The Gateshead Book of Days E-Book

Jo Bath

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

Seitenzahl: 429

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Taking you through the year day by day, The Gateshead Book of Days contains quirky, eccentric, shocking, amusing and important events and facts from different periods in the history of the town. 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 Gateshead's archives and covering the social, criminal, political, religious, agricultural, industrial and sporting history of the region, it will delight residents and visitors alike.

Leseprobe

THE GATESHEAD BOOK OF DAYS

JO BATH & RICHARD F. STEVENSON

First published in 2013

The History Press The Mill, Brimscombe Port Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QGwww.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved © Jo Bath & Richard F. Stevenson, 2013

The right of Jo Bath & Richard F. Stevenson to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, 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.

EPUBISBN 978 0 7509 5192 0

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

1907: On this day, one of Gateshead’s most famous quayside personalities was seen for the last time. Thomas Ferens, more commonly known as ‘Tommy on the Bridge’, was a beggar who became famous locally because of his ‘strong’ personality and his near-constant presence on the quayside. As his nickname suggests, Tommy was usually found on a bridge, begging from tourists and locals alike. Born in the early 1840s, he was an orphan by the age of 5 and was partially paralysed in both hands, and completely blind. Unable to work for a living, Tommy began begging from an early age. Indeed, although he later became synonymous with the Swing Bridge, his career in fact started on the older, stone Tyne Bridge that was on the same site until 1876. Apparently it was his belief that neither the Gateshead nor the Newcastle police could arrest him for begging so long as he straddled the border between the two authorities! He was known to shout insults when his earnings were insufficient, even angrily throwing money into the Tyne on occasion. Before long he had become something of a tourist attraction himself and picture postcards of him were sold to visitors to Gateshead. Unfortunately on this cold, snowy January day, Tommy was found lying unconscious near to Bridge Street. The police took him to the Workhouse Hospital in Bensham, where he died twenty minutes later. He had been a fixture ‘on the bridge’ for forty years. (Walton, C., Old Gateshead, No. 41)

JANUARY 2ND

1940: On this day, Gateshead lost one of its most respected citizens. Local historian John Oxberry was born in Windy Nook in 1857. Although he dedicated his later life to the town of his birth, he emigrated to New Zealand as a young man, eager to seek wealth and fortune in the gold mines of Otago. Disappointed with his luck there, he returned home and worked for Gateshead’s authorities in various capacities until eventually becoming Superintendent Registrar in 1917 – a job he held until retiring in 1930. Throughout his working life and retirement, Oxberry tirelessly strived to research, make public, and preserve Gateshead’s history. Clarence Walton, himself a great collector of Gateshead’s historical scraps, sums it up beautifully: ‘Mr Oxberry’s diligent and painstaking investigation covering a period of many years, his toilsome task of collecting and indexing practically every word and import printed about his beloved home town, but which to him was a labour of love, gives him without dispute the honour of being Gateshead’s greatest historian.’ In 1937 Oxberry was elected Honorary Freeman of the Borough in recognition of his services, and received a silver casket in the Shipley Art Gallery. His death was the long-term result of an accident at home in 1939, from which he never truly recovered. (Walton, C., Scrapbook, Gateshead Library)

JANUARY 3RD

1540: On this day, Stella’s nuns were made homeless and unemployed! As long ago as 1149, William de St Barbara, Bishop of Durham, granted an area of Stella ‘with all its appurtenances in woodland, champian [fields], roads, ways, metes, boundaries, mills, and meadows, Waters, fish-dams, and fisheries, free of forest-right and pasturage of the Bishop’s hogs, to St Bartholomew and the Nuns of Newcastle.’ Although ownership changed hands, a nunnery remained on the same site for nearly 400 years, with the nuns enjoying the use of the land and the support of wealthy local families. Then came Henry VIII. From 1536 to 1541, Henry’s Dissolution of the Monasteries was responsible for the closure of most of the monasteries and nunneries in the kingdom, and Stella’s was one of the last to be suppressed during this scheme. Indeed, its future prospects seemed good when it escaped the first round of suppressions in 1537, and it was re-founded and preserved. But by 1540 the vast lands and great building supported only one prioress and nine nuns. So, for economic as much as religious reasons, it was closed. Stella Hall was built on the site of the – now ruined – nunnery. Visitors to the Hall have included Italian general and politician Garibaldi, a statue of whom was found in a garden on the Stella estate. (Bourne, W., History of the Parish of Ryton, 1896 / isee.gateshead.gov.uk)

