Wednesday 22 March 2023 7.30pm Open for Booking: members and non-members
‘Cobbled Streets and Penny Sweets’ is an affectionate, at times hard-hitting and beautifully evocative portrait of life in a city that has changed beyond recognition. Above all, it is a story of family, friendship and getting through the hard times with a healthy dose of Geordie humour.
So soon after World War Two, the 50s were a time of great hardship and yet people made the best of what little they had, as housewives competed to scrub their doorsteps clean and children turned derelict houses into playgrounds. We’ll hear about some characters of the time and the down as well as the up side of the era.
Our speaker
Yvonne Young`s childhood in 1950s’ Newcastle was spent at the heart of the city`s industry. With her grandfather working as a ship painter, her uncle Tom helping to build them and neighbours working for the local armaments factory, the shipyards and factories were her community`s lifeblood. Yvonne has published numerous books including: ‘Benwell Remembered’ and ‘Westenders‘ parts 1 and 2, ‘The Grainger Market: the peoples history‘ and, in 2019, ‘Cobbled Streets and Penny Sweets’.
Our Venue
This talk will take place at St George’s United Reformed Church on Newton Road, High Heaton NE7 7HP. It is on the corner with Boundary Gardens, the same block as Heaton Stannington’s football ground, Grounsell Park.
There are excellent public transport links including the numbers 18, 38, 52 and 553, which stop right by the church.
There is car parking on the surrounding streets.
Booking The talk is free to members and cost £2.50 for non-members. Once booking has opened, reserve your place by contacting Maria on maria-graham@live.co.uk or 07443 594154.
Following our recent article ‘Town with No Cheer’, which examined the reasons for Heaton not having as many public houses in the 1890s as some nearby areas, we now bring the story of Heaton and the licensed trade into more recent times with some surprising continuity of earlier themes and passions.
The growth of Heaton around the turn of the twentieth century saw a marked rise in the number of applications for licences. Many applications to the Brewster sessions involved houses that were about to be built or had been recently constructed. The background context for this was also changing and becoming more of a political battle overlaid on the temperance landscape. This however did not stop a frequent procession of applications to the magistrates which indicates some existence of potential clientele and an associated entrepreneurial spirit.
It is certainly the case that some locations became frequent and continued focuses for applications to the Brewster sessions. For example, on 5 August 1896 the following applications were made with subsequent decisions announced on 1 September.
Tale of Two Turnbulls
Henry Grose Nichol seemed to be hedging his bets in applying for a variety of different licences (just beer and wine, full licence including spirits or merely a beer ‘off’ licence) for premises to be constructed on the corner of Eighth and Second Avenue. According to his solicitor, this endeavour was ‘not for the purpose of catching visitors to Heaton Park but for the purpose of supplying that great and populous district’. It was also observed that only the Chillingham Hotel (previously known as the East End Hotel) and two ‘inconveniently situated beer houses’ were in the vicinity when the population, it was argued, had multiplied four or five times.
Chillingham Hotel, 1966 (for a long time Heaton’s only public house)
300 local residents had voted for a licence to be granted but builder Richard Heslop said that one benefit that newly constructed houses on Balmoral Terrace displayed was the understanding that there were no licensed properties nearby. The application, in all its variety, was refused without any explanation given.
Alexander Turnbull, a Byker Hill brick manufacturer of 69 Rothbury Terrace where he lived with his wife and eight children, applied for a beerhouse licence for his proposed property, the Falmouth Hotel, which was to be constructed at the corner of Heaton Road and King John Street (currently the Butterfly Cabinet). We have already written about these premises at 200 Heaton Road and about Turnbull himself, who went on to become chairman of Newcastle United, in Rothbury Terrace: the Magpies’ nest .
It was pointed out at the Brewster sessions that Alexander and William Turnbull, who had set up firstly his Assembly Rooms and then the East End Hotel, were unrelated despite possessing the same surname. 514 out of the 900 ratepayers who had been canvassed supported the application with only 50 opposed to it. Mr Potter of Heaton Hall as well as a local builder, John Wilson, spoke in favour. Opposition was voiced by Rev Benjamin Gawthorp of Heaton Baptist church on behalf of his congregation. Mr Veitch of 40 Rothbury Terrace objected, arguing that the development would deliver ‘moral injury to the district and depreciate the value of his property’. This application was also refused after some banter about people being unwilling to indulge in a short perambulation for a drink but happy to walk to Gosforth to cross the ‘three mile limit’ which marked the extent of the City of Newcastle jurisdiction.
Although the Bench did refuse both applications, it went to the extent of providing a written response stating that the future need of Heaton and its surrounding areas for more facilities was probable but that only the surrendering of some licences within more ‘congested areas’ would enable this to take place. This decision was reported in the ‘Newcastle Weekly Chronicle’ of 5 September 1896.
Maria Allon, a widow, of Holly Avenue in Jesmond applied for a six day ‘off’ licence to sell beer from 96 Falmouth Road, the property of Samuel Kirk, a slate merchant of Ridley Villas on New Bridge Street. The Bench declared that they would look favourably in a week’s time if a signed six year lease agreement between the owner and tenant could be produced. It is interesting to note that the phenomenon of the ‘corner shop’ was alive and well in this time period. Mary Alice Bell wished to be allowed to sell beer from her shop at the junction of Mundella Terrace and Second Avenue. Alice Ward wanted the same for her property at the corner of Second Avenue and King John Street. John Wilson asked for a beer ‘off’ licence for a rival concern where Second Avenue meets King John Terrace. The rapid growth of Heaton was leading to an increase in potential demand and a concomitant entrepreneurial desire to satisfy it. All these applications were refused.
Many corner shops like this one on the corner of Heaton Park Road and Bolingbroke St applied for licences
Continued Opposition
The number of churches along Heaton Road and the proximity of a public park continued to exert an influence on public opinion. It is no surprise to find the Heaton Anti-Licensing Council state in 1897 that ‘with fairy lights the public house would tempt those passing by to turn aside from the path of rectitude’ and the fear that with more licensed premises ‘Heaton Road would become a bear garden’.
