St Peter’s church, Monkwearmouth, which still retains the tower with other portions of the ancient Saxon building attached to the monastery founded by Benedict Biscop in 674. The modern public buildings embrace the customhouse (1837), the Sunderland and North Durham Liberal club in the Ionic style (1839), the corporation offices, the workmen’s hall, the new general market, the Victoria hall (1871), the assembly hall, and two theatres. The charitable and benevolent institutions are numerous, including Gibson’s almshouses (1725) for twelve poor persons, Bowe almshouses (1725), Trinity Church almshouses (1719, rebuilt in 1876) for eight aged poor, the marine almshouses (1820), the eye infirmary (1836), the sailors’ home (1856), the orphan asylum (1853), the infirmary and dispensary (erected in 1868 and extended in 1882), and the blind institute, for which a new building has recently been erected. For the literary society and subscription library, originally founded in 1793, a new building was erected in 1877. The people’s park at Bishopwearmouth, 17 acres in extent, contains a bronze statue of Sir Henry Havelock, who was born at Ford Hall in the neighbourhood. The park was lately increased by an addition of 10 acres, called the Extension Park, in which there is a statue of Alderman Candlish, and a free library, museum, art gallery, and winter garden. Roker, on the north side of Sunderland, is a favourite bathing-place. The population of the municipal borough (area, 3306 acres) in 1871 was 98,242, and in 1881 it was 116,542 (males 57,131, females 59,411). The population of the parliamentary borough (area, 5130 acres) in the same years was 104,409 and 124,841 respectively.

Much of the prosperity of Sunderland is due to the coal and limestone in the neighbourhood of the river Wear, of which it is the port. Its export of coal began in the reign of Henry VII the trade being principally with London and the western coasts of England, although large quantities were also shipped to Holland France, and other parts of the Continent. The coal trade is still of great importance, and the Monkwearmouth colliery is one of the deepest coal-pits in the world,—381 fathoms. Sunderland vies with the Clyde for its iron shipbuilding. The number of iron ships built in 1885 was 31 with a tonnage of 30,520 for home and 2 with a tonnage of 1255 for foreigners; of steel ships, 9 with a tonnage of 8099 for home and 3 with a tonnage of 3635 for foreigners. Along both banks of the Wear numerous extensive works of various kinds are situated, including anchor and chain cable works, glass and bottle works, roperies, forges, iron-works, chemical works, paper-mills, breweries, and lime-kilns. The modern prosperity of the town has been largely promoted by the enterprise of George Hudson, the “railway king.” The conservation of the port is vested in the Wear commissioners, to whose care the South Dock was transferred by the Wear Navigation and Sunderland Dock Act of 1859. Under their auspices great extensions and improvements have been made, and there are now three large deepwater docks, embracing a total area of 43 acres, viz., Hudson dock north (18), Hudson dock south (14), and Hendon dock (ll). Mouk-wearmnouth dock, 6 acres in extent and the property of the railway company, is chiefly used for the export of coal. New piers over half a mile in length are now (1887) being erected. The average annual value of thé imports of foreign and colonial merchandise for the five years ending 1886 was a little over £700,000, and of the exports of produce of the United Kingdom a little over £600,000. The coasting trade, in regard to which specific details are wanting, is, however, more important. The total number of British and foreign vessels, sailing and steam, that entered the port of Sunderland with cargoes or in ballast from foreign countries, British possessions, and coastwise in 1876 was 9708 of 2,329,576 tons and in 1885 9451 of 2,764,174 tons. The numbers that cleared in the same years were respectively 9430 of 2,357,430 tons and 9419 of 2,824,218 tons.

The early history of the borough is associated with Monkwearmouth, which existed long before the town on the other side of the river, and had its origin in a convent which was founded by St Bega in the 7th century and converted into a monastery for Benedictines by Biscop in 674. Bede was born at Wearmouth in 673, and in his seventh year was placed under the charge of Biscop. The monastery was reconstituted as a cell of Durham in 1084. About the close of the 12th century the inhabitants of Sunderland received from Bishop Pudsey a charter of free customs and privileges similar to those of Newcastle-on-Tyne. In 1634 the town was incorporated under the title of “mayor, aldermen, and commonalty,” with the privilege of holding a market and annual fairs. In the preamble of the charter it is stated to have been a borough from time immemorial under the name of New Monkwearmouth, and to have been in the enjoyment of various liberties and free customs conferred by the bishops of Durham. Under a special Act in 1851 the town council was constituted the urban sanitary authority. Extensive drainage works have been carried out, as well as important street improvements. Sunderland has returned two members to the House of Commons since 1832. A large number of Scotch families settled in the town in 1640 and gave a considerable impulse to its trade. During the Civil War the inhabitants embraced the cause of the Parliament, while the neighbouring Newcastle held out for the king for two years. The Scottish army under Leslie, earl of Leven, entered Sunderland on 4th March 1644, and the king’s forces followed them; but no engagement took place beyond desultory firing.

