The Letters of Tim. Tunbelly ... on the Tyne, the Newcastle Corporation, the Freemen, the Tolls, &c. &c. To which is prefixed, a Memoir of his public and private life

Front matter

THE THE LETTERS 01 Cim* Cunbtllp, <£cnt. FREE BURGESS, NEWCASTLE VFON TYKE, n TYXE. THE NEWCASTLE CORPORATION. THE FREEMEN THK TOIXS. A-l. &C. ra «.■ i! 15 i'nr»i.\Bu, ■3 flflcmoir of ijt^ jjuttlir ann piiiatr i.iff i~. I. mUi J-' The integrity of the upright shall guide them ; but the per versenesi of transgressors shall destroy them." Puov. xi. 5. VOL 1 J?ch)Wstlr UjJOiiCl'iu: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY W. A. MITCHELL, »SD SOLD OV ALL OTBEH BOOKSF.LLRRS. M.DCCc::xiu EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. Explanation of the Arms. Field argent, a chevron bearing an owl or, between three tuns frothing azure. Crest. A hand gules holding a pen or, rising out of a wreath, and the hand surmounted by an eagle sable. Supporters. On the dexter side, a sailor with jacket and trowsers azure, shirt agent, hat sable, and dexter hand holding up a bludgeon proper.

On the sinister side, a keelman with a pea jacket azure, vest or, drawers argent, hat sable, and sinister hand holding up a flapper proper. 1. My friend Robert Hopper Williamson, esq. whose uprightness as a man, and integrity and abilties as a lawyer, entitle him equally to the respect and esteem of the freemen and his fellow townsmen. 2 & 3 do not require a word of remark. My letters are before the world, and the Tyne Mercury is too well known and too highly valued as a public journal to be further elevated by any praise of mine. 4. Robert Bell, esq. the late mayor of Newcastle, whose independence and and indefatigable attention to the duties of his office so greatly entitle him to universal approbation. 5. A view of the small house which stands in the Spital, from which poor Jackey Bolam's son and family were ejected for the purpose of making room for Serjeant Atkin, alias the King of the Spital, upon which appointment my remarks will be seen in my 21st letter.

The little house at the end of it, next No. 6, is what was built 'by Atkin, without the consent of Tommy Gee, or any of the magistrates. 6. A celebrated nose-pulling scene, of which the memory is so green amongst the freemen, and so sore amongst the corporation, that it is not necessary for me to say more of it than that the portraiture is accurate and the representation vivid. Some of my friends had some scruples about my embellishing my portrait with the similitude of this scene, fearing doubtless that it was an attack on private character; but this it is not, for the nose was paid for by the corporation, aud therefore I hold it io be a nose which, as far as speaking, writing, or painting is concerned, is the undoubted freehold of every hurgess. r^C&^ltf^ 7. Myself lashing the rogues who<H(tWd-lHQ_ dE-Mad corruption, or who have ever ventured to impugn the ,'^'aHJ&-*ftS'l"lWj)®y- If the plate had not been already finished, I shouldjli^ff^BSS^I^Spilli Galloway amongst the poor creatures thus crouching w&ÆFMp&nfcjF Ji j 8.

Letter I

The Election qf the Mayor and public Officers qf Newcastle. Dear Dick, Oct. 16, 1821. AS you may not know much of the way in which the cor poration elections of our town are managed, I shall make use of this opportunity to give you some information on that head, more especially as your grandmother, when she was in our house last night, informed me that you intended shortly to take up your freedom. For your greater edifi cation, I shall first state the general mode of election, and then go on to some amusing particulars respecting the election that lately occurred. The election of mayor, recorder, coroners, sword-bearer, &c. takes place principally in consequence of a charter of the 42d Elizabeth, and another of James I. dated 1604. — The good men and burgesses of the 12 societies or mysteries of the town*, name and present two men out of each * Twelve Companies, called Mysteries, with the dates of their Incorpo ration: Merchants, 1512 Mercers, 1512.— Drapers, 1512. — Skinners, 1437.— Taylors, 1536. — Sadlers, 1*159 Bakers and Brewers, — Tan ners, 1532.— Cord wainers, 1556.— Butchers, 1621. — Smitshs, 1436.— Fullers and Dyers, 1477.

A mystery. These two men out of each mystery "being," as the charters very logically observe, " 24 in number,11 are called former electors, for they have to elect the old mayor, and three aldermen. The old mayor and three aldermen have then to elect seven aldermen, and one person who either is or has been a sheriff of the town; or if they cannot find seven aldermen, they have to elect eight persons who have been sheriffs; or if they cannot find these, they have to elect eight burgesses. These eight then have to be added to the old mayor and three aldermen that elected them, making in number 12. You see, my dear Dick, the first 24 have nothing to do with the business. They have done their work in electing the first four, and are thrown aside. These 24 were, as I said before, former electors.

