LAMBTON, Henry (1697-1761), of Lambton Hall, co. Dur.

On the death in 1724 of William Lambton, who had represented the county in six Parliaments between 1685 and 1702, his nephew, Henry Lambton, succeeded to an estate which had been held by his ancestors since before the thirteenth century.1Surtees, Durham, ii. 175. Having also inherited extensive colliery interests, he became active in the coal lobby as the head of the Sunderland coal owners, in which capacity he was described in 1731 as one who ‘will be drawn but not led’.2E. Hughes, N. Country Life in 18th Cent. 241. After a narrow defeat at a by-election for Durham in 1730, he was returned there unopposed as a Whig at another by-election in January 1734, continuing to represent it till his death. Voting with the Administration in all recorded divisions under Walpole, but absent on the Hanoverians in 1742, 1744 and 1746, he was classed as Old Whig in 1746 and as ‘for’ in 1747. He died 26 June 1761.