a  special  denunciation  of  Sir  John  Marley,  as  "a  notorious  and 
infamous  delinquent." 

How  long  the  ex-Mayor  and  Governor  remained  a  prisoner  is 
uncertain.  Rushworth  states  that  he  was  sent  up  to  London  to  be 
dealt  with  by  Parliament,  and  "  whilst  he  was  in  the  Sergeant  at 
Arms's  hands,  found  means  to  escape."  That  he  did  obtain  his 
liberty  is  certain.  He  went  over  to  the  Continent,  whither  his  wife 
and  family  followed  him,  joined  the  band  of  exiles  that  clustered 
round  Charles  H.,  and  waited  the  course  of  events.  For  nearly 
twelve  years  he  waited,  and  then,  abandoning  all  hope  of  seeing  his 
party  restored  to  power,  he  endeavoured  to  make  terms  with  the 
Commonwealth.  Opening  up  communication  with  Mr.  Downing, 
the  English  resident  at  the  Hague,  he  offered,  for  a  hundred  pounds 
and  a  free  pardon,  to  betray  his  master.  The  whole  transaction  is 
revealed  in  "  Thurloe's  State  Papers,"  and  a  most  curious  revelation 
it  is.     Writing  in  cipher  on  the  7th  of  June,   1658,  Mr.  Downing 


SIR  JOHN  MARLE  Y.  155 

informs  Thurloe  (Cromwell's  Secretary  of  State)  that  "  Sir  John 
Marlow  sent  one  of  his  sons  to  me  with  a  profer  that  the  said  Sir 
John,  if  he  might  have  from  me  a  pass,  and  an  hundred  pound 
sterling  to  bear  his  charges,  and  his  pardon,  would  go  for  England, 
and  discover  to  you  all  he  knows  concerning  Charles  Stuart's  de- 
signs; and  this  he  in  general  sayd  to  mee,  that  hee  could  discover 
things  of  importance,  and  that  divers  in  the  north  of  England  had 
sent  to  him  to  invite  him  to  England,  and  that  his  son  would  put 
himself  anywhere  as  a  prisoner  in  your  power  for  his  father's  faithful 
performance." 

Thurloe,  replying  on  the  25th,  states  that  "the  question  is, 
whether  we  must  trust  him,  or  he  us.  I  thinke  the  first  more 
reasonable."  To  which  Downing,  on  the  19th  July,  answers  as 
follows : — "  Sir  John  Marlow  his  son  was  this  day  with  mee ;  he 
saith  that  his  father  would  very  willingly  trust  me  and  come  hither 
before  he  receive  any  money,  but  that  he  cannot  stirr  without  fourtie 
pounds  to  pay  his  landlady,  and  he  is  resolved  not  to  come  rather 
than  leave  his  ladie  and  children  to  be  affronted  and  abused,  as  in 
that  case  they  will  certainly  be,  and  that  if  he  knew  how  in  the  world 
to  doe  it  otherwise  he  would  not  desire  this." 

The  money  and  the  pardon  were  provided,  and  in  subsequent 
letters  (of  which  the  following  is  an  abridgment).  Downing  tells 
Thurloe  how  the  business  has  sped: — 

"August  16,  1658.  This  morning  I  despatched  hence  to  you 
Sir  John  Marlow;  hee  and  his  sonne  have  had  of  me  a  thousand 
guilders;  he  promised  well.  Not  a  person  of  Northumberland, 
Newcastle  or  Durham  hath  corresponded  with  Ch.  St.  (Charles  II.) 
but  that  it  is  knowne  to  him.  He  is  a  right  Northern  man;  if  you 
speak  kindly  to  him  you  will  have  his  heart. — August  29.  Sir  John 
Marlow  is,  I  hope,  ere  this  with  you,  for  that  he  went  from  the  Brill 
upon  the  Lord's-day  was  a  seaven-night  towards  Flushing,  there  to 
take  shipping,  and  his  family  are  now  at  the  Brill,  and  will,  I  suppose, 
take  the  opportunity  of  this  passage.  By  a  letter  which  I  have 
received  this  morning  from  Antwerp  I  finde  that  this  business 
makes  a  very  greate  noise  there.  It  makes  them  all  jealous  each 
of  other.  There  is  one  George  Lidle,  sonn  to  Sir  Francis  Lidle, 
of  the  County  of  Durham,  that  is  come  with  his  lady  out  of 
Flanders.  The  knight,  before  his  going  away,  gave  me  notice  of 
this  person,  and  that  he  would  come  with  his  lady.  I  sent  for  him, 
and  he  tells  me  that  Ch.  Stuart,  upon  suspicion  that  the  old  knight 


156  SIR  JOHN  MARLE  V. 

was  gone  for  England,  sent  for  him,  and  talked  with  him  privately 
about  two  houres,  and  asked  whether  he  had  noe  notice  thereof, 
which,  he  said,  he  denyed.  This  gentleman  confesseth  to  me  that 
about  Christmas  last  he  carryed  a  letter  from  the  old  knight  to  one 
Weesy  Matfin  (Matthew  Matfin?),  that  keepes  the  corner  shop  on 
the  Sandhill  in  Newcastle,  on  the  left  hand  as  you  turn  to  go  from 
off  the  Sandhill  up  the  Side,  and  that  he  did  deliver  the  said  letter 
to  him  and  brought  an  answer  from  him  to  the  old  knight,  and  that 
he  went  as  a  seaman  and  landed  at  Hull  and  went  on  foote  from 
Hull  to  Newcastle,  beging  all  the  way  as  one  that  had  been  taken 
by  a  Flanders  man  of  warre.  He  would  not  acknowledge  that  he 
had  spoken  with  any  of  the  gentry  of  those  countryes,  which  seems 
hardly  imaginable,  and  I  am  more  than  half  of  opinion  that 
Ch.  Stuart  hath  put  this  story  into  his  mouth,  and  bid  him  goe 
over  with  it  on  purpose  to  weaken  anything  that  the  old  knight 
could  discover  against  the  gentry.  But  for  Matfin,  you  may  have 
enough  to  deal  with  him,  and  an  example  in  those  countryes  may 
not  be  amiss,  and  particularly  in  that  so  populous  and  considerable 
towne." 

Sir  John  Marley  returned  to  Newcastle,  mingled  with  his  friends, 
and  waited  orders  from  the  Privy  Council.  These  orders  never 
came.  Cromwell  had  died  in  the  interval,  and  the  Commonwealth 
was  in  confusion.  Weeks  passed  away,  and  Sir  John,  expecting  to 
be  sent  for,  waited,  and  waited  in  vain.  Thurloe  was  willing  to 
subsidise  the  old  knight,  but  not  to  receive  him  as  a  converted 
Royalist.  He  either  doubted  his  sincerity,  or  estimated  as  of  little 
value  the  services  that  he  was  capable  of  rendering.  Two  letters, 
which  Sir  John  addressed  to  Thurloe  at  this  period,  tell  the  whole 
story: — 

'■'■  Noveinher  22nd,  1658. 

"  My  Lord, — I  kindly  thanke  your  honor  for  the  favour  I  received 
from  Mr.  Fawbanks  by  your  order,  wherewith  I  have  a  little  pacified 
those  to  whom  I  am  indebted  since  my  cominge  over;  but  perceiving 
your  occasions  are  so  great,  that  I  cannot  have  the  honor  to  confer 
with  you,  and  my  owne  condition  so  lowe,  that  I  am  not  able  longer 
to  subsist  and  maintaine  my  family;  therefore  I  humbly  beseech  you 
to  take  into  consideration  these  followinge  brief  propositions,  and 
lett  me  receive  some  answere,  that  I  may  knowe  what  to  relye  upon. 

"  If  his  highnes,  the  lord  protector,  will  be  pleased  to  receive  me 
unto  his  grace  and  favour,  trust,  employ  me,  and  put  me  in  some 


S/J?  JOHN  MA  RLE  Y.  \si 

condition  fitt  to  serve  him,  it  shall  be  my  utmost  endeavour  really 
to  doe  his  highnes  considerable  service;  and  if  uppon  triall  I  faile, 
either  in  faithfulnes,  or  in  want  of  abilitie  to  performe  what  I  promise, 
his  highnes  may  dispose  of  me  at  his  pleasure. 

"  If  this  be  thought  not  fittinge, 

"Then  my  humble  suit  is  that  I  may  have  the  benefitt  of  such 
part  of  my  estate  as  is  not  yet  disposed  of;  and  I  shall  confine 
myselfe  into  some  part  of  the  kingdome  where  I  am  least  knowne, 
and  may  live  most  privatly,  ingaginge  myselfe  never  to  act,  or  so 
much  as  speake  of  state  affaires. 

"  And  if  this  will  not  be  graunted, 

"  I  most  humbly  intreat  that  I  may  have  free  libertie  to  acquaint 
my  friends,  and  those  that  have  formerly  knowne  me,  with  my 
present  condition,  implore  there  helpe  and  assistance  for  imploy- 
ment  of  my  children  and  my  owne  subsistance ;  and  that  nether 
myselfe  for  desiringe,  nor  they  for  assistinge,  may  receive  any  blame 
or  harme;  provided  alwaies  there  be  nothing  asked  or  said  prejudicial 
to  his  highnes  or  the  present  government.  I  dare  inlarge  no  further 
for  feare  of  beinge  troublesome,  but  shal  be  ready  to  answeare 
anything  that  may  be  objected;  and  ever  remaine  my  Lord,  your 
most  humble  servant,  "John  Marlay." 

'■'■  December  yd,  1658, 
"  My  Lord, — I  sent  your  honor  a  letter  with  some  propositions, 
but  having  hard  nothing  from  you,  I  humbly  begg  pardon  to  add  a 
word  more,  viz.,  that  if  your  great  and  urgent  affaires  will  not  per- 
mit to  give  me  any  spedy  answere,  yet  I  am  confident  (if  I  may  obtaine 
your  favour  and  assistance)  the  free  tendring  of  my  service,  and  my 
reall  desire  and  intention  to  performe  the  same,  will  move  his  highnes 
graciouslie  to  give  order  to  help  me  with  one  hundred  pounds  more 
than  I  have  had,  which  will  inable  me  to  pay  such  debts  as  I  have 
contracted  since  my  comming  over,  put  myselfe,  wife  and  children  in 
cloths,  and  make  us  able  to  subsist,  untill  such  time  as  his  highnes 
shall  think  fitt  to  take  me  and  my  humble  desires  into  his  further 
consideration.  This  request  is  not  great,  and  will  for  ever  oblige  me 
faithfully  and  cordially  to  serve  his  highnes,  and  incourage  others  to 
follow  my  example.  I  have  made  my  addresses  onely  to  your 
honour,  both  by  myselfe  and  friends.  I  beseach  you  lett  me  finde 
your  favour  and  respect,  and  undervalew  me  not  so  much  as  to  thinke 
me  not  worthie  answeringe;  and  uppon  my  credit  and  reputation,  I 


158  S/J?  JOHN  MA  RLE  Y. 

will  so  carry  myselfe  in  all  my  actions,  as  that  your  honor  shall  never 
receive  blame,  nor  have  cause  to  thinke  you  have  done  amisse,  but 
alwaies  to  esteeme  me  as,  my  Lord,  your  most  reall  and  humble 
servant,  "  John  Marlay." 

"  My  Lord  ;  hearing  there  wil  be  a  parliament  call'd  shortly,  and 
having  some  reason  to  believe  you  may  have  burgesses  presented  for 
Newcastle  not  fre  from  beinge  factious  and  turbulent,  which  I  thinke 
may  be  prevented,  and  have  chosen  whom  you  think  fitt ;  I  have 
made  bold  to  acquaint  your  honor  herewith ;  and  if  my  interest  in 
that  place  can  do  any  service  hearein,  you  may  commaund  your  most 
humble  servant,  "  John  Marlay." 

Although  an  old  man  when,  little  more  than  a  year  after  this 
correspondence  had  taken  place,  the  Restoration  of  the  Monarchy 
was  effected.  Sir  John  Marley  lived  long  enough  to  enjoy  the  revived 
order  in  Church  and  State.  Restored  to  his  freedom  of  the  Corpora- 
tion of  Newcastle,  and  to  all  his  former  rights  and  privileges,  he  was 
elected,  on  the  loth  of  April,  1661,  one  of  the  representatives  of  the 
town  in  Parliament,  and  at  Michaelmas  in  that  year,  for  the  fifth 
time,  was  appointed  Mayor  of  Newcastle.  A  thorough  Royalist  at 
heart,  he  resumed  his  old  function  of  watching  over  the  interests  of 
his  party,  and  making  Newcastle  an  unpleasant  residence  for  Puritans 
and  Republicans.  They,  in  turn,  were  exceedingly  bitter  against 
him.  The  anonymous  author  of  a  virulent  diatribe,  entitled, 
"  Flagellum  Parliamentarium,  Being  Sarcastic  Notices  of  Nearly  Two 
Hundred  Members  of  the  First  Parliament  after  the  Restoration," 
pilloried  him  as  "  Formerly  Governor  of  Newcastle,  which  he 
betrayed  to  Cromwell  for  ;:^  1,000.  He  is  now  Governor  of  it  again, 
and  pardoned  his  former  treachery,  that  his  vote  might  follow  the 
Bribe-master-general;  and  very  poor."  But  neither  sarcasm  nor 
abuse  shook  Sir  John's  position,  and  he  remained  M.P.  for  New- 
castle till  his  death,  in  October,  1673. 

Nothing  is  recorded  in  local  history  respecting  Sir  John  Marley's 
domestic  life.  Even  the  family  name  of  his  wife  is  unknown.  An 
entry  in  the  Register  of  St.  Nicholas'  suggests  that  he  may  have  been 
twice  married,  for  he  was  eighty-three  years  old  when  he  died,  and 
the  burial  of  his  widow  appears  under  date  February  14th,  1692-93, 
nearly  twenty  years  after  his  decease.  About  his  descendants  more 
definite  information  is  obtainable.  In  June,  1662,  while  he  was  Mayor, 
his  son  Robert  was  appointed  Town  Clerk  of  Newcastle ;  another 


GEORGE  MARSHALL.  159 

son,  Henry  Marley,  who  married  one  of  the  daughters  of  Ralph 
Cock  ("  Cock's  canny  hinnies "),  was  for  some  time  Clerk  of  the 
Town's  Chamber.  Anthony  Marley,  grandson  of  Sir  John,  a  captain 
in  the  Duke  of  Ormond's  regiment,  married  an  Irish  lady,  and  left  at 
his  decease,  in  1691,  two  sons — Henry,  who  became  Bishop  of  Clon- 
fert,  and  Thomas,  who  was  promoted  to  be  Chief-Justice  of  Ireland. 
Mary  Marley,  a  daughter  of  the  Chief-Justice,  marrying  James 
Grattan,  M.P.  for  Dublin,  became  the  mother  of  Henry  Grattan, 
the  Irish  statesman. 

(Beoroe  fIDareball, 

SAILOR    AND    POET. 

Contemporary  with  John  Marshall,  schoolmaster  (the  subject  of 
the  next  biography),  lived  another  local  poet,  bearing  the  same  family 
appellative,  but  with  the  Christian  name  of  George.  Curiously 
enough,  he,  too,  was  the  son  of  a  timber  merchant,  and,  what  is 
equally  remarkable,  he  had  run,  like  the  pedagogue,  a  comparatively 
unsuccessful  career.  His  father,  settling  at  Blyth  about  the  middle 
of  last  century,  rented  a  raff-yard  from  Mr.  Ridley,  ancestor  of  the 
Ridleys  of  Blagdon,  and  formed  a  profitable  connection  with  the 
shipowners  and  coalowners  of  the  district.  It  is  open  to  conjecture 
that  he  was  one  of  the  Newcastle  INIarshalls,  a  relative  of  the  school- 
master ;  but  of  this  surmise  there  is  no  corroborative  evidence.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  Marshall  the  elder  acquired  wealth,  and  trained  up 
his  family  in  habits  of  thrift  and  industry.  Two  of  his  sons,  Mark 
and  John,  profiting  by  their  father's  precepts,  became  timber 
merchants,  ropers,  and  shipowners,  and  ranked  among  the  chief 
people  of  the  town. 

George,  the  third  son,  less  attentive  to  his  own  interests,  preferred  a 
roving  life.  Selecting  the  sea  for  his  calling,  he  entered  the  maritime 
service  of  the  East  India  Company.  But  in  this  profession  he  was 
not  successful.  He  rose  to  the  position  of  chief  officer,  but  beyond 
that  grade  fortune  failed  him.  Then  he  took  to  literature,  and, 
being  a  member  of  the  Trinity  House  in  Newcastle,  published,  in 
1785,  under  the  7iom  de plume  of  "Palinurus," 

"  Familiar  Letters  from  an  Elder  to  a  Younger  Brother,  serving  for  his  Freedom 
in  the  Trinity-House,  Newcastle  upon  Tyne."  Newcastle:  Printed  for  the  Author 
by  L.  Dinsdale.     Svo,  vii.-i88  pp. 


i6o  JOHN  MARSHALL. 

A  much  more  pretentious  work  issued  from  his  pen  in  1812.  It 
is  a  substantial  quarto  of  216  pages  (with  a  list  of  eighteen  hundred 
subscribers  at  a  guinea  each,  annexed),  dedicated  to  "  Hugh  Earl 
Percy,"  illustrated  with  full-page  pictures  drawn  by  Thurston,  and 
engraved  by  Bewick,  Clennel,  Nesbit,  and  Branston,  and  entitled 

"Epistles  in  Verse,  Between  Cynthio  and  Leonora,  In  Three  Cantos,  Descriptive 
of  a  Voyage  to  and  from  the  East  Indies;  With  Several  Occasional  Pieces.  By 
George  Marshall,  Late  a  Chief  Officer  in  the  Honourable  East  India  Company's 
Sea  Service."     Newcastle  :  Printed  for  the  Author  by  Preston  &  Heaton. 

About  the  same  time  that  John  Marshall,  the  schoolmaster  poet, 
received  the  appointment  of  master  of  the  Jesus  Hospital,  George 
Marshall,  the  sailor  bard,  succeeding  Robert  Gee,  was  installed 
as  governor  of  the  old  gaol  of  Newcastle.  Shortly  after  his  appoint- 
ment, he  fell  into  ill-health,  and,  retiring  to  Portsea  for  change  of  air, 
died  there  on  the  4th  of  January,  1823,  aged  72  years. 


3obn  riDareball, 

PEDAGOGUE    AND    POET. 

The  ease  with  which  a  clever  man,  lacking  business  habits,  slides 
from  affluence  to  poverty,  is  illustrated  in  the  career  of  John 
Marshall,  a  well-known  character  in  Newcastle  at  the  turn  of  the 
century.  Marshall  was  the  son  of  a  timber  merchant,  owning  a  raff- 
yard  in  Pandon,  and  doing  an  extensive  business  in  wooden  rails, 
props,  and  other  accessories  of  the  coal  trade.  His  relatives  were 
well  connected  and  well-to-do.  One  of  them,  son  of  his  father's 
sister — the  Rev.  George  Walker,  F.R.S. — was  an  eminent  theological 
professor,  a  great  mathematician,  and  a  political  writer  of  such  merit 
that  Edmund  Burke  declared  he  had  rather  have  been  the  author  of 
one  of  Walker's  political  treatises  than  of  all  the  books  he  himself 
had  written. 

Into  this  highly  respectable  family,  in  the  year  1757,  the  only  son 
of  his  parents,  John  Marshall  was  born.  He  was  sent  to  the  best 
school  his  native  town  afforded,  the  Royal  Free  Grammar  School,  to 
be  trained  by  the  Rev.  Hugh  Moises,  When  he  left  Mr.  Moises's 
care  he  had  received  a  sound  classical  education,  was  well  advanced 


JOHN  MARSHALL.  i6i 

in  F'rench  and  German,  and  knew  something  of  philosophy  and 
mathematics.  Before  he  attained  his  majority,  he  lost  both  his 
parents,  and  their  death  placing  him  in  possession  of  considerable 
property  and  an  old-established  business,  he  attempted  to  improve 
his  fortune  by  continuing  the  trade  which  his  father  had  built  up 
around  him.  In  the  first  "Directory  of  Newcastle,"  published  in 
177S,  his  name  appears  under  the  heading,  "Raff  Yards,"  as 
"Marshall,  John,  Pandon." 

By  the  time  that  the  next  Directory  was  published  (1787)  his 
name  had  vanished;  he  had  left  the  business,  or  the  business  had 
left  him.  Social  and  convivial  habits  gradually  melted  the  rest 
of  his  property.  He  went  to  sea,  but  a  sailor's  life  was  not  to  his 
taste,  and  he  became  dependent  upon  his  friends  and  relatives. 
They,  in  no  long  time,  grew  tired  of  aiding  him,  and  he  began  to 
experience  the  usual  fate  of  those  who  waste  their  substance  in 
high  living  and  reckless  hospitality.  As  he  afterwards  expressed 
it,  translating  a  couplet  from  the  Greek  poet,  Theognis, 

"  A  cellar  well  stor'd,  and  a  plentiful  table, 
A  number  of  friends  will  obtain ; 
But  when  to  continue  good  cheer  you're  unable, 
You'll  seek  their  assistance  in  vain." 

At  length,  disowned  by  his  relatives,  deserted  by  his  quondam 
friends,  John  Marshall  fell  back  upon  his  intellectual  resources,  and 
took  up  the  humble  position  of  a  schoolmaster.  This  portion  of  his 
life  he  has  described  in  a  little  volume  entitled  "  The  Village  Peda- 
gogue, a  Poem,  and  other  Lesser  Pieces;  Together  with  a  walk  from 
Newcastle  to  Keswick."  The  pedagogue  is  himself,  and  the  poem  is 
a  narrative  of  his  experience,  as  a  humble  teacher,  in  small  and  out- 
of-the-way  villages  among  the  dales  and  fells  of  Cumberland,  and  up 
and  down  in  his  native  county.  He  narrates  at  the  beginning  of  the 
poem  the  manner  in  which 

"  Fair  Science  open'd  to  his  juv'nile  mind 
Her  ample  treasury,  and  Fortune  beam'd 
With  gracious  aspect  on  his  ripen'd  years ; " 

till,  having  lost  the  "gracious  aspect"  of  the  fickle  goddess,  she 
"wing'd  her  way,"  and,  "as  a  shade  the  substance  still  pursues,"  with 
her  departed  "  all  his  summer  friends." 

His  tramp  through  Lanchester  and  the  Wear  Valley,  over  Kilhope 

VOL.   III.  II 


1 6  2  JOHN  MARSHALL. 

and  Hartside,  and  on  to  the  Cumberland  Lakes,  in  search  of 
employment  as  a  teacher,  is  the  subject  of  his  "  Walk  from 
Newcastle  to  Keswick."  He  knew  nobody  in  Cumberland  except 
Peter  Crosthwaite,  proprietor  of  the  Museum  of  Curiosities  at 
Keswick,  and  to  the  house  of  that  veteran  he  directed  his  weary 
feet.  Mr.  Crosthwaite  received  him  kindly,  and,  fortunately  know- 
ing a  vacant  school  in  the  Vale  of  Newlands,  three  or  four  miles 
distant,  sent  him  thither  with  a  letter  of  recommendation.  For  the 
rest,  omitting  translations  from  the  classics,  with  which  the  narrative 
is  plentifully  studded,  the  pedagogue  may  be  allowed  to  tell  his  own 
story : — 

"Enter  the  retired  vale  of  Newlands,  the  vale  where  all  my  hopes 
and  wishes  centred;  wait  on  the  principal  inhabitants,  and  make  an 
agreement,  in  consideration  of  ;^io  per  annum  with  board,  lodging, 
etc.,  to  commence  teaching  on  the  ensuing  day  [August  13th,  1804], 
in  the  vestry  of  the  chapel.  Return  to  Keswick  as  much  elated  as  if 
I  had  been  appointed  a  Teller  of  the  Exchequer,  to  communicate 
the  glad  tidings  to  my  friend  and  patron. 

"  Twelvemonths  did  I  instruct  the  young  rustics  in  this  charming 
vale.  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  lodge  with  an  agreeable  family  at 
the  distance  of  half  a  mile  from  the  chapel.  The  worthy  curate  and 
another  valuable  friend,  an  ofificer  of  travel  and  erudition,  furnished 
me  with  books;  much  of  my  leisure  time  was  employed  in  climbing 
the  mountains  and  exploring. 

"  In  the  small  inclosure  which  contained  the  chapel  were  a  few 
spreading  sycamores;  under  their  friendly  shade,  in  the  heats  of 
summer,  did  I  teach  my  scholars;  and  more  than  once  has  our 
humble  group  afforded  a  subject  for  the  artist's  pencil.  During  the 
interval  of  dinner  the  boys  would  bathe  in  the  shallow  brook,  and 
take  me  with  their  hands  a  supper  of  excellent  trout.  I  had  no 
superfluities,  but  happily  my  desires  were  not  inordinate.  I  lived  in 
peace  with  all  mankind;  my  vacant  hours  were  dedicated  to  reading, 
music,  tracing  rivulets  to  their  sources,  and  ascending  the  mountains; 
content  smoothed  my  pillow,  and  uninterrupted  friendship  with  all 
my  neighbours  sweetened  each  revolving  day. 

"  A  short  time  before  the  completion  of  the  year,  a  vacancy  took 
place  at  Lowes-water.  The  respectable  curate  of  Buttermere  had 
recommended  me  to  the  gentlemen  of  that  place.  I  walked  over; 
after  a  short  conference,  terms  were  agreed  on,  and  I  became  the 
pedagogue  of  Lowes-water. 


JOBX  MARSHALL.  163 

"  I  was  now  transplanted  into  polished  society,  consisting  in  great 
measure  of  gentlemen  of  independent  property;  my  salary  was 
increased  from  ;^io  to  ;^i8  per  annum,  and  the  honest  farmer,  with 
whom  I  dwelt,  kept  a  table  far  superior  to  that  of  mine  host  at 
Newlands.  I  no  longer  slept  in  a  cockloft,  but  in  the  red  chamber, 
forsooth,  glowing  with  crimson  moreen.  In  the  blest  elysium  of 
Lowes-water,  my  felicity  was  mightily  augmented;  although  its  luxuri- 
ant scenery  had  no  small  share  in  this  augmentation,  yet  the  com- 
pletion of  my  happiness  arose  from  the  friendship  of  a  gentleman  [Mr. 
John  Head,  of  High  Cross],  whose  only  son  was  among  the  number 
of  my  pupils.  The  superior  beauties  of  this  favoured  spot  acted  as 
powerful  stimuli  on  my  propensity  to  investigate  and  enjoy  the 
beauties  of  nature.  Under  natural  arbours,  where  '  the  green  leaves 
quiver  with  the  cooling  wind,  and  make  a  chequer'd  shadow  on  the 
ground,'  how  often  has  the  Saturday  been  dedicated  to  Robertson 
or  Gibbon,  to  Milton,  to  Young,  Thompson,  Beattie,  or  to  pious 
and  poetic  Cowper !  Angling  expeditions  on  Cromach  occupied 
some  leisure  hours,  with  occasional  visits  to  the  celebrated 
Mary  of  Buttermere,  a  young  woman  elegant  in  person,  of  pleas- 
ing address,  and  highly  respected  by  characters  of  the  first  rank 
for  her  prudent  conduct  under  very  critical  and  singular  circum- 
stances." 

The  poetical  pedagogue  does  not  state  how  long  he  stayed  at 
Lowes  Water,  but  from  some  memoranda  which,  shortly  before  his 
death,  he  handed  over  to  John  Sykes,  the  Newcastle  bookseller,  it 
would  appear  that  his  residence  in  the  Lake  District  did  not  exceed 
five  years.  "  Murton  School,  commenced  in  Mr.  Metcalf 's  House, 
November  27,  1809,"  and  "Opened  School  at  Newburn,  June  23, 
181 7,"  are  entries  in  his  MSS.  which  show  how  and  where  he  was 
occupied  till,  on  the  20th  of  December,  181 9,  Archibald  Reed, 
Mayor  of  Newcastle,  procured  him  a  room  in  the  Peace  and  Unity 
Hospital  at  the  Westgate,  with  the  customary  allowance  of  5s.  a 
week,  and  five  fothers  of  coals  per  annum.  There  he  remained  a 
couple  of  years,  and  then,  the  master  or  governor  of  the  Jesus 
Hospital  in  the  Manors  having  died,  he  was  appointed  his  successor. 
After  a  lingering  illness,  he  died  on  the  19th  of  August,  1825,  aged 
sixty-eight  years. 

Besides  his  "  Village  Pedagogue,"  Marshall  was  the  author  of 
several  lesser  pieces  of  poetry  that  display  considerable  taste  and 
fancy.     Among    them    are   "  Lines    addressed    to  a  Lady  with  a 


I 


1 64  JOHN  MARTIN. 

Christmas   Rose    in  her  Breast,"  which    contain  a  pretty   conceit, 
cleverly  expressed: — 

*'  A  Christmas  rose  thy  bosom  grac'd, 

Which  long  had  bloom'd  the  garden's  pride  ; 
A  few  short  hours  its  charms  defac'd, 
It  bow'd  its  languid  head  and  died. 

With  Envy  droop'd  the  flowret's  crest, 

That  passion  brought  on  swift  decay  ; 
With  pain  it  saw  thy  snowy  breast, 

Then  closed  its  leaves  and  pin'd  away." 


3obn  noartin, 

ARTIST. 

John  Martin  was  the  youngest  of  five  children,  four  boys  and  a 
girl,  born  of  the  marriage  of  Fenwick  Martin,  of  Bardon  Mill,  tanner, 
and  a  daughter  of  Richard  Thompson  of  Low  House,  near  that 
village.  Shortly  after  his  marriage  Fenwick  Martin  became  foreman 
of  a  tannery  at  Bridge  House,  near  Ayr,  but  subsequently  returned 
to  Tyneside,  and  lived  at  various  places,  finally  settling  in  Newcastle, 
where,  being  an  expert  swordsman,  he  taught  fencing,  single  stick,  etc. 
At  East  Land  Ends,  near  Haydon  Bridge,  on  the  19th  of  July, 
1789,  John  Martin  was  born,  and  in  the  Grammar  School  of  Haydon 
Bridge  he  was  educated.  Wliile  there  he  showed  a  marvellous  talent 
for  drawing,  utilising,  as  occasion  served,  the  walls  of  the  schoolroom, 
the  doors  of  the  villagers,  and  even  the  sandbanks  of  the  river  for  the 
pursuit  of  his  pastime.  When  the  family  removed  to  Newcastle,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Leonard  Wilson, 
coachbuilder  in  High  Friar  Street,  to  learn  the  art  of  heraldic  paint- 
ing, but  after  a  twelve  months'  trial,  dissatisfied  with  the  treatment 
he  received,  he  ran  away,  and  his  indentures  were  cancelled  by  the 
magistrates.  His  father,  taking  his  part,  placed  him  under  the 
tuition  of  Boniface  Musso,  an  Italian  master  of  repute  who  had 
settled  in  Newcastle,  father  of  the  enamel  painter,  Charles  Muss. 
A  year  later,  Boniface  Musso  joined  his  son  in  London,  and  young 
Martin  followed  him.  He  arrived  in  London  at  the  beginning  of 
September,  1806,  and  after  residing  for  some  time  with  his  teacher 
went  into  lodgings,  and  began  to  paint  on  his  own  account.     Having 


JOHN  MARTIN.  165 

determined  never  more  to  receive  pecuniary  aid  from  his  parents, 
who  had  already,  in  his  opinion,  done  enough  for  him,  he  worked 
during  the  day  at  painting  on  glass  and  china  for  a  living,  and  at 
night  studied  architecture  and  perspective  with  a  view  to  future 
possibilities  in  the  higher  regions  of  Art. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  married,  and  to  add  to  his  income 
painted  small  pictures  both  in  oil  and  water-colour,  practised  enamel 
painting,  and  gave  lessons  in  drawing.  In  181 1  he  succeeded  in 
obtaining  the  acceptance  of  a  picture  at  the  Royal  Academy, 
described  in  the  catalogue  as  "  Landscape — a  composition."  The 
following  year  he  painted  a  large  picture — "  Sadak,"  which,  being 
hung  in  the  anteroom  of  the  Academy,  attracted  notice  in  the  news- 
papers, and  was  afterwards  sold  to  Mr.  Manning,  a  Director  of  the 
Bank  of  England,  for  fifty  guineas.  At  the  Academy  in  181 3  he 
exhibited  "  Paradise  :  Adam's  First  Sight  of  Eve,"  which  sold  for 
seventy  guineas ;  but  when,  in  the  succeeding  exhibition,  his  "  Clytie," 
and  in  1815  his  "  Joshua  Commanding  the  Sun  to  Stand  Still,"  were 
hung  in  the  anteroom,  he  considered  himself  insulted  by  the  place 
allotted  to  them.  The  "Joshua "was  afterwards  exhibited  at  the 
British  Institution,  and  obtained  one  of  the  hundred  guinea  prizes, 
though  it  remained  in  his  hands  unsold  for  many  years. 

In  1817  Martin  was  appointed  "Historical  Landscape  Painter  to 
the  Princess  Charlotte  and  Prince  Leopold."  A  conversation  with 
Allston  led  him  to  paint  "  Belshazzar's  Feast,"  an  elaborate  work, 
which  occupied  him  a  year.  He  made  use  in  this  picture  of  all  the 
properties  at  his  command — the  hanging  gardens,  the  tower  of 
Babel,  range  upon  range  of  massive  columns,  and  terraces  one  above 
the  other.  The  light  shed  upon  the  impious  feast  is  derived  from 
the  letters  of  fire  in  which  the  handwriting  appears  upon  the  wall, 
which  the  prophet  is  explaining  to  the  terrified  king.  Leslie,  wrote 
the  artist,  spent  a  morning  in  attempting  to  convince  him  that  his 
treatment  of  the  subject  was  wrong,  but  he  persevered,  and  having 
sent  the  picture  to  the  British  Institution  received  a  prize  of  two 
hundred  guineas.  The  work,  considered  as  a  new  mode  of  dealing 
with  such  subjects,  attracted  the  public  attention,  to  stimulate  which 
the  artist  repeated  the  picture  on  a  sheet  of  plate  glass,  and  this 
being  exhibited  in  the  Strand,  with  light  transmitted  through  the 
terrible  handwriting,  produced  a  startling  effect. 

After  the  production  of  "Belshazzar's  Feast,"  Martin  continued  to 
paint  poetical  and  scriptural   subjects,   such  as    "Adam   and   Eve 


i66 


JOHN  MARTIN. 


Entertaining  the  Angel  Raphael,"  "  The  Creation,"  "  The  Eve  of 
the  Deluge,"  "The  Deluge,"  "The  Fall  of  Nineveh,"  "The  Fall  of 
Babylon,"  "  The  Destruction  of  Herculaneum,"  etc.  Many  of  these 
pictures  were  engraved,  and  as  engraving  was  peculiarly  suited  to 
show  his  work  to  good  advantage,  the  impressions  had  a  large  sale, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  popularity  which  he  achieved  by 
these  works  led  to  his  being  engaged  to  illustrate  the  poems  of 
Milton,  for  which  he  received  ^2000,  and  to  issue  a  series  of 
"Illustrations  of  the  Bible,"  in  conjunction  wnth  R.  Westall,  R.A., 
with  descriptions  by  the  Rev.  Hobart  Gaunter,  B.D.  In  this  last- 
named  book  are  about  fifty  of  Martin's  productions,  exhibiting  all 


^^^    \f 


jjoh  n     Ma.  rCirt' 


the  characteristics  of  his  style — numberless  figures,   illimitable  dis- 
tances, and  architecture  of  "  perspective  immensity." 

But  Martin  had  an  eye  to  other  subjects  than  Art.  What  those 
were  he  explains  in  an  "  Autobiography  "  as  follows : — "  In  conse- 
quence of  the  strong  interest  I  had  always  felt  in  the  improvement 
of  the  condition  of  the  people,  and  the  sanitary  state  of  the  country, 
I  turned  my  attention  to  engineering  subjects;  and  two-thirds  of  my 
time,  and  a  very  large  portion  of  my  pecuniary  means  have,  since 
1827,  been  devoted  to  the  objects  I  had  at  heart.  My  attention  was 
first  occupied  in  endeavouring  to  procure  an  improved  supply  of 
pure   water  to  London,   diverting  the  sewage  from  the  river,  and 


JOHN  MAR  TIN.  1 6  7 

rendering  it  available  as  manure;  and,  in  1827  and  1828,  I  published 
plans  for  the  purpose.  In  1829  I  published  further  plans  for  accom- 
plishing the  same  objects  by  different  means,  namely,  a  weir  across 
the  Thames,  and  for  draining  the  marshy  lands,  etc.  In  1832, 
1834,  1836,  1838,  1842,  1843,  1^45)  ^"d  1847  I  published  and 
re-published  additional  particulars — being  so  bent  upon  my  object 
that  I  was  determined  never  to  abandon  it,  and,  though  I  have 
reaped  no  other  advantage,  I  have,  at  least,  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  the  agitation  thus  kept  up  constantly,  solely  by  myself, 
has  resulted  in  a  vast  alteration  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  water 
supplied  by  the  companies,  and  in  the  establishment  of  a  Board  of 
Health,  which  will  in  all  probability  eventually  carry  out  most  of  the 
objects  I  have  been  so  long  urging.  Among  the  other  proposals 
which  I  have  advanced  is  my  railway  connecting  the  river  and  docks 
with  all  the  railways  that  diverge  from  London;  the  principle  of  rail 
adopted  by  the  Great  Western  line;  the  lighthouse  for  the  sands, 
appropriated  by  Mr.  Walker  in  his  Maplin  Sand  Lighthouse;  the 
flat  anchor  and  wire  cable;  mode  of  ventilating  coal-mines;  floating 
harbour  and  pier;  iron  ship,  and  various  other  inventions  of  com- 
paratively minor  importance;  but  all  conducing  to  the  great  ends  of 
improving  the  health  of  the  country,  increasing  the  produce  of  the 
land,  and  furnishing  employment  for  the  people  in  remunerative 
work." 

Martin  was  engaged  upon  three  immense  pictures — "  The  Last 
Judgment,"  "The  Great  Day  of  Wrath,"  and  the  "Plains  of 
Heaven,"  to  within  a  short  time  of  his  death,  which  happened  at 
Douglas,  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  on  the  17th  of  February,  1854.  He 
had  been  some  time  before  created  a  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Leopold 
by  his  old  patron  the  King  of  the  Belgians,  and  had  received 
compliments,  presents  and  honours  from  the  Emperor  of  Russia, 
the  King  of  Prussia,  and  the  reigning  families  of  France.  Besides 
enjoying  these  distinctions  he  was  a  member  of  the  Academies  of 
Antwerp  and  Brussels,  and  an  honorary  member  of  the  Royal 
Scottish  Academy.  Six  of  a  family  of  eight  children  survived  him. 
Isabella,  the  eldest,  was  for  some  time  his  secretary,  but  subsequently 
became  joint  manager,  with  Joseph  Bonomi,  her  brother-in-law,  of 
Sir  John  Soane's  Museum,  and  died  in  1879.  Alfred,  the  eldest  son. 
General  Superintendent  of  Income  Tax  in  Ireland,  died  in  1872. 
Jessie  married  Joseph  Bonomi.  Charles  became  an  artist  in  New 
York.     Zenobia,  educated  at  a  boarding-school  in  Newcastle,  where 


1 68  J  ON  A  THAN  MAR  TIN. 

she  was  named  by  her  school-fellows  the  "  Queen  of  Palmyra," 
married  Peter  Cunningham,  chief  clerk  in  the  Audit  Office,  at 
Somerset  House,  London,  and  author  of  the  "  Handbook  of 
London,"  "  Life  of  Inigo  Jones,"  "  The  Story  of  Nell  Gwynn,"  and 
other  well-known  books.  Leopold  Charles,  so  named  after  Leopold, 
King  of  the  Belgians,  his  godfather,  author  of  "  Illustrations  of 
British  Costume,"  "Gold  and  Silver  Coins  of  All  Nations,"  "The 
Literature  of  the  Civil  Service,"  etc.,  and  of  a  series  of  recollections 
of  his  father  which  appeared  in  the  Newcastle  Weekly  Chronicle, 
married  a  sister  of  John  Tenniel,  the  artist  of  Punch,  and  died  in 
London  on  the  5th  of  January,  1S89. 


3onatban  riDartin, 

INCENDIARY. 

Jonathan  Martin,  third  son  of  Fenwick  Martin,  tanner,  was  born 
at  High  Side,  near  Hexham,  in  1782.  Having  served  his  time  to  his 
father's  trade  he  went  to  London,  and  there  he  was  "  pressed  "  into 
the  navy.  While  serving  his  country  in  the  capacity  of  a  marine  he 
was  present  at  the  bombardment  of  Copenhagen,  the  blockade  of  the 
Tagus,  and  Sir  John  Moore's  expedition  at  Corunna.  When  he  came 
back  to  England,  he  betook  himself  fitfully  to  his  proper  calling,  but 
he  had  acquired  in  the  navy  a  love  of  roving  which  prevented  him 
from  settling  down  to  regular  employment. 

While  working  at  Yarm,  Stockton,  Norton  (where  he  married), 
Whitby,  and  Bishop  Auckland,  he  professed  great  religious  fervour, 
and  indulged  in  paroxysms  of  rage  against  the  clergy.  At  Norton 
he  concealed  himself  in  the  parish  church  with  a  view  of  giving  the 
worshippers  a  homily  on  the  sins  of  their  ministers,  but  was  dragged 
out  by  the  sexton  and  brought  before  the  magistrates,  who  dismissed 
him  with  a  caution.  At  South  Church,  Bishop  Auckland,  he  rose 
in  his  place  and  denounced  the  preacher,  calling  him  "  a  whited 
sepulchre  "  and  "  a  deceiver  of  the  people,"  for  which  offence  he  was 
again  put  in  peril  of  his  liberty,  but  escaped  through  the  intervention 
of  his  employer.  Shortly  afterwards  he  was  accused  of  contem- 
plating the  assassination  of  Dr.  Legge,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  who  was 
administering  the  rite  of  confirmation  for  the  Bishop  of  Durham  in 


JONATHAN  MARTIN.  169 

the  parish  church  of  Stockton.  Brought  before  the  magistrates,  he 
almost  admitted  that  if  the  Bishop  had  not  given  satisfactory  answers 
to  certain  questions  that  he  proposed  to  put  to  him,  he  would  have 
finished  him  in  some  way.  This  confession  led  to  his  committal  as 
a  lunatic,  first  at  West  Auckland,  and  afterwards  at  the  instance  of 
sympathising  friends,  in  Gateshead  Asylum.  After  three  years'  deten- 
tion there  he  escaped,  walked  to  Hexham,  and  from  thence  to  Norton, 
where  he  was  captured  and  sent  back  to  the  asylum.  He  escaped 
again,  and  was  left  unmolested.  His  wife  had  died  during  his  in- 
carceration, leaving  one  son  named  Richard,  who  subsequently,  in 
1838,  committed  suicide. 

Jonathan  Martin,  a  free  man  once  more,  resumed  his  wanderings, 
occasionally  working  at  his  trade,  but  more  frequently  subsisting 
by  selling  a  pamphlet  which  he  had  written,  entitled — 

"  The  Life  of  Jonathan  Martin,  of  Darlington,  tanner,  containing  an  Account 
of  the  Extraordinary  Interpositions  of  Divine  Providence  on  his  behalf,  during  a 
period  of  six  years'  service  in  the  Navy,  including  his  wonderful  escapes  in  the 
Action  of  Copenhagen,  and  in  many  affairs  on  the  Coasts  of  Spain  and  Portugal, 
in  Egypt,  etc.  Also,  an  Account  of  the  Embarcation  of  the  British  Army  after 
the  Battle  of  Corunna.  Likewise  an  Account  of  his  subsequent  Conversion,  and 
christian  Experience,  with  the  Persecutions  he  suffered  for  Conscience'  sake,  being 
locked  up  in  an  asylum  and  ironed,  describing  his  miraculous  Escape  through  the 
roof  of  the  house,  having  first  ground  off  his  Fetters  with  a  Sandy  Stone.  His 
singular  Dream  of  the  Destruction  of  London,  and  the  Host  of  Armed  Men  over- 
running England,"  etc.,  etc.  Illustrated  by  three  curious  pictures,  viz.  (i)  a 
frontispiece,  "The  Colossus  of  Rhodes";  (2)  "Jonathan  Martin's  Providential 
Escape  from  a  Watery  Grave  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  four  different  times";  (3) 
"Jonathan  Martin's  Providential  Escape  from  the  Asylum  House."  Svo.  Barnard- 
castle,  1826. 

Two  editions  of  this  pamphlet  were  soon  disposed  of,  and  he 
printed  a  third,  consisting  of  five  thousand  copies.  At  Lincoln,  on  the 
19th  of  October,  1828,  he  married  for  his  second  wife  a  young  woman 
named  Maria  Hudson,  about  twenty  years  younger  than  himself. 
On  the  morrow  of  Christmas  following,  the  couple  arrived  in  York, 
and  lodged  with  one  Stephen  Lawn,  a  shoemaker.  A  few  days  later 
a  letter  was  found  tied  to  the  iron  gates  of  the  Minster  choir, 
beginning  with  "  Hear  the  word  of  Lord,  Oh  you  Dark  and  lost 
Clargmen  you  desevers  of  the  People,"  and  ending  with  "Jona. 
Martin,  a  frind  of  the  Sun  of  Boneypart  Must  Conclude  By  warning 
you  again  Oh  Repent  repent  He  will  soon  be  able  to  act  the  part  of 
his  Father."     On  Wednesday,  the  21st  of  January,  another  epistle, 


1 7  o  J  ON  A  THAN  MAR  TIN. 

addressed  to  "  all  the  Clargy  in  York,"  was  found  in  the  Minster, 
which  commenced  with  "  Hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  Oh  you  blind 
Hipacrits,  you  Saarpents  and  Vipears  of  Hell,  you  wine  Bibears  and 
Beffe  Yeaters,  whose  Eyes  stand  out  with  Fatness  and  still  caing  out 
mor  mor  wine  mor  plum  Puding  and  Rost  Beffe,  and  saying  to  your 
Souls  Yeet  and  Drink  Saule  and  be  meary,"  etc.  This  letter  ended 
with  "Oh  Repent  for  the  Sourd  of  Justic's  is  at  hand.  J.M.  our 
Sincerest  Frind." 

Having  taken  his  wife  to  Leeds  and  obtained  lodgings  there,  he 
quietly  returned  to  York  by  himself  on  Saturday,  the  31st  of  January, 
obtained  permission  to  sleep  in  his  old  apartments,  and  next  morn- 
ing went  to  the  Minster  and  heard  the  service.  In  the  afternoon  he 
returned,  provided  with  flint,  steel,  and  tinder-box,  concealed  himself 
in  the  building,  and  some  time  in  the  early  morning,  having  piled 
prayer-books  and  cushions  together  in  the  choir,  he  set  fire  to 
them  in  several  places.  Then,  breaking  a  window,  he  made  good 
his  escape.  The  fire  was  discovered  about  seven  by  an  early  rising 
chorister,  and  before  it  was  extinguished,  the  stalls,  galleries,  pulpit, 
altar  rails,  tabernacle  work,  the  organ,  and  the  roof  of  the  centre 
aisle  were  destroyed,  and  several  of  the  shrines  and  monuments 
irreparably  injured.  Martin,  as  the  writer  of  the  letters,  was  suspected; 
and  a  reward  of  ^100  was  offered  for  his  apprehension.  The  hand- 
bill containing  the  offer  described  him  thus  : — 

"  He  is  rather  a  stout  Man,  about  5  Feet  6  Inches  high,  with  light  Hair  cut 
close,  coming  to  a  point  in  the  Centre  of  the  Forehead,  and  high  above  the 
Temples,  and  has  large,  bushy  red  Whiskers  :  he  is  between  40  and  50  Years  of 
Age,  and  of  singular  Manners.  He  usually  wears  a  single  breasted  blue  Coat,  with 
a  stand-up  Collar,  and  Buttons  covered  with  the  same  Cloth  ;  a  black  Cloth  Waist- 
coat, and  blue  Cloth  Trousers  ;  Half-boots  laced  up  in  Front,  and  a  glazed  broad- 
brimed  low  crowned  Hat.  Sometimes  he  wears  a  double-breasted  blue  Coat, 
with  yellow  Buttons.  When  travelling  he  wears  a  large  black  Leather  Cape 
coming  down  to  his  Elbows,  with  two  pockets  within  the  Cape  ;  across  the  back 
of  the  Leather  Cape  there  is  a  square  Piece  of  dark-coloured  Fur,  extending  from 
one  Shoulder  point  to  the  other.  At  other  times  he  wears  a  Drab-coloured  great 
Coat  with  a  large  Cape  and  shortish  Skirts." 

The  incendiary  was  apprehended  at  Codlaw  Hill,  between  Hex- 
ham and  Stagshaw,  on  Friday,  the  6th  of  February,  taken  to  York, 
and  tried  for  arson  on  the  31st  of  March.  Mr.  Brougham,  after- 
wards Lord  Brougham,  was  engaged  on  his  behalf,  but  the  prisoner 
made  a  long  statement  on  his  own  account  which  was  a  complete 


/  /  'J  1. 1. 1  A  M  MA  R  TIX.  171 

confession  of  the  crime.  He  had  been  told  by  the  Lord,  he  said,  to 
destroy  the  Cathedral  "on  account  of  the  clergy  going  to  plays  and 
balls,  playing  at  cards,  and  drinking  wine."  The  jury  returned  a 
verdict  of  "  Guilty  of  setting  fire  to  the  Minster  while  in  an  unsound 
state  of  mind,"  which  the  judge  directed  to  be  changed  into  a  verdict 
of  "Not  guilty,  on  account  of  insanity."  He  was  confined  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  London,  and  there 
he  died  on  the  ist  of  May,  183S. 


MilUain  fIDartin, 

"philosophical  conqueror  of  all  nations." 

William,  the  eldest  brother  of  John  and  Jonathan  Martin,  was  born 
at  the  Low  House,  in  the  township  of  Henshaw,  near  Bardon  Mill, 
on  the  2ist  of  June,  1772.  In  an  account  which  he  wrote  of  his 
own  life  he  states  that  when  he  was  about  four  years  old,  he  was 
carried  to  Cantyre,  in  Argyllshire,  by  his  maternal  grand-parents, 
who  were  very  partial  to  him,  and  who  were  removing  to  that  part  of 
the  Highlands,  on  the  invitation  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  with  a  view 
"  to  show  the  Highlanders  how  to  cultivate  the  ground."  He 
remained  there  till  he  was  about  nine  or  ten  years  of  age ;  and  he 
gives  a  graphic  account  of  how  his  time  was  spent  on  and  about 
the  farm,  and  also  gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  grandfather 
Richard  Thompson's  open-handed  hospitality,  and  of  the  sincere 
piety  of  the  household.  "Prayers  were  made  to  the  mighty  God  by 
all  his  family  and  servants  twice  a  day,  and  for  all  the  neighbours 
who  could  attend ;  and  the  remainder  of  the  family,"  he  adds, 
"  follow  the  same  example  to  this  day;  so  did  my  mother  as  long  as 
she  lived ;  and  on  her  death-bed  she  told  her  nurse,  one  of  her 
nieces,  that  waited  upon  her,  in  prophetic  language,  that  her  family's 
name  would  sound  from  pole  to  pole."  The  good  woman  moreover 
told  her  nurse  that  "  she  was  delighted  with  such  heavenly  music  the 
night  before  she  died,  that  she  was  wishful  for  them  all  to  hear,  but 
she  thought  proper  to  let  them  sleep  on,  and  not  disturb  them,  for  it 
might  be  what  she  heard  should  be  concealed  from  them,  as  it  was 
heavenly."  William,  who  was  her  first  born,  she  knew  "had  a  god- 
like soul." 

In  1794,  William  Martin  went  to  work  at  the  ropery  at  Howdon 


172  /  VILLI  AM  MAR  TIN. 

Dock,  where,  according  to  his  own  story,  he  pointed  out  the  folly  of 
coal-waggons  running  on  wooden  rails,  declaring  that  they  should  be 
put  on  cast-metal  rails  laid  upon  stone ;  thus  the  waggons  would  go 
with  less  friction,  and,  if  any  of  the  rails  were  to  break,  they  could 
be  cast  over  again,  or  others  put  in  their  stead  ;  and  one  horse 
would  draw  as  much  as  three  or  four.  The  following  year  he  joined 
the  Northumberland  Militia,  and  distinguished  himself  in  swords- 
manship, fencing,  leaping,  etc.  At  the  disbanding  of  the  regiment 
in  1802  he  returned  to  his  ropery  work,  and  began  to  dabble  in 
what  he  called  philosophy,  to  make  wonderful  discoveries,  and  to 
announce  marvellous  inventions.  That  is  to  say,  as  soon  as  some 
great  invention  was  made  known,  he  claimed  to  have  discovered  it 
before,  and  to  have  had  his  plans  stolen,  or  copied,  or  otherwise 
misappropriated.     Thus : — 

"In  1805  I  began  to  study  the  cause  of  perpetual  motion,  and 
continued  till  I  had  thirty-seven  different  inventions,  and  discovered 
it  on  the  fourth  of  January,  1807.  In  the  year  1805  my  brother 
John  and  my  brother  Richard,  being  on  a  visit  to  me  at  Howdon 
Dock,  we  took  a  walk  to  see  Percy  Main  Colliery.  [Describes  the 
struggles  of  a  horse  drawing  coals  from  the  pit's  mouth  to  the 
screen,  and  his  suggestion  to  dispense  with  the  animal  by  laying 
inclined  rails  from  the  pit  to  the  screen.]  My  brother  John  made  a 
sketch,  and  afterwards  drew  a  regular  plan  according  to  what  I  had 
suggested.  About  this  time  I  was  deeply  engaged  in  my  researches 
after  a  perpetual  motion,  and  the  plan  was  stolen  out  of  my 
lodging.  .  .  .  In  18 14,  when  returning  from  the  Northumberland 
Militia,  I  saw  them  all  over  the  country;  and  the  fan  ventilator 
(which  I  also  found  in  general  use)  was  my  invention  in  1806." 

The  same  fate  befell  his  safety-lamp,  about  which  he  published  a 
long  account,  contending  that  his  invention  was  the  only  safe  and 
genuine  article.  Some  of  his  discoveries  came  to  him,  like  the 
injunctions  to  his  brother  Jonathan,  in  dreams  and  visions  of  the 
night,  but  none  of  them  brought  him  in  much  coin.  Among  his 
alleged  inventions  were  a  life-preserver  for  seamen;  a  cure  for  dry 
rot  in  timber;  plans  for  cutting  canals;  extinguishing  fires  at  sea; 
erecting  a  suspension  bridge ;  and  an  improved  velocipede,  which  he 
facetiously  named  the  Eagle  Mail,  and  on  which  he  rode  about  the 
country  with  what  was  then  considered  marvellous  speed.  All  these 
inventions,  or  at  least  most  of  them,  were  "  stolen  from  him  by  un- 
principled men."     He  did,  however,  obtain,  in  18 14,  a  silver  medal 


ikiJdaucw(idoiMiavca/)i(i  adeceww  oi 
JLiMnd  a^d  all  kiDide:)    of  ^.^ofiU^ 
"^iifT^Oii.l^  no  ^iuh  trwmfor  Ac  ncu 
^^M  down  kidJaU  wmUft/y  //^i^  • 


174  WILLIAM  MARTIN. 

and  ten  guineas  from   the   Society  of  Arts,  for   his  invention  of  a 
spring  weighing  machine,  with  circular  dial  and  index. 

About  the  year  1820  William  Martin  began  to  pose  as  an  authority 
on  philosophical  questions.  He  dubbed  himself  "Natural  Philo- 
sopher and  Poet,"  and  commenced  to  write  in  the  papers,  and  to 
discuss  with  his  friends  and  little  knots  of  rustics  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Wallsend,  where  he  resided.  In  1827  he  came  out  as  a 
lecturer,  and  issued  a  pamphlet  of  32  pages,  attacking  Sir  Isaac 
Newton's  philosophy  and  defending  his  own,  after  the  manner  of  the 
flat  earth  theorists — 

"A  New  Philosophical  Song  or  Poem  Book,  called  the  Northumberland  Bard, 
or  the  Downfall  of  all  False  Philosophy.  Printed  Verbatim  from  the  MS. 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall.  To  be  published  throughout  the  Kingdom."  8vo. 
Newcastle:  Thomas  Blagburn,  14,  Old  Flesh  Market,  1827.     Price  Sixpence. 

One  extract  will  sufifice  to  show  the  style  in  which  the  Wallsend 
philosopher  wrote — 

"  Martin  has  rush'd  out  in  a  sudden,  like  a  lion  from  his  den; 
Now  the  odds  goes  against  them — it  is  a  horse  to  a  hen. 
Cheer  up,  you  Northumberland  and  British  Bards  that  can  use  the  pen. 
And  show  your  divine  wisdom  for  the  good  of  all  men. 
I  have  flank'd  the  Newtonians,  both  right  and  left,  it  is  clear, 
And  the  Martinians  are  boldly  charging  both  front  and  rear. 
Cheer  up,  you  Britons,  your  champion  has  the  battle  won. 
All  the  world  cannot  penetrate  the  celestial  armour  he  has  him  upon." 

Two  years  later  he  went  to  press  with — 

"William  Martin's  Challenge  to  the  whole  Terrestrial  Globe  as  a  Philosopher 
and  Critic,  and  Poet  and  Prophet,  Shewing  the  Travels  of  his  Mind,  the  Quick 
Motion  of  the  Soul,  that  Never-dying  Principle,  the  Spirit  belonging  to  Mortal 
Man."     8vo.     Newcastle:  W.  Fordyce,  1S29.     Two  Editions,  18  and  20  pp. 

Shortly  afterwards  he  adopted  the  title  of  "Anti-Newtonian,"  and 
published — 

"  The  Defeat  of  Learned  Humbugs,  and  the  Downfall  of  all  False  Philosophers 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  for  the  Good  of  All  Mankind  and  the  Christian  Church." 
8vo.     Newcastle:  John  Clarke,  1832.     54  pp. 

Some  time  after  William  Martin  left  the  Northumberland  Regi- 
ment of  Militia  he  married.  His  wife,  who  was,  he  says,  "  an 
inoffensive  woman,  and  was  respected  both  by  rich  and  poor,  and  a 
celebrated  dressmaker,  and  had  upwards  of  sixty  apprentices  during 
the  time  she  was  in  business,"  died  in  her  sixtieth  year,  on  the  i6th 


WILLIAM  .\r A RTIX.  175 

of  January,  1832.  "Mrs.  Martin  was,  indeed,  a  jewel  of  a  woman, 
and  she  had  a  love  amounting  to  devotion  for  her  eccentric  husband, 
who  may  be  said  to  have  been  for  years  mainly  fed  and  clad  by  the 
produce  of  her  industriously-plied  needle.  So  long  as  she  lived  he 
had  always  a  comfortable  home  to  return  to,  after  his  philosophic 
peregrinations.  On  her  deathbed  the  only  concern  she  felt  was  who 
would  take  care  of  William,  for  she  knew  he  could  not  take  care  of 
himself,  as  clever  as  he  was.  For  some  time  after  her  decease  the 
widower  lived  in  his  house  alone;  and  finding  some  difficulty  in 
commissariat  and  cooking  matters,  he  made  fain  to  subsist  on  boiled 
horse  beans  seasoned  with  salt,  which  he  alleged  contained  all  the 
elements  of  healthy  nutriment  for  human  beings." 

His  next  adventure  in  the  publishing  line  was  his  autobio- 
graphy :— 

"A  Short  Outline  of  the  Philosopher's  Life,  from  being  a  Child  in  Frocks  to 
the  Present  Day,  after  the  Defeat  of  all  Impostors,  False  Philosophers,  since  the 
Creation  ;  By  the  Will  of  the  INIighty  God  of  the  Universe,  he  has  laid  the  Grand 
Foundation  for  Church  Reform  by  true  Philosophy.  All  my  Inventions,  which 
would  make  a  Large  Volume,  are  not  named,  as  it  would  put  it  out  of  the  reach 
of  the  Poorer  Class  of  People  to  purchase ;  the  Burning  of  York  Minster  is  not 
left  out,  and  an  Account  of  the  Four  Brothers  and  One  Sister."  8vo.  New- 
castle :  Blackwell  &  Co.,  1833.     56  pp. 

From  this  date  he  published  pamphlets  and  leaflets  in  great 
abundance,  and  earned  his  subsistence  by  selling  them.  In  a  col- 
lection belonging  to  the  present  writer  are  a  hundred  and  forty-eight 
of  them.  Those  which  exceed  eight  pages  in  length  bear  the  follow- 
ing titles  : — 

"  The  Christian  Philosopher's  Explanation  of  the  General  Deluge,  and  the 
Proper  Cause  of  all  the  different  Strata  :  Wherein  it  is  clearly  demonstrated  that 
One  Deluge  was  the  Cause  of  the  whole,  which  Divinely  proves  that  God  is  not 
a  Liar,  but  that  the  Bible  is  strictly  True."  8vo.  Newcastle  :  Fordyce,  1S34. 
18  pp. 

"  Diamond  Cut  Diamond.  The  Defeat  of  Impostors  by  Common  Sense  Philo- 
sophy. To  Bishops,  Priests,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  all  the  World."  Svo. 
Newcastle:  Pattison  &  Ross,  1836.     16  pp. 

' '  The  Thunder  Storm  of  Dreadful  Forked  Lightning  :  God's  Judgment  against 
all  False  Teachers  that  cause  the  People  to  Err,  and  those  that  are  led  by  them 
are  Destroyed,  according  to  God's  Word.  Including  an  Account  of  the  Railway 
Phenomenon,  the  Wonder  of  the  World."  Svo.  Newcastle:  Pattison  &  Ross, 
1837.     40  pp. 

"The  Defeat  of  the  Eighth  Scientific  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  of 
Asses,  which  we  may  properly  call  the  rich  Folks'  Hopping,  or  the  False 
Philosophers  in  an  Uproar."     Svo.     Newcastle:  Pattison  &  Ross,  1838.      16  pp. 


1 7 6  WILLIAM  MARTIN. 

"  William  Martin,  Philosophical  Conqueror  of  All  Nations.  Also  a  Challenge 
for  all  College  Professors.  To  prove  this  Wrong  and  themselves  Right,  and  that 
Air  is  not  the  great  Cause  of  all  things,  animate  and  inanimate.  I  say  boldly 
that  it  is  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  God  himself,  as  the  Scripture  says  God  is  a  Spirit, 
and  that  Spirit  was  never  created  nor  made,  or  how  could  there  be  any  Creation  ? 
This  is  clear  to  any  one  that  has  common  Sense."  8vo.  Newcastle:  M.  Ross. 
32  pp. 

Firmly  believing  that  he  had  a  special  mission  from  on  high  to  put 
the  World  and  the  Church  in  their  proper  position,  and  conquer  all 
nations  by  his  philosophy,  he  never  failed  to  send  a  copy  of  each  of 
his  productions  to  the  most  prominent  public  men  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  leaving  them,  however,  to  pay  the  postage.  Thus,  for 
instance,  he  sent  his  "  Railway  Phenomenon,  the  Wonder  of  the 
World,"  to  King  William  the  Fourth,  the  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
Earl  Grey,  Lord  Melbourne,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  the  Bishop  of 
Durham,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  Daniel  O'Connell,  Sir  Herbert  Taylor,  Joseph  Pease, 
Cuthbert  Rippon,  Matthew  Bell,  Lord  Brougham,  J.  A.  Roebuck, 
Joseph  Lamb,  the  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  and  all  colleges  throughout 
his  Majesty's  dominions.  It  was  to  let  them  know  that  "  From 
Northumbria's  coast  the  Christian  Philosopher  had  appeared,  steer- 
ing bravely  the  helm  of  the  ship  of  truth,"  to  frighten  the  Newtonians, 
"the  devil's  mad  crew,"  "the  wise  men  of  Gotham,  the  foolish  jack- 
dandies,"  in  whose  mouths  "  a  cigaw  "  was  often  seen. 

Among  other  things  which  William  Martin  attempted  was  copper- 
plate engraving.  He  executed  the  copper-plates  to  illustrate  the  life 
of  his  brother  Jonathan,  views  of  York  Cathedral  done  after  the  fire, 
flash  bank-notes,  etc.  The  portrait  on  page  173  is  a  specimen  of  his 
skill  in  that  direction. 

His  eccentricities  of  costume  were  not  less  remarkable  than 
his  writings.  For  some  years  previous  to  his  death,  his  head- 
dress consisted  of  the  shell  of  a  tortoise,  mounted  with  brass;  and 
his  breast  was  generally  ornamented  with  a  variety  of  stars  and 
other  decorations,  believed  to  be  the  insignia  of  distinguished 
foreign  orders.  These  are  said  to  have  been  manufactured  by 
Newcastle  Quayside  clerks  and  other  hoaxers,  and  palmed  on 
the  vain,  credulous,   inoffensive  man  as  genuine. 

In  "  Autobiographical  Notes  of  the  Life  of  William  Bell  Scott," 
the  poet-artist,  who  was  for  some  time  master  of  the  School  of 
Design  in  Newcastle,  is  a  passing  reference  to  William  Martin  as 
he  appeared  to  Mr.  Scott  in  1845: — "One  of  the  street  characters 


WILLIAM  MARTIN.  177 

about  Newcastle  at  that  time  was  a  brother  of  John  Martin,  the 
inventive  painter  of  *  Belshazzar's  Feast':  not  the  one  who  set  fire 
to  York  Minster — a  third  brother,  quite  as  mad  as  the  incendiary, 
but  more  innocent.  He  was  habitually  to  be  met  with  in  the 
principal  thoroughfares,  generally  with  a  pamphlet  in  his  hand, 
which  he  was  willing  to  dispose  of  He  quickly  recognised  me  as 
a  stranger,  and  offered  me  the  chance  of  enlightenment,  in  such 
a  way,  however,  as  did  not  make  me  respond;  but  a  few  weeks  later 
...  we  encountered  the  well-known  figure  in  his  extraordinary  skull- 
cap, decorated  with  military  surtout  closely  buttoned  to  the  throat. 
Captain  Weatherley,  as  his  manner  was,  received  him  in  the  friend- 
liest way,  and  listened  to  the  information  that  Martin's  claim  to  the 
invention  of  the  High-Level  Bridge  then  building  over  the  Tyne — a 
railway  scheme  designed,  if  I  remember  right,  by  Stephenson  the 
younger — was  now  in  print,  and  would  be  forwarded  to  the  Queen 
to-morrow !  He  then  introduced  me  as  a  great  London  artist,  come 
to  educate  the  people  of  the  North,  when  Martin,  with  exaggerated 
politeness,  drew  his  feet  together,  bent  forward,  lifted  his  tortoise- 
shell  hat  high  in  the  air,  and  answered  '  Gratified  to  meet  you,  sir ! 
I  am  the  philosophical  conqueror  of  all  nations,  that  is  what  I  am  ! 
and  this  is  my  badge;  at  the  same  time  unbuttoning  his  surtout  he 
showed  a  medal  as  large  as  a  saucer,  which  was  hung  round  his 
neck  by  a  ribbon.  It  was  not  a  medal  at  all,  and  he  was  manifestly 
crazed,  yet  he  had  that  about  him  that  made  one  treat  him  with 
respect.  A  noble  presence  even  was  his,  although  he  was  poor 
enough  to  sell  his  pamphlets  thus  on  the  street,  which  pamphlets 
were  of  course  only  evidence  of  his  craze." 

The  last  of  Martin's  leaflets — "The  Philosopher  on  the  Millen- 
nium," is  dated  "Newcastle  18,  1849";  shortly  afterwards  his  brother 
John  took  care  of  him  in  London,  and  there,  at  his  brother's  house 
in  Chelsea,  on  the  9th  of  February,  185 1,  he  died. 

Richard  Martin,  the  second  of  these  four  remarkable  sons  of 
Fenwick  INIartin,  was  born  while  the  family  were  living  at  the 
Bridge  of  Doon,  near  Ayr.  He  was  put  to  his  father's  trade  of 
a  tanner,  but  entered  the  army  and  served  twenty-nine  years,  of 
which  twenty-two  were  passed  in  the  First  or  Grenadier  Regiment  of 
Foot  Guards.  Of  this  regiment  he  was  quartermaster-sergeant.  In 
1830  he  published  in  London  a  volume  of  poems  containing  "The 
Last  Days  of  the  Antediluvian  World,"  "  A  Forlorn  Hope,"  and 
"  Ishmael's   x\ddress."     He  had    one   daughter,    who    became    the 

VOL.  III.  12 


1 78  JAMES  MATHER. 

wife   of  George   BuUen,    Keeper   of  Printed  Books  in  the  British 
Museum. 

The  sister  of  these  four  brothers,  Fenwick  Martin's  only  daughter, 
married  a  Mr.  Atkinson,  and  her  daughter  was  united  to  Henry 
Warren,  K.L.,  President  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  Painters  in  Water 
Colours. 


3anic0  riDatber, 

THE    miners'    and    SAILORS'    FRIEND. 

James  Mather  was  a  native  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  where  he  was 
born  on  or  about  the  23rd  December,  1799.  After  receiving  the 
rudiments  of  education  at  home,  he  was  sent  to  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  where  he  studied  medicine  and  philosophy,  and  passed 
through  the  classes  with  honour. 

As  a  young  man  he  gave  early  promise  of  public  usefulness.  In 
1827  he  invented  a  lifeboat,  and  placed  it  on  board  the  Mary,  a 
vessel  belonging  to  his  father.  It  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
appliance  of  its  kind  supplied  to  a  merchant  vessel,  and  the  utility 
of  the  invention  was  manifested  on  the  loth  of  July  in  the  same 
year,  when  the  Mary  was  wrecked  in  a  gale  on  the  rocks  of  Lessoe, 
in  the  Cattegat,  and  the  crew  were  saved  by  means  of  their  own  life- 
boat. This  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Danish  Admiralty,  the 
members  of  which  personally  inspected  the  boat  at  Copenhagen, 
obtained  plans  and  sections  of  it ;  and  so  impressed  were  they  with 
the  importance  of  the  invention  that  the  thanks  of  the  Board  were 
conveyed  to  Mr.  Mather  through  the  Danish  Ambassador  in  England. 

In  the  exciting  political  times  which  preceded  the  Reform  Act  of 
1832,  Mr.  Mather  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  district  as  a  Radical 
reformer.  Associating  himself  with  other  liberal-minded  gentlemen, 
he  raised  his  voice  at  a  great  public  meeting  held  in  South  Shields 
to  petition  Parliament  against  Catholic  Emancipation,  supporting 
that  measure  in  opposition  to  the  clergy  and  magistrates.  He,  more- 
over^ officiated  as  secretary  to  the  local  committee  for  the  repeal  of 
the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts. 

In  1830-31,  he  was  chairman  of  the  Political  Union  of  South 
Shields,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  efforts  made  for  the 
extension  to  that  town  of  Parliamentary  privileges.     In  the  following 


JAMES  MATHER.  179 

year,  when  the  people  demanded  "  The  bill,  the  whole  bill,  and 
nothing  but  the  bill,"  he  drew  up  an  address  to  the  king,  calling  on 
his  Majesty  to  reinstate  the  Reform  Ministry,  and  reform  the  House 
of  Lords.  At  the  same  time  he  prepared  a  petition  asking  the 
House  of  Commons  to  reject  any  modification  of  the  Reform  Bill, 
and,  "  until  they  got  a  better  understanding,  to  stop  the  supplies." 
At  a  public  meeting  in  South  Shields  Market  Place,  where  resolu- 
tions to  the  above  effect  were  adopted,  Mr.  Mather  declared  that 
"twenty  millions  of  people  would  never  submit  to  place  their  necks 
beneath  the  yoke  of  two  hundred  of  a  contemptible  faction — a 
borough-mongering  aristocracy."  Further,  "  The  times  are  serious, 
and  demand  more  than  a  simple  demonstration  of  feeling.  It 
behoves  every  man  to  lay  his  offering  on  the  altar  of  his  country's 
freedom,  and  crush  the  monster  of  corruption — the  power  of  an 
overgrown  oligarchy.  I  myself,  rather  than  submit  to  bow  my  head 
to  the  power  of  such  corruption,  will  lament  the  degradation  of  my 
country  in  a  foreign  land,  to  which  many  a  free  soul,  tired  of  oppres- 
sion, is  at  present  emigrating;  but  let  us,  rather  than  yield  supinely 
and  take  up  our  abodes  in  foreign  climes,  manfully  eject  our 
oppressors  and  force  them  to  leave  that  country  whose  burdens 
they  have  so  much  increased." 

By  the  Reform  Act  of  1S32,  South  Shields  became  entitled  to 
send  a  member  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  as  neither  Robert 
Ingham  nor  Russell  Bowlby,  the  two  gentlemen  who  offered  them- 
selves for  election,  satisfied  the  advanced  wing  of  the  Liberal  party, 
an  Independent  Election  Committee  was  formed,  with  Mr.  Mather 
at  its  head,  with  the  view  of  securing  the  election  of  a  man  of  "  real 
and  undoubted  Reform  principles."  Their  choice  fell  upon  Captain 
William  Gowan,  of  London  (afterwards  Mauleverer,  of  Arnecliffe  Hall, 
near  Northallerton),  "  the  friend  of  Hume,  the  friend  of  his  country." 
During  the  contest  Mr.  Mather  drew  up  "A  Short  Political 
Catechism,"  to  test  the  principles  of  the  candidates,  was  the  leader 
and  spokesman  of  the  Radical  Refomers,  advocating  triennial 
Parliaments,  vote  by  ballot,  cheap  and  intelligible  law,  the  repeal 
of  the  taxes  on  knowledge,  the  breaking  up  of  the  corn  monopoly, 
the  East  India  monopoly,  the  Corporation  monopoly,  and  the 
Church  monopoly,  the  discontinuance  of  the  system  of  imprison- 
ment, and  the  extinction  of  slavery.  Some  days  before  the  election, 
Joseph  Hume,  the  champion  of  economy  in  national  finance,  arrived 
in  the  town  to. advocate  his  friend's  cause,  and  Mr.  Mather  acted  as 


i8o  JAMES  MATHER. 

chairman  at  a  public  banquet  given  to  him,  in  the  Seamen's  Hall, 
Fowler  Street.  Mr.  Gowan  was  defeated  by  a  large  majority.  After 
the  declaration  of  the  poll,  both  he  and  Mr.  Mather  were  borne  in 
chairs  through  the  principal  streets,  and  a  few  days  subsequently 
the  Reformers  presented  Mr.  Mather  with  a  silver  cup,  "  in  testimony 
of  their  respect  for  the  noble  manner  in  which  he  had  endeavoured 
to  secure  the  independence  of  the  borough." 

In  the  same  year  Shields  suffered  from  the  cholera  epidemic,  and 
Mr.  Mather  again  distinguished  himself  by  his  indefatigable  labours 
and  kindly  care  of  the  afflicted.  He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Health  for  the  district  by  the  Government,  and  in  con- 
nection with  his  investigations  he  observed  some  curious  effects 
of  electricity  in  spasmodic  cholera.  A  writer  in  the  Northern 
Tribiaie  states  that  some  years  later,  "  in  a  letter  to  the  London 
journals,  he  urged  attention  to  the  electrical  phenomena  connected 
with  the  prevalence  of  cholera,  and  entreated  the  Government  for  a 
scientific  commission  to  follow  the  pestilence  and  investigate  the  sub- 
ject. He  had  himself  traced  the  existence  of  a  disordered  atmospheric 
electricity  near  the  towns  of  Sunderland,  Newcastle,  Shields,  Gates- 
head, Liverpool,  Edinburgh,  and  London,  during  the  prevalence  of 
the  epidemic;  the  more  violently  deranged  the  more  virulent  the 
attacks  of  the  disease.  In  1849  he  had  tested  it  with  a  magnet 
whose  normal  power  was  2  lbs.  10  oz.  When  the  atmospheric  indica- 
tions were  at  the  worst  and  cholera  most  fatal,  this  magnet  could 
only  sustain  i  lb.  11  oz.,  varying  with  the  violence  of  the  disease. 
Mr.  Staite,  the  projector  of  the  electric  light,  wrote  to  Mr.  Mather 
that  his  instrument  for  measuring  the  intensity  of  voltaic  currents  of 
electricity  varied  one-half  its  range  (2.50  grains  instead  of  5.50),  and 
when  cholera  disappeared  it  recovered  again  its  original  power  of 
action." 

In  1834,  Mr.  Mather  made  his  first  appearance  as  an  author  on 
political  themes  by  publishing  "  The  Constitutions  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  the  United  States  of  America,"  a  book  which  the  Times 
of  that  day  declared  was  an  "excellent  text-book  for  the  poHtician." 
Two  years  later  he  was  delegated  from  the  Shipowners'  Society  of 
South  Shields,  with  Joseph  Straker  from  that  of  North  Shields, 
to  make  representations  in  their  interests  to  Lord  Melbourne's 
Government,  which  had  in  contemplation  some  considerable  change 
in  the  Navigation  Laws.  On  returning  to  the  North,  they  brought 
with  them  a  scheme  from  a  Parliamentary  agent,  for  putting  the  river 


JAMES  MATHER.  i8i 

Tyne  in  commission,  by  deputies  from  the  four  shipping  towns  on  its 
banks — viz.,  Newcastle,  Gateshead,  North  Shields,  and  South  Shields. 
In  183S  he  visited  America,  and  on  his  return  delivered  two  lectures 
on  the  United  States'  system  of  government  and  slavery,  which  the 
conductors  of  the  Liberator  newspaper  printed  for  general  circula- 
tion. When  the  Anti-Corn  Law  League  was  founded  he  became 
chairman  of  the  South  Shields  branch  of  that  powerful  organisation. 

The  terrible  explosion  in  St.  Hilda's  Pit,  South  Shields,  by  which, 
on  the  iSth  of  June,  1839,  fifty-two  lives  were  lost,  drew  jNIr.  Mather's 
attention  to  the  special  perils  of  a  miner's  life.  As  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  accident,  he  hurried  down  the  shaft  to  relieve  the  men  in  peril 
below.  On  the  following  day  he  was  publicly  thanked  by  his  fellow- 
townsmen.  This  incident  caused  him  to  assist  in  the  formation  .of  a 
committee  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  accidents  in  mines,  of  which 
committee  he  became  honorary  secretary.  In  1842  a  complete 
and  exhaustive  report  of  the  labours  of  the  committee  was  drawn  up 
by  Mr.  Mather,  the  value  and  importance  of  which  may  be  judged 
when  it  is  stated  that  in  1852  the  report  was  specially  reprinted  by 
order  of  the  Government. 

On  the  I  St  September,  1839,  Mr.  Mather  earned  an  address  on 
vellum  from  the  Royal  Humane  Society,  for  his  courage  and 
humanity  in  saving,  at  much  personal  risk,  the  lives  of  three  boys 
who  were  blown  off  the  land  in  a  ship's  boat.  The  boat  was  lost, 
but  the  boys  were  rescued. 

In  1845,  oil  the  2 1  St  August,  his  attention  was  once  more  directed 
towards  mining  matters  by  an  explosion  at  J-'^rrow  Pit,  when  forty 
people  were  killed.  On  this  occasion,  as  in  the  St.  Hilda  explosion, 
he  lost  no  time  in  going  down  the  pit,  and,  by  his  example,  was  the 
means  of  saving  several  men  from  being  killed  by  the  fire-damp. 

During  the  following  year  he  published  a  pamphlet  on  "  Ships  and 
Railways,"  in  which  he  deprecated  the  formation  of  lines  to  convey 
the  Northern  coal  to  London  to  the  detriment  of  the  shipping 
interest,  and  advocated  the  reduction  of  passenger  fares,  which  he 
protested  were  being  kept  at  exorbitant  rates  to  assist  low  coal  rates. 

From  coal-mines,  Mr.  Mather  extended  his  researches  into  the 
value  of  fresh  air,  in  connection  with  the  more  general  affairs  of  life, 
and  in  1847  he  published  a  paper,  read  at  the  Society  of  Arts, 
London,  "  On  the  Ventilation  of  Schools,  Churches,  Public  Rooms 
and  Dwelling  Houses,  and  Confined  Streets,  Lanes,  and  Courts  of 
Towns,"  in  which  he  proposed  to  ventilate  the  sewers  of  London  by 


1 82  JAMES  MATHER. 

the  steam  jet,  first  invented  by  his  friend  Goldsworthy  Gurney. 
This  suggestion  was  afterwards  adopted  with  success  by  Mr.  Gurney 
in  the  Friar  Street  sewer,  Southwark. 

Though  much  of  his  time  was  absorbed  in  his  exertions  on  behalf 
of  the  mining  population,  he  found  occasion  to  espouse  the  cause  of 
the  seafaring  community.  When,  in  1848,  it  was  proposed  to  inter- 
fere with  the  interests  of  the  blue-jackets  by  legislation,  he  advocated 
the  cause  of  the  sailors  at  a  great  meeting  in  the  Amphitheatre, 
Liverpool,  and  headed  a  procession  of  15,000  seamen  to  Westminster 
with  a  petition  to  Sir  George  Grey,  then  Home  Secretary.  These 
labours  on  behalf  of  the  shipping  trade  prompted  the  shipowners  of 
North  and  South  Shields  to  entertain  him  to  a  public  dinner.  Six 
years  later  the  seamen  of  the  Tyne  presented  him  with  a  memorial — 
an  allegorical  picture  of  a  seaman's  life,  bearing  an  inscription  which 
stated  that  it  was  given  him  "  for  his  kind  and  most  arduous  en- 
deavours at  all  times  to  induce  all  classes  to  look  for  their  rights  as 
men,  and  to  secure  the  just  rights  of  British  seamen." 

As  chairman  of  the  Commissioners  under  the  South  Shields 
Improvement  Act,  Mr.  Mather  initiated  a  number  of  street  and  other 
reforms,  which  helped  to  remove  the  reproach  from  the  town  of  being 
one  of  the  worst  paved  and  flagged,  cleaned,  sewered,  and  lighted 
towns  in  England. 

In  the  beginning  of  1851,  he  accompanied  Mr.  Gurney  into  Clack- 
mannanshire, for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  extinguish  a  fire  which  had 
been  burning  for  twenty-five  years  in  the  mines  belonging  to  the 
Earl  of  Mansfield.  While  preparing  for  this  operation,  a  shaft  on 
the  other  side  took  fire,  and  communicated  to  the  waste  below, 
endangering  the  whole  valuable  coal-fields  of  Lords  Mansfield  and 
Marr.  It  was  apprehended  that  years  of  labour  and  many  thousand 
pounds  would  be  required  to  extinguish  or  isolate  it.  The  fire  was 
therefore  attacked  hand  to  hand,  night  and  day,  for  three  weeks, 
amidst  dangers  and  difficulties  seldom  met  with  even  in  mines.  Mr. 
Mather,  upon  whom  fell  the  whole  responsibility,  frequently  slept  all 
night  in  the  fire-drift,  ready  at  every  change  to  meet  it  by  corresponding 
operations.  The  flames  were  not  merely  burning  coal  from  large  pass- 
ages and  pillars,  but  the  gases  of  the  coal,  distilled  by  the  great  heat, 
frequently  burst  out.  The  shaft,  heated  to  upwards  of  120  degrees, 
had  to  be  passed  to  reach  the  fire.  On  several  occasions  Mr.  Mather 
appeared  through  this  chimney  with  burning  cinders  embedded  on 
his  gutta-percha  cap.     He  and  his  assistants  followed  the  fire  into 


JAMES  MATHER.  183 

the  workings,  and  cut  it  out  step  by  step,  projecting  in  their  course 
800  gallons  of  water  an  hour  from  the  surface  upon  the  burning  mass 
around  them,  and  maintaining  a  small  supply  of  fresh  air  amongst 
the  men,  while  the  rocks  over  their  heads,  being  "  plumped,"  formed 
a  chimney  for  the  smoke  and  steam  to  escape.  In  the  meantime 
the  process  for  the  extinction  of  the  fire  in  the  old  waste  went  on 
continuously;  and  when  the  fire-destroying  gases  had,  from  all 
indications,  done  their  work  effectually,  a  new  pit,  named  in  his 
honour,  "  Mather's  Pit,"  was  sunk. 

While  busy  with  these  operations,  Mr.  Mather  was  summoned  to 
Newcastle  to  receive  from  the  Coal  Miners'  Society  of  Northumber- 
land and  Durham  a  silver  cup,  as  a  mark  of  their  "gratitude  for 
his  talented  and  praiseworthy  exertions  in  promoting  measures  to 
diminish  the  dangers  from  bad  ventilation  and  other  causes  in  the 
mines  of  this  kingdom."  The  presentation  took  place  on  the  22nd 
March,  185 1. 

Upon  their  return  from  Scotland,  Mr.  Mather  and  Mr.  Gurney 
were  sent  to  Bolton  to  put  out  a  fire  in  one  of  Lord  Bradford's  mines, 
and  here,  while  leading  a  gang  of  men  into  the  mine,  Mr.  Mather 
was  suddenly  struck  by  the  "white  damp,"  and  fell  insensible,  in 
which  condition  he  was  dragged  out  of  the  mine,  and  resuscitated. 
Mr.  Darlington,  Government  Inspector  of  Mines,  who  was  present  at 
the  Bolton  fire,  described  the  advantages  which  Mr.  Mather  and  Mr. 
Gurney  had  conferred  on  coal  mining  as  invaluable;  "as  for  the 
judgment  and  energy  of  Mr.  Mather  in  the  colliery  yesterday,  I  could 
not  have  believed  it  unless  I  had  been  present.  He  is  a  man  in  a 
million." 

After  the  explosion  by  which  seventy-six  lives  were  lost  at  Burradon 
Colliery,  in  i860,  Mr.  Mather  was  again  actively  at  work.  He  made 
a  careful  examination  of  the  mine  after  the  accident;  and  the 
evidence  he  gave  at  the  inquest  was  complete  and  exhaustive. 
He  was  frequently  examined  before  Parliamentary  Committees 
respecting  the  ventilation  of  coal-mines;  and  in  1849  ^"^^  ^^5 2  he 
advocated  the  enforcement  of  better  ventilation  by  legislation.  For 
these  services,  and  the  interest  he  had  shown  in  devising  means  of 
saving  life  and  property,  the  Society  of  Arts  appointed  him  an 
honorary  member. 

In  the  Gateshead  Observer,  Shields  Gazette,  and  other  local 
journals,  Mr.  Mather  frequently  wrote  upon  the  improvement  of  the 
river  Tyne,  so  as  to  render  it  a  harbour  of  refuge.     Along  with  Mr. 


1 84  JAMES  MATHER. 

Cowen — afterwards  Sir  Joseph  Cowen,  M.P. — he  was  one  of  a 
deputation  sent  by  the  four  river  towns  to  urge  their  claims  upon  the 
Admiralty  and  the  Government.  When  the  control  of  the  river 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  Commission  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
members  to  represent  South  Shields.  For  many  years  he  advocated 
at  the  river  board  the  liberal  course  of  improvements  which  has 
converted  the  Tyne  into  one  of  the  noblest  river  estuaries  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  Besides  officiating  as  a  River  Tyne  Commis- 
sioner, he  was  a  member  of  the  Local  Marine  Board. 

During  the  greater  part  of  his  life  Mr.  Mather  was  at  the  head  of 
the  firm  of  Mather  &  Co.,  wine  and  spirit  merchants,  in  South  Shields 
and  Newcastle.  He  died  at  his  residence,  The  Grove,  Westoe,  on 
the  14th  of  December,  1873,  aged  seventy-four  years. 

By  his  marriage  with  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Ainslie,  of  Overwells, 
Roxburghshire,  Mr.  Mather  had  two  sons  who  helped  to  make 
history  by  an  exciting  adventure  in  Italy.  These  young  men, 
Erskine  and  Thomas  Mather,  being  in  Florence  on  the  29th  of 
December,  1851,  stopped  in  the  street  to  hear  a  military  band. 
An  Austrian  officer,  ordering  them  to  stand  on  one  side,  and  not 
being  promptly  obeyed,  raised  his  sword  and  struck  the  elder 
brother,  Erskine,  a  severe  blow  on  the  head,  knocking  him  sense- 
less on  the  ground.  An  official  inquiry  into  the  circumstances 
attending  this  outrage,  and  justice  on  the  attempted  murderer, 
were  demanded.  The  former  was  conceded,  the  latter  took  the 
shape  of  an  offer  of  pecuniary  compensation,  which  Mr.  Mather 
indignantly  refused.  When  the  question  was  afterwards  discussed 
in  Parliament  Lord  Palmerston  admitted  that  grave  errors  had 
been  committed  by  our  representatives  abroad,  declared  that  gross 
injustice  had  been  perpetrated  by  the  Austrian  and  Tuscan  author- 
ities, and  added  that  "  the  ^Messrs.  Mather's  conduct  alone  was 
free  from  blame." 

Erskine  Mather,  who  afterwards  became  a  captain  in  the  North 
Durham  Artillery  Militia,  and  was  for  a  short  time  a  town  councillor 
in  his  native  town  of  South  Shields,  died  there  on  the  loth  of 
November,  1882. 


GILBE  R  7'  MIDDLE  TON.  1 85 


Gilbert  nI^i^^lcton, 

RAIDER     AND    REBEL. 

Next  to  "Newton,"  or  new  town,  the  favourite  place-name  in  Great 
Britain  is  "  jMiddleton,"  or  middle  town — the  dwelling  or  habitation 
situate  midway  between  two  towns  or  villages  of  older  date  or 
greater  importance.  Twenty-two  places  in  the  island  bear  this 
appellative  alone,  while  eighteen  others  possess  it  with  various 
distinguishing  affixes.  Altogether  there  are  forty  INIiddletons  in  the 
three  kingdoms,  of  which  number  exactly  one-half  fall  to  the  share  of 
the  North-Country,  namely,  two  in  Scotland,  six  in  Northumberland, 
four  in  Durham,  six  in  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  and  one  each 
in  Cumberland  and  Westmorland.  Families  bearing  this  name, 
with  apparently  distinct  genealogies,  are  nearly  as  numerous.  From 
Fraserburgh  to  Horsham,  from  Denbigh  to  Winterton,  IMiddletons 
and  branches  of  Middletons  are  to  be  found,  occupying  various 
ranks  and  stations  in  life — peers  and  peasants,  clergymen  and  clod- 
hoppers. 

The  Middletons  of  Northumberland  can  be  traced  back  to  a  remote 
period  in  English  history.  The  Rev.  John  Hodgson  found  them 
holding  lands  at  Belsay  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  One 
member  of  the  family — Sir  Richard  ]\Iiddleton — filled  for  some  time 
the  exalted  post  of  Secretary  and  Chancellor  to  Henry  HI. ;  his 
nephew  and  successor,  Sir  John  ISIiddleton,  was  a  favourite  of 
Edward  I.,  who  visited  him  at  Belsay,  and  received  from  him 
material  aid  and  assistance  in  pursuing  his  schemes  of  aggression 
upon  the  king  and  kingdom  of  Scotland. 

While  Edward  I.  lived,  the  IMiddletons  of  Belsay  were  devoted 
adherents  of  the  Crown.  Although  the  perpetual  wars  of  that 
monarch  impoverished  their  estates,  and  brought  them  to  the  verge 
of  ruin,  they  remained  faithful  and  loyal.  But  when  Edward  II. 
ascended  the  throne,  and  renewed  his  father's  quarrel  in  the  northern 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  they  broke  into  open  rebellion.  The  nobility 
and  gentry  of  the  whole  county  of  Northumberland  were  at  this  time 
in  desperate  straits — the  lands  were  laid  waste,  and  they  and  their 
vassals  were  without  means  of  subsistence  other  than  the  plunder 
obtainable  by  retaliatory  inroads  into  Scotland.     Sir  Adam  Swinburne 


1 86  GILBERT  MIDDLETON. 

(whose  niece  had  married  Gilbert  Middleton),  being  high  sheriff  of 
the  county  for  the  third  time  in  131 7,  when  the  king  was  in  the 
North,  ventured  to  represent  to  his  sovereign  the  grievances  and 
hardships  which  the  people  suffered  by  these  interminable  wars,  and, 
speaking  "sharply,"  was  hurried  off  to  prison.  His  nephew,  Gilbert, 
son  of  Gilbert  Middleton,  resenting  this  high-handed  proceeding, 
fiew  to  arms,  and,  summoning  as  many  of  his  own  friends  and 
adventurers  from  the  Borders  as  could  be  collected  together,  pro- 
ceeded to  revenge  the  insult.  Sir  John  Middleton,  of  Belsay, 
cousin  of  Gilbert,  and  a  great  many  persons  of  property,  joined  his 
standard,  and  in  no  long  time  he  found  himself  at  the  head  of 
a  formidable  band  of  freebooters,  with  which  he  proceeded  to 
plunder  the  country.  It  is  said  that  "  all  the  castles  of 
Northumberland,  except  Norham,  Bamburgh,  and  Alnwick,"  fell 
into  his  hands;  he  levied  black-mail  upon  the  monasteries,  paid 
flying  visits  to  various  parts  of  the  bishopric,  and,  glutted  with 
plunder,  penetrated  as  far  as  Cleveland. 

While  Gilbert  Middleton  and  his  band  of  raiders  were  scouring 
the  Northern  Counties,  Louis  Beaumont,  bishop-elect  of  Durham, 
a  kinsman  of  the  Queen,  was  journeying  from  the  South  to  take 
possession  of  his  See.  Accompanied  by  his  brother  Henry,  two 
cardinals,  charged  with  a  pacific  embassy  into  Scotland,  and  a 
numerous  and  splendid  retinue,  he  reached  the  borders  of  the 
bishopric  on  the  ist  September,  131 7.  At  Darlington  he  was 
warned  by  a  messenger  from  Durham  that  a  band  of  adventurers 
were  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  might  obstruct  his  progress.  But 
the  eager  prelate,  relying  upon  his  high  rank  and  sacred  calling, 
neglected  the  warning,  and  pressed  on.  In  a  few  hours  afterwards, 
at  the  Rushyford,  a  low  and  sequestered  spot  midway  between  the 
villages  of  Woodham  and  Ferryhill,  Middleton,  accompanied  by  a 
troop  of  light  horsemen,  fell  upon  the  whole  party  and  took  them 
prisoners.  Plunder  and  ransom  being  their  chief  end  in  this  enter- 
prise, they  rifled  the  cardinals,  and  sent  them  on  to  Durham  to  excite 
the  liberality  of  the  monks  in  providing  money  for  the  release  of  the 
captive  prelate.  The  bishop,  with  his  brother  Henry,  they  carried 
off  sixty  miles  away,  to  Mitford  Castle  (one  of  the  strongholds  which 
had  fallen  into  Middleton's  hands),  and  there  kept  him  a  prisoner 
till  the  treasures  of  the  Church  should  yield  a  sufficient  ransom. 

Edward  II.,  coming  to  York  three  days  after  the  "Bishop's  Raid," 
heard  the  details  of  that  daring  outrage  upon  Church  and  Crown,  and 


GILBERT  MIDDLETON.  1 8 7 

determined  to  stop  the  lawless  career  of  its  perpetrators.  He  wrote, 
on  the  nth  of  the  month,  to  "  the  Mayor,  Bailiffs,  and  good  men  of 
Newcastle,"  reciting  the  facts  which  had  occurred  "  to  the  scandal  of 
the  Church,  and  Us,  the  dishonour  and  vituperation  of  all  the  King- 
dom, and  the  manifest  breaking  of  Our  Peace,"  directed  the  Mayor 
and  Bailiffs  to  allow  no  armed  men  to  enter  the  town  of  Newcastle, 
and  ordered  all  who  owed  him  service  to  assemble  at  York.  Re- 
covering from  the  panic  and  terror  into  which  Gilbert  Middleton's 
surprises  had  thrown  them,  the  loyal  part  of  the  community  rallied 
round  the  king,  and  kept  strict  watch  upon  the  movements  of  the 
freebooters.  Middleton  shut  himself  up  in  the  Castle  of  Mitford, 
but  one  day,  as  he  was  reposing  in  fancied  security  there,  some  of 
his  own  men  betrayed  him  into  the  hands  of  William  Felton,  and 
he  was  taken  prisoner.  Heavily  fettered,  he  was  brought  to  New- 
castle, put  on  board  a  ship,  and  taken  to  Grimsby,  whence,  in  a 
starving  condition,  he  was  led  to  London  on  horseback,  with  his 
feet  tied  beneath  the  animal,  and  committed  to  the  Tower. 

Brought  before  the  king,  and  John  Crumbwell,  Constable  of  the 
Tower,  on  the  23rd  of  February,  13 18,  being  then  about  thirty-eight 
years  old,  Gilbert  Middleton  was  put  upon  his  trial.  It  was  found 
that,  contrary  to  his  allegiance,  he  had  attracted  to  himself  a  multi- 
tude of  men,  as  well  the  king's  enemies  of  Scotland  as  other  felons, 
and  riding  out  with  his  standard  unfurled,  in  manner  of  war,  had 
seduced  many  Englishmen  from  their  allegiance,  and  administered 
to  them  oaths  of  fidelity  to  himself;  that  he  had  robbed  two  car- 
dinals, Nuncios  of  the  Pope,  who  had  come  into  the  kingdom  as 
peace-makers,  and  at  the  same  time  had  captured  and  robbed  the 
bishop-elect  of  Durham,  his  brother  Henry,  and  many  others;  that 
he  had  extorted  a  large  sum  of  money  from  the  bishopric  for  truce, 
peace,  and  ransom  ;  and  that  he  had  held  by  force  the  castle  of 
Mitford  in  defiance  of  the  king,  and  stirred  up  war  and  commotion 
within  the  kingdom.  For  these  felonies  and  seductions  the  king 
gave  sentence  that  he  should  be  "  dragged  through  the  city  to  the 
gallows,  and  there  be  hung  up  alive,  taken  down  alive,  and  beheaded ; 
his  head  to  be  sent  to  the  city,  his  heart  and  viscera  (from  which  he 
had  audaciously  excogitated  the  horrible  felonies  aforesaid,  against 
God,  Holy  Church,  and  his  liege  lord)  to  be  burned  under  the 
gallows  ;  his  body  to  be  quartered,  and  one  part  thereof  sent  to  New- 
castle, another  to  York,  the  third  to  Bristol,  and  the  fourth  to  Dover." 
His  goods  and  chattels  were  valued  at  ^2,615    12s.   4d.,  and  his 


1 88  THOMAS  MIDDLETOX. 

lands  were  estimated  to  be  worth  ^^23  is.  4d.  a  year — being  two 
parts  of  the  Manor  of  Breredene,  half  the  vill  of  Hertelawe,  and  a 
toft,  and  ten  acres  of  land  in  Caldstrothre. 

Gilbert  Middleton's  cousin,  Sir  John  Middleton  of  Belsay,  was 
involved  in  his  disgrace  and  attainder.  Belsay  and  other  lands  of  the 
family,  forfeited  to  the  king,  were  bestowed  upon  the  Constable  of 
the  Tower,  John  Crumbwell,  and  after  Crumbwell's  death  they  were 
given  to  Sir  John  Strivelyn,  a  celebrated  military  commander  under 
Edward  III.  A  female  relative  of  Sir  John  Strivelyn's  first  wife,  who 
was  a  Swinburne,  was  wooed  and  won  by  Sir  John  Middleton's  son, 
and  through  her  the  .Sliddletons  obtained  their  estates  again.  A 
son  of  this  marriage,  Sir  John  Middleton,  was  elected  in  the  first 
year  of  Henry  V.  (1413),  one  of  the  knights  of  the  shire  for  North- 
umberland— at  which  time  William  Middleton,  who  had  been  several 
times  Sheriff,  was  chosen  a  parliamentary  representative  of  Newcastle. 
Sir  John  was  again  returned  for  the  county  in  141 7  and  1425,  having, 
meanwhile,  filled  the  office  of  High  Sheriff. 


^Cbonias  flDibblcton, 

COVENANTER. 

Passing  over  other  members  of  the  Middleton  family,  one  of  whom, 
another  Sir  John,  was  High  Sheriff  in  1461,  and  M.P.  for  the  county 
in  1472,  we  come  to  Thomas  Middleton,  who  held  the  family  estate 
of  Belsay  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  and  who,  following  the  example 
of  Gilbert,  his  ancestor,  turned  against  his  king,  and  became  a  leading 
spirit  in  the  Rebellion  and  Civil  War. 

Thomas  Middleton  was  a  son  of  Robert  Middleton  of  Belsay 
Castle,  by  his  marriage  with  Mabel,  daughter  of  John  Ogle  of  Ogle 
Castle.  He  succeeded  to  the  estate  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1 590, 
and,  in  16 14,  made  considerable  additions  to  the  family  residence. 
He  married  (i)  Dorothy,  daughter  of  John  Constable  of  Dromonby, 
Yorkshire,  and  (2)  Milcha,  third  daughter  of  Sir  William  Strickland 
of  Boynton,  Yorkshire,  was  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland  in  1618 
and  again  in  1634.  Summoned  before  the  High  Commission  Court 
of  Durham  in  June,  1639,  for  "entertaining  in  his  house  unconform- 
able ministers,"  he  gave  great  offence  the  following  year  to  the  loyal 
authorities  of  Newcastle  and  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  by  bring- 


5/A'    iriLLIAM^  MIDDLE  TON.  189 

ing  to  the  town  two  leading  Covenanters  from  Scotland — Sir  Walter 
Riddell  and  Sir  John  Buchanan.  Vicar  Alvey,  writing  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York  in  January,  1640,  about  their  arrival,  adds: — "I 
heard  that  Mr.  Middleton  of  Belsay,  and  some  three  or  four  of  our 
nonconformists,  held  a  more  familiar  correspondence  with  them  than 
was  fit,  and  accompanied  them  both  in  walking  about  the  town  walls, 
and  also  at  their  lodgings  and  other  places."  And  the  Archbishop, 
transmitting  ISIr.  Alvey's  letter  to  the  Privy  Council,  informs  Secre- 
tary Windebank  that  "  Mr.  Middleton  of  Belsay  is  a  man  no  better 
affected  to  conformity  than  he  should  be ;  he  has  a  private  chapel 
at  Belsay,  where  all  comers  are  permitted  to  preach,  and  to  which 
the  factious  people  of  Newcastle  have  ordinary  recourse  when  they 
are  disposed  to  abandon  common  prayer  in  their  parish  churches." 

In  the  great  struggle  which  followed,  Mr.  Middleton  was  a  warm 
supporter  of  the  Parliament,  by  whom  he  was  appointed,  in  1643, 
a  commissioner  for  sequestering  delinquents'  estates,  and  in  1645, 
1649,  and  1650,  a  commissioner  of  taxes  in  Northumberland.  He 
died  about  the  year  165 1,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew. 
Sir  William  Middleton  (i),  who,  holding  the  same  political  and 
religious  views,  obtained  equal  notoriety  for  harbouring  dissenting 
ministers  during  the  changes  that  followed  the  Restoration.  Of 
his  sympathies  and  predilections  we  learn  something  in  the  "  Life 
of  Ambrose  Barnes,"  and  Calamy's  "  Nonconformists'  Memorial." 
On  the  24th  October,  1662,  he  was  created  a  baronet,  and,  dying 
in  March,  1690-91,  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Sir  John,  who 
had  married  a  grand-daughter  of  John  Lambert,  the  Parliamentary 
general,  a  descendant,  it  was  said,  of  William  the  Conqueror. 


Sir  MilUant  riDibMcton, 

A    HERO    OF   CULLODEN. 

Sir  William  Middleton  (2),  grandson  of  the  first  baronet,  came 
into  possession  of  the  title  and  estates  on  the  death  of  his  father. 
Sir  John  Middleton,  in  October,  171 7.  The  year  before,  as  a 
member  of  the  "  Association  of  the  Nobility,  Gentry,  etc.,  of 
Northumberland  for  the  Defence  of  the  King  and  Government 
against  the  Rebellion  in  Scotland,"  he  had  distinguished  himself 
at  the  battle  of  CuUoden.      The  public  spirit  which  he  displayed 


igo  S/J^    WILLIAM  MIDDLETON. 

from  the  beginning  of  the  RebeUion  to  its  close  had  made  him 
popular  throughout  the  North  of  England.  When,  therefore,  at 
the  dissolution  of  Parliament  in  1722,  Sir  Francis  Blake  Delaval 
retired  from  the  representation  of  Northumberland,  Sir  William 
Middleton,  who  represented  the  Whig  interest  in  the  county,  was 
chosen  as  his  successor.  There  was  some  talk  of  opposition,  but 
it  died  out,  and  he  was  returned  unopposed  with  Algernon  (after- 
wards seventh  Duke  of  Somerset,  and  the  last  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land), as  his  colleague.  While  the  canvass  was  proceeding,  Thomas 
Whittell,  the  Shaftoe  poet,  published  a  long  string  of  verses  in  dis- 
praise of  Sir  William  and  his  claims.  The  popular  candidate  was 
described  in  this  abusive  production  as  "  well  stored  with  coin,  with 
silly  words  and  spicey,"  mustering  his  tribes,  "  allur'd  by  promises, 
secur'd  by  bribes  ";  wherefore, 

"  The  modern  saints,  the  Whigs,  to  meet  him  fly, 
As  mortal  life  to  meet  eternity, 
They  all  encourage  this  young  spruce  beginner. 
But  how — just  as  the  devil  does  a  sinner; 
Women  and  honesty  they  use  as  one, 
First  gain  your  ends,  then  damn  them  when  you're  done." 

Sir  William  was  returned  to  Parliament  again  in  1727;  won  a 
hotly-contested  struggle  for  his  seat  in  1734;  and  three  times 
afterwards  was  re-elected  without  opposition.  He  died  on  the 
28th  of  September,  1757,  and  through  failure  of  issue  by  his  wife, 
Anne,  daughter  of  William  Ettrick  of  Silksworth,  the  baronetcy  and 
property  went  to  his  brother — -Sir  John  Lambert  Middleton. 


%\x  Milliam  nl^i^Mcton, 

THE    FOURTH    BARONET. 

Born  on  6th  of  June,  1738,  Sir  William  Middleton  (3),  eldest  son  of 
Sir  John  Lambert  Middleton,  was  trained  to  the  profession  of  arms. 
He  joined  the  Royal  Horse  Guards  Blue,  and  during  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  saw  active  service  with  his  regiment  on  the  Rhine.  He  was 
wounded,  fighting  under  Lord  George  Sackville  at  the  battle  of 
Minden,  on  the  ist  of  August,  1759.  The  death  of  his  father  in 
March,    1768,   put  an  end  to  his  military  career.      Entering  into 


JOHN  MITCHELL.  191 

possession  of  the  title  and  estates,  he  married  Jane,  only  surviving 
daughter  of  Lawrence  Monck,  of  Caenby,  Lincolnshire,  made  Belsay 
his  residence,  and  prepared  himself  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
uncle  as  a  knight  of  the  shire. 

An  election  was  pending  at  the  date  of  his  father's  decease,  and, 
therefore,  he  was  unable  to  move  in  the  direction  of  his  ambition. 
But  at  the  next  dissolution,  in  1774,  he  entered  the  field  as  a  candi- 
date. A  warm  and  exciting  contest  followed,  the  details  of  which 
may  be  read  on  page  399  of  our  second  volume.  Four  representa- 
tives of  leading  county  families  went  to  the  poll — Lord  Algernon 
Percy,  second  son  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  and  Sir  John 
Hussey  Delaval  on  the  one  side;  and  Sir  William  ]Middleton  and 
William  Fenwick,  of  Bywell,  on  the  other.  Extraordinary  exertions 
were  made  by  the  ducal  party  to  bring  in  Sir  John  Hussey  Delaval. 
Sir  Walter  Blackett,  "  the  king  of  Newcastle,"  espoused  his  cause ; 
Ridleys,  Ellisons,  Collingwoods,  and  Selbys  ranged  themselves  under 
his  banner;  even  the  great  founder  of  Methodism  was  induced  to 
write  a  letter  in  his  favour.  But  all  these  influences  did  not  avail. 
After  a  nine  days'  poll,  Percy  and  Middleton  were  elected. 

To  the  three  succeeding  Parliaments — those  of  17S0,  17S4,  and 
1790,  Sir  William  Middleton  was  elected  without  a  contest.  Dying 
on  the  7th  July,  1795,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  third  son,  Charles, 
who,  taking  the  surname  of  Monck  (which  see),  became  Sir  Charles 
Miles  Lambert  Monck. 


3obn  riDitcbcII, 

FOUNDER    OF    THE    "  TVXE    MERCURY." 

When  the  last  century  was  approaching  its  end,  there  came  to  New- 
castle a  printer  named  John  Mitchell.  He  was  a  Scotchman  by 
birth,  having  first  seen  the  light  in  "the  awd  toon  o'  Ayr,"  in  1772. 
At  Ayr  he  had  obtained  his  education,  having  for  schoolfellow  a 
man  afterwards  well  known  in  Newcastle — Dr.  Thomas  McWhirter, 
one  of  the  Infirmary  physicians.  In  Kilmarnock,  under  Wilson,  the 
printer  who  issued  the  first  edition  of  Burns's  poems,  he  had  served 
his  time,  and  made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  "  Scotia's  darling 
bard."  At  Carlisle  he  had  attempted  to  establish  himself  in  business 
as  a  bookseller  and  printer,  and,  this  venture  proving  unsuccessful, 


192  JOHN  MITCHELL. 

he  had  migrated,  with  a  newly-married  wife,  to  Newcastle,  to  tempt 
fortune  anew  among  the  thriving  industries  of  Tyneside. 

While  at  Carlisle,  Mr.  Mitchell  started,  or  took  over,  a  little  magazine 
of  twenty-eight  pages,  entitled  "  The  Satellite,  or  Repository  of  Litera- 
ture, Consisting  of  Miscellaneous  Essays  intended  for  the  Diffusion  of 
Useful  and  Polite  Knowledge."  Its  first  number  bears  date  Novem- 
ber loth,  1798,  and  the  statement  that  it  is  "  Printed  for  W.  Clarke, 
New  Bond  Street,  by  whom  subscriptions  are  received ;  also  by  J. 
Mitchell,  Bookseller,  Carlisle."  The  second  number,  issued  January 
12th,  1799,  contains  the  imprint — "Carlisle  :  Printed  by  and  for  J. 
Mitchell "  ;  the  third  number,  without  date,  bears  the  same  imprint ; 
while  number  four,  also  undated,  is  printed,  "  by  and  for  J.  Mitchell," 
in  Newcastle.  By  this  means  it  is  ascertained  that  Mr.  Mitchell 
commenced  business  on  the  banks  of  the  Tyne  during  the  summer 
of  1799.  He  began,  upon  a  small  scale,  in  Pilgrim  Street;  the  fol- 
lowing year  removed  to  larger  premises  in  Dean  Street,  and  from 
that  date,  to  use  a  common  expression,  never  looked  behind  him. 

Newcastle  was  famous  at  this  time  for  the  production  of  books  in 
periodical  numbers.  In  that  way  Ostervald's  great  folio  Bible,  the  Rev. 
James  Murray's  "History  of  the  Churches,"  "Lectures  on  Genesis," 
and  "  History  of  the  American  War,"  together  with  standard  works 
by  various  authors,  had  been  issued.  Mr.  Mitchell,  however,  pre- 
ferred to  strike  out  a  line  for  himself.  He  printed  a  few  chap-books, 
moral  tales,  etc.,  for  the  hawkers  of  such  wares,  but,  as  soon  as  he 
was  fairly  settled  in  his  new  premises,  he  projected  a  much  more 
important  undertaking.  Five  years  had  passed  away  since  a  direc- 
tory of  Newcastle,  the  fifth  of  its  kind,  had  been  issued,  and  Mr. 
Mitchell  determined  to  signalise  the  advent  of  a  new  century  by 
producing  a  new  and  extended  guide  to  the  people  among  whom  he 
had  taken  up  his  abode.  He  commenced  by  compiling  and  printing 
for  ofifice  use  "  A  List  of  INIerchants,  Bankers,  Brokers,  Wharfingers, 
and  Fitters  in  Newcastle,"  and  at  the  end  of  February,  1801,  he 
brought  out  the  complete  work,  a  i2mo  of  XX.-64  pages,  entitled — 

"  The  Directory  for  the  Year  1801,  of  the  Tow^n  and  County  of  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  Gateshead,  and  Places  Adjacent.  Containing  An  Alphabetical  List 
of  Merchants,  Bankers,  Brokers,  Wharfingers,  and  Coal-Fitters ;  likewise  of  the 
Manufacturers,  Traders,  and  principal  Mechanical  Tradesmen;  Representatives 
in  Parliament,  Members  of  the  Corporation,  Consuls ;  Public  Offices,  and  their 
Agents'  Names  in  Newcastle  and  Gateshead  ;  with  a  List  of  the  Clergy,  Regula- 
tion of  the  Coaches  ;  List  of  Carriers,  Coasting  Vessels,  and  Wherrymen ;  also  a 


JOHN  MITCHELL.  193 

Tide  Table  for  the  Northern  Coasts,  and  the  Temporal  and  Spiritual  Courts  of 
Durham.  To  which  is  Prefixed,  An  Account  of  Newcastle,  its  Commerce, 
Curiosities,  and  Public  Buildings.  Compiled  and  Digested  from  an  accurate 
Survey.  Newcastle-on-Tyne :  Printed  and  sold  by  J.  Mitchell,  Dean  Street. 
Price  Two  Shillings." 

According  to  his  announcement  in  this  pubhcation,  "  J.  Mitchell " 
executed  every  kind  of  letterpress  printing  "  in  the  neatest  manner," 
and  likewise  "elegantly  hot-pressed";  ruled  and  bound  account- 
books,  and  sold  all  sorts  of  paper,  ink,  colours,  pens,  pencils,  wax, 
wafers,  pen-knives,  mathematical  instruments,  asses'  skin  memorandum 
books,  pounce,  lead  ore,  cards,  blacking,  tooth  powder,  ladies'  canes, 
violin  strings,  musical  instruments,  purses,  and  a  liquid  for  cleaning 
boot-tops.  At  the  same  time  he  supplied  magazines,  reviews,  news- 
papers, and  books  of  all  kinds,  and  gave  "the  greatest  price"  for 
libraries  and  parcels  of  books.  (Upon  this  latter  announcement, 
some  previous  owner  of  the  writer's  copy  of  the  Directory  has  boldly 
marked  an  asterisk,  adding  the  unkind  footnote, — "  He  has  not  paid 
for  mine  yet !  ") 

Having  thus  fairly  established  himself  in  business  as  a  printer, 
bookseller,  and  stationer,  Mr.  Mitchell  aimed  at  still  higher  game — 
the  publication  of  a  newspaper.  Newcastle  possessed  three  respect- 
able family  weeklies — the  Courant,  the  Chronicle,  and  the  Advertiser. 
None  of  them  represented  advanced  views  upon  political  subjects, 
and  the  rising  democracy  of  Tyneside  wanted  something  hotter  and 
stronger  than  the  most  liberal  of  these  journals  was  in  the  habit  of 
supplying.  Mr.  Mitchell  thought  he  saw  an  opening  for  a  Radical 
organ,  and  he  determined  to  avail  himself  of  it.  On  Tuesday,  June 
ist,  1802,  he  issued  the  first  number  of  The  Tyne  Mercury,  and 
Northumberland  and  Durham  Gazette.  It  was  a  bold  venture,  and 
the  adventurer  soon  found  that  he  had  embarked  upon  a  sea  of 
troubles.  Mackenzie  describes  him  as  "  struggling  against  opposition 
and  difficulties  almost  inconceivable."  Tories  laughed  and  Whigs 
derided;  tradesmen  would  not  advertise,  and  farmers  would  not  buy; 
literary  loafers  sneered,  and  even  play-actors  made  him  the  butt  of 
their  ridicule  and  his  paper  the  subject  of  their  scorn.  At  the 
theatre,  in  1803,  a  Mr.  Noble  sang  a  topical  song,  called  "The 
Newcastle  Bellman,"  in  which,  after  each  verse,  the  bellman  made 
a  "call"  or  "cry."  None  of  these  cries  brought  down  the  house  so 
well  as  the  fourth,  which  was  devoted  to  the  Tyne  Mercury  and  its 
proprietor : — 

VOL.  III.  13 


194  JOHN  MITCHELL. 

"To  be  sold  by  Auction,  J.  M.  Auctioneer,  a  large  and  choice  Collection  of 
Materials  for  Sleeping,  consisting  of  a  Quantity  of  old  News ;  erroneous  and 
clumsy  statements  of  recent  events  ;  heavy  Critiques  on  Theatrical  Performers  and 
Plays  not  performed ;  flat  Pieces  of  uninteresting  Biography ;  drowsy  original 
Letters  ;  dull  Extracts  from  a  Northern  Caput  Mortutun  of  Insipidity  ;  a  number 
of  Puns,  Jests,  and  Old  Anecdotes,  warranted  free  from  Attic  Salt,  chigramatic 
Point,  or  any  other  Ingredient  capable  of  rousing  Attention,  or  exciting  Risibility; 
also  a  Quantity  of  pure  Tyne  Mercury,  which  possesses  the  peculiar  Property  of 
never  rising  in  the  Barometer  of  public  Estimation,  higher  than  the  Point  Ennui. 
The  Sale  to  begin  every  Monday  Evening  at  Eight  o'clock,  and  continue  till  all 
be  sold." 

Out  of  this  not  too  pungent  wit  arose  a  small  pamphlet  war, 
opened  by  an  actor  named  Mara,  who  issued  "  The  Mitchelliad,  or 
Tyne  Mercury  Analyz'd,"  to  which    Mr.    Mitchell   replied   by    an 
ironical  paper  with  the  same  title,  in  which  the  actor  was  made  to 
give  a  ludicrous  account  of  his  life,  adventures,  and  qualifications. 
Mara  came  out  with  "  The  Dean  Street   Dunciad,  or  a  Peep  into 
Pandaemonium.     A  Poem  in  Four  Cantos.     By  S.  D.    Mara  of  the 
Theatre  Royal,  Newcastle.     Dedicated  without  permission  to   Mr. 
John  Mitchell,  Proprietor,  Editor,  Compositor,  Conductor,  Paragraph- 
monger,  and  Printer  of  the  Tyne  Mercury^  etc.,  Newcastle:  D.  Bass, 
1804."     Then  a  defender  of  the  assailed  editor  joined  in,  and  so  the 
quarrel  went  on.     But  none  of  these  things  shook   Mr.  Mitchell's 
resolution,   or  depressed  his  buoyant  spirits;  his  energy  and  per- 
severance triumphed  over  all  the  obstacles  which  critics  and  pamphle- 
teers  threw   in  his  path.      By-and-by   friends   rallied    round    him. 
The  Rev.  William  Turner,  his  friend  and  pastor,  William  Burdon, 
the  philosopher,  Leigh  Hunt,  the  Radical  essayist,  and  other  writers 
of  ability  came  to  his  aid.     That  erratic  genius,  Hewson  Clarke, 
contributed  to  the  new  paper  those  curious  letters  which  were  after- 
wards gathered  together  in  a  local  book   called   "  The  Saunterer." 
By  the  time  that  the  Tyne  Mercury  was  ten  years  old  it  had  attained 
an  established  position  among  the  political  organs  of  the  North  of 
England. 

Some  part  of  the  success  which  Mr.  Mitchell  achieved  was 
attributable  no  doubt  to  the  stirring  nature  of  current  events. 
Europe  was  in  arms  against  Bonaparte,  and  the  desire  for  news 
of  our  troops  in  Spain  and  Portugal  was  feverish  and  intense. 
The  older  Newcastle  papers  came  out  at  the  end  of  the  week; 
Mr.  Mitchell  published  his  journal  on  Tuesday  morning.  He  was, 
therefore,  able  to  obtain  the  latest  intelligence  received  on  Saturday 


JOHN  MITCHELL.  195 

nights  in  London,  and  thus  not  only  to  anticipate  the  Sunday  papers, 
but  frequently  the  London  papers  of  Monday,  for  on  Tuesday  morn- 
ings none  of  the  metropolitan  journals  of  the  day  before  arrived 
farther  north  than  York.  The  price  of  the  Mercury  was  sixpence, 
the  same  as  that  of  its  contemporaries;  but  this  sum  formed  no 
serious  obstacle  to  circulation,  and  sometimes,  when  news  of  import- 
ance came  to  hand  after  the  week-end  papers  had  been  published, 
his  issues  went  up  to  what  was  considered  in  those  days  a  high 
figure.  During  that  eventful  week  in  April,  18 14,  when  the  tidings 
came  to  England  that  the  allied  armies  had  entered  Paris,  and  that 
Bonaparte  had  been  dethroned  and  banished  to  Elba,  the  demand 
for  his  paper  was  so  great  that  the  delighted  proprietor  vented  his 
feelings  in  the  following  exultant  paragraph : — 

"  We  should  be  wanting  in  gratitude  to  our  numerous  readers 
on  both  sides  of  the  Tyne  did  we  not  notice  the  reception  our 
Newsman  met  with  on  Tuesday  last  in  the  several  villages  through 
which  he  passed.  The  defeat  of  the  French  armies  in  the  vicinity 
of  Paris — the  surrender  of  that  capital  to  the  Allies — the  dethrone- 
ment and  abdication  of  Bonaparte,  and  the  calling  of  Louis  XVIII. 
to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors,  formed  such  a  mass  of  important 
events  as  perhaps  were  never  before  recorded  in  one  newspaper; 
and  the  populace,  who  could  not  repress  their  feelings  on  the 
occasion,  were  unanimous  in  bestowing  the  '  highest  honors '  on 
the  courier  who  brought  them  the  glad  tidings.  In  some  places 
he  was  simply  greeted  with  the  huzzas  of  the  villagers;  in  others 
all  the  fiddlers  were  put  in  requisition,  and  he  was  accompanied 
on  his  journey,  allegro  et  spirito ;  but  at  Winlaton,  he  thought  him- 
self equal  to  some  of  our  M.P.'s,  for  he  was  '  chaired  '  through  the 
village  on  men's  shoulders,  attended  by  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
inhabitants,  who  almost  rent  their  '  iron  '  lungs  with  repeated  accla- 
mations. Such  was  the  proud  day  experienced  by  Mercury's  herald, 
whose  spirits  were  not  a  little  elevated  by  the  old  English  hospitality 
of  some  of  the  opulent  residents  on  the  banks  of  the  Tyne. 

"  The  sale  of  this  paper  last  week  was 

"TWO  THOUSAND  FOUR  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY-FIVE." 

During  all  this  time  Mr.  Mitchell  was  his  own  editor,  sub-editor, 
reporter,  and  publisher.  His  editorials  were  never  long,  and  some- 
times he  had  none  at  all;  but  what  he  did  write  was  strong  and 
vigorous,    trenchant   and    austere.      "  Though    endowed    with    the 


196  JOHN  MITCHELL. 

greatest  kind-heartedness,  yet  the  severest  expressions  dropped 
from  his  pen,"  Here  is  a  sample  of  his  style,  culled  from  the 
Mercury  of  July  27th,  181 3: — 

"  From  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other,  every  Court  has  its 
minions  and  favourites,  through  whom  alone  all  the  appointments 
of  the  State  or  to  the  army  took  their  rise.  Every  department  of 
government  being  thus  filled  with  creatures  brought  forward  either 
by  stupid  ministers,  or  their  avaricious  mistresses,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  such  a  bold  and  intrepid  adventurer  as  Bonaparte 
should  have  overthrown  all  those  States  in  succession,  the  affairs  of 
which  were  thus  administered.  Such  must  eventually  be  the  fate  of 
this  country,  if  the  system  of  patronage  and  parliamentary  influ- 
ence, which  operates  in  the  very  same  way,  is  not  removed  root  and 
branch  from  the  administration  of  our  State  affairs,  both  in  foreign 
and  domestic  policy.  Wherever  a  hypocritical  bishop  or  a  political 
magisterial  parson  are  to  be  found  in  our  Church;  wherever  a  pusil- 
lanimous general  or  skulking  colonel  in  our  army;  wherever  a  timid 
admiral  or  a  stupid  captain  in  our  navy;  and  wherever  a  furious 
judge  or  an  acrimonious  attorney-general  are  to  be  found  in  our 
courts  of  law,  their  appointments  are  all  to  be  traced  to  the  same 
pernicious  origin — parliamentary  patronage  and  Court  intrigue." 

Along  with  his  newspaper  Mr.  Mitchell  kept  up  his  printing  and 
publishing  establishment.  Numbers  of  pamphlets,  tracts,  sermons, 
chap-books,  etc.,  bear  his  imprint,  while  he  issued  on  his  own 
account  a  variety  of  books  of  higher  character  and  more  lasting 
value.  Among  other  announcements  of  works  printed  by  him  are 
"  Cowper's  Poems,"  with  a  memoir  and  portrait  of  the  author; 
"  Shakespeare's  Dramatic  Works,"  consisting  of  the  plays  "  now 
acted  on  the  British  Stage"  (3  vols.);  "Yorick's  Budget,"  a 
collection  of  "Choice  Anecdotes,  Remarkable  Stories,"  etc.;  "The 
British  Minstrel,"  containing  500  ancient  and  modern  songs; 
St.  Pierre's  "  Indian  Cottage,  or  a  Search  after  Truth  " ;  "  Flowers 
of  British  Poetry,"  with  seven  cuts  by  Bewick;  "The  Charms  of 
Literature,"  with  twenty  original  designs  by  the  same  artist,  etc.,  etc. 
— books  that  are  now  entirely  forgotten,  and  only  to  be  found  on  the 
shelves  of  local  collectors. 

Throughout  his  editorial  career  Mr.  Mitchell  had  the  misfortune 
to  excite  by  his  free  and  outspoken  criticisms  upon  dramatic  repre- 
sentations in  Newcastle,  the  angry  satire  of  gentlemen  of  the  stage. 
Mara's  Mitchelliads  and  Dunciads  were  followed  in  February,  18 18, 


JOHN  MITCHELL.  1 9  7 

by  a  scurrilous  publication  in  three  numbers  written  by  an  actor 
named  Hillington,  and  entitled — 

"  Grim  Typo,  The  Tyne  Demon;  or  the  Resurrection  of  the  Barber's  Pig.  A 
Satirical  Miscellany;  Illustrated  with  Occasional  Notes,  Anecdotes,  etc.,  of  the 
Life,  Character,  &  Behaviour  of  the  Demon,  both  before  and  since  his  Defeat 
by  Mara  in  1804,  to  the  Present  Period  ;  and  Dedicated  (without  permission) 
to  the  Editor  of  the  Tyne  Mercury.  Newcastle  upon  Tyne  :  Printed  and  sold 
by  William  Hall,  Groat  Market.     Price  Twopence." 

In  this  abusive  brochure  the  editorial  critic  is  assailed  with  such 
epithets  as  "caitiff,"  " paperstaining  gander,"  "illiterate  and  un- 
informed ignoramus,"  "grovelling  and  unlettered  paragraph  writer," 
"  head  like  a  wrought-out  pit,"  etc.,  etc.  Wherefore,  according  to 
the  author, 

"  His  petty  Drugs  may  scare  the  Bugs 
Whose  smell  they  much  resemble  ; 
Contempt  and  hate  must  be  his  fate, 
From  men  who  never  tremble." 

Absorbed  in  his  newspaper  enterprise  and  his  extending  business 
as  a  printer  and  bookseller,  Mr.  Mitchell  neglected  his  health. 
During  the  winter  of  18 18,  he  fell  ill,  and  on  the  24th  of  April, 
1819,  at  his  house,  Chimney  Mills,  Newcastle,  aged  only  forty-seven, 
he  passed  away.  Radical  in  religion  as  well  as  in  politics,  he  had 
selected  the  bottom  of  his  garden  for  his  grave,  and  had  planted 
lilacs,  laburnums,  and  ornamental  shrubs  to  shade  his  burial-place. 
There,  accordingly,  he  was  interred,  with  a  ceremony  which  the 
Newcastle  Chronicle  of  May  ist  following,  thus  describes  : — 

"  The  procession  was  conducted  in  the  usual  manner,  and  a 
numerous  assemblage  of  friends  attended  the  body  to  the  grave. 
Before  the  principal  part  of  the  funeral  service,  which  was  read  in  a 
most  impressive  manner  from  the  reformed  liturgy  of  Dr.  Lindsey, 
by  the  Rev.  William  Turner,  of  Hanover  Square  Chapel,  that 
gentleman  delivered  the  following  explanatory  address  : — '  Friends 
and  Fellow-Christians, — We  are  assembled  to  discharge  the  last 
offices  to  the  memory  of  our  departed  friend.  If  any  should  enquire 
into  the  reasons  why  we  are  called  upon  to  do  it  in  this  place,  rather 
than  according  to  the  accustomary  mode  of  the  country  in  which  we 
live,  I  am  desired  by  the  family  to  state,  that  our  friend  always 
expressed  the  strongest  reluctance  to  disturb  the  living  with  the 
remains  of  the  dead,  by  crowding  with  them  our  churches  and 
churchyards,  and  the  most  populous  parts  of  our  towns;  and  that  he 


198  JOHN  MITCHELL. 

was  often  shocked  at  the  Httle  respect  paid  to  those  very  remains, 
when  he  saw  them  lying  promiscuously  around  the  newly-opened 
graves;  and  as  it  appears  from  several  remarkable  passages  that  the 
Scriptures  authorise  family  burial-places,  and  that  particularly  in 
gardens,  he  was  anxious  to  imitate  this  primitive  custom;  himself 
made  this  express  preparation  for  it,  and  earnestly  charged  his  family 
to  comply  with  this,  his  last  request.  However,  therefore,  we  may 
any  of  us  regret  this  departure  from  ordinary  custom,  or  be  led  to 
question,  in  other  respects,  its  prudence  or  propriety,  I  persuade 
myself  these  reasons  will  sufficiently  acquit  him  of  having  directed 
it  through  any  disregard  to  religion,  or  disrespect  to  the  institutions 
of  his  country  (I  know  that  he  firmly  believed  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ);  especially  when  I  add  that  it  was  his  desire  that  his  inter- 
ment might  be  accompanied  by  some  religious  service.  This  it  has 
fallen  to  my  lot  to  conduct,  and  I  have  endeavoured  to  make  it  as 
comfortable  as  I  consistently  could,  with  the  form  appointed  by  our 
Established  Church.'" 

The  writer  of  the  obituary  note  in  the  same  paper — possibly 
Thomas  Hodgson  himself,  a  fellow-worshipper  with  the  deceased  at 
Hanover  Square  Chapel — pays  a  genial  tribute  to  Mr.  Mitchell's 
memory,  describing  him  as  "the  conductor  of  an  independent 
political  journal,  and  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  principles  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,"  whose  death  "cannot  but  be  regretted,  and 
his  memory  respected,  by  all  who  are  attached  to  that  cause." 

Mr.  Mitchell  left  three  sons  to  carry  on  the  business  which  he  had 
so  successfully  established,  and  from  which  he  had  been  so  suddenly 
called  away.  The  eldest  son,  William  Andrew  Mitchell,  edited  the 
paper;  the  second  son,  Henry  Armstrong  Mitchell,  looked  after  the 
finances;  the  third  son,  Edward  Routledge  Mitchell,  superintended 
the  printing  department.  Together  they  formed  a  powerful  combina- 
tion, known  to  irreverent  Newcastle  youths  by  their  initials — 

W  A  M, 
HAM, 
E  R  M, 

and  to  more  cultured  Novocastrians  as  the  Three  Mercuries,  the 
interpreter,  the  messenger,  and  the  cupbearer  to  the  gods. 


WILLIAM  ANDREW  MITCHELL.  199 

MilUam  Hnbrcw  mMtchcU, 

"TIM  TUNRELLY,"  AND  *' PETER  PUTRIGHT." 

William  Andrew  Mitchell  was  but  twenty-three  years  of  age 
when  his  father,  John  Mitchell,  died.  Upon  him,  as  the  eldest 
son,  devolved  the  responsibility  of  conducting  the  Tyne  Merairy, 
and  of  directing  his  younger  brothers  in  carrying  on  the  associated 
business  of  a  printer  and  bookseller.  Fortunately  for  the  family,  he 
was  equal  to  the  task.  He  had  received  a  "  college  "  education — at 
Edinburgh  University  perhaps — and  exhibiting  unusual  abilities  in 
literary  composition,  had  been  trained  for  the  position  which  he  was 
now  unexpectedly  called  upon  to  assume.  Before  his  father's  death 
he  had  published  a  book  and  printed  a  pamphlet.  The  book,  a 
substantial  volume  of  550  odd  pages,  and  a  very  remarkable  work 
for  so  young  a  man,  was  issued  anonymously  and  without  date,  in 
November,  181 7,  when  the  writer  had  barely  attained  his  majority. 
It  bore  the  long,  descriptive  title  of — 

"  An  Essay  on  Capacity  and  Genius;  To  prove  that  there  is  no  Original  Mental 
Superiority  between  the  most  Illiterate  and  the  most  Learned  of  Mankind ;  and 
that  no  Genius,  whether  Individual  or  National,  is  Innate,  but  solely  produced  by, 
and  Dependent  on,  Circumstances.  Also,  An  Enquiry  into  the  Nature  of  Ghosts, 
and  other  Appearances  supposed  to  be  Supernatural."  London:  W.  Simpkin  & 
R.  Marshall.     8vo,  xix.-538  pp.     Price  15s. 

The  pamphlet  came  out  the  following  year  in  the  same  anonymous 
fashion.  There  is  some  doubt  whether  it  was  ever  offered  for  sale, 
or  only  distributed  among  the  writer's  friends,  but  it  was  certainly 
printed,  for  he  who  chooses  to  search  collections  of  tracts  in  the 
libraries  of  local  collectors  will  find  it,  with  this  title-page — 

"  The  Bar  Incompatible  with  Truth  and  Mental  Freedom.  A  Letter  Addressed 
by  a  Young  Gentleman  to  a  Near  Relation."  London:  Printed  for  the  Author 
and  Sold  by  Pinnock  &  Maunder,  Strand.     1818.     8vo,  23  pp. 

For  some  months  after  his  father's  decease,  young  Mr.  Mitchell 
devoted  himself  to  the  editorial  supervision  of  the  Mercury.  In 
1820  he  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  an  opening  for  a  local  periodical, 
conducted  on  the  same  lines  as  the  GentlemarHs^  the  European^  and 
other  London  magazines.  Several  attempts  had  been  made  to 
estabUsh  a  literary  "  monthly  "  in  the  town,  the  last  of  which,  Mr. 


2  oo  WILLIAM  ANDRE  W  MITCHELL. 

Joseph  Clark's  Northumberland  and  Newcastle  Monthly  Magazine^  had 
completed  its  twenty-fifth  and  final  number  in  the  preceding  December. 
Mr.  Mitchell  aimed  at  something  higher  than  any  of  his  predecessors 
had  ventured  to  produce.  His  idea  was  to  publish  a  big  bi-monthly, 
or  perhaps  more  correctly,  twi-monthly,  publication.  On  the  ist  of 
September,  1820,  he  sent  out  the  first  number  of  the  Newcastle 
Magazine — a  portly  octavo  of  108  (increased  afterwards  to  120) 
pages,   consisting  of  essays,  reviews,  local   history  and   biography, 


W^^drsw^Kltciifiil 


mathematics,  poetry,  etc.,  etc.  It  was  a  mistake.  Nobody  wanted 
a  magazine  that  came  out  but  once  in  two  months,  and  long  before  a 
volume  had  been  completed  the  enterprising  projector  saw  that  his 
venture  was  doomed  to  failure.  He  persevered  through  six  numbers, 
and  then  stopped — stopped  for  a  time,  as  he  said,  to  begin  again  on 
fresh  lines  and  better  conditions.  "  It  stays  its  course,"  he  wrote, 
"that  it  may  acquire  an  additional  impetus;  it  dies  that  it  may  gain 
new  vigour." 

While  the   magazine   was   running   its   unsuccessful   career,   Mr. 


WILLIAM  ANDRE  W  MITCHELL.  201 

Mitchell  published,  in  his  own  name  this  time,  a  volume  of  not  too 
sprightly  poetry,  with  the  doleful  title  of — 

"  The  Thoughts  of  One  that  Wandereth;  A  Poem  in  Four  Books,  or  Reveries. 
On  the  World,  Kings,  Prostitution  and  Death."  Newcastle,  1820,  post  8vo. 
Price  5s. 

Reverting  with  greater  assiduity  to  his  newspaper  work,  the 
youthful  editor  developed  a  new  idea.  Under  the  pen-name  of 
"Tim  Tunbelly,"  he  commenced  to  publish  in  the  Merairy  a  series 
of  pungent  letters  on  the  mistakes  of  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle, 
and  the  misdeeds  of  its  ofificials.  These  proved  as  decided  a 
success  as  the  magazine  had  been  a  failure.  Everybody  read  them, 
and  talked  about  them,  and  wondered  who  the  spirited  author  could 
be.  They  began  in  October,  1821,  and  lasted  till  November,  1822, 
by  which  time  "  Tim  "  had  bestowed  his  censures  and  lavished  his 
praises  upon  all  and  sundry — the  municipality  and  the  freemen, 
their  leaders  and  understrappers,  their  works  and  ways.  When  the 
series  was  finished  he  wrote  a  pretended  autobiography  of  the  author, 
and  attaching  to  it  a  frontispiece,  illustrating  local  events  in  sixteen 
tableaux,  ranged  around  an  assumed  portrait  of  the  redoubtable 
critic,  he  issued — 

"The  letters  of  Tim.  Tunbelly  gent.  Free  Burgess,  Newcastle  upon  Tyne; 
Or  The  Tyne,  The  Newcastle  Corporation,  The  Freemen,  The  Tolls,  etc.,  etc. 
To  which  is  prefixed  A  Memoir  of  his  Public  and  Private  Life.  '  Stat  Nominis 
Umbra.'  'The  integrity  of  the  upright  shall  guide  them;  but  the  perverseness  of 
transgressors  shall  destroy  them.'  Prov.  xi-3."  Newcastle  upon  Tyne.  Printed 
and  Published  by  W.  A.  Mitchell.  1823.  8vo.  xx.-is6  pp.  Price  5s.  Large 
paper,  7s.  6d. 

Still  clinging  to  the  anonymous,  and  making  use  of  another 
printing-office  for  his  effusion,  Mr.  Mitchell  put  forth  a  pamphlet 
upon  a  long-debated  subject — 

"A  Letter  to  the  Vicar  of  Newcastle.  On  the  Present  State  of  St.  Nicholas' 
Church  and  its  Library.  By  A  Townsman."  Newcastle:  T.  &  J.  Hodgson. 
1823;     8vo.     Price  6d. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  completed  arrangements  for  a  revival 
of  the  Newcastle  Magazine.  Profiting  by  the  failure  of  the  first 
effort,  he  resorted  to  a  monthly  issue,  and  began  it  in  January,  1822. 
This  time  he  was  more  successful.  Enlisting  the  services  of  well- 
known  men  as  contributors  to  the  literary  department,  he  set  up  a 
lithographic  press — the  first  of  its  kind  in  Newcastle — and  illustrated 
the  magazine  with  local  views  and  portraits,  which,  although  crude 


202  WILLIAM  ANDRE  W  MITCHELL. 

in  design,  and  poor  in  execution,  helped  to  make  its  pages  attractive. 
By  these  efforts  he  was  able  to  keep  the  periodical  going  for  nine 
years.  To  present-day  readers  the  contents  appear,  for  the  most 
part,  prosy  and  dull,  and  for  the  rest  shallow  and  insipid;  yet  at  the 
time  of  its  publication  it  was  considered  to  be  the  best  of  its  kind 
out  of  London.  No  local  library  can  be  considered  as  properly 
furnished  that  does  not  contain  the  ten  volumes  and  three  conclud- 
ing numbers  of  the  Newcastle  Magazine. 

The  combined  editorship  of  the  Mercury  and  the  Magazine  gave 
Mr.  Mitchell  a  position  of  influence.  Criticism  was  his  strong 
point,  and  he  indulged  his  propensity  freely;  invective  was  his 
favourite  weapon,  and  he  wielded  it  with  vigour.  Professing  to  be 
independent  and  impartial,  he  hit  out  all  round — without  malice,  no 
doubt,  but  sometimes  without  consideration.  The  usual  fate  of 
unmerciful  critics  accompanied  him.  A  few  admired,  many  des- 
pised, and  others  disliked  him.  One  of  his  victims,  T.  M.  Richard- 
son, the  painter,  struggling,  in  1823,  to  obtain  recognition  of  his 
art  in  Newcastle  by  public  exhibitions  of  pictures,  ventured  to 
remonstrate  with  the  doughty  editor  upon  his  everlasting  use  of 
the  club  and  the  tomahawk.  *'  Accustomed  as  I  am  to  handle 
the  pencil  only,"  he  wrote,  "  what  shall  I  do  with  the  pen  against 
one  so  powerful  as  yourself,  backed  as  you  are  by  a  formidable 
engine,  which  you  seem  determined  to  exert  in  crushing  me  and 
my  prosperity  ?  "     What,  indeed,  but  suffer  and  be  silent  ? 

As  long  as  the  Magazine  lasted  Mr.  Mitchell  found  but  little 
opportunity  for  literary  recreations  outside  the  sphere  of  journalism. 
All  that  issued  separately  from  his  pen  at  this  time  were  a  pamphlet 
on  Angling,  and  a  drama,  performed,  in  the  season  of  1827-28,  at  the 
Theatre  in  Newcastle,  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Nicholson: — 

"On  the  Pleasure  and  Utility  of  Angling.  A  Paper  read  to  the  Waltonian 
Club  of  Newcastle,  July  27,  1824.  By  W.  A.  Mitchell,  President  for  the  Year." 
Newcastle:   1825.     Svo.     Woodcut  by  J.  Nicholson. 

"Crohoore  of  the  Bill  Hook,  Or  Crohoore-na-Bilhoge.  In  Three  Acts. 
Dramatized  from  the  First  Series  of  the  Tales,  by  the  O'Hara  Family."  New- 
castle :   Mercury  Press,  1828.     Svo.     52  pp. 

Once  more  relieved  from  editorial  pressure,  Mr.  Mitchell  emerged 
from  his  sanctum,  and  began  to  appear  in  public.  During  the  winter 
of  1 83 1,  at  the  request  of  his  friend  and  pastor,  the  Rev.  William 
Turner,  he  gave  four  lectures  at  the  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society,  on  "  The  History  and  Progress  of  Knowledge."     The  follow- 


WILLIAM  ANDRE  W  MITCHELL.  203 

ing  year,  joining  the  Newcastle  Mechanics'  Institute,  he  re-delivered 
his  lectures  on  Knowledge,  expanding  them  into  a  series  of  thirteen, 
and  read  an  essay  on  "  Newspapers,  and  the  Progress  of  Reporting 
Debates  in  Parliament."  At  the  ninth  anniversary  meeting  of  the 
members,  in  1833,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Institute — a  position  which  he  held  to  within  a  few  months  of  his 
decease. 

When  the  Municipal  Reform  Act  rendered  membership  of  the 
Corporation  of  Newcastle  accessible  to  the  burgesses  at  large,  Mr. 
Mitchell  aspired  to  a  seat  in  the  municipal  chamber.  His  name  does 
not  appear  amongst  the  nominations  to  the  first  Reformed  Council 
of  the  borough,  but,  in  November,  1S36,  beating  his  rival  Mr.  Gibson, 
he  was  elected  to  a  vacancy  in  the  ward  of  St  John  ;  his  brother 
Henry  being  at  the  same  time  returned  for  St.  Nicholas'.  Through 
the  daring  satirist  who  penned  the  "  Corporation  Annual "  of  that 
date  we  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  editorial  Common  Councilman  as  he 
appeared  to  his  limner  : — "  Gibson  had  no  chance  with  the  a  la  Buona- 
parte of  Newcastle.  The  Emperor's  local  habits  have  done  much  to 
improve  his  favourite  snuggery  at  Longwood  Street  Corner.  There, 
at  four  o'clock  each  day,  he  assembles  round  his  august  personage 
his  old  favourite  Generals,  and  fights  over  their  '  bottles '  again,  with 
puff  and  smoke.  A  slouch,  not  a  cocked,  hat  covers  his  head ; 
carries  a  gold-headed  cane  under  his  left  arm,  and,  for  pastime, 
occasionally  scribbles  in  one  or  more  of  the  provincial  journals." 

A  much  livelier  sketch  of  him  is  to  be  found  in  a  most  rare  publi- 
cation— "  The  Mechanics'  Mirror  " — a  smart  satire  upon  the  officials 
of  the  Newcastle  Mechanics'  Institute,  pubUshed  shortly  before  Mr. 
Mitchell's  election  to  the  Town  Council : — "  A  Simon  Pure  in 
attire — wears  a  cloak  and  broad-brimmed  editorial  hat — affects  the 
philosopher  in  the  cut  of  his  coat — possessed  of  considerable  literary 
talent — distinguished  as  the  author  of  a  History  of  Ghosts,  and  of 
a  farce  deservedly  damned — a  disciple  of  Isaac  Walton — caught  a 
whale  at  Cullercoats,  and  thrice  related  the  marvellous  feat  to  his 
wondering  readers — a  student  of  Mr.  Joseph  Miller,  and  a  weekly 
vendor  of  his  wit  and  ware — editor  of  a  newspaper  sacred  to  Bacchus 
and  Cloacina — one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Institution,  but  is  anxious 
to  transfer  his  services  to  a  higher  sphere — should  have  lived  in  the 
Tavern  days  of  Dryden — patronises  widows,  and  loves  to  be  a  '  very 
Triton  among  the  minnows.'" 

As  a  member  of  the  municipal  body  Mr.  Mitchell  took  an  inde- 


2  04  WILLIAM  ANDREW  MITCHELL. 

pendent  course,  refusing  to  ally  himself  with  any  clique  or  party.  He 
opposed  the  sale  of  the  Mansion  House  (the  burning  question  of  the 
day),  declaring  that  some  such  place  was  necessary,  "not  for  eating 
and  drinking,  not  for  dissipation  and  profusion,  not  for  extravagance, 
nor  even  for  amusement,  but  as  an  ofiEicial  residence  for  the  Mayor, 
where  he  might  entertain  the  judges,  distinguished  foreigners,  and 
other  visitors  to  the  town."  Against  many  proposed  changes  that 
are  now  considered  to  be  undoubted  improvements,  such  as  the 
New  Police,  he  steadily  set  his  face ;  while  others,  that  are  of  doubt- 
ful utility,  as  the  opening  of  the  Council  meetings  to  the  public, 
received  his  warm  support.  On  the  whole,  however,  his  municipal 
record  was  satisfactory.  John  Selkirk,  the  Corporation  reporter, 
classed  him  among  those  members  of  the  governing  body  who  "make 
short  and  sensible  speeches,  and  perform  the  business  of  a  councillor 
very  creditably." 

Early  in  "  the  forties,"  through  circumstances  which  need  not  be 
discussed  in  this  place,  the  influence  of  the  Mitchells  and  their  paper 
in  Newcastle  began  to  decline.  William  Andrew  secured  his  re-elec- 
tion to  the  Council  in  1840  by  a  casting  vote  only;  his  brother 
Henry  was  rejected,  in  1841,  in  favour  of  William  Lockey  Harle  ;  in 
November,  1843,  he  himself  succumbed  to  the  superior  influence  of 
William  Brown,  of  the  Turf  Hotel.  In  the  preceding  June  the  Ty7ie 
Mercury  had  been  transferred  to  William  Fordyce,  to  be  absorbed, 
two  or  three  years  later,  into  the  Newcastle  Guardian. 

For  some  time  before  the  Mercury  slipped  through  his  hands,  Mr. 
Mitchell  had  conducted  in  that  paper  a  new  series  of  letters  after  the 
manner  of  "  Tim  Tunbelly's,"  signed  "  Peter  Putright."  As  soon 
as  the  transfer  had  been  effected  he  started  these  letters  as  a  weekly 
magazine  of  16  octavo  pages,  entitled — 

"Peter  Putright's  Newcastle  Register:  A  Magazine  of  Local,  Literary,  and 
Scientific  Investigation."     Price  2d. 

The  first  number  began  with  "Peter's"  265th  letter,  on  the  ist 
July,  1843,  and  for  a  time  the  periodical  showed  life  and  vigour. 
"  Peter's  "  contribution  was  smart  and  telling,  and  a  page  or  two  of 
advertisements  imparted  an  appearance  of  prosperity.  But  gradually 
these  promising  features  faded.  With  the  22nd  number  "Peter 
Putright"  dropped  out  of  the  title;  then  the  advertisements  dwindled 
and  finally  disappeared.  Still  the  editor  struggled  on.  Poor  as  it 
was,  this  magazine  was  all  that  was  left  for  him  to  edit,  and  he  was 


HENR  V  ARMSTRONG  MITCHELL.  205 

loath  to  let  it  go.  Death  alone  brought  the  series  to  a  termination. 
No.  127  of  the  *'  Register"  informed  subscribers  that  the  work  was 
finished,  that  Peter  Putright's  pen  had  dropped  from  his  fingers,  that 
"  W.  A.  M."  was  no  more.  He  died  November  25th,  1845,  in  the 
house  at  Chimney  Mills,  in  which  his  father  had  passed  away,  and 
overlooking  the  garden  wherein  his  father's  remains  lay  buried. 


Ibcnr^  Brmetrono  fIDitcbell, 

TOWN    COUNCILLOR. 

Little  remains  to  be  written  of  the  business  brother  in  the  Mitchell 
partnership.  Born  in  1798,  he  went  into  the  counting-house  of  his 
father  as  soon  as  he  left  school,  and  there  contracted  a  taste  for  mer- 
cantile pursuits  which  never  left  him.  His  five  years'  membership  of 
Newcastle  Corporation  has  been  already  noted.  The  records  of  the 
municipality  show  that  he  was  a  constant  attender  at  the  Council 
meetings,  and  a  frequent  participant  in  the  debates.  Although  not 
so  fluent  in  speech,  or  so  effective  in  argument,  as  his  brother,  he 
brought  to  bear  upon  all  public  questions  sound  common  sense,  and 
good  business  habits — qualities  that  are  usually  appreciated  at  a 
high  value. 

While  associated  with  his  brothers  in  printing  and  publishing,  he 
was  occupied  on  his  own  account  in  various  enterprises.  For  many 
years  he  was  the  local  agent  of  two  great  insurance  companies — the 
"  London  Life,"  and  the  "  Imperial  Fire."  He  was  one  of  the  five 
persons  who  founded  the  Newcastle  Gas  Company,  and  he  carried 
on  business  for  some  time  as  a  coke  and  lampblack  manufacturer  at 
Blaydon.  Notwithstanding  his  brother's  pamphlet  against  the  legal 
profession  he  had  at  some  period  of  his  life  intended  to  practise  the 
law,  and  with  that  object  had  eaten  his  terms,  and  received  a  call  to 
the  Bar.  But  that  idea  he  had  abandoned  when  commercial  pursuits 
opened  out  for  him  wider  avenues  to  prosperity.  Into  the  thorny 
paths  of  journalism  he  did  not  venture,  nor,  with  two  exceptions, 
employ  his  pen  upon  anything  more  literary  than  his  letterbooks  and 
ledgers.  The  exceptions  occurred  in  1820,  when  he  issued  a  two 
shilling  pamphlet  entitled,  "The  Necessity  of  Annual  Parliaments 
Asserted  on  the  Principles  of  Justice  and  Good  Policy,"  and  in 


2o6       SIR  CHARLES  MILES  LAMBERT  MONCK. 

1830,  when  he  pubUshed  a  "Report  of  the  Proceedings  in  the 
Mayor's  Chamber  during  the  Mayoralty  of  George  Shadforth,  Esq." 
He  died  in  Newcastle,  March  21st,  1854,  aged  56. 

Short  were  the  lives  given  to  the  members  of  the  Mitchell  family 
in  Newcastle.  John,  the  founder  of  it,  lived  but  forty-seven  years ; 
his  third  son,  Edward  Routledge,  died  at  thirty-seven  ;  his  first-born, 
William  Andrew,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine ;  his  second  son,  Henry 
Armstrong,  the  longest  liver  of  them  all,  did  not  exceed  fifty-six. 


Sir  Cbarlc0  HDilca  Xambert  riDoncF^, 

GREEK    SCHOLAR    AND    M.P. 

Sir  Charles  Miles  Lambert  Middleton,  born  on  the  7th  iYpril, 
1779,  took  the  surname  of  Monck  only,  and  the  arms  of  Monck,  in 
compliance  with  an  injunction  in  the  last  will  and  testament  of  his 
maternal  grandfather,  Lawrence  Monck,  by  sign  manual  bearing  date 
13th  February,  1799.  He  was  appointed  High  Sheriff  of  North- 
umberland the  following  year,  and  on  the  nth  September,  1804,  at 
Doncaster,  he  married  Louisa  Lucy,  daughter  of  Sir  George  Cooke. 

At  the  outset  of  his  career  Sir  C.  M,  L.  Monck  ardently  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  Greeks,  and  although  he  did  not,  like  Lord  Byron, 
volunteer  to  fight  for  them,  he  was  through  life  their  untiring 
advocate  and  friend.  The  year  after  his  marriage,  as  he  was  travelling 
in  Greece,  his  wife  presented  him  at  Athens  with  a  son  and  heir,  and 
the  boy,  in  honour  of  this  event  and  his  father's  predilections,  was 
baptised  by  the  name  of  Charles  Atticus.  In  181 2,  Sir  Charles  was 
sent  to  the  House  of  Commons  as  one  of  the  knights  of  the  shire 
for  Northumberland,  and  there  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  warm 
advocacy  of  the  claims  of  Greece  to  independent  national  life,  and 
the  achievement  of  her  freedom  from  the  galling  oppression  of 
Turkey.  Upon  this  and  many  other  topics  he  was  a  frequent 
speaker  in  the  House.  It  is  said  that  he  was  the  only  member  of 
the  House  of  Commons  who  was  in  the  habit  of  quoting  Greek,  and 
that  his  fellow-members,  instead  of  resenting  the  practice  as  pedantic, 
paid  the  greater  deference  to  his  utterances.  He  was  fond  of  public 
life,  and  shone  in  it.  Turning  over  the  files  of  the  Chro?iicle  or 
Tyne  Mercury  for  many  years  following  his  election,  we  find  him 


SIR  CHARLES  MILES  LAMBERT  MONCK.       207 

continually  at  work,  speaking  here,  presiding  there — encouraging 
agriculture,  developing  manly  sport,  or  upholding  the  principles  of 
his  party  in  the  heated  controversies  of  his  time. 

It  was  no  light  matter  in  those  days  to  be  a  county  member. 
"When  George  the  Third  was  King,"  hearty  eating  and  heavy 
drinking  were  the  inevitable  concomitants  of  political  demonstration. 
Sir  Charles  Monck  took  the  chair  in  the  long  room  of  the  Queen's 
Head,  Newcastle,  at  the  second  of  the  great  dinners  which  the 
admirers  of  Charles  James  Fox — imitating  the  Pitt  Clubs — held  on 
the  anniversary  of  that  statesman's  first  election  for  Westminster,  and 
disposed  of  a  toast  list  containing  forty-three  toasts  !  This  may 
seem  incredible,  but — a  curiosity  of  political  fervour  and  convivial 
endurance — here  it  is : — 

1.  The  King. 

2.  The  Prince  Regent. 

3.  The  Memory  of  the  Right  Hon.  C.  J.  Fox. 

4.  The  House  of  Hanover,  and  may  they  never  forget  the  principles  which 
seated  them  upon  the  Throne. 

5.  The  Constitution  as  it  was  estabUshed  in  1689. 

6.  The  Army. 

7.  The  Navy. 

8.  Sir  Charles  Monck. 

9.  Earl  Grey. 

10.  The  Palladium  of  the  British  Constitution — the  Liberty  of  the  Press. 

11.  Mr.  Lambton,  and  may  he  ever  maintain  the  Principles  of  his  Father  and 
his  Uncle. 

12.  Dr.  Fenwick  and  the  Whigs  of  Durham. 

13.  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  and  the  Whigs  of  Newcastle. 

14.  Sir  John  Swinburne  and  the  Whigs  of  Northumberland. 

15.  The  Stewards  for  next  year — Major  George  Ker,  Mr.  Charlton,  of  Hesley- 
side,  Mr.  Lambton,  and  Dr.  Fenwick. 

16.  Lord  Wellington  and  the  Army  in  Spain. 

17.  Sir  T.  Graham,  and  his  brave  comrades  who  stormed  St.  Sebastian. 

18.  The  Rights  of  the  People,  of  which  Mr.  Fox  was  ever  the  zealous  de- 
fender. 

19.  The  Cause  for  which  Hampden  died  in  the  Field,  and  Sidney  on  the 
Scaffold. 

20.  The  just  Prerogative  of  the  Crown,  and  the  Pure  Representation  of  the 
People. 

21.  The  Cause  of  Ireland,  and  may  the  exertions  of  the  friends  of  Religious 
Liberty  be  crowned  with  success. 

22.  The  Cause  of  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty  all  over  the  World. 

23.  The  man  who  dares  to  be  honest  in  the  worst  of  times. 

24.  Thanks  to  those  who  effected  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade. 

25.  The  Rose,  the  Thistle,  and  the  Shamrock. 


2o8       SIJ?  CHARLES  MILES  LAMBERT  MO  NCR. 

26.  The  Constitution  in  full  vigour,  without  its  abuses. 

27.  The  Patriots  of  Spain,  and  may  their  exertions  be  crowned  with  success. 

28.  The  Allied  Armies  in  Germany,  and  may  a  speedy  and  honourable  peace 
be  the  consequence  of  their  successes. 

29.  Trial  by  Jury,  and  Lord  Erskine,  the  steady  asserter  of  British  freedom, 
whenever  and  wherever  it  has  been  assailed. 

30.  Lord  Holland,  and  may  he  always  support  the  principles  of  his  illustrious 
relative. 

31.  Lord  Grenville,  the  steady  and  able  friend  of  Catholic  Emancipation. 

32.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  the  Whig  Club. 

33.  The  Memory  of  Sir  George  Saville. 

34.  Mr.  Whitbread,  the  zealous  detector  of  abuses,  and  the  determined  defender 
of  the  oppressed. 

35.  Sir  Samuel  Romilly. 

36.  Mr.  Grattan. 

37.  Mr.  Henry  Brougham. 

38.  Lord  Lauderdale  and  the  Whigs  of  Scotland. 

39.  Mr.  Coke  and  the  Whigs  of  Norfolk. 

40.  Both  sides  of  the  Tweed. 

41.  Mr.  Selby,  and  the  Independent  Freemen  of  Berwick,  who  supported  him 
at  the  last  election. 

42.  The    Memory   of  Parliamentarj'   Reform,    and   may   there    be    a    speedy 
Resurrection. 

43.  The  Rev.  Christopher  Wyville,  the  great  apostle  of  Religious  Freedom. 

At  the  Parliamentary  election  in  June,  181 9,  Sir  Charles  Monck 
was  returned  for  the  second  time,  and  sat  till  the  accession  of 
George  IV.,  in  1820,  brought  on  another  dissolution.  Then  some 
little  complication  of  parties  arose,  which  ended  in  the  retirement 
of  Sir  Charles,  and  the  unopposed  return  of  T.  W.  Beaumont  and 
Charles  John  Brandling.  From  this  point  Sir  Charles  drifted 
gradually  away  from  his  Whig  allies.  At  the  great  election  of  1826, 
he  plumped  for  Matthew  Bell;  and  at  a  county  meeting  held  in 
the  borough  of  Morpeth  on  the  eve  of  the  Great  Reform  Act  he 
opposed  the  resolutions  submitted  to  the  freeholders  on  behalf  of 
that  measure,  and  published  his  reasons  in  a  pamphlet.  When, 
however,  the  Act  had  been  passed,  and  a  new  election  was  imminent, 
he  issued  an  address,  soliciting  the  suffrages  of  the  electors  in  the 
southern  division  of  the  county  as  a  genuine  Whig  and  real 
Reformer.  But  the  Whigs  declined  to  accept  him.  They  put  for- 
ward T.  W.  Beaumont  and  William  Ord  to  fight  for  the  party,  and 
Sir  Charles  withdrew.  On  the  day  of  the  election  he  plumped  again 
for  Matthew  Bell,  and  thenceforward,  though  he  took  no  active  part 
in  politics,  his  votes  at  contested  elections  went  invariably  in  favour 


SIR  CHARLES  MILES  LAMBERT  MONCK.       209 

of  the  Tories.  He  had  married  the  year  before,  as  his  second 
wife,  Lady  Mary  Elizabeth  Bennett,  daughter  of  the  fourth  Earl  of 
Tankerville. 

Released    from   the    turmoil    of    Parliamentary  life,    Sir    Charles 


Monck  applied  himself  to  the  improvement  of  his  estates,  and  the 
cultivation  of  a  stud  of  race-horses,  which  he  brought  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection.  He  erected  the  present  seat  of  the  familyj[at 
Belsay,  designing  it  according  to   "  the  purest  models  of  Grecian 

VOL.  III.  14 


210       SIR  CHARLES  MILES  LABMERT  MONCK. 

architecture,"  presenting  "  the  most  dignified  simphcity,  without  any 
false  and  meretricious  ornaments."  Acquaintance  with  the  ruined 
temples  of  Greece  having  given  him  a  taste  for  the  study  of  anti- 
quities, he  presided  over  the  meeting  in  Newcastle  at  which  the 
local  Society  of  Antiquaries  was  launched,  and  for  many  years  he 
was  one  of  the  Society's  vice-presidents.  But  he  took  no  active 
interest  in  the  operations  of  that  useful  organisation.  All  that  Dr. 
Bruce,  writing  of  the  early  founders  of  the  Society,  could  remember 
of  him  was  a  ludicrous  incident  of  which  he  was  the  hero.  Having 
been  invited  to  the  banquet  given  in  the  Castle  in  1848,  and  having 
left  his  hat,  great-coat,  and  umbrella  in  the  lower  dungeons,  where 
the  guests  assembled  before  dinner,  he  descended  thither  after  the 
banquet,  and,  losing  his  way  in  the  darkness,  was  nearly  detained 
there  all  night. 

Shortly  after  the  introduction  of  railways  Sir  Charles  Monck  led 
his  brother  magistrates  in  an  effort  to  curtail  the  expense  of  receiving 
and  entertaining  the  judges  in  Newcastle.  He  was  chairman  of  a 
committee  of  county  justices,  which,  in  February,  1846,  reported 
that  the  riding  out  by  the  Sheriff  on  horseback,  in  state,  to  meet  and 
receive  the  judges,  might  be  discontinued ;  that  four  horses  to  the 
sheriffs  coach  would  be  a  sufficient  equipment ;  that  the  services  of 
out-riders  might  be  dispensed  with ;  and  that,  as  the  salaries  of  the 
judges  had  been  increased,  the  fees  paid  to  their  lordships,  and  the 
gratuities  to  their  servants,  might  be  inquired  into  with  a  view  to 
their  abolition.  The  adoption  of  these  recommendations,  and  the 
consequent  reduction  of  equipage,  created  for  a  time  a  feeling  of 
restraint  between  some  of  the  judges  and  the  county  gentry.  At  the 
summer  assizes  in  1850,  this  feeling  culminated  in  an  unseemly  epi- 
sode, of  which  Sir  Charles  was  the  leader.  For  convenience'  sake  the 
assize  business  of  the  borough  had  been  transferred  from  the  Guild- 
hall to  the  Moot  Hall,  and  the  judges  were  sitting  there,  as  they  do 
now,  each  in  his  separate  court,  with  the  Grand  Jury  room,  or  Magis- 
trates' Court,  between.  Justice  Weightman,  sitting  in  the  Criminal 
Court,  had  occasion  to  confer  with  Justice  Cresswell,  who  was  hear- 
ing cases  in  Nisi  Prius,  and  the  private  way  from  one  Court  to  the 
other  lay  through  the  Magistrates'  room.  The  magistrates  were 
transacting  county  business  at  the  time,  and  when  Justice  Weight- 
man's  attendants  proceeded  to  open  the  door  for  his  lordship  they 
found  it  locked.  A  message  sent  to  the  magistrates  by  the  judge 
elicited  a  reply  that  the  door  would  not  be  opened.     Shortly  after- 


SIR  CHARLES  MILES  LAMBERT  MONCK.       211 

wards  the  magistrates,  headed  by  Sir  Charles  Monck,  opened  the 
door  from  within,  and,  advancing  towards  the  bench,  took  part  in 
the  following  wrangle: — 

Sir  Charles  Monck  :  It  is  my  duty  to  tell  your  lordship  that  these  buildings 
are  the  properly  of  the  County,  and  that  they  are  vested  in  the  County  magistrates, 
who  have  power  to  assign  the  various  parts  to  various  uses. 

The  Judge  :  And  I,  being  Judge  of  Assize,  choose  to  use  them. 

Sir  Charles  :  Exactly  so,  my  Lord  ;  but  the  Justices  here  have  to  appoint 
the  ditierent  parts  of  the  building  to  difterent  purposes.  On  account  of  the  power 
which  the  Judges  have  to  adjourn  the  borough  business  here,  the  Justices  assign 
this  room  for  that  purpose,  which  has  a  retiring  room  for  the  Judge,  which  has  its 
own  accesses,  and,  we  hope,  sufficient  accommodation.  But  the  same  statute 
which  enables  the  Judges  to  adjourn  here  enables  them  to  adjourn  to  any  place 
within  twelve  miles — to  any  building,  or  to  a  public-house,  if  they  like.  If  the 
adjournment  be  to  this  place,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Justices  to  provide  which  part 
of  the  building  shall  be  used  for  the  town  business,  and  they  appoint  it  to  be 
transacted  here. 

The  Judge  :  At  present  I,  being  one  of  the  Judges  of  Assize  for  the  County  as 
well  as  for  the  Town,  purpose  to  sit  here,  and  to  have  such  means  of  access  as  I 
think  proper. 

Sir  Charles  :  I  hope  there  are  sufficient  means  of  access. 

The  Judge  :  I  require  to  pass  to  the  other  Court.  I  desire  you  to  open  the 
door. 

Sir  Charles  :  I  cannot  do  it.     We  have  authority  in  this  matter. 

The  Judge  :  I  supersede  your  authority. 

Sir  Charles  :  I  cannot  help  it,  my  Lord. 

The  Judge  :  Then  I  must  order  the  High  Sherift"  to  procure  sufficient  force, 
and  to  break  open  the  door. 

Sir  Charles  :  If  your  Lordship  will  take  upon  yourself  the  responsibility  of 
so  doing,  we  shall  make  no  further  resistance  ;  but  we  protest  against  it. 

The  Judge  :  Well,  to  terminate  this  unseemly  scene,  it  will  perhaps  be  suf- 
ficient for  your  purpose  that  you  have  made  this  protest. 

Sir  Charles  :  No,  that  will  not  do. 

The  Judge  :  I  wish  to  consult  with  my  brother  Cresswell. 

Sir  Charles  :  Specially,  on  this  occasion,  we  will  permit  it ;  but  not  as  a 
precedent. 

His  Lordship  said  he  would  make  no  condition,  and  immediately  passed  into 
the  room  ;  Sir  Charles  remaining  in  Court,  and  stating  that  he  should  not  go  back 
to  the  room  till  the  judge  returned.  A  loud  talking,  however,  was  heard,  and 
Sir  Charles  re-entered  the  apartment.  Shortly  afterwards  his  lordship  came  back 
by  the  same  door,  and  the  affair  ended,  nothing  more  being  heard  of  the  matter. 

On  the  ist  December,  1856,  Sir  Charles  Monck  suffered  a  heavy 
bereavement  in  the  death  of  his  son  and  heir,  Charles  Atticus 
Monck,  who  had  been  appointed  chairman  of  the  county  in  1849, 
and  was  presiding  at  the  meeting  of  the  magistrates  when  the  scene 


2 1 2  JAMES  MURRA  I '. 

with  Justice  Weightman  occurred.  Mr.  C.  A.  Monck  was  a  retired 
ofificer  of  the  Coldstream  Guards — the  regiment  which  is  identified 
in  EngUsh  history  with  the  proceedings  of  an  illustrious  member  of 
his  family,  General  George  Monk,  the  restorer  of  Charles  II.  After 
his  son's  death  Sir  Charles  lived  a  quiet  and  retired  life  at  Belsay, 
and  died  there  on  the  nth  July,  1867,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-eight 
years.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  title  and  estates  by  his  grandson, 
Arthur  Edward,  eldest  son  of  the  marriage  of  Charles  Atticus  Monck 
with  Laura,  daughter  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley.  Sir  Arthur 
Edward,  the  seventh  and  present  baronet  (born  January  12th,  1838, 
M.P.  for  Durham  City  1874-80),  resumed  his  patronymic  Middleton, 
in  lieu  of  Monck,  by  deed-poll  dated  February  12th,  1876,  having 
married  November  8th,  187 1,  Lady  Constance  Harriett  Amherst 
(daughter  of  William  Pitt,  second  Earl  of  Amherst),  who  died 
October  7th,  1879. 


3atnc6  flDurra^, 

PREACHER,    POLITICIAN,    AND    SATIRIST. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  for  about  twenty  years, 
the  bitter  and  biting  pen  of  the  Rev.  James  Murray  was  the  chief 
weapon  in  the  political  and  religious  warfare  that  rose  and  raged, 
floundered  and  fell,  in  Newcastle. 

James  Murray  was  born  at  Fans,  near  Earlstoun,  in  Berwickshire, 
in  the  year  1732.  His  family,  which  was  respectable,  had  suffered 
severely  during  the  cruel  persecutions  carried  on  under  the  later 
Stuarts  against  the  Scotch  Covenanters,  and  the  young  man's  mind 
was  imbued  from  his  earliest  years  with  the  love  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  a  hatred  of  popery,  prelacy,  and  political 
tyranny. 

Intended  for  the  ministry,  he  studied  at  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  soon  after  leaving  college  came  into  Northumberland 
as  a  tutor.  In  a  short  time  he  became  assistant  to  the  Rev.  John 
Sayers,  minister  of  the  Bondgate  Meeting-House  at  Alnwick,  who, 
having  lost  his  eyesight,  was  incapable  of  discharging  the  duties 
of  his  office.  As  is  often  the  case,  the  old  man  did  not  take  very 
kindly  to  his  young  helper,  and  soon  dismissed  him.  It  is  said  that 
his  appearance  and  habits  were  not  prepossessing;   he  was  careless 


JAMES  MURRAY.  213 

about  his  dress,  delivered  his  discourses  in  a  loud  voice  with  a 
Scottish  accent,  and  took  so  much  snuff  in  the  pulpit  that  the  elder 
part  of  the  congregation  thought  it  was  a  pretext  to  conceal  defects. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  congregation,  however,  resolved  to  support 
the  young  minister,  who,  as  they  conceived,  had  been  ill-treated. 
They,  therefore,  formed  themselves  into  a  separate  congregation, 
met  first  in  the  Town  Hall,  then  in  a  malt-kiln,  and  eventually 
built  themselves  a  meeting-house  in  Bailiif  Gate  Stjuare,  and 
ordained  him  their  pastor.  There  he  remained  till  1764,  when 
(some  of  the  leading  members  of  his  congregation  having  left  the 
town),  receiving  a  call  from  friends  in  Newcastle  who  worshipped 
in  Silver  Street,  he  removed  to  Tyneside.  Under  the  influence  of 
his  preaching  the  Silver  Street  friends  rapidly  increased  in  numbers, 
and  having  acquired  a  site  in  the  High  Bridge,  they  built  a  chapel  in 
which  he  officiated  for  upwards  of  sixteen  years. 

No  sooner  was  Mr.  Murray  settled  in  Newcastle  than  he  began  to 
write  and  to  publish.  His  first  work,  issued  in  September,  1765, 
was  a  volume  of  Select  Discourses.  From  that  date  till  1768  the 
productions  of  his  pen  were  either  published  anonymously,  or 
appeared  in  the  Nezvcastk  Chronicle,  with  whose  founder  and  pro- 
prietor he  was  on  terms  of  great  intimacy.  But  in  March,  1768,  he 
issued  the  book  by  which  he  is  best  known,  the  "  Sermons  to 
Asses,"  and  after  that  his  pen  was  never  idle.  The  following  May 
appeared  an  "  Essay  on  Redemption,"  and,  before  the  year  was 
out,  "Sermons  to  Men,  Women,  and  Children."  In  1770  he 
published  a  school-book  on  grammar,  and  began  to  compile  a 
"  History  of  the  Churches  in  England  and  Scotland,"  which  came 
out  in  1 771  and  1772  in  three  volumes,  and  was  followed  by 
a  description  of  a  journey  from  Newcastle  to  London  in  a  stage 
coach.  In  March,  1773,  he  began  a  course  of  sixteen  lectures  upon 
the  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind,  which  he  delivered  in  his 
]Meeting-House  on  Monday  and  Thursday  evenings  at  half-a-guinea 
a  course,  or  a  shilling  each  night.  These  lectures  increased  his 
popularity,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  year  he  sent  out  a  volume  of 
"  New  Sermons  to  Asses,"  dedicated  to  the  petitioners  against  the 
Dissenters'  Bill. 

During  the  contested  election  of  1774  in  Newcastle,  when  the 
Hon.  Constantine  John  Phipps  and  Thomas  Delaval  opposed  Sir 
Walter  Blackett  and  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  he  started  a  monthly 
periodical,  "  The  Freeman's  Magazine,"  and  carried  it  on  to  the  end 


214 


JAMES  MURRA  Y. 


of  its  sixth  number.  Before  the  poll  he  issued  a  pamphlet  of  forty 
pages,  entitled  "  The  Contest,"  in  which  with  pungent  satire  he 
examined  the  merit  and  conduct  of  the  four  candidates.  Again,  in 
1780,  at  another  contested  election  in  Newcastle,  with  Sir  Matthew 
White  Ridley,  Stoney  Bowes,  and  Thomas  Delaval  in  the  field,  he 
stood  forward  as  an  independent  critic,  and  proposed  a  test  or  pledge 
to  be  taken  by  each  of  the  candidates  as  proof  of  the  sincerity  of 
their  promises.  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  refused,  and  Stoney 
Bowes  said  at  once,   "  He'd  be  d — d  if  he  gave  anything  of  the 


sort."  Thomas  Delaval,  the  unsuccessful  candidate,  gave  it,  prob- 
ably out  of  sheer  complaisance,  but  it  did  not  gain  him  the  seat. 

Being  strongly  opposed  to  the  American  War,  Mr.  Murray 
delivered  many  political  lectures  condemnatory  of  Lord  North's 
Administration.  His  indignation  having  being  roused  on  reading 
a  pamphlet  by  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  on  this  subject,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  prove  that  taxation  was  no  tyranny,  he  immediately 
wrote  a  reply  to  it,  couched  in  not  very  measured  terms. 

Believing  that  the  Catholic  Church  was  a  dangerous  instrument  of 
deception  and  tyranny,    he  was  extremely  active    in  opposing  Sir 


JAMES  M  URRA  Y.  215 

George  Saville's  Bill  for  the  removal  of  certain  Catholic  disabilities. 
In  the  fervour  of  his  zeal  against  this  godless  measure,  as  he  deemed 
it,  he  preached  a  sermon  from  the  text,  "  He  that  hath  not  a  sword, 
let  him  sell  his  garment,  and  buy  one";  and  it  having  been  announced 
beforehand  that  he  would  do  so,  the  magistrates  were  seriously 
alarmed,  and  caused  some  of  the  town's  sergeants  to  attend,  "  to 
catch  him  in  his  words,"  if  they  should  be  seditious.  It  would 
rather  seem  that  they  bore  that  complexion,  for  the  preacher,  in 
order  to  get  out  of  the  way,  as  was  supposed,  went  off  to  London 
very  suddenly.  When  in  the  metropolis,  he  called  upon  Lord 
Mansfield — a  Murray  like  himself,  but  by  no  means  so  zealous  a 
Protestant — for  the  purpose,  it  was  said,  of  clearing  himself  On  his 
first  asking  for  his  lordship,  he  was  informed  that  he  was  not  at 
home.  "  Tell  him,"  said  he,  "  that  a  Scotch  parson  of  the  name  of 
Murray,  from  Newcastle,  wants  to  see  him."  What  passed  between 
them  never  transpired,  but  the  conversation  seems  to  have  been  one 
of  mutual  satisfaction.  At  any  rate,  it  is  plain,  from  a  concluding 
remark  of  the  learned  judge,  as  Mr.  Murray  was  leaving  the  house, 
that  the  latter  had  been  afraid  of  some  prosecution,  and  had  con- 
sulted his  eminent  namesake.  "  Mr.  Murray,"  was  the  observation, 
"  you  have  just  come  away  with  your  skin  between  your  teeth." 

But  stern  and  dreaded  as  he  was  when  defending  civil  or  religious 
liberty,  he  was  of  a  most  cheerful  disposition,  and,  on  most  topics, 
exceedingly  facetious  and  playful.  His  conduct  throughout  life  was 
independent ;  he  was  not  a  man  to  bend,  crouch,  and  truckle.  He 
was  likewise  consistent,  exemplifying  the  principles  which  he  con- 
scientiously believed  and  zealously  taught.  The  following  two 
anecdotes  illustrate  his  disposition  : — 

"As  he  was  coming  from  Alnwick  to  Newcastle  on  a  rainy  day,  he 
overtook  a  poor  man  who  had  no  coat.  Happening  to  have  two  on 
at  the  time,  Mr.  Murray  took  one  off  and  put  it  on  the  poor  man's 
back,  with  the  observation  that  '  it  was  a  pity  he  should  have  two 
coats  on  and  the  man  none,  indeed  it  was  not  fair.' " 

"  A  Scotch  drover  came  into  his  chapel  rather  late  one  Sunday, 
and  leaning  on  the  edge  of  the  pew,  stood  contented  and  listening 
to  the  sermon.  Mr.  Murray  caused  a  pew  to  be  opened  to  him, 
exclaiming  at  the  same  time,  '  If  that  man  had  had  a  powdered  head 
and  a  fine  coat  on  his  back,  you  would  have  thrown  open  twenty 
pews  to  receive  him.' " 

For  some  years  Mr.   Murray  was  the   most  popular  preacher  in 


2i6  JAMES  MURRAY. 

Newcastle.  His  Sunday  evening  lectures,  delivered  to  overflowing 
congregations,  were  announced  every  week  in  the  Newcastle  Chronicle, 
not  in  the  form  of  advertisement,  but  as  important  local  news. 
Thus : — 

*'  To-morrow  evening,  at  six  o'clock,  Mr.  Murray  will  deliver  in  the  High 
Bridge  meeting,  a  lecture  upon  the  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire,  mentioned  Rev. 
XV.  2 ;  and  the  Song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  recorded  verse  3.  In  this  lecture 
will  be  given  some  curious  observations  on  prophetic  emblems." 

"  Mr.  Murray's  Lectures,  to-morrow  evening  at  six  o'clock  : — The  vain  hope  of 
the  princes  of  Judah  disappointed  ;  On  the  unanimity  of  a  nation  in  bad  measures 
— the  speedy  and  certain  ruin  thereof.  Jer.  xxxvii.  9,  10. — Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
deceive  not  yourselves,  saying,  the  Chaldeans  shall  surely  depart  from  us,  for  they 
will  not  depart. — Nothing  can  raise  us  more  at  present  than  unanimity." 

In  August,  1 781,  Mr.  Murray,  who  resided  in  Tabernacle  Entry, 
Northumberland  Street  (part  of  the  present  Lisle  Street),  announced 
that  on  the  first  Monday  of  the  following  month  he  would  open  an 
academy  there  for  teaching  "the  English  and  French  languages 
grammatically,  and  also  Latin  and  Greek,  writing,  arithmetic, 
accounts,  etc.,  according  to  the  most  approved  methods,  all  for  half 
a  guinea  a  quarter,  and  half  a  guinea  entrance."  He  added,  "  Par- 
ticular attention  will  be  paid  both  to  the  education  and  behaviour 
of  the  scholars.  The  school  is  in  one  of  the  finest  situations  in 
Newcastle,  free  from  all  noise,  and  in  open  free  air.  N.B. — Students 
in  divinity,  or  such  as  are  intended  for  the  Church,  will  be  taught 
Hebrew  at  a  private  hour  for  the  same  expence."  This  scheme  was 
never  carried  out.  Mr.  Murray  had  for  some  time  suffered  greatly 
from  calculus,  and  by  the  time  that  his  school  was  to  have  been 
opened  he  was  confined  to  his  bed.  He  died  on  the  28th  of 
January,  1782,  in  his  fiftieth  year,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Andrew's 
Churchyard. 

"  He  was  a  man  of  middle  size  and  well  proportioned,"  writes  an 
admiring  biographer,  "  his  air  was  firm  and  erect,  and  his  expression 
commanding.  His  manners  had  all  that  simplicity  and  playful  ease 
which  belong  to  genius,  but  when  roused  to  defend  the  sacred  cause 
of  truth  he  was  stern  and  decided.  He  possessed  solidity  of  judg- 
ment, depth  of  thinking,  and  brilliancy  of  wit ;  his  style  was  nervous 
and  bold — his  satire  was  not  like  the  keen,  polished,  and  poisoned 
shafts  of  Junius,  shot  secretly  in  the  dark — no  !  his  darts  were  naked 
and  barbed — they  rankled  and  tore  the  wounds  they  made  !  He 
scorned  to  remain  under  cover,  but   nobly   stepped   forward,    the 


JAMES  MURRA  V.  217 

dauntless  champion  of  liberty,  and  fearlessly  set  at  defiance  the 
frowns  of  power.  .  .  .  He  would  allow  no  winking  at  oppression  for 
the  sake  of  filthy  lucre.  .  .  .  His  hatred  to  priestcraft  was  rooted  in 
him  by  feeling  as  well  as  principle;  and  when  the  Catholics  arose  to 
demand  their  rights,  imagining  that  he  saw  among  them  fiery 
ambition  cowering  behind  the  benign  form  of  religion,  he  imme- 
diately became  their  foremost  foe.  .  .  .  His  active  life  was  one 
perpetual  warfare  against  such  Fiends  as  Tyranny,  Bigotry,  and 
Fanaticism;  and  though  opposed  by  wealth  and  power,  unaided  but 
by  reason  and  truth,  yet,  lion  hearted,  he  never  shrunk  from  the 
unequal  contest,  but  nobly  sacrificed  every  interest  at  the  shrine  of 
virtue  for  an  approving  conscience." 

Mr.  JNIurray's  published  works  were  the  following  : — 

"Select  Discourses  upon  Several  Important  Subjects."  Newcastle:  T.  Slack, 
1765.     8vo,  vi.-290  pp. 

"Sermons  to  Asses."  London:  Printed  for  J.  Johnson  in  Paternoster  Row, 
and  W.  Charnley  in  Newcastle,  176S.  8vo,  vi.-2i2  pp.  Title-page  afterwards 
withdrawn  in  favour  of  one  with  a  copperplate  vignette  representing  an  ass  fallen 
under  two  panniers,  inscribed  respectively  "Politics"  and  [Religi]"on,"  with  a 
volume  of  sermons  under  its  nose,  and  the  introduction  of  "  T.  Cadell  (successor 
to  Mr.  Millar)  in  the  Strand"  after  the  words  "  Pater-noster  Row."  Dedicated 
"To  the  Very  Excellent  and  Reverend  Mess.  G.[eorge]  W.[hitfield],  J.[ohn] 
W.[esley],  W.[illiam  R.[oniaine],  and  M.[artin]  M.[adan]."  Second  Edition, 
1783.     Reprinted  by  William  Hone,  1819. 

"An  Essay  on  Redemption  by  Jesus  Christ,  Shewing  from  Scripture  the  Char- 
acter of  our  Redemption,  and  the  Benefit  arising  from  it  to  Men."  Newcastle: 
T.  Slack,  1768.     8vo,  50  pp. 

"  Sermons  to  Men,  Women,  and  Children.  'Tis  with  our  judgments  as  our 
watches,  none  go  just  alike,  yet  each  believes  his  own,"     Newcastle,  1768.     8vo, 

34  PP- 

"  The  Rudiments  of  the  English  Tongue ;  or  the  Principles  of  English  Grammar, 
Methodically  Digested  into  Plain  Rules,"  etc.,  etc.  Newcastle,  1771.  i2mo,  iv.- 
170  pp. 

"A  History  of  the  Churches  in  England  and  Scotland  from  the  Reformation  to 
the  Present  Time."  Newcastle:  T.  Saint,  1771-72.  8vo.  ist  vol.,  483  pp.;  2nd 
vol.  (portrait  of  Cranmer),  485  pp.;  3rd  vol.  (portrait  of  Calvin,  by  Ralph  Beilby), 
xiii. -521  pp. 

"The  Travels  of  the  Imagination;  A  true  Journey  from  Newcastle  to  London. 
■With  Observations  upon  the  Metropolis."     London,  1773,  i^'""i35  PP- 

"  New  Sermons  to  Asses.  Judges  iii.  22.  And  the  Dirt  came  out."  London: 
Printed  for  J.  Atkinson,  in  the  Groat-market,  Newcastle,  1773,  iL-167  pp. 

"  Eikon  Basilike:  or  the  Character  of  Eglon  King  of  Moab  and  his  Ministry; 
wherein  is  demonstrated  the  advantage  of  Christianity  in  the  Exercise  of  Civil 
Government."  Newcastle:  Printed  for  P.  Sanderson,  bookseller  in  Durham, 
1773.     8vo,  34  pp. 


2 1 8  JAMES  MURRA  Y. 

"  Lectures  to  Lords  Spiritual;  or  an  Advice  to  the  Bishops  concerning  Religious 
Articles,  Tithes,  and  Church  Power.  With  a  Discourse  on  Ridicule."  London, 
1774.     8vo,  viii.-2i7  pp. 

"The  Freeman's  Magazine;  or  the  Constitutional  Repository,  containing  a 
free  Debate  concerning  the  Cause  of  Liberty;  consisting  of  all  the  Papers  pub- 
lished in  the  London  News- Papers  from  Northumberland  and  Newcastle,  or  the 
County  of  Durham,  from  the  sending  of  Instructions  to  the  Newcastle  Members 
of  Parliament  till  this  Present  Time."  Newcastle:  Printed  for  the  Editors;  And 
sold  by  T.  Slack,  W.  Charnley,  J.  Chalmers,  and  J.  Atkinson,  Booksellers;  R. 
Fisher,  the  Circulating  Library;  and  G.  Young,  High  Bridge,  Newcastle,  1774. 
8vo,  viii.-i82  pp. 

"  The  Contest:  Being  an  Account  of  the  Matter  in  Dispute  between  the  Magis- 
trates and  Burgesses,  And  an  Examination  of  the  Merit  and  Conduct  of  the 
Candidates  In  the  Present  Election  for  Newcastle  upon  Tyne.  '  Give  the  Devil 
his  Due.'  Sold  by  the  Booksellers  in  Newcastle  and  the  neighbouring  Town's. 
Price  Sixpence."     1774,  8vo,  40  pp. 

"  A  Grave  Answer  to  Mr.  Wesley's  Calm  Address  to  our  American  Colonies. 
By  a  Gentleman  of  Northumberland.  '  The  words  of  his  mouth  were  smoother 
than  butter,  but  war  was  in  his  heart ;  his  words  were  oil,  yet  were  drawn 
swords.'"     Small  4to,  from  the  newspapers,  4  pp. 

"An  Old  Fox  Tarr'd  and  Feathered,  occasioned  by  what  is  called  Mr.  John 
Wesley's  Calm  Address  to  our  American  Colonies.  '  In  politics  I  dabbled  too, 
Brave  Jack  of  all  trades  I.'  By  an  Hanoverian."  Woodcut  of  a  fox  in  clerical  dress 
holding  a  book,  and  supposed  to  be  reading  Wesley's  "  Calm  Address."  London, 
Printed  for  the  Author  and  Sold  by  the  Booksellers  in  Newcastle,  Shields, 
Sunderland,  Durham,  Hexham,  Morpeth,  Alnwick,  Belford,  and  Berwick.  Price 
only  id.     1775,  Svo,  16  pp. 

"  Lectures  upon  the  most  Remarkable  Characters  and  Transactions  recorded 
in  the  Book  of  Genesis."  2  vols.  Newcastle :  T.  Angus,  Trinity  Corner,  St. 
Nicholas'  Church-Yard.      1777.     i2mo,  vol.  i.,  319  pp.;  vol.  ii.,  316  pp. 

"  The  Magazine  of  Ants  ;  or  Pismire  Journal."  Six  penny  numbers,  the  fifth 
of  which  is  embellished  with  a  cut  of  a  harp  by  T.  Bewick.     Newcastle,  1777. 

"The  New  Maid  of  the  Oaks,  a  Tragedy,  as  lately  Acted  near  Saratoga;  by 
a  Company  of  Tragedians  under  the  direction  of  the  author  of  the  Maid  of  the 
Oaks,  a  Comedy.  By  Ahab  Salem."  London,  1778.  Price  one  shilling.  8vo, 
72  pp. 

"  Lectures  upon  the  Book  of  the  Revelation  of  John  the  Divine :  Containing  a 
new  Explanation  of  the  History,  Visions,  and  Prophecies  contained  in  that  Book. 
2  vols.  Newcastle:  T.  Angus,  1778,  i2mo,  ist  vol.,  xxiv.-352  pp.;  2nd  vol., 
382  pp. 

"  An  Impartial  History  of  the  Present  War  in  America,  containing  an  Account 
of  its  Rise  and  Progress,  the  Political  Spring  thereof.  With  its  various  Successes 
and  Disappointments  on  both  Sides."  2  vols.  Newcastle:  T.  Robson,  Side. 
Svo,  vol.  i.,  573  pp.;  vol.  ii.,  576  pp.  1778.  A  third  volume  begun  by  Mr. 
Murray  was  completed  after  his  death  by  the  Rev.  William  Graham,  Newcastle. 

"Popery  not  Christianity;  or  the  Prerogatives  of  Jesus  Christ  vindicated 
against  the  Usurpation  of  Anti-Christ ;  a  Sermon  preached  in  Silver  Street. 
Meeting  at  the  Evening  Lecture  against  Popery.     Published  at  the  desire  of  the 


JAMES  MURRA  Y.  219 

Audience."  Newcastle:  T.  Robson,  Head  of  the  Groat  Market,  n.d.  [17S0]. 
8vo,  47  pp. 

"Sermons  to  Ministers  of  State."  Newcastle:  T.  Robson  &  W.  Charnley 
[1780].     Dedicated  to  Lord  North,     8vo,  vi.-228  pp. 

"  An  Alarm  Without  Cause  ;  or  the  Administration  of  Peace,  supported  by  the 
Sword  of  the  Spirit :  An  Evening  Lecture  delivered  in  the  High  Bridge  Meeting, 
Newcastle.  'He  that  hath  no  Sword,  let  him  sell  his  garments  and  buy  one.' 
Luke  xxii.  36."     Newcastle:  T.  Robson,  n.d.      i2mo,  30  pp. 

"  The  Protestant  Packet ;  or  British  Monitor,  designed  for  the  use  and  enter- 
tainment of  every  denomination  of  Protestants  in  Great  Britain."  Newcastle: 
Thomas  Angus,  1780.     Published  in  Twopenny  fortnightly  numbers. 

"  News  from  the  Pope  to  the  Devil,  on  Thursday,  Feb.  6,  1781,  with  their 
Lamentations  for  the  acquittal  of  Lord  George  Gordon ;  to  which  is  added  The 
Hypocrite,  by  Judas  Guzzle  Fire,  A.M.  Printed  for  the  Author,  1781."  l2mo, 
19  pp. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  works  the  following  are  attributed  to 
Mr.  Murray's  pen : — 

"The  History  of  Religion,  Particularly  of  the  Principal  Denominations  of 
Christians.  By  an  Impartial  Hand."  London,  1764.  Published  in  40  Sixpenny 
numbers  forming  four  8vo  vols. 

"  An  Appeal  to  Common  Sense  :  or  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Burgher 
Seceders  considered ;  in  a  Letter  to  Protestant  Dissenters  in  Northumberland. 
By  a  Protestant."     1764,  8vo,  43  pp. 

