John Lambton, First Earl of Durham

British politician and colonial administrator

• Born: April 12, 1792
• Birthplace: London, England
• Died: July 28, 1840
• Place of death: Cowes, Isle of Wight, England

Known as “Radical Jack” for his advanced ideas of parliamentary reform and later appointed governor-general of Canada, Lord Durham wrote a famous report on British North America. Because the report insisted upon British-style responsible government for the colony, it has been regarded as the charter document for the British Commonwealth of Nations.

Early Life

Although John George Lambton’s father, William, died when the child was but five years old, he bequeathed to his son lively intelligence, fierce family pride, and dedication to liberal causes. At his guardian’s insistence, John was not sent away to school in his youth but received private tutoring in math and science and later received his conventional education in Greek and Latin at Eton. Lambton was not a distinguished scholar and stubbornly resisted his guardian’s plans for a university education, preferring instead a commission in the Tenth Hussars, a prestigious cavalry regiment. Equally headstrong in romance, Lambton eloped with Henrietta Cholmondeley in 1812. Finally declared “of age,” he settled with his wife at Lambton Hall in Durham County and was elected to the House of Commons in 1813.

In the Commons, Lambton aligned himself with his father’s old faction, the liberal wing of the Whig Party. As a new M.P., Lambton spoke occasionally for his causes and against the conservative Tory government. Just as he had begun to attract attention, he was struck by a personal tragedy that would become a recurrent nightmare. His young wife lay dead of tuberculosis—a disease that would later claim their three daughters and, eventually, Lambton himself. His health had been and remained precarious following any intellectual or physical exertion. His portraits reveal a handsome man, with dark curls and fine features. His was not a robust beauty, but he possessed enough aristocratic bearing to enforce his presence anywhere.

Lambton considered quitting public life at his wife’s death, but his friend Henry Brougham (with whom he would eventually quarrel) persuaded him to resume his seat in the Commons. Marriage to Lady Louisa Grey on December 9, 1816, brought him more than great personal happiness; the marriage brought him into the inner councils of the Whig Party led by his father-in-law, Earl Grey. Grey saw stern integrity behind the young man’s petulance and violent temper. As a result of his father-in-law’s patronage and forbearance, Lambton was included in the Whig governments of the 1830’s.

Life’s Work

While his party was in opposition, Lambton’s restless energy flitted from the development of the Davy’s safety lantern for his coal miners to educational reform. He inspired acrimonious debate in Parliament and the press when he espoused two highly controversial issues of the decade: parliamentary and colonial reform. In 1821, Lambton introduced legislation to reapportion the seats in the House of Commons and extend the franchise. As a bill without official support, it stood no real chance of passing, but the Tories used political trickery to ensure an especially humiliating defeat. His vindictive outburst when he learned of his bill’s fate earned for Lambton further opprobrium. The press referred to him deprecatingly as “Radical Jack,” “King Jog,” “The Dictator,” and “Robert le Diable.”

Outside the Commons, Lambton gave his name and blessing to the New Zealand Company . Organized by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, it advocated and sponsored emigration. Colonies were not a popular cause during the 1820’s; the loss of America was too fresh for men to appreciate new possibilities for the empire. Most ambitious politicians would have shunned this as a dead issue and Wakefield, a former convict, as an “improper gentleman.” Lambton courageously, if eccentrically, publicly approved of his ideas.

Though King William IV thoroughly despised Lambton and his causes, he created Lambton a Peer of the Realm, Lord Durham, in 1827. His peerage recognized generations of Lambton service to the state, but the Tory press speculated that Baron Durham (as he was then known) had been bribed away from his ideals. During the 1820’s and 1830’s, the press frequently suggested that Lambton would head a third political party comprising radicals, democrats, and popular demagogues. Those who knew him well, however, never doubted his loyalty to Earl Grey and to the Whig Party.

In 1830, the long Tory domination of government was broken, and Earl Grey became prime minister. He appointed Durham Lord Privy Seal and asked his son-in-law to head a committee to draw up a bill for parliamentary reform. No minutes were kept by the committee, so it is impossible to determine each man’s contribution, but the bill they created was much like Durham’s 1821 failure.

The Whig bill proposed to abolish representation of “rotten” and “pocket” boroughs, shift their numbers to the new cities created by the Industrial Revolution, and extend the franchise to every male householder occupying premises worth ten pounds per annum. Though essentially moderate, the bill stirred passionate resistance by those who wished no change in the old, easily managed political system. It drew equally passionate support from those who wished to see the old oligarchical system dead. After a protracted struggle characterized by Tory intransigence, royal wavering, and Grey’s resignation and return to power, the bill passed both houses and received the royal assent in 1832. Known as the Great Reform Bill , it did not bring mob rule to England as its critics feared but did allow the upper-middle classes the vote. Durham would not live to see the other reform bills of 1867 and 1884 that enfranchised most adult males, but his democratic spirit permeated them.

After a distinguished term as ambassador to the court at St. Petersburg (1835-1837), Durham returned home to honors and a great challenge. In 1838, Queen Victoria selected Durham to become a Knight of the Order of the Bath. He scarcely had time to savor his recognition before the new Whig prime minister, Lord Melbourne, requested his service. On March 31, 1838, Durham was commissioned governor-general of Canada and Lord High Commissioner, delegated to study the causes of recent rebellions there. When Durham and his staff, including Wakefield, Charles Buller, and Thomas Turton, arrived in Canada, they discovered the embers of rebellion still smoldering. Despite the fact that Canada was divided into Lower Canada (largely French) and Upper Canada (largely British), the causes of rebellion in both provinces were the same. Rebels in both provinces resented the fact that legislation passed by their elected assemblies could be ignored or defeated by appointed councils. Government, therefore, was by oligarchy, not by popular will.

