Rejected Votes, Rejected Voters: Who couldn’t vote in late eighteenth century local elections?
When the Returning Officer scrutinised the votes cast at the poll he examined whether the people voting were actually eligible to vote in the Newcastle local elections. Voting rights were very restrictive ...
Rioting in Newcastle
A number of letters were found amongst the papers of Sir John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower (1694-1754) relating to the family’s estates and associates in Staffordshire and Shropshire written during the ...
Running an Election Campaign in the 1790s: Mr. Massey’s Accounts for the Newcastle Election, 1790
Mr. Massey was an election agent working for Gower and Macdonald in the Newcastle election campaign of 1790. His detailed accounts for the election expenses tell us how an election campaign was organised ...
Shock and Controversy: Gower Quits!
The letters sent to Lord Gower - George Granville Leveson-Gower (1721-1833), Marquis of Stafford, - by people declining to support him at the Staffordshire Election suggest that the countywide popularity ...
The Battle of Hopton Heath, Staffordshire
Amongst the correspondence of Sir Richard Leveson is an account of the famous battle of Hopton Heath which took place on 19th March 1643. This battle was extremely important for Staffordshire’s Royalist ...
The Duke of Sutherland and Education in North Staffordshire
In October 1905 the fourth Duke of Sutherland, Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1851-1913) wrote to the Chairman of the Education Committee for Staffordshire County Council with a generous offer involving ...
The Duke of Sutherland and the Federation of the Six Towns
From as early as the eighteenth century ideas of uniting the six North Staffordshire towns of Stoke-upon-Trent, Longton, Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, and Tunstall had been considered by North Staffordshire ...
The Duke of Sutherland and the Pollution of the River Trent
The Sutherland family were extremely concerned about the pollution to the River Trent which was caused by sewage from the Potteries towns. An article from the Staffordshire Sentinel on January 11th 1908 ...
The First World War in the Newspapers: Millicent's Scrapbook
Amongst Duchess Millicent's papers is a large scrapbook of newspaper cuttings from August to November 1914, relating to events during the first months of the First World War. The scrapbook includes articles, ...
The General Election at Lichfield, 1761
In 1761 Thomas Anson and Hugo Meynell stood as the Gower-Anson party candidates to represent Lichfield at the General Election.
Although the Gower-Anson party hoped to stand without opposition, rumours ...
The Mansion House Committee & Ireland
In addition to his involvement with the Stafford House Committee, George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1828-1892), the third Duke of Sutherland, was president of a number of committees formed ...
The Mansion House Committee and the Controversy over Corn
Many of the newspaper cuttings and booklets relating to England’s food supply concern imported Corn, particularly the ‘abolition of registration fees on imported corn’.
One document from the Leicestershire ...
The Millicent Sutherland Ambulance Car Convoy & Winston Churchill
When the town of Namur where the Millicent Sutherland Ambulance Unit was based was invaded and occupied by German troops, Millie returned to England and set about organising a Unit to transport wounded ...
The Sutherland Papers and Civil War Politics
The Sutherland Papers include a copy of the Petition sent by the House of Lords and the House of Commons to the King on 8th September 1642.
Written just after the outbreak of war, the Petition featured ...
The Sutherland Papers and Royalist Propaganda
When reading documents in the Sutherland Papers as sources reporting events from the Civil War, it is important to examine the way in which they are written.
Accounts in the collection are primarily ...
The Sutherland Papers and the Outbreak of War
The opening stages of the Civil War produced many documents providing an insight into military preparations. The Sutherland Papers include examples of these documents including letters from King Charles ...
Thomas Gilbert and Election Campaigns in Lichfield
Thomas Gilbert’s Letter to Lord Gower, 25th December 1754: Election Expenses
Thomas Gilbert was a land agent who worked for the Leveson-Gower family. Gilbert became responsible for managing the Gower ...
Thomas Gilbert Letter, 28th December 1754 : The Local Election, December 1754
As the Lichfield Election Campaign for the December 1754 election got underway, Gilbert wrote a letter to Earl Gower reporting on the Gower-Anson party’s Election Campaign. Gilbert had been attending ...