This name is to distinguish them from the old mayor and three aldermen, and the eight which these four elected; for these four and eight joined together are called the twelve first electors. The twelve mysteries are then to send each one of their body, out of which twelve the twelve^r*;* electors are to elect six, who are to join with themselves, making in all eighteen electors. There are also in Newcastle fifteen societies or trades* which are not mysteries: these fifteen are to chuse each one of their body, who are to chuse twelve of the freemen of the town, from out of which twelve, ad ded to the six remaining from the twelve men chosen by the mysteries, the eighteen electors already mentioned are to chuse six to join to themselves, making in all the num ber of twenty-four electors, and these twenty-four, or the " Fifteen Companies, railed Bye-Trades, with the dates of their Incor poration : Mariners, 1492— Weavers, 1527 — Barber Surgeons, &c. 1442. —Cutlers, Shipwrights, 1638 — Coopers, 1426 — House Carpenters, 1579 — Masons, 1581 — Glovers, 1436 — Joiners, 1579— Millers, 1578— Curriers, &c 1546— Paviours, &c. 1656— Slaters, 1451— Glaziers, &c. 1563. greater part of them, are to elect the mayor, recorder, and other officers.

You must allow, my dear Dick, that if intricacy is to produce independence, this is an intricacy which would puzzle all the electoral colleges of France to counterba lance it. This is indeed a sort of election which one might vulgarly denominate through-other, and omnium gatherum. Let us briefly run over it again, and see how many elections must take place before the actual election comes to be considered at all. The 12 mysteries are to elect each 2 — these 24 are to elect 4 — these 4 elect 8 — these 4 and 8 are to elect 6 out of 1 2 sent by the mysteries besides their 24 — these 6 with the 4 and the 8 are to elect 6 more out of the 6 remaining from the 12 sent by the mysteries, added to 12 burgesses elected by 15, elected by the 15 trades which are not mysteries ! Thus we have seven elections before the actual election !

But if we look narrowly at the composition of the electors, we shall see that it is only a very grave contrivance to give an appearace of independence to an election which is only a solemn mockery. The election of a mayor and officers one would conceive should reside in the majority of the freemen, but in this case the election is in the corporation themselves, and the best part of the joke is, that the freemen are themselves made acces sary to giving up their power out of their own hands. — The twenty-four elect four aldermen, not four who are to become aldermen, but four old aldermen, these four elect seven old aldermen, and a sheriff. From this time forward the whole ofthe election is in the hands of the corporation. These eleven aldermen and the sheriff (and they have ge nerally common cause) have to elect six.

They will of course elect six who are most friendly to themselves and their cause, but if in the twelve they have to chuse from there should not be six such as they hke, when they have added to their number six of any sentiments, no matter how independent, the eleven aldermen and sheriff are the majority over the six, and it would go hard if out of the eighteen they have next to chuse from they could not get six to suit their own sentiments and interests. If, then, they get six, there are eighteen on one side out of twenty four, which is only a disguise for self-election, a disguise so thin that any body may see through it. Some may say that the mysteries might send 12 independent men, and the 15 trades might send 15 independent men, who might elect 12 independent men ; but there is such a mighty odds that any of these mights ever come to be fulfilled, that we must regard it as even less likely to happen than that the house of commons should be inde pendent with all the placemen, pensioners, seat-sellers, and seat-buyers, and other devourers of good things, which it contains.

This will be more completely seen when it is remembered (as I have already implied) that out of the 24 mystery men and burgesses that come before them, the aldermen need not care a straw for 18 independent per sons, if there are only 6 that will serve their ends ! I find my paper is full, so that I must reserve the account of the fun I intended to describe till my next letter. I am, dear Dick, TIM. TUNBELLY.

Letter II

Michaelmas Monday, 1821. — Haste qf Corporate Officers to leave the Guildhall for tfa Election Room. — Four Electors slighting the order to attend the Election. — Search after Forster Angus, one ofthe Electors, <$rc. Dear Dice, Oct. 23, 1821. I come now to speak of what passed at the last election of the public officers of this town. I believe it has been usual for the mayor, &c. to come out from the mayor's chamber into the open court of the Guildhall, about 3 r. m. on the day of election. In that court are commonly assembled thenabouts the stewards of the companies, in order that they may learn what are the receipts and expen diture of the town's purse. Whether this year there were some larger items in the account than ordinary, or whether it was thought that showing the account, was far too radical a practice to be followed by so loyal a corporation, I know not, but it is an undoubted fact that the mayor (George Forster, e.sq.) and his usual accompaniments proceeded be fore the usual time to the Spites, where the elections are held — and the worthy representatives of the freemen found an empty court — they were a parliament without a subject on which to debate.

