William Burdon (1764-1818)

The writer William Burdon was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and educated at its grammar school under the mastership of Rev. H. Moises before gaining his BA and MA at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where his tutor recorded that “his political opinions, which he always manfully avowed, differed very much from those of the society in general.” Burdon resigned his fellowship on declining to take holy orders and married the Northumbrian Elizabeth Dickson, moving to Morpeth in 1798. Burdon owned mines near Hartford and built Hartford Hall near Morpeth to the designs of Newcastle architect William Stokoe in about 1807. He spent the summers there and winter in his London town house. At this time he associated with the actor James Field Stanfield who managed the Morpeth Theatre and encouraged the actor to pursue his literary ambitions. Burdon edited the ‘Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski’ (1820) about the Durham-based Polish exile who was a friend of the actor-manager Stephen Kemble.

As a student Burdon wrote articles for the radical Benjamin Flower’s Cambridge Intelligencer and he continued to write on political and literary subjects for the rest of his life, including ‘Examination of the Merits and Tendency of the Pursuits of Literature’ (1799); ‘Various Thoughts on Politicks, Morality, and Literature’ (1800); and his most popular work ‘Materials for Thinking’ which went through five editions between 1801 and 1820.

Burdon was drawn to Spanish politics and his home became a place of sanctuary for Spanish exiled patriots. In 1810 he translated Estrada’s ‘A Constitution for the Spanish Nation’, ‘Introduction to the History of the Revolution in Spain’ and he circulated an ‘Examination of the Dispute between Spain and her Colonies.’