Durham County

<p><strong>Economic and social profile</strong></p><p>Situated upon and around a central peninsula formed by the River Wear 13 miles from its mouth, and 14 miles south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the castellated cathedral city and county town of Durham lay on the southern portion of the coal measures which extended from the river Coquet to the Tees.<fn><em>VCH Durham</em>, iii.

<p>Throughout this period Durham consistently returned a combination of members of the local gentry and men from families with strong connections to the corporation. Many of the successful gentry candidates also had links to the borough elite, so that it seems that possession of corporate office, or ties to others who held such office, played an important role in Durham elections.

<p>Throughout this period Durham was represented by the Lambton and Tempest families. At the general election of 1761 they were challenged by the Earl of Darlington, who, with the support of the corporation and of the bishop of Durham, set up Ralph Gowland. Gowland was defeated, but stood again at the by-election in December. This, the most controversial Durham election of the century, resulted in a victory for Gowland by three votes on a poll of over 1,500, but only because the corporation had created over 200 honorary freemen to carry the election.<fn>E.

<p>Durham had been represented by members of the Lambton family of Lambton and of the Tempest family of Wynyard, both owners of extensive and lucrative coal mines, since 1734 and 1742 respectively, the only brief hiatus in this record being the episode in 1761-2 when the corporation, backed by the church, had created over 200 honorary freemen to secure the return of Ralph Gowland over John Lambton at a by-election. The result had been reversed on petition and the ‘Durham Act’ subsequently passed to prevent honorary freemen from voting until they had held the freedom for 12 months.

<p>The bishop, dean, and chapter of Durham exerted considerable influence in the city, which always returned local landowners. Under the Jacobite bishop, Lord Crew, whose name was sent to the Pretender in 1721 as a probable supporter in the event of a rising,<fn>Stuart mss 65/16. </fn> two Tories were unopposed in 1715; but from 1722, when the new Whig bishop, Talbot, nominated his son Charles, who was returned with a Tory by a big majority, each party took one seat.

<p>Under Bishop Matthew’s charter of 1602, the corporation consisted of a mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 common councilmen, all of whom were to hold office during good behaviour. The mayor’s oath included a promise to make no orders ‘against the privileges of the Bishop of Durham’. Admission to the freedom, however, was controlled by the city companies.

<p>The castellated cathedral city and county town of Durham, 14 miles south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was built on a high rocky outcrop overlooking a bend in the River Wear, and connected by bridges to its suburbs of Elvet and Framwellgate. Gas lighting was introduced in 1823, a new Framwellgate bridge opened in 1828 and the town’s commerce and prosperity were affected by the construction in this period of the Stockton-Darlington railway and a steam packet service to Newcastle.<fn> <em>Parl. Gazetteer of England and Wales</em>, ii.