The Brandlings of Newcastle were a wealthy family of merchants and land and coal owners in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

Tudor and Stuart periods

Sir John Brandling, who was knighted at

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

in 1497 and married Elizabeth Helye of Northumberland, settled in Newcastle where he served as

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

in 1505, and as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

in 1509, 1512, 1516 and 1520. His son, Sir Robert Brandling (died 1568), served as sheriff of Newcastle in 1524 and also as mayor in 1536, 1543, 1547 and 1564. In 1547, whilst mayor, he was knighted by

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (150022 January 1552) (also 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp), also known as Edward Semel, was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour (d. 1537), the third wife of King Henry VI ...

, following the

Battle of Pinkie Cleugh The Battle of Pinkie, also known as the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh ( , ), took place on 10 September 1547 on the banks of the River Esk near Musselburgh, Scotland. The last pitched battle between Scotland and England before the Union of the Cro ...

, in Scotland. He was

Custos Rotulorum of Northumberland This is a list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Northumberland. * Robert Horsley bef. 1547–? * Sir Robert Brandling bef. 1558–1568 * Sir John Forster bef. 1573 – aft. 1594 * Ralph Eure, 3rd Baron Eure 1596&ndash ...

. Another son, Henry Brandling (1515–1578), was Sheriff of Newcastle in 1566 and mayor of the city in 1568, 1575 and 1576. His brother Thomas Brandling (1512–1590) was educated at the newly established Royal Grammar School, and founded the land and coal owning dynasty.

Robert Brandling Robert Brandling (15751636) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1622. Brandling was the son of William Brandling of Felling and Anne Helye, daughter of George Heyle; he was a member of the Brandli ...

(15751636) sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1622. He was the son of William Brandling of Felling and Anne Helye daughter of George Heyle. His son by his first wife, Jane Wortley, Sir

Francis Brandling Sir Francis Brandling (1595 – 1641) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1624 to 1625. He was the son of Robert Brandling of Felling and his wife Jane Wortley, daughter of Francis Wortley of Wortley, West ...

(15951641), sat in the House of Commons from 1624 to 1625. The Brandlings had Catholic sympathies, and during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Robert Brandling (1617–1690) served in the King's army in the rank of Colonel. With the King's fortunes waning, he escaped to Scotland where he remained until after the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

. He avoided sequestration of his estate and returned to England. His brother Roger, however, was killed in battle during the war.

Estates

The family acquired by marriage

Alnwick Abbey Alnwick Abbey was founded as a Premonstratensian monastery in 1147 by Eustace fitz John near Alnwick, England, as a daughter house of Newhouse Abbey in Lincolnshire. It was dissolved in 1535, refounded in 1536 and finally suppressed in 1539. ...

and estates at

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...

, but by 1605 their seat had been established at Felling Hall,

Felling Felling is the process of cutting down trees,"Feller" def. 2. and "Felling", def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009 an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the tree ...

, County Durham. The family fortunes were largely derived from the exploitation of coal reserves under their lands. Coal was worked at Felling from about 1670. The deep mine at Felling Colliery was sunk by the Brandlings in 1779. Their mines were linked to the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

wagonway Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded Steam locomotive, steam-powered rail transport, railways. The t ...

s. A

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

at their Felling Colliery in 1812, when 91 people died, was largely responsible for the pressure to develop a miners' safety lamp. Ironically, Felling Hall fell victim to mining subsidence and had to be demolished. Other estates acquired included Shotton near

Peterlee Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It lies between Sunderland to the north, Hartlepool to the south, the Durham Coast to the east and Durham to the west. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946. The act also create ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, and Middleton near

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

18th and 19th centuries

Charles Brandling (1733–1802) was

High Sheriff of Northumberland This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Northumberland. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries ...

in 1781 and was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

1784–1798. He married Elizabeth Thompson, heiress of Shotton near Peterlee, and built a new mansion house,

Shotton Hall Shotton Hall is a Grade II listed building, formerly a mansion house, now operated by Peterlee Town Council as offices and a conference centre. History The Manor of Shotton, near Peterlee, County Durham, was owned by the Thompson family. In 175 ...

, there in about 1760. He also built a new mansion, to a design by architect Payne, at Gosforth House between 1755 and 1764, and this house became the family seat.

Charles John Brandling Charles John Brandling (4 February 1769 – 1 February 1826) was an English MP and coal owner. He was the son of Charles Brandling (1733–1802) of Gosforth House, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He succeeded his father as MP for Newcastle in 1798, ...

(1769–1826) of Gosforth was

for

1798–1812 and for Northumberland 1820–1826. In 1815 he chaired the committee set up to establish the remuneration to be paid to

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...

for the invention of the

Geordie lamp The Geordie lamp was a safety lamp for use in flammable atmospheres, invented by George Stephenson in 1815 as a miner's lamp to prevent explosions due to firedamp in coal mines. Origin In 1815, Stephenson was the engine-wright at the Killing ...

. His mining interests included Felling, Gosforth (where a deep mine was sunk in 1825), Heworth, Coxlodge, Kenton and Middleton. At Middleton he employed

John Blenkinsop John Blenkinsop (1783 – 22 January 1831) was an English mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive. He was born in Felling, County Durham, the son of a stonemason and was app ...

who in 1812 converted the wagonway from Brandling's collieries into a rack and pinion steam railway, the

Middleton Railway The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway, situated in the English city of Leeds. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway, run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd. since 1960. The rail ...

. He overindulged in coal speculations which led to financial difficulties and the sale of many of the family's estates: Shotton in 1850, and Gosforth and Felling in 1852. Thereafter the family seat was Middleton Lodge in Yorkshire, until the 1860s.

Bibliography

References

{{Reflist

External links

History of Parliament Online, vol. 1509-1558 – Brandling, Robert (by 1498-1568)

History of Parliament Online, vol. 1558-1603 – Brandling, Sir Robert (c. 1490-1568)

History of Parliament Online, vol. 1754-1790 – Brandling, Charles (1733-1802)

History of Parliament Online, vol. 1790-1820 – Brandling, Charles (1733-1802)

History of Parliament Online, vol. 1820-1832 – Brandling, Charles John (1769-1826)
History of Northumberland English families People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne