HURT, Francis (1781-1854), of Alderwasley Hall , near Wirksworth, Derbyshire

Lords of the manor of Alderwasley, the ancestors of Francis (Edward) Hurt III had obtained the land and title through marriage in 1670.2D. Wain, The Hurts of Derbyshire (2002), 16. See also [L. Hurt], Alderwasley and the Hurts (1909) for the family history. In the eighteenth century, his grandfather, Francis Hurt I (1722-83), was among those local landowners who exploited mineral resources, in this case coal, and an iron forge was constructed on the estate in 1764, which was leased out to Mold Brothers from 1811.3Wain, The Hurts, 26-27; G. Turbutt, A history of Derbyshire (1999), iv. 1429, 1456, 1460. Connected by blood and marriage to other important local families, Hurt’s maternal grandmother was the daughter and heiress of Robert Holden of Aston Hall, Derbyshire, while he married the granddaughter of the inventor and pioneer capitalist, Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-92).4Cheetham Society, Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester (1856), 276. He was steward of Derby races, 1801, sheriff of the county, 1814, and president of Derby Infirmary, 1830.5Derby Mercury, 20 Aug. 1801, 24 Feb. 1830. Although he rarely spoke at length, a local obituary said that Hurt ‘took a leading part at public meetings, and his opinion was sought for, and usually adopted, on all questions which agitated the county; or on others of a more local nature’.6Derby Mercury, 29 Mar. 1854.

An unassuming figure, Hurt played a supporting role in the formidable South Derbyshire Conservative party of the 1830s, serving on the Wirksworth district election committee in 1832 and nominating Sir George Crewe at the 1835 general election.7Derby Mercury, 25 July 1832, 21 Jan. 1835. Admitting in his address that he had ‘not very frequently taken a part in public affairs’, he came forward in 1837 after being correctly informed by local Conservatives that his candidature would prevent a contest, and he promised ‘to maintain the established institutions of the country in all their integrity’.8Derby Mercury, 5, 26 July 1837, 2 Aug. 1837.

Although he is not known to have spoken in the House, Hurt had a decent attendance record. Unlike his colleague Crewe, he was a supporter of the poor law and divided against its repeal. He repeatedly cast votes against the immediate end of slave apprenticeships in 1838.9House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1837-8 session, 20 Feb. 1838, 30 Mar. 1838, 6 Apr. 1838, 22, 28 May 1838. Hurt divided against both of Villiers’s 1839 anti-corn law motions, and voted for the renewal of the poor law commission in the same session.10House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1839 session, 19 Feb. 1839, 4 June 1839, 15 July 1839. On the factory bill, he supported limiting the maximum working week to 69 rather than 58 hours for young people.11Ibid. 1 July 1839.

In 1840, he served on two local bill committees and continued to oppose free trade.12PP 1840 (570), xlv. 20, 22. House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1840 session, 26 May 1840. ‘His habits not disposing him to the fatigue of a parliamentary life’, Hurt announced on 24 April 1840 that he would retire at the next election, believing that electors needed a ‘younger man’ to represent them.13Derby Mercury, 29 Apr. 1840. In his last session, Hurt was generally supportive of the poor law amendment bill, although he did support shorter terms for commissioners, 22 Mar. 1841. He divided in favour of Peel’s motion of no confidence in the Whig ministry, 4 June 1841.14House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1841 session, 22 Mar. 1841, 4 June 1841. After stepping down, he proudly reflected that ‘during the whole period he sat in the House of Commons, he never gave one vote contrary to the interests of the Conservative party’.15Derby Mercury, 23 Nov. 1842.

In his remaining years, he served as chairman of the Belper board of guardians, and continued to attend local party, religious and agricultural meetings, including the Wirksworth Farmers’ Club, founded in 1847, of which he was president.16Derby Mercury, 9 Dec. 1846, 6, 13 Jan. 1847, 2 Nov. 1853. In 1851, he remodelled the conical structure, the ‘Crich Stand’ in Heage, built by his father in 1788, into a round tower, 48 ft high and ascended through fifty winding steps. In 1923, a war memorial tower was erected on the site.17Derby Mercury, 23 July 1851; http://www.crich-memorial.org.uk/history.html.

Hurt died at his estate in 1854 and was succeeded by his only son Francis Hurt IV (1804-61), who did not follow him into politics. His eldest daughter, Mary, was married to Robert John Eden, 3^rd Baron Auckland (1799-1870), bishop of Sodor and Man, 1847-54, bishop of Bath and Wells, 1854-69.18G. C. Boase, ‘Eden, Robert John, third Baron Auckland (1799–1870)’, rev. M. C. Curthoys, www.oxforddnb.com. Death duties and the decline of receipts from coal mining and the ironworks forced Hurt’s descendants to sell the Alderwasley estate in 1929, and the Hall is now a private special school.19Wain, The Hurts, 53, 106-18, 133-46; www.senadgroup.com/alderwasley/.