Family and Education

b. aft. 1711, 2nd s. of Thomas Ord, attorney, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Fenham and Newminster Abbey; bro. of John Ord. m. 18 Mar. 1746 (with £20,000), Anne, da. of William Dillingham of Red Lion Sq., London, 3s. 5da.1 suc. bro. to Fenham and Newminster 1745; bought Whitfield 1750.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Northumb. 1747-8.

Biography

Ord, who succeeded to his family’s estates in 1745, was returned for Bossiney, presumably as an opposition Whig, by Edward Wortley, with whom his family were closely connected.2 He did not stand again. As one of the owners of the Walker colliery, then the most important in the north of England, he made mining history with the sinking of the first deep mining shaft in 1762.3 In later life he was afflicted with an obsession for hanging himself. On his first attempt he was cut down by his servant, the second time the rope broke, but the third time he succeeded,4 24 Jan. 1768.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Nichols, Leics. i. 615.
• 2. Sandwich to Pelham, 4 Oct. 1747, Newcastle (Clumber) mss. See also ORD, John.
• 3. New Hist. Northumb. xiii. 44.
• 4. R. Welford, Men of Mark ’twixt Tyne and Tweed, iii. 236.