 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2013) |
Roger Thornton (died 1430), the Dick Whittington of Newcastle, seems to have been a country boy who sought his fortune in town. He lived to become 'the richest merchant that ever was dwelling in Newcastell', and three times mayor of that town.
The old saying was:
He was elected Mayor of Newcastle for 1400–01, 1402–1406, 1416–17 and 1423–1426, a total of 9 times. [1]
He took the side of Henry IV against the rebel Earl of Northumberland (in whose cause Hotspur had fallen) and received on 28 July 1405 "in consideration of his services and of the losses he had sustained, and the charges he had borne in the late rebellion of the Earl of Northumberland, and others, the Foucher (Fugar) House in Whickham, as well as other estates in Cleveland."
He represented Newcastle upon Tyne in parliament in 1399, 1411, 1417 and 1419, the last being the fifth year of the reign of Henry V. [1]
Thornton was a speculator in lead mines, and he was certainly working some in Weardale under lease from the Bishop of Durham in 1401. He was remembered for his liberality to Newcastle, building a town court and also a Maison Dieu or hospital for poor people in the Sandhill.
Thornton died in the Broad Chare in Newcastle on 3 January 1430. [2] His monumental brass, of the incised, Flemish type, is now in Newcastle Cathedral, and is said to be the largest brass in the country. It was originally installed in the medieval All Saints' Church, Newcastle upon Tyne nearby, which was later demolished and rebuilt. The brass is certainly one of the finest; Thornton's seven sons and seven daughters appear below the principal figures. Thornton's is one of the four effigies of Northumberland worthies above 43–45 Northumberland Street in Newcastle.
Newcastle Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, is a Church of England cathedral in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Newcastle and is the mother church of the Diocese of Newcastle.
Sir William Blackett, 1st Baronet was a landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons in three periods between 1685 and 1705.
Sir William Blackett, 2nd Baronet of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Wallington Hall, Northumberland, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1710 to 1728.
Sir Walter Calverley Blackett, 2nd Baronet was a British baronet and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1777.
Thomas Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, known as Sir Thomas Liddell, 6th Baronet, from 1791 to 1821, was a British peer and Tory politician.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a parliamentary borough in the county of Northumberland of the House of Commons of England from 1283 to 1706, then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), elected by the bloc vote system.
Sir Matthew White Ridley, 2nd Baronet, was a Northumbrian landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1768 and 1812.
The Ogle family were prominent landed gentry in Northumberland, England. The earliest appearances of the family name were written Hoggel, Oggehill, Ogille and Oghill.
All Saints' Church is a late 18th-century church in Lower Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, which replaced a medieval church on the same site. All Saints' Church is the only elliptical church building in England, the third tallest religious building in Newcastle and the ninth-tallest structure in the city overall. It is a Grade I listed building.
Sir Henry Anderson (1582–1659) was an English Royalist landowner and politician who represented Newcastle-upon-Tyne once as Mayor and twice as MP in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1643 and was also High Sheriff of Northumberland.
John Clarke, DL, JP was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1670 to 1675.
Sir John Swinburne, 6th Baronet was an English politician and patron of the arts.
John Watson, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was an English politician.
Cuthbert Horsley, of Horsley, Northumberland, was an English politician.
Sir John Marley or Marlay (1590–1673) was an English merchant, military commander and politician of the seventeenth century. He is best remembered for his heroic defence of Newcastle upon Tyne during the English Civil War, when he held the town for seven months against a besieging army on behalf of King Charles I. In poverty and desperation, he later betrayed the Royalist cause which he had served so loyally, and as a result, to the end of his life, he was reviled by many of his former comrades as a traitor.
Nicholas Fenwick of Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Lemington, Northumberland was a British Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1747.
Robert Swinburne, of Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, was an English merchant. He was a Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne in April 1414 and 1426.
Henry Anderson was an English landowner and politician who was elected to represent Newcastle-upon-Tyne once as Sheriff, three times as Mayor, and four times as MP in the House of Commons between 1584 and 1593 and was also Sheriff of Northumberland.
Henry Anderson was an English politician who represented Newcastle-upon-Tyne and served once as Sheriff, as Mayor four times, was elected to the House of Commons in the Reformation Parliament in 1529, and was the first Governor of the Merchant Adventurers of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Matthew Ridley, of Heaton, Northumberland, was a barrister, country gentleman, brewer, coal magnate, owner of glass-works, and governor of a company of merchant adventurers in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was four times mayor of the borough and from 1747 to 1774 also represented it as a member of parliament in the House of Commons.
 | This English business-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This article about a 14th-century Member of the Parliament of England is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a mayor in England is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |