The Durham Book of Days E-Book

Robert Woodhouse

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Book of Days
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 406

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Taking you through the year day by day, The Durham Book of Days contains quirky, eccentric, amusing and important events and facts from different periods in the history of the city. Ideal for dipping into, this addictive little book will keep you entertained and informed. Featuring hundreds of snippets of information gleaned from the vaults of Durham's archives and covering the social, criminal, political, religious, industrial, military and sporting history of the city, it will delight residents and visitors alike.

Leseprobe

THE

DURHAM

BOOK

OF

DAYS

ROBERT WOODHOUSE

I am indebted to my wife, Sally, for her research and unstinting support, and to Liz and Ben Taylorson for their administrative and research skills. My gratitude extends to Bob Eastwood and staff at Durham City Library and Durham University Library.

The Julian calendar was in use until Wednesday, September 2nd 1752. The following day, the Gregorian calendar was adopted, making the date Thursday, September 14th 1752. The dates in this book before and after the shift correspond to the respective calendars.

References for extracts appear in brackets at the end of each entry.

Robert Woodhouse, 2014

First published in 2014

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2014

All rights reserved

© Robert Woodhouse, 2014

The right of Robert Woodhouse to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 5454 9

Original typesetting by The History Press

CONTENTS

January

January 1st

January 2nd

January 3rd

January 4th

January 5th

January 6th

January 7th

January 8th

January 9th

January 10th

January 11th

January 12th

January 13th

January 14th

January 15th

January 16th

January 17th

January 18th

January 19th

January 20th

January 21st

January 22nd

January 23rd

January 24th

January 25th

January 26th

January 27th

January 28th

January 29th

January 30th

January 31st

February

February 1st

February 2nd

February 3rd

February 4th

February 5th

February 6th

February 7th

February 8th

February 9th

February 10th

February 11th

February 12th

February 13th

February 14th

February 15th

February 16th

February 17th

February 18th

February 19th

February 20th

February 21st

February 22nd

February 23rd

February 24th

February 25th

February 26th

February 27th

February 28th

February 29th

March

March 1st

March 2nd

March 3rd

March 4th

March 5th

March 6th

March 7th

March 8th

March 9th

March 10th

March 11th

March 12th

March 13th

March 14th

March 15th

March 16th

March 17th

March 18th

March 19th

March 20th

March 21st

March 22nd

March 23rd

March 24th

March 25th

March 26th

March 27th

March 28th

March 29th

March 30th

March 31st

April

April 1st

April 2nd

April 3rd

April 4th

April 5th

April 6th

April 7th

April 8th

April 9th

April 10th

April 11th

April 12th

April 13th

April 14th

April 15th

April 16th

April 17th

April 18th

April 19th

April 20th

April 21st

April 22nd

April 23rd

April 24th

April 25th

April 26th

April 27th

April 28th

April 29th

April 30th

May

May 1st

May 2nd

May 3rd

May 4th

May 5th

May 6th

May 7th

May 8th

May 9th

May 10th

May 11th

May 12th

May 13th

May 14th

May 15th

May 16th

May 17th

May 18th

May 19th

May 20th

May 21st

May 22nd

May 23rd

May 24th

May 25th

May 26th

May 27th

May 28th

May 29th

May 30th

May 31st

June

June 1st

June 2nd

June 3rd

June 4th

June 5th

June 6th

June 7th

June 8th

June 9th

June 10th

June 11th

June 12th

June 13th

June 14th

June 15th

June 16th

June 17th

June 18th

June 19th

June 20th

June 21st

June 22nd

June 23rd

June 24th

June 25th

June 26th

June 27th

June 28th

June 29th

June 30th

July

July 1st

July 2nd

July 3rd

July 4th

July 5th

July 6th

July 7th

July 8th

July 9th

July 10th

July 11th

July 12th

July 13th

July 14th

July 15th

July 16th

July 17th

July 18th

July 19th

July 20th

July 21st

July 22nd

July 23rd

July 24th

July 25th

July 26th

July 27th

July 28th

July 29th

July 30th

July 31st

August

August 1st

August 2nd

August 3rd

August 4th

August 5th

August 6th

August 7th

August 8th

August 9th

August 10th

August 11th

August 12th

August 13th

August 14th

August 15th

August 16th

August 17th

August 18th

August 19th

August 20th

August 21st

August 22nd

August 23rd

August 24th

August 25th

August 26th

August 27th

August 28th

August 29th

August 30th

August 31st

September

September 1st

September 2nd

September 3rd

September 4th

September 5th

September 6th

September 7th

September 8th

September 9th

September 10th

September 11th

September 12th

September 13th

September 14th

September 15th

September 16th

September 17th

September 18th

September 19th

September 20th

September 21st

September 22nd

September 23rd

September 24th

September 25th

September 26th

September 27th

September 28th

September 29th

September 30th

October

October 1st

October 2nd

October 3rd

October 4th

October 5th

October 6th

October 7th

October 8th

October 9th

October 10th

October 11th

October 12th

October 13th

October 14th

October 15th

October 16th

October 17th

October 18th

October 19th

October 20th

October 21st

October 22nd

October 23rd

October 24th

October 25th

October 26th

October 27th

October 28th

October 29th

October 30th

October 31st

November