Just before the turn of the century on 2 Sept 1899 the following applications were made and, in most cases, refused. Fred Forster applied for a full licence for premises about to be constructed between 94 – 98 Falmouth Road and 61 – 63 Heaton Road which has seen a number of later commercial enterprises based there over the years. Mary Laws applied for an ‘off’ licence for the house at the corner of Heaton Road and Roxburgh place. John Wilson, the builder, applied for a full licence for his property, the Falmouth Hotel, at 200 Heaton Rd and 1 and 3 King John St. This was refused as was a subsequent application for a beer and wine licence for the Falmouth Hotel.
Falmouth Hotel, Heaton Road, which opened eventually
‘Off’ licence applications were continuing to be presented with Thomas Pickering asking for permission to sell beer from a shop on the corner of Heaton Rd and Guildford Place. William Pickering ran the Grace Inn on Shields Road. Cornelius Whillance of 32 Mowbray St (with Thomas Barker the Temperance missionary being a near neighbour at 36) was more fortunate in being granted a wine ‘off’ licence for 2 Heaton Park Rd. The magistrates may have been more positive due to Cornelius’ recent decorated service in the merchant navy.
Model Pubs
A more novel incursion into the nature of licensed premises marked the beginning of the twentieth century. Much of the opposition to licensed premises within residential areas was centred around the notion that the pursuit of profit would encourage the promotion of sales above any other considerations including health and wellbeing. To accomplish a more balanced and moderate context for drinking, on 3 June 1901 the Northumberland Public House Trust Company was established with a capital of £100,000 initially to take over the Grey Arms at Broomhill Colliery near Amble. The Trust aimed to ‘promote temperance by eliminating as far as possible the element of private profit from the retail sale of intoxicating liquors’. Any profits were to be administered for public benefit though the manager would be able to earn a personal commission on food and non-alcoholic drinks. Subscribers included Earl Grey, Lords Howick and Lesbury, as well as Andrew Noble of Jesmond Dene House, Charles William Mitchell of Jesmond Towers and William Henry Watson-Armstrong of Cragside.
In August of that year, Earl Grey published a statement declaring that the aim of the Public House Trust Company was to establish Trusts across the country before the forthcoming Brewster sessions began so that any new licences would be given to the local trust rather than to individuals. It was stated that this was ‘a national movement to manage new licences in the interests of the community’. This enterprise was based upon the People’s Refreshment House Association Limited formed by Francis Jayne, the Bishop of Chester in 1896.
Although the Trust movement gathered some momentum, with Durham and North Yorkshire Trusts being established before the end of the year, in reality they struggled to grow as rivals to the established trade. There was some increase in their chains of ‘model’ public houses — the Durham and North Yorkshire Trust had fourteen properties by 1909 — but profitability and further expansion seemed hard to achieve. The political climate at the time was also changing with a new emphasis seeking to limit the profitability of the licensed trade so as to discourage the more pernicious effects and its encouragement by the brewers and licensees. The desire for a greater link between licensed premises and the people that use them shares elements with David Cameron’s Big Society rhetoric as well as the current desire for more community pubs within the economic context of falling profitability, declining numbers and staff shortages.
Temperance
On 3 Sept 1901, the Brewster sessions evidenced the same arguments and often very similar properties and applicants! These include requests to extend the beershop licence at 98 Falmouth Road to encompass its neighbours at 94 and 98 as well as 61 – 63 Heaton Road. Mr Barker, the temperance missionary, had conducted a ‘plebiscite’ which resulted in 758 against and only 247 in favour. The application was refused though the continued canvassing of opinion in a somewhat unsystematic fashion meant that public opinion was often quoted without being arrived at in any impartial or balanced manner.
On 3 Feb 1903, a public meeting was held in the Presbyterian Hall on Heaton Road to protest about new licences in Heaton. T Cruddas and A Pascoe spoke against any new licences as this would increase drinking, criminal acts and, consequently, the rates. Guy Hayler, a nationally known career temperance campaigner who came to Newcastle to lead the movement here and who was, at this time, secretary of the North of England Temperance Society and living at 63 Rothbury Terrace, wished to add an amendment ‘to close the East End Hotel in Chillingham Road, and restore Heaton to the position it once held.’ (Laughter in the courtroom). Mr Hayler said that drunkenness in Newcastle was on the increase compared to other places and that Northumberland was ‘one of the blackest’
Guy Hayler
Subsequent applications later that year included a repeated attempt by the Northumberland Public House Trust Company to run premises about to be constructed at the corner of Chillingham Road and Trewhitt road on land belonging to William Armstrong Watson-Armstrong. This again serves to illustrate that the relationship between the landowners and licensing laws was more complex and circumspect than often assumed. Despite the reputable nature of those involved in this application the magistrates refused it on the grounds of lack of need as demonstrated by the small number of applications.
Restaurant licences
In 1891, Mary Laws and William, her husband, were living at 8 Holmside Place. After William’s death in 1897, Mary moved to Farne House on Stannington Avenue and, in 1903, made a second application for a restaurant licence for the Victoria Hotel, on the corner of Heaton Road and Roxburgh Place. The first unsuccessful application in 1901 for a licensed restaurant to be instituted in what was otherwise a temperance hotel was met with the expected gibe from the opposing solicitor, Mr Copeland. ‘Would it mean that anyone buying a half penny biscuit could get a drink?’ Although this application was refused, the request for a billiards licence was granted. Ward’s Directory of 1902 described the premises as ‘Victoria Commercial Hotel, superior accommodation for commercials and professionals; livery stables; moderate tariff’.
The determination to gain licensed status for hotel establishments was however a continued feature of this period. Two years later Thomas Blackett, wine and spirit merchant with a number of properties across the east end, applied for full licence for the ‘Falmouth Hotel’ from its current status relating to wines, spirits and liqueurs. Application had been made before and the Bench knew the house. This was opposed on behalf of local property owners and the application was refused.