JANUARY 4TH

1886: On this day, the ‘Felling Ghost’ was captured. According to the press, ‘For the past six weeks considerable excitement has been caused in the vicinity of Holly Street, Felling, by the appearance of what was supposed to be a ghost …’ This apparition would be seen lurking behind walls, rattling closed windows and doors. When seen, it ‘would give an unearthly moan and disappear again in the darkness.’ This night, however, the ghoul was surprised by a man brandishing a poker. Giving chase (wearing nothing but his shirt), the man screamed ‘For God’s sake, stop the ghost!’ A crowd gave chase, forcing the ‘ghost’ to seek shelter – in the police station! Unsurprisingly, the phantom proved to be a simple burglar, very much alive, and thankful for the police’s protection from an angry mob threatening to give him a ‘good coating of tar and feathers’. He was tried on January 12th. The North-Eastern Daily Gazette reports that the two lawyers involved seemed oddly obsessed with Shakespeare. When one spoke of the accused going to sleep, his opposite number interrupted ‘perchance to dream’. The first then went on to quote Hamlet’s words to his dead father, asking why his ‘dread corpse’ had returned. Eventually the judge was forced to ask them to simply relate the facts, without resorting to poetry. (Liverpool Mercury / North-Eastern Daily Gazette)

JANUARY 5TH

1832: On this day, W. Maclean of the Central Health Board wrote to the Newcastle Board of Health concerning an alarming rumour. It seemed that, only three weeks after a cholera outbreak began, Gateshead had set up a temporary hospital for sufferers. But – perhaps because of the sheer number of patients – the whole set-up was thought to be ‘highly inadequate and improper’. Maclean had been told that ‘five children were actually placed in one bed, and three in another bed in that hospital’ – perhaps no worse than they would have had at home, in some cases, but certainly far from ideal for the seriously ill! Maclean demanded an explanation for how these circumstances could arise, ‘which, if founded in truth, must prove highly disgraceful to the members of the Board.’ The cholera epidemic certainly hit Gateshead hard. When the local Board of Health met eight days later, they reported that cholera deaths had now reached 124 in Gateshead (compared to 204 in the much larger Newcastle). It didn’t help that Newcastle had closed its doors to vagrants, as part of its public health measures, so any strays visiting Tyneside wound up on the south bank. By the time that year’s epidemic had run its course in Gateshead, over 400 had been infected and around 150 had died in the town. (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk / Morris, R., Cholera 1832, Taylor & Francis: 1976)

JANUARY 6TH

1989: On this day, footballer Andy Carroll was born in Gateshead. Carroll started playing for Newcastle United in 2006, after initially showing talent while attending Brighton Avenue Primary School and Joseph Swan Secondary School. His meteoric rise creates an amazing list of achievements. He made his début for Newcastle United on November 2nd 2006 in a UEFA cup win against Palermo. Although he did not score that day, at only 17 years and 300 days old, he became the youngest player to represent United in Europe. In 2007 he was the recipient of the Wor Jackie Milburn Trophy for young players with outstanding potential. On July 29th that year he scored his first senior goal during a friendly against Italian giants Juventus, putting his left-footed shot past World Cup winning goalie, Gianluigi Buffon. He secured his position as United’s main striker during the 2009/10 season, where his seventeen goals helped Newcastle gain promotion. His reward was the coveted Newcastle Number 9 shirt – as worn by legends such as Hughie Gallacher, Jackie Milburn, Malcolm MacDonald, Andy Cole and Alan Shearer. Carroll had achieved much, and was still only 22 years old. Then came a day of heartbreak for Newcastle fans: on January 31st – the last day of the transfer window – just before the 11 p.m. deadline, Carroll was unexpectedly signed by Liverpool for £35 million. At the time of writing, this is still the record for the most expensive British player of all time. (www.sport.co.uk)

JANUARY 7TH

1839: This day has gone down in history as ‘Windy Monday’. A little past midnight, a hurricane – described by an eyewitness as ‘resistless fury and appalling magnitude … [which] bore a closer resemblance to a west Indian tornado than the storms which, however fierce, visit the temperate regions of our globe’ – swept across the country. It howled across Tyneside in the small hours, and hit hardest in Gateshead. In Chopwell, around 20,000 trees were uprooted. By morning, the streets of Gateshead were strewn with debris, bricks and tiles, ‘as if the town had stood a siege’. Almost every building on Gateshead Fell had been damaged (many lost their roofs), as had the new Cholera Memorial. The Fox steamboat had been blown from its moorings and flung against the bridge, where it sank. There were several major injuries – one man broke a leg in the collapse of the 115ft tower of the Brandling Junction Railway Company, while another broke both arms trying to cross Scotswood Bridge. John Errick was even more unlucky – he was crushed to death by the fall of a 75ft tower at Abbot & Co.’s ironworks, while his friend only just escaped the falling debris. (Fordyce, J., Local Records, 1867)