November 1st

November 2nd

November 3rd

November 4th

November 5th

November 6th

November 7th

November 8th

November 9th

November 10th

November 11th

November 12th

November 13th

November 14th

November 15th

November 16th

November 17th

November 18th

November 19th

November 20th

November 21st

November 22nd

November 23rd

November 24th

November 25th

November 26th

November 27th

November 28th

November 29th

November 30th

December

December 1st

December 2nd

December 3rd

December 4th

December 5th

December 6th

December 7th

December 8th

December 9th

December 10th

December 11th

December 12th

December 13th

December 14th

December 15th

December 16th

December 17th

December 18th

December 19th

December 20th

December 21st

December 22nd

December 23rd

December 24th

December 25th

December 26th

December 27th

December 28th

December 29th

December 30th

December 31st

JANUARY 1ST

1863: Philip Armes became Master of the Choristers on this date. He succeeded William Henshaw and initially received an annual salary of £260 which was increased to £300 in 1870. Soon after moving to Durham, Armes married Emily Jane Davison (in January 1864) and, whilst living first at No. 20 North Bailey (1864–72) and then at No. 17, they had two sons and two daughters.

Philip Armes gained a reputation as ‘a martinet and strict disciplinarian’ with a habit of carrying a military cane for use when conducting and also as a means of administering punishment. His ability as a musician brought order to the music of the liturgy by arranging two sets of chants for the Psalms and, whilst reviving interest in church music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Armes edited items from Durham’s collection of manuscripts from that period. His scheme for allowing internal students to study for a degree in music was accepted by the University of Durham in 1886. In 1897 he was appointed as the university’s first Professor of Music and retired some ten years later in May 1907. Following his death on February 10th 1908, Philip Armes was buried in the cemetery of St Mary le Bow, Durham. (Crosby, Brian, Come on Choristers! A History of the Chorister School, Durham, Durham: B. Crosby, 1999)

JANUARY 2ND

1875: At about 5 p.m. on this day householders at the higher end of North Road in Durham City were deafened by a gas explosion at the tailor and drapery store owned by William Gray.

After earlier smelling gas Mr Gray had contacted the Gas Company’s offices on Framwellgate and a workman had subsequently checked the shop. He reported that no work on the gas pipes was needed before Monday (January 4th). As the smell of gas grew stronger Mr Gray chose to carry out his own investigations. Soon after 5 p.m., leaving gas in the shop unlit, he lit a candle and set out to locate the source of the leak. Having determined that the smell was not coming from gas pipes, Mr Gray was edging across the shop floor towards a party wall with a house at the corner of Atherton Street when a huge explosion hurled him out of his shop.

After temporarily losing consciousness he was able to crawl through an opening before collapsing again. While some neighbours rushed away from the scene others helped to move Mr Gray to the nearby Durham County Hospital. Sadly two young children in the house were fatally injured and at the inquest that followed it was recommended that Durham Gas Company should fit stop valves on mains pipes. (Fordyce, T. (ed.), Local Records; or, Historical Register of remarkable events which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham … 1833 to [1875], being a continuation of the work published by … Mr. John Sykes, Newcastle upon Tyne: T. Fordyce, 1867–1876)

JANUARY 3RD

1644: On this day Francis Walker was on trial at Durham Assizes for stating:

The Parliament are rogues and traitors. God confound them and the devil confound them; I wish the Parliament house blown up with gunpowder as it should have been once, I hope to see them all hanged, one against another in a short time. Parliament seek to be the King themselves, and they would have the King to be worse than you and I, and that he could not say whether the horse he rode on was his own.

(Dufferwiel, Martin, Durham: A Thousand Years of History and Legend, Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1996)

1953: On this day the wedding took place at Durham Cathedral of Lady Anne Katharine Gabrielle Lumley and Matthew White Ridley, son of Viscount Ridley of Blagdon, Northumberland. The bride was given away by her father the 11th Earl of Scarborough and they were led into the cathedral by the head verger, Mr Frederick Woodward.

The couple lived on the family’s 7,000-acre Blagdon estate at Seaton Burn near Stannington and were married for fifty-three years until Lady Anne Katharine’s death on October 16th 2006. (The Journal, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1958)

JANUARY 4TH

1929: On this day Charles Conlin was hanged at Durham Jail after being found guilty of murdering his grandparents, Thomas and Emily Kirby, in September of the previous year. The tragic series of events began on the early afternoon of Saturday September 22nd 1928 when Annie Maria Stirr of No. 93 Norton Avenue, Norton near Stockton, set out to gather soil in a lane near her home in order to re-pot plants. As she dug at an area of disturbed soil beneath a hedge a human hand poked out of the ground. When police officers arrived at the scene they uncovered the bodies of a man and a woman as well as a discarded spade in a nearby field.

