The Brandlings of Newcastle were a a wealthy family of merchants and land and coal owners in Newcastle upon Tyne and Northumberland. This article is about a city in the United Kingdom. ... Northumberland is a county in the North East of England. ...

Early Brandlings

Sir John Brandling who was knighted at Blackheath in 1497 married Margaret Clavering of Callaly Castle, Northumberland and settled in Newcastle where he served as Sheriff in 1505 and as Mayor in 1509, 1512, 1516 and 1520.

His son Sir Robert Brandling (d.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 the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, following the Battle of Musselborough. He was Custos Rotulorum of Northumberland. The Duke of Somerset is a title in the peerage of England that has been created several times. ... Lord Protector is a particular English title for Heads of State, with two meanings (and full styles) at different periods of history. ... This is a list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Northumberland. ...

Another son Henry Brandling (1515-1578) was Sheriff of Newcastle in 1566 and Mayor of the city in 1568, 1575 1576. His brother Thomas Brandling (b. 1512-1590) was educated at the newly established Royal Grammar School, Newcastle and created the land and coal owning dynasty. The gates of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Grammar School, known locally as The RGS, is a long-established co-educational, independent school. ...

Civil War

The Brandlings had Catholic sympathies and Robert Brandling (1617-1690) served in the King's army in the rank of Colonel. He escaped to Scotland where he remained until after the Restoration. He avoided Sequestration of his estate and returned to England . His brother Roger was killed in battle during the conflict. King Charles II, the first monarch to rule after the English Restoration. ... Sequestration, the act of removing, separating or seizing anything from the possession of its owner, particularly in law, of the taking possession of property under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state. ...

Estates

The family acquired by marriage, estates at Gosforth, and Alnwick Abbey but by 1605 their seat had been established at Felling Hall, Felling, Northumberland. Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England to the north of the city centre. ... Felling (known as The Felling to locals) is the name given to an area of eastern Gateshead, UK. Its name derives from the area where trees were felled to the east of town to expand and is often referred to locally as the Felling. It is bordered by Leam Lane...

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 by wagonways. The Tyne looking west and upstream from the Newcastle bank towards the Gateshead Millennium Bridge The Tyne Bridge across the River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead. ...

A disaster at their Felling Colliery in 1812, when 91 lives were lost, 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. The Geordie lamp was invented by George Stephenson in 1815 as a solution to explosions due to firedamp in coal mines. ...

Other estates later acquired included Shotton, Peterlee, Durham and Middleton , near Leeds, West Yorkshire. Shotton is a village in County Durham, in north-east England. ...

Notable Brandlings

Charles Brandling ( 1733-1802) was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1781 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 . This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Northumberland. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a Borough constituency in the county of Northumberland of the House of Commons for the Parliament of England to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. ...

Charles John Brandling (1797-1856) 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.He was chairman in 1815 of 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 new deep mine was sunk in 1825) Heworth, Coxlodge, Kenton and Middleton. At Middleton he employed John Blenkinsop who in 1812 converted the wagonway from the colliery to Leeds into a rack and pinion steam railway ( Middleton Railway). However he over indulged in coal speculations which led to financial difficulties and the sale of many of the Brandling estates; Shotton in 1850 and Gosforth and Felling in 1852. Thereafter the family seat was Middleton Lodge, Middleton. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a Borough constituency in the county of Northumberland of the House of Commons for the Parliament of England to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. ... George Stephenson George Stephenson For the British politician, see George Stevenson. ... The Geordie lamp was invented by George Stephenson in 1815 as a solution to explosions due to firedamp in coal mines. ... John Blenkinsop (1783-1831), a mining engineer and an inventor in the area of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive. ... The Middleton Steam Railway is the worlds oldest working railway. ...