JANUARY 8TH

1611: On this day, a charter was signed ‘rebranding’ a longstanding Gateshead institution. The Hospital of St Edmund the King and Martyr (not to be confused with Gateshead’s other medieval hospital, the Hospital of St Edmund the Bishop and Confessor), had been providing for the poor of Gateshead for over 300 years, financed by rents and coal revenue from its estates. It even survived the Reformation, although by the 1590s its finances and administration were deeply muddled, and it was only able to support three elderly people. There were even suspicions that some of the administrators were trying to pervert the hospital estates by getting private use out of them. The Common Council applied to King James I for letters patent for the institution to be re-founded – apparently not realising that technically it wasn’t anything to do with them! But it worked, and on this day St Edmund’s was replaced by the Hospital of King James. Even with royal backing, however, the hospital’s decline continued. By the eighteenth century, its cottages were in such disrepair they were pulled down, and hens reportedly roamed freely in its chapel! (Carlton, I., A Short History of Gateshead, Gateshead Corporation, 1974 / Manders, F., A History of King James’s Hospital, Gateshead, King James’s Hospital Trustees: 1974)

JANUARY 9TH

1701: On this day, Revd Theophilus Pickering bequeathed £300 per year to maintain a free school in Gateshead, in a room adjoining St Mary’s Church, Oakwellgate. Named the Anchorage School, this – the oldest school in Gateshead – was in a suitable location, as it is believed that an anchoress (a female hermit who volunteered to be ‘anchored’ to one room or cell for a lifetime of devotion) provided religious instruction on the site from 1340. We know that there was, at least briefly, a school there a little before 1701 because in 1693, minutes from a vestry meeting discharged John Tennant from teaching in the anchorage any further because he had come there ‘without the consent of, and in opposition to, Mr George Tullie, rector of the parish’. But perhaps Tennant gave the rector the idea that a school would be an asset to the Church. Pickering’s bequest stipulated that the school’s master had to teach children in the basics of Latin and Greek, grammar, geography and mathematics, as well as how to keep accounts, and ‘the art of navigation, or plain sailing’ – important skills for getting a good job on the Tyne. Thanks to Pickering’s zeal and generosity, the Anchorage flourished and by 1827 there were about ninety children. Theophilus Pickering – if the records are correct – lived to be 108 or 109 years old! (www.gateshead-grammar.com / Lang, A., The St Mary’s Story, Gateshead Council, 2009)

JANUARY 10TH

1886: Around this date, there was a severe and prolonged period of bitter weather at Tyneside. The Swan Pond in Sheriff Hill froze solid, and Mr Elliot, Chief Constable of Gateshead, had the idea of raising funds for the Royal Victoria Infirmary by charging for the use of the pond as an ice rink. The problem was that this was January, with few hours of daylight, so a source of illumination was needed. The pond was a long way from Newcastle’s electricity supply stations. Fortunately, Tyneside was a crucible of electrical innovation. Elliot approached Clarke, Chapman & Co. engineering works, whose new staff member, Charles Parsons, had recently invented a new kind of portable generator, called the ‘turbodynamo’. This steam turbine was shortly to make all earlier forms of power station generator redundant. Elliot persuaded the company of the publicity value of working together and the compact engine, mounted on two wheels, was pulled by a horse to Swan Pond. Joseph Swan provided electric lights made to his own patent, also very new at the time. So many people paid just to say they had skated by electric light, that £100 was raised for the RVI over the course of three days – although it was much too crowded for anyone to really get much skating done! (Weightman, G., Children of Light, Atlantic Books, 2011)

JANUARY 11TH

1849: On this day, Marley Hill Colliery’s owners felt the wrath of their workers. Miners’ conditions and pay were poor at this time. Marley Hill’s miners had signed their employment bonds with Bowes & Co., on the understanding that they would receive at least 4s per day. But they were only getting 2s 6d to 3s 6d, and they had to buy their own candles, powder and equipment. When they spoke up about their concerns and talked of unionisation, the mine owners’ immediate response was to throw them, their families, and their possessions out of their (company-owned) homes. Furthermore, ejected miners were told that they would be arrested for trespass should they ever return to Bowes & Co. land. In response, the remaining Marley Hill miners went on strike, forcing the owners to buy coal for their coke ovens from the nearby Hobson Pit instead. On the night of January 11th, a group of fifteen armed and disguised men approached the Hobson Pit and menacingly ordered its workers away. They then placed a cask of gunpowder onto the boilers and the resulting explosion caused irreparable damage. With their supply of coal now removed, Bowes & Co. issued a £50 reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprits. In a show of solidarity in the face of injustice, nobody ever came forward. Surely this must be one of the few deliberate boiler explosions in the history of coal mining. (ourgateshead.org)

JANUARY 12TH

1740: By this day the year’s continuing bitter winter had finally reached the point where the people might as well use the Tyne as a road. It had frozen over in December, ships could not move, and indeed many were damaged by the press of ice. On this day, the inhabitants of Tyneside took to the ice until the river resembled a market, with stalls selling meat and drink and entertainment including foot races, and even a football match (this being the sort of football with teams of hundreds, a huge ‘pitch’, and very few rules). The next day, Sir John Fenwick of Bywell held a birthday party on the river for his son – he erected a tent on the ice, where they actually roasted a sheep, and also travelled across the ice in a carriage. The river was still frozen a month later, at which point the coal owners hired 200 men to start cutting a channel through the ice, a mile and a half long, from the staithes to the open water. It took them a week, but by that time a great mass of ice had travelled downstream, which needed clearing out. That done, Sir Henry Liddell tried to extend the channel to other staithes, but stopped when two men drowned. The thaw did not arrive until February 24th. (Sykes, J., Local Records, i, 1833)