Victoria Hotel
In the same year the manager of the Guildhall Restaurant, Spero Gosma, applied for a full licence for the Victoria Hotel, the property of Mrs Mary Laws. It was argued that the establishment had continued for eight years without a licence as a first-class hotel but that the management of Mr Gosma was much needed in the densely populated district which now totalled around 16,000 people. There had been no new licence for 13 years and to support the application a petition was presented of 656 residents and visitors as well as 45 property owners. Mr Dodds opposed on behalf of Co-operative Society, Presbyterian and Baptist churches with a supporting claim that a ‘plebiscite’ the previous year had indicated 3,305 individuals voting against any new licences. A meeting held the previous Sunday 5 February of around 800 people had been unanimous in their opposition. The application was then refused.
Heaton Road with the Victoria Hotel in the centre
The Victoria Hotel was then the scene of a depressingly familiar story of crime and punishment. On 10 May 1906 John Henry Soppitt 25, (whose aliases included John Stobbart, Edward Henry Stoppitt, John Kennedy, and John Blake) plead guilty to stealing a number of joiners’ tools valued at £1 10 shillings and 6 pence, the property of John Ogle Haddon and others, from the Victoria Hotel. It was stated that the accused had obtained money by deceit especially from children who had been sent on errands. One example was that the accused had taken 3 shillings and 7 pence from a boy whilst giving him a jar of whisky and saying ‘Fly home, your mother is bad’. The accused admitted his guilt and ‘promised to be a better man’. Sergeant Dale noted that the accused had been before the magistrates 13 times across the North East. In June 1904 he had been sentenced to 9 months with hard labour at Durham for stealing a number of items and some money. Alderman Ritson sentenced the accused to 18 months with hard labour declaring that he was a ‘cowardly thief to take things from little children’. The sad story of an individual, despite their relative youth, being a habitual criminal is not unfamiliar to any age or period.
Corner House
In February 1934 James Deuchar applied for a provisional publican’s licence for a hotel on the corner of Heaton Road and Stephenson Road (before the building of the Coast Road). Although this was some years on from our earlier excursions into the Brewster sessions it is interesting that the proposal caused ‘a storm of controversy’ as reported in the ‘Evening Chronicle’ of 6 Feb 1934. The Chief Constable of Newcastle, F J Crawley, gave a survey of recent changes. He pointed out that prosecutions for drunkenness had increased from 693 in 1932 to 807 in 1933 and that this was reflected in both male and female figures. 21 people had been arrested for being under the influence of drink or drugs whilst in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle. It is interesting to note that the newspaper headlines contained the line ‘Trade revival the cause’ though the article makes scant reference to this and brackets it with the availability of a higher gravity beer.
Corner House Hotel, 1936
Magistrates were told that the plan was to ‘erect a hotel in the modern style with Georgian and Dutch touches…’ On resubmission in 1935, proceedings were dominated by barristers and clergymen. 6 February 1935 saw a provisional granting of the licence before confirmation on 26 March which led to a flurry of involvement and organisation.
Opposition was put forward by a lawyer representing 52 nearby residents who asked the magistrates to ‘visualise the possible effect on the minds of school children in the neighbourhood’. Rev Albert Brockbank of Bainbridge Memorial Methodist Church and the Dene Ward branch of the Citizens League vowed to continue the fight ‘trying to prevent people from an evil, just as you would try to prevent your children getting diphtheria’.
The churches were by no means united, however. A counter argument was put by Rev Verney Lovett Johnstone, vicar of St Gabriel’s, who complained that when he entertained friends for dinner, he had to go as far as the Chillingham Hotel to buy beer and that people did not realise how far the Cradlewell was. ‘My congregation certainly desire it. This is a free country and they want it on the grounds of the liberty of the subject’.
He continued by declaring that the opposition was confined to a dozen property owners and ‘some religious sects’. Unsurprisingly Rev Johnstone’s comments brought a flurry of letters into the Evening Chronicle, including from ‘Disgusted’ of West Jesmond. The sessions on 26 March were very well attended and attracted much notice in the local press. On his re appearance Rev Johnstone declared that the ‘quiet’ supper as reported previously was actually a ‘choir supper’ and that if he wanted a drink, he did not see why he should not have one. He also said that he had offered to meet his fellow clergymen but that they were not willing as ‘their minds were presumably made up.’ Within a few months Reverend Johnstone and his family had left Heaton for a new life in Australia.
The opposing view, given by the solicitor J Harvey Robson, stated that despite the growth in population and the nearby new estates there was no need for such premises in the modern world. ‘The time has gone by when the family puts on its hat and goes to the local public house for the evening. They now go to all forms of more modern entertainment.’ There was also the inevitable discussion of the distances needed to be traversed to purchase alcoholic beverages. Support given by a prominent local abstainer who lived nearby as well as a petition signed by 3000 voters may have helped to sway the magistrates who confirmed the granting of the licence despite the continued opposition of some clergymen who held protests in their churches on 7 April.
Corner House interior prior to opening, 1936
Permission was granted and the Corner House Hotel opened in 1936. The original seating for 263 was increased the same year to 283. It was observed that this was a ‘striking commentary on those criticisms offered by people saying there was no demand for licensed premises ……customers had to be served in an undesirable state of crowdedness’ .
Lochside
Although it may be a little outside our boundaries, in 1954 the Lochside opened via a transfer of licence by James Deuchar.
The Lochside, 2022
The name is a tribute to the sea coast steamers (Lochside and Lochside II) which brought beer from Deuchar’s Montrose brewery to Tyneside. This was still the case when the pub opened. There is a possibly apocryphal tale that the men who worked the river, ferry boat and tugboat men as well as the river pilots, would touch their caps when the Lochside was sighted in the Tyne on its return journey. This was augmented by the associated belief that the beer itself tasted better if it had suffered stormy weather on its 16-hour voyage down the coast.