The victims were soon identified as Thomas and Emily Kirby who lived in Victoria Avenue, Norton and suspicion soon focused on their 22-year-old grandson, Charles Conlin. After leaving school at the age of 14 he had worked in a number of jobs but lost some on account of his dishonesty and was serving his notice at a local nitrates factory when the gruesome crime took place. As evidence accumulated against Charles Conlin a grey wallet belonging to Thomas Kirby was found in his possession and, at his trial on November 15th, a guilty verdict was returned. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 5TH

1681: This date appears in a manuscript contained within an organ book of Durham choristers accompanied by the names of William Greggs and Alixander Shaw. It was at about this time that Greggs replaced Shaw in the combined post of organist and chorister and he continued in this dual role until his death in October 1710. There are several references in Chapter Act Books to William Greggs’ duties including ‘The completion of Father Smith’s new organ, with two extra notes per octave (“quarter tones”) which required a person well-acquainted with this peculiar keyboard to avail himself of its use’ and in 1686 Greggs was given leave by the chapter on December 1st ‘to goe to London to improve himself in the Skill of Musicke’. In 1690 he was granted £10 to allow him to buy the Langley song school and some years later he received payment for composing an anthem to celebrate a national victory. During 1704 he was ‘admonished to be more careful in his teaching of the choristers’.

Following his death on October 15th 1710, William Greggs was buried in the church of St Mary the Less at Durham where an epitaph is displayed on the south wall. (Crosby, Brian, Come on Choristers! A History of the Chorister School, Durham, Durham: B. Crosby, 1999)

JANUARY 6TH

1804: On this day a destructive fire swept through the worsted mill of George and Henry Salvin which covered ground on the south side of St Oswald’s church in Durham City. During 1796 the owners had moved machinery from Castle Eden to the factory that was set among housing for the workforce at a time when an ambitious plan had been put forward for a canal and river transport system. The city was also benefitting in the closing decade of the eighteenth century, from improvements to amenities such as lighting and paving as a result of legislation in 1790. A year after the demise of Salvins’ business, Durham’s weaving industry was dealt another serious blow when John Starforth’s factory went bankrupt and closed. With a workforce of around 700, this represented about one tenth of the city’s population.

Weaving was prospering in Durham as early as 1243 and by 1450 an active Guild of Weavers had been set up. In addition to regulating the local weaving trade, guild members set up training facilities, firstly for young men and later for women. (Richardson, Michael, Memory Lane: Durham City, Derby: Breedon, 2000)

JANUARY 7TH

1873: A daughter, Margaret, was born on this day to Mary Ann Cotton, of West Auckland, in Durham Jail. Although exact details are difficult to establish, it is certain that this was Mary Ann’s eighth child and the christening of Margaret Quick-Manning identified her father as John Quick-Manning. He was in all probability the excise officer at West Auckland Brewery and certainly married to someone else. He left the area almost immediately and changed his surname. Some reports suggest that he moved abroad while others indicate that he returned to his hometown of Darlington where he ran a small beerhouse.

Mary Ann Cotton was on a charge of murdering her stepson, Charles, and her trial was postponed for several months to allow her to give birth. She nursed Margaret in her cell and one visitor reported how he had met Mrs Cotton ‘sitting on a stool close by a good fire, giving the breast to her baby’. Her trial began on March 3rd and Mary Ann Cotton was found guilty four days later. One week before her execution on March 24th, she handed over baby Margaret for adoption by a couple that she knew in West Auckland, William and Sarah Edwards. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 8TH

1904: On this day Battersby Brothers’ ‘Cheap Sale’ was advertised in the columns of local newspapers:

CORSET DEPARTMENT

Children’s, all sizes 9½d, usual price 1s.

Ladies Corsets 6½d and 11½d; usual price 1s 6d.

Ladies Corsets, 1s 11½d; worth 2s 6d.

BLOUSE DEPARTMENT

We are noted for the best stock of Blouses in the City.

A Grand Line in New Stuff to clear at 11½d each.

Another Line of 2s 6d and 2s 11d. Goods, all at 1s 11d.

Pinafores 6½d, 9d, 11½d, 1s 4d and 1s 9d; the cheapest ever offered.

UNDERCLOTHING DEPARTMENT

Ladies’ Woven Combinations, in Pink and Natural, 1s 6d and 1s 11d;

worth 2s and 2s 11d.

Children’s Woven Combinations, all sizes at 8½d each.

Men’s Shetland Under Shirts and Pants, 11½d each.

Men’s Natural Wool Shirts and Pants, 1s 11½d; usual price 2s 9d.

Men’s Shetland Lamb’s Wool Shirts and Pants 1s 6d, usual price 2s.

Our Entire Stock of Ties, 6½d quality, 5d, 1s quality 9½d.

Men’s Astrachan and Kid Gloves 2s 6d quality for 1s 6d.

How fashions and prices have changed! (Durham Chronicle, 1820–1984)

JANUARY 9TH

2013: Renovation works were unveiled on this day at an area in front of the Fergusson building at Durham University’s St Mary’s College. The site, which had been in use during recent years as a car park, had been restored to its original purpose as a recreation area and the work was commissioned to mark sixty years since the late Queen Mother opened the Fergusson building, off South Road, Durham City, in 1952. The foundation stone had been laid some five years earlier by the queen, then still Princess Elizabeth. Today’s unveiling was performed by Professor Chris Higgins, vice-chancellor of Durham University, and represented an integral part of a wider refurbishment of St Mary’s College aimed at improving its student accommodation for the twenty-first century.

