WILLIAM HUTCHINSON (1732-1814)
AUTHOR OF 'THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND AND SOME PLACES ADJACENT' (1794)
Written by Joseph Massey
Born in Durham, Hutchinson’s father was an attorney, while Hutchinson himself trained as a solicitor. He devoted his leisure time to literary and antiquarian pursuits.
Before 1771 Hutchinson had become friendly with George Allan of Blackwell Grange near Darlington, a wealthy solicitor who transcribed legal and other manuscripts in his free time, which he hoped would form the basis for a history of county Durham.
In 1772 Hutchinson published his first literary work, The Hermitage: A British Story, which was followed by other tales and plays. He then published An Excursion to the Lakes in Westmorland and Cumberland, August 1773. In 1778 Hutchinson came to an amicable agreement with the antiquarian and travel writer Thomas Pennant not to compete in publishing tours of the northern counties. Allan turned over to Hutchinson the material for a history of Durham.
The first two volumes of The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham were devoted to an account of the see and bishops of Durham, hardly touching the rest of the county, which was left to a third volume. Subscribers were invited to choose between the original format for the third volume or an enhanced version ‘richly embellished with plates’. This was printed by F. Jollie in Carlisle and published in 1794.
Also in 1794, Hutchinson published The History of the County of Cumberland, and Some Places Adjacent in two volumes. Hutchinson discusses the history of Carlisle from Roman times. His interest in history and the amount of research he carried out is evident. Yet at the start he admits ‘We have no authority to determine what was the size or form of this place in distant antiquity.’ Lesser historians might have lied or exaggerated what could be gleamed from surviving sources available at the time. In discussing what happened to Carlisle after the Romans left, he references Bead: ‘The first certain account we have of Carlisle, is in the seventh century of the Christian era. It appears, that in Egfrid’s reign, it became a place of considerable strength and consequence; he having caused it to be rebuilt, and fortified with a wall.’ He wrote that sources became more widely available on the city following the Norman conquest, with ‘evidence of undeniable authenticity to guide us.’ Hutchinson’s research took him to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, where he found a list of the men who cared for the castle in a manuscript.
Hutchinson often includes the sources he cites in his footnotes, as well as including critical commentaries on their reliability and any mistakes they make, as a historian nowadays would.
Hutchinson, like many of his contemporaries, was interested in surviving antique fragments, including a list of those discovered in Carlisle.
LITERATURE
William Hutchinson, The History of the County of Cumberland, and Some Places Adjacent 2 volumes (Carlisle : F. Jollie, 1794)
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