"A  Letter  to  the  Minister  and  Session  of  the  Ass — te  Congregation  in  the 
Close,  Newcastle,  by  a  Free  Inquirer."     1766,  Svo,  8  pp. 

"The  Fast."     A  Poem. 

The  course  of  lectures  on  the  "  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind  " 
and  "Lectures  on  the  Book  of  Job,"  left  at  Mr.  Murray's  death 
nearly  ready  for  the  printer,  were  never  published.  "  A  Journey 
through  Cumberland  and  the  Lakes,"  in  manuscript,  and  likewise  a 
manuscript  "Journey  to  Glasgow,"  were  lent  to  gentlemen  to  read, 
and  lost. 

IMr.  Murray's  widow,  whose  maiden  name  was  Sarah  Weddle 
(daughter  of  William  Weddle  of  Mouson,  near  Belford,  in  whose 
family  Mr.  Murray  had  been  a  tutor),  died  in  1798.  Their  surviving 
children  were  John,  a  surgeon  in  Newcastle,  and  ^Villiam,  a  silk 
manufacturer  in  Glasgow,  Jane,  who  married  Charles  Hay,  maltster 
in  Newcastle,  and  Isabella,  unmarried. 


•mmfj^' 


WILLIAM  NE IVTON. 


Milliam  IRcwton, 

TOWN    COUNCILLOR. 

"  He  is  a  Fool  who  cannot  be  angry  ;  but  he  is  a  Wise  Man  who  will  not.'" — 
Old  Proverb. 

FiVE-AND-THiRTY  years  ago,  one  of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  the 
public  life  of  Newcastle  was  William  Newton,  surgeon,  better  known 
as  Doctor  Newton.  Possessing  a  vigorous  intellect,  a  strong  will, 
and  considerable  literary  culture,  he  exercised  a  powerful  influence 
upon  local  affairs,  and  if  he  had  been  spared  to  attain  his  prime, 
would  in  all  probability  have  risen  to  the  highest  positions  which  his 
fellow-townsmen  could  bestow. 

William  Newton  was  a  son  of  Henry  Newton,  nurseryman,  and 
was  born  in  Newcastle  in  March,  1815.  Educated  for  the  medical 
profession,  he  served  his  pupilage  under  Mr.  W.  C.  Preston,  a  general 
practitioner  in  the  newly-formed  thoroughfare  of  Carliol  Street.  He 
passed  through  his  scholastic  career  at  Edinburgh  University  with 
credit,  obtaining  five  silver  medals  and  other  honours,  and  in  or 
about  the  year  1840  commenced  practice  in  Newcastle.  In  1842  he 
married,  and  a  couple  of  years  later  obtained  his  first  public  appoint- 
ment— that  of  surgeon  to  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  parish  of  All 
Saints. 

Being  thus  fairly  settled  in  life,  young  Mr.  Newton  commenced  to 
take  an  interest  in  public  affairs.  Holding  liberal  views  in  political, 
religious,  and  social  matters,  he  made  his  entrance  into  the  arena  of 
debate  by  publishing  a  pamphlet  against  capital  punishment,  and  by 
acting  as  local  secretary  to  an  association  for  the  total  abolition  of 
the  death  penalty.  His  first  recorded  appearance  as  a  speaker 
occurred  during  the  excitement  caused  by  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Catholic  hierarchy  in  this  country — the  "  Papal  Aggression  "  of 
1850.  On  that  occasion  a  town's  meeting  was  being  held  under  the 
presidency  of  the  Mayor,  and  a  resolution  protesting  against  the 
"  aggression  "  was  about  to  be  put,  when  the  Rev.  George  Harris 
moved  an  amendment  in  favour  of  toleration  and  freedom  of  con- 
science, and  found  an  unexpected  seconder  in  Mr.  Newton.  Young 
Dr.  Newton,  as  he  was  called,  made  an  excellent  impression,  and  his 


WILLIAM  XEWTON.  221 

impromptu  speech,  delivered  in  the  face  of  an  excited  and  hostile 
crowd,  was  long  remembered. 

About  this  time  began  the  dispute  in  the  Newcastle  School  of 
Medicine  and  Surgery,  which  led  to  its  disruption,  and  the  formation 
of  two  rival  institutions.  The  quarrel  and  its  details  are  of  no 
interest  now;  it  is  sufficient  to  state  that  the  dissolution  of  the 
school,  of  which  Mr.  Newton  was  a  proprietary  member,  arose  out  of 
heated  language  which  passed  between  himself  and  a  colleague.  Mr. 
Newton  published  his  account  of  the  quarrel  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled 

"  A  Letter  to  the  Venerable  Archdeacon  Thorp  on  the  Causes  which  led  to  the 
Disruption  of  the  School  of  Medicine  in  Newcaslle-on-Tyne.  By  a  Lecturer." 
Newcastle  :  Thomas  Pallister  Barkas,  26  Grainger  Street,  1S51.    i2nio,  iv.-20  pp. 

The  concluding  paragraph  of  the  pamphlet  reads  as  follows: — "My 
character  has  been  mercilessly  assailed.  My  position  in  the  School 
and  in  the  Town  attempted  to  be  destroyed.  My  professional 
standing  attacked ;  and  I  would  be  unworthy  of  the  boon  of  life  if  I 
should  think  of  continuing  it  accompanied  with  dishonour  and  degra- 
dation. In  the  bitterness  of  my  wrongs  I  have  spoken.  I  am.  Very 
Rev.  Sir,  Your  humble  and  obedient  servant,  William  Newtox 
(Lecturer  on  Forensic  Medicine). 

After  the  dissolution  Mr.  Newton  allied  himself  with  those  members 
of  the  old  school  who  formed  the  "  Newcastle  College  of  Medicine 
and  Practical  Science."  In  that  institution  he  filled  successively  the 
chairs  of  Medical  Jurisprudence,  .\natomy,  and  Materia  Medica, 
and  so  continued  until,  in  1857,  the  rival  schools  were  united  in  one 
college,  under  the  protection  of  the  University  of  Durham.  While 
the  contest  was  raging  he  issued,  under  the  pen-name  of  "  A  Country 
Squire,"  ?ijeu  d' esprit  professing  to  describe  the  characters  of  five 
applicants  for  vacancies  in  the  office  of  Physician  to  the  Infirmary, 
and  bearing  the  title  of — 

"The  Five  Physicians:  Being  Mental  Portraitures  of  Drs.  de  Mey,  Robinson, 
Charlton,  Embleton,  and  Glover.  In  a  Letter  to  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  North- 
umberland."    Newcastle  :  Nathaniel  Collins,  .Side. 

During  the  cholera  epidemic  of  1853,  Mr.  Newton,  being  parish 
surgeon  in  that  part  of  the  town  which  contained  the  worst  slums, 
and  the  densest  population,  exerted  himself  heroically  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  the  plague.  By  night  and  by  day  he  was  at  his  post, 
fighting  the  pestilence  with  the  vigour  of  a  strong  and  healthy 
physique,  and  the  skill  of  a  well-informed  and  well-balanced  mind. 


2  2  2  WILLIAM  NE  WTON. 

When  the  peril  had  passed  away  he  was  entertained  at  a  pubUc 
banquet  and  presented  with  a  service  of  plate,  upon  which  was 
inscribed  the  object  of  the  gathering — "  appreciation  of  his  pro- 
fessional talents,"  and  commemoration  of  "the  intelligence  and 
energy  displayed  when  his  fellow-townsmen  were  exposed  to  the 
dangers  of  pestilence." 

Mr.  Newton  entered  the  Town  Council  of  Newcastle  at  the 
November  elections  of  1851  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the 
ward  of  East  All  Saints,  and  for  that  ward,  although  hotly  opposed 
on  one  or  two  subsequent  occasions,  he  sat  till  the  day  of  his  death. 


WILLIAM    NEWTON. 

In  the  Council  Chamber  he  took  an  independent  course,  following 
no  man's  lead,  but  hitting  hard  all  round,  and  continually  enlivening 
the  debates  wuth  caustic  wit  and  satirical  invective.  Education  and 
sanitation  were  the  subjects  that  lay  nearest  to  his  heart,  and  upon 
which  he  spoke  with  authority  and  effect.  In  season  and  out  of 
season,  with  florid  declamation,  he  endeavoured  to  rouse  the 
Corporation  to  the  performance  of  its  duty  in  providing  cheap 
schools,  a  free  library,  recreation  grounds,  baths,  and  washhouses, 
efficient  sewerage,  wholesome  water,  and  other  institutions  and 
appliances  calculated  to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  poor,  among 
whom  he  lived  and  laboured,  and  through  them,  the  health  and 


WILLIAM  NEWTON.  223 

happiness  of  the  whole  community.  His  colleagues,  recognising 
his  abilities  and  exertions  in  these  directions,  appointed  him  chair- 
man of  the  Schools  and  Charities  Committee.  In  that  position  he 
did  much  useful  work,  and  might  possibly  have  done  more  if  his 
temperament  had  been  less  combative  and  his  attitude  less  pug- 
nacious. He  was  the  leader  in  the  opposition  to  the  appointment 
of  Vicar  Moody  to  the  I^Iastership  of  the  Mary  Magdalene  Hospital 
(already  described  in  the  biography  of  Alderman  Blackwell),  the 
founder  of  a  Girls'  School  in  connection  with  the  Virgin  Mary 
Hospital,  and  outside  the  Council,  a  promoter  of  the  Miners' 
Permanent  Relief  Fund  and  a  supporter  of  industrial  co-operation. 
The  cause  of  oppressed  nationalities  excited  his  warmest  sympathies, 
and  some  of  his  most  effective  public  addresses  were  delivered  in 
support  of  the  claims  of  Hungary,  Poland,  and  Italy  to  freedom  and 
independence. 

Upon  local  literature  Mr.  Newton  left  no  mark  worthy  of  his  un- 
doubted abilities.  Preferring  the  anonymity  of  journalism  to  the 
responsibilities  of  authorship  he  contributed  to  the  Northern 
Exatniner,  and  after  its  cessation  to  the  Northern  Daily  Express, 
articles  and  personal  sketches  in  which  he  blended  classical  imagery 
and  Shakespearian  quotation  with  sardonic  humour  and  pungent 
satire.  He  published  a  lecture  on  "  The  Blood  and  its  Circulation," 
and  a  "  Letter  on  the  Stephenson  Monument " ;  but  beyond  these 
two  pamphlets,  and  the  ephemeral  brochures  named  in  a  previous 
paragraph,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  ventured. 

On  the  loth  of  April,  1863,  while  riding  across  the  Town  Moor  of 
Newcastle,  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse,  and  sustained  injuries 
which  terminated  his  life  on  the  30th  of  May  following,  at  the 
early  age  of  forty-five  years.  His  remains  were  interred  in  Jesmond 
Cemetery  with  the  honours  of  a  public  funeral. 

Mr.  Newton  left  a  widow  and  three  children,  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Henry  William,  succeeding  him  in  his  practice  and  appointments, 
and  running  a  similar  municipal  career,  has  been  Sheriff  and  Mayor 
of  Newcastle,  is  an  alderman  of  the  borough,  and  Chairman  of  the 
Free  Library  and  Parks  Committees. 


"^=5^ 


2  24  S^-^  C H ALONE R  OGLE. 


Sir  Chaloncr  ®olc, 

ADMIRAL    OF    THE    FLEET    AND    M.P. 

"  How  sleep  the  brave  who  sink  to  rest 
By  all  their  country's  wishes  blest  ! 
By  fairy  hands  their  knell  is  rung, 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung." 

— Collins. 

High  among  the  ancient  and  potent  families  of  Northumberland 
stand  the  Ogles.  They  did  not  come  in  with  the  Normans,  for  the 
Normans  found  them  here — lords  of  the  soil,  long  before,  under 
Saxon  earls  and  Danish  kings.  If  genealogists  may  be  believed,  one 
Humphrey  Ogle  received  from  William  the  Conqueror  confirmation 
of  all  the  liberties  and  royalties  of  the  manor  of  Ogle,  "  in  as  ample 
a  manner  as  any  of  his  ancestors  enjoyed  the  same."  The  favour 
of  successive  monarchs,  and  marriages  with  well-dowered  heiresses, 
brought  the  Ogles  other  manors  and  estates,  and,  in  course  of  time, 
they  spread  themselves  out  over  the  eastern  part  of  the  shire — at 
Bothal  and  Bebside,  Causey  Park  and  Choppington,  Eglingham  and 
Tritlington,  Cockle  Park  and  Kirkley.  In  the  old  fighting  days  they 
rendered  useful  aid  to  their  king  and  country,  and  received  the 
honours  and  rewards  of  loyalty  and  courage.  In  later  times,  a  strong 
armed  and  a  strong-minded  race,  they  achieved  distinction  in  the 
services  and  professions,  especially  in  those  of  the  navy  and  the 
church.  The  list  of  Ogles  who  have  occupied  positions  of  trust  and 
emolument  in  the  public  interest  since  Humphrey  of  that  ilk  did 
homage  to  the  Conqueror  is  a  long  one.     It  includes — 

Sir  John  de  Ogle,  knight,  who  assisted  the  Barons  in  their  long 
quarrel  with  Henry  III.  (125 8- 1267),  and  received  an  extension  of 
his  lands  in  Northumberland  for  his  fidelity  to  their  cause. 

William  Ogle,  one  of  the  four  bailiffs  of  Newcastle  in  1283,  1289, 
1292,  1294  to  1303,  1305,  1306. 

Robert  Ogle,  son  of  Sir  John,  high  bailiff  of  Tynedale,  1335; 
licensed  to  crenellate  his  manor-house  of  Ogle,  1341;  fought  at  the 
battle  of  Neville's  Cross,  1346,  and  received  in  his  castle  of  Ogle, 
David,  King  of  Scots,  captured  by  John  of  Coupland  in  that  battle. 

Sir   Robert   Ogle,    conservator    of   truces    with    Scotland,    1386, 


S//^  CHALONER  OGLE.  225 

accompanied  Hotspur  to  Otterburn  and  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Scots,  1388;  served  in  the  garrison  at  Berwick  under  Prince 
John,  the  king's  son,  1404;  buried  at  Hexham,  1410. 

Sir  Robert  Ogle,  one  of  the  commissioners  of  a  truce  with  Scot- 
land, 1410;  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland,  141 7;  captain  of 
Berwick,  1423;  warden  of  Roxburgh  Castle,  1424;  M.P.  for  North- 
umberland, 1415,  1419  to  1421,  1425. 

Sir  Robert,  first  Lord  Ogle,  M.P.  for  the  county,  1435-41;  High 
Sheriff,  1437;  co-warden  of  the  East  Marches,  1438-39;  ambassador 
to  Scotland,  1459,  1461;  created  Baron  Ogle,  1461;  died  November 
4th,  1469. 

Owen,  second  Lord  Ogle,  M.P.  for  the  county,  1482-85.  Fought 
at  Stoke,  14S7,  and  at  Norham,  1494. 

Ralph,  third  Lord  Ogle,  M.P.  for  the  county,  1509-11. 

Robert,  fourth  Lord  Ogle,  fought  at  Flodden,  15 13;  M.P.  for 
Northumberland,  1514,  1529.     Died  1539. 

Robert,   fifth   Lord  Ogle,  slain  at  the  battle  of  Ancrum   Moor, 

1545- 

Gregory  Ogle,  of  Choppington,  commissioner  for  enclosures  on 
the  Middle  iMarches,  1552;  outlawed  for  aiding  and  abetting  the 
murder  of  Bertram  Killingworth,  1558. 

Robert,  sixth  Lord  Ogle,  deputy  warden  of  the  Marches,  1547; 
M.P.  for  the  county,  1552;  died  without  issue  in  1562,  possessed  of 
the  following  estates: — the  castle  and  manor  of  Bothal;  the  castle 
and  manor  of  Ogle,  with  Ogle,  Shilvington,  Saltwick,  Twysle,  Seaton 
near  Woodhorn,  and  Shypbanks;  Hepple,  including  Flotterton, 
Great  and  Little  Tosson,  and  Wharton;  the  castle  and  manor  of 
Hyrste;  10  cottages  and  700  acres  of  land  in  North  Middleton; 
the  manor  of  Lorbottle,  consisting  of  20  messuages  and  800  acres 
of  land. 

Luke  Ogle,  of  Eglingham,  a  commissioner  for  enclosures  in  the 
Middle  Marches,  1560. 

Cuthbert,  seventh  Lord  Ogle,  a  stout  opponent  of  the  Rebellion 
of  the  Earls  in  1569. 

Catherine,  daughter  of  the  seventh  lord,  created  Baroness  Ogle  in 
her  own  right,  1628;  married  Sir  Charles  Cavendish,  and  became 
the  mother  of  William  Cavendish,  who  was  created  Earl  of  Ogle  and 
Duke  of  Newcastle  in  1664. 

Henry  Ogle,  of  Eglingham,  sequestrator  of  lands  in  Northumber- 
land for  the  Parliament,  1645;  M.P.  for  Northumberland,  1653-54; 

VOL.  III.  15 


226  5//?  CHALONER  OGLE. 

stopped   the   career   of  the   Scottish   witch-finder,    1655,   or  there- 
abouts. 

James  Ogle,  of  Cawsey  Park,  compounded  for  delinquency,  1649; 
Deputy-lieutenant,  and  Commissioner  of  Subsidies  in  Northumber- 
land; Major  of  a  local  troop  of  horse,  1660;  died  in  1664,  and  was 
buried  at  St.  Andrew's,  Newcastle. 

Nathaniel  Ogle,  of  Kirkley,  M.D.,  Physician  to  the  Forces  under 
Marlborough,  died  1736. 

Sir  Chaloner  Ogle,  knight.  Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  1740;  M.P.  for 
Rochester,  1746-47;  died  1750. 

Newton  Ogle,  Captain  of  the  70th  regiment,  aide-de-camp  to 
General  Sir  Charles  Grey,  killed  in  a  skirmish  at  Guadaloupe, 
1794. 

Thomas  Ogle,  Major  in  the  58th  regiment,  killed  at  the  landing 
of  the  army  in  Aboukir  Bay,  1801. 

Newton  Ogle,  D.D.,  third  son  of  Nathaniel  Ogle,  M.D.,  Arch- 
deacon of  Surrey,  1766;  Prebendary  of  Durham,  1768;  Dean  of 
Winchester,  1769.     Died  1804. 

Sir  Chaloner  Ogle,  first  baronet,  fourth  son  of  Nathaniel  Ogle, 
M.D.;  Admiral  of  the  Red.     Died  1816. 

John  Savile  Ogle,  D.D.,  Prebendary  of  Salisbury,  1794;  Canon  of 
Durham,  1820. 

Savile  Craven  Henry  Ogle,  M.P.  for  South  Northumberland, 
1841-52.     Died  1854. 

Sir  Charles  Ogle,  second  baronet,  M.P.  for  Portarlington,  1830; 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  1857.     Died  1858. 

Among  all  these  distinguished  men  who  bore  the  Ogle  name,  two 
or  three  stand  out  prominently  as  naval  heroes  at  a  period  in  English 
history  when  the  honour  and  safety  of  the  country  depended  upon 
the  fleet,  and  the  skill  and  courage  of  its  officers.  First  in  the  list 
stands  Sir  Chaloner  Ogle. 

Chaloner,  son  of  Ralph  Ogle,  the  elder  brother  of  Nathaniel 
Ogle,  M.D.,  Physician  to  the  Forces,  was  born  at  Kirkley  in  1680. 
Brought  up  to  the  sea  by  his  uncle,  he  obtained  in  due  time  the 
command  of  a  man-of-war  —  the  Swallow.  In  this  vessel,  under 
circumstances  which  displayed  great  bravery  and  acuteness,  he' 
achieved  his  first  claim  to  honour — the  capture  of  a  notorious 
pirate.  Campbell,  in  his  "Naval  History,"  tells  the  story  as 
follows  : — 

"  The  pirates  in  the  West  Indies  which  had  received  some  check 


S/J^  CHALONER  OGLE. 


227 


from  the  vigorous  dispositions  of  Governor  Rogers  and  other  com- 
manders in  those  parts,  began  to  take  breath  again,  and  by  degrees 
grew  so  bold  as  to  annoy  our  colonies  more  than  ever.  There  was 
among  these  pirates  on  the  coast  of  Africa  one  Roberts,  a  man 
whose  parts  deserved  a  better  employment;  he  was  an  able  seaman, 
and  a  good  commander,  and  had  with  him  two  very  stout  ships,  one 
commanded  by  himself,  of  40  guns  and  152  men,  the  other  of  32 
guns  and  132  men;  and  to  complete  his  squadron  he  soon  added  a 
third  of  24  guns  and  90  men.  With  this  force  Roberts  had  done 
a  great  deal  of  mischief  in  the  West  Indies,  before  he  sailed  for 
Africa,   where   he   likewise   took  abundance  of  prizes,   till   in   the 


month  of  April,  1722,  he  was  taken  by  the  then  Captain,  after- 
wards Sir  Chaloner  Ogle.  Captain  Ogle  was  in  the  Swallow,  and 
cruising  off  Cape  Lopez,  when  he  had  intelligence  of  Roberts  being 
not  far  from  him,  and,  in  consequence  of  this,  he  went  immediately 
in  search  of  him  and  soon  after  discovered  the  pirates  in  a  very 
commodious  bay,  where  the  largest  and  the  least  ships  were  upon 
the  heel  scrubbing.  Captain  Ogle,  taking  in  his  lower  tier  of  guns 
and  lying  at  a  distance,  Roberts  took  him  for  a  merchantman,  and 
immediately  ordered  his  consort,  Skrym,  to  slip  his  cable  and  run  out 
after  him.  Captain  Ogle  crowded  all  the  sail  he  could  to  decoy  the 
pirate  to  such  a  distance  that  his  consort  might  not  hear  the  guns, 


2  28  SIJi  CHALONER  OGLE. 

and  then  suddenly  tacked,  run  out  his  lower  tier,  and  gave  the  pirate 
a  broadside,  by  which  their  captain  (Skrym)  was  killed,  which  so 
discouraged  the  crew,  that  after  a  brisk  engagement,  which  lasted 
about  an  hour  and  a  half,  they  surrendered.  Captain  Ogle  then 
returned  to  the  bay,  hoisting  the  king's  colours  under  the  pirates' 
black  flag,  with  a  death's  head  in  it.  This  prudent  stratagem  had 
the  desired  effect;  for  the  pirates,  seeing  the  black  flag  uppermost, 
concluded  the  king's  ship  had  been  taken,  and  came  out  full  of 
joy  to  congratulate  their  consort  on  the  victory.  This  joy  of  theirs 
was,  however,  of  no  long  continuance,  for  Captain  Ogle  gave  them  a 
very  warm  reception ;  and  though  Roberts  fought  with  the  utmost 
bravery  for  near  two  hours,  yet  being  at  last  killed,  the  courage  of 
his  men  immediately  sunk,  and  both  ships  yielded.  Captain  Ogle 
carried  these  three  prizes,  with  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  men 
that  were  taken  in  them,  to  Cape  Coast  Castle,  where  they  were 
instantly  brought  to  their  trials.  Seventy-four  were  capitally  con- 
victed, of  whom  fifty-two  were  executed,  and  most  of  them  hung  in 
chains  in  several  places,  which  struck  a  terror  in  that  part  of  the 
world." 

Captain  Ogle's  letter  to  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  containing  an 
exact  relation  of  this  gallant  exploit,  dated  "  Swallow^  in  Cape 
Coast  Roads,  Africa,  April  5,  1722,"  may  be  read  in  the  "  Historical 
Register  "  for  that  year.  The  services  which  he  had  rendered  to  the 
freedom  of  commerce  and  navigation  were  suitably  recognised.  In 
May,  1723,  on  his  return  to  England,  he  was  knighted  by  the  king, 
and  marked  for  early  promotion.  His  upward  progress  took  the 
following  order: — Rear-Admiral  of  the  Blue,  July,  1739;  and  Rear- 
Admiral  of  the  Red,  March,  1 742  (in  which  year  he  was  tried  by 
court-martial  for  an  alleged  assault  upon  Mr.  Trelawney,  Governor 
of  Jamaica,  at  Spanish  Town,  and  acquitted);  Vice-Admiral  of  the 
Blue,  August,  1743;  Admiral  of  the  Blue,  June,  1744;  Admiral  of 
the  White,  July,  1747;  Admiral  and  Commander  of  the  Fleet  on  the 
death  of  Sir  John  Norris  in  1 749.  He  entered  Parliament  as  one 
of  the  members  for  the  borough  of  Rochester  in  1746,  and  dying, 
April  nth,  1750,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  was  buried  at  Twickenham. 

Sir  Chaloner  Ogle  was  twice  married,  but  left  no  issue.  His  first 
wife  was  a  sister  of  John  Isaacson,  Recorder  of  Newcastle;  his 
second  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Ogle  (the  Physician  to  the 
Forces),  and  therefore  his  first  cousin.  Some  time  before  his  death 
he  had  purchased  from  a  reckless  relative,  Ralph  Wallis  of  Knaresdale, 


SIR  CHARLES  OGLE.  229 

the  estate  of  Coupland  Castle,  and  this  fine  property  he  bequeathed 
to  the  family  at  Kirkley,  by  one  of  whom  it  was  sold,  in  1S06,  to 
Matthew  Culley,  the  famous  agriculturist 

Another  Chaloner  Ogle,  son  of  Nathaniel  Ogle,  M.D.,  and  there- 
fore cousin  and  brother-in-law  of  Admiral  Sir  Chaloner,  born  at 
Kirkley  in  1729,  followed  the  sea  as  a  profession  and  rose,  like  his 
relative,  to  high  rank  in  it.  He  was  knighted  for  his  services  afloat, 
and  attained  the  post  of  senior  Admiral  of  the  Red  when  the  Duke 
of  Clarence  was  appointed  Admiral  of  the  Fleet.  On  the  12th  of 
March,  181 6,  he  was  further  rewarded  with  a  baronetcy,  and  died  on 
the  27th  of  August  following,  aged  eighty-seven.  He  had  married  a 
daughter  of  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  left  issue  three  sons  and 
four  daughters,  one  of  whom,  Charles  Ogle,  succeeded  him. 


Sir  Cbarlea  ®(jle, 

ANOTHER   ADMIRAL    OF    THE    FLEET. 

Charles  Ogle,  son  of  Sir  Chaloner  Ogle  (2),  entered  the  navy, 
and  in  1793,  when  the  war  with  the  French  Republic  broke  out, 
was  a  midshipman  on  board  the  Boyne,  98  guns,  bearing  the  flag 
of  Sir  John  Jervis,  afterwards  Earl  St.  Vincent.  In  January,  1794, 
he  commanded  one  of  the  Boyne's  boats  in  an  attack  upon  some 
French  vessels  at  Martinique,  and  brought  away,  under  a  heavy  fire, 
a  couple  of  the  enemy's  schooners.  He  assisted  at  the  capture 
of  Pigeon  Island,  co-operated  with  the  army  at  Point  Negro,  and 
distinguished  himself  at  the  storming  of  a  fort  in  the  island  of 
Guadaloupe.  After  this  event  he  was  appointed  acting  commander 
of  the  Assurance,  44  guns,  from  which  ship  he  removed  into  the 
Avenger  sloop.  His  next  appointment  was  to  the  Petrel,  employed 
in  the  North  Sea  and  subsequently  in  the  Mediterranean,  where 
he  joined  the  Minerve  frigate,  and  obtained  post  rank  by  com- 
mission dated  January  nth,  1796.  From  the  Minerve  Captain 
Ogle  exchanged  into  the  Meleager,  32  guns,  engaged  off  Cadiz,  in 
the  war  with  Spain,  and  capture  of  the  enemy's  vessels. 

In  July,  1769,  Captain  Ogle  was  tried  by  court-martial,  on  a 
charge  preferred  by  the  master  of  a  merchant  brig,  which  had  been 
captured  while  under  convoy  of  the  Petrel.     The  finding   of  the 


230  HENRY  OGLE. 

Court  was  entirely  in  his  favour;  he  was  declared  to  be  "  a  zealous, 
attentive,  and  most  diligent  officer." 

From  the  Meleager,  which  he  commanded  in  various  cruises, 
Captain  Ogle  exchanged  into  the  Greyhound  frigate  and  was  sent 
to  the  Mediterranean,  where  he  captured  a  Genoese  privateer  of  lo 
guns,  a  Spanish  armed  polacre,  and  several  trading  ships.  Towards 
the  latter  end  of  1801,  he  removed  into  the  Egyptienne,  a  frigate  of 
the  largest  class,  and  about  the  same  time  received  the  Turkish  gold 
medal  for  his  services  in  the  expedition  to  expel  the  French  from 
Egypt.  His  subsequent  commands  were  the  Unite,  38  guns,  the 
Princess  Augusta  yacht,  Ra7nilies,  Malta,  and  Rivoli,  ships  of  the 
line. 

Succeeding  to  the  baronetcy  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  18 16, 
he  became,  three  years  later,  a  flag  officer.  He  was  commander-in- 
chief  in  North  America,  1827,  and  at  Portsmouth  in  1845,  and  died, 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  at  Tunbridge  Wells,  June  i6th,  1858,  aged 
eighty-three.  In  a  newspaper  notice  of  his  decease  it  is  stated 
that  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  promotion  of  the  monument  at 
Tynemouth  to  the  memory  of  his  friend  and  companion  in  arms. 
Lord  CoUingwood,  was  "  the  model  of  an  English  gentleman,"  and 
was  "  highly  regarded  by  all  who  knew  him." 

By  his  first  wife,  a  sister  of  Lord  Gage,  Sir  Charles  Ogle,  who  was 
married  three  times,  had  a  son  (his  successor  as  third  baronet)  and 
two  daughters,  the  youngest  of  whom,  Sophia,  married,  in  1830,  the 
Rev.  Edward  Chaloner  Ogle,  of  Kirkley. 


1benr^  ®cjle, 

REAPING-MACHINE   DESIGNER. 

Henry  Ogle,  co-designer  with  John  Common,  of  Denwick,  of  a 
reaping-machine,  was  a  descendant  of  the  Ogles  of  Cawsey  Park,  and 
was  born  within  the  old  pele  tower  of  Whittingham  in  1764.  Always 
occupying  a  lowly  station  in  society,  his  career  was  one  life-long 
struggle  with  poverty.  Many  little  parts  he  played  in  the  world's 
drama.  At  one  time  he  was  at  sea;  but  falling  from  the  mast  he 
was  lamed,  after  which  he  went  into  the  pits  and  quarries  at  Whittle. 
He  had  a  good  knowledge  of  navigation,  and  could  survey  land  well; 
music  he  knew,  and  could  sing;  somewhat  of  a  poet,  he  could  write 


HENRY  OGLE.  231 

verses.  After  knocking  about  from  place  to  place,  he  settled  down 
as  a  schoolmaster,  first  at  Newham,  and  then  at  Rennington,  where 
he  eked  out  his  scanty  income  by  acting  as  parish  clerk,  and  teaching 
a  singing  class  and  night  school;  by  singing  his  own  funeral  hymns 
before  the  dead  on  their  way  to  the  place  of  sepulture,  by  working 
in  the  harvest  field,  and  stacking  hay  and  corn,  at  which  he  was 
proficient;  by  cobbling  old  shoes;  and  by  selling  a  nostrum  of  his 
own  for  cut  fingers.  Yet  with  all  these  accomplishments,  and  all  this 
labour,  his  emoluments  seldom  exceeded  ;^40  a  year. 

Tate,  the  historian  of  Alnwick,  states  that  Ogle  began  to  experi- 
ment with  mechanical  appliances  for  cutting  corn  as  early  as  1802. 
About  that  time  he  read  in  the  newspapers  an  account  of  a  trial  that 
had  been  made  in  the  South  of  England  with  a  reaping  apparatus, 
and  he  produced  a  machine,  or  a  model  of  one,  which  cut  the 
corn  with  a  plain  straight  blade.  Some  time  afterwards  he  became 
acquainted  with  Common,  and  from  an  improved  model,  constructed 
in  1822,  Messrs.  Brown,  ironfounders  at  Alnwick,  made  a  complete 
reaper,  which,  having  been  exhibited  in  Alnwick  Market,  was  tried 
at  Broom  House,  where  the  projectors  were  nearly  mobbed  by 
the  work-people.  After  improvements  it  was  tried  again  on  a 
field  of  wheat  at  Southside,  and  is  said  to  have  "  cut  to  perfec- 
tion." 

A  correspondent  of  the  Mark  Lane  Express,  in  1S50,  drew 
attention  to  a  letter  which  had  appeared  in  the  Mechanics^  Magazine 
for  November,  1825,  written  by  Mr.  Ogle  himself,  describing  the 
reaper,  accompanied  by  a  drawing.  The  machine  had  revolving 
beaters,  or  gatherers,  a  reciprocating  motion  applied  to  a  long, 
straight,  serrated,  cutting  edge,  and  the  horse  was  so  placed  as  to 
walk  alongside  the  corn.  Why  this  reaper  did  not  come  into 
common  use  is  thus  explained: — "Messrs.  Brown  advertised,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1823,  that  they  would  furnish  machines  of 
this  sort  complete  for  shearing  corn  at  the  beginning  of  harvest,  but 
found  none  of  the  farmers  that  would  go  to  the  expense,  though  the 
machine  was  seen  to  cut  even  the  lying  corn,  where  it  was  not 
bound  down  with  new  rising  green  corn.  Some  working  people  at 
last  threatened  to  kill  Mr.  Brown  if  he  persevered  any  further  in  it, 
and  it  has  never  been  more  tried." 

The  failure  of  their  joint  enterprise  stimulated  Common  to 
independent  experiment.  He  designed  a  machine  which  cut  the 
corn  by  means  of  angular  blades  instead  of  a  long  straight  blade,  as 


232  LUKE  OGLE. 

in  Ogle's  design,  and  this  eventually  became  the  general  type  of 
mechanical  reapers,  and  is  the  one  in  use  at  the  present  time. 

Among  other  ingenious  schemes  of  Henry  Ogle  was  a  cure  for 
smokey  chimneys.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  searcher  after  perpetual 
motion,  and  like  William  Martin,  the  Newcastle  eccentric,  he 
opposed  the  Newtonian  system  of  the  universe.  After  spending 
twenty-four  years  of  unremunerative  drudgery  at  Rennington,  he  re- 
moved to  Alnwick,  where  he  taught,  for  a  while,  a  poor  school.  In 
his  later  days  he  received  relief  out  of  the  poor  rates,  and  on  February 
loth,  1848,  he  died  a  pauper  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 


VICAR   OF    BERWICK. 

Luke  Ogle,  vicar  of  Berwick  during  the  Commonwealth,  was  a 
notable  figure  among  the  two  thousand  ministers  who  were  ejected 
from  their  livings  on  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  1662.  His  relationship 
to  the  historical  family  of  Ogle  is  not  traceable,  but  he  was  a  man 
of  means,  possessing  an  estate  of  his  own  at  Bowsden,  near  Lowick, 
and  presumably  well  connected.  He  received  the  appointment  at 
Berwick,  with  a  stipend  of  p{^i2o  per  annum,  in  1655,  and  while 
the  Commonwealth  lasted  was  a  widely  popular  and  successful 
preacher.  His  position  among  the  preachers  on  Tyneside  is  indi- 
cated by  the  author  of  the  "  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes,"  who 
tells  us  that  "  Mr.  Luke  Ogle,  of  Barwick,  never  came  to  Newcastle 
but  was  sure  to  lodge  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Barnes ; "  while  Calamy 
represents  him  as  a  man  of  great  learning,  well  skilled  in  ecclesi- 
astical history,  a  laborious,  judicious,  and  affectionate  preacher. 
General  Monk,  tarrying  a  while  at  Berwick  on  that  memorable 
journey  southward  which  ended  in  the  restoration  of  the  Monarchy, 
paid  him  considerable  deference,  treating  him  as  a  competent 
representative  of  local  public  opinion,  and  consulting  him  upon 
confidential  matters  relating  to  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom. 

After  the  Restoration,  Mr.  Ogle's  position  became  perilous.  He 
hated  prelacy  as  he  hated  papacy,  and  he  took  no  pains  to  conceal 
his  views.  Lord  Widdrington,  the  new  Governor  of  Berwick,  hear- 
ing that  he  had  preached  an  anti-papal  sermon,  took  alarm,  and 
employed  an  agent  to  take  notes  of  his  discourses.      The  views 


LUKE  OGLE.  233 

expressed  in  these  notes  were  so  pronounced  that  the  Governor 
hastened  to  repress  them.  He  sent  for  Mr.  Ogle,  accused  him  of 
preaching  treason,  and  declared  that  he  had  many  articles  against 
him  which  he  would  force  him  to  answer.  Unwavering  in  his 
fidelity  to  the  doctrines  which  he  had  expounded  in  Berwick  Church 
for  the  previous  six  years,  Mr.  Ogle  refused  to  change  his  methods 
or  alter  his  tone.  Then  Lord  Widdrington  took  action.  On  the 
26th  December,  1661,  while  the  bells  were  ringing  for  the  Thursday's 
sermon,  a  guard  of  soldiers  from  the  garrison  took  possession  of  the 
sacred  edifice,  locked  the  doors,  and  prohibited  both  preacher  and 
congregation  from  entering.  The  Governor's  pretext  for  this  high- 
handed proceeding  was  the  refusal  of  the  vicar  to  preach  the  day 
before — on  Christmas  Day.  The  clergy  of  the  North  of  England, 
like  their  brethren  in  Scotland,  refused  to  acknowledge  the  high 
festivals  of  the  Church,  and  many  of  them  declined  to  read  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer.  Mr.  Ogle  was  one  of  these,  and  his  obstinacy 
cost  him  his  living.  The  Burgess  Guild  of  Berwick,  anxious  to 
retain  him  as  their  minister,  suggested  a  compromise  by  which  he 
should  preach  only,  and  some  other  clergyman  should  read  the 
prayers.  But  to  this  the  Governor  would  not  consent.  So  matters 
remained  till,  on  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  following,  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  came  into  force,  and  Mr.  Ogle  was  formally  ejected 
from  his  church  and  divorced  from  his  people. 

"  When  K.  Charles  11.  granted  liberty  to  the  Dissenters,  the 
Governor  would  not  suffer  Mr.  Ogle  to  live  in  Berwick,  unless  he 
would  conform.  Upon  the  Indulgence  in  Scotland,  he  was  called  to 
Langton  (in  the  Merse).  In  Monmouth's  time,  tho'  he  was  much 
indisposed,  yet  by  the  order  of  Sir  John  Fenwick  he  was  taken  up 
by  a  party  of  soldiers  and  carried  to  Newcastle,  where  he  was 
confined  6  weeks,  which  had  like  to  have  cost  him  his  life.  Upon 
K.  James's  liberty  he  was  invited  again  to  Berwick,  and  fixing  there, 
had  a  considerable  and  numerous  congregation.  In  K.  William's 
time  he  was  invited  to  Kelso,  a  considerable  living  upon  the  borders 
of  Scotland.  He  had  also  a  call  from  the  magistrates,  ministers, 
and  people  of  Edinburgh,  to  be  one  of  the  fixed  ministers  of  that 
city;  but  he  was  not  to  be  prevailed  with  to  leave  Berwick." 

It  was  in  1690  that  Mr.  Ogle  returned  to  Berwick  in  peace  and 
quietness.  He  had  no  proper  preaching  place,  but  his  old  friends 
rallied  round  him,  enabled  him  to  occupy  the  Grammar  School 
house,  and  to  make  use  of  the  school  itself  for  public  worship.     He 


234  NE  WTON  O  GLE. 

was  then  sixty  years  old,  and  having  suffered  much,  was  not  destined 
to  enjoy  a  long  lease  of  life.  He  preached  among  his  old  flock,  or 
some  of  them,  for  over  five  years,  and  in  April,  1696,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-six,  he  died. 

No  record  of  Luke  Ogle's  family  has  come  down  to  us.  He  had 
one  son,  we  know,  but  beyond  that  fact  genealogical  knowledge  is 
wanting.  That  son,  Samuel  Ogle,  became  Recorder  of  Berwick, 
and  was  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  town  in  Parliament  from 
1690  till  his  death  in  17 10. 


IRcwton  ©gle, 

DEAN    OF    WINCHESTER. 

Newton,  one  of  the  sons  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Ogle  of  Kirkley,  Physician 
to  the  Forces,  rose  to  high  preferment  in  the  Church.  He  was  born 
in  1726,  matriculated  at  Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  in  1743,  where, 
four  years  later,  he  took  the  B.A.  degree.  He  proceeded  to  the 
degree  of  M.A.  from  Merton  College  in  1750,  and  D.D.  in  1761. 
His  preferments  were  these : — Prebendary,  or  canon,  of  Salisbury, 
1750;  Archdeacon  of  Surrey,  1766;  prebendary  of  the  seventh  stall 
at  Durham,  1768;  Dean  of  Winchester,  1769.  He  succeeded  to  the 
Kirkley  estate  on  the  death  of  his  brother  Nathaniel  in  1762.  By  his 
marriage  with  Susanna,  daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, he  had  three  sons  and  five  daughters,  the  youngest  of  whom, 
Esther  Jane,  became  the  wife  of  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  the 
orator  and  dramatist.  Dr.  Ogle  died  in  1804.  On  the  floor  of  the 
Chapel  of  the  Nine  Altars  in  Durham  Cathedral  is  a  slab  inscribed 
to  his  memory.  He  was  succeeded  at  Kirkley  by  his  second  son, 
the  Rev.  John  Savile  Ogle,  D.D.,  prebendary  for  thirty-two  years  of 
the  twelfth  stall  at  Durham. 

Dr.  Newton  Ogle  was  a  classical  scholar  of  high  repute.  A  poem 
of  his  on  the  river  Blyth  is  quoted  by  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson,  as  a 
specimen  of  elegant  Latinity;  "  Dean  Ogle's  charming  ode"  he  terms 
it.  The  original  may  be  read  in  Raine's  "  Life  of  Hodgson,"  to- 
gether with  the  historian's  translation  of  it. 

It  was  this  Dr.  Ogle,  the  Dean  of  Winchester,  who  in  1788  erected 
a  monument  at  Kirkley  to  commemorate  the  landing  of  William  of 
Orange  a  hundred  years  before. 


WILLIAM  ORD.  235 


Milliam  ©r^ 

MEMBER    OF    PARLIAMENT. 

The  Ords  of  Newcastle  and  Fenham  do  not  appear  to  have  sprung 
from  the  same  stock  as  the  Ordes  of  Tweedside,  whose  biographies 
appear  on  subsequent  pages.  So,  at  least,  thought  the  Rev.  John 
Hodgson,  who  devoted  much  time  to  the  construction  of  their  pedi- 
gree. With  the  aid  of  Mr.  Bigge  of  Linden,  he  carried  the  family 
history  back  to  the  seventeenth  century,  but  the  link  which  might  have 
united  them  to  the  older  race  was  not  discovered.  The  Rev.  James 
Raine,  historian  of  North  Durham,  came  to  the  same  conclusion. 
To  his  account  of  the  Ordes  of  Orde  he  adds : — "  The  Ords  of 
Fenham  have,  I  believe,  no  connection  with  this  ancient  stock  or 
name ;  an  aged  lady  of  the  true  family  designated  them,  with  great 
indignation,  as  the  usurpers  of  the  name  and  arms." 

The  common  ancestor  of  the  Ords  of  Newcastle  and  Fenham  was 
one  John  Ord,  whose  son,  John  Ord,  solicitor,  was,  from  1685  to  1703, 
under-sheriff  of  Newcastle.  The  under-sheriff's  first  wife,  Anne 
Preston,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1680,  brought  him  three  sons 
and  five  daughters.  His  second  wife,  Anne  Hutchinson  of  Loft- 
house,  near  Leeds,  gave  him  a  fortune  which  enabled  him  to  pur- 
chase Fenham  and  Newminster,  and,  more  prolific  than  his  first 
spouse,  presented  him  with  eight  sons  and  five  daughters.  Most  of 
these  twenty-one  children  died  young.  One  of  the  sons,  named 
Robert,  inherited  Hunstanworth,  was  M.P.  for  Morpeth  from  1741 
to  1755,  when  he  was  made  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer  in  Scot- 
land, and  settled  in  Edinburgh.  Thomas,  the  heir,  second  son  of 
the  first  marriage,  married  Anne  Bacon  of  Staward,  and  by  her  had 
two  sons — John  and  William.  John  died  in  July,  1745,  at  which 
time  he  was  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  and  M.P.  for  St.  Michael's  in 
Cornwall.  William,  his  brother,  succeeding  him,  took  to  wife  Anne 
Dinningham  of  Leicester,  added,  in  1750,  the  estate  of  Whitfield  in 
Allendale  to  the  family  possessions,  and  married  two  of  his  sons  to 
daughters  of  Charles  Brandling  of  Gosforth.  Swinburne  of  Hamster- 
ley,  who  delighted  to  say  sharp  things  about  the  local  squirearchy, 
visiting  Whitfield  in  September,  1791,  tells  the  following  remarkable 


236 


WILLIAM  ORD. 


story  in  his  fascinating  book,  "  The  Courts  of  Europe,"  about  John 
Ord  of  Newcastle,  his  host's  grandfather: — 

"  We  have  been  spending  a  very  agreeable  time  at  Whitfield  in 
Allendale.  The  party  consisted  of  Mrs.  Ord  and  her  family,  Messrs. 
Brandling,  Ferrers,  etc.  The  present  owner's  grandfather  was  an 
attorney  at  Newcastle,  and  had  a  passion  for  hanging  himself.  The 
first  time  he  was  cut  down  by  his  servant;  the  second  time  the  cord 
broke;  but  he  accomplished  his  purpose  afterwards." 

To  this  curious  propensity  in  old  Mr.  Ord  the  writer  of  that 
scurrilous  tract,    "The  Vicar's  Will  and  Codicil,"    alludes  in  the 


V[/i|[i9q0rci-  f|. 


10 


lines: — "And  to  my  good  friend  William  Ord,  the  use  (and  so  forth) 
of  a  cord."     But  this  by  the  way. 

William  Ord  (i)  was  succeeded  by  his  son  William  Ord  (2),  who, 
by  his  marriage  with  Eleanor  Brandling,  became  the  father  of 
William  Ord  (3),  the  subject  of  this  narrative. 

William  Ord  (3)  was  born  on  the  2nd  January,  1781.  Brought 
up  amid  political  surroundings,  and  aspiring  to  a  seat  in  Parliament, 
he  wooed  the  electors  of  Morpeth,  with  whom,  through  his  father's 
estate  at  Newminster,  and  his  own  promising  qualities,  he  obtained 


WILLIAM  ORD.  237 

considerable  influence.  In  1802,  a  few  months  after  he  had  attained 
his  majority,  Parliament  was  dissolved,  and  he  became  a  candidate 
for  one  of  the  two  seats  which  Morpeth  held  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  Howard  family  having  had  the  representation  of 
the  borough  pretty  much  in  their  own  hands  for  generations,  put 
forward  one  of  the  retiring  members,  George  Howard,  Lord  Morpeth, 
and  his  cousin,  the  son  of  Peter  Delme,  a  former  representative.  A 
hotly-contested  election  followed ;  two  hundred  and  twelve  freemen 
went  to  the  poll,  and  chiefly  by  the  aid  of  plumpers,  Mr.  Ord 
won.  In  eight  succeeding  Parliaments,  extending  over  thirty  years, 
Mr.  Ord  sat  as  one  of  the  members  for  ]\Iorpeth  without  opposi- 
tion. 

When  the  Reform  Act,  of  which  Mr.  Ord  had  been  a  warm 
supporter,  came  into  operation,  Morpeth  lost  one  of  its  members,  and 
the  county  of  Northumberland,  divided  into  two  parts,  obtained  the 
privilege  of  sending  to  Parliament  four  representatives — two  for  each 
division.  At  the  last  election  for  the  undivided  county,  Matthew 
Bell,  who  had  helped  to  defeat  the  Reform  Bill  in  its  earlier  stages, 
had  declined  the  contest,  and  the  retiring  member,  Thomas  Went- 
worth  Beaumont,  had  received  as  his  colleague,  Lord  Howick,  son  of 
the  author  of  the  Bill.  Under  the  new  arrangements,  the  Tories 
proposed  to  divide  the  representation — assigning  a  member  of  each 
of  the  two  great  political  parties  to  each  of  the  divisions.  Lord 
Howick  was  to  transfer  his  services  to  the  northern  part  of  the 
county,  with  Lord  Ossulston  as  his  Tory  colleague;  while  Mr. 
Beaumont  was  to  remain  in  South  Northumberland,  with  Matthew 
Bell  as  his  co-representative. 

This  compromise  was  accepted  in  North  Northumberland; 
Howick  and  Ossulston  were  elected  without  opposition.  But  the 
Whigs  of  the  Southern  division  would  not  accept  it.  They  wanted 
both  seats,  and  they  put  forward  Mr.  Ord  to  champion  their  cause 
with  Mr.  Beaumont  against  Mr.  Bell.  ISIr.  Ord  and  Mr.  Bell  were 
first  cousins,  and  fought  like  gentlemen,  but,  for  all  that,  the  contest 
was  very  sharp  and  bitter.  The  Whigs  were  very  confident  of 
success.  They  had  two  powerful  candidates;  their  party  had  just 
won  the  battle  of  the  suff'rage ;  and  they  were  able  to  boast  of  various 
other  reforms  which  they  had  effected,  or  were  striving  to  effect. 
But  they  had  over-rated  their  strength.  They  put  up  their  best  men 
to  speak  at  their  meetings — Fife  and  Losh,  Bigge  and  Brockett, 
Silvertop  and  Ogle,  Blackett  and  Ridley,  Howard  and  Grey.     They 


238  WILLIAM  ORD. 

obtained  the  show  of  hands  at  the  nomination,  and  they  marched  to 
the  poll,  singing, — 

"  Let  Ord  and  Beaumont  be  the  cry, 
Those  Patriots  true  and  all  that ; 
We'll  to  the  hustings  eager  hie, 
Free  of  expense  for  a'  that. 
For  them  we'll  vote  for  a'  that, 
They're  men  of  independent  mind 
An'  lib'ral  views  an'  a'  that." 

But  when  the  poll  was  declared — Beaumont,  2,537;  Bell,  2,441; 
Ord,  2,351 — the  tune  was  changed.  Such  a  result  had  never  been 
anticipated,  and  the  defeated  took  their  defeat  badly.  Mr.  Ord 
himself  did  not  attend  to  hear  the  declaration  of  the  poll,  "  through 
fatigue  and  anxiety,"  and  he  absented  himself  from  a  dinner  at 
Hexham,  in  honour  of  Mr.  Beaumont  and  himself,  on  the  ground 
that  his  presence  might  encourage  hopes  of  his  renewing  the  struggle 
at  next  election,  while  he  was  firmly  resolved  never  to  become 
a  candidate  for  the  county  again.  He  soon  found  scope  for  his 
abilities  and  experience  in  another  constituency — that  of  the  borough 
of  Newcastle. 

At  the  Newcastle  election  in  1832,  the  sitting  members.  Sir 
Matthew  White  Ridley,  Whig,  and  John  Hodgson  (afterwards  John 
Hodgson-Hinde),  Independent  Tory,  had  retained  their  seats  by 
substantial  majorities  over  a  Radical  candidate  in  the  person  of 
Charles  Attwood.  But  when,  in  1835,  ^^er  three  years  of  political 
ineptitude,  the  first  Reformed  Parliament  was  dissolved,  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  borough  was  contested  by  four  candidates.  The 
Tories  rallied  round  Mr.  Hodgson;  the  Radicals  brought  James 
Aytoun  from  Edinburgh  to  fight  their  battle;  the  Whigs  put  forward 
Sir  Matthew  and  Mr.  Ord.  Mr.  Ord  was  returned  at  the  head  of 
the  poll,  with  Sir  Matthew  as  his  colleague;  Mr.  Hodgson  and  Mr. 
Aytoun  were  defeated. 

For  seventeen  years  afterwards  Mr.  Ord  retained  his  position. 
During  that  time  he  fought  two  contested  elections,  on  each  occasion 
heading  the  poll,  and  twice  was  returned  without  opposition.  At  the 
general  election  in  1852,  being  an  old  man  of  seventy-one,  he 
retired.  He  had  been  in  Parliament  forty-seven  years,  and  had 
earned  his  repose.  His  friends  and  admirers  honoured  him  and 
themselves  by  a  public  dinner  in  the  Newcastle  Assembly  Rooms. 
James    Hodgson,    Mayor  of  Newcastle,   and   ex-proprietor  of   the 


SIR  JOHN  ORDE.  239 

Newcastle  Chronicle.,  was  in  the  chair,  and  round  him  were  grouped 
Earl  Grey  and  the  Earls  of  Durham  and  Carlisle;  Sir  Walter 
Trevelyan;  J.  F.  B.  Blackett,  William  Hutt,  Robert  Ingham,  T.  E. 
Headlam,  and  W.  B.  Beaumont,  members  of  Parliament;  Sir  John 
Fife,  Dr.  Headlam,  Philip  Howard,  the  Hon.  F.^Grey,  Aldermen 
Losh  and  Lamb,  and  the  Sheriff  of  Newcastle  (Mr.  Lowthian  Bell); 
while  complimentary  apologies  for  inability  to  be  present  were  read 
from  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  the  Earl  of  Zetland,  Lord  John 
Russell,  Lord  Panmure,  and  Sir  James  Graham. 

Mr.  Ord  died  at  Whitfield  Hall  on  the  25th  July,  1855,  aged  75. 
An  obituary  notice  of  him  in  Latimer's  "  Local  Records "  states 
that  "  On  his  first  entrance  into  the  House  of  Commons,  he  became 
a  member  of  the  small  and  proscribed  band  which,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Mr.  Fox  and  the  late  Earl  Grey,  constituted  the  Liberal  party, 
and  notwithstanding  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  their  cause,  and 
the  dangers  with  which  they  were  beset,  Mr.  Ord  was  their  constant, 
zealous,  and  devoted  supporter.  On  the  questions  of  Parliament- 
ary Reform,  Catholic  Emancipation,  Corporation  Tests,  Corporate 
Abuses,  Slavery  and  the  Slave  Trade,  the  Freedom  of  Commerce, 
the  Amelioration  of  the  Criminal  Law,  and  many  kindred  subjects, 
few  names  were  so  constantly  found  in  the  division  lists  in  the  cause 
of  enlightenment  and  freedom.  The  deceased  had  an  only  son, 
William  Henry,  who,  unfortunately,  died  in  1838,  just  when  his 
talents  were  beginning  to  develop  themselves,  and  the  family  property 
descended  to  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Blackett,  who  married,  in  1842,  a  niece 
of  Mr.  Ord,  and  who,  soon  afterwards,  assumed  his  name." 


Sir  3obn  ®rbe, 

ADMIRAL   OF   THE    RED    AND    M.P. 

Although  the  Ordes  of  Northumberland  do  not,  like  the  Ogles, 
trace  their  pedigree  back  to  pre-Conquest  times,  yet  they  are  able  to 
claim  a  most  respectable  antiquity.  They  were  established  at  Orde, 
on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Tweed,  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century. 
The  whole  township  of  that  name,  including  East,  Middle,  and  West 
Orde,  with  Murton  and  Unthank,  constituted  their  patrimonial  estate. 
Their  descendants  married  into  all  the  great  families  of  the  county 
— Blakes   and   Blacketts,  Carrs  and   CoUingwoods,   Fenwicks   and 


240 


SIR  JOHN  ORDE. 


Forsters,  Selbys  and  Swinburnes,  Herons,  Lisles,  and  Ogles.  They 
owned  property  in  almost  every  hamlet  of  that  wide-spreading  dis- 
trict which,  although  geographically  situated  in  Northumberland, 
belonged  to  the  bishopric,  and  was  known  as  Norhamshire  and 
Islandshire  in  the  County  of  Durham.  In  Raine's  "  History  of 
North  Durham  "  may  be  read  the  pedigrees  of  the  separate  branches 
of  the  Orde  family — the  Ordes  of  Orde,  of  West  Orde,  of  East  Orde 
and  Berwick,  of  Longridge,  of  Newbiggin,  of  Grindon,  and  of  Holy 
Island. 

Descended  from  this  old  and  honourable  family  came  Admiral  Sir 
John  Orde,  a  contemporary  of  Collingwood  and  Nelson.     He  was  a 


SIR   JOHN    ORDE. 


son  of  John  Orde,  of  Morpeth,  who  succeeded  his  cousin  as  heir 
male  to  a  considerable  part  of  the  family  estates  in  Norham,  East 
Orde,  and  Grindon.  John  Orde,  pere,  was  twice  married.  His  first 
wife,  Anne,  daughter  of  Edward  Ward,  of  Morpeth,  died  within  a 
year  of  her  marriage,  leaving  him  with  one  child — William,  after- 
wards known  as  William  Orde,  of  Nunnykirk.  His  second  wife  was 
Anne,  daughter  of  Ralph  Marr,  of  Morpeth,  and  widow  of  the  Rev. 
William  Pye,  of  that  town.  By  her  he  had  two  sons.  The  eldest, 
Thomas  Orde,  marrying  in  1778,  Jean  Mary  Powlett,  daughter  of 
Charles,  Duke  of  Bolton,  obtained,  through  his  wife,  a  considerable 
part  of  the  estates  of  the  Powletts,  assumed  their  surname,  and  was 


SIJ^  JOHN  ORDE.  241 

elevated  to  the  peerage  in  1797,  by  the  title  of  Baron  Bolton,  of 
Bolton  Castle,  Yorkshire.  The  second  son  was  the  naval  hero  whose 
career,  abridged  from  Marshall's  "  Naval  Biography,"  is  now  to  be 
described. 

Born  at  Morpeth,  December  22nd,  1751,  Mr.  John  Orde,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  entered  the  navy  on  board  the  Jersey,  60  guns, 
stationed  in  the  Mediterranean  under  the  broad  pendant  of  Com- 
modore Spry.  He  subsequently  served  off  Newfoundland  under 
Commodore  Byron,  and  on  the  Jamaica  station  with  Sir  George 
Rodney,  who,  in  1773,  promoted  him  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  American  troubles  he  was  appointed  to 
the  Roebuck,  and  served  in  that  vessel  on  the  American  coast  until 
1777,  when  he  was  removed  to  the  Eagle,  64  guns,  the  flagship 
of  Lord  Howe.  He  commanded  the  Zebra  war  sloop  at  the 
reduction  of  Philadelphia,  and  on  the  19th  of  May,  1778,  in  the 
Virginia,  a  frigate  of  32  guns  captured  from  the  Americans,  he  was 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  post  captain. 

The  year  following  Captain  Orde  accompanied  Sir  George  Collier 
in  an  expedition  up  the  Penobscot,  and  assisted  at  the  destruction  of 
the  colonial  fleet  in  that  river,  and  the  relief  of  Fort  McLean.  In 
1780  he  commanded  the  Virginia  at  the  capture  of  Charleston, 
where,  taking  on  shore  a  battalion  of  seamen,  he  served  with  such 
conspicuous  bravery  as  to  earn  favourable  notice  in  the  official 
despatches  of  Admiral  Arbuthnot,  the  Commander-in-Chief.  Shortly 
afterwards  in  the  Chatham,  50  guns,  he  effected  the  capture  of  the 
General  Washington  of  22  guns  and  iiS  men.  Upon  the  recall  of 
Admiral  Arbuthnot,  in  1781,  Captain  Orde  conveyed  him  to  England. 
During  the  rest  of  the  American  struggle  he  was  employed  in  the 
North  Sea,  and  on  the  coast  of  France.  At  its  close,  in  1783,  he 
was  appointed  Governor  of  Dominica,  and  on  the  27th  of  July,  1790, 
the  dignity  of  a  baronet  was  conferred  upon  him. 

When  the  French  Revolution  broke  out,  Sir  John  Orde  obtained 
leave  to  resign  his  Governorship  and  resume  the  active  duties  of 
his  profession.  He  commanded  successively  the  Victorious,  the 
Venerable,  and  the  Prince  George,  in  which  last-named  vessel  he 
obtained  the  rank  of  Rear-Admiral.  At  the  beginning  of  1797  he 
took  charge  at  Plymouth  during  the  absence  of  the  Port  Admiral, 
Sir  Richard  King.  In  May  of  that  year  he  hoisted  his  flag  on  board 
the  Princess  Royal,  98  guns,  and  joined  the  fleet  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean  under   Earl  St.    Vincent,   by  whom    he   was   sent    with    a 

VOL.  III.  16 


242  SIR  JOHN  ORDE. 

squadron  of  eight  sail,  and  a  proportionate  number  of  sloops  and 
frigates,  to  blockade  the  port  of  Cadiz.  This  service  he  performed 
so  well,  that  Earl  St.  Vincent  paid  him  a  high  compliment.  "  You 
have  shown  uncommon  ability  and  exertion,"  said  his  lordship,  "in 
preserving  your  position  during  the  late  unpleasant  weather,  and  I 
very  much  approve  every  step  you  have  taken." 

A  few  weeks  after  this  agreeable  episode  had  occurred.  Sir  John 
Orde  was  brought  into  unpleasant  competition  with  Nelson.  He  had 
joined  the  Mediterranean  fleet  under  the  impression  that  he  was  to 
be  second  in  command  to  Earl  St.  Vincent,  but  now  he  learned  that 
Nelson,  an  officer  junior  to  himself,  had  been  selected  to  command 
a  squadron  on  the  only  service  of  distinction  that  was  likely  to 
happen,  while  he  himself  was  to  retire  into  the  fourth  place.  Com- 
plaining of  this  arrangement  he  was  sent  home  to  England  in  com- 
mand of  a  fleet  of  merchantmen,  upon  which  he  wrote  to  the 
Admiralty  requesting  a  court-martial  on  the  Commander-in-Chief. 
His  request  was  declined,  but  he  was  offered  a  command  in  the 
Channel  Fleet,  which  he  refused  to  accept.  Early  in  1799,  he  was 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  Vice- Admiral,  and  in  the  following  autumn, 
when  Earl  St.  Vincent  returned  to  England,  Sir  John  challenged  him 
to  a  duel.  The  challenge  was  accepted,  and  a  meeting-place  was 
appointed,  but  the  authorities  interfered  and  prevented  the  com- 
batants from  coming  together.  As  soon  as  peace  was  pro- 
claimed. Sir  John  published  an  account  of  the  quarrel  in  a 
pamphlet,  the  circulation  of  which  he  had  previously  confined  to 
his  friends: — 

"  Copy  of  a  Correspondence,  etc.,  between  the  Right  Hon.  the  Lords  Com- 
missioners of  the  Admiralty,  the  Right  Hon.  Earl  St.  Vincent,  K.B.,  the  Right 
Hon.  Earl  Spencer,  K.G.,  and  Vice- Admiral  Sir  John  Orde,  Bart."  London: 
1802. 

Upon  the  removal  of  Lord  St.  Vincent  from  the  chief  administra- 
tion of  naval  affairs.  Sir  John  Orde  accepted  the  command  of  a 
squadron,  and  cruised  in  the  Mediterranean,  his  flagship  being  the 
Glory,  of  98  guns.  He  was  one  of  the  pall-bearers  at  Nelson's 
funeral  in  October,  1805,  and  the  following  month  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  Admiral  of  the  Blue.  From  1809  to  18 12  he  sat  in 
Parliament  as  representative  of  the  borough  of  Yarmouth,  in  the  Isle 
of  Wight.  He  died  at  his  residence,  Gloucester  Place,  Portman 
Square,  London,  on  the  19th  of  February,  1824,  aged  seventy-three. 


THOMAS  ORDE.  243 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  an  Admiral  of  the  Red,  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  Naval  Charitable  Society. 

Sir  John  Orde  was  twice  married.  By  his  second  wife,  Jane, 
daughter  of  John  Frere,  M.P.,  he  had  a  son  who  succeeded  him  as 
second  baronet.  The  present  representative  of  the  family  is  Sir  John 
William  Powlett  Campbell  Orde,  third  baronet,  the  Admiral's  grand- 
son, married  (July,  1862)  to  Alice  Louisa,  only  sister  of  Sir  Arthur 
Middleton,  Bart,  of  Belsay. 


^boma0  ©rbc, 

LORD    BOLTON. 

Thomas  Orde,  uterine  brother  of  the  Admiral,  who,  as  already 
described,  married  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Bolton,  and  rose  to 
the  peerage,  was  a  noted  and  successful  politician.  He  had  been 
educated  at  King's  College,  Cambridge,  graduating  B.A.  in  1770 
and  M.A.  in  1773,  and  entered  public  life  in  1780  as  the  colleague 
of  Anthony  Bacon  in  the  representation  of  the  borough  of  Ayles- 
bury. There  is  a  note  of  him  in  Gibbs'  "  History  of  Aylesbury  " 
which  illustrates  the  method  of  winning  elections  at  the  end  of 
last  century.  "About  Christmas,  1780,  Mr.  Bacon  and  Mr.  Orde 
gave  twelve  guineas  to  such  of  the  electors  as  would  accept  that 
sum,  and  those  who  could  not  prove  themselves  legal  voters  two 
guineas  each.  In  1781  the  same  gentlemen  gave  the  voters  ten 
shillings  each  at  the  Bell  Inn,  and  a  supper,  and  a  very  handsome 
company  there  was."  At  the  election  in  1784,  he  was  returned  by 
the  burgesses  of  Rathcormick,  and,  in  1790,  by  those  of  Harwich, 
whom  he  represented  till  he  was  called  to  the  Upper  Chamber. 

During  his  career  in  the  House  of  Commons  Mr.  Orde  filled 
offices  of  considerable  importance.  In  1782  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  secretaries  to  the  Treasury,  and  Parliamentary  Under- 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department.  Three  years  later 
he  was  made  a  privy  councillor,  and  the  following  year  a  lord  of 
the  Treasury,  and  a  member  of  the  reconstituted  Board  of  Trade. 
From  1784  till  1787  he  held  the  post  of  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland, 
an  office  which  appears  to  have  been  as  uncomfortable  to  its  holder 
then  as  it  is  now.  In  the  RoUiad  Mr.  Secretary  Orde  was  spitted  in 
the  following  fashion : — 


244  WILLIAM  ORDE. 

"  Tall  and  erect,  unmeaning,  mute,  and  pale, 
O'er  his  blank  face  no  gleams  of  thought  prevail : 
Wan  as  the  man  in  classic  story  fam'd, 
Who  told  old  Priam  that  his  Ilion  flam'd. 
Yet  soon  the  time  will  come  when  speak  he  shall, 
And  at  his  voice  another  Ilion  fall  ! 

Caesar,  we  know,  with  anxious  effort  try'd 
To  swell,  with  Britain's  name,  his  triumph's  pride  : 
Oft  he  essay'd,  but  still  essay'd  in  vain  ; 
Great  in  herself,  she  mock'd  the  menac'd  chain. 
But  fruitless  all — for  what  was  Csesar's  sword 
To  thy  all-conquering  speeches,  mighty  Orde  ! 
Amphion's  lyre,  they  say,  could  raise  a  town : 
Orde's  elocution  pulls  a  nation  down." 

After  his  call  to  the  peerage,  Lord  Bolton  became  Lord-lieutenant 
of  Hants,  and  Governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  He  died  on  the  30th 
July,  1807. 


Milliam  ®rbe, 

OWNER    OF    "tomboy"    AND    "BEESWING." 

The  estate  of  Nunnykirk,  long  the  property  of  the  Greys  of  Chilling- 
ham,  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Ordes  through  the  marriage 
of  William  Orde  (half-brother  of  Admiral  Sir  John  Orde)  with  his 
cousin  Anne,  daughter  and  heiress  of  William  Ward,  whose  father, 
Edward  Ward,  of  Morpeth,  had  purchased  it  from  the  trustee  of 
Ralph,  Lord  Grey,  Baron  of  Werke.  William  Orde  died  at  Morpeth 
in  February,  18 14,  and  having  lost  his  eldest  son  and  heir  in  the 
West  Indies,  was  succeeded  by  his  second  son,  who  bore  his  name. 
This  William  Orde,  bred  to  the  law,  had  been  called  to  the  Bar 
at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  was  practising  his  profession  in  London  when 
his  brother's  death  made  him  the  heir  of  Nunnykirk,  and  changed 
all  his  plans  and  aims  in  life.  Forsaking  the  Courts  of  Law,  he 
came  down  to  the  North,  and  prepared  himself  to  play  the  part 
of  a  country  squire,  living  upon  his  own  property,  discharging 
those  duties  and  cultivating  those  pursuits  and  pastimes  with 
which  country  squiredom  is  usually  associated.  Having  enlarged 
and  extended  the  old  mansion-house  of  the  Wards,  under  the 
architectural   guidance    of    Mr.    John    Dobson,    of   Newcastle,    he 


WILLIAM  ORDE. 


245 


entered  upon  a  long  and  honourable  career  in  connection  with 
the  Turf,  and  made  his  name  famous  in  the  annals  of  sport. 
He  brought  out  Tomboy  and  Beeswing — horses  whose  achieve- 
ments, fifty  years  ago,  were  the  theme  of  endless  admiration 
throughout  the  North-Country. 


Tomboy  won,  among  other  trophies,  the  Gold  Cup  at  Durham  in 
1832;  the  Gold  Cups  at  Pontefract  and  Newcastle,  the  Silver  Tureen 
at  Stockton,  and  the  Northumberland  Plate  (its  first  introduction), 
in  1833;  the  Gold  Cups  at  Richmond,  Doncaster,  and  Newcastle  in 


2  46  AMOR  OXLEY. 

1834.  Beeswing's  career  was  even  more  remarkable,  rivalling  that  of 
Flying  Childers  or  Eclipse  in  the  previous  century.  She  carried  off, 
in  1837,  three  gold  cups — those  of  Richmond,  Newcastle,  and 
Northallerton;  in  1838,  the  gold  cup  at  Northallerton  again,  the 
gold  shield  at  Doncaster,  the  gold  cup  at  Newcastle,  and  a  special 
trophy  in  the  form  of  a  silver  coal-waggon,  composed  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  separate  pieces  of  silver,  given  by  the  last  of  the 
George  Bakers,  of  Elemore,  as  a  contribution  to  the  local  races,  "  in 
acknowledgment  of  the  many  acts  of  kindness  he  had  received  from 
the  inhabitants  of  Newcastle."  By  the  end  of  the  racing  season  of 
1842,  when  Beeswing's  career  on  the  turf  ended,  she  had  scored  her 
fifty-first  victory,  and  added  her  twenty-fourth  gold  cup  to  Mr.  Orde's 
sideboard.  Success  like  this  was  almost  unprecedented.  Northum- 
brians could  think  and  talk  and  boast  of  nothing  else.  Pictures  of 
the  mare — "  Beeswing,  the  Pride  of  the  North  " — were  hung  up  in 
every  tap-room  of  the  county;  there  were  Beeswing  public-houses, 
steamboats,  and  coaches,  pipes,  hats,  and  sweets.  Being  once  asked 
to  name  the  price  at  which  he  would  sell  this  incomparable  animal, 
Mr.  Orde  repHed  that  she  could  not  be  sold,  for  she  belonged  to 
"the  people  of  Northumberland." 

Mr.  Orde  died  at  Morpeth,  unmarried,  on  the  i6th  of  November, 
1842,  aged  sixty-eight.  He  was  succeeded  in  his  estates  by  his 
nephew,  Charles  William,  for  many  years  Chairman  of  Quarter 
Sessions  for  the  County  of  Northumberland,  who  died  on  the  i6th 
of  September,  1875.  Charles  William  Orde  made  himself  famous 
for  a  time  by  a  sentiment  which  he  expressed  in  proposing  "The 
Ladies "  at  a  Northumberland  Agricultural  Show  Dinner,  in  the 
days  when  crinolines  and  hoops  were  at  their  highest  expansion,  and 
bonnets  had  shrunk  to  almost  infinitesimal  dimensions  : — 

"  The  Ladies :  May  their  virtues  be  as  large  as  their  crinolines, 
and  their  faults  as  small  as  their  bonnets." 


amor  ®yle^, 

THE    LOYAL    SCHOOLMASTER. 

One  of  those  who  suffered  for  their  loyalty  during  the  Civil  War  was  the 
Rev.  Amor  Oxley,  head-master  of  the  Royal  Free  Grammar  School, 
Newcastle.     He  was  the  fourth  son  of  Amor  Oxley,  a  schoolmaster  at 


AMOR  OX  LEY.  247 

Morpeth,  who  died  there  in  1609,  leaving  ten  children,  of  whom  but 
one  was  oFage,  and  to  him,  Thomas  Oxley,  letters  of  administration 
to  his  father's  effects  were  granted.  It  is  open  to  conjecture  that 
"Amor"  Oxley,  who  appears  as  one  of  the  bailiffs  of  Morpeth  four 
times  between  1591  and  1608,  was  the  paternal  schoolmaster,  and  that 
Charles  Oxley,  vicar  of  Edlingham  from  1627  to  his  death  in  1636, 
and  William  Oxley,  of  Heddon-on-the-Wall,  whose  wife  was  cited 
before  the  High  Court  at  Durham,  in  1633,  for  blasphemous  language, 
were  two  of  his  sons.  But  that  is  only  a  supposition,  arising  from 
similarity  of  names,  and  is  not  sustainable  by  evidence.  What  we 
do  know  about  Amor  Oxley  the  elder  is  that  on  the  27th  January, 
1577-78,  at  a  visitation  of  Chancellor  Swift,  held  in  the  parish  church 
of  Morpeth,  he  answered  to  his  name  as  parish  clerk  and  school- 
master at  Woodhorn;  that  on  March  3rd,  1592-93,  he  witnessed  the 
will  of  Eleanor  Widdrington,  of  Choppington;  and  that  he  died,  as 
already  stated,  in  1609. 

Amor  Oxley  the  younger  followed  his  father's  profession,  and,  in 
1623,  seems  to  have  been  practising  it  either  at  Chillingham  or  in 
the  near  neighbourhood.  Wherever  he  may  have  been,  he  was  well 
known  to  the  illustrious  family  of  Grey  of  that  place.  For  in  the 
year  just  named  Dorothy,  widow  of  Sir  Ralph  Grey,  of  Chillingham, 
making  her  will,  gave  instructions  that  her  son  Robert,  afterwards  the 
famous  Dr.  Robert  Grey,  of  Bishopwearmouth,  and  his  brother 
Edward,  should  be  taught  by  Amor  Oxley,  who  was  to  receive  ;z{^2o 
per  annum  for  his  pains.  The  lady  lived  for  twelve  years  afterwards, 
and  Robert  Grey,  we  know,  was  sent  to  school  at  Northallerton ;  but 
it  is  supposed  that,  after  the  lad's  return  from  Yorkshire,  Mr.  Oxley^ 
discharged  the  trust  committed  to  him  in  Dorothy  Grey's  presence, 
and  under  her  supervision,  at  Chillingham.  By  the  time  that  his 
duties  as  tutor  ended,  he  had  entered  into  holy  orders,  and,  in  1630, 
he  was  ordained  priest.  Seven  years  later,  or  thereabouts,  he  was 
presented  by  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle  to  the  head-mastership 
of  the  Royal  Free  Grammar  School,  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  the 
Rev.  Francis  Gray. 

Holding  no  preferment  in  the  town  beyond  his  mastership,  and 
being  of  a  studious  and  retiring  disposition,  Amor  Oxley  took  but 
little  part  in  the  struggle  and  strife  which  was  dividing  the  towns- 
people into  two  great  camps,  breaking  down  municipal  authority, 
destroying  social  intercourse,  bursting  the  bonds  of  brotherhood, 
and   sundering   even   the  dearest  ties  of  family   and    relationship. 


248  AMOJi  OXLEY. 

Trained  in  loyalty  to  Crown  and  Church,  he  adhered  to  the  cause 
of  the  king,  refused  to  trim  his  sails  to  the  stiffening  breeze  of  Puri- 
tanism, and  like  the  master  under  whom  he  served,  was  overwhelmed 
in  the  storm.  On  the  30th  of  May,  1645,  by  order  of  Parliament, 
he  was  deprived  of  his  mastership ;  in  the  expressive  language  of 
royalist  writers,  he  was  "  sequestered  and  plundered  " — that  is  to  say, 
his  means  of  living  were  taken  from  him,  and  his  goods  and  chattels 
were  confiscated. 

What  he  did  during  the  Commonwealth  is  not  known.  That  he 
suffered  great  privation  and  distress  appears  from  the  Newcastle 
Municipal  Records.  Under  date  January  26th,  1656-57,  the  books 
of  the  Common  Council  of  that  town  contain  an  entry  of  ;^40  "  paid 
to  Amor  Oxley,  in  part  of  arrears  due  to  him  at  the  time  of  his  dis- 
charge, and  in  consideration  of  the  great  wants  and  necessities,  and 
poverty  and  indigent  condition  of  the  said  Amor  Oxley." 

When  the  king  came  back,  Mr.  Oxley  obtained  his  own  again. 
On  the  27th  of  April,  1662,  he  was  re-appointed  master  of  the 
Grammar  School,  with  a  salary  of  ;^  100  per  annum  and  perquisites. 
His  loyalty  and  patience  were  further  rewarded,  in  1665,  by  pre- 
sentation to  the  living  of  Kirknewton,  at  the  foot  of  Yeavering, 
within  easy  access  of  Chillingham,  and  the  scenes  of  his  youth.  His 
enjoyment  of  these  benefits  was  but  brief  He  died  in  1669,  and 
was  buried  at  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  Newcastle,  where  his  name 
appears  in  the  Register  of  Burials  : — 

August  22. — "  Amor  Oxley,  Mr.  of  the  Free  Schoole." 


HENR  V  PERLEE  PARKER.  249 


1bcnrv>  pcrlcc  parhcr, 

ARTIST. 

Henry  Perlee  Parker,  an  artist,  who,  during  the  last  generation, 
enjoyed  a  high  reputation  in  Newcastle  as  a  delineator  of  local 
scenes  and  incidents,  was  a  son  of  Robert  Parker,  of  Plymouth  Dock 
(Devonport),  teacher  of  marine  and  mechanical  drawing.  Born  on 
the  15th  of  March,  1795,  he  received  from  his  father  instruction  in 
drawing  and  painting,  but  as  he  showed  little  promise  of  success  in  the 
profession  he  was  sent  on  trial  to  a  tailor.  This  decisive  step  seems 
to  have  settled  his  mind  in  favour  of  painting,  and  as  the  best 
means  of  teaching  him  how  to  combine  that  art  with  a  steady  and 
regular  income,  he  was  placed  in  a  coachbuilder's  workshop,  like 
John  Martin,  to  learn  panel  painting  and  heraldic  work.  Of  that 
workshop  also  he  soon  grew  tired,  for  instead  of  being  put  to  colour 
painting  he  was  chiefly  employed  in  puttying  up  and  rubbing  down, 
and  grinding  colours.  Finally,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  or  nineteen,  he 
married  Amy  Morfey,  of  Woodbridge,  Suffolk,  and  set  up  in  business 
on  his  own  account  in  his  native  town  as  a  portrait-painter.  Finding 
soon  afterwards  that  his  expectations  in  that  direction  were  not 
likely  to  be  realised,  he  migrated  to  the  North,  and,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1815,  settled  in  Newcastle. 

Being  a  young  man  of  good  address  and  prepossessing  appearance, 
and  developing  a  vigorous  and  taking  style  of  painting  figure  subjects, 
Mr.  Parker  received  from  the  people  of  Tyneside  flattering  encourage- 
ment and  support.  He  made  his  mark  among  them  by  a  picture  of 
"  Newcastle  Eccentrics  " — representing  a  group  of  well-known  char- 
acters identified  with  the  street  life  of  the  town.  The  scene  was  laid 
in  a  famous  public-house — the  resort  of  cadgers,  tramps,  and  denizens 
of  the  slums,  designated  then,  and  for  long  afterwards,  by  the  name 
of  "  Hell's  Kitchen."  Blind  Willie,  hatless,  as  was  his  wont,  singing 
one  of  his  simple  songs,  occupied  the  centre  of  the  picture,  and 
round  him,  in  characteristic  attitudes,  were  grouped  Captain  Starkey, 
Cull  Billy,  Bold  Archy,  Highland  Donald,  Jacky  Co.xon,  Bawling,  or 
Shoe-tie,  Anty,  Whin  Bobby,  Bugle  Nosed  Jack,  Hangy,  Old  Judy, 
Jenny  Balloo,  Pussy  Billy,  Doodem  Daddum,  and  the  Dog  Timour. 
This  picture,  purchased  by  Mr.  Charles  John  BrandHng,  M.P.,  was 


250 


HENR  Y  PERLEE  PARKER. 


engraved,  published  by  Emerson  Charnley,  and  became  exceedingly 
popular.  Among  old  residents  in  Newcastle  the  engraving  still  finds 
favour. 

Possessing  business  capabilities,  which  are  not  always  associated 
with  artistic  and  literary  skill,  Parker  joined  a  little  band  of  earnest 
young  men  who  were  striving  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  the  fine  arts 
among  the  money-making  communities  of  Tyneside.  With  the  leader 
of  this  group — Thomas  Miles  Richardson— he  formed  a  close  friend- 
ship that  extended  into  all  the  avenues  of  professional  and  domestic 


H.    p.    PARKER. 

life.  Out  of  their  intimacy  sprang  the  "Northumberland  Institution 
for  the  Promotion  of  the  Fine  Arts,"  of  which  organisation  he  was 
secretary,  and  Richardson  treasurer.  Through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
that  daring  enterprise,  from  its  modest  beginning  under  Richardson's 
roof  in  1822,  to  its  location,  five  or  six  years  later,  in  the  new  building 
erected  for  its  accommodation — the  Academy  of  Arts  in  Blackett 
Street — he  was  Richardson's  artistic  colleague  and  business  adviser. 

At  the  exhibitions  of  the  Northumberland  Institution,  and  in  the 
galleries  of  London  and  Edinburgh,  Parker  was  both  a  fruitful  and 
a  successful  exhibitor,  for  he  painted  rapidly,  and  was  remarkably 


HENR  V  PERLEE  PARKER.  2  5 1 

fortunate  in  securing  patrons  and  purchasers.  His  was  the  happy 
business  knack  of  seizing  upon  some  stirring  event,  and  fixing  it 
upon  canvas  ere  the  interest  faded  and  the  excitement  died  out. 
For  example,  there  was  a  wonderful  spectacle  on  the  Sandhill  of 
Newcastle  at  the  coronation  of  George  IV.,  in  182 1,  when  a 
temporary  "pant,"  or  fountain,  flowed  with  wine,  and  hats,  caps,  and 
pots  of  every  description  were  put  into  requisition,  amid  great 
confusion  and  disorder,  to  obtain  a  share  of  the  invigorating  stream. 
Parker  painted  a  picture  of  the  scene,  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle 
purchased  it  for  the  adornment  of  the  Mansion  House,  and  upon 
the  walls  of  the  building  in  Ellison  Square  which  bears  that  name 
the  picture  is  still  to  be  seen.  Beside  it  hangs  another  picture  which 
Parker  painted,  and  the  Corporation  purchased  under  similar  circum- 
stances— a  Fancy  Ball  given  at  the  old  Mansion  House  in  the  Close 
when  William  IV.  was  crowned  in  1830,  with  portraits  of  the 
principal  guests  and  dancers.  The  opening  of  the  New  Markets,  in 
'^'^ZSi  by  a  public  dinner  in  the  Great  Hall,  or  Vegetable  Market, 
formed  the  subject  of  another  striking  picture;  while  the  wreck  of 
the  Forfarshire  in  1838,  and  the  brave  deed  of  Grace  Darling,  gave 
the  artist  an  opportunity  of  producing  a  couple  of  pictures  (one 
his  own,  and  the  other  in  collaboration  with  his  friend,  J.  W. 
Carmichael)  that  were  exceedingly  popular. 

To  enumerate  the  paintings  which  Parker  exhibited  during  the 
five-and-twenty  years  that  he  lived  in  Newcastle,  were  a  hopeless  task. 
The  majority  of  them  are  described  and  illustrated  in  a  volume 
which  he  published  on  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  his  settlement  in 
the  town,  entitled — 

"Critiques  on  Paintings  by  H.  P.  Parker,  etc.,  Together  with  a  few  slight 
etchings  showing  the  Compositions,  etc."  Newcastle-on-Tyne :  John  Hernaman, 
at  theyiM^r«a/ Office,  69,  Pilgrim  Street.     1835. 

Some  of  these  pictures,  purchased  by  Akerman,  and  engraved, 
had  more  than  a  passing  reputation.  Nearly  everybody  must  have 
seen  at  some  time  or  other  a  print  of  his  picture  of  Grace  Darling, 
and  have  become  familiar  with  his  pair  of  small  plates,  entitled 
"  Looking  Out  "  and  "  Looking  In  " — the  first-named  exhibiting  a 
bold  and  resolute  smuggler,  leaning  out  of  a  port-hole,  with  a  pistol 
in  his  hand,  and  the  other  representing  a  weather-beaten  sailor,  in  a 
similar  position,  reading  the  Naval  Gazette.  Parker  excelled  in 
painting  figure  subjects  like  these.     He  seems,  indeed,  to  have  had 


252  HENRY  PERLEE  PARKER. 

a  special  fancy  for  smugglers.  Any  catalogue  which  includes  his 
exhibits  is  sure  to  contain  pictures  bearing  such  titles  as  "  Smugglers 
Watching "—" Alarmed,"  "Attacked,"  "Wounded,"  "Shipwrecked," 
"  Resting,"  etc.,  accompanied  by  subjects  of  a  similar  rough  and 
homely  character — "  Fisherman  and  Family,"  "  Fisherman  Selling 
his  last  Fish  to  a  Country  Girl,"  "  The  Hardy  Keelman,"  "  Pitmen 
Playing  at  Marbles,"  "  Poachers  Watching,"  "  The  Covenanter," 
etc. 

In  portraiture  Parker  was  equally  fortunate.  He  painted,  mostly 
for  subscription  plates,  or  as  family  heirlooms,  portraits  of  Charles 
John  Brandling,  M.P.,  John  Hodgson,  M.P.,  Matthew  Bell,  M.P., 
Lord  Adolphus  Fitzclarence,  Revs.  James  Pringle,  Richard  Pengilly, 
Valentine  Ward,  and  N.  J.  HoUingsworth,  John  Bruce,  the  school- 
master. Dr.  Robert  Morrison,  Nathaniel  Bates,  of  Milbourne,  Mr, 
and  Mrs.  Annandale,  Thomas  Scott,  parish  clerk  of  St.  Andrew's, 
and  many  others,  including  a  series  of  sketches  of  eminent  persons 
for  Mr.  C.  J.  Brandling. 

When  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  held  their  centenary  Conference 
at  Liverpool  in  1839,  and  determined  to  come,  the  following  year,  to 
hold  their  first  Conference  in  Newcastle,  Parker,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  denomination,  desired  to  commemorate  the  occasion  by 
painting  a  picture  of  some  striking  incident  in  their  history.  He 
consulted  the  Rev.  James  Everett,  who,  as  quoted  in  his  Memoirs, 
suggested  both  subject  and  treatment  in  manner  following: — 

"  Mr.  Parker  waited  upon  me  to  ask  what  I  thought  would  be 
a  proper  subject  for  a  picture  to  commemorate  the  centenary  of 
Methodism.  I  replied,  'Take  the  escape  of  the  founder  of  the  body 
from  the  fire  at  the  parsonage  at  Epworth,  when  he  was  a  boy.  But 
for  this  escape,  Methodism,  for  anything  we  know  to  the  contrary, 
would  never  have  existed,  and  therefore  would  not  have  had  a 
centenary  in  which  to  glory.'  Mr.  Parker  hesitated,  and  expressed  a 
doubt  whether  it  would  be  susceptible  of  sufficient  interest.  I  told 
him  that,  independently  of  the  occasion,  he  could  not  have  a  finer 
subject  for  the  display  of  artistic  skill,  and  suggested  to  him  the 
main  object,  with  a  few  of  its  surroundings,  hurriedly  throwing 
before  his  imagination  the  house  in  flames,  the  child  at  the  window, 
one  person  on  the  shoulder  of  another  to  eff'ect  a  rescue,  the  father 
engaged  in  prayer,  the  distressed  family  grouped  together  in  front  of 
the  building  from  which  they  had  just  escaped;  neighbours  half 
dressed,  coming  to  lend  their  aid.  .  .  .  He  went  home  and  next 


HENR  V  PER  LEE  PA  RKER.  2  5  3 

morning  brought  a  rough  sketch  in  oils  in  accordance  with  the  hints 
thrown  out  by  me  the  preceding  day.  I  furnished  the  artist  with  the 
attitudes  of  the  various  persons  introduced,  by  throwing  myself  into 
different  postures.  ...  In  this  picture  Parker  took  a  profile  likeness 
of  myself,  and  placed  my  figure  towards  the  place  of  rescue,  between 
the  dog  and  the  group  below  the  window,  with  outstretched  arms 
ready  to  receive  the  child  second-hand  from  its  first  deliverer." 

The  proceedings  of  the  Conference  began  in  Newcastle  on  the 
29th  of  July,  1840,  under  the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Newton, 
and  on  the  4th  of  August  Parker  sent  Mr.  Newton  the  picture. 

This  incident  led  to  his  removal  from  Newcastle.  For,  shortly 
after  he  had  completed  it,  Wesley  College,  Sheffield,  which  had  been 
erected  in  1838,  for  the  higher  education  of  Methodist  youth,  needed 
a  drawing-master,  and  Parker's  sympathies,  as  exhibited  in  the  paint- 
ing, added  to  his  high  reputation  in  Art,  marked  him  out  as  a  most 
suitable  man  for  the  post.  Obtaining  the  appointment,  he  left  Tyne- 
side  in  1841  or  1842,  and  removed  with  his  family  to  Sheffield.  In 
that  town,  as  in  Newcastle,  he  endeavoured  to  foster  a  love  of  Art, 
and  to  increase  the  public  facilities  for  cultivating  it.  In  conjunction 
with  Dr.  Harwood  and  Mr.  Holland,  he  organised  a  movement  for 
the  establishment  of  an  Art  School,  and  carried  it  to  a  successful 
issue.  He  had  indulged  a  hope  that,  as  the  reward  of  his  exertions 
he  might  be  offered  the  post  of  teacher,  but  the  Government  sent 
down  a  nominee  of  their  own,  and  ignored  his  claims  to  considera- 
tion. This  disappointment,  and  the  loss  of  his  wife  in  1844,  un- 
settled him.  Some  time  afterwards  he  resigned  his  connection  with 
Wesley  College,  and  launched  himself  into  the  great  world  of  London. 
From  that  date  his  friends  in  Newcastle  heard  little  of  his  doings. 
They  saw  his  name  in  the  Academy  and  other  catalogues,  learned 
that  he  was  prosperous  and  well-to-do,  but  no  more,  till  one  morning 
in  November,  1873,  they  saw  an  announcement  in  the  papers  that, 
on  the  nth  of  that  month,  he  had  joined  the  great  majority. 

One  of  Parker's  sons,  Raphael  Parker,  inherited  his  father's  genius, 
and  succeeded  him  as  drawing-master  at  Wesley  College.  He  was 
an  artist  of  repute,  and  exhibited  the  productions  of  his  brush  at 
London  and  provincial  exhibitions,  but  died  a  few  years  after  his 
father. 


254  DAVID  PATERSON. 

2)avib  patcreon, 

PRESBYTERIAN    MINISTER. 

Tate's  "  History  of  Alnwick  "  contains  a  copious  biography  of  the 
gifted  minister  who  bore  this  name,  and  who,  although  not  a  native 
of  Northumberland,  was  a  "  man  of  mark  "  in  the  religious  life  of 
the  Northern  Counties  for  nearly  forty  years. 

The  son  of  a  farmer,  David  Paterson  was  born  at  Newhall, 
Selkirkshire,  in  December,  1775.  He  received  his  early  education 
at  Selkirk  Grammar  School,  and,  in  1793,  entered  the  University  of 
Edinburgh  to  study  for  the  ministry.  At  the  University  he  attained 
distinction  in  Logic  and  Moral  Philosophy,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Speculative  Society,  of  which  Brougham,  Horner,  Leyden, 
Erskine,  Murray,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Brown  were  distinguished 
ornaments.  When  his  curriculum  at  Edinburgh  ended  he  attended 
the  lectures  of  Dr.  George  Lawson  at  Selkirk,  who  was  professor  of 
divinity  to  the  burgher  section  of  the  Presbyterian  body,  in  which 
section  his  father,  the  Newhall  farmer,  was  an  elder.  There  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  John  Brown,  afterwards  professor  of 
exegetical  theology  to  the  United  Secession  Church.  So  great  was 
their  friendship  that  while  preaching  week  after  week  as  probationers 
among  vacant  congregations,  they  exchanged  sermons.  Out  of  this 
fraternal  intercourse  arose  an  unfortunate  incident.  Within  a  few 
weeks  of  each  other  each  of  these  gifted  young  men  preached  the 
same  sermon  from  the  same  pulpit !  The  next  time  that  Mr. 
Paterson  officiated  he  was  reminded  of  the  co7itretemps  by  an  acute 
hearer — "  Ah,  sir  !  we  kenned  your  sermon  again." 

In  probationary  work,  Mr.  Paterson  was  engaged  for  about 
five  years.  Receiving  calls  from  burgher  congregations  at  North 
Berwick  and  Alnwick,  he  chose  the  latter,  and  in  August,  1806,  he 
was  ordained  pastor  of  Clayport  Street  Chapel,  in  that  town.  His 
reputation  had  preceded  him,  and  he  entered  upon  his  duties  under 
most  favourable  auspices.  Dealing  but  slightly  with  subjects  of 
technical  theology,  he  treated  his  hearers  to  elaborate  expositions  of 
philosophy,  delivered  in  polished  style  and  with  refined  sentiment. 
Thoughtful  persons  of  various  shades  of  religious  opinion  were 
attracted  to  his  services,  and  his  congregation  grew  in  numbers  and 


DAVID  PATERSON.  255 

influence.  His  remuneration  was  not  extravagant — only  ^1^164  a 
year,  but  his  flock  made  up  by  hospitality  what  they  begrudged  in 
coin.  In  time  this  festive  sociality  of  theirs  became  a  source  of 
danger  to  him,  breaking  up  his  course  of  study,  and  leading  to 
habits  of  indolence. 

Under  these  influences  his  preaching  deteriorated.  Still  his  con- 
gregation grew  and  flourished.  In  its  best  days  the  number  of 
members  exceeded  350,  and  not  less  than  a  thousand  persons  were 
in  one  way  or  another  connected  with  it.  A  Fellowship  Society 
which  he  directed,  in  connection  with  his  church,  was  instrumental 
in.  quickening  intellectual  life  among  the  young  men  of  the  town  and 
district.  Several  of  its  members  occupied  in  after  years  positions 
of  distinction.  Among  them  were  Robert  Weddell,  the  antiquary; 
John  Mason,  essayist  and  proprietor  of  the  Border  Courier;  John 
Douglas  Loraine,  independent  minister  at  Wakefield;  James  Duncan, 
Secession  minister  at  Warkworth ;  Benjamin  Slight,  pastor  of  a  Con- 
gregational Church  at  Tunbridge  Wells ;  James  Fettes,  poet  and 
preacher ;  Thomas  Pearson,  teacher  in  Heriot's  Hospital,  minister  of 
a  Secession  Church  at  Eyemouth,  and  author  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  prize  essay  on  Infidelity;  and  the  Rev.  George  Bell,  of 
Newcastle. 

In  authorship  Mr.  Paterson  frequently  indulged,  but  his  books, 
although  containing  many  noble  thoughts  and  clever  literary  con- 
ceits, were  unequal,  diffusive,  and  ofttimes  commonplace.  No  com- 
plete list  of  his  publications  is  accessible,  but  the  following  is  a 
summary  of  those  among  them  which  were  best  known  : — 

A  Volume  of  Discourses,  published  in  1814. 

A  Discourse  on  the  Arminian  Controversy. 

Three  Discourses  on  a  Future  State. 

Several  Metaphysical  Articles  for  the  "  Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia." 

A  Series  of  Discourses  to  the  Young. 

Various  Pamphlets  on  the  Unitarian  Controversy. 

To  the  Newcastle  Magazine  for  1823,  Mr.  Paterson  contributed  a 
"  Life  of  Dr.  James  Beattie,"  and  in  the  same  magazine,  running 
through  the  volumes  for  1824,  1825,  and  1826,  appeared  a  volu- 
minous essay,  or  rather  series  of  essays,  from  his  pen,  on  "  Human 
Improvement."  These  essays  were  originally  sermons,  preached  in 
the  afternoons  of  successive  Sundays,  but  containing  criticisms  on 
philosophy,  poetry,  art,  the  drama,  and  similar  subjects  that  rarely 
found  their  way  into  Presbyterian  pulpits.     It  must  have  been  with 


256  RICHARD  PENG  ILLY. 

mingled  feelings  of  surprise  and  doubt  that  some  of  his  hearers 
listened  to  his  eulogy  of  Shakespeare,  as  "  Fancy's  sweetest  child," 
who  "  drew  the  most  lively  and  glowing  pictures  of  individual  char- 
acter, in  all  the  varieties  of  which  human  nature  is  susceptible,  and 
the  most  accurate  and  powerful  delineations  of  the  intricate  and 
complicated  passions  of  the  human  heart  that  ever  were  exhibited," 
or  heard  him  recommend  the  reading  of  the  Waverley  Novels,  the 
"Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  and  other  works  of  fiction  that  were  then 
generally  tabooed  in  Evangelical  households. 

Mr.  Paterson  was  Moderator  of  the  Associate  Synod  in  1812,  but 
filled  no  other  office,  within  the  Church  or  out  of  it,  and  it  was  not 
until  he  was  advanced  in  years  that  he  received  honours  from  the 
University  of  Edinburgh — the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  He  died 
at  Alnwick  on  the  22nd  of  November,  1843,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  thirty-eighth  of  his  ministry. 


IRtcbarb  Ipcnoill^t 

BAPTIST    MINISTER. 

"  ByTre,  Pol,  and  Pen, 

Ye  shall  know  the  Cornish-men." 

During  the  first  half  of  the  present  century,  the  pastoral  charge  of 
the  Baptist  community  in  Newcastle  was  entrusted  to  the  Rev. 
Richard  Pengilly.  He  was  of  Cornish  blood,  a  Pen-gilly  of  Pen- 
zance, born  in  that  town  on  the  14th  of  September,  1782,  At  the 
date  of  his  birth  his  father  was  a  Churchman;  his  mother  and  sisters 
had  joined  the  Methodists.  Into  the  Methodist  body  he  also,  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  obtained  admittance.  Exhibiting  more  than  usual 
ability  in  public  speaking,  he  was  encouraged  to  exercise  his  gifts, 
and  before  long  he  developed  into  a  boy  preacher.  One  of  his 
early  converts  was  his  own  father,  and  thus  the  whole  family  were 
brought  into  the  fold  of  Methodism.  He  himself  was  the  first  to 
break  the  circle.  In  the  year  1800  he  saw,  for  the  first  time,  a 
public  baptism  by  immersion,  and  the  service  made  such  an  impres- 
sion upon  him  that  when,  two  years  later,  the  Baptists  opened  a 
chapel  in  Penzance,  he  joined  in  their  worship.  In  no  long  time  he 
had  convinced  himself  that  the  way  of  the  Baptists  was  the  right 


RICHARD  PENGILL  V.  257 

way,  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  walk  in  it.  He  left  Methodism, 
was  baptised  and  admitted  into  full  communion  with  the  Baptist 
Society.  Desiring  to  become  a  minister  among  them,  he  was  sent 
to  their  academy  at  Bristol,  to  be  trained  by  their  celebrated  tutor — 
Dr.  Rylands.  At  that  place  he  remained  till,  in  the  beginning  of 
1807,  the  Baptist  Church  in  Newcastle  applied  to  Dr.  Rylands  for  a 
probationer.  He  was  offered  the  appointment,  accepted  it,  and  on 
the  23rd  of  March  in  that  year  made  his  first  appearance  upon 
Tyneside. 

At  the  time  when  Mr.  Pengilly  came  to  Newcastle,  a  young  man 
of  twenty-four,  the  Baptist  community  to  whom  he  was  accredited 
had  suffered  from  a  long  period  of  change  and  vicissitude.  They 
had  become  depressed  and  discouraged  when  the  Rev.  John  Allen 
left  them  in  1771.  For  nine  years  after  his  departure,  they  had  no 
settled  minister.  Some  amongst  them,  headed  by  Caleb  Alder, 
adopted  Socinian  views,  and  formed  a  sect  of  their  own,  under 
the  designation  of  "Unitarian  Baptists";  the  remainder  contented 
themselves  with  ministerial  supplies  borrowed  from  the  neighbouring 
congregations  of  Hexham  and  Hamsterley.  But  in  1780,  a  change 
for  the  better  was  effected.  Mr.  Richard  Fishwick  came  from  Hull 
to  Newcastle  to  open  out  the  Elswick  Lead  Works,  and  he  infused 
new  life  into  the  denomination.  With  his  assistance,  the  congrega- 
tion were  able  to  secure  the  services  of  resident  ministers,  though, 
from  various  causes,  they  were  not  for  some  time  fortunate  in  retain- 
ing them.  Henry  Dawson  took  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  for 
a  year,  and  when  he  left,  William  Pendered  became  pastor.  Mr. 
Pendered  filled  the  pulpit  for  six  years,  and  resigned  because  two  of 
his  principal  members,  being  pawnbrokers,  took  offence  at  a  sermon 
which  he  preached  against  usury.  To  him  succeeded  Mr.  Hartley, 
of  Bingley,  who  stayed  a  twelvemonth;  the  celebrated  John  Forster, 
who  remained  three  months;  Mr.  Skinner,  from  Towcester,  who 
died  in  the  third  year  of  his  ministry;  Mr.  Rowland,  who  preached 
for  a  year  and  a  half;  and  Thomas  Hassell,  from  Plymouth.  Mr. 
Hassell,  entering  upon  his  ministry  in  November,  1796,  strengthened 
the  cause  so  abundantly  that  the  old  meeting-house,  near  the  foot  of 
Tuthill  Stairs,  no  longer  held  the  worshippers,  and  a  new  chapel, 
higher  up  the  hill,  "  near  the  house  of  Mr.  Thomas  Small,  auctioneer," 
was  erected.  When  Mr.  Hassell  left,  in  1801,  the  congregation 
obtained  supplies  and  probationers  for  a  couple  of  years,  among 
whom  Thomas  Berry  proved  acceptable,  but  he  died  in  1804,  and  it 

VOL.  III.  17 


258  RICHARD  PENG  ILLY. 

was  not  until  Mr.  Pengilly  arrived  that  the  Baptists  of  Newcastle 
finally  settled  down  to  a  long,  resident  ministry. 

Mr,  Pengilly  came  to  the  town,  as  already  stated,  at  the  end  of 
March,  1807.  His  preaching  satisfied  the  Church,  which  consisted 
of  only  twenty-nine  members,  his  manners  were  attractive  to  the 
congregation,  and  on  the  12th  of  August,  1807,  he  was  ordained. 
This  ceremony  over,  and  his  position  assured,  Mr.  Pengilly  began  to 
take  an  active  interest  in  various  developments  of  religious  enterprise 
in  Newcastle.  He  joined  with  George  Fife  Angas  in  opening  a 
Sunday-school.  With  Archdeacon  Prosser,  the  members  of  Parlia- 
ment for  the  town,  and  his  local  colleagues  in  the  ministry,  he  helped, 
in  1809,  to  institute  the  Newcastle  Auxiliary  Bible  Society.  The 
following  year,  in  conjunction  with  C.  N.  Wawn  and  John  Fenwick, 
he  started  the  Newcastle  Religious  Tract  Society.  About  the  same 
time,  assisted  by  George  Richardson,  Thomas  Brunting,  and  Thomas 
Gibson,  he  commenced  an  "  Adult  School  Society,"  to  teach  the 
uneducated  poor  to  read  the  Scriptures.  A  few  years  later  he  was 
instrumental  in  establishing  a  local  Auxiliary  to  the  Baptist  Mission- 
ary Society,  with  a  central  committee  in  Newcastle,  and  corresponding 
committees  in  various  parts  of  the  Northern  Counties.  Of  this 
organisation  he  acted  for  many  years  as  Secretary  and  Assistant 
Treasurer. 

Another  movement  in  which  Mr.  Pengilly  played  a  leading  part,  had 
for  its  object  the  acquisition  of  land  to  form  a  new  cemetery  for  local 
Nonconformists.  The  old  burying-place  at  the  Ballast  Hills,  where 
two  of  his  predecessors,  Mr.  Skinner  and  Mr.  Berry,  were  interred, 
was  crowded  to  the  verge  of  indecency  if  not  pestilence.  More  suit- 
able provision  for  the  inhumation  of  those  who  objected  to  Church 
of  England  burial,  was  an  absolute  necessity.  The  committee,  under 
whose  control  a  new  burying-ground,  that  of  the  Westgate,  was 
formed,  included  the  names  of  many  townsmen  of  high  repute — 
James  Losh,  John  Bruce,  John  Fenwick,  Emerson  Charnley,  John 
Bell,  Anthony  Clapham,  Caleb  and  John  Lindsay  Angas ;  Henry 
and  William  Angus,  Christian  Ker  Reid,  Robert  Robinson,  John 
Nichol,  and  the  Reverends  William  Turner,  James  Pringle,  Ralph 
Davison,  Richard  Gibbs,  William  Syme,  etc.,  etc.,  with  James  Finlay 
as  treasurer,  and  Mr.  Pengilly  as  secretary. 

Contrary  to  all  previous  experience,  the  Newcastle  Baptists  retained 
Mr.  Pengilly  as  their  minister  for  eight-and-thirty  years.  They  had 
tiffs  and  troubles,  disputations  and  disagreements,  like  other  volun- 


GEORGE  HARE  FHILIPSON.  259 

tary  communities  of  religious  men,  but  the  preacher  always  outlived 
them.  With  but  one  exception,  his  tact  and  temper  carried  him 
through  whenever  the  demon  of  discord  raised  its  head  in  the  flock, 
or  the  serpent  of  discontent  glided  through  the  congregation.  Upon 
that  occasion,  in  181 6,  though  he  did  not  succeed  in  restoring 
harmony,  it  was  the  malcontents  who  took  their  departure,  not  the 
minister.  Twenty-nine  of  his  young  men,  headed  by  John  Fenwick 
— "  John  the  Baptist " — seceded  to  Carpenter's  Hall,  where  they 
preached  to  themselves  till  the  Rev.  George  Sample  settled  among 
them,  and  procured  the  erection  of  a  chapel  in  New  Court,  West- 
gate. 

To  the  literature  of  his  denomination  Mr.  Pengilly  was  not  an 
abundant  contributor.  He  produced  one  important  work — "  The 
Scriptural  Guide  to  Baptism  " — a  book  that  had  an  extensive  circula- 
tion, both  at  home  and  in  America,  and  was  translated  into  several 
continental  languages.  The  rest  of  his  productions  were  pamphlets, 
addresses,  sermons,  etc. — ephemeral  literature,  whose  reputation 
rarely  outlives  the  writer,  and  of  which  copies  exist  only  in  the 
libraries  of  local  and  denominational  collectors. 

In  1845,  finding  his  labours  burdensorne,  Mr.  Pengilly  resigned 
his  charge,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Sample,  of  the  New  Court 
congregation.  During  his  pastorate  he  had  admitted  about  four 
hundred  members  to  Tuthill  Stairs  Church  fellowship,  had  been 
instrumental  in  leading  several  young  men  into  the  ministry  (amongst 
them  Dr.  Angus,  for  many  years  President  of  Regent's  Park  College), 
and  in  sending  others  out  as  missionaries,  and  the  grateful  com- 
munity, mindful  of  his  services,  granted  him  a  retiring  pension  of 
;^5o  a  year.  With  this  and  his  savings  he  retired,  first  to  Eggles- 
cliffe,  near  Yarm,  then  to  his  native  town  of  Penzance,  and  lastly, 
to  Croydon,  where  he  died,  March  22nd,  1S65,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three  years. 


(BcovGC  1bare  pbilipeon, 

COACH-BUILDER    AND    JUSTICE    OF    THE    PEACE. 

The  Philipsons  of  Newcastle,  represented  in  their  two  main  branches 
during  the  past  generation  by  George  Hare  Philipson,  coach-builder, 
and   Ralph    Park   Philipson,    solicitor,    derive   their   descent    from 


26o  GEORGE  HARE  FHILIPSON. 

Philip,  a  younger  son  of  Philip  de  Thirlwall,  of  Thirlwall  Castle, 
situated  on  a  rocky  precipice  above  the  Tippal.  The  first  of  them 
who  took  the  name  of  Philipson  (Philip's  son)  was  Robert,  of 
Rolling  Hall,  and  this  is  set  forth  in  a  confirmation  of  the  arms  of 
Thirlwall  to  Rowland  and  Myles  Philipson,  who  were  his  grand- 
children. The  confirmation  is  dated  i8th  May,  1581,  and  says, 
"  which  said  Rowland,  by  reason  of  the  Christian  name  of  one  of 
his  ancestors  was  called  Philip,  the  son  of  ye  said  Philip  was  called 
Philipson,  and  so  continueth  the  same  Surname."  The  crest 
granted  to  Rowland  Philipson  is  recited  as  follows : — "  Upon 
the  Healme  fyve  oystretch  feathers,  three  argent,  and  two  gules, 
sett  in  a  Crowne  Murall  d'or,  and  to  his  issue  and  posteritie  for  ever." 
The  family  of  Philipson  resided  for  several  generations  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Windermere.  Their  chief  seat  was  Calgarth,  in  the 
township  of  Applethwaite.  The  largest  island  on  Windermere  lake 
belonged  to  the  family,  on  which  stood  Holme  House.  According 
to  Nicolson  and  Burn,  it  is  doubtful  which  was  their  most  ancient 
house  in  the  county;  some  say  HoUing  Hall,  others  affirm  Thwat- 
terden  or  Crook  Hall. 

One  of  the  members  of  this  old  family,  Christopher  Philipson, 
of  Calgarth,  was  receiver  of  rents  in  Westmorland  to  King 
Edward  VI.  Another,  Anne,  daughter  of  Myles  Philipson,  of 
Thwatterden,  married  Thomas  Lord  Arundell,  of  Wardour,  and 
their  only  daughter  became  the  wife  of  Sir  Henry  Tich borne,  Bart. 
Huddleston  Philipson,  son  of  a  later  Christopher,  was  a  colonel  in  the 
Royalist  army  during  the  Civil  War;  and  Robert  Philipson,  his  brother, 
a  major  in  another  regiment,  for  his  martial  achievements  was  sur- 
named  "  Robin  the  Devil."  It  was  he  who  defended  Holme  House 
when  it  was  besieged  by  Colonel  Briggs,  and  rode  into  Kendal 
Church  up  one  aisle  and  down  another  in  his  pursuit.  He  was 
unhorsed  by  the  guards,  and  his  girths  broken;  he  clapped  his  saddle 
on  to  his  horse  without  any  girths,  vaulted  into  it,  killed  one  of  the 
guards,  and  rode  away.  On  leaving  the  church  his  helmet  was 
struck  off  by  the  door,  and  it  is  still  preserved  in  the  sacred  edifice. 
Sir  Walter  Scott  introduces  the  incident  into  "  Rokeby": — 

"  When  through  the  Gothic  arch  there  sprung, 
A  horseman  armed  at  headlong  speed." 

Huddleston  Philipson's  son,  Christopher,  M.P.  for  Westmorland, 
was  knighted  by  Charles  II.  in  1681.     In  Windermere  Church  are 


GEORGE  HARE  PHILIPSON.  261 

several  interesting  monuments  of  the  family,  and,  in  particular,  one 
in  Latin,  which  commemorates  the  failure  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  John,  third  son 
of  John  Philipson,  of  Calgarth  and  Melsonby,  married  Elizabeth 
Watson  of  Stanhope-in-Weardale,  and  settled  at  Lintsgarth  in  that 
parish.  F'rom  this  union  came  the  two  branches  of  the  Philipson 
family  in  Newcastle.  John,  eldest  son  of  John  Philipson  and  Eliza- 
beth Watson,  was  the  great-great-grandfather  of  George  Hare 
Philipson,  and  Nicholas,  a  younger  son,  was  the  great-great-grand- 
father of  Ralph  Park  Philipson. 

George  Hare  Phihpson,  eldest  son  of  John  Philipson,  of  Simon- 
burn,  North  Tyne,  by  his  marriage  with  Jane  Hare,  a  daughter  of 
George  Hare,  of  Mitford,  agent  to  the  Mitford  family,  was  born  at 
Parkgate,  near  Wark,  in  1801,  While  in  his  teens  he  entered  the 
office  of  Thomas  Davidson,  in  Westgate  Street,  Newcastle,  whose 
literary  and  poetical  proclivities  are  described  in  the  biographies  of 
Bedingfeld  and  Pickering,  and  exemplified  in  the  sketch  of  Anthony 
Hood.  Mr.  Davidson  was  a  solicitor.  Deputy  Clerk  of  the  Peace,  and 
distributor  of  stamps  for  the  county  of  Northumberland,  and  it  was 
in  the  stamp  department  of  Mr.  Davidson's  business  that  young  Mr, 
Philipson  passed  his  youth  and  early  manhood,  until,  in  1820,  he 
rose  to  the  position  of  deputy  distributor.  He  married,  at  St. 
Andrew's  Church,  in  1830,  Elizabeth  Lucy,  the  eldest  daughter  of 
John  Atkinson,  of  Garden  House,  Newcastle,  sister  of  John  Atkin- 
son, of  Newbiggen,  near  Hexham,  who  acquired  from  his  uncle, 
Leonard  Wilson,  Newbiggen  House,  Hallington  Hall,  and  other 
properties,  including  the  old  Newcastle  coach-building  establishment 
in  High  Friar  Street,  in  which,  as  recorded  on  page  164,  John 
Martin  was  apprenticed  to  the  art  of  heraldic  painting.  Leonard 
Wilson  founded  the  coach  manufactory  in  1794,  and  supplied  the 
mail  coaches  between  York  and  Edinburgh.  His  father,  William 
Wilson,  married  Elizabeth  Surtees,^  only  sister  and  heiress  of 
Anthony  Surtees,  of  Newbiggen,  who,  as  ]\Iajor  and  Commanding 
Officer  of  the  Northumberland  ]\Iilitia,  saved  the  metropolis  during 
the  Lord  George  Gordon  riots.  He  was  offered  knighthood  at  the 
time,  and  is  commemorated  in  local  song: — 

^  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wilson  in  1804  gave  to  her  grand-daughter,  Elizabeth  Lucy 
Atkinson  (afterwards  Philipson),  her  teapot,  "made  out  of  silver  extracted  from 
her  husband's  lead-mines  at  Kingswood,  Northumberland,"  and  this  teapot  is  still 
in  possession  of  the  family,  with  some  other  old  silver  of  the  Surtees  family. 


262  GEORGE  HARE  PHILIPSON. 

"  Full  fifty  thousand  stout  and  bold, 
Were  assembled  in  this  riot; 
Five  hundred  of  Northumberland  boys, 
Made  all  these  thousands  quiet." 

The  coach-building  business  was  removed  about  1830  to  new 
premises  stretching  from  Pilgrim  Street  to  Erick  Street,  and  some 
time  afterwards  Mr.  Atkinson  took  his  brother-in-law  into  partner- 
ship, forming  thereby  the  firm  known  throughout  the  North  of 
England  as  "Atkinson  &  Philipson."  After  Mr.  Philipson  became 
a  partner,  coaches  .were  superseded  by  railways,  and  the  firm  de- 
signed and  constructed  the  first  railway  carriages,  and  had  contracts 
for  supplying  them  to  the  North-Country  Railway  Companies 
until  eventually  these  companies  built  their  own.  Removing  from 
the  breezy  altitude  of  Cumberland  Row  to  Pilgrim  Street,  he  took 
up  his  residence  in  the  old  mansion  attached  to  the  coach  works, 
and  there  he  brought  up  his  family  and  died,  and  there  his  widow 
lived  with  her  son,  Joseph  A.  Philipson,  until  her  death  in  1881, 
when  it  became  the  home  of  the  Conservative  Club.  Quiet  and 
retiring  in  his  manner,  punctual  and  methodical  in  his  habits, 
Mr.  Philipson  lived  an  unobtrusive  and  unostentatious  life  among 
the  bustling  activities  of  Tyneside.  He  had  no  taste  for  muni- 
cipal administration,  and  steadily  resisted  all  temptations  to  enter 
the  heated  atmosphere  of  the  Town  Council,  but  he  filled 
various  offices  connected  with  church  and  parochial  work,  and 
discharged  the  duties  pertaining  to  them  in  a  painstaking  and 
effective  manner.  He  was  churchwarden  successively  of  St.  John's 
and  St.  Andrew's  for  many  years,  a  Sunday-school  teacher  and 
an  earnest  promoter  of  what  in  his  time  was  called  National 
Education.  To  his  efforts  and  those  of  the  vicar,  the  Rev.  H.  W. 
Wright,  was  due  the  erection  of  the  Parish  Schools  of  St.  John's 
in  Sunderland  Street,  Newcastle.  He  helped  also  to  establish  and 
carry  on  the  beneficent  work  of  the  Royal  Victoria  Asylum  for  the 
Blind  and  the  Northern  Counties  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb. 
The  medical  charities  of  the  town,  too,  had  his  hearty  sympathy  and 
active  support.  He  was  a  member  of  the  governing  bodies  of  the 
Royal  Infirmary  and  the  Dispensary,  and  one  of  the  most  earnest 
of  the  philanthropic  Northumbrians  who  founded  the  Prudhoe 
Memorial  Home  for  Convalescents  at  Whitley.  In  1867  he  received 
the  only  honour  he  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  accept,  a  seat  on 
the  bench  of  magistrates  for  Newcastle. 


RALPH  PARK  PHILIPSON.  263 

Mr.  Philipson  died  on  the  5th  of  June,  1876,  aged  seventy-five, 
and  was  buried  in  Jesmond  Cemetery.  His  surviving  sons  are  (1) 
Mr.  John  Philipson,  J.  P.,  the  senior  partner  in  the  carriage  manu- 
factory, who  married  the  only  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bruce, 
F.S.A.,  is  a  vice-president  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries 
and  of  the  Institute  of  British  Carriage  Manufacturers,  and  the 
author  of  various  useful  works  on  coach-building,  harness,  etc.;  (2) 
Professor  George  Hare  Philipson,  M.A.  Cantab.,  M.D.  and  D.C.L. 
Dunelm,  F.R.C.P.  London,  J.P.  for  the  city.  Member  of  the 
General  Medical  Council  of  the  United  Kingdom,  Professor  of 
Medicine  and  Member  of  the  Senate  of  the  University  of  Durham, 
President  of  the  Newcastle  College  of  Medicine,  President  of  the 
British  Medical  Association,  1893-94,  Senior  Physician  to  the  Royal 
Infirmary,  Newcastle,  and  author  of  several  medical  works;  (3)  Mr. 
Joseph  Atkinson  Philipson,  solicitor,  who  married  a  daughter  of 
William  Dickinson,  of  Benton  House,  Longbenton,  Alderman  and 
Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Newcastle,  and  a  member  of  the  River 
Tyne  Commission. 


IRalpb  park  pbilipson, 

TOWN    CLERK    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

Ralph  Park  Philipson,  eldest  son  of  Nicholas  Philipson,  by  his 
wife  Dorothy,  only  daughter  of  Thomas  Annett,  and  heiress  of  her 
maternal  grandfather,  Ralph  Park,  was  born  in  Newcastle  on  the 
ist  of  October,  1799.  His  education  was  begun  at  the  Grammar 
School  of  his  native  town,  and  completed  in  that  of  Houghton-le- 
Spring.  Choosing  the  law  for  a  profession,  he  served  articles  with 
John  Trotter  Brockett,  solicitor,  and  in  due  time  was  admitted  an 
attorney.  Mr.  Brockett,  who,  as  his  biography  shows,  devoted  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  to  the  collecting  of  books,  coins,  and  curios, 
found  young  Mr.  Philipson  clever,  competent,  and  willing,  and,  soon 
after  he  had  qualified  himself  to  practice,  admitted  him  into  partner- 
ship. After  Mr.  Brockett's  death  in  1842  the  junior  partner  con- 
tinued the  business  on  his  own  account,  and  the  firm  of  Brockett 
&  Philipson,  18,  Sandhill,  became  that  of  R.  P.  Philipson  at  the 
same  place. 


264  RALPH  PARK  PHILIPS  ON. 

At  an  early  period  of  his  career  Mr.  Philipson  gave  proofs  of 
conspicuous  ability.  Clear-headed  and  painstaking,  with  a  wonder- 
ful faculty  for  grasping  facts  and  marshalling  figures,  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  law  which  older  heads  envied,  he  made  rapid  progress  in  his 
profession.  Long  before  Mr.  Brockett  died,  the  Earl  of  Durham, 
for  whom  the  firm  acted,  extended  confidence  to  Mr.  Philipson. 
With  the  Lambton  influence  at  his  back,  and  the  progressive 
principles  of  the  Lambtons  and  the  Greys  in  his  heart,  the  young 
attorney  became  an  earnest  and  successful  electioneering  agent  for 
the  Liberal  party.  He  helped  to  win  the  battle  of  Parliamentary 
Reform,  and  when  that  object  was  achieved  he  laboured  as  assiduously 
in  the  cause  of  Municipal  Reform.  At  the  public  inquiry  in 
Newcastle  which  preceded  the  Municipal  Reform  Act,  he  attended, 
as  a  member  of  a  committee  of  non-freemen,  to  claim  "  a  better  and 
more  popular  constitution  of  the  government  of  the  town  and  port, 
the  removal  of  all  those  oppressive  imposts,  unequal  privileges, 
mischievous  partialities,  apathetic  indifference,  and  ignorant  regula- 
tions which  have  hitherto  cramped  the  skill,  industry,  and  enterprise 
of  the  inhabitants;  and  the  adoption  of  a  system  which  shall  at  once 
ensure  the  proper  collection  and  application  of  the  revenue  of  the 
Corporation,  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  town  and  district." 
At  the  first  elections  to  the  Reformed  Town  Council  in  December, 
1835,  the  electors  of  North  St.  Andrew's  Ward  sent  him  to  represent 
them,  placing  him  next  to  Dr.  Headlam,  who  headed  the  poll. 

To  describe  the  active  part  which  Mr.  Philipson  played  in  New- 
castle Town  Council  during  the  forty-four  years  that  he  sat  there  as 
Councillor,  Alderman,  and  Town  Clerk  would  be  equivalent  to 
writing  the  municipal  history  of  Newcastle  during  that  period.  John 
Selkirk,  reporter  of  the  Council  "  Proceedings,"  placed  him  at  the 
head  of  the  Councillors  whose  characteristics  he  sketched  in  the 
volume  for  the  year  1841  : — "  Deservedly  the  first  to  be  selected  is 
Mr.  R.  P.  Philipson,  whose  amplitude  of  talent  and  scantiness  of 
speech  are  almost  proverbial.  One  of  the  most  striking  properties  of 
Mr.  Phihpson's  mind  is  his  power  to  express  his  views  in  the  briefest 
language  possible.  You  cannot  well  admire  his  hard,  and  occa- 
sionally somewhat  bitter,  manner  of  doing  this;  but  you  feel  each 
sentence  to  be  so  much  to  the  point,  and  to  contain  so  much  really 
valuable  matter,  that  you  are  carried  along  in  admiration  and  sur- 
prise, as  if  new  lights  were  constantly  flashing  upon  your  mind, 
until  he  suddenly  ceases,  and  leaves  you  wondering  that  you  never 


RALPH  PARK  PHILIPSON.  265 

before  thought  of  what  he  has  said.  He  is  remarkable  for  giving  a 
new  feature,  and  often  a  new  direction,  to  a  discussion.  He  has  the 
judgment  never  to  speak  unless  he  has  something  pertinent  to  say, 
and  which  is  always  well  worth  the  little  trouble  it  appears  to  cost 
him  to  say  it.  Sometimes,  when  a  question  appears  to  be  nearly 
exhausted,  and  one  speaker  is  merely  repeating  the  observations  of 
another,  Mr.  Philipson  will  interpose  a  few  words — rather  magis- 
terially it  may  be — which,  starting,  perhaps,  quite  a  new  view  of  the 
subject,  either  give  rise  to  a  long  debate,  or  suddenly  close  the 
discussion  from  a  conviction  that  he  has  suggested  exactly  the  course 
which  ought  to  be  pursued." 

Mr.  Philipson  retained  his  seat  for  North  St.  Andrew's  Ward  until, 
in  1857,  he  consented  to  be  elected  an  alderman.  The  honour  had 
been  pressed  upon  him  seven  years  before,  but  he  declined  to  accept 
it.  Meanwhile  he  had  been  appointed  a  River  Tyne  Commissioner, 
and  in  the  municipal  year  1855-56  he  filled  the  ofifice  of  Mayor. 
His  term  of  office  covered  the  period  of  the  noisiest  contention  that 
had  occurred  in  the  town  within  living  memory — the  contention 
over  the  appointment  of  Vicar  Moody  to  the  Mastership  of  the 
Mary  Magdalene  Hospital.  The  Mayor  went  with  the  majority, 
and  made  one  of  his  most  effective  speeches  in  support  of  the 
appointment.  Calm  and  unruffled  he  faced  the  storm  that  followed, 
and  when  it  had  passed  over,  and  the  angry  passions  to  which  it 
gave  rise  had  subsided,  most  of  those  who  had  fallen  away  came 
back  to  him,  charmed  by  his  cleverness,  fascinated  by  his  ability,  or 
propitiated  by  his  earnestness  and  zeal  in  promoting  or  defending 
the  material  interests  of  the  town.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  at 
that  time,  and  for  long  after,  Mr.  Philipson  was  virtually  the  ruler  of 
Newcastle.  Down  to  1865,  when  Mr.  Joseph  Cowen,  sen.,  defeated 
Mr.  Somerset  Beaumont,  the  candidates  whom  he  supported  for  the 
representation  of  Newcastle  were  invariably  elected;  down  to  the 
day  of  his  death  the  movements  within  the  Town  Council  to  which 
he  gave  his  adhesion  were  seldom  defeated.  Nobody  quite  under- 
stood how  it  was  done,  but  done  it  was.  He  was  a  consummate 
tactician,  a  past-master  in  "the  art  of  convincing";  when  he  spoke 
his  colleagues  listened,  and  while  they  listened,  they,  or  a  majority 
of  them,  became  convinced  that,  as  Mr.  Selkirk  wrote  in  the  para- 
graph before  quoted,  he  had  suggested  exactly  the  course  which 
ought  to  be  pursued.  Another  quality  which  helped  to  strengthen 
his  influence   in   the   Council   and   the   town   was  his  transparent 


2  66  RALPH  PARK  PHILIPSON. 

honesty,  his  self-denial,  his  contempt  of  office  and  the  honours 
attaching  thereto.  Although  he  was  one  of  the  keenest  and  most 
enthusiastic  agents  that  ever  worked  and  triumphed  for  a  political 
party,  it  is  said  that  he  never  charged  a  farthing  for  his  services; 
although  he  laboured  and  fought  for  Newcastle  the  whole  of  his  long 
life,  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  he  could  be  prevailed  upon 
to  become  an  alderman,  or  to  accept  the  honour  of  the  Mayoralty. 
Whosoever  might  be  accused  of  jobbery,  favouritism,  or  corruption, 
everybody  knew  that  Alderman  Philipson's  hands  were  clean. 

Many  examples  might  be  cited  of  the  use  which  Alderman 
Philipson  made  of  his  commanding  influence  to  foster  and  protect 
the  industries  of  his  native  town,  and  increase  its  prosperity. 
Two  may  suffice.  In  the  Parliamentary  session  of  1856,  Mr. 
Robert  Lowe  brought  in  a  Bill  on  behalf  of  the  Government 
which,  under  the  plea  of  regulating  local  dues  on  shipping,  and 
on  goods  carried  in  ships,  proposed  to  take  from  Municipal 
Corporations  and  other  public  bodies  their  property  in  such  dues, 
and  transfer  them  to  the  Board  of  Trade.  If  this  Bill  had  become 
law  Newcastle  would  have  lost  its  coal  dues  and  town  dues.  Alder- 
man Philipson  was  Mayor,  and  he  forthwith  called  the  townspeople 
together  in  the  Guildhall  and,  in  a  long  and  powerful  address,  to  use 
a  common  expression,  tore  the  Bill  to  tatters.  His  speech,  printed 
and  circulated  in  a  twelve-page  pamphlet,  produced  a  marked  eifect 
throughout  the  country.  Ten  days  after  it  was  delivered  Lord 
Palmerston,  the  Premier,  announced  that  the  Bill  would  be  with- 
drawn. In  1 87 1,  a  prolonged  and  stubborn  strike  for  a  nine- 
hours'  working  day  paralysed  trade  throughout  the  northern 
district.  Various  conferences  had  taken  place  between  the  con- 
tending parties  without  effecting  a  settlement.  At  this  juncture  Mr, 
Philipson  had  a  consultation  with  Mr,  Joseph  Cowen,  jun,,  and  he, 
representing  the  employers,  and  Mr.  Cowen  acting  on  behalf  of 
the  men,  soon  found  a  basis  of  agreement,  and  the  strike  was 
terminated. 

When  Mr.  John  Clayton  announced  his  intended  retirement 
from  the  Town  Clerkship  of  Newcastle,  in  1867,  all  eyes  were 
turned  towards  Alderman  Philipson  as  the  one  person  specially 
qualified  to  succeed  him.  No  living  man,  other  than  Mr,  Clayton, 
possessed  such  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  business  of  the 
Corporation  as  he;  no  living  man  wielded  the  same  influence  and 
authority  in  the  Council.     His  reluctance  to  take  the  office  being 


GEORGE  PICKERING.  267 

overcome,  he  was  appointed  Town  Clerk  with  the  hearty  approval 
of  the  whole  community. 

In  his  professional  career  Mr.  Philipson  filled  several  important 
offices.  He  was  solicitor  to  the  North-Eastern  Railway  Company 
for  the  local  portion  of  their  business ;  to  the  Newcastle  and 
Gateshead  Water  Company;  the  Newcastle  and  Gateshead  Gas 
Company;  and  the  Masters  and  Brethren  of  the  Trinity  House; 
and  Clerk  of  the  Peace  for  the  county  of  Durham.  Outside  of 
it  he  was  a  member  of  the  coal  trade,  being  the  owner,  or  one 
of  the  principal  owners,  of  Cassop  Colliery  in  the  county  of 
Durham. 

Mr.  Philipson  attended  to  his  duties  as  Town  Clerk  till  within 
a  few  days  of  his  death.  He  occupied  his  accustomed  place  in  the 
Town  Council  on  the  3rd  of  December,  1879,  and  on  the  i6th  of 
that  month,  in  his  eighty-first  year,  he  died,  and  was  buried  in 
Jesmond  Cemetery.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  Hilton, 
cornfactor  and  miller  in  Newcastle,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons, 
two  of  whom,  Mr.  Hilton  Philipson,  J. P.  of  Newcastle,  and  Mr, 
Ralph  Philipson,  of  London,  survived  him.  Mrs.  Philipson  died  in 
February,  1873,  and  to  her  memory  was  erected  the  spacious 
building  facing  the  Town  Moor  of  Newcastle,  which  bears  the 
name  of  the  "  Philipson  Memorial  Orphan  Asylum." 

Nicholas  John,  a  younger  brother  of  the  Town  Clerk,  born  on 
the  23rd  of  November,  1801,  published  in  1820,  Flower's  "Heraldic 
Visitation  of  the  County  Palatine  of  Durham  in  the  year  1572," 
and  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-four. 


MINOR    POET. 

Under  the  names  of  "  Bedingfeld  "  and  "  Ellis  "  some  account  has 
been  given  in  this  series  of  a  triumvirate  of  lawyers'  clerks,  who,  to- 
wards the  end  of  last  century,  varied  the  monotony  of  engrossing  and 
conveyancing  by  recreative  excursions  into  literature  under  the  wing 
of  their  employers,  Messrs.  Thomas  Davidson  &  Sons,  attorneys,  in 
Newcastle.  George  Pickering,  the  other  member  of  the  group,  now 
takes  his  turn  in  the  list. 

George  Pickering  was  the  eldest  son  of  a  land  steward  of  the  same 


268  GEORGE  PICKERING. 

name,  who  for  some  years  looked  after  the  estates  of  Sir  Lancelot 
AUgood,  of  Nun  wick,  and  afterwards  those  of  Sir  William  Middleton, 
of  Belsay.  The  place  of  his  nativity  was  Simonburn,  North  Tyne, 
in  the  baptismal  register  of  which  parish  his  name  is  entered  under 
date  January  nth,  1758.  He  received  the  usual  country  schooling, 
his  master  being  Joseph  Atkinson,  one  of  those  clever  mathe- 
matical teachers,  which,  for  many  generations,  the  banks  of  the  North 
Tyne  and  Redewater  were  famed  for  producing.  At  a  suitable  age 
he  was  sent  to  Haydon  Bridge  Grammar  School  to  pick  up  the 
classics,  and  in  December,  1776,  he  took  his  seat  as  a  clerk  in  the 
office  of  the  Messrs.  Davidson. 

The  arithmetical  knowledge  with  which  Mr.  Atkinson  had  en- 
dowed his  pupil,  aided  by  a  manly  bearing,  and  an  intelligent 
interest  in  office  routine,  gave  the  new  clerk  a  firm  position  with  his 
employers.  Before  long  he  was  promoted  to  a  post  of  greater  trust 
and  confidence.  The  Messrs.  Davidson  were  stamp  distributors 
for  Northumberland,  Newcastle,  and  Berwick,  and  they  put  the 
management  of  that  department  in  Mr.  Pickering's  hands.  He  was 
thus  engaged  when,  in  1780,  Mr.  Bedingfeld  came  to  occupy  an 
adjoining  stool,  and  the  poetic  faculty  which  each  of  them  possessed 
began  to  find  expression  and  to  meet  with  encouragement.  A  couple 
of  years  later  Mr.  Ellis  came  upon  the  scene,  and  then  followed 
those  literary  diversions  which  are  enshrined  in  Mr.  Ellis's  book. 
While  Mr.  Bedingfeld  played  the  learned  philosopher,  and  Mr. 
Ellis  the  sentimental  swain,  Pickering  was  the  jovial  and  convivial 
poet  of  the  set,  who  kept  them  all  in  good  humour.  He  had  a 
keener  sense  of  wit  than  his  companions,  a  wider  range  of  style,  and 
a  faculty  of  imitation  which  sometimes  bordered  upon  plagiarism, 
and  to  which  perhaps  they  did  not  aspire.  Three  of  his  pieces  are 
printed  in  Bell's  "  Rhymes  of  the  Northern  Bards,"  and  of  another, 
entitled  "  Donocht-Head,"  the  first  verse  of  which  reads  as  follows, 
Robert  Burns  wrote  that  he  would  have  given  ten  pounds  to  have 
been  the  author: — 

"  Keen  blaws  the  wind  o'er  Donocht-head, 

The  snaw  drives  snelly  through  the  dale; 
The  gaberlunzie  tirls  my  sneck, 

And,  shivering,  tells  his  waefu'  tale. 
'  Cauld  is  the  night — O !  let  me  in. 

And  dinna  let  your  minstrel  fa', 
And  dinna  let  his  winding-sheet 

Be  naithing  but  a  wreath  o'  snaw.'  " 


GEORGE  PICKERING.  269 

Mr.  Pickering's  principal  contribution  to  Ellis's  collection  is  a 
clever  literary  hoax,  which  he  perpetrated  when  Sir  H.  G.  Liddell, 
returning  from  Lapland,  brought  two  Lapp  girls  to  Ravensworth 
Castle.  He  concocted  a  rhythmical  ditty  of  outlandish  and  uncouth 
words,  which  nobody  had  ever  seen  before,  and,  with  the  initials 
"  T.  S.,"  sent  it  to  the  Newcastle  Courant  as  a  genuine  song  to 
which  he  had  often  listened  in  Lapland,  and,  to  his  great  delight, 
had  heard  repeated  by  the  Lapp  maidens  at  Ravensworth.  Thus 
it  began : — 

"  Ouk  fruezen  tharanno  el  Tome  vau  zien  ; 

Zo  fruezen  Lulhea  thwe  zarro  a  rien : 

Thwe  zarro  a  rien  pa  Lulhea  teway, 

Zo  fleuris  erzacken  par  etta  octa." 

The  song,  accompanied  by  a  translation  from  the  same  pen, 
appeared  in  the  Newcastle  Courant  on  the  2nd  of  September,  1786, 
and  on  the  21st  of  October  following,  Mr.  Bedingfeld  published  in 
the  same  paper,  signing  himself  "  W.  V.,"  a  pretended  criticism 
of  the  translation,  showing  that  "  T.  S."  had  failed  to  grasp  the 
subtleties  of  the  Lapponian  idiom,  and .  offering  a  new  and  more 
correct  rendering.  The  trick  succeeded  beyond  the  expectation  of 
its  perpetrators.  An  ingenious  composer  set  the  words  to  music, 
and  published  them  as  a  native  song,  which  the  simple-hearted 
foreigners  at  Ravensworth  were  in  the  habit  of  singing  !  Nor  was 
that  all.  Pickering's  pseudo-translation  actually  appeared  as  genuine 
in  an  account  of  the  Lapland  Tour,  published  by  Mr.  Matthew 
Con  sett,  one  of  Sir  H.  G.  Liddell's  fellow-travellers,  and  from  thence 
was  copied  into  some  of  the  London  magazines  ! 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  this  remarkable  imposition,  Mr. 
Pickering  left  Newcastle.  His  subsequent  career  is  involved  in 
obscurity.  He  seems  to  have  fallen  into  intemperate  habits,  and  to 
have  drifted  aimlessly  about,  never  settling  down  to  steady  and  con- 
tinuous employment,  or  making  any  serious  effort  to  restrain  himself 
from  following  vicious  courses.  In  his  declining  years  he  was  taken 
care  of  by  a  sister  at  Kibblesworth.  In  her  house  he  died  on  the 
28th  July,  1826,  aged  sixty-eight,  and  was  buried  in  Lamesley 
Churchyard,  where,  shortly  afterwards,  a  tombstone  was  set  up  "  by 
his  sister,  Elizabeth  Pickering,  from  motives  of  true  affection  to  her 
much  beloved  and  esteemed  brother." 


2  70  THE    WILLIAM  PROCTERS. 


^be  Milliam  Procters, 

FATHER    AND    SON. 

For  the  better  part  of  a  century,  two  notable  clergymen  named 
William  Procter  filled  prominent  places  in  the  religious,  educa- 
tional, and  social  life  of  the  northern  part  of  Northumberland.  One 
of  them  was  a  preacher  and  pedagogue,  the  other  a  parish  clergyman 
and  author. 

William  Procter,  the  elder,  a  native  of  Long  Preston  in  Craven, 
was  born  on  the  4th  of  October,  1762.  He  was  educated  at 
Giggleswick  Grammar  School,  under  the  Rev.  William  Paley,  father 
of  Dr.  Paley,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  obtained  the  mastership  of 
the  endowed  school  of  Bowes,  near  Barnard  Castle.  He  married, 
in  1784,  Mary  Aislabie,  a  girl  of  eighteen,  and  having  prepared  for 
holy  orders,  was  ordained  deacon  in  1791,  and  priest  the  year 
following,  being  admitted  at  the  same  time  to  the  assistant  curacy 
of  Bowes  Church.  In  July,  1794,  he  succeeded  Abram  Rumney 
as  Master  of  the  Grammar  School  of  Alnwick. 

Mr.  Procter's  career  in  Alnwick  is  described  by  Tate,  the  historian 
of  that  town,  who  was  one  of  his  pupils,  as  highly  successful.  Many 
of  his  scholars  filled  useful  and  important  stations  in  after-life,  and 
some  distinguished  themselves ;  among  them  were  John  Baird,  an 
eminent  surgeon  in  Newcastle;  Robert  Weddell,  of  Berwick,  solicitor, 
and  Thomas  Tate,  F.R.S.,  Mathematical  Master  of  Kneller  Hall 
College.  "So  much  was  Mr.  Procter  esteemed  by  the  inhabitants, 
that  when  the  curacy  of  Alnwick  became  vacant,  they  presented 
a  petition  in  his  favour  to  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  who,  in  con- 
sequence, conferred  on  him  the  living  in  July,  1799.  Other  and 
more  lucrative  preferments  followed;  in  181 1  the  vicarage  of 
Longhoughton,  and  the  following  year  the  vicarage  of  Lesbury. 
At  this  time  he  obtained  the  degree  of  M.A.  from  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  was  appointed  chaplain  to  Baron  Percy.  Notwith- 
standing these  promotions,  his  home  and  his  affections  were  at 
Alnwick,  where  he  continued  to  teach  the  grammar  school,  and  to 
live  in  the  old  house  connected  with  it." 

In  his  declining  years,  Mr.  Procter  was  the  recipient  of  various 
proofs  of  the  good  will  and  esteem  of  the  people  among  whom  he 


I 


THE   WILLIAM  PROCTERS.  271 

laboured.  The  parishioners  of  Alnwick  celebrated  the  thirty-sixth 
anniversary  of  his  incumbency  by  giving  him  a  handsome  tea-service 
of  silver;  and  his  old  scholars,  in  commemoration  of  the  forty-second 
year  of  his  head-mastership,  presented  him  with  a  piece  of  plate  bear- 
ing an  appropriate  Latin  inscription.  He  died  in  the  old  Grammar 
School  House  on  the  19th  March,  1839,  aged  seventy-seven,  and 
was  buried  in  the  porch  of  St.  Michael's  Church.  Five  sons  survived 
him — George,  a  surgeon  in  the  navy;  Thomas,  a  merchant;  Richard, 
rector  of  Kenninghall,  Norfolk;  Aislabie,  vicar  of  Alwinton  ;  and 
William,  incumbent  of  Doddington. 

William  Procter,  third  son  of  the  schoolmaster,  was  born  at 
Bowes  on  the  17th  of  March,  1791,  and  was  educated  by  his  father 
at  Alnwick  Grammar  School.  His  acquirements  in  classical  learning, 
and  his  sober  and  studious  habits,  pointed  to  the  ministry  or  a  pro- 
fessorship as  his  proper-  course  of  life,  and  with  that  object  in  view 
he  was  sent  to  St.  Catharine's  Hall,  Cambridge.  He  took  his  B.A. 
degree  (Senior  Optime)  in  1S13,  and  that  of  M.A.  three  years  later, 
and  was  elected  in  due  course  fellow  of  his  Hall.  On  obtaining  his 
M.A.  degree  he  entered  into  holy  orders,  being  ordained  deacon  by 
the  Bishop  of  Durham  in  181 6,  and  priest  by  the  Bishop  of  Ely  in 
1819. 

Mr.  Procter's  first  clerical  employment  in  the  North  of  England 
came  to  him  in  1824,  when  the  Mercers'  Company  of  London,  under 
the  Fishbourne  bequest,  appointed  him  lecturer  of  Berwick,  in  suc- 
cession to  the  Rev.  William  Rumney.  The  name  of  Rumney,  it 
may  be  remarked  in  passing,  is  not  a  common  one  in  North-Country 
history,  and,  therefore,  there  is  something  noteworthy  in  the  co- 
incidence that  his  father's  predecessor  at  Alnwick,  as  well  as  his  own 
at  Berwick,  bore  that  name.  In  1829  Mr.  Procter  became  curate  of 
Norham;  in  1833  he  went  for  a  short  time  to  assist  his  father  at 
Alnwick;  and  the  following  year  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  gave 
him  the  living  with  which  his  name  is  identified — that  of  Doddington, 
near  Wooler.  His  subsequent  honours  were  the  degree  of  M.A., 
conferred,  with  an  honorary  canonry  at  Durham,  in  1854,  and 
election  as  rural  dean  of  Bamborough  from  1862  to  1866. 

The  mark  which  the  Rev.  William  Procter  of  Doddington  made 
upon  the  l^orth-Country  was  polemical.  Being  a  man  of  energy  and 
resource,  who  kept  himself  abreast  of  public  movements,  here  and 
elsewhere,  his  pen  was  pretty  constantly  employed  in  current  con- 
troversies.     The   local  press.   Church  papers,   and  denominational 


2  72'  THE   WILLIAM  PROCTERS. 

magazines  alike  testified  to  his  mental  activity.  Whenever  Church 
principles,  as  he  understood  them,  needed  strengthening,  or  defend- 
ing, he  was  ready  to  meet  all  comers.  He  wrote  earnestly  but 
without  asperity,  ardently  but  with  much  self-suppression,  upon  all 
sorts  of  subjects,  and  his  writings  had  this  merit,  that  if  they  did  not 
always  convince  his  opponents,  they  rarely  offended  them.  His 
principal  publications  are  these: — 

"Five  Discourses;  (l)  On  the  Personal  Office  of  Christ,  and  (2)  Of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  (3)  On  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity;  (4)  On  Faith;  (5)  On  Regenera- 
tion."    1824. 

"A  Sermon  on  the  Epiphany,  with  a  Chronological  Appendix."     1850. 

"  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Doddington."     1850. 

"  Wiseman  Weighed,  or  the  Tactics  of  Trent."     1851. 

"  Marriage  of  a  Deceased  Wife's  Sister  shown  to  be  forbidden  in  Scripture." 
1858. 

"Bishop  Colenso's  Principal  Objections  to  the  Historic  Truths  of  the  Penta- 
teuch Anticipated  and  Answered  more  than  Two  Hundred  Years  Ago  by 
Archbishop  Usher."     1863. 

"Confirmation."     A  Sermon.     1866. 

An  appreciative  memoir  in  the  "  History  of  the  Berwickshire 
NaturaHsts'  Club"  for  1877  shows  another  side  of  Mr.  Procter's 
character: — "As  a  member  of  the  Club,  Mr.  Procter  took  a  cordial 
interest  in  its  well-being,  and  assisted  in  its  researches.  Nearly  all 
the  Rock-inscriptions  in  the  Doddington  district  were  discovered  by 
him,  and  the  members  of  his  family.  To  the  records  of  the  Club  he 
did  not  largely  contribute,  but  we  owe  to  him  the  revisal  of  his 
excellent  son's  notes  on  Chatton;  a  memoir  of  his  brother-in-law, 
Mr.  William  Dickson,  of  Alnwick;  and  some  remarks  on  Bishop 
Bek's  disposal  of  the  Alnwick  Barony.  About  a  year  before  his 
death,  he  had  finished  in  MS.  a  history  of  Doddington." 

Mr.  Procter  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  continued  his  preaching  and 
letter-writing  down  to  the  last  few  weeks  of  his  existence.  Although 
eighty-five  years  old,  he  preached  as  usual  on  the  17th  November, 
1876,  and  died  on  the  30th  December  following. 


%: 


JOHN  RA  WLE  T.  273 


3obu  IRawlct, 

LECTURER    AND    AUTHOR. 

I^f  the  later  years  of  Charles  the  Second's  reign  a  Westmorland 
clergyman,  the  Rev.  John  Rawlet,  vicar  of  Kirkby  Stephen,  received 
from  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle  the  lectureship  of  St.  Nicholas' 
Church.  Why  he  left  the  living  of  Kirkby  Stephen,  to  which  he 
had  been  appointed  by  Philip,  Lord  Wharton,  only  six  years  before, 
is  not  apparent.  It  may  have  been  to  improve  his  position,  for  the 
Westmorland  benefice  was  poor,  not  exceeding  fifty  pounds  a  year, 
while  the  lectureship  at  Newcastle  was  worth  ninety  pounds  per 
annum,  with  prospects  of  promotion.  Whether  that,  or  some  other 
reason,  influenced  his  removal,  is  not  important;  it  is  sufficient  to 
know  that,  in  June,  1679,  when  the  Rev.  John  March  was  raised 
from  the  lectureship  to  the  vicarage  of  Newcastle,  Mr.  Rawlet  was 
appointed  his  successor. 

Nothing  has  come  down  to  us  respecting  Mr.  Rawlet's  early 
history,  and  very  little  can  be  learned  about  his  career  in  Newcastle. 
He  is  known  by  what  he  wrote,  rather  than  by  what  he  did.  For 
his  tastes  being  literary,  his  habits  were  bookish  and  sedentary,  and 
in  the  public  affairs  of  the  town  he  took  no  sort  of  interest.  He 
was  preacher  and  teacher,  student  and  author,  nothing  more.  His 
patrons,  the  Corporation,  were  impressed  by  his  pulpit  work,  and  in 
1682,  when  they  restored  the  old  chapel  of  St.  Anne,  ruinous  from 
the  time  of  the  Reformation,  they  appointed  him  to  be  the  first 
lecturer  at  that  place.  His  duties  were  to  preach  every  Sunday 
morning,  and  to  expound  the  Catechism  every  Sunday  afternoon,  for 
which  services  a  stipend  of  ^^30  a  year  was  added  to  his  salary  as 
lecturer  at  St.  Nicholas'.  The  Vicar  opened  St.  Anne's  with  a 
characteristic  sermon,  which  was  afterwards  published  under  the 
title  of  "  Th'  Encaenia  of  St.  Ann's  Chappel  in  Sandgate,"  wherein 
he  commended  the  public  spirit  of  the  Corporation  in  restoring  the 
sacred  edifice,  and  eulogised  the  new  duty  which  Mr.  Rawlet  had 
undertaken,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  "  the  shameful  neglect  of 
Catechising"  that  had  given  birth  to  "those  numerous  and  dangerous 
Sects  which  were  spawn'd  in  the  late  times  of  Anarchy  and  Con- 
fusion." 

VOL.  in.  18 


274 


JOHN  RAWLET. 


To  what  extent  Mr.  Rawlet  sympathised  with  the  Vicar's  views  on 
political  questions  does  not  appear.  He  was,  probably,  too  fond  of 
his  books  to  worry  himself  about  the  divine  right  of  the  Stuarts  to 
the  throne;  of  too  gentle  and  placable  a  temperament  to  deal  out 
"  death  and  damnation  "  to  his  opponents.  Bourne  describes  him 
as  "a  very  pious  and  charitable  man."  "He  seem'd  to  have 
imitated  the  example  of  Onesiphorus  to  St.  Paul,  in  making  it  his 
Business  to  find  out  the  Sick  and  Needy,  that  he  might  have  the 
Pleasure  and  Happiness  of  assisting  them.  For  he  sought  them  out 
very  diligently  and  found  them,  and,  therefore,  the  Lord  will  shew 
Mercy  unto  Him  in  that  Day."     In  a  similar  strain  wrote  Nicolson 


WMmm  iBoi>. 


and  Burn,  the  historians  of  Westmorland  and  Cumberland,  when 
entering  him  in  their  list  of  Vicars  of  Kirkby  Stephen: — "His 
character  as  a  most  exemplary,  pious,  and  good  man  remaineth  to 
this  day" — /.(?.,  nearly  a  hundred  years  after  his  death. 

Mr.  Rawlet  continued  his  ministrations  at  St.  Nicholas'  and  St. 
Anne's  till  the  autumn  of  1686.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  the 
Corporation  gave  him  the  sum  of  forty  shillings  "to  buy  books." 
Before  he  could  have  had  much  time  to  enjoy  the  gift  he  fell  ill ;  on 
the  28th  of  September,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-four,  he  passed  away; 
a  couple  of  days  later  the  graveyard  of  St.  Nicholas'  received  his 
remains. 


JOHN  RA  WLET.  275 

An  incident  inexpressibly  pathetic  preceded  his  decease.  The 
biographer  of  Ambrose  Barnes  relates  it  in  a  passing  reference  to 
John  Butler  (a  relative  of  the  alderman's  wife),  who  was  Sheriff  of 
Newcastle  in  1652: — "This  gentleman  left  a  daughter,  a  sober  and 
rehgious  woman,  who  married  Mr.  John  Rawlet,  a  conformist 
minister,  a  devout  and  laborious  lecturer  at  St.  Nicholas'  Church. 
They  had  been  some  time  in  love  together;  but  falling  sick  he,  at 
her  request,  that  she  might  bear  his  name,  married  her  upon  his 
deathbed,  and  left  her  both  a  maid,  a  wife,  and  a  widow."  Seven- 
teen years  later  the  Registers  of  St.  Nicholas'  disclose  the  sequel  to 
this  affecting  narrative : — "1703.  September  3.  Mrs.  Ann  Rawlet, 
buried." 

Considering  the  early  age  at  which  he  died,  Mr.  Rawlet  was  an 
industrious  author.  He  published  the  following  books,  most  of 
them  written  and  issued  while  he  was  in  Newcastle  : — 

"  The  Christian  Monitor,  Containing  an  Earnest  Exhortation  to  an  Holy  Life; 
With  some  Directions  in  order  thereto ;  Written  in  a  Plain  and  Easie  Stile,  for  all 
Sorts  of  People.'"' 

"  An  Explication  of  the  Creed,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
With  the  Addition  of  some  Forms  of  Prayer." 

"A  Treatise  of  Sacramental  Covenanting  with  Christ;  Shewing  the  Ungodly 
their  Contempt  of  Christ  in  their  Contempt  of  the  Sacramental  Covenant :  And 
calling  them  (not  to  a  Profanation  of  this  Holy  Ordinance  but)  to  an  Understand- 
ing, Serious,  Entire  Dedication  of  themselves  to  God  in  the  Sacramental  Covenant, 
and  a  Believing  Commemoration  of  the  Death  of  Christ.  Written  by  J.  Rawlet, 
B.D.,  Author  of  the  Christian  Monitor."  London:  1682.  This  work  ran  into 
several  editions;  the  later  ones  containing  "A  Preface  chiefly  designed  for  the 
Satisfaction  of  Dissenters,  and  to  Exhort  all  Men  to  Peace  and  Unity.  Not 
before  Printed."  The  fifth  Edition,  "Printed  by  W.  Bonny,  for  Sam.  Manship, 
at  the  Black  Bull  in  Cornhill,  near  the  Royal  Exchange,  1692,"  is  a  book  of  xxxvi.- 
240  pp.,  sm.  8vo. 

"  A  Dialogue  Betwixt  Two  Protestants  (in  Answer  to  a  Popish  Catechism,  called 
A  Short  Catechism  against  all  Sectaries),  Plainly  shewing  That  the  Members  of  the 
Church  of  England  are  no  Sectaries,  but  True  Catholicks ;  and  that  Our  Church 
is  a  Sound  Part  of  Christ's  Holy  Catholick  Church,  in  whose  Communion,  there- 
fore, the  People  of  this  Nation  are  most  strictly  bound  in  Conscience  to  remain." 
First  Edition,  1685.  Second  Edition,  Corrected — London  :  Printed  for  Samuel 
Tidmarsh,  at  the  Iving's  Head  in  Cornhill,  near  the  Royal  Exchange,  1686.  xvi.- 
247  pp.,  sip.  Svo. 

Bourne  attributes  another  book  to  Mr.  Rawlet's  pen — viz.,  "  Solo- 
mon's Prescription  against  the  Plague,"  published  in  1685,  but  no 
other  reference  to  it  occurs  in  local  history. 


2  7  6  JOHN  RA  WLE  T. 

On  the  strength  of  these  writings,  the  Rev.  James  Granger,  com- 
piling his  "  Biographical  History  of  England"  in  1768,  includes  Mr. 
Rawlet  among  the  literary  notabilities  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
He  describes  him  as  "  a  man  distinguished  by  his  many  and  great 
virtues,  and  his  excellent  preaching."  "  He  thoroughly  understood 
the  nature  of  a  popular  discourse,  of  which  he  has  left  us  a  specimen 
in  his  Christian  Monitor;  which  has  been  oftener  printed  than  any 
other  tract  of  practical  divinity.  The  late  ingenious  and  learned  Mr. 
James  Merrick,  a  well-known  clergyman  of  Reading,  distributed  near 
10,000  copies  of  this  excellent  tract,  chiefly  among  the  soldiers." 

In  Dr.  James  Stonehouse's  "  Friendly  Letter  to  a  Patient  just 
admitted  into  an  Infirmary"  the  writer  recommends  to  persons  of 
"tolerable  circumstances"  Rawlet's  Treatise  on  Sacramental  Coven- 
anting, which,  he  adds,  has  "passed  through  eight  editions,  and  is 
a  lively  and  judicious  book,  in  which  there  is  a  happy  mixture  of  the 
instructive  and  pathetic." 

After  Mr.  Rawlet's  death  his  friends  issued — 

"  Poetick  Miscellanies  of  Mr.  John  Rawlet  B.D.  and  lale  Lecturer  of  St. 
Nicholas'  Church  in  the  Town  and  County  of  New-Castle  upon  Tine.  Licensed 
Novemb.  22,  1685,  Rob.  Midgley."  London  :  Printed  for  Samuel  Tidmarsh,  at 
the  King's  Head  in  Cornhill  near  the  Royal  Exchange,  1687,  144  pp.,  sm.  8vo. 
This  book  also  went  into  at  least  three  editions.  The  third  bears  the  London  im- 
print of  "  Edmund  Parker,  at  the  Bible  and  Crown  in  Lombard  Street,  1721." 

Rawlet's  "  Miscellanies "  consist  for  the  most  part  of  devotional 
pieces,  paraphrases,  and  translations.  One  of  them,  "An  Account 
of  my  life  in  the  North,"  illustrates  the  pious  disposition,  gentle 
spirit,  and  contented  mind  attributed  to  the  author  in  Barnes's 
Memoirs  and  Bourne's  History  : — 

"  Riches  I  have  not,  nor  do  riches  need. 
Whilst  here  at  easy  rates  we  clothe  and  feed. 
I  have  no  Servants  whom  I  may  command, 
Nor  have  I  work  that  needs  a  Servant's  hand. 
I  am  not  high  enough  to  envied  be, 
Nor  do  I  one  whom  I  should  envy  see; 
Here's  no  applause  to  make  me  proud  or  vain. 
Nor  do  I  meet  with  censures  or  disdain. 
And  if  I  want  the  comfort  of  a  Wife, 
I  have  the  pleasures  of  a  single  life ; 
If  I  no  Gallants  here,  nor  Beauties  see. 
From  slavish  Love  and  Courtship  I  am  free ; 
What  fine  things  else  you  in  the  South  can  name, 
Our  North  can  show  as  good,  if  not  the  same  ; 


SIR   WILLIAM  READE.  277 

Ev'n  as  in  Winter  you  have  shorter  Nights, 
But  Summer  us  with  longer  Days  requites. 
Thus  if  my  want  of  joy  makes  life  less  sweet, 
Death  then  will  seem  less  bitter  when  we  meet. 
But  what  is  this  World's  Joy?    'Tis  Innocence 
And  Virtue  that  do  truest  Joys  dispence; 
If  Innocence  and  Virtue  with  me  dwell, 
They'll  make  a  Paradise  of  an  Hermit's  Cell."' 

At  the  end  of  the  1721  edition  of  the  "Miscellanies"  is  a  list  of 
the  "Books  written  by  Mr.  John  Rawlet,  B.D.,  and  sold  by  Edmund 
Parker,  at  the  Bible  and  Crown  in  Lombard  Street."  Containing  all 
the  works  enumerated  above,  except  "  Solomon's  Prescription  against 
the  Plague,"  the  list  shows  that  at  that  date,  thirty-five  years  after 
his  death,  the  writings  of  Mr,  Rawlet  were  serving  their  original 
purpose  of  strengthening  the  faith,  and  aiding  the  devotion  of 
Evangelical  Christendom. 


Sir  Milliam  IRcabc, 

AN    ELIZABETH.\N    HERO. 

During  the  Border  warfare  of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  gallant 
soldier,  who  figures  in  history  as  Captain  Reade,  acquired  fortune 
and  achieved  distinction.  He  makes  his  first  appearance  in  North- 
Country  annals  as  the  occupant  of  a  responsible  post  in  Border 
administration,  and  the  hero  of  an  important  event  connected  with 
it.  Ridpath,  describing  one  of  those  spirited  incursions  which  kept 
both  nations  for  centuries  in  a  state  of  ferment  and  disquietude, 
introduces  the  captain,  under  date  1557,  as  Governor  of  the  fortress 
of  Wark-on-Tweed,  which  fortress  a  mixed  army  of  Frenchmen  and 
Scots  set  themselves  down  to  besiege.  The  besiegers  were  acting 
without  orders  from  their  leaders,  and  being  recalled,  commenced  to 
retreat;  whereupon  they  were  attacked  by  some  Borderers,  and  other 
forces  of  the  English.  "  The  aggressors,  repulsed  by  the  Scots,  were 
retiring  in  distress,  when  Captain  Reade,  the  Governor  of  the  Castle, 
made  a  sally  for  their  relief,  and  renewing  the  fight,  the  Scots  were 
obliged  to  retire  in  their  turn,  and  to  cross  the  river  with  precipita- 
tion." 

From  the  date  of  this  event  there  is  a  fairly  continuous  record  of 


278  SIR   WILLIAM  RE  A  DE. 

Captain  Reade's  military  services  and  public  career.  We  find  him, 
the  following  year,  engaged  under  Sir  Henry  Percy  and  Sir  George 
Bowes,  in  a  raid  through  the  Merse.  "  There  they  burnt  Dunse  and 
Langton,  and  were  returning  homeward  with  a  great  booty  of  cattle, 
when  the  Scottish  forces  that  lay  at  Kelso,  etc.,  came  up  with  them 
at  Swinton.  The  Scottish  foot,  trusting  to  the  superior  number  of 
their  horse,  made  a  bold  charge  on  the  infantry  of  the  English,  who 
were  obliged  to  give  way.  But  they  were  restored  to  order,  and 
kept  on  their  ground  by  the  bravery  of  Sir  Henry  Lee,  Captain 
Reade,  and  other  officers,"  and  in  the  end  the  Scottish  infantry  were 
all  either  slain  or  taken  prisoners. 

Distinguishing  himself  in  these  frays  and  skirmishes.  Captain 
Reade  received  promotion.  He  was  appointed  one  of  the  captains 
of  Berwick,  and  Captain  of  Holy  Island  and  the  Fames.  His  duties 
in  Islandshire  did  not  require  him  to  live  there;  he  was  allowed  to 
have  a  deputy  while  he  resided  with  the  garrison  at  Berwick.  We 
obtain  a  glimpse  of  him  and  of  his  men  at  this  time,  through  a  letter 
which  Sir  Francis  Leek,  Deputy-Governor  of  the  old  Border  Town, 
sent  to  Secretary  Cecil.  This  candid  friend  of  Her  Majesty's  forces 
informed  the  great  courtier  that  he  feared  the  garrison  of  Berwick 
were  "  fonder  of  thieving  than  of  sermon  hearing."  "  The  preacher," 
he  adds,  "is  almost  weary.  He  cannot  bring  Mr.  Somerset  nor 
Mr.  Reade  to  hear  a  sermon  ! "  From  which  incident,  it  may  be 
conjectured  that  the  Captain  of  Holy  Island,  although  a  brave 
soldier,  was  by  no  means  a  devout  one. 

Captain  Reade  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  "  State  Papers 
and  Letters  of  Sir  Ralph  Sadler."  In  a  letter  to  John  Knox, 
dated  August  20th,  1559,  desiring  conference  with  "Mr.  Henry 
Balnaves,  or  som  other  discrete  and  trustie  man,  for  the  better 
expedicion  of  this  grete  and  weightie  busyness  which  you  have 
in  hande,"  Sadler  expresses  the  opinion  that  "  if  Mr.  Balnaves,  or 
who  soever  shall  com,  it  shalbe  best  that  he  com  by  sea  to  Holy 
Ilande,  there  to  remayne  quyetly  with  Capitayn  Rede,  till  I  may  be 
advertised  of  his  arryvall  there."  A  few  days  later  the  Lords  of  the 
Privy  Council  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  and  Sir  Ralph, 
stating  that  "  fiftye  soldiours  of  Captain  Read's  bande  remayning  at 
Warke,  mighte  be  removed  to  Berwicke,"  as  they  had  been  advised, 
"  and  joyned  to  the  rest  of  the  said  Captain  Read's  bande  servinge 
there."  These  references  serve  to  show  that  at  the  time  when  Sir 
Ralph   Sadler  was  in  the  North  intriguing  for  his   royal   mistress 


S/J?   WILLIAM  READE.  279 

against  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  Captain  Reade  was  in  confidential 
communication  with  that  astute  diplomatist  as  a  faithful  servant 
of  the  English  Crown.  His  fidelity  was  rewarded  a  little  later 
on,  by  a  lease  from  the  Queen  of  the  Priory  and  its  belongings 
at  Holy  Island,  and  of  lands  and  tenements,  the  water-mill,  the 
Grange,  and  some  gardens  at  Fenham — a  village  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Priory  ruins. 

In  1569  the  rebellion  of  the  Earls  broke  out,  and  the  Governor 
of  Holy  Island  was  among  those  who  were  suspected  of  sympathy 
with  the  rebel  cause.  It  was  an  unfounded  suspicion,  based  upon 
the  innuendo  of  Christopher  Norton,  who  tried  to  conceal  his  own 
complicity  in  the  insurrection  by  casting  doubts  upon  the  loyalty  of 
others;  but  it  caused  Captain  Reade  much  trouble.  Constable,  the 
spy,  writing  to  Sir  Ralph  Sadler  on  the  15th  of  January,  1570,  tells 
the  whole  story: — "Crystoffer  Norton  can  tell  yow  of  Captayn  Read's 
part;  he  was  his  soldyer,  and  towld  me  an  yll  favored  tayl  of  hym 
the  last  tyme  I  was  at  Brawnspeth  before  thys,  but  I  thynk  he  had 
rather  dye  than  accuse.  I  humeble  crave  pardon  becaus  I  never 
remembered  Crystoffer  Norton's  words  when  I  ether  wrote  or  spak 
to  you;  the  words  were  thes: — 'Yf  Captayn  Read,  my  captayn,  had 
beyn  so  faythfuU  a  man  of  hys  promes,  as  men  judges  hym  to  be,  he 
had  beyn  or  now  amongs  us;  but  I  trust  yow  wyll  not  constreyn  me 
to  prove  and  fend,  although  yt  ys  trewe.'" 

Captain  Reade,  under  the  influence  of  this  slander,  had  been 
committed  to  prison  and  deprived  of  his  governorship  of  Holy 
Island  and  the  Fames;  but  Lord  Hunsdon,  the  Governor  of 
Berwick,  disbelieving  Norton's  tale,  interested  himself  on  his 
behalf,  and  laboured  to  procure  his  release.  A  day  or  two  before 
Constable  sent  his  letter  to  Sadler,  Hunsdon  wrote  to  the  Queen : — 
"  Captain  Reed  desyers  your  Majesties  favor,  only  yn  hys  just  cawse 
and  trothe  to  your  Majestic,  and  thynketh  himself  hardly  delt  withall, 
to  be  condemned  without  tryall;  and  defyse  all  the  world,  or  any 
man,  than  towch  or  spott  hym  any  way,  with  any  sparke  of  untrothe 
too  your  Majestic,  eyther  by  deede,  knowledge,  consentyn,  or  con- 
selement,  and  desyres  only  hys  purgacyon,  whyche  yor  Majestie 
cannot  well  deny  to  hym." 

This  vigorous  letter  procured  the  Captain's  release,  for  he  took 
a  prominent  part,  with  Lord  Hunsdon,  in  quelling  the  rebellion  of 
Leonard  Dacre,  who  was  utterly  defeated  in  a  battle  fought  near 
Naworth  Castle  on  the  20th  February  following.     His  honours  and 


28o  SIJi   WILLIAM  READE. 

emoluments  were,  however,  still  withheld  from  him,  and  Lord 
Hunsdon,  resenting  the  dilatoriness  of  the  Court  in  restoring  to 
favour  a  brave  man,  whom  he  believed  to  be  wrongfully  accused, 
wrote  to  Cecil,  on  3rd  of  April,  a  stirring  appeal  for  justice. 

Lord  Hunsdon's  determined  attitude  settled  the  matter.  Captain 
Reade,  relieved  from  suspicion,  accompanied  his  gallant  defender  on 
a  fighting  tour  through  Scotland  in  May  following.  In  due  time 
he  recovered  his  position  at  Holy  Island,  obtained  a  renewal  of  his 
leases,  and  became  once  more  a  trusted  servant  of  the  Crown. 
There  is  an  interesting  note  of  him  in  the  will  of  Thomas  Ilderton, 
of  Ilderton,  dated  April  29th,  1578 — "To  Sir  Thomas  Graye  (of 
Chillingham)  my  beste  horse,  freind  Graye,  with  all  my  houndes 
saving  onlie  two,  that  I  gyve  to  Mr.  Captayne  Reade,  that  ys  to 
saye,  Waklet  and  Ruffler." 

Restored  to  favour.  Captain  Reade  justified  in  his  subsequent 
career  Lord  Hunsdon's  intercession.  A  bold  and  fearless  warrior, 
and  a  strategist  of  remarkable  ability,  he  was  always  ready  for  battle 
or  beleaguer,  skirmish  or  foray.  So  much  confidence  was  reposed 
in  his  military  experience  that  in  December,  1585,  when  the  Earl  of 
Leicester  was  sent  over  to  Holland  to  assist  the  Dutch  against  Spain, 
"  William  Reade,  Captain  of  Holy  Island,"  was  specially  selected  to 
be  one  of  the  heads  of  the  expedition.  In  Flanders,  as  upon  the 
Scottish  Borders,  he  distinguished  himself  by  personal  bravery  and 
tactical  skill.  Lord  Leicester,  writing  to  Secretary  Walsingham  in 
September,  1586,  respecting  the  victory  at  Zutphen,  awarded  the 
honours  of  the  field  to  Sir  William  Stanley  and  Captain  Reade, 
adding  that  "  He  (Stanley)  and  old  Read  are  worth  their  weight 
in  perle;  theie  be  ij  as  rare  captens  as  anie  prince  living  hath."  A 
few  days  later,  in  a  despatch  describing  the  capture  of  the  Zutphen 
forts,  he  informs  Walsingham  that  he  "  never  knew  a  worthier  old 
fellow  then  old  Read  is,  nor  so  able  bodie  to  take  pains;  he  hath 
past  all  men  here  for  pains  and  perilL"  Nor  did  the  Earl  content 
himself  with  compliments.  He  honoured  the  captain,  and  himself, 
by  conferring  upon  him  the  dignity  of  a  knight.  Robert  Carey,  son 
of  Lord  Hunsdon,  and  afterwards  Earl  of  Monmouth,  sent  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  to  seek  her  favourite,  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  was  supposed 
to  have  stolen  away  to  join  the  troops  in  Flanders,  and  meeting  with 
him  at  Sandwich  willing  to  return  to  Court,  crossed  the  Channel  to 
Ostend,  where  he  found  his  old  friend  from  Holy  Island  installed  in 
a  high  position  as  "Sir  William  Reade,  Commander  of  the  Town." 


S//^   WILLIAM  READE.  281 

When  the  troops  were  recalled  from  Flanders,  Sir  William  Reade 
returned  to  his  home — the  old  Manor  House  of  the  monks  at  Fen- 
ham,  and  there  he  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  A  note  of  him 
is  to  be  found  among  the  Hunter  MSS.  at  Durham,  wherein,  under 
date  1592,  he  is  seen  presiding  over  his  court  in  the  Island,  and 
recording  the  finding  of  his  jury  to  the  effect  that  he  was  lawfully 
possessed  "of  and  in  all  lands  that  belong  to  the  Deanerie  of 
Durham  within  Holy  Island,  by  vertue  of  a  lease  for  xxi  yeares, 
made  unto  him  by  ye  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham,  shewed  unto 
us  under  their  scale,  dated  13  Jan.,  32  Eliz."  He  was  living  there, 
old  and  blind,  when  James  of  Scotland  succeeded  to  the  English 
throne.  In  his  fighting  days  he  had  been  honoured  by  the 
acquaintance  of  the  Scottish  king,  and  now  that  he  was  blind 
and  decrepit,  the  monarch  did  not  forget  him.  Travelling  south- 
wards in  1603  to  receive  his  English  Crown,  James  made  a  detour 
to  Holy  Island,  for  the  purpose  of  comforting  his  old  friend  in 
the  day  of  affliction.  "  His  Majestic,  on  his  way  from  Berwick 
to  Widdrington,  of  his  kingly  goodnesse  and  royall  inclination,  to 
the  honour  of  armes,  and  reverence  of  virtuous  age,  vouchsafed  to 
visit  that  worthy  honourable  souldier.  Sir  William  Read,  who,  being 
blind  with  age,  was  so  comforted  with  the  presence  and  gracious 
speeches  of  the  king,  that  his  spirits  seemed  so  powerful  within 
him,  as  he  boasted  himselfe  to  feele  the  warmth  of  youth  stirre 
in  his  frost-nipt  bloud.  The  way  his  Majestic  had  to  ride  being 
long,  enforced  him  to  stay  with  this  good  Knight  the  lesse  while; 
but  that  little  time  was  so  comfortable  that  his  friends  hope  it  will 
be  a  meane  to  cherish  the  old  Knight  all  his  life  long." 

"All  his  life  long"  proved  to  be  little  more  than  a  year.  He 
received  the  king  on  the  8th  of  April,  1603,  and  he  died  on  the  6th 
of  June,  1604.  He  was  buried  in  Holy  Island  Church,  within  the 
altar  rails,  where  a  blue  slab,  bearing  the  following  inscription,  in- 
dicates his  resting-place: — 

"  Under  this  Ston  lies  the  Body  of  Sr.  William  Reed,  of  Fenham,  Who 
Departed  this  Life  the  6th  of  June,  1604.  Contra  vim  Mortis  non  est  Medicamen 
in  Hortis." 

An  inventory  of  Sir  William  Reade's  goods  and  chattels  "  valuable 
as  affording  a  complete  conspectus  of  the  house  of  a  man  of  his 
rank  at  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century  "  is  printed  at 
length  in  Raine's   "North  Durham."     The  old  knight  had  a  well- 


282  ARCHIBALD  REED. 

stocked  mansion,  with  the  usual  appUances  for  making  his  own  malt, 
beer,  butter,  and  candles.  Among  his  "plenishings"  were  three 
pictures — "Action  and  Diana,"  "Abraham  Offering  up  Isaac,"  and 
"The  Holy  Ghost  Descending  on  the  Virgin  Mary";  together  with 
a  few  books — "One  large  Bible  standing  upon  a  Desk";  "Mr. 
Calvin's  Commentarie  upon  Job";  "  Sleaden's  Commentaries"; 
"  One  Table  of  the  Ten  Commandments";  "  Couper's  Dictionarie"; 
"  Ryder's  Dictionarie";  also,  "  One  Chronicle  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland  (Holinshed's)  and  One  other  cronicle,  Henrie  Jones 
hath."  "  Henrie  Jones  "  was  a  neighbour,  who,  if  he  had  borrowed 
Holinshed,  instead  of  the  other  "  cronicle,"  would  have  read  the 
following  interesting  passage  relating  to  the  reigns  of  Mary  and 
Elizabeth : — "  I  have  set  downe  these  notes  as  I  have  learned  the 
same  of  such  as  had  good  cause  to  know  the  truth  thereof,  being  eie- 
witnesses  themselves  of  such  enterprises  and  exploits  as  chanced  in 
the  same  warres;  namelie  captaine  Read  .  .  .  with  others,  which  of 
their  courtesie  have  willinglie  imparted  to  me  the  report  of  diverse 
such  things  as  I  wisht  to  be  resolved  in." 

Three  times  married,  Sir  William  Reade  was  succeeded  by  his 
son.  Sir  William  Reade  of  Fenham,  knight,  who  took  to  wife,  ist, 
Dorothy,  daughter  of  Sir  Cuthbert  Collingwood  of  Eslington,  and 
2nd,  a  lady  whose  surname  is  not  recorded.  He  died  in  1616, 
having  had  fourteen  children,  the  eldest  of  whom,  William  Reade, 
Esquire  (3),  purchased  the  estate  of  TitUngton,  near  Eglingham,  in 
1618,  and  transmitted  it  to  his  son  of  the  same  name.  With  this 
last  William  Reade,  great-grandson  of  the  founder,  who  married 
a  daughter  of  Henry  Gray,  of  Kyloe,  and  in  1646  was  described  as 
greatly  in  debt,  the  name  of  Reade  of  Fenham  and  Titlington 
disappeared  from  the  annals  of  local  history. 


arcbibalb  IRccb, 

SIX   TIMES    MAYOR   OF    NEWCASTLE. 

The  Reeds  of  Northumberland  divide  themselves  into  three  main 
lines,  or  branches.  First,  the  historical  family,  the  Reeds  of 
Troughend,  who  trace  their  settlement  in  the  county  to  some 
remote  period  anterior  to  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  claim  to 
derive  their  name  from  the  river  Rede,  upon  whose  banks  the  estate 


ARCHIBALD  REED.  283 

of  Troughend  is  situated.  To  this  ancestral  line  belonged  Percival 
Reed — "  Parcy  Rede  " — keeper  of  Redesdale,  treacherously  slain  by 
the  Halls  of  Girsonfield,  and  thereafter  celebrated  in  local  legend, 
song  and  story.  Secondly,  the  Reeds  of  Cragg,  of  which  branch 
Colonel  Reed,  of  Springwell,  is  the  present  representative.  Thirdly, 
the  Reeds  of  Hoppen,  one  of  whom,  marrying  Robert  Roddam,  of 
Hethpool,  became  the  grandmother  of  Lady  Collingwood.  All  these 
Reeds  claim  to  have  come  from  the  same  old  stock — the  Cragg  and 
Hoppen  divisions  being  scions,  or  offshoots,  of  the  Troughend  line. 

At  the  beginning  of  last  century  another  family  of  the  same  name 
sprang  into  affluence  and  position  in  the  county — the  Reeds  of 
Chipchase.  Their  common  ancestor  was  Archibald  Reed,  a  trades- 
man in  a  small  way  of  business  at  Bellingham,  near  the  junction  of 
Redewater  with  the  North  Tyne.  Although  located  near  the 
source  of  the  race  and  the  confluence  of  the  river,  Archibald  Reed, 
of  Bellingham,  does  not  appear  to  have  claimed  relationship  with,  or 
descent  from,  the  old  family  at  Troughend  whose  surname  he  bore. 
He  was  a  man  of  frugal  and  industrious  habits,  who,  like  Gallio  of 
old,  "  cared  for  none  of  those  things."  His  chief  aim  in  life  was  to 
be  a  successful  tradesman,  and  he  realised  his  wishes.  So  success- 
ful indeed  were  his  dealings  with  his  neighbours  that  he  was  able  to 
start  his  sons  in  life  with  excellent  prospects,  and  to  enjoy  in  his  old 
age  the  ease  and  comfort  which  follow  an  exemplary  and  a  prosper- 
ous career.  In  the  old  church  of  Bellingham,  a  monument  of 
blue  and  white  marble,  upon  which  is  cut  the  following  inscription, 
perpetuates  his  memory: — 

"  This  Marble  is  raised  to  the  Memory  of  Mr.  Archibald  Reed  of  Bellingham, 
Who  died  in  the  Year  1729,  aged  86  Years;  By  Mr.  John  Reed,  his  dutiful  Son. 
Too  small  a  Monument  of  filial  Piety  to  so  indulgent  a  Father. 

By  frugal  acts  of  Industry  he  rose, 

Preserved  his  virtue  and  provoked  no  foes. 

But  died  lamented  as  he  lived  beloved, 

For  all  his  actions  just  and  generous  proved. 

Always  subservient  to  a  poor  man's  suit, 

His  gains  were  sweetened  by  a  good  repute. 

Unenvied  he  his  fortune  fairly  left, 

And  mourned  his  country,  of  such  worth  bereft." 

By  his  marriage  with  Sarah,  daughter  of  ^\'illiam  Ridley,  of  the 
Yethouse,  a  small  proprietor  of  Tarset,  "  Old  Archy  Reed "  had 
two  sons — Ralph  and  John,  and  a  daughter  named  Martha.     Ralph, 


284  ARCHIBALD  REED. 

Sheriff  of  Newcastle  in  1710-11,  and  Mayor  in  1716-17,  died  before 
his  father,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  on  the  12th 
April,  1720,  leaving  no  issue.  John  survived,  and  in  1732  pur- 
chased Chipchase  Castle,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Herons,  and  the 
same  year  was  appointed  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland.  He 
married,  September  9th,  1740,  Mary,  daughter  of  Gawen  Aynsley,  of 
Little  Harle,  and  dying  in  April,  1754,  was  buried  in  the  chapel  of 
Chipchase,  whither  his  wife  had  preceded  him.  Having  no  children 
to  inherit  his  property,  he  bequeathed  it  to  his  nephew,  Christopher 
Soulsby,  son  of  his  sister  Martha,  and  Christopher  Soulsby  of  New- 
castle, her  husband.  Christopher  Soulsby  took  the  name  of  Reed, 
and  married,  April  25th,  1757,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Blake 
of  Twizell,  "with  a  fortune  of  ;^io,ooo."  The  seventh  child,  and 
youngest  son  of  their  marriage,  born  February  9th,  1766,  received 
the  name  of  his  great-grandfather — Archibald. 

Archibald  Reed,  educated  at  the  Grammar  School  of  Newcastle, 
served  his  time  to  a  member  of  the  Mercers'  branch  of  the  Merchants' 
Company,  and  about  the  year  1790,  set  up  in  business  for  himself  on 
Newcastle  Sandhill.  Being  a  young  man  of  good  address  and 
pleasing  manners  he  made  friends,  and  at  Michaelmas,  1794,  when 
the  annual  choosing  of  the  Corporate  officers  took  place,  the  post  of 
Sheriff  of  Newcastle  was  conferred  upon  him,  although,  so  far  as  the 
municipal  records  show,  he  had  not  previously  taken  any  active  part 
in  civic  administration.  From  that  date,  however,  to  the  end  of  his 
days,  he  was  identified  with  the  governing  body  of  the  town.  He 
became  a  Common  Councilman  the  year  following  his  Shrievalty, 
and  upon  the  death  of  Hugh  Hornby,  the  local  antiquary,  in  1798, 
he  obtained  the  gown  of  an  alderman.  Two  years  afterwards,  the 
last  of  the  eighteenth  century,  he  was  elected  Mayor.  He  filled  that 
responsible  office  six  times  altogether,  viz.,  in  1800-1,  1806-7,  1819- 
20,  1826-27,  1830-31,  and  1831-32. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  his  municipal  career,  Archibald  Reed 
was  in  the  thick  of  the  struggle  against  financial  secrecy  and  ex- 
travagance which  Joseph  Clark  led  to  victory  in  1809-10;  and 
although  he  did  not  share  Mr,  Clark's  views,  he  steered  a  course 
which  earned  the  gratitude  of  that  sturdy  reformer  and  his  intrepid 
allies.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Cordwainers'  Company,  of  which  Mr. 
Clark  was  a  steward,  held  in  December,  181 2,  it  was  resolved: — 
"  That  the  freedom  of  this  Company  be  presented  to  Mr.  Alderman 
Reed,   in   token    of  our  regard  and   gratitude   for   the   many   and 


ARCHIBALD  REED.  285 

disinterested  services  rendered  by  him  to  the  Burgesses  of  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne in  particular,  and  to  the  public  in  general."  And 
a  few  days  later  the  stewards  of  the  whole  of  the  Incorporated 
Companies  of  the  town  voted  him  their  thanks  "for  his  unremitted 
attention  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  free  Burgesses."  Mr. 
Reed  had  used  his  influence  with  his  colleagues  in  the  Corporate  body 
to  obtain  for  the  freemen  more  direct  control  over  the  management  of 
the  town's  business,  and  had  interested  himself  in  securing  a  better 
allowance  to  the  inmates  of  the  hospitals  in  which  their  widows  and 
orphans  were  sheltered.  Stimulated  by  the  appreciation  of  his 
services  which  the  foregoing  resolutions  testified,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  a  reform  of  the  town  prison.  In  December,  18 18, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  James  Archbold,  and  Mr.  John  Dobson, 
the  architect,  he  made  an  unexpected  visit  to  the  gaol  in  Newgate, 
put  the  gaoler  through  a  long  examination,  and  published  the  result 
of  his  inquiries  in  a  document  which,  at  the  spring  assizes  of  1820, 
induced  the  grand  jury  to  present  the  place  as  "  inconvenient,  in- 
sufficient, and  insecure,"  and  led,  two  years  later,  to  the  passing 
of  an  Act  of  Parliament  for  building  a  new  gaol  in  the  Carliol 
Croft. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  fourth  mayoralty,  Mr.  Reed  did  the 
honours  of  the  town  to  the  Duke  of  WelUngton — presenting  him 
with  the  honorary  freedom  of  the  borough,  and  entertaining  him  at 
dinner  in  the  Mansion  House,  and  a  ball  at  the  Assembly  Rooms. 
From  the  glowing  periods  of  the  local  reporters,  it  may  be  con- 
jectured that  the  Mayor  discharged  his  agreeable  functions  with 
courtesy,  dignity,  and  good  sense.  By  this  time  the  burgesses  had 
discovered  that  Alderman  Reed,  who  meanwhile  had  retired  from 
business  and  taken  up  his  residence  in  the  country,  at  Whorlton, 
was  a  model  Mayor,  and  that  they  could  not  have  him  as  chief 
magistrate  too  often.  Thus,  while  seven  years  passed  between  his 
third  and  fourth  terms  of  office,  an  interval  of  but  four  years  separ- 
ated the  fourth  from  the  fifth,  and  the  fifth  and  sixth  were  con- 
secutive. 

Under  the  old  regime  the  office  of  Mayor  of  Newcastle  was  worth 
having.  In  the  Corporation  accounts  for  1830-31  and  1831-32 
(Mr.  Reed's  fifth  and  sixth  mayoralties),  the  annual  salary  of  the 
chief  magistrate  is  entered  as  ;^2, 100,  besides  which  he  enjoyed 
the  free  use  of  the  Mansion  House,  carriages,  horses,  state  barge, 
etc.,  etc.     The   Mansion  House  expenses  in  the  first-named  year 


286  ROBERT  RHODES. 

amounted  to  ;^i,o85  15s.  6d.,  and  in  the  latter  to  £,^2%  6s.  gd., 
and  there  were  payments  for  the  Mayor's  gardener,  newspapers, 
butler's  clothes,  etc.,  in  addition.  A  part  of  Mr.  Reed's  popularity 
was  attributable,  without  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  he  expended  his 
official  income  in  hospitality  and  charity.  The  Corporation  auditors, 
at  the  end  of  his  fifth  Mayoralty,  make  this  point  clear,  for  they 
passed  a  resolution  thanking  him  "  for  the  great  attention  which  he 
has  uniformly  paid  to  all  applications  that  have  been  made  to  him 
in  his  official  capacity,  and  for  the  generous  hospitality  he  has 
maintained,  worthy  and  becoming  the  station  of  chief  magistrate 
of  this  ancient  and  respectable  Corporation."  To  this  testimony 
his  friends  and  admirers  contributed  by  presenting  to  him,  upon 
his  retirement  in  1832,  a  silver  soup  tureen  of  the  value  of  ;^ioo. 

Into  the  Reformed  Town  Council  Mr.  Reed  did  not  seek  to  enter. 
Returning  to  Newcastle  to  reside,  he  passed  the  remaining  six  years 
of  his  life  in  quiet  retirement.  In  February,  1842,  his  eldest  brother, 
John  (who  had  lost  Chipchase,  and  the  bulk  of  his  fortune,  by  the 
failure  of  the  Northumberland  Bank),  died,  and  a  week  afterwards 
his  eldest  sister,  Isabella,  passed  away.  These  bereavements  told 
upon  his  health,  and  before  the  year  was  out,  on  the  13th  of 
December,  he  also  departed.  By  public  subscription,  to  which 
all  classes  of  the  community  contributed,  monuments  to  his  memory 
were  erected  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  and  at  the  place  of  his  inter- 
ment in  Jesmond  Cemetery.  The  memorial  in  St.  Nicholas'  is  a 
Gothic  arch  surmounted  by  a  bust  of  the  deceased,  with  the  mace 
and  sword  of  the  Corporation  on  either  side.  The  monument  at 
Jesmond  Cemetery,  overtopping  all  other  memorials  of  the  dead  in 
that  beautiful  place  of  sepulture,  bears  upon  its  southern  face  a 
summary  of  his  life  and  character. 


IRobcrt  1RbobC6, 

ORIGINATOR    OF    ST.    NICHOLAS'    STEEPLE. 

Few  of  the  eminent  men  whose  pubHc  services  have  been  described 
in  these  sketches  have  left  to  posterity  a  memorial  of  their  good 
works  so  lofty  and  so  durable  as  that  with  which  Robert  Rhodes 
enriched  the  North  of  England  when   he  originated  the  beautiful 


ROBERT  RHODES.  287 

lantern  tower  of  St.  Nicholas'  Cathedral,  Newcastle.  "  It  lifteth  up 
a  head  of  Majesty,  as  high  above  the  rest  as  the  Cypresse  Tree 
above  the  low  Shrubs,"  writes  Gray  in  the  "  Chorographia."  "  Sup- 
posed, as  to  its  Model,  to  be  the  most  curious  in  the  whole 
Kingdom,"  continues  Bourne.  "  Surpassing  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
Sophia  at  Constantinople,  the  Mosque  of  Sultan  Saladin  at  Jerusalem, 
the  Church  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  and  even  the  Temple  of  Minerva 
at  Athens,"  adds  Vicar  Carlyle,  in  a  fit  of  generous,  and  apparently 
genuine,  enthusiasm. 

Gray  tells  us  that  this  "  stately  high  Stone  Steeple,  with  many 
Pinakles,"  and  its  "  stately  Stone  Lantherne,  standing  upon  foure 
Stone  Arches,"  was  "  builded  by  Robert  de  Rhodes,  Lord  Priour 
of  Tynemouth,  in  Henry  6  dayes."  Bourne,  doubting  the  accuracy 
of  this  statement,  was  "  rather  inclinable  to  believe  that  one  Robert 
Rhodes,  Esq.,  who  lived  in  this  Town  in  the  Reign  of  Henry  the 
6th,  was  the  true  Person."  Subsequent  inquiry  has  confirmed 
Bourne's  conjecture.  It  is  true  that  there  was  a  Prior  of  Tynemouth 
named  Robert  Rhodes  in  the  latter  part  of  Henry  the  Sixth's  reign, 
but  there  is  no  proof  that  he  troubled  himself  in  the  slightest  degree 
with  matters  relating  to  Newcastle  or  its  churches.  By  common 
consent,  therefore,  the  erection  of  St.  Nicholas'  lantern-crowned 
steeple  is  ascribed  to  Robert  Rhodes  the  esquire. 

Robert  Rhodes,  "  learned  in  the  law,"  was  a  son  of  John  Rhodes, 
of  Newcastle,  and  Isabel,  his  wife.  Besides  the  lawyer,  John  Rhodes 
had  a  son  named  after  himself,  and  either  he,  or  that  son,  succeeding 
the  great  merchant,  Roger  Thornton,  was  Mayor  of  Newcastle  from 
Michaelmas,  1429,  to  the  same  date  in  1432.  Robert  Rhodes  did 
not  accept  municipal  office.  In  1427  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
representatives  of  Newcastle  in  Parliament,  and  he  occupied  the 
same  position  in  seven  successive  elections — perhaps  in  eight,  for 
the  returns  of  the  Parliament  which  met  in  1445  (the  eighth  after 
his  first  appointment)  have  not  been  preserved,  and  the  names  of 
the  Newcastle  members  are  unknown.  While  he  was  thus  occupied, 
before  1435,  he  married  Joan,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Walter 
HaAvyck,  of  Little  Eden,  near  Easington.  This  lady  was  connected, 
in  some  way  or  other,  with  William  Hoton,  of  Hardwick,  in  the 
parish  of  Sedgefield,  steward  of  the  convent  of  Durham,  in  whose 
will,  dated  1445,  "  Robert  Rodes,  and  Joan  his  wife,"  and  Roger 
Thornton,  appear  with  separate  remainders.  Shortly  after  his  mar- 
riage his  name  occurs  in  the  Rolls  of  Bishop  Langley  (1436)  as  a 


288  ROBERT  RHODES. 

commissioner,   with  Roger   Thornton,    Sir   WilHam    Eure,  and   six 
others,  to  take  inquisition  concerning  all  persons  seised  of  lands, 


rents,  offices,  etc.,  of  the  annual  value  of  loos.  and  upwards,  and, 
therefore,  liable  to  the  payment  of  a  new  subsidy  granted  to  the 


ROBERT  RHODES.  289 

king.  The  following  year,  described  as  Robert  Rhodes,  of  the 
parish  of  All  Saints  in  Newcastle,  he  conveyed  property  at  Gates- 
head to  one  William  Abletson,  and  Agnes  his  wife,  and  about  the 
same  time  he  became  lessee  for  forty  years  of  the  manor  of  Wardley, 
near  Jarrow,  formerly  a  demesne  residence  of  the  Priors  of  Durham. 
In  1440,  Henry  VI.  appointed  him  Controller  of  Customs  at  New- 
castle. Bourne  prints  the  documents  relating  to  this  appointment 
at  full  length — viz.,  (i)  The  King's  Mandate;  (2)  the  Royal  Order 
to  the  Prior  of  Durham  to  receive  Rhodes's  oath  that  he  would  faith- 
fully discharge  the  duties  of  the  office;  (3)  the  form  of  oath  taken; 
(4)  the  Prior's  certificate  that  the  oath  had  been  duly  administered. 