St Mary’s College was founded in 1899 as a pioneering women-only institution and became one of the first places in the United Kingdom where women could study for degrees. Its increasing popularity meant that the college outgrew its first base in what is now the Chorister School, behind Durham Cathedral, and this led to work on a new headquarters which was named after a former college principal, Margaret Fergusson. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 10TH

2013: On this day a senior United Nations official, Baroness Valerie Amos, was made an honorary Doctor of Civil Law by Durham University at a ceremony held in Durham Cathedral. Currently serving as the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Baroness Amos was made a Labour life peer in 1997 and served as Leader of the House of Lords and Secretary of State for International Development. She has also been British High Commissioner to Australia and European Union Special Representative to the African Union.

The honorary degree was presented by Professor Chris Higgins, Durham University’s vice chancellor, who replaced the chancellor and opera singer Sir Thomas Allen after illness prevented him from attending. An honour was also presented to Ken West, a pioneer of natural burials, who was made an honorary Master of Arts. Baroness Amos commented, ‘It is a great privilege to be honoured by Durham University, a university with a long and proud history where there is a strong commitment to the principles of social justice.’ Professor Higgins said, ‘All of our honorary degree recipients have made outstanding contributions in their chosen fields and are a real example to our students of what can be achieved with drive, determination and skill.’ (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 11TH

1683: On this day the will of Dean John Sudbury of Durham Cathedral was made. It included provision to complete work on a great organ to stand on a screen in the building and to finish work on the cathedral library. He had already spent in excess of £1,000 on rebuilding and fitting out the library and ordered executors of his will to pay out further amounts to complete the project according to his specifications. Appointed as dean in February 1662, John Sudbury died in 1684 and his grave slab is to be seen in the North Quire Aisle of Durham Cathedral. (Stranks, C.J., This Sumptuous Church: The story of Durham Cathedral, London: SPCK, 1993)

1711: Durham City diarist Jacob Bee was buried in St Margaret’s Churchyard on this day. He had also been baptised and married at this church. Although his life was almost entirely unremarkable, much of it spent in ‘Bee’s Cottage’ close to the railway viaduct, his diary entries give a fascinating insight into everyday life in Durham. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

2012: On this day moves were announced to try to save a house that featured in the cult gangster movie Get Carter. Developers wanted to demolish ‘Beechcroft’ in Broomside Lane, Belmont, on the outskirts of Durham City. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 12TH

1800: James Cawdell, manager of theatres in Durham and Stockton, died in Durham City on this day. ‘His abilities in his profession were generally admitted and admired, and as an intelligent, friendly, social and facetious companion he was almost unrivalled.’ (Richmond, Thomas, The Local Records of Stockton and the Neighbourhood; or, a Register of Memorable Events, Chronologically Arranged, Which Have Occurred in and near Stockton Ward and the North-Eastern Parts of Cleveland, Stockton: William Robinson, 1868)

1951: On this day an advertisement for the Union Surgical Appliances Stores Ltd said:

Have pleasure in announcing a branch has been opened at:

1, Crossgate, Durham City

with a large selection of Steel and Elastic Trusses, Anklets, Kneecaps,

Stockings and Two way Stretch Elastic Hosiery.

Air cushions, Bedpans, Rubber Sheeting, Rubber Urinals, Hot Water

Bottles, 12in x 8in, and Durex Surgical Rubberware.

(Durham Chronicle, 1820–1984)

JANUARY 13TH

1610: On this day Ralph Tailor was baptised in St Margaret’s parish church in Durham City and probably moved to Newcastle when he was 15 to become a scrivener. This involved a seven-year apprenticeship and when Tailor began his career, in his mid-20s, plague was decimating Newcastle’s population. As a scrivener, Ralph Tailor was responsible for most of the wills of plague victims during the summer of 1636 and his signature appears on a quarter of probate documents. (Wrightson, Keith, Ralph Tailor’s Summer: A Scrivener, his City and the Plague, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011)

1840: Samuel Storey was born on this day at Sherburn, near Durham, the sixth son of Robert Storey who had moved to Sherburn from Monkwearmouth where the family were farmers. Following Robert Storey’s death in 1843 Samuel’s mother moved the family to Newcastle and Samuel trained as a teacher. He married in 1864 and left teaching to develop business interests and involvement in politics in the Sunderland area. This led to the founding of the Sunderland Daily Echo in December 1873 and election as a Liberal MP in 1881. He retained an active interest in political events and newspapers up to his death in 1925. (North Magazine: A Magazine for Durham, Northumberland and North Yorkshire, York, 1971–)

JANUARY 14TH

1953: On this day crowds in Durham marketplace watched Field Marshal, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein receive the Honorary Freedom of the City from Durham’s mayor, Councillor Gordon McIntyre. Movietone cameras mounted on top of a van recorded the event for cinema audiences and proceedings included the presentation to Viscount Montgomery of an oak casket, made from 800-year-old beams from Durham Cathedral, containing an illuminated manuscript (after ‘Monty’s’ death it was returned to Durham and is displayed in the town hall entrance.) Whilst in the marketplace Viscount Montgomery was given a surprise gift by university policeman, William Plunkett. It was a framed photograph of his brother, Canon Colin Montgomery, and dated from 1926 when he was president of the union during his time as a student at St Chad’s College. (Richardson, Michael, Memory Lane: Durham City, Derby: Breedon, 2000)

