Letter – Henry Richmond to Earl of Darlington – 12 Jun 1761

To the Rt. Hon[oura]ble the Earl of Darlington at Raby Castle              Newcastle 12 June 1761

My Lord      

On the otherside is the form of the poll book printing by Thompson & Co for S[i]r Thos. Clavering; wch, as it was given me in confidence not to prejudice the person who gave it me your Lords[hi]p will please to keep as private as you can. I am assured it will be a month or more before it can be finished & therefore think it may be as well to let them proceed for one week more before Mr Vane & Mr Shafto advertise, lest he sho[ul]d delay his impression in hopes offering their poll book abroad first. But shall in White’s next weeks paper if your Lords[hi]p does not order otherwise, take care to get an advertisem[en]t inserted in the manner you have sent it me; for White cannot safely make a paragraph of news of it, but of the following he can, if your L[or]ds[hi]p think it right to be so particular. Viz. “ we hear that Mr Vane & Mr Shafto intend soon to have the poll printed<of names> taken at the last general Election for the County of Durham” only Chester Ward is as yet sent to the press with orders to print no more than 1000 copies of it; & Mr Vane’s & Mr Shafto’s Agents sho[ul]d observe the same method of sending one ward as soon as they have finished it; because so many Letters of the same sort occur in this kind of work that the whole no. of copies for each ward sho[ul]d be printed off & the press taken to pieces, or else they will not have  Type sufficient to go on. So it sho[ul]d be considered wch ward sho[ul]d stand first in the book. P.S. your L[or]ds[hi]p will see that Sir Thos. admits only his single votes among the constellations. I am my Lord your Lordship’s most obed[ien]t hble servant HR



[There follows a sample of the Poll Book layout for Chester Ward referred to in the letter, the contents of which are as follows, though not in the tabular form as drawn in the original. V = Vane, S = Shato, C = Clavering]



Poll No C 156 Tho Atkinson FO of W Boldon voting for lands at same, occupied by himself,voted for Clavering

Poll No V 144, S 133 Jno Almond of Framwelgate, voting for house at same, occupied by himself 

Poll No V 151, C 167 Jno Anderson of Gateshead, voting for houses at same, occupied by himself & others 

Poll No C 263 Jno Andrews of Scots House voting for houses and land at Gateshead, occupied by Wm Methuen, voted for Clavering

Poll No C 294 Thos Anderson of Gateshead, voting for houses at same, occupied by himself & others, voted for Clavering

Poll No C 514 Chas Alder of <Moton fence Ho> Gateshead, voting for an annuity at Whittle, voted for Clavering



At the end of each ward the no. of the freeholders therein is to be put down, & at the end of the Book is to be a List of all votes rejected without marking what side they were for