Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Right of Election:

in the freemen

Number of voters:

about 2,500

Elections

DateCandidateVotes
2 Feb. 1715SIR WILLIAM BLACKETT639
 WILLIAM WRIGHTSON550
 James Clavering263
4 Apr. 1722WILLIAM CARR1234
 SIR WILLIAM BLACKETT1158
 William Wrightson831
6 Sept. 1727SIR WILLIAM BLACKETT1202
 NICHOLAS FENWICK1189
 William Carr620
 CARR vice Blackett, on petition, 26 Mar. 1729 
1 May 1734WALTER CALVERLEY BLACKETT1354
 NICHOLAS FENWICK1083
 William Carr716
13 May 1741WALTER CALVERLEY BLACKETT1453
 NICHOLAS FENWICK1231
 Matthew Ridley1131
 William Carr683
29 June 1747WALTER CALVERLEY BLACKETT 
 MATTHEW RIDLEY 

Main Article

A large independent trading town, Newcastle always returned members of local merchant families, such as the Blacketts, who held one seat in every Parliament from 1673 to 1777, except in 1705-10, when the head of the family was a minor. From 1715 until 1747 every election was contested, Tories winning both seats, except in 1722, when William Carr, a Whig, was returned with Sir William Blackett. Defeated in 1727 by Blackett and another Tory, Nicholas Fenwick, Carr petitioned on the ground of the partiality of the returning officer. His petition was heard at the bar of the House on 26 Mar. 1729, by which time Blackett was dead. No counsel appearing to answer Carr’s objections to Blackett’s election, the House declared him not to have been duly elected and awarded the seat to Carr.1 In 1747, owing to the heavy cost of the previous contests, the representation was compromised between Sir Walter Blackett, Tory, and Matthew Ridley, Whig, who shared it till 1774.

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. CJ, xxi. 293.