1985: Forty firemen tackled a blaze that spread through St Godric’s church at Durham to leave a cloud of smoke over the city on this day. The fire had been started by a 13-year-old boy at the west end of the building some two years after several thousand pounds had been spent on roof repairs. A Harrison organ and a fifteenth-century desk were among furnishings badly damaged. (Richardson, Michael, Memory Lane: Durham City, Derby: Breedon, 2000)

JANUARY 15TH

2002: Durham City’s newly-opened Gala Theatre began a season of Alan Ayckbourn’s Damsel’s in Distress trilogy of Gameplan, Flatspin and Role Play. It ran until January 31st 2002 before setting out on a UK-wide tour. The three plays represent Ayckbourn’s 58th, 59th and 60th plays and although they are entirely separate comedies, they were written to be performed by the same cast using the same set (a luxury apartment in the London Docklands). The Gala Theatre was part of a Millennium City development which also includes a cinema, tourist information centre, bars and restaurants. The Gala represented the largest regional theatre in the UK for more than a decade and Durham’s first dedicated theatre for fifty years. (www.whatsonstage.com)

2011: On this day a rare Shakespeare First Folio, which was stolen from Durham University some twelve years earlier, formed the centrepiece of an exhibition – Treasures of Durham University which opened to the public at the university’s Palace Green Library. The exhibition included a number of other university treasures and manuscripts and represented the inaugural exhibition in the new Wolfson Gallery following a £2.3 million programme of refurbishment. (www.dur.ac.uk/news)

JANUARY 16TH

1691: On this day Sir John Duck, former Mayor of Durham City, died. He had arrived in Durham as a young man to take up an apprenticeship as a butcher and in spite of a warning in the books of the Butcher’s Company to ‘John Heslopp, that he forebear to sett John Duck on work in the trade as a butcher’ he established himself in this business. Folklore suggests that he was walking along the riverbank when a raven dropped a gold coin at his feet and this enabled him to build up his business. Although his methods were suspect at times, Sir John Duck reached the top of his trade and amassed considerable wealth. In 1680 he was Mayor of Durham City. Lord Crewe appointed him a Commissioner of the Peace and during 1686 he became a baronet. He owned property in several parts of County Durham as well as a house on the north side of Silver Street in the city. John Duck married Anne Heslop at St Nicholas’ church in 1665 and in 1681 he and his wife gave to the church a velvet pulpit cloth and eight velvet cushions ‘to be made use of at all times when sermons are preached’. He was buried in St Margaret’s Churchyard. (www.stnics.org.uk)

JANUARY 17TH

1776: Jane Porter, novelist and dramatist, was born at Durham on this day. She soon became a keen reader and is said to have risen at 4 a.m. in order to read and write, and, whilst still in her childhood, reputedly read the whole of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. As she matured into a tall and beautiful woman, her aloof manner earned Jane the nickname of ‘La Penserosa’ meaning ‘a melancholy or brooding person’. Following her father’s death the Porter family moved to Edinburgh where Walter Scott was a regular visitor and another move, this time to London, brought her into contact with contemporary literary figures. Jane Porter’s novel Thaddeus of Warsaw, published in 1803, represents one of the earliest examples of the historical novel and was set during the Polish independence struggle of the 1790s. A novel about William Wallace, The Scottish Chiefs, brought further success and Jane Porter also wrote several plays as well as contributing to periodicals. She died on May 24th 1850. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Porter)

2009: On this day Ushaw College at Bearpark, near Durham City, a Roman Catholic seminary announced that it was opening its doors for guided group tours. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 18TH

1796: On this day Reynold Gideon Bowyer, Canon of Durham Cathedral, invited the lay clerks to dinner. In addition to the seven clerks who attended, the party included Mr Morpeth, the chapter’s architect; Mr Shields, the registrar’s clerk; Mr and Mrs Bowyer; Mr and Mrs Perigal and Edmund Hastings. Seated around a table, the food on offer included soup, roast pork, celery, ‘fowls’, mashed potatoes, fricassee, stewed celery, apple tart, turnips, veal collops, beetroot, tongue and roast beef. The removes were partridges and ducks but no dessert.

The origin of residence dinners was in statutes issued to the dean and chapter by Queen Mary in 1555 but they fell out of use during the second quarter of the nineteenth century. At Durham the dean and every cannon who had £40 or more each year from a source outside the cathedral, was required to maintain a separate household, to keep the residence and to provide hospitality. (Mussett, P., ‘Hospitality residence at Durham Cathedral’ Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, new series, Vol. 6, 1982)

1939: Herbert Hensley Henson, the Bishop of Durham, carried out his last official act as bishop when he laid the foundation stone of the second chapel at Bede College on this day. (Richardson, Michael, Memory Lane: Durham City, Derby: Breedon, 2000)