Lochside II
Northumberland Hussar
Another addition to the local hostelries was added in 1955 with the Northumberland Hussar, which was a transfer of licence from the Gosforth Arms in Shieldfield. It was heralded as ‘the latest example on Tyneside of a new-style inn specially designed to offer the traditional atmosphere of the English hostelry with the requirements of present-day customers’.
Flamingo Club
Many older Heaton History Group members have spoken about the Flamingo Club at 130 Heaton Road. Its Grand Opening Night was on 11 October 1963. Advertised attractions included wining and dining as well as roulette, dancing and an all-star cabaret. As had been the case with other premises, the Flamingo was a members club where non-members would require signing in as guests and would need to pay a cover charge. According to the ‘Journal’, the club was founded by the owners of a garage on Back Heaton Road. It is interesting looking at the range of entertainments and attractions on offer. The club advertised its late licence until 2am as well as its panoply of exotic dancers including tassel, belly and striptease.
28 January 1972 saw the demise of the club when two police officers in plain clothes were served drinks without being signed in as guests. Their visits over four evenings also led to evidence of after-hours drinking. The manager, owner and waiter were all arrested and given a three-month suspended sentence, £200 fine and conditional discharge respectively. The Flamingo Club did not reopen its doors as a new buyer could not be found.
Flight
And nothing really changes. This article was on the brink of publication when it was reported in the ‘Evening Chronicle’ (1 March) that the owners of ‘the stylish Flight Bar’ on Heaton Road ‘were forced to appear before councillors on Tuesday in a dispute over the drinking establishment’s licence’. The owners had asked to extend the premises’ licensing hours and change its operating style so that it was no longer required to have a ‘substantial’ food menu.
Echoing arguments of the past, one local resident told the committee that the establishment’s substantial food offer comprised ‘pork pies, bowls of olives and chocolate brownies’. He pointed out that the Chillingham and Corner House were at Heaton’s extremities and told councillors ‘If you were to approve this, you could fundamentally change the fabric of Heaton and, I think, potentially create another Osborne Road’. In addition, the council’s planning department complained the owners had not obtained the required planning permission and the case was under investigation. In response, the owners said that the bar was ‘a high-end location, specialising in quality cocktails, beers and wines’ and that that there had been no complaints. They pledged that Flight would not be the kind of ‘vertical drinking’ venue seen in busy parts of Jesmond or the city centre’.
So, at a time when many licensed premises earn as much (perhaps most) of their income from food and non alcoholic drinks, suggesting that the ambitions of at least the more moderate Temperance campaigners may have been achieved, the debate continues.
At the same time, in Heaton and its environs, the number of micro pubs, ‘pop ups’ and mixed-use ventures seems to be evidence of an alternative and entrepreneurial character. Those of us who are inhabitants of Heaton are fortunate to live within such a lively and diverse neighbourhood. The slogan may not have yet taken off as it has in Portland, Oregon but perhaps this culture does go some way towards ‘Keeping Heaton Weird’.
Acknowledgements
Researched and written by Karl Cain of Heaton History Group.
Can you help?
If you know any more about the subject of this article, we’d love to hear from you. You can contact us either through this website by clicking on the link immediately below the article title or by emailing chris.jackson@heatonhistorygroup.org
Sources
Ancestry
British Newspaper Archive
Drunkenness in turn of the century Newcastle / B Bennison; Local Population Studies (52), 1994
From Byker to Heaton – the origins and history of Heaton Methodist Church / N F Moore and W K Robinson; 2000
Much of Heaton’s housing stock comprises terraces which have stood for a hundred years or more. You might think at first that they are all the same and haven’t changed in that time but you can roughly track the development of local vernacular architecture through time if you start in the extreme south west of Heaton, where some of the houses are over 125 years old and walk north east. You’ll also spot the new extensions, loft conversions and myriad of other changes that people have made to their properties over time. Some of the most striking differences are the alterations that people have made to their entrances: their front doors and, especially, their porches. The photograph below of Meldon Terrace shows that originally every house had a wooden porch with a slate roof.
Meldon Terrace, early 20th century
Wooden porches
Obviously wood degrades in our climate unless it is very well looked after and so the number of original porches is declining year by year. Indeed, it’s perhaps surprising that there are any left at all a full century and a quarter after the houses were built. It can also be difficult to know what is original and what is a copy, a much changed original or a later addition. This article simply celebrates and records wooden porches of some of the older terraces of Heaton as seen in early 2023. All of the properties featured were built in the 1890s.
South View West
Some of the oldest houses in Heaton are at the far end of South View West, the block on which Shakespeare’s head and shoulders has since been created in brick on the gable end. These houses are well looked after and the porches enhance their appearance but were they originally full length like those in the Meldon Terrace photo above?
Among the residents of these houses around 1897 was H Winterburn, a detective, and two head of households who described themselves as ‘foremen’. These occupations give us a feel for the status of the people who called the terrace home at that time.
Malcolm Street
There are a few similar canopies on nearby Malcolm Street. J Merrilees, a rent collector, lived at the property below c 1897.
There are also a number of properties grouped together that have fully enclosed wooden porches. A Pattinson, a joiner lived at number 33 below. Is this porch some of his handiwork?
Warwick Street
There are a number of full length open porches on the south side of Warwick Street, eg:
Two more foremen lived at 69 and 70 above and J Begbie, a cutter, and A Renton, a commercial traveller at 41 and 43. Note the spindles on the top of the porches of 41 and 43. Very few of these survive but there is another at number 13 and this one has spindles at the sides as well. A Mrs E M Cummings lived here just before the turn of the last century.
Heaton Park Road
On Heaton Park Road there is a pair of properties that not only have their spindles preserved at the top of the porch but they also point rather menacingly down at visitors.