The book of delectable matters which they have so often delighted to scan with the correcting eye, and to turn over with the finger of frugality, was gone — the corporation auditors were gone ; — some that had well prepared a few smooth periods on the expenses of celebrating the coronation, sighed and were silent>~some took snuff and looked indignant — and some others held up their hands, as if this were a certain though a tacit acknowledgement of corporate extravagance. They saw the accounts, however, at last, but of what they espied therein I must discourse at length in time to come. As the mayor and other officers had left the chamber sooner than was proper, it will be readily believed that they arrived at the Spitai sooner than was common. When they reached that place, some surprise was expressed that the electors were not ready, and messengers were dispatch ed to all parts to bring in those who had not been quite so post-haste in their speed to the election as the higher per sonages.

A great search, and for some time a vain one, was made, especially after four of the electors. At length, f 6 THE LETTERS OF one came in. The mayor, frowningly, and with a coun tenance more in anger than in sorrow, strongly reproved such conduct. The poor fellow grumbled out something intended for an apology, and after some little grumbling on the other side, all parties were reconciled as iar as con cerned him. After waiting some time longer, in comes a second. The mayor, with the lowering brow of official displeasure, rated the negligence of the absentee, and im plied that he should certainly feel himself bound to dis franchise any who should continue to put such a slight upon the dignity of the town elections. The power of disfranchisement is given by the charter of James in case of a neglect of this kind, but it is strongly doubted whe ther the mayor has it in his power to do by charter what the parliament themselves consider one of the most doubt ful of their powers.

Then, after waiting longer still, ano ther elector found his way to tlie place of his duty. After the explanation which I gave you in my last, of the man ner of town elections, it may not seem quite so remarkable as it otherwise would have done, that these men should not be very eager about the business. But the reason of their remissness is evidently their consciousness that there is something farcical in what they have to do. Indeed, if the farce were profitable, there is every likelihood that they would gladly be present even before the time — but mum —I must not go any farther on that topic, lest somebody put on the cap that should not, and afterwards swear that I put it on for him. Messenger after messenger, serjeant after serjeant, sought the other elector (Forster Angus, skinner) who was missing.

It was whispered (Oh fye !) that he would be discovered in some alehouse. The serjeants are said to have instantly posted off with admirable alacrity upon this search : still he was not to be found. After some minutes anxious waiting for his appearance, one of the serjeants said, he and the rest had been in every alehouse in town, and could not find him, though he had succeeded in getting a glass or two of excel. lent beer. — One of the aldermen, on hearing this, whispered slily to a friend next him: — " Then at that rate he must have been very near where he was." At last this elector found his way to the place of election. He wasplenus mero, or what one may as classically denominate, full of nappy. The mayor used his threats of disfranchisement towards him likewise, but he was mayor-proof; — another pint would have had a thousand times the effect of all the disfranchisements in the world.

The elections were about to proceed, when Mr Joseph Clark, (a gentleman well known for his former eminent ser vices connected with the expenditure of the corporation*) hinted the propriety of a consultation before they went any farther. There is undoubtedly a consultation mentioned in the charter, and if it were for nothing else, a consultation would be more decent — it would have a greater appearance of independence. But the oddest part of the business was the way in which this proposition from Mr Clark was re ceived. One elector said there was no occasion for a con sultation; another said, "Oh! we have consulted alrea dy ;" and another asked, if it had been tlie practice to hold any other consultation than they had held that day, which was none at all. It was replied to him, that they had not • Mr Joseph Clark was presented (Dec.

I3th, 1809,) with a silver cup and other articles of plate to the value of £90. for his services to the freemen of Newcastle, but no sooner was the plate received than he turned his back on his brethren, left off attending the Court of Guild ! - advocated the with holding of the corporation accounts 1 !— forgot the hospitals and their in mates ! ! I and last of all, defended the magistrates in their secret ser vices ! 1 ! I Ail this, however, was for very weighty reasons. He opened shop as a stationer, and, as Dan Dixon said, got a wafer put into his mouth — in short, he took the corporation sacrament. THE LETTEBS OF been in the practice of holding any other ; so that after a few more ineffectual hints as to the utility of consulting, from Mr Clark, the conversation dropped — the law of practice, or the common law of the corporation, being al lowed to carry the day against the law of charter, or the statute law of the corporation — a matter at any rate con trary to the general custom of the courts.

