history of the English border. The baronetcy was first conferred, 20 March 1629, on Richard Graham, grandfather of Richard Graham [q. v.], viscount Preston. The family house at Netherby, on the banks of the Esk, was built in the reign of Charles I. James was the son of Sir James Graham and Lady Catharine Stewart, daughter of John, seventh earl of Galloway. His mother was a lady of great intelligence and religious feeling, and greatly influenced her son. He was taught at a private school at Dalston in Cumberland, kept by the Rev. Walter Fletcher, and there made acquaintance as a boy with William Blamire [q. v.], whose home was close by. At the age of fifteen he went to Westminster School, where Blamire was also his contemporary; afterwards he was a pupil of the Rev. G. Richards at Bampton in Berkshire. In 1810 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, as a fellow commoner; but he owed little to his Oxford education and quitted the university early in 1812. After a short stay in London he travelled in Spain. Passing from Spain to Sicily he was unexpectedly asked by Archibald Montgomerie, lord Montgomerie, who was at Palermo on a diplomatic mission, to act as his private secretary. Thus at the age of twenty-one Graham entered upon official life, and an illness of Lord Montgomerie threw the main weight of a delicate negotiation, to detach King Joachim from Napoleon, upon Graham's shoulders. He accompanied Lord Montgomerie to Rome and Genoa, and returned to England with a high character for capacity in 1814.
Life in London turned Graham's thoughts towards politics, in which he declared himself on the side of the whigs. His father was a tory and refused to help him; but in the general election of 1818 Graham took his chance as a stranger at Hull, and was elected at a cost of 6,000l., which he had to borrow. In July 1819 he married Fanny, daughter of Colonel Callander of Craigforth in Stirlingshire, a famous beauty. His parliamentary career was not at first successful; his attempts to speak were ineffective, and on the dissolution in February 1820 he felt that he could not afford to contest Hull a second time, but a less expensive seat was found at St. Ives in Cornwall. Early in 1821 a petition from some electors of St. Ives was presented against his return, and as he could not afford the enormous expense which then attached to a contest before the election committee he took the Chiltern Hundreds and retired for a time from political life.
This retirement was of great service to him. He lived at Crofthead, near Netherby, and gave his attention to the management of his father's estate. In this work he did good service towards the civilisation of the borderland and towards the improvement of agriculture. He substituted hard-working farmers for a number of small tenants who mostly lived by poaching; he rebuilt the cottages and farm-buildings, introduced tile drains whereby much marshy land was reclaimed, and improved the breed of stock on the estate. Throughout his life he continued to be a model of an improving landlord, and it was owing to his care that the Netherby farming gained considerable celebrity. Besides this practical work Graham now had leisure for the study of political and social questions, as well as literature. His study of political economy produced in 1826 a pamphlet entitled ‘Corn and Currency,’ which attracted considerable attention. In this he proved the futility of the attempts being made by government to regulate by law the price of money and the price of goods, and showed that the questions of the corn laws and the currency were intimately connected. His general conclusions were in favour of free trade and free banking.
The death of his father in 1824 made Graham a person of importance in the politics of the county. He was an active magistrate and did good work in reforming county finance. On these grounds he was chosen as liberal candidate for Carlisle on the dissolution of 1826. The election was notorious for a riot, which Graham showed much skill in appeasing. He was returned in spite of the influence of Lord Lonsdale, who had hitherto been almost omnipotent in the choice of candidates in Cumberland and Westmoreland. In parliament Graham united himself to Lord Althorpe and Huskisson; but he did not succeed in making a reputation as a speaker. Tall and handsome, he had the manner of a dandy, and his style was stiff and pompous. He was more at his ease when addressing a popular audience which appreciated a commanding presence and a grand air. On the death of Mr. Curwen in December 1827, Graham resigned his seat for Carlisle, and stood for the county of Cumberland, for which he was returned without opposition. In 1830 he first made a name in the House of Commons by a motion for the reduction of official salaries, and he increased his reputation by an attack on the salaries received by privy councillors. This gave him a position as one of the more advanced reformers, and in November Lord Grey offered him the post of first lord of the admiralty in his government. In this capacity he did good service in reforming the finance of his department. He was also one
