The 1841 south Durham election

Abstract

This study of the election held in the constituency of South Durham in 1841, is based on the records of the Strathmore family, supplemented by the Londonderry manuscripts, the Pease papers and local newspapers. It examines the North-eastern and National background to the election, the issues at stake and the organisation and expenses involved in the election campaign of one of the candidates, John Bowes. An attempt is also made to analyse the voting behaviour of electors in the rural areas and towns and to assess the relative importance of influence, opinion, occupation, wealth, party and malpractice in voting. The conclusions reached are that the politics of influence continued to dominate this constituency despite the existence of a floating vote, open to enticement and the emergence of the exercise of opinion in voting, and that local factors, rather than national issues, were decisive in the final result.