Loans  of  money  to  the  convent  at  Durham  and  other  acts  of 
devotion  to  the  Church  procured  for  Robert  Rhodes  in  August, 
1444,  a  grant  of  "Letters  of  Fraternity"  from  the  Prior  and  the 
brethren,  entitling  him  to  be  addressed  as  "brother,"  and  to  par- 
ticipate in  all  masses,  vigils,  fasts,  prayers,  divine  offices,  and  other 
works  of  piety  performed  by  the  monks  and  their  successors  during 
his  lifetime,  and  after  his  death  to  the  usual  suffrages  of  prayer  for 
the  welfare  of  his  soul.  The  following  year,  on  the  decease  of 
William  Hoton,  the  Prior  wrote  to  Sir  Thomas  Neville,  brother  of 
the  Bishop,  suggesting  that  Hoton's  successor  in  the  stewardship  of 
the  convent  should  be  "a  learned  man,"  as  Hoton  was,  and  desiring 
him  to  "  charge  Robert  Rhodes,  my  Lord's  servant,  and  yours,  and 
my  trusty  friend,  to  be  our  steward,  for  we  had  never  more  need." 
Sir  Thomas  complied  with  the  Prior's  wish,  and  Rhodes,  accepting 
the  appointment,  was  assigned  an  official  residence  at  Durham,  in 
the  South  Bailey,  near  the  Watergate.  Soon  after  his  appointment 
he  presented  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Cuthbert  a  handsome  cross  of  gold, 
"  containing  portions  of  the  pillar  to  which  Christ  was  bound,  and  of 
the  rock  in  which  his  grave  was  hewn,"  and  in  return,  to  make  his 
occasional  residence  within  the  precincts  agreeable,  the  grateful 
monks  obtained  for  him  licence  to  construct  a  little  door,  "  in  the 
outer  wall  of  the  castle  of  Durham,  in  the  southern  bailey,  opposite 
his  mansion  there,  and  contiguous  to  the  garden  thereof,  and  to  have 
free  ingress  and  egress  thereby."  In  145 1,  with  Roger  Thornton, 
the  younger,  he  became  a  trustee  of  the  possessions  of  William 
Johnson's  chantry  (St.  Catherine's)  in  St,  Nicholas'  Church,  New- 
castle, and  the  same  year  he  acquired  the  vill  of  Whetlawe,  or 
Wheatley  Hill,  near  Wingate.  During  all  this  time  he  retained  his 
Newcastle  home,  as  appears  from  a  letter  addressed  to  him  in  June, 

VOL.   III.  ig 


290  ROBERT  RHODES. 

1456,  by  the  Prior  of  Durham,  desiring  him,  being  on  business  in 
London,  to  purchase  two  hogsheads  of  the  best  "  Malvesye "  that 
could  be  bought  there,  and  send  it,  in  his  own  name,  to  his  "  house 
in  Newcastle." 

His  wife,  Joan   Hawyck,  dying  childless,  Robert  Rhodes  married 

Agnes ,  a  lady  whose  surname  has  not  been  discovered.     The 

date  of  the  marriage  is  unknown,  but  it  was  before  September,  1459, 
on  the  14th  of  which  month,  Agnes,  wife  of  John  Bedford,  of  Hull, 
and  widow  successively  of  John  Strother  and  Richard  Dalton,  of 
Newcastle,  bequeathed  "  to  Agnes  Rhodes "  a  girdle  embroidered 
in  silver  gilt.  About  this  time,  prior  to  the  deposition  of  Henry  VI. 
(1461),  whose  licence  was  obtained  for  the  purpose,  he  and  his 
second  wife  refounded  the  chantry  of  St.  John  Baptist  and  St.  John 
Evangelist,  in  St.  Nicholas',  to  find  a  priest  for  ever  to  say  mass 
daily,  and  pray  for  their  souls  and  the  souls  of  all  Christian  people. 
And  now  occurred  a  remarkable  episode  in  Robert  Rhodes's 
career  of  pious  devotion  to  the  Church.  His  friend  and  patron. 
Bishop  Neville,  had  died  in  1457,  and  Laurence  Booth,  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's,  had  been  appointed  his  successor.  To  him,  in  146 1,  Robert 
Rhodes  sent  the  following  curious  petition — curious  as  a  specimen 
of  orthography  and  grammar,  and  still  more  curious  in  its  confession 
of  injury  to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  See:  — 

"  Be  it  to  remembre,  that  I  Robert  Rodes  satt,  at  the  Castell  in 
the  Newe  Castell  upon  Tyne,  in  the  Counte  of  Northumberland,  by 
force  of  a  wryte  of  diem  clausit  extreinum  after  the  deth  of  the  Erlle 
of  Warwyke,  and  thar  toke  an  inquisicion  of  the  Castell  of  Bernarde 
Castell  in  the  Bysshopryke  of  Dureham,  and  informed  tham,  that 
ware  sworne  in  the  saide  inquisicion,  that  the  saide  Castell  of 
Bernarde  Castell  was  in  the  Counte  of  Northumberland,  quarin  I 
hurte  the  liberte  and  title  of  the  Chirch  of  Seynte  Cutbert  of 
Dureham,  qwylk  me  sore  repentis.  Qwarefore  I  beseke  my  Lorde 
of  Dureham,  of  his  grace  and  absolucion  at  the  reverence  of  Jhesu. 
Wretyn  of  myne  awne  hande  at  Dureham,  the  xxix  day  of  Aprill, 
the  yere  of  the  reigne  of  Kyng  Edwarde  the  iiij  the  fyrste." 

In  that  same  year  it  was  certified  that  Robert  Rhodes  detained  a 
missal,  of  the  value  of  ten  marks,  given  by  the  baron  of  Hilton  to 
the  chapel  of  that  place.  How  that  matter  was  disposed  of  does 
not  appear,  but  in  1465  Bishop  Booth  granted  him  a  licence  to 
found  a  chantry  at  St.  John's  Chapel,  in  Weardale,  and  to  appoint  a 
chaplain,  paying  him   loos.  a  year  out  of  the  manor  of  Whetlawe,  to 


^  OBER  T  RHODES.  2  9  x 

pray  for  the  happy  estate  of  himself,  and  Agnes  Rhodes,  his  wife,  and 
for  the  souls  of  John  and  Isabel,  his  father  and  mother,  and  Henry 
Ravensworth.  At  the  same  time  the  agent  of  the  Convent  of 
Durham,  travelling  to  Rome,  was  directed  to  obtain  for  him— /w 
Domino  Roberto  Rodes — a  Veronica,  or  handkerchief  bearing  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  features  of  the  Saviour. 

Robert  Rhodes  died  on  the  20th  April,  1474,  without  issue.  His 
estate  at  Little  Eden  went,  under  settlements,  to  the  Trollop  family; 
Wheatley  Hill  and  the  rest  of  his  property  descended  to  his  heiress, 
Alice,  daughter  of  his  brother  John,  who  married  Richard  Bain- 
brigge,  a  younger  member  of  the  family  of  Bainbrigge,  of  Snotterton, 
near  Staindrop, 

Agnes,  second  wife  of  Robert  Rhodes,  survived  him.  To  her,  for 
her  "well-known  deeds,  gifts  also,  and  precious  presents  conferred 
upon  us,"  the  monks  of  Durham,  in  1495,  g^ve  letters  of  fraternity; 
and  five  years  afterwards,  when  she  was  dead,  the  Corporation  of 
Newcastle  honoured  the  memory  of  the  departed  by  providing  a 
house  for  the  priest  of  the  chantry  in  St.  Nicholas',  which  she  and 
her  husband  had  refounded. 

No  will,  or  inventory,  of  Robert  Rhodes,  nor  any  record  of  his 
interment,  can  be  found.  In  the  chancel  of  old  All  Saints',  of  which 
parish  he  was  an  inhabitant,  there  was  at  one  time  a  large  stone, 
"  insculp'd  with  Brass,"  bearing  an  imperfect  inscription,  denoting 
that  the  person  whom  it  commemorated  was  a  promoter,  or  bene- 
factor, of  churches.  It  is  supposed  that  this  stone  marked  Rhodes's 
resting-place. 

At  what  time  Robert  Rhodes  set  up  the  stately  crown  of  St. 
Nicholas'  is  unknown.  That  its  erection  was  due  to  his  munificence 
can  hardly  be  doubted.  "A  little  worse  for  smoke  and  substitu- 
tions," writes  Mr.  Longstaffe,  "there  it  stands,  a  joy;  and,  aloft  in 
the  groining  of  the  coeval  tower  which  supports  it,  we  read.  Orate 
pro  antma  Roberti  Rodes."  The  same  prayer,  and  shields  bearing 
Rhodes's  arms,  were  at  one  time  to  be  seen  in  the  churches  of  All 
Saints  and  St.  John.  When  All  Saints'  was  rebuilt,  these  memorials 
disappeared.  At  St.  John's  one  of  the  shields  decayed,  and  an  attempt 
was  made  to  reproduce  it.  "  But,"  wrote  the  late  James  Clephan, 
"  not  long  had  the  new  shield  and  inscription  occupied  the  place  of 
the  old  ere  an  iconoclastic  chisel  was  raised  against  the  legend,  and 
Orate  pro  anuna  fell  before  its  edge — leaving  the  grammar  of  Roberti 
Rodes  to  shift  as  it  misht." 


292  JOSEPH  RICHARDSON. 


3o6epb  1Ricbarb6on, 

DRAMATIST   AND    M.P. 

Among  the  eminent  men  who  owe  their  origin  to  the  quiet,  pastoral 
town  of  Hexham,  a  prominent  place  must  be  assigned  to  Joseph 
Richardson,  dramatist,  satirist,  poet,  and  Member  of  Parliament. 
He  was  born  in  that  town  in  the  year  1755,  and  after  receiving  a 
sound  education  in  the  local  Grammar  School,  was  sent  to  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge,  to  be  trained  for  holy  orders.  He  distinguished 
himself  at  the  University  by  the  elegance  and  vigour  of  his  composi- 
tions, both  in  prose  and  verse,  earning  thereby  the  commendation  of 
his  tutors,  and  the  admiration  of  his  fellow-students.  The  death  of 
his  father  before  his  studies  were  completed  left  him  at  liberty  to  follow 
his  own  inclinations,  and  being  attracted  to  London  by  a  love  of 
the  drama  he  adopted  the  advice  of  literary  friends  there  that  he 
should  relinquish  his  intention  of  entering  the  Church,  and  turn  his 
thoughts  to  the  profession  of  the  law.  In  1778,  he  quitted  the  Uni- 
versity, and  the  following  year  entered  himself  a  student  at  the 
Middle  Temple,  put  himself  under  a  special  pleader  of  eminence, 
and  in  1784  was  called  to  the  Bar. 

While  at  the  Temple  Richardson  became  acquainted  with  members 
of  the  Whig  Opposition,  led  by  Fox,  Burke,  and  Sheridan.  His 
political  principles  being  the  same  as  theirs,  he  became  exceedingly 
zealous  in  their  cause,  and  exerting  the  talents  with  which  he  was 
amply  endowed  in  its  support,  he  forgot  his  graver  studies  and,  by 
degrees,  was  alienated  from  his  professional  pursuits.  One  of  the 
methods  employed  by  the  Opposition  to  discredit  the  government 
was  the  publication  of  a  satirical  work  called  "  The  Rolliad."  It 
took  the  town  by  storm,  and  in  a  few  years  ran  its  course  through 
twenty-one  editions.  "  The  Rolliad  "  was  written  by  four  persons, 
of  whom  Richardson  was  one,  and  it  is  said  that  his  contributions  to 
it  were  the  most  popular,  because  they  were  the  most  biting,  most 
sardonic,  most  rhythmical  of  the  series.  The  "Rolliad"  was  followed 
by  "  Probationary  Odes  for  the  Laureateship,"  and  of  these  odes  three 
emanated  from  Richardson's  pen.  "  Political  Miscellanies  ;  By  the 
Authors  of  the  Rolliad  and  Probationary  Odes,"  came  next,  and 
among  his  contributions  to  that  series  Mr.  Richardson  sent  "  The 


JOSEPH  RICHARDSON.  293 

Delavaliad,"  quoted  on  page  57  of  our  second  volume.  In  1792  he 
published  a  comedy,  entitled  "  The  Fugitive,"  the  prologue  of  which 
was  written  by  Tickell,  and  the  epilogue  by  General  Burgoyne.  It 
was  acted  with  considerable  success,  "  the  dialogue  being  peculiarly 
neat,  spirited,  elegant,  and  classical,  and  the  whole  manifesting  so 
much  power  of  sentiment,  wit,  and  humour,  that  the  playgoing 
public  much  regretted  that  he  never  resumed  his  dramatic  studies 
after  this  successful  trial  of  his  powers." 

About  this  time  Richardson  made  an  attempt  to  rid  himself  of 
the  entanglements  of  convivial  society  and  party  politics,  attended 
the  courts,  went  on  circuit,  and  placed  himself  under  instruction  of 
an  eminent  serjeant-at-law.  But  "  unfortunately  his  turn  of  mind 
was  rather  calculated  to  do  credit  to  a  large  fortune  than  to  acquire 
one,"  and  again  he  relinquished  his  profession  and  never  resumed 
it.  Introduced  to  Hugh,  second  Duke  of  Northumberland,  he  was 
elected,  in  1796,  and  again  in  1802,  one  of  the  parliamentary 
representatives  of  the  Duke's  pocket  borough  of  Newport,  in  Corn- 
wall. "All  who  knew  him  entertained  the  strongest  persuasion  of 
his  becoming  one  of  the  most  distinguished  parliamentary  orators. 
Qualified,  nevertheless,  as  he  was  both  by  nature  and  education  to 
fulfil  those  expectations,  a  diffidence  in  his  own  power  unhappily 
precluded  him  from  availing  himself  of  those  high  advantages  which 
his  situation  as  senator  held  out  to  him."  He  held  a  high  place, 
however,  in  the  Duke's  circle,  and  that  nobleman  advanced  him, 
on  loan,  a  sum  of  ;!^2ooo  to  enable  him  to  join  Sheridan  in  the 
proprietorship  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  The  speculation  proved 
disastrous,  Richardson's  health  gave  way,  and  on  the  9th  of  June, 
1803,  at  Virginia  Water,  near  Windsor,  he  died. 

Richardson  married  "a  lady  of  the  family  of  the  learned  and 
reverend  Dr.  Watts,"  and  by  her  had  five  daughters,  four  of  whom 
survived  him.  In  1807  his  widow  published  a  sumptuous  book, 
entitled  "Literary  Relics  of  the  Late  Joseph  Richardson,  Esq., 
consisting  of  the  comedy  of  the  Fugitive  and  a  few  Short  Poems ; 
with  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  the  Author  by  an  Intimate  Friend." 
From  that  sketch  the  foregoing  narrative  has  been  condensed.  The 
volume  was  published  by  subscription,  and  among  the  subscribers 
are  many  Northumbrians — Beaumont,  Bigge,  Brandling,  Davidson, 
Fenwick,  Heron,  Hodgson,  Lawson,  Loraine,  Ord,  Plummer,  Ridley, 
Selby,  etc. 


2  94  M.  A.  AND  G.  B.  RICHARDSON. 

V^OQZQ  Baron  1Ricbarb6on, 

AND    GEORGE    BOUCHIER    RICHARDSON,    HIS    SON, 

At  the  end  of  last  century,  facing  the  Town  Wall  in  the  Back  Lane, 
High  Friar  Street,  Newcastle,  stood  the  charity  school  given  to  the 
parish  of  St.  Andrew  by  Sir  William  Blackett.  The  master  of  the 
school,  passing  rich  on  jP^t^o  a  year  and  a  free  house,  was  George 
Richardson,  descendant  of  a  family  of  small  landed  proprietors  in 
the  lower  part  of  North  Tyne,  who,  marrying  against  the  wishes  of 
his  parents,  had  been  compelled  to  seek  a  living  in  other  pursuits 
than  those  of  his  ancestors,  and  in  default  of  a  better,  had  chosen 
the  calling  of  a  schoolmaster.  To  him  were  born,  while  so  employed, 
two  sons  who  afterwards  became  men  of  mark  in  Newcastle — Thomas 
Miles  Richardson,  the  artist,  and  Moses  Aaron  Richardson,  author 
and  publisher. 

Moses  Aaron  Richardson,  born  in  1793,  was  educated  with 
Richard  Grainger,  the  future  rebuilder  of  Newcastle,  in  the  old 
charity  school,  under  the  eye  of  his  father.  At  the  age  of  thirteen, 
he  was  deprived  of  his  parent's  watchful  care,  but  the  eldest  brother, 
Thomas  Miles,  stepping  into  the  old  dominie's  place,  carried  on  the 
school  and  kept  the  family  together  till  he,  the  youngest  son,  was 
able  to  fend  for  himself.  In  whose  employment  his  youth  was  spent 
does  not  appear.  When  the  school  was  given  up,  the  two  brothers 
started  on  separate,  though  interdependent  courses.  Thomas  Miles 
entered  upon  the  rough  and  tantalising  paths  of  Art;  Moses 
Aaron  struggled  along  the  equally  difficult  and  uncertain  by-ways 
of  Literature. 

In  early  youth  Moses  Aaron  Richardson  had  become  enamoured 
of  genealogy  and  local  history;  of  heraldry  and  antiquities.  Most  of 
his  spare  time  was  occupied  in  collecting  obituary  notes  from  the 
local  press,  copying  inscriptions  in  the  parish  churches,  and  tracing 
heraldic  devices  from  memorial  tablets  in  the  public  halls,  and  places 
of  sepulture  in  and  about  his  native  town.  His  first  adventure  in 
authorship  was — 

"A  Collection  of  Armorial  Bearings,  Inscriptions,  etc.,  in  the  Parochial 
Chapel  of  St.  Andrew,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne."  Newcastle:  Printed  by  Edward 
Walker,  18 18.     8vo,  34  pp. 


M.  A.  AND  G.  B.  RICHARDSON.  295 

This  little  book,  illustrated  on  the  title-page  with  a  drawing  of  the 
church  by  his  brother,  Thomas  Miles  Richardson,  and  twenty-three 
plates  of  arms,  was  published  by  subscription.  Ninety  persons, 
mostly  leading  public  men  in  Newcastle,  put  their  names  to  the 
subscription  list.  As  soon  as  the  book  was  completed,  the  compiler 
issued  prospectuses  of  a  much  larger  undertaking. 

"  M.  A.  Richardson  begs  permission  to  state  that  the  approbation  his  friends 
and  the  public  have  shown  to  his  publication  of  the  Armorial  Bearings  and 
Inscriptions  in  the  Parochial  chapel  of  St.  Andrew,  induces  him  most  respectfully 
to  solicit  their  attention  to  another  which  will  contain  those  of  Saint  Nicholas, 
with  a  Vignette  View  of  the  Church,  and  other  embellishments  from  Drawings  by 
T.  M.  Richardson.  The  plates  for  the  work  will  be  executed  in  the  best  style  by 
Messrs.  Armstrong  &  Walker  under  the  immediate  care  of  the  Publisher.  The 
work  will  comprise  two  hundred  coats  of  arms,  engraven  on  copper,  a  Vignette 
View  of  the  Church,  and  other  devices.  It  will  be  published  in  four  parts,  royal 
octavo,  each  part  containing  about  fifty  Engravings,  with  Letter  Press.  Price  to 
Subscribers,  each  part  12s.  6d. ;  to  non-subscribers,  15s.,  to  be  paid  on  delivery." 

A  hundred  and  twenty-eight  subscribers  were  obtained,  and  in 
1820  the  work  was  completed,  forming  two  handsome  volumes.  Mr. 
Richardson  followed  it  up  with  a  book  which,  although  conducted 
on  similar  lines,  appealed  to  a  larger  section  of  the  community, 
and  secured  a  much  longer  subscription  list.  Co-edited  by  James 
Walker,  it  was  entitled — 

"  The  Armorial  Bearings  of  the  Several  Incorporated  Companies  of  Newcastle 
upon  Tyne,  with  a  Brief  Historical  Account  of  Each  Company  ;  Together  with 
Notices  of  the  Corpus  Christi  or  Miracle  Plays,  Anciently  Performed  by  the 
Trading  Societies  of  Newcastle  upon  Tyne.  Also  a  Copious  Glossary  of  the 
Technical  Terms  used  in  the  Work."  Newcastle:  Printed  by  Edward  Walker, 
Pilgrim  Street,  1824.     8%'o,  X.-64  pp.  and  29  plates. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Richardson  commenced  business  for  himself. 
He  opened  a  shop  at  No.  5,  Blackett  Street,  as  a  "  bookseller, 
stationer,  music  and  print  seller,  colourman  to  artists,  and  picture 
frame  maker,"  with  a  circulating  library.  From  thence  he  removed 
to  1 01,  Pilgrim  Street,  the  shop  which  formed  the  junction  of  that 
thoroughfare  with  Blackett  Street,  and  there  he  remained  till  the 
completion  of  Grey  Street  afforded  him  more  convenient  premises. 
During  his  early  days  at  Pilgrim  Street  he  was  the  local  agent  for 
the  sale  of  lottery  tickets,  a  dealer  in  rare  prints  and  pictures,  a 
collector  of  scarce  works  on  the  fine  arts,  poetry,  and  music.  For 
some  years  after  the  completion  of  the  series  of  "Armorial  Bear- 
ings," he  gave  up  his  time  to  book-collecting,  book -selling,  and  book- 


296  M.  A.  AND  G.  B.  RICHARDSON. 

circulating,  rather  than  to  bookmaking.  With  the  exception  of  the 
letterpress  to  a  series  of  views  of  "  The  Castles  of  the  English  and 
Scottish  Borders,"  which  his  brother  Thomas  projected,  and  relin- 
quished at  the  third  number,  he  published  nothing  of  his  own  till 
the  close  of  1837.  At  that  date,  having  in  the  meantime  added 
letterpress  printing  to  his  business,  he  issued — 

"  Directory  of  the  Towns  of  Newcastle  upon  Tyne  and  Gateshead  for  the  year 
1838."     Newcastle:  M.  A.  Richardson,  loi,  Pilgrim  Street. 

Like  many  other  collectors  of  local  annals  and  passing  events, 
Mr.  Richardson  projected  a  history  of  Newcastle,  and  went  so  far 
with  the  project  that  his  brother  prepared  a  set  of  views  to  accom- 
pany it.  Mackenzie's  portly  quarto  on  the  same  subject  rendered 
the  Richardson  scheme  abortive.  But  in  the  same  year  that  he 
issued  the  Directory,  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  visit  of  the  British 
Association  to  Newcastle,  he  published  an  illustrated  volume  of 
360  pages,  entitled — 

"  Richardson's  Descriptive  Companion  Through  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and 
Gateshead ;  With  their  environs  included  within  a  Circuit  of  Ten  Miles ; 
Designed  as  a  Useful  and  Entertaining  Guide  to  all  Subjects  of  Interest  and 
Curiosity  for  which  the  Locality  is  celebrated :  To  which  is  prefixed  An  Inquiry 
into  the  Origin  of  the  Primitive  Britons."  Newcastle:  M.  A.  Richardson,  loi, 
Pilgrim  Street,  1838.  Re-issued  with  an  introduction,  being  the  descriptive 
portion  down  to  date,  in  1846,  when  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England 
held  its  annual  show  in  Newcastle, 

A  few  years  earlier,  in  1824,  Mr.  John  Sykes,  of  Newcastle,  had 
issued  a  volume  of  "  Local  Records,"  or  historical  events  occurring 
in  Northumberland  and  Durham.  The  book  found  favour,  and  in 
1833  it  was  re-issued  in  an  enlarged  form,  comprising  two  stout 
volumes.  Mr,  Richardson  conceived  the  idea  of  bringing  out  a 
much  more  comprehensive  work,  based  upon  the  same  lines,  but 
with  the  added  attractions  of  local  legend  and  story,  ballad  and 
song.  He  commenced  to  issue  the  publication  in  1838,  and  it  went 
on  till  1846,  when  he  had  completed  eight  volumes,  royal  octavo, 
bearing  the  title  of — 

"  The  Local  Historian's  Table  Book  of  Remarkable  Occurrences,  Historical 
Facts,  Traditions,  Legendary  and  Descriptive  Ballads,  etc.,  etc.,  connected  with 
the  Counties  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  Northumberland,  and  Durham." 

The  work  is  divided  into  two  divisions — five  volumes  Historical, 
ranging  from  a,d,  84  to  1842,  and  three  volumes  Legendary;  the 
whole  of  them  illustrated   by  woodcuts  of  antiquities,   arms,   etc., 


M.  A.  AND  G.  B.  RICHARDSON.  297 

numbering  altogether  about  850.  It  is  a  monument  of  patient 
research  and  industrious  compilation,  but,  coming  so  soon  after 
Sykes's  volumes,  it  was  a  comparative  failure.  Great  part  of  the 
impression  was  left  on  the  publisher's  hands,  and  for  years  after- 
wards copies  in  sheets  were  obtainable  at  little  over  waste  paper 
prices. 

Before  the  "  Local  Historian's  Table  Book  "  was  well  out  of  hand, 
Mr.  Richardson  commenced  to  issue  a  series  of  Reprints  of  Rare 
Tracts,  etc.,  chiefly  illustrative  of  the  history  of  the  Northern 
Counties,  beautifully  printed  in  crown  octavo,  with  illuminated 
dedications  and  initial  letters,  on  a  fine  thick  paper,  with  fac-simile 
titles,  and  other  features  characteristic  of  the  originals.  Only  a 
hundred  copies  of  each  tract  were  struck  off,  and  the  series  was 
completed  in  seven  volumes — four  historical,  two  biographical,  and 
one  miscellaneous — at  the  price  of  seven  guineas. 

Shortly  after  they  were  finished,  Mr.  Richardson,  finding  that  his 
laborious  efforts  to  collect  the  historical  records  of  his  native  town 
were  not  appreciated,  emigrated  to  Australia.  He  arrived  in  the 
colony  of  Victoria  some  time  in  the  year  1850,  obtained  a  situation 
as  rate-collector  in  Prahran,  a  suburb  of  Melbourne,  lived  a  retired 
life  till,  on  the  2nd  of  August,  187 1,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of 
his  age,  he  died,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Kilda's  cemetery  there. 

George  Bouchier  Richardson,  son  of  Moses  Aaron  Richardson, 
was  brought  up  as  a  compositor  in  his  father's  printing  office.  The 
artistic  surroundings  of  his  boyhood  made  him  a  tasteful  printer,  his 
father's  literary  activities  imbued  him  with  a  love  of  local  history  and 
antiquities,  and  by  the  time  he  was  of  age  he  was  able  to  render 
valuable  assistance  in  the  various  enterprises  which  his  father  had 
taken  in  hand.  Many  of  the  woodcuts  which  illustrate  the  "  Table 
Book,"  and  all  the  illuminations  in  the  "  Reprints  of  Rare  Tracts  " 
were  his  productions.  Joining  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries, he  contributed  three  useful  papers  to  the  Society's  published 
volumes  : — 

"An  Account  of  the  Discovery  of  some  Roman  Relics  in  the 
Western  Suburbs  of  Pons  Aelii  "  (i}^  pp.,  4to). 

"  An  attempt  to  indicate  the  Site  of  the  Roman  Station  at  Newcastle 
upon  Tyne,  and  the  Course  of  the  Wall  through  that  town"  (20  pp., 
4to). 

"A  Muster  of  the  Fencible  Inhabitants  of  Newcastle  upon  Tyne  in 
the  Year  1539,  derived  from  the  Original  preserved  in  the   Rolls 


298  M.  A.  AND  G.  B.  RICHARDSON. 

Chapel ;  preceded  by  some  Observations  on  the  System  of  Watch 
and  Ward"  (22  pp.,  4to). 

He  wrote  also  an  illustrated  "  Guide  to  the  Newcastle  and  Berwick 
Railway,"  published  by  his  father  in  1846,  and  designed  as  a  means 
of  agreeably  occupying  time,  which,  according  to  the  compiler,  "  from 
the  incessant  rumbling  of  the  carriages  on  their  onward  passage,  can- 
not possibly  be  devoted  to  conversation  ; "  a  pamphlet  on  "  Plague 
and  Pestilence  in  the  North  of  England " ;  and  three  papers  on 
"  The  Mosstroopers  of  the  Borders,"  which  appeared  in  The  Northern 
Tribune  for  May,  June,  and  July,  1854.  Among  his  most  intimate 
friends  was  the  late  James  Clephan,  then  the  far-famed  editor  of  the 
Ga/eshead  Observer.  Under  Mr.  Clephan's  guidance  he  frequently 
lectured  at  the  Gateshead  Mechanics'  Institute  on  local  subjects,  such 
as  "  The  Topography  of  Ancient  Newcastle,"  "  Masters  and  Appren- 
tices in  the  Olden  Time,"  "  The  Walled  Town  of  Newcastle,"  "The 
Monk's  Stone,"  etc.,  most  of  which  lectures  were  printed  in  his 
friend's  newspaper.  In  1850  he  delivered  a  course  of  three  lectures 
at  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  on  "  Newcastle- 
on-Tyne:  Its  Memorabilia  and  Characteristics,"  followed,  in  1852, 
by  two  others,  on  "  The  English  Border,  during  the  Middle  and  Later 
Ages." 

When  his  father  emigrated  to  Australia,  Mr.  George  succeeded  to 
the  business,  and  removing  his  establishment  to  West  Clayton  Street, 
endeavoured  to  combine  artistic  printing  with  literary  composition. 
The  effort  was  a  failure.  He  was  an  artist  and  man  of  letters,  but 
his  commercial  abilities  were  not  of  a  high  order,  and  after  struggling 
on  for  three  or  four  years  he  determined  to  follow  his  father.  Some 
time  in  1854  he  went  to  Melbourne,  in  which  city  he  obtained  a 
situation  as  proof-reader  on  the  Melbourne  Age,  and  librarian  of  the 
Melbourne  Mechanics'  Institute.  From  that  somewhat  humble  posi- 
tion he  rose  to  the  successive  sub-editorships  of  the  Geelong  Daily 
News  and  the  Ballarat  Star,  and  finally  to  the  editorial  chair  of  the 
Wallaroo  Times,  in  South  Australia.  In  1874  he  left  Wallaroo,  and 
settled  in  Adelaide,  where  he  taught  drawing,  and  painting  in  water- 
colours.  He  died  suddenly  of  heart  disease  at  North  Adelaide,  on 
the  28th  of  November,  1877. 


THOMAS  MILES  RICHARDSON.  299 


(Ihomat?  flDilcs  1Ricba^^tvn, 

ARTIST. 

Thomas  Miles  Richardson,  eldest  son  of  the  schoolmaster,  was 
born  on  the  15th  of  May,  1784.  Like  many,  if  not  most  geniuses, 
he  exhibited  his  future  capacity  when  a  mere  child.  One  day,  while 
he  was  yet  in  petticoats,  a  friend  of  his  parents  found  him  drawing 
the  figure  of  a  cock  on  the  floor  of  the  room  with  a  piece  of  chalk, 
and  presented  him  with  a  shilling  for  it.  In  his  eleventh  year,  going 
to  Alnwick  on  a  visit  to  some  relations,  he  made  his  first  attempt  at 
sketching  from  nature.  The  subjects  were  a  view  of  Alnwick  Castle 
from  the  Pasture,  and  another  of  Coquet  Island  from  Alnmouth. 
His  box  of  colours  consisted  of  one  pennyworth  of  sap-green,  a  piece 
of  stone-blue  cribbed  from  the  laundry,  and  of  gamboge  another  penny- 
worth. These  rude  sketches  he  preserved  till  within  ten  years  of  his 
decease. 

Bound  apprentice  to  John  Gibson  and  Lancelot  Usher,  joiners 
and  cabinet-makers  in  Newcastle,  he  practised  drawing  at  every  oppor- 
tunity, and  when  he  was  out  of  his  time  he  took  lessons  in  furniture 
drawing  from  Thomas  Pether,  carver  and  gilder  in  Dean  Street. 
He  carried  on  the  cabinet-making  business  for  a  short  time,  and 
then  his  father's  death  having  left  the  mastership  of  St.  Andrew's 
school  vacant,  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  accept  it.  He  had  married 
at  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship,  he  had  to  assist  his  brother, 
and,  therefore,  there  was  good  reason  for  accepting  a  permanent 
situation  although  the  remuneration  was  only  ;Qio  a  year  and  a  free 
house.  In  this  position  he  continued  for  about  seven  years,  supple- 
menting his  income  meanwhile  by  the  sale  of  drawings  and  paintings, 
and  by  teaching  drawing  to  a  few  pupils,  the  first  of  whom  were  the 
sons  of  William  Fife,  surgeon — William  and  John  (afterwards  Sir 
John)  Fife. 

Having  resigned  his  office  of  dominie  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
profession  of  an  artist  The  first  remarkable  picture  which  he 
produced  was  "  Newcastle  from  Gateshead  Fell,"  which  the  Corpora- 
tion purchased  for  fifty  guineas.  It  is  said  that  Sir  Thomas  Law- 
rence, who  was  at  the  Mansion  House  at  the  time  the  Duke  of 
Wellington   visited   Newcastle,    asked    Mr.    Archibald    Reed,    then 


300  THOMAS  MILES  RICHARDSON. 

Mayor,  the  name  of  the  artist  who  had  painted  this  piece,  and  when 
told  it  was  by  a  Newcastle  man,  he  expressed  his  surprise  that  the 
artist  had  not  gone  to  reside  in  London. 

About  1816,  Mr.  Richardson  commenced,  in  conjunction  with 
William  Dixon,  an  illustrated  work  in  coloured  aquatint,  representing 
the  chief  objects  of  interest  in  Newcastle  and  the  Northern  Counties. 
This  work  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr,  Emerson  Charnley,  but 
very  few  numbers  appeared.  In  1833,  his  brother,  Mr.  M.  A. 
Richardson,  and  himself  commenced  the  joint  publication  of  the 
"  Castles  of  the  English  and  Scottish  Borders,"  a  splendid  work, 
intended  to  supply  the  defects  of  Scott's  "  Border  Antiquities." 
This  work  was  got  up  in  sumptuous  style;  the  plates  were  in  mezzo- 
tint, and  engraved  by  him  without  assistance;  but  delay  between  the 
periods  of  publication  reduced  the  subscriptions,  so  that  after  two 
numbers  had  appeared,  and  a  third  had  been  nearly  completed,  the 
work  was  unwillingly  relinquished.  A  few  years  previous,  he  had 
etched,  and,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother,  published,  a  series  of 
etchings  of  antiquities  in  Newcastle,  many  of  which  are  now  levelled 
with  the  ground;  and  at  different  times  he  engraved  views  of 
Melrose  and  Dryburgh  Abbeys,  and  by  the  aid  of  a  private  litho- 
graphic press,  produced  "The  Side,  Newcastle,"  "Easby  Abbey,  on 
the  Swale,"  "  Alnwick  Bridge,"  etc. 

In  1822,  in  conjunction  with  H.  Perlee  Parker,  and  under  circum- 
stances described  in  Parker's  biography  (see  page  250),  he  opened 
the  first  fine  art  exhibition  in  the  North  of  England.  It  was  held  at 
his  own  house  in  Brunswick  Place,  Newcastle,  and  he  contributed  to 
it  fourteen  pictures,  the  most  important  being  a  view  of  "Stirling 
Castle— Evening,"  and  "The  Old  Mill  at  Ambleside."  The  following 
year  he  showed  twelve  pictures  and  drawings;  in  1824  twenty-two. 
When  the  Academy  of  Arts  in  Blackett  Street  was  completed,  in 
1828,  the  exhibitions  were  removed  from  Brunswick  Place  to  the 
new  location.  Two  years  later  he  produced  four  huge  pictures 
covering  1,357  f*^et  of  canvas — "Melrose  Abbey  by  Moonlight," 
"  Interior  of  the  Hermitage  at  Warkworth,"  "  Entrance  to  the  Shrine 
of  Henry  V.  in  Westminster  Abbey,"  and  "  A  view  from  the  Cavern 
of  Majuri  in  the  Bay  of  Salerno "  from  a  sketch  by  Edward  Swin- 
burne. These  were  exhibited  with  dioramic  effects  and  excited 
great  interest,  being  the  first  pictures  so  treated  in  Newcastle.  In 
1835  he  painted  the  celebrated  picture,  "A  View  of  the  Side, 
Newcastle,   with   the   Annual   Procession   of  the    High    Sheriff  of 


WILL  I  AM  RICHARDSON.  30 1 

Northumberland  going  to  meet  the  Judges  of  Assize  for  the  Northern 
Circuit,"  which  was  purchased  by  the  Corporation.  Altogether,  at 
the  various  exhibitions  in  Newcastle,  he  must  have  shown  about 
three  hundred  pictures  in  oil  and  water  colours;  the  majority  of 
which  are  in  the  possession  of  local  collectors  and  connoisseurs. 

When  he  was  approaching  his  sixty-third  year,  the  infirmities  of  a 
constitution  never  robust,  and  early  and  severely  tried,  brought  his 
busy  life  to  a  close.  He  died  on  the  7th  of  March,  1847,  and  was 
buried  in  Jesmond  Cemetery.  Twice  married,  he  was  the  father  of 
a  large  family.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  George,  an  artist,  who,  when 
rapidly  rising  in  his  profession,  was  seized  with  a  consumptive  dis- 
order, and  died  in  1840;  Thomas  Miles,  who  settled  in  London  in 
early  life,  and  soon  won  a  name  in  his  father's  profession;  and 
Edward,  who  for  some  time  before  his  father's  death  acted  as  his 
substitute,  assisted  by  Henry  Bordon,  the  eldest  son  of  the  second 
family. 


Milliam  IRicbarbson, 

AUTHOR    AND    POET. 

William  Richardson,  who  at  the  turn  of  the  century  occupied 
a  prominent  position  in  shipping  and  literary  circles  on  the  north 
side  of  the  harbour  of  Tyne,  was  born  at  Little  Harle,  Kirk- 
whelpington,  on  the  26th  of  May,  1759.  Having  chosen  the 
profession  of  a  teacher,  he  opened  a  school  at  Backworth,  and 
from  thence,  about  the  year  1790,  removed  to  North  Shields, 
where  he  commenced  business  as  a  notary  public,  and  became 
secretary  to  several  marine  insurance  clubs.  In  youth  he  had 
acquired  a  taste  for  local  antiquities,  and  for  the  music,  songs, 
and  tales  of  the  Borders,  and  now,  having  found  his  vocation, 
he  published,  at  intervals,  specimens  of  his  poetic  talents  and 
antiquarian  knowledge,  for  private  circulation  among  his  friends. 
He  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  periodicals  of  the  day,  and 
an  attentive  correspondent  of  the  local  press.  One  of  his  little 
books,  entitled  "  Croft  Spaw,  Yorkshire :  A  Brief  Address  with 
Digressions,"  obtained  some  celebrity,  and  ran  into  a  third  edition, 
which  was  printed  by  Appleby,  of  North  Shields,  in  1822.  Another, 
"  The  Odes  of  Anacreon  Translated  by  William  Richardson  "  (1824), 


302  WILLIAM  RICHARDSON. 

was  described  by  a  writer  in  the  Newcastle  Courant  in  highly  eulogistic 
terms.  "  It  gives  the  luscious  strains  of  the  bard,"  he  wrote,  "  in  such 
chaste,  smooth,  and  elegant  verse,  as  places  Mr.  Richardson  amongst 
the  classics  of  his  country,  and  would  have  done  honour  to  the 
Clarendon  press  of  Oxford."  There  was  at  that  time  at  Whitburn, 
near  Sunderland,  a  "  Dilettanti  Club,"  and  the  gentlemen  composing 
it,  adopting  the  views  expressed  in  the  newspapers,  presented  the 
translator  with  a  cairngorm,  set  in  gold,  on  which  was  cut  the  profile 
of  the  Grecian  bard,  as  a  memorial  of  their  appreciation  and  regard. 
Few  local  collectors  possess  copies  of  Mr.  Richardson's  effusions, 
though  at  the  time  they  were  written  they  were  much  prized  and 
sought  for.  In  the  sale  catalogue  of  Thomas  Bell's  great  local 
library  there  was  a  collection  of  "  Fugitive  Poems,"  culled  from 
periodicals  and  newspapers  by  an  admirer  of  Mr.  Richardson,  and 
bound  up  with  critical  notes  and  notices  of  his  works.  Among 
his  privately  printed  books,  one  entitled  "  Hotspur "  is  highly 
spoken  of,  and  in  the  Newcastle  Magazine  for  1825  his  style  of 
composition  may  be  studied.  The  editor  of  that  magazine,  present- 
ing to  his  readers  a  portrait  of  Akenside  the  poet,  accompanied  it 
by  an  ode  which  Mr.  Richardson  composed  and  recited  when  the 
centenary  of  Akenside's  birth  was  celebrated  within  the  walls  of  the 
old  house  in  the  Butcher  Bank,  Newcastle,  where  the  poet  was 
born.  The  "  Ode "  scarcely  maintains  the  reputation  assigned  to 
Mr.  Richardson  by  the  local  press,  being  stilted,  turgid,  and  weak. 
The  best  passage  in  it  is  the  following : — 

"  Oft  would  the  Bard,  enraptur'd  on  the  heights 
Of  Tyne,  whose  copious  streams  six  thousand  years 
Have  roU'd  to  swell  the  mighty  ocean-wave, 
Tune  the  heroic  string,  while  Ravendale, 
Then  beaming  in  his  front,  re-echo'd  back 
The  proud,  th'  imperial  Theme.     Or  smote  with  zeal, 
At  dawn  of  day,  trace  the  wild  winding  brook 
To  Jesu-Mount;  there  snuff  the  early  breeze. 
Loaded  with  scent  of  blossom,  and  with  Health 
Sedately  ramble  round  the  whiten'd  thorn." 

In  his  business  transactions  Mr.  Richardson  is  described  as  "the  eye 
of  the  shipping  interest,  its  watchful  guardian,  and  ready  advocate," 
whose  "  powerful  mind  and  able  pen  were  always  ready  to  aid  any 
patriotic,  useful,  or  philanthropic  undertaking."  To  his  exertions 
was  chiefly  due  the  establishment,  in  1802,  of  the  Shields  Subscrip- 
tion Library,  and  the  erection  of  the  handsome  building,  with  its 


WILLIAM  RICHARDSON.  303 

huge  clock  dial,  at  the  foot  of  Howard  Street,  in  which,  four  years 
later,  the  institution  was  located. 

Mr.  Richardson  died  suddenly  on  the  29th  of  August,  1824. 
Shortly  afterwards  his  friends  and  admirers  set  up  in  Tynemouth 
Church  a  marble  tablet,  bearing  the  following  inscription  to  his 
memory: — 

"  In  memory  of  William  Richardson,  of  North  Shields,  Public  Notary,  and 
Secretary  to  several  of  the  Shipping  Associations  of  this  town  for  thirty-eight 
years.  His  strong  natural  powers  were  highly  cultivated  by  extensive  reading, 
and  an  enlarged  observation  of  men  and  manners.  His  poetical  talents  were 
pourtrayed  in  numerous  pieces  of  considerable  merit.  As  a  friend  and  neighbour, 
he  was  uniformly  kind  and  benevolent ;  whilst  his  exertions  and  resources  were 
never  denied  to  the  calls  of  charity  and  public  improvements.  He  died  suddenly, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years,  without  any  previous  indisposition,  on  Sunday,  the 
29th  day  of  August,  1824,  after  attending  divine  service  in  this  church.  This 
tablet  was  erected  to  his  much  revered  memory  by  the  subscriptions  of  his  friends. 

Dear  to  his  friends,  humane  and  good, 

Of  strong  perceptions — always  clear. 
His  works  abound  with  mental  food. 

With  beauties  shining  rich  and  rare." 


Milliam  IRicbarbson, 

POETIC.A.L    SATIRIST. 

Local  annalists  have  been  far  from  kind  to  local  poets  and  rhymesters. 
They  tell  us  that  Mr.  So-and-so,  who  obtained  considerable  celebrity 
as  the  author  of  This  and  That,  died  upon  such  and  such  a  date,  and 
there  they  leave  him.  ,  His  name  and  his  writings  survive,  and  oft- 
times  nothing  more.  Such  was  the  fate  of  William  Richardson,  a 
child  of  misfortune,  who,  a  hundred  years  ago,  carried  on  the  business 
of  a  corn  merchant  in  Newcastle,  wrote  satirical  verse,  and  ended  his 
days  a  prisoner  for  debt.  All  that  Sykes  can  give  us  about  this 
notable  versifier  is  contained  in  the  following  brief  paragraph: — 
"181 7,  June  12.  Died  in  the  gaol  of  Newgate,  Newcastle,  where 
he  had  been  confined  several  years,  Mr.  William  Richardson,  formerly 
an  eminent  corn  merchant  in  that  town.  Mr.  R.  possessed  consider- 
able talents,  and  various  were  his  satiric  effusions,  the  chief  of  which 
is  '  The  Newcastle  Attorneys,'  which  was  privately  circulated,  and  of 
course  has  become  exceedingly  scarce.     His  widow  placed  a  very 


304  WILLIAM  RICHARDSON. 

singular  epitaph  over  his  remains,  in  Heworth  Chapel-yard,  which 
has  since  been  much  mutilated." 

Fortunately  there  are  copies  of  "  The  Newcastle  Attorneys "  in 
existence,  and  though  we  know  nothing  of  the  writer's  origin  and 
career,  we  can  judge  of  his  ability  from  the  chief  production  of  his 
Muse.  It  is  a  32mo  pamphlet,  printed  for  private  circulation,  and 
issued  anonymously,  and  its  object  is  to  hold  up  to  public  scorn 
certain  local  lawyers,  through  whose  proceedings  he  was  committed 
to  the  custody  of  Gaoler  Gee,  the  Keeper  of  Newgate  prison.  Upon 
the  title-page  we  read: — 

"The  Newcastle  Attornies,  or  Villany  Displayed  : 
A  Satirical  Poem. 
Fair  honest  Truth  my  Muse  inspires, 
Nor  rage  nor  spleen  her  bosom  fires, 

The  Public  Good  her  aim: 
The  virtuous  she'll  hold  up  to  view, 
The  base  with  lash  she'll  quick  pursue 
And  hold  them  up  to  shame. 
Printed  for  the  Author,  Pro  Bono  Publico,  1809." 

The  author  expresses  an  opinion  in  his  preface  that  in  all 
probability  no  town  in  England  has  "so  much  cause  to  complain 
of  impositions  practised  by  attornies  as  that  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne; 
there  having,  of  late  years,  a  set  of  ignorant,  debauched  young  fellows 
got  themselves  initiated  into  the  profession  who  in  place  of  an  ac- 
quisition have  positively  become  a  public  grievance."  For  which 
reason,  and  "in  order  that  these  wretches  may,  in  some  measure,  be 
exposed  to  public  view,  I  shall,  in  the  following  poem,  endeavour 
to  delineate  their  sundry  characters;  not  doubting  but,  by  a  perusal 
thereof,  the  public  will  be  able  to  discriminate  those  of  the  profession 
who,  in  common  justice,  ought  to  be  marked  as  the  pests  of  society; 
which  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  have  at  least  a  tendency  to  induce  many 
of  them  to  quit  the  profession  of  the  law  for  the  army  or  navy, 
where  they  may  be  of  some  service  to  that  country  to  which  (as 
attorneys)  they  are  at  present  a  disgrace." 

There  are  thirty-six  verses  altogether  in  this  remarkable  com- 
position; most  of  them  like  this: — 

"  Newcastle  for  Attornies  fam'd, 

Tho'  most  of  them  degrade  the  name — 

They,  sure,  our  town  disgrace  : 
Satire  thy  honest  weapon  draw, 
And  scourge  these  base  limbs  of  the  law, 
That  miscreant,  motley  race." 


SM  THOMAS  RIDDELL.  305 

The  epitaph  in  Heworth  Churchyard,  noted  by  Sykes,  consists  of 
sixteen  doggerel  lines,  headed  "  The  Tomb  of  William  Richardson,  of 
Greenside,  late  Corn-merchant,  Newcastle,  who  died  June  17th  (not 
1 2th  as  in  Sykes),  18 17,  in  his  fifty-fourth  year,"  and  ending  with 
"  After  offering  thirteen  shillings  in  the  pound  " — an  evident  allusion 
to  the  hardship  of  his  imprisonment.  It  is  now  in  great  part  un- 
decipherable, but  the  last  six  lines  can  be  made  out  as  follows: — 

"  So  like  the  western  goat  in  Daniel's  dream 
Which  came  with  noted  horn  and  choleric  theme, 
To  stamp  his  cloven  feet  on  Tyne's  mercantile  head, 
Who  pushed  his  ships  all  airts  to  bring  them  bread ; 
But  God,  that  puUeth  doun,  and  raiseth  up,  will  see 
To  lop  his  foes,  like  th'  arm  of  Gaoler  Gee." 


Sir  ITboinae  IRib^cll, 

OF   GATESHEAD    HOUSE. 

The  Riddells  are  an  old  and  honourable  family  in  the  North  of  Eng- 
land, giving  High  Sheriffs  to  Northumberland,  and  Sheriffs,  Mayors, 
and  Parliamentary  representatives  to  Newcastle  from  generation  to 
generation.  As  far  back  as  the  municipal  year  1 500-1,  Thomas  Rid- 
dell  was  Sheriff  of  the  town,  and  in  1510-11,  1521-22,  and  1526-27, 
he  was  Mayor.  His  successor  in  civic  honours,  William  Riddell, 
Sheriff  in  1575-76,  ]\Iayor  in  1582-83  and  1595-96,  was  his  grandson, 
son  of  Peter  Riddell,  merchant,  by  a  marriage  with  Dorothy,  sister  of 
Sir  Robert  Brandling.  William  Riddell,  son  of  Peter  and  grandson 
of  Thomas,  married  twice — ist,  Ann  Lawson,  by  whom  he  had 
Thomas,  the  subject  of  this  narrative;  2nd,  Barbara,  daughter  of 
Alderman  Anderson,  who  brought  him,  among  other  progeny, 
Peter,  afterwards  Sir  Peter  Riddell,  Sheriff  in  1604-5,  Mayor  in 
1619-20,  and  1635-36,  and  M.P.  for  the  town  in  1624,  1626,  1628, 
and  1640. 

Thomas  Riddell,  issue  of  the  first  marriage,  took  to  wife  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Conyers,  of  Sockburn,  knight,  and  was  Sheriff 
of  Newcastle  in  1601-2.  In  the  following  year,  when  James  I.  came 
through  Newcastle  on  his  way  to  the  English  throne,  and  was  received 
with  such  reverence  and  obeisance  by  the  people  as  led  him  to  ex- 
claim, "  By  ma  saul,   they  are  enough   to  spoil  a  gude  king ! "  he 

VOL.  III.  20 


3o6  SIR  THOMAS  RID  DELL. 

knighted  the  Mayor,  Robert  Dudley,  and,  shortly  afterwards,  he 
conferred  the  like  honour  upon  Thomas  Riddell.  In  1604-5,  ^"^ 
in  1616-17,  Sir  Thomas  was  Mayor;  and  in  1620  and  1628  repre- 
sented Newcastle  in  Parliament.  He  was  bailiff  in  1605,  16 14, 
and  1620,  of  the  bishop's  town  of  Gateshead,  and  there,  having 
acquired  considerable  property  on  that  side  of  the  Tyne  through  his 
father,  and  being  himself  a  "  grand  lessee  "  of  the  coal  in  Gateshead 
and  Whickham,  he  took  up  his  residence.  He  was  living  there  when 
the  Scots  entered  Newcastle,  after  the  skirmish  at  Newburn,  and 
being  a  sufferer  by  their  invasion  he  petitioned  King  Charles  I. 
in  terms  that  enable  us  to  ascertain  the  position  which  he  occupied, 
and  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been  accumulating  wealth.  He 
states  "  That  being  an  inhabitant  in  Gateside,  near  Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne,  the  Scots  army,  now  of  late,  since  their  coming  thither,  have 
taken  and  disposed  of  all  your  petitioner's  corn,  as  well  that  in  his 
garners,  being  a  great  quantity,  as  also  his  corn  in  the  ground ;  and 
had  spoiled  and  consumed  all  his  hay,  both  of  the  last  year  and  this 
year's  growth ;  have  taken  and  do  keep  possession  of  his  two  milnes 
of  great  value ;  have  spent  his  grass,  and  spoiled  many  acres  of  his 
ground  by  making  trenches  in  it ;  have  wasted  and  disposed  of  his 
coals  already  wrought ;  have  spoiled  and  broken  his  engines,  and 
utterly  drowned  and  destroyed  the  best  part  of  his  coal-mines ;  have 
banished  his  servants  and  overseer  of  his  lands  and  coal-works  ;  have 
plundered  divers  houses  of  your  petitioner's  tenants  and  servants, 
and  taken  and  spoiled  their  goods,  so  that  they  are  not  able  to  pay 
your  petitioner  any  rents,  nor  to  do  him  any  services.  By  all  which, 
your  petitioner  is  already  damnified  ^^1,500.  And  for  all  which 
premises  the  said  Scots  have  not  given  any  satisfaction  to  your  peti- 
tioner nor  his  tenants ;  whereby  your  petitioner  and  his  posterity  are 
like  to  be  ruinated  and  undone  (most  of  your  petitioner's  estate  con- 
sisting in  the  said  coalyerie),  unless  some  present  course  be  taken  for 
your  petitioner's  relief,"  etc. 

Gateshead  House,  the  mansion  in  which  Sir  Thomas  Riddell 
lived,  had  been  built  upon  lands  belonging  to  the  ancient  Hospital 
of  St.  Edmund.  It  was  a  beautiful  house,  in  a  lovely  situation,  with 
the  glittering  spires  of  Newcastle  to  the  north,  the  verdant  slopes  of 
Gateshead  Fell  and  the  valley  of  the  Team  to  the  south,  and  the 
wide-spreading  Tyne,  dotted  with  islands,  and  alive  with  craft,  away 
down  in  the  west.  His  fertile  lands  had  been  laid  waste  by  Lesley 
and  the  Scots,  and  his  house  had  been  made,  so  to  speak,  desolate. 


SIR  THOMAS  RIDDELL.  307 

The  Scots  cared  for  none  of  these  things,  but  when  they  came  back 
to  besiege  Newcastle  in  1644,  they  remembered  the  petition  in 
w^hich  he  had  poured  forth  his  complaints,  and  they,  or  their  friends, 
played  him  a  grim  joke.  A  letter  was  addressed  to  him,  purporting 
to  emanate  from  General  Lesley,  in  which  his  love  of  home  and 
garden,  goods  and  gear,  were  held  up  to  ridicule.  Whether  the 
letter  ever  reached  Sir  Thomas,  or  was  simply  circulated  privately, 
like  a  modern  "squib"  or  "take  off"  is  not  known.  Copies  of  it 
got  afloat,  with  various  readings,  and  in  1764,  a  few  weeks  after  the 
Newcastle  Chronicle  was  started,  what  purported  to  be  "  the  original  " 
was  sent  to  the  editor  for  publication,  and  printed  as  follows: — 

"  Sir  John  Lesley's  Letter  to  5/>  Thomas  Riddle  of  Gateshead^ 
upon  the  Siege  of  Newcastle  by  the  Scots,  in   the  Reign  of 
Charles  I. 
"  Sir  Thamas, 
"  DEtween  me  and  Gad  it  maks  my  heart  bleed  bleud,  to  see 
the  wark  gae  thro'  sae  trim  a  gairden  as  yours.     I  ha  been 
twa   times  wi   my  cusin  the  general,  and  sae  shall  I  sax  times 
times  mare  afore  the  wark  gae  that  gate:     But  gin   aw  this   be 
doun,  Sir  Thomas,  ye  maun   mack  the   twenty  punds  throtty, 
and   I   maun  hae  the  tagged  tail'd  trouper  that  stands  in  the 
stawe,  and  the  little  wee  trim  gaying  thing   that   stands   in   the 
newk  of  the  haw,  chirping  and  chirming  at  the  newn  tide  of  the 
day,  and  forty  bows  of  beer  to  saw  the  mains  with  awe. 

"  And  as  I  am  a  chivelier  of  fortin,  and  a  limb  of  the  house  of 
Rothes,  as  the  muckle  main  kist  in  Edinburgh  auld  kirk  can 
well  witness  for  these  aught  hundred  years  bygaine,  nought 
shall  scaith  your  house  within  or  without,  to  the  validome  of  a 
twa  penny  chicken. 

'■^  I  am  yoier  humble  servant, 

"JOHN  LESLEY, 

"  Major  general,  and  captin  over  sax  score  and  twa  men  and  some 

maire,   crowner  of  Cumberland,   Northumberland,   Marryland, 

and   Niddisdale,   the   Alerce,   Tiviotdale,    and   Fife;    Bailie   of 

Kirkadie,   governor  of    Brunt  Eland  and    the    Bass,  laird    of 

Liberton,  Tilly  and  Whooly,  siller  tacker  of  Stirling,  constable 

of  Leith,  and  Sir  John  Lesley,  knight,  to  the  bute  of  aw  that." 

This  comical    communication,   highly   suggestive    of  a    hoax,   is 

suggestive,  also,  of  many  an  "  ower-true  tale  "  of  levies  made  in  that 

bitter  period — a  period  when,   as  appears  by  the  records  of   the 


3o8  S/J^  THOMAS  RIDDELL. 

Gateshead  vestry,  "  the  great  new  gate  "  was  carried  off  to  their 
quarters  by  the  Scots;  "which  gate  did  hang  at  the  entering  into 
the  Town  Fields,"  and  was  only  recovered  by  a  ransom  of  fourteen- 
pence  !  Town  Fields,  and  gate  by  which  they  were  entered,  had 
little  quarter  from  the  Covenanters,  who  must  often  themselves,  as 
well  as  the  Gatesiders  and  their  neighbours,  have  been  reduced  to 
severest  straits.     But  this  by  the  way. 

William  Lithgow,  a  travelled  Scottish  tailor,  who  was  an  eye- 
witness to  the  siege  of  Newcastle  in  1644,  and  wrote  "an 
experimentall  and  exact  relation "  of  the  "  diverse  conflicts  and 
occurrences "  that  fell  out  there  during  its  continuance,  tells  his 
readers  that  "  as  to  the  inhabitants  resyding  within,  the  richest  or 
better  sort  of  them,  as  seven  or  eight  Common  Knights,  Aldermen, 
Coale  Merchants,  Pudlers,  and  the  like  creatures,  are  altogether 
Malignants,  most  of  them  being  Papists,  and  the  greater  part  of  all 
irreligious  Atheists,  the  vulgar  condition  being  a  Masse  of  silly 
ignorants."  Sir  Thomas  Riddell  was  one  of  the  "  Common  Knights  " 
whom  Lithgow  libelled.  He  signed  the  letter,  with  twenty-nine 
others,  in  which  the  authorities  of  Newcastle  refused  to  surrender 
the  town  to  the  Scots,  and  probably  was  one  of  the  four  or  five 
hundred  citizens  who  fled  to  the  Castle  and  held  out  to  the  last 
extremity.  Much  more  than  is  here  recorded  of  Sir  Thomas 
Riddell,  his  sons  and  family  connections,  may  be  read  in  the 
"  Chronological  History  of  Newcastle  and  Gateshead,"  and  in 
Longstaffe's  appendix  to  the  "  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes."  For 
present  purposes  it  is  enough  to  add  that  he  did  not  live  long  after 
the  siege  of  Newcastle.  He  died,  probably  at  Gateshead  House,  on 
the  30th  of  March,  1650,  and  was  buried  two  days  later,  but  whether 
in  his  own  parish  church  of  Gateshead,  or  in  St.  Nicholas',  Newcastle, 
among  his  kindred,  is  not  certain.  The  Registers  of  Burials  in  both 
churches  contain  an  entry  of  his  interment. 

The  second  son  of  Sir  Thomas,  named  after  him,  and  also 
knighted  (throwing,  thereby,  a  little  confusion  into  local  history),  was 
Recorder  of  Newcastle.  He  is  usually  styled  "of  Fenham,"  where 
he  resided.  During  the  Civil  War  he  became  a  colonel  of  foot  in 
the  king's  service,  and  Governor  of  Tynemouth  Castle.  When 
Tynemouth  surrendered  through  "the  pestilence  having  been  five 
weeks  amongst  the  garrison  with  a  great  mortaHtie,  soe  that  they 
were  glad  to  yeeld,  and  to  scatter  themselves  abroad,"  Sir  Thomas 
made  his  wav  to  Berwick,  from  which  place  he  effected  his  escape  to 


WILLIAM  RIDDELL.  309 

the  Continent  in  a  small  fishing  smack.  He  died  in  1652,  two 
years  after  the  death  of  his  father,  "  a  broken  and  banished  man," 
his  lordship  of  Tunstal  having  been  previously  sold  to  satisfy  the 
composition  levied  upon  him,  amounting  to  about  as  much  as  it  was 
worth.     He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Jaques  at  Antwerp. 

Gateshead  House  passed  to  the  Claverings  of  Callaley,  and  it  was  in 
their  possession  when  a  later  Scottish  outbreak  caused  its  destruction. 
For,  as  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  was  passing  through  Gateshead  in 
January,  1746,  to  put  down  the  young  Pretender,  a  mob  of  keelmen 
and  labourers  showed  their  loyalty  by  wrecking  the  mansion  and  the 
"  Popish  Chapel "  attached  to  it,  and  burning  them  to  the  ground. 


MiUiam  1Ri^^cll, 

CATHOLIC    BISHOP. 

The  Riddells  of  Felton,  Swinburne  Castle,  and  Cheeseburn  Grange 
are  descendants  of  Sir  Thomas  Riddell,  of  Gateshead  House,  through 
his  son  the  Recorder — Sir  Thomas  Riddell  of  Fenhani.  By  the 
marriage  of  the  latter  with  Barbara,  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander 
Davison,  and  widow  of  Ralph  Calverley,  he  had  nine  children,  the 
eldest  of  whom,  also  named  Thomas,  sold  Fenham  to  John  Ord  of 
Newcastle,  and  purchased  the  estate  of  Swinburne.  His  grandson, 
another  Thomas,  married  in  1726  Mary,  daughter  and  co-heiress  of 
William  Widdrington  of  Cheeseburn  Grange,  and  so  the  Cheeseburn 
Grange  property  came  to  the  family.  This  Thomas  Riddell  was 
involved  in  the  Derwentwater  Rebellion,  and  saved  himself  by 
escaping  from  Lancaster  Castle,  but  not  being  excepted  from  the 
general  pardon,  was  allowed  to  return  to  his  estate  and  to  reside  there 
unmolested.  His  elder  son  (Thomas  again)  married  Elizabeth,  only 
daughter  and  heir  of  Edward  Horsley  Widdrington  of  Felton,  and 
thus  Felton  was  added  to  the  estates  of  this  thriving  and  wide- 
spreading  family. 

Later  on,  in  1803,  the  w'idow  of  Edward  Horsley  of  Felton  (son 
of  Thomas  Riddell  and  Elizabeth  Widdrington)  w-as  united  to  Ralph 
Riddell  of  Cheeseburn  Grange.  Ralph  Riddell,  their  third  son,  was 
the  famous  breeder  and  trainer  of  racehorses,  the  owner  of  Doctor 
Syntax,  Don  Carlos,  and  X  Y  Z,  about  w^hose  achievements  local 
bards  invoked  the  Muse — 


3IO  WILLIAM  RID  DELL. 

"  The  bets  flew  round  frae  side  to  side; 
•  The  field  agyen  X  Y '  they  cried  : 
We'd  hardly  time  to  lay  them  a' 
When  in  he  cam — Hurraw  !  Hurraw  ! 

'  Gad  smash  !'  says  aw,  '  X  Y's  the  steed, 
He  bangs  them  a'  for  pith  an'  speed, 
We  never  see'd  the  like,  man  ! ' " 

Doctor  Syntax  won  about  twenty  gold  cups,  X  Y  Z  carried  off  nine, 
and  Don  Carlos  had  been  the  winner  of  a  similar  prize  when  he  was 
purchased  for  the  Russian  Government,  and  sent  over  to  that 
country.  Mr.  Riddell  gave  up  his  racing  establishment  a  few  years 
before  his  death,  which  took  place  on  the  9th  of  March,  1833,  when 
he  was  sixty-three  years  of  age. 

William  Riddell,  third  son  of  the  owner  of  X  Y  Z,  born  February 
5th,  1807,  being  the  subject  of  deep  religious  convictions,  deter- 
mined to  be  a  priest  of  the  Church  to  which  his  family  had  remained, 
through  all  changes  of  time  and  fortune,  staunch  adherents. 
He  was,  therefore,  sent  to  Stoneyhurst,  and  after  he  had  ran  his 
curriculum  and  studied  for  a  while  at  Rome,  he  returned  to  North- 
umberland, in  the  autumn  of  1832,  as  assistant  priest  with  the 
Rev.  James  Worswick,  of  St.  Andrew's  Catholic  Church,  Newcastle. 
He  laboured  in  this  sphere,  among  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  till, 
on  the  22nd  of  December,  1843,  ^^  ^^s  appointed  by  Pope 
Gregory  XVI.  coadjutor  to  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Mostyn,  Vicar 
Apostolic  of  the  Northern  District. 

The  new  prelate,  who  was  styled  Bishop  of  Lango,  i7i  partibus 
infidelium,  was  consecrated  at  Ushaw  on  the  17th  of  March  follow- 
ing, when  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Wiseman  (afterwards  Cardinal)  delivered 
a  discourse. 

On  the  death  of  Dr.  Mostyn  in  August,  1847,  Dr.  Riddell 
became  sole  bishop  of  the  district.  Newcastle,  in  which  he  had 
lived  and  laboured  for  so  long,  was  not  the  only  place  that  engaged 
his  solicitude.  The  Catholic  Church  at  Felling  was  erected 
almost  exclusively  by  his  private  generosity  and  episcopal  effort. 
Perhaps  the  opening  of  St.  Mary's  Cathedral  in  West  Clayton  Street, 
on  the  2ist  of  August,  1844,  when  nine  bishops  took  part,  and 
pontifical  high  mass  was  performed  by  Bishop  Riddell,  was  the  last 
joyful  day  of  his  worldly  existence,  for  after  that  he  had  little  else  to 
occupy  his  thoughts,  besides  the  constant  solicitude  of  his  daily 
pastoral  duties,  than  to  watch  the  declining  years  of  Dr.  Mostyn. 
Scarcely  had  that  worthy  man  been  removed  to  another  world,  than 


EDWARD  RIDDLE.  311 

there  came  upon  the  town  a  dreadful  epidemic,  in  the  shape  of 
typhus  fever,  which  carried  off  a  large  number  of  victims.  Not  a 
few  devoted  women  and  men  voluntarily  took  upon  themselves  the 
dangerous  and  difficult  task  of  succouring  and  comforting  the  afflicted, 
and  none  of  the  workers  were  more  zealous,  self-denying,  and  helpful 
than  the  priests  connected  with  the  Catholic  body,  with  Bishop 
Riddell  at  their  head.  The  good  man  fell  a  martyr,  indeed,  to  his 
warmth  of  heart  and  his  sense  of  duty.  Within  the  last  fortnight  of 
his  existence  he  had  to  perform  the  obsequies  of  two  among  his  own 
clergy  who  had  fallen  victims  to  the  plague.  Left  comparatively 
helpless  for  want  of  priestly  assistance,  he  went  forth  himself  into  the 
lanes  and  alleys,  in  the  spirit  of  St.  Charles  of  Milan,  who  made  him- 
self a  victim  for  his  people,  and  by  that  act  of  self-renouncement 
averted  the  plague  from  his  episcopal  city.  In  the  last  week  of  October, 
1847,  Bishop  Riddell  was  laid  aside  by  an  attack  of  the  fever,  which 
carried  him  off  on  the  2nd  of  November.  On  the  8th  of  the  month  his 
remains  were  conveyed  from  his  residence  in  Charlotte  Square  to  the 
Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Mary,  where  they  lay  in  state,  and  on  the 
following  day  the  interment  took  place,  mass  being  performed  by 
Bishop  Wiseman,  assisted  by  Bishops  Briggs,  Gillies,  and  Wareing, 
and  a  great  number  of  clergy. 


lEbwarb  IRibMe, 

MATHEMATICIAN. 

"Time,  place,  and  action  may  with  pains  be  wrought, 
But  genius  must  be  born,  and  never  can  be  taught." 

— Drydex. 

Edward  Riddle,  "one  of  the  most  profound  of  English  mathe- 
maticians," was  born  at  the  farm  of  Low  Learn,  in  the  valley  of  the 
River  Reed,  and  not  far  from  the  junction  of  that  stream  with  the 
North  Tyne.  He  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  the 
neighbouring  hamlet  of  Troughend,  and  completed  them  at  the  still 
nearer  village  of  West  Woodburn,  where  he  had  a  thorough  mathe- 
matical training  under  the  care  of  Cuthbert  Atkinson,  father  of 
Henry  Atkinson,  the  mathematician.  Choosing  the  profession  of  a 
teacher,  he  began  school-keeping  when  only  eighteen  years  of  age,  at 
Shielyfield,  in  the  parish  of  Wark.     From  thence  he  returned  to  the 


312  EDWARD  RIDDLE. 

neighbourhood  of  his  birthplace,  and  opened  a  school  at  Otterburn, 
in  which  village  he  formed  an  intimate  friendship  with  James 
Thompson,  a  man  noted  for  his  attainments  in  science.  With  Mr. 
Thompson  he  pursued,  through  its  higher  developments,  the  study 
of  Mathematics,  branching  off,  at  the  same  time,  into  the  affiliated 
sciences  of  Astronomy  and  Optics,  and  the  kindred  arts  of  Seaman- 
ship and  Navigation.  He  even  ventured  into  the  experimental  stage 
of  that  new,  perilous,  and  therefore  fascinating  study,  which  Dr. 
Benjamin  Franklin  had  made  popular — the  study  of  electrical 
phenomena.  It  is  said  that  he  constructed  for  his  own  use  an 
electrical  machine,  with  which  he  drew  sparks  from  the  knuckles  of 
the  wondering  rustics  of  Otterburn,  and  almost  paralysed  with  fear 
the  credulous  old  women  and  the  shrinking  lasses  of  the  Redesdale 
community. 

From  Otterburn,  Mr.  Riddle  removed  his  school,  in  1807,  to 
Whitburn,  near  Sunderland.  While  in  that  charming  seaside  retreat, 
he  sent  a  contribution  to  the  mathematical  department  of  the 
famous  "  Ladies'  Diary,"  then  under  the  editorial  management  of 
Dr.  Charles  Hutton,  at  Woolwich.  The  contribution  was  accepted, 
and  a  friendship  was  formed  between  editor  and  contributor  which 
helped  the  latter  to  preferment.  When  the  mastership  of  the  Trinity 
House  School  in  Newcastle  became  vacant  by  the  retirement  of 
John  Rutherford  in  1814,  Dr.  Hutton  was  requested  to  nominate  a 
competent  person  for  the  post,  and  he  recommended  his  ingenious 
correspondent.  Mr.  Riddle  was  appointed  accordingly,  at  a  salary 
of  ;^8o  a  year,  being  ^i^^ao  a  year  more  than  his  predecessor  had 
enjoyed,  with  a  free  house,  and  coals,  and  other  privileges.  The 
same  year  (and  again  in  18 19),  Mr.  Riddle  won  the  chief  prize 
in  the  "  Ladies'  Diary."  His  construction  of  problems,  and  his 
solutions  of  questions  submitted  by  other  mathematicians,  were 
distinguished  by  so  much  ingenuity  of  design,  beauty  of  form,  and 
accuracy  of  expression,  that,  in  time,  he  came  to  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  ablest  contributors  to  that  popular  annual.  Dr.  Hutton  was 
proud  of  his  fellow-countryman,  and  went  out  of  his  way  to  pay  him 
compliments  and  do  him  honour. 

In  Newcastle  Mr.  Riddle  joined  the  Newcastle  Literary  and 
Philosophical  Society,  and  became  a  diligent  attender  at  the  scien- 
tific lectures  of  the  Rev.  William  Turner.  His  chosen  companion 
was  Henry  Atkinson,  son  of  his  old  schoolmaster,  who,  a  few  years 
later,  united  the  two  families  by  marrying  his  friend's  sister,  Isabella 


ED  WARD  RIDDLE.  3 1 3 

Riddle.  Encouraged  by  Mr.  Atkinson's  example,  he  contributed  to 
the  Newcastle  JSIa^azitie,  and  ventured  into  authorship,  issuing,  in 
1 82 1,  a  pamphlet  entitled — 

"  Observations  on  the  Present  State  of  Nautical  Astronomy,  With  Remarks  on 
the  Expediency  of  promoting  a  more  general  Acquaintance  with  the  Modern 
Improvements  of  the  Science  among  Seamen  in  the  British  Merchant  Service. 
Dedicated  to  the  Worshipful  the  Master  and  Brethren  of  the  Trinity  House, 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  in  Grateful  Remembrance  of  numberless  Acts  of  Kindness." 

Shortly  after  this  publication  appeared  the  author  was  appointed, 
through  Dr.  Hutton's  influence,  to  the  mastership  of  the  Upper 
School  at  the  Royal  Naval  Asylum,  Greenwich.  Within  three  years 
of  his  appointment,  he  was  able  to  publish  an  elaborate  work,  which 
put  him  at  once  into  the  forefront  of  teachers  in  his  special  depart- 
ment. Every  shipmaster  over  forty  years  of  age  knows  that  marvel- 
lous compendium  of  maritime  knowledge,  "  Riddle's  Treatise  on 
Navigation  and  Nautical  Astronomy,  adapted  to  Practice,  and  to 
the  Purposes  of  Elementary  Instruction."  Dedicated  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  Greenwich  Hospital,  this  portly  and  elaborate  work 
united  the  theory  with  the  practice  of  navigation  in  a  manner  that 
had  never  been  attempted  before.  By  its  aid,  the  old  rule  of  thumb, 
helped  though  it  might  be  by  those  two  great  elements  of  safety — 
the  lead-line  and  the  look-out — was  rendered  obsolete,  and,  when 
fog  and  mist  permitted,  masters  in  the  merchant  service,  as  well 
as  naval  captains,  were  able  to  find  their  way  across  "  the  wide 
waste  of  waters  "  with  accuracy  and  precision. 

Upon  his  settlement  at  Greenwich  Mr.  Riddle  joined  the  Royal 
Astronomical  Society,  and,  in  course  of  time,  he  became  one  of 
the  members  of  the  Council  of  that  learned  body.  He  contributed 
several  valuable  papers  to  the  Transactions  of  the  Society,  wrote 
frequently  in  the  Philosophical  Magazi?ie,  and  furnished  articles 
on  mathematical  subjects  to  the  "  London  Encyclopaedia."  Some 
of  his  writings — overprints  of  papers  read  before  the  Astronomical 
and  other  learned  Societies — were  presented  by  him  to  the  Literary 
and  Philosophical  Society  of  Newcastle,  as  follows : — 

"Suggestions  for  Simplifying  Mr.  Ivory's  solution  of  the  Double  Altitude 
Problem."     8vo,  1822. 

"On  finding  the  Rates  of  Timekeepers."     4to,  182S. 

"  On  Deducing  the  Longitude  from  an  observed  Occultation  of  a  Fixed  Star  by 
the  Moon."    4to,  1830. 

After  thirty  years'  service  in  the  training  of  boys  for  the  navy 


314  NICHOLAS  RIDLEY. 

and  the  mercantile  marine,  Mr.  Riddle,  in  1851,  retired  into  private 
life.  His  withdrawal  was  made  the  occasion  of  an  appreciative 
demonstration  among  his  old  pupils,  who  presented  him  with  his 
bust  in  marble.  The  Commissioners  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  equally 
appreciative,  awarded  him  a  pension  for  life  equivalent  to  the  full 
salary  which  he  had  received  during  the  later  years  of  his  head- 
mastership,  and  elected  his  son,  John  Riddle,  F.R.S.A.,  to  be  his 
successor.  Out  of  harness  his  days  were  not  prolonged.  He  died 
on  the  31st  of  March,  1854,  at  Greenwich,  and  was  buried  there. 


IRicbolae  IRiMc^, 

BISHOP   OF    LONDON. 

The  family  of  Ridley  has  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the  annals 
of  Northumberland  for  at  least  five  hundred  years.  Five  places  in 
the  county  bear  their  name — Ridley  Hall,  near  Bardon  Mill;  Ridley's 
Close,  in  Warden  parish;  Ridley  Shield,  near  Bellingham;  and  Old 
and  New  Ridley,  in  the  parish  of  Bywell  St.  Peter.  Their  chief 
seat  was  at  Willimoteswick,  a  short  distance  west  of  Ridley  Hall;  a 
branch  of  the  family  resided  at  Hardriding,  a  little  farther  westward; 
another  branch  settled  at  Walltown,  a  few  miles  to  the  north-west; 
all  in  the  barony  of  Tindale  and  within  easy  reach  of  each  other. 

It  was  about  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  that  the  Willimotes- 
wick property  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  family.  The  second 
and  third  Ridleys  of  WiUimoteswick  successively  were  members  of 
Royal  Commissions,  appointed  to  meet  the  representatives  of  the 
King  of  Scots  for  the  adjustment  and  settlement  of  disputed  matters 
on  the  Border.  The  fourth  Ridley,  Sir  Nicholas,  who,  being 
knighted,  was  popularly  known  as  "  the  Broad  Knight,"  was  High 
Sheriff  of  Northumberland  several  times,  and  was  also  commander  of 
a  division  of  the  marauding  army  which  invaded  Scotland,  under 
Lord  Dacre,  in  15 13 — the  same  year  in  which  the  battle  of  Flodden 
was  fought.  He,  his  son  Hugh,  and  other  members  of  the  family, 
were  frequently  engaged  in  Border  raids  and  family  and  district 
quarrels,  and  had  many  daring  adventures  and  hair-breadth  escapes. 

Sir  Nicholas  had  two  brothers.  The  first,  Christopher,  lived  at 
Unthank,  on  the  verge  of  the  heath-clad  waste  called  Plenmellor 


NIC  HO  LA  S  RIDLE  Y.  315 

Common.  The  second,  Robert  Ridley,  D.D.,  was  successively 
rector  of  Simonburn,  of  St.  Botolph's,  Bishopsgate,  of  St.  Edmund's, 
Lombard  Street,  London,  and  of  Fulham,  besides  holding  two  pre- 
bendal  stalls.  He  is  described  as  "  famous  not  only  at  Cambridge, 
but  at  Paris,  where  he  long  studied,  and  throughout  Europe  by  the 
writings  of  Polydore  Virgil,"  whom  he  assisted  in  the  work  of 
collating  manuscripts  and  correcting  the  press  for  his  edition  of 
Gildas,  published  at  the  expense  of  Bishop  Tunstal,  Dr.  Ridley's 
intimate  friend.  When  the  learned  doctor  resigned  the  living  at 
Simonburn,  in  1532,  in  favour  of  John  Ridley,  clerk,  his  influence  at 
Court  was  such  that  the  king  granted  the  next  presentation  to 
Thomas  Ridley,  gentleman,  another  of  the  family.  He  died  in 
1536. 

Nicholas  Ridley  "the  martyr,"  nephew  of  the  "Broad  Knight," 
was  born  in  Tynedale,  but  whether  at  Willimoteswick,  Hardriding, 
or  Walltown,  does  not  appear.  It  is  said  that  he  received  "an 
excellent  grammatical  education  "  in  Newcastle,  but  of  this  statement 
there  is  no  corroborative  evidence.  All  that  we  positively  know  of 
his  early  years  is  that  he  was  entered  at  Pembroke  Hall,  Cambridge, 
by  his  uncle.  Dr.  Robert  Ridley,  in  or  about  15 18,  proceeded  B.A. 
1522-23,  and  ALA.  1526,  and  between  the  two  dates  was  elected  a 
Fellow.  The  following  year  he  proceeded  to  Paris  and  studied  at  the 
Sorbonne,  thence  went  to  Louvain,  and  returning  to  Cambridge  in 
1530,  served  as  junior  treasurer  of  his  college.  In  1534  he  was  one 
of  the  Proctors,  and  was  instrumental  in  procuring  the  decree  of  the 
University  against  the  spiritual  power  of  the  pope,  which  declared 
that  "  the  bishop  of  Rome  hath  no  more  authority  and  jurisdiction 
derived  to  him  from  God  in  this  kingdom  of  England,  than  any 
other  foreign  bishop." 

Mr.  Ridley  lost  his  uncle  in  the  year  1536;  but  his  talents  pro- 
cured him  a  more  powerful  patron  in  Cranmer,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  who,  in  the  year  following,  when  he  proceeded  B.D., 
made  him  his  chaplain,  and  on  the  13th  of  April,  1538,  presented 
him  to  the  vicarage  of  Heme,  in  Kent.  In  1540  he  took  his 
degree  of  D.D.,  and  in  October  of  that  year  was  elected  Master  of 
Pembroke  Hall.  About  the  same  time,  through  Cranmer's  influence, 
he  was  nominated  chaplain  to  the  king,  and  collated  to  a  prebendal 
stall  in  the  cathedral  of  Canterbury. 

While  at  Canterbury  Dr.  Ridley  provoked  some  of  the  pre- 
bendaries and  preachers  of  what  was  called  the  old  learning,  who 


3i6  NICHOLAS  RIDLEY. 

exhibited  charges  against  him  for  preaching  contrary  to  the  statute 
of  the  six  articles.  On  this  occasion  Dr.  Ridley  delivered  his 
opinions  with  so  much  caution,  that  his  accusers  were  discomfited. 
Notwithstanding  this,  articles  were  exhibited  against  him  for  preach- 
ing against  auricular  confession,  applying  the  epithet  "  beggarly"  to 
some  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  church,  and  directing  Te  Deum  to  be 
sung  in  English  at  Heme.  The  cognisance  of  this  accusation  was 
referred  by  the  king  to  commissioners,  who  reported  in  Dr.  Ridley's 
favour.  In  January,  1544-45,  Cranmer  procured  for  his  friend  the 
eighth  stall  at  Westminster,  and  on  the  accession  of  Edward  VI,  he 
was  appointed  preacher  for  the  dioceses  of  York,  Durham,  Carlisle, 
and  Chester,  to  a  body  of  Visitors  who  were  sent  to  spread  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation  throughout  the  kingdom.  He  was 
presented  by  his  college,  in  1547,  to  the  living  of  Soham  in  Cam- 
bridgeshire, and  in  September  of  that  year  he  was  elected  Bishop  of 
Rochester.  During  the  following  year  he  appears  to  have  been 
employed  in  reforming  the  liturgy;  and  in  1549  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  Commissioners  for  the  reformation  of  the  ecclesiastical 
laws. 

When  Bishop  Bonner  was  deprived,  Bishop  Ridley  was  trans- 
lated to  London,  and  was  installed  on  the  12th  of  April,  1550. 
One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  direct  that  altars  should  be  taken  down 
in  the  churches,  and  tables  substituted  for  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  The  year  following,  the  Council  appointed  Cranmer 
and  Ridley  to  prepare  a  book  of  articles  of  faith.  They  drew  up 
forty-two  articles,  and  sent  them  to  the  other  bishops  and  learned 
divines  for  correction  and  amendment;  after  which  they  received 
the  royal  sanction,  and  were  published  by  the  king's  authority.  In 
1552  Bishop  Ridley  visited  Cambridge,  and  upon  his  return  called 
at  Hunsdon,  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Princess  ISIary.  The  recep- 
tion which  he  met  with  from  her  was  civil,  till  he  offered  to  preach 
before  her  on  the  following  Sunday.  She  replied  that  the  doors  of 
the  parish  church  should  be  open  for  him  if  he  came,  and  that  he 
might  preach  if  he  pleased ;  but  that  neither  would  she  hear  him, 
nor  allow  any  of  her  servants  to  do  it.  From  this  interview  he 
appears  to  have  contracted  a  dislike  to  her,  and  therefore  the  more 
readily  concurred  in  the  steps  that  were  taken  to  set  Lady  Jane  Grey 
on  the  throne.  After  that  design  had  miscarried,  and  Mary  had 
been  proclaimed  queen,  he  went  to  do  homage,  but  was  taken  into 
custody,  and  sent  to  the  Tower.      From  thence  he  was  removed  to 


MA  TTHE  W  RIDLE  V.  317 

Oxford,  tried,  and  convicted  of  being  an  obstinate  and  incorrigible 
heretic,  sentenced  to  degradation  from  his  ecclesiastical  orders,  and 
handed  over  to  the  secular  power  for  punishment  according  to  law. 
He  suffered  death  at  the  same  stake  with  Latimer  on  the  i6th  of 
October,  1555. 


fIDattbcw  1RiMcv\ 

ALDERMAN,    MAYOR,    AND    MEMBER    OF    PARLIAMENT. 

"  Bright  star  of  Heaton 
You're  aye  our  darling  sweet  one, 
May  Heaven's  blessing  light  on 
Your  lady,  bairns,  and  you." 

Nicholas  Ridley,  son  of  John  Ridley,  of  Hardriding,  came  to 
Newcastle  as  a  youth  towards  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  having  served  his  time  to  a  merchant  adventurer,  entered  into 
trade  on  his  own  account,  and  founded  the  local  family  of  that 
name.  He  married  Martha,  daughter  of  Richard  March,  of  New- 
castle, merchant,  was  Sheriff  of  the  town  in  1682,  Mayor  after  the 
displacement  of  William  Hutchinson  during  part  of  the  year  of 
Revolution,  1688,  and  again  in  1706-7.  He  died  on  the  22nd  of 
Januar}',  1710-11,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church.  His 
eldest  surviving  son,  Richard  Ridley,  married  at  Stannington,  in 
1707,  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  Alderman  Matthew  White,  was 
Mayor  in  1 713-14  and  1732-33,  and  having  purchased  a  part  of  the 
estate  of  Heaton,  erected  for  his  country  residence  the  present 
Heaton  Hall,  where  he  died  on  the  2nd  of  November,  1739,  and 
was  buried  beside  his  father. 

Richard  Ridley's  father-in-law,  Matthew  White,  was  a  wealthy 
merchant,  who  had  acquired  from  the  Fenwicks  the  estate  of 
Blagdon,  near  Stannington.  Upon  this  estate  his  son,  INIatthew 
White  (2),  erected  the  mansion  of  Blagdon  Hall.  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Matthew  White  (2),  married  in  1742  (as  second  wife) 
her  cousin,  Matthew  Ridley,  of  Heaton,  son  of  the  aforesaid 
Richard,  and  thus  united  the  families  of  Ridley  and  White  in  a 
double  bond  of  union.  Mrs.  Ridley's  brother,  Matthew  White  (3), 
while  serving  the  office  of  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland,  was 
created  a  baronet,  and  being  a  bachelor,  and  the  last  of  the  male 


3 1 8  MA  TTHE  W  RIDLE  K 

line  of  his  family,  provision  was  made  for  his  title  and  estates  to  pass 
to  her  (Mrs.  Ridley's)  heirs  male. 

Matthew  Ridley  entered  at  an  unusually  early  age  the  public  life 
of  Newcastle.  In  the  year  that  he  attained  his  majority,  1733,  he 
was  elected  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  being  probably  the  youngest  man 
that  had  ever  occupied  that  exalted  position.  In  1740,  on  the 
occasion  of  a  riot  in  Newcastle,  produced  by  an  uncommon  dearth 
of  corn,  he  appeared  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  volunteers,  popularly 
known  as  "  The  White  Stocking  Regiment,"  but  styled  by  themselves 
militia,  and  composed  of  middle-aged  gentlemen  of  different  pro- 
fessions, and  young  men,  mostly  merchants'  apprentices.  Cuthbert 
Fenwick,  the  then  Mayor,  was  supposed  to  be  jealous  lest  Mr. 
Ridley  should  gain  too  much  in  popularity,  and  he  accordingly 
ordered  the  militia  to  forbear  assembling.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  populace  became  very  riotous,  and  the  town  was  in  danger 
of  being  plundered  and  burnt.  The  volunteers,  therefore,  re- 
assembled, and,  in  the  course  of  protecting  the  magistrates,  and 
guarding  the  delivery  of  corn  from  a  ship,  they  fired  upon  the 
mob  and  killed  a  man.  This  had  the  effect  of  rendering  the  rioters 
more  outrageous  than  before.  They  broke  into  the  Guildhall,  de- 
faced the  portraits  of  Charles  II.  and  James  II.,  plundered  the  town's 
hutch  of  near  ;^i,2oo,  and  probably  would  have  set  fire  to  the  town, 
if  a  party  of  soldiers  had  not  fortunately  arrived  from  Morpeth. 

At  the  Newcastle  parliamentary  election  of  1 741,  as  described  on 
page  312  of  our  first  volume,  four  Newcastle  aldermen  went  to  the 
poll.  Matthew  Ridley  (an  alderman  at  twenty-nine !)  was  one  of 
them,  and  he  came  out  of  it  beaten.  He  and  his  defeated  colleague 
petitioned,  but  did  not  succeed  in  upsetting  the  Sheriff's  declara- 
tion. These  were  the  days  of  limited  constituencies  and  unlimited 
expense,  and  one  result  of  the  contest  is  said  to  have  been  that 
Alderman  Fenwick,  who  stood  second  on  the  poll,  had  to  seek  the 
shelter  of  Holyrood,  while  Alderman  Ridley  paid  his  bills  by  selling 
Hardriding  to  William  Lowes,  his  attorney. 

In  the  middle  of  the  year  1745,  John  Ord,  Mayor  of  Newcastle, 
died,  and  Alderman  Ridley  accepted  the  office  for  the  rest  of  the 
term.  A  few  weeks  after  his  election  news  came  to  Tyneside  that  the 
young  Pretender  had  landed  in  Scotland,  and  that  in  all  probability 
an  attempt  would  be  made  by  his  adherents  to  cross  the  Border 
and  possess  themselves  of  Newcastle.  The  military  instincts  of  the 
Mayor  were  at  once  excited,  and  he  took  prompt  measures  to  pre- 


MA  TTHE  W  RIDLE  Y.  319 

serve  the  town  from  invasion.  Hundreds  of  the  inhabitants  came 
forward  and  enrolled  themselves  as  volunteers,  the  town  walls  were 
hastily  repaired,  all  the  gates  and  entrances,  except  three,  were 
walled  up,  guns  and  ammunition  were  provided,  and  the  town  secured 
against  surprise.  His  preparations  were  so  effective  that  the  rebels 
diverted  their  course  westward,  and  went  by  Carlisle.  When  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  afterwards  arrived  at  the  Mansion  House,  on 
his  way  to  CuUoden,  he  asked  for  Mr.  Ridley,  then  out  of  his 
Mayoralty,  and  told  him  that  he  had  it  in  charge  from  his  Royal 
father  to  deliver  to  him  particular  thanks  for  his  loyalty  and  good 
conduct  in  the  preservation  of  the  country. 

When  the  next  parliamentary  election  for  Newcastle  came  round, 
in  1747,  Alderman  Ridley  was  returned  without  opposition.  He 
was  equally  successful  at  the  elections  of  1754,  1761,  and  1768,  and 
twice  in  the  meantime  (1751-52  and  1759-60)  filled  the  ofifice  of 
Mayor.  He  retired  from  the  representation  of  the  town  at  the 
election  in  1774  in  favour  of  his  son,  and  dying  on  the  6th  of  April, 
1778,  in  his  sixty-seventh  year,  was  buried  at  St.  Nicholas'  with  the 
honours  of  a  public  funeral. 

In  the  Governor's  Hall  at  the  Infirmary,  Newcastle,  is  a  full- 
length  portrait  of  Alderman  Ridley,  and  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church  is 
a  beautiful  monument  to  his  memory.  The  monument  represents 
him  in  a  Roman  habit,  sitting  in  the  curule  chair,  the  seat  of 
magistracy,  under  which  are  scales  and  fasces,  emblems  of  justice 
and  authority.     Beneath  the  figure  is  an  inscription  as  follows: — 

"  To  the  Memory  of  MATTHEW  RIDLEY,  Esq.,  of 

Blagdon  and   Heaton,  in  the  County  of  Northumberland, 

Senior  Alderman  of  the  Corporation  of  this  Town, 

and  Governor 

Of  the  Company  of  Merchant  Adventurers. 

He  four  times  served  the  office  of  Mayor,  in  which  Station  in  the  year  1745  he 
rendered  essential  Service  to  his  Country;  averting,  by  his  Prudence  and  Activity, 
the  Attack  meditated  against  this  Town  by  the  Enemies  of  the  House  of  Bruns- 
wick ;  and  thereby  materially  checking  the  Progress  of  their  Arms.  He  was 
unanimously  elected  by  his  Fellow  Burgesses  to  represent  them  in  five  ^  successive 
Parliaments,  and  retired  from  that  Situation  when  the  declining  State  of  his  Health 
rendered  him  incapable  of  conscientiously  fulfilling  the  Duties  of  it. 

He  lived  respected  and  beloved  ;  He  died  unfeignedly  lamented, 
April  6,  1778,  Aged  66  years." 

^  A  mistake  which  has  misled  every  local  historian  from  Brand  downwards. 
Matthew  Ridley  sat  in  four  parliaments  only. 


320  SJJ?  MATTHEW  WHITE  RIDLEY. 

The  base  of  the  monument  is  formed  by  a  medallion  on  which 
Newcastle  is  represented  by  a  woman  wearing  a  turreted  crown,  with 
the  arms  of  the  town  on  a  shield  at  her  feet,  and  behind  her  an  urn, 
from  which  are  issuing  salmon — the  product  of  the  river  Tyne. 
Over  her  an  armed  soldier,  with  a  shield  bearing  the  arms  of  Ridley, 
is  contending  against  Rebellion,  represented  by  a  figure  treading  on 
the  crown  and  sceptre,  and  flourishing  in  one  hand  the  burning  torch 
of  sedition,  and  in  the  other  hand  the  sword  of  destruction. 

Alderman  Ridley's  first  wife  was  Hannah,  grand-daughter  of 
Ambrose  Barnes.  Their  marriage  was  not  publicly  acknowledged 
during  her  lifetime,  and  when  she  died,  in  1741,  one  of  her  brothers, 
thinking  she  had  been  harshly  treated,  and  that  the  concealment  of 
her  marriage  hastened  her  death,  published  an  angry  account  of  her 
sufferings.  This  and  much  more  on  the  subject  we  read  in  Long- 
stafife's  notes  to  the  "  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes."  A  son  of  the 
concealed  union,  Richard  Ridley,  colonel  in  a  foot  regiment,  was  born 
in  London,  July  5th,  1736,  and  died  at  Edinburgh  in  1789.  From 
the  second  marriage  came  seven  sons  and  four  daughters,  of  w^hom 
the  eldest,  Matthew  White  Ridley,  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy  of  his 
uncle,  Matthew  White;  another,  Nicholas,  was  a  bencher  of  Gray's 
Inn,  and  a  Master  in  Chancery;  and  a  third,  Henry,  was  a  D.D., 
Prebendary  of  Gloucester,  and  the  husband  of  Frances  Surtees, 
sister  of  Lady  Eldon. 


Sir  noattbew  Mbitc  IRtMc^, 

THE    FIRST    RIDLEY    BARONET. 

Alderman  Matthew  Ridley's  eldest  son,  by  his  cousin,  Elizabeth 
White,  was  born  at  the  family  residence  in  Westgate  Street,  New- 
castle, on  the  28th  of  October,  1745,  a  few  weeks  after  his  father  had 
retired  from  his  second,  and  most  popular  Mayoralty.  He  succeeded 
to  the  baronetcy  in  1763,  while  a  minor  at  Westminster  school. 

The  public  life  of  the  first  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  commenced 
in  1768,  when  he  was  elected  one  of  the  two  parliamentary  repre- 
sentatives of  Morpeth.  At  the  next  election,  in  1774,  on  the  retire- 
ment of  his  father,  he  stood  for  Newcastle,  and  winning  the  seat  after 
a  vigorous  contest,  retained  it  through  eight  successive  parliaments, 
extending  over  a  period  of  thirty-eight  years.     When  his  father  died 


S/J^  MATTHEW  WHITE  RIDLEY.  321 

he  took  his  place  as  Governor  of  the  Merchants'  Company,  and  he 
was  three  times  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  as  well  as  M.P, — namely,  in 
1774-75)  17S2-S3,  and  1791-92.  His  career  as  a  member  of  the 
legislature  was  distinguished  by  activity,  independence,  and  steady 
opposition  to  the  belligerent  Administrations  of  the  day,  which 
involved  the  country  in  expensive  wars,  and  burdened  the  nation 
with  debt.  In  the  first  edition  of  Mackenzie's  "  History  of  North- 
umberland," it  is  said  of  him : — "  He  does  not  figure  in  the  House  as 
a  speaker,  but  in  solidity  of  judgment  and  independence  of  principle 
he  is  inferior  to  none.  He  has  expended  his  time  and  his  fortune, 
and  exposed  his  health  to  injury,  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  his 
public  duties;  nor  has  he  sought  reward  in  the  smiles  of  the  Court, 
or  the  plaudits  of  a  party." 

Just  before  his  last  election  to  Parliament  Sir  Matthew  became  a 
partner  in  the  "  Old  Bank,"  Newcastle  (described  on  page  491  of  our 
first  volume),  which  then  became  known  as  the  firm  of  Ridley, 
Cookson,  &:  Co.  Two  years  later,  the  French  revolutionary  war 
caused  an  alarming  run  on  provincial  banks,  and  Messrs.  Ridley, 
Cookson,  &:  Co.,  in  conjunction  with  the  other  bankers  in  Newcastle, 
were  compelled  to  "  request  the  indulgence  of  the  public  for  a  short 
interval."  The  adoption  of  this  precautionary  measure  led  to  an 
investigation,  and  the  formation  of  a  guarantee  fund  among  the 
principal  merchants  and  traders  of  the  district  by  which  the  banks 
were  tided  over  their  difficulties.  A  similar  stoppage  occurred  about 
four  years  later,  when  the  aspect  of  public  affairs  was  so  dark  and 
threatening  that  the  Corporation  resolved  to  discontinue  the  cus- 
tomary festivities  at  the  Mansion  House  till  the  political  atmosphere 
should  clear  up. 

The  numerous  troops  which  the  French  Directory  had  assembled, 
with  the  title  of  "the  Army  of  England,"  on  the  south  shore  of  the 
Channel,  under  the  command  of  General  Bonaparte  at  this  time, 
produced,  and  helped  to  prolong  the  financial  crisis.  It  also  had 
the  effect  of  rousing  the  martial  spirit  and  patriotic  ardour  of  the 
people.  Newcastle  early  displayed  its  enthusiasm,  and  an  Armed 
Association  was  formed  for  the  defence  of  the  town.  Of  this 
Association,  which  numbered  eight  companies,  Sir  Matthew  was  the 
commander  with  the  rank  of  colonel.  Again,  in  1S02,  after  the 
breach  of  the  Treaty  of  Amiens,  the  worthy  baronet  betook  himself 
to  the  war-saddle  with  unabated  spirit.  The  presentation  of  a  piece 
of  plate,  valued  at  ^^350,  to  their  colonel  by  the  officers  and  men, 

VOL.  III.  21 


32  2  SIR  MATTHEW  WHITE  RIDLEY. 

gives  some  indication  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  those 
under  his  command. 

Sir  Matthew  married,  on  the  12th  July,  1777,  Sarah,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Benjamin  Colburne,  of  Bath,  by  whom  he  had  issue  five 
sons  and  one  daughter — (i)  Matthew  White,  who  succeeded  him  in 
the  baronetcy;  (2)  Nicholas  William,  who,  succeeding  to  the  pro- 
perty of  his  maternal  uncle,  assumed  the  name  and  arms  of  Colburne, 
and  after  sitting  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  Blechingley,  Malmes- 
bury,  Appleby,  Thetford,  Horsham,  and  Wells,  was  created  Baron 
Colburne ;  (3)  Henry  Colburne,  rector  of  Hambledon,  Bucks ;  (4) 
Richard,  also  in  holy  orders;  (5)  Charles  John,  also  in  holy  orders; 
and  (6)  Henrietta  Elizabeth,  who  married  the  Hon.  John  Scott,  eldest 
son  of  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon.  Sir  Matthew  died  on  the  i6th  of 
April,  18 13,  at  his  house  in  Portland  Place,  London,  in  his  sixty- 
seventh  year,  and  on  the  3rd  of  the  following  month  he  was  interred 
in  the  family  vault  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church. 

In  18 1 9,  a  beautiful  monument  to  his  memory,  by  Flaxman,  was 
placed  in  the  nave  of  the  church.  It  displays,  in  high  relief,  a  full- 
length  figure  of  the  deceased,  dressed  in  a  Roman  toga,  and  standing 
with  his  right  hand  grasping  a  roll  and  resting  upon  a  pedestal.  At 
the  foot  of  the  pedestal  lies  a  volume  inscribed  "  Magna  Charta  " ; 
behind  the  figure  is  seen  a  curule  chair,  underneath  which  are  placed 
the  fasces  and  scales,  as  in  the  monument  of  his  father,  while  a 
military  standard,  on  the  top  of  which  is  a  lion,  is  seen  leaning  above 
the  pedestal ;  and  high  up  hangs  a  shield  charged  with  the  family 
arms.  The  inscription — a  long  one — enumerates  the  leading  events 
of  his  public  career. 


Sir  riDattbcw  Mbitc  1RiMcv\ 

THE    SECOND. 

Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  Bart.,  the  second  of  the  name,  was 
born  on  the  i8th  of  April,  1778,  was  educated  at  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  where  he  proceeded  B.A.  in  1798,  and  succeeded  to  the 
family  honours  and  estates  at  his  father's  death,  April  i6th,  18 13. 
He  had  been  chosen,  the  year  before,  on  the  resignation  of  his 
father,  to  represent  Newcastle  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  he 
continued  to  hold  the  seat  for  twenty-four  years,  making  altogether, 


SI/?  MATTHEW  WHITE  RIDLEY.  323 

^or  the  Ridley  family  in  direct  descent,  a  period  of  representation 
extending  over  eighty-nine  years,  from  the  second  Scottish  Rebellion 
to  the  last  year  of  the  reign  of  King  William  the  Fourth.  His 
principles  were  those  of  the  Whig  party ;  during  the  last  few  years  of 
his  life  they  inclined  to  Conservatism.  At  his  first  two  elections  in 
1812  and  iSiS,  there  had  been  no  contest;  but  when  the  Parliament 
elected  in  the  latter  year  came  to  an  end,  in  1820,  with  the  termina- 
tion of  the  long  reign  of  George  III.,  he  was  opposed  by  a  son  of 
Sir  William  Scott,  afterwards  Lord  Stowell.  Mr.  Scott's  candidature, 
however,  found  so  little  favour  with  the  constituency,  that  he  with- 
drew from  the  poll  on  the  second  day.  At  the  next  election,  in 
June,  1826,  Sir  Matthew  and  his  colleague,  Cuthbert  Ellison,  were 
returned  unopposed.  In  1830,  Mr.  Ellison  gave  place  to  John 
Hodgson,  but  the  baronet  kept  his  seat.  At  the  election  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  1831,  there  was  no  opposition,  and  in  1832  Sir  Matthew 
headed  the  poll,  carrying  everything  before  him.  Not  so,  however, 
in  1835.  Though  he  retained  his  seat  he  ran  second  to  William 
Ord,  and  the  treatment  which  he  received  at  the  hands  of  the  mob 
when  the  poll  was  declared  disgraced  Newcastle.  He  died  the  year 
following  (July  15th,  1836),  at  Richmond  in  Surrey,  in  his  fifty-eighth 
year. 

Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  the  second  married,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five,  Laura,  youngest  daughter  of  George  Hawkins,  Esquire, 
by  whom  he  had  five  sons  and  five  daughters  : — Matthew  White, 
who  succeeded  to  the  title;  Charles  William,  Major-General,  C.B., 
Colonel  of  the  53rd  Regiment,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Lord 
Oranmore;  Henry  Richard,  M.A.,  vicar  of  St.  Cuthbert's,  Durham; 
Sir  William  John,  K.C.M.G.,  a  Crimean  hero;  George,  jSLP.  for 
Newcastle,  1856-60;  Sarah,  wife  of  John  Cookson  of  Meldon;  Laura, 
wife  of  Charles  Atticus  Monck,  and  mother  of  Sir  Arthur  Edward 
Middleton;  Louisa,  who  married  Martin  Tucker  Smith,  M.P. ; 
Marianne,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Corbett ;  and  Janetta  Maria, 
wife  of  Isaac  Thomas  Cookson. 

Sir  Matthew  succeeded  his  father  in  the  banking  establishment, 
was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Loyal  Newcastle  Associated  Volunteer 
Infantry  from  their  embodiment  in  1803  to  their  dissolution  in  1813, 
and  Governor  of  the  Newcastle  Merchants'  Company.  He  presented 
to  St.  Nicholas'  Church  the  large  painting  by  Tintoretto  which  hangs 
in  the  chapel  behind  the  reredos,  representing  Christ  washing  the 
disciples'  feet. 


I 


324  SIJ?  MATTHEW  WHITE  RIDLEY. 


Sir  riDattbcw  Mbite  IRiMc^, 

THE    THIRD. 

Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  (3),  born  September  9th,  1807,  was 
educated  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where  he  matriculated  in  June, 
1825,  and  took  the  degree  of  B.A.  in  1828.  He  filled  the  office  of 
High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland  in  1841 ;  in  1859,  and  again  in  1865, 
he  was  elected  one  of  the  M.P.'s  for  North  Northumberland.  A 
prominent  agriculturist,  he  twice  filled  the  chair  of  the  Northumber- 
land Agricultural  Society,  and  for  many  years  he  occupied  the  post 
of  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Northumberland  Yeomanry,  and  Master 
of  the  Northumberland  hunt.  He  married,  in  1841,  the  Hon. 
Cecilia  Anne  Parke,  daughter  of  Baron  Wensleydale,  by  whom  he 
had  issue.  Sir  Matthew,  the  present  baronet,  M.P. ;  Edward,  M.P. 
for  South  Northumberland,  1878-80,  and  Mary,  widow  of  the  Rev. 
Arthur  Octavius  Medd,  Vicar  of  Rothbury.  Sir  Matthew  died  on 
the  25th  of  September,  1877. 


IRobcrt  IRobbant, 

ADMIRAL. 

The  Roddams  of  Northumberland  are  described  by  Burke  as  rank- 
ing among  the  most  ancient  in  the  British  dominions,  and  still 
resident  upon  lands  granted  to  their  Saxon  progenitors.  Upon  an 
old  pedigree  of  the  family,  the  original  grant  by  which  they  held 
their  lands  is  said  to  be  written  in  Saxon  characters  thus — 

"  I  King  Athelstan,  gives  unto  thee  Pole  Roddam 
From  me  and  mine,  to  thee  and  thine, 

Before  my  wife  Maude,  my  daughter  Maudlin,  and  my  eldest  son  Henry ; 
And  for  a  certen  troth 
I  bite  this  wax  with  my  gang  tooth. 
So  long  as  muir  bears  moss  and  cnout  grows  hare, 
A  Roddam  of  Roddam  for  ever  mare." 

"  Leland's  Itinerary,"  written  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VHL,  con- 
tains a  passage  in  which  the  Roddams  are  described  as  "  men  of 


ROBERT  RODDAM.  325 

faire  landes  in  Northumbrelande,  about  Tylle  river,  ontyl  one  of 
them  having  to  wife  one  of  the  Umfraville  daughters,  killed  a  man 
of  name,  and  thereby  lost  the  principale  of  eight  hundred  markes  by 
yere ;  so  that  at  this  time  Roddam,  or  otherwise  Rudham,  of  North- 
umbrelande is  but  a  man  of  mene  landes."  It  is  probable  that  great 
part  of  the  original  estates  of  the  family  were  forfeited  during  the 
reigns  of  the  Norman  and  Plantagenet  kings,  but  the  lands  of  Roddam, 
named  in  the  supposed  grant  of  Athelstan,  descended  through  many 
generations  of  Roddams,  who  intermarried  with  Greys  and  Selbys, 
Brandlings  and  Forsters,  Collingwoods  and  Lawsons,  Lisles  and 
Swinburnes,  and  other  eminent  North-Country  families. 

The  most  notable  member  of  the  house  of  Roddam  in  modern 
times,  and  the  last  of  the  family  in  a  direct  line,  was  Robert  Roddam, 
a  distinguished  naval  ofificer.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Edward 
Roddam,  of  Roddam  and  Little  Houghton ;  his  mother  was  Jane, 
daughter  of  Robert  Shelly,  merchant  in  Newcastle.  Born  in  1720, 
he  was  trained  for  the  service  of  his  country  at  sea,  and  entered  the 
navy,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  as  a  midshipman  on  board  the  Lowestoffe. 
Having  served  upon  the  Antigua  station  for  five  years.  Sir  Chaloner 
Ogle  took  him  into  his  own  ship  on  his  way  to  Jamaica  to  join 
Admiral  Vernon,  whom  he  accompanied  on  various  expeditions  to 
Carthagena,  Cuba,  Cumberland  Harbour,  etc.  While  serving  on 
board  the  Superb^  in  Cumberland  Harbour,  he  was  promoted  to  a 
third  lieutenancy,  and,  though  so  young  an  ofificer,  saved  his  ship 
twice  on  her  homeward  passage.  In  i  744  he  was  appointed  second 
lieutenant,  and  two  years  afterwards  obtained  command  of  the  Viper, 
sloop  of  war. 

About  this  time  Mr.  (afterwards  Lord)  Anson,  one  of  the  Lords 
of  the  Admiralty,  went  to  Portsmouth  to  command  the  western 
squadron,  and  expressing  to  the  captains  of  the  fleet  his  desire 
that  a  fleet  lying  there  should  be  stopped,  they  urged  the  impractic- 
ability of  the  undertaking  in  the  then  state  of  the  wind  and  other 
obstacles.  Mr.  Roddam,  the  youngest  of  them,  undertook  the 
enterprise,  and  although  the  Viper,  being  just  off  the  stocks,  was 
ill  adapted  for  the  work,  he  met  Mr.  Anson's  wishes  with  an 
alacrity  and  success  which  brought  him  into  special  favour.  A 
few  weeks  later.  Admiral  Warren,  hearing  that  thirty  sail  of  vessels 
laden  with  naval  stores  were  in  Cederia  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Spain, 
proposed  to  capture  or  destroy  them,  but  relinquished  the  attempt 
as  impracticable.     One  of  his  captains,  however,  recommended  him 


326  ROBERT  RODDAM. 

to  send  the  Viper,  adding  that  he  would  answer  for  young  Roddam's 
courage  and  daring.  The  advice  was  taken.  Captain  Roddam 
sailed  for  the  bay  as  soon  as  darkness  set  in,  and  at  daylight  he 
had  carried  the  first  battery,  though  it  contained  five  hundred 
men,  spiked  the  guns,  and  captured  a  privateer  on  its  way  out. 
Then  he  proceeded  into  the  bay,  burnt  most  of  the  ships,  captured 
the  rest,  and  on  the  third  day  after  his  departure  from  the  fleet 
returned  to  it  with  his  prizes,  and  was  received  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  The  Admiral  sent  a  glowing  despatch  to  the  Admiralty, 
which  procured  for  Captain  Roddam  promotion  to  the  Greyhound 
frigate,  24  guns,  with  the  rank  of  post-captain.  On  his  return  to 
England  he  was  welcomed  and  feted  as  a  hero.  The  electors  of 
Dartmouth  sent  a  deputation  to  him  offering  to  elect  him  as  their 
representative  in  Parliament;  but  this  honour,  and  similar  proposals 
from  other  boroughs,  he  thought  fit  to  decline. 

In  1755,  being  in  command  of  the  Greemvkh,  50  guns,  he  was 
captured,  after  a  desperate  fight,  by  a  French  squadron.  For  this 
misfortune  he  was  tried  by  court-martial,  and  honourably  acquitted. 
In  1759,  he  took  command  of  the  Colchester,  and  being  off  Brest 
with  two  other  ships  chased  three  French  men-of-war  under  two 
batteries,  and  ran  one  of  them  ashore.  Being  ordered  to  relieve 
Captain  Duff  off  Belleisle,  he  carried  the  Colchester  right  through 
the  narrow  and  rocky  passage  that  led  to  Audienne  Bay — a  feat 
that  no  British  warship  had  ever  before  attempted.  Shortly  after- 
wards he  was  despatched  to  St.  Helena  in  the  Colchester,  with  the 
Rippon,  Captain  Jekyll,  under  his  command,  to  bring  home  the  fleet 
from  India.  On  the  homeward  passage  Admiral  Sir  George  Pocock 
joined  them.  Arriving  off  Scilly  in  a  dense  fog.  Captain  Roddam, 
suspecting  that  the  Colchester  was  nearing  St.  Mary's  Island,  and 
that  the  other  ships  were  still  closer  to  it,  made  a  signal  to  tack. 
The  Admiral  honoured  him  by  repeating  the  signal,  and  afterwards 
thanked  him  for  his  sagacity  and  promptitude,  which  had  probably 
saved  one  or  more  of  the  fleet  from  stranding.  When  they  were  off 
Dover,  the  fog  being  still  heavy.  Sir  George  Pocock  made  a  signal 
for  laying-to,  but  Captain  Roddam,  catching  a  glimpse  of  the  South 
Foreland,  signalled  for  the  ships  to  bear  away  to  the  Downs,  which 
the  Admiral  approved,  sending  his  thanks  at  the  same  time  for 
another  happy  deliverance  from  danger.  Arrived  at  Spithead,  the 
Colchester  was  found  to  be  unserviceable,  and  was  paid  off. 

Peace  being  proclaimed  soon    afterwards,   Captain   Roddam   re- 


ROBERT  RODDAM.  327 

turned  to  the  family  seat  in  the  North,  then  in  possession  of  his 
elder  brother,  Edward.  With  characteristic  energy  he  assisted  his 
brother  to  improve  the  paternal  estate,  furnishing  funds  for  the 
purpose,  and  helping  to  erect  the  present  mansion-house  of  the 
family.  While  so  engaged,  a  war  scare  arose,  and  he  was  com- 
missioned, on  the  7th  December,  1770,  to  take  command  of  the 
Lennox,  74  guns,  guardship  at  Portsmouth.  He  served  in  that 
capacity  for  three  years,  and  then  returned  to  Roddam.  In  1776 
his  brother  Edward  died,  and  he  came  into  possession,  as  heir- 
at-law,  of  the  whole  of  the  family  property. 

From  his  retreat  among  the  Northumbrian  hills,  the  outbreak 
of  war  with  the  American  colonies  brought  Captain  Roddam  once 
more  on  the  verge  of  active  service.  Hoisting  his  flag  on  board  the 
Cornwall,  74  guns,  he  received  orders  for  the  Mediterranean,  and 
remained  afloat  till,  in  1778,  being  appointed  Rear-Admiral  of  the 
White,  he  was  sent  to  Chatham  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  his 
Majesty's  ships  in  the  Medway  and  at  the  Nore.  In  the  spring 
of  1779,  he  received  the  rank  of  Vice-Admiral  of  the  Blue,  and, 
continuing  in  the  same  command,  was  promoted  a  year  later  to 
be  Vice-Admiral  of  the  White.  In  17S2  he  struck  his  flag;  in 
1787  he  became  Vice-Admiral  of  the  Red,  and  in  April,  1789, 
was  appointed  Commander-in-Chief  at  Portsmouth.  His  subsequent 
promotions  were  these:  —  Admiral  of  the  Blue,  February,  1793; 
Admiral  of  the  White,  April,  1794;  Admiral  of  the  Red,  and 
highest  on  the  list,  in  1795. 

Admiral  Roddam  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  enjoyed  the  use  of  all 
his  faculties  to  the  last — lived  to  see  the  triumph  of  Nelson  and 
Collingwood  at  Trafalgar,  and  to  share  the  enthusiasm  which  the 
skill  and  courage  of  his  countryman  excited  throughout  the  North  of 
England. 

While  residing  in  Newcastle,  on  the  31st  of  March,  1S08,  in  his 
eighty-ninth  year,  he  passed  away.  He  was  thrice  married,  but  left 
no  issue,  and  being  the  last  of  his  race,  if  not  of  his  name,  he  be- 
queathed his  estates  to  his  kinsman,  William  Spencer  Stanhope, 
who  was  a  great-grandson  of  Edward  Collingwood,  of  Byker  and 
Dissington,  by  his  marriage  with  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Roddam, 
the  Admiral's  uncle. 


328  JOHN  AND  EDWARD  ROTHERAM. 


3obn  IRothcram, 

AND    EDWARD    HIS    SON. 

John  Rotheraini  was  a  son  of  Caleb  Rotheram,  D.D.,  school- 
master and  preacher  at  Kendal.  He  was  born  in  that  town  in  17 19, 
educated  by  his  father,  and  sent  at  the  proper  time  to  the  University 
of  Edinburgh,  where  he  studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Maclaurin. 
His  University  career  was  brilliant,  so  much  so,  that  Dr.  Maclaurin 
permitted  him,  while  yet  a  student,  to  fill  his  place  in  the  Lecture 
Room,  and  instruct  the  younger  pupils.  Having  taken  his  degree, 
he  commenced  practice  at  Hexham,  and  about  the  year  1760  came 
to  Newcastle,  and  establishing  himself  in  Westgate  Street,  acquired 
a  high  reputation.  He  shared  with  Dr.  Askew,  then  in  declining 
years,  the  honours  and  emoluments  which  attach  to  the  leading 
practitioner  in  an  important  provincial  centre,  and  when,  in  1771, 
Dr.  Askew  resigned  the  post  of  physician  to  Newcastle  Infirmary, 
he  was  appointed  his  successor.  He  was  also  the  physician  to 
another  useful  charity,  begun  in  the  year  that  he  settled  in 
Newcastle — the  Lying-in  Hospital;  and  he  attended  the  prisoners 
in  the  old  gaol  of  Newgate  for  that  best  of  all  rewards,  the  pleasure 
of  doing  good. 

Outside  of  his  professional  engagements  Dr.  Rotheram  was  an 
active  and  useful  public  man.  Among  the  more  cultured  residents 
in  Newcastle  he  introduced  a  taste  for  natural  philosophy,  in  the 
several  branches  of  which,  forestalling,  and  probably  leading  up  to 
the  formation  of  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society, 
he  gave  repeated  courses  of  lectures.  His  musical  tastes  were 
refined,  and  his  abilities,  vocal  and  instrumental,  were  more  than 
respectable.  With  Mrs.  Ord,  of  Fenham,  Ralph  Beilby,  and  other 
amateurs  he  assisted  at  the  concerts  which  Dr.  Brown,  the  learned 
and  unfortunate  Vicar  of  Newcastle,  gave  on  Sunday  evenings  at  the 
Vicarage.  Having  early  in  life  imbibed  a  strong  prejudice  against 
Romanism,  he  wrote  several  papers  against  it  in  the  "Protestant 
Packet."  His  political  principles  ran  in  a  similar  groove.  He 
was  a  strong  opponent  of  the  Jacobites,  and  an  enthusiastic  supporter 
of  the    Hanoverian   succession.     When  the  statue  of  Charles    H., 


JOHN  AND  EDWARD  ROTIIERAM.  329 

removed  in  1771  from  the  Magazine  Gate,  was  set  up  in  the 
Exchange,  Newcastle,  he  wrote  the  following  fiery  pasquinade,  and 
posted  it  on  a  door  below  the  royal  figure : — 

"  Sacred  to  the  Memory 

Of  CHARLES  STUART, 

Of  a  justly  detested  race,  and  the  most  detestable  rascal 

That  ever  disgraced  the  British  throne. 

Ungrateful  to  his  friends, 

Treacherous  to  his  country. 

To  humanity  a  stranger, 

He  prostituted  the  best  gifts  of  Nature 

(A  strong  bodily  constitution  and  stronger  mental  parts), 

To  the  most  abominable  lewdness,  and  the  worst  of  vices. 

Tho'  a  barren  wife 

Left  him  no  legitimate  succeeding  issue, 

Yet  seven  prolific 

Furnished  a  loyal  and  grateful  people 

With  numerous  opportunities 

Of  paying,  daily,  ample  and  lasting  tribute 

To  his  lustful  enjoyments. 

Curious  Spectator,  whoever  thou  art, 

Thankfully  acknowledge  thy  obligations 

To  the  Right  Worshipful  the  M— r  and  M— tes 

Of  this  once  truly  loyal, 

But  now,  alas  !  licentious  town  ; 

That  they  have  gratified  the  curious  eye 

By  placing  this  e.xquisite  piece  of  art 

In  a  more  elevated  and  conspicuous  situation, 

In  the  front  of  their  Hall  of  Justice. 

If  happily  thou  retainest  in  thy  generous  breast 

The  seeds  of  loyalty  and  affection 

To  the  unfortunate  Royal  House  of  Stuart, 

Reflect  with  gratitude 

On  the  blessings  thou  enjoyest 

From  the  happy  and  glorious  Restoration 

Of  Charles  the  Second, 

If  unhappily  thy  principles  or  thy  passions 

Torment  thee  with  indignant  rage, 

Receive  instruction  and  profit 

From  the  wretch  whose  memory  thou  abhorrest : 

Or  learn  to  moderate  thy  resentment,  or  party  zeal, 

By  the  humiliating  reflection 

That  the  heaviest  oppressions, 

The  most  cruel  persecutions. 

The  vilest  debaucheries, 
And  most  destructive  vices, 


330  JOHN  AND  EDWARD  ROTHERAM. 

May  reign  and  spread  with  Triumphant  havock, 

Under  the  mild  connivance,  mistaken  confidence,  and  unmerited  favour, 

Of  a  most  gracious  and  virtuous  sovereign, 

As  under  the  avowed  auspices. 

The  lewd  example,  and  open  encouragement. 

Of  the  most  dissolute  and  abandoned  Tyrant." 

About  this  time  the  inhabitants  of  Newcastle  suffered  from  a 
scarcity  of  water,  and  the  Corporation  invited  all  persons  conversant 
with  the  subject  to  make  experiments  for  the  purpose  of  determining 
which  of  the  surrounding  springs  and  streams  yielded  water  the  best 
fitted  for  domestic  use.  Dr.  Rotheram  was  one  of  those  who 
responded  to  the  municipal  appeal.  He  gave  a  series  of  lectures 
on  the  subject  in  Parker's  Long  Room,  Bigg  Market,  explaining  and 
illustrating  them  with  curious  and  entertaining  experiments,  and  in 
September,  1770,  he  issued  them  in  a  book,  entitled — 

"A  Philosophical  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Properties  of  Water.  With 
Elegant  Copper-Plate  Figures  of  the  several  Salts.  By  J.  Rotheram,  M.D." 
Newcastle:  I.  Thompson,  Esq.     8vo,  132  pp. 

Some  of  the  experiments  in  this  book  are  very  curious.  For 
example,  in  testing  water  from  Coxlodge,  Dr.  Rotheram  found  that, 
after  evaporation  and  calcination,  the  residuum  corroded  the  polished 
brass  dish  of  the  scales  in  which  it  was  weighed;  whereupon,  suspect- 
ing the  presence  of  mineral  poison,  he  took  thirty  grains  of  it,  mixed 
it  in  balls  of  oatmeal,  and  put  the  whole  down  the  throat  of  a  chicken, 
which  he  kept  in  his  room  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  It  was  not 
apparently  disturbed  or  disordered,  and  when  it  was  killed,  three 
weeks  afterwards,  along  with  the  rest  of  the  brood,  appeared  upon 
the  table  "  equally  fat,  and  in  good  condition  !  "  Notwithstanding 
this  convincing  experiment  the  Doctor  was  not  satisfied  with 
Coxlodge  water,  and  finally  he  gave  his  opinion  that  water  "  much 
more  simple  and  pure,  better  in  every  respect,  and  much  more  in 
quantity,"  in  fact,  the  best  of  all,  was  obtainable — from  the  River 
Tyne  !  "  The  Tyne  water,"  he  wrote,  "  is  undoubtedly  the  best  and 
fittest  in  all  respects;  and  next  to  it  the  springs  in  Westgate  Hill, 
and  those  from  which  the  fountain  near  Sir  Walter  Blackett's  is 
supplied." 

Dr.  Rotheram  was  the  first  President  of  the  Philosophical  and 
Medical  Society  of  Newcastle  (founded  November  ist,  1786),  but  did 
not  live  out  his  year  of  office.  He  died  at  his  house  in  Westgate 
Street,  on  the  i8th  of  March,  1787,  and  is  commemorated  on  his 


JOHN  AND  EDWARD  ROTHERAM.  331 

father's  tablet  in  Hexham  Church  by  a  Latin  inscription  which  states 
that  "  his  remarkable  mental  endowments,  well-trained  by  the  study 
of  the  sciences,  he  used  for  the  public  advantage,  and  not  for  his 
own."  He  left  two  sons — John  (friend  of  Bewick,  the  engraver), 
who  followed  in  his  footsteps,  studied  physic  under  Linnaeus  at 
Upsal,  and  became  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  at  the  University 
of  St.  Andrews,  and  Edward,  who  went  to  sea,  and  distinguished 
himself  in  the  service  of  his  country. 

Edward  Rotheram,  born  at  Hexham,  in  1753,  studied  mathematics 
under  Charles  Hutton,  at  his  school  in  Westgate  Street,  Newcastle, 
and  evincing  a  marked  preference  for  navigation,  was  brought  up  to 
a  seafaring  life  on  board  one  of  the  famous  colliers  that  ran  between 
the  Tyne  and  the  Thames.  Leaving  the  coal  trade,  and  entering 
the  Navy,  he  served  in  the  squadron  commanded  by  Admiral 
Barrington  throughout  the  American  War.  He  obtained  a  lieu- 
tenant's commission  on  the  19th  of  April,  1783,  and  was  the  senior 
officer  of  that  rank  on  board  the  Culloden,  74  guns,  in  the  battle  of 
June  ist,  1794,  an  event  that  led  to  his  further  promotion.  A  year 
later  he  commanded  the  Ca?nel,  store  ship,  on  the  Mediterranean 
Station,  and  subsequently  the  Hawke,  sloop  of  war,  and  the  Lapiving 
frigate,  at  the  Leeward  Islands.  His  post  commission  bore  date 
August  27th,  1800. 

In  the  great  struggle  against  the  united  fleets  of  France  and  Spain 
which  led  up  to  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  Captain  Rotheram  served 
under  Admiral  CoUingwood.  He  commanded  the  Dreadnought,  98 
guns,  CoUingwood's  flag-ship  during  the  blockade  of  Cadiz,  and 
"in  Trafalgar's  bay"  he  was  captain  of  the  ship  to  which  CoUing- 
wood had  been  transferred — the  Royal  Sovereign.  When  that 
vessel,  hotly  engaged  with  the  Santa  Anna,  one  of  the  Spanish  first- 
rates,  was  heeling  over,  two  strakes  out  of  the  water,  her  studding- 
sails  and  halyards  shot  away,  "  Captain  Rotheram,  whose  bravery 
on  this  occasion  was  remarkable,  even  among  the  instances  of 
courage  which  the  day  displayed,  came  up  to  the  Admiral,  and 
shaking  him  by  the  hand,  said,  'I  congratulate  you,  sir;  she  is 
slackening  her  fire,  and  must  soon  strike!'"  By  his  side  fell  three 
officers,  two  midshipmen,  and  forty-two  seamen;  while  the  wounded 
numbered  four  officers,  five  petty  officers,  and  eighty-five  men.  At 
the  close  of  the  battle  not  a  spar  of  his  ship  was  left  standing, 
except  the  tottering  foremast,  and  it  went  overboard  in  the  ensuing 
gale. 


332  JOHN  ROTHERAM. 

During  the  battle,  Captain  John  Cooke,  of  the  Bel/erophon,  74 
guns,  was  killed,  and  Admiral  Collingwood,  appreciating  the  valour 
of  his  townsman,  appointed  him  to  the  command  of  that  vessel. 
Captain  Rotheram  bore  Lord  Nelson's  banner  as  a  K.B.  at  the 
public  funeral  of  that  great  naval  warrior  in  January,  1806,  and  was 
nominated  a  Companion  of  the  Most  Honourable  Military  Order  of 
the  Bath  at  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  in  18 15.  A  few  months 
before  his  death,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 
lord  high  admiral  (afterwards  William  IV.),  he  was  appointed  to  an 
extra  captaincy  of  Greenwich  Hospital.  This  gallant  officer  died  at 
Bildeston,  in  Suffolk,  on  the  2nd  of  November,  1830,  aged  77. 


3obu  IRotbcram, 

A    LEARNED    DIVINE. 

At  the  beginning  of  last  century,  the  head-master  of  the  Free 
Grammar  School  at  Haydon  Bridge  was  the  Rev.  William  Rotheram, 
a  man  of  solid  learning  and  piety,  and  of  great  skill  in  his  profession. 
He  died  there  on  the  4th  of  April,  1734,  leaving  two  sons  who 
became  famous  in  after-life,  one  as  a  college  professor  and  parish 
clergyman,  and  the  other  as  an  author  and  divine. 

Thomas  Rotheram,  the  eldest  son  of  the  schoolmaster,  was  born 
at  Chapel  Hill,  Haydon  Bridge,  in  1715.  Educated  at  the  Grammar 
School  by  his  father,  he  was  sent  to  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  where 
he  matriculated  on  the  24th  of  May,  1737,  and  afterwards  took  his 
Arts  degrees — Bachelor  in  1741,  and  Master  in  1744.  In  the  last- 
named  year  he  accepted  a  professorship  in  Sir  William  Codrington's 
college  at  Barbadoes,  and  remained  there  till  ill-health  compelled 
his  retirement  in  1753.  Upon  his  return  to  England  he  accepted 
the  curacy  of  Great  Stainton,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  where  he 
remained  till  October,  1768,  when  he  was  collated  to  the  vicarage  of 
Haltwhistle.  There,  among  the  scenes  of  his  youth,  he  continued 
to  officiate  till  his  death,  which  occurred  at  his  brother's  house, 
Houghton-le-Spring,  in  April,  1782, 

John  Rotheram,  second  son  of  the  schoolmaster,  was  born  at 
Haydon  Bridge  on  the  22nd  of  June,  1725.  Trained  in  the  Grammar 
School  of  that  place  by  his  father,  he  followed  his  brother  Thomas  to 


JOHN  ROTHERAM. 


Ill 


Queen's  College,  Oxford,  where  he  matriculated  on  the  i  Sth  of  March, 
.1744-45.  I"''  1749  he  took  the  degree  of  B.A.,  and  entered  into 
holy  orders  ;  and  having  no  particular  prospect  of  patronage  or  pre- 
ferment, became  tutor  to  the  two  sons  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Frere,  in  the 
island  of  Barbadoes,  where  his  brother  Thomas  had  already  settled; 
the  following  year  he  became  an  assistant  in  Codrington  College, 
under  his  brother.     A  controversy  which  excited  much  attention  in 


REV.    JOHN    ROTHERAM. 


the  mother-country  was  being  waged  between  Sherlock,  Bishop  of 
London,  and  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton,  respecting  Prophecy,  and  Mr. 
Rotheram  wrote  a  book  on  the  subject,  entitled 

"  The  Force  of  the  Argument  for  the  Truth  of  Christianity,  Drawn  from  a  Col- 
lective View  of  Prophecy,  etc.  Being  a  Reply  to  Dr.  Middleton's  '  Examination 
of  the  Bishop  of  London's  Discourse  on  Prophecy.'  "     1732. 

For  this  publication  Mr.  Rotheram  was  presented  by  the  University 
of  Oxford  with  the  degree  of  M.A,  His  next  work,  published  in 
1754,  was  entitled — 


334  JOHN  ROTHERAM. 

"  A  Sketch  of  the  One  Great  Argument  formed  from  the  General  Concurring 
Evidences  for  the  Truth  of  Christianity." 

Three  years  later,  hearing  that  there  was  a  probabiUty  of  obtaining 
a  fellowship  in  University  College,  Oxford,  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, and  accepted  the  curacy  of  Tottenham,  Middlesex.  In  1760, 
the  suggested  preferment  came  to  him  ;  he  was  elected  Percy  Fellow 
of  University.  The  following  year  he  published  a  sermon  "  On  the 
Origin  of  Faith,"  preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford  from  John 
X.  37,  38,  which,  in  1766,  he  re-issued  in  an  enlarged  and  improved 
form  under  the  title  of 

"An  Essay  on  Faith,  and  its  Connection  with  Good  Works."  Newcastle  :  T. 
Saint.     8vo,  242  pp. 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  the  "  Essay  on  Faith,"  Bishop  Trevor 
of  Durham  appointed  him  one  of  his  domestic  chaplains  and  col- 
lated him  to  the  rectory  of  Ryton,  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
John  Lloyd,  M.A.  He  entered  upon  his  duties  there  in  February, 
1766;  and  three  years  later,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Stonhewer,  the 
bishop  gave  him  the  valuable  living  of  Hough ton-le-Spring.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  trustees  of  Bishop  Crewe's 
Charity;  in  1774  he  was  one  of  the  Proctors  in  Convocation  for  the 
Archdeaconry  of  Durham,  and  in  1778  he  obtained  the  vicarage  of 
Seaham,  which  he  resigned,  in  1783,  to  his  nephew,  the  Rev.  Richard 
Wallis,  son  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Wallis,  Vicar  of  Carham  (brother  of 
WaUis,  the  historian),  by  his  marriage  with  Mr.  Rotheram's  sister. 
He  died  at  Bamborough  Castle,  July  i6th,  1789,  aged  64,  and  was 
buried  in  his  church  at  Houghton-le-Spring. 

Besides  the  works  already  enumerated,  Mr.  Rotheram  published 
the  following  : — 

"  Three  Sermons  on  Public  Occasions  :  (l)  The  Wisdom  of  Providence  in  the 
Administration  of  the  World,  preached  at  St.  Mary's,  Oxford,  October  25, 
1762,  on  the  Anniversary  of  his  Majesty's  Inauguration;  (2)  The  Influence  of 
Religion  on  Human  Laws,  preached  also  at  St.  Mary's,  at  Oxford  Assizes,  March 
II,  1763;  (3)  On  the  Nature  of  Government,  preached  before  the  University, 
May  29,  1765." 

"  Sermon  Preached  at  St.  Nicholas'  Church  In  Newcastle  upon  Tyne,  On 
Saturday,  July  27,  1771,  Before  the  Governors  and  Stewards  of  the  Infirmary, 
And  Published  at  their  Request."     Newcastle:  T.  Saint.     8vo,  177 1. 

"A  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  Richard  Trevor,  Lord  Bishop  of  Durham."  8vo, 
1771. 

"  An  Apology  for  the  Athanasian  Creed."     1775. 

"A  Sermon  against    Persecution,  Preached  at  Houghton-le-Spring,  July   16, 


ROBERT  ROXBY.  335 

17S0,  Occasioned  by  the  Late  Riots  in  London  and  other  parts  of  the  Kingdom." 
Newcastle,  17S0. 

"An  Essay  on  the  Distinction  between  the  Soul  and  Body  of  Man."  New- 
castle: T.  Saint.     8vo,  17S1. 

"An  Essay  on  Human  Liberty."     8vo,  1782. 

"  An  Essay  on  Establishments  in  Religion,  With  Remarks  on  the  Confessional." 
Newcastle:  J.  White  &  T.  Saint.     Svo,  1767. 


IRobcrt  IRoyb^, 

POET    AND    ANGLER. 

"  They  may  talk  of  'Arabian  bowers,' 
And  '  myrtle  groves '  over  the  sea ; 
Give  me  my  Northumbria's  wild  flowers. 
And  the  hills  o'  my  native  countrie  ! " 

— Roxby's  "Epistle  to  Robert  Boyd." 

The  banks  of  the  River  Reed,  birthplace  of  celebrated  mathe- 
maticians, and  home  of  famous  schoolmasters,  can  claim  also  to 
have  added  to  local  biography  adepts  in  the  lighter  arts  of  minstrelsy 
and  song.  One  of  the  best  known  among  them  is  Robert  Roxby, 
the  bard  who  sang  of  angling,  with  its  perils  and  pleasures,  its  dis- 
appointments and  delights. 

Robert  Roxby,  born  in  1767,  and  deprived  at  an  early  age  of  a 
father's  care,  was  admitted  into  the  family  of  Gabriel  Goulburn,  an 
extensive  Redesdale  farmer,  to  be  trained  to  the  pursuit  of  agricul- 
ture. With  him  he  remained  till  about  1792,  when  the  little  fortune 
which  his  father  had  left  him  was  swept  away  by  his  guardian's 
failure,  and  he  was  compelled  to  seek  a  living  elsewhere.  To  New- 
castle he  directed  his  steps,  and  in  the  bank  of  Sir  AVilliam  Loraine 
&  Co.  he  obtained  a  situation  as  clerk.  Here  again  misfortune 
attended  him.  The  bank  came  to  grief,  and  once  more  he  was 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  Not  for  long,  fortunately ;  for 
another  firm  of  bankers — that  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  &  Co. — 
gave  him  employment.  In  their  service  he  rose  to  the  position  of 
chief  clerk,  and  so  continued  till  old  age  brought  his  commercial 
career  to  an  end. 

In  early  youth  Mr.  Roxby  began  to  cultivate  the  poetic  faculty. 
For  some  time  the  outward  manifestation  of  his  abilities  in  this 
direction  was  limited  to  the  production  of  rhythmical  letters,  ad- 


336 


ROBERT  ROXBY, 


dressed  to  friends  in  Redesdale  and  Coquetside.  By  these  friends 
the  humble  efforts  of  his  muse  were  highly  appreciated,  for  he  sang 
of  them  and  their  homes,  and  described  the  scenes  in  which  they 
lived,  and  moved,  and  had  their  being.  So  pleased  were  they  with 
some  of  his  verses  that  they  copied  and  re-copied  them  for  other 
friends,  near  and  far,  and  thus  obtained  for  them  a  wide  circulation, 
and  for  the  author  a  considerable  reputation.  The  time  came  when 
they  persuaded  him  to  venture  into  print.  Desirous  to  please,  Mr. 
Roxby  expanded  into  a  ballad  poem  of  a  hundred  and  sixteen  verses 
a  metrical  letter  of  a  few  stanzas  which  he  had  originally  indited  to  a 


friend  at  Broomyholme,  near  Chester-le-Street.  Two  hundred  and 
fifty  copies  of  it,  in  quarto,  were  printed  by  subscription,  with  the 
following  title : — 

"The  Lay  of  the  Reedvvater  Minstrel.  lUustrated,  with  Notes,  Historical  and 
Explanatory,  Addressed  to  Matthew  Forster  of  Broomyholme,  Esq.  By  a  Son  of 
Reed."     Newcastle:  D.  Akenhead  &  Sons,  1809. 

Upon  the  title-page  is  a  cut  by  Bewick,  representing  the  bard  and 
three  of  his  friends  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  social  evening  under  the 
broad  rafters  of  a  farmhouse,  to  which  enjoyment  one  of  the  party  is 
contributing  music  from  the  Northumberland  pipes.  When  this 
edition  had  long  been  out  of  print,  in  1832,  a  second  issue,  uniform 
with  the  publications  of  the  Newcastle  Typographical  Society,  was 


R  OBER  T  R  OXB  Y.  337 

printed  by  T.  &  J.  Hodgson,  with  the  Bewick  cut  reproduced,  and 
the  author's  name  appended.  By  this  time  the  rhythmical  skill  of 
Mr.  Roxby  had  become  more  widely  known,  and  tlie  whole  impres- 
sion went  off  rapidly. 

An  enthusiastic  disciple  of  Izaak  Walton,  Mr.  Roxby  added  zest 
to  his  favourite  pursuit  by  contributing  to  its  poetical  literature.  In 
182 1,  in  conjunction  with  his  friend  Thomas  Doubleday,  he  pub- 
lished what  proved  to  be  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  lyrical 
productions,  known  to  sportsmen  with  rod  and  fly  as  "  Fisher's 
Garlands."  These  Garlands,  illustrated  with  appropriate  cuts  by 
Bewick,  were  published  annually,  till  1843,  by  Emerson  Charnley, 
who,  printing  a  title-page  for  those  that  were  issued  prior  to  1836, 
made  up  a  much-prized  little  volume.  The  Garlands  for  1844  and 
1845  were  printed  by  William  Garret,  and  he,  making  up  complete 
sets  of  twenty-nine,  issued  another  volume,  with  a  new  title-page. 
Finally,  the  original  MSS.,  with  the  correspondence  relating  to  them, 
and  the  corrected  proof-sheets  of  the  entire  series,  were  acquired  by 
Mr.  Joseph  Crawhall,  and  that  gentleman,  editing  the  whole  set,  and 
adding  others,  published,  in  1864 — 

"A  Collection  of  Right  Merrie  Garlands  for  North  Country  Anglers.  Edited 
by  Joseph  Crawhall,  and  Continued  to  this  Present  Year."  Newcastle:  George 
Rutland,  1S64.     8vo,  xvi.-3i4  pp. 

In  Mr.  Crawhall's  collection  the  following  "  Garlands  "  appear  in 
the  joint  names  of  Mr.  Roxby  and  Mr.  Doubleday — 

The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1821. 
The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1823. — "Coquet  Side." 

The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1824. — "  The  Auld  Fisher's  Welcome  to  Coquet  Side." 
The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1825. — "The  Auld  Fisher's  Farewell  to  Coquet." 
The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1826.  — "  The  Coquet  for  Ever." 

The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1832. — "  The  Fisher's  Invitation  to  his  Friend  in 
Newcastle." 

By  Mr.  Roxby  alone  is  the  Garland  for  185 1,  "The  Auld  Fisher's 
Visit  to  North  Tyne,"  which,  first  appearing  in  "  Richardson's  Table 
Book,"  as  an  "  Epistle  to  Robert  Boyd,  Esq.,"  had  been  transformed 
into  a  Garland  by  Mr.  Doubleday,  in  a  collection  which  he  published 
in  1852,  under  the  title  of  "The  Coquetdale  Fishing  Songs,  Now 
First  Collected  and  Edited  by  a  North-Country  Angler." 

Along  with  the  "  Epistle  to  Robert  Boyd,"  three  other  examples 
of  Mr.  Roxby's  INIuse  are  to  be  found  in  the  Legendary  Division  of 
the   "  Table   Book."     They  are  all  of  the  same  character  as  those 

VOL.  III.  22 


338  JOHN  HUNTER  RUTBERFORD. 

with  which  the  author  began  his  poetical  career,  namely,  rhyming 
letters  to  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  are  headed,  respectively — 

"  Stanzas  to  a  Friend  at  Byrness,  Redesdale." 

"  Stanzas  to  Miss  J H ." 

"  Poetic  Epistle  to  Misses  Ann  and  Jane  Hedley,  Bridge  End,  near  West 
Woodburn." 

Mr.  Roxby  is  described  in  "  Thomas  Bewick,  his  Life  and  Times," 
by  Robert  Robinson,  as  of  middle  height,  with  much  colour,  and 
wearing  a  patch  over  one  eye.  He  usually  wore  a  dark  green  dress 
coat,  and  light  drab  gaiters.  On  first  entering  the  bank  in  the 
morning,  he  used  to  ask  a  clerk  in  the  establishment,  who  lived  in 
Jesmond  Dene,  "  Were  the  mennims  loupin'  in  the  burn  this 
morning?"  His  death  occurred  at  his  residence,  Westgate  Hill, 
Newcastle,  on  the  30th  July,  1846,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his 
age. 


3obn  Ibunter  IRutberfor^ 

PREACHER,    TEACHER,    AND    POLITICIAN. 

John  Hunter  Rutherford,  a  native  of  Jedburgh,  trained  for  the 
Presbyterian  ministry,  received  his  education  at  the  Grammar  School 
of  his  native  town,  and  at  St.  Andrews  and  Glasgow  Universities. 
He  did  not,  however,  enter  the  ranks  of  the  Scottish  ministry,  but 
became  an  evangelist,  proclaiming  what  was  called  in  those  days  the 
new  light — the  Morisonian  doctrine  of  a  free  gospel  to  all,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  stricter  forms  of  Calvinism.  Traversing  the  North- 
Country  from  Cheviot  to  Crossfell,  he  came  to  Newcastle,  where  he 
soon  became  popular  as  a  public  speaker  and  preacher.  Admirers 
gathered  round  him,  and  finally  the  Lecture  Room,  in  Nelson 
Street,  was  taken  for  regular  services.  At  that  place  he  officiated  as 
minister,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  till  his  hearers  became  so  numerous 
and  so  much  attached  to  him  that  they  decided  upon  erecting  Bath 
Lane  Church,  which  was  opened  in  i860. 

An  educational  reformer  of  the  most  liberal  and  pronounced  type, 
Mr.  Rutherford  had  not  been  long  settled  in  his  church  before  he  set 
about  the  establishment  of  schools.  His  first  effort  in  this  direction 
was  the  elementary  school  in  Corporation  Street,  the  foundation- 
stone  of  which  was  laid  by  Lord  Amberley,  son  of  Earl  Russell,  on 


JOHN  HUNTER  RUTHERFORD. 


339 


the  29th  of  June,  1870.  Room  was  provided  for  660  scholars, 
and  withui  two  years  every  place  was  occupied.  Additions  were 
made,  and  the  class-room  space  nearly  doubled;  still  more  accom- 
modation was  needed,  and  eventually  a  branch  school  was  built 
in  Camden  Street,  Shieldfield,  for  480  children.  At  Heaton 
elementary  classes  were  held  in  the  Leighton  Memorial  School, 
and  a  building  in  Shields  Road,  formerly  a  chapel,  was  devoted 
to  the  purposes  of  an  infant  school.  All  this  time,  however,  there 
was  felt  to  be  a  need  for  something  more  than  mere  elementary 
education;  and  the  next  step  was  the  erection   of  the   School  of 


D-r  J.-fl-fJurijcrfor'd 


Science  and  Art  in  Corporation  Street,  the  foundation-stone  of 
which  was  laid  by  Mr.  Joseph  Cowen,  on  the  21st  of  November, 
1877.  As  it  was  impossible  to  receive  the  Byker  students  at 
Corporation  Street,  Ashfield  Villa,  near  Heaton  railway  station, 
was  acquired  as  a  branch  science  and  art  school.  In  the  early 
part  of  1886,  a  further  important  step  was  taken  in  the  opening 
of  a  technical  college  in  Diana  Street,  with  playground,  workshops, 
dining  hall,  kitchen,  and  dormitories.  Over  these  educational  under- 
takings Mr.  Rutherford  exercised  a  direct  personal  supervision,  and 
frequently  addressed  the  scholars  and  students  on  subjects  affecting 


340  JOHN  HUNTER  RUTHERFORD. 

their  duty  and  conduct  in  life.  To  diligent  and  successful  students 
encouragement  was  given  by  a  liberal  distribution  of  prizes;  and  the 
annual  meetings  at  which  these  proceedings  have  taken  place  were 
the  occasions  of  visits  to  Newcastle  of  at  least  two  well-known 
politicians  —  the  Marquis  of  Hartington  and  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill. 

Considering  the  active  part  which  he  took  in  the  promotion  of 
education,  it  is  not  surprising  that  Mr.  Rutherford  should  have  been 
selected  to  represent  his  fellow-townsmen  upon  the  Newcastle  School 
Board.  He  was  returned  as  one  of  the  first  members  of  that  body, 
and  he  retained  an  unbroken  connection  with  it  as  an  ordinary 
member,  and  later  as  vice-chairman,  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

With  a  view  of  realising  more  completely  his  ideal  of  what  a 
Christian  minister  should  be,  Mr.  Rutherford  determined  to  study 
medicine;  and  although  a  man  in  middle  life,  he  went  amongst  the 
young  students  at  the  Medical  College,  Newcastle,  and  obtained  his 
qualifications,  taking  the  degree  of  L.R.C.P.,  Edinburgh,  in  1867, 
and  that  of  L.R.C.S.,  Edinburgh,  in  the  same  year.  To  this  course 
of  procedure  he  was  largely  incited  by  a  desire  to  speak  with 
authority  on  the  physiological  phases  of  temperance,  of  which  he 
was  a  zealous  advocate;  but  among  members  of  his  congregation 
and  others,  he  had  a  considerable  practice  as  a  family  doctor.  Closely 
allied  with  this  branch  of  Dr.  Rutherford's  attainments  was  the  in- 
terest which  for  many  years  he  manifested  in  local  sanitation.  In 
1866,  as  the  result  of  a  long  inquiry  personally  conducted  by  him, 
he  prepared  a  voluminous  report  on  the  Public  Health  of  Newcastle, 
which  furnished  material  for  prolonged  discussion  in  the  Town 
Council.  On  the  same  subject  he  read  a  paper  at  the  Social 
Science  Congress,  held  in  Newcastle  in  1870. 

But  the  labours  of  Dr.  Rutherford  (for  after  he  became  a  surgeon 
he  was  universally  called  "  Doctor ")  were  not  confined  even  to  these 
varied  spheres.  After  the  nine  hours  strike,  in  1871,  he  considered 
that  the  time  had  arrived  when  it  was  possible  for  workmen  to 
become  their  own  employers,  and  he  organised  an  Engineering 
Co-operative  scheme,  acquiring  for  that  purpose  the  Ouseburn 
Engine  Works  in  the  east  end  of  Newcastle.  The  scheme  was 
a  failure,  and  it  entailed  upon  Dr.  Rutherford  heavy  responsibilities 
and  great  losses.  Relatives  and  friends  were  largely  involved  in  the 
business,  and  year  by  year  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  he  paid  out  of 
his  income  towards  the  debts  that  were  then  contracted. 


JOHN  HUNTER  RUTHERFORD.  341 

Although  Dr.  Rutherford's  labours  were  chiefly  devoted  to  re- 
ligious, educational,  and  social  movements,  he  was  a  keen  politician. 
The  Northern  Reform  League  and  the  Northern  Reform  Union  had 
in  him  a  most  successful  organiser  of  great  demonstrations.  When 
the  advanced  wing  of  the  Liberal  party  in  Newcastle  determined  in 
1857  to  claim  from  the  Whigs  a  share  in  the  representation  of  the 
town,  he  went  to  Bradford  to  induce  Mr.  W.  E.  Forster  (afterwards 
the  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Forster)  to  become  a  candidate.  Mr.  Forster 
was  willing  to  contest  the  borough,  and  came  to  Newcastle  for  that 
purpose,  but  found  on  his  arrival  that  another  section  of  the  Radicals 
— an  Evangelical  branch — had  entered  into  negotiations  with  Mr. 
Peter  Carstairs,  a  retired  Lidia  merchant.  Mr.  Carstairs  fought  two 
elections  in  Newcastle,  and,  although  heartily  supported  by  the 
Rutherford  following,  was  beaten  in  both.  Dr  Rutherford  learned 
from  these  elections  the  fact  that,  in  a  district  like  Tyneside, 
local  interest  supersedes  other  considerations,  and  he  promoted  a 
requisition  asking  Sir  Joseph  Cowen — then  plain  Mr.  Cowen — to 
stand  for  Newcastle.  The  requisition  was  accepted,  the  candidate 
went  to  the  poll  and  won  easily.  When  Sir  Joseph  died,  and  his 
son,  Mr.  Joseph  Cowen,  became  a  candidate.  Dr.  Rutherford  worked 
even  more  energetically  than  before.  So  long  as  Mr.  Cowen 
represented  Newcastle,  the  doctor's  interest  in  politics  was  strong; 
after  Mr.  Cowen's  retirement  he  withdrew  from  the  political  platform, 
and  his  voice  was  seldom,  if  ever,  heard  there  again. 

Once,  at  least.  Dr.  Rutherford  tried  to  enter  Newcastle  Town 
Council,  and  was  defeated.  To  the  Board  of  Guardians  he  was 
returned  regularly  for  some  years,  where,  making  himself  acquainted 
with  the  poor  and  their  surroundings,  he  was  able  to  bring  practical 
experience  to  bear  upon  Poor  Law  administration.  He  was  one  of 
the  leading  spirits  in  movements  for  the  relief  of  the  unemployed, 
and  he  began,  and  helped  to  conduct  for  several  winters,  Sunday 
morning  free  breakfasts  for  poor  children  at  Bath  Lane  Hall.  From 
his  first  coming  he  identified  himself  with  the  temperance  movement, 
and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  North  of  England  abstainers  ever  had 
a  more  skilful,  more  eloquent,  more  effective  mouthpiece. 

Dr.  Rutherford  died  on  the  21st  of  March,  1890,  aged  64,  and  was 
interred  in  Elswick  Cemetery  amid  a  vast  concourse  of  people.  His 
memory  is  preserved  in  Newcastle  by  Bath  Lane  Church,  and  the 
Rutherford  College  adjoining,  and  by  a  handsome  drinking-fountain 
in  front  of  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Nicholas. 


342  JOHN  SALKELD. 

3obn  Sal?lel^, 

CAVALIER. 

"  Here  lies  in  hope  of  a  blessed  Resurrec.  the  body  of  ye  truly  valiant  and 
loyal  Gent.  Col.  John  Salkeld,  wo  serv'd  King  Charles  ye  1st  with  a  constant, 
dangerous,  and  expensive  loyalty  as  voluntier  Captain  and  CoUonell  of  horse. 
And  for  the  service  of  his  King  and  Country  he  took  in  Berwick-upon-Tweed,  and 
Carlile,  which  was  a  rice  to  the  warr  of  48.  He  afterwards  served  in  Ireland 
under  King  Charles  and  King  James  ye  2nd  as  Lieutenant  Coll.  He  was  Justice 
of  ye  Peace  35  years,  and  aged  89  he  departed  this  life  June  the  2nd  1705." — 
Epitaph  at  Rock. 

The  Manor  of  Rock,  situated  about  five  miles  north-east  of  Alnwick 
— one  of  the  ancient  possessions  of  the  Swinhoes,  and  afterwards,  for 
a  short  time,  of  a  branch  of  the  wide-spread  family  of  Lawson — 
passed,  by  purchase,  in  1620,  into  the  hands  of  John  Salkeld.  The 
vendors  were  Sir  Ralph  Lawson,  of  Burgh,  knight,  Marmaduke 
Lawson,  his  second  son  (who  had  become  the  heir  through  the 
death  of  his  brother  Roger,  husband  of  the  famous  Dorothy  Lawson 
of  St.  Anthony's),  and  Thomas  Fenwick  of  West  Matfen.  The 
purchaser  is  described  as  John  Salkeld  the  younger  of  Hull  or  Huln 
Abbey,  Alnwick,  gentleman,  a  descendant  of  the  great  house  of 
Salkeld  in  Cumberland.  Thomas  Salkeld,  a  younger  son  of  the 
Cumberland  family,  marrying,  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  an  Ogle  of  Ogle  Castle,  settled  at  Bassington,  near 
Eglinghain.  His  heir,  John  Salkeld,  of  Bassington,  took  to  wife 
Catherine,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Forster  of  Newham,  and  the  eldest 
son  of  that  marriage,  born  in  1593,  and  united,  about  the  year  1614, 
to  Dorothy,  daughter  of  William  Carnaby,  was  John  Salkeld  the 
younger,  of  Huln  Abbey,  the  purchaser  of  Rock.  John  Salkeld, 
No.  3,  whose  name  heads  this  biography  was  John  Salkeld  the 
younger's  eldest  son. 

That  "truly  valiant  and  loyal  gent.,"  who  served  King  Charles  I. 
with  such  "  constant,  dangerous,  and  expensive  loyalty,"  as  the 
epitaph  declares,  was  born  in  161 6.  By  the  time  he  had  reached 
the  age  of  manhood,  civil  war  was  impending,  and  the  landed  gentry 
were  obtaining  instruction  in  the  use  of  arms  for  the  defence  of 
Church  and  Crown.  Young  Mr.  Salkeld  became  a  volunteer  in  the 
king's  service,  and  in  1640,  shortly  after  the  skirmish  at  Newburn, 
and  the  first  capture  of  Newcastle  by  the  Scots,  he  gained  the  rank 


JOHN  SALKELD.  343 

of  captain.  Three  years  later  he  obtained  notoriety  by  a  particularly 
daring  outrage.  On  the  13th  of  February,  1643,  a  party  of  North- 
Country  gentlemen  assembled  at  Meldon,  the  seat  of  Sir  William 
Fenwick,  to  discuss  public  affairs,  or  to  celebrate  some  festive 
occasion.  Among  them  were  Baron  Venables,  Sir  Nicholas 
Thornington,  John  Swinburne  of  Capheaton,  George  Heron  of 
Chipchase,  Henry  Lambert  of  West  W'itton,  in  Wensleydale,  and  the 
young  captain.  Between  two  and  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
Mr.  Swinburne  left  Meldon,  accompanied  by  his  third  wife,  Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  Charles  Blount.  In  a  short  time,  leaving  his  wife 
to  pursue  her  journey  towards  Capheaton  alone,  and  probably 
promising  to  overtake  her,  he  returned  to  Meldon  and  rejoined  the 
party,  with  whom  he  remained  about  half-an-hour.  Pressed  to  stay 
longer,  he  declined.  Captain  Salkeld,  heated  no  doubt  with  wine, 
was  particularly  obtrusive  in  desiring  Mr.  Swinburne  to  prolong  his 
visit,  but  he  remained  firm.  Thereupon,  the  choleric  captain  drew 
his  rapier,  and  ran  Mr.  Swinburne  through  the  body,  inflicting  a 
wound  of  which,  two  days  later,  the  victim  died.  At  the  coroner's 
inquest,  Henry  Brown,  a  servant  of  Mr.  Swinburne's,  told  the  dismal 
story  in  a  very  clear  and  concise  manner: — 

"  Mr.  Swinburn,  being  riding  upon  his  hors  at  Meldon  Gaits, 
intending  to  ride  home  after  his  wife,  who  was  gone  a  little  afore  to 
Capheton,  Salkeld  stept  afore  him,  and  would  have  him  to  light,  and 
drinke  more.  Mr.  Swinburn  refused.  Salkeld  told  him  he  should  light 
anddrinke  a  cupe  more;  but  still  Mr.  Swinburn  refused,  where  upon 
Salkeld  stept  afore  him  and  drew  his  raper ;  made  a  thrust  at  him,  and 
hurt  his  hors  ;  where  upon  Mr.  Swinburn,  seeing  his  hors  hurt,  alighted, 
and  as  he  was  a  leting  his  cloike  fall  from  him,  profering  to  lay  his 
hand  on  his  sword,  where  upon  I  being  present,  and  his  servant,  run 
in  hastely,  fearing  my  Master,  Mr.  Swinburn,  should  have  drawn  his 
sword.  I  cacht  hould  of  him,  and  in  ye  intrem,  Salkeld  came  run- 
ning in  and  thrust  him  in  ye  belly,  which  wound  was  his  death." 

There  was  some  evidence  before  the  coroner  of  a  previous  quarrel 
between  Mr.  Swinburne  and  Captain  Salkeld,  and  the  jury  had  no 
hesitation  in  returning  a  verdict  of  murder  and  in  attributing  it  to 
"premeditated  malice."  The  murderer  took  to  his  heels  as  soon  as 
he  discovered  the  serious  consequences  of  his  violence  and  fled  to 
"an  adjoining  county."  What  penalty  he  paid  for  his  crime  is  not 
stated.  From  the  fact  that  the  jury  described  the  murder  as  being 
committed    with    "  a   rapier   sword,   of   the   value   of   five  shillings 


344  JOHN  SALKELD. 

sterling,"  it  may  be  that  something  in  the  nature  of  a  deodand  was 
exacted  from  him.  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  that,  in  the 
confusion  created  by  civil  war,  the  crime  went  unpunished. 

Into  the  war  Captain  Salkeld  threw  himself  with  characteristic 
boldness  and  enthusiasm.  Hot-headed  and  impetuous,  he  was  ready 
to  adventure  anything  and  everything  for  the  cause  of  his  royal 
master.  Whether  he  occupied  the  very  prominent  position  assigned 
to  him  in  the  epitaph  may  be  doubted,  but  he  certainly  took  an 
active  part  in  the  seizure  of  Berwick  by  Marmaduke  Langdale  in 
May,  1648,  and  in  the  loose  warfare  along  the  Borders  which  fol- 
lowed, till  in  June  he  and  many  of  his  compatriots  were  taken 
prisoners.  Major  Sanderson,  a  Parliamentary  officer,  writing  from 
Newcastle  on  the  3rd  July  to  the  House  of  Commons,  describes 
the  capture  of  Salkeld  (who  had  been  made  a  lieutenant-colonel  in 
Langdale's  army)  in  the  following  terms  : — 

"  Friday,  30  Junii,  according  to  agreement,  we  randezvoused  about 
eleven  of  the  clocke  at  ChoUerford,  three  miles  north  of  Hexam. 
We  hasted  away  that  night,  and  marched  sixteen  miles  from  Hexam 
to  Harterton,  bated  our  horses  two  houres,  then  mounted  again  and 
marched  from  thence ;  I  had  the  command  of  the  forlorne  hope. 
The  first  Towne  we  fell  into  was  Tossons,  where  wee  took  a  Lieu- 
tenant and  sixe  of  his  Dragoons,  all  in  bed;  the  next  Town  was 
Lurbottle,  where  we  took  60  Horse  and  60  Men,  all  in  bed.  The 
next  quarter  was  Carlile  (Callaly?)  where  Col.  Grey,  Lieut. -Col. 
Salkeld,  and  many  others  were  taken,  with  80  horse." 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Salkeld  must  have  obtained  his  release  shortly 
after,  for  in  September,  when  Cromwell  came  northward,  and  put  the 
final  stroke  to  the  combat,  he  was  among  the  Royalists  who  fled  from 
Berwick  and  took  refuge  on  the  Continent.  On  the  26th  of  that 
month  the  House  of  Commons  was  informed,  from  Newcastle,  that  of 
100  English  officers  or  persons  of  quality  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
struggle,  80  had  "  gone  from  Berwick  in  a  small  Vessel  beyond  Seas, 
among  whom  is  Sir  John  Morley,  Colonel  Grey,  Major  Hoborn, 
Young  Salkeild,  and  others;  the  rest  gone  towards  CarUsle."  Not 
for  long,  however,  did  this  ardent  cavalier  remain  in  exile.  He 
bowed  to  the  storm,  made  his  peace  with  Parliament,  and  returned 
to  take  part  in  the  public  life  of  his  native  county.  His  name  occurs 
as  one  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  in  1650  to  make  what  is 
known  as  the  Oliverian  Survey  of  Church  Livings  in  Northumberland, 
and  in  1654  he  was  one  of  the  freeholders  who  certified  the  return  of 


RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON.  345 

three  members  to  serve  the  county  in  Cromwell's  Parliament.  After 
that  date  history  is  silent  respecting  him.  Nothing  is  known  beyond 
the  statement  made  in  the  epitaph  that  he  "  served  in  Ireland  under 
King  Charles,  and  King  James  ye  2nd  as  Lieutenant-Coll,"  that  he 
was  "Justice  of  ye  Peace  35  years,"  and  that  "aged  89,  he  departed 
this  life  June  the  2nd,  1705." 


IRicharb  Bur^ons=San^er6on, 

A    GIFTED    NONCONFORMIST. 

In  the  days  of  our  fathers  and  grandfathers,  few  names  were  more 
familiar  in  the  religious  circles  of  the  North  of  England,  or  more 
highly  honoured  among  Evangelical  Christians  throughout  the 
kingdom,  than  that  of  the  gifted  squire  of  Jesmond,  Richard 
Burdon-Sanderson.  A  man  of  good  family,  related  to  high  per- 
sonages in  Church  and  State,  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  forsook,  at 
a  comparatively  early  age,  the  Tory  and  High  Church  principles 
of  his  relatives  and  friends;  sacrificed  for  conscience'  sake  brilliant 
prospects  of  preferment;  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  lowly;  and,  aided 
by  a  cultured  mind  and  a  fluent  pen,  became  known  to  our  fore- 
elders  as  the  unflinching  advocate  of  Protestant  Nonconformity,  and 
the  untiring  champion  of  civil  and  religious  freedom. 

Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  was  the  third  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Burden, 
Knight,  by  Jane,  daughter  of  William  Scott,  of  Newcastle,  and  sister 
of  the  future  Lords  Eldon  and  Stowell.  He  was  born  in  Northum- 
berland Street,  Newcastle,  on  the  31st  March,  1791,  and  at  the  age 
of  seven  was  sent  to  the  preparatory  school  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Birkett, 
at  Ovingham.  From  thence,  in  1S03,  he  went  to  Durham  Grammar 
School,  and  six  years  later,  after  twelve  months  preliminary  training 
with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Manisty  at  Edlingham,  he  was  entered  at  Oriel 
College,  Oxford. 

Young  Mr.  Burdon  (for  he  did  not  assume  the  name  of  Sanderson 
till  his  marriage)  entered  the  University  at  a  time  of  great  religious 
fervour,  and  he  had  not  been  long  there  before  he  came  under 
its  influence.  With  George  Clayton,  son  of  Nathaniel  Clayton, 
Town  Clerk  of  Newcastle,  and  a  student  named  Brandram,  known 
in  after-years  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Bible  Society,  he  entered  upon 
a  course  of  religious  worship  and  ritual  observance  which,  involving 


346 


RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON. 


attendance  at  divine  service  twice  a  day,  fasting  twice  a  week,  etc., 
excited  some  commotion  in  the  College.  So  earnest  was  Mr.  Burdon 
in  his  spiritual  exercises,  that,  until  severely  chided  by  his  father,  he 
declined  an  invitation  to  spend  Christmas,  1809,  at  the  house 
of  his  uncle,  Sir  William  Scott,  on  the  ground  that  Sir  William's 
style  of  living  did  not  fully  accord  with  his  principles.  He  joined 
a  "  nest  of  Methodists  "  at  St.  Edmund's  Hall,  under  Daniel  Wilson, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  and  chose  for  his  friends  and  com- 
panions youths  like  Whately  and  Keble,  Arnold  and  Hinds. 
Meanwhile  he  pursued  his  studies  with  great  ardour  and  success. 


1^.Sardot\  &i\(i8rgoii^fl?&£|ijr. 


In  1810  he  gained  the  Newdigate  Prize,  the  subject  being  "The 
Parthenon,"  and,  in  1812,  having  entered  himself  at  the  Temple,  to 
follow  the  legal  profession,  he  took  a  First  in  classics,  and  his  degree 
of  B.A.  The  following  year  he  was  beaten  by  Coleridge  for  the 
Latin  prize,  but  obtained  a  fellowship  of  his  college,  and  the  office  of 
"  Secretary  of  Presentations  "  to  his  uncle.  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon. 
A  twelvemonth  later  he  won  the  prize  for  the  English  Essay,  "  A 
Comparative  Estimate  of  the  English  Literature  of  the  Seventeenth 
and  Eighteenth  Centuries,"  and  shortly  afterwards  received  from  his 
uncle  another  office — that  of  Commissioner  in  Bankruptcy. 


RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON.  347 

While  studying  at  the  Temple  in  1813,  Mr.  Burdon  met  the  lady 
who  was  destined  to  become  his  wife.  She  was  the  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Sir  James  Sanderson,  Bart,  a  native  of  York,  who  had 
filled  the  offices  of  Sheriff  and  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  had  sat 
in  Parliament  as  M.P.  for  Malmesbury  (1792)  and  Hastings  (1796). 
Her  mother,  a  daughter  of  Alderman  Skinner,  was  a  Nonconformist. 
They  were  married  at  St.  George's,  Bloomsbury,  on  the  7th  of 
February,  1S15,  when,  in  accordance  with  Sir  James's  will,  Mr. 
Burdon  took  the  name  of  Sanderson  in  addition  to  his  own,  and 
became  Richard  Burdon-Sanderson. 

For  a  year  and  a  half  after  his  marriage,  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson 
followed  the  study  of  the  law,  and  attended  to  his  official  duties. 
He  accompanied  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  the  House  of  Lords  during 
the  Burdett  riots,  and  received  in  his  coat  a  shot  intended  for  his 
patron.  Lord  Eldon  took  a  fatherly  interest  in  his  young  relative, 
and  most  brilliant  prospects  seemed  to  be  opening  out  before  him. 
Could  he  have  stifled  his  religious  views,  he  might  have  attained 
to  a  high  position  in  the  service  of  the  State.  But  those  views 
were  gradually  becoming  deeper  and  stronger,  and  as  they  increased 
in  intensity  his  discontent  with  the  formalism  and  indifference  of 
Churchmen,  and  his  distrust  of  Church  methods,  grew  apace.  As 
Secretary  of  Presentations  he  saw  the  shady  side  of  the  system 
of  patronage.  One  clergyman,  asking  for  a  living,  pleaded  that  he 
had  raised  a  troop  of  yeomanry;  another  that  he  had  voted  for  Lord 
Eldon  at  Oxford;  a  third  offered  ten  per  cent,  commission  upon  any 
living  to  which  the  Lord  Chancellor  might  present  him.  After 
struggling  with  his  conscience  for  some  time,  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson 
wrote  to  his  uncle  resigning  both  his  appointments.  Lord  Eldon 
respected  his  nephew's  motives,  and  offered  him  a  Mastership  in 
Chancery.  But  with  the  Test  Act  in  operation,  the  acceptance 
of  that  office  involved  a  profession  of  conformity  which  he  was 
not  prepared  to  make,  and  he  declined  it.  The  same  obstacle 
stood  in  his  way  to  the  Bar,  and  he  determined  to  withdraw  from 
his  legal  studies.  Shortly  afterwards,  in  181 7,  Lady  Sanderson,  his 
mother-in-law,  died,  and  at  her  interment  (which  took  place  upon 
her  own  property  at  Cranbrook,  in  unconsecrated  ground),  the 
appointed  Nonconformist  minister  being  absent,  he  conducted  the 
funeral  service.  This  decisive  act  of  divergence  from  the  principles 
of  his  family  gave  great  offence,  and  widened  the  breach  which  his 
independent  attitude  towards  the  great  Chancellor  had  created. 


348  RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON. 

For  the  next  few  years  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  lived  at  Tunbridge 
Wells,  and  there  on  the  27th  June,  1821,  his  eldest  son,  Richard 
Burdon-Sanderson,  was  born.  Having  by  this  time  broken  his 
connection  with  the  Church  of  England,  he  had  the  infant  baptised 
at  an  Independent  Chapel — a  ceremony  which  was  repeated  two 
years  later  on  the  occasion  of  the  birth  of  a  daughter.  In  1822 
he  lost  his  mother,  and  in  1826,  during  the  heat  of  the  great 
election,  his  father. 

Under  Sir  Thomas  Burdon's  will  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  succeeded 
to  the  family  estates.  Returning  to  Northumberland  to  reside,  he 
led  a  quiet  and  retired  life,  till,  in  1833,  being  at  Biddlestone  during 
the  rebuilding  of  the  family  mansion  at  Jesmond,  he  commenced  a 
series  of  Sunday  evening  services,  and  published  a  collection  of  daily 
thoughts  on  sacred  subjects,  under  the  title  of  "  Bread  of  the  First 
Fruits."  Having  in  this  way  broken  the  ice,  he  entered  upon  a 
career  of  unusual  activity  as  a  religious  teacher.  Nonconformist 
lecturer,  and  polemical  pamphleteer.  In  his  new  mansion  at  West 
Jesmond,  erected  from  his  own  designs,  and  in  his  country  house 
at  Otterburn,  he  gathered  round  him  the  foremost  men  in  Evangelical 
propagandism  and  philanthropic  endeavour.  Among  them  came  the 
Hon.  and  Rev.  J.  A.  Methuen,  brother  of  Lord  Methuen,  who, 
changing  his  views  on  baptism,  had  abandoned  infant  sprinkling, 
and  adopted  the  practice  of  immersion  for  believers  only.  By  him, 
in  a  piece  of  water  that  ran  through  the  grounds  at  Otterburn  Dene, 
Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  was  baptised  in  1837.  His  wife  was  baptised 
in  the  same  manner  soon  afterwards,  and  both  of  them  had  the 
satisfaction  ere  long  of  seeing  their  children  follow  their  example. 

At  the  time  of  his  baptism,  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  held  a  com- 
mission of  the  peace  for  the  county,  and  a  commission  of  war  as 
major  of  the  Tyne  Hussars — a  corps  which,  with  the  rank  of  colonel, 
his  father,  Sir  Thomas  Burdon,  had  proudly  commanded.  Upon 
the  accession  of  the  Queen,  he  allowed  both  of  these  honourable 
appointments  to  lapse,  rather  than  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
Established  Church.  He  had  just  published  a  pamphlet  in  which 
he  attempted  to  show  what  he  considered  to  be  the  popish  origin 
and  tendency  of  the  government  and  ritual  of  that  Church,  and  was 
busy  with  others  of  the  same  design  and  tendency.  From  that  date, 
for  several  years,  his  activity  as  a  pamphleteer  knew  neither  cessation 
nor  rest.  Press  and  platform  were  alike  utilised  in  spreading  his 
principles,  and  at  length  he  resorted  to  the  pulpit. 


RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON.  349 

In  1843,  a  small  property  in  Brandling  Village  came  into  the 
market.  It  consisted  of  a  chapel,  with  a  house  and  garden,  which 
had  originally  belonged  to  the  Methodists,  and  had  been  transferred 
by  them  to  the  Church  of  England.  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  bought 
this  property,  intending  to  place  in  the  chapel  an  ex-rector,  who, 
having  left  the  Church  for  conscience'  sake,  was,  at  the  time,  acting 
in  the  capacity  of  tutor  to  his  sons.  But  this  intention  was  never 
realised,  for  he  began  himself  to  officiate  in  the  building.  He 
commenced  with  a  Sunday  evening  lecture,  and  then,  finding  the 
attendance  encouraging,  he  accepted  the  help  of  his  eldest  son, 
Richard  Burdon-Sanderson,  junior,  and  opened  the  place  for  public 
worship  on  Tuesday  and  Friday  evenings.  It  was  not  connected 
with  any  particular  denomination,  though  the  doctrines  expounded 
therein  were  those  professed  by  the  Baptists.  Members  of  that 
community  in  Newcastle,  attracted  by  the  vigour  and  intelligence 
of  the  two  preachers,  sought  church  communion  with  them. 
"  Having  found  your  ministry,  and  the  ministry  of  your  son,  to  be 
according  to  the  oracles  of  God,  and  edifying  to  ourselves,"  they 
wrote,  "we  earnestly  desire  to  be  united  with  you  in  the  fellowship 
of  the  Gospel,  and  in  celebrating  the  ordinances  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  Their  wish  was  granted,  a  church  fellowship 
was  formed,  the  cause  was  strengthened  later  on  by  the  acquisition 
of  Marlborough  Crescent  Chapel,  in  Newcastle,  and  in  these  two 
places  of  worship  father  and  son  preached  for  many  years  to  varying 
congregations. 

In  the  same  year  that  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  began  to  preach  at 
Brandling  Village  the  disruption  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  occurred. 
His  sympathies  were  all  with  the  seceders;  he  put  up  their  names  in 
his  chapel,  subscribed  to  their  funds,  and  to  encourage  the  English 
clergy  in  following  their  example,  he  started  a  monthly  magazine, 
bearing  the  euphonious  title  of  "The  English  Non-Intrusionist;  or, 
Northern  Lights  in  Southern  Latitudes."  A  few  issues  of  this 
publication  served  its  editor's  turn,  and  then  he  changed  the  title  to 
that  of  "The  Anti-]Monopolist;  Religious  and  Political."  "Anti- 
Monopolist"  was  smart  and  vivacious,  caustic  and  incisive.  It 
opposed  the  three  "P's" — Popery,  Prelacy,  and  Puseyism,  de- 
nounced the  University  monopoly  of  Bible  printing,  the  system  of 
patronage  in  Church  livings,  and  the  imposition  of  Church  rates; 
advocated  the  extension  of  the  voluntary  system;  demanded  the 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  put  forward  with  considerable  skill 


350  RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON. 

most  of  the  views  held  by  contemporary  reformers  in  Church  and 
State.     It  ran  for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  and  was  then  withdrawn. 

Towards  the  close  of  1847  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  formed  an 
intimacy  with  the  brothers  Haldane,  pioneers  in  the  diffusion  of 
Evangelical  religion  in  Scotland  and  in  Geneva.  A  fortnightly 
correspondence,  chiefly  on  doctrinal  points,  ensued,  and  was  kept  up 
for  several  years.  The  friendship  thus  begun  was  deepened  by  the 
union  of  R.  Burdon-Sanderson  the  younger  to  Isabella  Haldane 
in  1848,  and  by  the  marriage  of  Robert  Haldane  to  Mary 
Elizabeth  Burdon-Sanderson  five  years  later.  Between  these  two 
dates  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  resided  for  his  health's  sake  at  Belle 
Vue,  near  Plymouth,  and  there,  as  at  home,  he  held  meetings  for 
praise  and  prayer,  preached,  and  baptised  converts.  Wherever  he 
went  he  pursued  the  same  course.  At  home  he  provided  services 
and  schools  in  Marlborough  Crescent,  at  Brandling  Village,  and 
upon  his  property  at  Brunton,  in  the  parish  of  Gosforth.  At  Edin- 
burgh and  Rothesay,  London  and  Ealing,  scenes  of  successive 
holidays  in  the  next  half-dozen  years,  he  was  ever  "  working  for  the 
Master." 

In  the  spring  of  1859,  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  took  a  house  at 
Hampstead,  and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  made  it  his  winter  home. 
The  year  following,  he  honoured  the  cause  he  had  espoused  by 
making  himself  responsible  for  the  whole  of  the  debt  outstanding 
upon  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Spurgeon's  Tabernacle.  At  the  same  time  he 
began  a  series  of  social  gatherings  for  prayer  among  his  friends  and 
neighbours  on  the  northern  heights  of  London.  These  gatherings 
soon  outdrew  his  design.  In  no  long  time  they  had  developed  into 
two  meetings  on  Sundays,  a  prayer-meeting  on  Mondays,  a  lecture 
on  Thursdays,  and  the  administration  of  the  Sacrament  every 
Sunday  morning.  In  labours  like  these  his  remaining  years  were 
spent.  They  were  but  few.  A  severe  blow  fell  upon  him  in  June, 
1864,  when  his  wife,  with  whom  for  fifty  years  he  had  been  united  in 
the  closest  sympathy,  was  taken  away.  He  never  properly  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  that  great  bereavement.  He  died  on  the  loth  of 
February  following. 

Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson's  family  consisted  of  two  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The  elder  son  succeeded  to  the  estates,  and  died  under 
circumstances  to  be  related  hereafter  in  1876.  The  second  son, 
named  after  Lord  Eldon,  John  Scott  Burdon-Sanderson,  has 
attained  a  world-wide  reputation  as  a  physiologist. 


RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON.  351 

The  principal  productions  of  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson's  pen  (with 
titles  somewhat  abridged)  are  these : — 

"  Parthenon:  Verses  Recited  in  the  Theatre,  Oxford,  in  the  year  1811." 

"A  Comparative  Estimate  of  the  English  Literature  of  the  17th  and  iSth 
Centuries."     1S14. 

"  Bread  of  the  First  Fruits."     London,  1833. 

"The  Church  of  England  Identified.  The  Church  of  Rome  Identified." 
London,  1836. 

"  The  Seven  Vials."     London,  1837, 

"Babylon:  Or  the  Conservative  System:  With  the  Comparative  Anatomy  of 
each."     London,  1837. 

"  Essays  on  the  Apocalypse  (comprising  the  Three  Preceding  Tracts).  With 
Illustrations."     London,  1837. 

"  Pietas  Dunelmensis:  Or  the  Religion  of  Durham  Illustrated."  London,  1837. 

"Illustrations  of  Certain  Points  in  Church  History.  A  Series  of  Essays." 
1838. 

"  Letters  of  a  Layman,  or  Epistles  to  the  Priesthood."     1839. 

"  The  Autobiography  of  an  Obsolete  Churchman."     London,  1840. 

"The  Dew  of  Hermon,  or  Sion's  Daily  Sacrifice."  London,  1840.  Second 
Edition,  1854. 

"  The  Church  of  Scotland  Identified."     London,  1842. 

"  The  Church  of  England  as  by  Law  Established."     Newcastle,  1843. 

"  The  Practice  of  Lay  Preaching  Stated  and  Vindicated  from  the  Scriptures." 
Newcastle,  1843. 

"The  'Three  Orders'  in  the  Church  of  England  as  by  Law  Established." 
Three  Lectures.     Newcastle,  1844. 

"  Free  Will  Believing,  Not  the  Faith  of  the  Gospel."     Newcastle,  1844. 

"The  'Three  Churches,'  Catholic  and  ^-Ecumenical;  Roman,  English,  and 
Greek."    Newcastle,  1S44. 

"  Translations  from  Luther  : — '  Luther's  Answer  to  Henry  VIII.,'  '  The  Apos- 
tolical Succession,'  etc."     Newcastle,  1S44. 

"  The  Doctrine  of  Faith  and  Works."     Newcastle,  1844. 

"  The  Latter  Rain."     Newcastle,  1845. 

■' Sin  after  Baptism  ;  Or  a  Substitute  for  Penance."     Newcastle,  1846. 

"  Rest  in  God,"  and  "  Sleeping  in  Jesus."     Two  Tracts.     1857. 

Pamphlets  of  various  dales: — "Lord's  Day  Literature";  "On  the  119th 
Psalm  "  ;  "  Theological  Course,"  No.  i  and  No.  2  (republished  from  the  Netti- 
castle  Chronicle);  "Christian  Catholicity";  "  Religious  Monopoly  "  ;  "Catena 
Testium  " — Nos.  i,  2,  3  ;  "  The  Anglican  Baptismal  Service  Considered  "  ;  "  The 
English  Communion  Service  Examined";  "The  Doctrine  of  Dispensations  and 
Indulgences"  ;  "  The  Three  Creeds  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church." 

Poetical  Pieces: — "The  Border  Shepherd,"  "Helen  of  Coquetdale,  or  the 
Fair  Bondager,"  and  various  contributions  to  the  Poet's  Corner  of  the  "Anti- 
Monopolist,"  etc. 


352  RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON. 


IRicbarb  Burbon^Sanbcrson, 

THE   YOUNGER. 

Born  at  Tunbridge  Wells  in  182 1,  Richard  Burdon-Sanderson, 
the  younger,  was  educated  at  home,  partly  by  tutors,  and  partly  by 
his  father.  Possessing  great  natural  ability  and  the  gift  of  applica- 
tion, he  acquired  knowledge  for  the  pleasure  which  its  possession 
afforded  him.  Heir  to  his  father's  estates,  and  destined  for  the  life 
of  a  country  gentleman,  he  equipped  himself  for  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  that  position.  Imbibing  the  religious  views  of  his 
parents,  he  assisted  his  father  in  teaching  and  preaching,  as  already 
indicated,  and  his  ministrations  were  everywhere  received  with  ac- 
ceptance. For  a  long  period  he  was  the  active  honorary  secretary 
of  the  Newcastle  and  North  of  England  Protestant  Alliance.  On 
the  1 8th  of  January,  1848,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Isabella 
Mitchelson,  daughter  of  his  father's  friend,  James  Alexander  Hal- 
dane,  of  Edinburgh. 

In  185 1,  upon  the  disruption  in  the  Newcastle  School  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery,  the  minority  founded  a  "  Newcastle  College  of  Medicine 
and  Practical  Science."  Among  the  medical  men  who  allied  them- 
selves with  the  minority  was  Mr.  Burdon- Sanderson's  younger 
brother,  John  Scott-Sanderson.  Already  an  M.D.  and  an  M.R.C.S. 
of  London  and  Edinburgh,  this  accomplished  physiologist  accepted 
the  chair  of  Anatomy  in  the  new  college.  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson, 
interested  in  his  brother's  work,  associated  himself  with  the  enter- 
prise, and  took  the  post  of  treasurer.  Later  on,  when  his  brother 
removed  to  London,  he,  being  an  accomplished  botanist,  and  an  apt 
and  skilful  demonstrator,  took  the  chair  of  Botany  and  Vegetable 
Physiology,  and  so  continued  while  the  rivalry  lasted.  Mr.  Burdon- 
Sanderson  was  the  leading  negotiator  of  the  re-union,  and  as  soon  as 
it  had  been  formally  and  satisfactorily  completed,  he  was  appointed  by 
Convocation  of  the  University  of  Durham  Lecturer  on  Botany  in  the 
amalgamated  institution.  That  office  he  held  till  the  session  of  1860- 
61,  and  upon  his  resigning  it,  through  pressure  of  other  engagements, 
he  accepted  the  post  of  honorary  co-auditor  of  the  college  accounts, 
the  duties  of  which  he  fulfilled  for  many  years. 

Entrusted  with  the  Commission  of  the   Peace  for  the  county  of 


RICH  A  RD  B  URD  ON-SANDERSON. 


353 


Northumberland  in  1S56,  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  attached  liimself 
to  the  Petty  Sessional  Division  of  Bedlington,  where  few  Justices 
could  make  it  convenient  to  attend.  Soon  afterwards,  becoming 
Chairman  of  the  Police  Committee,  he  entered  with  much  spirit  into 
a  question  that  had  been  agitating  the  country  for  some  time — 
namely,  how  to  reclaim  and  reform  juvenile  delinquents.  In  1857 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  participating  in  a  ceremony  which  served 
as  a  prelude  to  a  practical  solution  of  the  question.  On  the  23rd  of 
July,  1857,  Earl  Grey,  lord-lieutenant,  and  the  leading  magistrates  of 


Tljc|?apd  Bup^on  xS^andersrori, 


the  county,  supported  by  the  local  clergy  and  gentry,  assembled 
at  Netherton,  near  Morpeth,  and  laid  the  foundation-stone  of  a 
building,  erected  from  Mr.  Sanderson's  own  designs,  and  known 
ever  since  as  the  "  North-Eastern  Reformatory."  In  the  boys  at 
Netherton  he  took  great  interest,  and  gave  constant  encouragement 
to  the  superintendent,  a  man  more  than  usually  qualified  for  such  an 
office.  The  well-doing  of  such  as  had  passed  through  the  institution 
was  an  object  he  had  at  heart,  and  he  e.xamined  with  interest  the 
individual  reports  made  from  time  to  time  to  the  managers  by  their 
officers  or  by  employers. 

VOL.  III.  23 


354  RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON. 

In  the  performance  of  his  magisterial  duties,  Mr.  Sanderson  made 
his  industry  and  energy  felt,  and  naturally  obtained  a  prevailing  in- 
fluence over  those  associated  with  him.  He  carefully  studied  the  law 
of  evidence,  and  was  strict  in  matters  of  account,  insomuch  that  his 
opinion  on  these  subjects  was  seldom  questioned  and  hardly  ever 
overruled. 

Brought  up,  for  the  most  part,  in  Newcastle,  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  Northern  Counties,  and  possessing  business  know- 
ledge beyond  that  of  the  ordinary  country  squire,  Mr.  Burdon- 
Sanderson  lent  his  aid  to  several  local  enterprises  of  importance. 
He  became  a  director  of  the  Whittle  Dene  Water  Company,  and, 
upon  the  retirement  of  Sir  William  Armstrong,  he  filled  the  office  of 
chairman  to  that  prosperous  undertaking.  He  was,  at  the  same  time, 
chairman  of  the  Redheugh  Bridge  Company;  chairman  also  of  that 
bold  enterprise  among  the  drowned-out  coal-pits  on  the  North  side  of 
the  Tyne  which  developed  into  the  Tyne  Coal  Company. 

Absorbed  in  magisterial,  pastoral,  commercial,  and  philanthropic 
work,  Mr.  Burdon- Sanderson  found  little  time,  in  the  early  stages  of 
his  career,  for  participation  in  the  municipal  life  of  Newcastle.  He 
played  a  prominent  part  in  the  public  condemnation  of  Newcastle 
Town  Council  for  its  precipitous  action  in  appointing  Vicar  Moody 
to  the  Mastership  of  the  Mary  Magdalene  Hospital ;  but  it  was  not 
until  a  few  weeks  before  his  father's  death  that  he  could  be  persuaded 
to  enter  the  Council  Chamber.  Having  allowed  himself  to  be 
nominated  for  the  Ward  of  Jesmond  in  which  he  resided,  he  was 
elected,  without  opposition,  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1865. 

As  became  a  county  magistrate  and  a  representative  of  an  old 
and  worthy  family,  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson's  career  as  a  Councillor 
was  dignified  and  honourable.  He  allied  himself  to  no  clique  or 
party,  but  pursued  a  thoroughly  straightforward  and  independent 
course.  He  was  elected  Mayor  for  the  municipal  year  1870-71,  and 
although  he  had  no  house  in  Newcastle,  except  the  Judges'  Lodgings 
in  Ellison  Place,  he  devoted  himself  with  remarkable  diligence  and 
assiduity  to  the  duties  of  his  office.  These  duties  proved  to  be 
unusually  onerous  and  perplexing.  It  fell  to  his  lot  to  be  returning 
officer  at  the  election  of  the  first  School  Board  of  Newcastle — the 
strife  and  turmoil  of  which  exceeded  by  many  degrees  the  heat  and 
rancour  of  a  Parliamentary  election.  And  no  sooner  had  he  dis- 
charged this  difficult  duty  than  he  was  plunged  into  the  protracted 
struggle  between  employers  and  employed  for  a  reduction  of  the 


RICHARD  BURDON-SANDERSON.  355 

hours  of  labour  to  nine  per  day.  In  the  early  stages  of  that  contest 
he  essayed  the  task  of  mediator;  but  neither  of  the  contending 
parties  were  in  a  mood  to  listen,  and  his  friendly  intentions  were 
rendered  abortive.  Among  the  more  agreeable  events  of  his  Mayoralty 
were  his  appointment  as  a  deputy-lieutenant  of  the  county  of  North- 
umberland, and  his  attendance  at  the  inauguration  of  a  College  of 
Physical  Science  in  Newcastle — an  institution  in  which  he  lived 
to  see  the  dream  of  his  younger  days  fulfilled,  and  the  efforts  of 
his  maturer  years  rewarded. 

In  politics  Mr.  Burdon-Sanderson  was  a  moderate  Whig — one  of 
the  little  band  of  Nonconformists  which,  through  good  report  and 
evil  report,  sustained  the  claims  of  Mr.  T.  E.  Headlam  to  the 
suffrages  of  the  electors  of  Newcastle.  He  did  not  often  take  part 
in  political  meetings,  but  at  election  times  he  was  generally  to 
be  found  heading  the  procession  that  accompanied  Mr.  Headlam 
down  Dean  Street  to  the  hustings  on  the  Sandhill.  In  1865  he 
nominated  the  honourable  gentleman  for  re-election,  and  he  per- 
formed the  same  service  for  him  in  1868 — the  last  occasion  on 
which  a  public  nomination  on  the  hustings  occurred  in  Newcastle. 
More  than  once  he  himself  was  solicited  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  representation  of  the  town,  but  he  did  not  aspire  to  that  high 
distinction.  Indeed,  it  was  not  without  difficulty  that  he  was 
induced  to  sanction  his  nomination  for  the  Mayoralty. 

