Hostmen of Newcastle upon Tyne

[1] It is best known to economic historians as a cartel of businessmen who formed a monopoly to control the export of coal from the River Tyne in North East England.

The desire of the Newcastle burgesses to monopolise trade on the Tyne led to a dispute with the Prior of Tynemouth regarding the shipment of coal from the nearby settlement of North Shields, which was owned by the priory.

In 1267 the mayor of Newcastle, Nicholas Scott attacked North Shields with a band of merchants, setting fire to several buildings.

In 1350 Edward III granted a licence to the Newcastle burgesses to excavate coal from Forth Banks and the Town Moor area.

The monasteries leased out land for mining but generally set limits on the rate of extraction so as to keep the price high.

In practice, the Hostmen owned the "keels", large boats that were used to transfer the coal from the riverbank to the waiting colliers that were moored downstream.

[3] In 1553, during the reign of Edward VI, John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annex Gateshead and its surrounding area from the bishopric of Durham.

[4] Towards the end of the 16th century, the Hostmen began to buy up leases in the Tyneside coalfield until they soon had a near total monopoly of the production of coal.

This move was aided in 1583 when Queen Elizabeth leased the ex-palatinate mines of Gateshead and Whickham to two Newcastle merchants, Henry Anderson and William Selby, who in turn apportioned them to the leading Hostmen.

The charter allowed an exclusive body of electors, in practice the Hostmen, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses of the town.

[2] When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, most of the Newcastle burgesses sided with the Royalists and in 1644 Parliamentarian forces blockaded the Tyne river to prevent them exporting coal, cutting supplies to London.

In October 1644, Scottish troops captured Newcastle after an eight month siege, then occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years, levying taxes from the coal trade to pay their costs.

After the Second English Civil War ended in 1648, the Royalist burgesses were replaced by Parliamentarian sympathisers who proved just as anxious to maintain Newcastle's trading monopoly as their predecessors.