NORTHUMBERLAND ELECTION BROADSIDE – Fishermen Wanted – Northumberland Election Broadside – Alnwick – 20 June 1826

Alnwick: Davison, Printer, 20 June 1826.

Single printed broadside. Folio. Approximately 28.4 x 22.8 cm.

A rare and highly entertaining satirical broadside issued during the celebrated Northumberland Parliamentary election of 1826, one of the most fiercely contested county elections of the Georgian period.

Printed in bold display type, the broadside announces that “upwards of 400 able-bodied fishermen” are wanted during the election to replace a “Band of Fishermen” allegedly summoned from their usual work on the eastern coast to attend on behalf of Lord Howick. The text accuses Howick’s supporters of importing men from coastal communities for electioneering purposes and sarcastically states that they are required to teach the freeholders of Northumberland “good manners”.

The broadside further attacks the “Durham M.P.”, almost certainly John George Lambton, later 1st Earl of Durham, a leading reform politician and prominent ally of the Grey interest. Lambton was one of the most influential radical Whig figures in northern politics and became closely associated with parliamentary reform. His involvement in the Northumberland election was highly controversial and formed the subject of numerous printed attacks.

The reference to Lambton forgetting his “motion” in Parliament because of the overpowering smell of “Michael’s Dinner” belongs to the dense, highly localised satire of the campaign. Such allusions would have been immediately understood by contemporary readers familiar with the personalities, speeches, dinners, meetings and factional rivalries of the election.

Particularly notable is the broadside’s exploitation of occupational and class imagery. Fishermen are represented both as a mobilised political crowd and as a comic body of outside influence brought into the county contest. The exaggerated demand for “400 able-bodied fishermen” turns the language of public recruitment notices into a weapon of political ridicule.

The concluding verse reinforces the satirical attack, presenting Lambton as the “Master of the Clan” and mocking the colours associated with rival election factions:

“Blue and Yellow, Blue and Yellow.”

The Northumberland election of 1826 generated an extraordinary body of political print, including addresses, committee notices, handbills, songs, squibs, broadsides and satirical verses. The present example is especially appealing because of its bold typography, comic force, references to coastal labour, and direct attack upon both Howick and Lambton.

No separate institutional record for this specific item has been traced. While related Northumberland election material survives in institutional collections and the Grey family papers are held at Durham University, no separate catalogue record for this exact broadside has been identified during research.

A scarce and highly displayable survival from the political theatre of the 1826 Northumberland election, combining electoral satire, local rivalry, coastal labour references and attacks on two major figures in northern Whig politics.

Condition: Near fine condition. Single-sheet printed broadside. Fold creases. Light handling wear and minor edge creasing. Strong, clear impression throughout. A particularly attractive example of Georgian election ephemera.

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