SUNDERLAND, Robert Spencer, Second Earl of (1640-1702), was the eldest son of Henry, the first earl, and Lady Dorothy Sidney, eldest daughter of Robert, second earl of Leicester. He was born in 1640 and succeeded his father (who was killed at Newbury) in the title on 20th September 1643. During the years 1671-73 he acted as ambassador at Madrid, Paris, and Cologne consecutively, and in 1678 went to Paris as ambassador extraordinary. It was during this period of his life that he acquired that suppleness of feeling and love of finesse which may be traced throughout his subsequent career. From February 1679 to January 1681, a period when the country was rent in twain by real or fancied dangers to the Protestant faith, he held the post of secretary of state for the northern department; but his conduct in office was not marked by discretion. He voted for the exclusion of the duke of York from the succession to the throne, and the ill-feeling which this action created in the mind of Charles II. was augmented by the overtures which Sunderland made to the prince of Orange, whilst differences of opinion on the subject of the Exclusion Bill brought about a fierce quarrel between Sunderland and Halifax, the head of the “trimmers.” Early in 1683, having been reconciled to the duke of York and having secured a warm friend in the duchess of Portsmouth, Sunderland regained his place as secretary for the northern department. When James II. succeeded to the throne, Sunderland became secretary for the southern department, from March 1685 to 27th October 1688, for most of which period he held the additional post of president of the council, and was a member of the high commission for ecclesiastical causes. He afterwards claimed that he had used his influence to mitigate the proceedings of this obnoxious body, but he went sufficiently far with his royal master to sign the warrant for the committal of the bishops and to appear as a witness against them. Though Lord Sunderland was in sympathy, if not in actual communion, with Roman Catholicism, he hesitated to commit himself entirely to the acts of the fierce devotees who surrounded James II., and through their opposition he was dismissed in disgrace and sought security in Holland. He had been too much engaged in the acts of James II. to find a place among the advisers of William and Mary.

The visit which William paid to Althorp in Northamptonshire, the country seat of Sunderland, in 1695 was the prelude of a reconciliation between the king and his ambitious subject and of Sunderland’s recall into public affairs. From April to December 1697 he discharged the duties of lord chamberlain of the household and for the greater part of that time he was also lord justice of England; but he finally retired from active life in the close of 1697 through disgust at the check which William received in the retention of a standing army. The rest of his life was passed in strict seclusion at Althorp, and there he died on 28th September 1702.

Lord Sunderland possessed a keen intellect and was consumed by intense restlessness; but his character was wanting in steadfastness, and he yielded too easily to opposition. His adroitness in intrigue and his fascinating manners were exceptional even in an age when such qualities formed part of every statesman’s education; but the characteristics which ensured him success in the House of Lords and in the royal closet led to failure in his attempts to understand the feelings of the mass of his countrymen. Consistency of conduct was not among the objects which he aimed at, nor did he shrink from thwarting in secret a policy which he supported in public. A large share of the discredit attaching to the measures of James II. must be assigned to the earl of Sunderland.

SUNDERLAND, Charles Spencer, Third Earl of (1675-1722), was the second son of the second earl, but on the death of his elder brother at Paris, on 5th September 1688, he became the heir to the peerage. He was born in 1675, and when twenty years old was sent to the House of Commons by the two constituencies of Hedon in Yorkshire and Tiverton in Devonshire. He chose the latter, and represented it until his succession to the earldom of Sunderland in 1702. Throughout this period of his life his career was undistinguished; his first start in the world of politics occurred in 1705, when he was sent to Vienna as envoy extraordinary, a mission which he discharged with signal ability. Although Sunderland was tinged with republican feeling and had rendered himself personally obnoxious to Anne, he was foisted by the all-powerful influence of his father-in-law, the duke of Marlborough, into the ministry as secretary of state for the southern department. This office he held from 3d December 1706 to 14th June 1710, when he fell, as he rose, through his connexion with the duke and duchess of Marlborough. The queen offered him a pension of £3000 a year, but he proudly refused the temptation, saying that, if he could not serve, he would not plunder, his country. After the accession of George I. he was lord lieutenant of Ireland (1714-15), lord keeper of the privy seal (1715-17), and secretary of state for the northern department (April 1717 to March 1718). At the latter date he was raised to the post of prime minister, holding with the office of first lord of the treasury the position of lord president of the council. Sir Robert Walpole had been shelved, and he revenged himself on the new administration by resisting and defeating the Bill which was designed to limit the numbers of the House of Lords,—a victory over Sunderland which led to a partial reconciliation between him and Townshend and Walpole, his rivals. Lord Sunderland was at the head of affairs during the South Sea mania, and the bursting of the financial bubble led to his political ruin. Through Walpole’s influence he was acquitted of personal corruption, but he was forced to resign his place as first lord of the treasury on 1st April 1721. The passion for intrigue which characterized the father had descended to the son: he was ever plotting, and within a few months after Walpole had saved him from disgrace, if not from a worse fate, he was engaged in scheming against the friend who had saved him. But his plots were interrupted by his death, which occurred on 19th April 1722. Lord Sunderland’s manners were repelling and his disposition was harsh, but he stands high among his compeers for disinterestedness. The love of books ranked among the ruling passions of his life, and he spent his leisure hours and his wealth in forming the great collection at Althorp.