NORTHUMBERLAND ELECTION BROADSIDE – “TWO PUZZLING QUESTIONS TO MR. BEAUMONT” – ALNWICK – 1826

Rare and provocative Northumberland election broadside relating to the celebrated county election contests surrounding Thomas Wentworth Beaumont and the turbulent political culture of Northumberland during the 1820s.

Printed at Alnwick by J. Graham, the broadside reproduces part of a statement issued by T. W. Beaumont from Warren’s Hotel on 19 January 1824, in which Beaumont declared that “Reports concerning me have gained Credit which render me unfit for acting as your Representative” and announced his temporary withdrawal from parliamentary attendance until he had repelled the “infamous Allegations” made against him.

Beneath this reproduced declaration, the anonymous author poses the pointed challenge:

“When were these allegations repelled?
And where?”

The broadside was clearly issued as hostile election propaganda intended to undermine Beaumont’s political standing amongst the “Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders of the County of Northumberland.” Its striking typographical arrangement, with dramatic emphasis upon the concluding rhetorical questions, exemplifies the highly combative and personal nature of Georgian electoral campaigning.

The piece relates closely to the famous and extraordinarily expensive Northumberland election campaigns associated with Lord Howick, Matthew Bell, Henry Thomas Liddell, and Thomas Wentworth Beaumont. These contests generated immense quantities of printed propaganda, public controversy, accusations of corruption and coalition, and ultimately contributed to the bitter political atmosphere that culminated in the well-known duel fought on Bamburgh Sands between Beaumont and John Lambton, later Earl of Durham.

This broadside is particularly interesting for its exploitation of earlier allegations against Beaumont dating from 1824, demonstrating how political reputations and personal controversies could be revived and weaponised during later election struggles. Such survivals provide important evidence for the aggressive rhetorical strategies employed in Georgian county elections.

No institutional copy of this precise broadside has been traced in the British Library, Library Hub Discover, or WorldCat databases and it therefore appears to be apparently unrecorded institutionally.

Single printed broadside. Sheet size approximately 28 x 22 cm.

Condition: Fold lines as issued, light creasing, minor edge wear, and age toning consistent with survival of ephemeral political material. Overall very good.

A scarce and historically significant example of Georgian electoral propaganda from one of the most notorious county elections of the early nineteenth century.

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