At  the  municipal  election  in  1875,  having  completed  nearly  eleven 
years'  service  in  the  public  affairs  of  Newcastle,  INIr.  Burdon-Sanderson 
withdrew  from  the  Council.  He  had  sold  his  mansion  and  a  part  of 
his  estate  at  West  Jesmond,  some  time  before,  to  Mr.  Charles 
Mitchell,  and  upon  the  rest  of  it  roads  and  terraces,  streets  and 
avenues,  were  springing  up.  Living  mostly  at  a  distance  from  New- 
castle, he  had  lost  that  personal  interest  in  municipal  matters  which 
local  residence  promotes  and  confirms.  Three  months  after  his  retire- 
ment, on  the  2ist  of  January,  1876,  while  travelling  to  London  with 
his  wife  and  family,  he  was  involved  in  a  terrible  collision  which 
occurred  at  Abbots  Ripton,  near  Peterborough.  His  two  daughters 
were  killed  on  the  spot,  INIrs.  Burdon-Sanderson  and  his  two  sons 
narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives,  and  he  himself  received  fatal 
injuries.  He  died  on  the  30th  of  April  following,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  eldest  son,  Mr.  Richard  Burdon-Sanderson,  J.  P. 
and  M.F.H. 


356  JOHN  SCOTT. 

3obn  Scott, 

ENGRAVER. 

"  A  man's  genius  is  always,  in  the  beginning  of  life,  as  much  unknown  to  him- 
self as  to  others;  and  it  is  only  after  frequent  trials,  attended  with  success,  that  he 
dares  think  himself  equal  to  those  undertakings  in  which  those  who  have  succeeded 
have  fixed  the  admiration  of  mankind." — Hume. 

John  Scott,  the  son  of  a  journeyman  brewer,  was  born  in  Newcastle, 
in  March,  1773.  At  the  early  age  of  nine  years,  having  received  a 
scanty  education  in  one  of  the  parochial  schools,  he  was  sent  out  to 
assist  the  meagre  income  of  the  family  in  the  capacity  of  errand  boy. 
The  master  whom  he  served  was  John  Greenwell,  a  tallow  chandler, 
carrying  on  his  business  at  the  foot  of  the  Flesh  Market,  hard  by  St. 
Nicholas'  Church.  At  the  proper  age  he  was  bound  apprentice  to  Mr. 
Greenwell,  and  duly  served  his  time  to  the  art,  craft,  and  mystery  of 
dipping  candles,  which,  in  Newcastle,  ranged  from  "pit  winkies," 
forty  to  the  pound,  through  "rush-lights"  and  "twelves,"  to  those 
high  power  illuminators,  the  "best  short  sixes." 

During  his  apprenticeship,  young  Scott  developed  a  remarkable 
taste  for  drawing,  which  he  managed  to  cultivate  in  his  leisure 
hours,  i.e.,  at  early  morning,  and  in  the  evening  when  the  shop  was 
shut.  Some  of  his  juvenile  productions  he  showed  to  Richard 
Fisher,  parish  clerk  of  St.  Nicholas',  who  kept  a  bookseller's  shop 
and  circulating  library  in  the  High  Bridge.  Mr.  Fisher,  in  turn, 
showed  the  drawings  to  his  customers,  by  some  of  whom,  persons 
qualified  to  judge,  they  were  commended  as  exhibiting  traces  of 
genius  that  only  needed  cultivation  to  grow  and  eventually  bloom 
into  fame.  One  of  his  first  performances  that  attracted  notice  was  a 
profile  portrait,  in  Indian  ink,  of  a  well-remembered  townsman — 
Thomas  Bulman,  master  shoemaker  at  the  foot  of  Middle  Street. 
The  portrait  had  been  sketched  from  memory,  after  Mr.  Bulman's 
decease,  and  was  recognised  as  a  "  speaking  likeness  "  of  the  original. 
One  Purvis,  a  carver  and  gilder,  noting  the  lad's  ability  with  his 
pencil,  advised  him  to  try  his  skill  upon  copper.  Following  that 
advice,  the  youth  practised  upon  the  handiest  pieces  of  copper  he 
could  obtain — old  halfpennies,  worn  smooth  in  the  course  of  circula- 
tion. Scratching  upon  these  by  the  fitful  gleam  of  the  fireside,  for, 
on  the  same  principle  that  shoemakers'  children  are  always  badly 


JOHN  SCOTT. 


357 


shod,  a  tallow-chandler's  dwelling  was  generally  ill-lighted,  he 
acquired  such  skill  and  dexterity  as  enabled  him,  by-and-by,  to 
venture  upon  a  proper  plate  of  the  indispensable  metal.  Choosing 
for  his  subject  the  story  of  Tobias  and  the  Fish,  from  the  Apocrypha, 
he  produced  a  print  which  surprised  his  friends  and  encouraged  him 
to  higher  effort  in  the  same  direction. 

As  soon  as  he  had  completed  his  apprenticeship,  young  Mr.  Scott 
determined  to  abandon  the  candle  trade,  and  follow  engraving  as  a 
profession.      There  lived  in   Newcastle  at   that  time    an    engraver 


named  Abraham  Hunter,  who  had  his  workroom  in  the  Side,  and 
was  engaged  upon  the  illustration  of  "  An  Historical  View  of  the 
French  Revolution,"  which  his  neighbour,  Mrs.  Angus,  the  printer, 
was  publishing.  Applying  to  him  for  employment,  Mr.  Scott  re- 
ceived a  commission  to  engrave  a  portrait  group  of  Louis  XVI., 
Marie  Antoinette,  and  the  Dauphin.  The  plate  was  done,  and  well 
done,  as  critics  averred;  but  Mr.  Hunter  refused  to  give  the  young 
artist  any  remuneration  for  his  work,  alleging  a  custom  that  members 
of  his  profession  received  no  payment  for  their  first  productions  in 


358  JOHN  SCOTT. 

independent  practice.  Discouraged  and  annoyed  by  this  shabby 
and  fraudulent  excuse,  Mr.  Scott  made  no  further  effort  to  follow 
the  bent  of  his  inclinations  among  his  fellow-townsmen.  Shaking 
the  dust  of  Newcastle  from  his  feet,  like  other  out-driven  Tynesiders, 
he  made  his  way  to  London. 

Furnished  with  letters  of  recommendation  from  his  friend  Mr. 
Fisher,  Mr.  Scott  visited  the  workshop  of  a  well-known  Novocas- 
trian,  Robert  Pollard,  brother  of  Joseph  Pollard,  corn  merchant  in 
Newcastle,  who  some  time  before  had  settled  in  London,  and  was 
carrying  on  a  successful  business  as  an  engraver.  In  consideration 
of  his  circumstances,  and  of  the  recommendatory  letters  he  brought 
with  him,  Mr.  Scott  obtained  from  Mr.  Pollard  an  exceedingly  favour- 
able engagement.  He  was  to  serve  for  a  year,  receive  instruction  in 
the  higher  branches  of  his  art,  and  be  content  with  a  small  wage  till 
his  acquirements  had  made  him  useful. 

When  this  arrangement  had  ran  its  course,  Mr.  Scott  felt  himself 
competent  to  enter  into  business  on  his  own  account.  He  had 
discovered,  long  before,  that  the  highest  development  of  his  skill 
was  manifested  in  depicting  animal  life,  and  to  this  branch  of 
art  he  devoted  himself.  His  abilities  in  portraying  the  natural 
characteristics  of  horses  and  dogs  introduced  him  to  the  notice 
of  painters  who  were  engaged  upon  that  kind  of  work,  and  in  no 
long  time  his  hands  were  full  of  orders  from  the  publishers  of 
magazines  and  books  devoted  to  country  life  and  the  pleasures  of 
the  chase.  It  is  said  that  "  The  Sportsman's  Cabinet,"  "  The 
Sportsman's  Magazine,"  and  Daniel's  "  Rural  Sports  "  owed  much 
of  their  attractiveness  to  the  truth  and  delicacy  of  the  delineations 
with  which  he  embellished  them. 

In  illustrating  this  class  of  publication  Mr.  Scott  made  a  great 
reputation;  a  couple  of  detached  prints  which  he  issued  in  1810 
brought  him  fame  and  honour.  The  prints  were  spirited  representa- 
tions of  two  common  incidents  in  the  hunting-field — "  Breaking 
Cover,"  after  a  picture  by  Reinagle,  and  "  The  Death  of  the  Fox," 
from  a  painting  by  Sawrey  Gilpin.  Nothing  equal  to  them  had 
been  seen  before;  commendation  and  compliment  came  from  all 
quarters;  and,  before  long,  copies  of  both  pictures  were  hanging 
in  clubs,  taverns,  and  country  houses,  wherever  sporting  tastes 
prevailed.  Joining  in  the  chorus  of  approbation,  the  Society  of 
Arts  stamped  these  prints  with  their  high  approval.  They  bestowed 
upon  the  delighted  artist  their  Gold  Medal,  and  on  the  28th  of  May, 


JOHN  SCOTT.  359 

iSii,  in  the  presence  of  twelve  hundred  people — admirers  of  sport 
and  cultivators  of  the  fine  arts — it  was  presented  to  him  by  the  hands 
of  the  Duke  of  Sussex.  His  Royal  Highness  delivered  an  address 
upon  the  occasion,  expressing  the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  with  which 
he  had  seen  the  art  of  engraving  brought  to  so  high  a  standard  of 
merit,  and  paying  high  and  courtly  compliments  to  the  accomplished 
engraver. 

.Mr.  Scott,  now  at  the  height  of  his  fame,  did  not  forget  his  early 
struggles,  and  the  days  of  his  poverty.  With  six  or  seven  other 
members  of  the  profession,  he  helped  to  establish  an  organisation 
for  the  relief  of  distressed  artists,  and  the  widows  and  children  of 
artists  deceased.  Its  success  was  beyond  the  promoters'  most 
sanguine  expectation.  Subscriptions  poured  in  on  all  sides,  and 
Mr.  Scott  found  himself,  in  a  comparatively  short  time,  one  of  the 
administrators  of  a  flourishing  institution — the  Artists'  Benevolent 
Fund. 

Strange  to  relate,  within  a  very  few  years  he  himself  became 
a  recipient  of  the  bounty  he  had  assisted  to  provide  for  others. 
For,  in  March,  1S21,  seized  with  paralysis,  he  became  unable  to 
follow  his  profession.  A  visit  to  his  native  air  in  Newcastle  pro- 
cured no  amelioration  of  his  condition,  and  he  returned  to 
London,  shattered  and  helpless.  A  subscription  was  raised  for 
his  benefit  in  London,  headed  by  thirty  guineas  from  the  Royal 
Academy,  and  a  similar  effort  was  made  for  his  relief  in  Newcastle, 
which  Sir  John  E.  Swinburne  started  with  a  gift  of  six  guineas. 
But  the  requirements  of  a  family  of  nine  children  soon  absorbed 
these  resources,  and  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  accepting  the 
pensionary  allowance  of  the  Benevolent  Fund  for  the  remainder  of 
his  days.     He  died  at  Chelsea,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1827. 

Among  the  numerous  works  to  which  Mr.  Scott  contributed 
engravings  other  than  those  of  animals,  are  "  Britton's  Cathedral 
Antiquities,"  "  Westall's  Illustrations  to  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,"  "Physiological  Portraits,"  "Fine  Arts  of  the  English 
School,"  etc.  Some  of  the  best  of  his  detached  pieces,  besides 
those  which  gained  the  medal,  were  "Warwick,"  a  famous  racer, 
after  Abraham  Cooper,  and  a  series  of  landscapes  with  animals, 
after  Gainsborough,  Callcott,  and  Weenix. 


36o  JOHN  SCOTT,  LORD  ELDON. 

3obu  Scott,  Xor^  lEl^on, 

LORD    CHANCELLOR. 

The  ancestry  of  John  Scott,  the  first  Earl  of  Eldon,  is  not  traceable 
beyond  his  paternal  grandfather,  William  Scott,  who  was  a  clerk]  in 
the  office  of  a  hostman  or  fitter  on  Newcastle  Quay.  William  Scott's 
son,  William,  father  of  the  future  Lord  Eldon,  was  bound  apprentice, 
September  ist,  1716,  to  Thomas  Brumell,  junior  hostman,  and  was 
"  set  over"  two  years  later  to  Joseph  Colpitts.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  freedom  of  the  Company,  September  7th,  1724,  and  six  years 
later  was  married  at  South  Shields  to  Isabella,  daughter  of  George 
Noble.  By  this  lady,  who  died  in  1734,  he  had  three  children,  two 
of  whom  died  young,  and  the  third,  Anne,  married  William  Cram- 
lington,  as  described  in  vol.  i.,  page  656.  His  second  wife,  Jane, 
daughter  of  Henry  Atkinson,  of  Newcastle,  to  whom  he  was  married 
in  1740,  proved  to  be  a  fruitful  vine,  presenting  him  thrice  with 
twins,  and  bringing  him  thirteen  children  altogether.  William  Scott 
was  a  thrifty,  enterprising,  and  prosperous  man.  He  started  in 
business  as  a  coal-fitter  for  the  Bowes  family,  owned  keels,  kept  a 
public-house  on  the  Quay  to  supply  the  keelmen  in  his  employment 
with  the  beer  which  formed  part  of  their  wages,  speculated  in 
shipping  and  marine  insurance,  owned  a  sugar-house,  and  supplied 
timber,  waggon  wheels,  and  rails  to  the  collieries.  At  his  death,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-nine,  6th  November,  1776,  he  left  to  his  family, 
including  what  some  of  them  had  previously  received  from  him, 
property  to  the  value  of  between  thirty  and  forty  thousand  pounds. 

John  Scott,  twin  child  with  a  sister  named  Elizabeth,  who  died  a 
few  days  afterwards,  was  born  in  Love  Lane,  Newcastle,  on  the  4th 
of  June,  1 75 1.  After  a  brief  course  of  juvenile  instruction  under  a 
local  dominie  he  was  sent  to  the  Royal  Free  Grammar  School  to  be 
educated,  like  his  brothers,  William  and  Henry,  by  the  Rev.  Hugh 
Moises.  William  went  to  Oxford,  and  became  a  tutor  at  the  age  of 
twenty.  John  had  been  intended  by  his  prudent  father  to  succeed 
him  in  his  calling.  But  William  was  earnest  in  endeavours  to 
dissuade  him  from  this  design.  "  Send  Jack  up  to  me,"  he  wrote, 
"I  can  do  better  for  him  here."  Parental  ambition  triumphed, 
John  was  snatched  from  coals,  and,  on  the  15th  of  May,  1766, 
entered  at  University  College,  Oxford. 


JOHN  SCOTT,  LORD  ELD  ON. 


361 


In  1767,  John  Scott  was  elected  a  fellow  of  his  college,  and,  in 
1 771,  he  was  the  successful  competitor  for  the  English  prize  essay 
6n  "  The  Advantages  and  Disadvantages  of  Foreign  Travel."  This 
success,  achieved  when  he  was  not  yet  twenty  years  of  age,  raised 
him  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellows,  confirmed  the  impression  of  his 
brother  as  to  his  sterling  ability,  and  greatly  delighted  the  heart  of 
his  old  master,  Aloises,  who,  on  hearing  the  news,  rushed  into  the 
school  with  a  copy  of  the  paper  in  his  hands,  exclaiming  to  the  boys 
of  the  senior  division,  "  See  what  John  Scott  has  done  ! " 

While  on  a  visit  at  Sedgefield,  in  South  Durham,  young  Scott 
saw  at  church  Elizabeth  Surtees,  a  very  pretty  girl,  with  whom  he  fell 
desperately  in  love.  Her  father,  Aubone  Surtees,  banker  in  New- 
castle,  aspired  to   some  more  promising   husband   for  her  than   a 


1 1*    ' 


^^fcS 


LORD   ELDON  S   BIRTHPLACE,    LOVE   LANE,    NEWCASTLE. 

college  tutor.  But  the  young  lady  would  not  be  dictated  to  in  an 
affair  of  the  heart,  and  she  readily  gave  her  affections  to  Scott. 
Her  father  sought  to  prevent  their  meeting,  and  sent  her  to  her  uncle 
in  the  South  of  England.  But  Scott  contrived  to  meet  her  often, 
and  a  private  correspondence  was  kept  up.  In  the  following  year 
there  was  a  rumour  that  her  hand  was  sought  by  a  suitor  of  rank 
and  wealth,  who  carried  with  him  the  hearty  good-will  of  the  family. 
Almost  distracted,  young  Scott  obtained  an  interview  with  her,  and, 
finding  her  faithful,  persuaded  her  to  elope  with  him.  During  the 
night  of  the  i8th  of  November,  1772,  she  descended  by  a  ladder 
from  one  of  the  upper  windows  in  her  father's  house  on  the  Sandhill, 
into  the  arms  of  her  lover,  and  a  post-chaise  conveyed  them,  with 
relays  of  horses,   to  Blackshiels,  near    Dalkeith,  where  they  were 


362  JOHN  SCOTT,  LORD  ELDON. 

married  in  due  form  of  Scottish  law  by  the  Rev.  J.  Buchanan,  Epis- 
copal clergyman  at  Haddington.  This  business  done  they  returned 
to  Morpeth,  where  they  were  compelled  to  await  an  answer  from  the 
offended  father  of  the  bride,  to  whom  a  professedly  penitent  letter 
had  been  addressed.  Mr.  Surtees  refused  to  make  any  provision  for 
his  rebellious  child;  and  John  Scott  half  resolved  to  accept  a  kindly 
offer  made  to  him  by  a  grocer  and  bacon  factor  in  Newcastle,  a  friend 
of  the  family,  to  take  him  into  partnership.  Eventually  ]\Ir.  Surtees 
relented,  negotiations  were  entered  into  between  the  two  fathers,  the 
result  of  which  was  that  the  banker  settled  ;^i,ooo  on  his  daughter, 
and  the  coal-fitter  ^2,000  on  his  son.  The  couple  were  also  formally 
re-married  according  to  the  English  ritual. 

It  was  then  determined  that  John  Scott  should  enter  into  holy 
orders  if  a  University  college  living  fell  vacant  during  the  twelve 
months  of  grace, 'as  they  are  called,  for  which  he  was  still  allowed  to 
hold  his  fellowship.  But  that  event  did  not  happen  ;  and  he  then 
made  up  his  mind  to  try  the  profession  of  the  law.  He  entered 
himself  a  student  of  the  Middle  Temple  in  January,  1773;  and  he 
took  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  on  the  13th  of  February  following. 
During  the  next  two  years,  while  keeping  his  terms  at  the  Temple, 
he  held  the  office  of  a  tutor  at  University  College,  where  his  brother 
William  was  senior  tutor ;  he  also  read  law  lectures  as  deputy  for  Sir 
Robert  Chambers,  the  Vinerian  Professor,  for  which  he  received  ;z^6o 
a  year.  His  industry  was  unremitting.  "  I  have  married  rashly,"  he 
wrote  to  a  friend,  "  and  have  neither  house  nor  home  to  offer  my 
wife ;  but  it  is  my  determination  to  work  hard  to  provide  for  the 
woman  I  love."  Thus  the  midnight  flight  to  Blackshiels  became 
the  first  stage  to  a  peerage. 

Severe,  indeed,  was  John  Scott's  toil.  He  rose  at  four,  read  all  day 
and  till  late  into  the  night,  keeping  himself  awake  by  the  help  of  a  wet 
towel  about  his  head.  He  never  devoted  to  relaxation  a  moment 
more  than  was  absolutely  necessary  for  his  health,  and  resisted  all 
the  persuasions  of  his  brother  to  join  the  literary  conversaziones  of  the 
time.  He  spent  six  months  of  his  studentship  with  Mr.  Duane,  a 
conveyancer,  who,  having  married  a  Newcastle  lady,  took  him  without 
fees,  and  that  was  all  the  legal  education  he  ever  received  from  others. 
He  never  set  foot  in  a  pleader's  chambers ;  but  he  told  a  friend  that 
"  he  acquired  his  knowledge  of  pleading  by  copying  everything  he 
could  lay  his  hand  upon."  In  short,  he  took  the  only  royal  road  to 
success — patient  perseverance.     He  read,  and  copied,  and  reflected. 


JOHN  SCOTT,  LORD  ELDON.  363 

and  suffered  no  calls  of  pleasure  to  lure  him  from  his  pursuit  of 
juridical  knowledge.  Indeed,  he  wanted  the  means,  as  well  as  the 
inclination,  for,  as  he  was  accustomed  to  say  in  after-life,  he  "  fre- 
quently ran  down  to  Fleet  Market  to  get  sixpennyworth  of  sprats  for 
supper,"  from  his  lodgings  in  Cursitor  Street. 

Mr.  Scott  was  called  to  the  Bar  on  the  9th  February,  1776,  and  then, 
according  to  his  own  account,  "  Bessy  and  I  thought  all  our  troubles 
were  over;  business  was  to  pour  in,  and  we  were  to  be  almost  rich 
immediately.  So  I  made  a  bargain  with  her,  that  during  the  following 
year  all  the  money  I  should  receive  in  the  first  eleven  months  should 
be  mine,  and  whatever  I  should  get  in  the  twelfth  month  should  be 
hers.  What  a  stingy  dog  I  must  have  been  to  make  such  a  bargain;  I 
would  not  have  done  so  afterwards.  But,  however,  so  it  was;  that  was 
our  agreement;  and  how  do  you  think  it  turned  out?  In  the  twelfth 
month  I  received  half-a-guinea;  eighteenpence  went  for  fees,  and  Bessy 
got  nine  shillings;  in  the  other  eleven  months  I  got  one  shilling." 

He  chose  the  Northern  Circuit,  and  took  several  rounds  with  very 
indifferent  success.  A  few  defences  of  prisoners,  and  a  general 
retainer  for  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle,  possibly  procured  by  the 
interest  of  his  father-in-law,  were  all  that  the  young  barrister  could 
boast  of  in  his  early  circuits;  and  in  town  he  received  nothing  but  a 
brief  on  behalf  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  in  some  merely 
formal  proceedings  before  the  House  of  Lords.  Thoroughly  dis- 
heartened, he  had  serious  thoughts  of  settling  down  as  a  provincial 
barrister  in  Newcastle,  and  proceeded  so  far  as  to  engage  a  house  in 
the  lower  part  of  Pilgrim  Street  for  that  purpose.  But  just  at  that 
time  business  came  to  him  through  the  candidature  of  Stoney  Bowes 
for  Newcastle  in  the  contested  by-election  of  1777,  and  three  years 
later  he  won  a  notable  case  in  the  Court  of  Chancery.  Then  he 
distinguished  himself  by  taking  up  an  election  petition  in  the 
absence  of  his  leader,  and  for  fifteen  days  conducted  it  with  such 
marked  ability  that  his  friends  strongly  urged  him  to  stay  in 
London: — "Wilson  came  to  me  and  pressed  me  to  remain  in 
London,  adding  what  was  very  kind,  that  he  would  insure  me 
;z^4oo  the  next  year.  I  gave  him  the  same  answer  I  had  given 
Mansfield  [a  negative].  However,  I  did  remain  in  London,  and 
lived  to  make  Mansfield  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  and 
Wilson  a  Puisne  Judge." 

After  this  turning-point  of  his  life,  Mr.  Scott's  reputation  rose 
rapidly.     He  never  again  wanted  a  brief.     Lord  Thurlow  was  so 


364  JOHN  SCOTT,  LORD  ELDON. 

struck  with  his  style  of  pleading  that,  one  day,  on  breaking  up  the 
Court,  he  invited  him  into  his  private  room,  and  offered  him  a  vacant 
mastership.  He  was  offered,  at  the  same  time  (1781),  the  Recorder- 
ship  of  Newcastle,  but  he  declined  both  proposals.  Events  proved 
his  determination  to  be  judicious.  In  a  short  time  he  had  more 
business  than  any  other  counsel  at  the  Bar;  and,  in  1783,  he 
procured,  through  the  favour  of  Lord  Thurlow,  a  patent  of  pre- 
cedency, bv  which  he  became  entitled  to  the  honours  of  the  silk 


JOHN    SCOTT,    LORD    ELDON. 

gown,  and  ranked  with  the  king's  counsel.  Business  poured  in  upon 
him;  and  his  practice  at  the  Equity  Bar  had  ere  long  so  increased 
that  he  was  forced  to  give  up  the  eastern  half  of  the  circuit. 

In  1783  Mr.  Scott  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons  in  the 
Tory  interest  for  Lord  Weymouth's  pocket  borough  of  Weobly, 
in  Herefordshire,  and  he  continued  to  represent  that  borough 
through  several  successive  parliaments,  until  1796,  when  he  was 
returned   with   Sir   Francis    Burdett   for  Boroughbridge.      Though 


JOHN  SCOTT,  LORD  ELDON.  365 

his  powers  as  a  debater  were  never  effective,  he  soon  obtained 
the  patronage  and  friendship  of  Mr.  Pitt,  who  found  he  could 
depend  upon  him  as  a  staunch  and  steady  supporter  in  all  matters. 
He  and  Erskine  made  their  maiden  speeches  in  the  same  debate,  on 
the  20th  November,  1783,  on  a  motion  connected  with  the  India  Bill, 
which  eventually  upset  Fox's  Government.  In  the  new  Parliament  Mr. 
Scott  took  up  most  of  the  legal  questions  that  came  before  the  House, 
and,  on  one  occasion  at  least,  spoke  and  voted  with  Fox  against 
Ministers,  the  point  at  issue  being,  however,  not  exactly  a  party  one. 

In  June,  1788,  the  Attorney-General,  Mr.  Pepper  Arden,  was 
made  Master  of  the  Rolls;  the  Solicitor-General,  Sir  Archibald 
Macdonald,  became  Attorney-General;  and  the  office  of  Solicitor- 
General  was  conferred  on  Mr.  Scott,  for  his  special  services  in 
drawing  the  East  India  Declaratory  Bill.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
also  knighted.  It  is  said  that  he  expressed  to  George  III.  a  modest 
desire  to  decline  the  latter  honour,  but  the  king  exclaimed,  "  Pho, 
pho,  nonsense,  man !  I  will  serve  you  both  alike " — meaning 
Macdonald  and  him.  Shortly  afterwards  the  king's  first  illness 
occurred,  and  the  country  was  much  agitated  upon  the  regency 
question.  The  Bill  introduced  by  the  Ministry  on  that  occasion  was 
drawn  by  the  new  Solicitor-General;  and  the  line  of  conduct  which 
they  pursued  was  also  attributed  to  him. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  1793,  Sir  John  Scott  was  advanced  to 
the  post  of  Attorney-General.  It  fell  to  his  lot,  during  the  six  years 
that  he  held  the  office,  to  prosecute  in  several  political  cases, 
the  most  notable  being  the  trials  of  Hardy,  Tooke,  and  Thelwall, 
indicted  for  treason.  Indeed,  in  the  year  1795,  during  the  debate 
on  the  Treasonable  Practices  Bill,  he  observed  that  "  there  had  been 
more  prosecutions  for  libel  within  the  last  two  years  than  in  any 
twenty  years  before."  And  it  was  said  by  others  that  he  prosecuted 
for  libel  twice  as  many  persons  as  any  two  of  his  predecessors. 

In  July,  1799,  on  the  resignation  of  Sir  James  Eyre,  he  was 
appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  a 
member  of  His  Majesty's  Privy  Council.  He  was  raised  to  the 
peerage  at  the  same  time,  by  the  title  of  Baron  Eldon  of  Eldon  in 
the  county  of  Durham,  a  manor  near  St.  Andrew's  Auckland,  con- 
sisting of  1,540  acres,  which  he  had  purchased  in  1792  for  ;!^22,ooo. 
When  it  became  known  that  Sir  John  Scott  was  to  have  the  place, 
Lord  Kenyon,  then  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  publicly 
congratulated  thejprofession  upon  the  appointment  of  one  who,  he 


366  WILLIAM  SCOTT,  LORD  S TO  WELL. 

said,  would  probably  be  found  "the  most  consummate  judge  that 
ever  sate  in  judgment";  and  Lord  Eldon  did,  in  fact,  prove  an 
admirable  common  law  judge. 

Upon  Lord  Loughborough's  resignation  of  the  great  seal  in  April, 

1 80 1,  Lord  Eldon  became  Lord  Chancellor.  The  king  presented 
him  on  his  elevation  with  a  watch  and  seal,  the  latter  bearing  on  its 
face  the  figures  of  Justice  and  Religion.  In  giving  directions  to  the 
engraver,  the  king  said : — "  Let  not  Justice  have  any  bandage  over 
her  eyes,  as  she  is  usually  painted.  Justice  ought  not  to  be  blind, 
but  should  be  able  to  see  everything."  Lord  Eldon  retained  his  place 
until  January,  1806.  His  rival  Erskine  then  succeeded  him,  but,  upon 
the  return  of  Mr.  Pitt's  friends  to  power,  shortly  afterwards,  he  was 
again  appointed  Chancellor;  and  from  that  time  he  continued  in  office 
until  the  30th  of  April,  1827 — altogether  a  period  of  nearly  twenty- 
five  years.  He  had  been  raised  to  the  dignities  of  Viscount  Escombe 
and  Earl  of  Eldon  in  182 1  on  the  accession  of  George  IV.  to  the 
throne,  and  he  made  his  last  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords  in  1834. 

Lord  Eldon  lost  the  partner  of  his  life  in  1831.  He  survived  her 
seven  years,  and  died  from  gradual  decay  of  nature,  at  his  house 
in  London,  on  the  13th  of  January,  1838,  aged  eighty-six,  leaving 
personal  property  valued  at  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  million,  and 
large  landed  estates.  His  family  consisted  of  two  sons  and  two 
daughters — (i)  the  Hon.  John  Scott,  who  married  Henrietta  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  Bart.,  and  died  in 
1805,  leaving  one  son,  who  succeeded  his  grandfather  in  the 
earldom;  (2)  Elizabeth,  married  in  181 7  to  George  S.  Repton  ; 
(3)  the  Hon.   William  Henry  John   Scott,   barrister,   who  died  in 

1802,  aged  thirty-seven  ;  (4)  Frances  Jane,  married  in  1820  to  the 
Rev.  Edward  Bankes,  rector  of  Corfe  Castle.  John,  second  Earl  of 
Eldon,  was  declared  of  unsound  mind  in  1853,  and  died  in 
September,  1854.  His  son  John,  the  present  earl,  was  born  in 
1845,  and  succeeded  to  the  title  on  the  death  of  his  father. 


MilUam  Scott,  Xorb  Stowcll, 

JUDGE    OF    THE    HIGH    COURT    OF    ADMIRALTY. 

William  Scott,  elder  brother  of  John  Scott,  Lord  Eldon,  was  born 
at  Heworth,  near  Gateshead,  on  the  8th  of  October,  1745,  under 


WILLIAM  SCOTT,  LORD  STOWELL.  367 

circumstances  described  on  page  1 13  of  our  first  volume.  ^  He,  also, 
was  accompanied  at  birth  by  a  twin  sister,  a  child  named  Barbara, 
who  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy-seven  and  died  unmarried.  The 
twins  were  baptised  at  Heworth,  but  in  the  Registers  of  All  Saints', 
Newcastle,  in  which  parish  the  paternal  home  in  Love  Lane  was 
situated,  entry  was  made  of  their  baptism  in  due  form : — 

"  1745.  October  iS.  William  and  Barbara,  twins  of  William  Scott,  Hoast- 
man.  Certifyd  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Leonard  Rumney,  curate  of  Jarro  and  Heworth : 
occasioned  by  ye  present  rebellion." 

Educated  at  the  Royal  Free  Grammar  School  of  Newcastle  by 
Hugh  Moises,  William  Scott  proceeded  to  Oxford.  The  event 
which  changed  the  place  of  his  nativity  had  rendered  him  eligible  to 
compete  for  a  Durham  scholarship  in  Corpus  Christi  College;  he 
accordingly  entered  the  lists,  passed  the  necessary  examinations,  and 
won  the  scholarship  with  ease  and  credit.  He  matriculated,  March 
3rd,  1 76 1,  took  his  bachelor's  degree,  November  20th,  1764,  and  on 
the  14th  of  December  in  that  year  (1764)  was  elected  to  a  Durham 
Fellowship  at  University  College.  Having  proceeded  M.A.  in  1767, 
he  took  up  the  study  of  the  law,  obtained  a  degree  of  B.C.L.  in 
1772,  and  would,  possibly,  have  proceeded  to  one  of  the  Inns  of 
Court  to  eat  his  terms,  and  be  called  to  the  Bar,  if  Convocation 
had  not  elected  him,  in  1774,  Camden  Reader  of  Ancient  History. 
This  was  a  fortunate  appointment  both  for  the  University  and  for 
himself.  His  lectures  are  said  to  have  been  attended  by  the  largest 
number  of  students  and  readers  ever  known,  excelling  even  those 
of  the  Vinerian  professor,  Blackstone.  Dr.  Parr  wrote  of  them  as 
captivating  the  young  and  interesting  the  old,  as  being  argumentative 
without  formality,  and  brilliant  without  gaudiness,  while  the  lecturer 
himself  united  suavity  of  manners  with  qualities  of  a  higher  order, 
being  in  morals  "  correct  without  moroseness,"  and  in  religion 
"  serious  without  bigotry." 

In  1776  Mr.  Scott  withdrew  from  the  arduous  work  of  a  tutor, 
and  devoted  himself  to  his  professional  studies.  Three  years  later, 
he  took  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  and  went  out,  in  University  phrase, 
grand  compounder,  meaning  that  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  be 
worth  ;^3oo  a  year  and  capable  of  paying  higher  fees.  Having 
thus  secured   independence,  he  enrolled  himself  a  member  of  the 

^  Erratum. — In  the  fifth  line  from  the  bottom  of  page  113,  vol.  i.,  the  word 
"Eldon"  should  be  "  Stowell." 


368  WILLIAM  SCOTT,  LORD  STOWELL. 

College  of  Doctors  of  Law  in  London,  which  entitled  him  to 
practice  in  the  Ecclesiastical  and  Admiralty  Courts.  Removing  to 
London,  and  being  a  clubbable  man,  he  joined  the  Literary  Club, 
where  he  enjoyed  the  society  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Burke, 
Wyndham,  and  others,  and  formed  a  close  friendship  with  the  great 
lexicographer.  Dr.  Johnson.  It  was  not  until  he  knew  that  Scott 
would  accompany  him  as  far  as  Edinburgh  that  Johnson  consented 
to  visit  Scotland,  and  though  he  behaved  like  a  petted  child  all  the 
way,  the  dictator  showed  great  affection  for  his  companion  during 
the  rest  of  his  life,  made  him  one  of  his  executors,  and  bequeathed 
to  him  two  of  his  rare  books. 

Mr.  Scott  was  called  to  the  Bar  at  the  Inner  Temple  in  1780; 
two  years  later  was  appointed  Registrar  of  the  Court  of  Faculties; 
in  1788  was  selected  to  be  Judge  of  the  Consistory  Court  and  Vicar- 
General  of  the  Province  of  Canterbury,  and  in  the  same  year  was 
advanced  to  the  lucrative  office  of  King's  Advocate-General  and 
knighted.  The  pecuniary  value  of  this  last-named  appointment 
may  be  estimated  by  the  fact  that  several  of  the  prizes  captured 
by  English  cruisers  on  the  high  seas  yielded  him  ;^iooo  each. 
In  1790  he  was  raised  to  the  post  of  Master  of  the  Faculties, 
and  in  1798  created  Judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Admiralty  and  a 
Privy  Councillor.  It  is  noted  as  a  curious  fact,  by  one  of  his 
biographers,  that  his  brother  John,  whom  he  had  taken  under 
his  wing,  so  to  speak,  ran  his  career  almost  abreast  of  him : — "  They 
were  knighted  on  attaining  official  rank  within  two  months  of  each 
other;  as  Advocate-General  and  Solicitor-General  respectively  they 
attended  for  the  first  time  the  same  levee;  in  the  same  year  they 
both  took  their  seats  at  the  Board  as  Privy  Councillors,  and  the 
wax  had  scarcely  hardened  on  the  appointment  of  the  Admiralty 
Judge  before  a  fresh  seal  was  required  for  the  patent  of  John,  Lord 
Eldon.  Such  a  close  race  between  such  near  kinsmen  is,  we  believe, 
unparalleled,  and  was  sportively  alluded  to  by  his  Majesty  George 
III.  Being  in  at  the  death  of  a  stag,  which  had  given  the  field 
a  very  bad  run,  while  a  stag  of  the  same  herd  had  afforded  excellent 
sport  the  day  before,  '  Ah  ! '  exclaimed  the  king,  '  there  are  not  often 
two  Scotts  to  be  found  in  the  same  family.' " 

A  few  years  before  his  elevation  to  the  judgeship  of  the  Admiralty 
Court  Mr.  Scott  aspired  to  a  seat  in  Parliament.  The  constituency 
that  he  was  specially  anxious  to  represent  was  his  University,  but, 
advised  to  defer  his  claims  in   favour  of  Sir  William   Dolben,  he 


WILLIAM  SCOTT,  LORD  STOWELL.  369 

wooed  the  electors  of  Downton,  a  close  borough  in  Wiltshire.  He 
was  elected  for  that  place  in  April,  1784,  but  the  sheriff  made 
a  double  return,  and  by  order  of  the  House  he  was  declared  not 
to  have  been  duly  elected.  In  1790,  he  went  down  to  the  little 
borough  again,  and  was  returned  without  cavil.  For  Downton  he 
sat  till  1 80 1,  and  then,  one  of  the  seats  for  the  University  becoming 
vacant,  he  realised  the  object  of  his  ambition.  It  is  said  of  him 
that  for  six  years  after  his  first  return  he  spoke  but  once  in  the 
House,  and  that  during  the  whole  of  the  thirty-two  years  over  which 
his  parliamentary  career  extended,  he  showed  remarkable  reserve, 
never  taking  part  in  great  debates,  but  limiting  his  observations  to 
third  readings  and  orders  of  the  day  upon  which  his  opinions  as 
a  judge  were  of  interest  and  value.  He  made  one  great  speech 
in  the  House  (the  report  of  which  occupies  thirty  pages  of  Hansard), 
in  opposition  to  a  Bill  proposing  to  exempt  chapel  property  from 
payment  of  rates,  and  beat  the  Treasury  Bench  by  a  majority  of 
two  to  one;  he  delivered  another  in  defence  of  a  proposed  grant 
to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland;  and  he  wrote  his  name  in  the  Statute 
Book  wath  at  least  one  Act  of  Parliament — an  amending  measure 
relating  to  plurality  of  church  livings. 

On  the  coronation  of  George  IV.  in  1 821,  Sir  William  Scott  was 
raised  to  the  peerage.  His  brother,  Lord  Eldon,  was  desirous  that 
he  should  take  his  title  from  Usworth,  where  the  family  owned 
property,  but  Sir  William  adhered  to  his  own  intention,  and  became 
Baron  Stowell,  of  Stowell  Park,  in  the  county  of  Gloucester.  He 
was  then  seventy-six  years  of  age;  too  old  to  care  much  about 
political  strife,  and  too  reticent  to  take  part  in  political  debate.  His 
record  in  the  House  of  Lords,  therefore,  is  practically  a  blank — his 
name  is  chiefly  to  be  found  among  the  proxies.  To  his  Court  he 
clung  till  December,  1827,  delivering,  down  to  the  last  week  of  his 
sitting,  though  by  deputy,  judgments  that  were  remarkable  for 
lucidity,  closeness  of  reasoning,  and  profound  knowledge  of  the  law. 
The  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in  retirement;  it  came  to  an  end  on 
the  29th  January,  1836,  having  extended  over  ninety  years. 

Lord  Stowell  married  in  April,  1782,  Anna  Maria,  eldest  daughter 
and  co-heiress  of  John  Bagnall,  of  Early  Court,  Berks,  who,  dying  in 
1809,  left  him  a  son  and  a  daughter.  His  marriage  to  the  Dowager 
Lady  Sligo  three  or  four  years  afterwards,  forming  the  subject  of  much 
wit  and  scandal,  is  too  long  to  be  described  here.  Full  details  of  this, 
and  of  other  incidents  in  the  lives  of  the  two  brothers,  may  be  read 

VOL.  III.  24 


370  WILLIAM  AND   WALTER  SCOTT. 

in  the  three  volumes  of  Horace  Twiss — "  The  Pubhc  and  Private 
Life  of  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  "■ — and  in  the  subsequent  publication 
by  W.  E.  Surtees,  grand-nephew  of  the  Lord  Chancellor,  entitled 
"  A  Sketch  of  the  Lives  of  Lords  Stowell  and  Eldon." 


Milliatn  anb  Maltcr  Scott, 

DOCTORS    OF    MEDICINE. 

"  But  by  your  fathers'  worth  if  yours  you  rate, 
Count  me  those  only  who  were  good  and  great. 
Go  !  if  your  ancient,  but  ignoble  blood 
Has  crept  thro'  scoundrels  ever  since  the  flood. 
Go  !  and  pretend  your  family  is  young  ; 
Nor  own  your  fathers  have  been  fools  so  long. 
What  can  ennoble  sots,  or  slaves,  or  cowards  ? 
Alas  !  not  all  the  blood  of  all  the  Howards." 

—  POl'E. 

A  RARE  tract,  entitled  "  Pedigree  of  the  Family  of  Scott  of  Stokoe, 
in  the  Parish  of  Symondburn,  and  County  of  Northumberland,"  bear- 
ing upon  its  title-page  the  verse  from  Pope  above  quoted,  provides 
materials  for  a  brief  memoir  of  two  gifted  Northumbrians — William 
Scott,  M.D.,  the  author  of  the  tract,  and  Walter  Scott,  M.D.,  his  son 
and  successor. 

According  to  the  pedigree,  the  Scotts  of  Stokoe  were  descended 
from  a  younger  son  of  a  Baron,  or  Laird,  of  Buccleugh  (ancestor  of 
the  Dukes  of  that  name),  who  was  one  of  the  wardens  of  the  Scottish 
Border  towards  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  In  course  of  time 
this  branch  of  the  family  acquired  considerable  landed  estate  ; 
members  of  it  established  themselves  at  Lynton  and  Whitslade,  in 
Roxburghshire,  and  at  Toderick,  in  the  county  of  Selkirk.  Lito 
these  details,  however,  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter.  The  connection 
of  the  family  with  the  county  of  Northumberland  does  not  commence 
till  the  fourteenth  generation  from  the  old  laird,  at  which  time  Walter 
Scott,  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Scott,  of  Toderick,  married  Jane,  the 
only  daughter  and  heiress  of  William  Robson,  of  High  Stokoe,  near 
Falstone.  "  This  Thomas,"  writes  his  descendant,  "  having  lived 
genteelly,  and  perhaps  a  little  too  liberally,  hurt  his  fortune ;  and  in 
1746  sold  his  estate  and  mansion-house  of  Toderick,  having  some 


WILLIAM  AND   WALTER  SCOTT.  371 

years  before  sold  the  estate  of  Wester  Essenside  in  Roxburghshire." 
From  which  statement  it  would  appear  that  Walter  Scott,  the  first  of 
the  family  who  settled  in  Northumberland,  inherited  nothing,  or  next 
to  nothing,  from  his  father,  and  owed  his  position  as  a  landowner  to  a 
fortunate  marriage  with  a  North  Tyne  heiress.  By  that  marriage  he 
had  issue  eleven  or  twelve  children,  all  of  whom  died  young,  except 
two  sons  and  two  daughters.  The  sons  were  William,  who  compiled 
the  pedigree,  and  Patrick,  a  medical  practitioner  at  Douglas,  in  the 
Isle  of  Man. 

William  Scott,  the  compiler,  born  at  High  Stokoe  in  1773,  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  took  the  degree 
of  M.D.  He  married,  in  1759,  Martha,  youngest  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Edward  Fenwick,  the  unfortunate  vicar  of  Kirkwhelpington, 
and  settled  at  Stamfordham,  the  living  of  which  parish  had  been 
held  by  his  wife's  great-grandfather  and  grandfather  in  succession. 
In  this  quiet  village,  the  centre  of  a  scattered  agricultural  district,  his 
wife's  family  influence  and  his  own  skill  brought  him  considerable 
practice.  He  filled  for  some  years  the  office  of  county  coroner — a 
laborious  post  at  a  time  when  there  were  no  railways,  and  every 
journey  from  home  was  performed  on  the  back  of,  or  behind,  a  horse. 
In  the  height  of  his  practice  he  must  have  spent  the  greater  part  of 
his  time  on  horseback.  Yet  his  grandson,  William  Robson  Scott, 
who  issued  a  limited  reprint  of  the  pedigree  in  1852,  was  able  to 
write  of  him — "  Amidst  all  these  professional  duties,  he  still  found 
a  leisure  hour  to  devote  to  literature.  His  great  love  of  genealogical 
subjects,  combined  with  his  untiring  perseverance  and  energy,  en- 
abled him  to  collect  from  all  available  sources,  everything  he  could 
meet  with  on  the  name  of  Scott.  As  well  as  this  pedigree — which 
is  the  only  work  he  published  on  the  subject — he  left  a  large  collec- 
tion of  manuscripts,  which  form,  probably  by  far,  the  best  essay 
towards  a  history  of  the  name  of  Scott  that  has  ever  been  attempted. 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  saw  some  of  these  manuscripts,  pronounced 
them  to  contain  much  curious  information.  Independent,  however, 
of  his  genealogical  researches,  he  sent  papers  to  the  Royal  Society 
on  subjects  of  more  general  interest,  and  published  elsewhere  contri- 
butions to  the  scientific  literature  of  his  profession.  His  reading  had 
been  so  extensive,  that  it  was  once  stated  to  tlie  writer,  by  a  gentle- 
man who  knew  him  well,  himself  a  man  of  great  acquirements,  that 
there  was  scarcely  a  subject  on  which  he  was  not  so  well  informed, 
but  he  could  tell  all  that  had  been  written  upon  it,  or  knew  where  to 


372  WILLIAM  AND   WALTER  SCOTT. 

find  it.  A  life  spent  in  the  strictest  sobriety,  combined  with  habits 
of  the  greatest  industry,  could  alone  have  enabled  him  to  do  what  he 
accomplished,  and  these  were  with  him  prominent  characteristics." 

Dr.  William  Scott  died  at  Stamfordham  on  the  iSth  of  November, 
1802,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years,  and  is  buried,  with  his  wife  and 
family,  at  the  entrance  of  the  western  door  of  the  church  there.  On 
the  monumental  stone  which  marks  his  resting-place,  he  is  com- 
memorated by  the  curious  inscription  : — 

"Gill.  Scott,  M.D.,  Ob.  Nov.  10,  1802,  Aet.  69.  Vir  Eruditissimus,  et  Accou- 
cheur Celebenimus  :  Ex  Familia  de  Buccleugh." 

Dr.   Scott  had  issue  four  children,   the  eldest   of  whom,    Walter 
Scott,  born  August   12th,  1761,  and  bred  to  his  father's  profession, 
succeeded  to  the  practice  at  Stamfordham  and  the  estate  at  High 
Stokoe.     He  married,  first,  Eleanor  Walker,  who  died  without  issue, 
and,  secondly,  Mary  Bell,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 
Like  his  great-grandfather  (Thomas  Scott  of  Toderick),  Walter  Scott 
of  Stamfordham   had  the   misfortune  to   possess    a  free   and  easy 
disposition,  which  brought  him  to  the  verge  of  impoverishment,  and 
compelled  him,  late  in  life,  although  an  M.D.  and  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  to  accept  the  ofiice  of  master  of  Stamfordham  Free  School. 
His  son,  in  the  introductory  article  to  the  pedigree,  tells  us  that  his 
father  inherited  much  of  the  ability  which  characterised  Dr.  William 
Scott  (the  writer's  grandfather),  but  was  far  inferior  in  patient  and 
steady  perseverance.     "  An  early  manhood  spent  in  the  army  was 
not  at  that  time  likely  to  develop  to  the  best  advantage  those  higher 
literary  promises  he  had  given  at  College,  while  a  marriage  with  a 
lady,  who  both    in  herself  and  through  her  connections  was  the 
source  of  much  unhappiness  to  him,  as  well  during  her  life  as  in  after 
years,  was  another  cause  that  led  his   mind  to  seek  occupation  in 
pursuits  not  congenial  with  those  severer  studies  through  which  alone 
lasting    fame    or    honourable    achievement    can    be   attained.      The 
patrimony  left  him  by  his  father  at  his  death  was  so  considerable 
that  it  enabled  him  to  give  up  the  practice  of  his  profession,  so  that 
he  lived  a  great  part  of  his  life  on  his  private  fortune.     His  was  an 
age  when  frugality  and  forethought  were  not  conspicuous  features  in 
the  character  of  a  country  gentleman.     A  too  free  indulgence  in  ex- 
pansive tastes,  with  a  trustfulness  in  others  extending  to  a  negligence 
of  his  own  interests,  so  injured  his  fortune,  that  the  parliamentary 
measures   passed   at  this   time    regarding   the  monetary  circulation. 


S/J^  GEORGE  SELBY.  373 

which  depressed  the  value  of  landed  property,  obliged  him  to  part 
with  his  already  mortgaged  estates.  After  his  misfortunes,  he  had 
again  recourse  to  professional  labours  for  a  subsistence,  and  had  to 
experience  many  trials  and  deprivations.  Amidst  all  his  reverses, 
however,  he  preserved  a  taste  for  literature,  and  this,  during  his  later 
life,  became  the  great  source  of  his  enjoyments.  He  contributed 
many  articles,  both  on  general  literature  and  medical  science,  to  the 
different  periodicals  of  the  day,  and  to  the  last,  amidst  all  his  mis- 
fortunes, preserved  his  fresh  and  joyous  spirit,  trusting  every  one  and 
hoping  everything.  With  him  it  might  truly  be  said  the  child  was 
father  of  the  man;  and  all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance 
must  ever  remember  his  kind,  open,  and  generous  heart,  his  playful 
satire,  and  his  sparkling  wit,  that  was  ever  ready  to  set  the  table  in  a 
roar.  He,  too,  lies  buried  at  Stamfordham  with  his  father;  let  us 
hope  that  death  was  to  him  the  portal  to  a  kindlier  world."  The 
date  of  his  death  was  December  30th,  1831;  his  age  seventy  years. 

In  the  Newcastle  Alagazine  for  the  years  1823,  1824,  and  1825, 
are  several  valuable  essays,  some  of  them  of  great  length,  from  Dr. 
Walter  Scott's  pen.  Signed  with  his  own  name,  and  dated  from 
Stamfordham,  they  deal  with  such  subjects  as  these: — "Suspended 
Animation,  and  the  Means  of  Recovering  Drowned  Persons"; 
"Spontaneous  Hydrophobia "  (two  articles);  "Diabetes";  "Angina 
Pectoris";  "Study  and  Conversation";  "The  Utility,  Choice,  and 
Use  of  Pleasure  in  regard  to  Gaming,  Hunting,  etc.,  etc.";  "Retire- 
ment from  Business";  and  "Old  Age." 


Sir  (Beorge  Selb^, 

THE    king's    host. 

The  Selbys  of  Northumberland  came  of  a  good  stock — a  stock  that 
bore  many  capable  men,  formed  for  office  and  service,  for  honour 
and  distinction.  There  were  Selbys  on  the  Tyne  and  the  Tweed,  and 
other  of  our  northern  rivers,  for  a  long  succession  of  generations ; 
men  whose  surname  had  originally  come  to  them  from  the  Yorkshire 
town  on  the  Ouse,  where  the  son  of  William  and  Matilda,  Henry  I., 
surnamed  "  Beauclerk,"  was  born  after  the  Conquest.  "  Henry  de 
Selby  "  was  the  first  king  of  the  Norman  line  of  English  birth  ;  and 


374  SIR  GEORGE  SELBY. 

many  there  were,  before  and  after  him,  who  first  saw  the  light  in 
Selby,  and  took  their  name  from  the  spot. 

Very  famiHar  in  the  land,  in  the  days  of  the  Tudors,  became  the 
Selbys.  When  Henry  VII.  came  to  the  throne  in  1485,  and  united 
the  houses  of  the  Red  Rose  and  the  White,  William  Selby  of  York, 
and  Robert  Gamelle,  chaplain,  had  acquired  two  parts  of  the  manor 
of  Heworth  from  William,  son  of  William  Bruys,  knight.  Near  the 
close  of  the  first  Tudor  reign,  Walran  Morton,  of  Helperby,  yeoman, 
surrendered  to  Robert  Selby,  yeoman,  all  his  interest  in  certain  lands 
called  "  Tannfeldleigh  ";  and  in  1520,  when  Henry  VIII.  was  king, 
Henry  Selby  was  a  yeoman  of  the  Royal  Household,  with  a  mark 
as  his  quarter's  wages.  Odinel  Selby  occurs  in  the  following  year 
among  the  lessees  of  the  fishery  of  "the  kinges  waters  of  Twede" 
belonging  to  the  town  of  Berwick ;  some  years  afterwards  acquiring, 
with  seven  other  merchants,  a  lease  of  the  fishery  pertaining  to  the 
castle  of  Norham.  Between  the  dates  of  the  two  leases  comes 
"  Persevell  Selby  of  Bettelsdayn  "  as  one  of  the  residents  on  the 
Borders  "content  to  take  soldiers  within  the  Middle  Marches"; 
while  in  1528,  Robert  and  John  Selby  of  Norhamshire,  and  William 
Selby  of  "  Brangyston  "  (where  Flodden  had  been  fought  in  15 13), 
were  "  of  the  Counselle  of  the  Borders  in  Household  with  the 
Warden."  The  Selbys  were  still  at  the  front  in  the  decade  of  the 
Armada,  when  Sir  John  of  Twisell,  Henry  Lord  Scrope  (Warden  of 
the  West  Marches),  William  Bowes,  and  Christopher  Dacre,  had 
their  attention  called  by  Her  Majesty  to  the  murder  of  Francis  Lord 
Russell  at  Cocklaw  on  a  day  of  truce. 

The  sixteenth  century  was  remarkable  in  having  witnessed  no 
change  in  the  royal  dynasty.  The  Tudors,  who  in  1485  won  the 
crown  by  the  sword  on  Bosworth  Field,  wore  it  down  to  1603.  All 
this  time  the  Selbys  were  more  or  less  in  the  exercise  of  power  and 
influence.  They  were  Sheriffs,  Mayors,  Members  of  Parliament, 
Governors  of  the  Merchants'  Company  of  Newcastle,  etc.  And 
when  the  Tudors  passed  away  and  the  Stuarts  came  in,  the  Selby 
influence  was  still  supreme.  King  James  I.,  who  succeeded  to  the 
Tudor  throne,  knighted  no  fewer  than  five  of  them  : — William  of 
Biddleston,  John  of  Twisell,  George  of  Newcastle,  William  of 
Winlaton,  and  William  of  the  Mote  (near  Ightham)  in  Kent. 

Sir  George  Selby,  appointed  Sheriff  of  Newcastle  in  1594,  was 
Mayor  in  1600-1,  1606-7,  1611-12,  1622-23,  fo^^  times  altogether. 
Associated  with  him  in   two  of  his  Mayoralties,  as  Sheriff,  were  a 


S/A'  GEORGE  SELBY.  375 

Maddison  and  a  Davison;  the  latter  the  Alexander  Davison  who 
fought  for  the  king  in  the  siege  of  1644,  and  died  of  his  wounds. 
A  merchant  adventurer,  Sir  George  Selby  was  raised  to  the  office  of 
(lOvernor  of  tlie  Company,  and  held  it  through  every  one  of  his  four 
mayoralties.  When  and  where  he  was  knighted  is  uncertain.  "The 
King,"  writes  Brand  (describing  His  Majesty's  coming  in  1603), 
"was  entertained  at  the  house  of  Sir  George  Selby,  who  was  prob- 
ably knighted  on  that  occasion."  Probably  enough  Selby  received 
the  honour  at  that  time;  but  the  king  was  the  guest  of  the  Mayor, 
Robert  Dudley,  on  his  first  visit  to  Newcastle,  and  made  him  a 
knight  at  their  parting  on  Tyne  Bridge.  Nicholas  Tufton,  after- 
wards Earl  of  Thanet,  had  also  been  knighted  on  the  same  day;  and, 
not  unlikely,  George  Selby  was  similarly  distinguished  by  the  depart- 
ing monarch,  whose  sword  seems  to  have  itched  for  his  subjects' 
shoulders.  In  1617,  when  James  was  on  his  road  back,  revisiting 
his  native  land,  he  reached  the  Sandhill  on  St.  George's  Day  (April 
23rd),  and  was  welcomed  by  the  then  Mayor  (Sir  Thomas  Riddell), 
the  Aldermen,  and  Sheriff,  etc.  The  Town  Clerk  made  a  speech; 
and  the  Mayor,  in  the  name  of  the  Corporation,  presented  His 
Majesty  with  a  great  standing  bowl,  glittering  within  with  a  hundred 
marks  in  gold.  The  royal  lodgings  at  Newcastle  were  in  the 
mansion  of  Sir  George  Selby;  whence,  on  the  king's  arrival,  the 
Earl  of  Buckingham  wrote  to  the  Lord  Keeper  Bacon,  that  His 
Majesty  was  in  very  good  health,  and  so  well  pleased  with  his 
journey  that  he  never  saw  him  better  nor  merrier.  On  the  first  of 
May,  16 1 7,  visiting  Henry  Babington  at  Heaton  Hall,  he  knighted 
his  host.  On  the  same  day  he  created  Simon  Clarke,  a  Warwick- 
shire gentleman,  a  baronet.  On  Sunday,  May  4th,  being  the  day 
prior  to  resuming  his  journey,  King  James  dined  with  the  Mayor, 
knighted  Peter  Riddell  (the  Mayor  of  16 19),  and  also  John  Delaval 
of  Northumberland. 

The  bedroom  of  James  VI.  when  Sir  George  had  him  as  a  guest 
was  thenceforward  known  as  "The  King's  Chambre."  It  had 
"  three  bedsteads,  with  their  accompaniments,  a  great  chaire,  one 
large  quission  covered  with  taffaty,  one  ciprusse  cabinet,  one  trunke 
gilded,  one  cabinett  of  chiney  work  with  a  case,  two  water  boxes, 
one  seeinge  glasse,  and  an  iron  chimney." 

Sir  George  Selby,  as  recorded  above,  was  chosen  to  the  office  of 
Sheriff  of  Newcastle  in  1594.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  the  town- 
purse   "paidc   for   peres,   wine,   and    buUis    [small   plums],   to    Mr. 


376  SIR  GEORGE  SELBY. 

Alderman  Selbie,  with  his  daughter,  and  other  Aldermen,  in  the 
towne  chartiber,  13s.  4d."  Next  year,  when  his  Shrievalty  was  ending, 
a  similar  item  occurs  in  the  accounts: — "  Paide  for  secke,  suger, 
Rennysh  wine,  peres,  carrawaies,  and  biskett,  and  biskett  suger 
breed  to  Mr.  Selbie,  with  other  Aldermen  more,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Yorke,  13s.  4d." 

Sir  George's  daughter,  who  partook  of  the  entertainment  of  1594, 
was  by  birth  doubly  a  Selby.  Her  mother,  Margaret,  has  a  place  in 
the  pedigree  of  William  Selby  of  Branxton,  the  purchaser  of  Twisell 
in  the  days  of  Henry  VHI.  With  other  pedigrees  of  the  Selbys,  it 
is  printed  in  Raine's  "North  Durham."  John,  son  and  heir  of 
William  Selby,  was  Gentleman  Porter  of  Berwick.  In  1565,  he 
handed  down  the  office  to  Sir  John  of  Twisell,  knighted  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  in  1582.  In  this  year.  Sir  John's  brother.  Sir  William 
Selby  of  the  Mote,  at  Ightham  in  Kent,  was  Member  for  Berwick. 
Sir  John  Selby  had  several  children ;  one  of  whom.  Sir  William,  also 
Gentleman  Porter  of  Berwick  (he  who  received  King  James  in  1603), 
represented  the  borough  in  Parliament  in  1592,  1597,  and  1601,  and 
succeeded  to  the  estate  of  the  Mote  on  the  death  of  his  uncle  in 
161 1.  His  brother.  Sir  Ralph  Selby,  inherited  the  northern  estates 
of  Sir  AViUiam  Selby  of  Ightham,  and  was  Mayor  of  Berwick  in  1631. 
A  third  brother  was  Sir  John  Selby,  knighted  in  1604,  Member  for 
Berwick;  and  Margaret,  the  sister  of  these  three  knights,  married 
Sir  George.  He  was  a  magnificent  merchant,  wealthy  and  powerful, 
and  in  great  request  in  the  public  service;  known  to  the  end  of 
his  days  as  "The  King's  Host";  Sheriff  of  Newcastle,  North- 
umberland, and  Durham;  Member  for  Newcastle  and  Northumber- 
land; and  only  unseated  for  Northumberland  because,  as  Sheriff  of 
Durham,  he  was  thought  by  the  Commons  to  be  disqualified.  It  is 
curious  to  read  that  in  1610  he  informed  the  House  that  the  coal- 
mines of  Newcastle  could  not  hold  out  their  lease  of  twenty-one  years  ! 
But  the  coalowner  of  those  days,  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind,  had  not 
the  equipment  of  the  present  time.  The  miner  was  more  at  the 
mercy  of  his  besetting  difficulties;  and  if  these  got  the  better  of  him, 
the  coal  was  practically  exhausted. 

Sir  George's  father,  William  Selby,  the  Mayor  of  1573  and  1589, 
who  had  also  been  Governor  of  the  Merchants'  Company,  died  in 
January,  16 13-14.  Chaytor  of  Butterby  made  in  his  Diary  an  entry 
relating  to  the  burial,  January  25th,  1614: — "A  great  and  an  admir- 
abl  funerall  for  old  Mr.  Selbie  att  Newcastle.     Ther  wer  assembled 


SIR  GEORGE  SELBY.  377 

in  the  church  1000  at  least  in  niyn  oi)inion,  for  the  church  cold 
unitli  conteyn  all  without  thronge.  Eniongst  other  ghests  most 
kindlie  Sir  (ieorge  Selbie  invited  me.  My  Lord  Bishop  [Bishop 
James],  notwithstandinge  a  great  stormy  daie,  rode  to  Newcastle  the 
24  of  this,  to  the  sollemnitie  of  the  funcralls  of  old  Mr.  Willm. 
Selby." 

Sir  George,  a  sumptuous  citizen,  reared  a  marvellous  family  monu- 
ment of  marble  in  the  northern  end  of  St.  Nicholas'.  "  His  tombe, 
alredie  erected,"  is  mentioned  in  his  will  of  December,  1624,  made 
some  months  before  his  death;  and  to  the  churchwardens  of  the 
parish  he  gave  his  house  at  the  Stock  Bridge,  of  the  yearly  value  of 
a  mark,  "  soe  that  they  and  their  successors  doe  p'vyde  that  from 
tyme  to  tyme  the  said  tombe  be  well  kept  and  cleane,  in  comlye 
manner."  Local  history  fondly  dwells  on  the  recumbent  effigies  of 
Sir  George  and  Lady  Selby,  with  the  kneeling  figures  of  their 
children.  Five  sons  had  passed  away  in  infancy.  In  the  inscription 
on  the  wall  over  the  monument  the  names  of  six  daughters  were 
recorded,  four  of  whom  were  then  married;  and  "within  the  palisa- 
does,  upon  a  fiat  marble  stone,"  was  inscribed — "Jesu  have  mercy 
of  the  sowlle  of  George  Selbe,  Merchant  Adventurer,  some  time 
Alderman  of  this  town,  and  Margaret  his  wife,  and  their  children." 

To  make  way  for  the  Selby  Tomb,  a  wooden  cenotaph  of  the 
fourth  Earl  of  Northumberland,  who  had  a  house  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Nicholas',  was  shifted  aside.  Slain  near  Thirsk  in  1489,  in  a 
popular  commotion  arising  out  of  an  obnoxious  tax  imposed  by 
Henry  VH.,  the  Earl  was  buried  in  Beverley  ^linster,  and  his  name 
commemorated  in  his  parish  church  of  Newcastle,  at  the  northern 
corner.  But  "  when  Mr.  William  Selby  was  buried,"  says  the  Mil- 
banke  Manuscript,  "the  monument  was  removed  out  of  that  corner, 
and  Sir  George  Selby  did  set  there  his  magnificent  tomb.  After 
that,  it  was  placed  against  the  wall,  next  to  Sir  George's  tomb;  and 
so  continued  till  Mr.  Lane.  Hodshon  [in  the  reign  of  Charles  H.] 
got  leave  of  Vicar  Nailor  to  remove  it,  and  place  his  father.  Where 
it  is  now,"  adds  Milbanke  with  a  sigh,  "  I  know  not." 

The  Percy  Memorial,  moved  out  of  the  way  in  the  days  of  King 
James,  was  banished  altogether  in  the  reign  of  his  grandson.  And 
what  became  of  its  successor,  the  Selby  Marble,  in  the  time  of 
George  HL?  Brand  has  to  tell,  in  1789,  of  "shrines,  monuments, 
and  monumental  inscriptions,  formerly  in  St.  Nicholas',  most  of 
which  have  been  removed  by  the  late  alterations  in  the  inside  of  that 


378  THOMAS  AND  JOHN  SHARP. 

edifice;"  not  a  few  of  which  found  their  way  into  the  foundations  of 
a  house  in  course  of  erection  in  the  then  new  Mosley  Street !  On 
the  9th  of  February,  1782,  an  advertisement  appeared  in  the  New- 
castle Chronicle  offering  for  sale  "  all  that  tomb  and  vault "  at  the  east 
end  of  St.  Nicholas',  18  feet  by  12,  enclosed  with  iron  rails,  "known 
as  the  Selby's  burial  tomb  or  vault."  Vanity  of  vanities!  Henry  the 
Earl  and  George  the  Knight  must  give  place  in  turn.  The  Percy 
monument  must  go  to  "  the  wall,"  and  the  Selby  tomb  be  sent  to 
the  hammer.     Sic  transit} 


ITbomae  anb  3obn  Sbarp, 

ARCHDEACONS    OF    NORTHUMBERLAND. 

From  a  Yorkshire  family  bearing  the  name  of  Sharp  the  Church  of 
England  has  received  a  succession  of  dignitaries  distinguished  by 
great  learning  and  exalted  character.  Their  common  ancestor  was  a 
tradesman  of  Bradford  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  One  of  the  sons 
of  the  Bradford  worthy,  John  Sharp  (born  February  14th,  1644-45), 
trained  for  the  ministry  at  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  entered  into 
holy  orders,  and  rose  by  gradual  preferment  to  the  deanery  of 
Norwich,  the  deanery  of  Canterbury,  and  the  Archbishopric  of  York. 
Sons  and  grandsons  of  his  entered  the  Church,  and  made  their  mark 
in  it ;  others  of  his  descendants  distinguished  themselves  in  various 
spheres  of  usefulness,  among  them  being  the  famous  abolitionist, 
Granville  Sharp. 

Thomas  Sharp,  seventh  son  of  the  archbishop,  born  in  1693, 
entered  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1708,  graduated  B.A.  in 
1 7 12,  and  M.A.  in  17 16,  and  was  elected  Fellow  of  his  college  and 
admitted  to  the  degree  of  D.D.  a  few  years  later.  Archbishop  Sir 
William  Dawes,  his  father's  successor  in  the  See  of  York,  made  him 
one  of  his  chaplains,  and  conferred  upon  him  a  prebend's  stall  in 
York  Cathedral  and  the  collegiate  church  of  Southwell.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-nine  he  obtained  the  living  of  Rothbury.  Taking  up  his 
residence  in  the  old  tower  of  Whitton,  which  from  the  fourteenth 
century  had  been  the  parsonage  of  his  cure,  he  entered  upon  a  long 

^  Abridged  from  a  contribution  to  the  Newcastle  Weekly  Chronicle  by  the  late 
James  Clephan, 


THOMAS  AND  JOHN  SHARP. 


379 


and  honourable  clerical  career  'twixt  'i'yne  and  Tweed.  On  the  27th 
of  February,  1722-23,  he  was  collated  to  the  Archdeaconry  of  North- 
umberland— one  of  the  youngest  (if  not  the  youngest)  clergyman  who 
had  ever  held  that  important  office;  on  the  ist  December,  1732,  he 
was  installed  prebendary  of  Durham  Cathedral;  in  1737  received 
the  appointment  of  a  trustee  of  Bishop  Crewe's  charity  at  Bam- 
borough  ;  and  in  1755  he  succeeded  Dr.  Mangey  in  the  officialty  of 
the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham.  In  the  enjoyment  of  these  pre- 
ferments he  died  in  1758,  aged  sixty-five  years. 


ARCHDEACON    THOMAS    SHARP. 


Archdeacon  Thomas  Sharp  was  an  excellent  Hebrew  scholar,  and 
wrote  a  series  of  discourses  on  the  Hebrew  language,  amongst  which 
are  "Two  Dissertations  concerning  the  Words  Elohim  and  Berith," 
1751  ;  "Review  and  Defence  of  Two  Dissertations  on  the  words 
Elohim  and  Berith,"  in  three  parts,  1754  and  1755;  "Discourses 
touching  the  Antiquity  of  the  Hebrew  Tongue  and  Character,"  1755  ; 
"An  Examination  of  Hutchinson's  Exposition  of  Cherubim,"  1755. 
These  were  mostly  answers  to  the  contention  of  a  famous  Hebraist, 


38o  THOMAS  AND  JOHN  SHARP. 

named  John  Hutchinson,  founder  of  a  sect  known  as  Hutchin- 
sonians,  who  held  that  the  Old  Testament  contains  a  complete 
system  of  natural  history,  theology,  and  philosophy,  that  all  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  dispensation  were  so  many  delinea- 
tions of  Christ,  and  that  the  early  Jews  knew  them  to  be  types 
of  his  actions  and  sufferings,  and,  by  performing  them,  were  so  far 
Christians,  both  in  faith  and  practice.  Dr.  Sharp  also  wrote  a 
life  of  his  father,  the  Archbishop,  and  a  book  that  is  still  obtain- 
able— 

"  The  Rubric  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  the  Canons  of  the  Church 
of  England,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  Parochial  Clergy ;  Considered  in  a  Course 
of  Visitation  Charges."  London:  1753.  A  new  edition  of  this  work  was  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1787  with  three  added  "Discourses  on  Preaching,"  and 
further  editions  in  1834  at  Oxford,  and  in  1853,  by  J.  H.  Parker,  London. 

A  speech  which  the  Archdeacon  made  to  Bishop  Trevor,  at  Fare- 
well Hall,  on  the  6th  July,  1753,  was  published  in  Newcastle  the 
same  year.  Several  sermons  bearing  his  name  are  to  be  found  in 
collections,  as,  for  example — 

"A  Charity  Sermon,  for  the  Relief  of  Poor  Widows  and  Children  of  Clergy- 
men, Within  the  Diocese  of  Durham,  Preached  Before  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy  at 
their  Anniversary  Meeting  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
Sept.  7,  1 72 1."     York,  1721,  8vo,  44  pp. 

"A  Sermon  Preached  at  St.  Nicholas'  Church  in  Newcastle,  Before  the 
Governors  of  the  Infirmary  for  the  Counties  of  Durham,  Newcastle,  and  North- 
umberland, on  Thursday,  May  23,  1751:  Being  the  Day  appointed  for  Opening 
the  HosjDital  for  the  Reception  of  Patients,  and  for  returning  Thanks  to  Almighty 
God  for  the  singular  Success  He  hath  given  to  this  charity ;  and  for  imploring  His 
Blessing  upon  it  at  all  Times."  Newcastle:  L  Thompson  &  Co.;  sold  by  M, 
Bryson,  W.  Charnley,  and  J.  Fleming.     Price  Sixpence.     i2mo,  48  pp. 

"A  Sermon  Preached  at  the  Opening  of  the  New  Chapel  of  Cornhill  upon 
Tweed,  on  Sunday,  July  12,  1752."  Newcastle:  Printed  liy  John  White  for 
Mess.  Bryson  &  Charnley,  and  J.  Fleming,     Price  Sixpence.      i2mo,  32  pp. 

"A  Sermon  preached  at  All  Saints'  Church,  Newcastle,  in  aid  of  the  Charity 
School  of  that  Parish."     Newcastle,  1722. 

"  Sermon  on  the  Lord's  Supper  at  York,"  1727. 

"Sermons  at  St.  Mary's,  Cambridge,"  1729. 

"  Sermon  preached  at  Bishop  Butler's  Primary  Visitation,"  1751- 

The  Archdeacon's  occupation  of  the  living  of  Rothbury  is  com- 
memorated by  a  circular  tower,  or  observatory,  in  the  grounds  of 
the  Rectory,  which  he  built,  or  rather  ordered  to  be  built,  for  the 
purpose  of  relieving  the  masons  of  the  parish,  and  their  starving 


THOMAS  AND  JOHN  SHARP.  381 

families,  during  a  long  and  hard  winter.  In  ignorant  derision,  this 
monument  of  the  good  rector's  generosity  and  Christian  benevolence 
was  designated  "Sharp's  Folly" — a  name  which  it  bears  to  the 
present  day. 

By  his  marriage  with  Judith,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Sir  George 
Wheler,  Knight,  the  Archdeacon  had  a  numerous  family.  One  of 
his  sons  was  Granville  Sharp,  the  philanthropist,  before  named ; 
another,  scarcely  less  famous,  was  Archdeacon  John  Sharp. 

John  Sharp,  eldest  son  of  Archdeacon  Thomas  Sharp,  l)orn  in 
1723,  received  his  education,  with  his  younger  brother  Thomas,  at 
Cambridge.  Both  John  and  Thomas  Sharp  held  livings  in  North- 
umberland. Thomas  had  a  London  cure,  but  was  better  known  as 
the  parson  of  Bamborough,  the  curacy  of  which  parish  he  held  from 
April,  1757,  till  his  death  in  November,  1772,  when  he  was  buried 
in  the  chancel  of  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  Newcastle.  John  received 
his  first  preferment  at  Hartburn,  the  village  immortalised  in  after 
years  as  the  residence  and  burial-place  of  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson, 
the  Northumberland  historian.  He  was  inducted  at  Hartburn  on 
New  Year's  Day,  1749.  His  subsequent  preferments  were  these: — 
Trustee  of  Crewe's  Charities,  1758;  Archdeacon  of  Northumberland, 
April  21,  1762  ;  Prebend  of  the  Ninth  Stall  at  Durham,  August  11, 
1768 ;  perpetual  curate  of  Bamborough,  in  succession  to  his  brother, 
1773;  Prebend  of  the  Eleventh  Stall  at  Durham,  September  10, 
1791. 

It  was  in  his  capacity  of  trustee  of  Crewe's  charities  that  Dr.  John 
Sharp  (for  he  had  taken  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity)  achieved 
fame  and  honour.  These  charities,  founded  by  Nathaniel  Lord 
Crewe,  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  maintained  out  of  the  revenues  of 
the  Bamborough  and  Blanchland  estates,  had  been  in  operation 
thirty-six  years  when  Dr.  Sharp  became  one  of  the  five  persons  who, 
under  the  bishop's  will,  were  entrusted  with  their  management  and 
distribution.  Increasing  in  value  as  time  went  on,  the  estates  had 
begun  to  yield  a  surplus,  and  the  application  of  all  surplus  income 
had  been  left  by  the  bishop  in  the  discretion  of  the  trustees,  un- 
fettered by  any  positive  regulations.  Dr.  Sharp  had  not  been  long 
in  ofiice  before  he  devised  a  plan  of  appropriating  the  surplus  to 
works  of  practical  benevolence.  He  proposed  to  apply  it  to  the 
establishment  at  Bamborough,  of  a  dispensary  for  the  relief  of  the 
sick  and  lame  poor ;  the  endowment  and  maintenance  of  schools  for 
the   district ;    the   introduction  of  appliances  for  the  assistance  of 


382  THOMAS  AND  JOHN  SHARP. 

shipwrecked  mariners,  etc.  To  carry  out  these  philanthropic  de- 
signs it  became  necessary  to  provide  a  home  for  the  trustees,  and 
to  fit  up  the  old  castle  with  accommodation  for  scholars,  for  a 
medical  man,  and  for  distressed  seamen.  The  works  of  restoration 
which  Dr.  Sharp  devised  and  in  time  carried  out,  comprised  the 
adaptation  of  the  castle  keep  to  the  purposes  of  an  official  residence ; 
the  renewal  and  preservation  of  the  square  and  circular  towers,  and 
other  buildings  which  form  the  south-eastern  front  of  the  castle, 
along  with  the  curtain  walls,  battlements,  ramparts,  and  gate  tower ; 
and  the  erection  of  a  battery  platform,  towards  the  sea.  Much  of 
this  work  was  done  at  Dr.  Sharp's  expense  ;  and  to  save  the  trustees 
from  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  residential  part  of  the  castle  he 
conveyed  to  them  various  lands  and  tenements  of  his  own,  the 
income  of  which  (supplemented  at  his  death  by  a  further  sum)  he 
directed  to  be  applied  to  the  reparation  and  support  of  the  great 
tower  and  the  furniture  contained  therein  for  ever. 

Pennant,  the  antiquary,  visiting  Bamborough  in  one  of  his  Scottish 
tours,  describes  Dr.  Sharp's  undertakings  in  flattering  terms  : — "  He 
has  repaired  and  rendered  habitable  the  great  square  tower ;  the  part 
reserved  for  himself  and  family  is  a  large  hall,  and  a  few  smaller 
apartments,  but  the  rest  of  the  spacious  edifice  is  allotted  for 
purposes  which  make  the  heart  to  glow  with  joy  when  thought  of 
The  upper  part  is  an  ample  granary,  from  whence  corn  is  dispensed 
to  the  poor  without  distinction,  even  at  the  dearest  time,  at  the  rate 
of  four  shillings  a  bushel ;  and  the  distressed,  for  many  miles  round, 
often  experience  the  conveniency  of  this  benefaction.  Other  apart- 
ments are  fitted  up  for  shipwTecked  sailors,  and  bedding  is  provided 
for  thirty,  should  such  a  number  happen  to  be  cast  on  shore  at  the 
same  time.  A  constant  patrol  is  kept  every  stormy  night  along  this 
tempestuous  coast,  for  above  eight  miles,  the  length  of  the  manor, 
by  which  means  numbers  of  lives  have  been  preserved.  A  cannon 
is  fixed  on  the  top  of  the  tower,  which  is  fired  once  if  the  accident 
(a  wTeck)  happens  in  such  a  quarter ;  twice,  if  in  another ;  and 
thrice,  if  in  such  a  place.  By  these  signals  the  country  people  are 
directed  to  the  spot  they  are  to  fly  to ;  and  by  this  means  frequently 
preserve  not  only  the  crew,  but  even  the  vessel.  In  a  word,  all  the 
schemes  of  this  worthy  trustee  have  a  humane  and  useful  tendency; 
he  seems  as  if  selected  from  his  brethren  for  the  same  purposes 
as  Spenser  tells  us  the  first  of  his  seven  beadsmen  in  the  house  of 
holinesse  was : — 


THOMAS  AND  JOHN  SHARP.  383 

'  The  first  of  them  that  eldest  was  and  l)est 
Of  all  the  house  had  chari^e  and  government 
As  guardian  and  steward  of  the  rest : 
His  office  was  to  give  cnlertainment 
And  lodging  unto  all  that  came  and  wont ; 
Not  unto  such  as  could  him  feast  againe 
And  doubly  quit  for  that  he  on  them  spent ; 
But  such  as  want  of  harbour  did  constraine; 
These,  for  God's  sake,  his  dewty  was  to  entertaine. '" 

In  addition  to  these  material  benefits,  Dr.  Sharp  conferred  upon 
the  district  the  advantage  of  a  good  Hbrary,  consisting  mostly 
of  books  collected  by  his  grandfather  the  Archbishop,  his  father 
the  Archdeacon,  and  his  brother  the  curate  of  Bamborough;  among 
which  were  standard  works  on  theology  and  ecclesiastical  history, 
rare  editions  of  classic  authors  and  British  historians,  and  a  curious 
collection  of  historical,  political,  and  controversial  tracts  and 
pamphlets.  To  these  he  added  many  valuable  books  of  his  own 
gathering,  especially  works  on  music.  He  adorned  the  walls  of 
the  castle  with  tapestry,  and  decorated  them  with  portraits,  and 
when  he  died  he  bequeathed  the  whole  to  his  successors  in  the 
trusteeship  for  the  benefit  of  future  generations. 

And  not  alone  at  Bamborough  did  the  practical  benevolence  of 
Dr.  Sharp  manifest  itself  The  Rev.  James  Raine,  in  his  "Memoir  of 
the  Rev.  John  Hodgson,"  tells  us  that  the  good  doctor  was  a  con- 
siderable benefactor  to  his  successors  in  the  vicarage  of  Hartburn. 
He  planted  a  thick  and  thriving  wood  along  the  northern  bank  of 
the  Hart,  which  formed  the  boundary  of  his  glebe,  made  a  walk 
through  it,  and  cut  a  grotto  of  two  rooms  in  the  rock,  with  a  covered 
way  leading  from  it  to  the  river,  for  the  convenience  of  bathing. 
Further,  "He  built  much  to  the  glebehouse,  especially  two  very 
large  rooms,  a  dining  and  drawing-room,  in  which  it  was  his  delight 
to  entertain  his  neighbours  with  musical  performances,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Durham  choir,  many  of  whom  he  invited  to  visit 
him  at  stated  periods.  He  himself  was  a  musical  performer  of 
considerable  attainments.  His  favourite  instrument  was  the  violon- 
cello; and  in  the  ecstasy  of  enjoyment  he  would  throw  off  his  coat, 
and  fiddle  among  baronets  and  squires,  and  their  lady  wives  and 
daughters,  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  till,  as  my  informant,  a  singing  man, 
who  had  often  been  present  on  such  occasions,  once  told  me,  he 
was  black  in  the  face." 

"  Dr.  Sharp,"  continues  Mr.  Raine,   "  lived  in  a  period  of  high 


384         THOMAS  AND  JOHN  SHARP. 

punctilio  and  form.  Upon  one  occasion  at  Bamborough,  when 
he  was  about  to  preach,  the  beadle's  staff  was  reported  to  be  missing. 
The  doctor,  however,  could  not  preach  without  the  usual  stately 
ceremonial  of  a  dual  procession,  and  he  had  recourse  to  an  im- 
promptu and  ingenious  device  to  meet  the  difficulty.  He  made  the 
sexton  shoulder  the  vestry  poker,  and  march  before  him  in  state  to 
the  door  of  the  pulpit." 

Dr.  Sharp  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Dr.  Heneage  Dering,  Dean 
of  Ripon.  He  died  on  the  28th  of  April,  1792,  and  was  buried 
beside  his  father,  Archdeacon  Thomas  Sharp,  in  the  Galilee  of  Dur- 
ham Cathedral.  Under  the  north-western  tower  of  the  Cathedral, 
not  far  from  the  Galilee  entrance,  is  a  marble  mural  monument, 
bearing  the  following  inscription  : — 

"Thomas  Sharp,  D.D.,  the  seventh  son  of  John,  Archbishop  of  York,  Pre- 
bendary of  the  Cathedrals  of  York  and  Durham,  and  of  the  Collegiate  Church  of 
Southwell,  Archdeacon  of  Northumberland,  and  Rector  of  Rothbury;  born,  1693; 
deceased,  1758.  He  was  eminent  for  piety  and  integrity,  with  great  learning  and 
critical  judgment.  His  treatise  on  the  Rubric  and  Canons  of  the  Church  of  England 
is  highly  esteemed,  as  are  also  his  various  controversial  writings,  and  his  Charges  to 
the  Clergy  as  Archdeacon  of  Northumberland.  His  printed  works  and  MSS.  are 
preserved  in  the  Library  of  this  Cathedral.  He  was  the  father  of  a  numerous 
offspring. 

"John  Sharp,  D.D.,  Eldest  Son  of  Dr.  Thomas  Sharp,  Prebendary  of  Durham, 
Archdeacon  of  Northumberland,  Vicar  of  Hartburn,  and  curate  of  Bamborough; 
born,  1723  ;  deceased,  1792.  Treading  in  the  steps  of  his  excellent  father,  he 
became  his  equal  in  piety,  learning,  and  the  vigilant  performance  of  his  clerical 
duties.  As  Senior  Trustee  of  the  Estates  of  Lord  Crewe,  bequeathed  for  charitable 
purposes,  he  established  the  noble  asylum  for  distressed  mariners,  with  other 
benevolent  and  useful  institutions  at  Bamborough  Castle,  enriched  them  by  his 
munificence,  and  perfected  them  by  his  humanity." 

In  the  church  at  Bamborough  a  marble  monument,  representing 
a  female  figure  with  a  cross,  one  of  the  latest  works  of  Chantrey, 
commemorates  the  two  Archdeacons,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Sharp,  of 
Bamborough,  and  the  Rev.  Anthony  Boult,  who  took  the  name 
of  Sharp  on  his  marriage  with  Catherine,  daughter  of  James  Sharp, 
son  of  Thomas  the  curate.  This  lady,  to  whose  filial  affection  the 
monuments,  both  at  Durham  and  Bamborough,  are  due,  describes 
the  Bamborough  one  as  erected  in  1839,  "in  memory  of  her  grand- 
father, her  two  uncles,  and  her  husband,  who  were  successively 
Trustees  of  Lord  Crewe's  Charities,  and  Incumbents  of  the  Parish 
of  Bamburgh,"  and  herself  as  "  Catherine,  only  child  of  James  Sharp, 
Esq.,  of  London,  and  sole  survivor  of  the  name." 


JOHN  SNA  W.  385 


3obn  Sbaw, 

A    r.OYAL   CHURCHMAN. 

Among  the  local  clergy  who,  for  their  fidelity  to  Church  and  Crown, 
suffered  persecution  during  the  Commonwealth,  was  John  Shaw, 
rector  of  Whalton,  and  lecturer  at  St.  John's,  Newcastle.  He  is 
described  by  Anthony  Wood  as  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  and  as 
having  been  born  at  Bedlington,  a  village  which,  forming  part  of  the 
possessions  of  the  See  of  Durham,  was,  at  that  time,  and  indeed 
until  a  comparatively  recent  period,  included  in  the  County  Palatine, 
although  topographically  situated  within  the  county  of  Northumber- 
land. It  is  conjectured  that  his  father  was  the  Rev.  John  Shaw, 
who  had  the  cure  of  souls  in  St.  John's  parish,  Newcastle,  from 
about  the  year  16 14,  till  his  death  by  the  great  visitation  of  plague 
in  1637.  Although  no  record  of  a  clergyman  named  Shaw  occurs  in 
the  Church  books  of  Bedlington,  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  curate 
of  St.  John's  ofiiciated  at  that  place  before  he  came  to  Newcastle, 
and  if  he  were  there  in  161 2,  the  conjecture  would  be  strengthened, 
for  in  that  year  John  Shaw  the  younger  was  born.  That  Shaw  the 
curate  was  married  when  he  entered  upon  his  duties  at  St.  John's 
appears  certain.  The  Registers  of  St.  John's  record  the  burial  of 
"  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Shawe,  wife  to  Mr.  John  Shawe,  preacher  of  the 
Word  of  God,"  on  the  30th  of  April,  162 1,  and  the  marriage  of 
"  Mr.  John  Shawe,  preacher,"  to  "  Alice  Wilkingson,"  on  the  22nd 
September  in  the  following  year.  The  point  is  not,  however,  of 
great  importance. 

John  Shaw,  "born  at  Bedlington"  in  1612,  was  educated  at  the 
rectory  of  Stainton-le-Street,  near  Sedgefield,  by  Thomas  Ingmethorp, 
a  famous  scholar,  "  eminent  for  the  Hebrew  tongue,  and  for  his 
admirable  methods  in  pedagogy."  Proceeding  from  thence  to 
Oxford,  he  was  entered  a  student  at  Queen's  College,  but  shortly 
afterwards,  on  the  2nd  of  April,  1629,  he  changed  to  Brasenose, 
where  he  was  taken  in  as  a  "  battler,"  i.e.,  a  student  that  "  battled," 
or  "  scored,"  for  his  diet.  Obtaining  at  Brasenose  his  B.A.  degree, 
he  returned  to  Tyneside,  and  entering  into  holy  orders,  was  ordained 
priest  by  Morton,  Bishop  of  Durham,  about  the  year  1637.     His 

first  preferment  appears  to  have  been  to  the  vicarage  of  Alnham,  to 
VOL.  III.  25 


386  JOHN  SHA  IV. 

which  he  was  presented  by  Algernon,  tenth  earl  of  Northumberland, 
whose  university  career  at  Oxford  had  been  contemporary  with  his 
own.  For  some  reason  or  other,  he  resigned  this  living  in  1640. 
Three  years  later,  in  December,  1643,  "Mr.  John  Shaw,  preacher  of 
God's  word,  being  upon  trial  approved,"  was  appointed  afternoon 
lecturer  at  All  Saints'  Church,  Newcastle.  In  1645,  he  was  presented 
to  the  rectory  of  Whalton,  near  Meldon ;  but  by  this  time  the  Civil 
War  had  broken  out,  and  Parliament,  finding  that  he  was  a  pronounced 
Royalist,  refused  to  sanction  his  appointment,  ejected  him  from  All 
Saints',  and  declined  to  admit  him  to  any  other  preferment.  Walker 
("Sufferings  of  the  Clergy")  states  that  "  he  was  imprisoned  no  less 
than  four  years  by  the  rebels,"  and  Anthony  Wood  tells  us  that  it 
was  not  until  some  time  afterwards  that,  "with  much  ado,  he 
obtained  the  church  of  Bolton  in  Craven,  Yorkshire,  which,  being 
worth  but  ^50  per  annum  (supposed  then  enough  to  maintain  a 
malignant  minister),  he  was  permitted  to  keep  it  during  the  sad 
affliction  of  the  Church  of  England."  Yet  he  must  have  been  in 
Newcastle,  and  able  to  preach  there,  during  at  least  some  part  of  the 
Puritan  reign.     For,  in  1652,  he  published  a  book  entitled — 

"  The  Pourtraicture  of  the  Primitive  Saints  in  their  Actings  and  Sufferings, 
According  to  Saint  Paul's  Canon  and  Catalogue.  Heb.  II.  By  J.  S.,  Presb. 
Angl."     Newcastle:  Printed  by  S.  B.,  1652. 

Later  on  he  enlarged  this  work  to  a  quarto  volume  of  153  pages, 
"one  part  whereof,  to  verse  23,"  writes  Anthony  Wood,  "was 
preached  at  Newcastle,  1652;  the  other,  from  verse  22  to  the  end, 
was  preached  at  the  same  place,  An.  1659."  In  the  interval,  he 
appears  to  have  followed  others  of  the  loyal  clergy  into  exile;  for  in 
the  preface  to  a  subsequent  work,  to  be  noticed  presently,  he  states 
that  he  was  "  necessitated  to  seek  shelter  elsewhere,  till  the  tyranny 
was  overpast,"  and  then  return  to  his  "  own  native  country." 
Whither  he  went,  and  how  the  Church  of  Bolton-in-Craven  fared 
during  his  absence,  do  not  appear. 

The  year  after  the  Restoration,  Mr.  Shaw  came  back  to 
Northumberland,  and  was  reinstated  in  his  rectory  of  Whalton. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  was  appointed  morning  and  evening  lecturer 
at  St.  John's,  Newcastle,  with  a  salary  of  ;£6o  a  year,  and  ;£io  per 
annum  for  his  turn  in  the  Thursday's  lecture  at  St.  Nicholas'. 
Making  Newcastle  his  home,  he  began  to  turn  the  tables  upon  his 
old  opponents,  the  Puritans,  with  considerable  vigour.     In  a  letter 


JOHN  SHA  IV.  387 

to  Archdeacon  Basire,  dated  December,  1668,  Vicar  Naylor  of 
Newcastle,  impressed  with  a  due  sense  of  his  responsibihties  in 
helping  to  put  down  "  illegal,  riotous,  and  schismatical  assemblies  " 
of  Puritans  and  Nonconformists,  informs  his  correspondent  that 
"  Mr.  Shaw,  who  is  'instar  omnium,'  is  come  to  town,  and  in  health, 
and  he  will  second  me  "  in  the  work  of  suppressing  "  these  cater- 
pillars." These  caterpillars  were  the  four  principal  Puritan  preachers 
— Gilpin,  Pringle,  Durant,  and  Leaver — and  the  members  of  their 
congregations.  A  few  months  after  this  letter  was  written  occurred 
the  series  of  memorable  raids  which  Cuthbert  Nicholson  made 
upon  conventicles  in  Newcastle.  Mr.  Shaw  assisted  at  one  of  these 
demonstrations,  and  thus  proved  that  Vicar  Naylor  had  not  underrated 
his  zeal  and  devotion  to  his  church  and  his  king. 

But,  vigilant  as  was  the  lecturer  of  St.  John's  against  schismatics 
and  conventiclers,  he  was,  if  possible,  more  vehement  still  against 
adherents  of  the  older  faith — the  faith  of  Rome.  He  showed  up 
their  pretensions  and  wrote  down  their  practices  with  so  much 
vigour,  that  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle  printed  one  of  his 
books  on  the  subject  at  their  own  expense.  It  was  probably 
the  following: — 

"  Origo  Protestantium :  Or  an  Answer  to  a  Popish  Manuscript  (of  N.  N.'s): 
that  would  fain  make  the  Protestant  Catholick  Religion  Bear  date  at  the  very 
time  when  the  Roman  Popish  commenced  in  the  World.  Wherein  Protestancy 
is  demonstrated  to  be  elder  than  Popery.  To  which  is  added  a  Jesuits'  Letter 
with  the  Answer  thereunto  annexed.  By  John  Shaw,  Rector  of  Whalton,  in 
Northumberland,  and  Preacher  at  St.  John's  in  New  Castle-upon-Tine.  London: 
Printed  for  H.  Brome  at  the  Gun,  in  St.  Paul's  Church-yard,  1677.  To  the 
Right  Worshipful  Sir  Ralph  Carr,  Mayor,  Sir  Robert  Shafto,  Recorder,  The 
Aldermen,  Sheriff,  and  the  rest  of  the  Members  of  the  Ancient  Toun  and  County 
of  Newcastle-upon-Tine,  J.  Shaw  Humbly  presenteth  this  ensuing  Treatise." 

The  design  and  style  of  this  book  of  Mr.  Shaw's,  a  small  quarto 
of  134  pages,  are  disclosed  in  the  preface,  which,  like  the  body 
of  the  work  itself,  is  thickly  studded  with  capitals  and  italics.  Thus 
it  reads: — 

"  When  it  pleased  God  in  his  great  goodness  and  mercy  to  this 
Persecuted  Church  and  Harassed  Kingdom,  by  a  miraculous  Provi- 
dence to  restore  his  Sacred  Majesty  to  his  just  Rights,  and  the 
Church  to  her  Legal  and  Primitive  Settlement,  I  also  (who  was 
before  necessitated  to  seek  shelter  elsewhere  till  the  Tyranny  was 
overpast)  returned  to  my  own  Native  Countrey;  where  I  found 
diverse  (whom  I  left  professed  Sons  of  our  Church)  turned  Rene- 


388  JOHN  SHA  IF. 

gades,  having  forsaken  their  own  Mother  in  the  day  of  Trial,  and 
betaken  themselves  to  that  flattering  Stepdame  of  Rome.  ...  I 
observed  further  that  the  Romanists  in  these  parts  grew  every  day 
more  insolently  active  to  bring  more  Grist  to  their  own  Mill,  and 
List  more  men  in  the  Pope's  Service,  not  only  by  Printed  Books, 
but  also  by  private  Letters  and  Manuscripts.  The  first  whereof  that 
came  to  my  hands  was  the  short  Letter  subjoyned  to  this  Treatise, 
to  which  I  have  (upon  my  Friend's  request)  framed  an  Answer, 
and  here  annexed  to  the  Letter.  The  next  I  met  with  was  a 
Manuscript  (that  would  fain  usurp  the  Title  of  Origo  Protestantium), 
sent  me  by  a  Gentleman  for  my  opinion  thereof,  which  after  having 
perused  and  transcribed  it,  I  returned  to  him  again,  and  have  here 
endeavoured  to  refute,  and  therein  vindicate  the  English  Refor- 
mation. ...  As  the  design  of  the  former  was  to  seduce  unstable 
Souls  from  our  Church,  by  suggesting  it  to  be  no  true  Church, 
through  the  defect  both  of  Moral  and  Personal  Successions,  so 
also  the  great  business  of  this  latter  is  to  prove  the  Nullity 
of  our  Church  for  want  of  Personal  Succession  therein,  chiefly 
upon  the  old  Nag's  Head  Story,  which  might  have  passed  for 
current  Roman  Coin  perhaps  (in  57)  when  Lilly's  Almanack  and 
Mother  Shipton's  Prophesy  were  in  vogue.  But  they  are  much  out 
in  their  Politicks  who  think  such  like  Riffraff  as  fitly  calculated  for 
(75);  the  World  is  grown  a  little  Older,  and  so  much  Wiser  too, 
than  to  believe  all  is  Gold  that  Glisters;  and  can  discern  between 
Legends  and  true  History,  however  the  insinuating  Jesuit  would 
fain  become  again  a  Pearl  for  a  Lady.  Other  Scripts  and  Prints  of 
this  nature,  and  to  this  effect  are  since  come  to  my  sight,  which 
perhaps  I  may  (when  I  have  nothing  else  to  do)  animadvert  upon, 
holding  myself  obliged  to  lend  my  poor  endeavours  in  scouring  these 
Northern  Coasts  (especially)  of  those  Popish  Pirats,  who  count  all 
Fish  that  comes  to  the  Net,  and  will  break  all  Laws  to  compass  one 
unlawful  Prize." 

Having  thus,  as  he  supposed,  defended  his  Church  from  her 
ancient  adversary,  he  turned  his  pen  towards  her  more  modern 
foes,  and  published,  dedicated  to  Bishop  Crewe, 

"No  Reformation  of  the  Established  Reformation.  London:  Printed  for 
Charles  Brome,  at  the  Gun  in  St.  Paul's  Church-yard,  1685."     Sm.  8vo,  250  pp. 

In  this  treatise  Mr.  Shaw  describes  Nonconformists  as  attending 
church  because  the  law  compels  them,  yet  entering  the  sacred  edifice 


JOHN  SNA  JV.  389 

as  countrymen  do  at  fairs  and  markets,  "some  sooner,  some  later"; 
and  with  the  same  reverence  that  they  enter  their  inn,  "  some  not  at 
the  beginning,  or  not  till  sermon  begin  " ;  others  "go  out  in  an  hurly- 
burly  after  the  sermon  is  ended,"  while  many  of  them  "  dispute, 
scruple,  deny,  and  undervalue  the  authority  of  the  Church,  rebel 
against  its  governours,  associate,  pack  juries  in  a  design  to  ruin  the 
Church,  and,  as  opportunity  serves,  take  to  a  conventicle."  More- 
over, "  For  a  long  time  their  talk  was  of  Providence,  and  their 
successes.  First  their  cause  was  God's  cause,  which  he  would 
prosper  for  their  sakes,  and  for  his  promises,  whereof  they  had  a 
large  stock  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Revelations.  This  had  a 
strong  smack  of  prophaneness.  Then  God  prospered  their  cause, 
therefore  it  was  God's  cause,  a  pure  Mahometan  conclusion.  Now 
that  it's  at  a  loss,  the  note  is  (and  mark  it,  I  beseech  you),  '  God  in 
the  ways  of  his  Providence  towards  us  walks  in  the  dark.'  The 
good  people  must  wait  till  the  day  appears,  and  the  good  hour 
comes.  In  the  meantime  let  us  make  our  appeals  to  God,  as  the 
Newcastle  Conventicling  Doctor  Gilpin  held  forth,  an.  1671,  and  be 
very  carefull  that  our  zeal  to  God  be  not  interrupted  by  our  duty  to 
the  King ;  but  above  all  be  free  to  support  your  painful,  precious 
preachers,  that  we  want  not  tongues  and  hands  for  the  old  cause." 

Mr.  Shaw  was  twice  chosen  a  member  of  the  Convocation  of 
Yorkshire,  and  once,  at  least,  served  for  the  clergy  of  the  Arch- 
deaconry of  Northumberland.  He  died  in  Newcastle  on  the  22nd 
May,  i68g,  and  on  the  24th  his  remains  were  laid  in  front  of  the 
altar  at  St.  John's  Church.  Soon  afterwards,  Anthony  Wood  informs 
us,  "his  ingenious  son,  John  Shaw,  belonging  to  the  Cathedral 
Church  of  Norwich,  bestowed  an  epitaph  on  his  father's  marble," 
which  Bourne  copied  thus  : — 

"Hie 

Quod  Remanet 

Johannis  Shaw 

Hujus  Ecclesiffi  Pastoris. 

Deo,  Ecclesise, 

Patriae,  Regi, 

Pie  Fidelis, 

Obijt  Maij  22,  A.D.  1689. 

iEtatis  SucC,  77." 


39 o  WILLIAM  SHIELD. 


Milliain  Sbiclb, 

COMPOSER. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  composers  that  England  has  produced  was 
WilUam  Shield.  Recent  research  has  set  at  rest  the  doubts  that 
previously  prevailed  as  to  the  date  and  place  of  his  birth.  The 
parish  register  in  Whickham  Church  contains  the  following  entry : — 

"William  Shield,  son  of  William  and  Mary  Shield,  born  at  Swalwell,  March 
5th,  1748." 

While  only  six  years  old,  young  Shield  was  taught  by  his  father,  a 
singing-master,  to  modulate  his  voice,  which  was  remarkably  full- 
toned,  and  to  practise  the  violin  and  harpsichord.  It  was  decided 
that  he  should  follow  the  profession  of  music ;  but  the  premature 
death  of  his  father  prevented  this  design  from  being  carried  out. 
The  circumstances  in  which  his  mother  was  placed  laid  her  under 
the  necessity  of  getting  him  taught  some  handicraft,  by  which  he 
might  immediately  earn  a  few  shillings  a  week.  So  having  had  the 
choice  of  three  trades  offered  him,  he  fixed  on  that  of  a  boat- 
builder;  and  accordingly  he  was  apprenticed  at  South  Shields  to 
Edward  Davison.  His  master,  a  kind-hearted,  indulgent  man, 
rather  encouraged  than  checked  him  in  the  pursuit  of  music,  and 
not  unfrequently  permitted  him  to  perform  on  the  violin  at  the 
concerts  in  the  town  and  neighbourhood. 

After  having  completed  the  term  of  his  apprenticeship,  he  gave  up 
boat-building  to  follow  the  natural  bent  of  his  mind.  He  had  obtained 
from  Charles  Avison,  it  is  said,  a  few  lessons  in  thorough-bass 
while  a  boy,  and  now  that  he  was  a  man,  he  went  to  that  able  master 
for  instruction  in  harmony.  In  1769  he  gave  proof  of  his  proficiency 
in  the  divine  art  by  composing  an  anthem  for  a  consecration  service 
at  Sunderland,  and  this  anthem,  performed  by  the  choir  of  Durham 
Cathedral,  gained  him  considerable  repute  in  musical  circles  round 
about.  In  particular,  it  led  to  his  being  invited  to  the  tables  of  the 
Church  dignitaries  at  Durham,  an  introduction  which  placed  him 
on  the  high  road  to  preferment.  While  in  Newcastle  he  played 
at  the  theatre,  at  Avison's  concerts,  and  at  the  entertainments  in 
Spring  Gardens,  at  the  far  end  of  Gallowgate,  which  at  that  time 
were  a  favourite  summer  resort  of  the  townspeople. 


WILLIAM  SHIELD. 


391 


The  fame  of  the  Tyneside  musician  in  due  time  reached  Scar- 
borough, then,  as  now,  a  fashionable  watering-place.  Invited 
thither,  he  undertook  the  management  of  the  Assembly  Rooms 
concerts  and  the  lead  of  the  theatre  orchestra.  John  Cunningham, 
the  poet-player,  was  a  member  of  the  Scarborough  company,  and 
between  him  and  Shield  a  friendship,  begun  in  Newcastle,  was 
renewed  and  strengthened.  Some  of  Cunningham's  sweetest  songs 
were  set  to  music  by  Shield,  and  woven  into  collections  of  songs 
and  melodies  which  he  afterwards  published.     While  at  Scarborough 


he  was  offered  a  seat  in  the  orchestra  of  the  Italian  Opera  House, 
London.  This  gratifying  offer  he  accepted,  and  he  had  not  been 
long  in  London  before  Giardini,  the  best  solo-player  of  his  day, 
engaged  him  as  second  violinist.  In  the  following  season,  he  was 
appointed  first  viola  by  Cramer,  who  had  succeeded  Giardini  as 
leader.  This  position  he  held  for  eighteen  years,  in  the  course  of 
which  time  he  composed  upwards  of  twenty  operas  for  the  Hay- 
market  and  Covent  Garden  Theatres.  Of  the  latter  he  became  the 
musical  director,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  musicians-in-ordinary 
to  George  III. 


392  WILLIAM  SHIELD. 

In  the  summer  of  1791  Shield  paid  a  visit  to  his  native  village, 
and  sought,  in  the  company  of  his  aged  mother,  who  still  resided  at 
Swalwell,  to  revive  the  association  of  his  early  years.  He  ministered 
liberally  to  her  wants,  and  displayed  towards  her  the  fondest  affec- 
tion. He  took  advantage  of  the  occasion  to  collect  several  of  the 
airs  that  are  still  traditionally  sung  in  the  counties  of  Northumber- 
land, Durham,  and  Cumberland,  which  in  his  infancy  he  had  been 
taught  to  sing  and  play,  and  of  which  he  says: — "These  hitherto 
neglected  flights  of  fancy  may  serve  to  augment  the  collector's  stock 
of  printed  rarities,  and  may  perhaps  prove  conspicuous  figures  in  the 
group  of  national  melodies." 

Shield  had  long  been  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  eccentric 
critic  and  collector,  Joseph  Ritson,  who  invited  him,  in  the  autumn 
of  1 79 1,  to  accompany  him  to  Paris.  During  his  stay  abroad,  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  several  eminent  musicians  in  the  French 
capital,  as  well  as  of  others  who  were  countrymen  of  his  own, 
drawn  thither  by  a  desire  to  increase  their  musical  knowledge; 
and,  extending  his  tour  to  Italy,  he  abode  some  time  in  Rome, 
for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  his  studies  in  the  classic  land  of 
song. 

Sir  William  Parsons,  the  Master  of  the  Musicians-in-Ordinary  to 
the  King,  having  died  in  181 7,  Shield  was  appointed  his  successor, 
and  when  he  attended  at  Brighton  Pavilion  to  express  his  gratitude 
for  the  appointment,  the  Prince  Regent,  it  is  said,  addressed  him 
thus: — "My  dear  Shield,  the  place  is  your  due;  your  merits,  inde- 
pendently of  my  regard,  entitled  you  to  it." 

The  great  composer  died  at  his  house  in  Berners  Street,  London, 
on  the  25th  of  January,  1829,  and  his  remains  were  deposited  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  He  left  a  widow,  whose  character  was  thus 
given  in  one  of  his  letters  : — "  I  ought  to  be  the  happiest  of  mortals 
at  home,  as  Mrs.  Shield  is  one  of  the  best  women  in  the  world,  and 
it  is  by  her  good  management  that  I  have  been  able  to  assist  my 
mother,  who  laboured  hard  after  the  death  of  my  father  to  give  her 
four  children  a  decent  education.  This  power  of  contributing  to 
her  support  I  consider  as  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  that  heaven 
has  bestowed  upon  me." 

Peter  Pindar  (Dr.  Wolcot),  who  lampooned  all  sorts  of  persons 
from  George  III.  down  to  the  liverymen  of  London,  bestowed  upon 
Shield  the  following  crambo  lines,  on  the  occasion  of  the  bust  of  the 
God  of  Music  falling  into  the  orchestra  during  a  rehearsal : — 


WILLIAM  SHIELD. 


393 


*'  One  day,  on  Shield's  crown, 

Apollo  leaped  down, 
And  lo  !  like  a  bullock  he  felled  him  ! 

Now,  was  not  this  odd  ? 

Not  at  all,  for  the  god  * 

Was  mad  that  a  mortal  excelled  him  I" 

In  October,  1S91,  through  the  exertions  of  Mr.  John  Robinson, 
restorer  of  the  tombstones  of  Avison  and  Cunningham,  a  monu- 
mental cross  to  Shield's  memory  was  unveiled  in  Whickham 
Churchyard  by  Dr.  Thomas  Hodgkin,  after  an  eloquent  address 
had  been  read  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Joseph  Cowen.  The  pedestal 
bears  the  inscription  : — 

"  In  memory  of  William  Shield,  musician  and  composer,  born  at  Swalwell, 
March  5th,  1748,  died  in  London,  January  25th,  1829,  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey.     Erected  by  public  subscription,  1891." 

"  Shield  was  one  of  the  most  famous  of  English  ballad  composers, 
and  shares  with  Storace,  Arne,  Linley,  and  Jackson  the  honour  of 
giving  a  form  and  character  to  the  English  song  as  bequeathed  by 
Purcell  and  the  older  composers.  His  concerted  music  is  melodious 
and  pretty,  and  most  of  his  music  is  composed  in  a  quiet  and  beautiful 
pastoral  vein.  His  dramatic  works  are  now  forgotten,  save  for  the 
songs  they  contain.  His  theoretical  works  are  well  written,  and 
though  now  disused  served  a  valuable  purpose  in  their  day." 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  principal  operas,  compositions,  etc. : — 

The  Crusade,  1790. 


The  Flitch  of  Bacon,  177S. 

Lord  Mayor's  Day,  1782. 

Rosina,  1783. 

The  Poor  Soldier,  17S3. 

Harlequin  Friar  Bacon,  1783. 

Robin  Hood,  1784. 

The  Noble  Peasant,  1784. 

Fontainebleau,  1784. 

The  Magic  Cavern,  1784. 

The  Nunnery,  1785. 

Love  in  a  Camp,  1785. 

The  Choleric  Fathers,  1785. 

Omai,  1785. 

Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  1786. 

The  Enchanted  Castle,  17S6. 

Marian,  1788. 

The  Prophet,  1788. 

The  Highland  Reel,  1788. 

Aladdin,  1788. 


The  Picture  of  Paris,  1790. 
Oscar  and  Malvina,  1791. 
The  Woodman,  1792. 
Hartford  Bridge,  1792. 
Harlequin's  Museum,  1793. 
The  Deaf  Lover,  1793. 
Midnight  Wanderers,  1793. 
Sprigs  of  Laurel,  1793. 
Travellers  in  Switzerland,  1794. 
Arrived  at  Portsmouth,  1794. 
Netley  Abbey,  1794. 
Mysteries  of  the  Castle,  1795. 
Lock  and  Key,  1796. 
Abroad  and  at  Home,  1796. 
Italian  Villagers,  1797. 
The  Farmer,  1798. 
Two  Faces  under  a  Hood,  1807. 
The  Wicklow  Mountains,  n.d. 


394  GEORGE  SILVERTOP. 

A  Cento,  consisting  of  Ballads,  Rounds,  Glees,  and  a  Roundelay,  Cavatinas, 
Canzonettas,  etc.     1809. 

A  Collection  of  Songs  sung  at  Vauxhall,  to  which  is  added  "Johnny  and  Mary," 
and  "  Oxfordshire  Nancy."     n.d. 

A  Collection  of  Six  Canzonets  and  an  Elegy,     n.  d. 

A  Collection  of  Favourite  Songs,  with  a  duet  for  two  Violins,     n.d. 

Six  Trios  for  Violin,  Tenor,  and  Violoncello,     n.d. 

Six  Duos  for  Two  Violins,     n.d. 

An  Introduction  to  Harmony.  Dedicated  to  Lady  Charlotte  Bertie.  1800,  4to, 
128  pp.     2nd  edition,  1817. 

Rudiments  of  Thorough  Bass  for  Young  Harmonists,  and  Precepts  for  their 
Progressive  Advancement.      1815,  4to,  viii.-go  pp. 

Numerous  songs,  of  which  the  best  known  are  "  The  Wolf,"  "  The  Thorn," 
"  Old  Towler,"  "  The  Heaving  of  the  Lead,"  "  The  Post  Captain,"  "  The  Plough- 
boy,"  "  The  Death  of  Tom  Moody,"  "  The  Arethusa,"  "  Last  Whistle,"  "  Lovely 
Jane,"  "  My  Own  Native  Village,"  "  The  Bud  of  the  Rose,"  "  Sailor's  Epitaph," 
"On  by  the  Spur  of  Valour  Goaded,"  and  "Violet  nurs'd  in  Woodlands 
Wild." 


(Bcoroc  Stlvcrtop, 

A    FINE    OLD    ENGLISH    GENTLEMAN. 

"  How  blessed  is  he  who  leads  a  country  life, 
Unvexed  with  anxious  cares,  and  void  of  strife  !" 

— Dryden. 

High  up  among  the  hills  and  moorlands  which  overhang  the  little 
river  Derwent,  as  it  comes  down  from  beyond  Blanchland  to  join  the 
ever-absorbing  Tyne,  stands  the  stately  mansion  of  Minsteracres,  the 
home  of  the  Northumbrian  family  of  Silvertop.  About  the  Silvertops 
and  their  doings  local  history  has  little  to  relate.  No  trace  of  their 
name  can  be  found  in  North-Country  annals  earlier  than  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  At  that  time,  according  to  a  pedigree 
in  Surtees's  "  History  of  Durham,"  one  William  Silvertop  resided  at 
Stella,  but  who  he  was,  or  whence  he  came,  whether  he  was  native 
born  or  a  stranger  connected  with  the  Tempests  at  Stella  Hall, 
cannot  be  ascertained.  He  married  a  lady  named  Galley,  and,  in 
the  absence  of  earlier  evidence,  may  be  set  down  as  the  common 
ancestor  of  the  family.  To  him  was  born  a  son,  Albert  Silvertop, 
who  wedded  a  Blaydon  lady — Mary,  daughter  of  Joseph  Dunn  of 
that  place — and  died  in  1738,  leaving,  among  other  issue,  a  son 
named  George.     George  Silvertop,  son  of  Albert,  went  for  a  wife  to 


GEORGE  SILVER  TO  P. 


395 


the  family  of  Whittingham,  of  \V'hittingham,  in  Lancashire,  as  did 
also  his  brother  Joseph.  These  marriages  may  have  brought  money 
into  the  Silvertop  connection;  but,  whether  they  did  or  no,  George 
Silvertop,  son  of  Albert,  acquired  wealth,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  family  fortune.  It  was  he  who  purchased  the  estate  of 
Minsteracres,  built  the  mansion,  laid  out  the  grounds,  formed  the 
plantations,  and,  being  a  Catholic,  like  his  father  and  grandfather, 
established  a  mission  upon  his  estate  for  the  benefit  of  his  family, 


^^. 


Geoj^ge-  ^ILVEiyOp. 


his  tenants,  and  the  followers  of  the  old  faith  among  his  friends 
and  neighbours.  He  was  an  early  patron  of  Thomas  Bewick,  the 
engraver,  to  whom,  as  recorded  in  Bewick's  "  Autobiography,"  he 
lent  "  Edwards's  Natural  History."  He  bought,  also,  the  lands  of 
the  Erringtons  at  Ponteland,  so  that  when,  in  1789,  he  died  at 
Stella,  aged  eighty-four  years,  he  left  his  heir,  John  Silvertop,  whose 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Lawson  of  Brough  Hall,  near 
Catterick,  an  ample  fortune.  John  Silvertop  handed  down  the 
property  unimpaired  to  his  eldest  son,  George  Silvertop,  and  George 


396  GEORGE  SILVERTOP. 

Silvertop,  the  most  prominent  man  of  his  race,  and,  indeed,  the 
only  member  of  his  family  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  public  life 
of  Tyneside,  forms  the  subject  of  the  present  narrative. 

Born  at  Benwell  House,  near  Newcastle,  on  the  6th  of  January, 
1775)  George  Silvertop  obtained  his  early  education  in  the  prepara- 
tory school  attached  to  the  great  Catholic  College  of  Douay,  pursued 
his  studies  in  the  college  itself  till  the  French  Revolution  closed  the 
establishment,  and  completed  his  course  at  the  Rev.  John  Potier's 
lay  school.  Old  Hall  Green,  Hertfordshire.  He  returned  to  the 
paternal  roof  at  a  time  when  threats  of  invasion  from  the  French, 
under  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  alarmed  all  England,  and  set  on  fire 
the  youth  of  every  seaboard  county  within  the  realm.  Corps  of 
volunteers  sprang  into  existence  all  over  the  North  of  England 
(Northumberland  had  seventeen  or  eighteen  of  them),  and  over  one 
of  these  corps,  organised  in  the  county  of  Durham,  and  known  far 
and  near  as  the  Derwent  Rangers,  young  Mr.  Silvertop  was  appointed 
captain  commandant.  Later  on,  in  what  was  known  as  the  second 
French  War,  he  occupied  the  same  position  at  the  head  of  the 
Bywell  Troop  of  Volunteer  Yeomanry  Cavalry.  In  both  commands 
he  exhibited  that  military  spirit  and  soldierly  feeling  which  the  rank 
and  file  admire  in  an  officer.  At  the  conclusion  of  peace  in  1814, 
when  the  corps  had  fulfilled  its  mission.  Captain  Silvertop  received 
from  his  ofiicers  and  men  a  sword  of  honour,  of  the  value  of  a 
hundred  guineas. 

The  war  being  over,  cultured  Englishmen  were  able,  in  the 
summer  of  18 14,  to  resume  their  travels  on  the  Continent.  Mr. 
Silvertop  was  one  of  those  who  went  over.  He  went  through 
France  and  Italy,  and,  being  a  young  man  of  high  intelligence  and 
polished  manners,  and  an  English  Catholic  of  wealth  and  influence, 
he  was  admitted  into  the  best  society.  Among  other  places  that  he 
visited  was  Elba,  the  island  to  which  Bonaparte  had  been  banished, 
and  over  which,  by  the  treaty  of  Fontainebleau,  he  exercised  imperial 
sovereignty.  Mr.  Silvertop  had  a  long  conversation  with  the  fallen 
hero — a  conversation  which  produced  grave  consequences.  For,  in 
the  course  of  their  chat,  the  question  of  the  pension  guaranteed  to 
the  exile  out  of  the  revenues  of  France  was  mentioned,  and  Mr. 
Silvertop  was  able  to  inform  his  host  that,  only  a  few  days  earlier, 
the  Duke  of  Fleury,  with  whom  he  had  dined  in  Paris,  had  scoffed 
at  the  idea  that  the  French  Government  would  observe  the  financial 
part  of  the  treaty,  and  expressed  a  confident  opinion  that  they  were 


GEORGE  SILVERTOP.  397 

not  such  fools.  This  conversation  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
Bonaparte.  It  was  one  of  the  reasons,  as  he  afterwards  told  O'Meara, 
that  induced  him  to  quit  Elba,  and  make  that  abortive  effort  to  regain 
power  in  France  which  ended  at  St.  Helena.  When  Bonaparte  left 
Elba,  Mr.  Silvertop  was  in  Italy,  and  he  remained  there  in  some  peril. 
Murat,  King  of  Naples,  hearing  of  Napoleon's  landing  in  France, 
flew  to  arms  against  Austria,  and  for  a  time  Mr.  Silvertop  and  other 
Englishmen  of  position  were  placed  in  a  critical,  if  not  a  dangerous, 
position  between  the  two  armies.  The  campaign  was  brief  and 
disastrous,  and  the  Englishmen  were  soon  able  to  resume  their 
travels  in  peace. 

Upon  his  return  to  England,  Mr.  Silvertop  was  selected  by  Lord 
Liverpool  to  undertake  a  private  and  unofficial  mission  on  behalf  of 
the  British  Government  to  his  Holiness  the  Pope.  The  negotiations 
came  to  nothing,  for  the  views  of  the  Pope  and  the  Premier  could 
not  be  brought  into  harmony,  even  by  so  astute  a  courtier  and  so 
intelligent  a  diplomatist  as  Mr.  Silvertop.  By  both  parties  he  was 
congratulated  upon  the  address  and  the  ability  with  which  he  had 
discharged  the  delicate  and  difficult  trust  committed  to  him,  and 
there  the  mission  ended. 

Like  many  of  the  leading  Catholics  of  his  time,  Mr.  Silvertop 
allied  himself  in  politics  with  the  Whig  party,  and  was  a  frequent 
and  effective  speaker  on  their  side.  During  the  great  Parliamentary 
election  of  1826,  he  supported  Lord  Howick,  son  of  Earl  Grey, 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Wentworth  Beaumont.  Responding  to  the  toast 
of  "  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty  all  over  the  World,"  at  a  banquet 
given  to  Lord  Howick  in  the  Assembly  Rooms,  Newcastle,  while  the 
contest  was  raging,  and  referring  to  a  speech  by  a  previous  speaker 
(Dr.  Fenwick),  Mr.  Silvertop  gave  utterance  to  the  generous  senti- 
ments which  follow  : — • 

"  My  learned  friend  on  my  right  hand  (Dr.  Fenwick)  was  born  of 
Catholic  parents,  baptised  and  educated  a  Catholic,  and  when  of 
mature  age,  in  the  sincerity  of  his  heart,  renounced  the  Church  of 
Rome.  I  am  descended,  Hke  him,  from  Catholic  parents,  was 
baptised  and  educated  a  Catholic,  and  I  most  sincerely  believe  in 
the  pure  principles  of  the  Catholic  Church,  though  I  do,  also,  most 
sincerely  wish  for  a  thorough  radical  reform  in  the  discipline  of  that 
church.  Now,  sir,  do  I  believe  that  this  man  has  not  as  good  a 
chance  of  obtaining  the  happiness  of  heaven  as  myself?  I  should 
think  I  committed  an  act  of  blasphemy  against    my  Maker  if  I 


398  GEORGE  SILVER  TO  P. 

entertained  any  such  opinion.  I  think  that  human  reason  is  the 
best  gift  of  Heaven.  My  learned  friend  has  employed  his  great 
talents  and  acquirements  in  an  impartial  search  into  the  doctrines 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  has  rejected  them.  I,  I  trust,  with 
equal  impartiality,  have  applied  my  very  inferior  powers  to  the  same 
inquiry,  but  with  a  different  result.  Though  we  have  so  done,  I 
entertain  not  a  particle  of  doubt  but  that  with  good  works  the  gates 
of  Heaven  will  be  equally  open  to  us  both." 

In  April,  1829,  the  long-fought  question  of  Catholic  Emancipation 
was  settled  by  the  passing  of  the  Relief  Bill.  The  following  year 
Mr.  Silvertop  was  appointed  High  Sheriff  for  his  native  county — 
the  first  Roman  Catholic  squire  who  had  filled  that  ofifice,  it  is  said, 
since  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary.  During  the  agitation  for 
Parliamentary  Reform,  which  entered  an  acute  stage  before  his 
Shrievalty  expired,  faithful  to  the  principles  which  he  had  maintained 
in  the  struggle  for  Catholic  Emancipation,  he  rendered  hearty 
support  to  Earl  Grey  and  the  Whig  Government.  His  amiable 
nature  kept  him  out  of  heated  political  controversy,  but  he  was 
at  all  times  a  sincere  and  consistent  advocate  of  moderate  reforms 
within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution.  His  last  public  appearance 
was  upon  a  pohtical  platform — the  hustings  at  Darlington,  from 
which  place  he  nominated  Lord  Harry  Vane,  the  Liberal  candidate 
for  the  representation  of  South  Durham. 

Mr.  Silvertop's  sympathy  with  genius  in  humble  life  finds  illustration 
in  our  sketches  of  Bishop  Bewick  and  John  Graham  Lough.  The 
Bishop  was  born  upon  Mr.  Silvertop's  estate,  the  sculptor  in  an 
adjoining  hamlet;  and  both  of  them  owed  their  start  in  life, 
and  much  of  their  after-success,  to  his  generous  heart  and  liberal 
hand. 

In  the  various  pursuits  and  improvements  of  agriculture  Mr. 
Silvertop  was  an  adept  and  an  exemplar.  In  a  speech  which  he 
made  at  the  first  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Newcastle  Farmers' 
Club  in  March,  1847,  he  stated  that  to  his  care  had  been  committed 
at  various  times  executorships  and  trusteeships  of  estates  of  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  pounds  in  value,  involving  responsibilities 
that  were  not  to  be  lightly  undertaken,  but  which  had  been  of  real 
service  to  him  by  bringing  him  into  contact  with  a  wide  circle  of 
agricultural  tenantry.  A  practical  farmer  himself,  he  described  the 
ignorance  which  prevailed  among  tillers  of  the  soil  forty  years  before, 
when  he  presided  at  one  of  the  earliest  agricultural  meetings  held  in 


PETER,  ROBERT,  AND  JOHN  SMART.  399 

the  Tyne  valley,  congratulated  his  hearers  upon  the  progress  that 
had  been  made  in  the  interval,  commended  the  application  of 
science  to  cultivation,  and  advised  young  farmers  to  study  agricul- 
tural chemistry,  and  so  make  themselves  masters  of  their  profession. 

Mr.  Silvertop  died  on  the  20th  of  February,  1849,  and  was  buried 
at  Ryton.  He  had  lived  a  bachelor,  and  his  estates  went  to  his 
grandnephew,  Henry  Charles  Englefield,  who,  under  the  provisions 
of  his  will,  took  the  name  of  Silvertop.  Mr.  H.  C.  E.  Silvertop 
married,  first,  the  Hon.  Eliza  Stoner,  third  daughter  of  Lord  Camoys, 
and  secondly  Caroline,  daughter  of  E.  J.  Weld,  of  Ludworth,  in 
Dorsetshire.  He  erected  the  beautiful  Catholic  Church  which 
adjoins  the  family  mansion  at  Minsteracres,  and  died  on  the  7th 
of  March,  18S7. 

Our  portrait  is  copied  from  one  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  T. 
Swallow,  Bell  Terrace,  Newcastle,  a  son  of  Mr.  George  Silvertop's 
chief  land  steward. 


peter,  IRobert,  anb  3obn  Smart, 

THREE    LOCAL    CELEBRITIES. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First,  when  Dr.  Cosin, 
prebendary  of  the  tenth  stall,  and  afterwards  bishop,  was  intro- 
ducing into  the  services  at  Durham  Cathedral  some  of  the  high 
church  practices  which,  a  few  years  later,  were  associated  with  the 
name  of  Archbishop  Laud,  there  was  a  stern-faced  and  hard-headed 
old  prebendary  in  the  fourth  stall  who  viewed  the  proceedings  with 
undisguised  aversion.  His  name  was  Peter  Smart,  and  he  was  a 
member  of  a  family  of  Smarts  that  at  one  time  resided  upon  the 
estate  of  Harton,  near  South  Shields.  Bishop  James,  his  college 
friend  and  patron,  had  bestowed  upon  him  a  number  of  preferments 
— the  prebend  in  1609,  the  mastership  of  Gateshead  Hospital  in 
161 2,  and  the  rectory  of  Boldon  in  1614;  besides  which  he  held  a 
high  commissionership  for  the  province  of  York.  He  was,  therefore, 
a  person  of  importance,  by  whose  utterances  the  clergy  and  gentry 
of  the  diocese  were  likely  to  be  considerably  influenced.  In  the 
summer  of  1628,  on  the  27th  of  July,  Prebendary  Smart  was 
appointed  to  preach  in  the  Cathedral,  and  he  took  the  opportunity 
of  expressing  with  unwonted  freedom  his  views  upon  the  "  Super- 


400  PETER,  ROBERT,  AND  JOHN  SMART. 

stitious  innovations  "  by  which  he  was  surrounded.  This  venerable 
cleric  launched  forth  a  series  of  invectives,  of  the  fiercest  and 
coarsest  character,  against  high  church  bishops  and  their  imitators, 
their  teachings  and  their  practices.  Warming  up  as  he  proceeded, 
he  stigmatised  them  as  "  the  whore  of  Babylon's  bastardly  brood," 
who,  "doating  upon  their  mother's  beauty,  that  painted  harlot  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  have  laboured  to  restore  her  all  her  robes  and 
jewels  again,  especially  her  looking-glass  the  mass,  in  which  she  may 
behold  her  bravery."  Then,  "  the  mass  coming  in,  brings  with  it  an 
inundation  of  ceremonies,  crosses,  and  crucifixes,  chalices  and  images, 
copes  and  candlesticks,  tapers  and  basons,  and  a  thousand  such 
trinkets,  which  we  have  seen  in  this  church  since  the  communion 
table  was  turned  into  an  altar.  I  assure  you,"  he  continued,  "the 
altar  is  an  idol,  a  damnable  idol  as  it  is  used."  Further,  "  the 
sacrament  itself  is  well-nigh  turned  into  a  theatrical  stage  play,  that 
when  men's  minds  should  be  occupied  about  heavenly  meditations 
of  Christ's  bitter  death  and  passion,  of  their  own  sin,  of  faith  and 
repentance,  their  eyes  are  fed  with  pompous  spectacles  of  glistering 
pictures,  and  histrionical  gestures;  the  hallowed  priest  daunces  about 
the  altar,  making  pretty  sport  and  fine  pastime,  with  trippings,  and 
turnings,  and  crossings,  and  crouchings,  while  choristers  and  singing 
men  shout  and  cry,  and  make  most  sweet  Apollonian  harmony.  Did 
Christ  minister  the  sacrament  in  such  manner  to  his  disciples  at 
his  last  supper?  Was  there  an  altar  in  the  chamber  where  he 
supped  ?  Did  Christ  put  on  a  cope  laden  with  images,  or  did  he 
change  his  garments  ?  "  and  so  on. 

For  preaching  this  "seditious"  sermon  Peter  Smart  was  cited 
before  the  spiritual  courts,  but  instead  of  expressing  contrition, 
he  proceeded  to  even  greater  lengths  of  insubordination;  he  indicted 
Dr.  Cosin  and  the  church  authorities,  at  Durham  Assizes,  for 
practising  superstitious  and  unlawful  ceremonies,  contrary  to  the  Act 
of  Uniformity.  In  the  end  the  Church  triumphed.  Peter  Smart, 
scornfully  refusing  to  recant,  was  excommunicated,  dispossessed  of 
his  preferments,  and  fined  ^^500.  The  fine  he,  with  equal  obstinacy, 
refused  to  pay,  and,  in  consequence,  he  was  committed  to  the  King's 
Bench  Prison.  Some  Puritan  friends  subscribed  about  ;^4oo  a  year 
for  him  during  his  imprisonment,  but  not  a  farthing  of  this  sum 
would  he  allow  to  be  paid  in  liquidation  of  his  penalty.  He  lay  in 
gaol  eleven  years,  and  then  received  from  his  triumphant  friends,  the 
Puritans,  a  restoration  of  his  former  possessions.     Thus  rehabilitated 


PETER,  ROBERT,  AND  JOHN  SMART.  401 

and  re-established,  he  came  back  to  Durham,  and  died  there  (or  in 
the  neighbourhood)  in  the  year  1652. 

From  the  family  of  this  iconoclastic  prebendary  came  Christopher 
Smart,  poet  (friend  of  Pope,  Johnson,  and  Garrick),  who  "wrote  a 
poem  with  charcoal  on  the  walls  of  his  cell  in  a  madhouse,"'  and  died 
within  the  precincts  of  the  King's  Bench  Prison  in  1771.  Through 
them,  in  like  manner,  descended  the  Smarts  of  Snotterton  in  the 
Bishopric,  and  afterwards  of  Trewhitt  in  Central  Northumberland. 

Following  the  Trewhitt  line,  we  find,  at  the  beginning  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  John  Smart  of  that  place  marrying  Eleanor,  daughter 
of  William  Alder  of  Horncliffe  Hall,  and  Belford,  and  leaving  at  his 
death,  in  1734,  among  other  issue,  two  sons  named  William  and 
Robert.  William,  his  heir,  became  the  squire  of  Trewhitt ;  Robert, 
the  younger  son,  attained  considerable  notoriety  in  various  depart- 
ments of  ingenuity  and  enterprise.  Of  this  Robert  Smart,  and  his 
doings,  Tate,  the  historian  of  Alnwick,  writes  copiously.  Born  in 
1 7 15,  he  succeeded,  at  his  father's  death,  to  the  estate  of  Hobberlaw 
(a  hamlet  about  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  south-west  of  Alnwick 
market-place),  which  had  been  the  marriage  portion  of  his  mother, 
Eleanor  Alder.  He  married  Frances,  daughter  of  William  Burrell, 
of  Broome  Park,  and  settling  down  upon  his  property,  farmed  his 
own  land  and  other  broad  acres  the  while  he  indulged  himself  with 
numerous  hobbies  in  geometry,  mechanics,  music,  and  natural  philo- 
sophy. "  His  estate  he  divided  into  fields  having  geometrical  forms, 
and  enclosed  them  with  double  hedges;  he  made  an  organ  for  Bel- 
ford  Church ;  he  invented  a  thrashing  machine."  Believing  that 
men  could  fly  like  birds,  if  they  were  only  provided  with  suitable 
appliances,  "  he  constructed  a  pair  of  wings  made  of  leather  and 
feathers,  and  attached  them  to  his  arms  with  some  mechanism  to  aid 
their  movement."  Summoning  his  friends  and  servants  to  witness 
his  first  flight  through  the  air,  he  ascended  the  granary  stairs  at 
Hobberlaw,  "  waved  for  a  while  his  wings,  and  then  sprang  from  the 
stair  head  "  ;  but  "  alas  1  all  the  efforts  he  made  with  his  apparatus 
could  not  overcome  the  laws  of  gravity,  and  down  he  ignominiously 
fell  into  a  gooseberry  bush !  "  His  thrashing  machine  was  equally 
a  failure  ;  for  it  was  constructed  to  act  by  rubbing  instead  of  beating, 
and,  besides  doing  but  very  little  work  in  a  given  time,  it  bruised,  and 
therefore  injured  the  grain.  "  One  of  his  daughters,  who  lived  in 
Alnwick,  related  that  after  successfully  trying  the  machine,  he  gave 
it  up,  fearing  that  its  adoption  would  injure  the  agricultural  labourers, 

VOL.  III.  26 


402  PETER,  ROBERT,  AND  JOHN  SMART. 

but  that,  after  his  decease,  it  was  patented  by  his  servant,  Rastrick, 
whose  machine,  it  is  reported  in  Rees's  Cyclopaedia,  had  novelties  of 
construction,  and  was  seen  to  thrash  forty-three  sheaves  in  ten  minutes, 
and  to  dress  them  at  the  same  time."  Like  his  ancestor,  the  pre- 
bendary, Robert,  was  a  troublesome  neighbour  to  the  local  authori- 
ties. Although  an  overseer  of  the  poor  for  the  parish  of  Alnwick, 
"  he  made  aggressions  on  Alnwick  Moor;  he  fought  the  Four-and- 
Twenty  for  a  road  across  that  moor,  and  obtained  it ;  he  claimed 
exemption  from  Church  rates,  but  was  not  successful ;  and  thus  he 
involved  both  the  corporation  and  the  parish  in  law-suits."  Outside 
of  his  agricultural  pursuits  he  is  described  as  a  "  mathematician,  an 
astronomer,  with,  it  is  said,  the  '  Principia '  at  his  finger  ends,  a 
mechanist  and  a  musician."  He  died  at  Hobberlaw  on  the  19th  of 
December,  1787,  aged  71. 

Robert  Smart's  elder  brother  William,  born  in  1705,  lived  for  a 
time,  between  his  father's  death  in  1734  and  his  marriage  in  1757, 
upon  some  property  of  the  Alders  at  Belford.  He  was  there  in 
1745,  and  as  the  principal  resident  received  the  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
marching  through  Northumberland  to  the  victory  of  Culloden,  x-^t 
his  death  the  estate  of  Trewhitt  descended  to  his  eldest  son,  John 
Smart,  J. P.,  who  figures  in  the  pages  of  local  history  as  an  eminent 
antiquary.  In  his  "  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson,"  historian 
of  Northumberland,  the  Rev.  James  Raine  notes  Mr.  Smart's  anti- 
quarian acquirements  in  the  following  pleasant  bit  of  banter : — 

"In  this  same  year,  1819,  a  new  name  was  added  to  the  list  of 
Mr.  Hodgson's  topographical  correspondents.  John  Smart,  Esq.,  of 
Trewhitt,  kindly  offered  his  services  in  investigating  the  British  and 
Roman  camps  and  roads  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  county,  and 
communicated  a  sketch  of  old  Rothbury,  etc.,  promising  further 
assistance.  It  must  be  admitted  that  in  his  quest  of  antiquities  of 
this  description  Mr.  Smart  occasionally  made  a  happy  discovery; 
and,  further,  that  he  took  a  sincere  pleasure  in  making  his  friends 
acquainted  with  the  result  of  his  labours.  Occasionally,  however, 
he  was  fanciful.  He  was  apt  to  mistake  the  fosse  of  a  Border  tower 
for  the  ditch  of  a  Roman  camp,  or  the  mounds  thrown  up  as  sheep- 
folds,  or  night-lairs  as  they  were  called,  for  British  fortifications.  An 
outline  of  one  of  his  discoveries  may  be  seen  in  the  second  volume 
of  Mackenzie's  patchwork  History  of  Northumberland,  p.  19,  illustra- 
tive of  what  he  considered  to  be  the  remains  of  a  Roman  camp  at 
Crawley  Tower.     This  cut,  however,  had  'a  double  debt  to  pay.' 


PETER,  ROBERT,  AND  JOHN  SMART  403 

At  no  greater  distance  than  that  of  two  leaves  from  the  page  on 
which  it  first  makes  its  appearance,  the  editor  adroitly  introduces  the 
very  same  illustration  (if  I  am  not  mistaken),  in  an  altered  position, 
and  makes  it  do  duty  as  a  British  camp  between  Linhope  and 
Hartside." 

Turning  to  Mackenzie's  volume,  we  find  the  cut  accompanying, 
on  page  19,  a  description  by  Mr.  Smart  of  an  old  encampment 
at  Crawley  Tower,  which  he  considered  to  be  the  "  Alauna  Amnis  " 
of  the  fourth  Iter  of  Richard  of  Cirencester,  placed  by  Dr.  Stukeley 
at  Alnwick.  On  page  22  is  another  engraving  illustrating  a  fortified 
British  town,  which  Mr.  Smart  states  that  he  had  discovered  between 
Linhope  and  Hartside,  at  the  foot  of  Greenlaw  Hill,  the  lowest  to 
the  east  of  the  range  of  the  Cheviots.  The  two  blocks  are  not, 
however,  identical,  and  in  suggesting  that  they  were  so  Mr.  Raine 
was,  for  once,  mistaken.  They  are  both  evidently  the  production 
of  Mr.  Smart,  "  whose  skill  and  ardour  in  antiquarian  pursuits," 
writes  Mackenzie,  "are  well  known,"  and  whose  "warm  interes( 
in  advancing  the  purposes  of  this  work,  merits  the  best  obligations 
of  the  publishers."  On  page  80  of  the  same  volume  is  another 
sketch  contributed  by  him — a  plan  of  Burgh  Hill,  Tosson. 

Mr,  Smart  became  a  member  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of 
Antiquaries  a  few  months  after  its  formation  in  181 3,  and  took 
an  active  interest  in  its  proceedings.  He  contributed  to  the  first 
volume  of  the  "  Arch^ologia,"  "An  Account  of  a  Roman  Station 
near  Glanton,  Northumberland  "  (the  Crawley  Tower  encampment 
of  Mackenzie's  book),  and  to  the  second  volume  of  the  series  he 
sent  "  An  Account  of  a  Roman  Road  in  Northumberland,"  which, 
as  he  describes  it,  begins  at  Rochester,  in  Redesdale,  passes  by 
Yardhope  to  Holystone,  and  through  Burradon,  Trewhitt,  Lorbottle, 
and  Callaley,  joins  the  eastern  branch  of  Watling  Street,  near 
Barton. 

On  the  30th  of  October,  1828,  aged  sixty-nine  years,  Mr.  Smart 
died.  By  his  marriage  with  Dorothy,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Robert 
Lynn,  he  had  four  sons  and  four  daughters.  Of  the  former,  William 
Lynn  Smart,  the  eldest,  succeeded  to  the  estates;  John,  the  second 
son,  settled  at  Bridgen  Hall,  Enfield;  Robert  entered  the  navy  and 
became  Admiral  Sir  Robert  Smart,  K.C.B.,  K.H.,  of  Mainsforth, 
Durham;  while  Newton,  the  fourth  son,  went  into  the  church, 
and  was  for  many  years  Rector  of  Burghfield  in  Berkshire,  and  a 
Prebendary  of  Salisbury. 


404  THOMAS  SMITH. 


^boma0   Smitb, 

MAYOR    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

"  In  Memory  of  Thomas  Smith  of  St.  Lawrence,  Esq.,  for  30  years  one  of 
the  Aldermen  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  and  twice  Mayor  of  that  town,  who 
died  March  6th,  A.D.  1836,  in  the  80th  year  of  his  age.  And  also  of  Mary  his 
wife  who  having  survived  her  husband  a  few  months  died  on  the  15th  of 
October,  in  the  same  year,  in  the  76th  year  of  her  age.  Their  earthly  remains 
are  laid  together  in  this  church.  This  Monument  is  erected  by  their  two  sons, 
gratefully  mindful  of  departed  worth,  and  affectionately  cherishing  the  memory  of 
their  deceased  parents." — Epitaph  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  Newcastle. 

About  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  William  Smith,  a 
freeholder  in  Amble,  married  Alice,  daughter  of  John  Patterson, 
a  landowner  in  the  township  of  Togston,  near  Warkworth.  From 
that  marriage  came  the  Smiths  of  Togston,  a  well-known  North- 
umbrian family.  Thomas  Smith,  of  Togston,  a  great-grandson  of 
William  Smith  the  founder,  marrying  Frances,  daughter  of  John 
Cook,  another  landowner  in  the  township,  had,  among  other  issue, 
two  sons.  The  elder  of  these  two  sons,  baptised  by  the  ancestral 
name  of  ^Villiam,  succeeded  to  the  family  property,  and  became  the 
squire  of  Togston;  the  other,  named  after  his  father,  Thomas  Smith, 
was  apprenticed  to  Anthony  Pearson,  of  St.  Lawrence,  near  New- 
castle, roper,  and  marrying  his  master's  daughter,  Mary  Pearson, 
founded  the  family  of  Smith  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Gosforth. 

Thomas  Smith,  the  roper,  makes  his  first  appearance  in  local 
history  upon  the  pages  of  the  Poll-Book  of  the  Newcastle  election  in 
1780,  when,  as  a  member  of  the  Ropemakers'  Company,  he  divided 
his  vote  between  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  and  the  adventurer — 
Andrew  Robinson  Bowes.  A  couple  of  years  later  he  occurs  as  a 
married  man  carrying  on  his  father-in-law's  business  at  St.  Lawrence. 
He  lived  then,  and  for  many  years  afterwards,  at  St.  Lawrence 
House,  the  stout  old  mansion,  with  bay  windows,  that  still  forms 
a  prominent  feature  in  the  riverside  prospect,  a  few  yards  west  of  the 
Mushroom  landing-place;  and  he  made  his  cordage  in  the  premises 
adjoining,  which,  with  many  alterations  and  extensions,  is  the  rope 
manufactory  of  his  descendants  at  the  present  day.  At  St.  Lawrence 
House,  his  two  sons,  Thomas  and  William  Smith,  were  born. 

When  Thomas  Smith  had  been  ten  or  a  dozen  years  in  business, 


THOMAS  SMITH.  405 

he  began  to  interest  himself  in  the  municipal  affairs  of  Newcastle, 
and,  in  1796,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Common  Council.  The 
following  year,  Anthony  Hood  being  Mayor,  he  was  chosen  to  be 
Sheriff,  and  in  June,  1S03,  through  the  death  of  Alderman  Robert 
Shafto  Hedley,  he  received  the  gown  of  an  alderman,  and  a  seat  on 
the  bench  of  magistrates.  At  Michaelmas  following,  he  obtained 
the  highest  honour,  short  of  a  seat  in  Parliament,  that  his  fellow- 
burgesses  could  confer  upon  him — he  was  elected  Mayor. 

Alderman  Smith's  Mayoralty  came  at  that  critical  time  to  which 
reference  has  been  frequently  made  in  this  series,  when  all  England 
was  arming  against  Napoleon.  Only  a  few  weeks  before  his  election, 
he  had  been  appointed  a  captain,  and  his  son  Thomas  a  second  lieu- 
tenant, of  the  Newcastle  Loyal  Associated  Volunteer  Infantry,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley.  Only  a  few  weeks 
after  his  election,  the  grain  warehouses  in  the  New  Road,  known  as 
"  Egypt,"  were  converted  into  barracks  for  the  reception  of  soldiery. 
A  little  later  came  the  terrible  excitement  created  by  "  the  false 
alarm."  Some  unfortunate  wight,  on  the  evening  of  the  last  day  in 
January,  1804,  fired  the  whins  on  the  Lammermuir  hills,  and  the  glare 
being  mistaken  on  the  Borders  for  a  signal,  the  Northumbrian 
beacons  were  lighted,  and  from  the  Tweed  to  the  Tyne,  and  far 
away  into  the  bishopric,  everybody  was  alarmed,  and  everything 
thrown  into  confusion.  When  the  terror  had  subsided.  Mayor  Smith 
issued  a  proclamation,  explaining  the  signals  that  would  be  employed 
if  necessity  arose  for  their  use,  and  for  the  rest  of  his  term  the  town 
was  tranquil. 

After  an  interval  of  ten  years,  during  which  he  had  started  and 
joined  his  second  son  William  in  the  business  of  a  shipbuilder  at  St. 
Peter's,  Alderman  Smith  was  elected  Mayor  for  the  second  time, 
with  his  eldest  son,  Thomas,  as  Sheriff.  It  was  his  good  fortune,  on 
this  occasion,  to  celebrate  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  final  defeat 
of  the  disturber  against  whom  the  "  false  alarm  "  in  his  first  mayoralty 
had  been  directed.  On  the  loth  of  May,  1S14,  amid  the  firing 
of  guns,  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  the  cheers  of  the  populace,  he 
and  his  colleagues  went  in  procession  to  the  Westgate,  and  there 
solemnised  the  conclusion  of  peace  in  Europe,  and  the  restoration 
of  harmony  among  themselves,  by  laying  the  foundation-stone  of  the 
"  Peace  and  Unity  Hospital."  Among  other  incidents  of  his  second 
term  of  office  were  the  launching  and  participation  in  the  Mayor's 
"  Barge  Day  "  procession  of  the  first  steamboat  built  on  the  Tyne, 


4o6  THOMAS  AND   WILLIAM  SMITH. 

and  the  arrival  in  Shields  Harbour  of  the  first  steamship  that  had 
navigated  the  North  Sea.  Thus,  Alderman  Smith,  a  shipbuilder 
himself,  was  privileged  to  preside,  so  to  speak,  at  the  birth  of  local 
steam  navigation. 

In  his  old  age  Alderman  Smith  removed  from  St.  Lawrence  House 
to  Heaton  Hall,  and  there,  as  recorded  in  his  epitaph,  he  died  on 
the  6th  of  March,  1836,  aged  seventy-nine. 


Thomas  anb  OTiUlam  Sntitb, 

SHIPBUILDERS. 

Thomas  Smith  (2),  eldest  son  of  the  alderman,  was  born  at  St. 
Lawrence,  November  27th,  1783;  William,  his  brother,  was  born  at 
the  same  place  on  the  15th  of  July,  1787.  Thomas  served  with  his 
father  as  a  ropemaker;  William  was  apprenticed  to  William  Row, 
shipbuilder,  at  St.  Peter's.  Mr.  Row  carried  on  an  extensive  busi- 
ness, and  attained  the  distinction  of  building  the  largest  ships  that 
up  to  his  time  had  been  launched  into  the  waters  of  the  Tyne. 
Local  annalists  record  with  pride  the  ease  and  grace  with  which,  on 
the  3rd  of  November,  1808,  "his  Majesty's  ship  Bucephalus^  970 
tons  measurement,  rated  at  32,  but  pierced  for  52  guns,"  glided  from 
the  ways  at  Mr.  Row's  yard,  followed,  a  fortnight  later,  by  "  a  very 
handsome  small  ship  of  war  called  the  Wood/ark."  William  Smith 
was  just  out  of  his  time  when  the  Bucephalus  floated  away  from  St. 
Peter's.  Within  a  couple  of  years  afterwards,  he  and  his  father  and 
brother  had  acquired  Mr.  Row's  interest  in  St.  Peter's  Dock,  and 
formed  themselves  into  a  firm  of  shipbuilders  under  the  title  of 
William  Smith  &  Company.  Thus,  by  the  end  of  the  year  18 10, 
the  business  of  the  Smiths  was  expanded  into  two  firms — Thomas 
Smith,  roper,  St.  Lawrence,  and  William  Smith  &  Co.,  shipbuilders, 
St.  Peter's — with  a  joint  office  in  the  Broad  Chare,  Newcastle. 

For  a  time  the  vessels  constructed  by  the  new  firm  at  St.  Peter's 
were  of  the  ordinary  type,  but  in  1828,  having  meanwhile  extended 
their  operations  by  the  acquisition  of  a  graving  dock  at  North 
Shields,  they  began  to  build  ships  for  the  East  India  trade.  Before 
long  they  had  formed  a  line  of  passenger  vessels,  which  ran  under 
their  management  between  London  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 


THOMAS  AND   WILLIAM  SMITH. 


407 


Madras,  and  Calcutta,  and  successfully  competed  with  that  of  the 
Blackwall  shipowners,  Messrs.  Green  &  Wigram.  For  many  years 
these  two  firms  held  possession  of  the  East  India  passenger  trade. 
Under  their  respective  flags  the  development  of  the  wooden  sailing 
ship  was  carried  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  Commanded  by 
officers  whose  names  were  "  household  words "  in  maritime  com- 
merce, Smith's  East  India  liners  and  the  competing  vessels  of  Green 


&  Wigram  became,  in  point  of  speed,  form,  and  equipment  the 
admiration  of  naval  men,  and  the  pride  of  the  mercantile  com- 
munity. 

The  first  East  Indiaman  built  at  St.  Peter's  was  the  Duke  of 
Roxburgh.,  a  ship  of  417  tons.  From  the  date  of  her  construction 
the  firm  went  on  increasing  the  size  and  excellence  of  their  vessels, 
until,  in  1846-48,  they  reached  the  highest  point  in  the  Marlborough^ 
1,387  tons,  and  the  Blenheim^   i>392   tons.     These  two  ships  were 


4o8  THOMAS  AND   WILLIAM  SMITH. 

submitted  to  a  special  Government  survey,  and  reported  as  frigates 
fit  for  carrying  armaments.  Thenceforward,  the  size  of  the  East 
Indiamen  declined,  and  the  last  of  them — the  St.  Lazvrence — was  of 
the  measurement  of  i,i88  tons.  Besides  these  great  merchant  ships, 
Messrs.  Smith  turned  out  of  their  yard  at  St.  Peter's  several  war 
vessels — notably  the  Carlo  Alberto,  in  1852-53,  and  eleven  gunboats 
for  the  Government  during  the  Crimean  War. 

It  was  in  18 14,  four  years  after  taking  over  the  business  of  Mr. 
Row,  that  Messrs.  W.  Smith  &  Co.  extended  their  operations  to 
North  Shields.  They  obtained  a  lease  of  Laing's  dock  at  that  place, 
acquired  a  quay  for  the  deposit  of  ballast,  opened  a  raff  yard,  and  began 
the  building  and  repairing  of  ships,  as  at  St.  Peter's.  Eventually 
Laing's  dock  became  too  small  for  their  operations,  and,  in  1850, 
upon  land  adjoining,  they  opened  a  new  one  of  their  own  construc- 
tion— then  much  the  largest  in  the  river.  A  couple  of  years  later 
they  commenced  iron-shipbuilding  there,  with  ten  lighters  for  the 
Viceroy  of  Egypt.  The  first  steamship  built  by  the  firm  (launched 
at  North  Shields  in  1854)  was  the  Zingari,  for  Mr.  Ralph  Ward 
Jackson,  of  West  Hartlepool.  Their  third  steamer,  the  Chasseur, 
was  bought  by  Government  for  service  in  the  Crimea.  Fitted 
up  as  a  floating  factory,  with  engineering  shop,  foundry,  saw-mill, 
etc.,  and  a  full  complement  of  artisans,  she  was  sent  direct  from  the 
shipyard  to  Balaclava,  and  became  a  useful  auxiliary  to  our  army  at 
Sebastopol. 

Upon  the  death  of  Alderman  Smith  in  1836,  the  firm  changed  its 
name  to  that  of  "  Thomas  &  William  Smith,"  and  by  that  title  it 
has  ever  since  been  known.  Under  the  management  of  the  two 
brothers  it  acquired  fame  and  fortune.  Besides  the  East  Indiamen 
the  firm  owned  a  fleet  of  colliers  that  ran  between  the  Tyne  and  the 
Thames,  and  in  connection  with  that  and  their  other  maritime  under- 
takings, they  had  coal  hulks  at  Gravesend,  a  sail-making  loft  at 
Blackwall,  and  a  warehouse  at  the  East  India  Docks.  They  also 
established  themselves  as  shipowners  and  brokers  in  London,  and 
carried  on  an  extensive  business  in  the  sailing  and  chartering  of 
ships  there;  while  upon  the  Tyne  the  shipyards  and  ropery  were 
employed  to  the  fullest  extent  of  their  resources. 

The  personal  history  of  the  two  brothers,  by  whose  energy  and 
foresight  the  firm  of  T.  &  W.  Smith  was  raised  to  the  highest  rank 
among  the  great  commercial  houses  of  the  kingdom,  presents  few 
features  of  public  interest.      Strictly  men  of  business,  they  found 


THOMAS  AND   WILLIAM  SMITH. 


409 


their  time  fully  absorbed  in  the  ever-widening  circle  of  industrial 
progress,  and  rarely  stepped  beyond  it.  The  elder  brother,  as  we 
have  seen,  occupied  the  post  of  Sheriff  during  his  father's  second 
Mayoralty;  the  younger  brother  filled  the  same  ofifice  in  1830.  With 
these  appointments,  their  participation  in  public  life  began  and 
ended. 

At   the  sale  of  the    Brandling  estates,  in   1852,  High    Gosforth 


LflAK  DMlt-H 


House,  and  2,100  acres  of  land,  were  purchased  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Smith  for  ;^7 1,260.  He  had  occupied  the  mansion  for  several 
years  previously,  and  there  he  continued  to  reside  till  his  death,  on 
the  29th  of  April,  1856.  United  late  in  life  to  Margaret  Collingwood, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Percival  Fenwick,  he  left  no  issue,  and  the  property 
and  business  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  brother.  Mr.  William 
Smith  removed  from  Benton  Lodge  to  Gosforth  House  soon  after 


41  o  THOMAS  SOPWITH. 

his  brother's  decease,  and  died  there  on  the  13th  of  October,  i860, 
leaving  by  his  marriage  with  Margaret,  daughter  of  Major  Werge,  a 
son — Mr,  Thomas  Eustace  Smith,  some  time  M.P.  for  the  borough 
of  Tynemouth. 

After  both  brothers  had  passed  away,  the  operations  of  the  firm 
were  carried  on  for  several  years  by  Mr.  Thomas  Eustace  Smith  and 
two  partners.  One  of  the  partners,  Mr.  James  Southern,  managed 
the  London  department,  while  the  works  upon  Tyneside  were  con- 
ducted by  the  other  partner,  Mr.  George  Luckley.  The  historical 
firm  of  T.  &  W.  Smith  still  flourishes  under  the  management  of 
Alderman  Smith's  great-grandson,  Mr.  Eustace  Smith  the  younger. 


^bomas  Sopwttb, 

ENGINEER    AND    AUTHOR. 

The  publication,  in  1891,  of  a  memoir  of  Thomas  Sopwith  by  Dr. 
Benjamin  Ward  Richardson,  makes  it  comparatively  easy  to  trace 
the  remarkable  career  of  a  gifted  Northumbrian,  who,  in  the  past 
generation,  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  mechanical  engineers  and 
scientific  investigators. 

Thomas  Sopwith,  son  of  Jacob  Sopwith,  cabinet-maker  and  joiner, 
by  Isabella,  daughter  of  Matthew  Lowes,  was  born  at  his  father's 
house  and  place  of  business  in  Pilgrim  Street,  Newcastle,  on  the  3rd 
of  January,  1803.  The  little  schooling  which  he  obtained  was  given 
to  him  by  Henry  Atkinson  the  mathematician ;  it  ceased  at  an  early 
age,  and  most  of  that  which  he  knew  in  after-life  was  self-acquired. 
In  due  time  he  was  apprenticed  to  his  father,  and  acquired  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  the  business,  but  developing  unusual  talent  for 
drawing  and  planning,  and  a  decided  taste  for  practical  mechanics, 
he  shaped  his  course  away  from  the  workshop  into  the  higher  sphere 
of  land  surveying  and  mechanical  engineering.  Before  he  was 
twenty  he  had  undertaken  surveying  on  his  own  account,  and  had 
been  employed  by,  among  others,  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle. 
While  so  engaged,  in  July,  1822,  advertisements  were  issued  inviting 
plans  for  the  erection  of  a  new  gaol  for  the  borough,  and  he,  young 
as  he  was,  entered  into  the  competition.  The  plans  which  he  sub- 
mitted  were   selected   with   those   of    two   men   of    standing  and 


THOMAS  SOP  WITH.  411 

experience — Thomas  Oliver  and  John  Dobson — for  further  con- 
sideration, and  although  ultimately  Mr.  Dobson's  plans  were 
adopted,  young  Sopwith's  received  high  commendation,  and  their 
designer  a  substantial  recompense. 

Arrived  at  the  age  of  manhood,  Mr.  Sopwith  became  an  assistant 
with  Mr.  Joseph  Dickinson,  of  Alston,  in  surveying  the  lead-mines 
of  that  district  belonging  to  the  Greenwich  Hospital  Commissioners. 
The  following  year  he  was  taken  into  partnership  by  his  employer, 
and  entered  upon  the  professional  career  which  he  had  marked  out 
for  himself.  The  firm  had  important  engagements  in  measuring 
royalties  and  defining  boundaries,  mapping  and  planning  for  land- 
owners and  mining  agents,  and  surveying  for  projected  railways. 
Mr.  Sopwith  found  leisure  to  study  geology,  to  practise  engraving, 
to  collect  statistics,  and  to  indulge  in  antiquarian  research.  In  con- 
nection with  his  antiquarian  hobby  he  first  ventured  into  print, 
commencing  the  long  series  of  publications  which  bear  his  name 
with  a  "  History  of  All  Saints'  Church,  Newcastle." 

On  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1829,  Mr.  Sopwith  returned  to  New- 
castle to  superintend  the  family  business  and  practise  his  chosen 
calling  of  an  engineer.  He  opened  offices  in  the  Royal  Arcade,  and 
soon  gathered  round  him  a  respectable  number  of  clients  in  land 
surveying,  railroad  design,  and  road-making.  The  cabinet  works, 
too,  received  a  new  impulse,  and  entered  into  fresh  developments. 
Among  other  ingenious  contrivances  that  he  devised  was  a  writing- 
desk  systematically  arranged  for  the  storage  of  office  papers  and 
documents,  and  known  in  after-years  as  "Sopwith's  Monocleid 
Cabinet" — so  named  because  all  the  drawers  were  locked  at  one 
operation  by  turning  a  single  key.  In  the  intervals  of  business  he 
entered  upon  a  systematic  study  of  isometric  perspective,  and  read  a 
paper  on  the  subject  to  the  Newcastle  Natural  History  Society,  a  paper 
which  expanded  into  a  volume,  went  through  a  second  edition,  and 
became  a  popular  text-book.  To  facilitate  isometric  drawing  he 
invented  a  set  of  projecting  and  parallel  rulers,  and  to  render  survey- 
ing more  easy  and  certain,  he  designed  a  new  levelling  stave. 

Among  his  professional  engagements  at  this  time  were  the  survey 
ing  of  a  new  road  up  the  Derwent,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  great 
mining  engineer,  John  Buddie,  the  planning  of  a  railway  from 
Durham  to  Shields.  These  were  followed  by  an  engagement  to 
survey  for  the  Government  the  mines  in  the  Forest  of  Dean — an 
engagement  which  occupied  him  for  some  time,  and  led  to  his  being 


412 


THOMAS  SOP  WITH. 


appointed,  later  on,  a  Commissioner  for  the  Crown  under  the  Forest 
of  Dean  Mining  Act. 

In  August,  1838,  when  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  met  in  Newcastle,  Mr.  Sopwith,  who  had  in  the 
meantime  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  read  a  paper  "  On  the  National  Importance  of  Pre- 
serving Mining  Records."  The  subject  was  not  new,  but  Mr. 
Sopwith's  advocacy  made  an  impression  upon  the  Association, 
and  induced  them  to  form  a  committee  of  leading  members  to 
promote  the  movement.     The  committee  drew  up  a  memorial  to  the 


C3^ 


Government,  which,  supported  by  the  personal  influence  of  the 
Marquis  of  Northampton  and  Sir  Henry  de  la  Beche,  led  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Mining  Record  Office  in  connection  with  the 
Museum  of  Practical  Geology. 

Mr.  Sopwith's  practice  as  an  engineer  and  surveyor  increased 
rapidly  during  the  next  few  years.  Railway  development  brought 
him  engagements  from  all  parts  of  England;  mining  exploration 
opened  out  to  him  still  wider  fields  of  activity,  extending  to  the 
Continent.  In  1843  he  was  employed  to  report  upon  the  mineral 
capabilities  of  the  districts  lying  between  the  Sambre  and  the  Meuse, 
and  the  prospects  of  railway  enterprise  in  opening  up  those  districts 


THOMAS  SOPWITH.  413 

to  commercial  and  manufacturing  industry.  During  his  visits  to 
Belgium,  consulted  by  King  Leopold  upon  further  developments  of 
the  mineral  riches  of  his  kingdom,  he  explained  to  his  Majesty  the 
principles  upon  which  such  developments  should  be  based,  and 
recommended  the  practical  application  of  geology  as  the  solid  found- 
ation of  national  enterprise.  Some  time  before  the  Belgian  engage- 
ment began  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Geological  Society 
of  London,  and  had  received  from  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers 
the  Telford  Silver  Medal  for  a  paper  on  Geological  Models  in  which 
he  explained  a  new  method  of  illustrating  the  nature  of  stratification, 
the  succession  of  coal  seams,  the  results  of  denudation,  the  effects 
produced  by  faults  and  other  geological  phenomena.  Models  of 
this  kind,  constructed  by  him,  are  now  in  the  Museum  of  Practical 
Geology,  London,  and  in  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Museums. 

While  thus  engaged  in  wide-spreading  professional  work  Mr.  Sop- 
with  received,  in  the  spring  of  1845,  an  offer  of  the  chief  agency 
of  Mr.  T.  W.  Beaumont's  mines  in  Northumberland  and  Durham. 
The  change  meant  removal  to  AUenheads,  disconnection  from  his 
large  circle  of  clients  in  engineering  and  mining,  and  occupation  for 
three-fourths  of  his  time.  After  much  consideration  he  decided  to 
accept  it,  and  later  in  life  gave  his  reasons  for  so  doing  in  the 
following  autobiographical  narrative  : — 

"  At  the  time  the  proposition  was  made  to  me  I  had  gained  what 
I  may  fairly  call  a  good  position  in  my  profession.  I  had  conducted 
very  extensive  surveys  both  on  the  surface  and  underground  at 
Alston,  and  over  a  large  portion  of  land  in  the  centre  of  Northum- 
berland. I  had  in  1S29  successfully  competed  with  McAdam,  then 
in  the  zenith  of  his  fame  as  a  road  engineer;  and  my  line,  after  being 
approved  by  a  majority  of  forty  to  one  by  the  local  trustees,  received 
the  assent  of  Parliament  in  1830.  In  1832  I  made  the  greatly 
valued  acquisition  of  the  friendship  of  Surtees  in  addition  to  that  of 
Hodgson  and  Hedley — names  ever  to  be  treasured  among  my  richest 
memories.  The  generous  friendship  of  William  Ord,  Esq.,  of  Whit- 
field, and  the  equally  warm  and  kind  friendship  of  Sir  John  Swin- 
burne, added  much  to  my  happiness.  In  1832  I  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  on  the  special  volun- 
teer offer  of  proposal  by  Telford,  and  in  that  year  I  was  much 
employed  and  consulted  by  the  Commissioners  of  Woods  and 
Forests.  ...  In  1S33  I  laid  out  and  surveyed  a  line  of  colliery 
railway  from  Jesmond  to  St.  Lawrence,  and  in  1835  made  surveys  of 


414  THOMAS  SOP  WITH. 

part  of  the  Newcastle  and  Carlisle  Railway  from  near  Corbridge  to 
Haydon  Bridge.  I  had  been  much  employed  in  surveying  and 
setting  out  lines  of  railway  in  England  and  on  the  Continent,  and 
had  a  very  fair  share  of  success  in  that  very  lucrative  department  of 
civil  engineering.  I  had  entirely  accomplished  a  most  important 
mineral  survey  of  the  Forest  of  Dean;  and  my  large  models  of  that 
and  other  districts  had  not  only  been  much  admired  at  the  British 
Association's  meeting  at  Newcastle,  but  had  won  the  honour  of  a 
Telford  medal.  ...  In  1844  the  Coal  Trade  Committee  of  the 
North  of  England  appointed  a  special  committee  to  settle  all 
disputes  relating  to  the  coal  trade;  and  they  further  appointed  a 
'tribunal  of  appeal'  with  the  absolute  power  of  final  decision,  viz., 
Messrs.  John  Grey,  John  Clayton,  and  myself.  In  railway  engineer- 
ing I  was  among  the  very  first  who  were  largely  employed  in 
extensive  and  profitable  surveys;  and  in  lead  mining,  the  position  of 
chief  agent  of  all  the  three  districts  of  mines  in  Coalcleugh,  Allen- 
dale and  Weardale,  was  undoubtedly  the  first  position  open  to  a 
professional  man." 

Settled  down  in  a  new  house  built  from  his  own  designs  at 
Allenheads  Mr.  Sopwith's  life  ran  in  easier  grooves,  free  from 
much  of  the  rapid  movement  and  excitement  to  which  he  had 
been  accustomed.  He  had  more  time  to  devote  to  the  scientific 
pursuits  which  had  been  his  recreation  while  in  business;  more 
time  for  travel,  which  was  one  of  his  greatest  delights;  more 
time  for  social  intercourse  with  the  eminent  engineers  and  men 
of  science  among  whom  he  had  been  privileged  to  move.  It  is 
not  possible,  within  reasonable  limits,  to  describe  the  activities 
(including  the  establishment  of  a  newspaper,  the  Hexham  Couratif) 
in  which  he  participated  during  the  twenty-six  years  of  his  agency  of 
the  W.B.  lead  mines.  These  must  be  sought  in  Dr.  Richardson's 
book,  founded,  as  it  is,  upon  a  diary  of  a  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  volumes,  in  which  Mr.  Sopwith  entered  the  details  of  his  daily 
life  with  marvellous  neatness  and  precision.  The  position  that  he 
occupied  in  the  world  of  science  and  literature  may,  however,  be 
gleaned  from  the  names  of  the  societies  which  admitted  him  to 
membership,  and  from  the  titles  of  the  books  that  he  published. 
The  former  are  grouped  by  his  biographer  as  follows  : — "  Fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society;  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Societies  of  England 
and  France,  and  a  member  of  the  Athenaeum  Club,  the  Geological 
Club,  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  the  Royal  Institution,  the 


THOMAS  SOP  WITH.  415 

Royal  Geographical  Society,  the  Palaeontological  Society,  the  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the  Society  of  Arts, 
the  Meteorological  Society  of  England  and  Scotland,  the  Statistical 
Society  of  London,  the  Archaeological  Institute,  and  the  Archaeo- 
logical Association.  By  these  bonds  of  fellowship  (adds  Dr. 
Richardson)  he  was  connected  with  general  science  and  literature; 
geological,  mining,  engineering,  and  useful  arts;  geography,  meteor- 
ology, and  natural  history;  and  statistics,  antiquities,  and  the  fine 
arts.  In  addition  he  belonged  to  many  local  societies,  and  in  total 
was  connected  with  no  less  than  twenty-six  learned  institutions." 
He  was  also  an  honorary  M.A.  of  the  University  of  Durham. 
Some  of  Mr.  Sopwith's  published  works  are  these : — 

"  A  Historical  and  Descriptive  Account  of  All  Saints'  Church  in  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  with  Plans,  Views,  and  Architectural  Details."  Eleven  Copperplate 
Engravings.     1826. 

"Geological  Sections  of  Mines  in  Alston  Moor  and  Teesdale,  shewing  the 
various  Strata  and  Subterranean  Operations,  with  Letter-press  Description." 
Three  Copperplates.      1828. 

"  Plan  of  the  Vale  of  Derwent,  near  Newcastle,  Shewing  the  New  Line  of 
Road,  with  a  Letter-press  Description."     1S32. 

"Eight  Views  of  Fountains  Abbey,  Illustrating  the  Architectural  and  Pictur- 
esque Beauties  of  that  celebrated  Ruin  ;  With  a  Historical  and  Architectural 
Description."     1832. 

"An  Account  of  the  Mining  Districts  of  Alston  Moor,  Weardale,  and  Teesdale, 
comprising  Descriptive  Sketches  of  the  Scenery,  Antiquities,  Geology,  and  Mining 
Operations  in  the  Upper  Dales  of  the  Rivers  Tyne,  Wear,  and  Tees."     1833. 

"A  Treatise  on  Isometrical  Drawing,  as  Applicable  to  Geological  and  Mining 
Plans,  Picturesque  Delineations  of  Ornamental  Grounds,  Perspective  Views  and 
Working  Plans  of  Buildings  and  Machinery,  and  to  General  Purposes  of  Engineer- 
ing, with  Details  of  Improved  Alethods  of  preserving  Plans  and  Records  of  Sub- 
terranean Operations  in  Mining  Districts."  Thirty-five  Copperplate  Engravings. 
1834.     Second  Edition,  1S38. 

"Projecting  and  Parallel  Rulers,  invented  by  T.  Sopwith,  for  constructing 
Plans  and  Drawings  in  Isometrical  and  other  Modes  of  Projection,  with  Descrip- 
tive Letter-press,  etc."     1S34. 

"  Description  and  Use  of  an  Improved  Levelling  Stave."     1834. 

"  Plans  of  the  Coal  and  Iron  Mine  Districts  in  Her  Majesty's  Forest  of  Dean." 
Sixteen  Sheets,  with  Explanatory  Sections,  etc.     1835. 

"  On  a  Proposed  Road  from  Shotley  Bridge  to  Middleton  in  Teesdale."     1838. 

"  Descriptive  Essay  on  the  Monocleid  Writing  Cabinet."     1838. 

"The  Stranger's  Pocket  Guide  to  Newcastle  upon  Tyne  and  its  Environs." 
1838. 

"The  Award  of  the  Dean  Forest  Mining  Commissioners  as  to  the  Coal  and 
Iron  Mines  in  Her  Majesty's  Forest  cf  Dean,  and  the  Rules  and  Regulations  for 
Working  the  same."     Sixteen  Engraved  Plans.      1841. 


4i6  THOMAS  SPARKE. 

"  An  Account  of  the  Museum  of  Economic  Geology."     1843. 

"  The  National  Importance  of  Preserving  Mining  Records."     1844. 

"  Observations  Addressed  to  the  Miners  and  other  Workmen  employed  in  Mr. 
Beaumont's  Lead  Mines  in  East  and  West  Allendale  and  Weardale."     1846. 

"Substance  of  an  Address  to  the  Members  of  the  St.  John's  Chapel  Friendly 
Society,  on  the  occasion  of  their  Annual  Meeting  at  Newhouse,  St.  John's  Wear- 
dale."     1847. 

"  Lecture  on  Egypt  and  the  Mediterranean,  delivered  in  the  Miner's  Room  at 
AUenheads."     1857. 

"Notes  on  a  Visit  to  Egypt  by  Paris,  Lyons,  Marseilles,  and  Toulon."  Four 
Plates.     1857. 

"  Three  Weeks  in  Central  Europe,  including  the  Cities  of  Treves,  Nuremberg, 
Leipzig,  Dresden,  Freiburg,  and  Berlin."     Sixteen  Plates.     1869. 

"A  Tour  through  Normandy  and  Brittany."     1876. 

Mr.  Sopwith  was  thrice  married.  His  first  wife,  Mary,  eldest 
daughter  of  Thomas  Dickinson,  of  Spencycroft,  Alston,  to  whom  he 
was  united  in  September,  1829,  died  within  a  year  of  the  nuptials  ; 
his  second  wife,  Jane  Scott,  of  Ross,  married  in  1831,  passed  away 
in  1855;  his  third  wife,  Anne  Potter,  of  Heaton  Hall,  Newcastle, 
survived  him.  By  his  second  wife  he  left  two  sons,  Thomas 
Sopwith,  engineer,  and  A.  Sopwith,  mining  engineer;  and  five 
daughters,  Mrs.  David  Chadwick ;  Mrs.  James  Hall,  Tynemouth ; 
Mrs.  W.  Shelford,  London ;  Mrs.  W.  Luce,  Malmesbury ;  and  a 
younger  daughter,  unmarried  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


^bomas   Spar?ie, 

A    NOTABLE    ECCLESIASTIC. 

Thomas  Sparke,  a  native  of  Northumberland,  held,  at  the  Reforma- 
tion, the  high  offices  of  Prior  of  Holy  Island,  Suffragan  Bishop  of 
Berwick,  and  Chamberlain  of  the  Convent  of  Durham,  and,  after 
that  great  ecclesiastical  revolution,  a  prebend's  stall  in  Durham 
Cathedral,  the  Mastership  of  Greatham  Hospital,  and  the  Rectory 
of  Wolsingham. 

From  his  will,  and  the  inventory  of  his  effects,  it  would  seem 
that  Bishop  Sparke  was  born  in  Allendale.  "To  the  poor  in  Allen- 
dale parish  "  he  bequeathed  a  sum  of  money,  and  among  his  debtors 
were  several  persons  in  Allendale  bearing  his  name.  He  had 
relatives  in  Hexham  and  Newcastle  also.  It  is  possible  that  he 
matriculated  at  Durham  College,  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  degree 


THOMAS  SPARKE.  417 

of  B.D.,  March  nth,  1528-29.  The  following  year  he  returned  to 
Durham,  and  was  appointed  Prior  of  Holy  Island.  The  cell  of 
Holy  Island  was  dissolved  in  1536,  when,  as  compensation  for 
the  loss  of  his  office  and  its  emoluments,  the  Prior  and  Convent 
of  Durham  gave  him  "a  lease  of  the  whole  cell  and  rectorie  of 
the  Holie  Islande,  for  his  maintenance  duringe  his  life,  without  any 
rent  payinge,  of  free  almes."  This  lease  was  confirmed  to  him  by 
the  king  in  1543,  and  he  retained  it  till  his  death. 

The  year  after  the  dissolution  of  Holy  Island  an  Act  was  passed 
for  the  appointment  of  twenty-six  suffragan  bishops,  and  as  soon  as  it 
had  received  the  Royal  assent,  Tunstall,  Bishop  of  Durham,  ap- 
pointed ex-Prior  Sparke  to  be  his  coadjutor,  with  the  title  of  Bishop 
of  Berwick.  To  this  office  he  was  consecrated  by  Edward  Lee, 
Archbishop  of  York,  in  June,  1537. 

Taking  up  his  residence  in  the  Priory  of  Durham,  Bishop  Sparke 
received  further  honours  and  emoluments.  He  was  appointed  in  the 
first  place  to  the  office  of  chamberlain  of  the  monastery.  In  that 
capacity  he  had  his  exchequer  near  the  Abbey  Gate,  and  there, 
among  other  things,  he  supervised  the  clothing  of  the  monks, 
providing  linsey-woolsey  for  their  shirts  and  sheets,  and  woollen 
cloth  for  their  hose,  and  keeping  the  convent  tailor,  who  worked 
beneath  the  exchequer  and  slept  above  it,  regularly  employed.  In 
May,  1 54 1,  when  the  Cathedral  establishment  was  re-organised. 
Bishop  Sparke  obtained  the  appointment  of  first  prebendary  of 
the  third  stall.  In  September  following  the  bishop  presented  him 
to  the  mastership  of  the  Hospital  of  Greatham;  and  on  the  14th 
of  June,  1547,  collated  him  to  the  rectory  of  Wolsingham. 

But  few  references  to  Bishop  Sparke  and  his  life  at  Durham  are  to 
be  found  in  local  history.  He  was  present  at  the  opening  of  St. 
Cuthbert's  shrine,  in  1537,  when,  according  to  contemporary  wTiters, 
the  body  of  the  saint,  dead  for  840  years,  was  discovered  inviolate 
and  incorrupt,  and  the  vestments  in  which  it  was  clothed  were  found 
to  be  entire,  and  clear  of  all  stain  and  decay.  In  the  "  History  of 
North  Durham,"  Mr.  Raine,  on  the  authority  of  Wharton's  "Anglia 
Sacra,"  tells  the  following  story  of  him: — "In  the  upper  part  of 
Gilligate,  Durham,  in  a  place  called  the  Maid's  Arbour,  there  had 
long  stood  a  marble  cross  of  great  fame.  This  cross  was  begged  of 
Ormiston,  Lord  of  the  Manor,  by  William  Wright,  a  Durham  mer- 
chant, with  a  view  of  erecting  it  in  the  Market  Place.  During  its 
removal  for  the  purpose,  at  each  of  the  four  corners  of  its  pedestal, 
VOL.  III.  27 


41 8  THOMAS  SPARKE. 

sunk  into  the  ground  from  pressure  and  length  of  time,  there 
were  discovered  three  images  of  the  Apostles,  carved  in  the  stone, 
and  sumptuously  gilt.  Bishop  Sparke  no  sooner  heard  of  the 
discovery  than  he  stepped  forward,  and  at  the  cost  of  ;^8,  paid 
out  of  his  own  purse,  caused  the  whole  to  be  removed,  and  re- 
erected  in  the  Toll-booth,  where  it  remained  for  a  long  time 
afterwards. 

Pat.  Sanderson,  publishing,  in  1767,  "The  Antiquities  of  the 
Abbey  or  Cathedral  Church  of  Durham,"  and  describing  the  bells  of 
the  church  as  hanging  unrung  after  the  suppression,  records  another 
instance  of  Bishop  Sparke's  pious  interposition — "  In  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's Reign,  Dean  Whittingham  perceiving  them  (the  bells)  to  have 
been  useless  long  before  his  Time,  intended  to  have  them  taken 
down  and  broken ;  when  Thomas  Sparke,  the  Bishop's  Suffragan, 
residing  at  Durham,  and  keeping  House  there  at  that  Time,  having 
Notice  of  the  Dean's  Purpose,  sent  directly  into  Yorkshire  for  a 
Workman,  and  caused  three  of  the  Bells  to  be  taken  down,  and 
hung  up  in  the  New  Work,  called  the  Lanthorn,  where  he  made  a 
fine  Set  of  Chimes,  which  cost  him  thirty  or  forty  Pounds ;  which 
Chimes  continue  to  this  Day." 

Bishop  Sparke  died  in  157 1.  He  had  selected  the  place  of  his 
burial  in  Durham  Cathedral,  "  upon  the  pavemente  byfore  where  my 
laite  alter  did  stande  "  (in  pre-Reformation  days),  and  had  prepared 
a  marble  slab  to  cover  his  remains.  But  his  executor,  George 
Wynter,  who  had  been  his  chaplain  and  steward,  sold  the  gravestone 
to  William  Stephenson,  B.D.,  prebendary  of  the  ninth  stall,  and 
interred  his  lord  and  master  in  front  of  the  altar  in  the  hospital 
church  at  Greatham,  in  the  grave  of  William  de  Estfield,  rector  of 
Sedgefield,  a  previous  master. 

The  will  of  Bishop  Sparke  contains  many  interesting  items,  and 
the  inventory  of  his  effects  a  great  many  more.  He  bequeathed 
tokens  of  affectionate  remembrance  to  all  his  colleagues  and  the 
officers  at  Durham,  down  to  the  verger  and  bellringer,  to  the  bedes- 
men at  Greatham,  and  to  every  one  of  his  serving  men  and  serving 
women.  To  the  Bishop  of  Durham  he  gave  a  turquoise  ring ;  to 
Henry  Earl  of  Westmorland  an  emerald  ring ;  to  John  Sparke,  of 
Newcastle,  two  silver  pieces  "with  a  B  in  the  bottom";  to  Thomas 
Sparke,  of  Newcastle,  a  piece  of  silver  "of  the  same  mark  of  B";  to 
every  other  of  his  brother's  children  20s.  a  piece,  and  to  their  children 
1 2d.  each ;  to  the  poor  of  Allendale,  St.  Margaret's,  Durham,  Holy 


RALPH  SPEARMAN.  419 

Island,  Billingham,  Stranton,  Hart,  Hartlepool,  Elwick,  and  ^\'ol- 
singham,  various  sums.  Among  his  effects  were  his  mitre,  "sett 
with  stones  and  perles,  silver  and  gilt,"  valued  at  £,\i  6s.  8d. ;  a 
basin  and  ewer,  "parcell  gilt,"  weighing  60  ounces,  worth  £,\(i; 
bowls,  pots,  goblets,  spoons,  etc.,  all  in  silver  plate,  valued  altogether 
at  j[,(>\  1 6s.  id. 


IRalpb  Spearman, 

ANTIQUARY. 

"  Dear  Ralph — of  Eachwick  honoured  Lord, 
Sound  head — true  tongue — warm  heart. 
Of  ancient  honour,  present  worth 
The  type  in  every  part! 
When  I  forget  thee,  friendly  Ralph, 
And  all  thy  storied  lore. 
Then  shall  I  lose  the  better  half 
Of  memory's  treasured  store." 

— Robert  Surtees,  Historian  of  Durham. 

A  NOTABLE  man  in  his  way  was  Ralph  Spearman,  of  Eachwick  Hall, 
near  Stamfordham — "his  way"  being  that  of  the  genealogist  and 
antiquary,  and  a  collector  of  all  sorts  of  gossip  about  the  origin  and 
connections,  the  virtues  and  the  failings,  of  North-Country  families. 
As  became  a  genealogist,  he  claimed  for  himself  a  most  illustrious 
descent  Linking  together  the  Spearmans  of  Preston,  near  Tyne- 
mouth,  with  the  Spearmans  of  Thornley  and  other  places  in  the 
county  of  Durham,  he  traced  the  united  families  to  a  common 
ancestor  in  a  younger  branch  of  the  Spearmans  of  Dunnington, 
Salop,  whose  pedigree  runs  back  through  the  ages  till  it  loses  itself 
among  "the  ancient  lords  or  counts  of  Aspramonte" — a  place 
generously  defined  as  lying  "  betwixt  the  Maas  and  the  Moselle,  on 
the  confines  of  Lorrain  and  Bar.'"'  This,  however,  was  the  descent 
on  the  father's  side  only ;  through  his  mother  Mr.  Spearman  traced 
his  ancestry  to  Sir  Thomas  Percy,  a  rebel  leader  in  the  Pilgrimage  of 
Grace.  As  Sir  Thomas  was  a  son  of  the  fifth,  and  brother  of  the 
sixth.  Earl  of  Northumberland,  it  follows  that  by  this  descent  Each- 
wick's  "  honoured  lord  "  could  claim  among  his  ancestors  the  noble 
and  illustrious  Percies  and  their  progenitors,  including,  of  course,  the 
Emperor  Charlemagne. 


42 o  RALPH  SPEARMAN. 

Putting  aside  all  this  vainglorious  rubbish,  it  is  right  to  state  that 
Ralph  Spearman  was  a  descendant  of  the  Spearmans  of  Preston,  who, 
as  Surtees  asserts,  "  whencesoever  they  sprang,  came  into  North- 
umberland as  gentlemen  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIIL,  and  have  ever 
since  maintained  their  rank  as  such."  His  father,  George  Spearman, 
son  of  Philip  Spearman  of  Birtley,  near  Chester-le-Street,  and  grand- 
son of  Edward  Spearman  of  Preston,  was  twice  married — first,  to 
Eleanor,  daughter  of  Edward  Anderson,  merchant,  Newcastle,  by 
whom  he  had  three  children ;  and,  secondly,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Edward  Bell,  of  Eachwick,  and  widow  of  William  Potter  of  Hawk- 
well.  By  his  second  marriage,  George  Spearman  had  two  children 
— Ralph,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  born  in  Newcastle,  September 
4th,  1749,  and  Mary,  born  May  i8th,  1751. 

When  Ralph  Spearman  was  four  years  old,  his  father  died,  and 
was  buried  at  St.  John's,  Newcastle.  At  the  proper  age  Ralph 
was  sent  to  the  Grammar  School  to  be  educated  by  the  Rev.  Hugh 
Moises,  with  the  three  future  lords — Stowell,  Collingwood,  and 
Eldon.  Of  his  youthful  career  nothing  is  recorded.  He  probably 
resided  with  his  mother  in  Newcastle  and  at  Eachwick,  and  looked 
after  the  property  to  which  she  was  heiress.  At  her  death,  on  the 
14th  April,  1792,  he  came  into  possession  of  the  Eachwick  Hall 
estate,  and  there  he  built  the  curious  modern-antique  mansion  in 
which  he  lived  and  died.  Long  before  his  mother's  decease — 
imitating  his  distant  kinsmen,  John  and  Gilbert  Spearman,  of  the 
adjoining  county — he  had  developed  a  taste  for  antiquarian  research, 
and  the  elucidation  of  local  family  history.  Being  a  country  gentle- 
man of  independent  means,  with  no  family  ties,  for  he  lived  and 
died  a  bachelor,  he  indulged  his  fancy  till  it  became  the  ruling 
passion  of  his  life.  At  the  formation  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of 
Antiquaries,  he  became  a  member,  and  gave  the  Society  half-a-dozen 
valuable  books,  and  an  old  Harwich  token;  but  did  not  other- 
wise contribute  to  its  collections  or  its  proceedings.  He  was  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  too,  but  the  only  record  of  his  doings  in  that 
capacity  exhibits  him  engaged  in  the  repression  of  the  great  strike 
among  the  miners  in  1810,  when  the  local  gaols  being  filled  to  over- 
flowing, stables  and  other  temporary  houses  of  detention  were 
improvised  for  the  safe  custody  of  rioters.  His  chief  aim  in  life 
was  to  be  considered  a  walking  encyclopaedia  of  family  history,  and 
the  cultured  representative  of  an  ancient  race,  and  he  had  no  heart 
for  any  other  pursuit.     He  voted  once  at  a  parliamentary  election, 


RALPH  SPEARMAN.  4 2 1 

the  county  election  of  1774,  when  Lord  Algernon  Percy  and  Sir  John 
Hussey  Delaval  ran  together  against  Sir  William  Middleton  and 
William  Fenwick.  On  that  occasion  he  did  not  vote  for  the  Percy 
family,  from  whom  he  claimed  to  be  descended,  but  for  the  two 
"independents,"  Middleton  and  Fenwick.  He  died  on  the  13th  of 
July,  1823,  and  was  buried  in  a  vault  "hewn  out  of  the  rock,  under 
the  vestry  of  Heddon-on-the-Wall  Church." 

Opinions  are  divided  upon  the  merits  of  Mr.  Spearman's  genea- 
logical researches,  and  the  accuracy  of  his  local  gossip.  Surtees 
evidently  believed  in  him,  for,  besides  writing  the  lines  which  head 
this  article,  he  more  than  once,  in  his  "  History  of  Durham,"  ac- 
knowledges himself  "  deeply  indebted "  to  him  for  "  a  variety  of 
useful  materials."  So  also  W.  A.  Mitchell,  in  the  Newcastle  Maga- 
zine for  December,  1823,  following  Surtees's  cue,  introduces  Spearman 
as  "  one  of  the  most  accomplished  local  antiquaries  in  the  North  of 
England."  But  Mackenzie  ("  History  of  Northumberland  "),  while 
admitting  that  the  Lord  of  Eachwick  was  "  gifted  with  an  excellent 
memory,"  states  that  his  MSS.  were  "  not  distinguished  for  discrimina- 
tion or  accuracy,"  though  "  numerous  and  valuable."  Lastly,  Mr. 
Cadwallader  J.  Bates,  in  a  paper  on  "  Heddon  on  the  \\a\\ :  The 
Church  and  Parish,"  published  in  the  eleventh  volume  of  the  "  Arch- 
ffiologia  ^liana,"  gives  the  following  not  very  flattering  account  of 
Surtees's  "friendly  Ralph,"  and  Mitchell's  "  most  accomplished" 
antiquary : — 

"  Ralph  Spearman,  of  Eachwick,  acted  the  part  of  a  great  anti- 
quary, so  much  so  that  he  was  erroneously  believed  to  have  been  the 
prototype  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  'Jonathan  Oldbuck.'  It  is  doubtful, 
however,  whether  his  learning  was  even  so  sound  as  that  of  the  Laird 
of  Monkbarns.  His  new  hall  at  Eachwick  was  built  entirely  for 
show;  being  three  stories  high,  with  gingerbread  battlements,  and  of 
great  length,  though  only  one  room  thick.  At  the  time  of  the  window 
tax  this  led  to  its  being  rated  at  a  very  large  sum.  Seen  from  a 
distance  it  quite  deceives  a  stranger  by  its  palatial  appearance.  Mr. 
Spearman  was  so  far  successful  that  the  neighbourhood  still  believe 
that  Eachwick  belonged  to  his  family  for  generations.  A  letter 
accidently  preserved  in  the  church  books  at  Heddon  [dated  March 
27th,  1813],  is  a  capital  illustration  of  his  combined  pedantry, 
liberality,  and  pride  : — 

"  Mr.  Spearman  sends  enclosed  five  Shillings,  being  the  Assessed 
Value  of  the  Movement  of  the  Winnowing  part  of  a  Threshing 


4  2  2  JOSEPH  SPENCE. 

Machine,  found  by  the  Coroner  and  Inquest  a  Deodand  forfeit  to 
him  on  the  death  of  Mary  Lawson,  as  Lord  of  the  Manour  of  Each- 
wick  Hall  Lands,  by  Grant  from  James  first.  King  of  Great  Brittain 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  i6io,  and  requires  the  Vicar  and  Church- 
Wardens  of  the  Parish  of  Heddon  on  the  Wall  to  distribute  it  to  the 
Poor  at  Discretion." 

In  his  will  he  stated  that  he  was  determined  to  follow  "  the  ex- 
ample of  Abraham,  and  to  consider  his  Eleazar  as  heir  to  all  his 
house,"  and  consequently  entailed  his  property  at  Eachwick  on  his 
steward,  Mr.  Hunter,  and  his  elder  sons,  on  condition  of  their  taking 
the  name  of  Spearman,  with  remainder  in  favour  of  his  very  distant 
kinsmen,  the  Spearmans  of  Thornley,  county  Durham,  In  equity 
the  estate  should  have  gone  to  Sarah  Bell,  grand-daughter  of  his 
great-uncle,  Charles  Bell,  and  wife  of  Robert  Clayton,  Esq.,  of 
Newcastle.  His  aged  sister  survived  for  about  four  years,  and  left 
written  testimony  of  her  gratitude  to  Mr.  Hunter  Spearman  for  the 
way  in  which  she  was  treated  after  her  brother's  death. 


3o6cpb  Spencc, 

PHILANTHROPIST. 

Joseph  Spence,  of  Tynemouth,  who,  during  a  long  life,  was  an 
earnest  worker  and  leader  in  the  public  affairs  of  his  native  borough, 
was  the  third  son  of  eighteen  children  born  to  Robert  Spence,  of 
North  Shields  (of  whom  more  may  be  read  in  the  succeeding  bio- 
graphy). Born  on  the  28th  December,  18 19,  Joseph  was  sent  in  his 
eighth  year,  with  his  brothers  Robert  and  John  Foster  Spence,  to  the 
Friends'  School  adjoining  Walmgate  Bar,  in  the  city  of  York,  the 
management  of  which,  two  years  later,  was  taken  over  by  the  York 
Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  is  still  first  among 
the  many  educational  institutions  of  that  religious  society.  After  serv- 
ing an  apprenticeship  at  Stockton  he  rejoined  his  father  at  North 
Shields,  and  eventually,  entering  into  partnership  with  his  brother, 
John  Foster  Spence,  carried  on  the  business  of  draper  there,  and  so 
continued  until  his  retirement  a  short  time  before  his  death. 

