This extract from the correspondence between a candidate and his agent powerfully recaptures the importance of campaign colours (featured for instance in banners, ribbons, and cockades) as a means to rally voters and non-voters to a particular cause.

Henry Liddell, a candidate in the Northumberland by-election of 1826, writes from Gateshead to his agent, the solicitor William Dickson, at Alnwick, concerning the prosecution of his campaign. As well as making arrangements for accommodating his wife, two eldest children, and their governess at Alnwick, Liddell significantly refers to his chosen campaign colour: ‘my color is crimson’. Liddell even includes a sample of crimson silk with the letter, and requests that ‘some orders’ be given for materials of this kind for his campaign.

Henry Thomas Liddell to William Dickson, 9 February 1826, Copyright University of Bristol Library, Special Collections, DM2159