JANUARY 19TH

1627: A dispute between John Richardson of the Bailey, Durham City and Dr John Cradock, Vicar of Gainford and Chancellor to the Bishop of Durham, reached a dramatic climax in Durham Cathedral on this day. During the early 1600s Dr Cradock had accumulated considerable property and influence in County Durham and Northumberland. This led to an accusation in the House of Commons that he had abused his offices, extorted money and ransacked people’s properties. The leading figure behind these accusations was John Richardson and, on December 22nd 1625, Dr Cradock’s sons called at his house at the Bailey in Durham City. During the altercation that followed they ‘frightened his wife’ and assaulted one of Mr Richardson’s staff. Some thirteen months later, on January 19th 1627, Richardson gained revenge. Along with a group of friends, he loitered in Durham Cathedral as Dr Cradock made his way down the aisle during the singing of the litany. About halfway down Mr Richardson’s gang leapt out on Cradock ‘in contempt of the place, the person and the tyme’ and arrested him. Before he could face trial Dr Cradock died suddenly at Woodhorn, near Ashington. His wife, Margaret, was accused of poisoning him but then acquitted at her trial. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 20TH

1973: On this day Forbes Henderson, the first prize winner of the international Open Classical Guitar Competition at the 1972 Lanchester Arts Festival in Coventry, gave a recital in the Great Hall of Durham Castle under the auspices of the Durham University Classical Guitar Society.

With encouragement from his father, Forbes Henderson played the guitar from an early age and during schooldays in York he was tutored by Gordon Crosskey. His studies continued at the Royal Academy of Music with Hector Quine and then at the Royal Manchester College of Music. He gained further experience during a summer course at Nice with Alexandre Lagoya and two seasons with the Wavendon Allmusic Plan where John Williams provided tuition. Early concert performances by Forbes Henderson included venues in Coventry, Sheffield, York and Edinburgh. In Sheffield he played Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un Gentilhombre for guitar and orchestra under conductor Antony Hopkins. His first recital in Durham included music ranging from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in the arrangement for guitar, as made famous by an early John Williams recording, to Richard Rodney Bennett’s Five Impromptus. (North Magazine: A Magazine for Durham, Northumberland and North Yorkshire, York, 1971–)

JANUARY 21ST

2013: An obituary was published on this day by the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene outlining the lifetime achievements of Dr Andrew Davis in dealing with tropical diseases. Born January 31st 1928 at Washington, Tyne and Wear, he was educated at Johnston School, Durham City and then Durham Medical School. Following National Service, Andrew Davis was appointed director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Bilharziasis Chemotherapy Centre in what is now Tanganyika in 1962, and between 1971 and 1974 he was director of the Medical Research Council’s epidemiological research unit in Jamaica. A move to WHO in Geneva as senior medical officer (schistosomiasis) brought appointment as one of the few British scientists to be made director of a major programme – the parasitic disease programme. In 1980 Andrew Davis was elected a life member of the Swiss Tropical Medicine Society and nine years later he was awarded the silver medal of the Society of Tropical Medicine of France. In 2003 he received the Sir Rickard Christophers Medal from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. (www.rstmh.org/node/609)

JANUARY 22ND

2013: Artwork produced by pupils from thirteen Roman Catholic schools across north-east England was featured in an exhibition that began on this day in the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral. Under the title, The Gospel Stories, the display was made up of a range of items completed by more than 150 pupils from schools and sixth-form colleges in the Hexham and Newcastle Catholic Partnership. The wide-ranging exhibition included artworks in paint, textiles, ceramics, print and photography and was said by organisers to reflect how young artists had interpreted Biblical events, messages and themes.

The director of the Partnership, Sara Crawshaw, said, ‘Through this exhibition students have had some very precious time with their Gospel and like numerous artists before them have found the Bible to be a source of enormous inspiration.’ Schools involved in the exhibition were drawn from a wide geographical area ranging from North Shields on Tyneside to Stockton and Billingham and westwards to Bishop Auckland and Lanchester. A student from St Leonard’s Catholic School in Durham City, Sophie McNay, summed up the feelings of exhibitors when she said: ‘This is a great opportunity for me and it’s a real privilege to have my painting shown in Durham Cathedral.’ (Durham Times, Durham: Newsquest, 2007–)

JANUARY 23RD

1557: On this day sessions of the peace were held at Durham where officials and jurors heard eight cases covering incidents committed between October 18th 1556 and January 20th 1557. Several of the cases involved ‘unlawful and riotous assembly’ at locations including Beckley, Heugh near Lanchester, Team Bridge and Darlington. During the riot at Beckley the mob ‘violently entered the house of Robert Porter of Shield Row, expelled the same and continued in possession until the present and with their animals consumed his grass’.

