NORTHUMBERLAND ELECTION – THE HON. H. T. LIDDELL – REQUISITION HAND-BILL CALLING FOR FREEHOLDERS TO NOMINATE HENRY THOMAS LIDDELL – ALNWICK, 11 MARCH 1826

Alnwick: W. Davison, Printer, 11 March 1826.

Single-sheet election handbill.

An exceptionally interesting and apparently unrecorded Northumberland election handbill issued during the dramatic opening stages of the General Election of 1826, calling upon freeholders to support the candidature of Henry Thomas Liddell.

The handbill announces that Liddell has agreed “to obey the Call that has been made upon him” and allow himself to be nominated for the forthcoming election. Freeholders are requested to sign a formal requisition supporting his candidature, with subscription papers available in Newcastle through local solicitors, bankers and commercial premises.

Particularly noteworthy is the document’s highly contemporary and urgent character. Rather than being a retrospective election address or political statement, it records the mechanics of an active campaign in progress. The text further reports that:

“The Hon. H. T. Liddell’s Committee for Alnwick canvassed a part of that Town this evening with unprecedented Success, and intend canvassing the remainder on Monday Morning.”

This provides a rare snapshot of election organisation almost in real time, preserving evidence of canvassing operations, nomination procedures and political mobilisation during one of the most fiercely contested county elections of the late Georgian era.

The 1826 Northumberland election generated an extraordinary volume of printed ephemera, including speeches, addresses, satirical squibs, songs, dialogues and handbills. Many were produced for immediate distribution and discarded shortly afterwards. Documents relating specifically to the practical organisation of a candidate’s campaign are particularly scarce, as they were often intended only for temporary use during the election itself.

The broadside is also significant for illustrating the role of Henry Thomas Liddell, later Baron Ravensworth, whose candidature formed part of the wider political struggle involving Matthew Bell, Thomas Wentworth Beaumont and Lord Howick. The election became one of the defining political contests in Northumberland during the years immediately preceding the Reform Act of 1832.

Institutional collections including the British Library, Northumberland Archives and major university repositories preserve substantial collections of election ephemera. However, I have not located a separately catalogued institutional record for this specific handbill. As with a number of the rarer Northumberland election publications from 1826, examples may survive within larger collections, but the present item does not appear to be properly recorded as a distinct publication.

A rare and important survival documenting the practical machinery of a Georgian parliamentary campaign.

Condition: Very good condition. Fold creases. Light age toning and minor handling wear. Ink notes verso. A well-preserved example.

Date: 11 March 1826
Printer: W. Davison, Alnwick
Place of Publication: Alnwick
Dimensions: 18.3 x 25.7 cm
Format: Single-sheet election handbill

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