Mr.  Spence's  fore-elders  were  Yorkshire  dalesmen,  who  suffered  in 
the  cause  of  religious  freedom.  The  short-lived  amnesty  granted  by 
Charles  II.  in  1672,  when  five  hundred  members  of  the  Society  of 


JOSEPH  SPENCE. 


423 


Friends  were  liberated  from  prison,  was,  as  is  stated  in  Besse's 
"  Sufferings  of  the  People  called  Quakers,"  thought  an  "  undue 
Extent  of  the  Regal  Prerogative,"  and  was  soon  revoked  "and  their 
Persons  and  Estates  again  exposed  to  the  returning  Storm,  and  to 
the  exorbitant  Plunder  and  Rapine  of  avaricious  and  merciless 
Informers."  Objection  to  the  taking  of  any  oath  and  the  refusal  to 
pay  tithe  or  Church  rate  were  the  principal  points  of  collision  with 
the  law,  and  the  consequent  imprisonment  with  felons  in  the  already 
overcrowded  common  gaols  (the  loathsome  unhealthiness  of  which 


IllcL^rnagTi  JoSfpK  Sjunce. 


later  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  have  done  so  much  to 
mitigate),  was  the  cause  of  the  death  of  three  or  four  hundred  of  their 
predecessors,  and  among  these  was  one  of  the  family  from  which 
Joseph  Spence  descended.  The  practice  of  distraint  for  non-pay- 
ment of  Church  rates  was  continued  to  our  own  time,  and  the 
household  of  Joseph  Spence  was  a  frequent  sufferer.  It  was 
customary  to  seize  the  most  valuable  piece  of  furniture  that  could 
be  removed,  to  sell  it  to  one  of  the  party  for  the  few  shillings  to 
which  the  rate  amounted,  and  to  divide  the  excess  in  value  among 
the  persons  who  carried  out  the  seizure.     The  principle  of  non- 


424  JOSEPH  SPENCE. 

resistance  enjoined  by  the  Society  of  Friends  rendered  them  peculiarly 
liable  to  this  class  of  extortion. 

Joseph  Spence  was  for  a  time  one  of  the  clerks  to  the  yearly 
meeting,  whose  duties  combine  the  offices  of  chairman  and  recorder 
at  the  great  annual  gathering  of  the  Society  at  Devonshire  House  in 
Bishopsgate  Without,  London.  He  was  also  one  of  the  committee 
charged  with  the  revision  of  the  "  Book  of  Discipline,"  which  is 
a  digest  of  the  counsels  that,  in  the  absence  of  creed  or  liturgy,  have 
been  addressed  by  the  central  authority — the  yearly  meeting — to  its 
subsidiary  meetings  throughout  the  country  from  the  year  1657  to 
the  present  day.  He  and  his  father  before  him  were  constant 
attenders  at  the  business  meetings  of  the  Society,  and  from  their 
considerable  height  and  white  hair  each  of  them  was  in  his  turn 
a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  public  assembly. 

Joseph  Spence  succeeded  his  father  as  treasurer  to  the  local 
branch  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  he  was  also  one  of  its  life- 
governors.  In  the  year  1861  he  became  a  member  of  the  Tyne- 
mouth  Town  Council,  and  two  years  later  was  elected  Mayor  and 
Alderman.  In  1869  he  was  again  elected  Mayor,  but  after  a  few 
more  years  of  service  as  an  Alderman,  finding  that  his  other  public 
duties  were  a  sufficient  tax  upon  his  energies,  he  retired  from  the 
Corporation.  He  had  been,  some  time  before — in  1865 — appointed 
to  the  Borough  bench,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
always  a  popular  magistrate,  and  honourably  fulfilled  the  duties 
of  that  position. 

Deeply  interested  in  educational  matters,  Mr.  Spence  for  many 
years  was  a  valued  and  active  member  of  the  School  Board  and 
one  of  the  governors  of  Kettlewells  School.  In  political  matters 
he  was  perhaps  still  more  active,  and  for  many  years  he  and  his 
brother,  John  Foster  Spence,  were  among  the  most  earnest  workers 
in  securing  the  return  of  Mr.  T.  Eustace  Smith,  the  Liberal  member 
for  Tynemouth. 

Upon  Mr.  Smith's  retirement  from  the  representation  of  the 
borough  in  1885,  Joseph  Spence,  then  president  of  the  local  Liberal 
Association,  was  asked  to  allow  himself  to  be  nominated.  Although 
the  seat  seemed  at  that  time  to  be  a  safe  one,  he  was  strongly  averse 
to  the  proposal,  and  it  was  only  after  the  most  weighty  and  protracted 
pressure  that  he  consented  to  come  forward,  though  to  the  last  he 
refused  to  take  any  personal  part  in  the  canvass.  He  was  far  from 
strong  at  the  time,  and  the  strain  and  annoyance  of  an  unsuccessful 


JOSEPH  S PENCE.  425 

parliamentary  contest  in  his  native  town  broke  down  his  health  and 
undoubtedly  shortened  his  life. 

Mr.  Spence  was  one  of  the  most  active  of  the  sympathisers  who 
organised  relief  for  the  victims  of  the  terrible  catastrophe  at  Hartley 
Colliery  in  1S62,  but  among  the  many  humane  enterprises  in  which 
he  assisted  none  had  so  large  a  share  of  his  attention  as  the  Tyne- 
mouth  Volunteer  Life  Brigade.  John  Foster  Spence,  Joseph  Spence, 
Horatio  A.  Adamson  (the  Town-Clerk),  and  John  Morrison  were  the 
foremost  among  the  committee  who,  after  the  lamentable  loss  of  life 
in  the  wreck  of  the  passenger  steamship  Stanley^  in  1864,  met  in 
North  Shields  to  discuss  the  possibility  of  providing  a  better  means 
of  saving  life  from  such  disasters.  The  establishment  of  the  brigade 
which  resulted  from  that  meeting  was  followed  by  the  enrolment 
of  a  number  of  similar  brigades  and  companies  round  the  British 
coasts,  more  especially  in  our  own  district,  among  which  the  Tyne- 
mouth  Brigade  has  always  maintained  the  leading  position  to  which 
its  priority  of  date  entitles  it.  John  Foster  Spence  and  Joseph  Spence 
undertook  the  duties  of  secretary  and  treasurer  to  the  brigade,  and 
one  or  the  other  always  presided  at  its  meetings. 

In  time  of  storm  and  shipwreck  Joseph  Spence  was  invariably  one 
of  the  earliest  to  attend,  duly  attired  in  pilot  cloth  and  sou'wester, 
and  with  the  distinguishing  white  badges  of  a  captain  in  the  brigade. 
His  old  comrades  can  look  back  to  many  a  stormy  night  spent  with 
him  in  the  little  committee-room  of  the  watch-house  on  the  Spanish 
Battery,  waiting  their  turn  at  the  look-out,  passing  the  time  with 
histories  of  former  shipwrecks,  and  in  the  compilation  of  the  log  of 
the  brigade,  much  of  which  was  written  by  him  in  these  night 
w'atches.  Draughts  and  chess  served  to  pass  the  time  until  a  late 
hour,  when  he  would  call  for  coffee  to  be  served,  and  those  who 
could  sleep  sought  a  precarious  rest  on  the  wooden  benches  and 
tables  of  the  watch-house. 

Joseph  Spence  died  on  the  17th  of  December,  1889,  aged  sixty- 
nine,  leaving  by  his  marriage  in  1845  to  Caroline,  daughter  of  Joseph 
Shewell  of  Colchester,  a  son,  Joseph  Shewell  Spence,  manager  of  the 
bank  of  Hodgkin,  Barnett,  Pease,  Spence  &  Co.,  in  North  Shields, 
and  one  daughter.  Miss  Anna  Caroline  Spence. 


42  6  ROBERT  SPENCE. 

IRobcrt  Spcnce, 

BANKER    AND    ANTIQUARY. 

Robert  Spence  was  the  eldest  son  in  the  family  of  eighteen 
children  born  to  Robert  and  Mary  Spence  of  North  Shields.  His 
father,  who  caoie  at  twenty  years  of  age  (in  1804)  to  North  Shields 
from  Nidderdale  in  Yorkshire,  and  joined  his  cousin  Joseph  Procter 
in  the  drapery  business,  was  for  years  one  of  the  most  respected 
residents  in  his  adopted  town,  ably  filling  many  of  its  public  offices. 
His  presence,  rendered  conspicuous  by  his  height,  his  long  white 
hair,  and  the  somewhat  dignified  garb  enjoined  by  the  Quakerism 
of  that  day,  is  still  remembered  by  some  of  the  older  natives  of  the 
harbour  towns.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  literary  taste  and 
culture,  and  the  valuable  collections  of  books  and  MSB.  which  were 
made  by  his  son  owed  their  origin  to  him.  His  wife,  Mary  Spence, 
was  a  daughter  of  Robert  Foster  of  Hebblethwaite,  near  Sedbergh, 
and  afterwards  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  of  whom  there  is  an 
interesting  account  in  the  writings  of  Adam  Sedgwick.  He  was  a 
man  of  some  classical  and  literary  attainment,  who  in  very  early  life, 
when  acting  in  Barbadoes  as  agent  for  his  uncle,  James  Birkett,  of 
Lancaster,  had  volunteered  during  the  French  wars,  and  had  seen 
much  active  service,  first  as  master  and  then  as  lieutenant.  Owing  to 
the  extreme  distress  with  which  his  calling  was  viewed  by  his  relatives 
he  early  left  the  sea,  and  with  a  disregard  for  appearances  which 
characterises  some  of  his  descendants,  he  attended  his  first  Friends' 
meeting,  after  his  return  to  England,  in  the  garments  proper  to  a 
Quaker,  but  with  a  cocked  hat  in  place  of  the  broad  brim. 

Robert  Spence  the  elder  was  the  first  treasurer  under  the  Shields 
Town  Improvement  Act,  and  Borough  Treasurer  for  Tynemouth 
after  the  incorporation  ;  his  son  and  grandson  have  in  turn  succeeded 
him  in  this  office.  From  an  early  date  he  had  carried  on  a  private 
banking  business,  and  in  the  year  1819  he  joined  Edward  Chapman 
and  William  Chapman,  members  of  a  Quaker  family  in  Whitby,  in 
the  establishment  of  a  private  bank  in  Shields.  His  son,  Robert 
Spence,  entered  the  banking  office  on  leaving  the  Friends'  School  at 
York  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  for  sixty  years  he  was  actively 
engaged  in  the  business.     The  firm  of  Chapmans  &  Co.  prospered 


ROBERT  SPENCE.  427 

and  extended  its  operations  to  Newcastle,  where  a  branch  was  opened 
under  the  management  of  WilUam  Chapman.  Up  to  this  time  Robert 
Spence  the  elder  had  been  the  only  active  partner,  and  he  retained 
the  direction  of  the  head  office  at  North  Shields  until  his  death. 

Business  in  1831  was  carried  on  in  a  somewhat  leisurely  manner 
with  no  special  respect  for  early  closing.  Young  Robert  Spence, 
who  was  very  apt  at  figures,  had  to  bear  at  an  early  age  much  of  the 
weight  of  the  active  little  business  at  North  Shields,  which  was  then 
the  headquarters  of  the  shipping  interest  in  the  port  of  Tyne.  In 
1836  Messrs.  Chapman  &  Co.,  amalgamating  with  Sir  William 
Chaytor  &  Co.,  bankers  of  Sunderland,  formed  the  Newcastle, 
Shields,  and  Sunderland  Union  Joint  Stock  Banking  Company. 
William  Chapman  became  general  director,  and  the  North  Shields 
office  still  continued  to  be  worked  almost  as  an  independent  bank. 

In  the  financial  pressure  of  the  great  panic  of  1847,  the  Union 
Bank,  having  become  involved  by  the  unwise  management  of  William 
Chapman,  suspended  payment.  Two  years  before  that  time  Robert 
Spence,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  had  succeeded  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  North  Shields  Bank.  In  the  following  year  his  health 
was  completely  broken  down  by  overwork,  and  his  recovery  was 
considered  hopeless.  A  winter  in  Madeira,  however,  enabled  him 
to  return  to  the  bank,  but  the  extreme  care  which  was  needed  to 
guard  against  a  return  of  illness  prevented  him  ever  afterwards  from 
taking  any  active  part  in  public  work. 

The  business  of  the  North  Shields  Bank  at  the  time  of  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  Union  was  in  so  sound  a  condition  that  a  committee  of 
the  shareholders  who  were  interested  in  its  reconstruction  placed  the 
management  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Spence.  Only  a  fraction  of  the 
small  capital  which  he  considered  requisite  was  forthcoming  at  the 
outset,  but  his  skilful  management,  and  the  confidence  which  his 
character  inspired,  enabled  him  very  rapidly  to  gather  together  most 
of  the  old  Shields'  business.  In  a  short  time  the  headquarters  were 
transferred  to  Newcastle,  and  in  three  years  a  flourishing  and  profit- 
able banking  business  was  re-established.  The  scheme  for  the  re- 
construction of  a  Joint  Stock  Bank  was,  however,  never  carried 
through,  and  on  the  failure  of  the  District  Bank  in  the  succeeding 
panic  of  1857,  Joint  Stock  banking  was  so  much  discredited  that  it 
was  deemed  impracticable  to  re-establish  the  Union  Bank,  and  the 
interest  of  the  shareholders  passed  by  purchase  to  Messrs.  Woods  &  Co. 
Mr.  Spence  joined  in  1859  in  establishing  the  new  private  banking 


428  ROBERT  SPENCE. 

firm  of  Hodgkin,  Barnett,  Pease,  &  Spence,  in  which  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  partners.  He  saw 
four  generations  of  his  family  engaged  there,  his  son  having  entered 
the  bank  in  1866  and  his  grandson  in  1889. 

After  his  illness  in  early  life  he  was  obliged  to  seek  his  employ- 
ments, apart  from  business,  within  his  own  house.  He  became  an 
enthusiastic  gardener,  and  he  inherited  his  father's  taste  in  literary 
and  antiquarian  matters.  His  collections  include  many  manuscripts 
relating  to  the  rise  of  Quakerism,  and  among  them  is  the  original 
manuscript  of  the  Journal  of  George  Fox,  one  of  the  quaintest  and 
most  interesting  of  the  annals  of  the  religious  unrest  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  This,  with  other  early  Quaker  papers,  was  handed  down  to 
him  through  the  descendants  of  Margaret  Fell,  the  leader  of  Quaker- 
ism on  "  the  women's  side,"  who,  late  in  her  widowhood,  was  married 
to  George  Fox.  Among  the  very  large  general  collection  of  auto- 
graphs made  by  Mr.  Spence  are  a  fine  series  of  letters  of  Charles 
Lamb,  Coleridge,  and  Wordsworth,  many  letters  of  Robert  Southey, 
and  the  MSS.  of  his  "  Life  of  Nelson,"  and  of  the  lives  of  some  of 
the  early  Quakers.  The  letters  of  Burns  to  Clarinda  were  collected 
before  the  market  was  flooded  with  his  spurious  autograph,  and  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  autograph  shared  the  same  privilege,  there  is 
a  series  of  more  than  thirty  letters — his  literary  correspondence  with 
Robert  Surtees  of  Mainsforth. 

Mr,  Spence  was  a  student  to  the  end  of  his  life.  Most  of  the 
books  in  his  library  came  from  a  source  which  will  be  long 
remembered  by  Newcastle  bibliophiles — the  shop  of  George 
Rutland  in  Blackett  Street.  His  knowledge  of  English  historical 
portraiture  and  his  collection  of  engraved  portraits  were  very 
extensive;  he  used  sometimes  to  say  that  he  could  recognise  any 
English  portrait  wrong  side  up.  His  general  collection  of  coins 
and  medals  also  was  a  large  one,  and  he  took  great  interest  in,  and 
had  an  intimate  knowledge  of,  the  English  series. 

Robert  Spence  married  in  1842  his  cousin,  Sarah  Hagen,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Hagen  of  Stanwell,  in  Middlesex,  who  was  descended 
from  a  family  of  Quakers  in  Holland.  He  died  in  1890,  in  his 
seventy-third  year.  Of  his  family  one  son  only  survived  him,  and 
one  only  of  his  father's  eighteen  children,  his  brother  John  Foster 
Spence,  to  whom  he  was  most  warmly  attached. 

His  personal  character  is  admirably  portrayed  in  the  following 
extract  from  "  North  Country  Notes"  in  the  Newcastle  Journal: — 


THOMAS  SPENCE.  429 

"In  these  days,  when  pubHcity,  advertisement,  and  interview  tend 
to  excite  the  lower  instincts  of  mankind,  it  is  instructive  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  one  who  cared  not  at  all  for  what  is  called  '  public  life,' 
but  dwelt  apart  from  the  world,  and  lived  a  life  which  was  perfect  in 
its  surroundings.  To  know  him  was  to  love  him,  and  his,  indeed,  is 
*  the  better  sort  of  fame,'  which  consists  in  being  known  '  not  widely, 
but  intimately.'  Perhaps  what  made  him  so  deservedly  popular 
amongst  so  many  and  such  different  individuals,  in  addition  to  his 
unfailing  courtesy,  generosity,  and  kindliness  of  disposition,  was  his 
wonderful  gift  of  humour,  which  always  enabled  him,  after  the  fashion 
of  some  of  Shakespeare's  most  charming  characters,  to  divert  his  own 
thoughts  from  the  bodily  pain  and  suffering  which  continually  beset 
him  during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  and  to  make  merry  and  delight 
his  hearers.  This  fund  of  humour  never  ran  dry;  sometimes  it  would 
bubble  up  in  some  laughable  quotation  or  misquotation,  as  it  might 
chance  to  be,  or  again  be  visible  in  quaint  mimicry  or  droll  imaginary 
gestures  appropriate  to  his  narrative,  while  if  in  any  of  his  stories  the 
point  turned  against  himself,  he  was  the  first  to  lead  the  laughter  his 
relation  invariably  aroused.  The  remembrance  of  his  kindly  face,  of 
his  gentle  manner,  of  his  delightful  humour,  will  never  fade  from  the 
memories  of  those  who  have  been  privileged  to  become  his  friends." 


ITbomas  Spencc, 

THE   SPENCEAN    PHILOSOPHER. 

In  or  about  the  year  1739,  an  Aberdonian  named  Spence  emigrated 
to  Newcastle,  where,  after  following  his  business  as  a  net-maker  for  a 
few  years,  he  opened  a  booth  on  the  Sandhill  for  the  sale  of  hard- 
ware goods.  He  was  twice  married,  and  had  nineteen  children. 
His  second  wife,  Margaret  Flet,  a  native  of  the  Orkneys,  was  an 
industrious  woman,  and  also  kept  a  booth  for  the  sale  of  stockings. 
She  was  the  mother  of  Thomas  Spence,  who  was  born  on  the  Quay- 
side, Newcastle,  on  the  21st  of  June,  1750.  Another  of  her  sons 
was  Jeremiah,  who  became  a  slop-seller  in  the  town,  and  who  is 
described  as  having  been  a  man  of  distinguished  worth. 

Thomas  learned  his  father's  trade,  but  did  not  long  pursue 
it.  While  a  youth,  he  became  clerk  to  Mr.  Hedley,  smith  on  the 
North  Shore.     After  this,  he  opened  a  school  in  the  Broad  Garth, 


430 


THOMAS  SPENCE. 


on  the  Quayside;  then,  for  a  short  time,  taught  writing  and  arith- 
metic in  the  school  at  Haydon  Bridge,  and,  lastly,  he  became  master 
of  St.  Anne's  public  school,  at  the  east  end  of  Sandgate. 

For  the  purpose  chiefly  of  making  converts  to  his  opinion  "  that 
property  in  land  is  everybody's  right,"  Mr.  Spence  got  a  number  of 
young  men  gathered  together,  and  formed  into  a  debating  society, 
which  was  held  in  the  evenings  in  his  school-room,  in  the  Broad 
Garth.     Here,    on   one    occasion,    a    singular   combat    took    place 


between  him  and  Thomas  Bewick,  as  described  on  page  271  of  our 
first  volume. 

His  political  opinions  were  first  propounded  in  the  form  of  a 
lecture,  intituled  "  Property  in  Land  Every  Man's  Right,"  read,  on 
the  8th  November,  1775,  to  a  select  philosophical  society,  which 
met  in  Westgate  Street,  every  other  Wednesday,  to  debate  contro- 
versial questions.  A  fortnight  afterwards  the  members  expelled  Mr. 
Spence,  for  publishing  the  lecture  "  without  and  against  the  appro- 
bation of  the  society,"  and  for  having  it  hawked  about  the  streets 


THOMAS  SPENCE.  431 

"  in  the  manner  of  a  halfpenny  ballad,"  to  their  "  manifest  dis- 
honour." But  Spence  was  not  a  man  to  be  put  down  in  this 
summary  way.  He  only  detailed  his  principles  more  at  length  in  a 
pamphlet  intituled  "The  Constitution  of  Spensonia,  a  Country  in 
Fairyland,  situated  between  Utopia  and  Oceana,  brought  from  thence 
by  Captain  Swallow." 

The  rough  cudgel-play  between  Bewick  and  Spence  did  not 
break  up  their  friendship.  In  the  summer  of  1776,  the  two 
cudgel-players  came  together  again,  on  the  occasion  of  Bewick 
taking  a  walking  tour  into  Cumberland  and  the  South  of  Scotland, 
and  passing  Haydon  Bridge,  where  Spence  was  then  located.  "I 
was  a  welcome  guest,"  says  Bewick,  "  and  stopped  two  days.  Leave 
of  absence  from  school  having  been  given  to  him,  I  rambled  with 
him  over  the  neighbourhood  and  visited  everything  worth  notice. 
When  I  departed,  he  accompanied  me  on  the  road  nearly  to  Halt- 
whistle."  The  two  ramblers  were  in  the  mid-years,  between  twenty 
and  thirty;  and  whatever  his  eccentricities,  there  must  have  been 
something  genial  about  the  schoolmaster  to  have  attracted  the 
regard  of  the  kindly  humorist  who  has  added  so  largely  to  the 
fame  of  Newcastle. 

When  at  Haydon  Bridge,  Mr.  Spence  married  a  Miss  Elliott,  of 
Hexham,  by  whom  he  had  one  son.  He  was  not,  however,  happy 
in  the  choice  of  a  wife,  which,  combined  with  a  desire  of  propagating 
his  system  more  extensively,  induced  him  to  leave  Newcastle,  and 
to  settle  in  London.  In  Holborn  he  kept  a  stall,  at  one  end  of 
which  he  sold  saloop,  and  at  the  other  had  a  board,  stating  that 
he  retailed  books  in  numbers.  ]\Iany  of  his  publications  are  dated 
from  this  establishment — "  The  Hive  of  Liberty,  No.  8,  Little  Turn- 
stile, High  Holborn."  He  published  in  weekly  penny  numbers  a 
serial  called  "  Pigs'  Meat;  or,  Lessons  for  the  People,  alias  (accord- 
ing to  Burke)  the  Swinish  Multitude."  It  purported  to  be  "collected 
by  the  Poor  Man's  Advocate  (an  old  persecuted  Veteran  in  the  Cause 
of  Freedom),  in  the  course  of  his  Reading  for  more  than  Twenty 
Years."  It  was  illustrated  with  curious  plates,  and  forms  four 
volumes  in  a  collective  shape.  This  publication  naturally  brought 
him  into  trouble.  In  a  letter,  dated  3rd  January,  1795,  which 
appeared  in  the  Mornitig  Chronicle.^  he  states  that  he  has  been 
confined  more  than  seven  months,  a  sufferer  in  the  cause  of 
liberty,  four  times  dragged  from  his  business  by  runners  and 
messengers,    thrice   indicted  by  grand   juries,  and  twice  had  true 


432  THOMAS  S PENCE. 

bills  found  against  him,  thrice  lodged  in  prison  for  different  periods, 
and  once  been  put  to  the  bar,  but  never  once  convicted. 

At  length,  after  he  had  publicly  maintained  his  principles  for 
twenty-six  years,  the  Attorney-General  (afterwards  Lord  Ellen- 
borough)  filed  an  information  against  him,  in  1801,  for  composing 
and  publishing  a  seditious  libel,  intituled,  "  The  Restorer  of  Society 
to  its  Natural  State."  He  was  tried  before  Lord  Kenyon  and  a 
special  jury;  and,  being  found  guilty,  was  fined  ;2{^2o,  and  imprisoned 
in  Shrewsbury  gaol  twelve  months.  He  published,  in  1803,  a  report 
of  the  trial,  containing  the  whole  of  the  work  for  which  he  had  been 
prosecuted.  After  his  liberation,  he  became  an  itinerant  vendor  of 
books  and  pamphlets,  chiefly  his  own  works,  and  he  thus  supported 
himself.  One  of  the  singular  plans  which  he  adopted  for  attracting 
public  attention  was  striking  a  variety  of  copper  medals,  bearing 
curious  devices  and  inscriptions.  Thus,  one  had  on  it  the  figure 
of  a  cat,  which  he  called  his  coat-ofarms,  because  he  said  he 
resembled  it  in  this,  that  "  he  could  be  stroked  down,  but  he  could 
not  suffer  himself  to  be  rubbed  against  the  grain."  Another  had  on 
one  side  an  inscription  in  favour  of  Liberty,  and  on  the  other  a  rising 
sun.  A  third  bore  on  the  obverse  the  sun,  with  the  date  "  Nov. 
1775,"  and  inscribed  "  Spence's  glorious  plan  is  parochial  partner- 
ship in  law,  without  private  landlordism,"  and  on  the  reverse,  "  This 
just  plan  will  produce  everlasting  peace  and  happiness,  or,  in  fact, 
the  Millenium;"  in  the  centre,  scales,  the  horn  of  plenty,  etc. 
These  medals  he  frequently  distributed,  by  jerking  them  from  his 
window  amongst  the  passengers. 

Being  deeply  impressed  with  the  absurdity  of  our  English 
orthography,  "  the  most  unscientific  in  the  world,"  he  invented,  in 
1775,  a  new  alphabet,  consisting  of  forty  letters,  each  of  which 
represented  a  different  sound.  Young  Bewick  cut  the  steel  punches 
for  his  types,  and  Ralph  Beilby  struck  them  on  the  matrices  for  cast- 
ing. These  letters  were  first  used  for  his  "  Spelling  and  Pronouncing 
Dictionary,"  which  was  published  in  Newcastle  the  same  year.  All 
the  words  in  his  "  Grand  Repository  of  the  English  Language,"  as 
it  was  styled,  were  spelled  as  he  conceived  they  ought  to  be  pro- 
nounced. The  following  is  a  specimen : — "  It  may  hile  perpleks  a 
karlis  redir  ov  nu  kariktirs  too  disifir  thi  troo  sens  thereov :  tho  it 
shud  be  eze  inuf  too  no  it  bi  a  litil  aplikashin  and  pracktis." 

When  soliciting  subscriptions  to  this  curious  work,  he  called  upon 
the  Rev.  Hugh  Moises,  master  of  the  Grammar  School,  and  morning 


THOMAS  SFENCE.  433 

lecturer  of  All  Saints',  Newcastle,  for  the  purpose  of  requesting  him 
to  become  a  subscriber.  As  he  had  a  strong  Northern  accent,  Mr. 
Moises  asked  him  what  opportunities  he  had  had  of  acquiring  a 
correct  knowledge  of  the  pronunciation  of  the  English  language. 
"  Pardon  me,"  said  Spence,  "  I  attend  All  Saints'  Church  every 
Sunday  morning."  At  this  time  he  was  publishing,  "at  his  school 
on  the  Keyside,"  in  penny  numbers,  "  The  Repository  of  Common 
Sense  and  Innocent  Amusement,"  in  which  he  attempted  to  intro- 
duce his  new  method  of  spelling.  After  he  went  to  London,  he 
published  many  other  curious  books  in  the  same  peculiar  way.  In 
1805,  he  issued,  from  20,  Oxford  Street,  "The  World  Turned  Upside 
Down,"  dedicated  to  Earl  Stanhope,  the  inventor  of  the  Stanhope 
printing-press,  and  a  kindred  spirit  to  his  own.  In  this  map  of  the 
hemispheres,  the  poles  are  reversed  from  the  usual  way — to  point  a 
moral,  of  course. 

One  morning,  in  passing  along  one  of  the  streets  of  London,  with 
a  parcel  of  numbers,  he  saw  a  very  pretty  girl  cleaning  the  steps  of  a 
gentleman's  house.  He  stopped  and  looked  at  her,  and,  his  wife 
being  dead,  inquired  if  she  felt  disposed  to  marry.  On  the  maid 
answering  in  the  affirmative,  he  offered  himself,  was  accepted,  and 
married  the  same  day.  But  neither  was  this  marriage  a  happy  one. 
The  girl,  who  had  married  him  merely  to  be  revenged  on  her  sweet- 
heart, with  whom  she  had  quarrelled,  soon  repented,  and  lavished 
her  attentions  on  her  first  lover.  She  afterwards  went  to  the  West 
Indies  with  a  sea  captain ;  yet,  on  her  return,  Spence  pardoned  her 
transgressions,  and  restored  her  to  favour.  But  the  safety  of  his 
health  and  property  compelled  him  at  length  to  dismiss  her  from  his 
house,  though  he  allowed  her  eight  shillings  per  week  during  his 
life. 

Mr.  Spence  died  in  London  on  the  8th  September,  18 14,  in  the 
fifty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  His  remains  were  followed  to  their  last 
resting-place  by  a  numerous  throng  of  political  admirers  ;  and  one  of 
his  friends  made  an  oration  over  his  grave,  illustrative  of  his  public 
and  private  virtues.  Appropriate  medallions  were  distributed  at  the 
funeral,  and  a  pair  of  scales  preceded  the  body,  indicative  of  the 
justice  of  the  deceased's  views. 


VOL.  III.  28 


434  DAVID  STEPHENSON. 

Davit)  Stcpben0on, 

ARCHITECT. 

At  the  close  of  last  century,  the  principal  architect  and  builder 
in  Newcastle  was  David  Stephenson.  He  was  a  native  of  the  town, 
born  in  1756,  the  son  of  John  Stephenson,  house  carpenter,  who 
lived  and  carried  on  an  extensive  business  in  his  own  property  at  the 
head  of  the  Long  Stairs,  on  the  west  side,  and  was  apparently 
a  man  of  standing  and  substance.  The  old  carpenter  came  into 
considerable  prominence  at  the  rebuilding  of  Tyne  Bridge,  after 
the  disastrous  flood  of  November,  1771.  Brand  relates  that  the 
committee  charged  with  the  reconstruction  "  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment with  Mr.  Stephenson,  carpenter,  to  finish  a  temporary  bridge 
in  four  months,  to  be  reckoned  from  June  i8th,  1772,  under  a  large 
penalty,"  and  that  "on  the  17th  of  July  following  they  began  to 
drive  the  piles,  and  the  bridge  was  opened  on  the  27th  day  of 
October  in  that  year. 

Brought  up  to  his  father's  business,  and  taking  up  his  freedom  of 
the  House  Carpenters'  Company,  David  Stephenson  endeavoured  to 
improve  his  position  by  qualifying  himself  for  the  higher  branches  of 
the  builder's  craft.  He  studied  mathematics,  geometry,  and  drawing, 
and,  before  he  was  thirty,  started  on  his  own  account,  at  the  head  of 
Westgate  Street,  as  an  architect.  One  of  his  first  undertakings  was 
the  rebuilding,  in  1783,  of  the  Cale  Cross,  which  stood  at  the 
junction  of  the  Side,  the  Butcher  Bank,  and  the  Sandhill.  The 
Mayor  that  year,  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  Bart,  M.P.,  of  whose 
parhamentary  career  he  and  his  father  were  staunch  supporters,  put 
this  work  in  his  way,  and  bore  the  cost  of  it.  The  Rev.  John  Baillie, 
author  of  the  "  Impartial  History  of  Newcastle,"  who  appears  to 
have  been  a  friend  of  the  architect,  for  he  thanks  him  in  his 
book  "  for  his  many  informing  communications,"  describes  the 
restored  structure  as  "  supported  by  columns  beautifully  adorned, 
as  well  as  the  top,  with  various  emblematical  assemblages  of  the 
town's  arms,  horns  of  plenty,  etc.,"  the  whole  of  it  being  of  Mr. 
Stephenson's  own  design  and  execution.  This  erection,  with  the 
addition  of  a  lion  couchant,  stood  for  about  fourteen  years,  and  then, 
being  voted  an  obstruction  and  a  nuisance,  was  taken  down,  and  set 


DAVID  STEPHENSON.  435 

up  in  the  donor's  park  at  Blagdon.  In  the  succeeding  Mayoralty, 
that  of  Charles  Atkinson,  Mr.  Stephenson  designed  and  erected  a 
new  White  Cross  in  Newgate  Street,  "  surmounted  by  a  pretty  little 
spire,  with  a  clock,  and  ornamented  on  the  four  sides  with  the 
arms  of  the  mayor,  sheriff,  and  magistrates.  The  White  Cross 
was  removed  in  1808,  but  the  site  it  occupied,  opposite  the  northern 
end  of  Low  Friar  Street,  is  still  marked  by  a  circle  of  stones  in  the 
roadway. 

Mr.  Stephenson's  next  important  engagement  was  the  so-called 
"  restoration  "  of  St.  Nicholas'  Church.  Soon  after  St.  Nicholas'  had 
been  adapted  to  the  taste  of  the  churchwardens,  he  took  in  hand  the 
designing  and  erection,  at  the  corner  of  Drury  Lane,  of  a  new  theatre, 
which  was  opened  on  the  21st  of  January,  1788,  and  of  a  new  church 
for  the  parish  of  All  Saints,  consecrated  by  Thurlow,  Bishop  of 
Durham,  in  November,  1789.  The  theatre,  long  since  demolished, 
is  described  as  remarkably  elegant  and  convenient;  the  church 
stands  at  the  foot  of  Pilgrim  Street  to  bear  witness  for  itself.  While 
these  works  were  in  progress  Mr.  Stephenson  was  occupied  with  a 
great  scheme  of  town  improvement — the  formation  of  Mosley  Street 
and  Dean  Street.  "  Impartial "  Baillie  tells  us  that  "  The  design 
was  committed  to  Mr.  David  Stephenson,  architect,  who,  in  the 
execution  of  it,  has  done  much  honour  to  himself,  and  the  most 
substantial  service  to  the  public  at  large.  .  .  .  This  street  (Mosley 
Street)  is  handsome  and  well  built,  of  great  width,  with  a  foot-way  of 
flag-stones  on  each  side,  which  perfectly  secures  passengers  against 
danger  from  the  numerous  waggons,  coaches,  and  carriages,  which 
are  incessantly  passing  and  repassing.  To  complete  the  design  the 
Dean  was  arched  over,  and  the  valley  filled  up,  upon  which  was 
formed  a  convenient  and  beautiful  street,  wide,  airy,  and  well  paved 
with  a  broad  foot-way  of  fine  flag-stones  on  each  side.  What  a 
transformation  !  Formerly  a  horrid,  vast,  nauseous  hollow,  changed, 
as  by  magic,  into  a  fair  row  of  magnificent  houses,  shops,  and 
depositaries  of  rich  and  valuable  commodities  the  productions  of 
every  region  of  the  globe  ! " 

Across  the  water,  in  the  neighbouring  borough  of  Gateshead,  the 
designer  of  Mosley  and  Dean  Streets  was  employed  to  lay  out  a  new 
thoroughfare,  which,  turning  eastward  from  Bridge  Street  towards  St. 
Mary's  Churchyard,  diverted  traffic  from  the  steep  acclivity  of  the 
Bottle  Bank.  This  improvement,  since  known  as  Church  Street, 
was    completed   in    1791.       Other   undertakings    of    his   were   the 


436  DAVID  STEPHENSON. 

widening  of  Tyne  Bridge  by  five  feet  in  1801,  the  erection  of 
the  New  Quay  at  North  Shields  in  1806,  and  the  erection  of  the 
Tenantry  Column,  locally  known  as  "The  Farmer's  Folly,"  at 
Alnwick  in  1816.  In  the  report  of  the  rejoicings  which  accompanied 
the  laying  of  the  foundation-stone  of  this  column,  Mr.  Stephenson  is 
styled  "  architect  to  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Northumberland."  He 
held  that  appointment  for  some  years,  and  superintended  the  con- 
struction of  numerous  farm  buildings  on  the  ducal  estates. 

Apart  from  his  profession,  Mr.  David  Stephenson  interested  him- 
self in  various  local  movements  for  the  well-being  of  his  fellow- 
townsmen.  He  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  at  a  meeting 
in  the  Assembly  Rooms  on  the  24th  January,  1793,  to  prepare  a 
plan  for  the  formation  of  a  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  in 
Newcastle,  and  when  the  scheme  had  been  matured,  he,  and  Dr. 
Ramsey,  Dr.  Wood,  and  Mr.  Walter  Hall,  became  the  first  working 
committee  of  the  institution.  They  began  in  a  very  humble  way, 
at  the  Newcastle  Dispensary,  in  rooms  the  use  of  which  had  been 
granted  for  the  purpose,  with  the  additional  permission  to  erect  a 
bookcase,  "eighteen  feet  in  width,  completely  furnished  with  drawers 
and  shelves,"  which  Mr.  Stephenson  had  bought  for  the  sum  of  J[^%. 
At  one  of  the  early  meetings  of  the  members  (January  14th,  1794)  he 
read  a  manuscript  entitled  "  A  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  Mr.  Robert 
Watson,  Painter,  Civil  and  Military  Engineer." 

Another  movement  in  which  Mr.  Stephenson  figured  was  a 
patriotic  one.  When  threats  of  French  invasion  stimulated  the 
youth  of  England  to  the  practice  of  arms,  he  organised  his  workmen 
and  other  artisans  employed  in  Newcastle,  and  taught  them  how  to 
defend  their  hearths  and  homes  against  Bonaparte.  Under  date 
December  26th,  1803,  local  records  describe  the  swearing-in  of 
these  amateur  soldiers  by  the  Mayor  at  the  Guildhall — "  a  volunteer 
corps  of  artificers,  under  the  command  of  David  Stephenson,  Esq., 
architect,"  wearing  as  uniform  "  a  blue  jacket  and  trousers,  and  a 
round  hat." 

Although  an  iconoclast  in  early  life,  as  his  treatment  of  St. 
Nicholas'  showed,  he  developed  in  his  later  years  a  taste  for  anti- 
quities, and  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Newcastle  Society 
of  Antiquaries.  He  was  a  subscriber  to  Brand's  History,  arid  is 
said  to  have  contributed  the  plate  of  "  Miscellaneous  Antiquities  " 
which  appears  in  that  work.  His  "  many  informing  communica- 
tions "   to   Baillie's  "  Impartial "  have  already  been   noted,   and  in 


GEORGE  STEPHENSON.  437 

Raine's  "  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson  "  he  is  seen  proffering 
similar  service,  and  offering  the  use  of  his  hbrary  to  the  future 
historian  of  Northumberland. 

Among  the  pupils  who  passed  through  Mr.  Stephenson's  office 
during  his  professional  career  was  one  who  attained  to  the  highest 
distinction— John  Dobson.  It  was  by  Mr.  Stephenson's  advice  that 
Mr.  Dobson,  resisting  the  temptations  of  a  career  in  London,  decided 
to  establish  himself  as  an  architect  in  Newcastle.  With  what  happy 
results  to  his  fellow-townsmen  the  adoption  of  that  advice  was 
attended,  the  leading  thoroughfares  of  the  town  abundantly  testify. 

Mr,  Stephenson  died  at  Alnwick  on  the  29th  of  August,  1819, 
aged  63.  One  of  his  daughters,  Elizabeth  Padget  Stephenson,  living 
unmarried  to  the  patriarchal  age  of  ninety-three,  died  in  Lovaine 
Crescent,  Newcastle,  so  recently  as  the  3rd  of  July,  1886. 


(Bcoroc  Stcpbcnson, 

THE    FATHER    OF    RAILWAYS. 

The  life  of  George  Stephenson  has  been  written  by  Dr.  Smiles  and 
other  eminent  biographers,  and  is  familiar  to  everybody.  In  a 
collection  of  memoirs  like  the  present,  the  repetition  of  well-known 
facts  concerning  it  must  of  necessity  be  brief  and  fragmentary. 

George  Stephenson  was  born  on  the  9th  of  June,  1781,  near  Wylam, 
about  eight  miles  west  of  Newcastle.  His  parents  were  Robert  and 
Mabel  Stephenson,  and  at  the  date  of  George's  birth  his  father,  who 
was  known  by  the  name  of  "  Old  Bob,"  was  earning  only  twelve 
shillings  a  week.  Their  little  home  was  a  cottage  situated  close  by 
the  roadside.  A  pitman  who  worked  with  old  Robert  Stephenson 
described  him  as  follows: — "  Geordie's  feyther  was  like  a  pair  o' 
deals  nailed  tegither,  an'  a  bit  o'  flesh  i'  th'  inside;  he  was  as  queer 
as  Dick's  hatband — went  thrice  aboot  an'  wadn't  tie.  His  wife 
Mabel  was  a  delicat'  boddie,  an'  varry  flighty.  Thay  war  an  honest 
family,  but  sair  hadden  doon  i'  th'  warld." 

George  Stephenson's  early  life  was  that  of  an  ordinary  working 
man's  child.  "  He  played  about  the  doors,"  says  Dr.  Smiles,  "went 
bird-nesting  when  he  could,  and  ran  errands  to  the  village."  When 
he  was  eight  years  old  his  father  removed  to  Dewley  Burn  Colliery, 
a  few  miles  eastward,  on  the  borders  of  Throckley  Fell,  and  here 


438 


GEORGE  STEPHENSON. 


George  was  employed  in  herding  cows  at  twopence  a  day;  then  led 
horses  at  the  plough  for  fourpence  a  day;  next  earned  sixpence  as  a 
wellor  or  picker  of  "bats"  and  "brasses"  out  of  good  coal. 

The  Dewley  Burn  coal  was  worked  out  by  the  time  George  was 


GEORGE   STEPHENSON. 


fifteen,  and  the  Stephensons  had  to  shift  their  home.  They  removed 
to  Jolly's  Close,  near  Newburn,  and  soon  after  their  arrival,  some 
new  workings  of  coal  having  been  opened,  George  was  put  to  work 
as  a  fireman  on  his  own  account  at  a  shilling  a  day.     All  this  while. 


GEORGE  STEPHENSON.  439 

he  had  been  growing  up  without  education,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
he  was  unable  to  read.  Much  of  his  time  was  devoted  to  studying 
his  engine,  so  as  to  become  qualified  for  the  post  of  engineman, 
with  better  pay  than  he  was  then  earning.  By-and-by,  he  was  sent 
to  a  pumping-engine  near  Throckley  Bridge,  when  his  wages  were 
raised  to  twelve  shillings  a  week.  "  I  am  now  a  made  man  for  life,"  was 
his  remark  as  he  came  out  of  the  office  with  the  first  week's  increased 
salary  in  his  pocket.  His  duties  were  sufficiently  light  to  furnish  him 
with  leisure  even  during  the  hours  of  employment;  and  he  appears 
to  have  devoted  that  leisure  to  the  study  of  the  mechanism  of  the 
engine  which  it  was  his  duty  to  watch,  until  he  was  able  to  repair 
and  attend  to  it  without  the  help  of  the  colliery  engineer. 

Among  his  favourite  occupations  at  this  time  was  modelling  of 
engines  in  clay.  His  ignorance  of  reading,  however,  he  discovered 
to  be  a  bar  to  his  progress  even  in  his  mechanical  recreations,  and 
at  last  he  went  to  a  night-school,  kept  by  one  Robin  Cowens,  at 
Walbottle,  to  whom  he  paid  threepence  a  week.  He  thus  learnt  to 
read,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  was  just  able  to  write  his  own  name. 
A  Scotch  dominie  at  Newburn  taught  him  arithmetic,  in  which  he 
soon  became  proficient. 

In  1801,  while  employed  as  brakesman  at  the  Dolly  Pit,  Black 
Callerton,  and  earning  about  a  pound  a  \veek,  he  courted  the 
daughter  of  a  neighbouring  farmer  named  Hindmarsh,  but  the  girl's 
father  would  not  consent  to  their  marriage,  and  the  engagement  was 
broken  off.  Foiled  in  that  direction,  he  set  his  affections  upon  Ann, 
daughter  of  John  Henderson,  a  small  farmer  at  Capheaton.  She 
too  became  inaccessible,  and  then  he  proposed  to  her  sister  Fanny, 
who  w-as  in  service  at  the  house  in  which  he  lodged,  and  was 
accepted.  To  this  young  woman,  twelve  years  older  than  himself, 
he  was  married  at  Newburn  Church,  on  the  28th  of  November, 
1802.  The  couple  lodged  for  a  time  in  a  cottage  at  Black  Callerton, 
and  then,  having  obtained  an  appointment  as  brakesman  of  the  first 
ballast-raising  machine  that  was  erected  on  the  Tyne,  George  took 
his  wife  to  Willington  Quay,  and  with  the  money  which  she  had 
saved  in  service  furnished  a  house  and  created  a  home. 

The  responsibilities  of  marriage  led  Stephenson  to  apply  himself 
more  diligently  than  before  to  the  work  of  self-education.  He 
employed  his  evenings  in  shoe-mending  and  clock-cleaning,  and  in 
studying  arithmetic  and  mensuration,  with  occasional  recreations  in 
elementary   geometry.      On   the   i6th  of  October,    1803,   his  wife 


440  GEORGE  STEPHENSON. 

brought  him  a  son,  to  whom  he  gave  the  name  of  Robert,  after  that 
of  his  own  father,  and  in  the  beginning  of  1805  he  removed  from 
Willington  Quay  to  West  Moor  Colliery,  Killingworth,  where  he  had 
obtained  a  better  situation  as  brakesman  of  the  colliery  engine. 
While  there,  in  July,  1805,  Mrs.  Stephenson  brought  a  daughter  into 
the  world,  which  lived  but  a  few  weeks,  and  in  the  ]\Iay  following, 
smitten  with  consumption,  she  died. 

The  loss  of  his  wife  made  a  great  impression  upon  George 
Stephenson,  and  to  mitigate  his  trouble  and  improve  his  position 
in  life  he  spent  all  his  available  leisure  in  the  study  of  practical 
mechanics.  In  no  long  time  he  acquired  celebrity  among  colliery 
engineers  as  a  skilful  "  engine  doctor,"  and  was  called  upon  "  to 
prescribe  remedies  for  all  the  old,  wheezy,  and  ineffective  pumping 
machines  in  the  neighbourhood."  When,  therefore,  in  18 12,  the 
enginewright  at  Killingworth  High  Pit  was  killed  by  an  accident,  he 
was  appointed  his  successor  at  a  salary  of  ;^  100  a  year. 

At  this  time,  and  for  many  years  after,  Stephenson  lived  in  a 
cottage  at  West  Moor  which  originally  had  but  one  apartment,  with 
a  garret  above  accessible  by  means  of  a  step-ladder.  In  course  of 
time  he  added  to  the  place  until  it  became  a  comfortable  four-roomed 
dwelling,  filled  with  models  of  engines,  self-acting  planes,  and  other 
ingenious  contrivances.  Over  the  door,  with  the  aid  of  his  son  and 
"  Ferguson's  Astronomy,"  he  placed  a  sun-dial.  Both  father  and 
son,  writes  Dr.  Smiles,  were  in  after-life  very  proud  of  the  joint  pro- 
duction. At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Newcastle,  in 
1838,  when  he  took  a  party  of  savants  to  see  Killingworth  pits, 
George  did  not  fail  to  direct  attention  to  the  sun-dial ;  and  Robert, 
on  the  last  visit  which  he  made  to  the  place,  a  short  time  before  his 
death,  pointed  out  the  desk,  still  there,  at  which  he  made  his  calcu- 
lations of  the  latitude  of  Killingworth. 

The  investigations  and  experiments  which  led  to  the  construction 
of  the  locomotive  engine  have  been  briefly  noted  in  the  biographies 
of  John  Blenkinsop,  Timothy  Hackworth,  William  Hedley,  William 
Losh,  and  the  second  Lord  Ravensworth.  Here  it  is  enough  to 
state  that  George  Stephenson  submitted  to  the  owners  of  Killing- 
worth  Colliery  his  first  conception  of  such  an  engine  in  181 3,  and 
that,  with  the  money  which  they  advanced  him,  he  completed  a  loco- 
motive, and  on  the  25th  of  July,  18 14,  set  it  to  work  on  the  colliery 
railway,  when  it  drew  eight  loaded  carriages,  weighing  thirty  tons,  up 
a  gradient  of  i  in  450,  at  the  rate  of  five  miles  an  hour. 


'^i-k's''^ 


442  GEORGE  STEPHENSON. 

During  the  following  year  Stephenson  was  experimenting  with 
coal  gas  with  the  object  of  devising  a  lamp  that  should  minimise  the 
perils  of  mining,  and  in  December  he  exhibited  the  safety  lamp 
which  bears  his  name  at  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  was  experimenting  in  the  same 
direction  at  the  same  time,  and  an  angry  dispute  arose  as  to 
priority  of  invention.  Sir  Humphrey  received  from  grateful  coal- 
owners  a  present  of  ;^2ooo;  to  Stephenson  they  awarded  a 
hundred  guineas.  Stephenson's  friends  resented  this  marked  dis- 
tinction, and  with  the  Earl  of  Strathmore,  Charles  John  Brandling, 
Charles  W.  Bigge,  and  other  prominent  public  men  at  their  head, 
they  collected  ;^iooo,  and  presented  the  enginewright  of  Killing- 
worth  Colliery  with  a  silver  tankard,  and  the  balance  of  the  money 
in  cash,  at  a  public  dinner  in  Newcastle  Assembly  Rooms.  While 
this  dispute  was  raging,  on  the  29th  of  March,  1820,  Stephenson 
was  married  at  Newburn  Church  to  his  second  wife — his  first  sweet- 
heart, Elizabeth  Hindmarsh. 

In  1 82 1  the  Royal  assent  was  given  to  an  Act  for  the  construction 
of  "  tramroads  "  for  the  passage  of  "waggons  and  other  carriages, 
with  men  and  horses,  or  otherwise,"  between  Stockton  and  Darling- 
ton. The  chief  promoter  of  this  horse-working  line  was  Edward 
Pease  of  Darlington,  who,  one  morning  while  the  scheme  awaited 
realisation,  received  a  visit  from  two  strangers — Nicholas  Wood, 
viewer,  and  George  Stephenson,  enginewright,  of  Killingworth 
Colliery.  They  explained  their  errand,  and  Mr.  Pease  was  surprised 
to  hear  Stephenson  suggest  that  the  waggons  should  be  drawn,  not 
by  horses,  but  by  engines  that  would  do  the  work  of  fifty  horses. 
He  was,  however,  soon  convinced  that  Stephenson's  plan  was  practi- 
cable, and  in  the  end  he  obtained  for  him  the  post  of  engineer  to  the 
new  line,  and  joined  him  in  starting  a  locomotive  manufactory  in 
Newcastle.  The  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway  was  opened  on 
the  27th  of  September,  1825,  with  a  train  of  eleven  waggons  carrying 
coals  and  one  loaded  with  flour,  a  coach,  and  twenty-one  cars  filled 
with  people.  The  engine,  driven  by  Stephenson  himself,  started 
"with  this  immense  train  of  carriages,"  and  "such  was  its  velocity 
that  in  some  parts  the  speed  was  frequently  twelve  miles  an  hour." 

By  the  opening  of  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Une  Stephenson 
had  proved  the  feasibility  of  travelling  by  the  aid  of  steam,  but  he 
had  still  tough  battles  to  fight  against  the  prejudices  of  the  public, 
the  vested  interests  of  land-owners,  coach-owners,  and  turnpike  trusts. 


GEORGE  STEPHENSON. 


443 


and,  above  all,  the  jealousy,  or  obstinacy,  of  professional  engineers. 
Among  these  latter  were  eminent  men  who  maintained  that  fixed 
engines,  stationed  a  mile  or  so  apart,  were  safer,  cheaper,  and  more 
effective  than  locomotives.     When  Stephenson  had  conquered  the 


immense  difficulties  of  laying  a  line  across  Chat  Moss  and  linked 
together  the  great  industrial  centres  of  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  he 
was  confronted  by  this  fixed  engine  controversy.  The  directors  of 
the  line,  scared  by  the  weight  of  conflicting  opinions,  offered  a  prize 


444  GEORGE  STEPHENSON. 

of  ;^5oo  for  a  locomotive  which  on  a  certain  day  should  be  placed 
on  their  railway  and  perform  certain  indicated  work.  Stephenson's 
"  Rocket "  won  the  prize,  and  that  vexing  question  was  settled  for 
ever.  Thenceforward  his  success  was  only  limited  by  his  ability 
to  undertake  and  perform.  In  one  session  of  Parliament  alone, 
that  of  1836,  it  is  said  that  powers  were  obtained  for  the  construction 
of  two  hundred  and  fourteen  miles  of  new  railways  under  his 
direction  and  that  of  his  son  (whom  he  had  taken  into  partner- 
ship), at  an  expenditure  of  five  millions  sterling. 

Besides  all  this  work  at  home  George  Stephenson  was  on  more 
than  one  occasion  consulted  abroad.  King  Leopold  of  Belgium 
invited  him  to  Brussels,  engaged  him  to  assist  Belgian  engineers  in 
laying  out  a  system  of  railroads  connecting  the  capital  with  the  chief 
cities  and  towns  of  his  kingdom,  feted  him  at  his  palace,  and  invested 
him  with  the  knightly  Order  of  Leopold.  The  promoters  of  a  line 
in  Spain — the  "  Royal  North  of  Spain  Railway  " — induced  him  to 
survey  and  report  upon  their  proposed  route,  and  he  went  to  Madrid 
and  spent  about  three  months  traversing  the  difficult  country  that  lay 
between  that  city  and  the  Bay  of  Biscay. 

In  1840,  George  Stephenson,  having  reached  the  age  of  sixty, 
desired  rest  and  retirement.  He  had  settled  at  Tapton  House, 
Chesterfield,  near  which  he  had  opened  out  the  great  colliery  of 
Claycross,  and  erected  the  extensive  lime-kilns  of  Ambergate. 
Gradually  withdrawing  himself  from  railway  undertakings,  he  lived 
for  the  remainder  of  his  days  the  life  of  a  country  gentleman.  He 
built  melon-houses  and  vineries,  was  an  enthusiastic  cultivator  of 
exotic  plants,  and  he  delighted  to  compete  for  prizes  in  vegetables. 
He  was  also  a  considerable  and  successful  farmer,  fed  cattle  after 
methods  of  his  own,  and  imported  engineering  doctrines  into  the 
growth  of  flesh.  "Ye  see,  sir,"  he  would  say,  "I  like  to  see  the 
coo's  back  at  a  gradient  something  like  this,"  drawing  an  imaginary 
line  with  his  hand,  "  and  then  the  ribs  or  girders  will  carry  more 
flesh  than  if  they  were  so — or  so."  Thus  engaged,  his  life  passed 
usefully  and  pleasantly  to  its  close.  Death  came  to  him  at  last 
suddenly  and  unexpectedly.  Less  than  twelve  months  after  he  had 
married  a  young  wife  (his  third),  on  the  12th  of  August,  1848,  in 
the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  he  passed  away,  and  was  buried 
in  Trinity  Church,  Chesterfield. 

The  memory  of  George  Stephenson  has  been  honoured  in  New- 
castle by  the  erection  of  a  monument  in  Neville  Street,  facing  the 


JOHN  STEPHENSON.  445 

Chronicle  offices,  the  placing  of  one  of  his  early  engines  from  Killing- 
worth  at  the  end  of  the  High  Level  Bridge,  and  the  carving  upon  a 
tablet  attached  to  No.  17,  Eldon  Street,  of  the  inscription — 

*'  The  Residence  of  George  and  Robert  Stephenson,  1824-25." 


3obn  Stcpbcnson, 

ALDERMAN    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

Upon  the  old  road  that  leads  from  Alston  to  Leadgate,  and  within 
a  mile  of  Alston  Town  Foot,  stands  the  farmhouse  of  Crosslands. 
Sheltered  by  a  few  venerable  trees,  and  whitened  by  successive 
residents  at  each  returning  spring,  this  modest  dwelling  forms  a 
conspicuous  and  pleasing  object  in  the  picturesque  landscape 
through  which  the  South  Tyne  hurries  to  the  meeting  of  the  waters 
at  Warden.  Here,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  lived 
a  Cumberland  "  statesman,"  or  yeoman — owner  of  the  farm,  and  of 
the  pasture  land  which  surrounds  it,  owner  also  of  the  estate  of 
Bailes,  hard  by — named  Henry  Stephenson.  And  here  were  born 
two  boys,  sons  of  Henry  Stephenson,  who,  in  after-life,  acquired 
wealth  and  distinction  far  exceeding  the  wildest  dreams  of  their 
friends  and  neighbours  in  the  happy  valley  from  which  they  sprung. 

Henry  Stephenson,  the  owner  of  Crosslands,  had  four  sons 
altogether — Thomas,  Robert,  William,  and  John.  The  two  elder 
ones  made  no  special  mark  in  the  world,  for  Robert  died  early,  and 
Thomas  did  not  venture  beyond  the  patrimonial  estates  of  Crosslands 
and  Bailes,  to  which  he  succeeded  at  his  father's  decease,  in  April, 
1734.  It  was  the  enterprise  of  William  and  John  that  linked  the 
name  of  Stephenson,  in  the  North  of  England,  with  the  possession 
of  riches,  and  the  power  and  influence  which  riches  bring. 

No  record  of  the  early  stages  of  William  Stephenson's  career  has 
come  down  to  us.  By  some  means  or  other,  fresh  from  the  pastures 
of  Alston,  he  made  his  way  to  London,  and  there,  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  he  carried  on  the  business  of  a  distiller,  and 
engaged  in  a  series  of  profitable  speculations  in  hops.  Thus  acquir- 
ing riches,  he  rose,  like  Hogarth's  industrious  apprentice,  from  one 
degree  of  honour  to  another,  till  he  reached  the  highest  mark  of 
a    citizen's    ambition.      Through    the    usual    grades    of    common 


446  JOHN  STEPHENSON. 

councilman  and  alderman,  he  ascended  to  the  chair  of  chief 
magistrate,  in  1764,  and  receiving  the  honour  of  knighthood,  became 
"The  Right  Honourable  Sir  William  Stephenson,  Knight,  Lord 
Mayor  of  London." 

Sir  William  Stephenson  had  issue  two  daughters,  one  of  whom 
married  her  cousin  Henry,  son  of  her  father's  brother  John;  the 
other  was  united  to  John  Sawbridge,  known  in  after  years  as  a 
patriotic  London  alderman,  Lord  Mayor  in  succession  to  John 
Wilkes,  1776-77,  M.P,  for  Hythe  in  1768,  and  for  the  City  from 
1774,  with  a  brief  interval,  till  his  death  in  1795.  At  Alderman 
Sawbridge's  house,  Ollantigh,  Kent,  on  the  24th  of  October,  1774, 
Sir  William  Stephenson  died,  leaving  his  memory  to  be  perpetuated 
at  Alston  by  a  cross  which,  shortly  before,  he  had  set  up  in  the 
Market  Place,  and  upon  which  the  townspeople  had  placed  the 
appropriate  inscription — "  This  Market  Cross  was  erected  by  the 
Right  Honourable  Sir  WiUiam  Stephenson,  Knight,  born  at 
Crosslands,  in  this  parish,  and  elected  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in 
1764." 

John  Stephenson,  the  other  son  of  the  old  yeoman  of  Crosslands, 
came  to  Newcastle,  served  his  time,  it  is  presumed,  to  a  merchant 
adventurer,  set  up  in  business  as  a  wine  merchant,  and  to  some 
extent  directed  in  this  part  of  the  country  his  brother's  speculation 
in  hops.  At  one  time  of  his  life,  like  his  brother,  he  had  municipal 
aspirations.  He  allowed  himself  to  be  elected  Sheriff  of  Newcastle 
for  the  municipal  year  1728-29,  and  accepted  an  alderman's  gown  in 
1747,  but  at  that  point  his  ardour  cooled,  and  beyond  it  he  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  go.  At  the  mayor-choosing  on  Michaelmas  Monday, 
1750,  some  difficulty  was  experienced  in  obtaining  a  suitable  chief 
magistrate,  and  among  others.  Alderman  Stephenson  was  importuned 
to  accept  the  office.  This  honour  he  firmly  and  resolutely  declined 
to  receive;  Alderman  William  Peareth  was  equally  obdurate,  and  in 
the  end  first  Peareth,  and  then  Stephenson,  were  duly  elected,  and 
fined  a  hundred  marks  each  for  refusing  to  fulfil  the  desires  of  their 
fellow-burgesses. 

By  this  time  Alderman  John  Stephenson  had  purchased,  with  the 
profits  of  his  speculations,  landed  estates  in  Northumberland  and  the 
Bishopric.  He  acquired  from  Ralph  Wallis  the  manor  of  Knares- 
dale,  lying  between  Alston  and  Haltwhistle,  with  its  residential  hall, 
its  demesne  lands  and  farmholds,  and  the  advowson  of  the  rectory. 
He  was  the  owner  of  the  manor  of  Coxlodge,   in  the  parish  of 


JOHN  STEPHENSON.  447 

Gosforth,  of  Rogerly,  an  old  seat  of  the  Maddisons,  near  Stanhope, 
and  of  Hunwick,  near  Bishop  Auckland.  When  he  died  (7th  of  April, 
1 761),  he  bequeathed  five  shillings  each  to  sixteen  poor  widows  in 
Alston  and  Garrigill,  the  same  in  Knaresdale  and  Kirkhaugh,  and 
the  same  to  eight  poor  persons  in  the  parish  of  Boldon,  charging  a 
house  in  Westgate  Street,  Newcastle,  with  an  annuity  of  ;^io  per 
annum  for  ever,  for  that  purpose.  He  was  buried  in  St.  Nicholas' 
Church,  Newcastle,  where  there  is  a  tablet  to  his  memory. 

By  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Matthew  Bell,  of 
Woolsington,  John  Stephenson  had  three  sons  and  eight  daughters. 
His  eldest  son,  Henry,  was  called  to  the  Bar;  but,  having  married 
his  cousin  Alice,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Sir  William  Stephenson, 
and  inherited  much  of  his  father's  wealth,  he  did  not  practise  his 
profession.  His  means  enabled  him  to  live  in  some  style,  with  a 
London  house  in  Park  Lane,  and  a  country  seat  in  Berkshire,  and 
to  marry  his  only  daughter,  a  girl  of  great  beauty,  to  John  Saville, 
second  Earl  of  Mexborough.  Matthew  Stephenson,  second  son  of 
the  alderman,  remained  in  Newcastle,  and  was  Sheriff  of  the  town  in 
1759,  in  which  year  he  purchased  from  the  Jenison  family  the  estate 
and  castle  of  Walworth,  in  the  county  of  Durham.  Of  him  the 
anonymous  author  of  "  The  Vicar's  Will  and  Codicil "  wrote,  in 
1765:— 

"  To  that  Fair  Spark,  whom  Matt,  we  call, 
Ladies  (I'm  sure)  ye  know  him  all ; 
'Tis  he  who  oft  abroad  does  roam, 
In  hopes  to  bring  a  countess  home  ; 
To  him,  who  likes  not  good  roast  Beef, 
I  leave  a  brush  to  clean  his  teeth." 

John  Stephenson,  the  alderman's  third  son,  went  to  India,  where  he 
realised  a  fortune,  and  married  a  Miss  Bazett,  who,  after  his  death, 
espoused  the  fifth  Earl  of  Essex.  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
alderman,  was  united  to  Cuthbert  Swinburne,  of  Longwitton,  while 
her  sister  Elizabeth,  a  Newcastle  beauty,  became  the  wife  of  Aubone 
Surtees,  banker,  and  the  mother  of  the  young  lady  whose  elope- 
ment with  John  Scott,  afterwards  Earl  of  Eldon,  forms  one  of  the 
most  romantic  episodes  in  local  history. 

The  estates  which  Alderman  Stephenson  had  acquired  in  the 
North  were  sold  by  his  descendants.  Henry  Stephenson,  his  heir, 
disposed  of  Knaresdale,  in  1769,  to  James  Wallace,  afterwards 
Attorney-General.     The  Coxlodge  estate,  part  of  the  Countess  of 


448  ROBERT  STEPHENSON. 

Mexborough's  marriage  portion,  was  sold  by  the  Earl,  her  husband, 
to  Job  Bulman  and  the  Brandlings.  Hunwick  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Joseph  Reay,  of  Newcastle,  and  eventually  was  acquired  by  the 
relatives  of  Alderman  Stephenson's  wife,  the  Bells  of  Woolsington. 

Reverting  once  more  to  the  original  Crosslands  family,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  a  further  link  of  connection  between  them  and 
Newcastle,  Thomas  Stephenson,  the  eldest  of  the  four  brothers, 
had,  among  other  issue,  a  daughter  named  Dorothy,  who  became  the 
wife  of  the  Rev.  Anthony  Munton,  usher  in  the  Royal  Free  Grammar 
School,  and  curate  of  St.  Andrew's,  Newcastle.  At  his  death  in 
1755  this  lady  published,  by  subscription,  twenty-one  of  her  husband's 
discourses  entitled  "  Several  Sermons,  preached  in  Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne,  by  Anthony  Munton,  M.A.  Printed  by  John  White,  etc." 
One  of  their  sons — the  Rev.  William  Munton,  B.D.,  married  Lucy, 
seventh  daughter  of  William  Darnell,  of  Newcastle,  merchant,  and 
sister  of  the  Rev.  W.  N.  Darnell,  rector  of  Stanhope.  The  second 
of  Thomas  Stephenson's  sons  (Dorothy's  brother),  named  after  the 
alderman,  John  Stephenson,  inherited  the  family  estate  of  Crosslands 
and  Bailes,  and,  proceeding  to  London,  under  the  guidance  of  his 
uncle.  Sir  William,  was  elected  in  1780,  and  again  in  1790,  one  of 
the  M.P.'s  for  the  borough  of  Tregony  in  Cornwall,  and  died  on  the 
17th  of  March,  1794,  unmarried,  aged  eighty-four. 


IRobcrt  Stepbcneon, 

SON     OF     GEORGE     STEPHENSON. 

Robert  Stephenson,  the  only  son  of  George  Stephenson,  was  born, 
as  previously  stated,  at  Willington  Quay  on  the  i6th  of  October, 
1803.  Losing  his  mother  when  he  was  barely  three  years  old,  he 
was  brought  up  in  his  father's  house  at  West  Moor  by  one  of  his 
father's  sisters,  a  young  woman  who,  chastened  by  disappointment, 
had  developed  matronly  habits  beyond  her  years.  George  Stephen- 
son was  determined  that  his  lad  should  not  enter  upon  the  serious 
business  of  Hfe  as  he  had  done,  uneducated,  and  he  sent  him,  at 
a  very  early  age,  to  the  best  school  within  accessible  distance  of 
his  cottage — that  of  Thomas  Rutter  at  Longbenton.  As  soon  as 
Robert  was  old  enough  to  walk  so  far,  he  was  entered  as  a  day 


ROBERT  STEPHENSON. 


449 


scholar  in  Mr.  Bruce's  school — the  far-famed  Percy  Street  Academy, 
Newcastle. 

"  During  the  time  young  Stephenson  attended  school  at  Newcastle, 
his  father,"  writes  Mr.  Smiles,  "  made  the  boy's  education  instru- 


:■  ^A 


ROBERT   STEPHENSON. 


mental  to  his  own.  Robert  was  accustomed  to  spend  some  of  his 
spare  time  at  the  rooms  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Institute, 
and  when  he  went  home  in  the  evening  he  would  recount  to  his 
father  the  results  of  his  reading.     Sometimes  he  was  allowed  to  take 

VOL.  III.  29 


4SO  ROBERT  STEPHENSON. 

with  him  to  Killingworth  a  volume  of  the  "  Repertory  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,"  which  father  and  son  studied  together.  But  many  of  the 
most  valuable  works  belonging  to  the  Newcastle  Library  were  not 
permitted  to  be  removed  from  the  rooms.  These  he  was  instructed 
to  read  and  study,  and  bring  away  with  him  descriptions  and  sketches 
for  his  father's  information." 

Robert  Stephenson  left  Percy  Street  Academy  in  1819,  and  be- 
came an  apprentice  with  his  father's  friend,  Nicholas  Wood,  viewer 
of  Killingworth  Colliery.  Before  his  time  was  out  the  memorable 
interview  took  place  at  which  Nicholas  Wood  and  George  Stephen- 
son convinced  Edward  Pease  of  the  practicability  of  steam  loco- 
motion. George  Stephenson  was  appointed  engineer  of  the  Stockton 
and  Darlington  line,  and  he  took  his  son  with  him.  In  the  valley 
of  the  Tees  the  intelligence  of  the  youth  attracted  notice;  the  father, 
proud  of  his  boy,  yielded  to  suggestions  from  his  employers  and  sent 
him  for  a  term  to  Edinburgh  University.  With  that  brief  University 
career  his  academic  education  closed,  and  he  returned  to  Darlington 
as  assistant  to  his  father. 

When  the  partnership  with  Mr.  Pease  and  others  was  arranged 
which  created  the  engine  manufactory  in  Newcastle,  George  Stephen- 
son put  his  son  in  the  forefront  of  the  undertaking.  The  firm  was 
styled  "  Robert  Stephenson  &  Company,"  and  Robert,  then  only 
twenty  years  of  age,  was  called  upon  to  superintend  its  earliest 
operations.  "  He  had  to  supervise  the  building  operations,  engage 
men,  take  orders,  advise  on  contracts,  draw  plans,  make  estimates, 
keep  the  accounts,  and  in  all  matters  great  or  small,"  writes  Mr. 
J.  Cordy  Jeaffreson,  "  govern  the  young  establishment  on  his  own 
responsibility." 

The  manufactory  had  been  in  operation  but  a  few  months  when 
Robert  Stephenson  was  pressed  by  the  promoters  of  a  "  Columbian 
Mining  Association,"  one  of  whom  was  his  partner  in  the  Newcastle 
firm,  to  superintend  the  engineering  operations  of  the  Association  in 
Spanish  America.  He  went,  and  remaining  there  three  years,  "  ex- 
plored the  country  far  and  near,  made  assays  of  specimens  of  ore, 
wrote  reams  of  letters  and  reports,"  imported  miners  from  England, 
set  up  machinery,  and  at  his  departure  was  able  to  inform  the 
promoters  that  with  proper  mechanism,  and  economical  management, 
their  property  could  be  made  remunerative.  He  returned  to  New- 
castle at  the  beginning  of  1828,  and  for  the  next  five  years  remained 
at  the  manufactory,    developing    its    operations,    and    introducing 


R OBER T  STEPHENSON.  4 5 1 

improvements  in  the  construction  of  the  locomotive — improvements 
which  enabled  "  The  Rocket,"  built  under  his  direction,  to  achieve 
its  triumph  in  1S29,  and  to  settle  the  question  of  steam  locomotion. 
Shortly  before  the  prize  was  won,  Robert  Stephenson  won  a  prize  of 
a  more  personal  character.  On  the  17th  of  June,  1829,  he  was 
married  in  Bishopsgate  Church,  London,  to  Fanny,  daughter  of  Mr. 
John  Sanderson,  and  after  a  short  wedding  trip  came  back  to 
Tyneside  and  commenced  housekeeping  at  No.  5  Greenfield  Place, 
Westgate  Hill,  Newcastle. 

In  1830  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  admitted  Robert 
Stephenson  to  membership,  and  before  the  year  was  out  he  was 
engaged  in  surveying  the  first  of  the  great  lines  with  which  his 
name,  as  distinct  from  his  father's,  is  identified — the  railway  from 
London  to  Birmingham.  The  project  was  bitterly  opposed  by 
landowners,  canal  proprietors,  and  road  trustees,  and  for  a  time 
their  opposition  was  successful.  But  in  1833,  parliamentary  sanc- 
tion was  obtained,  and  the  work  proceeded.  Robert  Stephenson, 
appointed  engineer-in-chief,  broke  up  his  home  in  Newcastle,  and 
set  up  a  new  domicile  on  Haverstock  Hill,  London.  From  this 
time  London  became  his  home,  and  though  he  frequently  visited 
Newcastle,  and  continued  till  his  death  to  superintend  the  engine 
works,  he  never  again  had  a  residence  on  the  banks  of  the  Tyne. 

The  London  and  Birmingham  railway  was  begun  on  the  ist  of 
June,  1834,  and  opened  on  the  15th  of  September,  1838.  "  It  was 
the  first  of  our  great  metropolitan  railroads,"  writes  Mr.  Jeaffreson, 
"  and  its  works  are  memorable  examples  of  engineering  capacity. 
They  became  a  guide  to  succeeding  engineers;  as  also  did  the 
plans  and  drawings  with  which  the  details  of  the  undertaking  were 
'plotted.'  When  Brunei  entered  upon  the  construction  of  the  Great 
Western  line  he  borrowed  Robert  Stephenson's  plans  and  used  them 
as  the  best  possible  system  of  draughting.  From  that  time  they 
became  recognised  models  for  railway  practice." 

A  recital  of  succeeding  engineering  achievements  of  Robert 
Stephenson  would  be  a  mere  record  of  names,  dates,  and  places. 
It  must  suffice  to  name  the  more  important  of  them.  First  comes 
the  construction  of  the  Newcastle  and  Darlington  Junction  Railway 
in  1S44,  which  united  the  Thames  and  the  Tyne;  followed  by  the 
extension  of  the  line  to  Berwick,  including  the  High  Level  Bridge 
at  Newcastle  and  the  Royal  Border  Bridge  across  the  Tweed,  com- 
pleted in  1850;  the  Chester  and  Holyhead  Railway,  with  its  tubular 


452  ROBERT  STEPHENSON. 

bridges  across  the  Menai  Straits  and  the  River  Conway,  finished  in 
the  same  year;  the  Alexandria  and  Cairo  Hne,  with  tubular  viaducts, 
swing  bridges,  etc.,  1855;  the  Victoria  Bridge  across  the  St.  Law- 
rence, near  Montreal,  completed  shortly  after  its  designer's  decease. 

The  honours  and  emoluments  received  by  Robert  Stephenson 
testify  to  widespread  admiration  of  his  genius  and  power.  The  King 
of  the  Belgians  conferred  upon  him  the  knight's  cross  of  the  Order 
of  Leopold ;  the  Emperor  of  the  French  decorated  him  with  the 
Legion  of  Honour;  the  King  of  Sweden  invested  him  with  the  grand 
cross  of  St.  Olaf ;  the  Queen  offered  him  a  knighthood,  which, 
however,  he  declined  to  accept ;  the  University  of  Oxford  gave  him 
the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.;  the  Royal  Society  elected  him  a 
Fellow;  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  appointed  him  a  Member 
of  Council,  Vice-President,  and  ultimately  President ;  the  burgesses 
of  Whitby  sent  him  to  Parliament  in  1S47,  and  renewed  their  con- 
fidence at  every  election  up  to  the  year  of  his  death  ;  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Geographical  Society,  of  the  committee  of  the  great 
Exhibition  of  185 1,  of  the  London  Sanitary  and  Sewage  Commission, 
and  of  the  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  construction  of 
Submarine  Telegraph  Cables.  He  was  the  recipient  of  innumerable 
testimonials  and  complimentary  banquets,  at  one  of  which  latter,  held 
in  Newcastle  on  the  30th  July,  1850,  it  was  stated  that  up  to  that 
time  he  had  constructed  1790  miles  of  railway  in  England  alone. 

To  local  institutions  and  charities  Robert  Stephenson  was  a  muni- 
ficent benefactor.  In  1854  he  offered  to  pay  one-half  of  a  debt  of 
;£(i2oo  that  hampered  the  operations  of  the  Newcastle  Literary  and 
Philosophical  Society  upon  condition  that  the  other  half  was  collected 
and  the  subscription  reduced  from  two  guineas  to  one  guinea  per 
annum,  "feeling  grateful,"  as  he  said,  "for  the  advantages  which  he 
had  derived  from  the  library  when  a  young  man,  and  being  anxious 
to  extend  the  same  advantages  to  others."  The  offer  was  accepted, 
the  condition  fulfilled,  and  the  institution  relieved  of  its  burden. 
In  his  will  he  bequeathed  to  the  Society  jQ'jooo,  to  the  Newcastle 
Infirmary  ^10,000,  and  to  the  North  of  England  Mining  Institute 
JQ2000. 

Although  he  wrote  fluently  and  well,  Robert  Stephenson  added 
little  to  the  literature  of  his  profession.  He  issued  in  1830  a  tract, 
the  joint  production  of  himself  and  Joseph  Locke,  in  defence  of  the 
locomotive  engine  against  the  attacks  of  the  advocates  of  stationary 
engines;    published   in    1837    a   pamphlet   entitled    "London   and 


WILLIAM  STEFBENSOiV.  453 

Brighton  Railway:  Mr.  Robert  Stephenson's  Reply  to  Captain 
Alderson";  contributed  the  article  on  "Iron  Bridges"  to  the  eighth 
edition  of  the  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica";  and  wrote  "Introductory 
Observations  "  for  a  "  History  of  the  Britannia  and  Conway  Bridges," 
a  sumptuous  book,  compiled  by  Edwin  Clark,  the  resident  engineer 
of  those  gigantic  undertakings.  But  the  productions  of  his  pen 
otherwise  were  official  reports  and  statements  connected  with  pro- 
fessional operations. 

Robert  Stephenson  died  at  his  residence  in  Gloucester  Square, 
London,  on  the  12th  of  October,  1859,  and  was  buried  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  His  wife  predeceased  him,  and  having  no  issue,  he 
bequeathed  the  greater  part  of  his  property  to  his  cousin,  George 
Robert  Stephenson,  C.E. 


Milliam  Stcpbcusou, 

AGRICULTURIST. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  founder  of  Methodism,  while  on 
his  second  visit  to  Newcastle,  in  the  winter  of  1742,  acquired  a  site, 
and  erected  upon  it  the  third  building  in  the  kingdom  devoted  to 
Methodistic  worship,  are  recorded  in  his  "Journal"  as  follows  : — 

"Wednesday,  December  ist. — We  had  several  places  offered  on 
which  to  build  a  room  for  the  Society;  but  none  was  such  as 
we  wanted.  And  perhaps  there  was  a  Providence  in  our  not 
finding  any  as  yet;  for  by  this  means  I  was  kept  at  Newcastle, 
whether  I  would  or  no." 

"  Saturday,  4th. — To-day  a  gentleman,  Mr.  Riddell,  called  and 
offered  me  a  piece  of  ground.  On  Monday  an  article  was  drawn, 
wherein  he  agreed  to  put  me  into  possession  on  Thursday,  upon 
payment  of  thirty  pounds." 

"Tuesday,  7th. — I  was  so  ill  in  the  morning,  that  I  was  obliged 
to  send  Mr.  Williams  to  the  room.  He  afterwards  went  to  Mr. 
Stephenson,  a  merchant  in  the  town,  who  had  a  passage  through  the 
ground  we  intended  to  buy.  I  was  willing  to  purchase  it.  Mr. 
Stephenson  told  him — 'Sir,  I  do  not  want  money;  but  if  Mr. 
Wesley  wants  ground,  he  may  have  a  piece  of  my  garden,  adjoining 
the  place  you  mention.  I  am  at  a  word.  For  forty  pounds  he  shall 
have  sixteen  yards  in  breadth  and  thirty  in  length.'" 


454  WILLIAM  STEPHENSON. 

"  Wednesday,  8th. — Mr.  Stephenson  and  I  signed  an  article,  and 
I  took  possession  of  the  ground.  But  I  could  not  fairly  go  back 
from  my  agreement  with  Mr.  Riddell.  So  I  entered  upon  his 
ground  at  the  same  time.  The  whole  is  about  forty  yards  in  length; 
in  the  middle  of  which  we  determined  to  build  the  house,  leaving 
room  for  a  courtyard  before,  and  a  little  garden  behind." 

This  building,  designated  by  Mr.  Wesley  "The  Orphan  House," 
was  opened  for  divine  worship  in  March,  1743,  and  at  once  became 
the  centre  of  active  Methodist  propaganda.  Its  founder  intended, 
shortly  after  the  erection  of  his  new  sanctuary,  to  vest  it  in  the  hands 
of  local  trustees;  but  for  some  reason  unexplained,  Mr.  Stephenson 
neglected  to  complete  the  transfer.  Months  passed  away,  and  the 
settlement  still  remained  in  abeyance.  When  the  second  anniversary 
of  the  opening  service  came  round,  Mr.  Wesley  wrote  to  Mr. 
Stephenson  the  following  sharp  and  peremptory  letter: — 

"Sir, — I  am  surprised.  You  give  it  under  your  hand  that  you  will 
put  me  in  possession  of  a  piece  of  ground,  specified  in  an  article 
between  us,  in  fifteen  days'  time.  Three  months  are  passed,  and 
that  article  is  not  fulfilled.  And  now  you  say  you  can't  conceive 
what  I  mean  by  troubling  you.  I  mean  to  have  that  article  fulfilled. 
I  think  my  meaning  is  very  plain.  I  am,  sir,  your  humble  servant, 
John  Wesley." 

It  would  appear  that  this  frank  explanation  of  Mr.  Wesley's 
intention  and  meaning  had  the  desired  effect,  for  in  his  "  Journal," 
under  date  April  6th,  1745,  he  writes: — "  Mr.  Stephenson,  of  whom 
I  bought  the  ground  on  which  our  House  is  built,  came  at  length, 
after  delaying  it  more  than  two  years,  and  executed  the  writing.  So 
I  am  freed  from  one  more  care." 

The  "  Mr.  Stephenson  "  of  this  correspondence  was  John  Stephen- 
son— one  of  eight  members  of  the  ancient  and  honourable  fraternity 
of  hostmen  who,  at  that  time,  bore  the  Stephenson  name,  and  to  all 
appearance  a  man  of  substance  and  position.  His  house  and  garden 
adjoined  the  Orphan  House,  on  the  south  side,  for  Northumberland 
Street  at  that  time  was  one  of  the  most  attractive  parts  of  the  town, 
and  had  become  the  residence  of  some  of  the  most  "  genteel " 
families.  Bourne,  writing  his  history  of  Newcastle  a  few  years 
earlier,  described  it  as  "  a  very  well-built  street,  having  in  it  some 
very  pretty  houses,  such  as  are  the  houses  of  Mr.  John  Stephenson, 
merchant,"  etc.,  and  he  added — "This  street  is  the  most  pleasant 
situation  of  any  within  or  without  the  town.     It  stands,  as  it  were, 


WILLIAM  STEPHENSON. 


455 


in  the  middle  of  gardens  and  shady  fields,  which  make  it  a  delicious 
place  in  the  summer  season."  Here,  then,  lived  John  Stephenson; 
and  here,  within  sound  of  Mr.  Wesley's  new  tabernacle,  he  brought 
up  his  family.  One  of  his  grandsons,  well  known  upon  Tyneside  as 
a  practical  farmer,  married  into  the  Methodist  family  of  Nixon,  of 
Barlow,  near  Winlaton.  The  eldest  of  three  sons  of  that  marriage 
was  William  Stephenson,  of  Throckley. 

Born  at  Chirton,  near  North  Shields,  on  the  14th  of  November, 
1 80 1,    William    Stephenson   was   educated   at   a  public  school   in 


wiujK'A  Sf'rp+iENS'oX. 


Barnard  Castle.  At  the  end  of  his  course  there,  he  returned  to 
Chirton,  to  be  brought  up,  under  his  father's  eye,  to  his  father's 
calling.  In  1823  he  began  life  upon  his  own  account,  by  leasing 
from  the  Commissioners  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  in  whom  were 
vested  the  forfeited  estates  of  the  Earl  of  Derwentwater,  the  South 
Farm  at  Throckley,  near  Newburn. 

The  ill  condition  of  the  Throckley  estate  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  forms  a  prominent  item  in  a  report  made  to  the  Hospital 


456  WILLIAM  STEPHENSON. 

Commissioners  by  three  of  their  colleagues,  dated  1805.  It  had 
not  materially  altered  in  18 18,  when  Mr.  Joseph  Forster  and  Mr. 
Thomas  Wailes  made  another  ofificial  survey  of  the  Hospital  estates. 
Mr.  Stephenson,  therefore,  entered  upon  his  tenancy  with  many  dis- 
advantages to  contend  against.  But  he  was  a  man  of  energy  and 
resource,  and  in  course  of  time  he  overcame  them  all,  and  built  up 
in  this  ruinous  hamlet  a  large  and  prosperous  business.  For,  after 
some  years  successful  farming,  he  revived  a  disused  colliery,  and 
working  it  upon  the  old  lines  as  a  landsale  pit,  found  a  ready  market 
for  its  produce.  With  the  clay  which  the  colliery  yielded,  he  estab- 
lished in  1855  the  Throckley  Fire  Clay  and  Gas  Retort  Works — a 
business  which  has  since  then  assumed  large  proportions.  In  1867, 
in  conjunction  with  his  sons,  he  helped  to  form  the  Throckley  Coal 
Company,  and  thus  gave  an  immense  impetus  to  the  commercial 
progress  of  the  district.  Through  these  enterprises  the  township  of 
Throckley,  with  its  two  farms,  mill,  and  twenty  or  thirty  dilapidated 
cottages,  containing  in  1821  a  population  of  159  persons,  grew  into 
a  thriving  industrial  centre.  At  the  present  time  Throckley  contains 
four  hundred  houses,  and  a  population  of  two  thousand  souls ;  pos- 
sesses places  of  worship  for  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  Wesleyan 
and  Primitive  Methodists,  schools,  a  co-operative  store,  a  reading 
room  and  library — and  no  public-house.  The  "poor  old  tenement 
where  a  little  ale  is  sometimes  sold,"  which,  according  to  the  first 
of  the  two  reports  made  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  Hospital,  stood 
alongside  the  turnpike  road  that  intersected  the  estate,  long  ago  dis- 
appeared, and  neither  beer  shop  nor  long  bar  disturbs  the  peace  of 
an  industrious  and  intelligent  community. 

A  freeman  of  Newcastle,  and  a  member  by  patrimony  of  the 
fraternity  of  hostmen,  Mr.  Stephenson  was  one  of  the  founders,  in 
1845,  of  the  Newcastle  Farmers'  Club.  He  acted  for  many  years  on 
the  committee  of  the  club,  and  afterwards  became  one  of  its  vice- 
presidents.  In  1854  he  contributed  to  its  "  Proceedings "  a  useful 
paper  on  "  Good,  Bad,  and  Parsimonious  Farming."  He  was  at  the 
same  time  a  member  of  the  Hexham  Farmers'  Club,  famous  in  the 
days  when  Mr.  John  Grey,  of  Dilston,  was  the  Receiver  of  the 
Hospital  Estates,  for  its  practical  discussions  of  agricultural  topics. 
An  acknowledged  authority  upon  farming,  his  services  were  in 
frequent  requisition  as  a  judge  at  local  shows,  in  which  capacity  the 
soundness  of  his  opinions  and  the  impartiality  of  his  decisions  were 
seldom  doubted,  and  never  impugned. 


WILLIAM  STEPHENSON.  4  5  7 

Throughout  his  career  Mr.  Stephenson  remained  faithful  to  the 
Methodist  principles  in  which  he  had  been  trained.  Shortly  after 
his  setdement  at  Throckley,  he  introduced  for  the  first  time  in  its 
history  a  proper  and  regular  service  of  public  worship.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  set  apart  an  upper  room  adjoining  the  old  farmhouse,  and 
there,  till  he  erected,  in  185 1,  a  more  convenient  chapel,  Wesleyan 
Methodist  work  and  worship  were  conducted.  The  chapel  of  185 1 
was  superseded  by  a  larger  edifice  in  1870,  which,  extended  a  few 
years  ago,  aflbrds  accommodation  for  five  hundred  worshippers. 
His  sympathies  were  not,  however,  bounded  by  his  territorial 
responsibilities.  An  earnest  class  leader  at  home,  he  gave  of  his 
substance  freely  to  denominational  enterprise  throughout  the  North 
of  England ;  while  to  nearly  every  Methodist  chapel  in  Newcastle 
and  the  neighbourhood  he  lent  his  name  as  a  trustee.  It  was  a 
fitting  sequel  to  the  strained  connection  of  his  ancestor  with  Mr. 
Wesley,  that,  in  1857,  when  Wesleyan  day-schools  were  erected  on 
the  site  of  the  old  "Orphan  House,"  the  name  of  "William 
Stephenson,  Throckley,"  appeared  in  the  list  of  contributors  for  the 
handsome  sum  of  ;^2oo. 

Mr.  Stephenson  was  twice  married — first,  in  1S27,  to  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Ward,  Esq.,  of  Edmondbyers,  who  died  in 
1862;  secondly,  in  1872,  to  the  widow  of  Mr.  Smith  of  Thorpley  Vale, 
Lincolnshire.  By  his  first  marriage  he  had  four  sons  and  four 
daughters.  The  eldest  son,  Thomas  Ward  Stephenson,  for  some 
time  secretary  of  the  Newcastle  Farmers'  Club,  died  in  1863;  the 
second  son  is  Alderman  William  Haswell  Stephenson,  J. P.,  who  has 
been  Sheriff,  is  now  for  the  third  time  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  and 
is  identified  in  many  ways  with  the  religious,  municipal,  and  com- 
mercial life  of  Tyneside ;  the  third  son,  Charles  John,  died  at 
Throckley  House,  January  14th,  1893;  the  youngest  son,  Hugh,  was 
killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  in  1877.  Of  the  four  daughters,  one, 
Eliza  Ward  Stephenson,  became  the  wife  of  Thomas  Sample,  Esq., 
of  Bothal  Castle,  and  died  in  1865;  the  others  are  married,  and 
living  at  Wolverhampton. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1876,  during  the  first  ^Mayoralty  of  his  second 
son,  Mr.  Stephenson  died,  and  a  few  days  later  he  was  buried  in 
Newburn  Churchyard,  with  the  honours  of  a  public  funeral. 


458  GEORGE  STRAKER. 


A    STRONG-MINDED    NOVOCASTRIAN. 

Whatsoever  may  have  been  its  derivation,  whether  from  the 
German  "  Straaker,"  the  Scottish  "  Straucher,"  or,  as  Brockie  fanci- 
fully suggests,  from  the  shipwrights  who  set  out  the  "  strakes "  of 
vessels,  the  name  of  Straker  has  been  known  in  Northumberland 
for  more  than  two  centuries.  The  Rev.  John  Hodgson  found  one 
William  Straker  holding  land  at  Longhirst,  near  Morpeth,  in  1663, 
and  the  poll-books  of  the  county  elections  show  that  freeholders  with 
the  same  patronymic  derived  their  qualifications  as  voters  from 
property  at  Longhirst  Brocks  for  a  hundred  years  later.  At  the 
general  election  in  1722,  three  Strakers  appear  to  have  had  county 
votes — John  Straker,  of  Longhirst  Brocks ;  Joseph  Straker,  of  Walk 
Mill,  near  Warkworth;  and  Nicholas  Straker,  Jun.,  of  Newcastle,  a 
voter  in  respect  of  property  at  Dent's  Hole. 

From  one  of  these  families,  in  all  probability,  came  George  Straker, 
master  mariner,  who,  during  the  latter  half  of  last  century,  resided  in 
St.  Anne's  chapelry,  at  the  east  end  of  Newcastle.  He  commanded 
a  vessel — possibly  his  own — that  traded  between  the  Tyne  and  the 
Baltic,  and  appears  to  have  been  a  reputable  and  well-to-do  citizen. 
Frequent  voyages  to  the  great  timber  port  of  Memel  brought  him 
into  close  connection  with  the  leading  merchants  of  that  place,  and 
in  course  of  time  he  migrated  thither,  taking  his  family  with  him, 
and  establishing  himself  in  business  as  a  shipowner  and  wood  ex- 
porter. Later  in  life,  he  came  back  to  the  Tyne,  pitched  his  tent 
at  Walker,  and,  it  is  supposed,  died  there.  His  family  consisted  of 
three  sons  and  two  daughters.  George,  his  first-born,  forms  the 
subject  of  this  biography;  John,  baptised  April  26th,  1780,  settled 
in  Dublin;  and  Joseph,  born  in  March,  1784,  was  the  well-known 
Durham  coal-owner,  head  of  the  firm  of  Strakers  &  Love,  and 
founder  of  the  family  at  Stagshaw.  Isabella,  the  eldest  daughter, 
born  in  1772,  married  Mr.  W.  R.  Robinson,  British  Consul  at 
Memel,  known  in  after-life  as  principal  in  the  London  firm  of 
W.  R.  Robinson  &  Co.  (now  Robinson  &  Fleming),  and  a 
Governor  of  the  Bank  of  England.     Sarah,   the  younger  daughter, 


GEORGE  STRAKER. 


459 


born  in  July,  1774,  was  united  to  a   Russian  professor  at   Memel, 
named  Yakish. 

George  Straker,  the  eldest  son  of  the  master  mariner,  was  born 
in  Newcastle,  on  the  i6th  of  September,  1769.  He  received  his 
education  at  a  school  in  Yorkshire,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
being  intended  for  a  seafaring  career,  was  bound  apprentice  to 
William  Bruce,  a  Newcastle  shipowner.  When  his  indentures 
expired,  he  joined  his  father  at  Memel,  sailed  from   that   port   as 


a  master,  and,  it  is  said,  commanded  for  some  time  a  privateer. 
Returning  to  Tyneside,  he  married,  October  15th,  1796,  Isabella, 
daughter  of  Henry  Smith,  tallow  chandler  and  provision  dealer  at 
the  Bridge  End,  Gateshead,  and,  quitting  the  sea  as  a  calling, 
settled  down  to  a  commercial  life.  That  is  to  say,  he  entered 
into  commercial  undertakings,  for  the  phrase  "  settled  down  "  is 
scarcely  applicable  to  his  position  and  character.  He  had  led  a 
roving  life,  and  his  physical  strength  and  mental  vigour  were  so 
highly  developed,   that   "  settling  down,"  in  the  ordinary  meaning 


46o  GEORGE  STRAKER. 

of  the  terra,  was  impossible  to  him.  In  the  early  days  of  his 
apprenticeship,  while  but  a  boy,  he  had  astonished  a  group  of 
porter  pokemen  on  Newcastle  Quay  by  shouldering  a  sack  of 
flour,  and  showing  them  how  to  carry  it  into  a  lighter.  On 
another  occasion,  passing  through  Sandgate,  he  had  seized  a 
burly  keelman,  who  was  thrashing  his  wife,  and  pinioned  his  arms 
to  his  sides  while  the  neighbours  ran  for  a  constable. 

No  sooner,  therefore,  had  he  commenced  business,  than  George 
Straker  threw  himself,  with  impetuous  ardour,  into  a  variety  of 
enterprises.  One  of  his  principal  undertakings  was  the  acquisition 
of  Wallis's  dock  at  South  Shields.  He  was  joined  in  this  adventure 
by  two  or  three  capitalists,  but  as  soon  as  he  was  able  he  bought 
them  out,  and,  for  many  years,  conducted  the  largest  shipbuilding 
and  ship-repairing  concern  on  Tyneside  on  his  own  account.  He 
was  shipbuilder,  ship  and  insurance-broker,  timber  merchant,  and 
farmer — all  at  the  same  time;  and  not  one  of  these  separate  under- 
takings was  in  any  way  contiguous  to  the  others.  He  had  a  farm 
at  Blyth,  the  shipyard  at  South  Shields,  an  office  in  Newcastle, 
and  another  farm  on  the  Ravensworth  Estate,  beyond  Gateshead. 
While  the  arrangement  lasted,  he  was  accustomed,  during  greater 
part  of  the  year,  to  visit  all  these  establishments  nearly  every  day. 
He  lived  at  Gloucester  Lodge,  Blyth,  and  early  in  the  morning 
he  looked  over  his  farm  there,  and  gave  instructions  for  the  day; 
then  rode  to  Whitehill  Point,  and  was  ferried  across  to  South 
Shields  by  his  shipyard  apprentices;  thence  trotted  up  to  New- 
castle Quay,  and,  having  attended  to  his  business  there,  rode 
over  to  Gateshead,  and  home  to  Blyth  in  the  evening.  There 
were  no  railways  in  those  days,  and  the  task  seems  impossible. 
It  would  have  been  so  to  an  ordinary  man;  but  George  Straker 
was  not  an  ordinary  man.  He  had"  an  iron  constitution,  an 
inflexible  will,  and  a  masterful  temper  that  bent  everything  and 
everybody  to  his  desires.  In  a  war  of  words,  no  less  than  in  a 
trial  of  endurance,  few  men  were  his  equal — not  even  the  Tyne 
keelmen,  whose  style  of  argument  was  considered  to  be  among  the 
most  forcible  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  And  yet,  united  to  these 
fierce  and  vigorous  attributes,  were  so  much  honesty  of  purpose, 
and  generosity  to  the  poor,  the  weak,  and  the  suffering,  that 
those  who  endured  most  from  his  temper  were  among  his  warmest 
friends  and  admirers.  His  character  was  humorously  hit  off,  in 
1^35)  by  an  anonymous  friend   (supposed  to  have  been   the  late 


GEORGE  STRAKER.  461 

\\'.  H.  Brockett,  of  the  Gateshead  Observer)^  in  the  following  mock 

epitaph: — 

"  Here  Lie  The  Bones  Of 

GEORGE  STRAKER, 

Whom  Death  only  could  Conquer. 

He  was  as  Overbearing  a  Tyrant 

With  the  tongue,  as  ever 

Waged  War  against  Independence  ! 

And  yet  the  Man  had  many  Virtues : 

In  him  the  Poor  and  Unfortunate  were  safe  of 

An  Ardent  and  Sincere  Friend ; 

And  Happy  they  who  Secured  his  Aid. 

The  Widows  and  Orphans  of  Shipwrecked  Mariners 

Will  long  Cherish  his  Memory, 

As  a  Zealous  and  Kind  Benefactor ; 

And,  over  his  Grave,  shed  the  Tribute  of  a  Tear. 

Of  quick  Discernment,  and  a  vigorous  Mind, 

Combining  an  Exterior  of  Herculean  Mould, 

With  'a  Front  like  Jove's  to  Threaten  and  Command,' 

He  was  in  War  of  Words  as  a  Giant  among  his  Fellow  Men. 

(For  his  Metal  was  of  the  Gravity  of  a  74), 

And  will  go  down  to  Posterity  with  Reverential  Awe. 

How  many  a  Victim  was  laid  low  by  his  Potent  Tongue  ! 

He  slew  Brokers  and  Fitters  as  Samson  of  old  the  Philistines ; 

Not  indeed  by  the  Bone  of  the  Dull  Ass, 

But  by  the  Steam-engine  power  of  his  own  Tremendous  Jaw, 

Put  in  motion  by  a  Soul  of  Fire, 

Never  to  be  Subdued  or  Controlled  by  aught  Human. 

Thus  powerful  in  Body,  as  in  Mind, 

He  was  Equally  to  be  dreaded 

At  the  Fist  as  in  Argument. 

Let  the  Faint  of  Heart  tread  lightly  over  his  Grave 

Now  Death  has  gained  a  Victory, 

Which  Man  never  could  !  " 

Shortly  before  this  epitaph  was  written,  Mr.  Straker  having  realised 
a  fortune,  had  gradually  dropped  out  of  his  principal  commercial 
undertakings,  and  had  begun  to  take  an  active  interest  in  public 
affairs.  From  the  nature  of  his  calling,  he  had  been  brought  into 
conflict  on  various  occasions  with  the  conservators  of  the  Tyne — the 
Corporation  of  Newcastle — under  whose  management,  or  rather  mis- 
management, the  condition  of 'the  river  had  become  a  public  scandal. 
With  characteristic  energy  he  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  "  river  re- 
formers," and  in  1S36,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  launched  out  as 
an  author.  In  other  words,  he  issued  a  pamphlet,  bearing  this 
title  : — 


462  GEORGE  STRAKER. 

"  Practical  Hints  and  Observations  on  the  State  and  Improvement  of  the  Tyne. 
By  George  Straker.  Newcastle-upon-Tyne :  Printed  by  W.  &  H.  Mitchell, 
Tyne  Mercury  Office  :  And  to  be  had  of  Messrs.  Charnley,  Akenhead,  Heaton, 
and  Gisburne." 

The  price  of  this  tract  was  a  shiUing,  and,  with  a  characteristic  bit 
of  sarcasm,  the  author  announced — "  Profits,  if  any,  to  be  given  to 
the  Female  Penitentiary  for  Northumberland,  Durham,  and  New- 
castle-on-Tyne."  His  "practical  hints"  were  (i)  to  make  quays  of 
chalk,  which,  coming  to  the  Tyne  as  ballast,  was  cheap,  and  judging 
from  a  sea  wall  at  Middlesbrough  which  he  had  seen,  set  very  firm 
and  solid;  (2)  to  fill  up  Jarrow  Slake;  (3)  to  lay  down  fixed  moor- 
ings at  North  and  South  Shields ;  (4)  to  make  a  dock,  or  floating 
basin,  commencing  a  little  below  the  Broad  Chare,  Newcastle,  and 
extending  up  Burn  Bank  to  the  Stock  Bridge. 

When  the  Municipal  Reform  Act  came  into  operation,  and  river 
reformers  were  able  to  make  their  voices  heard  in  the  municipal 
chamber,  Mr.  Straker  was  nominated  by  a  number  of  his  fellow- 
townsmen  in  North  St.  Andrew's  Ward,  for  a  seat  in  the  Reformed 
Town  Council.  He  obtained  the  highest  show  of  hands  but  one. 
Dr.  Headlam's,  but  was  beaten  at  the  poll.  In  January,  1838,  on 
the  resignation  of  Mr.  John  Lionel  Hood,  he  tried  St.  Andrew's 
South  Ward,  and  was  again  rejected;  but  the  following  month,  he 
was  returned  without  opposition.  The  election  took  place  on  the 
5th  of  February;  two  days  afterwards,  the  quarterly  meeting  of  the 
Council  occurred,  and  Mr.  Straker  took  his  seat.  He  was  then  an 
old  man  of  seventy,  but  erect  and  undaunted  as  ever.  Before  the 
sitting  closed  he  had  broken  the  ice,  had  brought  forward  his  scheme 
of  quay  extension,  and  had  been  unanimously  elected  a  member  of 
the  much-abused  River  Committee.  Before  the  year  was  out  he 
had  given  the  Council  a  specimen  of  his  temper,  an  exhibition  of 
his  independent  spirit,  and  a  foretaste  of  the  biting  personalities  in 
which  he  was  wont  to  indulge  when  thwarted,  ruffled,  or  ridiculed. 
The  official  reporter  of  the  "Proceedings"  on  the  nth  December, 
1838,  declined  to  put  some  of  his  remarks  into  print,  "particularly 
as  some  of  them  went  partially  to  affect  individual  character,"  and 
the  upshot  of  a  stormy  meeting  was  that  Mr.  Straker  put  on  his  hat 
and  walked  out  of  the  Council  Chamber.  The  next  day  he  issued 
an  address  to  the  electors  announcing  that,  consistently  with  his 
sense  of  duty,  he  could  no  longer  sit  in  that  assembly;  but  his 
constituents,  at  a  meeting  a  few  nights  later,  endorsing  his  proceed- 


GEORGE  STRAKER.  463 

ings,  persuaded  him  to  return.  He  went  back,  and  resumed  his 
criticisms  with  greater  freedom  and  wider  latitude  than  before.  At 
the  very  next  meeting  of  the  Council,  he  attacked  the  river  engineer, 
and  then,  writes  the  official  stenographer,  "a  long  and  stormy 
discussion  ensued  which,  so  far  as  Mr.  Straker  was  concerned,  was 
quite  unusual  in,  and  not  at  all  creditable  to,  a  deliberative  body. 
Mr.  Straker,  whose  feelings  were  greatly  excited,  assumed  throughout 
that  he  was  the  individual  attacked,  and  he  could  not  be  prevented, 
even  by  the  authority  of  the  Mayor,  from  rising  to  reply  to  nearly 
every  councillor  who  spoke  on  the  subject."  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  investigate  charges  which  he  made  against  the  engineer, 
and  it  reported  against  Mr.  Straker's  contention.  Next  he  asked 
for  a  public  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  the  ballast  assessor,  the 
foreman  of  the  river  works,  and  Mr.  Southern,  a  contractor  for 
improvements  at  Bill  Point,  and  because  his  colleagues  would  not 
consent  to  have  the  inquiry  open  to  the  public,  in  the  Assize  Court 
at  the  Guildhall,  he  resigned  his  membership  of  the  River  Com- 
mittee. Thus  freed  from  immediate  fellowship  with  those  who,  as  he 
honestly  believed,  condoned  jobbery  and  winked  at  corruption,  he 
formulated  a  series  of  about  five-and-twenty  charges  against  them, 
the  engineer,  and  other  servants  of  the  Corporation,  and  asked  the 
Council  to  investigate  them.  The  challenge  w'as  promptly  accepted, 
and  whosoever  is  curious  in  such  matters  may  read  the  proceedings, 
filling  nearly  sixty  pages,  in  the  "Council  Report"  for  1840.  At 
the  end  of  the  inquiry  a  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted — 
"That  the  River  Committee  and  the  engineer  continue  to  deserve, 
and  do  receive,  the  confidence  of  the  Council." 

Nothing  daunted  by  the  failure  of  his  charges,  Mr.  Straker 
returned  continually  to  them.  He  had  another  public  inquiry  into 
the  conduct  of  Southern,  the  contractor,  in  which  he  fared  rather 
better  than  before;  meanwhile,  his  speeches  grew  and  multiplied 
exceedingly.  In  February,  1841,  complaining  that  he  had  been  put 
down  in  debate,  a  fellow-councillor  reminded  him  that,  if  he  would 
look  over  the  Council  proceedings  for  the  previous  year,  he  would 
find  that  he  occupied  at  least  three-fourths  of  all  the  debates.  "  I 
can  quite  confirm  what  Mr.  Justice  Nichol  states,"  replied  the  im- 
perturbable complainant.  "I  find,  on  looking  over  the  report  of  our 
last  meeting,  that  I  spoke  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  times.  I  stood 
six  hours  on  my  legs  and  spoke  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  times.  I 
have  counted  the  number,  and  there  they  stand."     His  style,  too,  was 


464  GEORGE  STRAKER. 

as  vigorous  and  personal  as  ever,  despite  the  reporter's  friendly  warning. 
Here  is  a  sample  of  one  of  the  later  scenes  in  which  he  figured: — 

"Mr.  Straker:  I  most  solemnly  declare  that  every  word  which  Mr. 
Blackwell  has  uttered  is  untrue.  (Cries  of  '  Order. ')  I  charge  Mr.  Blackwell, 
as  I  have  done  over  and  over  again,  with  stating  what  is  not  correct.  It  is 
a  common  thing  with  Mr.  Blackwell.  (Loud  cries  of  'Order'  and  many 
confused  remarks. ) 

"Mr.  Blackwell:  I  am  under  your  protection,  Mr.  Mayor.  ('Hear, 
hear,'  'Order,'  and  almost  general  excitement.)  I  can,  and  will,  defend  myself 
against  Mr.  Straker  in  any  way  he  pleases — even  to  the  pulling  of  his  nose  if 
necessary.     (Laughter,  with  loud  demands  for  order.) 

"  The  Mayor  :  I  understand  you  to  say  that  you  do  not  believe  Mr.  Blackwell 
has  stated  to  be  true  that  which  he  knew  to  be  untrue. 

"  Mr.  Straker  :  He  may  believe  it  to  be  true;  but,  if  he  does,  it  is  the  most 
extraordinary  thing  in  the  world  to  me.  I  must  admit  that  Mr.  Blackwell 
believes  what  he  has  stated  to  be  true.  But  I  say,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
that  there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it. 

"Mr.  Lowrey:  I  believe  what  Mr.  Blackwell  has  stated  to  be  perfectly 
correct. 

"Mr.  Armstrong:  So  far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  the  circumstances,  Mr. 
Blackwell  is  perfectly  correct. 

"  Mr.  Blackwell  :  I  want  no  apology,  after  that." 

At  the  end  of  the  municipal  year  1844,  Mr.  Straker  left  the 
Council.  He  had  become  convinced  that  he  could  do  no  good 
there,  and  he  refused  to  submit  himself  for  re-election.  His  last 
motion  in  the  Council  Chamber  was  one  to  compel  the  Newcastle 
and  Carlisle  Railway  Company  to  erect  a  landing-place  on  the  quay 
in  front  of  the  lead  works  at  Elswick,  and  his  last  words,  before  the 
voting  took  place  by  which  his  motion  was  carried,  were  these: — 

"  After  a  division  on  some  motion  of  mine,  which  was  lost  by  a  small  majority, 
Mr.  Crawhall  (a  Director  of  the  Railway  Company)  came  to  me  and  said — '  If  I 
had  been  in  the  Council,  I  would  have  voted  for  it.'  '  If  you  had  been  in,'  said 
I,  'why  you  were  in;  you  were  sitting  close  beside  me.'  'No,'  says  he,  'I  was 
not  in  the  room.'  'Then  where  the  d — 1  were  you?  You  must  have  worn  an 
invisible  coat  when  you  went  out.'  '  Oh,'  says  he,  '  I  was  behind  the  door.'  Now 
I  have  only  to  beg,  that  when  the  votes  are  taken  on  this  occasion,  he  will  go 
behind  the  door." 

By  his  marriage  with  Isabella  Smith,  who  died  April  26th,  181 5, 
Mr.  Straker  had  a  son  and  two  daughters.  The  son,  Henry  Straker, 
a  member  of  the  Town  Council  of  Newcastle,  died  in  1849.  One  of 
the  daughters,  Elizabeth  Straker,  married  Mr.  James  Edwards,  of 
Dublin,  to  whom,  in  1830,  the  shipbuilding  yard  at  South  Shields 
was   made  over,   and   by  whose   son,   Mr.    Harry  S.    Edwards,    of 


AUBONE  SURTEES.  465 

Corbridge,  the  business,  under  widely  extended  conditions,  is  still 
carried  on.  The  other  daughter,  Isabella,  was  united  to  a  son  of 
the  historian  of  Northumberland,  the  late  Alderman  Richard 
Wellington  Hodgson,  of  Gateshead,  to  whose  son,  Mr.  John 
George  Hodgson,  we  are  indebted  for  the  portrait,  depicting  his 
grandfather  in  early  manhood,  which  appears  in  this  narrative. 

Mr.  Straker  died  on  the  13th  of  May,  1854,  aged  85,  and  was 
buried  in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Cuthbert's,  Gateshead. 


Bubonc  Surtces, 

.\ND    HIS    DESCENDANTS. 

The  Newcastle  family  of  Surtees  claim  to  have  sprung  from  a  younger 
branch  of  the  historical  Surteeses  of  Middleton,  Dinsdale,  and 
North  Gosforth,  whose  estates,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Brandlings,  under  circumstances  familiar  to  all 
readers  of  local  history.  Through  this  ancient  line,  it  is  believed, 
came  Edward  Surtees  of  Broad  Oak,  Hedley  Woodside,  Northum- 
berland, gentleman — a  copyholder  of  the  manor  of  Whickham  in 
1620.  Edward  Surtees  had  intermarried  with  another  branch  of 
the  old  family  —  Margaret  Coulson,  executrix  and  principal 
devisee,  as  well  as  eventual  heiress,  of  her  uncle,  Robert  Surtees, 
alderman  of  Durham.  From  this  marriage  issued  three  sons,  the 
eldest  of  whom,  William  Surtees,  founded  the  Newcastle  family  of 
that  name,  while  his  brother  Robert  established  the  Surteeses 
of  Redworth  and  Mainsforth.  William  Surtees  died  in  January, 
1703,  leaving  his  estates  of  Woodhead  and  Hedley,  near  Ovingham, 
to  Edward,  his  son  and  heir.  Edward  Surtees  married,  at  Ovingham 
Church,  on  the  9th  of  April,  1705,  Frances,  daughter  and  co-heir  of 
William  Aubone,  merchant  and  alderman  of  Newcastle  (Mayor  of 
the  town  in  1684-85),  and,  dying  in  1711,  left  three  sons.  The  third 
of  these  sons,  combining  the  patronymic  of  his  mother  with  that  of 
his  father,  bore  the  name  of  Aubone  Surtees — a  name  that,  in  one  or 
other  of  its  combinations,  was  identified  with  the  municipal  and 
commercial  life  of  Newcastle  through  several  generations. 

Baptised  at  Ovingham  on  the  4th  of  September,  171 1,  shortly 
before  his  father's  death,  Aubone  Surtees  served  his  time  to  a  booth- 
man  or  corn-merchant  in  Newcastle,  and  was  admitted  to  the  freedom 

VOL.  III.  30 


466  AUBONE  SURTEES. 

of  the  Merchants'  Company  of  that  town  on  the  28th  of  September, 
1737.  Being  a  handsome  young  man,  fair  of  hair  and  ruddy  of 
complexion,  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  win  the  hand  of  a  well- 
dowered  local  beauty  —  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Alderman  John 
Stephenson,  of  Newcastle  and  Knaresdale.  He  had  been  in 
business  upon  his  own  account  for  some  time  before  his  marriage, 
but  from  the  date  of  that  event,  August,  1748,  his  commercial 
career  was  one  of  continued  and  increasing  prosperity.  Through 
the  death  of  both  his  elder  brothers  he  inherited  the  patrimonial 
property  near  Ovingham,  and  succeeded  to  the  Receiver  Generalship 
of  Land  Tax  in  Durham  and  Northumberland.  To  his  business  of 
a  wine  merchant,  carried  on  in  the  Close,  and  afterwards  in  Dean 
Street,  under  the  style  of  "  Surtees,  Johnson,  &  Dale,"  he  added  that 
of  a  timber  dealer  at  Pandon  Gate,  where  he  traded  in  the  successive 
names  of  "  Surtees  &  Liddell,"  "  Surtees  &  Lambert,"  and  "  Surtees 
&  Brown."  In  1757  he  was  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  the  Host- 
men's  Company,  from  which  it  may  be  conjectured  that  he  had 
transactions  in  coals.  About  the  same  date,  or  soon  afterwards,  he 
became  a  banker. 

The  connection  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  and  of  his  father-in- 
law,  with  the  municipality  of  Newcastle,  naturally  led  Aubone 
Surtees  into  public  life.  He  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  the  town, 
while  a  bachelor,  for  the  municipal  year  1744-45 — the  year  of  the 
Young  Pretender's  rebellion — and  Mayor  for  the  years  1761-62  and 
1770-71.  In  his  second  term  of  office  an  event  occurred  which 
formed  the  prelude  to  one  of  the  most  romantic  events  in  local 
history.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland  visited  the  town.  "Twenty-one 
guns  were  fired  on  his  entrance  at  Newgate,  where  the  soldiers  were 
drawn  up,  and  also  on  the  Sandhill;  the  bells  were  rung,  and  at  the 
Mansion  House  the  right  worshipful  the  Mayor,  aldermen,  etc.,  with 
the  regalia,  received  their  royal  guest,"  and  presented  him  with  the 
freedom  of  the  Corporation  in  a  gold  box.  Then  they  dined 
together — a  "numerous  and  brilliant"  company — and  in  the  evening 
there  was  a  grand  ball,  "the  splendour  of  which  exceeded  everything 
before  seen  in  the  town."  The  Duke  danced  with  the  Mayoress, 
with  Miss  Allgood,  with  Miss  Carr,  and  not  only  danced  with,  but 
paid  marked  attention  to  the  Mayor's  eldest  daughter,  a  charming 
girl,  then  in  her  seventeenth  year,  and  by  general  consent  the  belle 
of  the  evening.  Never  had  Miss  Surtees  been  seen  in  such  joyous 
spirits   and  with  so  much  radiant   beauty;   never   before  had   her 


AUBONE  SURTEES.  467 

parents  received  so  many  congratulations,  and  herself  so  many 
compliments,  upon  her  appearance  and  demeanour  as  on  that 
festive  night.  The  reader  knows  what  is  coming.  In  a  little 
more  than  a  year  after  that  famous  gathering,  the  whole  of  the 
North-Country  was  ringing  with  the  news  that  Bessie  Surtees,  the 
Newcastle  banker's  daughter,  had  eloped  with  John  Scott,  the 
coal-fitter's  son,  that  her  father  had  steeled  his  heart  and  shut  his 
door  against  her,  and  that  her  prospects  in  life  were  ruined  for 
ever. 

Aubone  Surtees  did  at  first  resent  his  daughter's  conduct  and 
feel  highly  offended  at  her  lover's  haste  and  indiscretion.  In  a 
little  while,  however,  he  relented,  took  the  couple  into  his  house, 
and  on  the  7th  of  January,  1773,  seven  weeks  after  the  elopement, 
entered  into  articles  with  the  bridegroom's  father  for  their  main- 
tenance. Soon  after  the  reconciliation  he  left  the  old  house  on  the 
Sandhill  from  which  his  daughter  had  made  her  sensational  flight. 
Further  residence  there  had  become  intolerable  to  him.  Not  a  yokel 
from  the  country,  nor  a  sailor  from  foreign  lands,  but  was  brought  to 
the  Sandhill,  to  stare  at  the  window  from  which  the  Tyneside  beauty 
had  descended  into  her  lover's  arms.  So  he  removed  to  a  higher 
part  of  the  town,  and  took  up  his  residence  near  the  White  Cross, 
at  the  upper  end  of  Newgate  Street.  From  thence  he  shifted  his 
home  to  Benwell.  In  that  quiet  rural  retreat,  overlooking  the  vales  of 
the  Team  and  the  Derwent,  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days.  He 
lived  long  enough  to  regret  that  his  forgiveness  of  the  runaway  couple 
had  been  hesitating  and  tardy;  long  enough  to  see  his  son-in-law 
rise  through  the  successive  ofifices  of  Solicitor-General  and  Attorney- 
General  to  the  Chief  Justiceship  of  the  Common  Pleas  and  a  peer- 
age; long  enough  to  greet  his  wayward  daughter  as  Lady  Eldon. 
He  died,  "  father  of  the  Corporation,"  and  the  oldest  banker  in 
Newcastle,  on  the  30th  September,  1800,  in  his  ninetieth  year. 

Alderman  Aubone  Surtees  had  a  family  of  eight  children.  The 
eldest  of  them,  William  Surtees,  born  in  1750,  was  admitted  to 
the  freedom  of  the  Hostmen's  Company  in  1771,  and  to  that  of 
the  Merchants'  Company,  by  patrimony  in  the  following  year. 
He,  and  two  of  his  brothers — Aubone  (2)  and  John — entered  the 
Common  Council  of  Newcastle  early  in  life,  and  to  all  appearance 
were  treading  in  their  father's  footsteps  towards  the  highest  mark 
of  municipal  honour.  In  1780,  William  was  elected  Sheriff,  and 
in  1785  his  brother  Aubone  (2)  filled  the  same  office,  but  beyond 


468  AUBONE  SURTEES. 

that  position,  neitiier  of  them  ventured  to  go.  A  circumstance 
happened  in  1795,  which  drove  all  three  of  them  out  of  the 
Council.  On  the  13th  of  May  in  that  year,  a  vacancy  occurred 
among  the  aldermen  by  the  death  of  Mr.  James  Rudman.  The 
electors  met  at  the  Spittal  on  Thursday,  the  28th,  to  appoint  Mr. 
Rudman's  successor.  They  chose  Mr.  James  Wilkinson,  merchant, 
a  partner  in  the  bank  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  &  Co.,  but  he 
declined  the  office.  They  met  again  in  the  morning  of  the  following 
day,  and  appointed  Mr.  Isaac  Cookson,  merchant.  He  also  refused 
to  serve.  At  five  in  the  afternoon  they  assembled,  and  chose  Mr. 
William  Surtees;  but  he  likewise  declined  the  honour.  Next  morn- 
ing at  ten  they  elected  Mr.  Richard  Bell,  merchant,  and  he  proved 
to  be  equally  obstinate.  Then  they  appointed  Mr.  Aubone  Surtees 
(2),  who  also  refused;  finally  they  found  in  Mr.  Richard  Chambers, 
saddler,  a  person  willing  to  take  the  gown,  and  he  was  sworn  in 
accordingly.  The  five  recalcitrant  nominees,  all  of  whom  had  been 
sheriffs  and  were  put  up  in  rotation,  according  to  seniority,  w^ere 
fined  two  hundred  marks  (;^i33  6s.  8d.)  each,  and  upon  these  fines 
being  enforced  the  three  brothers  Surtees  left  the  municipal  body, 
never  to  return. 

Under  the  will  of  Alderman  Aubone  Surtees,  the  family  estate  of 
Hedley,  and  considerable  personal  property,  was  left  to  AVilliam 
Surtees,  the  heir  (who  obtained,  also,  the  Receiver  Generalship  of 
Land  Tax),  while  about  ^50,000,  part  of  the  capital  of  the  bank, 
was  to  be  divided  amongst  the  five  other  children  who  survived  him. 
The  two  ex-councillors,  Aubone  (2)  and  John,  were  partners  with 
William  in  the  bank,  and,  possibly,  in  some  of  the  other  commercial 
undertakings  with  which  the  Surtees  family  were  identified.  In  the 
"Newcastle  Directory"  for  1801,  the  following  entries  of  their 
business  engagements  appear  : — 

"  Surtees,  Burdon,  Surtees  and  Brandling,  bankers,  Mosley  Street; 
"Surtees,  Brown  and  Head,  raff-merchants,  Pandon  Bank; 
"  Surtees,  Wallis  and  Surtees,  wine  and  spirit  merchants,  Sandhill; 
"Tax  office,   William    Surtees,   Esq.,   Receiver   General  for  the   counties   of 
Northumberland,  Durham,  and  the  town  of  Berwick  upon  Tweed. — Side." 

All  of  a  sudden,  on  the  30th  of  June,  1803,  the  bank  stopped 
payment.  The  capital  which  the  old  alderman  accumulated  had 
been  swallowed  up  in  extensive,  but  unfortunate,  speculations,  under- 
taken by  the  younger  partners  among  themselves ;  and  most  dis- 
astrous  to   them,   and  to   hundreds  of  innocent   persons,  were  the 


AUBONE  SURTEES.  469 

consequences.  Lady  Eldon  lost  her  fortune  in  the  crash,  but  her 
runaway  marriage  proved  the  salvation  of  her  family.  For  her 
husband  was  now  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  with  innumerable 
good  things  to  bestow,  and  in  distributing  his  patronage  he  did  not 
forget  that  charity  begins  at  home.  It  is  not  supposed  that  he  did 
much  for  the  three  brothers-in-law,  but  their  sons  and  daughters 
were  introduced,  by  his  influence,  into  society,  made  good  matches, 
and  received,  at  least  some  of  them  did,  lucrative  appointments. 

William  Surtees  was  Lady  Eldon's  favourite  brother.  He  had 
been  the  means  of  reconciling  his  father  and  mother  to  the  runaway 
match,  and  her  ladyship  was  accustomed  to  credit  him  with  more 
kindness  towards  her  at  that  critical  period  of  her  life  than  she 
received  from  any  other  member  of  her  family.  After  the  failure  of 
the  bank,  he  had  his  Receivership  to  fall  back  upon,  and  he  soon 
retrieved  his  commercial  position.  His  name  appears  in  the 
Directory  for  1827  as  the  head  of  the  firm  of  "William  Surtees  &: 
Co.,  coalowners,  Benwell  Colliery  and  Adairs  Main,  i,  Broad  Chare." 
At  that  time  he  was  owner  of  the  estate  of  Pigdon,  near  Morpeth, 
but  resided  at  Seaton  Burn,  and  had  a  house  in  Montague  Square, 
London.  He  died  on  the  i8th  of  January,  1832,  while  wintering  at 
Hastings,  aged  eighty-one,  and  is  commemorated  by  a  tablet  near 
the  north  door  of  Newcastle  Cathedral. 

United  in  marriage  to  Elizabeth  Catherine,  daughter  of  the  Very 
Rev.  John  Lewis,  M.A.,  Dean  of  Ossory,  who  died  a  year  after  him, 
William  Surtees  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters.  The  daughters 
were  married — Cassandra  Charlotte  to  Sir  John  Caesar  Hawkins, 
Bart.;  Deborah  Maria  to  Henry  Phillpotts,  D.D.,  at  one  time  rector 
of  Gateshead,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Exeter.  The  eldest  son, 
Aubone  (3),  of  Newcastle  and  Pigdon,  an  officer  in  the  nth  Light 
Dragoons,  was  elected  sheriff  of  Newcastle  in  iSoo,  and  Mayor  in  182 1, 
and  died  on  the  4th  of  September,  1859,  in  his  eighty-second  year, 
having  married  Frances  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Honeywood, 
Bart.  The  second  son,  William  Villiers  Surtees,  of  Rothersfield, 
Sussex,  became  Lord  Eldon's  private  secretary,  Cursitor  of  Middlesex, 
and  a  Commissioner  of  Bankrupts,  married  Harriet,  daughter  of 
William  Samuel  Towers,  barrister,  and  died  April  27th,  1834,  aged 
fifty-six.  John  Surtees,  the  third  son  of  William,  went  into  the 
Church,  married  a  sister  of  Sir  John  Caesar  Hawkins,  was  appointed 
rector  of  Banham,  Norfolk,  and  a  Prebendary  of  Bristol,  and  had, 
among  other  issue,  the  Rev.  Scott-Frederick  Surtees,  B.A.,  Rector  of 


470  WILLIAM  SURTEES. 

Richmond,  and  afterwards  of  Dinsdale,  author  of  "  Waifs  and  Strays 
of  North  Humber  History,"  "Did  JuUus  Caesar  cross  the  Channel?" 
etc.  The  fourth  son,  Edward  Surtees,  married  a  daughter  of  John 
Ferrand,  and,  dying  in  1812,  aged  twenty-seven,  left  an  only  child — 
William  Edward  Surtees,  D.C.L.,  author  of  a  book  correcting  and 
supplementing  Twiss's  "  Life  of  Eldon." 

Alderman  Surtees's  other  sons  were  Aubone  (2),  the  sheriff  of  1785, 
who  married  Mary,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Roger  Altham,  of  Doctor's 
Commons,  and  died  at  Honfleur  early  in  1827,  aged  75;  John,  who 
married  the  half-sister  of  his  brother  William's  wife,  and  died  in 
Brittany,  December  8th,  1849,  ^ged  92;  Matthew,  Rector  of  Kirby 
Underdale,  and  a  Prebendary  of  Gloucester  and  Canterbury,  who 
died  without  issue,  within  a  few  days  of  his  brother  Aubone,  aged 
72.  One  of  the  sons  of  John  Surtees  (Stephenson  Villiers  Surtees, 
D.C.L.)  became  a  judge  in  the  Mauritius ;  a  son  of  Aubone  Surtees 
(3),  of  Pigdon  (William  Aubone  Surtees),  was  Sheriff  of  Newcastle  in 
1831,  and  died  on  the  26th  of  July,  1845,  from  a  fall  in  the  billiard 
room  of  the  Newcastle  Cricket  Ground. 


MilUam  Surtcce, 

QUARTERMASTER. 

William  Surtees,  the  son  of  a  small  tradesman  at  Corbridge,  was 
born  at  that  place  on  the  4th  of  August,  1781.  He  received  such 
instruction  as  was  common  among  people  of  his  father's  station  in 
life ;  that  is  to  say,  he  went  to  the  village  school,  and  learned  to 
read,  to  write,  and  to  use  the  simple  rules  of  arithmetic.  His  boy- 
hood fell  in  a  fighting  time,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  enlisted 
into  the  Northumberland  Militia.  Joining  his  regiment  at  Chelms- 
ford at  the  beginning  of  1799,  he  began  his  training,  and  before  he 
had  finished  his  drill,  joined  the  56th  Regiment  or  Pompadours — so 
called  from  their  facings  being  of  Madame  Pompadour's  favourite 
colour.  Embarking  at  Deal  in  the  Shields  brig  Zephyr,  at  the 
beginning  of  September,  1799,  they  landed  at  the  Helder,  marched 
to  the  capture  of  Hoorn,  and  took  part  in  engagements  at  Egmont 
and  the  neighbourhood,  until  an  armistice  put  an  end  to  their  soldier- 
ing, and  they  were  sent  home.  A  few  months  later.  Private  Surtees 
accompanied  his  regiment  to  Ireland.     There  he  remained  till  the 


WILLIAM  S  UR TEES.  4  7 1 

peace  of  1802  gave  him  his  discharge;  and  then  he  volunteered  into 
the  Rifle  Brigade. 

In  the  Rifle  Brigade  the  soldierly  instincts  of  the  young  volunteer 
procured  for  him  promotion  through  the  successive  ranks  of  corporal 
and  acting  sergeant  to  that  of  pay  sergeant.  The  following  year,  the 
Brigade,  transformed  into  the  95th  Regiment,  went  into  camp,  under 
Sir  John  Moore,  at  Shorncliffe,  to  watch  Bonaparte's  great  army 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel,  with  which,  it  was  believed,  he 
intended  to  invade  and  punish  "  perfidious  Albion."  While  there, 
in  the  spring  of  1805,  Sergeant  Surtees  was  selected  to  accompany  a 
lieutenant  on  a  recruiting  expedition  to  the  Tyne.  He  visited  his 
friends  at  Corbridge  for  the  first  time  since  his  enlistment,  and  plied 
his  tongue  so  fluently  among  the  members  of  his  old  regiment — the 
Northumberland  Militia — that  he  was  able  to  return  to  Shorncliffe 
with  about  eighty  of  them  in  his  train.  For  this  service  the  lieu- 
tenant and  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  commanding  officer. 

After  a  brief  expedition  to  Germany,  Sergeant  Surtees  received  the 
appointment  of  quartermaster-sergeant — his  fourth  promotion  in  as 
many  years.  After  another  short  period  of  foreign  service — at 
Copenhagen  this  time — he  obtained  leave  of  absence  from  his 
regiment  on  urgent  private  business.  While  in  the  North,  the 
previous  year,  he  had  recruited  upon  his  own  account,  enlisting  for 
his  personal  service  an  old  schoolfellow — a  young  woman  of  Cor- 
bridge, named  Watson.  The  urgent  private  business  which  drew 
him  away  from  his  military  duties  was  his  marriage,  and,  as  soon 
as  that  was  celebrated,  he  returned  with  his  wife  to  headquarters. 
His  enjoyment  of  domestic  happiness  was,  however,  soon  inter- 
rupted. Orders  came  for  his  battalion  to  join  the  army  in  the 
Peninsula,  and  he  left  England  in  September,  1808,  his  wife  rejoin- 
ing her  friends  at  Corbridge.  Upon  his  return,  after  taking  part  in 
the  movements  which  led  to  the  battle  of  Corunna,  and  the  death 
of  Sir  John  Moore,  he  was  sent  to  obtain  more  men  from  the  North- 
umberland Militia,  then  stationed  at  Ipswich.  Again  his  persuasive 
eloquence  prevailed.  He  returned  to  barracks  with  thirty  volunteers, 
and  these,  with  additions  from  other  corps  of  militia,  made  up  a 
third  battalion,  to  which,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1809,  he  was  appointed 
quartermaster. 

During  the  winter  of  18 10,  Quartermaster  Surtees  went  with  his 
battalion  to  Cadiz.  Thenceforward,  for  nearly  four  years,  he  was  in 
the  thick  of  the  Peninsular  campaign.      He  was  at  the  siege  and 


4  7  2  SIJ?  JOHN  S  WINB  URNE. 

capture  of  Badajos,  the  surrender  of  Salamanca,  the  battle  of  Vit- 
toria,  the  fighting  near  San  Sebastian,  the  attack  on  La  Puerta, 
the  passage  of  the  Nive,  the  victory  of  Orthes,  the  affair  at  Tarbes 
(where  he  was  shot  through  the  right  shoulder  and  the  left  arm),  and 
the  battle  of  Toulouse — the  last  of  the  campaign,  fought  on  the  loth 
of  April,  1814.  His  next  employment  was  with  an  expedition  in- 
tended to  operate  in  the  war  with  the  United  States,  and  to  assist  in 
the  reduction  of  Mobile  and  New  Orleans.  During  this  expedition, 
Surtees  was  made  acting  paymaster. 

Surtees  was  at  the  occupation  of  Paris,  when  Bonaparte,  beaten 
at  Waterloo,  signed  his  final  abdication,  and  was  banished  to  St. 
Helena.  At  home  once  more,  he  joined  his  wife  at  Corbridge, 
whom  he  had  not  seen  since  his  departure  for  the  Peninsula.  While 
there  he  received  orders  to  join  his  battalion  in  Ireland,  and  during 
the  journey,  his  wife,  who  accompanied  him,  died  at  DubHn.  He 
remained  in  Ireland  two  years,  came  home  ill,  and  after  a  short 
respite,  went  with  his  regiment  to  Glasgow  to  overawe  the  Scottish 
Reformers,  and  thence  to  Ireland,  to  assist  in  putting  down  the 
Whiteboy  Insurrection.  Finally,  in  the  summer  of  1826,  he 
followed  his  corps  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  there,  his  health  breaking 
down,  he  obtained  his  discharge,  having  served  his  country  eight- 
and-twenty  years. 

Returning  to  Corbridge,  Quartermaster  Surtees  passed  the  short 
time  that  remained  to  him,  "  respected  and  beloved,  and  constantly 
engaged  in  acts  of  benevolence."  He  died  there,  without  issue,  on 
the  28th  of  May,  1830.  He  had  kept  a  record  of  the  leading  events 
of  his  career,  and  he  spent  his  declining  days  in  preparing  it  for 
publication.  After  his  death,  his  brother,  John  Surtees,  gave  it  to 
the  world  under  the  title  of — 

"Twenty-five  Years  in  the  Rifle  Brigade."  By  the  late  William  Surtees, 
Quartermaster.  William  Blackwood,  Edinburgh;  and  T.  Cadell,  Strand, 
London^  1833.     8vo,  xii.-435  PP- 


Sir  3obn  Swinburne, 

THE    FIRST    BARONET. 

Taking  their  name  from  the  Swin  (or  Swine)  Burn,  a  rivulet  which 
runs  into  the  North  Tyne  near  Chollerton,  the  Swinburnes  vie  in 
antiquity  with  the  best  and  most  illustrious  houses  in  Northumber- 


SIJ^  JOHN  S  WINB  URNE.  473 

land.  They  possessed  Swinburne  Castle  from  a  period  so  remote 
that  they  have  been  regarded  as  feudal  lords  ;  and  although  the 
original  line  became  extinct  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  and  the 
ancestral  home  passed  by  marriage  to  the  Widdringtons,  and  thence 
by  purchase  to  the  Riddells,  yet,  in  one  of  its  leading  branches,  that 
of  Capheaton,  the  family  still  survives,  and  does  honour  to  its 
ancient  name.  The  Capheaton  branch  dates  back  to  1274,  when 
Alan  of  Swinburne  purchased  the  estate  from  the  Fenwicks.  Alan, 
being  in  holy  orders,  had  no  issue,  and  in  1284  he  gave  Capheaton 
to  his  brother.  Sir  William  de  Swinburne,  Knight,  in  exchange  for 
Chollerton.  From  this  Sir  William,  the  Capheaton  Swinburnes  have 
descended  in  direct  male  succession — a  race  of  loyal  and  high- 
minded  men,  whose  escutcheon,  as  Mr.  Hodgson  remarks,  has 
never  been  sullied,  nor  its  estates  forfeited,  by  treason  or  rebellion. 

The  principal  representatives  of  the  family,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth  century  to  our  own  time,  are  these  : — 

Sir  William  Swinburne,  warden  of  the  ports  and  coasts,  and 
arrayer  of  the  men  of  Northumberland,  1335;  conservator  of  the 
truces    between   England    and    Scotland,    1338;    lord    of    Heton, 

1349- 

Sir  William '^Swinburne,    conservator   of   truces,    1386;    receiver 

general  for  Sir  Henry  Percy,  1400;  constable  of  Beaumaris  Castle, 

1402. 

Sir  William  Swinburne,  keeper  of  the  castle  of  Berwick,  1426. 

WiUiam  Swinburne,  rewarded  for  "good  diligence  in  casting  down 
Cesford  and  other  fortresses  in  Scotland,"  1520. 

Ambrose  Swinburne,  overseer  of  the  watches  from  West  Whelping- 
ton  to  Ray,  1552, 

William  Swinburne,  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland,  1639; 
sequestered  by  Parliament  for  recusancy.      Died,   1653. 

John  Swinburne,  created  a  baronet  by  Charles  I.,  but  the  patent 
was  never  taken  out;  murdered  at  Meldon,  in  1643,  by  John  Salkeld 
of  Rock. 

Sir  John  Swinburne,  "the  lost  heir,"  discovered  in  France;  first 
baronet,  1660;  captain  of  infantry,  1667;  rebuilt  the  house  at 
Capheaton,  1668.     Died,   1706. 

Sir  William  Swinburne,  second  baronet;  friend  and  correspondent 
of  Dr.  John  Radcliffe,  who  founded  the  Radcliffe  Library,  Oxford. 
Died,  1 7 16. 

Edward  and  James  Swinburne,  brothers  of  the  second  baronet. 


4  74  SIR  JOHN  S  WINB  URx\  E. 

condemned  with  their  relative,  the  Earl  of  Derwentwater,  for  partici- 
pation in  the  rebellion  of  17 15. 

Henry  Swinburne,  traveller  and  author.     Died,  1803. 

Sir  John  Edward  Swinburne,  sixth  baronet,  M.P.  for  Launceston, 
1788-90;  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland,  1799;  President  of  the 
Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society.     Died,  i860. 

Edward  Swinburne,  artist;  contributor  to  Hodgson's  History  of 
Northumberland,  and  Surtees's  History  of  Durham.     Died,  1847. 

Robert  Thomas  Swinburne,  a  general  in  the  Austrian  service; 
military  governor  of  Milan.     Died,  1849. 

Charles  Henry  Swinburne,  admiral,  R.N.    Died  in  1877.    Father  of 

Algernon  Charles  Swinburne,  poet.     Living. 

Sir  John  Swinburne,  seventh  baronet,  retired  captain,  R.N.,  High 
Sheriff  of  Northumberland,  1866;  M.P.  for  Lichfield,  1885-92. 
Living. 

John  Swinburne,  of  Capheaton,  killed  at  Meldon,  in  1643,  by  John 
Salkeld  of  Rock,  under  circumstances  described  in  our  sketch  of  the 
assassin,  was  thrice  married.  His  first  wife,  Dorothy,  daughter  of 
Cuthbert  Heron  of  Chipchase,  died  without  issue;  his  second  wife, 
Isabella,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Tempest,  of  Stella,  left  him  two 
daughters;  by  his  third  wife,  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Charles  Blount, 
of  Mapledurham,  he  had  a  son  and  heir.  His  widow  married  again, 
choosing  for  her  second  husband  Francis  Godfrey,  a  colonel  in  the 
ParUamentary  army.  Her  son,  the  youthful  heir  to  the  Swinburne 
estates,  being  very  much  in  the  way  of  this  espousal,  was  packed  off 
to  the  Continent.  According  to  tradition,  the  friends  of  the  family 
in  Northumberland  were  not  admitted  to  the  secret  of  his  where- 
abouts. At  length,  a  North-Country  gentleman,  one  of  the  Radcliffes, 
visiting  a  monastery  in  France,  was  struck  by  the  resemblance  which 
a  lad  in  the  establishment  bore  to  the  Swinburnes,  and — 

"  On  enquiring  of  the  monks  how  he  came  there,  the  only  answer 
they  could  give  was,  that  he  came  from  England,  and  that  an  annual 
sum  was  remitted  for  his  board  and  education.  On  questioning 
the  boy  himself,  it  was,  however,  found  that  he  had  been  told  that 
his  name  was  Swinburne,  which  with  the  account  of  his  father's 
death,  and  his  own  mysterious  disappearance  in  Northumberland, 
induced  the  superior  of  the  house  to  permit  him  to  return  home; 
where,  in  an  inquest  specially  empanelled  for  that  purpose,  he 
identified  himself  to  be  the  son  of  John  Swinburne  and  Ann  Blount, 


S/Ji  JOHN  S  WINB  URNE.  4  7  5 

by  the  description  he  gave  of  the  marks  upon  a  cat  and  a  punch- 
bowl, which  were  still  in  the  house." 

Brought  back  to  his  home  and  his  property,  John  Swinburne,  the 
lost  heir  of  Capheaton,  was  united  in  due  time  to  Isabel,  sole 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Henry  Lawson,  of  Brough  Hall.  His 
wife's  mother,  a  daughter  of  Sir  William  Fenwick,  of  Meldon,  owner 
of  the  house  at  which  his  father  had  been  killed,  married  for  her 
second  husband.  Sir  Francis  Radcliffe,  first  Earl  of  Derwentwater 
(head  of  the  family  to  which  the  traveller  belonged  who  solved  the 
Capheaton  mystery),  and  thus  linked  together  the  three  great  local 
houses  of  Swinburne,  Radcliffe,  and  Fenwick.  Through  these 
relationships,  the  returned  exile  obtained  power  and  influence, 
and  in  due  time  was  created  a  baronet — the  first  of  his  family. 
A  few  years  later,  the  old  house  at  Capheaton,  which  was  "  in  the 
form  of  a  castle,"  and  going  to  ruin,  was  taken  down,  and  from 
designs  by  Trollop,  who  erected  the  Guildhall  of  Newcastle,  Sir 
John  built  the  present  mansion. 

Sir  John  died  at  Capheaton  on  the  19th,  and  was  buried  at 
Whelpington  on  the  23rd  of  June,  1706.  By  his  marriage  with 
Isabel  Lawson  he  had  thirteen  children.  Two  of  the  sons,  Edward 
and  James,  implicated  in  the  rebellion  of  their  relative,  the  Earl  of 
Derwentwater,  were  captured,  tried,  and  condemned  to  death.  The 
eldest  sorl,  William  Swinburne  (married  to  Mary,  daughter  of 
Anthony  Englefield,  of  White  Knight,  Berks)  succeeded  to  the  title 
and  estates,  and,  being  of  scholarly  tastes,  formed  a  close  and 
intimate  friendship  with  the  eminent  physician,  Dr.  Radcliffe,  of 
"  Gold  Headed  Cane "  celebrity,  and  founder  of  the  Radcliffe 
Library  at  Oxford.  Sir  William  died  in  April,  17 16,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Sir  John  Swinburne,  third  baronet, 
who,  taking  to  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Bedingfield,  of 
Oxborough,  Norfolk,  became  the  father  of  Henry  Swinburne,  the 
traveller,  and  ten  other  children.  The  eldest  of  these,  another  Sir 
John,  came  into  possession  at  his  father's  death  in  1745,  but,  dying 
in  Paris,  a  bachelor,  in  1763,  the  title  and  estates  passed  to  his 
brother.  Sir  Edward,  the  fifth  baronet.  Sir  Edward  married 
Christiana,  daughter  of  Robert  Dillon,  Esquire,  who,  after  giving 
birth  to  her  seventh  child,  died  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-nine, 
"  at  her  lodgings  near  the  Forth,  Newcastle,"  and  was  buried  at  St. 
John's  Church,  adjoining,  August  i8th,  1768.  Sir  Edward  died 
November  2nd,  1786,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John  Edward. 


4  7 6  S/J^  JOHN  ED  WARD  S  WINB  URNE. 

Sir  3obn  lEbwarb  Swinburne, 

THE    SIXTH    BARONET. 

Sixth  in  descent  of  title  from  the  first  baronet,  Sir  John  Edward 
Swinburne  lived  the  longest,  and  was  the  best  known  of  the  Cap- 
heaton  race.  Born  on  the  6th  of  March,  1762,  he  was  united,  the 
year  after  his  father's  death,  to  Emma,  daughter  of  Richard  Henry 
Alexander  Bennet,  of  Beckenham,  Kent — a  niece  of  Frances  Julia, 
second  wife  of  Hugh,  second  Duke  of  Northumberland.  He  was 
then  twenty-five  years  old,  and  endowed  with  great  natural  gifts, 
which  had  been  improved  by  education  and  travel.  His  wife's 
uncle,  the  Duke,  suggested  to  him  a  Parliamentary  career,  and  in 
1788  procured  his  election  for  the  ducal  borough  of  Launceston. 
A  couple  of  sessions  in  the  House  of  Commons  satisfied  the  young 
man's  ambition,  and  settled  his  political  convictions.  He  became 
from  that  time  a  Whig  and  a  Reformer — a  follower  of  Charles  James 
Fox,  and  afterwards  of  Charles,  Earl  Grey.  He  joined  the  New- 
castle Association,  one  of  a  number  organised  in  various  parts  of  the 
kingdom  to  honour  the  name  and  promulgate  the  principles  of  Mr. 
Fox,  in  opposition  to  the  clubs  which  performed  a  like  service  for 
the  memory  of  his  great  rival,  the  Younger  Pitt.  At  the  great 
county  election  of  1826  he  plumped  for  Earl  Grey's  son.  Lord 
Howickj  in  1832  he  plumped  for  Mr.  William  Ord,  of  Whitfield; 
throughout  his  life  he  remained  faithful  to  Whig  principles  and 
Whig  measures. 

It  was  not,  however,  so  much  in  the  pursuit  of  politics,  as  in  that 
of  antiquarian  research  and  literary  enterprise,  that  Sir  John  Edward 
Swinburne  showed  to  best  advantage.  He  was  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  (London),  and 
a  Member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature.  For  forty  years  he 
presided  over  the  fortunes  of  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  taking  the  liveliest  interest  in  its  progress,  and 
assisting  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  and  influeace  its  extension 
and  development.  When  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries  was 
formed,  in  1813,  he  was  elected  President,  and  continued  to  hold 
the  office  till  his  death — nearly  half  a  century.  Through  his  generous 
aid,   and  that  of  his  brother,   Edward  Swinburne,  the   Rev.   John 


S/J^  [OHN  EDWARD  SWINBURNE. 


477 


Hodgson  was  enabled  to  persevere  in  his  herculean  labours  as 
historian  of  Northumberland.  Sir  John  not  only  contributed 
towards  the  expense  of  the  work,  but  supplied  useful  material  from 
the  family  archives,  and  procured  transcripts  of  valuable  documents 
from  other  sources;  while  the  artist  brother,  Edward,  placed  his 
gifts  at  the  author's  disposal.  Among  the  plates,  vignettes,  etc., 
which  illustrate  Mr.  Hodgson's  volumes  are  thirty  by  Edward,  and 
three  by  Miss  Swinburne. 


Sir  John  filled  the  office  of  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland  in 
1799,  and  was  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  deputy  lieutenants  and 
magistrates  of  the  county.  Residing  upon  his  patrimonial  estate,  he 
was  the  model  of  a  country  gentleman,  a  kind  and  liberal  landlord, 
an  open-handed  contributor  to  local  charities,  and  the  dispenser  of 
warm  and  generous  hospitality.  His  life  was  prolonged  far  beyond 
the  ordinary  span  of  human  existence.  He  entered  upon  his  ninety- 
ninth  year  on  the  6th  of  March,  i860,  and  died  on  the  26th  of 
September  following.     His  eldest  son  and  heir,  Edward  Swinburne, 


4  7  8  HENR  Y  S  WINB  URNE. 

having  predeceased  him,  the  title  and  estates  descended  to  his 
grandson,  the  present  baronet.  His  second  son,  Charles  Henry, 
married  Lady  Jane  Henrietta,  daughter  of  the  third  Earl  of  Ashburn- 
ham,  and  dying  March  4th,  1877,  left  issue,  the  eldest  of  whom  is 
Algernon  Charles  Swinburne,  the  poet. 


Ibcnri?  Swinburne, 

TRAVELLER    AND    AUTHOR. 

Henry  Swinburne,  eleventh  and  youngest  child  of  the  third,  and 
brother  of  the  fourth,  Sir  John  Swinburne,  of  Capheaton,  was  born 
on  the  8th  of  July,  1743.  He  began  his  education  at  the  Grammar 
School  of  Scorton,  near  Richmond,  Yorkshire,  proceeded  from  thence 
to  Paris  and  Bordeaux,  and  finished  at  Turin. 

When  the  fourth  Sir  John  Swinburne  died  in  Paris,  a  bachelor,  he 
settled  upon  his  brother  Henry  the  estate  of  Hamsterley,  a  few  miles 
to  the  south-west  of  Newcastle.  Being,  by  the  possession  of  this 
property,  and  what  his  father  had  left  him,  placed  in  easy  circum- 
stances, Henry  Swinburne  determined  to  supplement  his  foreign 
education  by  Continental  travel.  He  made  the  "  grand  tour,"  and 
having  added  to  his  classical  acquirements,  and  improved  his  know- 
ledge of  art,  returned  to  his  native  country.  Passing  through  the 
French  capital,  he  fell  in  love  with  Martha,  daughter  of  John  Baker, 
of  Chichester,  solicitor-general  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  and,  after  a 
brief  courtship,  secured  her  hand  and  fortune.  Mrs.  Swinburne's 
tastes  were  entirely  in  harmony  with  his  own.  She  knew  Greek  and 
Latin,  was  mistress  of  several  modern  languages,  possessed  musical 
gifts,  and  was  endowed  with  good  judgment  in  painting  and  sculpture. 
Their  honeymoon  over,  the  young  couple  went  to  Hamsterley  to 
reside,  occupying  their  time  at  that  somewhat  isolated  retreat  in  con- 
genial studies,  and  devoting  themselves  to  the  embellishment  of 
their  home. 

In  1774,  Mr.  Swinburne,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  resumed  his 
wanderings  upon  the  Continent,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  those 
remarkable  books  of  travel  with  which  his  name  is  associated.  The 
travellers  directed  their  steps  to  Paris,  and  proceeded  by  way  of 
Bordeaux  to  the  Pyrenees.  Here  they  were  joined  by  Sir  Thomas 
Gascoigne,   who  proposed   to    Mr.  Swinburne  a  rambling   tour   in 


HENR  Y  S  WINB  URNE. 


479 


Spain — a  country  that  at  that  time  was  little  known  to  English 
travellers.  Settling  his  wife  and  children  near  Tarbes,  Mr.  Swin- 
burne accompanied  his  friend  to  Barcelona,  followed  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean  to  Malaga  and  Cadiz,  and  thence  proceeded  by 
way  of  Seville  and  Cordova  to  Madrid  and  the  royal  residence  of 
Aranjuez,  at  which  place  they  met  with  great  attention  from  the 
Spanish  Court.  Re-entering  France  by  St.  Jean  de  Luz,  they 
reached  Tarbes,  where   Mr.  Swinburne  busied  himself  in  arranging 


■W)NBl/l\NE. 


the  materials  for  his  first  book  of  travel  and  adventure.  Having 
prepared  his  MSS.  for  the  press,  and  forwarded  them  to  England,  he 
removed  with  his  family  to  Marseilles,  where  he  took  ship  for  Naples, 
intending,  in  the  event  of  his  first  literary  labour  proving  successful, 
to  extend  his  wanderings,  and  eventually  to  give  the  result  of  his 
observations  to  the  public  in  a  second  publication.  Mrs.  Swinburne 
accompanied  him,  and,  being  furnished  with  letters  of  introduction  to 
persons  of  rank  at  the  Court  of  Ferdinand  IV.,  they  both  received 
flattering   marks  of  attention  from   the  king  and  queen,   and  the 


48o  HENR  Y  S  WINB  URNE. 

Neapolitan  nobility.  Leaving  his  wife  and  family  in  Naples,  Mr. 
Swinburne  proceeded  to  Sicily,  and,  having  visited  the  most 
interesting  portions  of  the  island,  extended  his  excursions  to  Rome, 
Florence,  and  Pisa.  With  the  manuscript  of  another  book  of  travel 
ready  for  the  press,  he  left  his  wife  in  Naples,  and  came  home  to 
England  to  superintend  the  details  of  printing  and  publication,  and 
to  look  after  his  affairs  at  Hamsterley. 

After  a  short  stay  in  the  North,  Mr.  Swinburne  rejoined  his  family, 
and,  bidding  adieu  to  Naples,  directed  his  steps  towards  Germany. 
The  Queen  of  the  Two  Sicilies  ma^iifested  her  interest  in  the 
travellers  by  giving  them  letters  of  presentation  to  her  mother,  the 
Empress  Maria  Theresa,  who  was  so  well  pleased  with  Mrs.  Swin- 
burne that  she  conferred  upon  her  the  order  of  the  "  Croix  etoilee," 
designed  for  women  of  noble  birth,  able  to  prove  arms  of  sixteen 
quarterings.  From  Vienna  the  travellers  journeyed  by  Frankfort, 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  Brussels  to  England,  and  once  more  took  up 
their  residence  at  Hamsterley.  There  they  received  the  news  that 
Mrs.  Swinburne's  property  in  the  West  Indies,  her  whole  fortune,  had 
been  laid  waste  by  the  French  and  the  Caribs.  Armed  with  letters 
of  introduction  from  the  Sicilian  Queen  to  her  sister,  Queen  Marie 
Antoinette,  he  obtained  from  the  French  Government  a  grant  of  all 
the  uncultivated  crown  lands  in  the  island  of  St.  Vincent,  as  an 
indemnity  for  the  valuable  property  that  had  been  devastated.  The 
value  of  these  lands  was  estimated  at  ;^3o,ooo ;  but  Mr.  Pitt  and 
his  Ministry,  being  pressed  for  money,  passed  a  Bill  taxing  uncul- 
tivated lands  in  the  West  Indies  at  so  high  a  rate  as  compelled  the 
possessors  to  abandon  them  to  the  Government  at  the  Government's 
own  price.  They  thus  obtained  from  Mr.  Swinburne  for  ;^6,5oo, 
property  estimated  to  be  worth  nearly  five  times  that  sum.  After 
this  reverse,  Mr.  Swinburne  remained  at  Hamsterley,  and  devoted 
himself  to  the  cultivation  of  his  estate,  and  the  education  of  his 
eldest  son  and  daughter.  His  domestic  life  presented  so  fair  a 
picture  of  tranquil  ease  and  enlightened  enjoyment,  and  the  system 
of  education  which  he  pursued  with  his  children  combined  so  many 
moral  and  material  advantages,  that  the  Marquis  Ducrest,  brother  of 
Madame  de  Genlis,  who  visited  Hamsterley  in  1787,  was  deeply 
impressed.  Indeed,  such  was  the  report  which  he  made  to  his 
sister,  with  whom  the  Swinburnes  maintained  for  many  years  an 
interesting  correspondence,  that  she  founded  her  book,  "  Les  Veillees 
du  Chateau,"  upon  his  description. 


HENR  Y  S  WINB  URNE.  4  8 1 

Hearing  of  his  misfortunes,  Queen  Marie  Antoinette  caused  Mr. 
Swinburne  to  be  informed  that,  if  he  felt  disposed  to  make  personal 
application  to  the  French  Government  for  further  indemnification, 
she  would  support  his  claims.  Thereupon  he  removed  with  his 
family  to  Paris,  where  he  remained  till  the  Revolution  compelled 
him  to  depart.  Meanwhile,  the  Queen  had  enrolled  his  eldest  son, 
Henry  Swinburne,  among  the  royal  pages — a  favour  never  before 
conferred  upon  an  Englishman.  Royal  pages  were  educated  at 
the  expense  of  the  Court,  and  subsequently  provided  for  either  in 
the  military  or  civil  household.  Young  Henry  Swinburne,  how- 
ever, did  not  reap  the  advantages  attaching  to  his  situation,  for 
the  Revolution  swept  away  the  Court  and  all  its  honours  and 
emoluments. 

In  1796,  Mr.  Swinburne  received  an  offer  from  Lord  Spencer 
to  proceed  to  France  as  British  Commissioner  for  the  Exchange 
of  Prisoners.  He  accepted  the  offer,  and  entered  upon  his  mission, 
but  was  shortly  afterwards  recalled.  The  abrupt  termination  of  his 
engagement  was  a  severe  disappointment  to  him;  but  his  vexation 
on  that  account  was  presently  overshadowed  by  a  still  greater 
trouble.  His  eldest  son,  appointed  aide-de-camp  and  military 
secretary  to  General  Knox,  who  was  proceeding  as  commander- 
in-chief  to  Jamaica,  embarked  with  the  General  and  his  suite  in 
a  ship  which  reached  the  island  of  Martinique,  and  was  no  more 
heard  of.  Nor  did  this  calamity  come  alone.  His  eldest  daughter, 
Mary  Frances,  married  Paul  Benfield,  and  with  him  he  entered 
into  commercial  speculations  which  proved  disastrous,  and  completed 
the  wreck  of  his  fortune.  Under  these  distressing  circumstances  he 
applied  to  the  Government  for  some  official  situation  that  might 
augment  his  limited  resources,  and  obtained  the  permanent  post 
of  vendue  master  in  the  island  of  Trinidad,  and  the  temporary 
mission  of  restoring  the  islands  of  Santa  Cruz  and  St.  Thomas  to 
the  Danes.  Arriving  in  Trinidad  in  July,  1802,  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  duties  of  his  office,  occupying  his  leisure  hours  in  studying 
botany  and  the  formation  of  a  herbarium.  Ere  many  months  had 
passed  away,  on  the  ist  of  April,  1803,  he  received  a  sunstroke, 
and  died  almost  suddenly.  He  was  buried  at  St.  Juan,  where, 
subsequently,  his  friend.  Sir  Ralph  Woodford,  raised  a  monument 
to  his  memory. 

Mr.  Swinburne's  published  works  were  the  following  : — 

VOL.  III.  ^  I 


482  HENRY  SWINBURNE. 

"Travels  through  Spain  in  the  Years  1775  and  1776;  in  which  several  Monu- 
ments of  Roman  and  Moorish  Architecture  are  illustrated  by  Accurate  Drawings 
taken  on  the  Spot."  London,  1779.  4to.  Second  edition,  1787,  2  vols.,  8vo. 
Dublin  edition,  1789,  8vo. 

"Travels  in  the  Two  Sicilies  in  the  Years  1777,  1778,  1779,  and  1780.  With 
Map  and  Plates."  London,  1783-85.  2  vols.,  4to.  Second  edition,  4  vols.,  8vo, 
1790. 

"  Voyage  dans  les  Deux  Siciles  en  1777,  etc.  Translated  from  the  English  by 
J.  B.  de  la  Borde,  with  a  voyage  from  Bayonne  to  Marseilles."  Paris,  Didot, 
1785-87,  8vo,  5  vols.,  with  Chart  of  the  Pyrenees. 

Mr.  Swinburne  wrote,  also,  an  article,  signed  "  Porcustus,"  which 
appeared  in  the  GefitkmarCs  Magazine  for  1784,  in  answer  to  some 
remarks  on  his  travels,  and  describing  a  Roman  altar  in  his  possession. 
Three  years  after  his  death  appeared — 

"A  Picturesque  Tour  through  Spain,  embellished  with  20  Engravings."  Lon- 
don, 1806,  oblong  folio.     Second  edition,  1810,  folio. 

Long  afterwards,  a  collection  of  his  letters,  accompanied  by  a 
portrait  of  the  author  and  a  biography,  was  edited  by  Mr.  Charles 
White,  entitled — 

"  The  Courts  of  Europe  at  the  close  of  the  Last  Century."  London,  1S41. 
2  vols.,  8vo. 

Nichols,  in  the  "  Literary  Anecdotes,"  writes  that  the  warmth  and 
animation  of  Mr.  Swinburne's  descriptions  discover  an  imagination 
highly  susceptible  of  every  bounty  of  nature  or  art.  "  If  he  had  a 
fault,  it  was  the  being  too  apt  to  relinquish  simplicity  for  profusion 
of  ornament."  Another  fault  might  have  been  added,  if  Mr.  Nichols 
had  lived  long  enough  to  read  Mr.  Swinburne's  posthumous  work 
about  the  Courts  of  Europe — viz.,  a  tendency  to  depreciate  the  origin 
and  expose  the  foibles  and  the  peculiarities  of  his  neighbours. 
Thus  :— 

"  I  dined  at  Beaufront  with  Mr.  Errington,  who  is  as  cracked  as 
ever  man  was.  I  wonder  he  is  still  allowed  to  be  at  large,  and  to 
see  company." 

"  I  joined  my  brother  at  Capheaton.  We  had  a  large  party  on 
the  occasion.  Lord  Adam  Gordon  and  many  ofificers.  Sir  M.  Ridley, 
Mr.  Riddell,  of  Swinburne,  etc.  Mem.  Sir  M.  Ridley's  father  was 
the  miller  of  Blagdon  Mill.  (!)  Mr.  Riddell's  father  lived  at  Fenham, 
and  was  called  'the  auld  fox  of  Fenham,'  as  old  Sir  John  Swinburne 
was  styled  'the  auld  carl  of  Capheaton.'  " 

"  Tom  Clavering  has  run  away  with  and  married  a  girl  of  Angers, 


CUTHBERT  SYDENHAM.  483 

Mademoiselle  Calais.  He  was  placed  there  to  learn  French,  and 
she  is  daughter  to  the  person  who  lets  the  lodgings.  He  is  positively 
bent  on  fulfilling  his  engagement." 

Some  time  after  Mr.  Swinburne's  death,  his  second  son,  Thomas 
Swinburne,  drowned,  like  his  elder  brother,  at  sea  (Xovember  20th, 
1806),  devised  the  estate  of  Hamsterley  to  his  wife,  who,  with  the 
several  mortgagees,  and  other  persons  interested,  joined  in  con- 
veying it  to  Anthony  Surtees,  of  the  firm  of  Purvis  &  Surtees, 
solicitors  in  Newcastle.  Anthony  Surtees  left  it  to  his  second  son, 
Robert  Smith  Surtees,  another  literary  man,  author  of  "  Handley 
Cross,"  "Mr.  Sponge's  Sporting  Tour,"  and  other  well-known  novels. 


Cutbbcrt  S^bcnbain, 

AX    EMINENT    PREACHER. 

"\Miom  the  gods  love,  die  young." — Plautus. 

Although  his  years  on  the  earth  were  few,  and  but  nine  of  them 
were  spent  in  Newcastle,  Cuthbert  Sydenham,  preacher  during  the 
Commonwealth,  must  have  a  place  among  local  men  of  mark.  For 
it  was  he  whose  eloquence  converted  to  the  Puritan  side  a  young 
man  who  afterwards  became  a  famous  Newcastle  alderman,  and  by 
that  conversion  was  the  indirect  means  of  giving  us  those  wonderful 
pictures  of  Newcastle  and  its  people  which  are  known  to  North- 
Country  readers  as  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Mr.  Ambrose 
Barnes." 

Who  Cuthbert  Sydenham  was,  and  whence  he  came,  Anthony 
Wood  tells  us  in  the  "  Athense  Oxonienses  ": — 

"  Cuthbert  Sydenham,  Son  of  Cuthb.  Syd.  Gent.,  was  born  at 
Truro,  in  Cornwall,  became  a  Commoner  of  St.  Alban's  Hall 
[Oxford]  in  Lent  term,  1639,  aged  17,  continued  there  till  the  City 
of  Oxford  was  garrison'd  for  the  King;  at  which  time,  being  enter- 
tained by  some  of  the  godly  party,  he  became  a  forward  Zealot  among 
them.  About  the  Year  1644,  he  became  Lecturer  of  St.  Nicholas 
Church  in  Newcastle  upon  Tyne,  without  any  orders,  unless  those  of 
the  Presbytery  confer'd  upon  him  ;  where,  by  his  constant  and  con- 
fident preaching,  he  obtained  more  respect  from  the  Brethren  than 


484 


C UTHBER T  S  YDENHAM. 


any  grave  or  venerable   Minister  in  that,  or  another,  Corporation 
could  do." 

Mr.  Sydenham  came  to  Newcastle  in  the  winter  of  1644-45,  when 
the  town  was  in  possession  of  the  Scots,  and  the  loyal  clergy  had 
fled,  or  had  been  displaced.  He  and  William  Durant  officiated  as 
lecturers  at  St.  John's,  one  in  the  forenoon  and  the  other  in  the 
afternoon,  till  May,  1645,  on  the  30th  of  which  month  the  Common 
Council  appointed  them  to  the  lectureship  of  St.  Nicholas' — 
Sydenham  on  a  stipend  di  j[^\ 00,  and  Durant  at  ;^8o  per  annum. 


{9  Uf -HBEaf  (SVoENilAI^. 


On  the  5th  July  in  the  following  year,  Mr.  Durant  was  removed  to 
All  Saints',  and  Mr.  Sydenham  was  settled  singly  at  St.  Nicholas', 
to  lecture  on  Sunday  afternoons.  His  salary  remained  at  ;!^ioo, 
till  the  5th  of  April,  1648,  when  the  Corporation  increased  it  to 
;^i4o.  The  University  of  Oxford  honoured  him  with  the  degree  of 
M.A.  on  the  8th  of  March,  1650-51,  and  the  following  year,  in 
November,  the  Common  Council  admitted  him  to  the  honorary 
freedom  of  the  town,  and  appointed  him,  in  succession  to  Dr. 
Jenison,  the  vicar,  Master  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene. 


C UTBBERT  S YDENHAM.  485 

Soon  after  his  settlement  in  Newcastle,  Mr.  Sydenham  married 
a  daughter  of  Sidrach  Simpson,  one  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  but 
appears  to  have  had  no  issue.  His  name  appears  among  those  who 
opposed  the  doctrines  of  Captain  Robert  Everard,  and  detected  the 
false  Jew.  It  occurs,  also,  in  the  will  of  Henry  Dawson,  Mayor  of 
Newcastle,  and  the  first  member  of  Parliament  for  the  county  of 
Durham,  who,  dying  in  London  in  the  summer  of  1653,  bequeathed 
to  Mr.  Sydenham,  Mr.  Durant,  Mr.  Sidrach  Simpson,  and  Mr. 
Ambrose  Barnes,  "  to  each  of  them  one  Twenty-two  shilling  piece  of 
gold  for  a  Token."  Mr.  Sydenham  himself  died  a  few  months  later. 
His  health  failing,  for  he  was  a  man  of  weakly  habit,  he  went  to 
London  to  obtain  needful  rest,  and  to  superintend  the  publication  of 
some  of  his  books,  and  there  he  drew  his  last  breath  in  1654. 

After  this -bare  recital  of  Mr.  Sydenham's  doings  in  Newcastle,  we 
turn  to  the  "  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes  "  to  discover  what  manner 
of  man  he  was.  Barnes's  biographer  paints  him  in  these  glowing  and 
vivid  colours  : — 

"  But  he  who  in  Newcastle,  for  several  years,  shined  with  the 
greatest  luster,  and  whose  ministry  was,  on  all  hands,  owned  to  be 
the  most  successful,  was  Mr.  Cuthbert  Sydenham,  of  an  ancient 
family  in  Cornwal,  and  born  to  a  good  estate.  ...  A  genteel  comly 
personage.  His  aquiline  nose  minds  me  of  the  description  given 
by  scornfull  Lucian  of  Paul,  when  he  calls  him  that  hawk-nosed 
Galilean,  who  mounted  to  the  Third  Heaven,  and  there  fetched 
those  goodly  notions  which  he  preacht.  Had  Austin  then  lived,  of 
his  three  wishes  of  seeing  Rome  in  its  Glory,  Christ  in  the  Flesh, 
and  Paul  in  the  Pulpit,  he  would  have  abated  the  last,  and  be  con- 
tent to  see  Sydenham  there.  For  in  the  high  flights  he  took  towards 
heaven  he  was  a  very  seraph.  His  pulpit  transformed  him  above 
himself.  There  he  behaved  as  one  who  saw  and  uttered  things  full 
of  majesty,  terror,  and  glory,  as  if  he  had  been  in  the  Mount  with 
God.  His  performances  were  accompanyed  with  a  most  awful 
seriousnes,  without  affectation  or  external  show,  working  his  affec- 
tions up  to  such  a  noble  strain,  that  they  produced  in  his  soul  a 
most  gracious,  and  in  his  body  a  most  graceful  deportment.  .  .  . 
Between  Mr.  Bowls,  of  York,  and  him,  there  was  an  intimate  friend- 
ship, and  upon  his  death,  he  said  there  would  not,  for  many  ages, 
arise  a  prophet,  like  this  Moses,  whom  the  Lord  knew  face  to  face; 
and  his  death  was  lamented  by  the  best  pens,  as  a  token  of  dreadful 
judgments  approaching.     The  church,  whereof  he  was  the  angel,  was 


486  C UTHBER T  S  YDENHAM. 

one  of  the  golden  candlesticks  wherein  Christ  walked.  The  state  of 
religion  in  Newcastle,  then  in  its  zenith,  has  ever  since  been  slowly 
going  on  in  its  declinator." 

The  books  which  Mr.  Sydenham  went  to  London  to  publish  bore 
these  titles  : — 

"A  Christian,  Sober,  and  Plain  Excercitation  on  the  Two  Grand  Practical  Con- 
troversies of  these  Times;  Infant-Baptism,  and  Singing  of  Psalms.  Wherein  all 
the  Scriptures  on  both  sides  are  recited,  opened  and  argued  with  brevity  and 
tenderness  ;  and  whatever  hath  been  largely  discussed  by  others,  briefly  contracted 
in  a  special  method  for  the  edification  of  the  Saints."  London,  1654.  At  page 
173  is  a  second  title,  "A  Gospel  Ordinance  concerning  the  singing  of  Scripture 
Psalms,  Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs:  the  lawfulness  of  that  Ordinance."  Epistle 
Dedicatory  to  his  "  dear  and  honoured  Brother,  Mr,  William  Durant."  i2mo, 
vi.-220  pp. 

"The  Greatness  of  the  mystery  of  Godliness ;  Opened  in  severall  Sermons," 
London:  Printed  by  W.  Hunt  for  Richard  Tomlins  at  the  Sun  and  Bible  neare 
Pye-Corner,  1654.     i2mo,  viii.-266  pp. 

Another  volume  of  Mr.  Sydenham's  sermons  was  issued  a  few 
months  after  his  death  by  his  North-Country  colleagues — Weld, 
Hammond,  Trurin,  and  Durant.  Mr.  Weld  wrote  an  introduction 
to  the  book,  in  which  he  describes  the  author  as  "  trained  up  under 
Religious  education  from  his  Childhood,"  and  extols  "  his  speciall 
insight  into  the  mysteries  of  Christ,  his  judicious  and  drawing  dis- 
coveries of  the  riches  of  grace,  his  unwearied  paines,  even  to  the 
visible  wasting  of  his  owne  bodily  strength  in  the  work  of  the 
Ministery,  and  his  great  care  over  the  Flock  over  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  made  him  overseer."  The  book  consists  of  seven  sermons, 
preached  from  Luke  xii.  i:  "Beware  ye  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees, 
which  is  hypocrisy,"  and  is  entitled — 

"  Hypocrisie  Discovered  in  its  Nature  and  Workings :  Delivered  in  several 
Sermons,  By  That  faithfull  Minister  of  the  Gospell,  Mr.  Cuthbert  Sidenham, 
Late  Teacher  to  a  Church  of  Christ  in  Newcastle  upon  Tyne."  London  :  Printed 
by  W.  H.  for  Rich.  Tomlins,  at  the  Sun  and  Bible  in  Pye-Corner,  1654.  i2mo, 
xvi.-2i2  pp. 

In  some  editions  of  this  work,  for  there  were  several,  is  a  portrait 
of  the  author,  with  the  inscription,  "  Efifigies  Cuthbeat  Sidenham, 
yEtat:  Suse  31,  1654.  Gaywood  fecit,  1654,"  and  from  this  portrait, 
now  exceedingly  rare,  ours  has  been  copied. 

Anthony  Wood  mentions  other  works  of  Mr.  Sydenham's  writing, 
namely — 


CUTHBERT  SYDENHAM.  487 

"The  False  Brother  :  or  the  Mapp  of  Scotland  drawn  by  an  English  Pencil." 
4to. 

' '  The  Anatomy  of  Joh.  Lilbourn's  Spirit  and  Pamphlets  ;  or  a  Vindication  of  the 
two  honourable  Patriots,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lord  Governor  of  Ireland,  and  Sir 
Arth.  Haselrigg,  Knight  and  Baronet  :  Wherein  the  said  Lilbourn  is  demonstra- 
tively proved  to  be  a  common  Her,  and  unworthy  of  civil  converse."     4to. 

"  A  Preface  or  Epistle  before  Quartermayn's  Conquest  over  Canterbury's 
Court,"  etc,     London,  1642. 

In  William  London's  Newcastle  "  Catalogue  of  the  most  Vendible 
Books  in  England"  (1657)  is  one  which  Anthony  Wood  does  not 
mention — 

"An  English  Interpretation  of  the  Scotch  Declaration."     4to. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  shortness  of  his  life,  for  he  was  only 
thirty-one  years  of  age  when  he  died ;  allowing  also  for  the  fact,  as 
disclosed  in  Mr.  Weld's  preface  to  "  Hypocrisie  Discovered,"  that 
some  of  his  sermons  were  taken  down  in  shorthand,  Cuthbert  Syden- 
ham must  have  been  a  man  of  remarkable  genius  and  untiring  energy 
— rapid  with  the  pen,  and  eloquent  with  the  tongue.  If  he  had 
lived,  it  would  have  been  interesting  to  trace  his  career  during  the 
great  change  wrought  by  the  Restoration ;  but  then  and  now,  as  in 
the  days  of  Plautus  (more  than  two  thousand  years  ago),  "whom  the 
gods  love,  die  young." 


488  .  GEORGE  TATE. 


(Bcoroe  ^ate, 

HISTORIAN    OF    ALNWICK. 

The  local  biographer,  doomed  too  often  to  wade  through  pedigrees 
and  parish  registers,  magazines  and  newspapers,  annals  and  diaries, 
tracts,  pamphlets,  broadsides,  and  what  not,  for  the  wherewithal  to 
build  up  an  intelligible  memoir,  experiences  the  delight  which  a 
schoolboy  feels  at  the  prospect  of  a  holiday  when  he  remembers 
that  the  subject  of  his  coming  sketch  is  a  geologist  or  a  student 
of  natural  history.  For  North-Country  naturalists  have  a  useful 
habit  of  contributing  to  the  publications  of  their  respective  societies 
copious  memoirs  of  departed  members,  and  the  wearied  penman 
turns  to  the  happy  hunting-ground  of  their  "Proceedings,"  or 
"  Transactions,"  in  sure  and  certain  hope  that  his  quest  will  be 
profitable,  and  that  he  will  find  recorded  therein  full  details  of 
the  life  which  he  seeks  to  elucidate.  When,  therefore,  the  name 
of  George  Tate,  of  Alnwick,  geologist,  historian,  and  naturalist, 
presented  itself  in  the  list  of  "  Men  of  Mark,"  recourse  was  had 
to  the  "  History  of  the  Berwickshire  Naturalists'  Club,"  of  which 
Mr.  Tate  was  a  member,  and  the  reference  proved  successful.  In 
volume  vi.  of  that  admirable  work  is  a  memoir  of  Mr.  Tate  from 
the  pen  of  his  friend,  Robert  Middlemas,  so  well  and  so  thoroughly 
written  that  it  needed  only  judicious  curtailment  and  condensation 
to  fit  it  into  the  present  series. 

George  Tate  was  one  of  two  sons  issuing  from  the  marriage  of 
Ralph  Tate,  builder,  Alnwick,  with  Rachel  Turner,  a  descendant 
of  a  family  whose  principal  members  had  been  freemen  of  the 
borough  for  many  generations.  He  was  born  on  the  21st  of 
May,  1805,  received  his  elementary  education  in  the  Borough 
School  of  his  native  town,  and  passed  from  thence  to  the  Grammar 
School,  where  he  completed  his  studies.  At  the  proper  age  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  draper,  and,  having  in  due  course  served  his  time, 
took  up  his  freelage,  submitting,  with  much  good  humour,  to  the 
custom  of  "  leaping  the  well,"  or  wading  across  the  pond,  a  ceremony 
through  which  alone,  in  those  days,  the  freedom  of  the  town  could 
be  obtained.  Thus  enfranchised,  he  commenced  business  on  his 
own  account  in  the  year  of  the  "  Great  Election  " — 1826. 


GEORGE  TATE. 


489 


During  his  minority,  Mr.  Tate  had  been  an  active  student  of 
geology  and  natural  history,  and  a  prominent  member  of  a  local 
debating  society.  Anxious  to  encourage  similar  tastes  among  the 
young  men  around  him,  he  set  himself  the  task  of  reviving  the 
drooping  fortunes  of  the  local  Mechanics'  Institute.  This  organisa- 
tion had  been  but  four  years  in  operation  Avhen  Mr.  Tate  took  it  in 
hand,  and  it  was  already  at  the  lowest  ebb  of  existence.  Accepting 
the  office  of  secretary,  he  infused  new  life  into   the  management, 


invited  the  co-operation  of  literary  and  scientific  friends,  obtained 
the  services  of  competent  lecturers,  and  delivered  lectures  himself. 
The  subjects  upon  which  he  discoursed  show  the  bent  of  his  mind, 
and  the  extent  of  his  acquirements.  They  were  as  follows: — "The 
Formation  of  Dew";  "Physical  Geography";  "Mineralogy  and 
Crystallography";  "Extinct  Organisms";  "Volcanic  Action"; 
"The  Succession  of  Life  upon  the  Globe";  "The  Boulder  Forma- 
tion of  Northumberland  and  Glacial  Action  " :  "  Causes  and  Effects 


490  GEORGE  TATE. 

of  High  Tides";  " Cephalopods,  Recent  and  Fossil";  "Sturgeons 
and  Palaeozoic  Fish";  "Structural  Botany";  "Ancient  British 
Sepulchres";  "Minerals  and  Rocks  of  Northumberland";  "Geo- 
logy of  the  Borders";  "Progress  and  Diffusion  of  Science  during 
the  19th  Century";  "Natural  History  of  Coal  and  Fossil  Plants." 
Mr.  Tate  began  his  Mechanics'  Institute  campaign  in  1828,  and  he 
carried  it  on  for  thirty  years.  During  that  time,  the  institution 
attained  a  high  degree  of  popularity  and  usefulness.  With  un- 
wearied effort  Mr.  Tate  obtained  the  means  of  erecting  a  special 
building  for  the  Institute,  and  thenceforward,  during  many  years, 
it  was  the  centre  of  educational  advancement  in  the  town,  and  for 
a  wide  district  round  about. 

In  the  spring  of  1841,  Mr,  Tate  was  appointed  Postmaster  of 
Alnwick — an  office  which,  while  it  entailed  personal  attendance,  left 
him  comparative  freedom  to  pursue  his  favourite  studies.  These 
he  turned  to  good  account  when,  in  1849,  a  Government  inquiry, 
preliminary  to  the  adoption  of  the  Public  Health  Act,  was  held 
in  the  town.  Upon  that  occasion  he  submitted  to  the  Government 
Commissioner  facts  and  figures  relating  to  the  geology  of  the  town, 
and  its  adaptability  to  drainage,  water  supply,  etc.,  that  were  of  great 
value.  The  following  year,  when  a  Local  Board  of  Health  was 
constituted,  he  was  appointed  one  of  its  members — an  office  he 
continued  to  hold  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

The  publication  of  "  Lyell's  Principles  of  Geology"  in  1832  gave 
a  powerful  impulse  to  Mr.  Tate's  geological  recreations.  He  com- 
menced a  series  of  investigations  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Alnwick, 
which  gradually  extended  over  Northumberland  and  Durham,  and  a 
great  part  of  Berwickshire.  His  reading  kept  pace  with  the  views 
then  rapidly  propounded  by  scientific  men,  and  as  he  was  indefatig- 
able in  his  researches,  his  practical  knowledge  enabled  him  to 
grapple  with  problems  that  were  but  little  understood.  In  1849 
he  noticed  that  at  Hawkhill  Quarry,  underneath  a  bed  of  red  tough 
clay,  the  surface  of  the  limestone  was  polished,  scratched,  and 
grooved  in  a  way  that  suggested  the  action  of  ice.  He  wrote  a 
paper  on  the  subject  for  the  newly-formed  Tyneside  NaturaUsts' 
Field  Club,  and  his  conclusions,  viewed  in  the  light  of  more  recent 
discussions  respecting  the  boulder  formation,  are  striking. 

Shortly  before  this  paper  was  written,  Mr.  Tate  had  joined  the 
Berwickshire  Naturalists'  Club,  and  to  the  "Proceedings"  of  that 
body  he  contributed  the  greater  part  of  his  geological  records.     He 


GEORGE  TATE.  49 1 

was  elected  president  of  the  club  for  the  year  1853;  in  1858  he 
became  co-secretary;  and  from  the  death  of  his  colleague  till  his 
own  decease,  he  acted  as  sole  secretary  with  great  energy  and 
intelligence.  At  the  beginning  of  his  secretarial  duty  the  committee 
requested  him  to  examine,  and  write  an  account  of,  the  sculptured 
rocks  of  Northumberland.  He  undertook  the  work,  and  for  six 
years  devoted  himself  to  an  examination  of  every  inscribed  rock 
in  the  county,  and  to  the  superintendence  of  digging  on  Yeavering 
Bell,  and  laying  bare  the  hut  circles,  forts,  and  fortlets  scattered 
over  that  district.  The  paper  appeared  in  print  in  1864 — a  complete 
record  of  all  that  was  known  upon  the  subject. 

Mr.  Tate  retired  from  business  in  1855,  and  devoted  the  rest  of 
his  life  to  scientific  investigation  and  historical  research.  He  had 
long  contemplated  a  history  of  his  native  town,  and  in  furtherance  of 
that  design  applied  for  and  obtained  the  clerkship  of  the  Common 
Council.  This  post  he  held  from  1850  to  1858,  employing  such  of 
his  time  as  he  could  spare  from  other  occupations  in  copying  the 
borough  records,  and  collecting  materials  from  other  sources.  By 
these  means  he  was  enabled  to  issue  a  volume  in  1866,  and  another 
in  1868,  of  a  full  and  complete  history  of  Alnwick.  Upon  the 
completion  of  his  labours  as  the  historian  of  Alnwick,  his  fellow- 
townsmen  entertained  him  at  a  public  banquet.  Dr.  Bruce,  historian 
of  the  Roman  Wall,  whose  father  and  mother  were  natives  of  the  old 
county  town,  presided  on  the  occasion,  and  presented  to  the  guest  of 
the  evening  an  illuminated  address,  a  purse  of  gold,  and  a  silver  tea 
and  coffee  service. 

Mr.  Tate  died  on  the  7th  of  June,  1869,  aged  sixty-four  years. 
His  wife,  Ann,  only  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Horsley,  of  Paikes  Street, 
Alnwick,  had  died  two-and-twenty  years  before  him,  leaving  him 
with  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  At  the  date  of  his  death  he 
was  a  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Society,  honorary  member  of  the 
Literary  and  Philosophical  Societies  of  Newcastle  and  Hastings, 
corresponding  member  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  for  Scotland, 
local  secretary  of  the  Anthropological  Society,  associate  of  the 
Edinburgh  Geological  Society,  secretary  of  the  Alnwick  Mechanics' 
Institute  and  of  the  Berwickshire  Naturalists'  Club,  and  president  of 
a  local  association  established  in  Alnwick  for  the  purpose  of  scientific 
research. 

A  list  of  Mr.  Tate's  contributions  to  literature,  compiled  with 
much  care  by  Mr.  Middlemas,  reads  as  follows: — 


492  GEORGE  TATE. 

In  the  ^''Proceedings"  of  the  Berwickshire  Naturalists''  Club. 

VoJ.  iii. — "On  Cist  Vaens  and  Sepulchral  Urns  in  a  Tumulus  or  Barrow  near 
Lesbury";  "  Geology  of  the  Coast  of  Howick  "  ;  "  Presidential  Address  "  ;  "On 
Celtic  Remains  near  Wooler  "  ;  "  On  a  Herd  of  Porpoises  "  ;  "  The  Fame  Islands 
— Botany,  Geology,"  etc.;  "Roman  Remains  at  Adderstone." 

Vol.  iv. — "The  Geology  and  Archaeology  of  Beadnell,  with  a  description  of 
Carboniferous  Annelids  "  ;  "  Fauna  of  the  Mountain  Limestone  of  Berwickshire"; 
"Distribution  of  Acmsea  testudinalis "  ;  "  Remains  of  a  Celtic  Town  on  Greaves 
Ash,  near  Linhope"  ;  "Antiquities  of  Yeavering  Bell  and  Threestone  Burn." 

Vol.  V. — "Notes  on  the  Geology  of  the  Eildon  Hills";  "Description  of 
a  Sea  Star  (Cribellites  Carbonarius),  from  the  Mountain  Limestone  of  North- 
umberland, with  a  Notice  of  its  Association  with  Carboniferous  Plants";  "On 
the  Vill,  Manor,  and  Church  of  Longhoughton,  Northumberland  "  ;  "  Description 
of  Entomostraca  from  the  Mountain  Limestone  of  Berwickshire  and  Northumber- 
land (by  Professor  Jones),  with  notes  (by  Mr.  Tate)  on  the  Strata  in  which  they 
occur";  "The  Ancient  British  Sculptured  Rocks  of  Northumberland  and  the 
Eastern  Borders,  with  Notices  of  the  Remains  Associated  with  those  Sculptures"; 
"  Records  of  Glaciated  Rocks  in  the  Eastern  Borders"  ;  "  Miscellanea  Geologica 
for  1866";  "The  Cheviots — their  Geographical  Range,  Physical  Features, 
Mineral  Characters,  Relation  to  Stratified  Rocks,  Origin,  Age,  and  Botanical 
Peculiarities";  "  Harbottle  Castle";  "Notice  of  Falco  rufipes — the  Orange- 
legged  Hobby"  ;  "  Notice  of  the  Red  or  Common  Squirrel." 

Vol.  vi. — "  Dunstanburgh  Castle";  "On  the  Stature,  Bulk,  and  Colour  of 
the  Eyes  and  Hair  of  Native  Northumbrians";  "The  Basaltic  Rocks  of 
Northumberland. " 

In  the  Alnwick  Mercury. 

"  The  Skinners  and  Glovers  of  the  Borough  of  Alnwick,"  November,  1859. 

"Northumbrian  Legends  and  Customs — Alnwick  Abbey,"  March,  i860. 

"  Henhole,  Hurlstane,  Caterans'  Cove,  and  the  Fairies,"  April,  i860. 

"  St.  Cuthbert's  Beads,"  May,  i860. 

"  Wooler:  The  Kettles  and  the  Pin  Well,"  July,  i860. 

"  Notes  on  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  the  Olden  Time,"  September  and  October, 
1S60. 

"  Life  of  Dr.  Gilbert  Rule,"  December,  1S60. 

"  Life  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Harle,"  February,  1861. 

"  Life  of  the  Rev.  John  Horsley,"  May  and  June,  1861. 

"  May  Day  in  Old  England,"  May,  1861. 

"  Diggings  into  an  Ancient  Briton's  Grave,"  January,  1862. 

"  Whittingham  Vale,"  1S62. 

Other  Writings, 

"  Alnwick  Freeman's  Well."    \t\W\&  Provincial  Souvenir,  1846. 

"On  Glaciated  Rocks  at  Hawkhill."  Trans.  Tyneside  Nat.  Field  Club, 
1847. 

"  Fossil  Flora  of  the  Eastern  Borders."  In  "Johnston's  Nat.  History  of 
Eastern  Borders,"  1853. 

"Natural  History  as  an  Elementary  Branch  of  Education."  In  the  Educa- 
tional Expositor,  September,  1855. 


GEORGE  RALPH  TATE.  493 

"  Review  of  Keller's  Lake  Dwellings."     In  the  Reader,  September  24th,  1866, 

"  The  Chapter  on  Geology  in  the  '  Flora  of  Northumberland  and  Durham.'" 
Natural  History  Transactions  of  Northumberland  and  Durham,  1867.  ^ 

"  The  Geology  of  the  District  Traversed  by  the  Roman  Wall,  with  Geological 
Map  and  Sections,"  Appendix  to  Dr.  Bruce's  "  Roman  Wall,"  1S67. 

"The  History  of  the  Borough,  Castle,  and  Barony  of  Alnwick."  2  vols., 
Svo,  1 866-68. 


(Bcoroc  IRalpb  Zatc, 

SON    OF    THE    HISTORIAN. 

George  Ralph  Tate,  eldest  son  of  the  Alnwick  historian,  following 
in  his  father's  footsteps,  became  an  accomplished  botanist  and  con- 
chologist.  Born  at  Alnwick,  March  27th,  1835,  he  was  educated  at 
the  Grammar  School  there,  and  choosing  the  profession  of  medicine, 
proceeded  to  Edinburgh  University,  where  he  took  his  M.D.  degree. 
For  a  time  he  was  house-surgeon  at  Alnwick  Infirmary,  but  in  1858 
he  entered  the  army  as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Royal  Artillery. 
He  was  at  Hong  Kong  from  1862  to  1864,  whence  he  sent  a 
botanical  collection  to  the  national  depository  at  Kew.  The 
Linnaean  Society  elected  him  a  Fellow  in  1869,  but  about  that 
time  his  health  gave  way,  and  he  died  of  apoplexy  on  the  23rd 
September,  1874. 

Mr.  James  Hardy,  his  father's  successor  in  the  secretaryship  of 
the  Berwickshire  Naturalists'  Club,  describes  Dr.  George  Ralph 
Tate  in  the  "  Proceedings  "  of  that  body  as  a  man  possessing  great 
natural  ability,  and  an  acute  and  cultivated  mind,  but  lacking  robust 
health  and  physical  strength.  He  contributed  to  the  literature  of 
the  Club  in  1857,  "  A  Catalogue  of  Land  and  Fresh  Water  INIollusca, 
found  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Alnwick,"  and,  in  1863, 
"  Notes  on  the  Botany  of  the  Cheviots."  He  likewise  made  very 
minute  and  painstaking  lists  of  the  plants  and  moUusca  of  the  vicinity 
of  Alnwick,  for  his  father's  elaborate  history  of  their  native  place. 
In  conjunction  with  Mr.  J.  G.  Baker,  of  the  Kew  Herbarium, 
he  wrote  in  1867  the  "Flora  of  Northumberland  and  Durham," 
previously  mentioned.  For  the  "  Natural  History  Transactions  of 
Northumberland  and  Durham,"  some  time  before  his  death  he 
commenced  a  book  which  he  proposed  to  call  a  "  Handbook  of 
Medical  Botany,"  but  it  was  never  completed. 


494  HUGH  TA  YLOR. 


THE    duke's    commissioner. 

From  the  valley  of  the  Tyne,  a  few  miles  to  the  westward  of  New- 
castle, sprang  most  of  the  eminent  men  whose  inventive  minds  trans- 
formed the  coal  trade,  and  made  Tyneside  engineering  and  Tyneside 
handicraft  famous  all  the  world  over.  From  the  south  side  of  the 
water  came  Nicholas  Wood,  Thomas  Young  Hall,  and  Matthias 
Dunn;  from  the  north  side  issued  George  Stephenson,  William 
Hedley,  Timothy  Hackworth,  and  Hugh  Taylor.  All  these  well- 
known  persons  were  self-made — the  creators  of  their  own  fame. 
They  had  no  illustrious  pedigrees.  Rising  from  the  ranks — from 
very  humble  ranks,  most  of  them — they  gained  honour  and  position 
by  force  of  genius  alone. 

