SPEARMAN, Henry John (1794-1863), of Thornley Hall, Durham

Spearman was a descendant of John Spearman, a distinguished lawyer, who in 1678 had purchased Thornley Hall, six miles south-east of Durham.1B. Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland (1894), ii. 1890. His father, Charles, had been a magistrate for the county, and had stood at the 1804 Durham City by-election, but, having been nominated on the final day of polling, received only 13 votes.2HP Commons, 1790-1820, ii. 153. His elder brother, Charles, a lieutenant in the royal artillery, was killed at Waterloo, leaving Spearman to succeed to the family estates at Thornley on his father’s death in 1825. In 1833 he leased the mining rights to the Thornley Coal Company, and an extensive colliery was commenced.3A topographical dictionary of England, ed. S. Lewis (1848), 335-7. Described as a ‘prominent public man in the county of Durham’, he became president of the North Durham Reform Association, and a lifelong supporter of the Durham County Agricultural Society.4Newcastle Courant, 9 Oct. 1863.

At the 1847 general election Spearman offered in the Liberal interest for Durham City, pledging to support Lord John Russell’s ministry as he had ‘perfect confidence in the men and hearty approbation of their measures’.5Dod’s parliamentary companion (1847), 238. Backed by local moderates, there was reported to be ‘little cordiality’ between his supporters and the sitting Radical member, but with local Conservatives also disunited, he was comfortably returned in second place.6Examiner, 26 June 1847.

Initially a steady attender, Spearman duly backed Russell’s ministry on most major issues, including the repeal of the navigation laws, 12 Mar. 1849, and John Arthur Roebuck’s motion in support of the government’s foreign policy, 28 June 1850.7In the 1849 session he was present for 47 out of 229 divisions: Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 20 Oct. 1849. A stated advocate of the extension of the suffrage, who disclaimed the ‘finality’ of the Reform Act, he voted for the ballot, 8 Aug. 1848 and 7 Mar. 1850, but against Joseph Hume’s ‘little charter’, 6 July 1848, and the county franchise bill, 2 Apr. 1851.8Dod, 238. His votes for church rate abolition, 13 Mar. 1849, and for William Johnson Fox’s motion for free secular schools funded by local rates, 22 May 1851, indicated a firm attachment to the extension of religious liberties. Given these votes, the complaint of the Radical-supporting Durham Chronicle that he was only a Liberal ‘in name’ seems unjustified, and was more likely a reflection of the continuing internecine struggles in Durham Liberalism.9Quoted in A. Heesom, Durham City and its Members of Parliament, 1678-1992 (1992), 61.

Spearman, however, made no impact beyond the lobbies. He is not known to have made any speeches or served on any select committees. He rarely attended Parliament in his last session, and there was little surprise when he stood down at the dissolution in 1852. Following his retirement ‘he devoted a good deal of his time and attention to the pursuit of agriculture’ and became high sheriff for Durham in 1860.10Newcastle Courant, 9 Oct. 1863. He died unmarried in October 1863, and was succeeded by his nephew, Henry Charles Spearman, a lieutenant in the 66^th foot.11Burke, Genealogical and heraldic history, 1890. He was described in an obituary as ‘an urbane and courteous country gentleman’.12Newcastle Courant, 9 Oct. 1863.