JOSEPH Albert Pease's political career began when he was just five years old. He was wearing a light blue suit and standing on the Darlington hustings in 1865 beside his father, Joseph Whitwell Pease, who was seeking election.

The platform was pelted with eggs, soot and fish, and Joseph, the poor boy, was hit in the face by a herring. He burst into tears.

It did not put him off. In fact, he rose to Cabinet leve,l where in 1916 he was replaced as President of the Board of Education by Arthur Henderson - the Labour minister who featured in Echo Memories last week.

But there is a double reason for Joseph Albert's appearance here: for four years in the 1890s he lived in the Old Hall, Hurworth, which featured in the column a fortnight ago as the home of the seven bachelor Kitching brothers.

Joseph Albert was born in 1860 at his father's home, Woodlands, in Woodland Road, Darlington. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied political economy, although much of his time seems to have been spent on the sports field.

He was master of the drag hounds and played rugby, cricket and polo - his rugby career was curtailed after he severely sprained his wrist when he was thrown over the handlebars of a penny farthing bicycle.

His cricketing career prospered, however. He captained Durham County Cricket Club from 1884 to 1890 and appeared for the MCC. In one game, he took a catch in the deep off the bowling of WG Grace. The great man strode from the crease to shake Pease's hand in the outfield, a moment which Joseph Albert described as "one of the proudest of my life".

His political career began in earnest in 1884, when he was elected to Darlington Council. He held his seat until 1893, and in 1889 served a year's term as mayor. He was 29, and is believed to be Darlington's youngest-ever mayor.

In October 1886, Joseph Albert married Ethel Havelock-Allan of Blackwell Grange, the daughter of Sir Henry and the grand-daughter of General Havelock, who relieved Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny. Because Sir Joseph of High Row statue fame was Joseph Albert's grandfather, his lineage was equally impressive, and so the two great families of Darlington were united.

"It is very many years since any similar social event created so great a public interest," reported the Darlington and Stockton Times.

"People assembled in their thousands to catch a glimpse of the chief actors in the ceremony and to witness the evidences of pomp and wealth which are customary on these occasions." St Cuthbert's churchwardens, assisted by the police, kept out the rabble, but at ten to two the church gates were forced open.

"There ensued a rush of good folks," said the D&S, "and a sad demolution (yes, demolution) of feathers and finery took place." The church railing collapsed under the weight of people.

The wedding parade consisted of more than 40 carriages, and the bride met "with imperturbable self-possession the curious stare of the multitude". She had a wreath of orange blossoms draped around her shoulders, a tiara of diamonds - a present from her mother - and a diamond brooch - a present from Sir Joseph Pease.

The Reverend Canon Hodgson conducted the service and gave the couple some valuable advice. "Joseph Albert," he said, "you will always remember that you are the husband, or, as the word implies, the house-band, binding together the threads of the young life you take to your own heart today.

"Ethel, you will always remember that you are the wife, or, as the word implies, the woof of the home - weaving out of your own gentle heart the undivided role of love to environ him from the cold blasts of life." Afterwards, 150 guests enjoyed dinner at Blackwell Grange, and at 4pm the happy couple left for Bank Top Station, "whence they departed south by train amid a volley of fog signals, en route for the Continent".

For four years from 1890, Mr and Mrs Joseph Albert Pease lived on the Green in Hurworth, before moving to Headlam Hall. Joseph Albert's career was also on the up: from 1892 to 1900 he was Liberal MP for Tyneside; from 1901 to 1910, MP for Saffron Walden in Essex, and from 1910 to 1916, MP for Rotherham.

When he regained his seat at the second election in 1910, he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster before swiftly moving into the Cabinet at the Board of Education. He lasted six years before Mr Henderson replaced him - something of an awkward moment, because he must have met and known Henderson at his childhood home, the Woodlands, because Henderson had been his father's political agent.

In 1916, Joseph Albert was elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Gainford and worked for the Claims Commission on the battlefields in France.

Perhaps because so much of his life was spent away from Darlington, he is one of the lesser-known Peases in his hometown, although he was the only one to reach the exalted rank of government. He seems to have retired from active national work after the First World War, and from his home in Headlam Hall took more interest in local affairs in Teesdale. He was chairman of the trustees of Bowes Museum, and often brought back "objects of interest from the battlefields of France" for display.

He died at Headlam in 1943.