CHAYTOR, Sir William, 1st bt. (1777-1847), of 3 Machester Buildings, London, Mdx.; Croft Hall, Yorks. and Witton Castle, co. Durham

William Chaytor was a descendant of Christopher Chaytor, who had acquired the prestigious Croft estate, on the Yorkshire bank of the River Tees near Darlington, in the early sixteenth century. His father, also William, had been MP for Penryn, 1774-80, and Cornwall, 1780-90. Chaytor established his initial wealth through investments in lead mines at Swaledale and Teesdale, and in 1816 he purchased the 2,383 acre Witton Castle estate and coalfield at a cost of £78,000. On succeeding his father in 1819 he inherited the Croft estate and family property in Wensleydale in the North Riding of Yorkshire.1Ibid., vii; HP Commons, 1820-1832, iv. 636.

Following an abortive attempt to contest Durham City at the June 1828 by-election, Chaytor came forward for the same constituency at the 1830 general election on a pro-Reform and pro-Catholic platform, but after a fractious campaign, came in third. Although the election was declared void on petition, he declined to offer again at the subsequent by-election for fear of being petitioned against for bribery, but instead put up his son, also William, as a stopgap until the next general election.2HP Commons, 1820-32, ii. 366-8. Following his son’s return, Chaytor wrote to earl Grey, requesting to be ‘placed high upon the list of baronets’ citing his son’s election as ‘a triumph for parliamentary reform’.3Chaytor to Grey, 26 Mar. 1831, Papers of Sir William Chaytor, 154. The premier obligingly made him a coronation baronet, but he was denied government backing to replace his son at Durham City. At the 1832 general election he offered instead for the newly-created constituency of Sunderland, and after a bitter campaign, in which he championed triennial parliaments and the ballot, was returned at the top of the poll.4Newcastle Courant, 15 Dec. 1832.

An occasional attender, Chaytor generally divided with Grey’s administration, although his radical instincts saw him in minorities for a review of the pension lists, 18 Feb. 1834, and for the repeal of the Septennial Act, 15 May 1834. His absence from the vote on Grote’s ballot motion, 25 Apr. 1833, was criticised by his local agent, J.J. Wright, who told him that ‘all the factions opposed to you will make a handle of your absence – the ballot being a point you always put forward prominently’.5J.J. Wright to Chaytor, 7 May 1833, Papers of Sir William Chaytor, 185-6. His only two recorded speeches in the Commons were for the commutation of tithes, 4 Mar. 1834, and triennial parliaments, 15 May 1834. He later defended his silence, arguing that ‘I certainly have not made many speeches – and I think if my example had been a little bit more followed than what it has been I am sure we should have done more good to the country’.6Morning Post, 27 Nov. 1834.

Chaytor’s attempts to defend his seat at the 1835 general election were fatally undermined when his agent, Wright, switched his political allegiance to the Conservatives in protest against what he perceived as the interference of the earl of Durham and his supporters in the Liberal campaign.7Papers of Sir William Chaytor, viii. Hampered further by his unwillingness to use his own financial resources, Chaytor endured a hostile contest and was comprehensively defeated. Bitter about being ‘kicked out’ of Sunderland, he came forward under the patronage of the earl of Durham for Durham North at the 1837 general election, but, unable to overcome accusations that he was the ‘tool’ of the earl, finished bottom of the poll. He retired from public life thereafter.8The Times, 10 Aug. 1837.

Described by a contemporary as ‘a heavy, broad-featured old gentleman, with a cloddish expression of countenance, an eccentricity in dress, and a perfect oddity in the manner of expressing himself’, Chaytor failed to make any impact in his parliamentary career, with one unsympathetic historian commenting that ‘men have done less for a crown than Chaytor did for his baronetcy’.9Ibid.; T.J. Nossiter, Influence, opinion and political idioms in reformed England: case studies from the North-east, 1832-74 (1975), 116. He died in January 1847 at Clervaux Castle, built on the Croft estate after his retirement from the Commons, and was succeeded by his eldest son, William, member for Durham City, 1831-5. Chaytor’s correspondence, some of which has been published, is located in the North Yorkshire Record Office.10N. Yorks. Co. RO, MIC 1879-1812, 1910.