And although this article is primarily about wooden porches, there are other vulnerable decorative features surviving on the opposite side of Heaton Park Road:
We don’t know who they are but world champion cyclist, George Waller and his brothers built houses on this road and he lived just a few doors down. Perhaps he was having a bit of fun with his own likeness or those of friends or family? Maybe someone can tell us?
George Waller, photographed by Edward Brewis
Falmouth Road
Some of the finest wooden porches in Heaton can be found on Falmouth Road. There are many that are well preserved or that have been restored or added more recently in a variety of styles.
Around 1897, N Wanless, a grocer, lived at number 9; J Briggs, a waterman at 83 and R Milne, a blacksmith, at 85. Among the other occupations represented on Falmouth Road at this time were a photographer, a surveyor, a caulker, a bookbinder, a ship surveyor, a bottle manufacturer, a wherry owner, a bicycle agent and a brewer.
There are also a number of properties with ironwork balustrades which have survived the ravages of time, including enforced removal during the Second World War.
Meldon Terrace
Finally, let’s return to the street pictured at the top of this article. A number of full-length wooden porches can still be found on Meldon Terrace.
In the late 1890s, J McNeil, a journalist, was the ‘head of household’ at 98 and H Clarke, a draughtsman, was at 100. At 126, was A Straiton, a commercial traveller, and, at 128, Mrs I Moor.
Meldon Terrace, in the late 19th century, also seems to have been something of an enclave for artists and other creatives (as it may well be now). Among the residents c1897 were HR Molyneux, a musician; H Rothfield, a picture framer, J J Prembey, a bookseller, and, at number 101, John Andrew McColvin, a noteworthy painter.
McColvin’s paintings are in a number of public collections. We haven’t yet found one depicting a Heaton scene but you could imagine this one having been inspired by neighbours leaning on their fences and chatting to each other on Meldon Terrace (and on Mowbray Street, where he also lived) – and then romanticised a little. The search for one showing a full length wooden porch goes on.
Can You Help?
Do you know more about any of these porches – or porches and the vernacular architecture of Heaton more generally? Or have we missed your favourite Heaton wooden porch? We’d love to hear from you (See ‘Leave a reply’ just below the title of the article) or email chris.jackson@heatonhistorygroup.org
Also let us know what architectural features you’d like to see featured in a future article.
Acknowledgements
Researched and written by Chris Jackson of Heaton History Group. Modern photographs all by Chris Jackson.
Best known for his classic children’s story Moonfleet (later made into a Hollywood movie), John Meade Falkner (1858-1932) was an enigmatic figure of many parts. A bookish antiquarian, he lived quietly on the cathedral green at Durham, writing novels, poetry, and studying in the Dean and Chapter Library. But his working career saw an incredible rise from beginnings as tutor of Sir Andrew Noble’s children at Jesmond Dene House, to becoming chairman of Armstrong Whitworth of Elswick, one of the world’s biggest arms manufacturers, during the First World War. Falkner travelled the globe selling warships to the world’s navies and helped to start Japan on its course to become a major maritime power.
John Meade Falkner
Our Speaker
Christopher Goulding PhD is a retired English teacher who taught for 20 years at the Royal Grammar School. His publications include articles in the Times Literary Supplement and various academic journals, annotated text editions of early 19th century novels for Pickering & Chatto, and two books on north-east history for Newcastle City Libraries.
Our Venue
This talk will take place at St George’s United Reformed Church on Newton Road, High Heaton NE7 7HP. It is on the corner with Boundary Gardens, the same block as Heaton Stannington’s football ground, Grounsell Park.
There are excellent public transport links including the numbers 18, 38, 52 and 553, which stop right by the church.
There is car parking on the surrounding streets.
Booking The talk is free to members and cost £2.50 for non-members. Once booking has opened, reserve your place by contacting Maria on maria-graham@live.co.uk 07443 594154.
Wednesday 26 April 2023 7.30pm at St George’s, High Heaton
Open for member booking
Known as ‘Mr Newcastle’ or ‘Mouth of the Tyne’, T Dan Smith was, in his time, the best-known politician in the UK outside of Westminster. Following imprisonment for corruption in 1974, T Dan’s reputation was further damaged when he was blamed for planning mistakes in Newcastle city centre. Over the years he has become a legend clouded in myths. What is the truth about this charismatic visionary?
Our Speaker
Anthony Atkinson was born in Gateshead, attended St Cuthbert’s Grammar School, Newcastle and studied Economics at Clare College, Cambridge. He qualified as a chartered accountant and held various positions as financial director in industry before undertaking a management buyout acquiring 32 retail shops from Vaux Group Plc. After selling the business, Anthony reverted to his ‘first love’ of history. He is now a Newcastle City Guide, a volunteer for Friends of The Laing Art Gallery and also a volunteer guide at the Lit & Phil. This is one of his portfolio of ten talks.
Our Venue
This talk will take place at St George’s United Reformed Church on Newton Road, High Heaton NE7 7HP. It is on the corner with Boundary Gardens, the same block as Heaton Stannington’s football ground, Grounsell Park.
There are excellent public transport links including the numbers 18, 38, 52 and 553, which stop right by the church.
There is car parking on the surrounding streets.
Booking The talk is free to members and cost £2.50 for non-members. Once booking has opened, reserve your place by contacting Maria on maria-graham@live.co.uk or 07443 594154
What honour did a former Heaton schoolboy share with composer Sir William Walton, dancer Dame Margot Fonteyn, former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell, writer and broadcaster Sir Alistair Cook, actor Dame Judi Dench, naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and Jonathan Ive, chief designer of Apple? We’ll come to the answer later but first of all, let’s go back to the early life of Esmond Wright.
Esmond Wright
Heaton
Esmond Wright senior, an armature winder, and his wife, Isabella, were living in a Tyneside flat at 5 Amble Grove in what we now call Sandyford but which was then in the Heaton municipal electoral ward when, in 1915, they had their first child. They named him after his father, as many parents did.