The  family  of  Taylor,  who  figure  long  and  honourably  in  the 
annals  of  the  coal  trade,  belong  to  the  historical  village  of  Newburn, 
which,  as  every  Tynesider  knows,  is  situate  about  five  miles 
westward  from  the  Town  Hall  of  Newcastle.  The  ducal  house  of 
Percy  owns  the  Manor  of  Newburn,  and  at  the  close  of  last  century, 
Thomas  Taylor  of  that  place,  farmer,  was  the  duke's  mineral  agent, 
and  bailiff  of  the  manor.  Thomas  Taylor  had  three  sons.  The 
eldest  of  them,  named  after  himself,  was  known,  in  after  years,  as 
Thomas  Taylor,  of  Cramlington  Hall,  coal-owner ;  the  second  son, 
John  Taylor,  became  a  mining  engineer  at  Shilbottle,  near  the  ducal 
residence,  and  died  comparatively  early ;  the  third,  and  youngest 
son,  named  after  the  duke,  "  Hugh  "  Taylor,  is  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

About  the  early  days  of  Hugh  Taylor  little  information  has  come 
down  to  us.  His  father  intended  that,  like  his  brothers,  he  should 
play  his  part  in  the  development  of  the  coal  trade,  and  with  that 
object  in  view  he  was  trained  up.  When  he  left  school,  he  was  sent 
to  learn  the  art  of  winning  and  working  coal  at  what  is  still  the  best, 
and  at  that  time  was  the  only  accessible,  college — a  coal-pit.  His 
father  died  in  iSio,  when  he  had  barely  attained  his  majority.  But 
his  study  and  practice  of  coal-mining  was  complete ;  he  was 
thoroughly  equipped,  and  ready  to  begin  life  on  his  own  account. 
Hugh,  second  Duke  of  Northumberland,  had  sufficient  confidence  in 


HUGH  TA  YLOR.  495 

his  abilities  to  entrust  him  with  the  mineral  agency  which  the  death 
of  the  father  had  rendered  vacant. 

Under  Hugh,  the  third  duke,  who  inherited  the  title  and  estates 
in  1817,  Mr.  Taylor  was  advanced  to  a  higher  position  in  the  ducal 
service.  At  that  time  the  Percy  estates  were  managed  by  three 
commissioners,  each  of  whom  had  a  distinct  territorial  area  under 
his  control,  and  acting  under  this  triumvirate,  were  bailiffs,  who  held 
cheap  farms  in  consideration  of  looking  after  a  certain  number  of 
their  fellow-tenants.  To  one  of  these  commissionerships  (retaining 
at  the  same  time  his  colliery  agency)  Mr.  Taylor  was  promoted.  It 
is  understood  that,  very  soon  after  his  appointment,  he  expressed 
disapproval  of  this  method  of  management.  He  found  it  cumbrous 
and  expensive,  and,  for  want  of  uniformity  of  practice  among  the 
commissioners,  productive  of  discontent  and  dissension  among  the 
tenantry.  The  third  duke  was,  however,  opposed  to  changes  in  the 
management  of  his  estates,  and  so  long  as  he  lived  the  arrangement 
continued.  But  at  his  death,  in  1847,  a  radical  alteration  was 
effected. 

Algernon,  the  fourth  Duke  of  Northumberland,  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  the  whole  system.  The  triple  control  was  abolished ; 
and  in  its  place  a  chief  commissioner  was  appointed,  with  undivided 
authority  over  the  whole  property,  and  under  him  were  placed 
salaried  agents,  who  were  entrusted  with  a  certain  amount  of  liberty 
of  action.  For  the  chief  commissionership,  no  man  seemed  to 
Duke  Algernon  so  well  adapted  as  Mr.  Taylor  himself,  and  he  was 
appointed  accordingly,  the  colliery  agency  being  transferred  to  his 
nephew,  Thomas  John  Taylor. 

Under  Mr.  Taylor's  guidance,  the  Percy  estates  soon  exhibited 
proofs  of  wise  management  and  judicious  control.  Duke  Algernon 
made  his  chief  commissioner  his  friend  and  confidant.  They  studied 
together  the  best  means  of  improving  the  ducal  property,  and  the 
condition  of  the  people  by  whom  it  was  tenanted.  An  extensive 
system  of  drainage  was  set  on  foot;  homesteads  were  put  into  proper 
condition;  labourers'  cottages  were  renovated  or  re-erected,  with 
some  little  regard  to  the  decencies  and  conveniences  of  domestic  life; 
schools  were  provided;  old  churches  were  repaired  and  new  ones 
built;  lifeboats  were  placed  along  the  coast;  barometers  were  set  up 
in  the  fishing  villages;  a  home  was  erected  and  furnished  for  sailors 
in  the  harbour  of  the  Tyne;  and  Alnwick  Castle  was  restored  in 
a  style  of  splendour  befitting  a  prince.     In  all  these  undertakings, 


496  HUGH  TAYLOR. 

and  in  many  acts  of  munificence  of  which  httle  was  known  till  his 
death  revealed  them,  the  duke  was  assisted  and  supported  by  his 
chief  commissioner,  who  was  invariably  the  medium  through  which 
the  generous  intention  or  the  noble  gift  was  communicated.  Only 
a  man  of  exceptional  powers  could  have  undertaken  a  task  so  onerous, 
and  have  acquitted  himself  so  well. 

From  his  connection  with  the  ducal  royalties,  and  his  own  know- 
ledge as  an  independent  colliery  owner,  Mr.  Taylor  came,  in  time,  to 
be  regarded  as  a  high  authority  on  all  matters  affecting  the  coal 
trade.  In  1829  he  was  an  important  witness  before  a  select  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  House  of  Lords  to  inquire  into  the  condition 
of  that  trade,  and  of  the  dues  and  charges  imposed  upon  it.  He 
was  asked,  among  other  things,  if  he  had  formed  any  calculation 
of  the  extent,  produce,  and  duration  of  the  Northumberland  and 
Durham  coal-fields,  and  in  reply  he  gave  an  elaborate  estimate  of  the 
quantity  of  coal  in  the  two  counties,  the  probable  consumption  of  it 
in  the  coming  years,  and  the  period  over  which  profitable  working 
might  be  expected  to  extend.  Briefly  put,  he  assumed  the  area  of 
the  northern  coal  measures  to  be  732  square  miles;  the  quantity 
of  workable  coal,  6,066,320,000  tons;  the  annual  consumption, 
3,500,000  tons;  and  the  period  of  profitable  working,  1,727  years. 
Mr.  Taylor  lived  to  see  such  a  rapid  augmentation  in  the  output  and 
consumption  of  North-Country  coal  as  put  his  calculations  out  of 
date ;  and  years  before  he  died  he  publicly  stated  that  they  no  longer 
had  any  weight  or  force.  In  his  replies  to  other  questions  he  was 
more  fortunate.  He  gave  evidence  in  favour  of  substituting  weight 
for  measure — tons  instead  of  keels  and  chaldrons — the  abolition  of 
the  Richmond  shilling,  an  equalisation  of  the  duties  upon  coal 
throughout  the  kingdom,  and  a  reduction  and  consolidation  of  the 
oversea  duty  to  one  shilling  a  ton.  All  these  reforms,  and  many 
more,  have  since  then  been  achieved. 

By  virtue  of. his  position  and  experience,  Mr,  Taylor  was  for  many 
years  chairman  of  the  Coal  Trade  Association  of  Northumberland 
and  Durham.  In  the  year  1850  his  services  in  that  capacity  were 
acknowledged  by  a  public  banquet  in  Newcastle.  Mr.  Matthew 
Bell,  one  of  the  members  for  South  Northumberland,  who  presided 
over  the  feast,  summed  up  the  character  of  the  honoured  guest  in 
these  brief  and  pithy  sentences  : — "There  is  that  modest  demeanour 
about  him  which  cannot  fail  to  attach  every  one ;  there  is  that  open 
ingenuousness  and  candour  about  him  which  must  win  the  confidence 


THOMAS  JOHN  TA  YLOR.  497 

of  every  man.  So  long  as  honour,  integrity,  and  honesty  are  held  in 
any  estimation  in  the  world,  so  long  will  the  name  of  Hugh  Taylor 
be  entitled  to  respect." 

Mr.  Taylor  removed  to  Earsdon  in  182 1,  and  in  that  quiet  village 
he  lived  for  seven-and-forty  years.  He  died  there,  unmarried,  on  the 
30th  of  August,  1868,  aged  79,  and  was  buried  among  his  kindred  in 
Newburn  churchyard. 


^boina6  3obn  XTa^lor, 

MINING    ENGINEER. 

Thomas  John,  or,  as  he  was  more  familiarly  called,  "  Tom  John  " 
Taylor,  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Taylor  (brother  of  Hugh,  the 
Duke's  Commissioner),  and  was  born  in  181 1.  He  received  the 
rudiments  of  his  education  at  Ponteland  School,  but,  losing  his 
father  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  came  under  the  guardianship  of  his 
uncle  Hugh,  who  sent  him  to  Edinburgh  University.  Intended  for 
a  colliery  viewer,  or,  in  more  modern  parlance,  a  mining  engineer, 
he  studied  mathematics,  chemistry,  geology,  mechanics,  and  miner- 
alogy, while  his  uncle  gave  him  such  advice  and  assistance  as  was 
calculated  to  make  him  practically,  as  well  as  theoretically,  master 
of  his  profession.  After  he  left  college,,  he  was  thoroughly  drilled 
into  the  routine  of  colliery  operations,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  become 
fully  qualified  for  so  important  a  post,  he  was  entrusted  with  the 
management  of  Haswell  Colliery,  in  which  his  uncle  had  become  a 
partner.  In  that  position  his  health,  which  had  always  been  delicate, 
failed  him,  and  he  was  on  the  point  of  retiring,  when  the  accession 
of  Algernon,  Lord  Prudhoe,  to  the  dukedom  of  Northumberland, 
opened  out  a  wider  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  abilities.  His  uncle, 
being,  as  we  have  already  seen,  appointed  chief  commissioner  of  the 
ducal  estates,  gave  up  to  him  the  office  of  mining  agent,  and  the  new 
duke  confirmed  the  appointment. 

About  this  time  the  coal  trade  was  disturbed  by  the  breakdown 
of  the  "Regulation,"  under  which,  with  various  modifications,  North- 
Country  coal-owners,  for  nearly  two  centuries,  had  limited  the  vend, 
and  fixed  the  price,  of  their  produce.  Mr.  Tom  John  Taylor  flushed 
his  maiden  pen  by  writing  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject,  entitled — 

VOL.  III.  .  32 


498 


THOMAS  JOHN  TA  YLOR. 


"  Observations  addressed  to  the  Coalowners  of  Northumberland  and  Durham, 
on  the  Coal  Trade  of  those  Counties ;  more  especially  with  regard  to  the  Cause 
of,  and  Remedy  for,  its  Present  Depressed  Condition." 

The  pamphlet,  which  was  printed  for  private  circulation,  bristles 
with  facts  and  figures,  showing  that  for  i8o  years  the  trade  had  been 
compelled  to  resort  to  regulations  of  vends,  explaining  how  the 
necessity  for  these  limitations  arose,  warning  coal-owners  that  they 
had  nothing  to  hope  for  but  the  resumption  of  some  such  restriction 
in  future,  and    expressing  a  belief  that,  whenever  the  disposition 


T®ift  J*^'^  fc^^^^o 


to  an  agreement  again  became  unanimous,  there  would  be  found 
ample  intelligence  and  practical  knowledge  among  them  to  constitute 
a  satisfactory  regulation  and  to  administer  it  effectively. 

From  an  early  age  the  talents  of  "  young  Tom  John  "  had  been 
marked  by  his  uncle's  friend,  John  Buddie — the  leading  coal-viewer 
in  the  North  of  England.  Mr.  Buddie  had  a  firm  and  wide  grasp 
upon  all  subjects  connected  with  the  winning  and  working  of 
collieries,  and  was  consulted  by  coal-owners  and  viewers,  far  and 
near,  in  cases  of  doubt  and  difficulty.  But  whenever  questions  of 
geology,  or  abstruse  problems  in  mathematics  and  geometry,  had  to 


THOMAS  JOHN  TA  YLOR.  499 

be  faced  in  these  consultations,  Mr.  Buddie  had  recourse  to  Tom 
John.  By  this  means  the  young  man  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
colliery  disputes  and  mining  problems  that  in  due  time  led  to  his 
frequent  employment  upon  difficult  and  complicated  cases.  For 
example — a  dispute  arose  between  the  Government  and  the  Earl  of 
Lonsdale  as  to  certain  royalty  rights,  which  involved  questions  of 
great  intricacy  and  difficulty.  A  court  of  law  might  have  settled  the 
matter  in  a  haphazard  sort  of  fashion,  but  both  the  Government  and 
the  Earl  believed  that  a  better  solution  of  the  dispute  could  be 
obtained  through  the  arbitration  of  scientific  and  practical  men.  To 
Mr.  Taylor,  and  other  leading  viewers,  selected  for  their  special  skill 
in  various  phases  of  the  quarrel,  the  whole  question  was  referred,  and 
their  award  gave  satisfaction,  it  is  said,  to  both  parties.  By  coal- 
owners  in  the  rapidly  developing  coal-field  of  South  Wales,  Mr. 
Taylor  was  frequently  called  upon  to  advise  or  adjudicate  in  cases 
where  mining  science  and  experience,  combined  with  strong  powers 
of  discrimination,  could  alone  give  hope  of  a  satisfactory  result. 

Mr.  Taylor  was  one  of  the  founders,  in  1852,  of  that  flourishing 
institution — the  North  of  England  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers, 
and  at  the  meeting  of  the  members  for  the  election  of  officers,  he 
was  chosen  its  first  vice-president.  The  second  paper  read  before 
the  Society  was  from  his  pen,  the  subject  being  "Proofs  of  the 
Subsistence  of  the  Fire  Damp  of  Coal  Mines  in  a  State  of  High 
Tension  in  Situ,  and  Practical  Conclusions  to  be  Deduced  from  this 
Circumstance."  Accompanying  the  paper  was  an  appendix,  con- 
taining the  height  of  the  barometer  on  the  days  of  the  principal  pit 
explosions  in  Northumberland  and  Durham  from  the  year  1803; 
also  on  the  day  before,  and  the  day  after,  each  explosion.  His  next 
contribution  was  a  report  of  some  experiments  with  steam-jets  at 
Holywell  Colliery.  That  was  followed  by  notes  on  a  contribution 
to  the  "  Proceedings  "  read  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Atkinson,  ^Mining  Inspector, 
upon  the  theory  of  the  ventilation  of  coal-mines,  by  papers  on  the 
drainage  of  coal-mines  and  the  causes  of  variation  of  density  in  the 
air  circulating  in  collieries,  and  by  a  scientific  account  of  the 
Burradon  explosion. 

To  the  energy  and  perseverance  of  Mr.  Taylor  are  due  the  efforts 
that  were  made  to  drain  the  water-logged  collieries  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tyne.  From  sixteen  to  eighteen  pits,  situated,  some  on  the 
north,  and  others  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  had  been,  one 
after  another,  abandoned  through  irruptions  of  water.     In  most  of 


50O  THOMAS  JOHN  TAYLOR. 

them,  only  the  upper  (or  high  main)  seam  had  been  exhausted, 
leaving  the  lower  seams  nearly  entire.  Various  attempts  had  been 
made  to  get  rid  of  the  water,  and  in  one  case — at  Jarrow — it  is  said 
that  more  than  ;^2o,ooo  was  spent  in  the  effort,  without  a  single  ton 
of  coal  being  obtained.  Mr.  Taylor  observed  the  uselessness  of 
these  partial  operations,  and  saw  that  the  only  certain  method  of 
working  them  clear  was  to  concentrate  the  application  of  drainage 
power,  and  clear  the  entire  district  at  one  time.  He,  therefore,  pro- 
posed to  drain  the  whole  of  the  pits  between  Newcastle  and  Tyne- 
mouth  by  erecting  powerful  pumping  engines,  and  he  drafted  a  BiL 
giving  Parliamentary  authority  to  his  scheme.  Unfortunately,  he 
did  not  live  long  enough  to  see  the  plan  carried  out.  A  short  time 
after  his  decease,  a  company  was  formed  to  work  upon  the  lines  he 
projected,  and  for  many  years  the  drowned-out  pits,  or  some  of 
them,  have  been  yielding  up  their  mineral  treasures  as  they  did  in 
days  of  yore. 

But  it  was  not  alone  in  the  management  of  collieries  that  Mr. 
Taylor  won  his  spurs.  His  mind  was  comprehensive  enough  to  take 
in  railway  construction  and  the  improvement  of  tidal  rivers.  His 
abilities  in  railway  construction  are  shown  in  the  Hexham  to  Riccar- 
ton  section  of  the  Waverley  Route  to  Edinburgh — a  line  originally 
designed  by  Wx.  Taylor  for  the  purpose  of  opening  out  the  small 
outlying  coal  basin  of  Plashetts,  the  property  of  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland.  On  the  question  of  tidal  rivers  he  published,  in 
1851  — 

"An  Inquiry  into  the  Operations  of  Running  Streams  and  Tidal  Waters,  with 
a  view  to  determine  their  Principles  of  Action,  and  an  Application  of  those 
Principles  to  the  Improvement  of  the  River  Tyne." 

This  publication  not  only  exerted  a  material  influence  upon  pend- 
ing discussions  relative  to  the  development  of  the  Tyne,  but  laid 
down  principles  upon  which  the  improvement  of  tidal  harbours  in 
general  has  since  been  based. 

While  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  and  pursuits  of  his  pro- 
fession, Mr.  Taylor  found  time  to  cultivate  a  love  of  literature,  and 
especially  of  classical  literature,  which  he  had  acquired  at  the  Uni- 
versity. He  was  unusually  shy  about  seeing  himself  in  print,  and, 
therefore,  made  but  little  public  use  of  his  acquirements.  A  paper 
on  "The  Archaeology  of  the  Coal  Trade,"  which  he  wrote  for  the 
Archaeological  Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  on  its  visit  to 


THOMA  S  JOHN  TA  YL  OR.  501 

Newcastle  in  1S52,  is  of  a'quality  that  inspires  regret  at  his  diffidence 
in  authorship.  It  is  a  compilation  of  the  highest  merit — so  highly 
appreciated  as  an  authoritative  record  of  the  ancient  state  of  mining 
industry  in  the  North  of  England,  that  it  has  been  more  widely 
quoted,  and  more  extensively  utilised  by  succeeding  authors,  than  any 
other  work  of  the  same  character.  One  who  knew  him  states  that 
Mr.  Taylor  was  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  the  obscurer  classic 
authors,  as  well  as  with  those  of  well-known  men,  and  that,  if  his 
leisure  had  allowed  it,  philology  would  have  been  one  of  his  most 
cultivated,  as  it  was  one  of  his  favourite,  pursuits.  Those  who  read 
his  "  Archaeology  of  the  Coal  Trade  "  will  be  equally  certain  that, 
if  he  had  followed  up  the  line  of  literary  work  which  that  paper 
exemplifies,  he  would  have  been  an  accomplished  antiquary,  and  a 
graphic,  if  not  brilliant  historian. 

On  the  2nd  of  April,  1S61,  while  preparing  for  a  meeting  in  con- 
nection with  the  North  Tyne,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  Border 
Counties,  Railway,  Mr.  Taylor  died  rather  suddenly  at  Bellingham. 
He  had  married  his  cousin,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Taylor, 
of  Cramlington  Hall,  and  was  buried  beside  her,  in  Cramlington 
churchyard.  The  surviving  issue  of  the  marriage — a  daughter,  died 
a  few  years  later. 

One  of  Mr.  Taylor's  contemporaries,  himself  a  famous  mining 
engineer,  paying  a  tribute  to  his  dead  friend's  memory,  summed  up 
his  character  in  the  following  words: — "  His  accomplishments  as  a 
gentleman  were  commensurate  with  his  virtues  as  a  man.  A  ripe 
scholar,  a  good  linguist,  and  well  versed  in  a  variety  of  scientific 
research,  his  conduct  was  distinguished  by  urbanity  of  manner 
combined  with  integrity  of  purpose.  Like  most  men  who,  to  power 
of  intellect,  unite  purity  of  intention,  his  judgments  were  sometimes 
stern,  and  his  criticism  occasionally  severe;  but  so  well  was  his  keen 
perception  of  the  character  of  others  tempered  by  the  amiable 
qualities  of  his  own,  that,  as  he  never  made  an  enemy,  he  never  lost 
a  friend,  and  such  of  human  infirmity  as  fell  to  his  own  lot  was  only 
observed  to  be  forgotten." 

The  late  Mr.  John  Taylor,  of  Earsdon,  another  eminent  mining 
engineer,  who  died  February  ist,  1879,  ^^'^s  a  brother  of  Mr.  Tom 
John  Taylor,  as  is  also  the  present  Mr.  Hugh  Taylor,  formerly  M.P. 
for  Tynemouth,  to  whose  kindness  the  writer  is  indebted  for  the 
portrait  which  accompanies  this  biography. 


502  BENJAMIN  THOMPSON. 

Benjamin  IThompson, 

COAL-OWNER    AND    INVENTOR. 

Fifty  years  ago  few  persons  were  better  known  in  the  North  of 
England  than  Benjamin  Thompson,  coal-owner,  ironmaster,  mining 
and  railway  engineer,  contractor,  and  inventor.  He  was  not  a  native 
of  the  district,  but  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  a  long  life  among 
the  thriving  industries  of  the  Tyne,  and  set  his  mark  upon  them  in 
deep  and  vivid  lines. 

Benjamin  Thompson  was  the  seventh  son  of  Anthony  Thompson, 
of  Whitely  Wood  Hall,  Ecclesall,  near  Sheffield,  by  his  marriage 
with  Sabra,  daughter  of  John  Clark,  of  Horrockwood,  UUeswater. 
He  was  born  at  Whitely  Wood  on  the  nth  of  April,  1779,  and  was 
educated  at  Sheffield  Grammar  School,  where  he  had  for  schoolmate 
and  intimate  friend,  John  Roebuck,  father,  in  after  years,  of  the 
famous  politician — John  Arthur  Roebuck,  M.P.  Exhibiting  in  early 
life  great  talent  in  design  and  construction,  he  received  special  train- 
ing to  qualify  him  for  leading  parts  in  the  great  industries  of  which 
Sheffield  was  the  centre.  Soon  after  arriving  at  man's  estate,  he 
went  to  South  Wales,  where,  in  conjunction  with  his  elder  brother, 
John  Thompson,  he  established  the  Aberdare  Iron  Works,  consisting 
of  blast  furnaces  and  rolling  mills.  Connected  with  these  works 
were  coal  and  ironstone  mines,  in  the  management  of  which  he  took 
the  principal  share,  and  thereby  increased  his  experience  of  mine 
engineering.  In  1806  he  married  Ann,  daughter  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Glover,  of  Abercarne,  and  in  18 11  came  to  the  North  of  England  as 
managing  partner  of  Bewicke's  Main  (now  Ouston)  Colliery,  near 
Chester-le-Street,  and  Fawdon  Colliery,  in  the  parish  of  Gosforth. 

Mr,  Thompson  had  not  been  long  upon  Tyneside  till  local  coal- 
owners  and  their  viewers  discovered  that  a  man  of  unusual  business 
capacity  and  remarkable  inventive  skill  had  settled  among  them. 
Before  he  had  been  twelve  months  in  the  district,  he  had  shown 
them  how  their  wasteful  and  destructive  methods  of  shipping  coal 
into  colliers  might  be  obviated,  and  an  immense  saving  of  both  time 
and  produce  be  obtained.  Instead  of  allowing  the  coal  to  fall  down 
a  shoot  or  spout,  involving,  at  low  water,  a  run  of  from  thirty  to 
forty  feet,  he  constructed  a  kind  of  crane,  known  in  after  years  as  the 


BENJAMIN  THOMPSON 


503 


"drop,"  by  which  the  full  waggon,  as  it  came  from  the  pit,  was 
lowered  into  the  vessel,  and  discharged  with  the  least  possible  break- 
age or  deterioration.  In  time  this  plan,  and  modifications  of  it, 
came  to  be  almost  universally  adopted.  Next  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  screening  arrangements,  and  these  he  completely  altered. 
Then  he  took  in  hand  the  improvement  of  colliery  staiths,  or  depots, 
at  the  river  edge,  and  built  one  at  Wallsend  on  a  new  principle,  to 


/o^^r>^7Acr?r>^<^^?Z.. 


show  how  such  places  ought  to  be  erected.  The  style  of  colliery 
bookkeeping,  too,  he  found  altogether  unsatisfactory,  and  he  replaced 
it  by  introducing  "cost  accounts"  and  a  clear  and  intelligible  system 
of  commercial  double  entry.  Underground  haulage,  also,  was  taken 
in  hand,  with  like  vigour  and  success.  In  lieu  of  tram-plates,  which 
were  everlastingly  working  loose,  to  the  danger  of  both  men  and 
horses,  and  great  loss  of  time  and  labour,  he  put  down  edge  rails  of 
his  own  design,  and  the  transit  from  "  face  "  to  shaft  at  once  became 


504  BENJAMIN  THOMPSON 

easy,  safe,  and  economical.  Other  improvements  of  his  were  new 
forms  of  rope  sheaves,  the  case-hardening  of  waggon-wheels,  and 
various  odds  and  ends  relating  to  colliery  practice  that  need  not  be 
enumerated.  Indeed,  inventions  and  improvements  to  facilitate  the 
working,  the  transit,  and  the  shipment  of  coal  followed  each  other  in 
such  rapid  succession  that  Bewicke  Main  and  Fawdon  Collieries  be- 
came as  notable  for  Mr.  Thompson's  experiments  in  traction  and  haul- 
age as  were  those  of  Wylam  and  Killingworth  for  the  investigations 
of  William  Hedley  and  George  Stephenson  into  steam  locomotion. 

Into  that  question  of  steam  locomotion,  likewise,  Mr.  Thompson 
threw  himself  with  characteristic  ardour.  He  had  convinced  himself 
that  the  problem  was  far  from  being  solved,  and  that,  at  any  rate 
for  colliery  traffic,  fixed  engines,  on  planes  not  available  to  gravity, 
were  cheaper  and  more  to  be  depended  upon  than  the  crude  loco- 
motives of  Hedley  and  Stephenson.  Having  laid  down  new  waggon- 
ways  from  Bewicke's  Main  Colliery  on  the  south  side,  and  Fawdon 
Colliery  on  the  north  side,  to  their  respective  shipping  places  in  the 
Tyne,  and  formed  them  with  metal  rails,  he  brought  his  fixed  engine 
system  into  full  play.  In  182 1,  he  patented  the  plan,  and,  the 
following  year,  issued  a  pamphlet  explaining  and  maintaining  his 
views  on  the  subject,  entitled — 

"Copy  of  the  Specification  of  a  Patent  Granted  to  Benjamin  Thompson,  of 
Ayton  Cottage,  in  the  County  of  Durham,  Gentleman,  for  his  Invention  of  'A 
Method  of  Facilitating  the  Conveyance  of  Carriages  along  Iron  and  Wood  Rail- 
ways, Tramways,  and  Other  Roads,'  Dated  the  24th  Day  of  October,  1821. 
With  Remarks  thereon  by  the  Patentee,  and  the  Result  of  a  Trial  of  the  Inven- 
tion," etc.     Newcastle:  Printed  by  J.  &  R.  Akenhead,  Sandhill. 

The  "  Remarks  thereon  by  the  Patentee "  brought  out  George 
Stephenson's  friend,  Nicholas  Wood,  who,  controverting  Mr.  Thomp- 
son's arguments  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  editor  of  the  Newcastle 
Magazine,  provoked  a  long  controversy,  which  the  curious  in  such 
matters  may  read,  without  much  profit,  in  the  volume  of  that 
periodical  for  the  year  1822.  Rapid  improvements  in  the  adaptation 
of  steam  to  locomotion  soon  modified  Mr.  Thompson's  views,  and  a 
few  years  later,  when  it  was  proposed  to  construct  a  line  of  railway 
from  Newcastle  to  Carlisle,  he  became  one  of  its  warmest  supporters. 
Under  his  superintendence  and  direction,  the  surveys  for  the  line 
were  made;  he  fixed  its  course,  drew  the  plans,  estimated  the  cost, 
and,  when  the  scheme  was  matured,  joined  the  Board  of  Directors 
that   was  appointed  to  carry  it  into   practical   effect.     Before   the 


BENJAMIN  THOMPSON  505 

Parliamentary  Committees  to  which  the  Bill  for  making  the  line  was 
referred,  he  was  the  chief  witness  in  its  favour,  and  stood  the  test 
of  many  days'  examination  and  cross-examination  —  sixteen  in  the 
Commons  and  fifteen  in  the  Lords — with  singular  skill  and 
ability.  The  opposition  to  the  Bill  was  keen;  the  forces  arrayed 
against  it  were  powerful.  On  his  side  he  had  six  witnesses,  besides 
himself ;  on  the  other  side  were  eighteen,  including  Joseph  Locke 
and  Robert  Stephenson.  But  Mr.  Thompson's  evidence  convinced 
both  Committees  ;  they  reported  in  favour  of  the  Bill,  and  on  the 
22nd  of  May,  1829,  it  received  the  Royal  assent.  Later,  when  the 
line  had  been  begun,  he  and  two  other  directors — Nicholas  Wood 
(his  quondam  opponent)  and  George  Johnson — were  appointed  a 
committee  of  management  to  superintend  the  construction,  and  their 
services  in  that  capacity  were  continued  till  the  line  was  completed. 

While  the  scheme  of  a  railway  to  Carlisle  was  under  consideration, 
Mr.  Thompson  proposed  to  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  who  was 
forming  the  new  port  of  Seaham  Harbour,  to  construct  a  line  worked 
by  reciprocal  fixed  engines,  and  convey  the  coal  from  the  London- 
derry pits,  Rainton  Bridge,  to  the  new  shipping  place,  at  a  fixed  rate 
per  chaldron,  for  nine  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  Marquis 
might  acquire  the  line  under  named  conditions.  The  offer  was 
accepted,  the  venture  proved  a  success,  and  the  conditions  were 
fulfilled  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  parties.  About  the  same  time,  he 
and  his  partners  in  Ouston  Colliery,  Messrs.  Charles  Perkins  and 
Henry  Hunt,  started  the  Birtley  Iron  Works,  consisting  of  two  blast- 
furnaces and  a  large  foundry.  Mr.  Thompson  designed  and  laid 
out  the  whole  of  the  establishment,  and  was,  for  several  years,  the 
managing  partner  of  the  concern.  At  this  class  of  work,  from  his 
early  training  in  South  Wales,  he  was  an  adept.  In  1835,  he  erected 
blast-furnaces  at  Wylam,  and  worked  them  on  his  own  account  till 
the  changed  conditions  of  trade  rendered  them  unprofitable — a  fate 
which,  soon  afterwards,  befell  the  furnaces  of  Messrs.  Campion, 
Batson,  &  Co.,  at  Hareshaw,  near  Bellingham,  in  which  he  had 
taken  an  interest. 

Having  retired  into  private  life,  Mr.  Thompson  published,  in 
1847,  an  interesting  little  book,  bearing  the  title  of — 

"  Inventions,  Improvements,  and  Practice  of  Benjamin  Thompson,  in  the  Com- 
bined Character  of  Colliery  Engineer  and  General  Manager.  With  some  Inter- 
esting Particulars  relative  to  Watt's  Steam  Engine,  and  a  Short  Treatise  on  the 
Coal  Trade  Regulation."     Newcastle:  M.  &  M.  W.  Lambert,  69,^Jkey  Street. 


So6  ISAAC  THOMPSON. 

In  this  volume,  the  ingenious  appliances  which  Mr.  Thompson 
had  introduced  into  colliery  and  railway  practice  are  described  and 
illustrated.  The  book  exhibits  its  author  as  a  man  of  remarkable 
ingenuity  and  resource,  a  methodical  and  painstaking  engineer,  a 
clever  and  accurate  draughtsman,  a  minute  and  rapid  calculator,  and 
a  clear-headed  and  energetic  man  of  business.  It  shows,  too,  that 
with  the  exception  of  his  system  of  reciprocal  fixed  engines,  he 
protected  none  of  his  inventions  by  a  patent.  All  the  rest  of 
his  devices  for  economising  time  and  labour  were  given  to  the 
coal  trade  without  reward  other  than  that  which  he  might  derive 
from  the  application  of  them  to  his  own  undertakings.  Yet  it  may 
be  questioned  whether,  at  the  present  time,  one  in  a  hundred  of  the 
coal-owners  and  mining  engineers  of  the  kingdom,  whose  interests 
during  a  long  and  active  life  it  was  his  aim  to  promote,  understand 
how  much  their  trade  owed,  in  its  earlier  developments,  to  his  self- 
sacrificing  labours. 

Mr.  Thompson  died  at  Gateshead  on  the  19th  of  April,  1867, 
aged  eighty-eight,  leaving,  with  other  issue,  a  son — Mr.  Benjamin 
James  Thompson,  late  of  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Humble  &  Thompson, 
shipowners  and  merchants  in  Newcastle. 


36aac  ^bompeon, 

PRINTER    AND    PUBLISHER. 

Very  meagre  are  the  accounts  which  local  annalists  have  given  of  a 
Quaker  printer  and  publisher,  poet  and  philosopher,  known  in  New- 
castle, during  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  as  Isaac 
Thompson,  and  in  the  later  years  of  his  life — strange  though  it  may 
seem  for  a  Quaker — as  Isaac  Thompson,  "  Esquire."  Whether  he 
was  a  native  of  the  town  or  a  stranger  cannot  now  be  ascertained. 
His  name  occurs,  in  1731,  prefixed  to  an  octavo  of  xxii.-i76  pages, 
containing  a  list  of  about  250  subscribers,  entitled 

"A  Collection  of  Poems,  Occasionally  Writ  on  Several  Subjects."  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne :  Printed  by  John  White  for  the  Author,  and  Sold  by  the 
Booksellers. 

The  book  consists  chiefly  of  pastoral  rhymes,  dealing  as  usual  with 
the  love  pangs  of  Strephon  and  Phoebe,  Damon  and  Thyrsis,  and 
other  swains  and  nymphs  bearing  similar  appellatives,  to  which  are 


ISAAC  THOMPSON.  5° 7 

added  a  few  odes  and  sonnets,  a  translation  from  Horace,  a  para- 
phrase of  Ovid,  and  innumerable  notes  and  quotations  from 
the  classic  Muse,  proving  that  the  author  was  a  poet  and  a  scholar. 
Sykes,  in  a  brief  notice,  describes  him  as  "a  person  of  consider- 
able literary  attainments,"  whose  compositions,  which  were  "very 
numerous,"  were  "scattered  in  many  periodical  publications,"  and 
who  "gave  public  lectures  on  natural  and  experimental  philosophy 
in  1739,"  being  joined  therein,  a  year  later,  by  Mr.  William  Elstob 
(of  Lynn,  probably),  and  afterwards  by  Mr.  Robert  Harrison — 
"  Philosopher  "  Harrison,  the  mathematician. 

What  Mr,  Thompson  was  doing  between  1731,  the  date  of  his 
book,  and  1739,  the  date  of  his  lectures,  is  not  recorded.  In  the 
last-named  year,  he  entered  upon  a  very  serious  and  responsible 
undertaking  in  Newcastle — the  publication  of  a  newspaper.  Sykes 
makes  a  note  of  the  event,  under  date  April  7th,  1739,  as  follows: — 
"The  first  number  of  a  newspaper  in  folio,  intitled  T/ie  Newcastle 
Journal,  was  published  in  Newcastle,  by  Isaac  Thompson  and 
William  Cuthbert,  at  their  office,  '  on  the  Head  of  the  Side.'  The 
establishment  was  afterwards  removed  to  the  '  Burnt  House  Entry,' 
where  this  paper  was  regularly  published  till  the  death  of  Mr. 
Thompson." 

Mackenzie,  in  his  account  of  the  commencement  of  the  paper, 
gives  Mr.  Thompson  a  different  partner — a  Mr.  Tyzack,  the  same 
person,  probably,  to  whom  Mr.  Thompson  addressed  one  of  his 
pastorals,  "  On  Friendship  "  : — 

"  To  thee,  dear  Tyzack,  I  repeat  their  Lays, 
More  fond  of  thy  Esteem,  than  publick  Praise. 
When  Friendship  is  the  Theme  that  I  pursue ; 
The  Theme  and  Song  are  both  to  Tyzack  due." 

There  certainly  was  a  printer  named  Cuthbert  in  the  town  about 
the  time  that  \\\q.  Jourtial  was  started,  for  he  occurs,  in  1 751,  as 
the  publisher,  "in  Cutter's  Entry,  Close,"  of  another  paper — the 
Newcastle  Gazetteer.  Mackenzie's  story,  however,  is  this: — "The 
Nezvcastle  Jourfial  wdiShegMn  April  7th,  1739,  by  Messrs.  Thompson, 
Tyzack,  &  Co.  A  second  title  of  General  Advertiser  was  afterwards 
added  to  it.  At  the  death  of  Isaac  Thompson,  Esq.,  it  became  the 
property  of  T.  Robson  &  Co.,  who  printed  it  from  the  year  1778  to 
1788,  when  it  was  published  by  George  Temple  &  Co." 

The  issue  of  the  Jojirjial  by  George  Temple  &  Co.  must  have 
been  a  short  one,  for  it  is  recorded  that  on  the  9th  of  August,  1788, 


So8  ISAAC  THOMPSON. 

the  publication  ceased.  In  its  place,  Mr.  Mattliew  Brown  started 
(October  i8th,  1788)  the  Neivcastle  Advertiser,  which  eventually 
became  the  Durham  County  Advertiser,  and  under  that  name  is  still 
published.  The  Newcastle  Journal,  revived  in  1832  by  Messrs. 
Hernaman  &  Perrin,  has  been  for  some  years,  as  everybody  knows, 
a  flourishing  daily  newspaper.     But  this  in  passing. 

When  the  rebellion  of  1745  broke  out,  Mr.  Thompson  had  estab- 
lished his  paper  upon  a  sure  foundation,  and  had  won  for  himself 
considerable  fame  as  a  journalist  and  magazine  writer.  The  ver- 
satility of  his  genius  is  exemplified  by  the  fact  that  he  was  employed 
by  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  to  survey  the  town  and  prepare  a  plan 
of  all  the  streets,  public  buildings,  etc.,  within  the  circuit  of  its  walls. 
Gough,  the  topographer,  who  had,  apparently,  seen  the  plan,  de- 
scribes it  as  "  very  correct,"  and  as  having  been  made  "  soon  after 
the  rebellion,  by  order,  and  at  the  expense,  of  the  late  Duke  of 
Cumberland."  Brand,  reading  Cough's  statement,  suggested  a 
doubt  of  its  accuracy,  stating  that  he  had  consulted  Mr.  Thompson's 
son,  but  could  "  neither  learn  of  him  whether  ever  such  a  plan  had 
been  taken,  nor  into  whose  hands  it  had  fallen,"  But  in  1858,  Mr. 
W,  H.  D.  Longstaffe,  searching  at  the  British  Museum  for  docu- 
ments and  plans  to  illustrate  a  paper  on  the  Castle  of  Newcastle, 
discovered  the  original  drawing  among  the  Crown  Manuscripts,  and 
copied  that  portion  of  it  which  relates  to  the  castle  precincts,  as  may 
be  seen  at  page  113  of  the  new  series  of  the  "  Arch^ologia  ^liana," 
vol.  iv.  Mr.  Longstaffe  describes  it  as  "a  coloured  plan  of  New- 
castle, drawn  by  Isaac  Thompson,  in  1746,  on  a  scale  of  200  feet  to 
an  inch ;  dedicated  to  William,  Duke  of  Cumberland ;  3  feet  9 
inches  by  3  feet  6  inches." 

Adding  to  his  newspaper  establishment  a  general  printing  busi- 
ness, Mr.  Thompson  began  to  print  and  publish  books  on  his  own 
account.  His  first  venture  in  that  line  was  that  portly  folio,  "  A 
Journal  of  the  Life  of  Thomas  Story;  Containing  an  Account  of 
his  Remarkable  Convincement  of  and  Embracing  the  Principles  of 
Truth  as  held  by  the  People  called  Quakers ;  and  also  of  his  Travels 
and  Labours  in  the  Service  of  the  Gospel.  With  many  other  Occur- 
rences and  Observations."  It  appears  from  a  declaration,  printed  in 
some  copies  of  this  work,  that  the  author  left  testamentary  instruc- 
tions for  the  publication  of  a  certain  number  of  copies  for  distribution 
at  the  discretion  of  his  trustees,  and  that  the  latter,  considering  how 
many  persons  might  remain  unsupplied,  "  and  yet  be  desirous  to 


ISAAC  THOMPSON.  509 

possess  themselves  of  this  valuable  legacy  which  the  worthy  author 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  publick,"  "  did  give  leave  to  Isaac 
Thompson,  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  to  print  a  certain  number  of 
volumes,  at  his  own  expence  and  risque — of  which  number  this 
volume  is  one." 

In  the  same  year  that  "  Story's  Journal "  was  issued,  John  Good- 
ing, printer,  started  a  local  magazine  in  Newcastle.  It  bore  the  title 
of  the  Newcastle  General  Magazhte,  and  was  brought  out  monthly 
in  an  ugly  and  inconvenient  quarto.  At  the  end  of  the  first  volume, 
Mr.  Thompson  took  the  new  venture  in  hand,  and  thenceforward  it 
was  published  in  octavo  form.  John  Gooding's  name  as  printer  was 
continued  on  the  monthly  issues  for  a  time,  though  upon  the  title- 
pages  of  the  completed  volumes  appeared  "  Printed  for  I.  Thompson 
&  Company  by  John  Gooding."  With  the  number  for  May,  1751, 
the  name  of  Gooding  vanished,  and  that  of  I.  Thompson  &  Co.  took 
its  place,  and  so  continued  till  the  close  of  1760,  when  the  series 
came  to  an  end. 

Some  of  the  publications  which  bear  the  imprint  of  Isaac  Thomp- 
son's firm  are  sermons  preached  on  special  occasions  and  published 
by  request.  Thus  the  name  of  "  Isaac  Thompson  &  Co."  is  attached 
to  Archdeacon  Sharp's  Newcastle  Infirmary  Sermon,  1751;  to  Wib- 
bersley's  Assize  Sermon,  1752J  and  to  the  Infirmary  Sermons  of  Dr. 
Tew,  1756;  and  of  Oliver  Naylor,  1758.  It  also  appears  on  the 
title-page  of  Hudson's  "Poems,"  1752,  and  Wetherald's  "Perpetual 
Calculator,"  1760.  After  that  date  a  remarkable  change  occurs. 
Following  Mr.  Thompson's  name,  the  title  "  Esquire  "  is  introduced ! 
Dr.  Brown's  sermon  on  the  Hexham  Riot,  1761,  is  published  by 
"  Isaac  Thompson,  Esq.,  &  Company."  A  description  of  "  The 
Microcosm,"  1765,  Dr.  Rotheram's  "Philosophical  Inquiry  into  the 
Nature  of  Water,"  etc.,  1772,  and  a  sermon  by  Charles  Whitfield, 
Baptist  Minister  at  Hamsterley,  of  the  same  date,  are  printed  by 
"  Isaac  Thompson,  Esq."  This  unusual  assumption  of  a  titular  dis- 
tinction by  a  Quaker  inspired  the  anonymous  author  of  "  Parson 
Jock's  Will,"  better  known  by  its  later  title  of  "  The  Vicar's  Will  and 
Codicil,"  to  pen  the  following  not  too  brilliant  bit  of  sarcasm  : — 

"  I  always  did  (Thanks  to  my  Maker) 
Sincerely  hate  a  sniv'ling  Quaker  ; 
But  for  friend  Isaac's  nobler  Fire, 
Who  dares  to  Dubb  himself  a  Squire, 
I  have  Regard — and  make  him  Heir 
To  all  my  curious  Pumps  of  Air." 


5IO  ISAAC  THOMPSON. 

In  1769,  Mr.  Thompson  began  the  pubhcation  of  another  local 
magazine,  which  he  entitled — 

"  The  Literary  Register,  or  Weekly  Miscellany;  Being  a  Repository  of  the 
most  interesting  Essays,  with  Extracts,  and  a  Collated  Review  of  Publications  in 
the  Year ;  Including  many  Valuable  Original  Pieces.  Newcastle  :  Printed  for 
the  Benefit  of  the  Subscribers  to  the  Journal ;  By  the  Compilers  of  that  News- 
Paper." 

The  Literary  Register  consisted  of  six  pages,  in  small  folio,  and 
its  contents  comprised  essays,  reviews,  correspondence,  a  little  poetry, 
an  occasional  anecdote,  and  recitals  of  marvellous  adventure  from 
books  of  travel.  Scarcely  anything  of  value  to  local  history  appears 
in  its  pages;  not  even,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  obituary  notes 
or  local  biography.  The  contents  of  one  number  will  exemplify  the 
rest: — "Death,  an  Allegory,"  "An  Essay  on  Gaming,"  "Anecdote 
of  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,"  "  On  the  Inhabitants  of  China," 
"A  Danish  Anecdote,"  "An  Excellent  Definition  of  Whig  and 
Torie,"  "  Review  of  New  Publications,"  and  two  poems — one  on 
"The  Grand  Secret,  or  a  Cure  for  Cuckoldom,"  and  the  other  "  On 
the  Death  of  Miss  Johnson,  of  Stockton."  There  is,  it  is  true,  in 
the  third  volume,  an  account  of  the  great  local  flood  on  the  17th 
November,  1771;  but  that  was  inserted  by  request  of  "several 
gentlemen  and  correspondents,"  and  was  so  unusual  that  the  editor 
invites  assistance  from  his  readers  to  "  rectify  or  enlarge  the  accounts 
already  given  in  \\\e  Joiirtiai,'"  so  that  he  may  be  enabled  to  present 
them  to  the  public  "  in  a  form  to  be  preserved."  "  It  is  hoped,"  he 
adds,  "  no  person  will  slight  such  an  attempt,  or  rely  upon  others 
sending  information,  as  the  postage  will  be  paid  by  the  pubhsher !  " 
Five  volumes  of  the  Literary  Register,  covering  the  years  1769-73, 
are  in  the  library  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries,  from  which 
it  is  presumed  that,  at  the  end  of  1773,  the  publication  ceased  to 
appear. 

Mr.  Thompson  died  on  the  6th  of  January,  1776,  aged  seventy- 
two  years,  and  was  interred,  on  the  9th,  in  the  burial-ground  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  behind  their  meeting-house,  in  Pilgrim  Street, 
Newcastle.  William  Hilton,  the  Gateshead  poet,  published  a 
"  sonnet "  to  his  memory,  in  which  his  virtues  are  extolled  in  stilted 
verse,  and  his  achievements  are  recorded  in  halting  rhyme. 


THOMAS  THOMPSON.  511 

ORGANIST. 

Passing  over  Thomas  Thompson,  the  local  bard,  whose  life  and 
work  find  adequate  and  appropriate  record  in  Allan's  sumptuous 
edition  of  Tyneside  Songs,  published  in  1891,  we  come  to  another  man 
of  mark  who  bore  that  name,  a  professor  of  the  allied  art  of  music 
— Thomas  Thompson,  organist.  At  the  date  of  his  birth,  1777,  his 
father,  John  Thompson,  lived  in  Sunderland,  but,  the  year  following, 
he  removed  to  Newcastle,  and  started  business  as  a  breeches  maker 
in  the  Side.  John  Thompson  was  an  able  musician — a  pupil  of 
James  Heseltine,  organist  of  Durham  Cathedral — and  a  man  of 
mental  acquirements  far  beyond  his  calling.  It  is  said  that  one  of 
the  vicars  of  Newcastle,  struck  with  his  abilities,  suggested  that  he 
should  take  orders  in  the  Church,  but  the  worthy  breeches  maker, 
contented  with  his  lot,  replied,  "  It  is  more  honourable,  Mr.  Vicar, 
to  head  my  own  class  than  to  be  at  the  tail  of  yours."  Later  on, 
however,  he  did  accept  office  in  the  Church.  In  1793,  on  the  death 
of  Richard  Fisher,  the  bookseller,  he  was  appointed  parish  clerk  of 
St.  Nicholas',  and  that  position  he  occupied  till  his  death  in  1828,  at 
the  good  old  age  of  eighty-three. 

Under  his  father's  tuition,  Thomas  Thompson  was  initiated  at 
an  early  age  into  the  art  of  playing  the  violin  and  the  French  horn. 
An  apt  pupil,  he  developed  into  a  sort  of  juvenile  prodigy.  It  is 
said  that,  when  only  twelve  years  old,  he  played  the  horn  in  the 
orchestra  of  the  Theatre  Royal,  Newcastle,  and,  at  fifteen,  was  able 
to  take  charge  of  the  organ  during  service  in  the  Church  of  All 
Saints.  He  had  received  lessons  on  the  piano  and  the  organ  from 
Matthias  Hawdon,  organist  of  St.  Nicholas',  and  Charles  Avison  of 
St.  John's,  son  of  Charles  Avison  the  composer;  but  in  the  early 
part  of  the  year  1793,  he  was  sent  to  London,  to  study  under  more 
celebrated  professors.  Clementi  took  charge  of  his  general  instruc- 
tion in  instrumental  music;  Frick  superintended  his  training  in 
thorough  bass  and  composition.  Devoted  to  his  art,  he  delighted 
his  teachers  by  his  assiduity  and  application.  From  morning  to 
night  he  was  seated  at  the  organ,  his  practice,  week  after  week, 
averaging  ten  hours  per  day.     Ardour   like  this,  allied  to  genius, 


512 


THOMAS  THOMPSON. 


could  have  but  one  result;  before  his  term  came  to  an  end  he  was 
regarded  as  the  most  promising  pupil  that  Clementi  had  taken  in 
hand. 

While  young  Thompson  was  studying  and  working  in  London, 
Charles  Avison  the  younger,  who  had  succeeded  Matthias  Hawdon 
as  organist  of  St.  Nicholas',  died,  and  the  office  became  vacant. 
Thompson  was  only  eighteen  years  old,  but  his  accomplishments 
were  far  in  advance  of  his  age;  his  mastery  over  the  king  of 
instruments,   in  particular,    being   thorough   and   complete.      Com- 


petent judges  of  music  were  surprised  at  the  dexterity  of  his 
manipulation ;  church  worshippers  were  charmed  by  the  devotional 
expression  of  his  performances.  He  received  the  appointment,  and 
thus,  although  wanting  three  years  of  his  majority,  he  took  the  post 
which  three  Avisons  had  filled,  and  held  it  worthily. 

Like  many  other  men  of  genius,  Mr.  Thompson  estimated  his 
own  accomplishments  at  a  comparatively  low  rate,  and,  regarding 
his  education  as  still  far  from  complete,  he  continued  his  studies, 
taking  courses  of  lessons,  as  occasion  served,  from  J.  B.  Cramer, 


THOMAS  THOMPSON.  513 

Ries,  Kalkbrenner,  and  other  eminent  masters.  The  year  after  his 
appointment,  in  July,  1796,  his  abihties  were  put  to  a  test  of  some 
severity.  There  had  been  two  great  musical  festivals  in  Newcastle 
— one  in  October,  177S,  and  the  other  in  August,  1791 — and  now 
it  was  arranged  to  hold  a  third.  Four  days  were  to  be  given  up 
to  musical  enjoyment — the  mornings  to  sacred  music  in  St.  Nicholas' 
Church,  and  two  of  the  evenings  to  miscellaneous  concerts  at  the 
Assembly  Rooms,  in  Westgate  Street.  Mr.  Thompson,  assisted  by 
Mr.  Meredith,  of  London,  organised  the  festival,  obtained  the 
patronage  of  Prince  William  of  Gloucester,  and  engaged  the  lead- 
ing vocalists  and  instrumentalists  of  the  day  to  display  their  powers 
on  the  occasion.  Financially,  the  festival  was  a  failure;  from  a 
musical  point  of  view  it  was  a  great  success.  Mr.  Thompson  pre- 
sided at  the  organ  throughout,  and  acquitted  himself  admirably. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  follow  i\Ir.  Thompson  throughout  all  the 
successive  phases  of  a  brilliant  musical  career.  For  the  better  part 
of  forty  years  he  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession  in  the  Northern 
Counties.  Two  more  musical  festivals  (one  in  September,  18 14, 
and  the  other  in  October,  1824),  a  revived  Harmonic  Society,  a 
wide-spreading  teaching  connection,  subscription  concerts  innumer- 
able, and  punctually  discharged  duty  in  the  church,  testified  to 
his  ardour  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession,  his  remarkable  skill 
in  the  practice  of  it,  and  the  admiring  confidence  of  musical 
people.  His  compositions  were  few,  and,  so  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained, only  two  of  them — "Cease  your  Funning,"  with  variations, 
and  an  original  theme — saw  the  light  of  publicity.  Others,  which 
circulated  in  manuscript  score,  are  said  to  have  been  of  an  "  elegant 
and  pleasing  "  character,  marked  by  "  simple  and  flowing  "  melody. 
These  were,  indeed,  the  leading  traits  of  his  style,  both  as  composer 
and  performer.  His  voluntaries  were  invariably  soft  and  graceful — 
true  aids  to  devotional  feeling — while  his  accompaniments  to  congre- 
gational singing  and  chanting  were  subdued  and  reverential,  never 
loud  and  overwhelming.  It  was  only  in  anthems,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  service,  that  worshippers  at  St.  Nicholas'  heard  the  full  power 
of  the  "  great  "  organ. 

Mr.  Thompson  died  at  his  house  in  Ridley  Place,  Newcastle,  on 
the  3rd  of  October,  1834,  aged  fifty-seven. 


VOL.  III.  33 


514  WILLIAM  GILL  THOMPSON. 

Milliam  (Bill  ^bomp6on, 

JOURNALIST    AND    POET. 

Whosoever  reads  the  annals  of  Tyneside  in  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century  will  not  fail  to  meet  with  the  name  of  "  Gill  Thomp- 
son " — a  journalist  whose  prolific  pen,  social  habits,  and  tragic  end 
give  him  a  prominent  place  in  local  history. 

William  Gill  Thompson  was  born  in  Newcastle  in  1796.  His 
parents  were  not  in  circumstances  which  enabled  them  to  bestow 
much  pains  upon  his  education  ;  he  was  taught  to  read,  to  write,  and 
to  sum,  and  then  left,  like  many  hundred  other  lads,  to  acquire 
knowledge  for  himself.  Bright  and  intelligent,  with  a  love  of  books, 
and  especially  of  books  containing  poetry  and  fiction,  he  chose  for 
his  handicraft  one  which  would  bring  him  into  familiar  contact  with 
literary  work — that  of  a  letterpress  printer.  At  the  usual  age,  there- 
fore, he  was  bound  apprentice  to  John  Mitchell,  founder,  proprietor, 
and  editor  of  the  Tyiie  Mercury,  an  enterprising  Cumberland  man, 
who,  as  his  biography  shows,  had  established  in  Newcastle  a  thriving 
business  as  a  publisher  of  useful  and  entertaining  literature. 

While  young  Thompson  was  growing  up  to  manhood  in  Mitchell's 
composing-room,  he  was  developing  abilities  in  paragraph  writing 
and  literary  composition,  which  rendered  him  a  useful  auxiliary  in 
the  reporting  department  of  the  Tyne  Mercury.  Mr.  Mitchell  and 
his  sons  encouraged  him  to  persevere,  corrected  his  contributions, 
and  gave  him  opportunities  of  practising  shorthand  upon  a  system 
which  he  invented,  improved,  or  simplified  himself.  When  his 
indentures  expired  he  remained  in  the  ofiice  as  a  journeyman  printer 
and  assistant  reporter. 

Among  the  literary  recreations  in  which  their  apprentice  indulged 
was  one  which  the  Mitchells  did  not  encourage  but  could  not  repress. 
Gill  Thompson  would  express  his  thoughts  in  rhyme,  would  send 
contributions  to  the  "  Poet's  Corner,"  would  distribute  "galley  slips  " 
of  his  versifications  among  his  friends.  What  could  not  be  cured 
was  eventually  endured,  and  early  in  1821  his  employers  consented 
to  publish  a  little  volume  of  his  poetic  effusions  under  the  title  of 
"The  Coral  Wreath,  and  other  Poems";  the  "other  poems"  being 
a  pathetic  story — "The  Deserted  Infant,"  and  lines  "On  seeing  a 


WILLIAM  GILL  THOMPSON. 


515 


Dead  Child."  \\.  A.  Mitchell  reviewed  the  book  in  his  Newcastle 
Magazine — reviewed  it  tenderly,  as  was  not  always  his  wont  when 
amateur  work  came  under  his  literary  scalpel.  "  Perhaps  his  situa- 
tion as  a  printer,"  he  wrote,  "  may  have  given  him  many  oppor- 
tunities denied  to  others.  But  a  journeyman  printer  (for  as  such  in 
our  service  we  are  proud  to  declare  him)  has  many  drawbacks  upon 
his  intellectual  pursuits  :  and  as  such  the  reader  will  be  willing  to 
pardon  any  little  consequences  of  such  drawbacks  which  they  may 
perceive  in  his  first  attempt.  We  believe  we  might  claim  to  our- 
selves some  small  share  in  making  Mr.  Thompson  what  he  is,  be  he 
good  or  bad,"  and  so  on. 


j0^^  pm^^^^'^^^ 


The  flattering  reception  which  greeted  the  "  Coral  Wreath " 
induced  the  author  to  launch  out,  a  few  months  later,  with  a  more 
pretentious  effort,  entitled  "  Erminia,"  and  to  have  it  published  by  a 
London  firm.  The  following  year  he  wrote  a  "  Fisher's  Garland  "  in 
rivalry  of  the  Muse  of  Roxby  and  Doubleday,  and  thenceforward, 
for  several  years,  he  issued  songs,  poetic  addresses,  tributes,  garlands, 
etc.,  and  was  a  contributor  to  magazines  and  annuals,  the  titles  of 
which  have  been  forgotten.  At  T.  M.  Richardson's  Sixth  Exhibition 
of  Pictures  in  connection  with  the  Northumberland  Institution  for 
the  Promotion  of  the  Fine  Arts,  in  1827,  he  published  "Sketches 
in  the  Picture  Gallery,"  and  in  1831  produced  a  drama  which  was 
performed  at  the  Theatre  Royal,  Newcastle,  for  the  benefit  of  his 


5i6  WILLIAM  GILL  THOMPSON. 

friend  William  Boag,  the  Box  book-keeper.  When  the  new  theatre 
in  Grey  Street  was  opened,  he  wrote  an  inaugural  ode,  and  although 
it  was  discarded  in  favour  of  one  composed  by  Thomas  Doubleday, 
he  secured  the  acceptance  of  an  address  with  which  Mr.  T.  L. 
Ternan  closed  his  first  season  in  Newcastle  on  the  29th  of  May, 
1840. 

As  apprentice,  journeyman,  and  reporter,  Mr.  Thompson  remained 
with  the  Mitchells  for  seventeen  years,  and  then,  having  written 
a  slashing  theatrical  criticism  which  gave  offence,  he  quitted  their 
employment,  and  transferred  his  services  to  the  Newcastle  Chronicle. 
His  poetical  genius  unfortunately  led  him  into  convivial  habits, 
which  ultimately  proved  his  destruction.  "  As  the  wine  flowed," 
writes  one  of  his  friends,  "  he  grew  eloquent,  and  his  imagination 
glowed  with  poetical  images.  But,  alas !  his  morbid  moments 
followed,  and  he  was  then  the  most  desponding  of  men."  In  one  of 
these  fits  of  despondency  he  terminated  his  existence  on  the  21st  of 
October,  1844. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  publications: — 

"The  Coral  Wreath,  or  The  Spell-Bound  Knight.  With  Other  Poems."  8vo. 
Newcastle:  Printed  by  W.  A.  Mitchell,  and  published  by  E.  Charnley,  1821. 
Republished  in  1834  as  one  of  Service's  "  Metrical  Legends  of  Northumberland." 

"Erminia,  A  Poem."     Newcastle:  W.  A.  Mitchell,  1821. 

"An  Address  Delivered  in  the  Loyal  Northumbrian  Social  Society,  August  28, 
1821."     i2mo.     Newcastle:  S.  Hodgson,  Union  Street,  1822. 

The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1822.— "Tyne  Side." 

"A  Poetical  Address  Delivered  at  the  Anniversary  Meeting  of  the  Burns  Club 
of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  Jan.  26,  1824."     i2mo,     Newcastle,  1824. 

"  Lines  on  the  Death  of  Lord  Byron."     i2mo.     Newcastle:  Mitchell,  1824. 

The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1824  (Extra). — "The  Tyne  Fisher's  Farewell  to  his 
Favourite  Stream  on  the  approach  of  Winter." 

"A  Description  of  Mr.  Richardson's  Picture  of  Marmion  Viewing  the  Scottish 
Camp  from  Blackford  Hill."     With  Plate.     8vo.     Newcastle:   Hodgson,  1825. 

"  Sketches  in  the  Picture  Gallery."     8vo.     Newcastle,  1827. 

"The  Widow's  Son  of  Nain,  and  other  Poems,"  including  "The  Spectre 
Knight,"  "The  Miner  Boy,"  "Lines  to  a  Mummy,"  "  Lycidas  and  Isabel," 
etc.     8vo.     Newcastle,  1828. 

"  Sketches  in  Prose,"  comprising  "  The  Young  Poet,"  "  The  Lonely  Grave," 
"The  Painter's  Mistress,"  "Fanny  Lee,"  and  "The  Fisherman's  Daughter." 
8vo.     Newcastle,  1829. 

The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1831.— "The  Tyne  Fisher's  Call." 

"  Love  in  the  Country;  or  The  Vengeful  Miller.  A  Rustic  Drama.  Acted  at 
the  Theatre  Royal  [Newcastle],  for  the  Benefit  of  Mr.  William  Boag,  on  Friday, 
Feb.  26,  1830."  Printed  for  Private  Distribution.  8vo.  Newcastle:  W.  Boag, 
1831. 


ROGER  THORNTON.  517 

"A  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  the  Late  James  Losh,  Esq."     8vo.     Newcastle  : 

William  Boag,  1833. 

The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1S34. — "  The  Morning  Invitation." 
The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1S38. — "Summer  Rambles,  or  the  Fisher's  Delight." 
The  Fisher's  Garland  for  1S39.  — "  The  Auld  Fisher's  Invitation  to  Supper." 
The  Fisher's  Garland  for   1S40. — "A   Day  by  the  Side  of  the  Fast-flowing 

Tyne." 

Numerous  contributions  to  the  Newcastle  Magazine,  and  to  the  "Selector" — 

a   Collection  of  Poetry   and   Prose    published    by   William    Boag,    Newcastle, 

1826-28. 


IRoocr  ZTbontton, 

THE   OPULENT   MERCHANT. 

"At  the  West  Gate  cam'  Thornton  in, 
With  hap,  a  halfpenny,  and  a  lamb's  skin." 

This  couplet,  with  its  various  readings  (for  there  are  half-a-dozen 
different  versions  of  it),  refers  to  the  condition  in  which  a  youth, 
bearing  the  name  of  Thornton — Roger  Thornton — came  to  New- 
castle in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Its  meaning  is 
that  Thornton  entered  the  town  in  comparative  poverty,  dependent 
upon  "  hap,"  which  is  a  synonym  of  fortune,  or  luck,  to  increase 
such  slender  means  as  the  possession  of  articles  like  a  halfpenny  and 
a  lambskin  might  be  supposed  to  indicate.  A  couple  of  old  Eng- 
lish proverbs  elucidate  and  confirm  this  definition.  One  of  them 
asserts  that  "Some  have  the  hap,  some  stick  in  the  gap";  the  other 
declares  that  "  Hap  and  ha'penny  goods  enough,"  or  in  Scottish 
phrase,  "  Hap  an'  ha'penny  is  warld's  gear  enough";  that  is  to  say, 
some  men  have  luck,  and  get  on  in  the  world ;  to  such  persons  it 
matters  not  how  simple  their  beginnings  may  be,  for  with  hap  (or 
luck)  on  their  side  even  a  halfpenny  is  sufficient.  The  author  of 
the  jingle  about  Roger  Thornton  knew  the  proverb,  with  its  allitera- 
tive punning  on  "  hap  "  and  "  ha'penny,"  and  wanting  a  rhyme,  he 
happily  hit  upon  lambskin — an  article  which,  at  a  time  when  wool 
growing  was  the  most  profitable  employment  for  agricultural  capital, 
indicated,  like  a  halfpenny  in  the  coinage,  a  very  low  mark  of  value. 
Thus  the  origin  and  signification  of  the  couplet  are  easily  and 
intelligibly  explained. 

The  accuracy  of  these  definitions  receives  confirmation  from  the 


5i8  ROGER  THORNTON. 

statements  which  accompany  two  other  and  widely  different  versions 
of  the  rhyme.  One  of  them  is  that  of  Stowe,  the  chronicler,  who 
tells  us  that  "  Thornton  was  at  the  first  very  poor,  and,  as  the  people 
report,  was  a  pedlar,"  and  that  the  rhyme  as  he  remembered  it  ended 
thus  : — "  With  a  happen  hapt  in  a  ram's  skin."  The  other  is  sup- 
plied by  John  Stainsby,  a  lawyer,  who,  visiting  Newcastle  in  1666, 
was  told  that  Thornton  was  "  a  poor  lame  pedlar's  boy,"  and  that  he 
came  to  the  town  "  with  a  hopp,  a  halfpenny,  and  a  lambskin." 
Here  we  have  the  same  story  of  poverty  from  both  writers,  although 
their  versions  of  the  couplet  are  irreconcilable  with  each  other,  and 
out  of  harmony  with  the  rest. 

It  does  not  follow  that  because  Roger  Thornton  arrived  in  New- 
castle with  slender  resources  his  origin  was  mean.  He  "  may " 
have  belonged  to  the  family  of  which,  as  recorded  in  Hodgson's 
"  Northumberland,"  Roger  Thornton,  Knight,  of  the  "  West  Trith- 
ing  "  of  Yorkshire,  in  1338,  was  a  member;  he  "may"  first  have 
seen  the  hght  at  that  Yorkshire  Thornton  in  which,  according  to  the 
same  historian,  he  had  in  after-life  an  estate,  although  no  such 
property  appears  in  the  post-mortem  list  of  his  possessions.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  "  may "  be,  as  Leland  was  informed,  that  he  came 
from  Witton,  in  North  Northumberland — an  estate  which  it  is  known 
he  purchased  in  141 1,  and  made  his  family  seat.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence one  way  or  the  other.  All  that  is  certainly  known  about  his 
early  days  is  that  he  was  poor,  and  that  with  his  poverty — symbolised 
by  the  proverbial  halfpenny — he  brought  to  Newcastle  the  necessary 
"  hap,"  by  whose  aid  he  rose  from  obscurity  to  opulence,  and  became 
the  foremost  man  of  his  time  in  the  town  of  his  adoption. 

Whencesoever  he  came,  Roger  Thornton  was  not  the  only  person 
bearing  his  name  in  Newcastle.  In  1382  one  John  Thornton  filled 
the  post  of  fourth  bailiff  of  the  town,  and  continued  in  office,  if 
Bourne's  lists  may  be  trusted,  during  the  three  succeeding  years.  It 
"may"  have  been  that  John  Thornton  was  a  relation,  and  that 
Roger  came  consigned  to  his  care,  and  through  his  influence  ob- 
tained footing  among  the  merchants  of  Tyneside.  Conjectures  of 
this  kind  are  endless — and  useless.  We  can  trace  Roger  Thornton's 
first  appearance  in  local  history,  and  nothing  beyond.  There  is  no 
mention  of  him  in  local  annals  till  the  year  1394.  At  that  date  he 
was  part  owner  of  a  ship  called  the  6^1?^^  Year,  of  200  tons  burden, 
valued  with  her  outfit  at  jQa^o  ;  and  this  vessel,  laden  with  woollen 
cloth,  red  wine,  etc.,  was  seized  by  the  authorities  of  the  Hanse 


ROGER  THORNTON.  519 

towns  of  Wismar  and  Rostock,  and  formed  the  subject  of  diplomatic 
negotiation.  Three  years  later,  in  1397,  he  was  one  of  the  bailiffs  of 
Newcastle,  and  thenceforth  his  progress  was  rapid.  Wealth  came  to 
him  by  leaps  and  bounds,  for  everything  that  he  touched  turned  to 
gold  ;  power  and  influence  followed  in  its  train  ;  while  deeds  of  piety 
and  benevolence  gave  him  universal  popularity. 

When  Henry  IV.  came  to  the  throne,  the  admiring  burgesses  sent 
Roger  Thornton  to  be  one  of  their  representatives  in  Parliament. 
His  liberal  management  of  the  town's  business,  his  fortune  in  mari- 
time adventure,  and  the  aid  he  had  given  to  the  king's  forces  on  the 
high  seas,  recommended  him  to  royal  favour.  Making  good  use  of 
his  opportunities,  he  obtained  from  the  new  monarch  a  most  import- 
ant and  long-sought  concession — the  immunity  of  the  burgesses  of 
Newcastle  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Sheriff  of  Northumberland. 
On  the  23rd  of  May,  1400,  the  king  signed  a  charter  separating 
Newcastle  from  Northumberland,  and  constituting  it  a  county  of 
itself,  "to  be  called  the  County  of  the  Town  of  Newcastle  for  ever." 
The  four  bailiffs  disappeared;  the  town  had  the  power  to  elect  a 
sheriff  of  its  own — a  privilege  enjoyed  by  only  three  places  in  the  realm 
— London,  York,  and  Bristol.  Grateful  for  his  services,  the  burgesses 
elected  Roger  Thornton  to  be  the  first  Mayor  of  the  new  regime, 
and  kept  him  in  office  two  years.  At  the  end  of  his  term,  desirous 
to  bestow  upon  the  town  some  lasting  mark  of  his  bounty  and  good- 
will, the  great  merchant  began  a  series  of  benefactions  which  have 
handed  his  name  down  with  honour  to  posterity.  Obtaining  from 
the  king  a  grant  of  a  piece  of  ground  reclaimed  from  the  Tyne,  and 
forming  part  of  the  tide-covered  space  called  the  Sandhill,  he  erected 
the  building  known  to  many  succeeding  generations  as  the  Maison 
Dieu,  or  Thornton's  Hospital,  and  endowed  it  with  lands  and  tene- 
ments for  the  sustenance  of  the  needy  and  the  indigent.  Adjoining 
it,  for  the  use  of  his  fellow-members  of  the  Company  of  Merchant 
Adventurers,  and  such  other  guilds  and  fraternities  as  might  there- 
after form  the  governing  body  of  the  town,  he  built  the  stately 
Guildhall.  Still  further  to  exemplify  his  piety  and  benevolence,  he 
founded  a  chantry,  dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  in  the  Church  of  All  Saints. 
Tradition  assigns  to  him  another  useful  and  patriotic  undertaking — 
the  rebuilding  of  the  West  Gate,  through  which,  as  we  have  seen,  he 
is  said  to  have  entered  the  town,  with  his  "  hap,"  his  "  halfpenny," 
and  his  "lambskin." 

Roger  Thornton  was  Mayor  of  Newcastle  again  from   141 6   to 


520  ROGER  THORNTON. 

1420,  and  in  1426-27  and  1427-28 — eight  times  in  all;  while,  still 
further  to  do  him  honour,  the  burgesses  sent  him  to  represent  them 
in  three  other  Parliaments — those  of  141 1,  1417,  and  1419.  He 
received  from  the  king  in  1405,  "in  consideration  of  the  losses  he 
had  sustained  and  the  charges  he  had  borne  in  the  rebellion  of  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland  and  others,"  the  manors  of  Kirklevington 
and  Aklome,  in  Cleveland,  and  the  Foucher  House,  in  the  parish  of 
Whickham,  to  the  value  of  ^^50  per  annum;  and  he  acquired  by 
purchase  the  manor  of  Witton-in-the-Waters,  with  all  services  in 
Windgates,  Witton,  Stanton,  Horsley,  Stannington,  Benton,  Killing- 
worth,  Plessy,  etc.,  in  Northumberland;  besides  houses  and  tene- 
ments in  London  and  Newcastle.  These  he  bought  with  the 
produce  of  his  speculations  as  a  merchant,  for  he  owned  ships, 
wrought  lead-mines,  and  carried  on  a  vast  business  in  corn,  and 
wine,  and  other  merchantable  commodities,  with  the  great  seaports 
of  Europe.  Not  without  good  reason  did  Leland  describe  him  as 
"  wonderful  rich,"  and  "  the  richest  merchant  that  ever  was  dwelling 
in  Newcastle."  The  principal  source  of  his  wealth  is  believed  to 
have  been  the  lead-mines  in  Weardale,  which  he  worked  under  lease 
from  the  Bishop  of  Durham;  but  Leland,  on  the  authority  of  "  some 
say,"  attributes  great  part  of  it  to  prizes  of  silver  ore,  taken  on  the 
sea,  from,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  the  king's  enemies. 

Of  Roger  Thornton's  domestic  life  nothing  has  transpired.  He 
married  Agnes  Wanton,  a  stranger  apparently,  for  her  family  name 
does  not  otherwise  occur  in  local  history,  and  by  her  had  several 
children.  She  departed  this  life  on  the  24th  of  November,  141 1, 
and  he,  dying  at  his  own  house  in  the  Broad  Chare,  followed  her  on 
the  3rd  of  January,  1429-30.  They  were  buried  in  the  church  of 
All  Saints,  and  over  their  remains  was  erected  a  stately  altar-tomb, 
surmounted  by  a  canopy,  and  inlaid  with  a  magnificent  brass  of 
Flemish  workmanship.  The  brass  is  the  only  part  of  the  tomb  that 
remains  at  All  Saints',  and  it  is  justly  regarded  as  the  mediaeval 
"art  treasure"  of  the  town.  Engravings  of  it  appear  in  Brand's 
"  History,"  and  in  Knowles  and  Boyle's  "Vestiges  of  Old  Newcastle." 
At  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  the  great  merchant  was  commemorated  by 
the  east  window,  built  at  his  own  cost,  and  filled  with  representations, 
in  glowing  colours,  of  the  twelve  Apostles,  the  seven  deeds  of 
charity,  etc. — a  window  which,  according  to  Gray,  surpassed  all  the 
rest  "  in  height,  largenesse,  and  beauty."  Outside  the  churches,  the 
Guildhall  and  the  Maison  Dieu  perpetuated  his  memory. 


CHARLES  THORPE.  521 

In  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Chronological  History  of  Newcastle 
and  Gateshead,"  spreading  over  seven  pages,  appears  the  will  of 
Roger  Thornton,  with  its  long  list  of  benefactions,  and  the  inquisi- 
tions after  his  death,  with  their  voluminous  details  of  his  houses  and 
lands.  Only,  one  of  his  children  survived  him — a  son  bearing  his 
own  name— and  to  him  he  bequeathed  the  estates,  and  made  him 
sole  executor.  This  son,  Roger  Thornton  the  second,  was  an 
alderman  and  a  member  of  the  Skinners'  Company  of  Newcastle, 
High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland  in  1457,  and  a  commissioner  of 
truces  with  Scotland  in  1465-66.  He  occurs  in  local  annals  as 
granting  to  the  mayor  and  burgesses  of  Newcastle,  in  1456,  "  the 
use  of  the  hall  and  kitchen  belonging  to  Thornton's  Hospital,  for  a 
young  couple,  when  they  were  married,  to  make  their  wedding  dinner 
in,  and  receive  the  offerings  and  gifts  of  their  friends."  He  was 
united  before  142S  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John,  Lord  Dacre,  and 
had  by  her  two  daughters,  one  of  whom,  marrying  Sir  George  Lumley, 
Knight,  carried  part  of  the  property  into  the  Lumley  family.  After 
his  wife's  death,  Roger  Thornton  the  second  had  natural  sons,  and 
upon  these  he  settled  Witton  and  its  members,  the  manor  of 
Thornton,  in  Yorkshire,  and  Bradbury  and  the  Isle,  in  the  bishopric. 
Their  descendants  resided  at  Witton — Netherwitton  as  it  is  now 
called — till  the  close  of  last  century,  when  the  male  line  died  out, 
and  the  wealth  of  the  Thorntons  went,  by  marriage,  into  the  families 
of  Salvin  and  Trevelyan. 


CbarlC6  ZTborpe, 

FIRST    WARDEN    OF    DURHAM    UNIVERSITY. 

The  North-Country  family  of  Thorpe,  who  claim  descent  from 
Robert  Thorpe,  a  yeoman  at  Thorpe  in  Holderness,  during  the  reign 
of  King  John,  came  to  Northumberland  at  the  beginning  of  last 
century.  Michael  Thorpe,  seventeenth  in  direct  line  from  Robert, 
the  common  ancestor,  was  Hving  in  the  old  town  of  Yarm,  near 
Stockton,  at  that  time,  and,  in  the  year  17 19,  he  sent  his  third  son, 
named  (after  the  original  Thorpe)  Robert,  to  serve  an  apprenticeship 
with  a  merchant  in  Newcastle.  Robert  settled  in  the  town,  and 
was  followed  by  his  elder  brother,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Thorpe,  M.A., 


522  CHARLES  THORPE. 

who,  in  1725,  was  presented  to  the  living  of  ChilHngham,  and, 
in  1747,  to  that  of  Berwick.  Robert  Thorpe,  the  merchant,  died 
in  Newcastle  without  issue;  from  the  Vicar  of  Chillingham  came 
eminent  men  who  have  made  the  name  of  Thorpe  familiar  in  local 
history. 

Three  years  after  his  settlement  at  Chillingham,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Thorpe  married  Mary  Robson,  an  heiress,  belonging  to  Eaglesclifif, 
near  his  father's  home.  By  her  he  had  two  sons.  Thomas,  the 
eldest,  became  a  captain  in  the  army,  and  died  childless  at  the  age 
of  twenty-nine.  The  second  son,  Robert,  entered  into  holy  orders, 
and  obtained  high  preferment.  He  was  educated  at  Peterhouse, 
Cambridge,  where  he  was  senior  wrangler  in  1758,  and  subsequently 
Fellow.  Ten  years  later,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  vicarage  of  Chillingham,  with  the  honorary  appoint- 
ment of  chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Tankerville,  and  in  May,  1775,  was 
presented  by  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  to  the  perpetual  curacy 
of  Doddington,  adjoining.  Here  he  remained  till  1781,  when  the 
Bishop  of  Durham  gave  him  the  rectory  of  Gateshead.  In  1792  he 
was  promoted  to  the  archdeaconry  of  Northumberland,  and  in  1795 
was  appointed  Rector  of  Ryton.  He  died  at  the  archdeacon's 
residence  in  Durham  on  the  20th  of  April,  1812,  and  was  buried  at 
Ryton. 

Archdeacon  Robert  Thorpe  was  a  divine  of  great  scholarship,  and 
high  mathematical  attainments.  His  classical  acquirements  induced 
Dr.  Raine  to  place  him  among  the  three  or  four  persons  who  might 
reasonably  be  suspected  of  writing  those  remarkable  Latin  inscrip- 
tions upon  a  chimney-piece  in  Chillingham  Castle  which  have 
puzzled  scholars  and  antiquaries  for  many  generations.  He  pub- 
lished, in  1777,  an  elaborate  work  upon  Newton's  "Principia,"  and 
issued  at  various  times  "charges"  and  sermons. 

The  Archdeacon  married  Grace,  daughter  of  William  Alder,  of 
Horncliffe-on-Tweed,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
His  eldest  son,  Thomas  Thorpe,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Peterhouse,  died 
at  the  early  age  of  twenty-four;  his  second  son,  Robert  Thorpe, 
of  Alnwick,  became  clerk  of  the  peace  for  the  county  of  Northumber- 
land, and  died  in  April,  1843;  the  fourth  son,  George  Thorpe,  first 
lieutenant  of  the  Terpsichore  frigate,  was  killed,  with  his  captain  and 
many  others,  at  Santa  Cruz,  June  24th,  1797,  aged  twenty;  the  fifth 
son  was  Archdeacon  Charles  Thorpe,  first  Warden  of  Durham 
University. 


CHARLES  THORPE.  523 

Born  at  Gateshead  Rectory  House  on  the  13th  of  October,  1783, 
Charles  Thorpe  received  his  preparatory  education  at  the  Grammar 
School  of  Newcastle,  and  the  Cathedral  School  of  Durham.  From 
Durham  he  proceeded  to  University  College,  Oxford,  where  he 
matriculated,  December  loth,  1799,  and  subsequently  took  his 
degrees— B.A.  1803,  M.A.  (Fellow  and  Tutor)  1806,  B.D.  1822, 
and  D.D.  1835. 

Preferment  came  to  the  Rev.  Charles  Thorpe  at  an  early  age. 
He  was  but  twenty-four  when  his  father  resigned  the  rectory  of 
Ryton  and  went  to  Durham  to  devote  the  rest  of  his  days  to  the 
duties  of  his  archdeaconry.  Bishop  Barrington  had  known  the 
young  man  at  Oxford,  and,  having  formed  a  favourable  opinion  of 
his  abilities,  readily  acceded  to  the  request  of  the  retiring  rector  that 
the  living  of  Ryton  should  be  given  to  his  son.  Fresh  from  a  college 
tutorship,  at  a  time  of  general  lethargy  in  the  Church,  young  Mr. 
Thorpe  returned  to  Tyneside.  But  instead  of  sitting  down  to  enjoy 
lettered  ease  and  social  comfort,  like  the  majority  of  his  fellow-clergy- 
men, he  developed  a  passion  for  work  which,  in  no  long  time,  turned 
his  parish  into  a  centre  of  spiritual  and  educational  activity.  He 
made  a  house-to-house  visitation  of  his  parishioners,  and  kept  a 
written  record  of  his  visits — no  light  undertaking  in  those  days, 
when  Ryton  parish  extended  from  the  Tyne  to  Chopwell,  and  from 
Axwell  to  Bradley,  including  the  populous  villages  of  Blaydon  and 
Winlaton.  Finding  the  Sunday-school  movement  extending  with 
great  rapidity  among  Nonconformist  congregations  throughout  the 
North  of  England,  he  started  a  Sunday-school  of  his  own — one  of 
the  earliest,  if  not  the  first,  ever  held  in  connection  with  a  North- 
Country  parish  church.  In  like  manner,  and  with  like  success,  he 
introduced  among  his  flock  a  new  system  of  encouraging  thrift  that 
was  becoming  popular,  and  had  the  credit  of  starting,  at  Ryton, 
the  first  Savings  Bank  in  the  district.  It  is  said  that  to  a  sermon 
preached  by  him  at  Gateshead  on  this  subject  the  Newcastle  Savings 
Bank  owes  its  existence. 

In  these,  and  labours  even  more  abundant,  Mr.  Thorpe  passed 
twenty  years  of  his  life,  without  receiving  promotion.  Bishop  Barring- 
ton  was  a  noble  and  high-minded  prelate,  but  his  diocese  was  large, 
his  age  was  extreme,  and  his  favour  lighted  mostly  upon  men  who 
had  attained  to  great  eminence  in  the  various  spheres  of  clerical 
duty.  He  died  in  1826,  at  the  great  age  of  ninety-two,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Bishop  Van  Mildert.     Under  the  new   bishop,   Mr. 


524  CHARLES  THORPE. 

Thorpe's  services  received  proper  recognition.  He  was  rewarded,  in 
1829,  with  the  fourth  prebendal  stall  at  Durham.  Two  years  later, 
Lord  Grey  offered  him  the  valuable  living  of  Stanhope,  vacant  by 
the  elevation  of  Dr.  Phillpotts  to  the  bishopric  of  Exeter.  But  the 
acceptance  of  this  preferment  would  have  taken  him  from  Ryton, 
and  from  the  work  in  which  he  delighted,  and  he  declined  it. 
Bishop  Van  Mildert,  appreciating  his  self-denial,  bestowed  upon  him, 
a  few  months  afterwards,  the  archdeaconry  of  Durham.  Here,  again, 
his  affection  for  Ryton  interfered  with  his  promotion.  The  living  of 
Easington  was  attached  to  the  archdeaconry,  but  Mr.  Thorpe  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  give  up  Ryton,  while  to  the  proposal  that  he 
should  take  Ryton  and  Easington  together,  and  thus  enjoy  a  plurality 
of  parochial  livings,  he  was  equally  opposed.  To  remove  his  ob- 
jections on  this  score,  a  compromise  was  effected.  Easington  was 
detached  from  the  higher  office,  the  prebendal  stall  was  substituted, 
and  thus  the  rector  of  Ryton  was  enabled  to  become  archdeacon  of 
Durham  without  disturbance  of  his  Tyneside  connections,  or  violation 
of  his  views  on  parochial  administration. 

For  some  time  before  these  arrangements  were  completed,  Mr. 
Thorpe  had  been  actively  engaged  in  reviving  a  long  slumbering 
project  to  establish  a  University  in  the  Northern  Province.  At  the 
Reformation,  Henry  VIH.  had  promised  to  provide  a  college  in  the 
city  of  Durham,  as  compensation  for  the  loss  of  Durham  College, 
Oxford — an  institution  which  he  had  destroyed.  But  this  promise, 
like  many  other  pledges  of  reparation  with  which  he  tantalised  the 
Church,  came  to  nothing.  Equally  ineffective  was  the  design  of 
Oliver  Cromwell  to  endow  a  collegiate  institution  in  the  same  city 
out  of  the  confiscated  revenues  of  the  bishopric.  It  was  not  until 
the  advent  of  Bishop  Van  Mildert  to  the  See  that  the  realisation  of 
the  scheme  became  practicable.  Archdeacon  Thorpe  was  the  prime 
actor  in  the  movement,  and  his  persuasiveness  and  pertinacity 
carried  him  through.  In  the  parliamentary  session  of  1832,  an  Act 
was  passed  enabling  the  Dean  and  Chapter  to  appropriate  certain 
estates  for  University  endowment;  in  October,  1833,  the  college  was 
opened  for  the  reception  of  students;  on  the  ist  of  June,  1837,  a 
Royal  Charter  passed  the  Great  Seal  incorporating  the  institution 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Warden,  Masters,  and  Scholars  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Durham."  Heading  the  list  of  officials,  first  Warden  and 
chief  of  the  Senate,  stood  the  name  of  the  man  who  had  brought  the 
University  into  life  and  action — "  The  Venerable  Charles  Thorpe." 


CHARLES  THORPE.  525 

While  the  University  movement  was  under  discussion,  Archdeacon 
Thorpe  was  elected  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Crewe  Charities  at 
Bamborough.  Here,  again,  he  laboured  as  earnestly  as  if  the 
trusteeship  were  the  sole  occupation  of  his  life.  Through  his  efforts 
wash-houses  and  other  conveniences  were  added  to  the  Bamborough 
cottages,  the  old  parish  church  was  restored,  a  beautiful  chapel  on 
the  Inner  Fame,  with  a  monument  to  the  heroine  of  the  Islands, 
Grace  Darling,  was  fitted  up,  and  a  watcher  was  appointed  to 
preserve  the  wild  birds  that  frequent  the  island  from  ruthless 
destruction. 

Throughout  his  career,  the  Archdeacon  practised  the  principles  of 
self-sacrifice  and  self-denial  which  he  taught  to  others.  Besides 
refusing  the  living  of  Stanhope,  and  declining  to  hold  Easington 
with  his  archdeaconry,  he  set  apart  ;^4oo  a  year  from  the  income 
of  Ryton  to  endow  a  church  at  Winlaton;  promoted  the  assignment 
of  another  ecclesiastical  district  out  of  his  parish  at  Blaydon;  erected, 
at  his  own  cost,  a  church  at  Greenside;  built  a  school  at  Ryton; 
made  heavy  sacrifices  to  the  early  needs  of  his  great  achievement, 
the  University;  and  contributed  handsomely  to  charitable  institutions 
all  over  the  district. 

During  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life.  Archdeacon  Thorpe  was 
the  most  prominent,  because  the  most  active,  Church  worker  in  the 
diocese.  In  addition  to  his  rectory,  trusteeship,  archdeaconry,  and 
wardenship,  he  was  Prolocutor  of  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation 
in  the  Northern  Province.  Not  one  of  these  offices  was  held  as 
a  sinecure — the  Archdeacon  worked  energetically,  and  made  his 
influence  felt  in  every  one  of  them.  As  he  advanced  into  old 
age,  his  natural  fire  somewhat  abated;  but  he  worked  to  the  last, 
and  literally  died  in  harness.  He  passed  away  on  the  loth  of 
October,  1863,  in  the  rectory  house  at  Ryton,  which  he  had 
occupied  for  half  a  century,  within  three  days  of  completing  his 
eightieth  year. 

Among  so  many  arduous  occupations  Archdeacon  Thorpe  did  not 
find  time  to  display  his  scholarly  acquirements  in  authorship.  He 
was  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  a  member  of  the  Newcastle 
Society  of  Antiquaries  and  the  Tyneside  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  and 
a  generous  patron  of  the  Fine  Arts;  but  his  contributions  to  literature 
were  limited  to  a  few  Sermons  and  Charges.  Among  them  are  the 
Gateshead  discourse,  before  mentioned,  entitled  "  Economy  a  Duty 
of  Natural  and   Revealed   Religion :    with   Thoughts   on    Friendly 


526  JOHN  TINLEY. 

Societies  and  Savings  Banks,  1818";  an  assize  sermon,  preached 
before  the  Judges  at  St.  Nich'olas',  Newcastle,  the  same  year;  a 
sermon  at  the  opening  of  Gateshead  Church  Organ,  in  1824,  bearing 
the  title  of  "  A  Churchman's  Song  of  Praise  " ;  and  a  Charge  to  the 
clergy  in  the  Archdeaconries  of  Durham  and  Northumberland,  in 
1830. 

Archdeacon  Thorpe  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Frances 
Wilkie,  only  child  of  Colling  wood  Selby,  of  Swansfield,  Alnwick. 
They  were  united  on  the  7th  July,  18 10,  and  separated  by  her  death 
on  the  20th  of  April  following,  aged  19  years.  His  second  wife  was 
Mary,  daughter  of  Edmund  Robinson,  of  Thorp  Green,  Yorkshire, 
to  whom  he  was  married  on  the  7th  of  October,  181 7,  and  by  whom 
he  had  a  son  and  five  daughters.  The  son,  named  after  his  father, 
Charles  Thorpe,  matriculated  at  University  College,  Oxford,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  M.A.;  served  as  curate  of  Blanchland  from 
1850  to  1855,  became  vicar  of  EUingham  in  the  latter  year;  and 
died  at  EUingham  vicarage  on  the  17th  February,  1880,  aged  fifty- 
four. 

3obn  ^inlc^, 

SOLICITOR. 

The  regularity  with  which  names,  once  familiar  in  public  life,  drop 
out  of  current  history  and  disappear,  is  matter  of  common  observa- 
tion. Leaders  and  rulers  of  men  have  their  brief  hour  upon  the 
stage,  pass  away,  and  in  the  race  for  wealth  and  the  struggle  for 
bread  are  forgotten.  Forty  years  ago  who  were  better  known  in 
Newcastle  than  Fife  and  Larkin,  Blackwell  and  Headlam,  Grainger 
and  Doubleday?  Who  more  closely  identified  with  the  progress  of  the 
harbour  of  Tyne  than  Tinley  and  Lietch,  Bartleman  and  Popplewell, 
Shortridge  and  Wallis,  Ingham  and  Winterbottom?  Yet,  to-day,  in  the 
towns  which  those  men  adorned,  no  descendant  bearing  their  honoured 
names  is  to  be  found.  They  five  only  in  the  memory  of  their  con- 
temporaries, and  in  the  scattered  pages  of  local  biography. 

"  In  the  heart  of  the  city  they  lie,  unknown  and  unnoticed. 
Daily  the  tides  of  life  go  ebbing  and  flowing  beside  them, 
Thousands  of  throbbing  hearts,  where  theirs  are  at  rest  and  for  ever, 
Thousands  of  aching  brains,  where  theirs  no  longer  are  busy, 
Thousands  of  toiling  hands,  where  theirs  have  ceased  from  their  labours, 
Thousands  of  weary  feet,  where  theirs  have  completed  their  journey  !  " 


JOHN  TINLE  Y. 


5*7 


Among  the  vanished  names  in  the  foregoing  list  comes  that  of 
John  Tinley,  at  one  time,  and  for  a  long  time,  foremost  among 
the  public  men  of  North  Shields.  During  the  forty  years  that 
intervene  between  1820  and  i860,  it  was  impossible  to  undertake 
any  public  work  in  the  northern  harbour  town  without  making 
the  acquaintance  of  the  ubiquitous  personage  who  held  the  strings 
by  which  all  local  movements  were  regulated,  and  carried  under 
his  hat  the  intelligence  by  which  most  of  them  were  directed  and 
controlled. 

John  Tinley,  second  son  of  Thomas  Tinley,  a  Lowestoft  ship- 
master, w-ho  settled  early  in  life  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne,  and 


became  a  prosperous  shipowner  there,  was  born  in  Dockwray 
Square,  North  Shields,  on  the  29th  of  June,  1788.  He  received 
his  education  in  Bernard  Gilpin's  Grammar  School,  Houghton-le- 
Spring,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  was  articled  to  Mr.  John 
Matthews,  a  solicitor  of  good  position  in  his  native  town. 
Admitted  to  practice  in  Michaelmas  Term,  18 10,  he  ran  the 
usual  course  through  a  London  ofifice,  and  returning  to  North 
Shields  commenced  business  on  his  own  account.  While  in 
London,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Jane  Browne,  of 
Stoke  Newington,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1813. 

Mr.  Tinley  had  not   been   long   in   practice   before   his   fellow- 


5  2  8  JOHN  TINLE  Y. 

townsmen  discovered  his  adaptability  to  public  work.  He  was 
elected  Vestry  Clerk  in  i8i6,  obtained  a  commission  in  the 
Yeomanry  Cavalry  two  years  later,  became  about  the  same  time 
co-solicitor,  with  Mr.  J.  Cockerill,  to  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Coal  Turn  Act;  in  1822,  or  thereabouts,  was  appointed  trustee 
and  president  of  the  "  Good  Design  Association  for  the  Relief  of 
Shipwrecked  Mariners";  and,  in  October,  1824,  was  elected  to  the 
same  position  in  the  "  Loyal  Standard  Association."  Thence- 
forward, office  after  office  was  conferred  upon  him,  till,  at  length, 
he  filled  nearly  every  post  of  trust  and  responsibility  in  the  town. 

In  June,  1829,  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  obtained  for  establishing 
a  ferry  across  the  Tyne  between  North  and  South  Shields,  and  Mr. 
Tinley,  having  been  instrumental  in  forming  a  Company  to  work  the 
scheme,  was  appointed  its  first  Clerk  and  Solicitor.  In  like  manner, 
being  a  leading  spirit  in  the  promotion  of  the  Newcastle  and  Tyne- 
mouth  Railway,  he  received  the  appointment  of  Secretary  and 
Solicitor  to  the  Company.  So,  also,  having  actively  interested 
himself  in  obtaining  the  North  Shields  Improvement  Act,  he 
became  joint-clerk  to  the  Improvement  Commissioners.  When 
the  new  Poor  Law  came  into  operation,  in  1S35,  and  North 
Shields  obtained  a  Board  of  Guardians,  he  was  made  Chairman 
of  the  Board,  and  was  re-elected,  year  after  year,  to  the  date  of 
his  death.  For  a  time  he  was  President  of  the  Tynemouth  Literary 
and  Philosophical  Society,  President  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute, 
Chairman  of  the  Local  Board  of  Health,  Secretary  of  the  Ship- 
owners' Society,  and,  finally,  councillor  and  alderman  of  the 
borough.  The  higher  ofiice  of  Mayor  he  could  not  be  induced 
to  accept. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  career,  Mr.  Tinley  had  taken  a  lively 
and  intelligent  interest  in  political  questions.  Lawyers,  in  those 
days,  were  generally  keen  partisans  of  one  or  other  of  the  great 
parties  into  which  the  country  was  divided.  Mr.  Tinley  belonged 
to  the  political  school  of  William  Pitt,  was  an  active  member  of 
the  local  Pitt  Club,  and,  being  a  fluent  and  impressive  speaker, 
was  an  important  acquisition  to  the  cause  of  any  candidate  who 
secured  his  services.  At  the  county  election  in  the  spring  of  1826, 
he  acted  for  the  Hon.  H.  T.  Liddell,  with  the  usual  retainer;  but 
at  the  second  contest  in  that  year,  known  as  the  "  Great  Election," 
he  gave  Mr.  Liddell  his  services  as  a  volunteer,  and  worked,  if 
possible,  harder  than  before.     At  subsequent  elections,  when   Mr. 


JOHN  TINLEY.  529 

Liddell  had  quitted  the  field,  he  supported  Mr.  Matthew  Bell.  In 
the  Poll-Book  for  1832  is  a  remarkable  speech  of  his,  delivered  in 
the  Newcastle  Assembly  Rooms,  at  a  meeting  of  Mr.  Bell's  sup- 
porters— a  speech  which  roused  his  hearers  to  an  unwonted  pitch 
of  admiration  and  enthusiasm.  The  reporter  seems  to  have  been 
at  a  loss  to  describe  the  applause  with  which  it  was  greeted,  and 
he  rings  the  changes  upon  parenthetical  "  cheers,"  "  loud  applause," 
"  tremendous  cheers,"  "  loud  shouts,"  "  cheers  for  several  minutes," 
"  tremendous  cheers  for  some  time,"  and  so  on.  It  was  a  fiery 
harangue,  founded  on  Charles  Larkin's  sensational  attack  upon  Queen 
Adelaide,  delivered  a  few  days  before,  and  well  calculated  to  excite 
the  feelings  of  the  country  squires  and  urban  freeholders  to  whom  it 
was  addressed,  as  the  following  extract  shows  : — 

"  Gentlemen,  I  wish  to  ask  what  do  they  mean  by  a  reformer?  If 
they  mean  a  man  who  will  begin  by  spoiling  the  Church,  then  rob 
the  fundholder,  next  ruin  the  agricultural  interest,  and,  by  his  absurd 
notions  of  free  trade,  the  shipping  interest  also — who  will  lop  off 
every  beautiful  branch  from  the  goodly  tree  of  the  Constitution,  and 
leave  it  a  naked,  deformed,  and  useless  stump  (great  cheering),  and 
perhaps  finish  by  having  a  scramble  for  the  crown  off  the  King's 
head  (tremendous  cheers);  if  such  is  their  description  of  a  reformer, 
then,  I  say,  Mr.  Bell  does  not  come  under  that  description.  (Cheers 
for  several  minutes.)  .  .  .  Will  the  electors  of  the  county  of  North- 
umberland submit  to  be  dictated  to  by  a  knot  of  Whigs  and  Radicals 
of  the  town  of  Newcastle  ?  (Loud  cheers,  and  cries  of  '  No,  no.') 
.  .  .  For  my  part  I  will  submit  to  dictation  from  no  man,  or  set  of 
men;  and  I  doubt  not  that  the  electors  for  the  county  of  Northum- 
berland will  be  of  the  same  opinion.  (Reiterated  cheers.)  If,  how- 
ever, I  were  compelled  to  submit  to  dictation,  I  am  much  of  the 
opinion  of  John  Wilkes,  whom  no  one  will  accuse  of  being  friendly 
to  the  aristocracy,  that  he  would  rather  submit  to  be  governed  by 
one  gentleman  from  St.  James's  than  by  twenty  blackguards  from 
St.  Giles's.  (Cheers.)  And,  gentlemen,  with  reference  to  the 
present  attempt  at  dictation,  I  would  rather  be  dictated  to  by  a 
knot  of  aristocrats  than  by  a  party  who  rank  among  their  main 
supporters  men  who  could  tamely  sit  by  and  hear  a  sickly,  cold- 
blooded Radical  vihfy  and  abuse  a  lovely  and  unoffending  woman — 
(Here  there  was  a  simultaneous  shout,  which  was  reiterated  for 
several  minutes.)  Ay,  sir,  and  that  woman  our  gracious  Queen, 
God  bless  her  !  without  having  the  spirit  of  men,  or  of  Englishmen, 

VOL.  III.  34 


530  JOHN  TINLE  Y. 

to  raise  one  word  in  her  defence.  (Tremendous  cheers  for  some 
time.)  Gentlemen,  they  may  live  until  they  are  a  hundred,  the 
opprobrium  will  cling  to  them  as  long  as  they  are  in  this  world,  and 
to  their  memory  after  they  have  left  it.     (Repeated  shouts.)" 

Later  in  life,  Mr.  Tinley's  political  views  mellowed  down,  and  he 
was  able  to  act  as  agent  for  his  personal  friend,  Ralph  W.  Grey,  who, 
under  his  guidance,  successfully  wooed  the  electors  of  Tynemouth 
on  Liberal  principles.  The  commercial  interests  of  his  native  town 
were  paramount  with  him,  and  he  believed  that  Mr.  Grey,  although 
not  of  the  political  party  with  which  he  had  usually  acted,  was  better 
fitted  than  his  opponent  to  represent  a  maritime  and  industrial 
community.  His  change  of  attitude  was  understood  and  appreciated, 
and  his  popularity  gained  rather  than  decreased  thereby.  For  many 
years  before  his  death,  no  social  assembly  was  considered  successful 
unless  he  acted  as  master  of  the  ceremonies;  no  literary  reunion, 
fashionable  concert,  or  philanthropic  gathering  was  complete  unless 
graced  by  his  genial  presence.  Proof  of  the  universal  esteem  with 
which  he  was  regarded  in  the  place  of  his  nativity  was  afforded  in 
January,  1846,  when  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  his  neighbours  and 
friends  entertained  him  at  a  public  banquet,  and,  in  the  presence  of 
two  hundred  ladies,  presented  him  with  a  service  of  plate.  Upon 
this  occasion,  J.  P.  Robson,  the  local  poet,  burst  into  song,  and 
addressing  the  hero  of  the  hour  in  a  "tributary  piece  "  of  forty-eight 
lines,  informed  the  world  that — 

"  Kings  may  command  their  liege  subjects'  devotion; 
Queens  may  extort  the  forced  smile  of  emotion  ; 
Gratitude  shows  no  hypocrisy  inly, 
Bosoms  here  swell  with  true  feelings  for  Tinley. 

See  Charity  bears  the  blue  '  Standard '  delighted ; 
'  Good  Designs '  for  the  seamen  with  love  are  united; 
The  ferry  of  Charon  is  heathenish  fable, 
But  the  ferry  of  Tinley  for  all  things  is  able. 

Steam,  at  his  word,  e'en  to  Tynemouth  advances ; 
Balls  are  made  brilliant,  if  Tinley  there  glances; 
Ladies  confessing  his  manners  enchanting, 
For  his  heart  is  their  own,  if  a  heart  they  are  wanting." 

A  similar  tribute  of  respect  was  paid  to  him  by  the  seamen  of  the 
Tyne,  who,  by  means  of  a  penny  subscription,  raised  the  funds 
to  buy  him  a  handsome  silver  snuff-box,  bearing  the  inscription, 


SIR  JOHN  TRE  VEL  YAN.  5  3 1 

"  Remember  poor  Jack " ;  while  the  members  of  the  Board  of 
Guardians  commemorated  his  chairmanship  of  their  body  by  hang- 
ing an  oil-painting  of  his  familiar  features  in  their  Board  Room. 

In  his  declining  years,  Mr.  Tinley  was  visited  by  heavy  domestic 
affliction.  Of  four  sons  born  to  him,  three  were  called  home  in  the 
full  vigour  of  manhood — Arthur,  in  July,  1S49,  aged  twenty-five; 
the  Rev.  Charles  Edmund  in  July,  1853,  aged  thirty-two;  John 
Thomas  Browne  (whom  he  had  taken  into  partnership)  in  the  same 
fatal  month,  July,  1S54,  aged  thirty-nine.  Six  years  later,  in  April, 
i860,  he  lost  the  partner  of  his  life,  and  thus,  in  little  over  ten  years, 
his  house  was  left  desolate.  On  the  22nd  of  May,  1862,  he  too 
passed  away,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  His  surviving  son,  Harry 
George,  died  a  few  years  afterwards,  and  then  the  honoured  name 
of  Tinley  disappeared  from  the  town  which  it  had,  for  the  better  part 
of  a  century,  adorned. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Horatio  A.  Adamson,  Town  Clerk 
of  Tynemouth,  who  was  trained  to  the  profession  of  the  law  under 
Mr.  Tinley's  guidance,  the  artist  has  been  enabled  to  copy  an 
admirable  portrait  of  Mr.  Tinley,  and  the  writer  has  been  laid 
under  obligation  for  most  of  the  facts  comprised  in  this  narrative. 


Sir  3obn  ITrcvcl^an, 

M.P.     FOR    NEWCASTLE. 

The  family  of  Trevelyan  take  their  name  from  Trevilian  in  Corn- 
wall, and  are  said  to  be  traceable  as  far  back  as  the  eighth  century, 
when  Cornwall  was  an  independent  province.  Their  connection 
with  Northumberland  is  of  comparatively  modern  date,  and  origin- 
ated under  circumstances  described  on  page  314  of  our  first  volume. 
Sir  Walter  Blackett,  M.P.,  as  there  recorded,  left  his  Northumberland 
estate  of  Wallington  to  one  of  his  nephews.  Sir  John  Trevelyan,  of 
Nettlecomb,  Somerset,  fourth  baronet  of  his  race,  and  ^^40,000  to 
another  nephew,  Walter  Trevelyan,  who,  five  years  before,  had 
married  Charlotte,  co-heiress  of  the  Thorntons  of  Netherwitton. 
Thus  the  direct  line  of  the  Trevelyans  obtained  \Vallington,  and 
a  younger  branch  settled  at  Netherwitton,  both  of  which  estates 
their  descendants  own  to  this  day. 

Upon  taking  possession  of  his  property  in  Northumberland,  Sir 


532  SIR  JOHN  TRE  VEL  YAN. 

John  Trevelyan  was  encouraged  to  aspire  to  his  uncle's  seat  as 
one  of  the  representatives  of  Newcastle  in  Parliament.  He  was 
opposed  by  the  adventurer,  Stoney  Bowes,  and  a  rancorous  contest 
ensued.  The  poll  began  on  Thursday,  the  27th  of  February,  1777, 
and  lasted  till  Friday,  the  14th  of  March.  One  of  the  curious 
arrangements  of  this  election  was  that  for  twelve  days  each  candi- 
date polled  exactly  the  same  number  of  votes.  It  was  not  until 
the  thirteenth  day  that  the  real  struggle  for  preponderance  began. 
On  that  evening  Sir  John  headed  his  opponent  by  ninety-eight  votes, 
and  next  day,  when  the  poll  closed,  he  maintained  his  majority 
within  three — winning  by  ninety-five  in  a  poll  of  2,231. 

Sir  John  represented  Newcastle  till  the  dissolution  in  1780,  and 
then,  declining  to  undergo  the  worry  of  another  election  in  New- 
castle, he  transferred  his  services  to  his  native  county  of  Somerset, 
for  which  county  he  sat  for  sixteen  years.  While  thus  occupied, 
he  resided  for  the  most  part  at  Nettlecomb,  leaving  Wallington  to 
the  care  of  his  eldest  son.  After  his  retirement  from  Parliament, 
he  lived  a  quiet  life  among  his  Somersetshire  friends,  paying 
occasional  visits  to  Wallington,  but  interfering  little  with  the 
family  arrangements  there.  There  is  a  note  of  him  in  one  of 
the  biographies  of  Thomas  Bewick,  the  engraver,  showing  that 
he  took  an  interest  in  bird  life,  and  appreciated  Bewick's  desire 
to  describe  and  depict  it  according  to  Nature.  Shortly  before  his 
death,  he  sent  the  artist  a  drawing  of  a  vulture,  shot  near  Bridge- 
water,  one  of  a  pair  which,  so  far  as  is  known,  were  the  first  to 
be  seen  at  large  in  the  British  islands.  In  modern  editions  of  the 
"Land  Birds"  the  drawing  appears,  bearing  the  inscription,  "Julia 
Trevelyan,  del.,"  that  being  the  name  of  the  young  lady.  Sir  John's 
grand-daughter,  who  sketched  the  bird  for  Bewick's  use. 

Sir  John  Trevelyan  died  at  Bath  on  the  i8th  of  April,  1828,  aged 
ninety-two,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son.  Sir  John,  the  fifth  baronet. 
This  Sir  John  Trevelyan  had  married  in  August,  1792,  Maria, 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Spencer  Wilson,  Bart.,  of  Charlton,  in 
Kent,  and  had  hved  at  Wallington  the  greater  part  of  his  life. 
Being  of  a  quiet  and  studious  disposition,  he  gave  himself  up  to 
rural  pursuits — agriculture,  ornithology,  and  the  like — and,  with  one 
exception,  took  no  active  part  in  public  movements.  The  exception 
occurred  in  1798,  when  the  country  was  excited  by  war  with  France 
and  a  rebellion  in  Ireland.  Upon  that  occasion,  he  raised  a  troop 
of  yeomanry  cavalry  among  the  tenantry  of  Wallington  and  Kirkharle^ 


SIR   IV.   C.   TREVELYAN.  533 

and  placed  himself  at  their  head  as  commandant.  At  his  death,  on 
the  23rd  of  jNIay,  1846,  aged  eighty-six,  the  baronetcy  and  family 
estates  descended  to  his  oldest  surviving  son,  Walter  Calverley 
Trevelyan. 


Sir  M»  C,  (Trcvelv^an, 

TEMPERANCE    REFORMER. 

Walter  Calverley  Trevelyan,  born  in  Newcastle,  March  31st, 
1797,  matriculated  at  University  College,  Oxford,  in  April,  1816, 
and  took  up  his  degrees  there — B.A.  in  1820,  and  M.A.  in  1S22, 
Trained  to  habits  of  study  and  observation  by  his  father,  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  in  natural  history,  to 
antiquarian  research,  and  to  scientific  investigation.  Before  he 
left  college  he  had  begun  to  take  an  interest  in  the  great  work 
undertaken  by  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson — that  of  writing  an  accurate 
and  comprehensive  history  of  Northumberland.  In  Raine's  "  Life 
of  Hodgson  "  is  a  letter  from  the  young  man  to  the  historian,  written 
in  June,  1S20,  when  he  was  but  twenty-three  years  old,  enclosing 
extracts  relating  to  his  native  county  from  Dodsworth's  collections 
in  the  Bodleian  Library,  and  offering  his  services  in  a  similar  or 
any  other  useful  capacity.  His  subsequent  communications  to  Mr. 
Hodgson  and  his  contributions  to  the  "History"  were  extensive 
and  of  great  importance.  Whenever  his  leisure  permitted  him,  he 
copied  ancient  rolls,  deeds,  and  charters  at  the  Bodleian,  the  British 
Museum,  Eshton,  and  elsewhere,  and,  at  the  same  time,  enlisted  the 
aid  of  his  sister  Emma,  afterwards  Mrs.  Wyndham,  in  this  useful 
though  tedious  occupation. 

Upon  his  return  to  Wallington  Mr.  Walter  Trevelyan  put  the 
knowledge  he  had  acquired  at  Oxford  to  practical  use.  Forsaking 
the  sports  of  the  field  and  other  pursuits  of  the  squirearchy,  he  gave 
himself  up  to  the  study  of  Archaeology  and  Natural  History.  The 
Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries  had  but  recently  started  upon  its 
career  of  investigation  and  discovery  when  he  entered  his  name  upon 
its  roll  of  members,  and  before  long  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
a  similar  institution  established  to  promote  interchange  of  ideas 
among  local  naturalists  and  geologists — the  Natural  History  Society 
of  Northumberland,    Durham,    and    Newcastle.       To    both    these 


534 


SIR   IV.   C.   TREVELYAN. 


organisations  he  gave  liberal  support,  contributing  papers  to  their 
"Transactions,"  enriching  their  museums  with  valuable  objects, 
and  adding  rare  books  to  their  libraries.  It  was  chiefly  through 
the  influence  of  these  societies  that,  in  1838,  the  British  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science  was  induced  to  visit  Newcastle. 
Upon  that  memorable  occasion  Mr.  Walter  Trevelyan  acted  as 
a  secretary  to  the  department  of  Geology  and  Geography,  and  a 
member  of  committee  in  the  section  devoted  to  Zoology  and  Botany. 
Later   on  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the   Geological  Society  of 


CJcL^^E^ 


/««-«^y^^   jTt-l/^yCyi 


London,  and  President  of  the  Tyneside  Naturalists'  Field   Club. 
His  contributions  to  the  proceedings  of  these  various  societies  were 

as  follows  : — 

To  the  '^  Aixhaologia  yEliana."     Old  Series. 

Vol.  i. 
"On  the  Court  Party  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1677." 

Vol.  ii. 
"  Copies  of  Various  Papers,  relating  to  the  Family  of  Thornton,  of  Witton 
Castle,  in  the  County  of  Northumberland,  some  of  them  bearing  the  Signatures 
of  Charles  I.  and  Oliver  Cromwell. " 


S//?   JF.   C.   TREVELYAN.  535 

"Copy  of  an  Indenture  preserved  amongst  the  Records  of  University  College, 

Oxford,  dated  1404,  between  Walter,  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  the  Master  of  that 

College." 

"Extracts  (being  Warrants  and  Orders  issued  by  King  Henry  the  Eighth  of 

England,  and  William  the  First   of  Scotland)  from   a   Pedigree   of  the  family 

of  Lambert,   attested  by  Camden,   etc.,  in  the  possession  of  Sir  Charles  Miles 

Lambert  Monck,  Bart.,  of  Belsay." 

"  An  Account  of  some  Roman  Remains,  discovered  on  the  Coast  of  Durham  in 

the  year  1816." 

"Copy  of  an  Indenture  respecting  Apparel  made  in  the  Time  of  Richard  the 

Second,  between  the  Lady  Joane  de  Calverley  and  Robert  Derethorne." 

"  Copy  of  a  Letter  written  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Frederick  II.  of  Denmark." 
"An  Account  of  a  Curious  Sculpture  at  Bridlington  Church,  Yorkshire." 
"An  Account  of  the  Tomb  of  Philippa,  Queen  of  Eric  Pomeranus,  King  of 

Denmark,  and  Daughter  of  Henry  IV.  of  England." 

"  Some  Account  of  the  Rectory  of  Bromfield,  in  the  County  of  Cumberland." 
"  Several  old  Letters  relating  to  the  Nevills,  one  of  them  bearing  the  signature 

of  Richard  III.  as  Duke  of  Gloucester." 

"Some  Account  of  a  Cairn  opened  near  Netherwitton." 

"The  Household  Expenses,  for  one  year,  of  Philip,  third  Lord  Wharton," 

"  An  Account  of  some  Letters  at  Eshton  Hall,   Yorkshire,   relating   to   the 

Nunnery  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne." 

Vol.  iii. 

"Observations  in  a  Northern  Journey,  taken  Hill.  Vaccon.  1666,  by  John 
Stainsby  of  Clement's  Inn,  Gent.     From  the  Original  in  Ashmole's  MSS." 

"  An  Account  of  Three  Inscribed  Stones  (presented  by  himself  to  the  Museum) 
and  a  Letter  Descriptive  thereof." 

Vol.  iv. 
"  Extracts  from  an  Ancient  Bede-roU." 
"Notes  on  some  of  the  Ancient  Songs  of  Faroe." 

New  Series. 
Vol.  i. — "Letters  Allusive  to  the  Services  of  Major  Sowle  at  Newcastle  in  the 
Riots  of  1740." 

Vol.  iii.  — "Will  of  Lady  Julia  Blackett." 

To  the  "  Transactions  of  the  Natural  Histo?y  Society." 
Vol.  i. — "  Notice  of  a  Bed  of  Whin  at  Stanhope  in  Weardale." 
Vol.  ii. — "  Remarks  on  a  Peculiar  Colouring  Matter  in  Decayed  Wood." 
Vol.  iii. — "Note  on  the  Occurrence  of  the  Trunk  of  an  Oak  in  the  Boulder 
Clay." 

He  was  also  co-editor,  with  Sir  Charles  Edward  Trevelyan,  of  the 
third  volume  of  the  "  Trevelyan  Papers  "  published  by  the  Camden 
Societ}'. 

After  his  accession  to  the  baronetcy,  Sir  Walter  changed,  to  some 
extent,  his  course  of  public  life.     Although  he  never  released  his 


536  SIJi   W.   C.   TREVELYAN. 

hold  of  the  absorbing  studies  of  his  youth,  he  gave  less  time  to 
their  cultivation,  and  more  to  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  his 
position  as  a  great  landlord  and  the  head  of  a  powerful  and  influen- 
tial family.  Thenceforward,  the  management  and  development  of 
his  estates  became  the  chief  object  of  his  care.  He  made  the 
personal  acquaintance  of  his  tenantry,  listened  to  their  suggestions, 
adjusted  their  differences,  redressed  their  grievances,  and  took  a 
fatherly  interest  in  the  welfare  of  their  families.  Holding  advanced 
views  on  agriculture,  and  possessing  the  necessary  scientific  know- 
ledge to  give  his  theories  practical  application,  he  soon  brought 
his  land  into  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  Old  farmhouses  were 
rebuilt,  cottage  accommodation  was  improved,  drainage  was  effected 
on  a  comprehensive  scale,  and  game  preserving  was  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  Liberal  and  discriminating  in  his  expenditure,  he  sub- 
ordinated feudal  privileges  to  commercial  prosperity,  and  he  had  his 
reward. 

While  making  his  tenants  and  cottagers  comfortable.  Sir  Walter 
did  not  forget  his  own  Northumbrian  home.  The  mansion  at 
Wallington  formed  a  quadrangle,  with  an  open  court  in  the  centre. 
Over  this  court  he.threw  an  iron  and  glass  roof,  and  converted  it  into  a 
beautiful  central  hall,  which  bound  the  whole  house  together.  Upon 
two  sides  of  the  hall,  W.  B.  Scott,  the  poet-artist,  painted  frescoes, 
illustrating  different  epochs  in  local  history — from  the  building  of 
the  Roman  Wall  to  the  invention  of  the  locomotive  engine.  Above 
the  frescoes  he  placed  medallion  portraits  of  men  of  mark,  famous  in 
Northumbrian  annals,  from  Hadrian  to  George  Stephenson. 

In  politics  Sir  Walter  was  a  Liberal — a  supporter  of  Earl  Grey 
and  Lord  John  Russell,  and,  in  later  years,  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  He 
presided  over  the  great  banquet  at  Alnwick  in  1850  given  by  13,000 
of  the  non-electors  of  Northumberland  to  Sir  George  Grey,  and 
frequently  occupied  the  chair  at  gatherings  of  his  political  friends  in 
the  widely  separated  counties  where  his  estates  lay.  In  religion  he 
was  a  churchman,  of  the  most  tolerant  and  helpful  type.  During  his 
early  manhood,  before  the  church  at  Cambo  was  erected  by  his  father, 
he  was  accustomed  to  read  and  speak  on  religious  subjects  in  the 
village  school-room,  and  to  hold  cottage  meetings  at  the  bedsides  of 
the  sick  and  infirm.  In  social  reforms  he  took  a  deep  and  abiding 
interest.  The  movement  inaugurated  by  Mr.  Isaac  Pitman,  of  Bath, 
for  a  reformation  of  English  orthography,  had  his  warm  approval. 
He  assisted  that  intrepid  spelling  reformer  to  found  the  Phonetic 


SIR   W.  C.   TREVELYAN.  537 

Society,  and  accepted  the  office  of  President  of  that  much  derided 
but  most  useful  organisation. 

But  the  cause  with  which  Sir  Walter  Trevelyan  most  prominently 
identified  himself  was  that  of  temperance.  He  was  President  of  the 
United  Kingdom  Alliance  for  the  Suppression  of  the  Liquor  Traffic 
from  its  formation  in  1853,  and  a  munificent  subscriber  to  its  funds. 
Faithful  to  his  principles,  he  closed  all  the  public-houses  on  his 
estates,  locked  up  the  cellars  at  Wallington,  and  refused  to  taste, 
touch,  or  tolerate  "the  unclean  thing"  in  any  shape  or  form.  It  is 
said  that  he  had  a  similar  antipathy  to  tobacco,  believing  that  the 
one  was  the  handmaid  of  the  other,  and  that  both  were  associated 
in  the  demoralisation  of  mankind.  In  his  will  he  bequeathed  the 
contents  of  the  Wallington  cellars  to  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  to  be 
used  "  for  scientific  purposes "  only.  An  interesting  article  on 
this  remarkable  bequest  was  contributed  by  Dr.  Richardson  to 
"  Macmillan's  Magazine"  for  January,  1880. 

Sir  Walter  died  at  Wallington  on  Sunday,  March  23rd,  1879.  It 
was  his  wish  that  none  of  the  usual  paraphernalia  of  the  undertaker 
might  be  employed  at  his  funeral,  and,  accordingly,  his  remains  were 
placed  in  a  plain  deal  coffin,  made  by  his  own  joiners,  carried  to 
Cambo  churchyard  by  his  servants,  and  deposited  in  an  ordinary 
unbricked  grave.  He  had  been  twice  married — first  to  Pauline, 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  W.  Jermyn,  D.D.,  and  secondly  to  Laura 
Capel,  daughter  of  Capel  Lofft,  Esq.,  of  Throston  Hall,  Suffolk — but 
left  no  issue.  The  Nettlecomb  estate  passed  to  his  nephew.  Sir 
Arthur  Wilson  Trevelyan,  Bart.;  the  Wallington  estate  being  un- 
entailed, he  bequeathed  to  his  cousin.  Sir  Charles  Edward  Trevelyan, 
Bart.,  K.C.B.,  ex-governor  of  Madras,  and  brother-in-law  to  Lord 
Macaulay.  Sir  Charles  was  succeeded  at  Wallington  by  his  son, 
Sir  George  Otto  Trevelyan,  Bart.,  M.P.  for  Tynemouth,  1865-66, 
Hawick,  1 868-86,  Bridgeton,  Glasgow,  1887  to  date;  a  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  1869-70,  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty,  1S80-82;  Chief 
Secretary  for  Ireland,  1882-84;  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lan- 
caster, 1885;  Secretary  for  Scotland,  1892;  author  of  "Life  and 
Letters  of  Lord  Macaulay,"  "  The  Competition  Wallah,"  "  Early 
History  of  Charles  James  Fox,"  etc.,  etc. 


538  GEORGE  TULLIE. 


A    POLEMICAL    DIVINE. 

A  FLUENT  preacher,  and  a  prolific  writer  of  theological  discourses, 
was  George  Tullie,  M.A.,  lecturer  at  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  New- 
castle, and  Rector  of  Gateshead,  in  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary. 
He  was  a  North-Countryman  by  birth,  son  of  Isaac  Tullie,  of 
Carlisle,  gent.,  as  Anthony  Wood  declares,  and  of  a  Middleton-in- 
Teesdale  family,  as  Mr.  Longstaffe  asserts.  In  1670,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  he  matriculated — "  a  poor  serving  child  " — at  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  degrees  in  Arts,  and  entered 
into  holy  orders.  His  college  career  was  more  than  respectable ; 
his  gifts  as  a  preacher  were  exceptionally  brilliant.  Sterne,  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  was  so  favourably  impressed  by  his  abilities,  that  he 
made  him  one  of  his  chaplains,  and  obtained  for  him,  in  rapid 
succession,  a  prebend  in  his  own  Cathedral,  a  prebend  at  Ripon, 
and,  in  1680,  when  he  was  but  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  the  sub- 
deanery  of  York. 

Promotion  so  rapid  as  this,  to  "  a  poor  serving  child,"  has  rarely 
been  recorded.  Envious  eyes  were  upon  the  young  sub-dean,  and, 
before  long,  occasion  was  found  to  bring  him  down  to  a  lower  level. 
In  1685,  Charles  II.  died,  and  with  the  accession  of  James  II., 
matters  ecclesiastical  took  a  new  and  altogether  different  turn.  Mr. 
Tullie,  secure,  as  he  thought,  in  his  high  position,  took  upon  him 
to  criticise  unfavourably  the  new  order  of  things.  On  the  24th  of 
May,  1686,  preaching  before  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  taking  for 
his  text  the  second  commandment,  he  delivered  a  strong  philippic 
against  the  introduction  of  pictures  and  images  into  the  churches, 
and  denounced,  as  idolatry,  the  respect  paid  to  them  by  the  clergy 
and  the  people.  The  sermon  gave  great  offence  to  the  University, 
and,  the  tenor  of  it  being  communicated  to  the  king,  his  Majesty 
complained  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  York,  Archbishop  Sterne, 
his  friend  and  patron,  was  dead,  and  Mr.  Tullie  was  left  to  the  mercy 
of  his  enemies.  The  Dean  and  Chapter  responded  to  the  Royal 
complaint  by  suspending  the  preacher  from  exercising  ecclesiastical 
functions  within  their  jurisdiction. 

How  the  matter  worked  out  is  not  quite  clear,  but  towards  the 


GEORGE  TUNSTALL.  539 

end  of  the  year  16S7  we  find  Mr.  Tullie  accepting  the  post  of 
afternoon  lecturer  at  St.  Nicholas',  Newcastle — an  appointment  which 
suggests  that  he  had  been  deprived  of,  or  had  resigned,  his  other 
preferments.  To  the  lectureship  in  Newcastle  Bishop  Crewe  added, 
in  1 69 1,  the  rectory  of  Gateshead,  and  these  two  offices  Mr.  Tullie 
filled  till  his  death,  four  years  later,  at  the  age  of  forty-two.  Anthony 
Wood  relates  that  he  had  "  brought  his  body  into  an  ill  habit  by 
labouring  too  much  in  his  Ministry,"  that  he  died  of  consumption 
in  the  parsonage  house  of  Gateshead,  April  14th,  1695,  and  was 
buried  in  the  church  there,  leaving  behind  him  a  widow  and  two 
children. 

While  he  was  officiating  in  Newcastle  and  Gateshead,  Mr.  Tullie 
published  most  of  the  books  and  pamphlets  that,  according  to  the 
list  given  by  Wood,  bear  his  name.     They  are  as  follows : — 

"A  Defence  of  the  Confuter  of  Bellarmine's  second  Note  of  the  Church 
Antiquity  against  the  Cavils  of  the  Adviser."     No  date. 

"The  Texts  Examined  which  Papists  cite  out  of  the  Bible  for  the  Proof  of 
their  Doctrine  of  Infallibility."     16S7. 

"An  Answer  to  A  Discourse  concerning  the  Celibacy  of  the  Clergy."     1688. 

Sermons:  (l.)  "A  Discourse  concerning  the  Worship  of  Images,  preached 
before  the  University  of  Oxon,  May  24,  16S6,  on  Exod.  xx.-4th  and  part  of 
5th  verse."  (The  sermon  for  which  he  was  suspended.)  (2.)  "Moderation 
Recommended:  Preached  before  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  Court  of  Aldermen,  at 
Guild-hall  Chapel,  12  May,  1689,  on  Philipp.  iv.-5."  (3.)  "A  Sermon 
Preached,  Oct.  19,  1690,  before  the  Right  Worshipful  the  Mayor,  Aldermen, 
and  Sheriff  of  the  Town  and  County  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne;  Being  the  Day 
appointed  for  a  General  Thanksgiving,  for  His  Majesty's  safe  Return  and  Happy 
Success  in  Ireland,  on  Prov.  xxix.-2."     1689-91. 

"  A  Discourse  on  the  Government  of  the  Tongue."     1693. 

Translations  :  "  How  to  Know  a  Flatterer  from  a  Friend;  Translated  from  the 
2nd  vol.  of  '  Plutarch's  Morals, '  "  16S4;  "  The  Life  of  Miltiades,  for  a  volume 
of  '  Lives  of  Illustrious  Men,'  translated  from  Cornelius  Nepos,"  1684;  "  Life  of 
Julius  Ccesar,  from  Suetonius,"  16S9. 


PHYSICIAN. 

Among  the  men  of  mark  whose  sayings  and  doings  are  recorded 
in  the  "  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes  "  we  find  Dr.  George  Tun- 
stall.  He  was  a  physician  of  repute,  practising  in  Newcastle,  and 
associating  himself  with  the  religious  and  philanthropic  work  of  the 


540  GEORGE  TUNSTALL. 

townspeople.  Whence  he  came  does  not  certainly  appear  j  but 
it  is  probable  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  family  of  Tunstall, 
of  Gotham  Mundeville,  in  the  bishopric — a  grandson  of  Ralph 
Tunstall,  Archdeacon  of  Northumberland,  Rector  of  Croft,  and 
prebendary  of  York  Cathedral.  For  in  the  pedigree  of  that  family, 
as  set  out  in  Surtees's  "  History  of  Durham,"  appears  "  George  Tun- 
stall, M.D.  bapt.  7  March,  1617;  a  Fellow  Commoner  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxon,  1633;  A.M.  of  Magdalen  Hall,  1640;  B.M.  of 
ibid.,  1647;  living,  1676."  There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
this  was  the  Newcastle  physician,  although  Surtees  does  not 
expressly  say  so,  and  no  other  local  historian  has  ventured  to 
assign  him  a  birthplace,  or  trace  his  family  connection. 

"  There  was  a  long  intimacy,"  writes  Barnes's  biographer,  "  between 
him  and  that  pious,  learned,  physition,  Dr.  Tonstal,  a  gentleman  of 
an  ancient  house,  and  of  great  strictness  in  religion,  if  his  scruples, 
by  a  tincture  of  melancholy,  had  not,  in  some  humours,  carried  him 
into  excess.  From  a  rooted  opinion  how  next  to  impossible  it  is  for 
a  rich  man  to  be  saved,  he  omitted  some  very  warrantable  advan- 
tages, to  the  prejudice  of  his  family."  These  opinions,  strongly  held 
and  openly  avowed,  did  not  prevent  Dr.  Tunstall  from  accepting, 
nor  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle  from  bestowing  upon  him  at  the 
Restoration,  the  ofifice  of  Town's  Physician,  a  charitable  function 
which,  during  the  later  years  of  the  Commonwealth,  had  been 
suffered  to  fall  into  abeyance.  Dr.  Tunstall  was  Town's  Physician 
for  four  years,  and  then,  his  opinions  becoming  obnoxious  to  the 
loyalists  in  the  Corporation,  he  either  resigned,  or  was  removed 
from,  the  office. 

When  Richard  Gilpin,  rector  of  Greystoke,  declining  to  obey  the 
Act  of  Uniformity,  resigned  his  living,  renounced  the  prospect  of 
a  bishopric,  and  came  to  Newcastle  to  minister  to  a  Nonconformist 
congregation,  he  found  in  Dr.  Tunstall  a  warm  friend  and  a  judicious 
adviser.  If  our  conjectures  are  correct,  there  was  some  sort  of  a 
relationship  between  them,  for  Mr.  Gilpin's  mother  was  a  daughter 
of  Ralph  Tunstall,  of  Cotham  Mundeville.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it 
was  by  Dr.  Tunstall's  advice  that  Gilpin  studied  medicine.  It  was 
among  Gilpin's  congregation  that  Tunstall  was  found,  on  that  long- 
remembered  morning  in  August,  1669,  when  Cuthbert  Nicholson 
broke  up  the  service.  To  Gilpin's  inspiration  may  safely  be  attributed 
whatsoever  of  literary  finish  characterises  a  couple  of  pamphlets 
which  Dr.  Tunstall  gave   to  the  world  in  connection  with  a  con- 


WILLIAM  TURNER.  541 

troversy  about  Scarborough  Spa.  One  Robert  ^^'ittie,  M.D.,  had 
written  a  book  extolHng  the  virtues  of  Scarborough  water,  and  in 
1667  issued  a  new  and  enlarged  edition  of  it.  Upon  this  later  issue 
Dr.  Tunstall  published,  in  1669,  a  satirical  commentary  entitled 
"Scarborough  Spa  Spagyrically  Anatomized."  Wittie  retorted  with 
"  Pyrologia  Mimica,"  and  Tunstall  fired  a  parting  shot,  in  1672, 
entitled  "  A  New  Year's  Gift  for  Dr.  Wittie,  or  the  Dissector 
Anatomized."  The  controversy  is  described  as  highly  amusing  on 
both  sides,  and  Dr.  Tunstall's  share  in  it  as,  perhaps,  the  more 
entertaining  of  the  two. 

In  the  "  Journal  of  Timothy  Whittingham,"  quoted  by  Mr. 
Longstaffe,  the  editor  of  Barnes's  "  Memoirs,"  is  a  curious  drink 
prescribed  by  Dr.  Tunstall  for  scurvy  and  dropsy,  dated  the  9th  of 
May,  167 1 : — "Take  sage,  four  handfulls;  wormwood,  scurvigrass, 
and  watercresses,  each  one  handfull;  rootes  horse-radish,  elecampane, 
each  one  ounce;  dane  wort,  or  dwarf-elder,  three  ounces.  Slice 
thin  the  rootes,  shred  and  beate  altogether;  make  a  pye  of  rie  meale, 
put  these  in  it  and  cover  it  close;  bake  it  in  an  oven.  When  'tis 
cold,  bruise  all  in  a  morter,  and  put  it  in  a  bag,  let  it  hang  in  six 
gallons  of  new  small  ale;  drink  thereof  constantly  and  no  other, 
except  a  glass  of  sack,  and  the  essence  of  Steele." 

Dr.  Tunstall  died  in  Newcastle  on  the  25th  of  February,  1682, 
and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas.  According  to  the 
pedigree,  he  left  three  sons  and  as  many  daughters,  one  of  the  former 
being  Ralph  Tunstall,  of  Sunderland,  sailmaker,  and  another  Edward 
Tunstall,  M.D.,  of  Bishop  Auckland. 


Milliam  ZTurncr, 

PREACHER,  TEACHER,  AND  LECTURER. 

One  of  the  foremost  men  in  the  educational  and  religious  life  of 
Newcastle  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago  was  the  Rev.  William  Turner. 
He  was  a  Yorkshireman  by  birth,  son  of  a  learned  and  pious 
Unitarian  divine  of  the  same  name  at  Wakefield.  Educated  for 
his  father's  calling  at  Warrington  Academy  by  Dr.  Enfield,  compiler 
of  a  famous  school-book  known  to  our  grandfathers  as  "  The  Speaker," 
he  came  to  Newcastle  in  response  to  a  call  from  the  historical  con- 


542 


WILLIAM  TURNER. 


gregation  of  Dissenters,  founded  by  Durant  and  Gilpin,  and  removed, 
in  1726,  from  the  Close  Gate  Meeting  House  to  a  new  chapel  in 
Hanover  Square.  Born  in  1761,  he  was  not  quite  of  age  when,  on 
the  26th  of  August,  1782,  he  crossed  the  new  bridge  over  the  Tyne, 
and  made  his  first  visit  to  his  future  flock.  But  his  youthful 
ministrations  were  appreciated;  he  was  chosen  to  the  pastorate  on 


the  6th  of  September,  ordained  upon  Christmas  Day  following,  and 
formally  commenced  his  ministerial  career  in  Newcastle  with  the 
New  Year,  1783. 

Mr.  Turner  had  not  been  long  upon  Tyneside  ere  he  made  his 
mark  upon  its  social  and  educational  developments.  He  began 
with  his  own  community,  first.     Before  he  came  to  them  there  were 


WILLIAM  TURNER.  543 

day  schools  attached  to  the  chapel,  but  the  year  following  his 
induction,  "  having  observed  the  laudable  exertions  of  Mr.  Raikes 
of  Gloucester  for  the  establishment  of  Sunday-schools,  he  circulated 
a  paper  on  the  subject  among  the  younger  members,  each  sex  of 
whom  immediately  formed  a  distinct  association  for  establishing,  the 
one  a  school  of  boys,  the  other  of  girls."  Having  in  this  way  started 
the  first  Sunday-school  in  Newcastle,  he  issued  an  "  Abstract  of  the 
History  of  the  Bible "  for  the  instruction  of  its  scholars — a  little 
book  that,  with  considerable  additions,  was  repeatedly  reprinted. 
In  1787,  "with  a  view  to  counteract  the  spirit  of  indifference  too 
natural  to  young  persons,  and  to  encourage  a  taste  for  reading, 
particularly  on  religious  subjects,"  he  started  a  library  in  the  vestry 
of  his  chapel.  Five  years  later  he  projected  an  institution  for  the 
benefit  of  his  fellow-townsmen  at  large,  which  developed,  the  year 
following,  into  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society. 
Of  this  Society  he  became  joint-secretary,  and  in  1802,  when  it  was 
decided  to  establish  in  connection  with  it  a  Lectureship  on  subjects 
of  Natural  and  Experimental  Philosophy,  he  was  appointed  lecturer. 
In  that  capacity  he  delivered  about  twenty  lectures  per  annum  for 
thirty  years !  A  list  of  them,  compiled  by  Dr.  Robert  Spence 
Watson,  shows  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  series,  e.g. — 

1803.  Mechanics,  Hydrostatics,  and  Pneumatics — Twenty-one. 

1804.  Electricity  and  Galvanism,  Magnetism  and  the  Philosophy  of  Chemistry 
— Twenty. 

1804-5.  Chemistry  and  its  application  to  the  Arts — Thirty-two. 

1806.  Optics  and  Astronomy — Twenty-two. 

1807.  The  Philosophy  of  Natural  Appearances — Twelve  or  fourteen.     Botany — 
Ten. 

1808.  Theoretical  and  Practical  Mechanics. 

They  came  to  an  end,  so  far  as  Mr.  Turner  is  concerned,  in  1833, 
with  a  repetition  of  the  first  series — Mechanics,  Hydrostatics,  and 
Pneumatics, — the  last  of  which  formed  his  six  hundredth  lecture. 
How  many  men,  famous  in  after-life,  these  lectures  had  helped 
and  encouraged  can  never  be  known.  One  self-taught  genius, 
George  Stephenson,  freely  acknowledged  his  indebtedness  to  them. 
Dr.  Smiles  quotes  him  as  writing  to  a  correspondent  in  later  years: — 
"  Mr.  Turner  was  always  ready  to  assist  me  with  books,  with  instru- 
ments, and  with  counsel,  gratuitously  and  cheerfully.  He  gave  me 
the  most  valuable  assistance  and  instruction;  and  to  my  dying  day 


544  WILLIAM  TURNER. 

I  can  never  forget  the  obligations  which  I  owe  to  my  venerable 
friend." 

Another  educational  agency  that  Mr.  Turner  helped  to  start  in 
Newcastle  was  the  Royal  Jubilee  School,  established  in  1810  to 
commemorate  the  jubilee  of  George  III.,  and  to  provide  education 
for  the  children  of  the  poor.  With  John  Bruce,  the  schoolmaster,  he 
undertook  the  duties  of  Secretary  to  the  Committee  of  Management 
from  the  commencement,  and  for  many  years  he  delivered  an  address 
to  the  pupils  at  every  annual  distribution  of  prizes  and  rewards.  To 
the  Newcastle  Mechanics'  Institute  he  was  a  warm  and  generous 
friend.  The  members  placed  him  at  the  head  of  their  list  of  Vice- 
Presidents,  and  at  their  first  monthly  meeting,  on  the  nth  of  May, 
1824,  he  delivered  an  "Introductory  Address"  (which  was  after- 
wards printed)  supplementing  it  the  year  following  by  a  course  of 
lectures  on  Chemistry.  Other  movements  which  he  inaugurated 
were  a  Tract  Society,  and  a  Fund  for  the  Benefit  of  the  Poor ;  he 
presided  over  the  fortunes  of  the  Schoolmasters'  Association,  and 
acted  as  clerk  and  treasurer  to  the  Society  for  the  Benefit  of  Widows 
and  Orphans  of  Protestant  Dissenting  Ministers.  Outside  of  his 
clerical  duties,  and  his  charitable  and  educational  work  he  was  not 
desirous  to  shine,  but  in  all  great  movements  having  for  their  object 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  municipal 
and  parliamentary  reform,  and  the  enfranchisement  of  the  slave,  he 
bore  a  more  or  less  conspicuous  part. 

The  intellectual  character  of  his  congregation  has  been  described 
on  page  455  of  our  second  volume.  His  acceptability  to  them  is 
attested  by  the  almost  unparalleled  duration  of  his  charge,  extending 
from  the  autumn  of  1782  to  the  delivery  of  his  farewell  sermon  on 
the  26th  of  September,  1841.  "  He  was  often  tempted  to  desert  his 
flock ;  but  his  contented  mind  was  proof  against  all  worldly  con- 
siderations, and  he  remained  to  the  end  with  the  descendants  and 
followers  of  those  who  had  first  offered  him  a  pulpit."  Their  apprecia- 
tion of  his  merits,  warm  and  long  continued  as  it  proved  to  be,  was 
shared  by  all  men  of  "light  and  leading"  in  the  North  of  England. 
On  the  occasion  of  his  jubilee,  December  21st,  1831,  he  was  enter- 
tained at  a  banquet  in  Newcastle  at  the  Assembly  Rooms,  by  a 
hundred  of  his  friends,  representatives  of  every  profession  and 
denomination  upon  Tyneside.  Among  them  were  men  so  widely 
differing  in  opinion  as  James  Losh  (who  presided).  Dr.  Headlam, 
Archibald  Reed  (the  Mayor),  Sir  Robert  Shafto  Hawks,  C.  W.  Bigge, 


JOHN  TWEDDELL.  545 

John  Adamson,  John  Buddie,  John  Clayton,  Armorer  Donkin, 
Robert  Ingham,  John  Lambton  Loraine,  and  John  Bowes  \\'right, 
all  men  of  mark,  and,  as  such,  forming  subjects  of  biography  in  these 
volumes.  Ten  years  later,  when,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age 
and  the  sixtieth  of  his  ministry,  he  resigned  his  charge,  and  it  was 
known  he  intended  to  close  his  days  with  his  family  in  Manchester, 
a  meeting  held  at  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  with  the 
president,  Charles  William  Bigge,  in  the  chair,  declared — "  That  the 
long-continued  and  inestimable  services  which  have  been  rendered 
by  Mr.  Turner  in  the  formation  or  management  of  our  various  public 
institutions  for  the  promotion  of  science,  literature,  and  the  fine  arts, 
the  improvement  of  education,  and  the  purposes  of  charity  and 
benevolence,  have  justly  entitled  him  to  some  mark  of  public  respect 
and  gratitude  on  his  retiring  from  public  life  and  ceasing  to  reside 
amongst  us."  ISIr.  Bigge,  Dr.  Headlam,  Armorer  Donkin,  George 
Silvertop,  and  the  Rev.  John  Collinson,  of  Boldon — a  Catholic  and 
four  Churchmen — were  appointed  the  trustees  of  a  subscription  for 
his  benefit. 

Mr.  Turner  died  at  the  house  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Robberds,  in 
Manchester,  on  Easter  Sunday,  April  24th,  1859,  aged  97  years. 
He  was  twice  married,  and  had  two  sons,  Henry  and  William  ;  both 
of  them  were  ministers,  the  one  at  Nottingham,  the  other  at  Halifax, 
and  both  had  been  long  dead  when  he  himself  passed  away. 


3obn  ^webbell, 

TRAVELLER   AND    SCHOLAR. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  family  of  the  name  of 
Tweddell  acquired  from  Robert  Bowes,  one  of  the  loyal  opponents 
of  the  Rebellion  of  the  Earls  in  1569,  the  estate  of  Hesilden  Hall, 
near  Castle  Eden,  and  settled  there.  A  descendant  of  this  family, 
George  Tweddell,  of  Thorpthewles,  near  Wynyard,  married,  in  1724, 
Mary,  daughter  of  John  Aynsley,  of  Hexham  and  Threepwood,  near 
Haydon  Bridge.  The  lady's  brother,  John  Aynsley,  left  Threepwood 
and  High  Laws,  near  Morpeth,  to  the  third  son  of  this  marriage, 
Francis  Tweddell.  Francis  Tweddell  married  Jane,  daughter  and 
co-heir  of  John  Westgarth,  of  Unthank,  near  Stanhope,  and  became 
the  father  of  John  Tweddell,  the  subject  of  this  biography. 
VOL.  in.  35 


546  JOHN  TWEDDELL. 

John  Tweddell,  born  at  Threepwood,  June  ist,  1769,  received  his 
preliminary  education  at  Hartforth  School,  near  Richmond,  York- 
shire, under  the  Rev.  Matthew  Raine ;  from  thence  proceeded  to 
Dr.  Parr's  school  at  Hatton,  in  Warwickshire,  where  he  was  prepared 
for  the  University,  and  finally,  at  the  proper  age,  matriculated  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  His  career  at  college  was  unusually 
successful.  In  178S  he  gained  all  the  three  medals  given  by  Sir 
William  Browne  for  the  encouragement  of  poetry,  and  in  the 
following  year  two  out  of  the  three.  In  1790  he  obtained  the 
Chancellor's  medal,  and  took  his  degree  of  B.A. ;  in  1791  was 
awarded  one  of  the  member's  prizes  as  a  middle  bachelor;  and  in 
1792  won  a  member's  prize  as  a  senior  bachelor,  and  was  chosen 
Fellow  of  his  college. 

The  rare  gifts  which  had  enabled  IMr.  Tweddell  to  achieve  these 
honours  before  he  was  twenty-five  encouraged  him  to  submit  to  the 
public  a  specimen  of  his  classical  attainments.  He  published,  in 
1793,  at  the  University  Press,  an  octavo  volume  entitled — "Pro- 
lusiones  Juveniles  Proemiis  Academicis  Dignat?e,"  containing  thirteen 
effusions — two  in  Greek  and  three  in  Latin  poetry,  the  rest  in  Latin 
and  English  prose.  The  author  had  imbibed  liberal  views  from  Dr. 
Parr,  whose  house  was  the  common  resort  of  advanced  thinkers  and 
politicians,  and  in  these  "prolusiones"  he  gave  his  ideas  on  freedom 
and  the  rights  of  man  full  and  unrestrained  expression.  The  merits 
of  the  book,  apart  from  its  political  tendencies,  were  undoubted ;  its 
success  immediate  and  emphatic.  Received  with  general  favour  in 
the  University,  the  volume  elicited  commendatory  criticisms  from 
eminent  scholars  at  home  and  abroad,  moving  even  so  staid  a  pro- 
fessor as  Heyne  of  Gottingen  to  write  of  it  with  enthusiasm  in  a 
letter  to  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's. 

Mr.  Tweddell  had  been  sent  to  Cambridge,  to  qualify  him  for  the 
profession  of  the  law — the  profession  in  which  his  great-uncle,  who 
bequeathed  to  the  family  the  Threepwood  estate,  had  belonged.  His 
own  inclination  would  have  led  him  to  devote  himself  to  the  study 
and  exposition  of  classical  literature,  or  to  politics  and  diplomacy. 
But,  in  deference  to  his  father,  he  was  entered  of  the  Middle 
Temple  in  1792;  and  seems  to  have  paid,  for  a  time  at  least,  con- 
siderable attention  to  his  professional  studies.  But  at  length  his 
predilection  for  diplomacy  triumphed ;  he  determined  to  travel,  to 
employ  a  few  years  in  gaining  a  knowledge  of  the  manners,  policy, 
and  character  of  the  principal  Courts  of  Europe,  with  a  view  to  fitting 


JOHN  TWEDDELL.  547 

himself  to  serve  his  king  and  country,  in  some  responsible  capacity 
abroad,  as  well  as  indulging  his  love  of  letters.  Accordingly  he  em- 
barked for  Hamburg  on  the  24th  September,  1795,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  Webb,  a  gentleman  of  fortune.  On  arriving  at  the  Hanseatic 
city,  he  halted  for  three  months,  to  improve  his  knowledge  of  French, 
and  to  gain  some  insight  into  German  society  and  language,  while 
yet  on  the  threshold  of  his  journey.  From  Hamburg  Mr.  Tweddell 
travelled  to  Berlin,  where  he  was  distinguished  by  the  British  ambas- 
sador. Lord  Elgin,  caressed  by  the  Court,  and  admired  by  the 
accomplished  Marquise  de  Naduillac.  Proceeding  to  Vienna,  his 
literary  leisure  was  spent  in  enjoying  the  society  of  learned  ladies, 
among  whom  was  the  elegant  Duchesse  de  Guise.  He  traversed  the 
whole  of  Switzerland  on  foot  and  alone,  for  his  plan  had  frightened 
his  companion.  In  this  picturesque  and  interesting  country,  his 
friends  were  Lavater,  the  venerable  Necker,  and  his  gifted  daughter, 
Madame  de  Stael.  Thence,  having  spent  some  time  at  IVIunich  with 
Count  Rumford,  he  passed  into  the  Ukraine,  and  became  the  guest 
of  the  Countess  Potoska,  in  whose  house  he  met  the  Duke  of 
Polignac,  Marshal  Suwarrow,  the  Count  de  Choiseul,  and  many 
Russian  princes. 

In  the  early  part  of  1797  he  arrived  at  ^Moscow,  saw  the  coronation 
of  the  Russian  Emperor,  Paul,  and  was  introduced  to  Stanislaus,  the 
last  King  of  Poland,  with  whom  he  several  times  supped.  From 
Moscow  he  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  passed  into  Sweden,  return- 
ing through  Russia  to  the  Crimea,  and  on  to  Constantinople,  where 
he  remained  for  some  time,  studying  modern  Greek,  and  the  various 
types  of  nationalities  that  he  found  mingled  together  in  the  society 
of  the  Turkish  capital.  Then,  leaving  the  City  of  the  Sultan,  he 
proceeded  through  the  Archipelago  to  Greece,  where  he  obtained 
the  liberation  of  the  French  Consul  at  Athens,  M.  Fauvel,  whom  the 
Pasha  had  thrown  into  prison.  He  visited  Plataea,  Thebes,  Livadia, 
Chgeronea,  Thermopylffi,  and  Larissa,  and  after  taking  an  excursion 
to  Mount  Athos,  returned  to  Athens.  There  he  fixed  his  residence 
for  four  months,  investigating  every  minute  particular  of  its  interesting 
remains,  when  he  unhappily  fell  a  sacrifice  to  an  aguish  complaint,  as 
his  medical  attendants  conceived,  acting  upon  a  weakness  of  the  chest, 
probably  contracted  in  the  course  of  his  fatiguing  exertions  while 
travelling  among  the  Swiss  mountains.  He  died  on  the  25th  of 
July,  1799,  in  the  arms  of  M.  Fauvel,  after  a  feverish  illness  of  four 
days.    His  remains  were  buried  in  the  area  of  the  Temple  of  Theseus, 


548 


JOHN  TWEDDELL. 


which  the  Greeks  had  converted  into  a  church.  Lord  Elgin,  when 
at  Athens,  drew  up  a  Latin  inscription  to  place  over  Tweddell's 
grave,  but  before  the  artist  could  get  it  ready,  some  English  travellers 
placed  a  white  marble  slab  over  it,  with  a  Greek  inscription  by  the 
Rev,  Robert  Walpole. 

Mr.  Tweddell  left  at  his  death  MSS.  and  drawings  for  a  volume, 
or  volumes,  which  he  intended  to  publish  on  his  return  to  England. 
These  documents  were  sent  to  the  English  Embassy  at  Constantinople 
and  lost.  All  that  remain  of  his  travels  are  the  letters  which  he  sent 
to  his  father,  his  friends  James  Losh,  Thomas  Bigge,  and  others 
during  his  wanderings.  These  were  issued  by  his  brother,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Tweddell,  along  with  a  reprint  of  the  "  Prolusiones,"  a 
Memoir,  and  a  long  correspondence  about  the  lost  effects,  in  a 
thick  quarto  volume,  under  the  title  of — ■ 

"Remains  of  John  Tweddell,  Late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
Being  a  Selection  of  his  Correspondence,  a  Re-publication  of  his  '  Prolusiones 
Juveniles,'  an  Appendix  containing  some  account  of  the  Author's  Collections, 
MSS.,  Drawings,  etc.,  and  of  their  Extraordinary  Disappearance;  preceded  by  a 
Memoir  of  the  Deceased  and  Illustrated  with  Portrait,  Picturesque  Views  and 
Maps."  London,  1815.  A  second  edition  published  in  1816  is  "Augmented 
by  a  Vindication  of  the  Editor  against  certain  Publications  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin 
and  others." 


GEORGE   WALKER.  549 


iBeoroc  Maimer, 

PREACHER    AND    MATHEMATICIAN. 

George  Walker  was  born  in  Newcastle  in  1735.  His  uncle,  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Walker,  M.A.,  had  pastoral  care  of  Unitarian  or,  as 
they  were  then  called,  Presbyterian  communities  at  Cockermouth, 
at  Durham,  and  at  Mill  Hill,  Leeds,  in  which  latter  town  he  died 
on  the  gth  of  November,  1763.  His  uncle's  wife,  a  Miss  Holliday, 
or  Halliday,  of  Newcastle,  was  sister  to  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Richard 
Rogerson,  who,  from  1733  to  1760,  ministered  to  the  Newcastle 
congregation  in  Hanover  Square.  What  his  father  was  is  not 
recorded;  his  mother,  we  are  told,  was  a  member  of  the  Church 
of  England. 

As  soon  as  he  was  capable  of  acquiring  knowledge,  George  Walker 
was  sent  to  the  Grammar  School,  to  be  educated  by  the  learned,  but 
eccentric,  head-master,  Richard  Dawes.  (See  vol.  ii.  p.  26.)  In  a 
biography  prefixed  to  a  posthumous  edition  of  his  sermons  and 
essays,  the  astounding  statement  is  made  that  "  before  he  had 
attained  the  age  of  five  he  had  made  so  considerable  a  proficiency 
in  the  Latin  language,  that  he  was  deemed  fully  competent  to  enter 
upon  '  Caesar's  Commentaries  '  "  !  But  as  the  biographer  falls  into 
the  error  of  supposing  that  Dr.  Moises  was  the  head-master  under 
whose  care  this  unusual  precocity  was  developed,  it  is  conceived 
that  he  may  also  have  blundered  in  describing  the  age  of  the 
pupil.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  George  Walker  was  a 
youth  of  precocious  attainments,  for  soon  after  he  was  ten  years 
old,  being  sent  to  the  Grammar  School  at  Durham,  he  wrote  a 
remarkable  letter  to  his  father,  in  which  he  excused  his  desultory 
habits,  pleading  devotion  to  the  Muses  as  the  cause,  and  enclosed 
a  specimen  of  his  poetical  abilities — a  letter  which  showed  maturity 
of  capacity  and  judgment  that  would  have  done  credit  to  a  lad  twice 
his  age. 

Determined  to  be,  like  his  uncle,  a  dissenting  preacher,  young 
Walker  induced  his  father  to  put  him  under  the  care  of  Dr. 
Rotheram,  at  KendaL  P>om  Kendal  he  proceeded  to  Edinburgh 
University,  intending  to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  theology 
and  moral  philosophy.     But  being  fond  of  geometry  and  arithmetical 


55° 


GEORGE   WALKER. 


recreations,  he  became  so  engrossed  in  matliematics  that  his  mind 
was  diverted  from  the  prime  object  of  his  studentship.  To  avoid 
this  danger  he  was  removed  to  the  University  of  Glasgow,  where 
he  finished  his  academical  course  in  the  spring  of  1754. 

Returning  to  his  father's  house  in  Newcastle,  the  embryo  preacher 
awaited  a  call  to  some  vacant  pulpit.  Meanwhile  he  helped  Mr. 
Rogerson  at  Hanover  Square,  and  officiated  in  neighbouring  towns 
and  villages  for  sick  and  absent  ministers.  After  some  months 
spent  in  this  fashion,  he  joined  his  uncle  at  Leeds,  where  he  had 


l^EV^  GeofjgeVv^lk'ei^.F.FJ.S. 


opportunities  of  preaching  to  large  congregations,  and  obtaining 
useful  experience  in  pastoral  work.  In  the  summer  of  1757,  he 
accepted  a  call  from  the  community  at  Durham  over  which  his 
uncle  had  formerly  presided,  and  in  October  of  that  year  he  was 
formally  ordained  and  admitted  to  the  ministry. 

While  at  Durham,  returning  to  his  old  love  for  mathematics,  Mr. 
Walker  contributed  problems  and  solutions  to  the  "  Ladies'  Diary," 
and  completed  a  work  on  the  "  Doctrine  of  the  Sphere,"  of  which 
he  had  laid  the  foundation  while  at  college.     At  the  endof  1761, 


GEORGE   WALKER.        '  551 

he  entered  upon  the  co-pastorship  of  a  congregation  at  Great 
Yarmouth,  and  commenced  a  book  upon  conic  sections,  founded 
on  the  twenty-fourth  proposition  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Universal 
Arithmetic.  Shortly  afterwards,  on  the  recommendation  of  Dr. 
Priestley,  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society. 

Induced  by  Dr.  Priestley  to  undertake  the  office  of  mathematical 
tutor  in  Warrington  Academy,  an  institution  founded  for  the 
education  of  the  sons  of  Dissenters,  he  left  Yarmouth  in  1771. 
His  duties  at  Warrington  brought  him  into  contact  with  the  way- 
ward scholar  and  eccentric  professor,  Gilbert  Wakefield,  and  with 
him  he  formed  a  friendship  that  lasted  through  the  rest  of  their 
lives.  While  at  Warrington  he  published  his  book  on  the  "  Doctrine 
of  the  Sphere " — a  work  that  was  described  as  "  the  most  masterly 
treatise  upon  the  subject  extant."  One  of  its  principal  features  was 
a  series  of  movable  figures,  which  the  author  had  cut  out  with  his 
own  hands,  at  great  sacrifice  of  time  and  labour.  His  biographer 
tells  us  that  "  to  furnish  500  copies  to  the  public  required  the  cutting 
out  of  more  than  20,000  figures,  which  were  afterwards  to  be  divided, 
pierced,  fitted,  and  the  whole  inserted  in  the  planes  to  which  they  were 
adherent."  In  matters  of  this  kind  INIr.  Walker  was  peculiarly  skilful 
and  handy.  If  he  had  not  chosen  the  ministry  for  his  vocation,  he 
would  have  been  a  mechanical  engineer  of  high  reputation  for  in- 
genuity and  resource.  As  it  was,  he  found  time  to  invent  a  chuck 
and  a  drilling  machine,  to  construct  a  clock  on  a  new  principle,  and 
to  devise  an  apparatus  for  drawing  conic  sections. 

With  a  reputation  sufficiently  established  by  his  preaching  and 
mathematical  demonstrations  at  Warrington,  Mr.  Walker  was  chosen, 
in  1774,  to  be  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  large  and  wealthy  congre- 
gation that  worshipped  in  the  High  Pavement  Chapel  at  Nottingham. 
In  that  thriving  industrial  town  the  preacher  found  himself  surrounded 
by  a  new  and  altogether  different  atmosphere.  Some  of  the  leading 
inhabitants  were  of  his  own  religious  belief;  and  the  members  of  his 
congregation  were  full  of  the  activities  of  municipal  and  political  life. 
Into  their  controversies  and  conflicts  he  was  necessarily  drawn,  and 
in  time  he  became  their  political,  as  well  as  spiritual,  adviser. '  Co- 
incident with  his  settlement  among  them  occurred  the  revolt  of  the 
American  colonies,  and  in  the  discussions  to  which  the  coercive  policy 
of  the  Government  gave  rise  he  made  his  first  mark  as  a  reformer. 
From  his  pen  went  up  to  London  petitions  and  remonstrances  from 
the  people  of  Nottinghamshire  that  excited  attention  in  the  highest 


552  GEORGE   WALKER. 

quarters.  It  is  said  that  in  a  debate  which  followed  one  of  Mr. 
Walker's  petitions,  Edmund  Burke,  charmed  with  the  style  and  spirit 
of  the  document,  declared  that  he  would  rather  have  been  the  author 
of  it  than  of  all  his  own  writings.  Thenceforward,  Mr.  Walker's 
hands  were  full  of  public  work.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the 
struggle  for  parliamentary  reform,  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and 
in  opposition  to  the  French  War.  Upon  the  subject  of  the  Test  and 
Corporation  Acts,  by  which  Nonconformists  were  excluded  from  all 
public  offices,  he  issued  a  stirring  pamphlet,  addressed  to  the  people 
of  England,  known  far  and  wide,  and  quoted  long  after,  as 

"  The  Dissenter's  Plea ;  or  the  Appeal  of  the  Dissenters  to  the  Justice,  the 
Honour,  and  the  Religion  of  the  Kingdom,  against  the  Test  Laws." 

At  Nottingham  for  four-and-twenty  years  Mr.  Walker  fulfilled  the 
duties  of  his  sacred  calling,  and  conducted  with  unflagging  energy 
the  active  propagation  of  the  liberal  ideas  described  in  the  preceding 
paragraph.  Returning  to  his  old  love  of  teaching  and  demonstration, 
he  published  in  1794  a  treatise  on  "Conic  Sections,"  and  in  179S  he 
undertook  the  office  of  theological  professor  at  New  College,  Man- 
chester. The  change  was  disastrous.  Owing  to  insufficiency  of 
endowment,  he  was  compelled  to  add  to  his  theological  work  the 
superintendence  of  the  mathematical  and  classical  departments  of 
the  college,  and  to  these  tasks  his  advanced  age  and  declining  health 
were  unequal.  He  left  the  institution,  and,  settling  in  the  outskirts 
of  Manchester,  limited  his  public  engagements  to  occasional  preach- 
ing, the  reading  of  papers  before  the  Manchester  Literary  and 
Philosophical  Society,  of  which  he  was  president,  and  the  cultivation 
of  a  garden.  In  these  occupations  he  spent  a  couple  of  years,  re- 
moving finally  to  Wavertree,  near  Liverpool.  In  the  spring  of  1807, 
he  went  to  London  to  arrange  for  the  re-issue  of  two  volumes  of 
sermons,  and  to  put  through  the  press  four  other  volumes  of  sermons 
and  philosophical  essays  that  he  had  prepared  for  publication. 
While  engaged  upon  this  work,  at  the  house  of  a  former  pupil, 
Henry  Smith,  ]\I.P.  for  Calne,  on  the  21st  of  April  in  that  year,  he 
died.  •  His  remains  were  buried  in  the  family  vault  at  Bunhill 
Fields  of  his  old  friend  Dr.  Abraham  Rees,  who  officiated  at  the 
funeral,  and  pronounced  a  eulogium  upon  his  work  and  char- 
acter. 

^Vhile  at  Yarmouth  Mr.  Walker  married  a  lady  of  good  family,  by 
whom  he  had  three  children — two  of  whom,  a  son  and  a  daughter, 


JAMES  WALLACE.  553 

survived  him.  The  daughter,  Sarah  Walker,  was  united  in  1795  to 
Sir  George  Cayley,  Bart.,  afterwards  M.P.  for  Scarborough,  and  died 
in  1824,  having  borne  him  a  son  (who  succeeded  to  the  title  and 
estates  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1857)  and  five  daughters. 


3amc6  Mallacc, 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 

The  Wallaces  of  Asholme,  a  beautifully  wooded  estate  in  the  parish 
of  Lambley,  claimed  to  have  descended  from  the  Wallaces  of 
Craigie,  in  Scotland — an  offshoot  from  the  historical  house  of 
EUerslie,  to  which  belonged  the  Scottish  hero  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  One  of  them,  Thomas  Wallace,  who  married  an  heiress  of 
the  Blenkinsopp  family,  purchased  Asholme  in  1637,  and  may  be 
regarded  as  the  common  ancestor  of  the  South  Tyne  branch.  He 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Worcester,  September  3rd,  1651,  fighting, 
with  three  of  his  sons,  on  the  Royalist  side,  in  Sir  Timothy  Feather- 
stonhaugh's  troop  of  horse.  His  heir  and  successor,  Thomas 
Wallace  (2),  married  Alice,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Carleton, 
knight,  of  Carleton  Hall,  Penrith,  and  with  the  aid  of  his  wife's 
fortune,  added  East  and  West  Coanwood  to  the  Asholme  property. 
To  him  succeeded  his  son  Albany,  whose  wife  was  a  Graham,  of 
Breckonhill  Castle,  Cumberland,  and  he,  dying  in  1678,  left  the 
estates  to  his  son,  Thomas  Wallace  (3).  In  1695,  this  Thomas, 
styled  in  Haltwhistle  Register  "  lord  of  the  Ash-holme,"  leased  the 
mill  and  coal-mines  upon  his  property  to  Alderman  William  Ramsay, 
of  Newcastle,  and  probably  burdened  the  estates  to  provide  for  his 
family  by  his  second  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Hugh  Ridley,  of 
Plenmeller.  His  heir,  Thomas  Wallace  (4),  born  in  1697,  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  having  been  brought  up  as  an  attorney,  married 
Dulcibella  Sowerby,  of  Brampton,  and  settled  down  among  his  wife's 
relations  to  practise  as  a  country  lawyer.  He  had  been  married  but 
nine  years  when,  at  the  age  of  forty,  he  died,  leaving  a  widow,  two 
sons,  and  a  daughter,  not  too  well  provided  for. 

James  Wallace,  the  elder  of  the  two  sons  of  the  Brampton 
attorney,  was  only  eight  years  of  age  when  his  father's  death  left  him 
heir  to  a  heavily  burdened  estate.     If  Hutchinson  may  be  trusted, 


554  JAMES  WALLACE. 

he  was  sent  to  a  poor  sort  of  school  in  Yorkshire,  and  brought  up 
more  like  a  tradesman's  child  than  a  grandson  of  the  "  lord  of  the 
Ash-holme."     But,   evincing  a  strong  desire   to  follow  his  father's 
calling,   he  was  articled  to  an  attorney,  and  trained   in  the  usual 
routine  of  a  country  practice.     By  the  time  that  his  articles  expired, 
he  had  shown  such  remarkable  aptitude  for  acquiring  legal  know- 
ledge that  means  were  found  to  enter  him  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  with  a 
view  to  qualify  him  for  the  higher  branches  of  the  profession.     In 
1757,   he  was  called   to  the    Bar,   and  at  once  took  up  a  strong 
position.     Gifted  with  a  clear  head  and  a  fluent  tongue,  h€  made 
his  way  upwards  with  unusual  rapidity.     He  came  on  the  Northern 
Circuit,  where  he  shared  with  eccentric  "Jack  Lee"  the  principal 
causes  to  be  tried,  having  for  juniors  men  who  are  better  known  by 
their  after-names — Lords  Eldon,  Auckland,  and  Alvanley.     Before 
many  years  had  passed  away,    he  had  won  first  rank  among  the 
pleaders  and  leaders  of  the  time.    He  and  John  Dunning,  afterwards 
Lord  Ashburton,  became  friendly  rivals  in  forensic  debate,  and  were 
generally  pitted  against  each  other  in  the  great  cases  that  occupied 
the  time  of  the  courts  at  Westminster  and  engrossed  the  attention  of 
the  public. 

When  he  had  been  ten  years  at  the  Bar,  Mr.  Wallace  married. 
Like  his  ancestor,  Thomas  Wallace  (2),  he  had  gone  for  a  wife  to 
Carleton  Hall,  but  to  a  different  family,  for  the  ancient  owners  had 
died  out,  and  their  successor  was  a  wealthy  yeoman  of  the  name  of 
Simpson.  He  was  united  to  Elizabeth  Simpson,  at  Penrith,  on  the 
8th  of  January,  1767.  His  wife's  fortune,  and  the  income  of  his 
profession,  enabled  him  not  only  to  redeem  his  ancestral  estates  at 
Asholme  and  Coanwood,  but  to  add  to  them  the  adjoining  manors  of 
Knaresdale  and  Thornhope,  and,  later  on,  the  manor  and  castle  of 
Featherstone.  By  the  death  of  an  only  brother,  his  wife  became  sole 
heiress  of  Carleton  Hall,  and  at  that  pleasant  retreat  he  fixed  his 
residence. 

Increasing  wealth,  and  the  influential  connection  which  his  position 
at  the  Bar  brought  to  him,  led  Mr.  Wallace  into  the  political  arena. 
A  vacancy  in  the  representation  of  Horsham  occurred  in  1770;  he 
offered  his  services,  and  was  elected.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Commons  in  April  of  that  year,  and  he  continued  to  represent 
Horsham  till  his  death.  Attaching  himself  to  the  party  led  by  Lord 
North,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  controversies  of  the  time,  and 
proved  himself  to  be  a  ready  and  skilful  debater.     Meanwhile,  his 


THOMAS,  LORD   WALLACE.  555 

professional  practice  increased,  and  he  was  made  a  bencher  of  his 
inn.  He  distinguished  himself  as  counsel  for  the  defendant  in  the 
memorable  trial  of  the  Duchess  of  Kingston  for  bigamy,  in  April, 
1776,  and  two  years  later  was  appointed  Solicitor-General  in  Lord 
North's  Administration.  This  important  post  he  held  till  July,  1780, 
when  he  was  elevated  to  the  higher  position  of  Attorney-General. 
Two  years  afterwards,  when  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham  came  into 
power,  he  gave  place  to  Sir  Lloyd  Kenyon;  but  a  few  months  later, 
upon  the  formation  of  a  Coalition  Ministry,  he  resumed  his  functions. 
By  this  time  his  health  had  shown  symptoms  of  decline.  He  went 
into  the  country  to  recruit,  and  died  at  Exeter  on  the  i  ith  November, 
1783,  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age. 


^homa6,  ILort)  Mallacc, 

POLITICIAN. 

James  Wallace,  the  Attorney-General,  left  a  son  and  daughter  to 
inherit  his  name  and  his  wealth.  The  daughter  died  at  an  early  age ; 
the  son,  Thomas  Wallace,  ran  a  distinguished  career  in  his  country's 
service.  Born  in  the  year  1768,  he  matriculated  at  Christ  Church 
College,  Oxford,  in  1785,  took  his  M.A.  degree  in  1790,  and  was 
honoured  with  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  in  1792.  He  entered  the 
House  of  Commons  in  1790  as  one  of  the  members  for  Grampound; 
represented  that  borough  till  1796;  and  sat  for  Penrhyn,  1796- 
1802;  Hindon,  1802-7;  Shaftesbury,  1807-12;  Weymouth,  1812-13 
(unseated  on  petition);  Cockermouth,  1813-18;  and  Weymouth, 
1818-28.  From  1797  to  1800,  he  filled  the  ofiice  of  a  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty;  in  1800,  received  the  appointment  of  Commissioner  for 
Indian  Affairs;  the  following  year  was  sworn  of  the  Privy  Council; 
from  1818  to  1823,  was  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Trade;  and 
from  1823  to  1827,  held  the  office  of  Master  of  the  Mint.  Among 
other  public  services  in  which  he  distinguished  himself  was  the 
chairmanship  of  a  Parliamentary  Commission  to  inquire  into  the 
collection  and  management  of  the  revenue  of  Ireland — an  inquiry 
that  was  afterwards  extended  to  England  and  Scotland;  the  manage- 
ment of  Greenwich  Hospital  estates,  of  which  he  was  a  Commissioner; 
and  the  colonelcy  of  the  South  Northumberland  Regiment  of  Militia. 


556  JOHN  WALLIS. 

On  the  2nd  of  February,  1828,  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron 
Wallace  of  Knaresdale. 

Throughout  his  career  Lord  Wallace  was  an  earnest  promoter  of 
commerce  and  navigation.  On  his  retirement  from  the  vice-presi- 
dency of  the  Board  of  Trade  he  received  complimentary  resolutions 
from  the  great  commercial  towns  and  seaports,  and  was  waited  upon 
by  a  deputation  comprising  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  nineteen 
members  of  Parliament,  and  several  heads  of  commercial  establish- 
ments, who  presented  him  with  a  service  of  plate  and  an  address, 
signed  by  nearly  six  hundred  of  the  leading  mercantile  and  ship- 
ping houses  of  the  metropolis,  expressing  their  appreciation  of  the 
important  services  which  he  had  rendered  to  the  general  commerce 
of  the  empire,  and  their  admiration  of  "  the  ability,  persevering 
industry,  and  laborious  attention  he  had  shown  in  the  discharge  of 
his  public  duties." 

Lord  Wallace  lived  at  Featherstone  Castle,  which  he  extended 
and  beautified,  and  there  he  died  on  the  23rd  of  February,  1844. 
He  had  married,  in  18 14,  Lady  Jane  Hope,  daughter  of  John, 
second  Earl  of  Hopetoun,  and  relict  of  Henry  Viscount  Melville, 
and,  having  no  issue,  left  his  estates  to  the  Hon.  James  Hope,  second 
son  of  the  fourth  Earl  of  Hopetoun,  who,  in  compliance  with  his 
lordship's  will,  assumed  the  additional  final  surname  and  arms  of 
Wallace.  Mr.  Hope-Wallace  (M.P,  for  Linlithgowshire,  1835-38) 
married  Lady  Mary  Frances  Nugent,  daughter  of  the  seventh  Earl  of 
Westmeath,  and,  dying  January  7th,  1854,  was  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  son,  John  George  Frederick  Hope- Wallace,  of  Featherstone 
Castle,  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland  in  1871. 


3obn  Mallis, 

HISTORIAN. 

John  Wallis,  one  of  the  historians  of  Northumberland,  came  of  a 
family  of  that  name  that  had  settled  in  the  valley  of  the  South  Tyne, 
and  possibly  were  of  the  same  stock  as  the  Wallaces  of  Asholme  and 
Knaresdale.  The  Rev.  John  Hodgson  thought  there  could  be  no 
doubt  of  their  identity,  for  Richard  Wallis,  or  Wallas,  of  Kirkhaugh, 
in  his  will  of  April  3rd,  1568,  mentions  not  only  Annas  his  wife  and 
five  children,  but  John  Wallas  of  Merryknow,  William  Wallas  of 


JOHN  WALLIS.  557 

Knaresdale,  and  Edward  Wallas,  lord  of  Knaresdale.  Howsoever 
that  may  have  been,  Ralph  Wallis  of  Williamston,  and  John,  and 
another  Ralph,  were  proprietors  in  Kirkhaugh  in  1663,  and  among 
several  entries  of  this  family  in  the  Kirkhaugh  Registers  appears, 
under  date  December  3rd,  1714,  the  baptism  of  the  future  historian 
— "John,  son  of  John  Wallace,  of  Castle  Nook."  Castle  Nook  is  a 
farm  in  the  south-west  corner  of  Northumberland,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  South  Tyne,  nearly  opposite  the  church  of  Kirkhaugh,  a 
couple  of  miles  below  Alston,  and  is  known  to  antiquaries  as 
containing  the  site  of  the  Roman  station  or  camp  of  Alione,  or 
Whitley  Castle.  In  the  preface  to  his  "  History  "  Wallis  identifies 
himself  with  the  entry  in  Kirkhaugh  Register  by  the  following  un- 
mistakable statement : — "  Northumberland  being  Roman  ground, 
and  receiving  my  first  breath  in  Alione,  or  AA'hitley  Castle,  one  of 
their  castra,  I  was  led  by  a  sort  of  enthusiasm  to  an  enquiry  and 
search  after  their  towns,  their  cities  and  temples,  their  baths,  their 
altars,  their  tumuli,  their  military  ways,  and  other  remains  of  splen- 
dour and  magnificence,  which  will  admit  of  a  thousand  views  and 
reviews,  and  still  give  pleasure,"  etc. 

Where  young  Wallis  received  his  early  education  is  not  known, 
but  he  appears  in  the  books  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  as  having 
matriculated  there,  aged  eighteen,  on  the  3rd  of  February,  1732-33. 
His  parents  had  removed  some  time  after  his  birth  to  Croglin,  a  few 
miles  to  the  west  of  Castle  Nook,  and  he  is  therefore  described  in 
the  college  register  as  the  son  of  "  John  Wallis  of  Croglin,  Cumber- 
land, pleb."  He  took  his  degree  of  B.A.  on  the  22nd  of  March, 
1736-37,  proceeded  M.A.,  June  2Sth,  1740,  and  entering  into  holy 
orders,  obtained  a  curacy  at  or  near  Portsmouth.  The  Portsmouth 
engagement  did  not  last  long,  for  in  1745  he  is  found  settled 
upon  Tyneside,  fulfilling  the  duties  of  a  schoolmaster.  In  a  poetical 
brochure  entitled  "  Reflections  on  a  Candle,"  which  he  gave  to  the 
world  through  the  press  of  John  Gooding,  "on  the  Side,"  New- 
castle, in  that  year,  he  announced  that  he  had  opened  a  school  at 
Wallsend,  where  youths  might  acquire  "  Latin,  Greek,  Music, 
Geography,  Arithmetic,  Mathematics,  Navigation,  and  Natural  and 
Moral  Philosophy"  under  his  tuition.  At  Wallsend  he  probably 
remained  till,  in  or  about  the  year  1748,  he  obtained  from  the  Rev. 
Henry  Wastell,  Rector  of  Simonburn,  the  curacy  of  that  parish. 
Just  before,  or  very  soon  after,  he  removed  to  Simonburn,  he  sent  to 
press — 


558  JOHN  WALLIS. 

"  The  Occasional  Miscellany,  in  Prose  and  Verse,  consisting  of  a  Variety  of 
Letters,  written  originally  to  a  Young  Gentleman,  who  design'd  to  go  into  Holy 
Orders,  with  a  Specimen  of  Sacred  Poetry  and  Sermons."  2  vols.,  8vo.  New- 
castle :  John  Gooding,  on  the  Side,  1748- 

This  work  was  published  by  subscription,  and  prefixed  to  it  is  a 
long  list  (18  pages)  of  the  names  of  the  subscribers,  comprising 
nearly  every  person  of  note  in  the  Northern  Counties.  It  was 
dedicated — the  first  volume  to  the  Duchess  of  Richmond,  and  the 
second  volume,  which  consists  of  twelve  sermons  (two  of  them 
preached  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  Newcastle),  to  his  rector,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Wastell. 

Simonburn,  when  Mr.  Wallis  entered  upon  the  curacy,  was  the 
largest,  as  it  was  also  the  wildest  and  most  unproductive  parish  in 
Northumberland,  extending  from  the  Roman  Wall  northward  to 
Liddesdale  in  Scotland,  a  distance  of  about  thirty-three  miles,  and 
in  breadth  about  fourteen  miles.  Here  in  default  of  human  society 
j\Ir.  Wallis  betook  himself,  in  his  leisure  hours,  to  the  study  of 
botany,  which  brought  with  it  a  fondness  for  natural  history  in 
general.  He  not  only  filled  his  little  garden  with  curious  plants,  but 
occupied  most  of  the  time  which  the  duties  of  his  cure  left  him,  in 
traversing  the  wild  region  in  which  his  lot  was  cast,  and  col- 
lecting curious  plants  and  animals.  In  this  way  he  added  several 
rare  indigenous  species  to  the  Northumbrian  and  British  Flora,  and 
did  no  small  service  to  botanical  science.  The  result  of  his  labours 
appeared  in  1769,  under  the  title  of — 

"  The  Natural  History  and  Antiquities  of  Northumberland,  and  of  so  much  of 
the  County  of  Durham  as  lies  between  the  Rivers  Tyne  and  Tweed,  commonly 
called  North  Bishoprick."     2  vols.,  4to. 

Mr,  Wallis  dedicated  this  work  to  Hugh,  first  Duke  of  North- 
umberland, and  published  it,  like  the  "Occasional  Miscellany," 
by  subscription.  There  were  in  all  two  hundred  and  ninety-four 
subscribers,  of  whom  forty-six  put  down  their  names  for  large-paper 
copies.  The  first  volume,  besides  a  preface  and  an  introduction, 
contains  thirteen  chapters,  of  which  twelve  are  on  natural  history, 
and  the  thirteenth  on  eminent  men,  natives  of  the  county.  The 
second  volume,  on  the  antiquities  of  the  county,  contains  562  pages 
and  an  appendix, 

Mr,  Wallis's  rector,  Mr,  Wastell,  was  a  man  of  a  quiet  and  generous 
disposition,  who,  from  infirmity  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  left  the 
duties  of  the  parish  almost  entirely  to  his  curate.      "  But  on  his  death 


JOHN  WALLIS.  559 

in  1 771,"  writes  Mr.  Hodgson,  "James  Scott,  B.D.,  a  polished  courtier, 
a  polite  man  of  the  world,  and  a  bold  and  eloquent  preacher,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  rectory,  which  was  conferred  upon  him  by  Lord 
North  as  a  reward  for  his  political  services.  Wallis  found  himself 
under  the  command  of  a  proud  and  overbearing  superior,  who  had 
more  regard  for  his  spaniels  than  his  curate.  These  favourites 
attended  their  master  to  the  church,  and,  on  one  occasion,  when 
they  attempted  to  accompany  him  to  the  pulpit,  Wallis,  who 
occupied  the  reading-desk,  was  ordered  to  put  them  out,  but 
refused,  an  act  of  disobedience  for  which  he  was  driven  from 
Simonburn." 

Mr.  Hodgson  himself  had  an  interview  with  this  haughty  priest  in 
1 8 10,  when  he  was  collecting  materials  for  his  history  of  the  county 
in  the  "  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales."  He  had  just  explained 
his  errand,  when  Dr.  Scott  broke  out  with  "  '  What  occasion  is  there 
for  any  more  histories  of  Northumberland?  My  curate,  Wallis, 
WTOte  a  very  large  one.  He  was  an  old  wife,  and  fond  of  what  he 
called  the  beauties  and  retirements  of  the  glen  on  the  south  side  of 
the  church  there.'  And  then  he  laughed  at  his  own  sagacity  and 
sneer." 

A  benevolent  clergyman,  who  had  been  Mr.  Wallis's  friend  at 
college,  hearing  of  his  misfortune,  sheltered  him  till  he  obtained  a 
temporary  curacy  at  Haughton-le-Skerne,  near  Darlington.  This 
was  in  1775,  and  immediately  after  he  removed  to  the  curacy  of 
Billingham,  near  Stockton,  where  he  continued  till  infirmity  rendered 
him  incapable  of  performing  the  functions  of  his  office.  He  resigned 
his  cure  at  INIidsummer,  1793,  removed  to  the  neighbouring  village  of 
Norton,  and  there,  on  the  23rd  of  September  in  the  same  year, 
he  died. 

Richard  Wallis,  a  younger  brother  of  the  historian,  following  him 
in  his  University  career  at  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  took  the  ^Vrts 
degrees  in  1742  and  1745-46.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  William  Rotheram,  of  Haydon  Bridge  (sister  of  the 
Rev.  John  Rotheram,  of  Houghton-le-Spring),  and  became  vicar 
of  Carham  in  1 74S.  His  eldest  son,  named  after  him,  Richard, 
went  to  the  same  college  as  his  father  and  uncle,  where  he  pro- 
ceeded B.  A.  1776.  He  was  vicar  of  Seaham  and  perpetual  curate 
of  South  Shields  from  1783,  and  perpetual  curate  of  Blanchland 
from  1804.  He  wrote  numerous  essays  in  prose  and  verse,  which 
are  valued  by  collectors — the  one  most  sought  after  being  "  The 


56o  JOHN  WALSH. 

Happy  Village,"  a  poetical  description  of  Blanchland,  with  a  copper- 
plate engraving  by  Thomas  Bewick.  Sykes  states  that  "  he  buried 
in  the  shade  talents  and  acquirements  of  no  common  order."  He 
cultivated  music,  painting,  and  engraving;  and  his  knowledge  of 
mechanics  was  very  considerable;  while  "in  his  own  private  circle, 
his  discrimination  and  almost  instinctive  insight  into  character,  and 
the  originality  and  raciness  of  his  observations,  made  him  a  most 
interesting  companion."  His  death  occurred  on  the  5th  of  May, 
1827,  twelve  months  and  a  day  after  that  of  his  only  son,  John 
Robinson  Wallis,  B.A. 


3obn  Mal6b, 

CATHOLIC    PRIEST. 

Passing  over  three  other  "  W's  " — Thomas  Wilkinson,  missionary 
Jesuit,  who  died  in  Morpeth  Gaol  in  January,  16S1,  and  two  secular 
clergy,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Witham,  D.D.,  who  officiated  in  Newcastle 
from  1692  to  1699,  and  the  Rev.  Robert  Ward,  stationed  here  in 
1 7 15,  we  come  to  a  priest  of  longer  continuance  in  this  district, 
the  Rev.  John  Walsh. 

Mr.  Walsh  was  a  native  of  Tipperary,  where  he  was  born  in 
the  last  year  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  became  a  Jesuit  at 
the  age  of  twenty,  and  for  some  time  was  engaged  in  teaching 
at  St.  Omer.  So  far  as  is  known,  he  was  sent  to  the  North  of 
England  in  1739,  as  resident  priest  at  Ellingham,  the  seat  of  Edward 
Haggerston.  With  Mr.  Haggerston  he  remained  till  1745,  when 
Father  Leigh,  priest  in  the  old  house  of  the  Riddells  at  Gateshead, 
needed  an  assistant  or  deputy,  and  he  was  sent  thither.  The  house 
at  that  time  was  in  the  occupation  of  the  Claverings,  of  Callaly,  and 
to  them,  and  to  such  of  the  Catholics  of  the  neighbourhood  as  pre- 
ferred the  Jesuit  mission  to  the  services  of  the  secular  clergy  at 
"  The  Nuns,"  in  Newcastle,  he  ministered.  Shortly  after  his  settle- 
ment he  narrowly  escaped  maltreatment.  The  Rebellion  under 
Charles  Edward,  "  the  Young  Pretender,"  broke  out,  and  Catholics, 
favourable  everywhere  to  the  claims  of  the  Stuarts,  became  objects 
of  suspicion  and  distrust.  At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
28th  of  January,  1746,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  had  chosen 
that  unearthly  hour  to  come  to  Newcastle  from  Durham,  was  met 


RALPH  WALTERS.  561 

at  Gateshead  by  a  crowd  of  people  and  received  with  noisy  demon- 
strations of  rejoicing.  To  show  their  loyalty,  the  crowd  set  fire  to 
the  Riddell  mansion,  and  burned  it  and  the  Catholic  Chapel  within 
its  walls  to  the  ground;  then,  following  the  Duke  across  the  bridge, 
they  wrecked  the  chapel  at  "The  Nuns."  In  the  confusion  of  the 
fire,  Father  Walsh  escaped,  and,  making  his  way  to  the  seat  of 
the  Brandlings  at  Felling,  received  shelter  and  protection  till  fresh 
arrangements  for  the  continuance  of  his  ministrations  could  be 
made.  These  were  effected,  soon  afterwards,  by  the  acquisition 
of  a  house  in  the  Close,  Newcastle,  which  had  been  the  residence 
of  Sir  John  Marley.  There  Mr.  Walsh  officiated  till  his  decease. 
He  died  on  the  26th  of  INIay,  1773,  aged  seventy-two,  and  two  days 
later  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Nicholas',  Newcastle;  his 
interment  is  entered  in  the  Register  as  that  of  "  John  Walsh, 
Romish  priest." 


IRalpb  Walters, 

BARRISTER. 

On  the  20th  of  December,  1788,  Robert  Walters,  of  Newcastle, 
attorney-at-law,  married  Isabella,  eldest  daughter  of  Alderman  Wil- 
liam Clayton  (Sheriff  of  Newcastle  during  the  municipal  year  1750- 
51,  and  Mayor  in  1755-56  and  1763-64),  grand-daughter  of  Nathaniel 
Clayton,  the  first  of  his  race  who  settled  in  the  town,  sister  of  Mr. 
Serjeant  Clayton,  and  first  cousin  of  Nathaniel  Clayton,  Town  Clerk. 
The  marriage  was  a  fruitful  one.  Nine  children — five  sons  and  four 
daughters — grew  up  around  the  pair,  some  of  whom,  blessed  with 
health  and  long  life,  have  but  recently  departed  from  among  us.  Four 
of  the  sons  occupied  prominent  positions  in  society,  namely — 

George  Walters,  merchant  and  shipbroker  at  Liverpool,  died  in 
April,  1867. 

William  Clayton  Walters,  M.A ,  Hulsean  prizeman  at  Jesus  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  who  for  some  years  practised  as  a  barrister  in 
Newcastle,  but,  in  1849,  succeeding  to  the  estate  of  Bradford  Abbas, 
in  Dorsetshire,  under  the  will  of  his  uncle,  Mr.  Serjeant  Clayton, 
assumed  the  name  of  Clayton. 

Ralph  Walters,  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 

Robert  Walters,  youngest  son,  land  agent,  at  one  time  a  Town 

VOL.   III.  36 


562  RALPH  WALTERS. 

Councillor  of  Newcastle,  and  a  leader  among  the  Evangelicals  of  the 
district,  who  died  in  Newcastle  on  the  29th  of  October,  1890,  aged 
eighty-seven,  leaving  behind  him  a  sister,  Catherine  Walters,  ten 
years  older. 

Robert  Walters,  senior,  the  progenitor  of  this  long-lived  family, 
died  at  his  house  in  Saville  Row,  Newcastle,  on  the  17th  November, 
1837,  aged  seventy-five.  His  wife,  Isabella  Clayton,  followed  him 
on  the  17th  of  March,  1842,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one. 

Ralph  Walters,  seventh  child  and  fourth  son  of  the  attorney,  was 
born  in  Newcastle  in  December,  1802.  Educated  for  the  profession 
of  the  law,  he  married,  and  joined  his  father  in  business  about  the 
year  1824;  at  the  same  time,  Mr.  Peregrine  George  Ellison  was 
admitted  into  the  partnership,  and  the  firm  was  styled  Walters, 
Ellison  &  Walters.  Before  1833,  Mr.  Ellison  withdrew  from  the 
firm,  which  was  then  known  as  that  of  Robert  &  Ralph  Walters. 
A  few  years  later,  Robert  Walters  retired  into  private  life,  and  the 
son  carried  on  the  business  in  his  own  name.  He  appears  in  the 
Newcastle  Directory  for  1837  as  "Ralph  Walters,  solicitor,  and 
agent  to  the* Sun  Fire  and  Life  Insurance  Office,  129  Pilgrim  Street; 
house,  Shieldfield  Cottage."  In  the  Shieldfield,  over  which,  at  this 
time,  the  town  was  beginning  to  extend,  he  acquired  plots  of  land, 
and  commenced  to  build.  He  erected,  or  caused  to  be  erected, 
Sanitary  Place,  Pawton  Dene  Terrace,  and  four  or  five  better-class 
houses,  facing  what  is  now  known  as  Shieldfield  Green.  To  one  of 
the  latter  he  removed,  and  there,  on  the  12th  of  September,  1840, 
his  wife  died.  Some  years  later,  having  married,  for  his  second  wife, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Stone,  a  lady  of  means,  he  determined  to  emulate  his 
brother  William,  the  barrister,  who  had  chambers  in  Westmorland 
Place,  and  lived  in  comparative  affluence  at  Stella  Hall.  He  accord- 
ingly entered  himself  at  the  Middle  Temple,  passed  his  examinations, 
and  on  the  17th  of  November,  1854,  was  called  to  the  Bar. 

While  his  father  lived,  Mr.  Walters  was  unknown  outside  the 
sphere  of  his  calling.  But  soon  after  the  old  attorney's  death  he 
began  to  take  an  interest  in  the  public  work  of  his  native 
town.  By-and-by  he  entered  into  local  politics,  and,  in  course  of 
time,  entertained  political  ambitions  of  his  own.  His  father  had  * 
been  a  respectable,  steady-going  Whig;  Mr.  Ralph  developed 
tendencies  and  sought  after  affinities  of  a  much  more  advanced 
character.  Enrolling  himself  in  the  forward  wing  of  the  Liberal 
party,  he  found  his  friends  and  allies  among  Radical  reformers.     At 


RALPH  WALTERS.  .S63 

the  General  Election  of  1852,  he  endeavoured  to  displace  Mr.  (after- 
wards Sir)  William  Hutt  in  the  representation  of  Gateshead.  The 
Conservatives,  availing  themselves  of  a  division  in  the  Liberal  camp, 
brought  out  the  Hon.  Adolphus  I.iddell,  uncle  of  the  present  Earl 
of  Ravensworth,  to  contest  the  borough.  At  the  close  of  the  poll 
the  retiring  member  was  at  the  top;  Mr.  Walters,  with  half  the 
number  of  votes,  at  the  bottom.  In  1857  he  transferred  his  candida- 
ture to  Sunderland.  Mr.  George  Hudson,  the  "  Railway  King,"  and 
Mr.  Henry  Fenwick,  the  retiring  members,  were  respectively  Tory 
and  Whig;  Mr.  Walters  stood  as  a  Radical.  Again  he  was  doomed 
to  defeat.  Mr.  Fenwick  headed  the  poll  with  1,123  votes;  Mr. 
Walters  appeared  at  the  bottom  with  863  only.  Nothing  daunted, 
at  the  dissolution  in  1859  he  contested  the  Yorkshire  borough  of 
Beverley.  There  he  was  successful  in  securing  a  majority  of  votes, 
and  the  right  to  add  the  long-sought  letters  "  M.P."  to  his  name. 
Not  for  long,  however.  Returned  at  the  head  of  the  poll  in  April, 
he  was  unseated  for  bribery  in  August. 