Another case involved Anthony Coot of Durham City, a slater, who ‘with force and arms broke and entered the close of Christopher Hochenson, at Durham and stole a wainload of stones worth 2s’ and a group of men were in court because ‘having neither land nor tenements worth 40s a year, on 20 January 1557 kept greyhounds contrary to the statute’. At the same hearing were John Crawe, of Durham city, fisher, William Watson of the same, fisher, John Watson of the same, fisher, Richard Jakson of Sunderland, fisher, Richard Morey of the same, fisher, and Roland Ledebeater of the same, fisher, [as they] on 20 January 1557 and some days earlier forestalled fish coming to the lord’s market, contrary to divers statutes.’ (Fraser, C.M. (ed.), Durham Quarter Sessions Rolls 1471–1625, Durham: Surtees Society, 1991)

JANUARY 24TH

1463: On this day the Prior of Durham granted his licence to John Etrick and Thomas Jonson of Gretham, to go to the Holy Land upon a pilgrimage against the Turks, having previously branded them upon the right side of their naked breasts with a hot iron shaped like a cross before the shrine of St Cuthbert. (Sykes, John, Local records; or, Historical register of Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stockton-on-Tees: Patrick and Shotton, 1973)

1958: This day saw the closure of the popular Rex Cinema, in Gilesgate Moor. Built by a butcher, George Lamb, it first opened in June 1927 as the Crescent Cinema. With 318 seats it was the smallest cinema venue in Durham. There was no balcony for customers wanting an elevated view and the projectionist had to reach his room via a ladder. In 1941 the cinema had a change of management and was renamed Rex. It showed mainly older films, with Westerns particularly popular and at the time of closure the manageress was Mrs Emily Studholme, a stern figure who had earned a reputation as an ‘Iron Lady’. The last film to be shown was Eagle Squadron. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 25TH

1683: An entry in the diary of Durham resident, Jacob Bee for this date reads:

A sad cruel murther committed by a boy about eighteen or nineteen years of age, nere Ferryhill, nere Durham, being Thursday, at night. The maner is, by report: When the parents were out of dores a young man, being sone to the house and two daughters was kil’d by this boy with an axe, having knock’t them in the head, afterwards cut ther throts, one of them being asleep in the bed, about ten or eleven years of age: the other daughter was to be married at Candlemas. After he had kil’d the sone and the eldest daughter, being above twenty years of age, a little lass, her sister, about the age of eleven yeares being in bed alone, he drag’d her out of bed and kil’d her alsoe. The same Andrew Millns, alias Miles, was hang’d in irons upon a gybett nere Ferryhill upon the 15th day of August, being Wednesday, this year 1683.

(Northern Echo Memories Supplement)

2013: Captain Andrew Burns of HMS Bulwark, County Durham’s adopted warship, was presented with a commemorative bell at Durham Town Hall. Capt. Burns received the bell which was taken on board HMS Bulwark at the end of a two-day visit to the North East. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 26TH

1973: On this day a headline in the local press stated, ‘Farnley Hey Folk Fight to Save Arcadian Setting.’ Residents of Farnley Hey Road in Durham were battling to save one of the city’s most picturesque areas from a proposed development of four terraced houses. With support from the city council at a local inquiry held by an inspector, they argued that it would be totally out of character with the current appearance of the site and the whole Arcadian-style backdrop to the cathedral and city would be ruined. The town clerk, Mr D.B. Martin Jones gave an explanation for the city council’s refusal to grant permission before the architect of the proposed scheme, Mr Gazzard, asserted that there was an urgent demand for ‘economically decent houses particularly in Government-assisted areas.’ It was his view that they would not disfigure the view from the cathedral and a landscaping screen of trees would blend the houses into the landscape. Local residents also put forward their views that it would be out of keeping with the area and would increase traffic problems. The inspector, Mrs Christine Mills, then left the meeting to visit the site on Farnley Hey Road. Ultimately, the residents were successful and the terraces were not constructed. (Durham Advertiser, 1968–2000)

JANUARY 27TH

1902: A committee meeting at Durham Choristers’ School on this day prepared a number of recommendations that were approved by the chapter on February 1st. Arrangements by which choristers were accepted as boarders were clearly defined and it was suggested that fees should be paid half-yearly in advance with help from the Barrington Fund for the sons of clergy with livings in Durham and Northumberland. A list of chargeable extras was to be compiled but these were not to include surplices, sheets or towels. Another matter that received attention was to do with remuneration to be made to a matron, regardless of whether she was the headmaster’s wife and it was felt that the selection of choristers should be left to a group composed of the dean, Canon Kynaston, the precentor, the organist and the headteacher. Entries in the Act Book for 1902 to 1904 indicate that a whole series of decisions remained in the hands of the chapter. These included purchasing new desks for the small classroom, providing lockers and a table for boarding pupils, purchasing four large maps, a blackboard and an easel, and filling in a saw pit in the joiners’ yard to provide a playground. (Crosby, Brian, Come on Choristers! A History of the Chorister School, Durham, Durham: B. Crosby, 1999)

JANUARY 28TH

1658: Durham diarist Jacob Bee married Elizabeth Rabbett at St Margaret’s church in the Crossgate district of the city on this day. One of only two Grade I listed parish churches in Durham, it dates from the twelfth century and retains much of this original stonework in the interior. (www.stjam.f9.co.uk)

2012: On this date chinese dancers welcomed the Year of the Dragon during celebrations at Durham that also included the annual good luck lettuce catch in the city’s marketplace. During this curious episode Durham’s deputy mayor, John Wilkinson, caught a lettuce thrown by a lion to ensure good luck for the city over the next year. Colin Wilkes, a member of Durham City Forum which organises the annual event, commented: ‘The Chinese New Year lion dance has become one of the highlights of the city calendar and we are very grateful to Ocean’s Apart Kung Fu Club for livening up the streets with their colourful, energetic display.’ Durham University’s Oriental Museum celebrated the New Year with dragon-themed craft activities until the Chinese Lantern Festival (on February 6th) which brought an official end to festivities. Similar festive events took place in Newcastle and Sunderland. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