Aged 11, young Esmond went to Heaton Secondary School for Boys, where he excelled. He then won a scholarship to read history at Armstrong College in Newcastle and graduated in 1938 from what had, by then, become Kings College, a constituent college of the University of Durham, also winning the Gladstone Memorial Prize. Coincidentally or perhaps a testament to the quality of history teaching at Heaton Secondary Schools, another distinguished Heatonian, Elsie Hume (later Tu) had graduated in History and English from the same institution just a year earlier.
USA
After graduating, Esmond made the most of an opportunity which was to shape his future career. He was awarded a two year fellowship to enable him to continue his studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, which had been founded by Thomas Jefferson and was now considered to be one of the top academic institutions in the USA.
Esmond fell in love with America and quickly made his mark on it. In 1939, he was awarded the University of Virginia’s John White Stevenson Fund Prize in Political Science. (Stevenson was a nineteenth century Virginia-born governor of Kentucky, who represented the state in both houses of Congress).
Much closer to home, his article entitled ‘American Politics in the Roosevelt era‘ appeared in the Summer 1939 issue of C A Parsons’ ‘Heaton Works Journal’, an in-house magazine for the company’s staff. Little did Esmond know when he wrote it that, just a year later, he would witness in person a speech of Roosevelt’s at a key point in the growing tensions that, in summer 1939, were still to escalate into a global conflict.
The following year, Esmond won the American History Prize, offered annually by the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati. (The Society of the Cincinnati, the USA’s ‘oldest patriotic organization’ was ‘founded in 1783 by officers of the Continental Army who served together in the American Revolution. Its mission is to promote knowledge and appreciation of the achievement of American independence and to foster fellowship among its members’). The prize was a bronze medal and 100 dollars.
This achievement along with the news that Esmond had been appointed to the board of directors of ‘The Virginia Spectator’, a monthly magazine published by the university was proudly announced by the ‘Newcastle Evening Chronicle’ under the heading ‘Newcastle Man’s Success in USA’.
10 June 1940 was both a high point and a low point for Esmond Wright. President Franklin D Roosevelt was already due to address that year’s graduating students, a cohort which included his own son, when it became known that Italy had declared war on Britain and France. The address was hastily rewritten during Roosevelt‘s train journey to Charlottesville into the USA’s major political response to Mussolini’s act of war, which became known as the ‘hand which held the dagger’ or ‘stab in the back’ speech.The occasion was charged with emotion and the speech, in which Roosevelt’s anger was never far from the surface marked a turning point in US foreign policy: from then on there would be all-out aid to the democracies and an unprecedented build-up in America’s military preparedness. It must have been an incredible experience to have been introduced to the president on such a momentous occasion. Wright’s fascination with US history and politics never left him – and nor did his love of Virginia, in particular.
But Wright’s sojourn in the USA was at an end and when he returned home it was to join the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Intelligence Corps where he served in South Africa and the Middle East and quickly rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Below is a summary of his war service in Wright’s own handwriting.
Scotland
In 1945, with the war drawing to a close, Wright was finally able to marry 27 year old Olive Adamson of Sunderland. (Their wedding service was officiated by the Reverend Herbert Barnes, late of Heaton.) Olive had been a fellow historian at King’s College who had graduated with a First. She, like her husband previously, had won the Gladstone Memorial Prize in Modern History before going on to teach at Ulverston Grammar School and then her old school, Bede School for Girls. The couple were to be together for nearly 60 years.
After demobilisation, the Wrights moved north to Scotland where Esmond took up an appointment as a lecturer in the history department at Glasgow University. As well was teaching and research, a major part of his role was to facilitate graduate student exchanges between the UK and the USA. His work enabled huge numbers of young people to benefit from these, just as he had done on graduation from Kings College.
We know too that he also gave adult evening lectures in current affairs, on such subjects as ‘The Russian Attitude’, ‘America and the Dollar Problem’, ‘Conditions in Germany’ and ‘Life in Palestine Today’. By 1957 Wright had been appointed to the post of Professor of Modern History, the first American history specialist to be appointed to a general chair of history at a British university. During his tenure as a professor, he wrote several books on his specialist subject including
Washington and the American Revolution, 1957.
Benjamin Franklin and American Independence, 1966.
Alongside his teaching and writing, Wright was also becoming known to the wider public, especially in Scotland, where he presented current affairs programmes on both radio and television, programmes such as ‘This Day and Age’, where he was introduced as a ‘noted historian’.
But to the surprise of many, his time at Glasgow University came to a sudden end in 1967.
Politics
In December 1966, Alex Garrow the Labour MP for Glasgow Pollock died at the age of only 43. To the surprise of many, Esmond Wright was announced as the Conservative candidate to fight the resulting by-election. The campaign was complicated by the decision of the SNP to field a candidate for the first time, drawing votes from both main parties but especially Labour. Perhaps helped by his media profile but to his surprise, as well as that of others, and despite his stated lack of political ambition, Wright was the victor with a majority of just over 2,000. His parliamentary career did not last long, however. Labour regained the seat at the 1970 General Election. Nevertheless Wright continued to be involved in politics, becoming Deputy Chairman of the Conservative and Unionist Party in Scotland and Principal of the Swinton Conservative Party College, a national, residential centre of education for party workers, based near Masham, Yorkshire.
Return to Academia
After his electoral defeat, Wright was free to return to academic life. He became Director of the Institute of US Studies and Professor of American History at London University and retained his links with Scotland as Visiting Professor in the Department of Economic History at Strathclyde University.
During this period, his writing career really took off, with many published works on American history and politics including,
Benjamin Franklin; a profile, 1970.
A Tug of loyalties : Anglo-American relations, 1765–85, 1975.
Red, white and true blue : the loyalists in the Revolution by Conference on the American Loyalists, 1976.
Franklin of Philadelphia, 1986.
Benjamin Franklin: his life as he wrote it by Benjamin Franklin 1989.
The search for liberty: from origins to independence, 1994.