While  these  parliamentary  failures  were  taking  place,  Mr.  Walters 
was  devising  a  great  scheme  of  improvement  for  his  native  borough. 
The  great  fire  and  explosion  in  October,  1854,  .had  laid  waste  the 
upper  part  of  Newcastle  Quayside,  and  the  Corporation  were  pur- 
chasing the  ruins,  and  some  adjoining  property,  in  order  to  replace 
rickety  tenements  and  narrow  chares  by  substantial  buildings  in 
broad  thoroughfares.  At  the  same  time  they  were  buying  up  sites 
along  the  North  Shore  to  widen  the  Quay,  and  extend  it  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Ouseburn,  and  acquiring  property  between  St.  Nicholas* 
Square  and  the  Old  Castle,  with  the  object  of  making  a  wide  avenue 
of  approach  to  the  High  Level  Bridge.  Their  acquisitions  were 
approaching  completion,  when,  in  November,  1856,  the  committees 
charged  with  these  operations  received  an  offer  from  Mr.  Walters, 
which  almost  took  their  breath  away.  Mr.  Walters  proposed  to 
purchase  for  a  gross  sum  the  properties  upon  the  Quayside,  at  the 
North  Shore,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  High  Level  Bridge, 
and  to  erect  thereon  suitable  buildings — shops,  offices,  and  ware- 
houses— in  accordance  with  plans  to  be  approved  by  the  Corpora- 
tion. Negotiations  followed,  and  in  February,  1857,  the  com- 
mittees reported  the  offer  to  the  Council,  accompanied  by  plans  and 
schedules  of  the  sites  proposed  to  be  transferred.  For  these  sites, 
valued  at  ;,^64,7o6  by  John  Dobson,  the  architect,  and  Robert 
Wallace,  the  town  surveyor,  Mr.  Walters  offered  to  pay  ;^5o,ooo,  of 


564  RALPH  WALTERS. 

which  sum  ^10,000  was  to  be  paid  upon  signing  of  the  contract, 
and  the  balance  by  equal  instalments,  with  interest  at  4  per  cent.,  in 
185S,  1859,  and  i860.  Long  and  tedious  were  the  debates  upon 
this  proposal,  in  the  Council  and  out  of  it.  The  town  was  excited 
by  the  Mary  Magdalene  Hospital  question,  by  a  contested  parlia- 
mentary election,  and  by  the  formation  of  a  strong  and  aggressive 
Ratepayers'  Association,  and  Mr.  Walters's  scheme  became  one  of  the 
burning  questions  of  the  day.  Public  opinion  ran  strongly  in  its 
favour;  the  Ratepayers'  Association  approved  of  it;  a  town's  meeting 
petitioned  for  it;  two  surveyors,  sent  down  by  the  Lords  of  the 
Treasury  to  hold  a  public  inquiry  on  the  spot,  reported  favourably; 
and,  finally,  a  majority  of  the  Council — 28  to  19 — accepted  the  offer. 
Yet,  in  its  entirety,  the  scheme  was  never  carried  out.  Upon  re- 
presentations made  to  them  by  the  minority  in  the  Council,  the 
Lords  of  the  Treasury  held  another  inquiry,  by  different  surveyors, 
and  in  the  end  refused  their  sanction  to  that  portion  of  the  scheme 
which  required  their  approval — the  sale  of  property  at  the  North 
Shore.  In  this  condition  of  things,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Council 
on  the  5th  of  May,  1858,  Mr.  Walters  offered  ^^38,350  for  the 
sites  at  the  High  Level  Bridge  Approach,  on  the  Quayside,  and  in 
Sandgate  only.  After  animated  debate,  the  modified  proposal  was 
accepted  by  a  majority  of  23  to  14,  and  a  month  later  the  contract 
was  sealed.  The  fine  buildings  which  adorn  the  Quayside  and  the 
spacious  thoroughfare  which  gives  access  to  the  High  Level  Bridge, 
are  the  outcome  and  completion  of  Mr.  Walters's  bold  and  enter- 
prising speculation. 

After  being  unseated  at  Beverley,  Mr.  Walters  abandoned  his 
parliamentary  aspirations,  and  bestowed  his  energies  upon  law  and 
commerce.  For  some  time  he  acted  as  a  director,  and  finally 
became  chairman,  of  the  Eastern  Counties  Railway  Company;  in 
conjunction  with  one  or  two  other  Newcastle  capitalists,  he  helped 
to  found,  in  1S62,  the  London  and  Northern  Bank  (with  a  branch 
on  the  Quayside,  and  offices  at  Alnwick  and  Morpeth),  which,  after 
a  chequered  existence  of  about  two  years,  was  transferred  to  the 
Midland  Banking  Company.  He  died  at  his  residence  in  Eaton 
Square,  London,  on  the  20th  of  April,  1865,  aged  sixty-three, 
leaving  a  widow  and  three  daughters.  By  his  first  marriage  he 
had  two  sons,  both  of  whom  died  young — Robert  Hole  Walters, 
the  eldest  son,  captain  in  the  31st  Regiment,  on  the  4th  of  May, 
1854,    aged    twenty-eight;    William    Henry,    his    second    son,    B.A. 


BRIAN  WALTON.  565 

of  Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  on  the  14th  of  February,  1S57, 
aged  twenty-nine.  One  of  his  daughters,  Mary  Walters,  married, 
in  1857,  Commander  Alexander  Hamilton,  R.N.,  of  Rozelle, 
Ayrshire. 


Brian  Malton, 

BISHOP   OF    CHESTER. 

Northumberland  claims,  as  one  of  her  sons,  Brian  Walton, 
the  learned  ecclesiastic  who  edited  and  published  an  elaborate 
edition  of  the  Scriptures  in  ancient  tongues,  known  to  scholars- 
as  the  London  Polyglot  Bible,  and  described  ■  by  an  eminent 
writer  as  "the  glory  of  the  English  church  and  nation."  The 
authorities  upon  which  his  birth  in  Northumberland  rest  are 
(i)  "Boswell's  Antiquities,"  (2)  a  topographical  work,  in  folio, 
entitled  "  The  Modern  Universal  British  Traveller."  Both  these 
authorities  assert  that  Dr.  Walton  was  a  native  of  Northumberland, 
both  of  them  agree  that  he  was  educated  at  the  Free  Grammar 
School  of  Newcastle,  but  the  compiler  of  the  "  British  Traveller " 
is  more  precise  than  the  other,  and  declares  that  the  place  of  his 
nativity  was  "  near  Hexham."  To  investigate  the  matter  George 
Bouchier  Richardson  searched  parish  registers  and  the  books  of 
the  Incorporated  Companies  of  Newcastle.  The  registers  proved 
useless,  but  in  the  books  of  the  Company  of  Merchant  Adventurers 
he  found  that  w^hich  he  sought.  As  related  by  the  Rev.  E.  Hussey 
Adamson  in  the  second  part  of  his  "  Scholas  Novocastrensis 
Alumni,"  Mr.  Richardson  came  upon  an  entry  that,  in  the  33rd 
Elizabeth  (1590),  Brian  Walton,  son  of  Christopher  Walton,  of 
Newby,  co.  York,  was  bound  apprentice  to  William  Marley,  mer- 
chant in  Newcastle.  Identity  of  name,  and  harmony  of  date,  led 
Mr.  Richardson  to  believe  that  this  entry  indirectly  corroborated 
Boswell  and  the  "  Traveller,"  and  that  Brian  Walton,  Marley's 
apprentice,  was  Dr.  Brian  Walton's  father.  If  this  conjecture  be 
correct,  the  assignment  of  a  birthplace  at  Seamer  in  Cleveland  by 
other  historians  is  easily  explained.  Seamer  is  the  next  village  to 
Newby,  being  but  a  little  over  a  mile  distant,  and  the  biographers 
may  have  confounded  father  and  son,  assigning  to  the  latter  a  natal 
origin  that  really  belonged  to  the  former. 

At  the  date  of  Brian  Walton's  birth,   1600,  the  Free  Grammar 


566 


BRIAN  WALTON. 


School  of  Newcastle  was  refounded  by  Royal  charter,  and  removed 
from  St.  Nicholas'  Churchyard  to  the  Virgin  Mary  Hospital,  adjoin- 
ing the  Church  of  St.  John.  Its  first  head-master  in  the  new  location 
was  Robert  Fowberry,  "  a  learned  arid  painfull  man  to  indoctrinate 
youth  in  Greek  and  Latine."  Under  Robert  Fowberry,  therefore,  if 
the  authorities  quoted  above  can  be  trusted,  Brian  Walton  laid  the 
foundation  of  that  classical  knowledge  which  in  after-life  brought 
him  fame  and  honour.  From  the  Grammar  School  he  proceeded, 
in   1616,   to   Magdalen   College,   Cambridge,  and,   two  years  later. 


3r^\N  WKi-TO  r^  DD. 


to  Peter  House,  in  the  same  University,  where,  in  1619,  he  took 
his  B.A.  degree,  and,  in  1623,  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  His 
first  appointment  was  a  curacy  in  Suffolk,  with  the  mastership  of 
an  adjoining  school;  from  thence  he  went  to  London  as  an  assist- 
ant at  the  church  of  AUhallows,  Bread  Street.  In  1626,  when  he 
was  but  twenty-five  years  old,  he  obtained  a  London  rectory,  that 
of  St.  Martin  Orgar.  His  fellow-clergy  were  engaged  in  a  war 
of  tithes  with  the  citizens,  and  they  placed  him  at  the  head  of  their 
agitation.     Walker  ("  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy")  states  that  in  con- 


BRIAN  WALTON.  567 

nection  with  this  tithe  controversy,  Mr.  AWilton  made  so  exact  and 
learned  a  collection  of  customs,  prescriptions,  laws,  etc.,  for  many 
hundred  years  (an  abstract  of  which  was  afterwards  published),  that 
one  of  the  judges  declared  "there  could  be  no  dealing  with  the 
London  ministers  if  Mr.  Walton  pleaded  for  them." 

On  the  15th  January,  1635-36,  Mr.  Walton  was  instituted  to  the 
two  rectories  of  St.  Giles-in-the-Fields,  London,  and  Sandon,  in  Essex. 
The  former  he  did  not  retain,  but,  accepting  Sandon,  held  it  in 
conjunction  with  the  living  of  St.  Martin  Orgar.     He  is  supposed  to 
have  been  at  the  time  one  of  the  chaplains  to  Charles  L,  and  to  have 
been  collated  to  a  prebend  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.     In   1639  he 
commenced  D.D.  at  Cambridge,  selecting  for  his  thesis  the  argument 
that  the  Roman  Pontiff  is  not  an  infallible  judge  in  matters  of  faith. 
The  outbreak  of  civil  war  stopped  his  further  preferment,  and  he 
fell  into  a  sea  of  troubles.     In  1640,  his  wife,  Anne  (a  member  of 
the  Claxton  family),  died,  and  soon  afterwards  the  changes  in  religion 
began  to  weigh  heavily  upon  him.     He  had  made  himself  so  con- 
spicuous  in   the   tithe  war,   and    in    defence  of  the    Royal    cause, 
that  when  the   Puritans   gained   the   upper  hand    he   was   treated 
with  severity.     Deprived  of  his  benefices,  and  "sent  for"  in  1642 
as  a  delinquent,  he  was  obliged  to  hide  in  a  field  of  broom,  till 
an    opportunity   arose    of  dodging   across    country   to    that   refuge 
of  the  loyal  and  the  orthodox — the  city  of  Oxford.     While  there,  in 
August,  1645,  with  other  Cambridge  men,  he  was  incorporated  D.D. 
by  the  University.     There,  too,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  publishing 
the  Polyglot  Bible,  and  commenced  the  collection  of  the  necessary 
materials.     After  the  death  of  the  king  he  made  his  peace  with  the 
victors,  returned  to  London,  to  the  house  of  Fuller  the  historian 
(whose  daughter,  Jane,  became  his  second  wife),  and  in  1652  issued 
a  description   of  the  great  work  he  proposed   to   undertake,   and 
invited  assistance.      Before   the   year  was  out,   subscriptions  were 
announced  to  the  value  of  ^^4,000,  and  a  few  months  later  that  sum 
was  more  than  doubled.     Assisted  by  Oriental  scholars  and  divines, 
Dr.  Walton  completed  the  work  in  four  years,  and  issued  it  in  six 
portly  volumes,  entitled — 

"Biblia  Sacra  Polyglolta,  complectentia  Textus  Originales  Hebraicum  cum 
Pentateucho  Samaritano,  Chaldaicum,  GrKCum;  Versionumque  antiquarum 
Samaritana;,  (irreCc-e  LXXII.  Interpr.  Chaldaicre,  Syriacre,  Arabioe,  CEthiopicK, 
PersicK,  Vulg.  Lat.,"  etc.  6  vols.,  folio.  London,  1657.  (Lowndes  records  the 
sale  of  a  copy  by  auction  at  the  price  of  £,Tl  los.) 


568  BRIAN  WALTON. 

To  assist  students,  and  "  for  the  help  of  such  as  are  ignorant  of 
the  tongues,"  Dr.  Walton  issued  a  "  Manual,"  containing  an  intro- 
duction to  the  reading  of  these  ancient  languages,  "  together  with 
alphabets  of  them  all,  as  also  of  the  Coptic  and  Armenian,  and 
directions  what  lexicons  and  grammars  to  procure,"  etc. 

The  Polyglot  Bible  is  considered  to  have  been  the  first  book 
printed  in  England  by  subscription,  and  is  generally  admitted  to 
have  been  the  most  wonderful  production  of  the  period.  It  did  not, 
however,  escape  criticism.  The  Papal  authorities  put  it  into  the 
"Index  Expurgatorius,"  and  Dr.  John  Owen,  one  of  the  "atlasses 
and  patriarchs  of  Independency,"  as  Anthony  Wood  terms  him, 
published  in  1659  a  volume  of  critical  "  Considerations,"  in  which 
he  attacked  the  work  as  being  injurious  to  the  Reformation,  and 
even  to  Christianity  itself.  Dr.  Walton  replied  in  a  book  with  the 
terrible  title  of — 

"The  Considerator  Considered:  Or  a  Brief  View  of  Certain  Considerations 
upon  the  Biblia  Polyglotta,  the  Prolegomena,  and  Appendix  thereof.  Wherein, 
amongst  other  Things,  the  Certainty,  Integrity,  and  Divine  Authority  of  the 
Original  Texts,  is  defended  against  the  consequences  of  Atheists,  Papists,  Anti- 
scripturists,  etc.,  inferred  from  the  Various  Readings,  and  Novelty  of  the  Hebrew 
Points,  by  the  Author  of  the  said  Considerations  :  The  Biblia  Polyglotta,  and 
Translations  therein  exhibited,  with  the  Various  Readings,  Prolegomena,  and 
Appendix,  vindicated  from  his  Aspersions  and  Calumnies;  and  the  Questions 
about  the  Punctuation  of  the  Hebrew  Text,  the  Various  Readings,  and  the 
Ancient  Hebrew  Character  briefly  handled." 

At  the  Restoration  Dr.  Walton  was  rewarded  for  his  sufferings, 
his  learning,  and  his  loyalty  with  a  bishopric.  He  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Chester  in  Westminster  Abbey,  December  2nd,  1660,  and 
in  March  following  was  appointed  a  Commissioner  at  the  Savoy 
Conference.  Upon  his  primary  visit  to  his  See,  in  September,  1661, 
he  was  the  hero  of  joyous  demonstrations.  Near  Lichfield,  fifty 
miles  from  Chester,  he  was  met  by  a  deputation  from  his  cathedral 
city,  and  as  he  proceeded  southward,  almost  all  the  gentry  of  the 
county  came  to  greet  him,  with  the  militia,  the  train-bands,  and 
troops  of  horse.  He  returned  to  London,  signed  on  the  23rd 
November  a  public  notice  to  the  clergy  to  assemble  in  convocation, 
and  on  the  29th  of  that  month,  within  twelve  months  of  his  consecra- 
tion, he  died.  His  remains  were  interred  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
opposite  the  monument  of  Lord  Chancellor  Hatton,  and  over  his 
grave  may  still  be  read,  in  flowing  Latin,  an  inscription  which 
Anthony  Wood  freely  translates  as  follows : — 


WILLIAM  WARMOUTH.  569 

"Here  awaitelh  the  sound  of  the  last  trump,  Brian  Walton,  Lord  Bishop  of 
Chester.  Reader,  look  for  no  further  epitaph  on  him  whose  very  name  was 
epitaph  enough.  Nevertheless,  if  thou  lookest  for  a  larger  and  louder  one,  consult 
the  vocal  oracles  of  his  fame,  and  not  this  dumb  marble.  For  let  me  inform 
Ihee  (if  it  be  not  a  shame  to  be  ignorant),  this  was  he  that  with  the  first  brought 
succour  and  assistance  to  the  true  Church,  sick  and  fainting  under  the  sad  pressure 
of  persecution.  This  was  he  that  fairly  wiped  off  those  foul  and  contumelious 
aspersions  cast  upon  her  pure  and  spotless  innocence  by  those  illiterate  and  clergy 
trampling  schismatics.  This  was  he  that  brought  more  light  and  lustre  to  the 
reformed  church  here  established;  whilst,  maugre  the  malice  of  those  hellish 
niachinators,  he,  with  more  earnest  zeal  and  indefatigable  labour  than  any, 
carried  on  and  promoted  the  printing  of  that  great  Bible  in  so  many  languages. 
So  that  the  Old  and  New  Testament  may  well  be  his  monument,  which  he  erected 
with  no  small  expense  of  his  own.  Therefore,  he  little  needs  the  pageantry  of 
pompous  titles  emblazoned  or  displayed  in  heralds'  books,  whose  name  is  written 
in  the  Book  of  Life.  He  died  on  St.  Andrew's  Eve,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of 
his  age,  in  the  first  year  of  his  consecration,  and  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God, 
1661." 

Bishop  Walton's  "  Life,"  with  notices  of  his  coadjutors  in  the 
Polyglot  Bible,  and  a  reprint  of  his  "  Considerator  Considered," 
was  published  in  182 1,  in  two  volumes,  octavo,  by  the  Rev.  Henry 
John  Todd,  Archdeacon  of  Cleveland.  It  is  not  known  whether  the 
bishop  left  any  family,  but  a  person  bearing  both  his  names  occurs 
in  the  "Cambridge  Graduates'  Book,"  as  taking  his  first  degree  in 
1676,  and  that  of  LL.D.  in  1688.  No  trace  of  either  of  them 
appears  in  North-Country  history. 


Mmtam  Marmouth, 

MERCHANT    ADVENTURER. 

Alderman  William  Warmouth,  thrice  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  and 
several  times  Governor  of  the  all-powerful  Company  of  Merchant 
Adventurers,  was  a  representative  of  municipal  government  and 
industrial  progress  upon  Tyneside  in  the  closing  years  of  the  Tudor 
dynasty  and  the  early  days  of  the  Stuarts.  His  maternal  grand- 
father, Nicholas  Baxter,  and  his  father,  Robert  Warmouth,  were 
merchants,  and  he — born  in  1569 — was  brought  up  to  the  same 
calling,  the  special  branch  to  which  he  belonged  being  that  of  a  dealer 
in  woollen  cloth.  His  name  first  appears  in  local  history  as  that 
of  a  visitor  at  the  deathbed  of  George  Heley  (Sheriff  of  Newcastle 


570  WILLIAM  WARMOUTH. 

in  1562),  who,  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1588,  having  neglected  to  make 
a  will,  dictated  dying  wishes  to  him  and  Henry  Townson,  giving 
them  jQ<^  each  to  bear  witness  to  this  nuncupative  disposition  of  his 
property.  His  next  public  appearance  was  at  the  altar  of  Hymen. 
On  the  5th  of  April,  1592,  he  married  Judith,  daughter  of  William 
Whittingham,  the  iconoclastic  Dean  of  Durham,  by  Catherine 
Jaquemans,  of  Orleans,  sister  of  the  wife  of  the  celebrated  John 
Calvin. 

Robert  Warmouth,  the  father  of  William,  content  with  his  busi- 
ness of  buying  and  selling  cloth,  had  taken  no  part  in  the  public  life 
of  his  native  town.  But  the  son,  intelligent  and  energetic,  married  to 
the  daughter  of  a  notable  ecclesiastic,  was  more  ambitious.  Him  the 
burgesses  encouraged  to  enter  the  municipal  bod}',  and  at  Michael- 
mas, 1598,  when  he  was  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  they  elected  him 
Sheriff  of  Newcastle.  Two  years  later,  when  the  citizens  obtained 
from  Queen  Elizabeth  their  "  Great  Charter,"  he  was  one  of  the  four- 
and-twenty  burgesses  whose  names  appeared  in  that  voluminous 
document  as  forming,  with  the  Mayor  and  the  Aldermen,  the 
Common  Council  of  the  town.  In  1603,  the  year  which  saw  the 
first  Stuart  seated  on  the  English  throne,  he  was  elected  to  the 
Mayoralty,  and  appointed  Governor  of  his  fellowship — the  Merchants' 
Company. 

]\Ir.  Warmouth's  entrance  into  the  highest  offices  of  municipal 
and  commercial  administration  in  Newcastle  was  signalised  by  two 
interesting  events.  As  Governor  of  the  Merchants'  Company,  he 
issued,  a  month  or  so  after  his  election,  one  of  those  sumptuary 
ordinances  which  relieve  the  books  of  the  fraternity  from  dulness 
and  monotony.  Merchants'  apprentices  were  forbidden  by  Governor 
Warmouth  to  cultivate  luxurious  habits,  or  indulge  in  vain  and 
vulgar  show  of  their  wealth  and  acquirements.  They  were  not  to 
pass  by  the  brethren  of  the  fellowship  in  the  street,  "  but  do  their 
duties  unto  him,  or  them,  by  at  least  uncovering  their  heads."  Lastly, 
it  was  declared  that  for  the  better  ordering  and  governing  of  such 
apprentices  as  should  "  misdemean "  themselves,  a  special  gaol 
should  be  provided  "  by  the  present  governor,"  to  which  all  dis- 
obedient apprentices  should  be  committed.  The  instructions 
contained  in  this  last-named  clause  Governor  Warmouth  carried  out 
by  selecting  the  West  Gate  of  the  town,  fitting  it  up  as  a  prison,  and 
appointing  a  gaoler  with  a  salary  of  40s.  per  annum. 

The  other  important  event  which  marked  Mr.  Warmouth's  acces- 


WILLIAM  WARMOUTH.  571 

sion  to  office  was  the  settlement,  for  a  time  at  least,  of  a  vexed 
question  which  had  created  much  discussion  and  dissension — 
namely,  the  method  of  conducting  municipal  elections  in  the 
borough.  By  decree  of  the  Council  of  York  (dated  December  21st, 
1603),  which  King  James  I.  confirmed  by  a  charter  three  months 
later,  the  following  system  of  election  was  inaugurated : — "  The  twelve 
mysteries  were  to  appoint  two  men  from  each  company,  making 
twenty-four,  who  were  to  choose  four  persons — the  mayor  for  the 
time  being  and  three  aldermen,  who  had  been  mayors,  and  for  want 
of  them  common  burgesses.  The  four  so  selected  were  to  elect 
eight  others — namely,  seven  aldermen,  and  one  that  had  been 
sheriff,  or,  in  need,  more  that  had  been  sheriff,  or  in  default  common 
burgesses.  Thus  twelve  members  of  the  electoral  body  were  ap- 
pointed, and  their  first  duty  was  to  elect  twelve  colleagues.  For  this 
purpose  the  twelve  mysteries  were  each  to  present  one  member,  and 
from  them  the  twelve  were  to  choose  six.  Thus  eighteen  members 
were  obtained.  Then  the  by-trades,  fifteen  companies  in  all,  were  to 
present  one  each,  and  the  fifteen  so  chosen  selected  twelve  free 
burgesses  at  their  discretion,  which  twelve  were  to  be  presented  to 
the  eighteen  already  appointed.  From  these  twelve,  six  were  to  be 
selected  by  the  eighteen,  and  thus  a  body  called  the  '  twenty-four 
electors'  was  properly  constituted.  By  these  twenty-four  electors 
the  mayor  (who  must  be  an  alderman),  the  sheriff,  two  coroners,  a 
clerk  of  the  chamber,  eight  chamberlains,  a  sword-bearer,  eight  ser- 
jeants-at-mace,  and  the  recorder  were  to  be  appointed,  and  any 
vacancy  among  the  ten  aldermen  filled  up.  As  soon  as  they  had 
fixed  the  mayor  and  the  other  officers  in  their  places,  they,  with  the 
mayor,  sheriff,  and  aldermen,  were  to  elect  twenty-four  burgesses  to 
form  the  Common  Council."  If  this  plan  were  an  improvement 
upon  the  system  which  it  superseded,  what  must  that  system  have 
been? 

In  161 2,  Mr.  Warmouth,  by  this  time  an  alderman,  was  re-elected 
Governor  of  the  JNIerchants'  Company,  and,  two  years  later.  Mayor. 
Before  his  second  occupancy  of  the  Mayoralty  expired,  Richard  St. 
George,  Norroy  King  of  Arms,  was  holding  his  heraldic  visitation 
in  the  North  of  England.  To  this  important  personage  Alderman 
Warmouth  preferred  a  claim  to  bear  arms,  and  the  privilege  was 
conceded  to  him.  High  up  on  the  panelled  walls  of  the  Merchants' 
Court  of  Newcastle,  among  those  of  other  notable  Governors  of  the 
Company,  his  shield  may  still  be  seen,  bearing  argent,  on  a  bend 


572  WILLIAM  WARMOUTH. 

between  two  lions  rampant  azure,  three  mullets  of  six  points  or, 
pierced.  So  the  blazon  should  read,  according  to  the  Visitation; 
but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  field,  as  exemplified  in  the  Merchants' 
Court,  is  "or " — an  error  for  which  the  Carr  MS.  is  probably 
responsible. 

Alderman  Warmouth's  next  public  appointment  (in  1616)  was  that 
of  conservator  of  the  Tyne.  In  1620,  he  appeared  as  respondent  to 
a  bill  preferred  by  the  Attorney-General,  who  complained  that  he, 
with  Sir  Peter  Riddell  and  Alderman  James  Clavering,  held  the 
deeds  of  the  Castle,  and  that  the  Mayor  and  burgesses  claimed 
inheritance  in  the  premises,  and  had  taken  possession  of  the  same, 
which  of  right  belonged  to  the  king,  etc.  The  year  following,  his 
name  appears  in  a  subsidy  roll,  in  which  he  is  described  as 
resident  in  the  parish  of  St.  Nicholas,  and  as  owning  goods  there 
assessable  at  a  value  which  only  three  other  parishioners  equalled, 
and  none  exceeded. 

At  the  Michaelmas  election  in  1631,  Alderman  Warmouth  was 
chosen  Mayor  for  the  third  time,  and  his  eldest  son  Henry,  of 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  and  a  member  of  Gray's  Inn,  was  elected 
Sheriff.  A  combination  of  father  and  son  in  the  two  great  municipal 
offices  indicated  high  standing  and  general  popularity.  Both  men 
had  won  the  suffrages  of  the  electors  by  generosity  of  character 
and  tolerance  of  adverse  opinion.  Although  loyal  to  King  Charles, 
and  faithful  to  the  established  religion,  they  were  indulgent  to  both 
Papist  and  Presbyter.  A  notable  instance  of  their  Christian  charity 
occurred  a  few  months  after  their  election.  Dorothy  Lawson,  of  St. 
Anthony's,  a  devoted  follower  of  the  old  religion,  died  on  Palm 
Sunday,  1632,  and  her  funeral  was  appointed  to  take  place  at  the 
church  of  All  Saints,  Newcastle,  a  few  days  after.  Instead  of  allow- 
ing her  to  be  buried  in  the  quiet  way  which  her  co-religionists 
usually  were  compelled  to  adopt,  with,  probably,  the  brand  of 
"  Papist  "  attached  to  her  name  in  the  parish  register,  her  remains 
were  received  at  the  landing-place  on  the  Quay  by  "  the  magistrates 
and  aldermen,  with  the  whole  glory  of  the  town,"  who  accompanied 
them  to  the  church,  and  handed  them  over  to  a  Catholic  priest,  to 
be  laid  with  Catholic  ceremonies  in  the  grave.  Three  years  later 
father  and  son  were  engaged  in  a  like  solemnity  of  their  own — the 
departed  lady  being  Judith,  the  alderman's  wife  and  the  ex-sheriff's 
mother. 

Soon  after  the  imposition  of  ship-money,  that  fatal  act  by  which 


WILLIAM  WARMOUTII.  573 

King  Charles  sought  to  raise  money  without  the  authority  of  ParHa- 
ment,  Alderman  Warmouth  was  sent  to  London  to  represent  to  the 
Privy  Couneil  the  difficulty  which  the  local  authorities  experienced 
in  levying  and  collecting  it.  The  following  year,  when  Newcastle 
suffered  from  a  visitation  of  the  plague,  in  which  nearly  6,000 
persons  died,  and  grass  grew  in  the  deserted  streets,  he  was  one 
of  the  magistrates  who  stuck  to  their  posts,  and  ministered  to  the 
wants  of  the  panic-stricken  people.  His  name  is  appended  to  a 
letter  from  the  Mayor  and  aldermen  of  Newcastle  to  the  Corporation 
of  Berwick,  acknowledging  a  gift  of  money  towards  the  alleviation  of 
the  universal  distress  that  prevailed  in  the  town.  As  soon  as  this 
calamity  had  passed  away,  he  became  actively  engaged  in  another 
movement  for  restoring  prosperity  to  his  suffering  fellow-townsmen. 
A  dispute  had  arisen  between  the  merchants  of  London  and  the 
merchants  of  Newcastle  respecting  some  high-handed  proceedings 
of  the  former  in  relation  to  one  of  the  staple  industries  of  Tyneside 
— the  alderman's  own  calling,  the  trade  in  woollen  cloth.  He  and 
Alderman  Leonard  Carr  were  sent  to  London  by  the  Newcastle 
Merchants'  Company,  of  which  he  was  again  Governor,  to  try 
and  adjust  the  difference.  Their  mission  was  unsuccessful;  the 
proceedings  dragged  on  for  years,  until,  indeed,  both  aldermen  had 
passed  away,  and  the  woollen  cloth  trade  had  subsided  into  com- 
parative insignificance. 

While  in  London  upon  this  business.  Alderman  Warmouth  was 
consulted  by  the  Privy  Council  respecting  one  of  numerous  petitions 
that  were  being  sent  to  the  king  from  merchants  and  shipowners 
against  monopoly  in  the  Newcastle  coal  trade.  He  confessed  that 
some  of  the  complaints  made  by  the  petitioners  were  just,  and 
promised  that  upon  his  return  to  Newcastle  he  would  secure  some 
amendment.  The  promise  was  kept,  and,  for  a  time  at  least,  the 
practices  complained  of  were  abandoned. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  civil  disturbances,  the  alderman  was  one 
of  the  local  magistrates  with  whom  the  military  authorities  took 
counsel.  He  signed  the  interesting  report  which,  on  the  21st  of 
January,  1639,  after  conference  with  Sir  Jacob  Astley,  the  Mayor 
and  others  sent  to  the  Privy  Council,  explaining  the  course  to  be 
adopted  for  securing  the  town  against  invasion.  This  was  the  last 
of  his  public  acts  that  has  been  recorded.  He  was  an  old  man  of 
seventy  when  the  document  was  written,  and  the  end  of  his  days 
was  approaching.     He  lived  to  see  the  Scots  take  peaceable  posses- 


574  WILLIAM  WARRILOW. 

sion  of  his  native  town  in  August,  1640,  but  was  spared  the  horrors 
of  the  siege  and  the  calamities  which  followed.  His  death  occurred 
on  the  22nd  of  July,  1642,  and  the  next  day  he  was  buried  beside 
his  wife  in  his  parish  church  of  St.  Nicholas. 

In  his  will  Alderman  Warmouth  left  ;^ioo,  to  be  lent  triennially 
to  successive  members  of  the  fellowship  over  which  he  had  so 
frequently  presided,  "  hoping  that  by  so  doing  it  might  be  a  means 
to  raise  many  a  good  merchant,  he  himself  having  had  no  more  than 
one  hundred  pounds  to  begin  with  when  he  first  adventured  the  seas." 

After  his  father's  death,  Henry  Warmouth  joined  the  Parliamentary 
party.  On  the  5th  of  December,  1644,  he  was  appointed  by  the 
House  of  Commons  to  succeed  Sir  John  Marley  in  the  Mayoralty, 
and  in  1647  his  fellow-burgesses  sent  him  to  Parliament  as  the 
colleague  of  John  Blakiston.  His  parliamentary  career  was  of  very 
short  duration.  For  reasons  explained  in  the  sketch  of  Robert 
Ellison,  his  election  was  declared  void,  and  Mr.  Ellison  stepped  into 
his  place.  What  became  of  him  afterwards  is  not  recorded,  nor  is 
the  date  and  place  of  his  death  known  to  the  compilers  of  local 
history.  He  made  his  wall  on  the  nth  April,  1654,  and,  imitating 
his  father,  bequeathed  ;^ioo  for  the  relief  of  decayed  members  of 
the  Merchants'  Company.  He  also  gave  ;^i,2oo  towards  the  re- 
construction of  the  Guildhall  (completed  in  1658),  an  act  of  muni- 
ficence commemorated  by  the  architect,  Robert  Trollop,  upon 
an  inscribed  stone  with  which  he  adorned  the  inner  face  of  the 
buildinoj. 


Mtlliam  Marrilow, 

CATHOLIC    PRIEST. 

On  the  death  of  Father  Walsh,  as  described  on  page  561,  a  priest 
named  William  Warrilow  was  sent  to  take  charge  of  the  Newcastle 
congregation  in  the  Close.  Mr.  Warrilow  came  of  a  good  old 
Catholic  family  at  Draycott,  in  Staffordshire.  He  was  born  on  the 
13th  July,  1738,  and  at  the  proper  age  entered  the  college  of  Douay 
to  receive  the  usual  training  for  an  ecclesiastical  career.  Having 
finished  his  course  in  philosophy,  he  sought  admission  into  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and,  being  accepted,  began  his  novitiate  in 
September,   1760.     Three  years  later,  he  came  to  EUingham,  and 


WILLIAM  WAKRILOW.  575 

ministered  there  till  the  death  of  IMr.  Walsh  brought  him  to 
Newcastle. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  town,  Mr.  Warrilow  became  involved 
in  a  controversy.  Pope  Clement  XIV.  (Ganganelli)  issued  a  brief 
suppressing  the  Jesuits,  and  the  new-comer,  vexed  and  disheartened, 
poured  out  his  soul  in  the  local  newspapers,  bewailing  the  calamity 
that  had  overtaken  his  beloved  Order,  and  contending,  among  other 
things,  that  his  Holiness  had  given  no  sufficient  reason  for  taking 
such  drastic  proceedings  against  it.  Mr.  Cordell,  who  ofificiated  at 
the  other  Catholic  chapel  (the  secular  mission)  in  Newcastle,  took 
up  cudgels  in  defence  of  the  Pope.  The  dispute  was  of  short 
duration.  The  Papal  authorities  in  England  were  not  inclined  to 
take  severe  measures  against  an  Order  that  might  at  any  time  be 
restored  to  favour,  and  Father  Warrilow,  having  made  his  submission 
to  the  decree  through  the  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the  Northern  District, 
was  allowed  to  continue  his  ministrations.  By  this  time  the  lease 
of  Sir  John  Marley's  house  in  the  Close  was  drawing  to  an  end, 
and  a  new  home  for  both  priest  and  people  became  necessary.  Mr. 
Warrilow  was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  an  old  mansion  on  the 
east  side  of  Westgate  Street,  a  few  yards  south  of  Denton  Chare, 
that  belonged  in  former  days  to  the  Derwentwater  family.  There  he 
established  his  altar,  and  there  he  offered  up  the  daily  sacrifice  to 
the  end  of  his  days.  Long  after  he  had  left  it,  and  indeed  within 
the  past  twenty  years,  the  place  was  known  to  Tynesiders  far  and 
near  as  Zion  Chapel,  Zion  Court, — a  nursery  for  adolescent  congre- 
gations, and  a  temporary  home  for  dissidence  in  dissent. 

The  relaxation  of  the  penal  laws  against  Catholics,  in  1778,  gave 
Mr.  Warrilow  and  his  congregation  comparative  freedom  of  WOTship, 
and  they  were  never  molested,  although  during  the  "No  Popery 
riots"  of  Lord  George  Gordon,  a  couple  of  years  later,  they  were 
obliged  to  exercise  caution,  and  retire  from  mass  by  twos  and  threes 
at  a  time.  With  the  progress  of  toleration  the  day  came  when  they 
were  appreciated  and  respected.  Mr.  Warrilow  was  a  man  of  culture, 
and  a  preacher  of  great  eloquence  and  power.  By-and-by,  the 
cultured  and  scholarly  residents  in  Newcastle  and  the  neighbour- 
hood ventured  in  to  hear  him,  and  came  away  surprised  and 
delighted.  After  listening  to  one  of  his  sermons,  Mrs.  Siddons 
is  reported  to  have  said  that,  if  he  had  taken  to  the  stage  instead  of 
the  Church,  he  would  have  immortalised  his  name,  and  realised  a 
handsome  fortune.      Father  Warrilow  reciprocated  Mrs.   Siddons's 


576  WILLIAAT  HENRY  WATSON. 

compliment  by  going  to  the  theatre,  and  there,  on  the  evening  of  the 
27th  June,  1788,  he  became  the  hero  of  a  remarkable  adventure 
with  the  renowned  London  pickpocket,  Barrington.  The  story,  as 
recorded  in  the  local  press,  may  be  read  on  page  317,  vol.  ii.,  of 
Richardson's  "  Local  Historian's  Table  Book." 

Mr.  Warrilow  died  on  the  i8th  November,  1807,  aged  sixty-nine, 
and  was  buried  in  the  north-east  corner  of  St.  John's  Churchyard. 
A  plain  tombstone  marks  his  resting-place,  bearing  the  simple 
record  of  his  name,  the  date  of  his  death,  his  age,  and  the  pious 
wish,  "  Requiescat  in  Pace." 


Milliain  Ibcnrv)  Matron, 

BARON    OF    THE    EXCHEQUER. 

"  On  his  bold  visage  middle  age 
Had  slightly  press'd  its  signet  sage, 
Yet  had  not  quench'd  the  open  truth 
And  fiery  vehemence  of  youth; 
His  stately  mien  as  well  implied 
A  high-born  heart,  a  martial  pride, 
As  if  a  baron's  crest  he  wore, 
And  sheathed  in  armour  trod  the  shore." 

— Scott's  "Lady  of  the  Lake.'' 

William  Henry  Watson,  one  of  the  half-dozen  eminent  lawyers 
connected  with  the  county  of  Northumberland  who,  in  modern 
times,  have  been  promoted  to  the  judicial  bench,  was  born  at 
Nottingham,  on  the  ist  of  July,  1796.  His  mother  was  the  daughter 
of  Henry  Grey,  of  Shoreston  House,  near  Bamborough.  His 
father,  John  Watson,  who  belonged  to  the  same  family  as  the  present 
Sir  Wager  Watson,  was  a  captain  in  H.M.'s  76th  Regiment,  and 
(his  health  having  broken  down  through  hard  service  with  his 
regiment  in  India)  died  at  an  early  age  at  Nottingham,  where 
he  was  quartered,  leaving  an  only  child,  his  son. 

From  his  earliest  years  it  was  a  settled  thing  that  William  Henry 
Watson  should  enter  the  army — the  profession  of  his  father  and 
most  of  his  relatives.  With  this  view  he  was  sent  at  an  early  age 
to  the  Military  College  which  was  then  established  at  Great  Marlow, 
but  which,  before  he  quitted  it,  was  removed  to  its  present  locality 


WILLIAM  HENR  Y  WA  TSON.  577 

at  Sandhurst.  In  1S12  he  was  gazetted  as  cornet  in  the  Royal 
Dragoons,  with  whom  he  served  in  Spain,  receiving  therefor  in 
due  course  a  Peninsular  medal.  At  the  reduction  of  the  army,  he 
was  placed  on  half-pay;  but,  on  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities  prior 
to  the  Waterloo  campaign,  he  was  gazetted  to  the  Inniskilling 
Dragoons.  On  the  i8th  June,  18 15,  he  crossed  from  Dover  to 
Ostend  with  troops;  a  great  battle  was  known  to  be  imminent,  and 
those  on  board  fancied — perhaps  after  the  fact  of  the  battle  came  to 
their  knowledge — that,  on  reaching  Ostend,  they  heard  the  sound 
of  distant  cannonading.  Not  having  been  engaged  in  the  actual 
battle,  he  did  not  receive  the  Waterloo  medal;  but  he  had  a  share 
in  the  Waterloo  prize-money. 

In  connection  with  his  military  career,  it  may  be  noted  that,  on 
his  being  made  a  serjeant-at-law,  the  then  condition  precedent  of 
becoming  a  common-law  judge,  he  gave  rings  with  the  motto 
"Militavi."  On  the  same  occasion  he  presented  his  old  regiment, 
the  Inniskillings,  with  a  large  silver  snuff-box,  the  design  of  which 
was  a  cavalry  helmet  and  a  judge's  wig,  with  the  motto  "Cedunt 
arma  togce." 

He  was  now  once  more  placed  on  half-pay;  and,  seeing  little  or 
no  chance  of  further  military  employment,  he  determined  to  try 
the  profession  of  the  law.  He  always  said  that  he  was  led  to  do  so 
by  the  pleasure  he  derived  from  reading  some  old  law-book  which 
he  found  at  his  grandfather's  house  at  Shoreston. 

In  1 81 7  he  went  up  to  London  to  begin  his  studies,  becoming  a 
member  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  For  two  out  of  the  three  years  of  his 
pupilage,  he  read  in  the  chambers  of  the  late  Mr.  Justice  Patteson, 
then  a  special  pleader,  of  whose  kindness  to  him  he  always  spoke 
with  the  deepest  gratitude.  He  then  started  as  a  special  pleader  on 
his  own  account,  and  through  the  action  of  some  eminent  North- 
Country  firms  of  solicitors,  he  soon  began  to  get  into  business.  In 
this  stage  of  his  career,  venturing  into  authorship,  he  published  two 
legal  treatises — one  in  1825,  "On  the  Law  of  Arbitration  and 
Awards,"  and  the  other  in  1827,  "  On  the  Law  relating  to  the  Office 
and  Duty  of  Sheriff."  The  utility  of  these  works  was  attested  by 
several  reprints.  His  business  as  a  pleader  continuing  to  increase, 
he  finally,  on  the  8th  June,  1832,  took  the  somewhat  dreaded  step 
of  being  called  to  the  Bar,  a  step,  however,  which  was  soon  justified 
by  his  taking  a  place  among  the  leading  juniors  of  the  day.  Fluent 
and  forcible  in  his  language,  sound  and  practical  in  his  definitions, 

VOL.  III.  37 


5  7  8  WILLIAM  HENR  Y  WA  TSON. 

accurate  and  painstaking  in  his  pleadings,  friendly  and  cordial  to- 
wards the  junior  branch  of  his  profession,  Mr,  Watson  made  himself 
popular  on  circuit — a  favourite  alike  with  bench,  bar,  and  clients. 
In  the  Monthly  Chronicle  for  November,  1891,  are  interesting  reminis- 
cences of  his  career  in  the  Northern  Courts,  contributed  by  two  well- 
known  local  attorneys — W,  Wealands  Robson,  of  Sunderland,  and 
John  Theodore  Hoyle,  of  Newcastle.  Mr.  Robson  writes  of  him  in 
terms  of  the  highest  admiration : — 

"  His  nerve,  presence  of  mind,  and  promptness  of  decision  were 
most  marvellous.  Instructions  forsooth  !  Give  Watson  the  pleadings 
and  the  proofs,  and  he  would  instruct  himself.  If  it  came  to  a  ques- 
tion of  law,  you  might  sleep  on  roses  if  Watson  said  you  were  all 
right.  I  once  had  an  opinion  from  Watson  in  which  every  line  cost 
a  guinea,  and  was  cheap  at  the  money.  He  always  instinctively 
apprehended  and  foresaw  the  true  turning-point,  and  this  he  used 
fairly  to  '  insense '  into  the  jury.  His  replies  were  a  summing  up. 
He  used  to  put  the  whole  case  broadly,  candidly,  and  fearlessly  to 
the  jury  when  he  felt  certain  of  success,  and  then  my  Lord  could  do 
nothing  more  than  repeat  and  re-echo  Mr.  Watson." 

Success  at  the  Bar  led  Mr.  Watson  to  aspire  to  parliamentary 
honours.  In  those  days  lawyers  in  Parliament  were  not  many.  He 
made  his  first  attempt  to  obtain  a  seat  in  1839,  at  Reigate,  but  failed 
— a  failure  which  led,  at  "  Grand  Night"  on  the  Northern  Circuit,  the 
circuit  which  he  had  naturally  adopted,  to  the  following  skit  (Hild- 
yard  being  a  member  of  the  circuit  who  had  gone  up  in  a  balloon, 
and  Lewin  being  Sir  Gregory  Lewin,  originally  in  the  Navy,  and  a 
well-known  character  on  the  circuit) : — 

"  Sooner  would  I  go  with  Hildyard  ballooning, 
Sooner  would  I  take  to  my  old  trade  dragooning, 
Nay,  sooner  would  I  go  to  sea  with  Lewin  in  a  frigate, 
Than  I  would  again  stand  candidate  for  Reigate." 

In  1 841,  Mr.  Watson  was  returned  for  Kinsale  in  Ireland.  He 
sat  for  that  borough  until  1847,  when  he  was  beaten.  Meanwhile,  in 
1843,  with  Mr.  (afterwards  Baron)  Martin  and  John  Arthur  Roebuck, 
M.P.  for  Shefiield,  he  received  the  silk  gown  of  a  Queen's  Counsel. 
In  1852,  upon  the  retirement  of  William  Ord,  Mr.  Watson  sought 
to  become  Mr.  Ord's  successor  in  the  representation  of  Newcastle. 
But  the  electors  willed  otherwise.  The  advanced  wing  of  the  Whig 
party  had  placed  their  affections  and  set  their  hopes  upon  young 


WILLIAM  HENRY  WATSON.  579 

J.  F.  Burgoyne  Blackett,  of  Wylam,  and  Blackett  being  a  name  to 
conjure  with  in  Newcastle,  they  were  not  disappointed.  Mr.  Watson 
was  proposed  on  the  hustings  by  Alderman  Potter,  and  seconded  by 
Charles  Smith  the  younger.  He  shared  with  Mr.  Blackett  the  show 
of  hands  ;  but  when  the  votes  came  to  be  counted,  the  candidates 
found  themselves  ranged  in  alphabetical  order,  Blackett  at  the  top 
with  2,418  votes  (the  largest  number  ever  polled  by  a  candidate  in 
Newcastle  up  to  that  time),  Mr.  Headlam  lower  down  with  2,172, 
and  Mr.  Watson  at  the  foot  with  1,808  votes.  In  1854  he  was 
returned  for  Hull,  for  which  place  he  continued  to  sit  till  he  became 
a  judge. 

Mr.  Watson's  position  at  the  Bar  and  in  Parliament  had  long 
pointed  to  his  elevation  to  the  judicial  bench.  An  air  of  dignity, 
imparted  by  his  military  experience,  united  to  stateliness  of  carriage 
and  gravity  of  demeanour,  gave  him  the  outward  attributes  of  a  judge 
long  before  he  was  raised  to  the  seat  of  judgment.  It  was  common 
observation  among  the  freauenters  of  the  Northern  assize  courts  in 
the  early  fifties,  that  *'  Watson  must  be  made  a  judge,  for  he  looks 
one,  every  inch  of  him."  His  turn  for  promotion,  however,  did  not 
come  so  soon  as  his  friends  desired.  At  last,  in  November,  1856, 
thirteen  years  after  he  had  taken  silk,  Lord  Cranworth,  the  then 
Chancellor,  in  a  most  complimentary  and  sympathetic  letter,  offered 
him  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Exchequer,  vacant  by  the  resignation 
of  Baron  Piatt ;  whereupon  "  The  General,"  as  he  was  always  called, 
bade  adieu  to  his  old  friends  on  the  Northern  Circuit.  At  the  July 
assizes  following,  when  he  presided  for  the  first  time  over  the  New- 
castle Courts  in  which  his  pleadings  had  been  so  often  heard,  the 
place  was  crowded  by  friends,  anxious  to  do  him  honour,  while  the 
congregation  that  attended  him  to  St.  Nicholas'  Church  was  the 
largest  that  had  been  recorded.  He  did  not,  however,  long  enjoy 
the  honour.  In  the  early  part  of  i860  he  was  attacked  by  an  internal 
malady  which  gradually  wasted  his  strength.  He  was  strongly  urged 
not  to  go  the  circuit ;  but,  in  his  hatred  of  idleness  and  his  sense  of 
duty,  he  would  not  listen  to  the  advice.  It  was,  however,  arranged 
that  he  should  have  the  easiest  of  the  circuits — the  North  Wales. 
On  the  13th  of  March,  i860,  after  charging  the  Grand  Jury  at  Welsh- 
pool, he  sank  back  in  his  chair,  and  in  a  few  minutes  had  passed 
away.  In  accordance  with  a  favourite  saying  of  his,  that  "  where  the 
tree  falls,  there  it  should  lie,"  he  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  the 
new  church  in  that  town. 


58o  ROBERT  WATSON. 

On  the  17th  August,  1826,  Mr.  Watson  married,  at  Newcastle, 
Anne,  only  daughter  of  William  Armstrong,  afterwards  an  Alderman 
and  Mayor  of  the  borough.  She  died  at  Hastings,  whither  she  had 
gone  for  her  health,  on  the  ist  of  June,  1828,  leaving  an  only  child, 
John  William,  who,  on  the  5th  May,  1859,  married  Margaret 
Godman,  daughter  of  Patrick  Person  Fitz  Patrick,  Esq.,  of  Fitz 
Leat  House,  Bognor.  By  her  he  has  had,  with  other  issue,  William 
Henry  Armstrong  Fitz  Patrick,  who,  in  1S89,  on  his  marriage  with 
the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Adye,  G.C.B.,  assumed,  in  accordance  with 
the  wish  of  his  great-uncle,  Lord  Armstrong,  the  name  and  arms  of 
Armstrong,  in  addition  to  those  of  Watson. 

In  August,  1 83 1,  Mr.  Watson  married,  for  his  second  wife,  Mary, 
younger  daughter  of  Anthony  Capron  (who  afterwards  took  the 
name  of  Hollist),  of  Midhurst,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  William 
Henry,  a  colonel  R.A. 


IRobcrt  Wateon, 

ARTIST. 

A  HUNDRED  years  ago,  the  new-established  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society  of  Newcastle  encouraged  its  members  to  read  papers  upon 
literary  and  philosophical  subjects.  The  idea  of  its  founders  was 
to  create  an  institution  like  the  Royal  Societies  of  London  and 
Edinburgh,  in  which  the  loan  of  books  was  supplemented  by 
research  and  investigation.  For  a  time  that  idea  was  kept  steadily 
in  view.  Papers  were  read,  discussed  and  published,  affording 
much  interest  to  the  members,  and  supplying  useful  information 
to  the  public.  But  for  these  papers,  we  should  probably  have 
known  little  or  nothing  respecting  the  youthful  genius  whose  name 
heads  this  page.  His  days  were  not  long  in  the  land;  his  career 
was  too  short  for  a  knowledge  of  his  artistic  achievements  to  spread 
far  beyond  his  native  Tyneside;  a  newspaper  paragraph  of  a  dozen 
lines  would  probably  have  recorded  all  that  was  remembered  of  him. 
Fortunately,  he  had  a  friend  in  Newcastle,  one  of  the  men  who 
helped  to  establish  the  "  Lit.  and  Phil." — David  Stephenson,  the 
architect  of  All  Saints'  Church.  Mr.  Stephenson  flushed  his  pen  in 
the  new  society  by  writing  a  memoir  of  his  accomplished  fellow- 
townsman.       The  memoir,   read   on   the    14th   January,    1794,   and 


ROBERT  WATSON.  581 

published  in  the  first  issue  of  the  "  Transactions,  Papers,  and 
Memoirs"  of  the  institution,  preserves  to  us  the  record  of  a  Hfe 
which,  although  "  opening  in  the  dawn  and  closing  ere  'twas  noon," 
gives  to  him  who  lived  it  the  right  to  be  included  among  North- 
umbrian men  of  mark. 

Robert  Watson,  son  of  Joseph  and  Isabella  Watson,  was  born  in 
Newcastle  on  the  20th  of  April,  1755.  His  father  was  a  member  of 
the  Incorporated  Company  of  Free  Porters;  his  mother  assisted  the 
father's  earnings  by  making  sausages,  and  vending  them  at  their 
home  in  the  Flesh  Market.  The  house  in  which  they  lived,  with 
the  wooden  posts  in  front  of  it,  figures  conspicuously  in  Charlton 
Nesbit's  large  wood  engraving  of  St.  Nicholas'  Church;  it  is  even 
said  that  the  woman  in  the  picture,  who  is  throwing  water  from  a 
pail,  was  intended  to  represent  Mrs.  Watson  engaged  in  her  daily 
calling. 

Where  the  lad  was  educated  is  not  recorded.  Wheresoever  it  was, 
he  developed  during  his  school-days  such  a  remarkable  aptitude  for 
drawing  that  his  parents  could  think  of  no  business  so  likely  to  suit 
his  tastes  and  develop  his  artistic  faculty  as  that  of  a  coach-painter. 
To  a  coach-painter,  therefore,  he  was  apprenticed,  and  a  disastrous 
connection  it  proved  to  be.  Mr.  Stephenson,  with  much  effusion, 
relates  that,  "fortunately  for  him,  his  master's  indiscretions  soon  set 
him  at  liberty  from  a  situation  too  confined  for  the  sublimity  of  his 
genius,  and  he  removed  to  London,  as  a  sphere  calculated  for  the 
improvement  and  expansion  of  those  talents  which,  in  a  short  time 
after,  burst  out  with  such  lustre." 

Arrived  in  London,  Mr.  Watson  became  an  assiduous  student  at 
the  Royal  Academy.  He  worked  hard  at  anatomy  and  perspective, 
drew  copiously  from  the  antique,  studied  Nature  in  the  woods  and 
fields,  visited  every  collection  of  pictures  that  was  accessible  to  him, 
and  formed  friendships  with  most  of  the  teachers  and  professors 
of  his  art  that  came  within  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance.  In  1778, 
when  he  was  twenty-three  years  old,  he  obtained  the  gold  medal  or 
pallet  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts  for  the  best 
historical  drawing  of  the  year.  Gaining  confidence  as  he  progressed 
in  his  studies,  he  launched  into  authorship,  into  that  dangerous 
phase  of  authorship  which  bears  the  name  of  criticism,  and  into  that 
uncertain  and  perilous  kind  of  criticism  which  relates  to  art  and 
artists.  He  issued,  in  the  spring  of  1780,  a  brochure  bearing  the 
title  of  "  An  Anticipation  of  the  Exhibition  of  the  Royal  Academy," 


582  ROBERT  WATSON. 

in  which  he  described  with  much  piquancy  and  force  some  well- 
known  performances  of  eminent  contemporary  painters.  So  far 
from  making  enemies  by  his  publication,  as  critics  too  often  do, 
Mr.  Watson  obtained  by  its  means  powerful  patronage.  "  His 
company  and  conversation  were  eagerly  sought  after,  and  he  soon 
had  the  honour  of  classing  Sir  William  Fordyce,  Dr.  Samuel  John- 
son, Mr.  Mason  the  poet.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Mr.  Stonehewer, 
and  many-  more  eminent  men,  in  the  list  of  his  most  intimate 
friends." 

Although  settled  in  London,  and  rising  rapidly  in  his  profession, 
Mr.  Watson  did  not  forget  his  home  in  Newcastle.  Every  year 
he  came  down  to  visit  his  parents  and  to  renew  the  friendships 
of  his  youth.  During  one  of  these  visits,  he  read  a  controversy 
that  was  being  conducted  between  Dr.  Priestley  and  Dr.  Price  on 
Materialism,  and  became  so  interested  in  the  discussion  that  in 
1 781  he  published  an  octavo  volume  on  the  subject,  entitled 
"  An  Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Existence  of  the  Material  World." 
In  this  work,  which  was  addressed  to  the  two  combatants  whose 
writings  had  directed  his  attention  to  the  question,  he  attacked 
the  opinions  of  both  with  much  shrewdness  and  ingenuity.  He  also 
wrote  a  tragedy,  which  the  managers  of  one  of  the  London  theatres 
accepted  for  representation,  but  failed  to  produce,  and  the  MS.  was 
never  recovered. 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  his  essay  on  Materialism,  Mr. 
Watson,  tempted  by  the  prospects  held  out  to  Englishmen  who 
assisted  in  the  re-conquest  of  India,  went  out  thither  in  the  capacity 
of  an  engineer.  By  what  means  he  gained  the  necessary  knowledge 
to  undertake  the  duties  of  an  engineer  in  a  military  expedition  is 
not  stated,  but  that  was  the  position  which,  we  are  told,  he  held 
in  the  service.  Our  troops  at  that  time  were  engaged  in  a  sharp 
conflict  with  Tippoo  Sahib  and  his  French  allies  in  the  Carnatic 
and  Madras  region,  while  Warren  Hastings  was  conducting  import- 
ant military  operations  in  the  northern  and  central  stations.  Mr. 
Watson  arrived  in  India  in  1783,  and  was  in  time,  as  Mr.  Stephen- 
son tells  us,  "to  distinguish  himself  in  his  new  employment."  He 
assisted  in  the  defence  of  Fort  Osnaburgh,  "for  the  garrison  of 
which  he  obtained  very  honourable  terms  of  capitulation,"  and 
directly  afterwards  was  seized  with  a  fever,  which  terminated  his 
existence  in  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 


JANE  {WALDIE)   WATTS.  583 


3anc  (TOalMc)  Mattt\ 

ARTIST   AND    AUTHOR. 

By  the  marriage  of  Jean,  eldest  daughter  and  heiress  of  Charles 
Ormston,  of  Hendersyde,  to  John  Waldie,  of  Berryhill  and  Hayhope, 
in  the  middle  of  last  century,  two  old  Kelso  families  became  united 
in  body  and  estate.  The  amalgamation  was  made  still  more  effective, 
in  1770,  by  the  union  of  George  Waldie,  son  of  John  and  Jean,  to 
Ann,  eldest  daughter  of  Jonathan  Ormston,  of  Newcastle.  This 
marriage  gave  the  family  a  habitation  as  well  as  a  name  upon 
Tyneside.  For  although  Hendersyde,  a  beautiful  mansion  one 
mile  east  of  Kelso,  was  George  Waldie's  principal  seat,  he  owned 
the  Northumbrian  estate  of  Kingswood,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river  Allan,  opposite  Staward-le-Peel,  and  lived,  during  a  great  part 
of  each  year,  at  Forth  House,  Newcastle.  Among  their  mother's 
relatives  and  friends  his  children  were  brought  up,  and  though 
none  of  them  may  have  been  actually  born  on  the  Northumbrian 
side  of  the  Border,  they  were  Novocastrians  by  training  as  well  as 
in  thought  and  feeling. 

Jane,  the  youngest  of  five  children  issuing  from  the  marriage  of 
George  Waldie  and  Ann  Ormston,  was  born  in  1792,  and  spent  the 
first  five  summers  of  her  life  at  Tynemouth.  Till  her  fifteenth  year 
she  was  a  scholar  at  a  Newcastle  boarding-school,  and  her  education 
was  completed  at  an  academy  in  Edinburgh,  owned  by  a  sister  of 
Professor  Playfair.  She  was  a  precocious  child.  "  From  earliest 
childhood,"  her  biographer  relates,  "her  quickness  of  intellect  and 
original  talent  were  remarkable.  She  was  in  infancy  passionately 
fond  of  reading ;  and,  when  only  five  years  of  age,  had  made  con- 
siderable progress  in  the  science  of  astronomy !  "  She  manifested 
at  the  same  time  astonishing  skill  in  painting.  "  Unaided  by 
teachers,  uninduced  by  example,  no  sooner  could  her  little  fingers 
grasp  the  pencil,  than  she  eagerly  attempted  to  delineate  the  trees, 
cottages,  and  other  rural  objects  which  surrounded  her  when  residing 
in  the  country.  When  quite  a  child,  she  pored  for  hours  over  an 
old  quarto  volume  on  perspective,  the  only  work  on  any  branch  of 
art  which  her  father's  library  contained." 

As  Miss  Waldie  grew  up  into  womanhood,  painting  became  her 


5 84  JANE  {WALDIE)    WATTS. 

master  passion.  Her  father  encouraged  his  youthful  prodigy,  and, 
to  give  her  talents  fuller  development,  accompanied  her  to  the  great 
galleries  of  Italy  and  France,  and  rambled  with  her  among  the 
picturesque  mountains  and  valleys  of  Switzerland  and  South  Ger- 
many. In  time  she  became  an  accomplished  artist,  distinguished 
by  unusual  skill  in  sketching  from  Nature.  Yet,  according  to  her 
biographer,  with  all  her  accomplishments,  she  was  among  the  most 
modest  and  retiring  of  artists.  Pictures  which  she  exhibited  at  the 
Royal  Academy  and  British  Gallery  always  appeared  without  her 
name,  and  it  was  only  to  her  intimate  friends  in  Newcastle  and 
Kelso  that  she  showed  and  acknowledged  her  productions.  Expres- 
sions of  admiration  which  her  pictures  called  forth  she  attributed  to 
flattery  or  good  nature ;'  but  with  the  object  of  testing  them,  "  she 
sent  a  picture  for  actual  sale  to  the  British  Gallery,  where  it  would 
necessarily  stand  in  competition  with  those  of  the  best  artists.  A 
member  of  her  family,  unwilling  that  the  picture  should  be  irrecover- 
ably disposed  of,  privately  desired  the  keeper  of  the  gallery  to  put 
upon  it  nearly  double  the  sum  usually  demanded  for  landscapes  of 
a  similar  kind.  Yet,  almost  at  the  opening  of  the  exhibition,  the 
picture  was  purchased  by  a  British  nobleman  distinguished  for  fine 
taste  in  the  arts." 

Facile  with  the  pen  as  with  the  brush.  Miss  Waldie  contributed 
articles  on  art  and  foreign  travel  to  the  magazines,  and  published  at 
least  three  reputable  books.  One  of  them  described  her  "  Con- 
tinental Adventures";  another,  entitled  "A  Tour  in  Flanders, 
Holland,  and  France,"  containing  a  graphic  sketch  of  the  field  of 
Waterloo,  drawn  by  herself  a  day  or  two  after  the  battle,  ran  through 
ten  editions  in  a  few  months;  the  third,  in  four  vols.,  i2mo,  bore 
the  title  of  "Sketches  Descriptive  of  Italy  in  the  years  1816  and 
1 81 7,  with  a  Brief  Account  of  Travels  in  Various  Parts  of  France 
and  Switzerland  in  the  Same  Year." 

In  1821,  Miss  Waldie  married  Captain  George  Augustus  Watts, 
R.N.,  and  thenceforward  resided  at  Langton  Grange,  near  Darling- 
ton. Not  long  afterwards  her  health  failed,  and  on  the  6th  of  July, 
1826,  she  died.  Her  father  predeceased  her  by  a  few  months, 
having  died  at  Hendersyde  on  the  13th  of  January  in  that  year,  at 
the  age  of  70;  her  mother  departed  this  life  on  the  14th  September, 
1 83 1,  aged  84. 


CHARLES  NEIVBY  W A  IVN.  5S5 

Cbarlcs  1l^c\vb\>  Ullawn, 

SOCIAL    REFORMER. 

At  a  time  of  great  evangelical  activity  in  Newcastle,  when  all 
classes  of  religious  people  made  common  cause  against  ignorance 
and  vice,  united  themselves  in  educational  propagandism,  and  joined 
purses  in  schemes  of  philanthropy  and  benevolence,  a  leading  spirit 
in  the  enterprise  was  Charles  Newby  Wawn. 

Born  at  Carlisle  in  1782,  Mr.  Wawn  came  to  Tyneside  in  early 
manhood  to  follow  the  calling  of  a  surgeon-dentist.  He  established 
himself  in  practice  at  No.  i  Northumberland  Place,  Newcastle,  and 
being  a  patient  and  skilful  operator,  he  soon  created  a  lucrative 
business.  To  ability  in  his  profession  he  added  polished  manners 
and  refined  tastes,  literary  acquirements  beyond  those  of  most  men 
in  his  social  position,  and  the  cultivation  of  an  amiable  disposition. 
The  possession  of  these  qualities  brought  him  into  friendly  touch 
with  all  classes  of  the  townspeople,  and  extended  his  reputation 
throughout  the  Northern  Counties. 

A  Churchman  by  birth  and  training,  Mr.  Wawn  was  led  to  believe, 
soon  after  his  settlement  in  Newcastle,  that  the  Methodists  were 
doing  the  work  of  the  Church  more  effectively  than  its  ordained 
ministers.  He,  therefore,  united  himself  to  the  Wesleyan  Society 
that  met  in  the  Orphan  House  near  his  residence,  and  in  time 
became  one  of  their  class  leaders,  and  a  trustee  of  their  property. 
Into  the  Sunday-school  movement,  started  in  Newcastle  at  the  close 
of  the  year  17S4,  by  the  Rev.  William  Turner,  and  extended  by 
George  Fife  Angas  and  others,  he  entered  with  much  zeal  and 
fervour.  He  presided  over  the  meeting,  held  in  Tuthill  Stairs 
Baptist  Chapel,  in  January,  1814,  at  which  the  Newcastle  Sunday- 
school  Union  was  launched;  for  ten  or  twelve  years  in  succession  he 
was  its  president;  and  to  the  end  of  his  days  he  remained  its  faithful 
friend  and  supporter.  In  like  manner,  he  helped  to  found,  and  after- 
wards became  the  president  of  the  Newcastle  Religious  Tract 
Society.  The  Newcastle  Benevolent  Society  for  Visiting  and 
relieving  the  indigent  poor  was  another  institution  to  which  he  gave 
his  services.  The  local  branch  of  the  Bible  Society,  the  Auxiliary 
Church    Missionary    Society   for   Newcastle,    Gateshead,    and   the 


S86 


CHARLES  NE  WB  V  JFA  WN. 


vicinity,  and  the  Newcastle  Branch  of  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Christianity  among  the  Jews,  found  in  him  a  hearty  worker  and  a 
dignified  ofiice-bearer.  At  the  same  time  he  was  a  warm  and  earnest 
supporter  of  the  Anti-Slavery  movement.  Under  the  signature  of 
"  Eleutheros  "  he  published  a  series  of  papers  in  favour  of  emanci- 
pation, while  a  pamphlet  which  he  issued  relating  to  a  judgment 
pronounced  by  Lord  Stowell  in  the  case  of  a  slave  named  Grace,  is 


said  to  have  produced  a  considerable  impression  upon  the  public 
mind.  It  may,  indeed,  be  said  that,  during  the  twenties  and 
thirties  of  the  present  century,  no  effort  was  made  in  Newcastle  to 
promote  piety,  popularise  education,  and  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
the  deserving  poor  that  had  not  the  active  sympathy  and  personal 
advocacy  of  Charles  Newby  Wawn. 

To    Mr.   Wawn's   accomplishments,    catholicity,  and  the  partici- 
pation in  all  manner  of  good  and  useful  work,  let  his  friend  and 


CHARLES  NE  \VB  Y  WAWN.  587 

coadjutor  for  many  years,  Mr.  John  Fenwick,  attorney  and  antiquary, 
testify  : — 

"  He  was  eminently  skilled  in  mechanical  science,  and  most  happy 
in  its  application,  under  a  singularly  correct  judgment,  to  the  relief  of 
suffering  humanity.  He  cultivated  music  and  the  languages.  He 
was  extensively  conversant  with  Hebrew  and  its  cognate  tongues, 
with  those  of  the  two  polite  nations  of  antiquity,  and  with  most  of 
the  languages  and  dialects  of  modern  Europe.  He  wrote  and  spoke 
with  great  fluency.  His  style  was  rather  ornate,  and  distinguished 
by  sweeping  and  accumulated  epithet.  Catholic  and  eclectic  in  the 
genuine  sense  of  the  terms,  it  seemed  to  be  the  business  of  his 
life  to  soften  down  religious  differences  and  animosities,  and  to  unite 
in  one  bond  of  brotherhood  and  affection  the  whole  family  of  Christ. 
The  access  which  his  professional  skill  gave  him  to  the  wealthy  and 
influential  classes  of  society  was  made  available  to  the  support  of  the 
various  religious  and  benevolent  institutions  which  he  had  either 
formed  or  patronised.  The  largesses  which  he  poured  into  the 
treasury  from  these  sources  were  truly  astonishing,  and  without  the 
aid  thus  afforded  these  works  of  beneficence  and  mercy  would  at 
that  day  have  come  to  an  end. 

"  Mr.  Wawn  seldom  travelled  out  of  the  record  of  religion  and 
humanity;  but  when  he  did  apply  himself  to  other  affairs,  he  was 
not  a  whit  behind  the  'very  chiefest'  of  those  engaged  in  them. 
He  had  great  discrimination  of  character,  and  was  early  attracted  by 
the  intellectual  power  of  a  man  then  in  obscure  circumstances,  but 
who  has  since  shed  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  world — George 
Stephenson.  Mr.  Wawn  espoused  his  cause  in  the  controversy  with 
Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  and  was,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the  means 
of  developing  his  merits." 

In  municipal  and  political  life  Mr.  Wawn  took  but  little  interest. 
His  opinions  on  political  questions,  so  far  as  they  are  known,  were 
those  of  an  independent  Tory.  At  the  General  Election  which 
followed  the  passing  of  the  great  Reform  Bill  he  voted  for  Sir 
Matthew  White  Ridley  and  Mr.  John  Hodgson,  whom  Mr.  Charles 
Attwood  opposed;  at  the  1835  election  he  repeated  his  vote, 
declining  to  support  either  Mr.  William  Ord  or  Mr.  James  Aytoun ; 
in  1837  he  plumped  for  Mr.  Hodgson. 

Fluent  in  speech,  as  Mr.  Fenwick  records,  Mr.  Wawn  was  equally 
ready  with  his  pen.  His  writings  were  principally  anonymous,  and 
were  contributed  to  the  newspapers  and  periodicals  of  the  day  under 


588  CHARLES  NE  WB  V  WA  WN. 

various  signatures,  which  at  this  time  it  would  be  impossible  to 
identify.  Those  of  them  that  were  published  in  separate  form  bear 
the  following  titles  : — 

"Thomas  Curry,  the  Pious  Keelman :  An  Authentic  Narrative."  Vignette 
by  Thomas  Bewick.     Newcastle  :  Edward  Walker,  Pilgrim  St.     1822.     8vo. 

"Poetic  Sketches."  Printed  for  Private  Distribution.  Tail-piece  by  Bewick. 
Newcastle  :  Printed  for  the  Author  by  J.  Clark,  Newgate  St.     1825.     8vo. 

"  Considerations  on  Certain  Remarks  in  Lord  Stowell's  Judgment  respecting 
the  Slavery  of  the  Mongrel  Woman  Grace,  on  an  Appeal  from  Antigua." 
Newcastle :   1827.     8vo. 

"  Travellers  in  the  Desert  "  and  "  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Flanders,  Banker" — named 
by  Mr.  Fenwick,  but  not  otherwise  traceable. 

The  little  volume  of  "  Poetic  Sketches,"  having  been  printed  in 
limited  number  for  private  distribution  among  the  author's  friends, 
has  become  exceedingly  scarce.  It  is  a  thin  octavo  of  thirty  pages, 
containing  ten  "pieces,"  in  various  metres,  of  poor  quality,  but 
breathing  highly  religious  aspirations.  The  best  of  the  sketches  is 
entitled  "The  Search  after  Happiness,"  in  which  the  "Spirit  of 
Wisdom"  conducts  the  author  through  various  phases  of  "false 
pleasure" — wealth,  women,  fame,  fashion,  etc.,  and  finally  tells  him 
the  secret  of  true  happiness  : — 

"  Thus  instructed  of  Heav'n,  and  endued  with  her  might, 

To  be  happy,  he  finds,  is  her  will  to  obey : 
'Tis  patience  in  the  storm  of  affliction's  dark  night, 

'Tis  trust  in  the  trials  of  life's  thorny  way. 
'Tis  humility,  when  in  the  stirrings  of  pride 

Self-will  would  o'erthrow  Heav'n's  warfare  'gainst  sin ; 
'Tis  content,  whensoever  its  virtues  are  tried, 

Tis  gratitude  constantly  dwelling  within. 
'Tis  temp'rance  in  using  the  blessings  you  have ; 

'Tis  the  instant  repulsion  of  sin's  guilty  bait, 
'Tis  discretion  when  doubtful  things  concurrence  crave, 

And,  at  times,  self-denial — in  every  state. 
'Tis,  in  fine,  man's  obedience  to  Heaven's  wdse  laws 

Thro'  a  life  humbly  circumspect,  fearing  t'  offend  ; 
'Tis  the  foretaste  of  hope,  when  his  being's  first  cause 

Shall  recall  it  for  joys  without  measure  or  end." 

While  yet  in  the  prime  of  life  a  painful  mental  disease  led  to  Mr. 
Wawn's  retirement  from  the  active  pursuit  of  his  calling.  He 
removed  to  Tynemouth  in  the  autumn  of  1838,  and  there,  on  the 
22nd  of  jSIay,  1840,  he  died,  aged  fifty-eight  years. 


JAMES  DENT  WE ATHERLEY.  589 

3ainci5  IDcnt  1Ucathcrlc\), 

A    PENINSULAR    HERO. 

The  family  of  Wetherley,  or  ^^'eatherley,  is  found  domiciled  in 
Northumberland  from  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  North-Country  Weatherleys  are  supposed  to  have  had  a  con- 
nection with  the  city  of  London  in  the  person  of  Sir  Thomas 
Witherley,  Knight,  IM.D.  of  Cambridge  (1655),  Physician-in-Ordinary 
to  the  King  (1677),  and  President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians from  1684  to  1687.  Henry  Wetherley,  merchant  adven- 
turer, Newcastle,  was  a  friend  of  William  Gray,  author  of  the 
"  Chorographia,"  and  a  witness  to  the  marriage  deed  of  his  niece, 
Elizabeth  Ellison.  Leonard  Wetherly,  described  as  a  "gentleman," 
occurs  in  Bourne's  "  History  of  Newcastle  "  as  a  benefactor  to  the 
parish  of  St.  Nicholas,  and  Edward  Wetherly  is  named  in  the  same 
volume  as  residing  in  Akewellgate,  Gateshead.  Hannah  Weatherle}-, 
spinster,  was  a  partner  with  Richard  Chambers,  Gabriel  Hall,  and 
others,  carrying  on  business  as  tanners  and  skin  dressers  in  Pilgrim 
Street,  Newcastle,  and  upon  Beamish  Burn  in  1763.  Early  in  the 
present  century  Henry  Oswald  Weatherley,  a  retired  diplomatist, 
resided  at  Cross  House,  Westgate  Street.  He  had  been  private 
secretary  to  Prince  Esterhazy,  the  Austrian  Ambassador,  and,  at  his 
London  house,  kept  a  valuable  stud  of  horses,  including  the  cele- 
brated "  Sir  Hercules,"  a  portrait  of  which  was  engraved.  His  son, 
Edward  Oswald  Weatherley,  married  the  daughter  of  John  Bell, 
M.D.,  Surgeon  R.N.,  of  Bishop wearmouth  and  Houghton-le-Spring, 
and  was  a  close  friend  of  the  Earl  of  Dundonald,  with  whom  he  had 
served  at  sea.  Acting-Commander  Richard  Weatherley,  R.N.,  was 
midshipman  of  H.AL  frigate  Minerve  when  that  vessel,  after  a  fierce 
fight  off  Cherbourg,  had  to  surrender.  He  was  detained  a  prisoner 
of  war  by  the  French  until  18 14 — eleven  years — and  in  1834  was 
Director  of  Police  in  the  dockyard  at  Pembroke. 

To  this  family  belonged  Captain  James  Dent  Weatherley,  a  well- 
known  figure  in  the  municipal  life  of  Newcastle  fifty  years  ago.  He 
was  the  son  of  John  Weatherley,  of  Willington  House  and  Howden, 
and  was  born  in  1777.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  the 
60th  Rifles  (the  Duke  of  York's  regiment)  as  ensign,  and  served  in 
Holland  throughout  the  campaign  of  1799,  was  promoted  lieutenant 


59° 


JAMES  DENT  WEATHER  LEY. 


soon  afterwards,  went  with  his  regiment  to  Egypt,  and  served  upon 
the  Neapolitan  frontier  and  in  Sicily  and  Calabria.  Under  Welling- 
ton he  fought  at  Busaco,  Badajos,  Salamanca,  and  the  Pyrenees ; 
indeed,  throughout  the  Peninsular  War,  and  up  to  the  peace  of 
1 8 14,  wherever  danger  was  greatest,  and  daring  the  most  needed, 
Lieutenant  Weatherley  was  found.  For  his  services  during  this  long 
and  arduous  campaign  he  received  the  Peninsular  medal  and  clasps. 
Having  risen  to  the  rank  of  captain,  he  retired  from  the  army  on 
half-pay  in  1818,  married  Miss  Sawyer,  a  lady  of  means,  and  went  to 


J.    D.    WEATHERLEY. 

Canada,  where  he  had  obtained  an  appointment  as  resident  magis- 
trate. Returning  to  England  about  the  time  of  the  great  Reform 
Bill,  he  took  up  his  residence  among  his  friends  and  relatives  in 
Newcastle.  A  local  Directory  for  the  year  1834  shows  him  living  in 
Newcastle,  at  No.  6,  New  Bridge  Street,  facing  the  Carliol  Tower 
and  the  fields  adjoining  it.  Becoming  interested  in  municipal 
administration,  he  sought  to  enter  the  Town  Council  of  Newcastle, 
and  with  that  object  contested  South  St.  Andrew's  Ward  in 
November,   1839,   but  was  defeated.     The  following  year  he  tried 


JAMES  DENT  WE  A  THE  RLE  V.  591 

again  and  was  successful.  His  experience  as  a  soldier  in  the 
Peninsula  and  a  resident  magistrate  in  Canada  inspired  the  Council 
with  confidence,  and  in  1848  they  made  him  Sheriff  of  the  town. 
The  duties  of  the  Shrievalty  were  performed  with  such  grace  of 
manner  that  the  following  year  they  elected  him  chief  magistrate. 

Captain  Weatherley's  Mayoralty  was  rendered  memorable  by  the 
visit  of  the  Queen  and  Prince  Consort  to  open  the  High  Level 
Bridge.  The  local  press  gives  a  graphic  account  of  the  part  which 
the  Mayor  played  on  the  occasion  : — "  On  a  raised  platform  in  the 
centre  of  the  bridge  were  stationed  the  guard  of  honour,  together 
with  the  Right  Worshipful  the  Mayor  of  Newcastle,  the  Sheriff, 
the  Recorder,  Town  Clerk,  Magistrates,  Mayor  of  Gateshead,"  etc. 
"  The  Mayor  presented  the  loyal  address  of  the  Corporation,  which 
her  Majesty  kindly  condescended  to  receive,  repeatedly  smiling  and 
bowing  to  his  Worship."  "  Her  Majesty,  casting  her  eyes  westward, 
observed  to  the  Mayor  that  the  view  here  must  be  very  fine  (it  was 
raining),  and  also  that  it  was  a  most  beautiful  bridge.  His  Worship 
immediately  responded  by  saying,  '  I  am  very  sorry  that  the  day  is  so 
wet  and  gloomy;  but  I  trust  your  gracious  Majesty  will  have  leisure 
on  some  other  occasion  to  renew  your  visit,  when  the  day  may  be 
brighter  and  more  propitious,'  upon  which  her  Majesty  smiled  and 
bowed  so  graciously  to  his  Worship  as  to  favour  the  hope,"  etc.,  etc. 
**  The  Prince  of  Wales  here  appeared  at  the  carriage  window,  and 
was  received  with  loud  cheers ;  and  the  Mayor,  addressing  her 
Majesty,  said,  '  I  hope  your  Majesty  will  allow  me  the  honour  of 
shaking  hands  with  the  Prince  of  Wales.'  Her  Majesty  graciously 
assented,  and  the  Prince  at  the  same  time  freely  extended  his  arm, 
and  gave  his  Worship  a  truly  English  shake  of  the  hand."  Then 
the  train  took  its  departure,  and  the  Mayor  hied  back  to  the  Guild- 
hall to  disrobe,  and  so  on. 

In  honour  of  this  great  occasion,  medals  were  struck  by  Messrs. 
Lister  &  Sons,  the  Newcastle  silversmiths.  One  of  these  medals,  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  William  Norman,  Newcastle,  shows  on  the 
obverse  a  design  of  the  Bridge,  with  the  Castle,  St.  Nicholas'  Church, 
and  the  old  Bridge  in  the  distance.  The  inscription  on  the  reverse 
reads  thus: — "First  pile  driven,  24th  April,  1846;  last  arch  closed, 
7th  June,  1849;  final  opening,  Jan.  i6th,  1850.  Engineers,  Robert 
Stephenson  and  T.  E.  Harrison,  Esquires;  R.  Hodgson,  Esq., 
resident  engineer ;  Jno.  Hosking,  inspector ;  Thos.  Charlton,  fore- 
man.    Contractors — Hawks,  Crawshay,  and  Sons,  iron  work ;   Rush 


592 


JAMES  DENT  WEATHERLEY. 


and  Lawton,  stone  work ;  Cummins  and  Firbank,  paint  work." 
Another  medal,  also  in  Mr.  Norman's  collection,  bears  this  inscrip- 
tion : — "  J.  Dent  Weatherley,  Esq.,  Mayor  of  Newcastle ;  George 
Hawks,  Esq.,  Mayor  of  Gateshead.  Her  Majesty  Queen  Victoria, 
Prince  Albert,  and  the  Royal  Family  passed  through  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  Friday,  28th  September,  1849,  received  addresses  on  the 
High  Level  Bridge  from  both  Corporations."  There  is  also  a  picture 
of  the  scene,  from  a  sketch  by  Messrs.  M.  and  M.  W.  Lambert,  in 
the  Illustrated  London  News  for  October  6th,  1 849. 

A  year  after  his  retirement  from  the  ^Mayoralty,  Captain  Weatherley 
was  elected  an  alderman.  The  remainder  of  his  municipal  life  was 
uneventful.  Although  a  Churchman,  he  took  his  seat  every  Sunday 
in  Hanover  Square  Chapel,  under  the  ministry  of  his  friend  the  Rev. 


WilUam  Turner;  and  after  attending  to  his  duties  in  the  Council 
Chamber  and  on  the  bench  of  magistrates,  gave  the  rest  of  his  time 
to  the  charitable  institutions  of  the  town.  With  the  management  of 
one  of  these,  the  Royal  Victoria  Asylum  for  the  Blind,  he  was  closely 
identified,  and  in  the  Music  Room  of  that  institution  hangs  a 
souvenir  of  his  life  and  labours  in  Newcastle,  his  portrait,  painted  by 
Stephen  Humble.  He  was  also  Chairman  of  the  School  of  Design 
in  Newcastle,  and  on  intimate  terms  with  its  gifted  teacher,  W.  B. 
Scott,  in  whose  "Autobiography"  he  is  described  as  "an  amiable 
man,  with  a  noble  simplicity  of  character."  In  November,  1856,  he 
left  Newcastle  to  reside  in  St.  John's  Wood,  London,  where,  attended 
by  his  faithful  kinsman,  the  late  Captain  J.  Jobling  Weatherley,  of 
the  6th  Dragoon  Guards  and  Northumberland  Militia,  he  died  on 
the  3rd  of  January,  1864,  aged  87  years. 


FREDERICK  A  UG  USTUS  IVEA  THE  RLE  Y.       593 

Jfrc^crich  auouetui?  Mcatbcilc\>, 

A  (;ai.lant  soldier. 

Frederick  Augustus  Weatherlev,  son  of  Ilderton  Weatherley, 
shipowner,  Newcastle,  grandson  of  John  Weatherley,  of  ^Villington 
House,  Northumberland,  and  nephew  of  Captain  J.  Dent  Weatherley, 
was  born  in  Northumberland  Street,  Newcastle,  in  1830.  Trained 
like  his  uncle  for  a  military  career,  he  was  appointed,  at  an  early 
age,  to  a  distinguished  regiment  of  Austrian  dragoons.  He  received 
his  English  commission  in  the  4th  Light  Dragoons  (now  Hussars), 
and  with  this  regiment  he  was  present  in  the  Crimea  at  the  celebrated 
charge  of  the  Light  Brigade,  as  one  of  the  noble  six  hundred  under 
Lord  Cardigan ;  he  was  also  at  the  battle  of  Tchernaya,  and  took 
part  in  the  field  operations  of  the  allied  brigade  of  Light  Cavalry, 
under  General  D'Allonville,  at  Eupatoria,  and  indeed  was  a  com- 
batant in  all  the  subsequent  operations  in  the  Crimea,  up  to  the 
conclusion  of  peace. 

On  the  return  to  England,  in  1856,  he  exchanged  into  the 
Carabineers,  as  lieutenant,  and  served  with  much  distinction  through- 
out the  Indian  Mutiny.  He  was  present  at  the  operations  in 
Rohilcund;  the  affair  of  Kukrowlie,  and  the  capture  of  Bareilly;  the 
relief  of  Shajehanpore,  and  the  two  subsequent  attacks;  the  affairs  of 
Mohundee  and  Shahabad;  the  operations  in  Oude,  and  the  action  of 
Buxarghat,  in  the  Trans-Gogra;  the  actions  of  Musjedia,  Churdal, 
and  Bankee.  For  these  services  he  received  the  Crimean  medal 
and  clasp,  the  Turkish,  and  the  Indian  medal.  In  January,  1862, 
he  again  exchanged  regiments,  transferring  his  services  this  time  into 
the  6th  Inniskilling  Dragoons,  as  Captain.  He  was  subsequently 
appointed  Colonel  Commandant  of  the  ist  Sussex  Administrative 
Battalion  of  Artillery  Volunteers,  which  appointment  he  resigned 
in  1877,  having  on  the  declaration  of  war  between  France  and 
Germany  offered  his  services  to  the  Emperor  William. 

Possessing  considerable  property  in  the  Diamond  Fields  and  in 
the  Transvaal,  Colonel  Weatherley  found  it  desirable  for  his  own 
interest  that  he  should  personally  superintend  his  estates,  and  with 
that  view  he  resided  for  some  years  at  Pretoria,  where  he  became  an 
intimate  friend  of  the  Governor,  the  late  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  whom  he 
had  known  in  India. 

VOL.  HI.  38 


594       FREDERICK  A  UG  USTUS  WE  A  THE  RLE  Y. 

Utterly  opposed  to  the  policy  of  annexation,  Colonel  Weatherley, 
nevertheless,  rendered  loyal  help  to  General  Sir  Arthur  Cunynghame 
when  the  British  flag  was  hoisted,  and  in  a  great  measure  prevented 
the  outbreak  of  disturbance  on  the  proclamation  of  Her  Majesty's 
Government  there.  His  services  were  considered  worthy  of  public 
and  special  commendation  by  the  Commander-in-Chief 

Colonel  Weatherley's  latest  act  was  the  raising,  at  his  own 
expense,  a  troop  of  about  one  hundred  horsemen  to  assist  Colonel 
(now  General)  Sir  Evelyn  Wood,  V.C.  This  troop  at  the  terrible 
battle    on    the    Inklobane     Mountain,    March     28th,     1879,    was 


COLONEL    WEATHERLEY. 


surrounded  by  thousands  of  Zulus,  and  almost  annihilated.  A 
correspondent  of  one  of  the  daily  papers  at  the  time  wrote  of 
him : — 

"  All  will  recognise  their  fine  old  comrade,  when  he  is  described 
as  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  Zulus,  fighting  desperately  to  the 
last,  with  one  arm  round  his  brave  and  wounded  young  son,  a  sub- 
lieutenant in  his  troop,  whom  he  vainly  endeavoured  to  protect 
from  the  fate  which  was  from  the  first  inevitable.  It  was  truly 
a  gallant  death;  but  none  the  less  to  be  deplored  by  those  who 
knew  and  loved  him." 

In  James  Grant's  "  British  Battles  on  Land  and  Sea"  Major  Ashe 


FREDERICK  A  UG  USTUS  WE  A  THE  RLE  Y.       5  9  5 

describes  the  closing  scene  of  the  Colonel's  life  in  the  following 
graphic  narrative: — "Nothing  could  be  more  sad  than  Weatherley's 
death.  At  the  fatal  hour  when  all  save  honour  seemed  lost,  he 
placed  his  beloved  boy  upon  his  best  horse,  and,  kissing  him  on  the 
forehead,  commended  him  to  another  Father's  care,  and  implored 
him  to  overtake  the  nearest  column  of  the  British  horse,  which 
seemed  at  that  time  to  be  cutting  its  way  out.  The  boy  clung  to  his 
father,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  stay  by  his  side,  and  share  his 
life  or  death.  The  contrast  was  characteristic — the  man,  a  bearded, 
bronzed,  and  hardy  sabreur,  with  a  father's  tears  upon  his  cheek,  while 
the  blue-eyed  and  fair-haired  lad,  with  much  of  the  beauty  of  a  girl 
in  his  appearance,  was  calmly  and  with  a  smile  of  delight  loading  his 
father's  favourite  carbine.  When  the  two  noble  hearts  were  last 
seen,  the  father,  wounded  to  death  with  cruel  assegais,  was  clasping 
his  boy's  hand  with  his  left,  while  the  right  cut  down  the  brawny 
savages  who  came  to  despoil  him  of  his  charge."  A  double-page 
engraving  of  this  terrible  scene  is  given  in  The  Pictorial  World  for 
jMay  24th,  1879,  and  about  the  same  time  young  Weatherley's 
determination  to  die  with  his  father  formed  the  subject  of  a  poem 
entitled  "  A  Child  Hero,"  which  went  the  rounds  of  the  metropolitan 
and  provincial  press. 

Colonel  Weatherley  is  described  by  one  who  knew  him  as  a  warm 
and  chivalrous  friend,  a  gentleman  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word, 
and  the  beau-ideal  of  a  cavalry  officer.  By  his  marriage  to  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  the  late  Colonel  Mountjoy  Martin,  of  the 
2nd  Life  Guards,  who  survived  him,  he  left  a  son.  Major  Cecil 
Poulet  Mountjoy  Weatherley,  Adjutant  of  the  Staffordshire  (36th) 
Regiment,  and  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Hargreaves,  the  wife  of  Major 
Hargreaves,  late  of  the  5th  Northumberland  Fusiliers. 

The  senior  representative  of  the  Weatherley  family  is  the  Rev. 
Charles  Thomas  Weatherley,  of  King's  College,  London,  now 
resident  in  Canada,  who  married,  in  1862,  Alice  Letitia  Chandos, 
eldest  daughter  of  the  late  Sir  Peter  Van-Notten-Pole,  Bart.,  of 
Todenham  House,  Gloucestershire,  and  has  issue. 


5  96  THOMAS  WELD. 

^boma6  Melb, 

RECTOR    OF   GATESHEAD. 

Bracketed  with  the  names  of  Durant  and  Hammond,  eminent 
"preaching  ministers"  of  the  Commonwealth  period  in  Newcastle, 
frequently  occurs  that  of  Thomas  Weld,  the  "intruding,"  or  rather 
"  intruded,"  rector  of  Gateshead.  His  birthplace,  his  parentage,  his 
University,  are  alike  unknown.  His  life-history  begins  with  his 
taking  holy  orders  (probably  at  Cambridge)  in  the  closing  years  of 
James  I.,  and  obtaining  preferment — the  living  of  Haverhill,  in 
Suffolk.  The  little  that  can  be  learned  of  this  part  of  his  career 
is  derivable  from  the  "  Life  of  Master  John  Shaw,"  vicar  of  Rother- 
ham,  in  one  of  the  volumes  of  the  Surtees  Society.  Describing  early 
days  at  Cambridge,  Master  Shaw  relates  that  his  conversion  was 
effected  through  hearing  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Weld,  of  Haverhill,  who 
afterwards  was  " preacher  at  Newcastle,  in  the  North."  "This  Mr. 
Weld,"  he  continues,  "preached  one  Lord's  day  at  a  church  three  miles 
from  Cambridge ;  some  of  my  chamber  fellows  resolved  to  walk  on  foot 
to  hear  him,  and  I  (as  sometime  Austin  to  hear  Ambrose,  more  for 
company  and  novelty  than  conscience)  went  along  with  them.  It 
pleased  God  in  mercy  to  set  on  his  sermon  with  much  power,  and 
no  small  terrour  on  my  heart.  I  yet  very  well  remember  his  texts 
and  some  of  his  sermons,  and  tho'  many  of  the  words  I  forget,  yet  I 
felt  much  heat  and  power,  and  from  that  time  forth  more  and  more 
change  in  heart,  affections,  speeches,  practices,  etc.,  so  that  I  was 
much  taken  notice  of  in  the  colledge,  and  much  opposed  for  a 
Puritan,"  etc. 

From  Haverhill  Mr.  Weld  was  promoted  to  the  living  of  Terling, 
in  Essex.  Li  that  secluded  village  he  might  have  discharged  the 
duties  of  his  cure  with  ease  and  contentment  had  he  not  become 
imbued  with  the  new  ideas  which  had  impressed  young  Mr.  Shaw, 
and  felt  himself  bound  to  promulgate  them.  His  preaching  gave 
offence  to  his  fellow-clergy  and  to  his  ecclesiastical  superiors,  and,  as 
he  refused  to  moderate  his  tone,  they  ejected  him  from  his  living. 
"  Not  submitting  to  the  ceremonies,"  Calamy  remarks,  "  the  place 
was  too  hot  for  him."  In  May,  1632,  a  clergyman  better  disposed 
to  established  forms  was  put  into  his  place,  and  he  was  driven  away 


THOMAS  WELD.  597 

from  Terling  to  seek  the  means  of  subsistence  elsewhere.  Not  long 
before,  a  shipful  of  stern-faced  men,  unwilling,  like  himself,  to  submit 
to  the  ceremonies,  had  left  Old  England  and  founded  a  New  England 
beyond  the  Atlantic  sea;  Mr.  Weld  determined  to  follow  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers. 

Even  among  sufferers  for  conscience'  sake,  life  is  not  free  from 
trouble.  Mr.  Weld  found  that  New  Englanders  had  crosses  of  their 
own  to  bear;  and  when,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  after  an 
exile  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  he  returned  to  the  mother  country,  he 
exposed  their  grievances  in  a  pamphlet  entitled — 

"A  Short  Story  of  the  Rise,  Reign,  nnd  Ruin  of  the  Antinomians,  Familists, 
and  Libertines,  that  infested  the  Churches  of  New  England,  and  how  they  were 
confuted  by  the  Assembly  of  Ministers  there ;  As,  also,  of  the  INIagistrates' 
Proceedings  in  Court  against  them.  Together  with  God's  Strange  and  Remark- 
able Judgment  from  Heaven  upon  some  of  the  Chief  Fomenters  of  these  Opinions ; 
and  the  Lamentable  Death  of  Mr.  Hutchinson,  etc."     4to.     London,  1644. 

Mr.  Weld  had  returned  to  England  to  participate  in  the  triumphs 
of  his  friends.  Ministers  "well  affected "  towards  Parliament  were 
needed  to  supply  pulpits  out  of  which  the  loyal  clergy  were  being 
driven.  He  had  suffered  for  his  principles,  and,  now  that  they  were 
in  the  ascendant,  he  expected  recognition  and  preferment.  His 
claims  were  acknowledged;  in  1649  the  sequestrators  of  the  see 
of  Durham  gave  him  the  rectory  of  Gateshead. 

"Spent  in  intertaineing  all  the  Newcastle  ministers  when  Mr. 
Weld,  our  minister,  was  installed  here,  ;£\  12s.  8d.,"  is  an  entry 
in  the  parish  books,  which  shows  the  manner  and  the  cost  of  his 
formal  introduction  to  his  Gateshead  cure.  Thenceforward,  till  the 
Restoration,  his  name  appears  prominently  in  local  history.  He 
joined  with  Jenison,  Durant,  Hammond,  Sydenham,  and  two  other 
Tyneside  ministers  in  writing  to  Cromwell  about  Captain  Everard, 
and  a  few  months  later  he  received  from  the  Common  Council  of 
Newcastle  a  gift  of  ;!^2o,  "  for  his  good  services  to  the  town."  He 
played  a  leading  part  in  the  detection  of  the  false  Jew,  and  united 
with  his  Newcastle  colleagues  in  attacking  Quakers  by  the  pub- 
lication of  "The  Perfect  Pharisee,  under  Monkish  Holiness, 
opposing  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  the  Doctrine  of  the 
Gospel  and  Scripture-Practices  of  Gospel-Worship,  manifesting 
himself  in  the  Generation  of  men  called  Quakers."  In  May,  1656, 
losing  his  wife,  he  set  up  in  the  choir  of  Gateshead  Church  a  tablet 
to  her  memory,  bearing  the  inscription — "  Here  sleeps  Mrs.  Judith 


598  THOMAS  WELD. 

Weld,  who  was  to  three  godly  ministers  a  good  wife;  to  Christ  a 
faithful  servant;  to  the  Church  an  affectionate  member;  for  piety, 
prudence,  and  patience,  eminent.  In  Jesu  dormio,  splendide 
resurgam."  The  following  year,  when  Cromwell  issued  letters 
patent  for  his  abortive  scheme  of  a  college  at  Durham,  he 
placed  the  name  of  "Thomas  Weld  of  Gateside"  among  the 
visitors  of  the  institution. 

But  while  Mr.  Weld  was  making  his  mark  among  the  Parliament- 
ary preachers  of  the  North  of  England,  the  churchwardens  and  some 
of  the  parishioners  of  Gateshead  were  complaining  of  neglect  and 
inattention  to  their  spiritual  interests.  From  a  pamphlet  of  the 
period  we  learn  that  Mr.  Weld  exercised  unusual  strictness  in  the 
administration  of  the  sacraments — Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 
The  complainants  desired  to  have  a  lecturer  appointed,  at  their  own 
expense,  to  preach  to  them  once  a  month,  and  administer  Holy 
Communion  to  those  who  could  not  take  it  at  Mr.  Weld's  hands 
"  but  by  adding  hypocrisie  to  their  perswasions."  Mr.  Weld 
appeared  to  acquiesce  in  this  arrangement  at  first,  but  when,  at  a 
conference  with  the  churchwardens,  on  the  30th  November,  1657, 
he  was  asked  to  give  his  assent  in  writing,  "  he  positively  refused  to 
condescend,  or  yield  to  any  such  motion,  and,  like  the  game  of  fast 
and  loose,  did  passionately  disclaim  his  promise."  Thereupon  the 
malcontents  issued  a  statement  of  their  grievances,  compiled  with 
that  curious  mixture  of  metaphor  and  invective  which,  at  the  time, 
commonly  characterised  the  Puritan  pen. 

Finding  that  this  caustic  exposition  had  no  effect,  the  complain- 
ants sent  a  petition  to  the  "  Commissioners  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel,"  praying  that  they  would  be  pleased  "  so  to  order  things  in 
Gateshead,  as  that  a  certain  provision  may  be  made  for  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacraments  to  all  whose  eternity  are  concerned  in 
them."  To  which  the  Commissioners  replied  that  they  had  "con- 
sidered of  the  petition,  but  were  not  empowered  by  their  commission 
to  take  cognizance  of  it."  Somebody,  however,  took  cognisance  of 
the  dispute,  for  in  June,  1658,  a  few  weeks  after  the  petition  had 
been  "  considered  of,"  there  came  down  from  the  Council  at  White- 
hall, an  order  for  the  removal  of  the  Gateshead  "  Four-and-Twenty," 
some  of  whom  had  been  leaders  in  the  sacramental  dispute,  and  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Weld,  William  London  (the  Tyne  Bridge  book- 
seller), and  twenty-two  others,  in  their  places. 

Thus   Mr.  Weld  triumphed  over   his  critics,  and   exercised   his 


JOHN  WHITE.  599 

spiritual  functions  according  to  his  own  will  and  pleasure.  But  his 
victory  was  of  short  duration.  In  little  more  than  a  year  after  the 
displacement  of  the  Four-and-Twenty,  the  Restoration  of  the  Mon- 
archy was  eflected,  and  the  church  of  Gateshead  knew  its  Parliament- 
ary rector  no  more.  What  became  of  him  after  he  left  Gateshead 
is  not  recorded;  local  history  takes  no  further  note  of  him. 

Mr.  Weld  had  one  son,  named  John,  who,  taking  holy  orders 
while  his  father  ministered  at  Gateshead,  was  "  intruded  "  into  the 
church  at  Ryton.  Being  "  silenced  "  at  the  Restoration,  he  retired 
to  Lamesley,  where,  most  probably,  he  subsisted  by  teaching,  and 
perhaps  occasionally  indulged  in  surreptitious  conventicle  work.  He 
was  not  so  sturdy  a  Puritan  as  his  father,  for,  after  a  few  years  spent 
in  retirement,  he  conformed.  Whereupon,  in  1669,  having  taken 
the  degree  of  M.A.,  the  Common  Council  of  Newcastle  gave  him  the 
lectureship  at  St.  Andrew's  Church.  His  salary,  on  appointment, 
was  the  sum  on  which  the  possessor,  according  to  Goldsmith,  was 
deemed  to  be  "  passing  rich,"  namely,  forty  pounds  a  year.  It  was 
raised  in  1674  to  sixty  pounds,  and  ten  pounds  for  lecturing  at  St. 
Nicholas',  and  so  remained  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  October, 
1677.  On  the  19th  of  that  month  he  was  buried  in  St.  Andrew's 
churchyard. 

3obn  Mbitc, 

FIRST    PUBLISHER    OF    THE    "NEWCASTLE    COURANT." 

The  art  of  printing,  chiefest  of  the  gifts  of  Peace,  came  to  Tyneside 
as  the  handmaid  of  War.  King  Charles  I.  leading  an  army  to  the 
Borders  in  April,  1639,  found  it  desirable  to  have  a  printer  at  hand 
for  the  purpose  of  issuing  orders  and  distributing  proclamations.  In 
obedience  to  his  instructions,  printing  press  and  printer  arrived  in 
Newcastle  "  by  express  waggon,"  and  on  the  5th  of  May,  the  first 
sheet  printed  on  the  banks  of  the  Tyne — a  proclamation  to  the 
Covenanters,  offering  them  pardon,  upon  due  submission  to  the 
Royal  will — was  publicly  read  in  St.  Nicholas'  Church. 

When  the  king  returned  to  the  South  from  his  Border  excursion, 
he  took  with  him  his  munitions  of  war,  and  along  with  them  went 
the  printing  press  and  Robert  Barker,  the  Royal  printer.  In  1646, 
when  the  king  was  virtually  a  prisoner  in  Newcastle,  the  printing 
press  reappeared,  and  with  it  came  another  printer  in  the  person 


6oo  JOHN  WHITE. 

of  Stephen  Bulkley.  "  Printed  by  the  new  printer  that  went  from 
York  to  the  Court  at  Newcastle,"  is  a  statement  made  by  the 
Merairius  Diutinus  of  December  23rd,  1646,  when  describing  "a 
piece  of  prelatical  forgery,"  in  the  shape  of  "  An  Answer  sent  to 
the  Ecclesiastical  Assembly  at  London,  by  that  Reverend,  Noble, 
and  Learned  Man,  John  Diodate,  the  famous  Professor  of  Divinity, 
and  most  vigilant  Pastor  of  Geneva." 

Stephen  Bulkley,  as  the  Merairius  correctly  indicates,  hailed  from 
York,  where  he  held  the  post  of  king's  printer;  but,  being  sent  to 
Newcastle  when  the  royal  cause  was  declining,  and  finding  sufficient 
encouragement  from  the  Parliamentary  townspeople,  he  remained 
there,  and  carried  on  the  business  of  a  printer  on  his  own  account. 
It  was  he  who  printed  "  Gray's  Chorographia,"  "  The  Counterfeit 
Jew,"  "The  Quaker's  Shaken,"  "The  Perfect  Pharisee,"  and  other 
works  of  like  character  that  have  frequently  formed  the  subject  of 
quotation  in  these  volumes.  After  the  Restoration  he  returned  to 
York.  So  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  last  book  of  his  that  was 
published  on  this  side  the  Tyne  bears  date  1662.  His  removal 
must  have  taken  place  soon  afterwards;  for,  in  1666,  he  was 
indicted  at  York  Assizes — though  the  grand  jury  threw  out  the 
bill — for  publishing  a  volume  of  English  ballads  anonymously. 

Nearly  half  a  century  passed  away  before  the  citizens  of  New- 
castle saw  another  printing  press  established  among  them.  Then, 
as  before,  press  and  printer  came  from  York.  The  printer's  name 
was  John  White,  and  his  prospects  of  succeeding  in  Newcastle  being 
good,  he  came  to  stay.  His  father,  John  White  the  elder,  an  old- 
established  printer  in  the  archiepiscopal  city,  had  made  himself 
famous  by  issuing,  in  1688,  the  manifesto  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
to  the  English  nation,  when  all  other  printers,  declining  to  run  the 
risk  of  illimitable  fine  and  indefinite  imprisonment,  had  refused. 
For  this  bold  act  of  defiance  to  the  reigning  dynasty  he  had  been 
committed  to  Hull  Castle  on  a  charge  of  treason,  liberated  when 
James  H.  fled  the  kingdom,  and  rewarded  by  William  IH.  with 
the  appointment  of  king's  printer  for  York  and  the  five  Northern 
Counties. 

The  younger  White,  born  about  the  time  of  his  father's  libera- 
tion, is  said  to  have  come  to  Newcastle  in  1708,  when  he  was 
barely  twenty  years  of  age.  About  his  early  days  in  the  town 
nothing  seems  to  have  been  recorded.  It  is  not  until  171 1 
that  local  history  takes  note  of  him.     Some  time  in  the  previous 


JOHN  WHITE.  60 1 

year,  John  Saywell,  a  printer  in  Gateshead,  issued  for  Joseph  Button, 
bookseller  on  Tyne  Bridge,  a  newspaper  bearing  the  title  of  The 
Newcost/e  Gazette,  or  the  Northern  Courant.  Number  65  of  that 
paper,  bearing  date  December  25th,  1710,  is  preserved  in  the 
Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh,  and  as  it  contains  internal  evidence 
of  publication  twice,  and  sometimes  thrice,  a  week,  there  is  good 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  commenced  about  the  New  Year,  which 
at  that  time  occurred  on  the  25th  of  March.  How  long  it  lasted 
is  not  known,  but  on  the  ist  of  August,  1711,  John  White  the 
younger  started  a  newspaper  of  his  own  in  Newcastle.  The  new 
journal  bore  for  its  title  the  first  and  the  last  words  of  Saywell  and 
Button's  publication — The  Neivcastle  Coura?if,  from  which  it  would 
appear  that  the  Gazette  had  been  either  withdrawn  or  incorporated 
into  the  new  venture.  Be  that  as  it  may,  John  White  and  his 
enterprise  prospered.  He  established  the  first  successful  news- 
paper north  of  the  Trent,  and  his  successors,  with  varying  phases 
of  prosperity,  have  kept  it  alive  to  this  day. 

In  the  same  year  that  he  began  to  publish  his  newspaper,  Mr. 
White  commenced  to  print  for  other  people.  From  his  place  of 
business  in  the  Close,  which  was  also  his  residence,  came,  in  171 1, 
"  A  Sermon  Preached  to  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy,  upon  their  First 
Solemn  Meeting  at  St.  Nicholas'  Church  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
Sept.  loth,  1711.  By  John  Smith,  D.D.,  and  Prebendary  of  Dur- 
ham. Printed  and  sold  by  John  White  (Printer  to  the  Society), 
at  his  House  in  the  Close."  This  is  the  first  imprint,  besides  that 
of  the  Courant,  in  which  his  name  appears,  and  it  is  followed  by 
two  similar  publications — a  sermon  preached  on  All  Saints'  Day, 
of  that  year,  in  All  Saints'  Church,  Newcastle,  and  the  second 
anniversary  sermon  to  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy,  in  September,  171 2. 
From  the  Close  ISIr.  White  removed  to  the  Side,  where  he  issued, 
in  1 7 13,  a  book  of  70  pages,  written  by  an  eminent  man  of  his 
time — the  Rev.  George  Ritschel,  minister  of  Hexham — on  charities 
and  benefactions  given  to  the  poor  in  Tynedale  Ward.  Later,  in 
1725,  he  pubhshed  Bourne's  "  Antiquitates  Vulgares  " — the  founda- 
tion upon  which,  in  after  years.  Brand  built  his  "  Popular  Antiquities." 
The  following  year  he  published  that  remarkable  production,  "A 
Most  Pleasant  Description  of  Benwel  Village,"  and  thenceforward 
his  press  was  continually  busy.  Among  other  works,  now  rare  and 
eagerly  sought  after,  he  printed,  in  1736,  Bourne's  "History  of 
Newcastle." 


6o2  •  JOHN  WHITE. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  most  of  what  is  known  about  Mr.  White 
as  a  tradesman  and  a  man  of  mark  in  Newcastle  is  to  be  found  in 
that  curious  mixture  of  self-conceit  and  general  detraction — the  "Life 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Gent,  Printer,  of  York."  Gent  had  been  employed 
by  White,  senior,  at  York,  as  a  journeyman,  and  had  fallen  in  love 
with  his  master's  granddaughter,  the  younger  White's  niece.  This 
young  lady,  tired  of  waiting  for  Gent,  married  her  cousin,  a  Mr. 
Bourne,  but  he  died  soon  afterwards,  and  Gent,  finding  her  in  pos- 
session of  the  family  business,  and  free  to  marry,  renewed  his  suit. 
He  was  accepted,  but  her  uncle  put  in  a  word  of  caution,  and 
thus  subjected  himself  to  Gent's  abuse,  couched  in  the  following 
language  : — 

•'  My  dear's  uncle  White,  as  he  called  himself,  kept  a  printing 
office  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  where,  having  had  no  opposer,  he 
heaped  up  riches  in  abundance ',  and  yet  so  greedy  of  more,  that 
before  our  marriage,  he  offered  my  dear,  his  niece,  fifty  pounds  a 
year  to  resign  the  materials,  and  all  that  she  was  worth  in  stock,  to  his 
management.  The  wretch  (for  so  I  call  him),  was  formerly  so  much 
mistrusted  by  his  own  father,  that  he  would  not  trust  my  predecessor 
to  his  proffered  courtesy,  but  provided  for  him  in  his  will ;  so  ob- 
noxious to  his  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  White,  that  she  left  him  but  little, 
or  next  to  nothing ;  so  disregarded  by  his  nephew,  that  my  dear 
could  only,  through  her  good  nature,  prevail  with  him  whilst  dying, 
to  bequeath  him  his  watch,  cane,  and  about  seven  guineas,  which 
she  thought,  perhaps,  might  induce  him  to  future  kindness  towards 
her ;  but  she  ungratefully  found  the  contrary,  and  had  better  reason 
to  have  kept  it.  He  had  done  all  he  could  to  prevent  our  marriage, 
and  breathed  forth  little  else  than  the  most  destructive  opposition 
against  us ;  giving,  as  it  were,  a  sanction  to  his  malice,  that  what  he 
intended  was  truly  for  the  good  of  his  family,  which  every  honest 
man  ought  to  regard  antecedently  superior  to  all  other  motives ;  that 
nieceship  was  now  inconsistent  with  his  interest,  and  told  me  plainly 
that  he  would  oppose  me  in  all  my  doings  to  the  very  utmost  of  his 
power." 

In  1724,  Mr.  White,  being  by  patrimony  a  citizen  of  York,  and 
held  in  great  esteem  by  the  leading  men  in  his  native  city,  was 
elected  Sheriff,  and  performed  the  duties  of  his  office  with  such 
efficiency  as  residence  in  Newcastle  and  periodical  coaching  to  the 
seat  of  his  Shrievalty  would  permit.  Gent  does  not  mention  Mr. 
White's  elevation  to  this  high  municipal  office,  but  finds  occasion,  a 


JOHN  WHITE.  603 

year  later,  to  bestow  upon  him  another  page  of  abuse  respecting  an 
effort  which  he  was  making  to  follow  up  his  success  in  Newcastle,  by 
starting  a  newspaper  in  York  : — 

"  I  received  a  letter  from  my  spouse,  that  her  villanous  uncle,  being 
come  again  from  Newcastle,  was  setting  up  against  us  a  printing 
office,  with  one  Robert  Ward.  His  full  malice  appeared  a  little 
after,  for  he  actually  joined  with  the  aforesaid  Ward,  who  had  been 
his  father's  foot-boy,  but  having  married  a  wife  with  a  fortune,  had 
bought  a  press,  with  other  materials,  in  order  to  set  up  a  master 
printer.  They  published  a  newspaper,  which  whilst  they  cried  up, 
almost  in  the  same  breath  they  ran  down  mine,  with  that  eager  bitter- 
ness of  spirit  which  they  had  instilled  into  them.  But  it  was  not 
long  before  his  partner,  Ward,  failed  for  debt,  and  was  glad  to  be- 
come my  journeyman,  whom  I  screened,  though  he  had  threatened 
my  ruin." 

There  is  much  more  of  the  same  character  in  Gent's  book,  show- 
ing, through  the  spleen  which  disfigures  it,  that  Mr.  ^\■hite  was  a 
man  of  enterprise  and  energy,  courageous  and  determined  in  every 
adventure  to  which  he  set  his  hand.  To  his  possession  of  these 
qualities  is  attributable  the  adoption  of  stereotype  plates  in  letterpress 
printing.  William  Ged,  an  Edinburgh  goldsmith,  had  invented  the 
process,  and  offered  it  in  vain  to  printers  in  the  modern  Athens, 
famous  then,  as  now,  for  the  excellence  of  their  taste  and  the  superi- 
ority of  their  workmanship.  Proceeding  to  Cambridge,  he  found 
favour  with  the  University,  and  obtained  a  licence  to  print  bibles 
and  prayer-books.  But  compositors  and  pressmen  were  alike  hostile; 
they  made  wilful  mistakes,  damaged  the  plates,  and  rendered  accur- 
ate printing  from  them  impossible.  Returning  to  Edinburgh,  he 
found  the  same  spirit  of  opposition  prevailing.  By  apprenticing  his 
son,  James  Ged,  to  a  printer,  he  contrived  to  elude  the  hostility  of 
the  compositors.  With  the  connivance  of  his  master,  James  set  up 
an  edition  of  the  works  of  Sallust  in  the  night-time,  and  his  father 
cast  the  pages,  one  by  one,  into  stereotype.  Still  no  printer  would 
undertake  the  press  work.  In  his  dilemma,  Ged  applied  to  Mr. 
White,  and  he,  foreseeing  the  merits  of  the  process,  and  having  the 
courage  of  his  opinions,  agreed  to  assist  the  intrepid  inventor. 
Sallust  was  completed  and  published  in  1730,  and  in  1742  a  small 
religious  work — "  The  Life  of  God  in  the  Soul  of  Man,"  by  Henry 
Scougall,  son  of  a  bishop  of  Aberdeen — was  issued,  bearing  an  im- 
print which  boldly   announced   that  the   book  was    "printed   and 


6o4  ROBERT  WHI2E. 

sold   by   John  White,   from   plates   made  by  William    Ged,  Edin- 
burgh." 

Mr.  White  married  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Grey,  barber-surgeon  in 
Newcastle,  and  sister  of  Dr.  Richard  Grey,  Archdeacon  of  Bedford, 
prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  and  author  of  "  Memoria  Technica,"  etc. 
His  name  occurs  in  1768  as  lessee,  under  Lord  Ravensworth 
(grantee  of  the  Castle  and  its  precincts),  of  a  messuage  and  certain 
parcels  of  ground  in  the  Castle  Garth,  and  the  following  year  his 
newspaper  records  his  decease.  He  died  at  his  house  in  Pilgrim 
Street,  January  26th,  1769,  at  the  age  of  fourscore,  the  oldest  master 
printer  in  England.  His  widow,  sixteen  years  his  junior,  survived 
him  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  She  died  on  the  19th  January, 
1792,  aged  eighty-seven. 


IRobcrt  Mbttc, 

POET,    HISTORIAN,    AND    ANTIQUARY. 

Robert  White,  the  son  of  a  Border  farmer,  was  born  at  the  Clock 
Mill,  near  the  gipsy  village  of  Yetholm,  in  Roxburghshire,  on  the 
17th  of  September,  1802.  While  he  was  a  boy,  his  father — one  of 
those  bold  patriots  who  flew  to  arms  in  the  "  false  alarm "  of 
January  31st,  1804 — removed  to  Otterburn  in  Redesdale,  and  there, 
between  Trafalgar  and  Waterloo,  his  school-days  flowed  by.  Among 
the  pleasant  haughs  of  Otterburn,  while  he  helped  to  herd  his 
father's  cattle,  to  till  the  soil,  and  to  gather  in  the  harvest,  he 
managed  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  books,  and  to  fill  his  mind  with 
Border  lore.  His  father's  landlord,  James  Ellis,  friend  and  corre- 
spondent of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  encouraging  his  taste  for  Border  song 
and  story,  gave  him  the  free  run  of  his  library,  rich  in  that  class  of 
literature,  and  the  youth  employed  his  long  winter  evenings  in 
copying  whole  volumes  of  his  patron's  treasures. 

When  the  time  came  for  Young  White  to  learn  a  trade,  his  father 
sent  him  to  one  Adam  Matthewson,  or  Mattison,  millwright,  Jed- 
burgh— better  known  as  "  Yeddie  Mattison  o'  Jethart,"  but  the 
monotony  of  making  shuttles  for  the  "  Jethart  wabsters  "  proved 
distasteful  to  him,  and,  returning  to  the  farm,  he  resumed  his  daily 
round  of  agricultural  pursuits.  At  Otterburn  he  remained  till  he  was 
twenty-three,  and  then,  having  failed  to  obtain  the  appointment  of 


ROBERT  WHITE.  605 

schoolmaster  at  Whelpington,  which  he  sought  in  the  hope  of  being 
able  to  help  its  learned  vicar,  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson,  in  copying 
documents  for  the  "  History  of  Northumberland,"  he  made  applica- 
tion to  Mr.  Ellis  for  assistance  in  securing  a  situation  in  Newcastle. 
Mr.  Ellis,  anxious  to  advance  his  interests,  wrote  to  Mr.  John 
Watson,  grocer  and  tea  dealer,  in  Union  Street,  to  inquire  if  he 
knew  of  any  opening  suitable  for  a  steady  and  intelligent  young  man. 
Mr.  Robert  Watson,  of  the  High  Bridge,  plumber  and  brassfounder, 
was  in  the  habit  of  looking  in  upon  his  neighbour  the  grocer.  They 
were  great  friends,  though  not  relatives,  and  the  application  from 
Otterburn  was  named  between  them.  Robert  Watson  wanted  such 
a  youth,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Ellis  for  further  information,  requesting,  at 
the  same  time,  a  specimen  of  his  protegees  handwriting.  The  reply 
was  satisfactory,  the  penmanship  all  that  could  be  desired,  and  an 
engagement  was  made.  Robert  White  came  to  Newcastle  in  1825, 
and  bound  himself  to  the  employer  in  w^hose  counting-house  he 
remained  forty  years.  Death  alone  separated  them,  and  his  friend 
and  master,  appreciating  his  worth,  made  him  one  of  his  executors. 
So  writes  his  friend  and  life-long  associate,  James  Clephan,  in  a 
paper  contributed  to  the  "  Archaeologia  ^•5-Uiana,"  shortly  after  Mr. 
White's  decease. 

Settled  in  Newcastle,  Mr.  White  found  time  and  opportunities 
that  had  failed  him  at  Otterburn  to  pursue  his  favourite  studies. 
Industrious  and  thrifty,  his  style  of  living  enabled  him  to  gratify  his 
tastes  without  entrenching  unduly  upon  his  resources.  Spare  cash 
for  literature  he  contrived  to  provide,  although  his  income  was  but 
on  a  par  with  that  of  Goldsmith's  village  parson,  and  in  time  he 
accumulated  a  library  of  rare,  out-of-the-way,  and  valuable  books 
that  had  few  equals  in  the  North  of  England.  His  holidays  were 
generally  spent  among  the  hills  of  the  Border,  where  he  rambled 
with  his  friend  James  Telfer,  the  Saughtree  poet,  gathering  up 
Border  minstrelsy,  and  illustrations  of  Border  life.  In  1S29,  he 
added  his  name  to  the  roll  of  local  rhymers  with  a  poem  entitled 
"  The  Tynemouth  Nun."  "  When  I  had  written  out  a  fair  copy," 
says  Mr.  White,  in  the  preface  to  a  reprint  thirty  years  later,  "  I  sent 
it  to  Mrs.  Ellis,  of  Otterburn,  a  lady  who  had  always  conducted  her- 
self towards  me  with  much  kindness,  and  to  whom  I  afterwards 
dedicated  the  poem.  Her  husband,  Mr.  Ellis,  subsequently  trans- 
mitted the  manuscript  to  Mr.  [John]  Adamson,  of  this  town,  who 
waited  upon  me  with  it,  and  entreated  me  to  allow  the  piece  to  be 


6o6 


ROBERT  WHITE. 


printed  for  the  Typographical  Society  of  Newcastle,  to  which  I 
assented,"  In  the  list  of  publications  of  the  Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
Typographical  Society,  commenced  in  1818,  Mr.  White's  adolescent 
contribution  to  local  literature  is  numbered  18,  and  is  described 
as — 

"  The  Tynemouth  Nun,  a  Poem.  By  Robert  White.  Edited  by  J.  Adamson." 
1829.     200  copies  printed,  including  two  on  India,  and  two  on  tinted,  paper. 

Having  made  a  beginning,  Mr.  White's  activity  in  the  preservation 
and  reproduction  of  local  legend,  song,  and  story  became  remarkable. 
From  his  well-filled  store   Moses  Aaron  Richardson,  compiling  the 


^jg^Jt.-/^^^^^ 


"  Local  Historian's  Table  Book,"  drew  copiously  for  the  three 
volumes  of  that  most  useful  and  entertaining  work  which  are  classi- 
fied as  the  "  Legendary  Division."  For  his  friend  Mr.  Clephan, 
then  newly  seated  in  the  editorial  chair  of  the  Gateshead  Observer, 
Mr.  White  wrote  scraps  of  local  lore,  fragments  of  North-Country 
history,  and  contributions  to  "Poet's  Corner"  of  varied  merit  and 
character.  In  1853  he  printed  for  distribution  among  his  friends 
a  poem  on  "The  Wind,"  and  in  1856,  also  for  private  circulation, 
a  similar  production  entitled  "  England."  About  this  time,  or  a 
little  earlier,  he  joined  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries,  and 
began  to  deal  with  matters  more  important  than  poetic  reverie  and 


ROBERT  WHITE.  607 

legendary  narrative.  Taking  up  the  pen  of  the  historian,  preparatory 
to  a  field-meeting  of  the  antiquaries  on  the  Red  Hills,  near  Durham, 
he  told  the  story  of  the  battle  of  Neville's  Cross  on  the  scene  where 
it  was  fought — told  it  with  a  precision  of  statement  and  elaboration 
of  detail  that  gave  promise  of  future  achievement  in  the  wide  field  of 
historical  analysis  and  research.  Encouraged  by  the  approval  with 
which  his  paper  was  received,  Mr.  White  took  up  materials  which 
had  been  lying  untouched  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  expand- 
ing them  into  an  illustrated  volume  of  over  two  hundred  pages, 
published  the  history  of  a  battle  fought  upon  the  very  "  bents  sae 
brown  "  where  he  had  "  fed  his  father's  flocks  " — the  battle  of 
Otterburn.  This  book,  "remarkable  for  its  judicious  arrangement 
and  fidelity  of  narrative,"  as  Dr.  Raine  expressed  it,  gave  its  author 
an  enduring  place  in  historic  literature. 

In  1858,  Mr.  White  edited  and  published  a  reprint  of  the  poems 
and  ballads  of  Dr.  John  Leyden  (who,  like  himself,  was  a  farmer's 
son,  born  in  Roxburghshire),  and  added  to  Sir  Walter  Scott's  life  of 
the  bard  a  supplementary  memoir  of  his  own.  The  same  year, 
responding  to  suggestions  thrown  out  by  Mr.  Hodgson  Hinde  and 
Dr.  Raine,  he  wrote  a  paper  upon  the  battle  of  Flodden,  and  read 
it  to  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries,  assembled  at  Branxton 
Moor,  overlooking  the 

"  fatal  field 
Where  shivered  was  fair  Scotland's  spear, 
And  broken  was  her  shield." 

Having  thus  described  three  of  the  great  conflicts  that  form  land- 
marks in  North-Country  history,  Mr.  White  was  urged  to  complete 
the  series  by  writing  a  history  of  the  great  fight  at  Bannockburn. 
Deferring  to  the  wishes  of  his  friends  in  this  matter,  he  devoted  the 
declining  years  of  his  life  to  the  realisation  of  their  hopes.  In  1871, 
his  task  was  completed,  and  the  story  of  Bannockburn,  a  volume  of 
two  hundred  pages,  was  given  to  the  world.  It  was  the  veteran's 
last  effort.  He  died,  a  bachelor,  at  his  house,  in  Claremont  Place, 
Newcastle,  on  the  20th  of  February,  1874,  aged  seventy-one  years. 
"  His  was  a  good  old  age,"  writes  Mr.  Clephan,  "  to  which  he  had 
arrived  with  almost  unbroken  health  on  the  way;  and  he  had  lived 
long  enough  to  teach  an  admirable  lesson  to  our  race.  Born  to  an 
humble  lot,  the  son  of  virtuous  and  intelligent  parents,  he  walked  in 
the  way  of  industry,  winning  knowledge  and  culture  as   he  went. 


6o8  ROBERT  WHITE. 

Temperate  in  all  things,  he  so  husbanded  his  means  that  he  could 
continually  be  adding  to  what  he  well  described  in  verse  as 

"  The  rich  bequests  of  those  insj^ired 
To  elevate  and  teach  mankind." 

Confidence  and  respect,  and  the  fruits  of  faithful  service,  came  to 
him  by  natural  law.  He  attracted  the  good  opinion  and  esteem  of 
those  around  him.  He  gained  the  applause  to  which  the  Roman 
orator  assigns  peculiar  weight — the  praise  of  those  who  deserve 
praise;  and  his  declining  days  were  spent  in  honourable  ease,  to 
which  literary  labour  lent  a  zest,  and  foreign  travel,  and  converse 
with  men  and  books." 

Mr.  White's  contributions  to  literature  are  somewhat  scattered. 
Some  of  his  earliest  efforts,  it  is  understood,  appeared  anonymously 
in  the  closing  volumes  of  W.  A.  Mitchell's  "  Newcastle  Magazine." 
The  Legendary  Division  of  Richardson's  "  Local  Historian's  Table 
Book,"  as  already  mentioned,  is  full  of  them.  Many  others  are  shut 
up  in  the  files  of  the  Gateshead  Observer.  Several  of  his  songs 
are  to  be  found  in  the  famous  "  Whistle  Binkie  "  collection,  Whitelaw's 
"  Book  of  Scottish  Song,"  and  Rogers's  "  Modern  Scottish  Minstrel." 
His  principal  historical  papers,  and  his  published  books,  are  those 
which  follow : — 

1829.   "  The  Tynemouth  Nun,"  already  noted. 

1853.  "The  Wind:  A  Poem."  Newcastle-upon-Tyne:  Imprinted  by  G. 
Bouchier  Richardson,  for  distribution  among  the  Author's  Select  Friends. 

1856.  "England:  A  Poem."  Newcastle-upon-Tyne:  Printed  by  J.  G. 
Forster  &  Co. ,  for  distribution  among  friends. 

1856.  "The  Battle  of  Neville's  Cross,  Fought  17th  October,  1346."  Archce- 
ologia  /Eliana,  new  series,  vol.  i.  pp.  271-303. 

1857.  "History  of  the  Battle  of  Otterburn,  Fought  in  1388  :  With  Memoirs  of 
the  Warriors  who  engaged  in  that  Memorable  Conflict."  London:  J.  Russell 
Smith.     Newcastle-on-Tyne  :  Emerson  Charnley,  Bigg  Market. 

1858.  "The  Battle  of  Flodden,  Fought  9th  September,  1513."  Arch.  /El.,  iii. 
pp.  197-236. 

1858.  "  Poems  and  Ballads  of  John  Leyden,  M.D.,  with  Memoir  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  and  Supplement  by  Robert  White."     Kelso:  J.  &  J.  H.  Rutherfurd. 

1861.  "Bishop  Ruthall's  Letter  on  the  Battle  of  Flodden."  Arch.  /El.,  v. 
pp.  175-184. 

1861.  "On  the  Temperament  and  Appearance  of  Robert  Burns."  Arch. 
/El.,  vi.  pp.  22-23. 

1861.   "Notes  of  a  Tour  in  Scotland."     Arch.  /EL,  vi.  pp.  49-52. 

1861.  "A  List  of  the  Scottish  Noblemen  and  Gentlemen  who  were  killed  at 
Flodden  Field."'     Arch.  /EL,  vi.  pp.  65-79. 


HUGH  WHITFIELD.  609 

1867.  "Poems:  Including  Tales,  Ballads,  and  Songs,  with  Portrait  of  the 
Author."     Kelso:  J.  &  J.  H.  Ruthcrfurd. 

1S71.  "A  History  of  the  Battle  of  Bannockburn,  Fought  A.D.  1314  ;  With 
Notices  of  the  Principal  Warriors  who  engaged  in  that  Conflict.  With  Ma[)  and 
Armorial  Bearings."     Edinburgh:  Edmonston  and  Douglas. 

1872.  "Biographical  Notice  of  Mr.  John  Hodgson  Hinde."  Arch.  A'\.,  vii. 
pp.  229-240. 


Ibuob  umbitficlb, 

JESUIT    MISSIONER. 

Hugh  Whitfield,  born  of  good  family  in  the  county  of  Durham,  in 
1615,  and  educated  at  the  Jesuit  College  of  St.  Omer,  was  ordered 
to  take  his  part  in  the  English  Mission  during  the  Civil  War.  He 
settled  in  Newcastle  about  the  year  1649,  being  the  first  Jesuit  who 
had  been  sent  to  work  upon  Tyneside  since  the  Reformation. 
Placed  under  the  protection  of  the  Riddells,  some  of  whom  retained 
the  old  faith,  though  the  head  of  the  family,  Sir  Thomas  Riddell,  of 
Gateshead  House,  remained  Protestant,  he  succeeded  for  some  time 
in  escaping  molestation.  At  length,  in  April,  1654,  he  was  appre- 
hended and  committed  to  prison.  The  circumstances  of  his  arrest, 
incarceration,  and  discharge  are  told  in  Foley's  "Records"  as 
follows  : — "  This  father  was  betrayed  at  Newcastle  by  a  man  whom 
he  had  reconciled  to  the  Church,  and  to  whom  he  had  rendered 
other  important  services.  A  Protestant  minister  induced  him  by  the 
promise  of  a  bribe  to  denounce  his  benefactor.  On  the  22nd  April, 
1654,  the  feast  of  the  holy  martyrs  88.  Soter  and  Caius,  Father 
Whitfield  had  scarcely  unvested,  after  saying  mass,  when  he  was 
seized,  and  with  him  between  twenty  and  thirty  persons  who  had 
been  present  at  the  mass.  Those  who  belonged  to  the  town  were 
released  on  giving  bail  to  appear  whenever  called  upon.  The  rest,  who 
were  from  the  country,  together  with  Father  Whitfield,  after  being  led 
through  the  principal  streets  of  Newcastle,  thronged  with  market  people, 
were  brought  before  the  magistrates.  By  these  and  some  Protestant 
ministers  who  were  in  attendance,  the  prisoners  were  subjected  to 
a  long  and  rigorous  examination.  The  result  was  that  those  from 
the  country  were  dismissed,  and  the  Father  was  informed  that  he 
would  be  liberated  on  finding  two  responsible  persons  who  would 
give  bail  to  the  amount  of  £,200  each  for  his  appearance  when 
called  upon.  There  was  no  likelihood  of  his  being  able  to  do 
VOL.  in.  39 


6 10  THOMAS   WHITTELL. 

this,  as  no  Catholic  would  be  taken  as  bail.  After  some  delay, 
two  Protestants,  with  whom  Father  Whitfield  was  wholly  un- 
acquainted, unexpectedly  came  forward  and  gave  the  required 
bail.  Father  Whitfield,  after  testifying  his  gratitude,  had  hardly 
got  out  of  the  town  when  the  magistrates  repented  of  their  leniency, 
and  sent  officers  to  apprehend  again  all  who  had  been  released. 
Three  respectable  Catholics  of  the  town  were  taken  and  consigned 
to  prison,  the  magistrates  now  refusing  all  bail.  When  the  time  for 
the  assizes  drew  near,  the  Father  gave  notice  to  his  bail  that  he 
should  surrender  himself  in  court  for  trial,  and  thus  release  them 
from  the  responsibility  they  had  so  generously  incurred  for  his  sake. 
The  neighbouring  Catholics  being  informed  of  his  intention  resolved 
to  raise  amongst  themselves  the  sum  of  ^400  to  indemnify  the  bail, 
and  thus  enable  the  Father  to  remain  at  liberty.  The  chief  promoter 
of  this  resolution  was  Mr.  Ralph  Clavering,  a  gentleman  of  ancient 
family,  distinguished  for  his  attachment  to  his  religion  and  prudence 
in  the  management  of  business.  But  this  exercise  of  their  pious 
liberality  was  not  eventually  required,  for  the  Judge  on  examining 
the  depositions  determined  not  to  summon  the  accused  party,  and 
his  bail  were  accordingly  discharged." 

How  long  Father  Whitfield  continued  to  labour  in  Newcastle  does 
not  appear,  nor  indeed  is  there  any  record  of  him  subsequent  to  his 
release.  He  was  dead  before  1666,  for  mention  is  made  in  that 
year  of  a  relic  of  him  preserved  in  the  sacristy  of  the  Jesuit  Chapel 
at  St.  Omer. 


ZTbomae  MbittcU, 

THE    LICENTIOUS    POET. 

"  In  witty  songs  and  verses  kittle, 
Who  could  compare  with  Thomas  Whitlell, 
The  Cambo  blade,  who  to  a  tittle 

Described  each  feature  ? 

At  painting  too,  he  varied  little 

From  Mother  Nature." 

— Bell's  "Rhymes  of  Northern  Bards." 

The  birthplace  of  Thomas  Whittell,  a  gifted  but  eccentric  being, 
whose  exploits,  during  the  first  quarter  of  last  century,  gave  him 
notoriety  throughout  the  county  of  Northumberland,  and  far  away 


THOMAS  WHITTELL.  6ii 

across  the  Border,  is  not  certainly  known.  Capheaton,  Shilbottle, 
Edlingham,  and  even  Ovingham,  have  been  named  as  the  scene  of 
his  nativity,  but  the  mystery  that  surrounded  his  birth  has  never 
been  thoroughly  cleared  away.  It  has  been  supposed  that  he  was 
the  natural  son  of  a  gentleman  of  position,  and  that  being  born,  or 
found,  in  the  village  of  Ovingham,  through  which  the  Whittle  Burn 
flows  on  its  way  to  the  Tyne,  he  received,  or  acquired,  the  name  of 
the  streamlet.  That  derivation,  fanciful  and  far-fetched  as  it  is, 
seems  to  be  excluded  by  entries  in  the  parish  registers  of  Kirk- 
whelpington,  which  show  that  a  family  of  the  name  of  Whittell  was 
domiciled  at  Capheaton  about  the  time  when  the  whimsical  bard  is 
supposed  to  have  been  born.  "  Thomas  Whittell,  baptized  Sept. 
6,  1681;"  "Thomas,  the  son  of  Thomas  Whittell  of  Capheaton,  was 
born  Sept.  10,  1683;"  "  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Whittell, 
of  Capheaton,  was  baptized  Oct.  22,  1685."  These  items  in  the 
Kirkwhelpington  book  support  the  assignment  of  Capheaton  as 
Whittell's  birthplace,  and  seem  to  indicate  that  he  was  born  on 
the  loth  September,  1683.  A  parish  clerk  at  Kirkwhelpington 
during  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson's  incumbency,  gave  the  learned 
historian  of  Northumberland  a  statement,  made  to  him  by  the 
miller  of  Edlingham,  to  the  effect  that  Whittell,  when  a  boy,  was 
employed  there  to  carry  pokes  [sacks]  on  horseback  from  house 
to  house,  and  that  he  picked  the  initials  of  his  name  "T.  W." 
over  the  door  of  the  mill,  where  they  were  seen  by  the  clerk  when 
the  story  was  related.  This  "miller's  tale"  is  not  altogether  in- 
consistent with  the  assumptions  derivable  from  Kirkwhelpington 
registers.  Whittell  may  have  been  born  at  Capheaton,  and, 
resenting  ill-usage,  or  possessing  a  roving  disposition,  may  have 
run  away  from  home,  and,  taking  refuge  at  Edlingham,  found 
employment  at  the  mill.  One  thing  is  certain,  and  the  incident 
lightens  up  the  miller's  story,  that  about  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  Whittell,  quite  a  youth,  made  his  appearance  at  Cambo, 
riding  upon  a  goat,  that  he  went  to  the  mill  of  that  place  to  seek 
employment — a  very  natural  thing  for  him  to  do  if  he  had  already 
served  at  Edlingham — and  that  the  Cambo  miller  retained  his 
services. 

Whittell  had  not  been  long  at  Cambo  before  he  developed  gifts 
and  displayed  abilities  not  often  found  among  country  millers  and 
their  merry  men.  At  the  village  alehouse  he  led  the  revels,  and  the 
smart  things  that  he  said,  and  the  clever  pranks  that  he  played,  were 


6i2  THOMAS  WHITTELL. 

the  talk  of  the  country-side.  An  imaginative  writer,  akin,  one  would 
suppose,  to  the  gifted  genius  who  manufactured  the  marvellous 
adventures  of  James  Allan  the  piper,  attributes  Whittell's  alehouse 
diversions  to  the  following  incident : — 

"  Being  one  morning  upon  his  accustomed  and  daily  duty,  he  was 
met  by  the  minister  of  the  parish,  who,  on  having  some  conversation 
with  him,  and  being  pleased  with  his  shrewd  and  pertinent  remarks, 
gave  him  a  shilling.  Whittell,  being  of  a  grateful  disposition,  and 
fearing  lest  he  should  spend  it  to  a  wrong  purpose  and  thereby  incur 
his  displeasure,  could  not  easily  determine  how  to  dispose  of  it.  At 
last  he  resolved  to  do  what  he  had  never  done  before,  which  was  to 
purchase  a  little  ale  with  it.  He  accordingly  went  to  a  public-house, 
where  he  met  with  a  few  of  the  disciples  of  Bacchus,  who  were  so 
delighted  with  his  conversation  that  he  had  to  return  home  with  the 
shilling  unspent.  Similar  experiments  were  repeatedly  tried  to  get 
quit  of  it,  which  were  frustrated  in  the  same  manner,  until  Whittell 
became  immoderately  fond  of  drinking,  and  his  love  for  liquor 
continued  through  life." 

The  time  came  when  Whittell,  tired  of  the  mill,  or  the  miller  tired 
of  him,  gave  up  his  employment,  and  lived  upon  his  wits.  He  could 
paint,  carve  in  wood  or  stone,  write  verses,  sing  his  own  ditties,  and 
make  himself  agreeable  in  convivial  society.  So  he  commenced  to 
wander  up  and  down  the  country,  from  Edinburgh  to  Newcastle, 
sometimes  working  with  diligence,  and  at  other  times  lounging  about 
among  boon  companions  for  days  together.  The  work  that  he 
most  affected  was  the  painting  of  hatchments,  heraldic  designs,  and 
tablets,  such  as  were  usually  ordered  to  be  set  up  in  churches;  to 
which  he  added  epitaph  cutting,  and  the  floriation  of  tombstones. 
That  sort  of  business  suited  his  disposition  better  than  mill-work,  or 
any  other  regular  employment.  It  enabled  him  to  ramble  far  and 
near,  it  opened  out  fresh  fields  of  convivial  intercourse,  and  it 
afforded  opportunities  of  frequent  carousals  with  new  associates. 
The  chap-book  historian,  to  whose  graphic  pen  we  owe  the  marvel- 
lous adventure  of  the  shilling,  relates  the  veracious  anecdotes  which 
follow  respecting  Whittell's  exploits  with  brush  and  chisel  during 
these  irregular  trampings  to  and  fro  in  the  North-Country,  and  up 
and  down  in  it: — 

"  Being   engaged   to   paint  the   altar  of  Church,    Whittell 

received  particular  instructions  from  the  parson  to  ornament  it  with 
angels.     He  could  not  let  the  opportunity  pass  of  breaking  a  joke 


THOMAS   WHITTELL.  613 

with  his  reverence,  and,  therefore,  instead  of  celestial  characters,  he 
drew  the  portrait  of  his  Satanic  majesty,  with  some  inferior  devils  in 
attendance.  On  the  work  being  finished,  he  sent  for  the  priest  to 
inspect  it,  who,  seeing  the  holy  place  thus  profaned,  fell  into  a  great 
passion,  and  threatened  to  punish  him  severely  for  his  wickedness. 
But  Whittell  replied  that,  as  he  had  strictly  followed  the  instructions 
given  to  him,  he  did  not  regard  the  threat  of  any  one.  The  parson 
insisted  that  his  positive  order  was  to  pourtray  the  figures  of  angels. 
•And  so  I  have,'  replied  Whittell,  'and  the  Scriptures  will  back  me 
out,  for  they  prove  that  devils  are  fallen  angels.'  His  reverence 
could  not  help  admiring  the  acuteness  of  the  painter's  wit,  and 
knowing  his  propensity  for  liquor,  treated  him  well,  and  thus  pre- 
vailed upon  him  to  execute  the  work  in  a  proper  manner. 

"  Whittell  once  set  off  to  make  a  tour  in  Scotland.  Being,  as  was 
usually  the  case,  low  in  his  finances,  he  accosted  a  master  builder  at 
Edinburgh  with  a  masonic  sign.  They  were  instantly  friends,  and 
the  master  offered  him  employment  if  he  could  work  at  the  trade. 
Whittell  said  he  knew  a  little  of  coarse  walling.  The  foreman  was 
ordered  to  give  him  a  suitable  job,  who,  thinking  Whittell  deranged 
in  his  mind,  gave  him  a  large  stone  to  square,  which,  being  partly 
mixed  with  whinstone,  had  been  thrown  aside.  Our  traveller, 
perceiving  the  trick,  viewed  and  turned  it  often,  and  then  would  take 
off  a  chip.  '  I  think,'  said  the  master,  who  observed  him,  '  you  will 
make  a  devil  of  a  job  of  it  at  last.'  '  Perhaps  I  may,'  answered 
Whittell,  struck  with  the  remark.  In  the  evening,  he  prevailed  on 
the  workmen  to  assist  him  in  removing  the  stone  into  the  tool-house, 
where  he  wrought  all  night  by  candle  light.  The  next  day,  the 
master,  entering  the  tool-house,  was  surprised  to  see  a  statue  of  the 
devil,  well  proportioned  in  all  his  parts.  '  Now,  sir,'  said  Whittell, 
'  I  have  done  what  you  said,  and  shall  therefore  retire,  and  leave  you 
to  converse  with  the  enemy  of  mankind  till  I  return.'  '  Go,'  says  he, 
*  and  eat  and  drink  what  you  like  best,  and  return  when  you  think 
proper,'  which  did  not  happen  till  next  day,  when  many  hundreds 
had  visited  the  new-made  Satan.  On  the  master  proposing  to  pay 
for  Beelzebub,  'No,  sir,'  says  Thomas,  'I  dare  not  presume  to 
deal  in  devils.  As  I  was  the  means  of  bringing  him  into  being,  I 
consider  it  my  duty  to  exert  my  power  in  annihilating  such  a 
noxious  neighbour,'  so  took  up  a  maul,  and  knocked  him  to  pieces. 
This  performance  procured  him  many  friends,  and  he  lived  for  some 
time  in  Edinburgh  in  the  greatest  plenty." 


6i4  THOMAS  WHITTELL. 

After  he  left  the  service  of  the  Cambo  miller,  Whittell  made  East 
Shafto  his  home,  and  in  that  quiet  rural  hamlet  he  died,  unmarried, 
in  April,  1736.  His  remains  were  buried  at  Hartburn,  in  the  register 
of  which  parish  his  interment  is  entered  under  date  the  19th  of  the 
month,  as  that  of  "  Thomas  Whittell,  of  East  Shaftoe,  an  ingenious 
man." 

Whittell  is  described  as  slovenly  in  dress,  clownish  in  appear- 
ance, and,  like  many  other  self-made  men,  he  was  intolerant  of 
patronage  and  jealous  of  ostentatious  wealth.  Out  of  his  cups  he 
was  boorish  and  rude,  but  in  convivial  society  he  set  the  table  in  a 
roar,  and  kept  it  going  till  he  followed  his  companions  to  their 
resting-place  beneath  it.  But  although  his  life  was  dissolute  and 
profligate,  his  skill  in  the  minor  arts  to  which  he  devoted  himself  gave 
him  a  good  reputation,  and  secured  for  him  a  considerable  number 
of  friends  among  the  rural  clergy  and  the  country  squires.  At 
one  time  specimens  of  his  mural  decoration  were  to  be  seen  at  Belsay 
Castle,  and  in  Ponteland,  Hartburn,  Whelpington,  and  other  North- 
umbrian churches.  It  is  not,  however,  by  these  that  Whittell  is  best 
known  in  the  Northern  Counties.  Pictures  fade  and  tombstones 
decay,  while  uttered  jest  and  written  verse  survive.  It  is  upon  his 
songs  and  rhymes  that  Whittell's  fame  rests — if,  indeed,  that  can  be 
called  fame  which  consists  chiefly  of  bucolic  admiration  for  rollicking 
ditty  or  jovial  recitation,  flavoured  with  indecency,  and  seasoned  with 
slang.  Whittell's  Muse,  for  the  most  part,  runs  undraped  in  Paphian 
groves,  and  when  clothed  is  whimsical  and  sarcastic,  cynical  and 
severe.  A  collection  of  his  effusions  was  published  in  181 5,  by  Mr. 
William  Robson,  of  Morpeth,  who  had  been  for  some  time  school- 
master at  Cambo,  and  was  himself  a  poet  and  political  pamphleteer, 
under  the  title  of 

"  The  Poetical  Works  of  the  late  Celebrated  and  Ingenious  Thomas  Whittell, 
consisting  of  Poems  on  Various  Occasions,  Satires,  Songs,  etc.,  transcribed  from 
an  Original  Manuscript  in  the  Author's  own  Writing."  Newcastle  :  Printed  by 
Edward  Walker  for  the  Editor.  Sold  by  all  the  Booksellers  in  Newcastle,  Durham, 
and  Northumberland.     i2mo,  vi.-i86  pp. 

Five  of  the  most  readable  pieces  in  this  collection  were  printed  by 
John  Bell  in  "  Rhymes  of  the  Northern  Bards."  To  one  of  them,  a 
"  Song  on  William  Carstairs,  Schoolmaster,"  is  attached  the  following 
story : — "  Carstairs,  though  a  poor  poet,  was  vain  of  his  abilities  as 
such.     About  the  year  1731,  Thomas  Whittell  and  he,  being  in  a 


THE  FOUR  LORDS  WIDDRINGTON.  615 

large  company  at  the  '  liurnt  House,'  in  Newcastle,  the  conversation 
turned  on  their  respective  merits  as  disciples  of  the  Muses.  A  wager 
was  soon  bet  on  the  subject,  and  it  was  agreed  that  an  hour  should  be 
allowed  for  each  of  them  to  write  satirical  verses  on  the  other.  The 
two  poets  were  accordingly  placed  in  separate  apartments,  and,  at  the 
expiration  of  the  time  specified,  it  was  determined,  by  throwing  up  a 
halfpenny,  which  of  the  two  should  first  read  his  lays.  It  fell  to 
Whittell's  lot,  but  before  he  had  got  to  the  end,  his  competitor  was 
so  chagrined  that  he  put  the  concoctions  of  his  less  fertile  brain  in 
the  fire ;  the  wager  of  course  was  won  by  Whittell's  party." 

Though  not  adapted  for  family  reading,  Whittell's  rhymes  have 
found  admirers.  Even  so  pure-minded  a  writer  as  the  Rev. 
John  Hodgson  describes  them  as  being  "full  of  humour,"  while 
Mackenzie  declares  that  in  his  time  they  were  "  perused  by  the 
natives  of  the  county  with  admiration  and  delight,  and  will  probably 
be  a  source  of  entertainment  to  many  succeeding  generations." 
Other  times,  other  manners.  Tastes  have  changed  since  the  days 
of  Mackenzie.  Modern  historians  stigmatise  the  author  as  "  the 
licentious  poet,"  and  not  one  in  a  hundred  "  natives  of  the  county  " 
of  the  present  generation  know  that  such  a  writer  ever  existed. 


^be  ifour  %or^0  Mibbrinoton, 

WIDDRINGTONS    OF   WIDDRINGTON. 

"  For  Wetharryngton  my  harte  was  wo, 
That  ever  he  slayne  shulde  be  ; 
For  when  both  his  leggis  wear  hewyne  in  to, 
Vet  he  knyled  and  fought  on  hys  kne." 

— The  Ballad  of  Chevy  Chase. 

"  The  ancient  and  worthy  family  of  the  Widdringtons,"  as  the  older 
historians  designate  them,  were  rulers  and  leaders  of  men  in  North- 
umberland for  centuries.  "  Chiefest "  among  them,  in  chronological 
order,  come  the  following  : — 

Bertram  de  Widdrington,  owner  of  the  vill  of  Widdrington,  and  a 
moiety  of  Burradon,  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century. 

Sir  Gerard  de  Widdrington,  knight,  born  in  1303;  Commissioner 
of  Array  in  Northumberland,  1335;  obtained  licence  to  crenellate 
his  manor-house  at  Widdrington,  1341;  captured  Gilbert  of  Carrick, 


6i6  THE  FOUR  LORDS  WID  BRING  TON. 

and  another,  at  the  battle  of  Neville's  Cross,  1346,  and  allowing 
them  to  escape,  forfeited  his  lands  to  the  Crown,  but  obtained  their 
restoration,  1347  ;  Justice  Itinerant  at  Wark,  1348. 

Roger  de  Widdrington,  brother  of  Sir  Gerard,  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Richard  Acton  (twice  Mayor  of  Newcastle),  by  Maud, 
daughter  of  Richard  Emeldon  (seventeen  times  Mayor),  and  thereby 
added  greatly  to  the  family  estates;  High  Sheriff  of  Northumberland, 
1361;  Warden  of  the  Marches,  1369  and  1371;  died,  1372. 

Sir  John  de  Widdrington,  knight,  married  Catherine,  daughter  of 
Sir  William  de  Acton,  knight;  Commissioner  of  Oaths  of  Allegiance, 
1403;  Commissioner  of  Array,  1410;  died,  1443,  aged  ninety-eight, 
leaving  vast  possessions,  extending  over  half  the  county. 

Roger  de  Widdrington,  son  of  Sir  John;  born  in  1403;  High 
Sheriff  of  Northumberland,  1431,  1435,  i442j  1449;  died,  1451. 

Sir  John  de  Widdrington,  knight ;  married  Isabella,  daughter  of 
Robert,  Lord  Ogle,  and  widow  of  Sir  John  Heron,  knight ;  High 
Sheriff  of  the  county,  1472-74. 

Sir  Ralph  Widdrington,  knighted  on  the  plain  of  Sefford  for  valour 
in  the  campaign  against  Scotland,  under  Richard,  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester, 1482;  died  1502. 

Sir  John  Widdrington,  knight;  born  1503;  married  Agnes, 
daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Gower,  knight,  of  Sittenham,  Yorkshire; 
Warden  of  the  Middle  Marches,  1537;  M.P.  for  Northumberland, 
and  committed  to  the  Tower  for  assaulting  (with  Henry  Witherington 
and  others)  Sir  Robert  Brandling  (M.P.  for  Newcastle),  1552;  High 
Sheriff,  1559. 

Robert  Widdrington,  of  Chibburn  and  Plessey;  married  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Robert,  sixth  Lord  Ogle;  M.P.  for  Northumberland, 
1588-89,  1592-93,  1597-98. 

Roger  Widdrington,  of  Cartington  and  Harbottle,  Steward  for  the 
Crown  in  Hexham,  1567. 

Sir  Henry  Widdrington,  knight,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Sir  Hugh  Trevanion  (who  took  for  her  second  husband  Sir  Robert 
Carey,  Earl  of  Monmouth) ;  High  Sheriff,  1579;  Marshal  and 
Governor  of  Berwick,  1592, 

Sir  Henry  Widdrington,  knight,  son  of  Edward  Widdrington  of 
Swinburne,  born  1561;  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Curwen 
of  Workington;  Deputy- Warden  of  the  Middle  Marches,  1600; 
High  Sheriff,  1605  ;  M.P.  for  the  county,  1604-10,  1614,  and  1620- 
22.     Died  at  Swinburne  Castle,  September  4th,  1623. 


THE  FOUR  LORDS  WIDDRINGTON.  617 

William,  first  Lord  Widdrington,  married  Mary,  daughter  and  sole 
heir  of  Sir  Anthony  Thorold,  of  Blankney ;  killed  at  Wigan,  Sep- 
tember 3rd,  1 65 1. 

William,  second  Lord  Widdrington;  one  of  the  Council  of  State 
at  the  Restoration;  died,  1676. 

Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  of  Cheeseburn  Grange,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  etc.,  1656-58;  died,  1664. 

Ralph  Widdrington,  brother  of  the  Speaker,  scholar  and  divine ; 
died,  1688. 

Edward  Widdrington,  nephew  of  the  first  Lord  Widdrington,  slain 
at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  1690. 

William,  third  Lord  Widdrington,  married  Alathea,  daughter  and 
heir  of  Lord  Fairfax  ;  died,  1694. 

William,  fourth  Lord  Widdrington,  married  Jane,  eldest  daughter 
of  Sir  William  Tempest,  of  Stella ;  attainted  for  rebellion  and  his 
estates  forfeited;  died  at  Bath,  1745. 

William,  first  Lord  Widdrington,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Henry 
Widdrington,  Warden  of  the  Marches,  High  Sheriff,  and  three  times 
one  of  the  representatives  of  the  County  of  Northumberland  in 
Parliament.  As  Sir  William  Widdrington  he  fulfilled  the  duties  of 
the  Shrievalty  in  1636,  was  elected  on  the  2nd  of  April,  1640,  with 
Sir  John  Fenwick  as  his  colleague,  to  represent  Northumberland  in 
the  "  Short "  Parliament,  and  in  October  following,  with  Henry 
Percy  as  his  fellow-member,  was  returned  to  the  "Long"  Parliament. 
A  few  weeks  after  the  Long  Parliament  assembled  he  gave  offence  to 
the  House  by  speaking  of  the  Scots  as  *'  invading  rebels,"  and  the 
attention  of  the  Speaker  having  been  called  to  the  matter,  "Sir 
William  in  his  place  stood  up,  and  said  that  he  knew  them  to  be  the 
king's  subjects,  and  would  no  more  call  them  rebels,  and  with  this 
explanation  the  House  rested  satisfied."  In  June  of  the  following 
year  he  was  again  in  trouble.  The  Journals  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, under  date  the  9th  of  June,  1641,  contain  the  following  curious 
entry  of  his  offence  : — 

"  There  was  this  Morning  Exceptions  taken  against  Mr.  Price 
and  Sir  Wm.  Widdrington,  for  some  Carriages  of  theirs  last  Night, 
concerning  the  taking  away  the  Candles  from  the  Serjeant  violently ; 
when  there  was  no  general  Command  in  the  House  for  the  bringing 
of  Candles  in;  but  a  great  Sense  of  the  House  went  for  rising;  it  being 
so  very  late. 

"  They  in  their  Places,  made  Explanation,  with  what  Intentions 


6i8  THE  FOUR  LORDS  WIDDRINGTON. 

they  did  it:  And  they  were  commanded  to  withdraw;  which  accord- 
ingly they  did :  And  then  the  House  fell  into  Debate  of  the  Business : 

"  Upon  the  Question,  Whether  Sir  Wm.  Widdrington  and  Mr. 
Herbert  Price  should  be  sent  to  the  Tower  for  their  Offence ;  The 
House  was  divided:  With  the  Yeas,  189;  With  the  Noes,  172. 

"  Resolved,  upon  the  Question,  That  Sir  Wm.  Widdrington  and 
Mr.  Herbert  Price  shall  for  their  Offence  to  this  House,  be  sent 
to  the  Tower,  there  to  remain,  during  the  Pleasure  of  the  House. 

"  Sir  Wm.  Widdrington  and  Mr.  Herbert  Price  were  called  to 
the  Bar;  and  there  offered  to  kneel:  But  because  they  did  not 
kneel,  they  were  caused  to  withdraw: 

"  And  after  some  Debate  of  the  House,  concerning  their  coming 
kneeling,  they  were  again  called  to  the  Bar :  And  there,  they  kneel- 
ing all  the  while,  Mr.  Speaker  pronounced  the  Sentence  against 
them,  of  their  being  committed  to  the  Tower." 

Then,  on  the  12th  of  the  month,  a  petition  from  the  offenders 
for  their  release  was  read;  on  the  14th  it  was  considered,  and  an 
order  made  that  they  be  "  forthwith  discharged  from  their  Imprison- 
ment, and  restored  to  their  liberties  of  sitting  here  as  members, 
as  they  formerly  did."  Little  more  than  a  year  passed  away,  till, 
once  more.  Sir  William  Widdrington's  conduct  was  brought  under 
the  notice  of  Parliament.  At  the  sitting  on  Friday,  August  26th, 
1642,  the  House  of  Commons  passed  this  ominous  resolution: — 
"  That  Sir  Wm.  Widdrington  shall  be  disabled  to  sit  any  longer 
a  Member  of  this  House,  during  this  Parliament,  for  neglecting  the 
Service  of  the  House,  and  for  raising  Arms  against  the  Parliament." 

Sir  William  was  in  truth  "  neglecting  the  service  of  the  House  " 
for  he  had  turned  soldier,  joined  the  king's  forces,  and  was  fighting 
hard  for  Church  and  Crown.  He  was  present  at  most  of  the  battles 
between  the  contending  forces,  from  that  of  Worcester,  gained  by 
Prince  Rupert  on  the  23rd  of  September,  1642,  to  that  of  Marston 
Moor,  in  July,  1644,  where  the  prince  was  defeated.  After  this  latter 
engagement,  from  which  the  Royalists  never  recovered.  Sir  William, 
who  had  been  ennobled  by  the  king  with  the  title  of  Baron  Wid- 
drington of  Widdrington  and  Blankeney  in  the  preceding  November, 
retired  beyond  seas  with  the  Marquis  of  Newcastle  and  others,  and 
his  estate  was  sequestered  by  Parliament. 

When  the  Duke  of  York,  afterwards  Charles  H.,  making  an  abor- 
tive attempt  to  recover  the  Crown  in  1650,  landed  in  Scotland,  Lord 
Widdrington  was  in  his  train.     He  accompanied  him  on  his  march 


THE  FOUR  LORDS  IVIDDRINGTON. 


619 


southward  from  Edinburgh  to  CarUsle,  where  Charles  was  proclaimed 
King  of  England.  On  arriving  at  Wigan,  he  was  left  behind  with 
the  Earl  of  Derby,  other  loyal  gentlemen,  and  about  two  hundred 
horse,  the  design  being  that  they  should  wait  there  to  gather  to  the 


ord   /\Jddn'n^ton. 


royal  standard  country  volunteers  devoted  to  the  Stuart  cause.  But 
before  they  could  be  drawn  together.  Lord  Derby  and  his  associates 
were  surprised  one  morning  at  daybreak  by  a  superior  force  of  Parlia- 
mentarians,  under   Major-General    Lilburne,   brother  of  "  freeborn 


620  THE  FOUR  LORDS   WIDDRINGTON. 

John";  and  after  a  gallant  display  of  valour,  they  were  all  either 
killed  or  taken  prisoners.  Among  the  slain  was  Lord  Widdrington, 
who  disdained  to  take  quarter. 

Lord  Clarendon  tells  us  that  Lord  Widdrington  "  was  one  of  the 
most  goodly  persons  of  that  age,  being  near  the  head  higher  than 
most  tall  men,  and  a  gentleman  of  the  best  and  most  ancient  extrac- 
tion of  the  county  of  Northumberland,  and  of  a  very  fair  fortune,  and 
one  of  the  four  which  the  last  king  made  choice  of  to  be  about  the 
person  of  his  son  the  prince,  as  gentleman  of  his  Privy  Chamber, 
when  he  first  settled  his  family.  His  affection  to  the  king  was  always 
remarkable.  As  soon  as  the  war  broke  out,  he  was  of  the  first  who 
raised  both  horse  and  foot  at  his  own  charge,  and  serv'd  eminently 
with  them  under  the  Marquis  of  Newcastle,  with  whom  he  had  a  very 
particular  and  entire  friendship.  He  was  a  man  of  great  courage, 
but  of  some  passion,  by  which  he  incurred  the  ill-will  of  many,  who 
imputed  it  to  an  insolence  of  nature,  which  no  man  was  farther 
from;  no  man  of  a  nature  more  civil,  and  candid  towards  all,  in 
business,  or  conversation." 

William,  the  second  Lord  AViddrington,  eldest  son  of  the  first  lord 
by  his  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  Sir  Anthony  Thorold  of  Blankney, 
did  not  distinguish  himself  in  Parliament.  He  was  one  of  the 
Council  of  State  formally  entrusted  with  the  executive  power  by  "the 
Rump  "  previous  to  its  dissolution  by  General  Monk,  on  the  eve  of 
the  Restoration  in  1660,  and  dying  in  1676,  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  and  heir  William,  the  third  Lord  Widdrington,  who  also  lived  a 
life  of  peace  and  quietness,  and  left  no  mark  in  local  history,  or  upon 
the  political  movements  of  his  time.  When  he  died,  in  1694,  his 
son  William  came  to  the  peerage,  the  fourth  and  last  lord  of  the 
Widdrington  race. 

William,  fourth  Lord  Widdrington,  marrying  one  of  the  Tempests 
of  Stella,  made  Stella  Hall  his  home.  He  was  residing  there  when 
the  Rebellion  of  1715  broke  out,  and,  being  like  his  predecessors 
a  strong  partisan  of  the  Stuarts,  he  was  unfortunate  enough  to  be 
drawn  into  the  adventure.  With  his  brothers  Charles  and  Peregrine 
he  rallied  to  the  standard  of  Lord  Derwentwater  and  "General" 
Forster,  held  command  of  the  second  troop  in  the  rebel  army, 
and  accompanied  it  in  its  peregrinations.  Patten  describes  him  as 
belonging  to  a  family  "famous  in  former  days  for  many  noble 
achievements  recorded  in  history;  tho'  there  is  but  a  small  part 
left  in  this  lord,  for  I  could  never  discover  anything  like  boldness 


RALPH  WIDDRINGTON.  621 

or  bravery  in  him."  And  later  on,  when  the  crowning  disaster  came 
to  the  insurgents  at  Preston,  Patten  attributed  it  in  great  part  to 
Lord  Widdrington's  enervating  influence: — "My  Lord  Widdrington 
had  too  great  prevalency  over  Mr.  Forster's  easy  temper,  and  this 
lord,  we  thought,  understood  so  little  of  the  matter  that  he  was 
as  unfit  for  a  General  as  the  other.  .  .  .  He  was  never  seen  at 
any  barrier,  or  in  any  action  but  where  there  was  the  least  hazard. 
He  was  wonderfully  esteemed  at  home  by  all  the  gentlemen  of  the 
county,  and  it  had  been  happy  for  him,  and  so  we  thought  it  would 
have  been  better  for  us,  if  he  had  stay'd  at  home.  I  heard  a  gentle- 
man say  he  was  vex'd  to  be  under  the  command  of  an  officer  that 
could  not  travel  without  strong  soup  in  a  bottle,  for  his  officer  never 
wanted  strong  broth  wherever  he  came  both  before  and  after  he  was 
prisoner." 

Tried,  and  found  guilty  of  high  treason.  Lord  Widdrington,  with 
the  other  rebel  lords,  was  sentenced  to  death,  and  his  estates,  worth 
;^i  2,000  per  annum,  were  confiscated.  Through  the  influence  of 
the  Earl  of  Nottingham  a  reprieve  was  obtained  for  him  and  his  two 
brothers,  and  finally  that  part  of  his  property  which  had  come  to 
him  by  marriage — Stella  and  Stanley — were  restored  to  him.  For 
the  rest  of  his  life  he  lived  in  retirement,  and  died  at  Bath  in  the 
year  of  the  second  Stuart  Rebellion — 1745. 


PROFESSOR    AT   CAMBRIDGE. 

Ralph  Widdrington,  a  younger  brother  of  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington, 
the  Speaker  (the  subject  of  the  succeeding  biography),  rose  to  be  an 
eminent  scholar  and  divine.  He  was  born  at  Cheeseburn  Grange, 
and  educated  at  Cambridge,  presumably  at  Christ's  College,  with 
which,  during  the  greater  part  of  a  long  life,  he  was  identified.  His 
collegiate  course  was  marked  by  great  diligence  and  application; 
his  after-life  was  spent  in  fulfilling  the  duties  of  high  offices  in  the 
University.  Elected  Fellow  of  Christ's,  he  was  appointed  taxor  in 
1647,  and  while  filling  that  post  took  the  "engagement"  which 
Parliament  imposed  upon  all  office-holders,  to  be  "  true  and  faithful 
to  the  Commonwealth  of  England  as  the  same  is  now  established, 
without  a  King  or  House  of  Lords."     He  was  one  of  the  first  in 


622  RALPH  WIDDRINGTON. 

the  University  to  take  this  solemn  pledge,  following  therein  the  ex- 
ample of  his  brother,  Sir  Thomas,  and  his  promptitude  in  recognis- 
ing the  new  form  of  government  procured  for  him,  in  1650,  the 
ofifice  of  Public  Orator,  in  place  of  Mr.  MoUe,  who  had  neglected  or 
declined  to  subscribe  to  it.  He  became  Greek  Professor  in  1654, 
and  after  the  Restoration,  having  made  his  peace  with  the  Monarchy, 
was  created  D.D.  (September  5th,  1660),  received  the  rectory  of 
Thorp  from  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Lincoln  in  1661,  was  appointed 
Lady  Margaret  preacher  in  1664,  and  Lady  Margaret  Professor  in  1673. 
Shortly  before  the  Commonwealth  came  to  an  end,  and  at  a  time 
when  the  loyal  clergy  were  looking  forward  to  the  return  of  the  king 
and  the  bishops,  Dr.  Widdrington  offended  his  colleagues  by  the 
firmness  with  which  he  maintained  his  views  on  ecclesiastical  and 
political  government.  Pepys,  the  diarist,  whose  younger  brother, 
John,  was  about  to  enter  Christ's  College,  refers  to  the  quarrel  as 
boding  ill-success  to  the  new  pupil.  "  Mr.  Fuller  of  Christ's,"  he 
writes,  under  date  February  21st,  1659-60,  "told  me  very  freely  the 
temper  of  Mr.  Widdrington;  how  he  did  oppose  all  the  Fellows  in 
the  College,  and  feared  it  would  be  little  to  my  brother's  advantage 
to  be  his  pupil."  A  few  days  later  he  chronicles  a  visit  paid  by  his 
father,  his  brother,  and  himself  to  the  college,  and  an  interview  with 
Dr.  Widdrington,  "  who  received  us  very  civilly,  and  caused  my 
brother  to  be  admitted."  The  next  day,  being  Sunday,  they  dined 
with  the  doctor,  and  were  treated  "  very  courteously,"  and  at  the  end 
of  twelve  months  they  had  the  satisfaction  of  learning  that  the  youth 
had  secured  a  scholarship: — "  My  father  did  shew  me  a  letter  from 
my  brother  John,  wherein  he  tells  us  that  he  is  chosen  scholar  of  the 
house,  which  do  please  me  much,  because  I  do  perceive  now  it 
must  chiefly  come  from  his  merit,  and  not  the  power  of  his  tutor. 
Dr.  Widdrington,  who  is  now  quite  out  of  interest  there,  and  hath 
put  over  his  pupils  to  Mr.  Pepper,  a  young  Fellow  of  that  college." 
The  quarrel  had,  in  fact,  assumed  such  dimensions  at  the  date  of 
this  last  quotation  from  Pepys's  Diary,  that  nothing  remained  but  to 
separate  the  combatants.  The  Fellows  took  the  initiative;  they 
ejected  Dr.  Widdrington  from  his  Fellowship,  and  bade  him  retire  to 
his  new-found  rectory  at  Thorp — anywhere  but  in  Christ's  College. 
The  doctor  declined  to  leave  on  such  conditions;  he  appealed  against 
the  decision,  and  was  victorious.  How  the  sores  were  healed  we 
know  not.  Dr.  Widdrington  was  reinstated  in  his  Fellowship,  and 
retained  it,  or  at  least  resided  in  the  college,  till  his  death.     Ralph 


RALPH  WIDDRINGTON.  623 

Cudworth,  the  philosopher,  who  was  one  of  the  chief  opponents  of 
the  doctor,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  very  well  pleased  with  the 
turn  this  business  had  taken,  for  four  years  afterwards,  writing  to 
AVorthington  about  another  person,  he  adds — "  And  if  he  should 
violate  friendship  in  this  kind,  it  would  more  afflict  me  than  all  that 
Dr.  Widdrington  ever  did,  and  make  me  sick  of  Christ's  College." 

Dr.  Widdrington  contributed  elegiac  poems  in  Greek,  and  hexa- 
meter verses  in  Latin,  to  various  publications  issued  by  University 
wits  and  scholars,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  undertaken  the  risk 
of  independent  authorship.  One  of  his  odes  appears  in  that  remark- 
able collection  of  commemorative  verse  which  was  published  at 
Cambridge  in  1638,  in  memory  of  Edward  King,  a  Fellow  of  Christ's 
College,  who  had  been  drowned  on  his  passage  to  Ireland  the  pre- 
vious autumn.  For  this  collection,  Milton,  who  must  have  been 
a  college  acquaintance  of  Dr.  Widdrington's,  wrote  the  well-known 
threnody,  in  which  Edward  King  is  personified  as  "  Lycidas,"  ending 
with  that  perpetually  misquoted  line — "To-morrow  to  fresh  woods 
and  pastures  new." 

None  of  Dr.  Widdrington's  sermons,  lectures,  or  addresses  have 
been  published,  and  the  only  available  specimen  of  his  correspond- 
ence is  a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  Dr.  Isaac  Basire,  archdeacon 
of  Northumberland,  and  printed  in  Darnell's  "  Memoir  and  Corre- 
spondence "  of  that  eminent  ecclesiastic.  The  letter  gives  one  a 
pleasing  idea  of  the  writer,  exhibiting  him  in  a  more  favourable  light 
than  Pepys  admits  in  his  diary. 

By  his  will,  dated  March  19th,  1687-88,  and  proved  in  the  Pre- 
rogative Court  on  the  2nd  of  August,  1689,  Dr.  Widdrington  ordered 
his  library  to  be  sold,  and  the  proceeds,  added  to  his  goods,  plate, 
etc.,  to  be  invested  in  an  inheritance  or  rent-charge  which,  after  the 
death  of  his  nephews  (Ralph  Widdrington  of  Cheeseburn  Grange, 
and  Henry  Widdrington  of  Hartford,  and  Henry  his  son),  was  to  be 
settled  upon  the  Master,  Fellows,  and  Scholars  of  Christ's  College, 
Cambridge,  to  provide  exhibitions  for  four  Lady  Margaret  scholars,  and 
to  pay  ;^5  a  year  to  the  Free  School  of  Morpeth,  and  ^5  a  year  to 
the  poor  of  his  native  parish  of  Stamfordham.  He  further  bequeathed 
;^2oo  to  his  niece  Ursula,  Countess  of  Plymouth;  ^^5  to  his  cousin, 
Cuthbert  Fenwick,  "  the  Durham  scholar";  "his  better  chariot"  to 
his  nephew  Patricius  Widdrington,  and  after  leaving  other  legacies  to 
relatives  and  friends,  he  gave  his  pictures  and  the  residue  of  his  estate 
to  his  nephews  Ralph  and  Henry,  making  them  his  executors. 


624  SIR  THOMAS  WIDDRJNGTON. 


Sir  ZTbomas  Mtbbrinoton, 

SPEAKER    OF   THE   HOUSE   OF   COMMONS. 

"  Learned  Widdrington,  a  mellifluous,  unhealthy,  seemingly  somewhat  scrupu- 
lous and  timorous  man.  He  is  of  the  race  of  that  Widdrington  whom  we 
still  lament  in  doleful  dumps,  but  does  not  fight  upon  the  stumps  like  him.'' — 
Carlyle's  "Cromwell." 

The  Widdringtons  of  Cheeseburn  Grange  were,  it  is  supposed,  a 
branch  of  the  great  Northumbrian  family  of  Widdrington  of 
Widdrington.  Their  descent  is  not  so  clearly  traceable  as  could 
be  wished,  but  the  evidence  collected  by  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson 
points  to  the  probability  that  they  were  scions  of  the  old  Wid- 
drington stem. 

Thomas  Widdrington,  lawyer,  member  of  Parliament,  and  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  Commonwealth,  was  the  eldest 
son  of  Lewis  Widdrington,  who,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  owned  Cheeseburn  Grange,  and  the  townships 
of  Nesbit  and  Ouston,  all  in  the  parish  of  Stamfordham.  Educated 
at  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford  (or  Cambridge,  for  there  is  some 
uncertainty  about  it),  he  was  admitted  a  student  of  Gray's  Inn  on 
the  14th  of  February,  1618-19,  took  the  degree  of  B.A.  at  Christ 
Church  in  162 1,  and  in  due  course  was  called  to  the  Bar.  On  the 
death  of  James  Smith,  in  1631,  he  was  appointed  Recorder  of 
Berwick,  at  which  date  his  public  life  may  be  said  to  have  begun. 

Soon  after  his  appointment  to  the  recordership,  Mr.  Widdrington 
distinguished  himself  by  a  welcoming  speech  to  King  Charles  I., 
journeying  through  Berwick  in  June,  1633,  to  be  crowned  at 
Holyrood.  The  terms  in  which  he  addressed  his  "most  dread 
sovereign  "  are  illustrated  in  the  following  extract : — 

"  It  were  unreasonable  for  us  to  represent  to  your  Majesty's  view 
the  gloomy  cloud  of  our  pressures  and  wants.  No,  I  need  not  do  it. 
The  mite  we  are  to  cast  into  your  Majesty's  Treasury  will  quickly 
tell  you  them.  We  cannot  do  it,  for  that  cloud  is  suddenly  vanished 
by  the  radiant  beams  of  your  sun-like  appearance,  by  whose  approach 
these  rusty  ordnances,  these  solitary  walls,  these  soldiers,  this  now 
despicable  town,  have  all  instantly  received  their  former  life,  lustre, 
and  vigour.  .  .  .  Your  Majesty  is  now  going  to  place  a  diadem  upon 


S//i  THOMAS  WIDDRINGTON.  625 

your  most  sacred  head,  which  God  and  your  own  right  have  long 
since  given  into  your  hands.  Our  humble  prayers  are  that,  not  only 
that,  but  all  your  other  crowns,  may  be  unto  your  Majesty  crowns  of 
roses,  without  the  mixture  of  any  thorns.  And  we  most  affectionately 
wish  that  the  throne  of  King  Charles,  the  great  and  wise  son  of  our 
British  Solomon,  may  be  like  that  of  King  David,  the  father  of 
Solomon,  established  before  the  Lord  for  ever." 

Elected,  in  163S,  to  the  more  important  ofifice  of  Recorder  of 
York,  Mr.  Widdrington  had  to  greet  his  Majesty  again  the  year 
following.  His  speech  on  that  occasion  was  marked  by  even  more 
fulsome  adulation  than  is  contained  in  the  Berwick  address.  He 
talked  about  the  "  sweet  and  wholesome  manna "  which  dropped 
from  the  influence  of  the  king's  "  most  just  and  gracious  govern- 
ment" of  the  kingdom,  and  declared  that  "the  beams  and 
lightnings"  of  the  king's  "eminent  virtues,  sublime  gifts  and 
illuminations,"  cast  "so  forcible  reflections  upon  the  eyes  of  all 
men"  that  he  filled  "not  only  this  city,  this  kingdom,  but  the 
whole  universe  with  splendour."  These  laudatory  phrases  procured 
for  the  Recorder  of  Berwick  and  York  the  honour  of  knighthood, 
which  was  conferred  upon  him  on  the  ist  of  April,  1639. 

Appointed  Reader  at  Gray's  Inn  at  the  Lent  term,  1640,  Sir 
Thomas  Widdrington  was  elected,  a  few  weeks  later,  to  represent 
Berwick  in  the  "Short"  Parliament.  In  October  following,  re- 
elected for  Berwick,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  "Long  Parliament." 
As  the  quarrel  with  the  king  widened  and  deepened,  the  effusive 
loyalty  of  Mr.  Recorder  Widdrington  abated,  and  he  threw  in  his  lot 
with  the  Puritan  party.  It  was  he  who,  in  July,  1641,  with  what 
Rushworth  describes  as  a  "smart,  aggravating  speech,"  proposed  to 
the  House  of  Lords  the  impeachment  of  Matthew  Wren,  Bishop  of 
Ely,  and  in  the  summer  of  1647,  went  down  from  the  House  to  the 
army  to  ascertain  their  desires  and  the  causes  of  their  dissatisfaction. 
In  these  and  in  many  other  undertakings  he  acquitted  himself  with 
so  much  zeal  and  ability,  that  on  the  15th  of  March,  1647-48,  the 
House  appointed  him  one  of  four  commissioners  to  whose  custody 
the  Great  Seal  of  England  was  confided,  and  in  October  following 
promoted  him  to  the  degree  of  serjeant-at-law. 

In  his  capacity  of  commissioner  of  the  Great  Seal,  Sir  Thomas 
Widdrington  looms  out  large  and  lofty  from  the  Journals  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  the  historical  collections  of  Whitelock  and 
Rushworth.      Whitelock,   who   was   one   of  his    colleagues   in    the 

VOL.  III.  40 


626  SIR  THOMAS  WIDDRINGTON. 

commission  of  the  Seal,  enables  us  to  appreciate  the  high  position 
to  which  he  had  attained  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  the  part 
which  he  took  in  the  downfall  of  the  Monarchy  : — 

"In  the  afternoon  (December  20th,  1648),  the  Speaker,  Lieut. - 
General  Cromwell,  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  and  Mr.  Whitelock, 
met  by  appointment  about  six  o'clock,  and  discoursed  freely  together 
about  the  present  affairs  and  actions  of  the  army,  and  the  settlement 
of  the  kingdom.  In  the  conclusion,  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  and 
Mr.  Whitelock  were  desired  to  draw  up  some  heads  upon  the  dis- 
course. .  .  .  There  met  them  (on  the  23rd)  divers  gentlemen  of  the 
House,  and  they  consulted  about  settling  the  kingdom  by  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  not  to  leave  all  to  the  sword ;  and  Sir  Thomas  Widdring- 
ton and  Mr.  Whitelock  spake  their  minds  freely  to  them.  .  .  .  This 
morning  (the  26th)  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  and  Mr.  Whitelock 
being  together,  Mr.  Smith,  clerk  to  the  committee  for  preparing  the 
charge  against  the  king,  came  to  them  with  a  message  from  the  com- 
mittee that  they  required  them  to  come  to  them  this  day.  They 
knew  what  the  business  was,  and  Whitelock  told  Sir  Thomas  that  he 
was  resolved  not  to  meddle  in  that  business  about  the  trial  of  the 
king,  it  being  contrary  to  his  judgment,  as  he  had  declared  himself 
in  the  House.  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  said  he  was  of  the  same 
judgment,  and  would  have  no  hand  in  that  business,  but  he  knew 
not  whither  to  go  to  be  out  of  the  way.  Whitelock  replied  that  his 
coach  was  ready,  and,  if  he  pleased  to  go  with  him,  they  might  be 
quiet  at  his  house  in  the  country  till  this  business  should  be  over, 
and  he  should  be  glad  of  his  company.  He  willingly  consented  to 
go  with  Whitelock,  and  was  not  long  in  preparing  himself  for  the 
journey." 

Although  he  refused  to  have  part  or  lot  in  the  trial  and  execu- 
tion of  the  king,  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  retained  the  confidence  of 
Parliament.  A  few  days  after  Charles's  execution  it  was  resolved  to 
destroy  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Monarchy.  A  workman  was  sent  for, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  Commons  the  destruction  was  effected,  the 
House  ordering  that  Widdrington  and  Whitelock  should  have  the 
pieces.  Then,  having  procured  a  new  seal,  they  proposed  to  make 
these  two  members  the  custodians  of  it,  "  which  occasioned  Sir 
Thomas  Widdrington  to  stand  up  and  excuse  himself  very  earnestly 
because  of  his  unhealthfulness."  That  excuse  not  being  allowed, 
"he  further  excused  himself  by  reason  of  some  scruples  in  con- 
science."    After  a  long  debate,  "  the  House  did  excuse  Widdrington, 


SI/^  THOMAS  WIDDRINGTON.  627 

and  to  manifest  their  respects  for  his  former  services,  they  ordered 
that  he  should  practise  within  the  Bar,  and  gave  him  a  quarter's 
wages  more  than  was  due  to  him."  Still  further  to  testify  their 
regard  for  him,  they  appointed  him,  on  the  6th  of  June,  1650,  one  of 
two  serjeants-at-law  for  the  Commonwealth,  and,  on  the  loth  of 
February  following,  a  member  of  the  Council  of  State. 

The  scruples  of  conscience  which  sent  Sir  Thomas  into  the  country 
with  Whitelock,  and  led  him  to  decline  the  co-wardenship  of  the  new 
Seal,  came  up  again  when,  after  the  victory  at  Worcester,  Cromwell 
summoned  a  conference  to  discuss  the  question  of  establishing  a 
settled  form  of  Government.  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  took  part  in 
the  discussion,  and  thus  expressed  himself: — "I  think  a  mixt  Mon- 
archical Government  will  be  most  suitable  to  the  laws  and  people  of 
this  nation,  and  if  any  Monarchical,  I  suppose  we  shall  hold  it  most 
just  to  place  that  power  in  one  of  the  sons  of  the  late  king."  Colonel 
Whaley  objected  to  a  monarchy,  remarking  that  "  the  king's  eldest 
son  hath  been  in  arms  against  us,  and  his  second  son  likewise  is  our 
enemy."  To  whom  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  replied  : — "  But  the 
late  king's  third  son,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  is  still  among  us,  and 
too  young  to  have  been  in  arms  against  us,  or  infected  with  the 
principles  of  our  enemies." 

After  a  long  debate,  the  conference  parted  without  coming  to  any 
definite  conclusion.  No  better  success  attended  another  meeting 
which  Cromwell  summoned  on  the  19th  April,  1653,  to  dis- 
cuss means  by  which  he  could  contrive  to  get  rid  of  the  Long 
Parliament.  "  It  was  offered  by  divers,  as  a  most  dangerous  thing 
to  dissolve  the  present  Parliament,  and  to  set  up  any  other  Govern- 
ment, yet  none  of  them  expressed  themselves  so  freely  to  that  purpose 
as  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  and  Whitelock  then  did."  All  in  vain  ; 
Cromwell,  as  is  well  known,  went  down  to  the  House  next  day  with 
a  file  of  musketeers,  ordered  his  soldiers  to  "take  away  that  bauble," 
the  mace,  and  dissolved  Parliament  by  force  of  arms. 

Among  the  hundred  and  fifty-six  persons  summoned  by  Cromwell  in 
the  summer  of  1653  to  form  a  Parliament,  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington 
does  not  appear.  This  marked  exclusion  of  his  name  from  those 
whom  the  Protector  favoured  probably  led  him  the  following  year 
to  adopt  a  more  complaisant  attitude;  for  on  the  5th  April,  1654, 
he  consented  to  resume  the  ofiice  of  a  commissioner  of  the  Great 
Seal.  He  did  not  hold  it  long.  In  April,  1655,  the  Protector 
and  his  Council,  without  waiting  to  consult  Parliament,  issued  an 


628  SIR  THOMAS  WIDDRINGTON. 

ordinance  for  the  reform  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  directed 
Widdrington  and  Whitelock  to  put  it  into  execution.  They  objected, 
stating  their  reasons  at  some  length ;  whereupon  Cromwell  sum- 
moned them  into  his  presence,  told  them  that  "  the  affairs  of  the 
Commonwealth  did  require  a  conformity  of  the  officers  thereof,  and 
their  obedience  to  authority,"  ordered  them  to  hand  over  the  Seal,  and 
then  directed  them  to  withdraw.  "And  so,"  writes  Whitelock,  "this 
great  office  was  voluntarily  parted  with  by  them  upon  terms  of  con- 
science only."  But,  as  he  subsequently  relates,  "  the  Protector, 
being  good-natured,  and  sensible  of  his  harsh  proceedings,"  and 
"  intending  to  make  some  recompence  to  them,  put  them  in  to  be 
Commissioners  of  the  Treasury,"  with  a  salary  of  ;^i,ooo  a-piece  per 
annum.  To  show  his  good  nature  still  further,  his  Excellency  gave 
Widdrington  the  temporal  chancellorship  of  the  County  Palatine  of 
Durham. 

In  Cromwell's  second  Parliament,  which  met  on  the  3rd  of 
September,  1654,  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  elected  for  York  city, 
took  a  leading  position.  He  was  placed  upon  all  the  great  com- 
mittees of  the  House,  played  his  part  in  the  debates,  and  was 
chosen  to  be  one  of  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners  charged 
with  the  assessment  of  the  counties  of  Northumberland  and  Durham. 
When  the  next  Parliament  assembled  (September  T7th,  1656),  elected 
for  both  York  city  and  his  native  county,  and  choosing  to  sit  for  the 
latter,  he  was  promoted  to  the  exalted  position  of  Speaker.  In  the 
Journals  of  the  Commons  we  read : — 

"  The  House  being  met,  the  Lord  Commissioner  Lisle  rose  up, 
and  put  the  House  in  mind  That  their  First  Work  is  to  choose  a 
Speaker;  and  that  there  was  amongst  them  in  the  House  a  Person 
of  great  Integrity  and  Experience,  in  relation  to  this  Parliament- 
Work,  and  every  Way  qualified  for  that  Service ;  and  by  the  Leave 
of  the  House,  proposeth  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  Knight,  Serjeant 
at  Law,  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  his  Highness'  Treasury:  Which 
was  well  approved  of  by  a  general  Call  of  him  to  the  Chair. 

"  He,  standing  up  in  his  Place,  made  an  Apology  for  himself, 
that  the  Matters  to  be  transacted  are  great,  as  was  also  his  own 
Weakness,  both  of  Mind  and  Body,  professing  himself  to  be 
surprized;  and  desires  the  House  to  think  of  some  other  Person 
more  worthy:  But  being  generally  called  on  by  the  House,  he  was, 
by  the  Lord  Commissioner  Fienes,  and  the  Lord  Commissioner 
Lisle,   brought   and   placed  in   the   chair,   the  usual   place  of   the 


SIR  THOMAS   WIDDRINGTON.  629 

Speakers:  Where,  being  set,  he  did  again  represent  to  the  House, 
his  own  Insufficiency  for  that  Place;  and  that  he  was  wholly 
surprized  in  it,  fearing  lest,  though  they  did  not  believe  what  he 
had  said  in  way  of  excuse  before,  yet  they  might  have  too  much 
Cause  to  believe  it  afterwards:  acknowledging  the  great  Favour 
and  Respect  of  the  House  to  him  herein ;  and  praying,  that  as 
it  was  their  Love  that  called  him  to  that  Service,  so,  if  he  did 
err  therein,  as  he  was  of  all  Men  most  apt  to  do,  the  same  Love 
would  pardon  it." 

Among  other  duties  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  "  Our  Right  Trusty 
and  Well-beloved  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  Knight,  Speaker  of  the 
Parliament  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
and  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  our  Treasury,"  was  the  public  instal- 
lation of  Cromwell  as  Lord  Protector.  This  "  loudest  thing  of  all," 
this  "  topstone  to  the  work,"  as  Carlyle  expresses  it,  was  celebrated 
at  Westminster  on  the  26th  of  June,  1657.  Sir  Thomas  \\'iddring- 
ton's  part  in  the  solemnity,  abridged  from  the  "  Diary"  of  a  member 
of  Parliament,  who  used  the  pen-name  of  Thomas  Burton,  reads  as 
follows : — 

"  In  Westminster  Hall,  at  the  upper  or  south  end  thereof,  was 
built  an  ascent,  whereon  was  placed  the  chair  of  Scotland,  set  under 
a  prince-like  canopy  of  state.  Before  his  Highness,  and  below  him, 
was  set  a  table  covered  with  pink-coloured  velvet  of  Genoa,  fringed 
with  fringe  of  gold.  On  this  table  besides  the  Bible,  sword,  and 
sceptre  of  the  Commonwealth,  were  pens,  ink,  paper,  sand,  wax, 
etc.  Before  this  table,  on  a  chair,  sat  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington, 
the  Speaker  to  his  Highness  and  the  Parliament. 

"  The  Protector,  with  loud  acclamation,  was  enthroned,  being 
seated  in  the  chair  of  state.  The  heralds,  in  the  name  of  his  High- 
ness and  the  Commonwealth,  commanding  silence;  then  the  Speaker, 
Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  in  the  name  of  the  Parliament,  presented 
to  his  Highness  a  rich  and  costly  robe  of  purple  velvet,  lined  with 
ermines;  a  Bible,  ornamented  with  bosses  and  clasps,  richly  gilt; 
a  rich  and  costly  sword;  and  a  sceptre  of  massy  gold.  At  the 
delivery  of  these  things,  the  Speaker  made  a  short  comment  upon 
them : — 

"  First,  the  Robe  of  Purple;  this  is  an  emblem  of  magistracy,  and 
imports  righteousness  and  justice,  and  is  of  a  mixed  colour,  to  show 
the  mixture  of  justice  and  mercy.  A  magistrate  must  have  two 
hands,  to  cherish  and  to  punish. 


630  S/J?  THOMAS  WIDDRINGTON. 

"  Second,  the  Bible,  in  which  you  have  the  happiness  to  be  well 
versed.  This  Book  of  Life  consists  of  two  testaments,  the  old  and 
the  new.  The  first  shows  Christ  veiled;  the  second  Christ  revealed. 
It  is  the  book  of  books,  and  doth  contain  both  precepts  and  examples 
for  good  government. 

"  Third,  here  is  a  sceptre,  not  unlike  a  staff,  for  you  to  be  a  staff 
to  the  weak  and  poor.  It  is  said  in  scripture  that  the  sceptre  shall 
not  depart  from  Judah,  etc.,  until  Shiloh  come,  and  unto  him  shall 
the  gathering  of  the  people  be.  It  was  of  the  like  use  in  other 
kingdoms. 

"Fourth,  the  last  is  a  sword;  not  a  military  but  a  civil  sword. 
It  is  a  sword  rather  of  defence  than  offence;  not  to  defend  yourself 
only,  but  your  people  also.  If  I  might  presume  to  fix  a  motto  upon 
this  sword,  as  the  valiant  Lord  Talbot  had  upon  his,  it  should  be 
thus — I  am  the  Lord  Protector's  to  protect  my  people. 