The elections then began, — the mayor proposing Au bone Surtees, Esq. to be mayor for the year ensuing. — The next elector said " the same,11 meaning that he agreed in the nomination — the next said " the same,11 and so they proceeded to the end, with this exception, that when they had gotten about half way through the votes, some free man in the place exclaimed, " Tommy Turnbull to be mayor," to which an elector said "the same," and the next " the same," &c. meaning the same as the mayor had no minated. The effect of this was truly ludicrous. But I should not forget to mention that when the mayor was put in nomination, a drunken personage of a freeman made some objection to the person proposed. On this the town clerk asked liim whether he wished to nominate any other person, and the man instantly proposed himself!

It would hardly have been worth notice that such a thing occurred, if the same man had not also put himself in nomination for the office of recorder ! After the other officers had been chosen, the town-clerk, with that pleasing urba nity of manner for which he has always been distinguish ed, addressing himself to the drunken freeman above-men tioned, observed : — ■■■- Now there is the office of hangman to the corporation, Mr , do you wish to be put in nomi nation for that." " Oh ! yes," exclaimed our worthy, in a mixed extasy of fun and good liquor, " any office under the corporation !" The length of time the mayor, &c. had to wait for th« stray electors, caused a rumour about the town that there was an opposition to the new mayor, a thing that we all know to be extremely unlikely to happen.

In consequence a crowd was gathered about the Spitai gates, who went away disappointed, after all was over. If they had known the mode of election which I described to you in my last, it would be extremely odd if they had gathered there. — When any such business as an opposition mayor comes to be proposed, all that I have to say is, with Johnny Gilpin. " may I be there to see." I am, dear Dick, TIM. TUNBELLY. S*M*<

Letter III

The Election qf Chamberlains, Sergeants at Mace, $c. Ssc. — The Trinity House. — With a touch at the nature ofthe Newcastle Juries, composed principally qf Barbers, Tailors, and the like. Dear Dick, Oct. 30, 1821. I have almost finished my observations upon the elections at present, though it will not be long before I resume them. There are in almost all corporate towns a number of abuses which every person connected with the corporation would deny, and prove to be no abuses at all. You will observe by a copy of the charter of James which I sent you yesterday,* that the chamberlains, serjeants at mace, &c. &c. are elected for one whole year. Now, the cham berlains are eight,+ and they are elected from amongst the * This charter has been sent privately, as it does not appear in the cor respondence. + The eight chamberlains are elected on Michaelmas Monday, with the other corporate officers, but they are actually appointed some weeks before ■ burgesses.

How then, I ask, do these chamberlains come to fill their offices every third or fourth year, or at the end of some such period ? With respect to the sergeants at mace, I ask how they came to be as nearly perpetual of ficers as may be ? I may be answered, these chamber lains, serjeants, &c. know the duty well, which strangers coming in Would never be able to fulfil. As to the ser jeants1 places, I do not so much care about them ; but I know there are some pickings about the office of a cham berlain, and if these triennial fellows come to do their duty well, I know some who would be very glad to have the chance of a trial to do their duty better. I have some other election matters on which to speak, but I shall drop these till the next time you hear from me. I may have some wonderful things to tell you, particularly about electing little boys to be elder brethren of the Trinity-House, and such like, but of that by-and-by.

Our juries at Newcastle are strangely managed. Pack ing is sometimes too good a word for them. I do not be lieve that they are even fairly packed. I know some free men who have been twelve or thirteen years without ever receiving a juror's summons, and I know them to be men of sense and respectability. But then they happen to be on the wrong side in polities ; for, on the other, I can point out four and five of a family that get summonses very of ten. There is one thing connected with the Newcastle jiuries which I think inexplicable. There are far mere barbers and tailors in these juries than men of any other trade — so much does this prevail, that I should not won der if some traveller in England does not enter upon his that time. The practice is to allow the new mayor to appoint four; the old mayor, one * the senior alderman, one ; and the two members for the town, each one.

This abuse of an election surely demands, and that right hear tily, the hand of reformation. H. M. TIM. TUJJJPU..T. journal: " Mem.-r- The juries in Newcastle formed of barbers and tailors — supposed reason of this, that the cobblers who made up the former juries were far to strongly inclined to politics !" I suppose that the real reason of this is, that it is thought the barbers, when once set on a case, will look sharply into it, and that the tailors will go thorough stitch with the business. It is conceived that the tailors are by far the most valuable ofthe corporate body, as they have been so much accustomed to sit out a suit, that when they have an obstreperous, or as they call it, ob stropolus, fellow to deal with, they most patiently wait till they have smoothed him down — in other words, till they have got him to vote with them, or, as they would say, till they have caused him to cut his coat according to their cloth.