An empire for liberty: from Washington to Lincoln, 1995.
The American Dream: From Reconstruction to Reagan, 1996
He also found time to write several world histories for a general audience and he continued to appear on television on radio both north and south of the border.
Incidentally, the dedication in Wright’s 1986 biography of Franklin recognised the contribution of his wife, Olive.
‘To my beautiful wife who devoted herself to these studies for so many years’.
Other Interests
Outside higher education and politics, Wright had many other interests. In the private sector:
he was a Director of George Outram & Co, the publisher and printer of The Glasgow Herald, The Bulletin, The Evening Times and a number of weekly periodicals.
despite not being a driver or owning a car himself, he was associated with the Automobile Association for over 30 years, as Vice Chairman, Honorary Treasurer and Vice President.
he was associated with Border TV, as first Vice Chairman and then Chairman.
He also served on the British National Commission for UNESCO.
Accolade
But it was an accolade in 1986 which Wright considered the high point of his professional career and to which the teaser that opened this article refers. His fascination with Benjamin Franklin, scientist, diplomat, philosopher, inventor and Founding Father of the United States, had led to him producing a number of works, culminating in ‘Franklin Of Philadelphia’ (1986), a ‘substantial, beautifully written biography’.
He was also a Governor of ‘Friends of Benjamin Franklin Ltd’ , a group which was striving to open a Benjamin Franklin Museum at 36 Craven Street, London, Franklin’s former home. (The museum finally opened to the public on 17 January 2006, the 300th anniversary of Franklin’s birth and three years after the death of Wright.)
Image copyright: RSA
Imagine then his thrill at the importance of his life’s work being recognised and also his being elevated into the illustrious company of people like Sir William Walton, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Harold Macmillan, Sir Bernard Lovell and Sir Alistair Cook – Dame Judi Dench, Sir David Attenborough and Newcastle Polytechnic graduate Jonathan Ive came later – by his winning a major prize named after Franklin himself, the Royal Society of Arts (RSA)’s Benjamin Franklin Medal. The prestigious award is conferred on individuals, groups, and organisations who have made profound efforts to forward Anglo-American understanding in areas closely linked to the RSA’s agenda. It is also awarded to recognise those that have made a significant contribution to global affairs through co-operation and collaboration between the United Kingdom and the United States. The citation referred to Wright’s ‘prodigious and persistent contribution to the promotion of Anglo-American understanding’. it also congratulated him on ‘his biography of Benjamin Franklin “Franklin of Philadelphia” which has received wide acclaim in this country and America’. He was presented with the medal, with his wife Olive seated next to him, by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Eulogies
Professor Esmond Wright died, aged 87, on 9 August 2003 in Masham, North Yorkshire where he and Olive lived in what could scarcely be called retirement – Wright was writing and being published well into his eighties. Although he had travelled widely and lived in the USA, Scotland and Yorkshire, many of Wright’s obituary writers refer to his lovely voice and charm. ‘The Times’ said he was ‘Blessed with a pleasant melodious voice’; ‘The Independent’ wrote ‘behind his Oxbridge manner, there lurked something like a Northumbrian intonation in his voice that struck a note of warmth, informality and dry humour, which his students always greatly appreciated and his friends will miss.’ In the opinion of ‘The Guardian’, he had ‘a wonderfully relaxed, informal manner and an effortless personal charm which made it almost impossible to have an argument with him, or to persist in any kind of grievance’. Perhaps we can put both his dulcet tones and his geniality at least in part down to his Heaton roots.
Acknowledgements
Researched and written by Arthur Andrews, Heaton History Group. Thank you to the Royal Society of Arts (RSA); Maurice Large, Unitarian Church Leader; Susan Cunliffe-Lister of Swinton Park and Masham and Newcastle University libraries for their help.
Can You Help?
If you know any more about Esmond Wright or have photographs to share, we’d love to hear from you. You can contact us either through this website by clicking on the link immediately below the article title or by emailing chris.jackson@heatonhistorygroup.org
Sources
Ancestry
British Newspaper Archive
Find My Past
Fold3
Guardian, Independent and Times obituaries of Esmond Wright
Wednesday 22 February 2023 7.30pm Open for Booking: members and non-members
Of all the double acts in the history of entertainment and the cinema, arguably none have been more revered than Laurel and Hardy. Most of their films were made in America but Stan Laurel was, of course, a northern lad. He lived in North Shields between 1897 and 1902 and went to King’s School, Tynemouth. We will learn more about Stan’s origins but especially the pair’s 1932 visit to Stan’s old stomping ground.
Stan Laurel’s statue in Dockwray Square, North Shields.
Our Speaker
This is Freda Thompson‘s third talk for Heaton History Group. Those of us lucky enough to have been at the first two are looking forward to her return.
Our Venue
This talk will take place at St George’s United Reformed Church on Newton Road, High Heaton NE7 7HP. It is on the corner with Boundary Gardens, the same block as Heaton Stannington’s football ground, Grounsell Park.
There are excellent public transport links including the numbers 18, 38, 52 and 553, which stop right by the church.
There is car parking on the surrounding streets.
Booking The talk is free to members and cost £2.50 for non-members. Once booking has opened, reserve your place by contacting Maria on maria-graham@live.co.uk 07443 594154.
Wednesday 25 January 2023 7.30pm Open for Booking: members and non-members
L S Lowry’s creative work is much better known than the man himself. This talk attempts to redress the balance by examining his modest life and the relationships he established with others. He spent a considerable amount of time in the north-east, especially in his later years and this aspect of his life will be examined in detail.
‘Old Chapel’ by L S Lowry (Otherwise known as the Sailors’ Bethel, Horatio Street, Ouseburn )
Our Speaker
Ian McCardle attended Heaton Technical and Manor Park schools and then went on to Exeter University to study French and Spanish. He worked for twenty years as a modern languages teacher in England and Germany before joining Newcastle University as Deputy Director of the Language Centre. He has volunteered with Age UK and the Youth Hostel Association and he is a Victoria Tunnel guide on which he also give talks. He has previously given an informative and entertaining talk to our group about the history of the Lit and Phil.
