Brandling of Newcastle - 18th and 19th Centuries

18th and 19th Centuries

Charles Brandling (1733–1802) was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1781 and was Member of Parliament for Newcastle 1784–1798. He married Elizabeth Thompson, heiress of Shotton near Peterlee, and built a new mansion house, Shotton Hall, 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 (1769–1826) of Gosforth was Member of Parliament for Newcastle 1798–1812 and for Northumberland 1820–1826. He married Henrietta Armitage, heiress of Middleton, near Rothwell, West Yorkshire. In 1815 he chaired the committee set up to establish the remuneration to be paid to George Stephenson for the invention of the Geordie lamp. 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 who in 1812 converted the wagonway from Brandling's collieries into a rack and pinion steam railway, the Middleton Railway. However 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, Middleton, West Yorkshire.