1. Mr. Thomas Hawkes, (Tory) 322
2. Sir John Campbell, Knt. (Reformer) 254
----
Majority for Mr. Hawkes 68
In 1832, the year of the great Reform Bill, Campbell, who had
previously been member for Stafford, became member for Dudley. In
reference to this he writes--"What a deliverance from Stafford!
There has been more bribery there than ever, and the new part of the
constituency is worse than the old." And this after the passing of the
Reform Bill! No wonder that every right-thinking man is disgusted with
a system which to a large extent perpetuates this state of things. In
1834 Campbell became Attorney-General, and had to seek re-election. He
was defeated by Major Hawkes. On this he remarks "I was very generously
received by Lord Grey and the Chancellor, but I find that I was blamed
by subordinate members of the Government, who said that I ought to
have carried the seat at any cost. I would sooner have lost my office
and seen the party at once driven from power than have attempted to
corrupt such a constituency. The incipient danger of corruption I find
to arise from publicans and keepers of beer-shops who were electors,
and, without any notion of receiving bribe or voting money, were eager
to have their houses opened with a view to the profit on the sale of
liquor, and I fear would be thereby influenced in their votes." This
second extract certainly reveals a better state of things, but also
gives a glimpse of much that still remains to be remedied.
In 1835, Dudley was doomed to have another election. A Captain Forbes
offered his feeble services, and he was floated by the Reformers amid
many fears and doubts, because it was fully understood that Mr. Thomas
Hawkes was again to run the Tory ticket _against all comers_, and by
the hard exertions of his friends, and the personal regard in which he
was held by the townspeople, he was returned the second time M.P. for
Dudley.
1. Mr. Thomas Hawkes, Tory 327
2. Captain Forbes, Reformer 250
----
Majority for Mr. Hawkes 77
The spirit of Reform, branching out into every thing we had to deal
with, awakened in this borough a lively sense of its own backwardness
and commercial ease and security. The neighbouring hamlets and villages
were beginning to show signs of much vitality; new coal mines were
opened out; new iron works erected; branches, or arms, of our canal
routes were extended, and a great impetus was given to the development
of the coal and iron trades in every direction. The shops and shop
windows in _our then_ narrow Market Place began to look antediluvian,
weird, and shabby; thus a spirit of rebuilding and renovation set in,
and many of our old familiar shops began to change faces. The increase
of gas lamps in our main streets and an improved effort made by the
Town Commissioners to better our bye-ways and highways, all tended to
convince the occasional visitor to Dudley that the old Dudley town had
caught the flame of Reform and regeneration and was going ahead in
progress and civilisation. The old Middle Row of shops and dwelling
houses had long been deemed a nuisance and an encumbrance on the
ground, and strenuous, and ultimately successful, efforts were made by
both the inhabitants and those _then_ high in authority to pull down
and remove the same, resulting in giving Dudley the largest and most
commodious Market Place in the County.
1835. May 14th. This day and night, a violent and boisterous snow storm
visited this town and neighbourhood; the snow remained on the ground
for some days, the thermometer standing at 30 degrees. Great damage was
done to the buildings, grass lands, and gardens, and the like severe
weather had not been witnessed before by the oldest inhabitants.
Died, October 1st, 1835, Rev. Luke Booker, M.A., LL.D., many years
vicar of the valuable living of St. Thomas's, the Parish Church of
Dudley. Aged 73 years.
Dr. Booker came to Dudley as a young curate of great promise, and
was for some time the Incumbent of St. Edmund's Church. On the death
of the Rev. Doctor Cartwright, M.A., the then vicar, his friend and
patron, the good Viscount Dudley and Ward, presented Dr. Booker to the
living of St. Thomas, and a long life friendship existed between him
and his noble patron. Dr. Booker was a gentleman of great classical
learning and erudition, and being favoured with a commanding person,
his appearance both in and out of the pulpit always commanded attention
and respect. He was a sound theological preacher, exercising great
energy and zeal, and secured a large share of church attendants. He
contributed largely as a writer to many of the leading Christian
periodicals of the day; and his firm adhesion to the national
principles of Church and State, made him at all times a powerful
and welcome advocate on the platform. In politics the Doctor was a
pronounced Tory, and at times his persistent interference in political
questions did not add to his dignified position as Vicar of Dudley.
He was also a poet of considerable beauty of thought and enunciation,
a few remains of which are still extant; he also published an History
of Dudley Castle and the genealogy of the noble owners. Among the
varied remarkable acts that he did was to write a voluminous social and
political Diary of the leading events of Dudley and its people in his
day, which he did not live to put in print.
Dr. Booker was a great favourite amongst the weaker sex, for he
embraced the privilege of leading _four blushing brides_ to the
hymeneal altar during his long and excitable life. The unhappy drawback
in the Doctor's character was the thorough hatred of Dissenters, and
his unswerving abhorrence of all Reformers and Radicals, to whom he
ascribed all kinds of inconceivable mischief against King, Lords and
Church, by their _unlawful machinations_ at the time of the Great
Reform Agitation to obtain their political freedom. The Rev. Doctor was
the main motive power in the destruction of the commodious and historic
Old St. Thomas's Church, and the erection of the present handsome
Gothic Parish Church, at a cost of upwards of £20,000. Great opposition
was raised by the Parishioners at this time to the demolition of
their Parish Church, which was known to be quite large enough for its
audience, and which might have been restored to answer all parochial
purposes at a much less cost.
The laying of the foundation stone of this new church took place on
October 25th, 1816, by the Bishop of Worcester, (The Right Rev. Dr.
Folliott,) occasioned an immense Public Procession of School Children,
Clergymen, Merchants, Shopkeepers and Inhabitants of the town and
neighbourhood, with the Reverend Doctor at their head, which presented
such a motley group, as to become a subject of much comment and
ridicule by some of the witnesses of that vainglorious ceremony.
The following amusing description of the procession by an eye-witness,
who happened to be on a visit to Dudley at the time, will repay a
perusal.
THE PROCESSION AND THE BELLS, OR THE RIVAL POETS, INSCRIBED TO
THE INHABITANTS OF DUDLEY.