DURHAM, JOHN GEORGE LAMBTON, EARL OF, was born at the family seat of Lambton Hall, or, as it is usually called, Lambton Castle, in Durham, on the 12th of April 1792. His father was William Henry Lambton, Esq. ; his mother, the Lady Anne Barbara Francis Villiers, second daughter of George Bussey, fourth Earl of Jersey. The family is said to have possessed its manor of Lambton ever since the 12th century, the male succession never having been interrupted since that remote date. The property was originally of inconsiderable value; the wealth of the family, arising principally from coal mines, dates from the time of Major General John Lambton, the late Lord Durham's grandfather, who succeeded to the estate in 1774, and died, at the age of eighty-four, in 1791. The Lambtons however had held an eminent place among the county gentry from the beginning of the last century ; and either the head or aome other member of the family repreaented the city of Durham iu parliament from 1727 till the death of the late earl's father, at the age of thirty three, 30th of December 1797, after he had sat in tho House of Commons for about ten years. Mr. William Henry Lambtou, who was, like his ancestors, a decided Whig, was an intimate friend and associate of Charles Fox, and the other leaders or chief members of his party ; and he was also highly popular with his constituenta.
The subject of the present notice was educated at Eton. On the 1st of January 1812, he was married at Gretna Green to Miss Harriet Cholmondeley, described in the 'Annual Register ' as " daughter of tho late celebrated Madam St. Alban ; " and about the same time he is stated to have entered the 10th Hussars. By Miss Cholmondeley, who died 11th July, 1815, he had three daughters, who all died before himself, though not till after they had all attained the age of woman hood. On the 9th of December 1816 he married the Lady Louisa Elizabeth Grey, eldest daughter of Earl Grey.
Meanwhile, on the vacancy occasioned by tho death of Sir Henry Vane Tempest, Bart., on the lat of August 1813, Mr. Lambton had been returned to parliament for his native county. He very soon took a part in the proceedings of the House, his maiden speech having been delivered on the 12th of May 1314, in seconding an unsuccessful motion of Mr. C. W. Wynne, for an address to the Prince Regent against the annexation of Norway to Sweden. He con tinued to sit for the county of Durham so long as he remained a oommoner, and, though he did not speak often, took a part in many important debates; opposing the new Corn Law Bill in 1815; opposing tho additions made to the incomes of the royal dukes, and the con tinuance of the Alien and Bank Restriction Acta in 1816 ; opposing the Indemnity Bill demanded by ministers in 1818, and the six repressive bills brought in by the government after the great Reform meeting at Manchester in 1819; and by a plan of parliameutary reform which he submitted to the House on the 17th of April 1321.
His exertions in the House of Commons however began to relax under the pressure of ill-health; and his name is scarcely connected with any measure of consequence down to the great and eventually successful renewal of the Reform agitation iu 1830. With the gene rality of his party, he supported both the Canning ministry of May 1827, and that of Lord Goderich, by which it was succeeded, iu October of the same year.; and on the dissolution of the latter, in January 1828, he was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Durham of the City of Durham.
On the formation of the ministry of Lord Grey, iu November 1830, Lord Durham was made Lord Privy Seal; and the preparation of the government Reform Bill was intrusted to four persons, of whom he was one, the others being Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, and Lord Duncannon. It is known that Lord Durham proposed the introduction of the ballot into the scheme, and persuaded his col leagues to agree with him; but the ballot was excluded from the bill as actually drawn up and brought forward in the Commons by Lord John Russell on the memorable lat of March 1331. A apeech which Lord Durham delivered on the 28th of March, in tho House of Lords, in explanation of the measure, was published. The plan reported by the four persona was also materially improved by mekiog the qualifi cation 101. instead of 20/. He took no part in the discussion of the second Reform Bill in the House of Lords, where it was defeated on the second reading, on the 3rd of October. Hia eldest son, a beautiful boy, whose features will live for ever in the well-known picture by Lawrence, had died of consumption, at the ago of thirteen, on the 21th of September. lie spoke several times however in support of the third and last bill, which was discussed in the Lords in April and May 1832, and especially made a very able speech in committee ou the 22nd of May, ' on the enfranchiaoment of the metropolitan districts,' which was published. On the I2th of March 1833 he resigned his office in the government, and throe days after was made Earl of Durham.