JANUARY 29TH

1851: Durham town hall was formally opened on this day when celebrations included a civic banquet. Design work was prepared by P.C. Hardwick of London and according to Nikolaus Pevsner’s Buildings of England: ‘For a Victorian civic building [it is] nicely humble.’ Many of its features relate to a medieval hall and these include a hammer-beam oak roof, stained glass windows and painted panels portraying important local events and personalities, and a glass-ceilinged Lantern Room. The Crush Hall, close to the entrance, has items associated with Count Borulawski who was 39in high and died in 1837 aged 98.

During 1555 Bishop Tunstall had ordered construction of a town hall on the west side of the marketplace. This building was extensively rebuilt in 1665 on the orders of Bishop Cosin and further alterations were made in 1752 and 1754 before it was decided, in 1849, to construct a new building. (Clack, P.A.J., The Book of Durham City, Buckingham: Barracuda, 1985)

1871: A chapel of ease to St Cuthbert’s church was opened at a cost of about £800 in the Framwellgate Moor area of Durham. Constructed in stone with nave, chancel, north porch and bell turret in the Early English style it was set in three quarters of an acre of ground. (Whellan, Francis, History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham Comprising a General Survey of the County and a History of the City and Diocese of Durham … , London: Ballantyne, Hanson and Co., 1894)

JANUARY 30TH

1565: On this day Bishop Pilkington granted a charter which decreed that the City of Durham should be joined with Framwellgate and that government would be vested in an alderman and twenty-four assistant burgesses. They were empowered to publish laws, statutes and ordinances ‘for the common benefit’. Before 1565, power was in the hands of a bailiff appointed by the bishop and the charter of 1565 was replaced by a more extensive arrangement issued by Bishop Matthew in 1602. (Whellan, Francis, History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham Comprising a General Survey of the County and a History of the City and Diocese of Durham…, London: Ballantyne, Hanson and Co., 1894)

1817: Sir Walter Scott’s final long verse narrative Harold the Dauntless was published anonymously on this day, in order to determine whether critics and the reading public could detect his style. It drew on Scott’s interest in the Viking legends of the Berserkers and he was also said to have been inspired by the view of Durham Cathedral from South Street. A stone tablet on Prebends Bridge is inscribed with the following lines from the poem:

Grey towers of Durham

Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles

Half church of God, half castle ‘gainst the Scot

And long to roam these venerable aisles

With records stored of deeds long since forgot.

(www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/works/poetry/harold.html)

JANUARY 31ST

1069: In the early hours of this morning a mob of local people smashed down the gates of Durham and rampaged through the streets to attack Norman troops who had seized the city the previous day. Bodies of Norman soldiers were said to have been scattered along the narrow streets and a number of the occupying force, including their leader Earl Robert Cumin, rushed for a place of refuge in the bishop’s palace. The pursuing mob promptly set fire to the timber work of the palace and in the ensuing blaze Cumin and all but two of his troops were killed. As the fire grew in intensity flames threatened the western tower of Durham’s stone minster church but local folk are said to have fallen to their knees in prayer. Miraculously the wind changed direction and flames were diverted away from the minster tower. (www.englandsnortheast.co.uk)

2012: On this day restaurants, bars, hotels, cafés and bed and breakfast venues received their ‘Taste Durham’ quality prizes in the fourth annual awards ceremony held at the Royal County Marriott Hotel in Old Elvet, Durham City. The awards were distributed after assessors from ‘Quality in Tourism’, acting on behalf of ‘Visit England’, inspected the businesses. (The Northern Echo, Darlington, 1870–)

FEBRUARY 1ST

1677: On this day it is recorded that:

At a meeting of the company of drapers and taylors within the citty of Durham, It is unanimously agreed by all the freemen of the sayd company then present (being 58 in number), that it will be to the prejudice, damage and ruin of this citty and corporacon (as they for many apparent reasons conceive), if Stockton should be incorporated, and therefore the wardens are desired to signify the sence of this company to Mr Mayor accordingly, and this corporacon are resolved to joyne with the rest of the trades within the citty of Durham in petitioning the lord Bpp. and in writing to both parliament men for the county palatyne of Durham, to prevent the granting of a charter, or procuring an act of parliament for incorporating the town of Stockton.

Stockton being a town corporate by prescription, it does not appear what circumstances had given rise to the fears of the good citizens of Durham. (Richmond, Thomas, The Local Records of Stockton and the Neighbourhood; or, A Register of Memorable Events, Chronologically Arranged, Which Have Occurred in and near Stockton Ward and the North-Eastern parts of Cleveland, Stockton: William Robinson, 1868)

2013: On this day an exhibition by artist Paul Belcher entitled Mortal Engines opened in the Undercroft Restaurant at Durham Cathedral. The Undercroft Restaurant and adjacent shop had been opened in November 2012 by Dame Tanni Grey Thompson. (Evening Chronicle, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1885–)

FEBRUARY 2ND

1402: