NORTHUMBERLAND ELECTION BROADSIDE – Election Anecdotes. Nos. 10–12 – Alnwick – 1826

Alnwick: Davison, Printer, [1826].

Single printed broadside. Approximately 21.4 x 25 cm.

Near fine condition. Fold creases. Light age-toning and minor handling wear. Strong and legible throughout.

A rare surviving election broadside from the fiercely contested Northumberland Parliamentary Election of 1826, comprising three short satirical pieces issued as part of a continuing series of “Election Anecdotes”.

The present broadside is particularly notable for the second anecdote, entitled “The Prompter”, which contains one of the more unusual and revealing passages encountered in Northumberland election literature. Referring to a speaker in the House of Commons, the author remarks upon “the whisper of the Black Gentleman at his ear”.

To a modern reader the phrase is striking. In eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century political and literary usage, however, “the Black Gentleman” was a well-established euphemism for the Devil, appearing frequently in newspapers, sermons, political satire, chapbooks, ballads and popular literature. The expression allowed writers to invoke ideas of temptation, corruption, sinister influence or moral compromise without explicitly naming Satan.

In this context, the broadside employs the phrase as a political insult. The implication is that a parliamentary speaker requires prompting not from reason or conviction but from a dark and malign influence whispering guidance into his ear. Such imagery was a familiar weapon in Georgian political controversy, where opponents were often depicted as manipulated by hidden interests, corrupt advisers or diabolical influences.

The anecdote is especially interesting because it demonstrates how election propaganda drew upon a shared vocabulary of folklore, religion and popular culture. The phrase would have been instantly recognised by contemporary readers and understood not literally, but as a satirical suggestion of political manipulation and moral weakness.

The surrounding anecdotes are equally revealing. “The Favours” comments upon the political sympathies of women and the symbolic importance of election colours, whilst “O Deer! What Can the Matter Be?” ridicules reports of incoming voters by comparing them to herds of deer transported to support a political cause. Together they illustrate the inventive humour, sarcasm and local gossip that characterised much election literature during the campaign.

The Northumberland Election of 1826 generated one of the richest bodies of electoral ephemera produced in provincial Britain during the late Georgian era. Songs, handbills, squibs, speeches, dialogues, mock advertisements and anecdotal broadsides were issued in large numbers, though comparatively few survive today.

Davison of Alnwick was among the most important provincial printers in Northumberland and is closely associated with local political, literary and popular printing during the early nineteenth century.

No separate institutional record for this specific item has been traced. While extensive collections of Northumberland election material survive in institutional repositories and archives, no separately catalogued record for this particular broadside has been identified during research.

An engaging and unusual survival of Georgian political satire, distinguished by its memorable reference to “the Black Gentleman” and its vivid illustration of the language, humour and folklore employed in nineteenth-century electoral campaigning.

Condition: Near fine condition. Single-sheet printed broadside. Fold creases. Light age-toning and minor handling wear. Clean and well preserved with a strong impression throughout.

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