I am obliged by an engagement to cut this epistle suddenly short, so that in fact you have here only a jacket of a letter; but I shall make amends in my next, when I mean to give some anecdotes of juries, and parti cularly to notice a great corporation abuse of Newcastle, the river jury. For river purposes there is an enormous sum voted every year for doing what is vulgarly, but em phatically, called, " next to nothing." I am, dear Dick, TIM. TUNBELLY.

Letter IV

Sevenue ofthe Corporation from the River. — River Jury. — Tltœ Tyne. — The King's Meadows. — Mr Rennie\ Survey. — Plan for cleansing a River. — Short Notice ofthe Corporation Accounts. Dear Dick, Nov. 6, 182L I told you there was a considerable sum received by the corporation from the river, which got little or no improvement in return. That sum is near i? 19,000.* One would think there was a kind of obligation upon the corporate body to see some service done to the river for so large an income. But if the corporation should say (as I know some will be ready so to deliver themselves,) that they have a right to this money without doing any thing for it — I ask why do they keep a river jury ? Why have they a set of men appointed to conserve the river — for I conceive they ought to be hke the Thames conservators ?

And why, I may ask, is this jury so composed that only two or three of them know any better how to conserve the navi gation than they know how to navigate a ship to New Zea land ? If we have a river jury, why do they do nothing ', if the river jury do nothing, why do they exist at all ? — The Tyne is one of those rivers which are full of shifting sands, and continually changing and rising shallows. — There is indeed an island amongst certain fields in tlie river, called the King's Meadows, which has within a few years been completely formed by the alteration of the stream, and there are trees upon it, and every year the proper authorities get a good crop of hay from it. As another proof of the changeableness of the river, I may mention that on the south side of the King's Meadows, al most all the way from the Derwent to the Team, (places well known to persons acquainted with the river,) there is at low tide, little but a continuation of dry ground; where as on the north side, the stream is now regular and deep during all times of tide, though some years ago, sail the * The corporation received from the river in 1818, A'20,435 9 6i 1S19, 19,042 12 10 1820, 20,411 13 0 1821, 18,867 8 6 1822, 19,148 6 7 M.P. depth of the tide was on the south side and all the shallows on the north.

The late much-respected Mr Rennie was employed (I suppose in consequence of the incapacity of the river jury) to make surveys* of the river, and I believe he recommended, as a means of making the sands more steady, the erection of anumberof quaysfrom .some distance, to be fixed either at or above bridge, to the ocean. He gave his opinion, got his money, the river jury did nothing, and nothing farther was done by any body. In truth, I think a long quay from the bridge to Shields would be an incon venience, from the probable increase which would be given to the rapidity of the stream. The following plan for clearing a river (read at the Cork Literary and Philoso phical Society, on May 3, 1820,) may be worth the attention of the river jury, or the corporation, who may per haps some day or other (I can't guess how far distant) think seriously of setting them to work : — A large re ceiver, open at one end, is to be laid on the bed of the river, provided with chains united at a ring, that it may be equally suspended from a fixed point.

When the tide is out, this can be filled with gravel; and when the tide returns sufficient to allow a broad, flat-bottomed boat, provided with a hook in the centre of the bottom, to float over it, the ring of the receiver is to be put on the hook. The person who does this is to get into the boat and wait the further rise of the tide. As the tide rises, the buoyancy of the boat will raise a weight of gravel that would in ordinary circumstances 6ink it, provided what contains the weight be equally suspended from the hook. The boat is to be propelled out of the channel of the river to any place • Mr Rennie had all the benefit of the survey made by Mr Nicholas Giles, in 1813, of the soundings and sections, when he reported upon the state of the Tyne in 1816, for which the corporation paid Mr Giles, in 1818, the sum of £1513. 5s. lOd.

L. TKE LETTERS OF most convenient for depositing -the gravel, and by .pulling a rope attached to the closed end of the receiver, the person in the boat can cause it to sink down and go out ofthe open end. When fine sand is to /be conveyed, a plan may be formed of putting a door upon the open ead.* Now, how easy would itbefor men to be employed in this, instead of starving, whenever a time of distress comes on; — nay, how easy would it be to employ in such occupations, men convicted of crimes, instead of sending them, perhaps useless ly, and certainly at great expense, to the Hulks, or dooming them to imprisonments from which no reformation can result? Indeed, rather than suffer -the river to remain as it is, such men might be employed at low tide to throw into carts, to .be conveyed away as rubbish, caeven as manure, many of the shallows in which the Tyne abounds ; and this without any machine but the shovels and the carts them selves.