LAMBTON, Henry (1697-1761), of Lambton Hall, co. Dur.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

25 Jan. 1734 - 26 June 1761

Family and Education

bap. 9 Nov. 1697, 1st s. of Ralph Lambton of Barnes, co. Dur. by Dorothy, da. and coh. of John Hedworth of Harraton, co. Dur.; bro. of Gen. John Lambton, M.P. educ. Queen’s, Oxf. 1715; L. Inn 1719. unm. suc. fa. 1717; uncle William Lambton, M.P., at Lambton 1724.

Offices Held

Mayor, Hartlepool 1729, 1741, 1753.

Biography

On the death in 1724 of William Lambton, who had represented the county in six Parliaments between 1685 and 1702, his nephew, Henry Lambton, succeeded to an estate which had been held by his ancestors since before the thirteenth century.1 Having also inherited extensive colliery interests, he became active in the coal lobby as the head of the Sunderland coal owners, in which capacity he was described in 1731 as one who ‘will be drawn but not led’.2 After a narrow defeat at a by-election for Durham in 1730, he was returned there unopposed as a Whig at another by-election in January 1734, continuing to represent it till his death. Voting with the Administration in all recorded divisions under Walpole, but absent on the Hanoverians in 1742, 1744 and 1746, he was classed as Old Whig in 1746 and as ‘for’ in 1747. He died 26 June 1761.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

  • 1. Surtees, Durham, ii. 175.
  • 2. E. Hughes, N. Country Life in 18th Cent. 241.