JANUARY 13TH

1923: On this day the funeral was held at Gateshead East Cemetery of unemployed furnace-man, and respected Communist party member, Alexander Fullarton. It was a colourful affair: the coffin was draped in the red flag of his party, and his twenty-four pall-bearers wore red ribbons. The 1,000 attendees wore red rosettes and ties, and sang ‘The Red Flag’ and ‘We’ll keep the Red Flag Flying Here’. There was, however, a farcical element to the proceedings. Fullarton’s coffin had to be taken out through the window of his tiny house. At the funeral itself, crowds and marshals turned up to the wrong grave. When the mistake was noticed, a thousand pairs of feet rushed to the correct spot, trampling the ground and damaging other graves. (Oxberry’s Scraps)

1934: On this day, a rugby team completed a nine-week, 5,200-mile tour around Britain, in Gateshead. Indeed, since the team in question was the Australian Rugby League XIII, they had travelled 10,500 miles beforehand! They were entertained before the game in Newcastle, where players from Newcastle, New South Wales, enjoyed meeting the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, England. The Australian coach, confusingly called Mr H. Sunderland, commented over the post-match dinner at Gateshead Town Hall ‘we have in Australia … a minority of people who sometimes make rude noises at sporting functions, but you have in England sporting people whom it has been a delight to meet.’ (Newcastle Journal)

JANUARY 14TH

1786: On this day, members of the Gateshead Fell Gang were apprehended. The Newcastle Courant on January 21st reported that, ‘four persons belonging to the notorious gang of thieves and shop-lifters, called the Bishop Auckland Gang, otherwise the Barlow Gang, otherwise the Gateshead-Fell-Gang, so called from several of them residing at these places, and from numbers of them frequently rendezvousing there, were observed reconnoitring the Linen Drapers shops in this town, and traced to an Alehouse in Pipewellgate, where they were apprehended and brought back …’ The four caught on this occasion were Elizabeth Thompson, Walter and Jane Clark, and Eleanor Murray (known as Gardiner). Whilst Walter Clark apparently escaped, a House of Correction document suggests that two further members of the gang were captured later in the year. The description of one, Abraham Smith, paints quite a portrait of the eighteenth-century criminal: ‘he was lately a soldier in the Fencibles in America; he appears to be about 21 years of age, 5ft 5ins high, has a dark or swarthy complexion, long dark brown hair, curled at his ears, black eyes, and now wears an old slouched hat, a black neckcloth, an old blue halfwide coat, with white metal flat buttons, an old red double breasted waistcoat, and trowsers.’ One of their number was not quite as lucky as Clark: Francis Russell was ‘whipped around the Sandhill’ for his crimes. (Newcastle Courant)

JANUARY 15TH

1814: On this day, a courageous Dutchman enabled the people of Gateshead and Newcastle to have some fun! The frost was so bitterly cold that the entire breadth of the Tyne, along the stretch from Redheugh to the Glasshouse Bridge at Ouseburn, was frozen over. Tempting though it was to attempt to walk and skate upon it, the people of both towns knew the dangers of the river that divided them. Nervously, one Dutch sailor agreed to test the ice by attaching two cow bones to the soles of his shoes as blades and lowering himself onto the surface. He took with him a long stick, just in case he needed to hold himself in position until help arrived, should the ice have broken. Luckily, he found the ice was solid, and the crowd joyfully joined him. The townsfolk of the North East have always known how to throw an impromptu party, and party they did! For three weeks young, old, rich, poor, men, women and children all enjoyed the ice. Wealthy MPs skated amongst (temporarily) unemployed keelmen and sailors. Booths selling liquor were soon erected on the ice and fires lit for warmth. There were races, with and without skates. Prizes included items of clothing, alcohol and even a leg of mutton. Games of quoits and football, fruit and cake stalls, fiddlers, pipers, and horse and cart rides all added to the village fête atmosphere. (Sykes, J., Local Records, ii, 1833)

JANUARY 16TH

1829: On this day, the bells of St Mary’s church, Gateshead, rang in celebration of the birthday of the honourable Charles William Lambton, son of Lord Durham. This was not in itself remarkable – church bells rang for many such occasions. Indeed, many churches throughout County Durham rang their bells for Lambton too. But St Mary’s had the Union Society of Change Ringers performing at their best! They rang 4,536 changes of grandsire triples – a method of ringing seven bells in every possible mathematical permutation. St Mary’s bell tower held eight bells. In grandsire triples, the ringers start with rounds. This is when the bells are rung in sequential order, starting with the lightest bell, number one, and going in through two, three, four, five, six, seven and finally the heaviest bell, the tenor, eighth. The sequence of the first seven bells was then changed in pattern, with the tenor bell always being rung eighth to keep the rhythm going. According to Sykes, it ‘was a feat which had never been performed on these bells on any similar occasion before.’ It took a very long and gruelling two hours and fifty-eight minutes to ring the changes! (Sykes, J., Local Records, ii, 1833)

