Background
Candlish was born in Tarset, Northumberland, the eldest son of John Candlish, a farmer, and his wife, Mary, née Robson.
Candlish was born in Tarset, Northumberland, the eldest son of John Candlish, a farmer, and his wife, Mary, née Robson.
Candlish was educated at local Dissenter schools and then at an academy in North Shields before returning to Sunderland, aged eleven, to work in the bottleworks.
In 1836, Candlish"s commercial career began when he became a partner in a drapery business. He purchased the newspaper, Sunderland Beacon that year, but it failed within six months. Other short-lived ventures followed into coal exporting and shipbuilding in 1844.
His yard at Southwick was said to have produced "fine ships" but made little profit.
In 1851, he returned to publishing by founding Sunderland News and was a secretary at the Sunderland Gas Company. In 1848, Candlish had been elected to Sunderland Borough Council and was mayor of the town in 1858 and 1861 and held other public offices as a river commissioner, magistrate, Chairman of the Board of Guardians and principal of the Orphan Asylum.
Candlish contested for one of Sunderland"s two parliamentary seats at the 1865 general election but was defeated by Henry Fenwick and James Hartley. Fenwick"s resignation a year later brought success for Candlish in the subsequent by-election.
He held the seat until he stood down from the House of Commons at the 1874 general election.
Their daughter, Elizabeth Penelope, later married politician William Shepherd Allen. Candlish undertook a parliamentary visit to India in 1870 (where he, incidentally, was presented with a bottle of beer manufactured by his own company), a trip which was blamed for the subsequent breakdown of his health. He died on 17 March 1874 in Cannes, France, and is buried in Sunderland Cemetery (Ryhope Road, Sunderland).
In 1875, a statue of Candlish was unveiled in the centre of Mowbray Park and John Candlish Road, near his glassworks at Diamond Hall, is named after him.
19th United Kingdom Parliament. 20th United Kingdom Parliament.