"  This  comment  or  speech  being  ended,  the  Speaker  took  the 
Bible,  and  gave  the  Protector  his  oath.  After  prayer,  the  heralds 
by  loud  sound  of  trumpet  proclaimed  his  Highness,  and  the  people 
with  loud  shouts  cried  3  times.  Long  live  his  Highness  !     Huzza  !  " 

"  Eloquent,  mellifluous  speech,"  writes  Carlyle  of  Sir  Thomas 
Widdrington's  address,  "  setting  forth  the  high  and  true  significance 
of  these  several  symbols.  Speech  still  worth  reading.  And  so  this 
Solemnity  transacts  itself;  which  at  the  moment  was  solemn  enough; 
and  is  not  yet,  at  this,  or  any  hoUowest  moment  of  Human  History, 
intrinsically  altogether  other.  A  really  dignified  and  veritable  piece 
of  symbolism;  perhaps  the  last  we  hitherto,  in  these  quack-ridden 
histrionic  ages,  have  been  privileged  to  see  on  such  an  occasion." 

Parliament  was  dissolved  on  the  4th  of  February,  1657-58,  and 
Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  upon  whom,  the  previous  September,  the 
burgesses  of  Newcastle  had  conferred  the  freedom  of  their  town,  was 
rewarded  with  the  office  of  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  and 
appointed  one  of  the  Council  of  State.  From  the  Exchequer  he  was 
transferred,  once  more  (January  17th,  1659-60),  to  the  Chief  Com- 
missionership  of  the  Great  Seal,  in  which  post  he  remained  till  the 
return  of  the  monarchy.  In  the  Healing  or  Convention  Parliament 
of  April,  1660,  he  was  again  twice  elected — for  Berwick  and  York. 
He  chose  York,  received  the  benefit  of  the  Act  of  Indemnity,  was 
reappointed  serjeant-at-law,  and  confirmed  in  his  appointment  of 
Chancellor  of  Durham.  At  the  election  of  1661  he  was  returned  by 
the  burgesses  of  Berwick,  "  but,"  writes  Anthony  Wood,  "  being  then 


GEORGE  MUTTON  WILKINSON.  631 

grown  old  and  craz'd,  he  did  seldom  sit."  He  resigned  the  Recorder- 
ship  of  York  in  1662,  and  dying  on  the  13th  of  May,  1664,  was  buried 
beside  his  wife  in  the  chancel  of  St.  Giles-in-the-Fields,  London, 
where  a  handsome  marble  monument  was  erected  to  his  memory. 

Drake,  in  his  "  Eboracum,"  quotes  copiously  from  a  MS.  history 
of  the  City  of  York,  compiled  by  Sir  Thomas  Widdrington,  and 
intended  to  have  been  published  by  him  for  the  benefit  of  his  con- 
stituents in  that  city.  He  offered  to  dedicate  the  book  to  the  Mayor 
and  Common  Council,  but  the  honour  was  declined.  The  municipal 
authorities  were  displeased  with  his  conduct  in  not  procuring  an  Act 
for  improving  the  river  Ouse,  and  they  told  him  that,  if  he  had  employed 
his  power  and  influence  towards  the  relief  of  their  distressed  condi- 
tion, it  would  have  been  of  much  more  advantage  to  the  city,  and 
satisfaction  to  them,  than  showing  them  the  grandeur,  wealth,  and 
honour  of  their  predecessors.  Sir  Thomas  was  highly  offended  at 
their  sharp  reply,  refused  to  publish  the  book,  and  left  instructions 
in  his  will  that  it  was  never  to  be  given  to  the  world. 

Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  married  Frances,  daughter  of  Ferdinando, 
Lord  Fairfax,  and  after  her  death,  in  1640,  aged  thirty-six,  remained 
a  widower.  His  only  son  and  one  of  his  five  daughters  predeceased 
him.  The  four  survivors  were  married,  Frances,  to  Sir  John  Legard 
of  Canton;  Catherine,  to  Sir  Robert  Shafto,  Recorder  of  Newcastle; 
Mary,  to  Sir  Robert  Markham,  Bart.,  of  Sedgebrook;  Ursula  (as 
second  wife),  to  Thomas,  Earl  of  Plymouth.  Cheeseburn  Grange 
descended  to  his  brother.  Sir  Henry  Widdrington;  his  law  reports 
he  bequeathed  to  his  son-in-law.  Sir  Robert  Shafto;  his  books  and 
MSS.  he  left  to  his  grandchildren,  John  and  Thomas  Legard  and 
Mark  Shafto. 

6coroc  Ibutton  MilUinson, 

RECORDER    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

The  stately  and  dignified  judge  who  bore  the  name  of  George 
Hutton  Wilkinson  was  the  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Wilkinson,  Esq., 
of  Walsham-le-Willows,  in  the  county  of  Suffolk.  His  mother  was 
Jane,  daughter  of  George  Hutton,  Esq.,  of  Skelton,  Yorkshire; 
his  paternal  grandfather  and  great-grandfather  were  merchants 
at  Stockton-on-Tees,  and  descendants  of  a  family  long  domiciled 
in  the  County  Palatine  of  Durham. 


63: 


GEORGE  BUTTON  WILKINSON. 


Bom  on  the  15th  of  January,  1791,  Mr.  Wilkinson  was  educated 
at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  M.A.  Trained 
to  the  profession  of  the  law,  he  was  called  to  the  Bar  in  18 14,  came  the 
Northern  Circuit,  and,  being  among  relatives  and  friends,  received  a 
fair  share  of  junior  work  at  Quarter  Sessions,  and  at  the  Assizes. 
On  the  1 6th  of  September,  181 7,  he  married  Elizabeth  Jane,  only 
daughter  and  heiress  of  George  Pearson,  Esq.,  who,  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1798,  had  been  clerk  of  the  peace  for  the 
county  of  Durham.  By  this  marriage  Mr.  Wilkinson  came  into 
possession  of  the  beautiful  estate  of  Harperley  Park,  near  Witton-le- 
Wear,  which  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  made  his  home. 


7U_<^4^ 


'C^U^Ofj^ 


Mr.  Wilkinson's  practice  at  the  Bar,  the  skill,  the  ease,  and  the 
dignity  with  which  he  conducted  his  pleadings,  indicated  the  posses- 
sion of  a  well-furnished  and  a  well-balanced  mind,  as  well  as  fitness 
for  the  exercise  of  judicial  functions,  long  before  the  possessor  had 
reached  his  prime.  When,  therefore,  the  Government,  in  1833, 
issued  a  commission  under  the  Great  Seal  to  twenty  learned  and 
capable  men  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  municipal  corporations, 
their  modes  of  administering  justice,  their  revenues,  etc.,  pre- 
paratory to  a  great  scheme  of  municipal  reform,  Mr.  Wilkinson 
was  selected  to  be  one  of  the  twenty.      That  same   year  he  was 


GEORGE  HUTTON  WILKINSON.  633 

appointed  Recorder  of  Hartlepool ;  but  this  proved  to  be  a  transient 
and  empty  honour,  for,  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  the  Recordership, 
the  Mayoralty,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  corporate  body  of  that 
ancient  borough,  became  defunct,  and  so  remained  for  many 
years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1S33,  while  the  municipal  inquiry  was  pending, 
and  the  fleeting  honour  at  Hartlepool  was  being  bestowed  upon  Mr. 
Wilkinson,  Mr.  James  Losh,  the  Recorder  of  Newcastle,  died.  At 
the  annual  mayor-choosing,  a  few  days  later,  Mr.  Richard  Craster 
Askew  was  elected  Afr.  Losh's  successor.  The  appointment  of 
Recorder  at  that  time  was  renewed  every  Michaelmas  Monday, 
when  the  Mayor  and  other  officers  of  the  Corporation  were  elected, 
and  it  was  usual  to  choose  the  retiring  Recorder  year  after  year, 
without  opposition,  for  so  long  as  his  health  and  convenience 
allowed  him  to  hold  the  office.  When,  however,  Mr.  Askew's 
first  year  came  to  an  end,  he  found  his  claim  to  a  renewal  of  the 
appointment  challenged  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Wilkinson.  Quite 
an  exciting  contest  followed.  Mr.  Askew  was  the  official  candidate, 
the  nominee  of  the  Mayor  and  aldermen;  but  the  majority  of  the 
four-and-twenty  electors  would  not  obey  official  instructions,  nor 
follow  official  advice.  On  the  6th  of  October,  1834,  by  a  majority 
of  14  votes  to  10,  Mr.  Wilkinson  obtained  the  appointment,  and, 
having  been  made  a  freeman  of  the  town,  and  duly  enrolled  a 
member  of  the  Ropemakers'  Company,  he  took  chambers  in  one 
of  the  leading  thoroughfares,  and  became  a  ratepayer  and  citizen 
of  Newcastle. 

To  his  qualities  as  a  lawyer  and  a  judge,  Mr.  Wilkinson  added  the 
reputation  of  a  shrewd  and  far-seeing  man  of  business.  Schemes  of 
railway  extension  which  at  that  time  were  devised  to  open  out  the 
mineral  treasures  and  to  distribute  the  agricultural  produce  of  the 
Northern  Counties,  found  in  him  a  firm  but  discriminating  supporter. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Great  North  of  England  Railway, 
incorporated  in  1836  to  construct  a  through  line  from  York  to 
Newcastle,  with  a  branch  from  Thirsk  to  Leeds.  When  the  project 
had  been  matured,  and  powers  had  been  obtained  for  its  realisa- 
tion, his  co-directors  made  him  their  permanent  chairman.  In  that 
capacity,  on  the  25th  of  November,  1837,  at  a  point  near  the  pleasant 
summer  resort  of  Croft,  he  cut  the  first  sod  of  the  undertaking,  and 
on  the  9th  of  April,  1840,  set  the  keystone  in  the  last  arch  of  the 
bridge  which  carried  the  railway  over  the  river  Tees,  the  founda- 


634  GEORGE  BUTTON  WILKINSON. 

tions  of  which  had  been  laid  by  his  wife  some  months  pre- 
viously. Meanwhile,  he  had  written  his  name  at  the  head  of  a 
list  of  subscribers  to  the  "  Bishop  Auckland  and  Weardale  Railway  " 
— a  line  which,  starting  from  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  line,  near 
Black  Boy,  extended  to  Witton  Park,  and  in  after  years  reached 
Frosterley  and  Stanhope.  Of  the  company  formed  to  promote  this 
extension  he  was  also  elected  chairman.  Thus  he  united  in  his  own 
person  the  representation  of  two  of  the  great  forces  of  his  time — law 
and  locomotion. 

Through  his  marriage  Mr.  Wilkinson  inherited  a  lease  of  the  iron 
ore  in  the  manors  of  Stanhope  and  Wolsingham,  which  his  father-in-law 
had  secured  long  before.  It  was  upon  a  discovery  of  the  valuable 
quality  of  this  ore  that  Mr.  Charles  Attwood  established  the  famous 
iron  works  of  Tow  Law.  Mr.  Attwood  had  been  in  Cleveland  prior 
to  the  discoveries  of  Mr.  John  Vaughan,  and  had  made  up  his  mind 
to  acquire  a  royalty  and  commence  the  manufacture  of  iron  from  the 
ores  of  that  region,  when  circumstances  occurred  which  diverted  his 
thoughts  into  Weardale.  The  "  circumstances,"  as  narrated  by  Mr. 
J.  S.  Jeans  in  "  Pioneers  of  the  Cleveland  Iron  Trade,"  were 
these  : — 

"A  man  named  Walton,  who  had  formerly  owned  a  small  free- 
hold estate  in  Weardale,  but  at  that  time  kept  a  public-house  in  or 
near  Newgate  Street,  Newcastle,  while  working  some  lead-mines  in 
Weardale,  came  upon  a  peculiar  mineral  of  which  he  knew  nothing, 
but  knowing  Mr.  Attwood  to  be  a  mineralogist,  he  brought  the  stone 
under  his  notice.  Mr.  Attwood  pronounced  it  to  be  a  very  rich 
and  peculiar  quality  of  iron  ore — a  carbonate  of  iron  which  was  not 
known  to  exist  anywhere  in  Great  Britain  except  Cornwall.  ,  .  . 
With  Walton  as  their  guide,  Mr.  Attwood  and  his  nephew  made 
a  tour  of  the  lead-mines,  and  found  that  large  quantities  of  the  '  rider 
ore'  had  been  cast  out  of  the  mines  as  rubbish.  Mr.  Attwood  knew 
that  if  he  could  obtain  a  sufficient  quantity  of  this  ore,  he  would  be 
able  to  produce  the  best  iron  made  in  Britain ;  so  he  elected  to  throw 
in  his  lot  with  the  Weardale  ores,  saying  to  his  nephew  and  himself, 
'We'll  let  Cleveland  alone  in  the  meantime;  it  will  keep  perhaps 
long  enough.'  The  next  matter  that  claimed  his  attention  was  the 
acquisition  of  a  lease  for  working  this  '  rider  ore '  of  Weardale.  .  .  . 
Most  of  those  to  whom  Mr.  Attwood  spoke  on  the  subject  were 
quite  incredulous  of  the  existence  of  such  ore.  One  old  man  know- 
ingly declared,  '  Nay  !  that's  no  ironstone,  it's  only  brunt  stuff.'     But 


GEORGE  HUTTON  WILKINSON. 


635 


Mr.  Attwood  persisted  that  it  was  ironstone  of  the  finest  quality; 
and,  unwisely  for  himself,  perhaps,  made  a  great  deal  of  noise  about 
it,  for  when  he  went  to  see  Mr.  (George  Hutton)  Wilkinson  about 
entering  into  a  lease,  he  found  that  Mr.  Cuthbert  Rippon  had  been 


':i^'^' 


mm  m 


there  a  few  days  before  him,  and  had  just  arranged  for  the  working 
of  all  the  ironstone  in  the  two  manors  of  Stanhope  and  Wolsingham. 
Under  the  circumstances,  Mr.  Attwood  was  compelled  to  make 
arrangements  with  Mr.  Rippon  for  a  sub-lease  of  the  manor  on  much 


636  GEORGE  BUTTON  WILKINSON. 

less    advantageous    terms    than    he    could    have    made   with    Mr. 
Wilkinson,  had  he  kept  his  own  counsel." 

Mr.  Wilkinson's  legal  acquirements  brought  to  him  other  important 
offices  besides  the  Recordership  of  Newcastle.  He  was  for  many 
years  a  revising  barrister  for  Yorkshire  and  Lancashire,  and  a  Com- 
missioner in  Bankruptcy  for  the  district  of  Sunderland  and  Stockton. 
When  the  Act  establishing  County  Courts  in  England  came  into 
operation,  the  Lord  Chancellor  appointed  him  to  be  judge  of  the 
Northumberland  Circuit.  He  opened  his  court  in  that  capacity  on 
the  19th  of  April,  1847,  and,  by  his  dignity  and  courtesy,  and  the 
soundness  of  his  decisions,  helped  to  make  the  new  system  of 
recovering  small  debts  useful  and  popular.  For  six  years  he  held 
the  offices  of  Recorder  of  Newcastle  and  County  Court  Judge  of 
Northumberland,  conjointly.  In  April,  1853,  failing  health  com- 
pelled him  to  withdraw  from  the  Judgeship.  The  Recordership  he 
retained  for  a  year  and  a  half  longer,  and  then,  finding  himself 
unequal  to  the  strain,  he  resigned  that  post  also.  Retiring  to  his 
beautiful  seat  of  Harperley  Park,  he  amused  his  hours  of  learned 
leisure  by  writing  a  charming  book,  entitled — 

"  The  Old  Inmates  of  Harperley  Park,  1858 ;  Illustrated  in  five  Paraphrases 
from  the  Odyssey  of  Homer,  and  shadowing  forth — i.  The  Long  and  Faithful 
Services  of  Rural  Dependants  and  Servants ;  2.  The  Sports  and  Pastimes  of 
Rural  Life  in  All  Ages ;  3.  The  Antiquity  of  Pugilistic  Contests,  and  the  Early 
Popularity  of  the  '  Haggis ' ;  4.  The  Services  of  Rural  Households ;  5.  The 
Pursuits  of  Rural  Industry."     4to,  Cambridge,  1859. 

The  book  contains  a  view  of  Harperley  Park  and  a  portrait  of  the 
author,  together  with  portraits  of  "  Willie  Hope  "  and  "  Nannie,"  his 
wife;  "  Tommy  Goundry  "  ;  John  Blackburne,  Q.C.,  of  the  Municipal 
Boundary  Commission ;  R.  Baynes  Armstrong,  Q.C.,  Recorder  of 
Manchester;  Captain  T.  H.  Wilkinson,  of  Walsham;  John  Hughes, 
of  Donnington  Priory,  etc. 

Mr.  Wilkinson  died  at  Harperley  Park,  shortly  after  the  volume 
was  issued — on  the  23rd  December,  1859,  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of 
his  age.  By  his  marriage  with  Miss  Pearson,  who  died  April  15th, 
1842,  he  had  a  family  of  five  sons  and  six  daughters.  On  the  3rd 
of  June,  1843,  he  was  united  to  Catherine  Heydon,  eldest  daughter 
of  Major  A.  P.  Skene,  of  Durham,  who  brought  him  no  issue.  His 
eldest  son,  the  Rev.  G.  P.  Wilkinson,  succeeded  to  his  Harperley 
estate;  his  second  son  is  now  the  Right  Reverend  Thomas  William, 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Hexham  and  Newcastle. 


ROBERT  HOPPER   WILLIAMSON.  637 


IRobcrt  Iboppcr  Milliameon, 

AN    EMINENT    LAWVER. 

The  great  provincial  lawyer  who  was  known  by  the  name  of 
Robert  Hopper  Williamson  bore  originally  the  family  name  of 
Hopper.  Robert  Hopper  came  of  a  good  old  stock,  that,  through 
long  descent,  had  scattered  itself  over  various  parts  of  the  bishopric 
of  Durham.  There  were  Hoppers  at  Wolsingham  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VHI.,  and  some  of  their  descendants,  enriched  by  fortunate 
adventure  or  happy  marriage,  settled,  at  different  times,  in  the  city 
of  Durham,  and  at  Shincliffe,  Silksworth,  Walworth,  and  Pittington. 
The  Shincliffe  branch,  to  which  Robert  Hopper  belonged,  began 
with  John  Hopper,  to  whom,  with  Janet  his  wife,  and  Sampson 
his  son,  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham,  on  the  nth  of  May, 
1594,  leased  a  portion  of  their  Shincliffe  estate.  Upon  the  property 
so  acquired  the  Hoppers  resided  for  several  generations.  One  of 
them,  named  after  his  ancestor,  John  Hopper,  died  about  the 
beginning  of  last  century,  leaving  two  sons,  John  and  Hendry. 
This  latter  son,  Hendry  Hopper,  who  resided  in  the  city  of 
Durham,  purchased,  in  1720,  the  estates  of  Heugh  Hall  and 
Quarrington,  in  the  parish  of  Kelloe ;  Crook  Hall,  in  the  western 
suburbs  of  Durham;  and  the  lordship  of  Thrislington,  in  the 
parish  of  Bishop  Middleham.  Having  no  children  of  his  own, 
he  bequeathed  his  estates  to  John,  the  eldest  son  of  his  elder 
brother.  This  John  Hopper  married  Elizabeth,  only  child  of 
Robert  Hilton,  and  had  issue,  another  John  Hopper,  who  died 
unmarried;  Robert,  the  subject  of  this  biography;  and  Ralph,  a 
clergyman. 

Robert  Hopper,  born  in  1754,  was  trained  to  the  law,  and, 
being  in  due  course  called  to  the  Bar,  followed  the  Northern 
Circuit.  He  married,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1782,  Ann,  only 
daughter  of  Dr.  William  Williamson,  rector  of  Whickham,  third 
son  of  Sir  William  Williamson,  Bart.,  and  assumed  her  patronymic 
in  addition  to  his  own.  About  the  time  of  his  marriage,  perhaps 
a  year  or  two  before,  he  took  chambers  in  Newcastle  and  began 
to  practise  as  a  consulting  barrister,  or  chamber  counsel.  After 
his  marriage  he  purchased  a  spacious    mansion,  the  last   but  one 


638 


ROBERT  HOPPER   WILLIAMSON. 


on  the  east  side  of  Clavering  Place  as  we  descend  to  the  Tuthill 
Stairs.  The  house  had  pleasant  gardens  behind,  with  picturesque 
views  of  the  Castle  Keep,  the  towers  of  St.  Nicholas'  and  All 
Hallows',  and,  possibly,  glimpses  of  woodland  at  Heaton  and 
Gateshead  South  Shore;  while,  in  front,  across  Hanover  Square, 
was  an  upper  window  prospect  of  the  valley  of  the  Tyne,  bounded 
by  the  green  slopes  of  Whickham,  full  of  happy  memories  to  both 
husband  and  wife.  There,  and  upon  his  wife's  property  at  Whick- 
ham, he  lived  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  there  also,  such  was  his 
attachment  to  the  place,  he  died. 


niffoy/^-^  UJlMi^oUTn^Ji^^ 


Upon  the  resignation  of  Christopher  Fawcett  on  Michaelmas 
Monday,  October  6th,  1794,  Mr.  Hopper  Williamson  was  elected 
Recorder  of  Newcastle.  The  ofifice  carried  with  it  dignity  and 
honour  rather  than  emolument  and  reward;  but  the  recipient, 
being  a  man  of  means,  valued  the  title  more  than  the  stipend. 
It  was  the  only  public  position  in  Newcastle  which  he  could  be 
induced  to  accept.  He  had  no  liking  for  municipal  work ;  a  lawyer, 
pure  and  simple,  he  cared  for  nothing  outside  of  his  profession 
except,  perhaps,  politics.  From  politics  a  man  of  his  position,  in 
both  town  and  county,  could  not  escape.     He  was  a  Constitutional 


ROBERT  HOPPER   WILLIAMSON.  639 

Whig,  of  the  Rockingham  type,  decorous  and  diffident,  conservative 
and  cautious,  and,  although  he  never  appeared  upon  the  pohtical 
platform  nor  publicly  participated  in  the  heated  controversies  that 
raged  round  him,  he  held  his  opinions  firmly,  and  did  not  hesitate 
to  express  them  when  opportunity  served  or  occasion  demanded. 
It  is  recorded  of  him  that,  scared  by  the  excesses  of  the  French 
Revolution,  he  withdrew  from  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  which  he  had  assisted  to  create,  fearing  that 
such  institutions,  with  their  methods  of  research  and  inquiry, 
might  lead  to  anarchy  and  rebellion  ! 

Mr.  Hopper  Williamson  had  been  Recorder  of  Newcastle  four- 
and-twenty  years  when  a  tragic  event  occurred  which  produced  a 
feeling  of  deep  sorrow  and  regret  throughout  the  kingdom.  On 
the  2nd  of  November,  1818,  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  one  of  the  fore- 
most lawyers  and  most  promising  statesmen  of  his  time,  put  an 
end  to  his  existence.  Among  the  public  offices  which  Romilly 
had  filled  was  the  temporal  chancellorship  of  the  diocese  of 
Durham,  bestowed  upon  him  by  Bishop  Barrington  in  1805.  The 
venerable  bishop,  distinguished  through  his  long  episcopal  career 
by  the  diligence  with  which  he  sought  out  the  most  capable  men 
for  the  service  of  his  See,  selected  the  Recorder  of  Newcastle  to  be 
Sir  Samuel  Romilly's  successor.  Meanwhile,  the  learned  Recorder 
had  accepted  from  the  Beaumont  family  the  honourable  office  of 
Steward  of  the  Court  of  Record  within  the  Regality  or  Manor  of 
Hexham.  Mr.  Hopper  Williamson,  therefore,  exercised  judicial 
functions  over  a  wide  area  and  a  varied  population.  He  was 
Recorder  of  Newcastle,  Temporal  Chancellor  of  the  County 
Palatine  of  Durham,  and  Steward  of  Hexham  Manorial  Court. 

In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  attaching  to  these  three  Courts,  in 
the  conducting  of  innumerable  references  and  arbitrations,  and  in 
the  preparation  of  countless  "  opinions  "  of  counsel,  Mr.  Williamson 
was  engaged  till  the  autumn  of  1829.  On  the  28th  of  September  in 
that  year  his  wife  died,  and,  a  couple  of  days  later,  stricken  with 
grief  and  beginning  to  feel  the  weight  of  seventy-five  years,  he 
resigned  the  Recordership.  He  enjoyed  health,  if  not  happiness, 
for  six  years  longer,  and  then  he,  too,  passed  away.  He  died  on 
the  13th  of  January,  1835,  aged  eighty  years,  and  was  buried  beside 
his  wife  at  Whickham.  In  the  Newcastle  Chronicle  of  the  17th  of 
that  month  appeared  this  tribute  to  his  genius  and  exalted  char- 
acter:— "For  many  years   Mr.  Williamson  practised  as  a  chamber 


640  ROBERT  HOPPER   WILLIAMSON. 

counsel  in  Newcastle,  and  no  man  has  ever  had  his  opinion  upon 
the  great  and  varied  questions  submitted  to  his  consideration  more 
implicitly  deferred  to.  Learned  among  the  learned,  patient  and 
indefatigable  in  all  his  researches,  his  opinions  had  the  moral  force 
and  influence  of  judicial  decisions — an  honour  which  has  been 
conceded  to  no  other  jurisconsult  of  his  time,  with  the  exception 
of  Mr.  Fearne  and  Mr.  Bell.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  lawyers 
eminent  in  one  branch  of  legal  knowledge;  but  Mr.  Williamson  was 
great  in  every  department  of  jurisprudence.  As  a  tenure  lawyer  and 
conveyancer  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  profession.  In  common  law 
and  in  equity  he  maintained  a  first  position.  He  was  an  accom- 
plished special  pleader  and  equity  draftsman.  And,  although,  in 
matters  cognizable  by  the  civil  and  canon  law  he  always  expressed 
himself  with  great  modesty  and  diffidence,  yet  he  displayed  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  master-mind.  As  a  magistrate  and  a  judge,  he 
maintained  the  purity  of  the  ermine  and  the  character  of  the  bench. 
His  last  sessions,  as  chancellor,  will  long  be  remembered  for  one  of 
the  most  elaborate  and  splendid  judgments  ever  delivered  in  the 
Palatine.  In  private  life,  he  was  kind,  affectionate,  and  amiable. 
His  house  was  the  abode  of  peace,  and  he  was  a  liberal  benefactor 
to  many  whose  misfortunes  solicited  his  aid.  In  politics,  he  was  a 
Whig  of  the  old  school.  The  energies  of  his  mind  and  the  strength 
of  his  faculties  remained  in  full  play  and  vigour  to  the  last;  and  he 
passed  his  fourscore  years,  and  to  the  tomb,  without  being  subject 
to  any  of  those  senilities  which  so  generally  mark  the  great  age  to 
which  he  had  the  happiness  to  attain." 

In  the  cathedral  church  of  Durham  a  sculptured  brass,  and  in  the 
cathedral  church  of  Newcastle  a  marble  monument  by  Dunbar,  honour 
the  memory  of  this  eminent  North-Country  lawyer.  The  monument 
in  Newcastle  consists  of  a  life-size  figure  of  the  learned  Recorder 
seated  in  a  chair,  writing  upon  a  scroll,  with  a  copy  of  "Burn's 
Justice  "  at  his  feet.  On  the  pedestal  which  carries  the  chair  is  the 
motto,  "Justus  propositi  tenax"  (the  just  man  is  steady  to  his 
purpose),  and  the  inscription: — 

"  To  the  memory  of  Robert  Hopper  Williamson,  Esquire,  late  Chancellor  of  the 
County  Palatine  of  Durham,  and  Recorder  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  who  died  on 
the  13th  day  of  January,  1835,  aged  80  years.  In  his  character  as  a  magistrate  and 
a  judge,  he  was  patient,  laborious,  discriminating,  just.  In  his  intercourse  with  the 
profession,  he  was  kind,  frank,  obliging,  ready  to  unlock  the  treasures  of  his  well- 
stored  mind,  and  generous  in  bestowing  them  on  all  who  sought  his  aid.     His 


JOSEPH  REED   WILSON.  641 

attachment  to  the  jiuHcial  institutions  of  the  country  was  warm  and  sincere.  He 
appreciated  their  vahie,  and  knew  their  importance  to  the  rights  and  Hberties  of 
the  people.  In  fine,  during  a  life  protracted  beyond  the  usual  term  allotted  to 
man,  he  occupied  an  elevated  situation  in  society  with  most  distinguished  honour 
to  himself  and  benefit  to  his  country.  This  monument  was  erected  by  his  pro- 
fessional and  personal  friends,  1837."' 

Mr.  Hopper  Williamson's  family  consisted  of  two  sons.  The  first- 
born, named  after  his  father,  Robert  Hopper,  was  for  many  years 
rector  of  Hurworth,  near  Darlington  (where  he  died,  March  nth, 
1865),  and  by  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Mr.  William 
Barrass,  became  the  father  of  Robert  Hopper  Williamson,  M.A.,  of 
Caius  College,  Cambridge,  perpetual  curate  of  Lamesley  from  1S47 
to  1865,  and  rector  of  Hurworth  from  that  date  to  1875,  who  died 
at  Whickham  on  the  ist  of  April,  1891.  The  other  son  was  John 
William  Williamson,  of  Whickham,  J. P.,  and  deputy-lieutenant, 
High  Sheriff  of  the  county  of  Durham  in  1845,  and  for  a  long  time 
chairman  of  Durham  Quarter  Sessions,  who  died  unmarried,  April 
15th,  1850. 


3o0cpb  IRccb  TOil^on, 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL   ORGANISER. 

The  educational  movement  that  traversed  the  kingdom  a  hundred 
years  ago,  and  found  its  earliest  and  most  popular  development  in 
the  formation  of  Sunday-schools,  owed  its  chief  impulse  in  the 
North  of  England  to  two  men  whose  lives  and  labours  have  already 
been  sketched  in  these  volumes — George  Fife  Angas  and  Charles 
Newby  Wawn.  Of  two  other  men  who  were  closely  identified  with 
that  great  enterprise — great  in  a  sense  that  few  people  to-day 
appreciate  or  understand — it  now  remains  to  tell.  No  affinity  of 
blood  existed  between  them,  but  they  were  imbued  with  the  same 
spirit,  worked  upon  the  same  lines,  and  carried  on  the  movement 
with  equal  ardour  and  success.  Their  names  were  Joseph  Reed 
Wilson  and  David  Hamilton  Wilson. 

Joseph  Reed  Wilson,  son  of  John  Rawling  Wilson  (who  was 
landing  surveyor  in  H.M.'s  Customs,  and  a  well-known  local  anti- 
quary), first  saw  the  light  in  Newcastle  on  the  27th  of  January,  1795. 

Up  to  his  tenth  year  he  was  educated  at  home  with  his  sisters  (one 
VOL.  iiL  41 


642  JOSEPH  REED   WILSON, 

of  whom  married  John  Daglish,  chemist  on  the  Sandhill),  and  then 
he  became  a  pupil  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Moises,  nephew  and 
successor  of  the  Rev.  Hugh  Moises,  at  the  Royal  Free  Grammar 
School  of  his  native  town.  Equipped  at  the  Grammar  School  for 
a  commercial  career,  he  was  bound  apprentice  to  a  Newcastle 
merchant,  and,  it  may  be  supposed,  served  his  master  faithfully  and 
truly,  as  his  indentures  provided.  Unlike  the  majority  of  merchants' 
apprentices  in  those  days,  he  was  inclined  to  be  pious,  attended 
religious  meetings,  became  a  member  of  the  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  and  avoided  what  are  usually  called  popular 
amusements — the  theatre,  the  hopping,  and  the  dancing-room.  At 
a  local  debating  society,  in  1817,  he  took  the  negative  side  in  a 
discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  stage,  and  the  following  year  he 
became  a  Sunday-school  teacher  at  St.  John's  Church.  Thence- 
forward, he  was  a  frequent  speaker  on  public  platforms  in  support  of 
Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  and  kindred  institutions  of  an  evangelical 
and  undenominational  character. 

Attracted  by  the  success  of  the  Newcastle  Sunday-School  Union, 
which  had  been  created  and  carried  on  by  the  united  Nonconformist 
bodies,  Mr.  Wilson  endeavoured  to  establish  a  similar  institution  in 
connection  with  the  parish  churches  of  the  diocese.  His  efforts  in 
this  direction  did  not  meet  with  the  response  that  he  expected  from 
the  clergy,  and  finding  that  he  could  not  make  headway  with  his 
scheme,  he  determined  to  join  the  existing  organisation.  With  this 
object  in  view,  he  left  the  Church,  and  united  himself  to  the 
Wesleyan  Methodist  denomination.  Brought,  by  this  step,  into 
contact  with  George  Fife  Angas,  secretary  and  "  head  centre  "  of  the 
movement,  he  caught  the  spirit  of  that  enthusiastic  Sunday-school 
Unionist  and  became  an  earnest  and  energetic  co-worker  in  the 
cause.  His  abilities,  coupled  with  his  unbounded  zeal,  induced  the 
committee  of  the  Union,  in  18 19,  to  make  him  third,  or  assistant 
secretary  of  their  wide-spreading  organisation.  From  this  point  of 
vantage  he  was  enabled  to  perform  essential  service  on  behalf  of 
Sunday-schools  and  voluntary  education.  Mr.  (afterwards  Lord) 
Brougham  prepared  a  Bill,  in  1821,  which,  founded  on  statistics  that 
represented  a  lamentable  deficiency  in  voluntary  educational  effort, 
proposed  to  commit  the  instruction  of  the  rising  generation  to  the 
clergy,  under  the  direction,  and  at  the  cost,  of  the  State.  Satisfied 
that  the  figures  relating  to  Newcastle  and  Northumberland  were 
erroneous,    Mr.   Wilson   undertook   an   educational   survey   of  the 


JOSEPH  REED   WILSON. 


643 


district.  With  infinite  care  and  pains  he  obtained  returns  from  every 
parish  in  the  county,  and  his  enumeration  thoroughly  upset  the 
official  statistics.  The  number  of  children  attending  day-schools  in 
Newcastle  was  not  2,105,  '^s  Mr.  Brougham's  tables  certified,  but 
7,617;  the  Sunday  scholars  were  not  794  only,  but  5,045.  So  also 
in  the  county,  according  to  the  parliamentary  return  the  day-scholars 
in  Northumberland  numbered  6,875,  but  the  actual  number  was 
16,885;  the  Sunday  scholars,  1,856,  while  the  real  attendance  was 
10,645.     The  striking  disparity  exhibited  between  these  two  sets  of 


Joseph  itELDWiLsorv: 


figures  alarmed  the  country,  modified  Brougham's  views,  led  to  the 
abandonment  of  premature  legislation,  and  established  more  firmly 
than  ever  the  voluntary  system,  supplemented,  later  on,  by  annual 
grants  of  public  money. 

During  the  summer  of  1822,  Mr.  Wilson  made  a  tour,  on  behalf 
of  the  Newcastle  Union,  through  the  districts  of  Weardale  and 
Teesdale,  establishing  new,  and  reviving  the  old  Sunday-schools, 
and  bringing  them  all  into  closer  touch  with  the  central  body. 
Next,  undertaking  a  special  visitation  of  families  in  Newcastle,  he 


644  JOSEPH  EEED   WILSON. 

added  a  thousand  or  more  to  the  average  attendance  of  children 
at  the  chapels.  Simultaneously  he  founded  local  branches  of  the 
Bible  Society,  visiting  for  that  purpose  most  of  the  colliery  villages  in 
Northumberland  and  Durham,  and  penetrating  into  districts  beyond. 
In  1824,  through  the  settlement  of  George  Fife  Angas  in  London, 
he  was  promoted  to  the  highest  office  the  Newcastle  Union  possessed 
— that  of  senior  secretary. 

While  working  energetically  in  the  extension  of  the  Sunday-school 
system,  Mr.  Wilson  made  his  mark  in  another  sphere  of  activity — 
that  of  lay  preaching.  After  the  services  were  ended  in  places  of 
worship,  he  was  accustomed  to  go  into  the  back  streets  and  slums, 
and  deliver  his  message  to  the  most  degraded,  and,  in  consequence, 
the  most  neglected  part  of  the  community.  Encouraged  by  his 
success  in  this  direction,  he  became  a  Methodist  local  preacher,  and 
in  March,  1827,  a  candidate,  approved  and  accepted  by  the  quarterly 
meeting,  for  the  regular  Wesleyan  ministry.  Into  the  ministry,  how- 
ever, he  did  not  enter.  His  whole  heart  was  given  to  Sunday-school 
work,  and  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  leave  it.  If  he  must 
itinerate,  he  determined  that  it  should  be  for  the  children.  The 
London  Sunday-School  Union  adopted  his  views  on  this  subject. 
They  appointed  him  their  travelling  agent  throughout  the  United 
Kingdom,  and  in  March,  1828,  he  left  Newcastle  and  entered 
upon  his  new  duties.  For  nine  years  he  went  up  and  down  in 
the  country,  addressing  public  meetings,  holding  conferences  with 
teachers,  forming  branches  of  the  central  body,  and  opening  out 
depositories  for  the  supply  of  Sunday-school  literature. 

Through  the  death  of  his  father,  which  occurred  on  the  20th  of 
September,  1837,  Mr.  Wilson  came  back  to  Tyneside.  Taking  up 
his  abode  at  Gateshead  Low  Fell,  he  resumed  his  connection  with 
the  religious,  educational,  and  philanthropic  movements  which  had 
engrossed  his  earlier  days.  Among  the  friends  of  his  youth,  and  the 
institutions  he  had  helped  to  create,  he  lived  an  active  and  useful 
life,  and  eventually  fell  a  victim  to  one  of  those  generous  impulses 
which  marked  his  whole  career.  A  visitation  of  cholera  in  the 
autumn  of  1849  played  havoc  among  his  neighbours  at  the  Low  Fell, 
and  he,  anxious  for  their  spiritual  welfare,  read  to  them,  prayed  with 
them,  and  even  nursed  some  of  them  in  the  acute  stages  of  their 
terrible  condition.  By  this  means  he  contracted  the  fatal  disease 
himself,  and  died  on  the  5th  October  in  that  year,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
four. 


DAVID  HAMILTON  WILSON.  645 

IDavi^  Ibainilton  Miltjou, 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL   PROMOTER. 

David  Hamilton  Wilson,  born  in  Newcastle  on  the  6th  of  October, 
1799,  was  educated  at  the  Quaker  School  of  Ackworth,  Yorkshire. 
His  father,  although  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  had  allowed 
him  in  childhood  to  go  to  the  Wesleyan  Orphan  House  Sunday- 
school,  Northumberland  Street,  and  upon  his  return  from  Ackworth 
he  resumed  his  attendance  there.  In  181 7,  he  was  admitted  to 
be  a  teacher  in  the  school,  and  before  long  he  joined  the  Methodist 
denomination,  and  became  a  very  active  and  useful  member  of  the 
Society.  Interesting  himself  in  the  work  of  the  Newcastle  Sunday- 
School  Union,  he  was  appointed,  first,  a  member  of  the  committee 
of  management,  next,  keeper  of  the  book  depository,  and,  finally, 
upon  the  removal  of  Joseph  Reed  Wilson  to  London,  he  took  his 
place  as  secretary.  "  When  he  entered  ofifice,"  writes  the  historian  of 
the  Union,  "  his  duties  were  numerous  and  responsible.  He  had  to 
attend  a  committee  meeting  once  a  month,  and  transact  all  the 
necessary  business  arising  out  of  it;  to  draw  up  visiting  plans,  and 
superintend  the  visitation  of  over  a  hundred  schools;  to  correspond 
regularly  with  the  secretaries  and  managers  of  these  schools,  and  also 
with  the  parent  society  in  London;  to  make  arrangements  for  all  the 
extraordinary  meetings,  and  draw  up  circulars  and  issue  them;  to 
prepare  the  periodical  reports,  which  in  that  day  were  sometimes  very 
elaborate;  and  finally  to  conduct  the  business  of  the  book  depository, 
which  under  his  care  increased  to  such  unmanageable  proportions 
that  it  had  to  be  handed  over  to  a  firm  of  booksellers,  but  not  until  he 
had  spent  upon  it  nine  years  of  gratuitous  labour.  None  but  an 
enthusiastic  believer  in  Sunday-schools  could  have  gone  through 
such  exertions,  and  we  can  readily  conceive  what  has  been  said  of 
JMr.  Wilson,  that  he  often  sat  up  whole  nights  at  his  work." 

An  enthusiast  in  the  cause  of  education,  as  the  foregoing  extract 
testifies,  Mr.  Wilson  did  not  limit  his  exertions  to  the  promotion  of 
Sunday-schools  exclusively.  The  case  of  a  blind  child,  living  near 
his  home  in  Newcastle,  whose  comfort  and  instruction  he  wished  to 
promote,  led  his  sympathies  into  a  wider  channel.  He  began  to 
advocate  the  establishment  of  a  school  in  Newcastle  in  which  blind 


646  DAVID  HAMILTON  WILSON. 

children  should  be  taught  to  sing,  to  play  music,  to  practise  handi- 
crafts suitable  to  their  capacities,  and,  above  all,  to  read  the 
Scriptures.  In  furtherance  of  this  scheme,  he  visited,  at  his  own 
expense,  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow,  Manchester  and  Liverpool,  collect- 
ing information  from  the  managers  of  similar  institutions  established 
in  those  places,  and  inspecting  their  methods  of  procedure.  Out  of 
these  journeyings  came  a  local  movement,  heartily  backed  by  the 
great  families  of  the  three  Northern  Counties,  and  resulting  in  the 
formation  of  the  "  Royal  Victoria  Asylum  for  the  Industrious  Blind 
of  the  Counties  of  Northumberland,  Cumberland,  and  Durham  " — 
an  asylum  which,  commencing  upon  a  modest  scale  in  the  Spital  in 
1838,  developed  into  the  prosperous  institution  that  for  many  years 
had  its  habitation  in  Northumberland  Street.  Another  educational 
agency  that  enlisted  Mr.  David  Hamilton  Wilson's  sympathies  was 
the  undenominational  school  erected  in  the  east  quarter  of  the 
town  to  commemorate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  accession  of 
George  III.,  and  known  to  succeeding  generations  of  Tynesiders  as 
"  The  Jubilee."  Of  this  school  he  was  appointed,  in  succession  to 
the  Rev.  William  Turner,  co-secretary,  having  the  late  Dr.  Bruce  as 
his  colleague.  He  was  also  one  of  the  active  promoters  of  the 
Jubilee  of  Sunday  Schools,  celebrated  in  Newcastle  on  Coronation 
Day,  September  the  8th,  1831.  On  that  occasion  he  produced  an 
autograph  letter  from  Robert  Raikes,  dated  "Gloucester,  1787," 
explaining  the  manner  in  which  the  original  Sunday-schools  were 
conducted. 

For  some  time  D.  H.  Wilson  carried  on  the  business  of  a  draper 
in  Newcastle.  Early  in  the  forties  he  abandoned  his  calling  for  the 
post  of  collector  of  Quay  and  Town  Dues,  and  the  registrarship  of 
the  parishes  of  St.  Nicholas  and  St.  John.  Released  by  these  appoint- 
ments from  the  anxieties  of  business,  he  was  able  to  give  more  time 
to  educational  propagandism,  whence  originated  public  lectures  to 
the  young,  visits  to  village  schools,  development  of  Sunday-school 
libraries,  and  other  self-denying  labours.  In  these,  and  kindred 
pursuits,  the  later  years  of  his  life  were  passed.  They  came 
to  an  end  while  he  was  yet  in  his  prime.  Afiflicted  with  cancer 
in  the  tongue,  the  progress  of  which  a  radical  operation  was 
powerless  to  prevent,  he  died  on  the  i8th  of  June,  1853,  and  was 
buried  in  Westgate  Hill  Cemetery. 


MATTHEW  WILSON.  647 

riDattbcw  Mil6on, 

A    DISTINGUISHED    JESUIT. 

Passing  over  Joe  Wilson,  the  local  poet,  whose  biography  forms 
fitting  introduction  to  the  sumptuous  edition  of  his  works,  published 
a  couple  of  years  ago  by  Mr.  Thomas  Allan,  we  come  to  a  famous 
Northumbrian — Matthew  Wilson,  known  to  the  followers  of  the  old 
faith  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  as  Father  Knott, 
Provincial  or  Governor,  in  England,  of  that  marvellous  organisation, 
the  Society  of  Jesus. 

A  family  of  the  name  of  Wilson  were  long  resident  at  Old  Moor 
and  Pegsworth,  or  Pegswood,  in  the  parish  of  Bothal.  Hodgson's 
**  History  of  Northumberland "  contains  a  note  of  a  deed  bearing 
date  March  14th,  1622,  by  which  John  Wilson,  of  Old  Moor,  con- 
veyed to  Diones  Wilson,  of  Pegsworth,  a  messuage  and  lands,  which 
said  messuage  and  lands  Edward  Wilson,  M.D.,  of  Durham,  and 
another,  sold,  in  1649,  to  Catherine  Wilson,  of  Pegsworth.  Into 
this  family,  in  the  year  1582,  Matthew  Wilson,  the  future  Jesuit 
leader,  was  born.  His  father,  it  may  be  presumed,  was  a  respect- 
able yeoman,  who  farmed  his  own  land  and  brewed  his  own  beer, 
and  lived  upon  the  produce  of  the  soil  which  his  wife,  with  the 
aid  of  sons  and  daughters,  helped  him  to  cultivate.  Nothing  is 
known  of  the  domestic  life  of  the  Pegsworth  Wilsons  beyond  the 
fact  that  they  were  divided  in  opinion  upon  matters  pertaining  to 
religion.  That  was  no  uncommon  occurrence  then,  any  more 
than  it  is  now.  For  although  fifty  years  had  passed  away  since 
Henry  VHI.  had  changed  the  established  religion,  and  although 
the  older  faith  and  its  followers  were  under  a  ban  that  involved 
fine,  imprisonment,  and,  it  might  be,  death,  the  struggle  between 
Papist  and  Protestant  had  lost  none  of  its  vigour,  nor  abated  a 
single  degree  of  its  fiery  heat.  Matthew  Wilson,  with  one  of  his 
brothers  and  a  sister,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  old  religion,  while 
the  rest  of  the  family  walked  in  the  new  way,  worshipped  at  the 
parish  church,  and  acknowledged  Queen  Elizabeth  to  be  their 
spiritual  head  as  well  as  their  temporal  sovereign. 

Full  of  zeal  and  energy,  and,  possibly,  roused  to  action  by  local 
criticism,  Matthew  Wilson  determined  to  become  a  Catholic  priest. 
It  was  a  perilous  undertaking,  for  he  must  receive  his  education 


648  MATTHEW  WILSON. 

abroad,  and  a  foreign-taught  priest  was  forbidden  under  penalty  of 
death  to  show  his  face  in  England.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  under 
the  name  of  Edward  Knott,  he  entered  the  English  College  at 
Rome,  and,  having  received  the  requisite  training,  was  admitted 
to  the  priestly  ofifice.  It  is  upon  record  that  he  received  orders 
in  unusually  rapid  succession,  being  ordained  sub-deacon,  deacon, 
and  priest  all  in  one  month — the  month  of  March,  1606. 

Entering  the  Society  of  Jesus,  Matthew  Wilson  waited  an  oppor- 
tunity of  serving  his  Church  and  his  fraternity  in  his  native  land. 
The  opportunity  was  long  denied  him.  He  was  constrained  to 
remain  at  the  English  College  in  Rome,  teaching  divinity,  for 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years.  At  length,  being  elected  to  the  office  of 
Sub-Provincial  of  Jesuits  in  England,  he  came  over  to  this  country, 
visiting  the  brethren  and  stirring  up  the  mission  which  they  con- 
ducted. He  arrived  in  April,  1622,  and  quickened  into  fresh 
activity  the  energies  of  his  subordinates,  drooping  through  persecu- 
tion and  peril  of  death.  His  movements  were  secret,  known  only 
to  the  faithful,  but,  no  doubt,  he  would  make  his  way  northward, 
welcomed  by  ancient  families  in  Northumberland  and  Durham  who 
had  kept  up  their  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  and  honoured  as  a  fellow- 
countryman  who  had  risen  to  a  high  position  by  force  of  intellect  and 
strength  of  character.  It  is  said  that  he  was  of  short  stature,  and 
weak  constitution,  apparently  unfit  to  endure  privation  and  suffer 
hardship.  But,  if  his  bodily  health  was  inferior  his  spirit  was 
strong,  and  his  labours  were  indefatigable.  Each  year,  as  the 
Jesuit  records  relate,  his  reputation  increased;  "indeed  he  shone 
as  a  radiant  luminary  by  the  fervour  of  his  religious  spirit,  by  his 
exemplary  zeal  and  discretion,  by  his  transcendent  talents  and  vigour 
of  intellect."  Twice  he  was  elected  to  the  higher  office  of  Provincial 
of  the  English  Mission,  first,  in  1645,  and  again  in  1653.  On  the 
first  occasion  he  attended  a  general  assembly  of  Jesuits  in  Rome, 
and  was  honoured  with  the  confidence  of  the  order  in  a  marked 
degree.  The  confraternity  represented  in  the  assembly  chose  him 
to  be  one  of  the  assessors  to  the  general  (or  head)  of  the  order, 
to  whom,  as  umpires,  all  points  of  difference  and  dispute  between 
members,  or  among  the  various  branches  of  the  organisation,  were 
to  be  referred  and  finally  settled. 

Placed  at  the  head  of  the  English  Jesuits,  Father  Wilson  displayed 
great  administrative  ability,  and  vivid  intellectual  power.  As  polemic 
and  divine,  he  crossed  pens  with  the  ablest  controversial  writers  on 


MATTHEW  WILSON.  649 

the  Protestant  side.  Writing  under  the  pseudonym  of  Edward 
Knott,  he  issued,  in  1630,  a  small  volume  entitled  "Charity  Mistaken 
by  Protestants."  This  little  book  brought  two  eminent  men  into 
the  field  as  his  antagonists.  The  position  which  he  maintained  in 
his  treatise  was,  that  Catholics  were  unfairly  accused  of  want  of 
charity  when  they  affirmed,  as  they  did  with  grief,  that  Protestancy, 
unrepented,  destroyed  hope  of  salvation.  Dr.  Christopher  Potter, 
Provost  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford  (afterwards  nominated  Dean  of 
Durham),  published  a  reply  to  "Charity  Mistaken,"  in  1633,  bearing 
the  title  "  Want  of  Charity  Justly  Charged  on  all  such  Romanists  as 
dare,  without  Truth  or  Modesty,  affirm  that  Protestancy  destroyed 
Salvation."  "  Which  Book,"  writes  Anthony  Wood,  "  being  perused  by 
Dr.  Laud,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  he  caused  some  matters  there- 
in to  be  omitted  in  the  next  impression,  which  was  at  London,  1634. 
But  before  it  was  quite  printed  Knott  put  out  a  Book  entitled 
'  Mercy  and  Truth ;  Or  Charity  Maintained  by  Catholics  :  By  way 
of  Reply  upon  an  Answer  fram'd  by  Dr.  Potter  to  a  Treatise  which 
had  formerly  proved  that  Charity  was  Mistaken  by  Protestants,  etc., 
printed  beyond  the  Sea,  1634,  in  quarto.'  Whereupon  Will.  Chilling- 
worth  undertook  him,  in  his  book  called  'The  Religion  of  Protestants 
a  Safe  Way  to  Salvation.'"  Chillingworth's  reply,  in  which  occurs 
that  well-known  sentence,  now  an  aphorism,  "The  Bible  alone  is  the 
religion  of  Protestants,"  ran  through  many  editions  at  the  time  it  was 
written,  has  been  often  reprinted,  and  is  still  to  be  found  in  every 
good  theological  library.  Father  Wilson  responded,  in  1652,  with 
"  Infidelity  Unmasked ;  or  a  Confutation  of  a  Book  published  by 
Mr.  Will.  Chillingworth,"  etc.,  and  there  the  controversy  ended. 

While  the  Provincial  of  the  Jesuits  pounded  the  Protestants,  he 
scarified  certain  members  of  his  own  Church  also.  A  dispute  arose 
shortly  after  his  arrival  in  England  respecting  the  claim  of  a  Catholic 
bishop  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over  the  Jesuits  and  other  religious 
orders  that  were  secretly  worshipping  and  working  in  this  country. 
Dr.  Kellison,  a  professor  in  Douay  College,  wrote  a  book  to  support 
the  bishop's  claim.  The  book  excited  Father  Wilson's  ire,  and,  in 
1 63 1,  using  the  pen-name  this  time  of  "Nicholas  Smith,"  he  launched 
a  thunderbolt  at  it  which  gave  considerable  offence  to  the  seculars 
and  their  admirers.  It  was  purely  a  clerical  dispute,  but  it  raged  for 
some  time,  other  waiters  intervening,  and  then,  no  definite  decision 
on  the  point  being  obtainable  from  Rome,  it  died  out  as  suddenly  as 
it  arose. 


650  THOMAS  WILSON. 

From  the  time  that  he  left  Pegsworth  to  join  the  English  College, 
no  mention  of  Matthew  Wilson  occurs  in  local  history.  As  Father 
Knott  one  occasionally  meets  with  him  in  the  Calendars  of  State 
Papers — an  account,  or  a  pretended  account  perhaps,  of  his  move- 
ments, or  a  report  of  a  suspected  visit  to  some  great  Catholic 
family,  it  may  be,  but  nothing  very  definite  or  satisfactory.  Wander- 
ing up  and  down  the  country  in  various  disguises,  the  Pegsworth 
farmer's  son  governed  his  order  for  more  than  thirty  years.  Con- 
stantly suspected,  and  once  or  twice  laid  hold  of  and  committed  to 
prison,  he  managed  to  escape  the  doom  of  many  of  his  fellows.  He 
lived  in  his  native  land  through  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  and  well 
into  the  Commonwealth,  and,  instead  of  being  hung,  drawn,  and 
quartered  under  circumstances  of  revolting  barbarity,  as  scores  of 
priests  were,  he  died  quietly  and  peacefully  on  his  bed  in  London, 
on  the  nth  of  January,  1656,  aged  seventy-four  years. 


AUTHOR    OF     "the    PITMAN'S    PAY." 

Nowhere  within  the  compass  of  ancient  or  modern  literature  do 
we  find  a  more  exact,  faithful,  and  touching  portraiture  of  humble 
life  than  is  to  be  found  in  Thomas  Wilson's  "  Pitman's  Pay."  It  is 
a  perfect  word-picture  of  the  Northumbrian  pitman's  manners  and 
customs,  his  kindly  as  well  as  rough  ways,  his  peculiar  habits 
of  thinking,  his  warm  family  affections,  and  his  quaint  modes  of 
expressing  himself. 

From  a  memoir  of  the  author  which  appeared  in  the  Norther7t 
Tribune,  published  in  1854,  we  learn  that  Thomas  Wilson,  son  of 
George  Wilson,  and  Margaret  Wild,  was  born  on  the  14th  of 
November,  1773,  at  Gateshead  Low  Fell,  where  his  forefathers  had 
been  located  for  many  generations.  In  1781,  when  only  eight  years 
of  age,  "he  commenced  a  career  of  toil  beyond  conception,  save 
by  those  who  are  conversant  with  the  working  of  coal-mines  seventy 
or  eighty  years  ago."  "  These  days  of  darkness  and  distress  com- 
menced at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  continued  till  seven  or 
eight  at  night  daily,  till  the  Saturday  afternoon.  In  the  winter, 
consequently,  the  worker  never  saw  the  light  from  the  Sunday 
evening  until  the  following  Saturday,  thereby  affording  not   more 


THOMAS  WILSON. 


651 


than  five  or  six  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  for  recruiting  both 
mind  and  body.  Instruction  was  almost  out  of  the  question.  There 
was  no  time  for  it ;  even  the  lessons  of  a  night-school  (the  only 
school  which  was  accessible)  being  only  obtainable  by  a  sacrifice  of 
the  little  rest  which  such  literal  slavery  allowed." 

Knowledge,  however,  was  young  ^^'ilson's  great  ambition,  and 
with  the  help  of  a  worthy  man  named  Barras,  and  his  own  reading 
and  industry,  he  managed  to  acquire  something  more  than  the  bare 
elements  of  education.  Naturally  disgusted  with  the  drudgery  of 
the  mine,  he  got  out  of  it  as  soon  as  he  could ;  but  it  was  not  until 
he  had  reached  his  nineteenth  year  that  he  succeeded  in  doing  so. 
His  literary  qualifications  were  then  such  as  to  enable  him  to  obtain 


ii  /^i^ 


the  position  of  a  teacher,  first  at  Galloping  Green,  a  place  not  more 
than  a  mile  from  his  father's  house,  and  then  at  Shield  Row,  near 
Lintz  Green.  Here  he  first  saw  the  Ladies'  and  Gentlemen's 
Diaries,  which,  during  a  period  of  more  than  half  a  century,  were  a 
constant  attraction  to  him,  and  to  which,  for  the  greater  part  of  that 
time,  he  contributed  mathematical  problems  and  solutions.  Here, 
also,  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  Latin,  through  instruction  received 
in  the  colliery  engine-house  from  the  keeper  of  one  of  the  engines, 
named  John  Gray. 

In  the  year  1798  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  clerkship  in  the 
office  of  Mr.  Thomas  Robson,  a  native  of  the  Fell  like  himself,  and 
then  a  wharfinger  on  Newcastle  Quay ;  but  here  his  hours  were  so 


65^ 


THOMAS  WILSON. 


long,  and  his  salary  so  small,  that  he  soon  left  the  situation  and 
commenced  teaching  school  again,  this  time  at  Benwell.  The  fol- 
lowing year  he  entered  the  office  of  Mr.  John  Head,  merchant  and 
underwriter  in  Newcastle,  and  with  that  gentleman  he  remained 
until  the  beginning  of  1803,  when  he  removed  to  the  counting-house 
of  Losh,  Lubbren,  &  Co.,  with  whom  and  their  representatives  he 
remained  till  1805,  when  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Mr. 
William  Losh.  Two  years  later,  Mr.  Thomas  Bell  having  been 
taken  into  the  firm,  its  style  was  changed  to  that  of  "  Losh,  Wilson, 
&  Bell." 

Mr.  Wilson  met  with  a  congenial  life  partner  in  18 10,  in  the 
person  of  Mary  Fell,  with  whom  he  enjoyed  perfect  domestic 
happiness  for  twenty-nine  years,  that  is  to  say,  till  her  death  in  1839. 


"^'  "^     ?fOl)l  "Ife^imt,, '^u^)Vy^a.tt\'\W./»^Vl^U^^ 


Mrs.  Wilson  was  a  kindly,  sociable,  charitable  lady,  well  beloved  by 
all  who  knew  her. 

As  to  Mr.  Wilson  himself,  his  long  life  was  devoted  not  less  to 
the  extension  than  the  attainment  of  useful  knowledge.  Thoroughly 
self-educated  as  he  might  be  said  to  be,  it  was  most  truly  a  labour  of 
love  to  him  to  assist  in  promoting  the  pursuit  and  acquisition  of 
knowledge  in  others.  An  advanced  Liberal  in  politics,  he  was 
tolerant  of  other  men's  opinions  and  views,  and  never  intruded  his 
own  principles  offensively  on  unwilling  ears,  so  that  he  enjoyed,  to 
the  end  of  his  days,  the  respect  and  esteem  of  Churchmen  and 
Nonconformists,  Tories,  Whigs,  and  Radicals.  His  leisure  time 
was  devoted  to  poetry,  and  his  productions  in  that  line,  originally 
scattered  over  the  pages  of  Mitchell's  Neivcastk  Magazitie,  the 
Gateshead    Observer,   and   other   periodicals   and   newspapers,   were 


NATHANIEL  JOHN  WINCH.  653 

published  in  a  collective  form,  and  in  a  handsome  volume,  in  1S43. 
"The  Pitman's  Pay"  is  the  longest  and  best  of  his  works;  but  there 
is  not  one  of  them  that  does  not  bear,  more  or  less  deeply  impressed, 
the  stamp  of  true  genius. 

Mr.  Wilson  was  unanimously  elected  a  member  of  the  (lateshead 
Town  Council  in  1835,  when  the  Municipal  Reform  Act  conferred 
upon  that  place  the  privilege  of  governing  itself  in  local  matters; 
and  at  the  tirst  meeting  of  the  Council  he  was  chosen  an  alderman, 
an  honour  which  he  continued  to  enjoy  for  eighteen  years,  after 
which,  at  his  own  request,  he  was  allowed  to  retire  into  private  life. 
He  firmly  declined,  when  repeatedly  and  earnestly  pressed,  to  under- 
take the  duties  of  the  Mayoralty,  though  he  would  have  been 
unanimously  elected  had  he  given  his  consent,  and  though,  on  one 
occasion,  one  of  his  colleagues  offered  to  do  the  whole  official 
business  for  him,  if  he  would  only  accept  the  office.  It  was  neither 
indifference  nor  indolence  that  prompted  these  refusals,  but  a  modest 
unobtrusiveness  of  character  that  shunned  public  display.  He 
rendered  a  conspicuous  service  to  the  town  by  the  publication, 
annually  for  many  years,  of  "  Local  Collections ;  or  Records  of 
Remarkable  Events  connected  with  the  Borough  of  Gateshead." 
The  series  extend  from  the  beginning  of  1837  to  the  end  of  1854, 
and  form  a  complete  history  of  public  life  in  the  town  during  that 
period,  but  for  want  of  an  index  are  somewhat  difficult  to  utilise. 

Mr.  Wilson  died  in  his  eighty-fifth  year,  on  Sunday,  the  9th  of 
May,  1858.  It  was  on  the  spot  where  he  first  drew  breath,  at 
Gateshead  Fell  House,  the  "local  habitation "  he  had  chosen  and 
rebuilt  for  himself,  after  he  had  risen  by  his  own  well-directed  efibrts 
from  the  depths  of  inherited  poverty  to  an  honourable  independence. 


IRatbanicl  3obn  Mincb, 

BOTANIST   AND    GEOLOGIST. 

"  The  study  of  Nature  requires  two  qualifications  of  the  mind,  which  at  first 
sight  appear  to  be  opposed  to  each  other — the  comprehensive  view  of  a  bold 
genius  that  embraces  the  whole,  and  the  minute  and  careful  inspection  of  an 
unwearied  industry  that  lives  upon  the  smallest  objects." — Buffon. 

Nathaniel  John  Winch,  leader  of  a  little  band  of  investigators 
that  fostered  a  love  of  Nature  among  Tynesiders  at  the  beginning  of 


654  NATHANIEL  JOHN  WINCH 

the  century,  was  a  son  of  Nathaniel  Winch,  of  Hampton  Court, 
Middlesex,  and  was  bound  apprentice  to  Robert  Lisle,  hostman,  in 
Newcastle,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1780.  His  first  appearance  in 
public  life  is  dated  1805,  when  he  was  elected  Sheriff  and  a  member 
of  the  Common  Council  of  Newcastle.  That  he  was  a  man  of  some 
standing  is  evident  from  the  fact  of  his  appointment  to  the  Shrievalty, 
and  from  the  circumstance  that  two  years  afterwards,  on  the  resigna- 
tion of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  Bart.,  he  was  elected  an  alderman. 
The  next  step  in  his  municipal  progress  would  have  been  his 
elevation  to  the  Mayoralty,  but  that  honour  he  was  not  privileged  to 
receive.  Devotion  to  scientific  pursuits  led  to  neglect  of  business, 
and  in  the  winter  of  1808  he  became  a  bankrupt.  His  failure 
involved  the  resignation  of  his  alderman's  gown,  which  was  conferred 
upon  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir)  Thomas  Burdon,  and  his  retirement  into 
private  life.  What  his  business  was  we  learn  from  the  advertisement 
of  the  sale  of  his  effects,  for  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the 
Newcastle  Directories  preceding  his  failure,  and  no  hint  of  his 
calling  occurs  in  the  records  of  his  brief  municipal  career.  The 
advertisement  shows  that  he  was  an  iron-merchant  and  anchor-smith, 
with  a  warehouse  in  the  Broad  Chare,  a  workshop  along  the  North 
Shore,  and  a  residence  in  Pilgrim  Street : — 

"To  be  Sold  by  Auction  (for  Ready  Money),  John  Fearney,  Auctioneer,  on 
Monday,  the  12th  Day  of  December,  1808,  at  the  Warehouse  of  N.  J.  Winch, 
Esq.,  situate  in  the  Broad  Chare,  Newcastle,  all  the  Stock  of  Iron,  Nail  Rods, 
Spades,  Shovels,  etc.,  of  the  said  N.  J.  Winch,  now  remaining  therein.  And 
also  all  his  Stock  in  Trade  and  Materials,  now  remaining  in  his  Anchor  Shop,  at  the 
North-Shore,  consisting  of  Anchors,  Kedges,  Anvils,  Work-Tools,  Smiths'  Bellows, 
two  large  Beams,  Scales,  Weights,  etc.,  etc.  And  on  Tuesday,  the  13th  Day  of 
December,  instant,  at  the  Dwelling  House  of  the  said  N.  J.  Winch,  situate  in 
Pilgrim  Street,  will  be  sold  all  the  Household  Goods  of  the  said  N.  J.  Winch, 
with  Libraiy,  Book  Cases,  and  a  Valuable  Collection  of  Books." 

Previous  to  his  failure,  Mr.  Winch  had  acquired  a  reputation  as  a 
careful  and  painstaking  naturalist,  and  had  been  elected  a  Fellow  of 
the  Linnaean  Society.  In  conjunction  with  Richard  Waugh  and 
John  Thornhill,  parish  clerk  of  Heworth  under  the  Rev.  John 
Hodgson,  and  father  of  the  John  Thornhill  who,  for  a  generation 
or  more,  filled  the  ofiice  of  librarian  at  the  Newcastle  Literary  and 
Philosophical  Society,  he  had  undertaken  the  preparation  of  a  com- 
plete herbarium  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  that  institution.  To 
begin  the  collection,  the  trio  had  presented  to  the  "Lit.  and  Phil.," 
in  1803,  a  large  number  of  specimens  of  dried  indigenous  plants. 


NA  THANIEL  JOHN  J  F/A  'Clf.  655 

arranged  according  to  Dr.  Smith's  "Flora  Britannica,"  the  result  of 
many  fatiguing  excursions  throughout  the  Northern  Counties,  and  in 
the  year  which  saw  Mr.  Winch  elevated  to  the  post  of  Sheriff  of 
Newcastle,  they  had  published  an  interesting  and  valuable  book  on 
the  subject,  entitled — 

"  The  Botanists'  Guide  through  the  Counties  of  Northumberland  and  Durham." 
Preface  signed  "  N.  J.  Winch,  F. L. S.,  John  Thornhill,  Richard  Waugh."  Vol. 
I.  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  :  Printed  by  S.  Hodgson,  Groat  Market.  1805.  This 
was  followed  by  a  second  volume  in  1807,  Printed  and  Sold  by  J.  Marshall, 
Gateshead-upon-Tyne — Preface  signed  "  N.  J.  W."  and  "J.  T.,"  Mr.  Waugh 
having  died  in  the  interim. 

Side  by  side  with  his  study  of  plant  life  Mr.  Winch  cultivated  the 
lightly-trodden  ground  of  geology,  and  his  botanising  expeditions 
invariably  resulted  in  heavy  collections  of  fossils  and  specimens  of 
rock  formations.  To  the  "  Transactions  "  of  the  Geological  Society 
of  London  he  contributed  in  March,  1814,  "Observations  on  the 
Geology  of  Northumberland  and  Durham,"  loi  pp.,  4to ;  and 
in  April,  1816,  a  similar  but  much  shorter  series  of  "Observations 
on  the  Eastern  Part  of  Yorkshire,"  14  pp.,  4to.  The  following 
year  he  secured  the  appointment  of  secretary  to  the  Newcastle 
Infirmary,  the  duties  of  which  post  were  not  exacting,  but  left 
him  free  to  pursue  his  favourite  studies  pretty  much  as  he 
pleased.  In  May,  1819,  at  a  meeting  of  the  "Lit.  and  Phil.,"  he 
read  an  elaborate  essay  "  On  the  Geographical  Distribution  of  Plants 
through  the  Counties  of  Northumberland,  Cumberland,  and  Durham," 
which,  being  published  the  same  year  by  Edward  Walker,  Newcastle, 
went  into  a  second  edition,  issued  by  T.  &  J.  Hodgson,  Newcastle, 
in  1825.  About  the  same  time,  or  shortly  afterwards,  W.  A. 
Mitchell,  Newcastle,  printed  for  him  "Remarks  on  the  Flora  of 
Cumberland,  as  published  in  Hutchinson's  History  of  that  County, 
and  in  Turner  and  Dillwyn's  Botanists'  Guide  through  England  and 
Wales."  This  essay  also  was  re-issued  under  the  title  of  "Con- 
tributions to  the  Flora  of  Cumberland:  With  Remarks  on  the  List 
of  Plants  in  Hutchinson's  History,"  etc.  He  wrote,  also,  a  paper  on 
the  Geology  of  Holy  Island  for  the  "Annals  of  Philosophy." 

When  the  Natural  History  Society  of  Northumberland  and 
Durham  was  founded,  in  1829,  Mr.  Winch  was  elected  co-secretary, 
and  one  of  the  honorary  curators  in  Botany,  Mineralogy,  and 
Geology.  To  the  original,  or  quarto,  series  of  the  "  Transactions  " 
of  that  society  he  contributed  three  papers — namely,  (i)  "Remarks 


656  NATHANIEL  JOHN  WINCH. 

on  the  Distribution  of  the  Indigenous  Plants  of  Northumberland 
and  Durham  as  connected  with  the  Geological  Structure  of  those 
Counties."  Read  April  20th,  1830.  8  pp.  (2)  "Remarks  on  the 
Geology  of  the  Banks  of  the  Tweed,  from  Carham,  in  Northumber- 
land, to  the  Sea  Coast  at  Berwick."  Read  July  20th,  1830.  15  pp. 
(3)  "Flora  of  Northumberland  and  Durham,"  and  "Observations 
on  the  Preceding  Flora."     Read  June  20th,  1831.     149  pp. 

An  indefatigable  collector,  Mr.  Winch  was  a  liberal  donor  to 
the  public  institutions  of  Newcastle,  in  which  his  favourite  studies 
found  a  home.  The  Museum  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society  he  enriched,  between  1804  and  1822,  with  the  following 
useful  and  interesting  exhibits: — 

55  Rock  Specimens  from  Holy  Island,  illustrative  of  its  Geology,  on  which  a 
Paper  by  the  Donor  was  published  in  the  "  Annals  of  Philosophy,"  vol.  iv. 

Hortus  Siccus  Britannicus,  consisting  of  about  428  Species  of  Plants  indi- 
genous in  the  North  of  England,  which  were  originally  collected  by  the  donor, 
in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Waugh  and  Mr.  Thornhill,  for  the  illustration  of  the 
work  of  the  donor,  "The  Botanists'  Guide  through  Northumberland  and 
Durham." 

27  plants  from  Lapland  and  Norway;  42  plants  from  Switzerland  and  the 
Alps ;  32  plants  from  Italy. 

Specimens  of  the  Bark  of  the  Lagetto  Tree  {Lagetto  Untearia)  from  Jamaica, 
showing  its  fine  and  curious  texture,  resembling  lace, 

A  collection  of  Shells,  containing  140  species  of  British,  and  141  ditto  of 
Exotic  Shells. 

To  the  Museum  of  the  Natural  History  Society  he  was  equally 
liberal,  though  the  number  of  his  contributions  was  less.  His  name 
appears  in  the  catalogue  of  the  society  as  the  donor  of — 

Specimens  of  Mineralised  Wood  from  the  cliffs  near  Newbiggin  Church. 

60  Rock  Specimens,  illustrative  of  the  Geology  of  the  Banks  of  che  Tweed, 
from  Carham  to  Berwick. 

Geological  Specimens  from  Whitby. 

336  Species  of  British  plants  and  37  species  of  Exotics. 

Mr.  Winch  was  a  man  of  active  habits,  and  in  the  pursuit  of 
science  or  the  elucidation  of  Nature  his  zeal  was  untiring.  For 
some  time  he  was  a  member  of  a  local  corps  of  volunteers,  under 
Captain  Horn  of  Newcastle.  He  assisted  the  Rev.  William  Turner 
in  not  a  few  of  the  long  series  of  scientific  demonstrations  which  that 
ardent  lecturer  gave  to  the  members  of  the  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  and  was  at  all  times  willing  to  fetch  and  to  carry, 
to  undertake  long  journeys  and  to  make  minute  researches  for  the 
advancement  of  science  and  the  encouragement  of  scientific  investi- 


GEORGE   WISH  ART.  657 

gation.  The  late  James  Clephan  was  accustomed  to  tell  the 
following  anecdote  relating  to  his  helpfulness  at  Mr.  Turner's  lec- 
tures : — "  Mr.  Turner  was  delivering  a  lecture  on  Mechanics,  and 
Mr.  Winch  had  kindly  volunteered  his  services  as  bellows  blower. 
He  was  turning  a  handle  while  the  lecturer  was  turning  his  periods; 
and  as  the  one  turner  made  the  axle  revolve,  the  other  addressed 
the  audience  in  his  quiet  and  deliberate  style  of  delivery,  saying : — 
'  And  so,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  all  this  mighty  machinery  is  made  to 
revolve,  as  you  see '  (and  here,  unconscious  of  the  double  shot  he 
was  about  to  fire,  Mr.  Turner  pointed  down  to  the  crank  and  his 
colleague),  '  by  this  simple  little  winch.'  Poor  Winch  !  He  dropped 
back  into  his  seat,  extinguished,  amidst  a  roar  of  laughter." 

Dying  unmarried,  on  the  5th  of  May,  1838,  at  his  house,  No.  2, 
Ridley  Place,  Newcastle,  Mr.  Winch  left  a  well-stocked  library  and 
an  extensive  herbarium  to  the  Linnsean  Society,  and  a  legacy  of 
;^2oo  to  the  Newcastle  Infirmary,  of  which  institution  he  had  been 
secretary  for  twenty-one  years.  Some  time  before  his  death  he  was 
elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  Mineralogical  Society  of  Dresden, 
an  organisation  in  which  he  was  much  interested,  and  to  which, 
from  his  abundant  collections,  he  contributed  freely.  The  Newcastle 
Chronicle  of  INIay  12th,  1838,  recording  his  decease,  stated  that  "he 
for  many  years  maintained  an  active  correspondence  with  several  of 
the  most  scientific  men  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  their  letters, 
carefully  arranged,  presented  an  interesting  feature  in  his  library." 


<^Q,ox(^'^  Misbart, 

A    ROY.'^LIST    DIVINE. 

During  the  religious  strife  that  preceded  the  Civil  War,  and  again 
after  the  Restoration  of  the  Monarchy,  George  Wishart,  a  devoted 
Royalist,  and  a  divine  of  great  learning  and  capacity,  played  a 
prominent  part  in  the  public  life  of  Newcastle. 

George  Wishart,  D.D.  of  St.  Andrews  University,  came  to  New- 
castle during  the  troubles  in  Scotland  that  led  up  to  the  Civil  War, 
to  supply  the  place  of  Dr.  Jenison,  suspended  for  nonconformity. 
How  this  was  brought  about  we  learn  from  the  State  Papers,  wherein 
appears  a  letter,  dated  the  8th  September,  1639,  from  Bishop  Max- 
well, of  Ross,  to  Secretary  Windebank,  suggesting  that  a  royal  letter, 

VOL.  III.  42 


658  GEORGE   WIS  HART. 

"and  an  earnest  one,"  be  directed  "with  all  diligence,"  that  "Dr. 
George  Wishart,  sometime  preacher  at  St.  Andrews  [Fifeshire],  may 
during  the  suspension  of  Dr.  Jenison,  have  the  charge  he  had  at 
Newcastle,  that  is  to  be  lecturer  at  All  Hallows'  on  Sundays,  and  at 
St.  Nicholas'  on  Thursdays."  The  following  day  Windebank  wrote 
to  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council  of  Newcastle  in  these  terms  : — 

"  His  Majesty  having  understood  that  Dr.  Jenison,  who  held  the 
place  of  lecturer  in  Newcastle,  stands  suspended  for  nonconformity, 
and  is  to  be  questioned  for  sundry  other  misdemeanours,  has  com- 
manded me  to  signify  to  you  his  care  of  the  good  of  that  town,  and 
how  sensible  he  is  that  the  place  should  [not]  continue  unfurnished 
of  an  able  and  learned  minister.  Whereupon  his  Majesty's  intention 
is  that  it  be  supplied  with  some  person  of  integrity  of  life  and  sound- 
ness in  religion,  and  to  that  end  has  made  choice  of  Dr.  George 
Wishart,  whom  his  Majesty  knows  to  be  very  fit  for  that  charge. 
His  Majesty's  pleasure,  therefore,  is,  that  you  do  not  only  imme- 
diately choose  the  said  Dr.  Wishart  to  the  place  of  lecturer  of  All 
Hallows'  in  Newcastle,  upon  Sundays,  and  at  St.  Nicholas'  upon 
Thursdays  there,  but  that  you  likewise  suffer  him  to  enjoy  and 
receive  all  profits,  commodities,  and  advantages  whatsoever  there- 
unto belonging,  in  as  ample  a  manner  as  Dr.  Jenison  enjoyed  the 
same,  and  that  Dr.  Wishart  shall  hold  and  exercise  that  charge 
during  the  suspension  of  the  said  Dr.  Jenison." 

The  Mayor  and  Common  Council,  obedient  to  the  royal  will, 
accepted  the  nomination,  so  far  as  All  Saints'  was  concerned,  and, 
on  the  19th  of  October  following,  Dr.  Wishart  entered  into  an 
inheritance  of  trouble  as  the  supporter  of  royal  supremacy  in  a  town 
that  was  fast  drifting  towards  Presbyterianism  and  Independency. 
Among  the  parishioners  of  All  Saints'  the  drift  had  set  in  strongly. 
Attached  to  Dr.  Jenison,  and  offended  by  his  suspension,  they 
regarded  Dr.  Wishart  as  an  intruder,  and  treated  him  as  such.  It 
was  one  of  the  charges  preferred,  later  on,  against  Sir  Nicholas  Cole 
and  other  Royalists  that  they  had  procured  the  appointment  of  Dr. 
Wishart  to  be  lecturer  in  the  town,  and  "  violently  forced  him  upon 
them,  against  the  minds  of  the  parishioners."  But,  strongly  as  they 
objected  to  the  Doctor,  the  parishioners  were  helpless,  and  with 
sundry  murmurings,  which  are  rather  suggested  than  expressed,  they 
bowed  for  a  time  to  the  inevitable.  They  had  not  long  to  wait. 
Within  a  few  months  from  Dr.  Wishart's  entry  into  All  Saints'  pulpit, 
the  Scots  were  in  possession  of  the  town,  and  he  and  the  vicar, 


GEORGE   WISHART.  659 

unfortunate  Yeldard  Alvey,  were  "sent  for"  by  Parliament  to 
answer  certain  charges  made  against  them  in  a  petition  from 
"  burgesses  and  other  inhabitants  of  Newcastle." 

It  is  probable  that  Dr.  Wishart  escaped  for  a  time,  returning  with 
Vicar  Alvey  and  other  Royalists  after  the  Scots  had  departed.  The 
Scots  vacated  the  town  on  the  19th  of  August,  1641,  and  on  the  loth 
of  September  following,  the  "  Four-and-Twenty  and  ancient  "  of  All 
Saints',  meeting  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  "  absolutely  refused 
to  admit  of  Dr.  George  Wiseheart  to  be  a  preacher  in  this  parish." 
Parliament  endorsed  the  action  of  All  Saints'  congregation.  In  the 
Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons,  under  date  the  iSth  of  June, 
1642,  it  is  recorded  that  "upon  the  report  from  the  committee  of 
scandalous  ministers,  concerning  Mr.  Wysherd,  of  Newcastle,"  the 
House  came  to  the  following  resolutions  : — "  That  Dr.  George 
Wysherd  is  guilty  of  common  haunting  of  taverns  and  inns,  and  of 
drunkenness.  That  Doctor  Geo.  Wysherd  is  unfit  to  be  a  lecturer 
at  Newcastle.  That  the  Serjeant  deliver  up  unto  Doctor  Wysherd 
his  bonds  for  his  appearance  '  de  die  in  diem.'" 

Although  rejected  by  All  Saints',  and  condemned  by  Parliament, 
Dr.  Wishart  had  numerous  friends  in  the  Corporation,  and,  on  the 
1 2th  May,  1643,  he  was  appointed  to  the  afternoon  lectureship  of 
St.  Nicholas' ;  and  there  he  appears  to  have  remained  until  the  siege 
of  Newcastle,  in  October,  1644.  For,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "A 
Particular  Relation  of  the  Taking  of  Newcastle,"  we  find  him  among 
those  who,  at  the  entering  in  of  the  victorious  Covenanters,  fled  to 
the  Castle.  "  Doctor  Wishart,  a  man  of  a  dangerous  temper,  who 
had  seasoned  the  people  both  before  and  at  the  time  of  the  siege 
with  bitter  malignancy.  Master  Gray  and  Alvay,  and  others  of  the 
perverse  crew,  authors  of  all  the  evils  which  might  justly  have  fallen 
upon  the  Town,  so  exceedingly  obstinate,  according  to  the  rule  of 
warre,  did  all  betake  themselves  to  the  Castle,  whence  they  cast  over 
a  white  flag,  and  beat  a  parle." 

On  the  19th  of  November,  a  few  days  after  the  storming  and  siege 
of  Newcastle,  the  House  of  Commons  ordered  the  Commissioners 
and  Committee  of  Parliament  residing  in  the  town,  to  send  up  forth- 
with in  safe  custody,  "  Dr.  George  Wiseheard,  Mr.  Yeldred  Alvey," 
and  twenty-six  others.  Dr.  Wishart  fled  to  the  west,  and  joined 
Montrose,  who  was  preparing  another  expedition  into  Scotland  with 
the  object  of  raising  the  Highlands.  After  conferring  with  that  brave 
Royalist  leader,  he  considered  it  more  prudent  to  go  to  the  king  at 


66o  GEORGE   WISHART. 

Oxford.  On  his  way  thither  he  was  taken  prisoner,  conveyed  to 
Hull,  and  thence  to  the  Scottish  forces  at  Newcastle,  by  whom  he 
was  sent  to  Edinburgh  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tolbooth,  in  "  the 
nastiest  part  thereof,"  called  the  "  Thieves'  Hole."  From  thence, 
on  the  28th  of  January,  1645,  he  petitioned  the  Scottish  Parliament 
as  "  some  time  at  St.  Andrew's,  and  lately  at  Newcastle,  now  prisoner 
in  the  common  gaol  at  Edinburgh,"  begging  maintenance,  since  he, 
his  wife,  and  five  children  were  likely  to  starve.  After  the  battle  of 
Kilsyth,  fought  on  the  15th  of  August,  1645,  he  and  other  prisoners 
were  set  at  liberty,  and  sent  to  conciliate  Montrose,  who  by  his  defeat 
of  the  Covenanters  in  that  engagement  had  practically  become  master 
of  Scotland. 

With  Montrose  Dr.  Wishart  remained,  until,  by  order  of  the  king, 
that  great  warrior  laid  down  his  arms.  In  September,  1646,  with 
other  friends  of  the  Royalist  party,  he  went  in  a  small  pinnace  to 
Bergen,  whither  Montrose  followed  shortly  afterwards.  Subsequently 
he  accompanied  Montrose  to  Holland,  and  became  minister  of  the 
Scottish  congregation  at  Schiedam.  In  1647  hp  published  a  history 
of  Montrose's  expedition  under  the  title  of 

"  De  Rebus  anno  1644,  et  duobus  sequentibus  ab  illiist.  Jacobo  Marchione 
Montisrosarum  in  Scotia  gestis."  A  second  edition,  issued  in  Paris  the  year 
following,  was  entitled,  "  De  Rebus  Auspiciis  S.  et  P.  Caroli  Dei  Gratia  Magnce 
BritanniK  Regis  sub  Imperio  illustrissimi  Jacobi  Montisrosarum  Marchionis, 
etc.,  Commentarius." 

The  book  is  written  in  elegant  Latin,  full  of  party  spirit,  but  main- 
taining a  loftiness  of  sentiment  which  some  of  his  adversaries  might 
have  imitated  with  advantage.  When  Montrose  was  executed  (May 
2ist,  1650),  a  copy  of  this  little  work  was  hung  round  his  neck,  an 
ornament  of  which  he  declared  he  was  prouder  than  he  had  been 
when  invested  with  the  Order  of  the  Garter. 

After  the  death  of  his  patron  Dr.  Wishart  is  said  to  have  been 
appointed  chaplain  to  Elizabeth  the  Electress  Palatine,  sister 
of  Charles  I.,  better  known  as  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  At  the 
Restoration,  Sir  Nicholas  Cole  and  "six  other  loyal  subjects"  in 
Newcastle  petitioned  the  king,  "  for  their  encouragement  in  religion 
and  loyalty,"  to  send  back  Dr.  Wishart.  Nor  were  they  disappointed. 
The  Rev.  Stephen  Dockwray,  who  had  been  appointed  to  preach  in 
the  forenoons  and  afternoons  at  St.  Andrew's,  Newcastle,  died  in 
August,  1660,  shortly  after  Sir  Nicholas  Cole's  petition  had  been 
presented,  and   the   king  wrote  to  the  Corporation  recommending 


GEORGE   WISH  ART.  66 1 

Dr.  Wishart  as  his  successor.  The  Corporation,  anxious  to  adjust 
themselves  to  the  changing  position  of  affairs,  acquiesced,  and  Dr. 
Wishart  returned  to  Newcastle,  as  preacher  at  St.  Andrew's,  at  a 
salary  of  ;^So  per  annum. 

For  what  length  of  time  the  Doctor  ministered  in  St.  Andrew's  is 
not  very  clearly  to  be  gathered  from  the  fragmentary  records  of  the 
period.  Before  the  year  closed,  he  had  regained  the  afternoon 
lectureship  at  St.  Nicholas',  and  was  once  more  a  leading  spirit 
among  the  clergy  of  the  town.  Whether  he  retained  the  pulpit  of 
St.  Andrew's  after  his  appointment  to  the  lectureship,  and  for  how 
long,  or  whether  he  resigned  it  at  once,  and  devoted  himself  solely 
to  his  work  at  St.  Nicholas',  cannot  be  ascertained.  There  is  no 
positive  evidence  either  way,  and  Brand,  a  most  minute  investigator 
of  local  history,  confesses  that  he  is  unable  to  supply  any.  On  the 
one  hand,  we  have,  on  the  authority  of  our  municipal  records,  the 
somewhat  remarkable  circumstance  that,  when  Mr.  Clark  was  re- 
instated at  St.  Andrew's  in  August,  1662,  the  Corporation  ordered 
that  his  salary  should  date  from  Mr.  Dockwray's  decease,  as  though, 
for  two  years,  no  one  else  had  received  it.  On  the  other  hand, 
comes  the  noteworthy  fact  that  iSIr.  Clark  was  appointed  to  St. 
Andrew's  on  the  same  day  that  Mr.  John  Bewick  succeeded  to  the 
lectureship  of  St.  Nicholas' — a  coincidence  that  points  to  Wishart's 
vacation  of  both  pulpits  at  the  same  time.  And  there  we  must  leave 
the  matter. 

One  thing  is  certain,  namely,  that  the  year  1662  brought  prefer- 
ment to  Dr.  Wishart,  and  that  he  left  Newcastle  to  become  Bishop 
of  Edinburgh.  In  that  exalted  position  he  remained  till,  in  167 1,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-two  years,  he  obeyed  the  summons  which,  sooner 
or  later,  comes  to  us  all.  He  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  of  Holyrood, 
where  a  mural  tablet,  with  a  long  Latin  inscription,  records  his 
sufferings  and  his  triumphs.  The  concluding  lines,  translated  by 
Monteith,  read  as  follows  : — 

"  Thrice  spoil'd  and  banish'd,  for  full  fifteen  years, 
His  mind  unshaken,  cheerful  still  he  bears. 
Deadly  proscription,  nor  the  nasty  gaol, 
Could  not  disturb  his  great  seraphic  soul. 
But  when  the  nation's  King,  Charles  the  Second,  blest 
On  his  return  from  sad  exile  to  rest ; 
They  then  received  great  Doctor  Wiseheart,  he 
Was  welcome  made,  by  church  and  laity ; 
And  where  he  had  been  long  in  prison  sore, 


662  NICHOLAS  WOOD. 

He  nine  years  Bishop  did  them  good  therefore. 
At  length  he  dy'd  in  honour :  where  his  head 
To  much  hard  usage  was  accustomed, 
He  liv'd  'bove  seventy  years,  and  Edinburgh  town 
Wish'd  him  old  Nestor's  age  in  great  renown ; 
Yea,  Scotland,  sad  with  grief,  condoled  his  fall, 
And  to  his  merits  gave  just  funeral. 
Montrose's  acts,  in  Latin  forth  he  drew ; 
Of  one  so  great,  ah  !  monuments  so  few." 

Professor  H.  F.  Morland  Simpson  (a  native  of  Newcastle)  and 
Canon  Murdoch,  published  in  1893  a  new  edition  of  Dr.  Wishart's 
Latin  Memoirs  of  Montrose,  to  which  is  prefixed  a  biography  of  the 
author. 


mtcbolas  Moob, 

MINING    ENGINEER. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  among  that  group  of  engineers  which,  as 
already  indicated,  traces  its  origin  to  the  western  slopes  of  the  Tyne, 
was  Nicholas  Wood,  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Society,  Member  of 
the  Institute  of  Civil  Engineers,  Chairman  of  the  Mining  Association 
of  Great  Britain,  President  of  the  North  of  England  Institute  of 
Mining  Engineers,  and  after  the  death  of  John  Buddie,  the  chief 
authority  upon  collier)'  practice  in  the  Great  Northern  Coal-Field. 

Mr.  Wood  was  born  in  1795,  ^^  the  farm  of  Daniel,  lying  between 
Bradley  Hall  and  Wylam,  of  which  his  father  was  the  tenant.  He 
received  his  education  at  the  hands  of  a  local  celebrity  named 
Craigie,  who  kept  a  private  or  proprietary  school  at  Crawcrook,  and 
in  April,  181 1,  he  was  sent  to  Killingworth  Colliery,  through  the 
influence  of  his  father's  landlord.  Sir  Thomas  Liddell,  afterwards 
Lord  Ravensworth,  to  learn  the  profession  of  a  coal-viewer.  The 
choice  of  a  calling,  it  is  understood,  was  the  boy's  own;  the  selection 
of  Killingworth  as  its  starting-place  was  a  happy  incident  which  led 
to  most  fortunate  results. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Wood  had  entered  upon  his  training  at 
Killingworth,  George  Stephenson,  brakesman,  was  promoted  to  the 
post  of  enginewright  at  Killingworth  High  Pit.  Young  Mr,  Wood, 
eager  to  get  on,  attached  himself  to  the  new-comer.  Placing  at  his 
disposal  mathematical  and  other  gifts  which  Stephenson  lacked,  he 
received  in   return  practical  instruction  which  was    of  the  utmost 


NICHOLAS   WOOD. 


663 


value.  Mr.  Wood  made  the  working  drawing  from  which  Watson, 
the  Newcastle  plumber,  produced  the  first  Stephenson  safety-lamp, 
and  when  the  lamp  was  made,  and  tested  at  a  dangerous  blower  in 
Killingworth  Pit,  he  was  one  of  the  brave  men  who  faced  the  perilous 
experiment.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Newcastle  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  in  18 15,  when  the  lamp  was  publicly  exhibited  and 
explained  to  the  wise  men  of  the  town,  Mr.  Wood  was  the  spokes- 
man and  expositor.  In  the  controversy  that  raged  over  this  lamp 
between  the  friends  of  Stephenson  and  the  supporters  of  Sir  Humphrey 


NlCt^0Lj\/V/00J). 


Davy,  Mr.  Wood  was  the  chief  advocate  and  exponent  of  the  claims 
of  his  Killingworth  associate.  Mainly  through  his  persistent  efforts 
the  great  coal-owners  of  the  North  publicly  recognised  Stephenson's 
invention  and  presented  the  inventor  with  substantial  tokens  of  their 
admiration  and  esteem.  Stephenson,  gracefully  acknowledging  his 
indebtedness  to  his  young  friend,  ordered  a  fac-simile  of  the  silver 
tankard  which  formed  the  chief  attraction  of  the  coal-owners'  gift  to 
be  made,  and  gave  it  to  Mr.  Wood  in  "  grateful  testimony  of  his 
many  obligations  for  the  indefatigable  zeal  and  exertion  displayed  in 


664  NICHOLAS   WOOD. 

assisting  him  to  elucidate  the  principles  and  bring  to  perfection  the 
safety-lamp  which,  under  the  auspices  of  R.  W.  Brandling,  Esq., 
obtained  the  sanction  of  the  most  respectable  gentlemen  in  the 
neighbourhood."  The  friendship  of  Nicholas  Wood  and  George 
Stephenson  extended  into  every  relation  of  life.  Stephenson  put 
his  son  Robert  under  Mr.  Wood's  care  in  1818,  to  learn  the  principles 
and  practice  of  mine  engineering,  and  Mr.  Wood  spent  his  evenings 
at  Stephenson's  cottage,  helping  father  and  son  to  solve  perplexing 
problems  in  colliery  practice.  Throughout  the  great  "  locomotive 
versus  fixed  engine  "  controversy  Mr.  Wood  was  the  inspired  penman 
of  the  locomotive,  and  he  it  was  who  accompanied  Stephenson  on 
that  memorable  journey  to  Mr.  Edward  Pease  at  Darlington  which 
ended  in  the  establishment  of  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway, 
and  the  appointment  of  the  Killingworth  engineer  to  superintend 
its  construction.  This  important  interview  put  an  end  to  the  daily 
communication  of  the  two  friends,  but  it  wrought  no  decay  in  their 
close  and  affectionate  relationship.  In  1S25,  two  years  after 
Stephenson  had  left  Killingworth,  Mr.  Wood  wrote  a  history  of  his 
friend's  achievements  in  a  book  that  went  through  several  editions, 
and  was  of  service  in  converting  the  public  to  Stephenson's  views. 
The  second  edition  bears  the  title  of 

"  A  Practical  Treatise  on  Railroads  and  Interior  Communication  in  General, 
Containing  an  Account  of  the  Performances  of  the  Difterent  Locomotive  Engines, 
at  and  subsequent  to  the  Liverpool  Contest ;  Upwards  of  Two  Hundred  and  Sixty 
Experiments :  With  Tables  of  the  Comparative  Value  of  Canals  and  Rail-Roads, 
and  the  Power  of  the  present  Locomotive  Engines.  Illustrated  by  Numerous 
Engravings."  By  Nicholas  Wood,  Colliery  Viewer,  Member  of  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers,  etc.     London  :  Longman,  Rees,  Orme,  Green,  &  Brown,  1832. 

By  this  time  Mr.  Wood  had  acquired  considerable  reputation  as  a 
colliery  and  railway  engineer,  had  entered  into  colliery  speculations 
on  his  own  account,  and  was  rapidly  extending  his  position  and 
influence  in  the  coal  trade.  His  first  adventure  was  at  Bedlington, 
where  he  had  for  partners  his  friend  George  Stephenson  and  Michael 
Longridge;  then  he  acquired  an  interest  in  the  important  collieries 
at  Hetton,  belonging  to  the  Hetton  Coal  Company,  and  in  1844  he 
removed  thither  and  undertook  the  management  of  them.  Sub- 
sequently he  became  a  partner  with  John  Bowes,  William  Hutt,  and 
Charles  Mark  Palmer  in  a  dozen  or  more  of  collieries,  including  his 
own  training-ground  of  Killingworth;  sole  owner  of  Black  Boy, 
Coundon,   Westerton,    and    Leasingthorne     collieries;    part    owner 


NICHOLAS  WOOD.  665 

of  Harton,  Hilda,  and  Jarrow  collieries;  and  a  shareholder  in 
Westphalian  undertakings  in  the  valley  of  the  Ruhr,  abutting 
on  the  Rhine.  His  reputation  as  a  colliery  engineer  brought  his 
services  into  frequent  requisition  when  matters  of  high  importance 
relating  to  the  coal  trade  were  under  discussion.  Before  a  parlia- 
mentary committee  that  sat  in  1S35,  to  investigate  the  cause  of 
accidents  in  mines,  he  was  examined  at  great  length,  and  to  similar 
committees  which  sat  in  1849,  1S52,  and  1S53-54,  he  gave  evidence 
of  a  most  valuable  character  upon  methods  of  working,  systems  of 
management,  and  precautions  taken  to  avoid  or  minimise  disaster  in 
the  Great  Northern  Coal-Field. 

When  the  Mines  Inspection  Act  came  into  operation,  in  1852, 
North-Country  coal-owners,  colliery  viewers,  mining  engineers,  and 
others  interested  in  the  prosperity  of  the  coal  trade,  organised  a 
society  for  mutual  counsel  and  instruction.  Of  this  association, 
known  as  the  "  North  of  England  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers," 
Mr.  Wood  was  elected  president,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  decease 
he  was  the  principal  contributor  to  its  "  Transactions."  One  of  the 
first  objects  to  which  he  devoted  his  attention  as  president  was  the 
establishment  of  a  college  for  the  training  of  young  men  to  fill 
responsible  situations  in  coal-mining  operations.  At  his  instigation 
a  committee  of  the  institute  was  appointed  to  consider  the  subject, 
and  when  they  reported  in  favour  of  the  scheme,  suggesting  a  way  in 
which  a  college  might  be  founded,  and  drawing  up  a  curriculum  of 
studies  for  the  pupils,  Mr.  Wood  used  all  his  influence  to  secure  for 
the  project  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  mining  interest.  At 
the  annual  meeting,  in  1854,  of  the  Coal  Trade  Association  of  Great 
Britain,  of  which  he  was  chairman,  and  before  a  Parliamentary 
Committee  on  Mining  Accidents  that  same  year,  he  pleaded  for 
support  to  his  proposals,  and  received  such  encouragement  as 
enabled  him  to  apply  to  the  University  of  Durham  to  assist  in 
providing  a  staff  of  teachers,  and  to  the  mining  and  manufacturing 
community  for  the  necessary  funds  to  erect  a  suitable  building. 
Unfortunately,  after  years  of  negotiation,  the  scheme  fell  through, 
and  it  was  not  until  long  after  Mr.  Wood  had  passed  away  that  his 
ideas  were  realised  in  the  establishment  of  "  The  Durham  College  of 
Science,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne." 

Throughout  his  career  Mr.  Wood  was  an  earnest  and  persistent 
advocate  of  education.  It  was  not  only  the  youths  who  were  to 
become    mining  engineers  and   colliery    managers  that  he   desired 


666  NICHOLAS  WOOD. 

to  equip  for  their  responsible  duties ;  he  was  anxious  that  the 
humbler  workers  in  and  about  the  pits  should  be  well  taught,  soundly 
instructed,  and  thereby  better  fitted  for  the  laborious  task  in  which 
their  lives  were  to  be  spent.  At  Killingworth  in  his  younger  days, 
and  at  Hetton  and  elsewhere  in  his  prime,  he  promoted  the  erection 
of  schools  for  pitmen's  children,  and  saw  for  himself  that  they  were 
efficiently  conducted.  The  workmen  at  Hetton  Colliery  presented 
him  with  an  address  in  1858,  expressive  of  their  gratitude  for  the 
efforts  he  had  made  to  educate  their  children  and  the  children 
of  their  fellow-workers  at  every  colliery  over  which  he  exercised 
authority.  His  labours  in  this  direction  were  modestly  epitomised 
by  himself  a  little  later  when  addressing,  at  Hetton,  in  the  capacity 
of  president,  the  delegates  of  the  Northern  Union  of  Mechanics' 
Institutes.  It  had  always  been  his  first  object,  he  said,  to  get  a 
good  school  connected  with  a  colliery.  "  He  believed,  he  might 
add,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  Killingworth  school  was  an 
excellent  one,  and  it  was  erected,  he  believed,  in  consequence  of  his 
exertions.  He  had  at  his  own  colliery,  Black  Boy,  one  of  the  best 
schools  in  the  colliery  districts,  for  that  school  had  turned  out  more 
scholars  who  had  gained  prizes  from  the  Prize  Scheme  Association 
than  any  other  in  the  district.  Hetton  School,  the  building  in  which 
they  had  met,  was  well  conducted,  and  contained  all  the  elements  of 
success  which  it  was  possible  to  impart  to  it.  Head  managers  of 
mines  had  a  great  responsibility;  but  there  was  a  class  of  men 
of  vast  importance  who  had  charge  of  the  workings  underground — 
the  overmen,  the  under- viewers,  and  those  who  really  and  practically 
managed  the  mine.  To  that  class  of  persons  also  it  had  been  the 
aim  of  his  humble  efforts  to  give  a  better  education." 

Mr.  Wood's  contributions  to  the  literature  of  his  calling  were 
numerous  and  important.  Besides  the  book  on  Railroads  before 
mentioned,  he  wrote  the  following  papers  : — 

In  the  '■'■Transactions  of  the  Natural  History  Society,"  Newcastle. 

"  An  Account  of  some  Fossil  Stems  of  Trees,  found  penetrating  through  the 
Strata  above  the  High  Main  Coal  at  Killingworth  Colliery,  at  a  depth  of  48 
fathoms."     Read  November  15th,  1830,  9  pp.,  4to. 

"On  the  Geology  of  a  Part  of  Northumberland  and  Cumberland."  Read 
April  i8th,  1831,  32  pp.,  4to. 

At  the  Newcastle  Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  1838. 
"On  the  Probable  Identity  of  the  Red  Sandstone  Formations  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Tweed,  and  those  which  are  found  in  the  Plains  of  Carlisle. " 


NICHOLAS  WOOD.  667 

In  the  '■'^Transactions  of  the  Mining  Institute." 

Vol.  i.— (i)  "Inaugural  Address  to  the  Members."  (2)  "Experiments  on 
the  Relative  Value  of  the  Furnace  and  the  Steam  Jet  in  the  Ventilation  of  Coal- 
mines." With  eleven  Diagrams.  (3)  "  On  Safety  Lamps  for  Lighting  Coal-mines, 
being  a  Record  of  Experiments  at  Killingworth  Colliery." 

Vol.  iii. — "On  the  Conveyance  of  Coals  Underground  in  Coal-mines."  With 
10  Plans. 

Vol.  V. — (i)  "  Report  of  an  interview  with  one  of  Her  Majesty's  Inspectors  of 
Charities,  with  reference  to  obtaining  a  grant  out  of  the  funds  of  a  Newcastle 
Charity  towards  the  establishment  of  a  Mining  College."  (2)  "On  the  Con- 
veyance of  Coals  Underground  in  Pits."  (3)  "On  Sinking  through  the  Mag- 
nesian  Limestone  at  the  Seaham  and  Seaton  Winning,  near  Seaham."  With  four 
coloured  plates.  (4)  "An  Account  of  the  Explosion  of  Fire-damp  at  the  Lund- 
hill  Colliery,  with  plans  of  the  workings  before  and  after  the  explosion." 

Vol.  vii. — (i)  "On  the  Deposit  of  Magnetic  Ironstone  in  Rosedale."  With 
six  coloured  Plans.  (2)  "A  Summary  of  the  various  conclusions  which  appear  to 
result  from  the  several  papers  and  discussions  brought  before  the  Institute  on  the 
subject  of  Ventilation." 

Vol.  viii. — "Biography  of  the  two  late  eminent  Engineers,  George  and  Robert 
Stephenson." 

Vol.  ix.— (i)  "Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Career  of  Joseph  Locke,  Esq.,  M.P.,  one  of 
the  Vice-Presidents  of  the  Institute."  (2)  "On  the  Explosion  in  the  Boiler  Flues  of 
one  of  the  Engines  at  Hetton  Colliery  on  December  20,  i860."  With  three  coloured 
Plans.  (3)  "  Memoir  of  the  late  Thomas  John  Taylor,  Esq.,  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents  of  the  Institute." 

Vol.  X.  —  "  Inaugural  Address  delivered  at  the  Central  Meeting  of  the  Institute 
at  Birmingham,  on  July  i6th,  1861." 

Vol.  xi.— "  On  the  Upper  and  Lower  Beds  of  Coal  in  the  Counties  of  North- 
umberland and  Durham."     With  nine  coloured  Plates  and  several  Woodcuts. 

Vol.  xii.— "  Report  on  Coal,  Coke,  and  Coal-mining.  Read  at  the  Meeting 
of  the  British  Association  in  Newcastle,  1863." 

(In  the  compilation  of  this  Report  Mr.  Wood  was  assisted  by  John  Taylor  and 
John  Marley. ) 

Vol.  xiii.— "Ona  Wash  or  Drift  through  the  Coal-Field  of  Durham."  (By 
Nicholas  Wood  and  E.  F.  Boyd.) 

At  Newcastle  Meeting  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  1858. 
"  Improvements  Effected  in  the  Working  of  Coal-mines  during  the  last  fifty 
years." 

Mr.  Wood  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  and  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society,  and  a  Member  of  the  Institute  of  Civil  Engineers. 
He  died  in  London  on  the  19th  December,  1865,  aged  70  years, 
and  on  the  23rd  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Hetton.  He 
married  Maria  Forster,  only  daughter  of  Mr.  CoUingwood  Forster 
Lindsay,  of  Alnwick,  clerk  to  the  magistrates  of  Northumberland, 
and  was  the  father  of  three  well-known  public  men — Mr.  Colling- 


668 


NICHOLAS  WOOD. 


wood  Lindsay  Wood,  of  Freeland,  Bridge  of  Earn,  a  magistrate  for 
the  counties  of  Durham  and  Perth;  Mr.  Lindsay  Wood,  J.P.,  of  the 
Hermitage,  Chester-le-Street,  and  Mr.  Nicholas  Wood,  for  a  short 
time  one  of  the  Members  of  Parliament  for  the  Houghton-le-Spring 
division  of  the  county  of  Durham.     In   Neville   Hall,  the  elegant 


building  which  the  passenger  sees  on  his  right  hand  as  he  passes 
from  the  Central  Station  to  Collingwood  Street,  Newcastle,  the 
memory  of  Mr.  Nicholas  Wood  and  of  his  services  to  mining 
industry  is  perpetuated  by  a  marble  monument  erected  in  a  lofty 
and  spacious  apartment,  to  which  has  been  given  the  name  of 
"The  Wood  Memorial  Hall." 


U'lLLIAAr  J  FOODS.  669 


Milliam  Moo^t^ 


"  Honours  achieved  far  exceed  those  tliat  are  created." 

— Soi.ON. 

At  the  head  of  commercial  enterprise  in  Newcastle  for  the  better 
part  of  half  a  century — a  living  embodiment  of  industry  and  in- 
tegrity, punctuality  and  perseverance — stood  Mr.  William  Woods. 

Born  in  17S7  at  Bolton,  in  Lancashire,  the  son  of  an  iron  merchant 
and  landowner,  Mr.  Woods  was  trained  for  a  mercantile  career,  but, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  fired,  as  were  other  British  youths  of  that 
period,  by  military  enthusiasm,  he  joined  one  of  the  volunteer  corps 
that  sprang  up  all  over  the  country  to  resist  the  threatened  invasion 
of  England  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  Assiduous  study  of  military 
tactics  qualified  many  of  the  officers  among  these  citizen  soldiers  to 
accept  commissions  in  the  regular  army,  and  in  April,  1808,  Mr. 
William  Woods  was  gazetted  ensign,  and  in  December,  1809,  lieu- 
tenant in  the  48th  Regiment  of  Foot. 

Ordered  with  his  regiment  to  the  Peninsula,  Lieutenant  Woods  saw 
a  good  deal  of  service.  He  took  part  in  several  engagements,  and 
at  the  battle  of  Albuera  he  was  severely  wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 
Within  a  week  he  made  his  escape,  rejoined  his  company  (reduced 
by  the  fight  from  over  fifty  to  only  eight  men),  and  soon  afterwards 
accompanied  the  skeleton  of  his  regiment  back  to  England.  Being 
desirous  of  serving  in  a  cavalry  regiment  he  exchanged  into  the  4th 
Dragoon  Guards,  was  sent  out  again  to  the  Peninsula,  and  remained 
abroad  till  the  campaign  ended.  In  18 14,  quartered  in  Newcastle, 
he  became  acquainted  with  the  family  of  the  then  recently  deceased 
Alderman  Anthony  Hood — Sheriff  of  Newcastle  in  1795,  and  Mayor 
of  the  town  in  1797  and  1807.  On  the  nth  of  February  following 
he  married  Alderman  Hood's  daughter  Mary,  and  soon  afterwards, 
having  received  the  silver  medal  for  distinguished  services  in  the 
Peninsula,  he  exchanged  the  sword  for  the  pen,  and  entered  upon  a 
commercial  career  in  Newcastle. 

The  business  of  Messrs.  Anthony  Hood  &  Co.  was  conducted  at 
that  time  by  the  surviving  partner,  Mr.  George  Henderson,  father  of 
the  present  Mr.  Thomas  Hood  Henderson,  of  Newcastle.     In  18 18 


670  WILLIAM  WOODS. 

Mr.  Woods  became  a  partner  in  the  firm,  taking  over  the  interest 
which  his  father-in-law,  the  alderman,  had  possessed  in  it.  The 
following  year  he  purchased  the  share  of  a  retiring  proprietor  of  the 
Newcastle  Fire  and  Life  Insurance  Company,  and  was  appointed 
secretary  of  that  long-established  and  highly  flourishing  copartnery. 
To  the  "  Fire  Office,"  as  it  was  called,  or  rather  to  the  proprietors  of 
the  concern,  belonged  the  old  Newcastle  Water  Works  and  the 
newly-established  Gas  Works,  and  i\Ir.  Woods,  having  the  adminis- 
tration of  all  three  upon  his  hands,  must  have  been,  one  would 
suppose,  fully  occupied.  Yet  with  the  foresight  and  precision  of 
a  soldier  he  so  arranged  his  duties  and  his  time  that  he  was  able  for 
many  years,  not  only  to  manage  the  insurance  business,  the  water 
supply,  and  the  manufacture  and  distribution  of  gas,  but  to  attend  to 
the  development  and  extension  of  his  private  business  with  its  two 
branches — "The  Middle  Dock  Company"  at  South  Shields,  and 
"  Woods,  Spence,  &  Co."  at  Sunderland — and  to  acquire  an  interest 
in  the  rope  works  of  "  Grimshaw  &  Co."  on  the  Wear,  and  the  iron 
trade  firm  of  "Matthew  Wheatley  &  Co."  in  Newcastle.  The  Gas 
Works  were  carried  on  by  the  "Fire  Office,"  under  Mr.  Woods's 
secretaryship,  till  1830,  when  they  were  sold  to  the  Newcastle  and 
Gateshead  Gas  Company,  of  which  company  Mr.  Woods  was 
appointed  a  director,  and  from  1839  till  death  chairman.  The 
Water  Works  were  acquired  by  the  Whittle  Dene  Company  in 
1836,  and,  last  of  all,  in  i860,  the  "Fire  Office"  was  merged  into 
that  of  the  North  British  and  Mercantile  Insurance  Company. 

The  application  of  steam  to  locomotion  naturally  attracted  the 
far-seeing  and  far-reaching  mind  of  Mr.  Woods.  Convinced  that 
railway  extension  was  the  handmaid  of  commercial  prosperity,  he 
promoted  the  construction  of  the  line  from  Newcastle  to  Carlisle, 
was  one  of  the  earliest  directors,  and  eventually  chairman  of  the 
company.  When  the  Newcastle  and  Carlisle  line  was  absorbed  by 
its  gigantic  neighbour,  the  North-Eastern,  Mr.  'W^oods  was  transferred 
to  a  seat  in  that  powerful  directorate  which  controls  our  means  of 
transit  'twixt  Ouse  and  Tweed,  and  so  remained  until  his  decease. 
In  the  development  of  the  Durham  Junction  Line,  with  its  magnifi- 
cent bridge  over  the  Wear  at  Washington,  he  took  a  prominent  part 
also. 

In  1847  the  Newcastle  Union  Bank  suspended  payment,  over- 
whelming all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people  throughout  the  Northern 
Counties  in  a  common  ruin.     Holding  shares  in  that  unfortunate 


WILLIAM   WOODS.  671 

concern  as  security  for  a  loan  to  a  friend,  Mr.  Woods  found  himself 
involved  in  the  disaster.  To  him  the  unhappy  shareholders  flocked 
for  advice,  and  when  a  committee  had  been  formed  to  wind  up  the 
affair,  he  was  appointed  its  chairman.  Mainly  by  his  tact  and 
intelligence,  the  tangled  web  of  conflicting  interests  was  unravelled, 
and  a  settlement  of  complicated  claims  satisfactorily  effected.  Out  of 
the  ruins  of  the  Union  Bank  Mr.  Woods  and  his  coadjutors  created  a 
banking  firm  which,  under  the  name  of  Woods  &:  Co.,  is  represented 
in  all  the  principal  towns  that  surround  its  headquarters  in  the 
metropolis  of  the  Tyne.  Later,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  William 
Dickson,  Clerk  of  the  Peace  for  Northumberland,  he  established  the 
Alnwick  and  County  Bank  at  Alnwick  and  Morpeth. 

Although  upon  his  marriage  Mr.  Woods  had  quitted  the  service 
of  Mars,  his  military  predilections  were  by  no  means  obliterated. 
Soldierly  instincts,  developed  in  youth  and  strengthened  by  ex- 
perience upon  the  field  of  battle,  were  not  to  be  repressed  by  the 
strain  and  struggle  of  commercial  life  in  Newcastle.  Political 
agitation  and  social  upheaval  in  the  year  1819  having  revived  the 
passion  for  volunteering.  Lord  Ravensworth  formed  a  squadron 
of  yeomanry  from  among  his  tenantry,  and  enlisted  Mr.  Woods's 
services  as  an  ofificer.  In  that  honorary  and  honourable  position 
he  remained  till  the  corps  was  disbanded  in  1823,  when  Lieut.-Col. 
Charles  John  Brandling,  ALP.,  offered  him  the  adjutantcy  of  the 
far-famed  Northumberland  and  Newcastle  Yeomanry  Cavalry.  He 
accepted  the  offer,  and  for  over  forty  years,  amid  all  his  engagements 
as  railway  director,  banker,  manufacturer,  and  merchant,  was  never 
absent  a  single  day  from  his  duty.  On  the  nth  of  July,  1856, 
under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Brandling's  nephew  and  successor  in 
command,  Lieut.-Col.  Matthew  Bell,  the  non-commissioned  officers 
and  privates  of  the  corps  honoured  Mr.  Woods,  and  honoured 
themselves,  by  presenting  him  with  a  silver  claret  jug  and  salver 
in  token  of  their  affection  and  admiration. 

Shortly  before  his  death,  Mr.  Woods  formed  the  subject  of  a 
sketch  in  the  Newcastle  Weekly  Chronicle  from  the  facile  and 
graceful  pen  of  Alderman  William  Lockey  Harle.  The  genial 
alderman  had  a  personal  and  intimate  knowledge  of  Mr.  Woods's 
career,  and  this  was  his  testimony: — "We  have  before  us  men 
who  have  toiled  fifty  or  si.xty  years,  with  honour,  punctuality,  and 
intelligence,  and  have  been  blessed  with  the  troops  of  friends  that 
should  accompany  old  age.     Newcastle  has  furnished  many  illustra- 


672  WILLIAM  WOODS. 

tions  of  this  description,  but,  so  far  as  we  know,  she  has  furnished 
no  example  more  striking  and  impressive  than  that  of  Mr.  WiUiam 
Woods.  It  is  quite  true  that  Mr.  Woods  has  not  been  prominent 
in  what  is  usually  termed  'public  life';  and  yet  for  half  a  century 
he  has  been  more  or  less  in  the  public  eye.  His  career  to  us  seems 
quite  unique.  We  know  of  no  instance  of  practical  business-like 
usefulness  in  so  many  walks  of  life,  half  public,  half  private,  at  all 
to  be  compared  for  interest  and  variety  with  his.  This  gentleman 
may  now  be  said  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  commerce  of  these  parts  ; 
and  yet  how  strange  are  the  events  by  which,  step  by  step,  he  has 
obtained  his  present  eminence.  Wherever  the  voice  and  counsels 
of  Mr.  Woods  have  prevailed,  prosperity  and  confidence  have 
followed  his  footsteps.  He  came  into  Newcastle  a  lieutenant  of 
dragoons,  unacquainted  with  commerce,  and  in  the  due  course  of 
events,  under  Providence,  he  will  leave  the  place  of  his  adoption 
a  rich  and  prosperous  banker.  He  has  always  maintained  the 
position  of  a  gentleman.  He  writes  clearly,  and  explains  his 
views  upon  paper  with  brevity  and  precision.  As  a  speaker, 
he  is  unambitious  and  plain.  He  expounds  his  views  calmly  and 
sensibly,  has  great  command  of  temper,  and  usually  succeeds  in 
carrying  his  point.  The  rising  generation  of  merchants  in  the  North 
cannot  do  better  than  imitate  the  punctuality,  industry,  integrity,  and 
perseverance  of  Mr.  William  Woods." 

The  motto  of  the  old  family  of  Woods  of  Preston  and  Wigan  is 
"Lahore  et  perseverantia."  It  was  by  labour  and  perseverance  that 
Mr.  William  Woods,  of  Newcastle,  rose  to  honour  and  affluence. 
He  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  and  up  to  the  last  few  days 
of  his  existence  pursued  his  avocations  with  the  same  industry  and 
regularity  that  had  marked  his  youth  and  his  prime.  After  only 
a  fortnight's  illness,  he  died  at  his  residence  in  Eldon  Square,  on 
the  1 2th  of  June,  1864,  and  was  buried  at  Jesmond  Cemetery. 
Beneath  the  tower  of  St.  Nicholas'  Cathedral  Church,  Newcastle, 
is  a  tablet  to  his  memory,  bearing  the  following  inscription : — 

"  Sacred  to  the  Memory  of  William  Woods  Esq.  who  having  in  early  youth 
served  his  country  with  distinction  as  an  officer  in  the  Peninsular  War,  at  its 
close  established  himself  in  this  town  where  he  took  a  place  as  a  Merchant  and 
Banker  and  by  the  integrity  of  his  purpose  the  clearness  of  his  intellect  and  the 
kindness  of  his  disposition  won  the  regard  of  all.  At  the  same  time  not  for- 
getting that  he  had  been  a  soldier  amid  the  engrossing  pursuits  of  business  he 
continued  to  his  country  the  benefit  of  his  military  acquirements  by  the  efficient 
discharge  of  his  duties  of  Adjutant  to  the  N.N.Y.  Cavalry  for  the  long  space 


WESLEY  S.  B.    WOOLHOUSE.  673 

of  forty-three  years.  He  tlietl  on  the  twelfth  day  of  June  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-four  aged  seventy-seven  most  deeply  regretted.  This  tribute 
to  his  memory  attests  the  grateful  affection  of  his  eldest  son  John  Anthony 
Woods  Esquire." 

Mr.  Woods  left  sons  and  grandsons  to  represent  him  in  the 
commercial  and  military  career  in  which,  during  his  long  and  useful 
life,  he  had  gained  so  much  credit.  His  eldest  son,  John  Anthony 
Woods,  of  Benton  Hall,  is  now  the  head  of  the  banking  firm  of 
Woods  &  Company,  while  his  eldest  grandson  carries  on  the  old- 
established  business  of  Anthony  Hood  &  Co.  His  youngest  son, 
the  late  IMatthew  Charles  Woods,  of  Holey n  Hall,  near  Wylam, 
deputy-lieutenant  of  the  county  of  Northumberland,  held  a  com- 
mission in  the  old  Yeomanry  Regiment  for  thirty-five  years,  and 
retired  with  a  well-deserved  privilege  of  retaining  his  rank  of  colonel 
and  wearing  its  popular  uniform. 


Mc6lcv>  %.  B.  Moolhouec, 

MATHEMATICIAN. 

Next  to  George  Coughran,  whose  early  development  of  remarkable 
genius  is  described  in  our  first  volume,  the  palm  for  precocity  in  the 
science  of  mathematics,  in  a  county  famous  for  its  mathematicians, 
must  be  given  to  Wesley  S.  B.  Woolhouse. 

Mr.  Woolhouse  was  born  at  North  Shields  on  the  6th  of  May, 
1809,  and  received  his  education  at  the  school  of  the  Rev.  AVilliam 
Lietch  in  that  town.  Mr.  Lietch,  as  already  recorded  in  the  biography 
of  his  son,  was  specially  gifted  with  mathematical  knowledge,  and 
possessed,  in  addition,  the  faculty  of  imparting  it  to  others.  Under 
his  tuition  young  Woolhouse  became  a  youthful  prodigy,  outstripping 
everybody  in  the  school  with  his  problems  and  demonstrations,  and 
puzzling  even  the  master  himself. 

At  the  period  when  young  Woolhouse  was  leaving  school,  several 
periodical  publications  were  accustomed  to  devote  a  page  or  two  to 
mathematical  exercises.  There  was  a  department  of  that  character 
in  Mitchell's  Newcastle  Magazine.  Every  month  there  appeared  in 
that  periodical  solutions  of  a  problem  set  two  months  before,  and  a 
new  problem  to  be  answered  two  months  later.     In  December,  1823, 

VOL.  III.  43 


674 


WESLEY  S.  B.    WOOLHOUSE. 


the    new   problem — "by    Mr.   T,    Thompson,    Monkseaton " — was 
this  :— 

"  If  from  any  point  whatever  in  the  circumference  of  a  circle  inscribed  in  an 
equilateral  triangle,  perpendiculars  be  let  fall  on  the  three  sides,  the  sum  of  the 
rectangles  under  every  two  of  these  perpendiculars  will  be  equal  to  the  square  of 
half  the  perpendicular  of  the  triangle.     Required,  the  demonstration  ?  " 

The  magazine  for  February,  1824,  contained  two  printed  solutions 
of  this  problem — "one  by  Mr.  Thomas  Reed,  Hebburn  Colliery,"  and 
the  other  by  "  Mr.  James  Hann,  Backworth  Colliery,"  to  which  the 


*^  •  o  •  qV^<v^^5cv&U4: 


editor  added  that  "  the  solutions  of  Mr.  T.  Thompson,  of  Monkseaton, 
the  proposer,  and  Mr.  W.  S.  B.  Woolhouse,  of  North  Shields,  were 
nearly  analogous  to  the  above."  The  meaning  of  the  editorial  note 
was  that  young  Woolhouse,  little  more  than  thirteen  and  a  half  years 
old,  had  solved  the  problem  as  well  (and  in  nearly  analogous  terms) 
as  Hann  and  the  proposer,  both  of  whom  were  adepts  in  mathematical 
demonstration  ! 

One  great  resort  of  competitors  for  mathematical  prizes  in  those 
days  was  the  Ladies'  Diary,  for  many  years  conducted  by  the  eminent 
Newcastle  mathematician,  Dr.  Charles  Hutton.     Young  Woolhouse, 


WESLEY  S.  B.    WOOLHOUSE.  675 

proud  of  his  local  achievements,  tried  his  hand  at  the  problems  in 
the  Ladies'  Diary  for  1S24.  There  were  usually  fifteen  problems 
in  all,  and  the  fifteenth  was  called  the  "  Prize  Question,"  being  a 
special  test  set  by  the  editor.  Answers  had  to  be  sent  in  by  the  ist 
of  February  in  the  datal  year,  and  the  prize  consisted  of  ten  copies 
of  the  Diary  to  each  of  two  successful  competitors.  Mr.  Woolhouse 
answered  twelve  out  of  the  fifteen  problems,  including  the  fifteenth, 
and  in  the  Diary  for  1825  was  bracketed  with  a  Mr.  Mason  as  the 
winner,  thus: — "For  solving  the  Prize  Question,  to  Mr.  Mason,  and 
Master  W.  S.  B.  Woolhouse,  each  ten  Diaries."  It  will  be  seen,  on 
a  comparison  of  dates,  that  the  solutions  must  have  been  sent  to 
London  before  the  February  number  of  the  Newcastle  Magazine 
appeared  in  print,  and  while  the  solver  was  still  wanting  three  months 
of  his  fourteenth  birthday. 

Thenceforward  "  Master  W.  S.  B.  Woolhouse  "  became  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  two  periodicals  in  which  he  had  won  publicity. 
Before  long  he  drifted  into  a  dispute  with  another  eminent  mathe- 
matician— the  Newcastle  schoolmaster,  Henry  Atkinson.  He  had 
sent  to  the  Ne^cvcastk  Magazine  for  June,  1827,  a  "New  Question  " 
phrased  as  follows : — 

"A  solid  generated  by  the  revolution  of  a  curve  of  a  given  equation  is  placed 
with  its  axis  at  a  given  elevation  on  a  horizontal  plane.  It  is  required  to  investi- 
gate a  single  expression  for  the  least  force  which  is  necessary  to  support  a  ball  of 
a  given  weight  at  a  point  on  its  surface,  whose  ordinate,  or  distance  from  the  axis, 
together  with  the  arc  of  a  circular  section  contained  between  it  and  a  vertical 
section  passing  through  the  axis,  are  given.  It  is  also  required  to  determine  a 
single  expression  for  the  angular  deviation  of  the  direction  of  the  said  force  from  a 
plane  passing  through  the  centre  of  the  ball  and  the  axis," 

Two  months  later  the  solution  was  given  by  himself,  filling  more 
than  two  pages  of  the  magazine,  and  there  the  matter  rested  till 
December,  when  the  young  mathematician  charged  Mr.  Atkinson 
with  having  reported  that  his  problem  was  not  original,  and  chal- 
lenged him  "  to  come  publicly  forward  and  state  anything  which  may 
validate  such  assertion."  Mr.  Atkinson  did  come  forward,  and 
occupied  nearly  four  pages  of  the  Magazine  in  demonstrating  that 
no  part  of  the  problem  had  "  any  just  claim  to  originality,"  and  that 
"  instead  of  the  ostentatious  display  of  mathematical  formulae  and 
transformations  in  Mr.  Woolhouse's  solution,"  the  whole  question 
might  be  solved  in  ten  lines.  The  dispute  went  on  till  November, 
1828,  when  it  came  to  an  end  through  Mr.  Atkinson's  sickness  and 


676  WESLEY  S.  B.    WOOLHOUSE. 

death,  and  probably  nobody  except  the  combatants  were  much  the 
wiser  for  all  that  had  been  written  on  the  subject. 

After  this  display  of  debating  skill  Mr.  Woolhouse  directed  his 
attention  to  more  serious  and  more  permanently  useful  work.  He 
continued  his  problems  and  solutions  in  the  Newcastle  Magazine, 
but  he  contributed,  also,  papers  on  special  subjects.  There  is,  for 
example,  in  the  number  for  September,  1829,  a  paper  entitled 
"  Investigation  of  the  Position  of  Equilibrium  of  Bars  connected  by 
Joints,"  and  in  the  volume  for  1830  a  series  of  articles  "On  the 
Computation  of  Superfices  and  Solids,  bounded  with  Lines  and 
Planes  passing  through  Points  by  Means  of  the  Co-Ordinates  to  each 
Point." 

About  this  time  Mr.  Woolhouse's  genius  obtained  recognition  in 
high  quarters,  and  he  obtained  an  appointment  as  a  "  calculator  "  in 
the  office  of  the  "  Nautical  Almanac."  From  that  position  he  won  his 
way  to  the  office  of  deputy  superintendent,  and  so  remained  till  a 
difference  of  opinion  with  Lieut.  Stratford,  the  superintendent,  led 
to  the  severance  of  his  connection  with  the  establishment  and  his 
entrance  into  the  profession  of  an  actuary,  in  which  the  rest  of  his 
life  was  spent.  While  in  the  "  Nautical  Almanac "  office  he  con- 
structed new  formulae  by  which  the  tables  were  calculated  with 
greater  accuracy  and  speed,  and  made  various  discoveries  and  im- 
provements in  astronomical  calculation,  which  were  generally 
published  as  appendices  to  the  almanac  itself. 

One  of  Mr.  Woolhouse's  most  remarkable  feats  was  the  solution 
of  a  problem  in  probabilities  in  connection  with  the  discussion  on  the 
Ten  Hours  Bill.  The  question  was  how  far  the  factory  girls  had  to 
run  in  a  day  when  attending  the  "  mules,"  and  trotting  backward 
and  forward  to  take  up  broken  threads.  Mr.  Woolhouse  was 
engaged  by  Lord  Ashley  (afterwards  Lord  Shaftesbury)  to  go  down  to 
Manchester  and  obtain  the  necessary  data  for  the  solution  of  the 
problem.  He  performed  the  journey,  obtained  the  data,  solved  the 
problem  (which  required  the  highest  application  of  the  calculus), 
wrote  his  report,  and  sent  it  off  by  the  same  evening's  post.  Mr. 
Woolhouse's  calculation  showed  that  the  thread-girl  ran  upwards  of 
thirty  miles  each  working  day  ! 

A  remarkable  paper  by  Mr.  Woolhouse,  "  On  the  Deposit  of 
Submarine  Cables,"  was  inserted  in  the  Philosophical  Magazine  for 
May,  i860.  About  two  years  before,  in  the  same  scientific  periodical, 
the  subject  had  been  treated  by  the  Astronomer  Royal,  Sir  George 


JAMES  IVORS  WICK.  677 

Biddell  Airy,  who  had  graphically  described  the  problem  as  one  "of 
a  most  abstruse  nature,  far  exceeding  the  complication  of  the  motions 
of  a  planetary  body  through  the  heavens,  and  probably  not  even 
solvable."  Immediately  after  Mr.  Woolhouse's  paper  was  published 
he  received  a  compliuientary  letter  from  the  Astronomer  Royal, 
stating  that  he  had  "  completely  mastered  a  rather  difficult  investiga- 
tion." 

The  best  known  of  Mr.  Woolhouse's  publications  are  these: — 

"  An  Elementary  Treatise  on  the  Application  of  the  Algebraic  Analysis  to 
Geometry."     8vo.     1831. 

"New  Tables  for  Computing  the  Occultations  of  Jupiter's  Satellites  and  their 
Shadows  over  the  Disc  of  the  Planet,  and  the  Position  of  the  Satellites  with 
respect  to  Jupiter  at  any  Time."     8vo.      1835. 

*'  On  the  Determination  of  the  Longitude  from  an  Observed  Solar  Eclipse,  or 
Occultation."     8vo,     1835. 

"  Astronomical  Papers."     8vo.      1835. 

"On  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  the  Differential  and  Integral  Calculu.s." 
Svo.     1835. 

"  On  Eclipses."     8vo.     1836. 

"  An  Essay  on  Musical  Intervals,  Harmonies,  and  the  Temperament  of  the 
Musical  Scale."     8vo.     Several  editions. 

"  Elements  of  the  Differential  Calculus."     Svo.     1854. 

"Weights  and  Measures  of  all  Nations,  Lengths,  Distances,  Coins,  Divisions 
of  Time  and  Rate  of  Exchange."     8vo.     1856. 

Mr.  VVoolhouse  died  at  his  residence  in  London  on  the  12th  of 
August,  1893,  aged  eighty-four. 


3amc0  MorawicF^, 

CATHOLIC    PRIEST. 

James  Worswick,  born  at  Lancaster,  March  ist,  1771,  was  the 
si.xth  son  of  Thomas  Worswick,  banker  in  that  town,  and  represen- 
tative of  an  old  and  respected  Catholic  family.  Two  of  his  uncles 
were  professors  in  the  College  of  Douay,  and  to  that  famous 
seminary,  in  1782,  James  Worswick  was  sent  to  be  trained  for  the 
priesthood,  a  vocation  in  which  his  elder  brother,  John  Worswick, 
had  preceded  him.  He  was  a  student  there  when  the  college  was 
suppressed  by  the  Revolutionary  Government^  and  was  one  of  five 
youths  who,  contriving  to  escape  from  durance,  made  their  way  to 


678  JAMES  WO RS  WICK. 

the  allied  armies,  and  were  supplied  by  the  Duke  of  York  with 
money  and  passports  to  convey  them  home  to  England.  The 
studies  which  had  been  thus  rudely  interrupted  were  completed  at 
Crook  Hall,  near  Durham,  where  a  number  of  the  ejected  Douay 
professors  established  a  college,  and  provided  for  the  succession 
of  the  English  priesthood.  Young  Mr.  Worswick  received  his 
diaconate  at  Crook  Hall  in  December,  1794;  in  April  of  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  ordained  priest ;  and,  a  few  weeks  later,  he  was 
appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  secular  mission  in  Newcastle. 

Upon  his  settlement  in  the  town  Mr.  Worswick  found  his  mission 
and  its  surroundings  altogether  out  of  harmony  with  his  views  and 
feelings.  The  old  house  in  Bell's  Court  in  which  the  congregation 
assembled  was  dilapidated  and  inconvenient,  unsuitable  to  the 
dignity  of  Catholic  ritual,  and  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  a  numer- 
ous and  growing  body  of  worshippers.  By  the  Act  of  1778, 
Catholics  had  obtained  the  privilege  of  erecting  places  of  public 
worship  for  themselves,  instead  of  being  limited  to  the  use  of  rooms 
in  private  houses,  and  Mr.  Worswick  determined  to  avail  himself  of  it. 
Casting  about  for  a  suitable  site,  he  found  one  in  premises  belonging 
to  Richard  Keenlyside,  surgeon,  consisting  of  a  house  in  Pilgrim 
Street,  nearly  opposite  the  eastern  end  of  the  High  Bridge,  with  a 
large  garden  sloping  down  to  the  Erick  Burn  in  the  Carliol  Croft. 
Appropriating  the  house  as  a  residence  for  himself  and  his  suc- 
cessors, he  built  in  the  garden  his  church — a  respectable  brick 
building,  85  feet  long,  by  about  36  feet  wide.  On  Sunday,  February 
nth,  1798,  the  church,  dedicated  to  St.  Andrew,  was  opened  with 
high  mass — the  first,  it  was  supposed,  that  had  been  celebrated  in 
Newcastle  since  the  Revolution. 

When  the  death  of  Father  Warrilow,  in  1807,  brought  to  Mr. 
Worswick  the  Jesuit  congregation  from  Westgate  Street,  the  church 
was  enlarged,  and  on  two  subsequent  occasions  extensions  were 
made  to  accommodate  increasing  congregations.  To  relieve  the 
pressure,  Mr.  Worswick  established  a  separate  Mission  at  North 
Shields,  and,  in  181 7,  commenced  to  build  a  church  in  that  town, 
which  was  placed  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Gillow.  Still  the  worshippers  of  St.  Andrew's  grew  and  multiplied. 
Mr.  Worswick's  ministrations  w^ere  attractive,  and  before  long  his 
flock  demanded  greater  service  than  his  time  and  strength  per- 
mitted. He  obtained  the  help  of  an  assistant — the  Rev.  John 
Rigby — who  in  1832  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  William  Riddell, 


JAMES  IVORS  WICK. 


679 


afterwards  Bishop  and  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the  Northern  District. 
With  the  co-operation  of  Mr.  Riddell,  Mr.  Worswick  was  able  for  a 
while  to  cope  with  the  rapid  extension  of  his  faith  in  Newcastle. 
Schools  were  erected,  the  affiliated  organisations  of  the  church  were 
carried  on  with  vigour,  Catholic  literature  was  distributed,  and  a 
comprehensive  system  of  visitation  was  undertaken  among  the 
families  of  the  poor.  The  inevitable  result  followed.  Over-crowded 
with  worshippers,  and  incapable  of  further  enlargement,  St.  Andrew's 
became  inadequate  to  the  requirements  of  the  congregation.  After 
much  deliberation,  the  Catholic  community  determined  to  erect  an 


fi^rtn  Lr^  VVof\^vv1  cf^. 


edifice  that  should  be  worthy  of  their  increasing  numbers  and  influ- 
ence, and  creditable  to  the  commercial  metropolis  in  which  they 
resided.  Under  Mr.  Worswick's  direction,  in  1842,  the  present 
cathedral  church  of  St.  Mary  was  begun.  The  venerable  pastor  had 
passed  the  allotted  span  of  human  life,  and  looked  forward  to  the 
completion  of  this  magnificent  building  as  the  crown  of  his  ministry 
and  the  end  of  his  pilgrimage.  He  was  not,  however,  privileged  to 
see  the  finished  structure.  On  the  8th  of  July,  1843,  when  the 
towering  walls  but  faintly  outlined  the  stately  edifice  which  they  now 
support,   he   was  called   home.     His  remains  were  interred  in  the 


68o  JOHN  WRIGHT. 

unfinished  choir,  where  a  slab,  ornamented  with  a  floriated  brass 
cross,  indicates  the  place  of  his  sepulture. 

Mr.  Worswick  was  an  earnest  and  faithful  minister,  an  animated 
and  commanding  preacher,  a  kind-hearted  and  estimable  citizen.  He 
made  no  addition  to  the  literature  of  his  faith,  but  he  procured  the 
issue  of  a  cheap  edition  of  the  New  Testament  for  the  use  of  his 
congregation  and  scholars,  and  helped  to  establish  a  circulating 
library  amongst  them.  Nor  did  he  take  any  prominent  part  in 
public  life,  though  he  avowed  himself  a  friend  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  and,  at  the  Newcastle  election  which  followed  the  Reform 
Act,  proved  his  sincerity  by  voting  for  Mr.  Charles  Attwood.  By 
all  classes  of  the  community  he  was  held  in  high  esteem,  and  when, 
a  few  years  ago,  his  Church  of  St.  Andrew  was  pulled  down  to  make 
way  for  the  Central  Police  Office,  and  to  open  direct  communication 
between  Pilgrim  Street  and  CarHol  Square,  the  Corporation,  with  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  townspeople,  honoured  his  memory  by 
giving  to  the  new  thoroughfare  the  name  of  Worswick  Street. 


3obn  Mriobt, 

ATTORNEY. 

Describing  the  suburbs  of  Pilgrim  Street,  Newcastle,  the  Rev. 
John  Brand,  who  published  his  history  of  the  town  in  1789,  informs 
us  that  "on  the  right  hand,  a  little  way  out  of  the  Gate,  a  row  of 
good  houses  has  lately  been  erected;  it  branches  off  to  the  east,  and 
is  called,  in  honour  of  the  late  Sir  George  Savile,  Bart.,  Savile 
Row."  Savile,  or  Saville,  Row,  owed  its  origin,  in  great  part  if  not 
wholly,  to  a  Newcastle  attorney  named  John  Wright.  The  attorney 
was  a  son  of  Thomas  Wright,  of  Morpeth,  tanner,  and  had  acquired 
wealth  in  Newcastle  by  fortunate  speculations  in  land.  Whether  he 
actually  purchased  the  ground  upon  which  Saville  Row  stands,  and 
sold  sites  to  builders,  or  whether  he  limited  himself  to  making 
advances  upon  the  property  after  the  land  was  taken  up,  cannot  now 
be  ascertained.  But  he  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  chief  promoters 
of  the  undertaking.  He  built  a  home  for  himself  in  the  new  street 
— the  house  which  formed,  and  indeed  still  forms,  the  north-west 
corner  of  Princess  Street,  and  erected  an  equally  substantial  dwelling 


JOHN  WRIGHT. 


68i 


in  the  centre  of  the  next  turning  eastward,  to  which  turning  was 
given  the  name  of  Queen's  Square.  In  the  first  Directory  of 
Newcastle,  issued  by  William  Whitehead  in  1778,  last  of  thirty-one 
practitioners  ranged  under  the  heading  "  Attorneys  at  Law — their 
Offices,"  appears  his  name  and  address  as  "  Wright,  John,  Saville- 
Row." 


(ferpk -.fe^)  V 


"■■■:■  ;•■  '^  <" 


The  building  of  Saville  Row  encouraged  Mr.  Wright  to  extend  his 
operations,  and,  finding  that  further  developments  of  residential 
property  in  Newcastle  were  not  required,  he  turned  his  attention  to 
the  growing  and  thriving  town  of  North  Shields.  In  1796,  he 
purchased  from  the  Earl  of  Carlisle  and  his  heir.  Lord  Morpeth,  for 


682  WILLIAM  WRIGHT. 

the  sum  of  ^6000,  about  forty-nine  acres  of  land,  extending  north- 
wards from  the  Bank  Head,  overlooking  the  river,  to  the  turnpike 
road  from  Tynemouth  to  Newcastle.  Upon  this  land  he  laid  out 
streets,  and  sites  for  building  purposes  being  readily  taken  up,  the 
fine  thoroughfares  of  Howard  Street,  Bedford  Street,  Norfolk  Street, 
Camden  Street,  etc.,  were  formed.  Mackenzie,  noting  the  improve- 
ments, relates  that  these  streets  were  "laid  out  on  a  regular  and 
judicious  plan,  by  the  late  John  Wright,  Esq.,  who,  with  a  rare  spirit 
of  liberality,  sold  the  numerous  building  sites  which  he  marked  out 
without  reserve,  thus  increasing  the  number  of  freeholders,  and 
encouraging  the  spirit  of  improvement."  Brockie,  the  historian  of 
Shields,  writes  in  a  similar  strain.  He  describes  the  streets  as  built 
upon  a  very  judicious  plan,  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  and 
expresses  regret  that  Mr.  Wright  was  hampered  in  his  communica- 
tions eastward  by  the  adjoining  property  owner,  John  Stephenson, 
upon  whose  land  Stephenson  Street  was  erected  in  a  continuous 
line,  from  north  to  south,  without  break  or  opening.  Through  this 
disagreement,  the  fine  street  which  Mr.  Wright  had  named  after  his 
home  in  Newcastle,  Saville  Street,  and  intended  to  be  one  of  the 
principal  thoroughfares  of  the  town,  was  blocked  at  the  east  end. 
Upon  that  spot,  on  the  east  side  of  Norfolk  Street,  and  facing  down 
the  whole  length  of  Saville  Street,  Mr.  Wright  built  himself  a 
mansion,  known  in  after  years  as  the  Albion  Hotel,  and  now 
removed  to  carry  out  the  extension  which  he  originally  contemplated. 
In  that  house,  on  the  21st  of  November,  1806,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
five,  Mr.  Wright  died,  and  a  few  days  later  his  remains  were  interred 
in  the  choir  of  Tynemouth  Priory.  By  his  will,  dated  the  30th  of 
June,  1806,  after  leaving  an  annuity  to  his  widow,  he  devised  his 
estates  in  trust  for  his  two  sons,  William  and  John  Bowes  Wright. 
The  widow,  Ann  Wright,  died  in  June,  18 12,  aged  sixty-eight. 


MiUiam  Mrigbt, 

ALDERMAN    AND    MAYOR    OF    NEWCASTLE. 

William  Wright,  eldest  son  of  the  attorney,  was  born  in  Newcastle 
in  1767,  It  is  probable  that  he  was  educated  at  Edinburgh  Uni- 
versity, but  of  this  no  evidence  is  forthcoming.     He  seems  to  have 


WILLIAM  WRIGHT.  683 

lived  the  life  of  a  gentleman  in  early  manhood,  looking  after  his  father's 
interest  in  houses  and  land,  and  thereby  protecting  his  own.  The 
Shrievalty  of  Newcastle  was  conferred  upon  him  at  Michaelmas, 
1798,  and,  upon  his  retiring  from  the  office  at  the  end  of  his  term, 
he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Common  Council.  On  the  30th  of 
August,  1806,  three  months  before  his  father's  death,  he  married 
Frances  Magnay,  of  Hayton,  near  Brampton,  and  soon  afterwards  he 
took  up  his  residence  with  his  mother  in  the  family  mansion  at 
North  Shields,  retaining  the  house  in  Saville  Row  as  his  Newcastle 
home. 

The  elder  Wright,  absorbed  in  his  building  speculations,  had  never 
found  time  to  indulge  in  political  controversy  or  municipal  aspiration. 
But  William  Wright,  his  son,  entered  into  both  with  considerable 
ardour  and  a  fair  share  of  success.  He  avowed  himself  a  Whig 
Reformer — a  follower  of  Charles  (afterwards  Earl)  Grey,  who  in 
July,  1786,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  had  been  elected  one  of  the 
representatives  of  his  native  county  in  Parliament.  Elected  and  re- 
elected several  times  without  a  contest,  Mr.  Grey  had  little  need  of 
the  services  of  Mr.  Wright  in  electioneering,  but  such  assistance  as 
was  necessary  in  the  district  of  which  North  Shields  was  the  centre 
Mr.  William  Wright  cheerfully  rendered. 

It  may  have  been  his  zeal  in  this  direction  that  hindered  Mr. 
Wright's  promotion  in  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle ;  or  it  may 
have  been  that  his  residence  at  Shields  formed  the  obstacle.  At  any 
rate,  an  unusually  long  time  elapsed  between  his  appointment  as 
Sheriff  and  his  election  as  chief  magistrate.  Sheriff  in  1798,  he  did 
not  receive  further  honours  from  his  fellow-burgesses  till  the  autumn 
of  1823,  when  he  was  made  both  alderman  and  Mayor.  Meanwhile 
he  had  been  placed  on  the  commission  of  the  peace  for  the  county 
by  the  lord-lieutenant,  Hugh,  third  Duke  of  Northumberland.  The 
duke,  whose  property  in  North  Shields  surrounded  that  of  the  Wright 
family,  formed  a  high  opinion  of  William  Wright's  abilities  and 
character.  Besides  adding  his  name  to  the  roll  of  county  justices, 
his  Grace  made  Mr.  Wright  a  deputy-lieutenant,  and,  in  1825,  being 
absent  in  France,  representing  the  English  Court  at  the  coronation  of 
Charles  XH.,  entrusted  him  with  the  office  of  Custos  Rotulorum,  or 
keeper  of  the  Sessions  Records  of  the  county.  Unfortunately  for 
himself  and  his  family,  public  work  and  preferment  impoverished  the 
fine  estate  left  to  Mr.  Wright  by  his  enterprising,  but  thrifty  father. 
In  1827,  he  found  it  convenient  to  take  refuge  within  the  precincts 


684  WILLIAM  WRIGHT. 

of    Holyrood,   while  a    compromise    was    being   effected   with   his 
creditors. 

Sobered,  if  not  depressed,  by  misfortune.  Alderman  Wright  did 
not  actively  participate  in  the  movement  for  Parliamentary  Reform; 
but  in  the  struggle  for  radical  changes  in  municipal  administration  he 
played  a  conspicuous  part.  At  the  Michaelmas  Guild  in  1831,  the 
Whig  freemen,  protesting  against  the  election  for  the  sixth  time  of 
Mr.  Archibald  Reed,  put  forward  Alderman  Wright,  and  were  de- 
feated. The  following  year,  having  prepared  themselves  for  a 
struggle,  they  brought  out  Alderman  Wright  again,  and  produced 
such  a  scene  of  tumultuous  excitement  as  had  not  been  equalled  in 
the  town  since  the  Revolution.  According  to  a  contemporary  print 
the  election  fell  due  on  the  ist  of  October,  1832,  when — 

"  Mr.  Alderman  Wright  was  again  supported  by  the  freemen  in 
opposition  to  the  Corporation  candidate,  Mr.  Alderman  Brandling, 
and  an  address  was  presented  to  the  former  alderman,  in  the  Guild 
Hall,  calling  upon  him  again  to  stand  candidate  for  the  office  of 
Mayor,  which  he  declared  he  would  do  in  a  spirited  manner,  amidst 
the  cheering  of  many  hundreds  of  the  burgesses.  When  the  Court 
rose  to  proceed  to  the  election  room  at  the  Spital,  the  burgesses 
refused  to  join  the  procession  of  the  authorities,  and  remained  for 
about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  then  proceeded  in  a  body,  three 
abreast,  after  the  other  party,  with  Mr.  Alderman  Wright  at  their 
head.  When  they  arrived,  they  found  a  large  body  of  police 
stationed  with  their  long  staves  at  the  entrance  of  the  room  to 
prevent  all  persons  but  the  electors  from  entering.  Mr.  Alderman 
Wright,  supported  by  Messrs.  Punshon  and  Garrett,  presented  himself 
and  was  refused  admittance.  From  about  3  o'clock  till  6  a  battle  of 
words  was  continued  without  any  intermission,  when  the  Mayor  and 
aldermen  adjourned  till  9  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  partaking  of 
Mr.  Sheriff's  dinner,  which  is  given  on  that  day.  They  returned  at 
9 ;  but  no  business  could  be  transacted  because  of  the  absence  of 
one  of  the  electors,  and  speechifying  continued  as  before  till  near  12, 
when  the  meeting  was  again  adjourned  till  the  next  morning.  In 
the  meantime,  the  old  electors  (for  the  past  year)  were  summoned 
for  the  election  next  morning  at  9,  when  part  attended,  with  an 
immense  concourse  of  burgesses,  who  were  kept  outside  by  the  large 
body  of  police  that  were  present.  The  crowd  became  so  great  that 
Mr.  Alderman  Wright  was  unable  to  get  into  the  election  room, 
when  Mr.  Garrett  protested  against  proceeding  whilst  several  electors 


WILLIAM  WRLGHT.  685 

were  unable  to  gain  admittance.  Mr,  Alderman  Reed  promised 
Mr.  Garrett,  in  the  presence  of  the  meeting,  that  if  he  would  go  and 
bring  the  electors,  the  proceedings  should  be  delayed  until  his 
return.  When  Mr.  Garrett  went  out,  the  doors  were  again  fastened, 
and  admittance  refused  to  Mr.  Alderman  Wright  and  the  other 
electors.  This  enraged  the  freemen  to  such  a  degree  that  they 
forced  the  doors  open,  and  advanced  in  a  body  to  the  election  room, 
where  they  found  the  election  going  on,  in  spite  of  the  promise  made 
to  Mr.  Garrett.  The  forms  of  election  were  hurried  through  in  the 
most  irregular  manner,  amidst  the  uproar  of  some  hundreds.  The 
election  (of  Mr.  Brandling)  declared,  the  governing  party  disappeared, 
and  the  burgesses  held  a  public  meeting  in  the  Spital,  when  very 
strong  resolutions  were  passed  against  the  offending  parties.  For 
some  weeks  after  this,  rumours  got  abroad  that  the  Corporation 
intended  to  bring  actions  against,  and  disfranchise  all  the  parties 
that  were  leaders  in  the  disturbances  at  the  election.  At  last  the 
bubble  burst,  and  notices  were  served  upon  Messrs.  G.  A.  Brumell, 
John  Walker,  and  William  Angus.  This  was  met  by  meetings  of 
Stewards  of  the  Incorporated  Companies,  and  of  the  different 
fellowships,  when  subscriptions  were  entered  into  to  defend  the 
parties  against  the  Corporation,  and  the  opinion  of  the  Solicitor- 
General  was  taken  on  the  subject.  The  investigation  began  on 
Thursday,  Feb.  14,  1833,  in  the  Council  Chamber,  and  ended  in  the 
acquittal  of  Messrs.  Brumell  and  Walker,  and  the  postponement  of 
the  case  against  Mr.  Angus.  The  decision  was  received  with  nine 
times  nine  cheers." 

Before  the  year  was  out  the  whole  affairs  of  the  Corporation  were 
investigated  by  Government  Commissioners — this  episode  among  the 
rest — and  a  couple  of  years  later  the  passing  of  the  Municipal  Reform 
Act  made  a  recurrence  of  such  proceedings  impossible.  In  the 
Reformed  Town  Council  Mr.  Wright  obtained  a  seat  for  All  Saints' 
East  Ward,  but  shortly  afterwards  it  was  discovered  that,  residing  at 
Bank  House,  near  Haydon  Bridge,  he  was  not  a  burgess  within  the 
meaning  of  the  new  Act,  and  he  thereupon  withdrew. 

Alderman  Wright  died  at  Little  Town  House,  Durham,  the 
residence  of  Mr.  Thomas  Crawford,  one  of  his  sons-in-law,  on  the 
loth  of  December,  1847,  aged  eighty,  and  was  buried  beside  his 
father  in  Tynemouth  Priory.  According  to  a  MS.  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  H.  A.  Adamson,  Town  Clerk  of  Tynemouth,  the  alderman 
had  a  family  of  four  sons  and  four  daughters.     Of  these,  William 


686  WILLIAM  WRIGHTSON. 

Dacre  Wright,  born  in  1810,  after  an  eventful  career  in  South 
America,  settled  at  Kieff  in  Russia,  and  died  in  London  in  i860; 
Frances  Emily  married  a  Mr.  Mellor,  and  died  in  April,  1854; 
Maria  married  the  Rev.  George  Wilkinson;  Louisa  was  united  in 
October,  1841,  to  Thomas  Crawford  of  Little  Town,  and  died  in 
June,  1879;  Ellen  became  the  wife  of  George  Croudace,  of  Lumley 
Thicks.  About  the  other  sons — John,  born  in  1807,  Bowes  Cecil, 
born  in  18 15,  and  Robert  Holmes,  born  in  1822 — nothing  further  is 
known. 

John  Bowes  Wright,  second  son  of  John  Wright  the  attorney,  and 
brother  of  the  alderman,  was  educated  at  Jesus  College,  Cambridge, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  in  classics  and  modern  languages. 
Elected  a  Fellow  of  his  college,  he  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
to  foreign  travel.  Brockie,  in  the  "  Folks  of  Shields,"  states  that  he 
was  "  an  excellent  linguist  and  enterprising  traveller,  who  traversed 
the  greater  part  of  Europe  again  and  again,  and  likewise  visited 
several  regions  of  Asia  and  Africa,  everywhere  deeply  studying  men 
and  manners,  and  scattering,  as  opportunity  offered,  the  seeds  of 
public  liberty,  to  which  he  was  passionately  attached."  When  at 
home,  he  resided  at  the  house  in  Queen's  Square,  Newcastle,  which 
his  father  erected.  His  name  frequently  occurs  in  the  local  annals 
of  the  time  as  co-operating  with  Mr.  James  Losh  and  the  advanced 
wing  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  promotion  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
He  died  in  Queen's  Square  on  the  28th  of  January,  1836,  in  the 
fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  at  Tynemouth  Priory. 
In  the  choir  of  the  ruin,  within  the  ancient  sedilia,  are  tablets  to  the 
memory  of  the  Wrights,  on  which  the  scholarship,  the  enterprise, 
and  the  liberal  views  of  John  Bowes  Wright  are  set  forth  in  elegant 
Latin. 


Milliam  Mrigbtson, 

MEMBER    OF    PARLIAMENT. 

Among  the  mural  monuments  that  attract  attention  in  the  Cathedral 
Church  of  St.  Nicholas,  Newcastle,  is  one  which  Bourne  describes 
as  "  the  beautiful  monument  of  Mr.  Matthews."  It  is  placed  at  the 
spring  of  the  easternmost  arch  of  the  division  between  the  choir  and 
the  south  aisle,  facing  the  Dale  memorial  window,  and  bears  the 
following  neatly-arranged  inscription : — 


WILLIAM  WRLGHTSON.  687 

Underneath  Lye  intcr'd, 
Mr.   Francis   Burton,    Merchant 
AiUicnturer  and  Anne  his  wife. 
Mr.  Burton   )       ...      f  Septm.  17th,  16S2. 
His  Wife       /      ' '"      \  Aug.  1st,  1676. 
They  had  Issue  one  Son  and  three  Daughters, 
Francis,   Isabel,   Elizabeth,   and  Anne. 
Elizabeth  ^  j"  Jan.  25th,  1675. 

Anne  ^     died      \    April  9th,  16S1. 

Francis      J  \  Dec.  17th,  1684. 

Thomas  Matthews,  Gent.,  married  Isabel, 
In  Memory  of  Whom  she  erected  this  Monument. 

They  had  Issue  a  Daughter  named 
Anne,  who        \     j"  d      ^  ^^^i^ch  8th,  1684. 
Mr.  Matthews  S        ^^        \  April  6th,  1697. 

Not  far  from  it   is  an   oval  tablet,  upon  which  is  inscribed  the 

sequel: — 

Near  this  Place 

Lyes  the  Body  of  Isabel,  the  Wife   of 

William  Wrightson,  Esq.,  one  of  the 

Burgesses  in  several  Parliaments 

For  this  Town  and  County  of 

Newcastle  upon  Tyne. 

She  Dyed  ye  13th  March 

1716. 

William  Wrightson,  born  in  1676,  was  a  younger  son  of  Robert 
Wrightson  of  Cusworth,  near  Doncaster,  by  a  second  wife,  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Beaumont,  of  Whitley  Beaumont,  Yorkshire. 
Of  his  youth  and  training  nothing  is  recorded.  His  first  appearance 
in  local  history  occurs  in  connection  with  his  marriage.  Isabel, 
daughter  of  Francis  Burton,  a  retired  merchant,  who  filled  the 
honourable  office  of  sword-bearer  to  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle, 
had  been  left  a  widow  by  the  death  of  her  husband,  Thomas 
Matthews,  as  recorded  upon  the  monument,  and,  being  rich,  if 
not  young,  was  an  eligible  match  for  a  younger  son  of  a  Yorkshire 
squire.  William  Wrightson  sought  her  hand,  obtained  it,  and  settled 
down  as  a  resident  in  Newcastle.  So  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  he 
followed  no  calling  or  profession,  but  lived  the  life  of  a  gentleman 
upon  his  wife's  fortune  and  his  father's  allowance. 

By  some  means  or  other  the  young  husband  of  Mrs.  Matthews 
acquired  considerable  popularity  in  Newcastle,  so  much,  indeed, 
that  at  the  triennial  election  in  17 10  he  was  put  forward  as  a 
candidate  for  the  representation  of  the  town   in  Parliament.     The 


688  WILLIAM  WRIGHTSON. 

retiring  members  were  Sir  Henry  Liddell  (who  had  been  keeping  the 
seat  warm  for  Sir  WiUiam  Blackett  the  third,  a  minor)  and  WilUam 
Carr.  Mr.  Carr  had  given  offence  to  some  of  the  burgesses,  and 
Mr.  Wrightson  was  brought  out  to  oppose  him,  it  being  considered 
certain  that  Sir  WilUam  Blackett,  recently  arrived  at  man's  estate, 
would  secure  the  seat  so  long  held  by  his  ancestors.  This  was 
the  first  contested  election  in  Newcastle  of  which  the  details 
have  been  preserved.  Sir  William  Blackett  polled  1,177  votes, 
Mr.  Wrightson  886,  and  Mr.  Carr  609.  Blackett  and  Wrightson, 
therefore,  were  returned,  and  took  their  seats  in  due  course  as 
M.P.'s  for  Newcastle. 

So  decisive  was  this  victory,  that  when  the  next  triennial  election 
came  round  nobody  ventured  to  oppose  the  retiring  members,  and 
in  September,  1713,  they  were  returned  without  a  contest.  But  at 
the  general  election  which  followed  the  accession  of  George  I. 
an  opponent  was  found  in  the  person  of  James  (afterwards  Sir 
James)  Clavering.  The  poll  was  taken  at  the  end  of  January, 
1 714-15,  and  the  electors  re-affirmed  their  choice.  Sir  William 
received  639,  Mr.  Wrightson  550,  and  Mr.  Clavering  263  votes. 
Mr.  Clavering,  dissatisfied,  petitioned  against  the  return,  claiming 
the  seat  on  the  ground  that  Mr.  Wrightson  was  not  a  qualified 
burgess.  This  allegation  proved  to  be  unfounded,  and  the  election 
was  ratified.  Soon  afterwards,  as  the  tablet  indicates,  Mrs.  Wrightson 
died,  and  from  that  date,  for  some  reason  unknown,  Mr.  Wrightson's 
influence  began  to  decline.  The  Septennial  Act  having  come  into 
operation,  it  was  not  until  April,  1722,  that  another  election  took 
place.  Mr.  Wrightson  found  himself  opposed,  on  that  occasion,  by 
a  more  powerful  opponent  than  James  Clavering.  Another  William 
Carr,  nephew  of  Sir  Ralph  Carr,  of  Cocken,  entered  into  the  contest, 
and  carried  everything  before  him.  He  polled  1,234  votes,  over- 
topping Sir  William  Blackett  with  1,158,  and  leaving  Mr.  Wrightson 
hopelessly  behind  with  only  831  votes. 

Having  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  twelve  years  as  M.P.  for 
Newcastle,  Mr.  Wrightson  was  unwilling  to  abandon  his  political 
career,  and,  within  a  twelvemonth  of  his  defeat,  an  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself  of  obtaining  in  Northumberland  the  position  which  he 
had  lost  in  Newcastle.  Algernon  Somerset,  who,  with  Sir  William 
Middleton,  had  been  returned  for  the  county  at  the  general  election, 
was  raised  to  the  peerage  through  the  death  of  his  mother,  and  a 
new  election  was  ordered.     Ralph  Jenison  was  brought  forward  by 


JOHN  YELLOLY.  689 

the  Whigs  to  secure  the  seat ;  Mr.  Wrightson  stood  in  the  Tory 
interest,  and  after  a  nine  days'  poll,  ending  February  20th,  1722-23, 
he  was  victorious.  The  victory  was  not  of  long  duration.  Jenisdn 
petitioned,  and  on  the  16th  of  April,  1724,  the  House  of  Commons, 
declaring  that  he  had  proved  his  case,  ordered  his  name  to  be  entered 
in  the  rolls,  and  that  of  Wrightson  to  be  erased. 

While  the  inquiry  was  pending,  his  elder  brother  died,  and  Mr. 
Wrightson  succeeded  to  the  Cusworth  estate.  He  had  married, 
for  his  second  wife,  another  Isabel,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  William 
Fenwick,  of  Bywell,  and  with  her  he  proceeded  to  Cusworth,  built 
Cusworth  Hall,  and  permanently  took  up  his  residence  there.  He 
died  at  Cusworth  on  the  4th  of  December,  1760,  aged  84,  and 
was  buried  at  Sprotborough. 


3obn  l?eUolv\ 

PHYSICIAN. 

While  the  celebrated  Dr.  Jonathan  Harle  was  minister  of  Pottergate 
Presbyterian  Church,  at  Alnwick,  he  had,  among  other  faithful 
adherents,  two  members  of  the  family  of  Yelloly — Nathaniel  Yelloly, 
linen-draper  in  Alnwick,  and  Joseph  Yelloly,  of  North  Charlton,  near 
Ellingham,  husbandman.  After  Dr.  Harle's  decease,  the  congrega- 
tion became  divided ;  a  secession  took  place,  and  two  of  the  seceders 
were  Nathaniel  and  Joseph  Yelloly.  The  offshoot  found  a  home  in 
Bondgate,  and  among  the  eight  trustees  of  the  new  meeting-house 
erected  there  by  the  seceders  in  1736  the  two  Yellolys  appear.  Some 
time  afterwards,  John  Yelloly,  merchant  in  Alnwick,  son  of  the  linen- 
draper,  went  back  to  the  old  fold,  and  became  a  trustee  of  the 
meeting-house  belonging  to  the  Pottergate  congregation. 

This  John  Yelloly,  merchant,  married  Jane,  eldest  daughter  of 
George  Davison,  of  Little  Mill,  and  the  distinguished  physician 
whose  name  heads  the  present  biography  was  their  third  son.  He 
was  born  at  Alnwick  on  the  30th  of  April,  1774,  and  in  all  probability 
received  his  preliminary  education  at  the  Grammar  School  of  his 
native  town,  under  Abraham  Rumney,  one  of  its  best  known  head- 
masters. At  the  proper  age  he  was  sent  to  Edinburgh  University  to 
study  medicine,  and  there,  with  the  thesis,  "  De  Cynanche  Tracheali," 

VOL.  III.  44 


690  JOHN  YELLOLY. 

he  graduated  M.D.  on  the  12th  of  September,  1706.  From 
Edinburgh  Dr.  Yelloly  proceeded  to  London.  Admitted  a  Ucentiate 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  on  the  30th  September,  1800,  he  married 
a  lady  named  Tyson,  and  settled  down  to  a  metropolitan  practice. 
He  was  appointed  physician  to  the  metropolitan  charity  known  as  the 
General  Dispensary  in  1801,  and,  in  September,  1807,  physician  to 
the  London  Hospital.  In  1818  he  left  the  metropolis,  and  settled 
at  Norwich,  where,  two  years  later,  he  was  elected  physician  to  the 
Norfolk  and  Norwich  Hospital.  At  Norwich  he  remained  till  1832, 
when  he  retired  from  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  for  the  rest 
of  his  days  occupied  himself  with  studies  in  science  and  experimental 
research.  He  died  at  his  residence,  Cavendish  Hall,  Norfolk,  on 
the  31st  January,  1842,  aged  sixty-seven. 

Dr.  Yelloly  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Geological  Society,  an  active  promoter  of  the  Medico- 
Chirurgical  Society,  and  one  of  the  originators  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  When  the  learned  body  last 
named  visited  Newcastle,  in  1838,  Dr.  Yelloly  was  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents  of  Section  E  (Medical  Science),  and  presided  over  some 
of  its  meetings.  The  following  year,  at  the  Birmingham  meeting  of 
the  Association,  he  was  President  of  the  Section. 

The  following  works  are  attributed  to  his  pen : — 

"  Remarks  on  the  Tendency  to  Calculous  Diseases,  with  Observations  on  the 
Nature  of  Urinary  Concretions;  and  an  Analysis  of  a  large  part  of  the  Collection 
belonging  to  the  Norwich  and  Norfolk  Hospital."  4to,  London,  1829.  Sequel  to 
the  above,  4to,  London,  1830. 

"  Observations  on  the  Arrangements  connected  with  the  Relief  of  the  Sick 
Poor,  in  a  Letter  to  Lord  John  Russell."     8vo,  London,  1837. 


THE    END. 


LIST    OF   SUBSCRIBERS. 


Adams,  Horace,  32  Holly  Avenue,  Newcastle 
Adams,  W.  E.,  Chronicle  Ofi'ice,  Newcastle 
Adamson,    C.    M.,    North   Jesmond,    New- 
castle (2  copies) 
Adamson,     Rev.     E.     Hussey,     M.A.,    St. 

Alban's  Vicarage,  Heworth 
Adamson,  Horatio  A.,  40  Dockwray  Square, 

North  Shields 
Affleck,  Robert,  J. P.,  Bloomfield,  Gateshead 
Aitchison,  Robert,  Cottage  Hotel,  Wooler 
Aitken,  T. ,  5  Grosvenor  Crescent,  Edinburgh 
Allan,  Edward,  9  Osborne  Villas,  Newcastle 
Allan,  George,  9  Osborne  Villas,  Newcastle 

(2  copies) 
Allan,  Thomas,  9  Osborne  Villas,  Newcastle 
Allan,  Mrs.  T.,  9  Osborne  Villas,  Newcastle 
Allison,  Wm. ,  3  Marlboro' Crescent,  N'castle 
Anderson,  George,  J. P.,  D.L.,  Little  Harle 

Tower,  Newcastle 
Anderson,   William,   North    Eastern   Bank, 

Tow  Law 
Andrew,  David,  33  Osborne  Rd,,  Newcastle 
Andrews,  Mrs.,  Ii  Claremont  Place,  N'castle 
Anthony,  James,  Percy  Park,  Tynemouth 
Appleby,  J.   Drew,  81  Westmorland  Road, 

Newcastle 
Archer,  Mark,  Farnacres,  Gateshead 
Armstrong,  George,  The  Elms,  Gosforth 
Armstrong,  W.  J.,  South  Park,  Hexham 
Armstrong,  W.  R.,  Benwell,  Newcastle 
Aynsley,  William,  Consett 

B. 
Bambrough,  James,  Buttbank,  Newbrough, 

Fourstones 
Barlow,  Joseph,  134  Northumberland  Street, 

Newcastle  (3  copies) 
Barrass,  James  C. ,  Holme  Lacy,  Penarth, 

Glamorganshire 
Bartlett.   J.    M. ,    Benwell    View,   Bentinck 

Road,  Newcastle 
Baterden,  J.  R. ,  54  Brighton  Grove,  N'castle 
Bateson,  E. ,  B.A.,  Lincoln's  Inn,  London 
Beaumont,   W.  C.    B.,  J. P.,    Bywell   Hall, 

Stocksfield 
Bell,  Sir  Lowthian,  Bart.,  Rounton  Grange, 

Northallerton 
Bell,  Seymour,  20  Eldon  Square,  Newcastle 


Bell,  Alderman  Thos.,  23  Windsor  Terrace, 

Newcastle 
Bell,  W.  C.,  Maritime  Buildings,  Newcastle 
Bell,  H.  H.,  174  Rye  Hill,  Newcastle 
Benson,  T.  W.,  J. P.,  Allerwash,  Fourstones 
Bennett,    Captain     W.     E.,    Tivoli    Villa, 

Westoe,  South  .Shields 
Bird,  Henry  Soden,  50  Grey  St.,  Newcastle 
Blackett,    Sir    Edward   W.,    Bart.,    Matfen 

Hall,  Corbridge 
Blackett,  J.  C. ,  12  Danfzic  St.,  Manchester 
Blayney,  Miss  Jessie,  20  Claremont  Place, 

Newcastle 
Boazman,  John,  25  Quayside,  Newcastle 
Bosanquet,    C.    B.    P.,    J. P.,    Rock    Hall, 

Alnwick 
Bourne,  William,  12  West  Street,  Whickham 
Bowden,  Thos.,  42  Mosley  Street,  Newcastle 
Bowes,  John  B. ,  Low  Friar  Street,  Newcastle 
Braithwaite,  J.,  Bank  of  England,  Newcastle 
Brewis,  Robert,  5  Park  Terrace,  Gateshead 
Brown,  Peter,  Cambridge  House,  Newcastle 
Brown,  Wm.,  254  Westgate  Rd,,  Newcastle 
Browne,  A.  H.,  J. P.,  Callaley  Castle,  Whit- 

tingham 
Browne,  J.  L.,  Thornhill  Gardens,  Sunderl'd 
Browne  &  Browne,  103  Grey  St.,  Newcastle 
Bruce,  Hon.  Mr.  Justice,  Yewhurst,  Brom- 
ley, Kent 
Burdon,    Rowland,  J. P.,   Castle    Eden,   co. 

Durham 
Burman,  C.   C,  L.  R.C.P.S.,   12   Bondgate 

Street  Without,  Alnwick 
Burton,  S.  B.,  22  Portland  Ter.,  Newcastle 
Burton,  W.   Spelman,   19  Claremont  Park, 

Gateshead 
Byers,  Henry,  6  Rectory  Terrace,  Gosforth 

C. 

Cail,  Sept.  A.,2oPIawthorn  Ter.,  Newcastle 
Call,   Councillor  William,   10  Eskdale  Ter- 
race, Newcastle 
Cairns,    Thomas,    Dunira,    Osborne    Road, 

Newcastle 
Carr,  Rev,  T,  W.,  Barming  Rectory,  Maid- 
stone 
Carr,  Edward,  Croft  Place,  Alnwick 
Carr,  Ralph,  Thornleigh,  Jesmond,  Newcastle 
Carr,  Sidney  S.,  Percy  Gardens,  Tynemouth 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


Carr-EUison,  J.  R.,  J. P.,  Hedgley,  Alnwick 
Cay,  Matthew,  Westoe,  South  Shields 
Charlton,  Geo.,  41  Grainger  St.,  Newcastle 
Charlton,  Henry,  J. P.,  I   Millfield  Terrace, 

Gateshead 
Charleton,  R.  J.,  6  Warwick  St.,  Newcastle 
Clavering,  Thos. ,  14  Woodside  Ter. ,  Glasgow 
Clayton,     Nathaniel    George,    J. P.,    D.L., 

Westgate  House,  Newcastle 
Clephan,  R.  C. ,  Southdene  Tower,  Gatesh'd 
Clutterbuck,  Thomas,  J. P.,  Wark worth 
Collingwood,    Edward    John,    J. P.,    D.L. , 

Lilburn  Tower,  Alnwick 
Coning,  Alf.  C. ,  Whickham  Park,  Whickham 
Cooke,  W.   H.,  B.A.,  Allandale,  Underhill 

Road,  Dulwich,  London 
Cowen,  Colonel  John  A.,  J.  P.,  Blaydon  Burn 

House,  Blaydon 
Cowen,  Jos.,  Stella  Hall,  Blaydon  (3  copies) 
Cowley,  T. ,  6  Ash  burton  Crescent,  Gosforth 
Crawford,  David,  60  Holly  Avenue,  N'castle 
Crawford,  Col.    Thomas,  J. P.,   lo  Haldane 

Terrace,  Newcastle 
Cresswell,  John,  Rothbury  House,  Heaton, 

Newcastle 
Crocker,  James,  3  Gosforth  Terrace,  Gosforth 
Grossman,  Major-Gen.  Sir  Wm.,  K.C.M.G., 

Cheswick  House,  Northumberland 
Culliford,  J.  H.  W.,  Thornhill  Park,  Sun- 
derland 

D. 

Dand,  Middleton  H.,  J.  P.,  Hauxley  Cottage, 

Acklington 
Davie,  John  K. ,  119  Burt  Terrace,  Gateshead 
Davies,  David,  Park  View,  Gateshead 
Davison,  J.,  J. P.,  Tritlington  Hall,  Morpeth 
Davison,  Thomas,  80  Grey  Street,  Newcastle 
Dees,  Robert  R.,  The  Hall,  Wallsend 
Dendy,    F.    W.,    Eldon    House,    Jesmond, 

Newcastle 
Denison,  Jos.,  45  Sanderson  Road,  N'castle 
Dick,  James,  11  Osborne  Avenue,  Jesmond, 

Newcastle 
Dick,  John,  18  Grey  Street,  Newcastle 
Dickenson,  J. ,  J.  P. ,  Park  House,  Sunderland 
Dobson,  Johin  T. ,  Windsor  Place,  Newcastle 
Douglas,  Thos.,  J. P.,  The  Garth,  Darlington 
Drury,  J.  C,  31  Alma  Place,  North  Shields 
Duffy,  James,  43  Carlisle  Street,  Low  Felling 
Dunford,  E.  S. ,  19  Saville  Row,  Newcastle 
Dunford,   Thomas  G. ,  5  Osborne  Avenue, 

Jesmond,  Newcastle 


Edington,  J.  S.,  Squire's  Walk,  No.  Shields 
Edwards,  H.  S.,  Byethorn,  Corbridge 
Elliott,  T.  H.,  35  Peterboro  St.,  Gateshead 
Elswick  Works  Mechanics'  Institute 
Elwen,  Thomas,  79  Broad  Street,  Carlisle 
Embleton,     Dennis,    M.D.,     F.R.C.P.,    19 

Claremont  Place,  Newcastle 
Embleton,  Thos.,  Horncliffe  Mains,  Berwick 


Eno,  J.  C,  Wood  Hall,  Dulwich 
Ewart,  R.  G.,  Hawaiian  Islands 


Fenwick,  Featherstone,  Eshott  Hall,  Felton 
Fenwick,  Geo.  A.,  J. P.,  Hillmorton,  Rugby 
Fenwick,  George  I.,  J. P.,  93  Eaton  Square, 

London 
Fenwick,  Gerard  (Messrs.  Lambton  &  Co.). 

Newcastle 
Fenwick,   John   George,    J. P.,    Moorlands, 

Gosforth 
Ferguson,  Wm.,  13  Prudhoe  St.,  Newcastle 
Foggin,    George    G.,    6    Leazes    Crescent, 

Newcastle 
Forster,  A.  J.,  Hindley,  Stocksfield 
Forster,  C.  Frank,  J. P.,  Southill,  Plawsworth 
Forster,    Henry    Joseph,    Bradley    Cottage, 

Harperley,  Darlington 
Forster,    M.   Douglas,   9  Gosforth  Terrace, 

Gosforth 
Fothergill,    James    M.,    i    Norham    Place, 

Newcastle 
France,  Jos.,  12  Malvern  Street,  Newcastle 
Franklin,  Rev.  Canon,  St.  Mary's,  Newcastle 

G. 

Gibb,  Chas.  John,   M.D.,  Sandyford  Park, 

Newcastle 
Glass,  Matthew,  30  Herries  Street,  Queen's 

Park,  London 
Goolden,  Councillor  John,  6  Jesmond  Road, 

Newcastle 
Grahham,  John,  Westfield,  Gosforth 
Grace,  Herbert  W.,   Hallgarth   Hall,  Win- 

laton 
Gravell,  John,  7  West  Avenue,  Gosforth 
Gray,  Henry,  47  Leicester  Square,  London 
Greene,  Thomas,  Humshaugh,  North  Tyne 
Green,  Wm.,  J. P.,  Dendron  Lodge,  Leam- 
ington 
Greene,  W.  T.,  M.A.,  M.D.,  Iveagh  Lodge, 

Belvedere,  Kent 
Green  well.     Rev.     Canon,    M.A.,    F.R.S., 

27  North  Bailey,  Durham 
Greenwell,  G.  C,  Dufheld,  Derby 
Gregory,    J.    V.,     10    Framlington    Place, 

Newcastle 
Greig,  James,  Free  Trade  Wharf,  London 
Grey,  George,  J. P.,  Milfield,  Wooler 

H. 

Halliwell,  George,  Seaham  Harbour 

Harle,  J.  J.,  Falfield,  Gloucester 

Harle,  Thos.  E.,  10  Lovaine  Place,  N'castle 

Harper,  A.,  Bute  Docks,  Cardiff 

Harris,  Richard,  79  Gloucester  St.,  N'castle 

Harrison,  William,  Haldane  Villa,  Newcastle 

Haswell,  F.  R.  N.,  Monkseaton 

Haswell,    G.    H.,     Ashleigh,    Handsworth, 

Birmingham 
Headlam',    Francis   John,    Dalefield   House, 

Chelford,  Cheshire 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


Headlam,  Captain,  R.A.,  Shoeburyness 
Iledley,  E.  Armorer,  J.  1'.,  S  Osborne  Villas, 

Jesniond 
Iledley,  John  T. ,  Longcroft,  Hayes,  Kent 
Iledley,  R.  Cecil,  Cheviott,  Corbridge 
Henderson,  G.    E. ,   i6   Framlington   Place, 

Newcastle 
Henderson,  Thos.  Hood,  $  Victoria  Square, 

Newcastle 
Henderson,  W.  Y.,  Moorfield,  Newcastle 
Henzell,    Charles    W. ,    6    Northumberland 

Terrace,  Tynemouth 
Herdman,    Thomas,     Westgate    Chambers, 

Newcastle 
Heslop,  R.  0.,  The  Crofts,  Corbridge 
Iletherington,    David,    Greenfield    Terrace, 

Gosforth 
Heywood,    G.     C. ,    20    Kenilworlh    Road, 

Newcastle 
Hills  &  Co.,  6  Fawcett  Street,  Sunderland 
Hodgson,  G.  B.,  Gazette  Office,  So.  Shields 
Hodgson,  J.  Crawford,  Warkworth  (2  copies) 
Hodgson,    John   G.,    17   Windsor   Terrace, 

Newcastle  (2  copies) 
Hodgson,  William,  Elmcroft,  Darlington 
Hodgson,     William,     Redesdale     Cottage, 

Otterburn 
Holme,  R.  H.,  6  Chester  Street,  Newcastle 
Holmes,  Alderman  R.  H.,J.P.,  54  Rye  Hill, 

Newcastle 
Holmes,  W,  H.,  Wellburn,  Newcastle 
Iloneyman,    G.    W. ,    43    Somerset    Place, 

Sunderland  Road,  Gateshead 
Hopper,    C. ,    Monk    End    Terrace,    Croft, 

Darlington 
Horsley,  John,  Clayport  Street,  Alnwick 
Hudson,  Robt.,  24  Hotspur  St.,  Tynemouth 
Hudson,  Thos.,  So.  Preston,  N.  Shields 
Hughes,     G.     P.,    J. P.,    Middleton     Hall, 

Wooler 

I. 
Irwin,  Chas.,  Cross  Villa  House,  Monkseaton 

J- 

Jeflferson,     Thomas,     Washington     House, 

Woodford 
Johnson,  Thomas,    Tyne    House,   Golding's 

Hill,  Loughton,  Essex  (3  copies) 
Joicey,  Sir  James,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Longhirst 

K. 

Keeney,  M.  J.,  9  Rectory  Terrace,  Gosforth 

Knott,  George,  16  Lendal,  York 

Knowles,  W.  H. ,  Wyncote,  Jesmond  Park, 
Newcastle 

L. 

Lange,  Theodore,  Heathfield  House,  Gates- 
head 

Lawson,  Thomas,  Town  Hall,  Newcastle 

Leathart,  James,  J. P.,  Breckon  Dene,  Gates- 
head 

Leather,  Arthur  II.,  J. P.,  Fowberry  Tower, 
Belford 


Liddeli,  John,  Benwell  Hall,  Newcastle 
Lord,  Riley,  Highfield  House,  Gosforth 
Lovibond,   Thomas  Watson,  West  Jesmond 

Mouse,  Newcastle 
Lowry,  Joseph,  37  Cornhill,  London 
Luke,  Henry,  i  Lesbury  Terrace,  Gateshead 
Lumsden,    Thomas,   4   Gladstone    Terrace, 

Gateshead 

M. 
Mackey,   Matthew,    Sen.,  33   Lily  Avenue, 

Newcastle 
Mackey,    Matthew,  Jun.,   8   Milton   Street, 

Newcastle 
Maddison,  R.  D. ,  7  Regent  Street,  Barnsley 

(2  copies) 
Maddison,  W.  H.,  William  St.,  Houghton- 

le-Spring 
Main,  D.  D. ,  24  Salisbury  Ter.,  Gateshead 
Marley,  J.   W.,   M.   Inst.  C.E.,  Thornfield, 

Darlington 
Marley,  Thomas  William,  Netherlaw,  Dar- 
lington 
Marshall,  Frank,  Claremont  House,  N'castle 
Martin,  W.  T.,  Leader  0{i\c<i,  Newcastle 
Maudlen,  William,  7  Salter's  Road,  Gosforth 
Maughan,  Thos.,  Neville  Hall,  Middleham 
McGonigle,   Rev.  W.   A.,   M.A.,  48  North 

Bridge  Street,  Sunderland 
McKenzie,  R.  J.,  Clifton  House,  Sydenham 
McPherson,  John  E.,  White  House  Build- 
ings, Newcastle 
Miller,     A.     L.,     J.  P.,     8     Ravensdowne, 

Berwick 
Miller,  Thomas  R.,  Selborne,  Streatham 
Mitchell,  Charles,  LL. D.,  Jesmond  Towers, 

Newcastle 
Moore,  John,  Lindenwood,  Cardiff 
Moore,  J.  D.,  2  Havelock  Ter.,  Workington 
Morrison,  John,  2  Bath  Terrace,  Tynemouth 
Morton,  Benjamin,  29  Azalea  Terrace,  Sun- 
derland 
Mundill,  Alex.  J.,  Lily  Avenue,  Newcastle 

N. 

Nelson,  Ralph,  55  North  Bondgate,  Bishop 
Auckland 

Newcastle  Liberal  Club,  Pilgrim  St.,  New- 
castle 

Nicholson,  Geo.,  S  Barrington  St.,  S.  Shields 

Nisbet,  James  T.,  St.  Mary's  Terrace,  Ryton 

O. 

Ord,  John  Robert,  Haughton  Hall,  Darling- 
ton 

Orde,  Henry  Powlett  Shafto,  J. P.,  Egling- 
ham,  Alnwick 

Oswald,  Joseph,  42  Sanderson  Road,  New- 
castle 

P. 

Page,  Thos.  A.,  3  South  View,  So    Shields 

Palmer,  Sir  Ciiarles  M.,  Bart.,  M.  P.,  Jes- 
mond High  Terrace,  Newcastle 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


Park,  A.  D.,  ii  Bigg  Market,  Newcastle 

Parker,  Miss  Annie,  Braila,  Boscombe, 
Bournemouth 

Pattinson,  John,  J. P.,  Shipcote  House, 
Gateshead 

Pease,  John  W.,  J. P.,  Pendower,  Newcastle 

Pelegrin,  M.  J.,  Jesmond  High  Terrace, 
Newcastle 

Pescod,  John  James,  Springfield  Terrace, 
Low  Fell,  Gateshead 

Phalp,  Anderson,  loi  Westmorland  Road, 
Newcastle 

Philipson,  John,  J. P.,  9  Victoria  Square, 
Newcastle  (2  copies) 

Philipson,  Professor  George  Hare,  M.  A. , 
M.D.,  D.C.L.,  J. P.,  7  Eldon  Square, 
Newcastle 

Philipson,  Joseph  A.,  89  Pilgrim  Street, 
Newcastle 

Phillips,  Maberly,  Bank  of  England,  New- 
castle 

Potts,  Matthew,  Chester-le-Street 

Prockter,  Bryan  J.,  10  Groat  Market,  New- 
castle 

Punshon,  Mrs.  W.  K.,  Farnborough,  Hants 

Purvis,  John,  Tweed  House,  Jesmond,  Nc. 

Public  Library,  Edinburgh 

Public  Library,  Gateshead 

Public  Library,  Newcastle 

Public  Library,  North  Shields 

Public  Library,  South  Shields 

Public  Library,  Sunderland 

O. 
Quin,     Alderman     Stephen,      11     Victoria 
Square,  Newcastle 

R. 

Rayne,  Charles  G.,  High  House,  Morpeth 

Ravensworth,  Right  Honourable  the  Earl 
of,  Ravensworth  Castle 

Rea,  Alex.,  82  Alexandra  Parade,  Glasgow 

Rea,  James  Sturge,  Cullercoats 

Redford,  Burdus,  II  Summerhill  Street, 
Newcastle 

Reid,  Philip,  11  St.  Mary's  Place,  New- 
castle 

Reid,  W.  B.,  Cross  House,  Upper  Claremont, 
Newcastle 

Rich,  Frank  W.,  Jesmond  Gardens,  New- 
castle 

Richardson,  Arthur  C,  Granville  House, 
Jesmond,  Newcastle 

Richardson,  Wigham,  Neptune  Works,  New- 
castle (6  copies) 

Richardson,  Alaric,  South  Ashfield,  New 
castle 

Ridley,  Thos.  Dawson,  Willimoteswick, 
Coatham,  Redcar 

Ritson,  Utrick  A.,  J. P.,  Jesmond  Gardens, 
Newcastle 

Robinson,  Alfred  James,  136  Brighton 
Grove,  Newcastle 


Robinson,  Andrew,  63  Grey  Street,  New- 
castle 

Robinson,  George,  Eden  House,  Gosforth 

Robinson,  George  H.,  Havelock  House, 
Sunderland 

Robinson,  W.  H.,  20  Osborne  Avenue, 
Jesmond 

Robson,  Jno.  E.,  15  Northgate,  Hartlepool 

Roddam,  Hugh  R.,  17  William  St.  West, 
North  Shields 

Rogers,  Rev.  Canon,  M.  A.,  Simonburn 
Rectory,  Humshaugh 

Rogerson,  Thos.  S.,  8  Cambridge  Terrace, 
Gateshead 

S. 
Schippers,  Alphonse,  22  Rue  de  la  Pepiniere, 

Antwerp 
Scott,  Walter,  Riding  Mill  (2  copies) 
Scott,  Walter,  Holly  House,  Sunderland 
Scott,  C.  C,  4  Osborne  Terrace,  Newcastle 
Scott,  W.  H. ,  St.  Oswin's,  Tynemouth 
Searle,  Captain,  4  Osborne  Terrace,  Gates- 
head 
Sergent,  Mrs  ,  5  Lovaine  Place,  Newcastle 
Shand,  Hinton,  120  Quayside,  Newcastle 
Shipley,  J.    A.  D.,    Saltwell   Park    House, 

Gateshead 
Simpson,   J.    B.,   J. P.,  Pledgefield   House, 

Blaydon 
Skelly,  George  S.,  Market  Place,  Alnwick 
Smith,  J.  Embleton,  Durham  Villa,  Leyton, 

Essex 
Smith,  William,  Gunnerton,  Barrasford 
Smith,  W.  J.,  Flass,  Durham 
Snowball,  F.  J.,  J. P.,  Seaton  Burn  House, 

Dudley,  Northumberland 
Snowdon,  W.  F.,  2  Side,  Newcastle 
Southern,  J.  T.,   Jesmond    Gardens,  New- 
castle 
Spence,  Chas.  James,  South  Preston  Lodge, 

North  Shields 
Spence,  G.  W. ,  10  Royal  Arcade,  Newcastle 
Spence,  W.  A.  P.,  Royal  Arcade,  Newcastle 
Spencer,  John,  J. P.,  Whorlton  Hall,  New- 
castle (2  copies) 
Stephens,  Alderman  W.  D.,  J. P.,  Newcastle 
Stephenson,  Alderman  W.  H.,  J. P.,  Mayor 

of  Newcastle 
Stokoe,     H  ,    Creekside    House,    Beckton, 

I^ondon 
Straker,  Joseph    H.,  J. P.,  Howden   Dene, 

Corbridge 
Sutherland,     Charles     James,      M.D.,     16 

Frederick  Street,  South  Shields 
Sutton,  Alderman  William,  J. P.,  Eskbank, 

Jesmond,  Newcastle 
Swallow,  Thos.,  37  Bell  Terrace,  Newcastle 
Swan,    Henry   F.,    J. P.,    North    Jesmond, 

Newcastle. 
Swinburne,  Sir  John,  Bart.,  Capheaton 
Sweeney,  John  C,  17  Holly  Avenue,  New- 
castle 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


T. 

Taylor,  Rev.  Edward  J.,  F.S.A.,  St.  Cuth- 

bert's,  Durhain 
Taylor,  Hugh,  J. I'.,  57  Gracechurch  Street, 

Lomlon 
Taylor,  Thomas,  J. P.,  Chipchase  Castle 
Taylor,  Rev.  W. ,  Whittinghani,  Alnwick 
Temperley,  Henry,  King  Street,  Newcastle 
Thompson,    G.     H.,     Baileygate,    Alnwick 

(2  copies) 
Thompson.Jos.,  J.P.,  North  Dene,  Gateshead 
Thompson,    T.    W. ,    2    Windsor   Crescent, 

Newcastle 
Tomlinson,  W.  W.,  6  Bristol  Ter. ,  N'castle 
Towers,   Edward,  4  Latimer    Street,  Tyne- 

movith 
Tweddle,  John,  Clarence  Crescent,  Whitley 
Tyrie,  W.  C,  Highfield  House,  Gateshead 

U. 
Urwin,  John,  Hollinside  Hall,  Lanchester 
Urwin,  Robert,   Sherburn  Villa,   Fernwood 
Road,  Newcastle 


Vickers,  E.,  2  Coleshill  Street,  Birmingham 

W. 
Wakefield,  C.  M.,  Belmont,  Uxbridge 


Walker,  Rev.  J.,  Whalton  Rectory,  N'castle 
Walker,    J.    D.  (Arnott,  Swan,   &  Walker), 

Pilgrim  Street,  Newcastle 
Walton,  James,  2  Osborne  Road,  Newcastle 
Waters,    George,    Otterburn    Villas,     North 

Jesmond,  Newcastle 
Watson,    Joseph    Henry,    55    Percy    Park, 

Tynemouth 
Watson,   Robert   Spence,   LL.D.,  Bensham 

(]rove,  Gateshead 
Watson- Armstrong,  W.  A.,  J. P.,  Cragside, 

Roth  bury 
Watts,  E.  H.,  F.R.G.S.,  Springfield,  New- 
port, Mon.  (2  copies) 
Webb,  William,  23  Newgate  St.,  Morpeth 
Webster,  Captain,  20  Chester  St.,  Newcastle 
Whitfield,    Robert,    5    Bloomfield    Terrace, 

Ciateshead 
Wilkinson,   W.    B.,  J. P.,    5   Ellison   Place, 

Newcastle 
Williamson,  Thos.,  39  Widdrington  Terrace, 

North  Shields 
W^ilson,  John,  Archbold  House,  Newcastle 
Wilson,  William,  Keswick  Hotel,  Keswick 
Winter,  Aid.  J.  M.,  Tynemouth  (2  copies) 
Wood,     Lindsay,     J.  P.,     The    Hermitage, 

Chester-Ie-Street 
Wood,  Richard  A.,  9  Park  Ter.,  Gateshead 
Wright,  Jos.,  Hancock  Museum,  Newcastle 


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