JANUARY 17TH

2011: On this day, Gateshead’s skyline began to change forever as its residents said goodbye to one of its most distinctive buildings. Derwent Tower was more commonly known as the Dunston Rocket because of its distinctive shape. Architect Owen Luder’s brutalist design featured a single, multi-faced tower surrounded by flying buttresses, and its similarities to a rocket were not lost to the Gateshead people when building began in 1969 – the year of the moon landing. Completed in the 1970s, at twenty-nine storeys and over 280ft in height, it dominated the skyline of Gateshead. To stabilise the poor building ground, a special form of foundation had to be created, more commonly associated with sea harbours – a reinforced concrete caisson was built before being sunk into the ground and the tower was then built on top. This caisson was intended to become a car park for residents, but it flooded badly almost immediately. Other problems faced by residents as the tower began to deteriorate included dead and diseased pigeons in the external water tanks, faulty lifts, broken water pumps, electrical faults, disintegrating masonry and cladding, damp and condensation, poor lighting and rising crime. By 2007, when the building was evacuated, only forty of the 196 flats were occupied. Councillor Mick Henry, who began the demolition process, proved a master of understatement when he said that ‘the housing in this block was poor and people didn’t want to live here anymore.’ (Evening Chronicle)

JANUARY 18TH

On this day (in an unknown year, and a fictional world) ten-year-old Jane Eyre packed her bags to leave Gateshead Hall, getting ready to set off for Lowood School. In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, the eponymous heroine goes to Gateshead Hall to live with her aunt and cousins, after her parents’ death. Alternately ignored and abused by her relatives, Jane suffered many indignities, including a claustrophobic panic when she was locked in the ‘red room’ where her uncle died (he is said to be buried under a vault of ‘Gateshead Church’). She finally left the hall on January 19th and only returned once as an adult, visiting her aunt on her death bed. Gateshead Hall, of course, is as fictional as its inhabitants, and in fact there is nothing to specifically tie the hall and its surroundings, as described by Brontë, to the real Gateshead. The inhabitants of Gateshead may empathise with the brief external descriptions of the ‘leafless shrubbery … cold winter winds … wet lawn and storm-beat shrub … and ceaseless rain’. But in fact the hall is thought by some to be based on Stone Gappe Hall, where Brontë worked as a governess – which is in Yorkshire. (Brontë, C., Jane Eyre, Wordsworth Editions: 1992)

JANUARY 19TH

1953: On this day, an inquest decided that a Gateshead man had died after a mining accident. The unusual part of this story is that John Graham Robinson of Windy Nook had sustained his injuries a whole decade earlier. In July 1942, a large stone had fallen from the roof of Heworth Pit and landed on Robinson. The unfortunate man never worked again. The coroner pronounced that he had died of a compound fracture of the spine ‘attributable to the injury received in 1942’. (Gateshead Post)

1969: Also on this day a referee felt over-exposed! The referee – whose name is not mentioned in the newspaper article – was due to officiate in a match for the Gateshead and District Sunday Football League. On two previous occasions he had begrudgingly agreed to change in the open in full view of the dozens of spectators and players. On this occasion – a chilly January day – he had had enough, and refused to referee the game. He sent a letter to the Council demanding changing facilities at Moss Heaps and Peggy’s Bank playing fields. Council spokesmen replied that previous attempts at providing facilities had failed. These had included a ‘cupboard’ that was destroyed, a school that banned all football teams after its facilities were abused, and a railway sleeper van that was burnt-out. Eventually, teams moved to the well-equipped Whitehouse Lane instead. (Gateshead Post)

JANUARY 20TH

1836: On this day, John Usher was sworn in as Gateshead’s first police constable. One week later (in the Gateshead Force’s fastest ever promotion) he became superintendent. Newcastle didn’t have a police force until a week or two later, and didn’t have anyone patrolling the streets until May. Gateshead, meanwhile, recruited six constables in March – although they only worked at weekends between 5 p.m. and midnight, for 1s 6d per night! They joined eight night watchmen who were already working weekends 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., and weekdays 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. In 1836 Usher was hard at work chasing thieves and handling cases relating to obstruction of the turnpike road. Within a couple of years, Gateshead Police Force had two lock-ups: one in the Town Hall and the other at the end of the bridge (though this did not have iron bars until 1843). In the 1840s the force had the use of rattles, sticks, and after 1846, leg irons. By then, wages were 17s a week for an eleven-hour day (plus a free suit and two pairs of shoes per year). But in 1853 the Gateshead police were forbidden to carry sticks and were ordered to ‘control their tempers’! Usher himself later went on to be the borough’s workhouse master, Superintendent of Births and Marriages, and later Superintendent of Cemeteries. (Pyke, E., ‘Gateshead Borough Force’, Northumbria Bobby, Winter 2009, http://www.thisisgateshead.com)