Durham’s first official act was the Ordinance of July 28, 1838, which freed all but several leaders of the rebels; these eight leaders were exiled to the British colony of Bermuda. The ordinance was welcomed as a generous solution that quickened Canadian hopes for a fair resolution of their grievances. Durham and his staff then set about the laborious process of interviewing disgruntled citizens and studying past policies. In the midst of these efforts, Durham learned that the home government had disallowed his ordinance on technical grounds. His former friend Henry Brougham and others had been undermining his mission since his departure, criticizing its expense, his inclusion of Wakefield and Turton, both of whom had scandalous pasts, and his failure to communicate properly with the Colonial Office. Durham resigned his post, announcing his betrayal to the Canadian press. For this, The Times of London titled him “Lord High Seditioner,” and he returned to England in November under a cloud of suspicion and misunderstanding.

In January, 1839, Durham presented the Melbourne government with his Report on the Affairs of British North America . The “Durham Report,” as it was popularly known, created a stir in Parliament and the press. Its most salient feature was an eloquent plea for the continuation of Great Britain’s connection with Canada but within a new context. According to Durham, Great Britain could build this connection and avoid future rebellions only by granting responsible government to a single executive and legislature in a united Canada. Responsible government meant to Durham that in matters of domestic policy the executive would rule at the pleasure of a majority in the legislature that supported its program. In external or foreign affairs, the British Parliament would remain supreme.

By uniting the two Canadas, Durham believed that the French population would become Anglicized, thereby producing racial harmony. Responsible government was the heart of the Durham Report, though it contains numerous appendixes addressing other specific problems. The British government accepted the suggestion of union and passed a bill to that effect in the spring of 1840. Durham lived to see the bill passed but not long enough to see the evolution of responsible government. He died of tuberculosis on July 28, 1840.

Significance

Lord Durham was a man whose vision of change continuously outdistanced his contemporaries. While he maintained a respect for tradition, he recognized that only those traditions that retained their integrity deserved to survive. He believed deeply that parliamentary government was stable enough to endure change and flexible enough to serve maturing nations. He was a statesman who hated oligarchical control of peoples even though he was born to oligarchic status.

Durham’s greatest contribution to English history rested in his Report on the Affairs of British North America. Though some of his analyses were wrong (the French-Canadian identity would not be extinguished, and the line between internal and external affairs of a colony was vague), Durham’s insistence upon responsible government meant that Canada would have self-government in the same form as it existed in England. It would be Durham’s son-in-law, Lord Elgin, who would, as governor-general of Canada in 1848, first exercise the duties of a responsible executive. When Canada refined its constitution in the British North America Act of 1867, it would insist upon two principles—loyalty to the British Crown and responsible government. Canada led the way for what became the journey of dozens of nations from colony to self-governing dominion. Though Durham’s vision may not have stretched that far into the future, his ideas have been the charter for the British Commonwealth of Nations.

Bibliography

Ajzenstat, Janet. The Political Thought of Lord Durham. Kingston, Ont.: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1987. Ajzenstat uses Durham’s speeches, letters, and dispatches to analyze the political philosophy contained in his Report on the Affairs of British North America. She argues that the recommendations in the report demonstrate Durham’s liberalism and toleration of minorities. Ajzenstat counters criticism that Durham was racist and prejudiced against French Canadians, maintaining his assimilation proposal actually aimed to widen political and economic opportunities for French Canadians.

Canadian Historical Review 20 (June, 1939). This entire issue is devoted to articles that commemorate the centenary of the report. The volume provides an excellent summary of the scholarship and interpretations of Durham’s contribution to the idea of “dominion status.”

Durham, John George Lambton. The Durham Report. Edited by Sir Reginald Coupland. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1945. The first abridgment, aimed at acquainting post-World War II generations about to embark on a new phase of Commonwealth with Durham’s ideas. Excellent brief introduction elucidating the report’s main features.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Lord Durham’s Report on the Affairs of British North America. Edited by Sir Charles Lucas. 3 vols. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1912. The finest, most complete edition of the report. Volume 1 contains some interpretive differences from the later standard biography by Chester New (see below). Volume 2 is a complete text of the report, while volume 3 provides a complete set of appendixes.

New, Chester. Lord Durham. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1929. The standard scholarly biography, with an extensive bibliography of all pertinent works to date. New writes elegantly and presents a balanced look at Durham’s career—neither tipped toward hero worship and overemphasis of his accomplishments, nor hesitant to insist upon a restored appreciation for Durham’s work.

Reid, Stuart J., ed. Life and Letters of the First Earl of Durham, 1792-1840. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1906. Reacting to other scholars’ tendency to ignore Durham because his contemporaries underrated him, Reid makes the most extended case for his inclusion as a major figure in early nineteenth century affairs. Reid tends to be a bit breathlessly enthusiastic and slips into a moralizing tone on occasion, but his work succeeds in its purpose.

Rose, J. Holland, A. P. Newton, and E. A. Benians, eds. The Cambridge History of the British Empire. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1940. This venerable series is useful for anyone who has need of a survey that goes beyond the superficial. Durham and his report are well covered in volume 2.