The 1826 Northumberland Election | A Keith Jewitt Lecture

Monday 10th August | 1pm

The 1826 Northumberland Election

Keith Jewitt Lecture

During the Regency era, contested elections were relatively rare. Contesting an election involved a non-stop regime of boozy dinners and speechmaking; a gruelling treadmill of travel all over the county to canvass every eligible voter in person; and a constant undertow of bad temper and rowdiness. The gentlemanly conduct we expect (if we’ve formed our impression of the period from Jane Austen novels) was frequently not in evidence. Worst of all, arguably, was the staggering level of expense, which would have challenged even Mr Darcy with his ten-thousand-a-year.

In 1826, an unusual conjunction of circumstances led to a shire election contested by four candidates, competing for two seats. The campaign became nationally notorious – partly because of the colourful characters involved, and partly because of the degree of acrimony and expense. It all came to head during several boiling hot days of voting in Alnwick, where beer was reportedly easier to come by than water.

The key political issues at that time included the abolition of slavery, Catholic emancipation, electoral reform (arguably long overdue) and the choice between free trade and protectionism. Furthermore, the election took place in the wake of a massive economic crisis, “The Panic of 1825”, involving widespread bank defaults, overseas sovereign debt failures and a stock market collapse. So which of these factors caused the 1826 election to come to the boil?

Bizarrely, the answer is “none of them”. The strong feelings generated by the election were essentially the product of personal differences, and the tactical decisions made by the candidates. Keith Jewitt will tell this unlikely story, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of these events.

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