JANUARY 21ST

1970: On this day, a child was in the bad books! Nine-year-old Linda Smith of Beacon Lough had, the previous day, decided to go to Brownies. She did not tell her parents where she was going, simply pausing to pick up her knitting before walking out of the door of her house and apparently disappearing. Several hours passed, and as the night drew in, her worried parents called the police. A full-scale search was mounted, with dozens of police officers and dogs systematically searching the streets of Gateshead overnight. In the morning – just as the second shift of police officers was starting – Linda was found in a house a few streets away, still clutching her knitting. In her words: ‘I went to Brownies with my friend and I was scared to come home because it finished too late, so I went to her house instead … when she opened the door I sneaked up the stairs without her parents seeing me. When she came to bed she gave me a blanket and a pillow from her doll’s cot and I went to sleep under the bed.’ After a night of blissful ignorance over the trouble and worry she had caused, Linda was reunited with her parents who said, ‘it was a terrible ordeal, we were up all night imagining all sorts of awful things.’ Linda promised never to do it again! (Evening Chronicle)

JANUARY 22ND

1886: On this day, nothing happened. At least, nothing happened in the Gateshead Borough Police Court. The Tyneside Echo reports that ‘The Magistrate’s Clerk (Mr Robson) announced to the magistrates that he was very happy to inform them that they had that morning a maiden session. They had not a single case on the list, a state of things that had not occurred for 20 years.’ Rather than twiddle their thumbs, the magistrates asked Robson what was done in this event. Robson then advised that last time, in 1865, he ‘had the pleasure of presenting … the presiding magistrate with a pair of white kid gloves. He had great pleasure in performing a similar ceremony this morning.’ The mayor congratulated the Chief Constable on the remarkably low crime-rate and terminated court proceedings for the day. (Tyneside Echo)

2007: Also on this day, a special ceremony of remembrance was held to remember a Canadian pilot called James D’arcy Lees Graham, who was killed in an accident at High Marley Hill on February 10th 1942. His Hawker Hurricane left RAF Usworth safely, but as weather conditions worsened, D’arcy, as he was known, failed to pull out of a dive from low cloud and crashed into a snow-covered orchard on the hill. He was only 24. (www.sunnisidelocalhistorysociety.co.uk)

JANUARY 23RD

1900: On this day, Gateshead was heartily proud of its men! Over forty volunteers from the town signed up to join the 5th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry to fight in the Boer War, and were sworn in during a hugely patriotic ceremony. Together they enjoyed a hearty dinner and a ‘smoking concert’ (a concert during which one may smoke!) in the Drill Hall, Bensham. They then marched in full kit, including side arms, to the Town Hall. On the way they were cheered on by Gateshead residents who sang and chanted, despite the atrocious weather. A platform had been erected for the swearing-in ceremony, with the men stepping up six at a time. Colonel Proctor officiated and welcomed the men. Interestingly, he also made an apology that not all of the 280 men that applied could be accepted – he selected ‘as good a body of men as they would see in the whole corps, who would be a credit to their country.’ In Saltwell Park and Durham Road, two memorials commemorate the Gateshead men who died during the Boer War, 1899–1902. Doubtlessly, many of the names written on those memorials would have been amongst those that were read out so proudly today.

JANUARY 24TH

1889: On this day, the so-called ‘Flying Butcher’ committed murder in Wrekenton. Edward Wilkinson brutally stabbed Police Constable John Graham of Gateshead’s borough force with a large butcher’s knife before beating him to death with his own truncheon. It seems that Graham had testified against Wilkinson earlier that day on a charge of disorder, resulting in a fine. Clearly Wilkinson, a butcher by trade, had exacted revenge. Horrifically, the crime took place in broad daylight, in full view of ‘a number of bystanders, who appear to have been paralysed with fear, as they did nothing until Wilkinson had left the spot,’ according to Reynold’s Newspaper. If the Journalist sounds disapproving of the witnesses for not intervening, he does at least concede that Graham died ‘almost immediately’. Graham, only 29 years old, left a widow and four children. For once Victorian justice proved swift. Wilkinson was found in Sunderland on the same night with the knife secured against his leg with a garter. When asked about the crime, he answered, ’I know all about that.’ On January 30th a verdict of wilful murder was returned by the coroner’s jury. Wilkinson was committed for trial on February 1st, and hanged on the 23rd, less than a month after the murder. (Reynold’s Newspaper / The Monthly Chronicle of North-Country Lore and Legend)

