Robert Surtees (1779 - 1834)

1834 (February 11). Died, at his seat of Mainsforth, aged 55, Robert Surtees, esq., M. A., F.S. A., and the historian of the county of Durham. Mr. Surtees was born in the city of Durham, and after passing his youthful years at Houghton-le-Spring grammar school and Christ Church, Oxford, he entered the Temple in 1800, but on the death of his father, in 1802, before he was of standing to be called to the bar, retired to Mainsforth, and he relinquished his connection with the profession, and almost immediately commenced the compilation of his history, the first volume of which was pub- lished in 1816, the second in 1820, the third in 1823, and the fourth and last volume not having been wholly arranged at the time of his death, was not given to the world until 1840. The biographical sketches in his History of Durham evince the kindli- ness of the author's disposition, and the pedigree and descents of property his laborious research, while the notes disclose the luxuriance of his own imagination, together with an extensive cultivation of the polite literature of ancient and modern times. Towards the neighbouring poor, by whom he was much beloved, he often carried his consideration to a fanciful refinement. He would frequently drop small sums of money on the road, and enjoy the notion of the unexpected pleasure that the next poor person passing by would feel in acquiring them, unencumbered with the debt of gratitude. He extended his sympathies to the brute crea- tion, and in his love for dogs was a successful rival of his friend Sir Walter Scott. His manner was generally distinguished by courtesy and consideration, but false pretension of any sort he could not bring himself to tolerate, and unlucky was the man who, in his presence, ostentatiously affected to know more than he did, for besides that he was unusually ready in wit and sarcasm, it might be said of him on such occasions, as was said of Dr. Johnson, that if his pistol missed fire he would knock you down with the butt end of it. He was buried midst the tears of the surrounding poor on the 15th of February, 1834, in the churchyard of Bishop Middleham, where an elegant monument has been erected to his memory by his widow.