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Gladstone in Newark

"On Thursday September 20 (1832) while I was reading quietly at Torquay Mr Handley and Serjeant Wilde suddenly commenced a Canvass at Newark; both I am informed made haste to be first in the field and the winner in the race I forget which is stated to have succeeded only by ten minutes.

"The Highflyer (York coach) landed me in Newark at midnight on Monday September 24... I had heard much of the extreme violence of Serjeant Wilde's party in Newark and on seeing a man waiting evidently on the look out for me at the Hotel gateway I was in no way inclined to suppose him a friend but thought it at least equally probable that he might be a spy stationed there for any purpose whether of violence or of fraud."

Thus begins William Ewart Gladstone's personal account of A visit to Newark 1832 in which he describes his first political contest in the town as a raw young graduate aged just 22.

It was the first and as we shall see the most exciting of many such battles in a political career that spanned more than 60 years.

Gladstone went on to represent Newark in parliament for 13 years as a Conservative between December 1832 and December 1845 and later rose to become Liberal Prime Minister no less than four times.

His first tentative foray into the world of politics however was made right here in Newark and it is appropriate that in the month which sees the centenary of his death (he died on May 19 1898 his life and career should be commemorated in the town.

Despite all his subsequent triumphs in the world of politics Gladstone always maintained that "The excitement of my first canvass (in Newark) was such as I have never undergone before or since: I never worked harder nor slept so badly."

Political contests in the 1830s were very different from those of today and as is hinted at in the last sentence of Gladstone's quoted manuscript had the potential to be quite violent.

In those days Newark returned two MPs and each elector was entitled to two votes. The voting process meanwhile was anything but the private affair we know today it being commonplace for one's voting habits to be recorded and published for all to see in a so-called 'Poll Book'.

Out of a total population in Newark of about 9 550 only a small proportion (fewer than 1 600 people) were eligible to vote - only men and only those men who were property owners or householders who paid the poor rate (the latter being known as Scot and Lot voters).

Landlords took a keen interest in how their tenants voted and were sometimes prepared to evict people from their homes for "misusing" their vote.

The Dukes of Newcastle - by far the largest property owners in the town and staunch Conservatives - had controlled one of the parliamentary seats in Newark since 1722 and were very much of this tradition: the phrase "no song no supper no votes no houses" had been coined by the 4th Duke in the early 1800s.

In spite of this however in the General Election of 1831 the Duke's candidate (Sir Roger Greisley) had actually lost his seat to the lawyer and radical whig reformer Serjeant Thomas Wilde.

It was Wilde therefore who went on to join the town's other MP William Farnsworth Handley in parliament. Handley a local banker and brewer was supported by Lord Middleton - another large property owner in the town - and in modern parlance may be best described as a Tory 'wet'.

Therefore when a year later in 1832 it became known that there was to be another parliamentary contest in Newark the Duke of Newcastle was more than anxious to field a candidate who could restore his influence in the town.

The 22-year-old Gladstone may appear to have been a strange choice but he came personally recommended to the Duke by his son Lord Lincoln who had known Gladstone at Oxford and seen him deliver a barnstorming anti-Reform speech to the Union.

It was under these circumstances that William Ewart Gladstone arrived in Newark on September 24 1832 The task before him was by no means easy.

His direct opponent Serjeant Wilde was an experienced campaigner and fine platform speaker whose support for parliamentary reform was undoubtedly attractive to much of the electorate at the time.

Gladstone by comparison was almost wholly inexperienced the candidate of a High Tory reactionary and brought with him accusations concerning his father's associations with the slave trade.

Nevertheless establishing his campaign headquarters in rooms at the Clinton Arms hotel in the Market Place Gladstone set about his task of reversing the political character of the town.

The second installment of the story looking at his campaign and the outcome will appear in next week's Advertiser. In compiling this article I am indebted to Mr Peter O'Malley of Southwell for his help and advice.

Extracts from Gladstone's Visit to Newark 1832 are quoted by permission of the British Library.

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