JANUARY 25TH

1824: On this day, David Shafto Hawks was the first person to play Gateshead’s new church organ. This was no mean feat, considering that David had been blind since early infancy. The son of wealthy industrialist Sir Robert Shafto Hawks, he had composed and published marches for military bands at 9 years old, and later specialised in composing Tyrolean, Scottish and Welsh airs, often dedicated to his mentor, Thomas Thompson of St Nicholas’, Newcastle. David had already shown ‘a most amazing proof of musical genius and early proficiency’ when playing the previous organ at St Mary’s church, aged just 17. Indeed, there had been an organ in St Mary’s since at least 1672, when one is mentioned in the accounts. If that same organ was still in place by the 1820s – and no other is mentioned in the meanwhile – then one can only imagine its state of repair. The new organ was built and erected by Wood, Small & Co. of Edinburgh, but today’s event was a purely local affair. David played ‘in a most masterful style’ and sermons were preached by Revd Charles Thorp of Ryton and Revd John Collinson of Lamesley. The church was crowded from morning to afternoon, filled with Gateshead’s ordinary folk as well as the great and the good. Collections raised over £46 in total towards the £525 cost of the organ, supplemented by private donations, pew rents and public subscriptions. (Sykes, J., Local Records, ii, 1833 / Lang, A., The St Mary’s Story, Gateshead Council, 2009)

JANUARY 26TH

1922: On this day, local newspapers reported the shocking news that women had partaken in Burns Night celebrations! The Evening Chronicle wrote that ‘For the first time in the 36 years of its being, the anniversary dinner of the Gateshead Burns Club was graced by the presence of the lasses. Of the company of 250 enthusiastic Scots … there were nearly as many ladies as men – which is how the Bard himself would have it.’ A new toast of ‘The Lasses’ was made in acknowledgement, but it was believed by many that a lot of the traditional male ‘fun’ might be prohibited because of delicate female sensibilities. A Mrs Morrison responded, ‘Though our presence here tonight may be a restraint on the surroundings, I think you men will be all the better for it tomorrow,’ which raised laughter from men and women alike. (Evening Chronicle)

2011: Also on this day, film-buffs were given the chance to own a piece of history. The demolition of Trinity Street Car Park had started in July 2010, but today saw the first chance for fans to buy pieces of it in a souvenir tin for £5. Each tin came with a certificate from Owen Luder (see January 17th), the architect of the iconic car park. The building was famously known as the Get Carter car park; hit-man Jack Carter, played by Michael Caine, threw businessman Cliff Brumby from the top in the 1971 classic film (see September 3rd). (www.bbc.co.uk/news)

JANUARY 27TH

1746: On this day, the Duke of Cumberland and his men received a warm welcome in Gateshead. Warm, that is, because of the heat from a burning mansion. The Protestant Duke was on his way north to try and stop the progress of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Catholic army. Tonight he was to stop in Newcastle. To get there he passed through Gateshead, and close to Gateshead House, a mansion owned by a Catholic man, Sir Thomas Riddell. Behind its high walls there was even a Catholic chapel. The Riddells were not there that night – perhaps understandably, given the nature of the duke’s visit – and they left their gardener, Woodness, to look after their property. Reports suggest that the crowds of Protestant supporters in Gateshead did not actually intend to burn the building. It seems that many of them scaled its walls to get a clearer view of the royal visitor. Nonetheless, Woodness, keen to defend his employer’s property, promptly set the dogs on the trespassers. Many were bitten and the angry mob gave chase. Although Woodness appears to have escaped, the crowd’s desire for revenge led to them setting fire to the building. By the time the duke arrived (actually about 1 o’clock in the morning of the 28th), the fire was burning frightfully against the night sky. What became of Woodness, the unfortunate gardener whose zeal for Gateshead House’s protection inadvertently led to its destruction, we do not know. (Sykes, J., Local Records, i, 1833)

JANUARY 28TH

1417: On this day, Gateshead regained legal control of one third of the Tyne Bridge. The bridge – and the river below it – had been a key point of contention between Newcastle and Gateshead for many years. Newcastle was determined to restrict any development on the Gateshead side, and ideally take the bridge over entirely. In 1383, Newcastle burgesses ordered the building of a tower at the south side of the bridge, and took away the boundary stones from the middle of the overpass, claiming the entire thing. Two years later they challenged the Bishop of Durham to show where, in the charters, it said they should not have jurisdiction over the entire river. In 1412 an agreement seemed to have been reached, with Newcastle burgesses agreeing that the bishop had jurisdiction of the bridge as far as ‘the place that is called Jargonhole’. But the Court of Chancery wasn’t convinced that this was a genuine agreement, and demanded further proof. It was not until this day, five years on, that the victory was won, with Newcastle Corporation handing over the 1383 bridge tower. But, as Manders puts it, ‘the bishop had won a battle but was steadily losing the war’, as decisions relating to the river itself increasingly were settled in Newcastle, especially after 1454 when the king granted conservatorship of the Tyne to the town. (Welford, R., History of Newcastle, W. Scott, 1884 / Manders, F., A History of Gateshead, Gateshead Corporation, 1973)

