WILLIAMSON, Sir Hedworth I, 7th bt. (1797-1861), of Whitburn Hall, nr. Sunderland, co. Durham

Williamson was a direct descendant of the Nottinghamshire Royalist baronet, Sir Thomas Williamson (1609-57), whose son and namesake had acquired the Monkwearmouth estate on the north bank of the River Wear through marriage with the Northumberland heiress Dorothy Fenwick of Brinkburne. The estate, however, was on the geographically less favoured bank of the river, and, on taking control of the estate in 1819, Williamson’s finances became heavily encumbered. Returned as a Reformer for county Durham at the 1831 general election, he led the opposition to the Sunderland (South Side) docks bill and engineered its defeat in committee, only to see his own subsequent Sunderland (North Side) docks bill rejected in the Lords, where it had been entrusted to his father-in-law Lord Ravensworth.1HP Commons, 1820-1832, vii. 795-6; T.J. Nossiter, Influence, opinion and political idioms in reformed England: case studies from the North-east, 1832-74 (1975), 119.

At the 1832 general election Williamson was elected for the new county division of Durham North after a particularly acrimonious contest.2Newcastle Courant, 22 Dec. 1832. Although he had refused to give any specific pledges during the campaign, he remained a solid supporter of Grey’s ministry, but his attendance often lapsed and he made no known contributions to debate before the dissolution in December 1834.3Parliamentary Test Book (1835), 174. He offered again for Durham North in 1835, declaring his support for municipal reform, the removal of Dissenters’ disabilities and the commutation of tithes.4Morning Chronicle, 5 Jan. 1835. Returned unopposed, he voted with the opposition to Peel’s ministry on the address, 26 Feb. 1835, and for Lord John Russell’s motion on the Irish church, 2 Apr. 1835. An irregular attender, his only two known speeches were both in defence of the bishopric of Durham, whose substantial income was the subject of a proposed redistribution in the government’s established church bill, 8 July 1836, 15 Mar. 1837. His select committee service mirrored his family’s interests in coal, docks and railways.5Accidents in mines, PP 1835 (603), v. 2; Harbours of refuge, PP 1836 (334), xx. 388; Bath and Weymouth railway subscription list, PP 1837 (243), xviii. 482.

His one notable success while member for Durham North came in 1834 when he secured a charter for the North docks and subsequently commissioned Brunel to build the harbour. Before the work was completed, however, the cost had risen fourfold from its original estimate, and the docks failed to be profitable.6Nossiter, Influence, opinion and political idioms, 119. The episode also damaged his political influence in Sunderland, whose inhabitants had favoured a dock on the south side of the River Wear, and despite having some 200 borough electors on his estates, he struggled to secure the return of his brother-in-law, David Barclay.7Ibid; Papers of Sir William Chaytor (1771-1847): a list with extracts, ed. M.Y. Ashcroft (1993), viii. Brought forward to watch over the family’s business interests in the borough, Barclay won only one out of four contests between 1832 and 1837, reflecting the unpopularity of the North Dock enterprise scheme, and at the 1837 general election, Williamson, ostensibly on health and financial grounds, declined to defend his own seat for Durham North.8HP Commons, 1820-1832, vii. 796.

Financially drained by the North Dock scheme, Williamson economised by residing in Bruges, before returning in December 1847 to contest a by-election at Sunderland, which had been precipitated by Barclay’s resignation.9Barclay retired following the collapse of his business interests. The Times, 2 Dec. 1847. Opposed by a rival Liberal candidate, he wavered from his usual course of declining to give pledges, and declared that he would oppose the repeal of the navigation laws, a promise that undoubtedly secured his return.10Newcastle Courant, 24 Dec. 1847. He duly voted against their repeal, 12 Mar. 1849, but loyally supported Russell’s ministry thereafter. He made little impact in the Commons, however, and is not known to have spoken again before his retirement at the dissolution in 1852.

After a long illness, Williamson died at Whitburn in April 1861, survived by his wife and four sons.11Ibid., 26 Apr. 1861. His eldest son, Hedworth Williamson, Liberal member for Durham North, 1864-74, succeeded to the baronetcy and estates. The Williamson family papers are located at the Tyne and Wear Archives Service, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.12TWAS, ref. DX882.