JANUARY 29TH

1929: On this day, the Prince of Wales stopped here for a cuppa. Making a trip around the coal mining areas of the North, the prince reached High Spen just in time to meet the miners coming in from the night shift. It seems that one man, Robert Farrage, jokingly invited the future King Edward VIII in for tea. Imagine his surprise when his grimy hand was shaken and the offer accepted! Bob took him into his three-roomed house at 6 Front Street, where ten Farrages lived. Here Isabella Farrage was making a meal. Apparently, she wiped her hands on her apron before taking the proffered hand of the prince. An awkward silence was broken when the couple’s daughter entered the room. ‘Martha, here’s the Prince of Wales to see you,’ said Isabella. The startled Martha was met with a cheery, ‘How do you do?’ from their visitor, which put everyone at ease. The prince probably needed refreshment after his depressing visit to Winlaton. A miner, Frank McKay, had arranged to show the state of poverty and poor health some miners were living in. Unfortunately, when the Prince turned up at the McKays’ cottage, the blinds were drawn. Frank’s wife had just died and he was away making funeral arrangements. The prince simply patted Frank MacKay’s daughter on the head, advised her to ‘cheer up’, and continued his tour. (The Western Daily Press / Pears, T.W., High Spen and District, ebook, 2010)

JANUARY 30TH

1848: On this day, 15-year-old Hannah Greener was buried in Winlaton. As far as we know, she was the first person to ever die from anaesthesia. Although she died in Newcastle’s Infirmary, Hannah was born in Path Head, Winlaton. Her unmarried mother, Hannah Shippen, died during her birth. Her father, John Greener, moved around the North East looking for employment so Hannah lived with various family members. According to one witness at her inquest she was ‘much trashed around’ by some of her foster parents. Eventually she moved in with her father, who had settled in Winlaton. Hannah suffered from severely ingrown toenails, and by 1848 had already endured one successful operation to remove a nail from her big toe. On that occasion she had been given ether, but it had given her a bad head. Fatefully, the decision was made to switch to chloroform – still a new discovery – for the next operation. Dr Meggison, who administered the chloroform with a handkerchief, was surprised to see Hannah’s face turn white. Her mouth spluttered ‘as if in epilepsy’ so Meggison quickly gave her water and brandy. Despite his efforts, she died within minutes. The inquest found that Hannah had died from congestion of the lungs but that ‘no blame could be attached to Dr Meggison’. (Knight, P., ‘An Unexplained Death: Hannah Greener and Chloroform’, Anaesthesiology, 2002 / Pears, B., The Short, Sad Life and Tragic Death of Hannah Greener, unpublished)

JANUARY 31ST

1949: On this day a magistrate heard evidence in a confusing and unusual breaking, entering and theft case. James Cassidy, a bricklayer of Park Road in Gateshead, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for three crimes. Firstly, he was found guilty of breaking into and entering the Grey Horse Inn with the intention of stealing. He was also found guilty of two further counts of theft – both from Laws stores in Gateshead. This seemed like a straightforward case because Cassidy had already confessed to all three crimes. However, during the trial Cassidy suddenly changed his plea from ‘guilty’ to ‘not guilty’ for the latter two counts. Regarding the two thefts from Laws, Cassidy announced in court that he had falsely confessed to those crimes because he was ‘afraid of being bashed around by the police’. When asked why, he replied that he ‘had been told by several people and I was afraid of getting the same myself’. Cassidy admitted that no actual threats had been made by the police and that he had been treated well and given medical assistance for cuts sustained whilst smashing the pub window. Strangely, he maintained his plea of ‘guilty’ for the first crime, admitting breaking a window whilst drunk to obtain entry to the pub to get more alcohol. He even noted that ‘they had put bars in the windows since’ the last time he had broken into the same pub! (Gateshead Post)

FEBRUARY 1ST

1840: On this day there was a terrible shipping accident on the Tyne, close to Friar’s Goose. According to Fordyce’s Local Records, ‘the London Merchant Steamer was going down the river on her voyage to London, and the brig Good Intent, from Lynn, laden with flour, was sailing up, towed by the steam-tug Margaret, when they came violently in contact with each other. The Good Intent was struck on the larboard (port) bow, and in a few minutes went down. The crew had just time to save their lives.’ This entry reminds us just how busy – and dangerous – the River Tyne was in its industrial heyday. On the Gateshead side of the river, coal mines (like that at Friar’s Goose), glassworks, ironworks, engineering works, cement factories and a whole range of chemical works stood cheek by jowl. Most goods were transported by sea, either to London or abroad, using the Tyne as the link from the warehouse. Millions of tonnes of imports and exports travelled this way in the nineteenth century. With increased trade and traffic came increased problems. Danger was not limited to the river itself, but spread to its quays and buildings. Days like this – featuring accidents, explosions, fires or violence – were all too commonplace. (Fordyce, T., Local Records, 1867)

FEBRUARY 2ND

1871: On this day, a Gateshead theatre manager gave his disappointed customers their money back. The Alexandra Theatre stood at the corner of Oakwellgate and the High Street. Managed by Mr Edwins, it was Gateshead’s first theatre, having opened on November 14th 1870. Today’s performance was to feature Laura de Braham’s troupe