Our Venue
This talk will take place at St George’s United Reformed Church on Newton Road, High Heaton NE7 7HP. It is on the corner with Boundary Gardens, the same block as Heaton Stannington’s football ground, Grounsell Park.
There are excellent public transport links including the numbers 18, 38, 52 and 553, which stop right by the church.
There is car parking on the surrounding streets. The nearest car park is in Paddy Freeman’s Car Park, just round the corner off Freeman Road, about a 3 minute walk away.
Booking The talk is free to members and cost £2.50 for non-members. Once booking has opened, reserve your place by contacting Maria on maria-graham@live.co.uk or 07443 594154
The parents and grandparents of Heaton History Group member, Valerie Moffit, were residents of Heaton and Byker from the early 1890s through to around 1930: the Browns, on her mother’s side, lived in Chillingham Road and later Ebor Street; her father’s family, the Smeatons, were in Corbridge Street, just the other side of Shields Road. In 1900, her grandfather Jack Smeaton (1875-1955) was not yet married and shared number 121 with his parents Thomas and Catherine, his two brothers, and four of his five sisters. Another sister, Ellen, had left home some years earlier – on the 1891 census she is living with a family in Bishop Wearmouth as a domestic servant, aged twelve.
The Smeaton home no longer exists – Corbridge Street was a victim of slum clearance in the 1960s. The last time Valerie walked along there it was devoid of dwellings, reduced to little more than a service lane behind the Shields Road shops and other commercial buildings.
Jack Smeaton was a wheelwright by trade, serving his seven-year apprenticeship at Atkinson and Philipson’s carriage works on Pilgrim Street and working there as a loyal employee until the firm closed in 1920. During his time there he saw the rapid revolution in the transport industry from horse-drawn to mechanised vehicles: on his marriage certificate in 1910 he still described himself as a wheelwright, but by 1914 his declared job title was ‘motor finisher’.
Jack’s working life with Philipson’s was interrupted twice: he volunteered for the Boer War in 1900 and again for the Great War in 1915.
Jack’s Journal
Just before his 25th birthday, Jack was sworn in with the 1st Newcastle Royal Engineer (RE) Volunteers who were to go to South Africa to support the regular REs, rebuilding bridges, roads and railways destroyed by Boer commandos. He was part of a small section of twenty-five volunteer sappers under the command of Lieutenant Pollard.
Jack kept a journal of his experiences in the Boer War. It has been passed down as a treasured family possession and Valerie is lucky enough to be the current keeper.
Page 1 of Jack Smeaton’s journal
Here is how Jack recorded the departure of the volunteers from Newcastle:
‘Receive orders and are served out with our kit, to leave on Jan 31st [1900] for Chatham. Before leaving we were entertained to a grand dinner in Officers Mess and afterwards held a grand smoker in Drill Hall. Fell in at 10.30 p.m. to march to station, and we were treated to a very forcible demonstration of the patriotism of Tyneside. At the station we had to literally fight our way through and on the platform we were swayed to and fro by the crowd and it was a great relief when we were safely seated in the carriage. At 11.30 p.m. amid deafening cheers of the people on the platforms we steamed out of the station.’
The Newcastle men were stationed at Chatham from 1 February until 10 March, along with twelve more engineer volunteer sections. They were ‘instructed in different arms of engineering such as bridging, defences, railway construction and demolition.‘
On 9 March the men were photographed.
Jack Smeaton, 1st Newcastle Royal Engineers, 9 March 1900
Next day, Jack and his comrades were transported by train to Southampton docks where ‘after piling our kit on board the Tintagel Castle we had breakfast at the Absent-Minded Beggar stall which is kept up by the Daily Mail fund.’
The name of the stall was from a poem that Rudyard Kipling wrote to raise money for British families suffering poverty due to the loss of wages by men who, as reservists, had volunteered for the war.
Sailing South with Shackleton
You might say that Valerie’s grandfather was one of the first men to sail south with Shackleton. But this was not an expedition to the South Pole: the voyage in question was aboard the ocean liner mentioned in the above quote, the Tintagel Castle, bound for South Africa. The ship had been commissioned to transport 1,200 reinforcements to the Cape, and Ernest Shackleton was the newly-appointed Third Officer.
Less than a year later, Shackleton was appointed Third Officer again, this time on board the Discovery on a famous expedition to the Antarctic, led by Robert Falcon Scott. The ship departed London on 31 July 1901. On arrival at the Antarctic coast, Shackleton was chosen to be a member of the party which continued on foot and sledge towards the South Pole. Scott, Shackleton and Edward Wilson arrived at the most southerly latitude hitherto reached by man on 30 December 1902. Just over six years later, Shackleton led his own expedition which got even nearer to the pole. He returned a national hero and famous the world over.
But, for now, Shackleton was an ambitious young officer on the Tintagel Castle, keen to make an impression on any contact who might prove useful in his future career. Despite being a doctor’s son, he had joined the merchant navy as a boy and worked his way up through the ranks.
Jack and Ernest were a similar age and must have read the same boys’ adventure stories during their very different childhoods. Now, they are both aboard the Tintagel Castle as she casts off from Southampton docks and heads for the open sea on 10 March 1900.
It is unlikely that the two men met as individuals. But Jack cannot fail to have been aware of the energetic Third Officer, who set himself the enjoyable task of organising entertainments for the troops, arranging sports and concerts to stave off boredom on the long voyage. He was described by an eye-witness as ‘a vision in white and gold’: broad-shouldered and square-jawed, he cut a dashing figure as he strode around the packed ship.
Ernest Shackleton, photographed in 1901
Shackleton wrote a book about the voyage, in collaboration with the ship’s medical officer, Doctor W McLean, consisting of articles and photographs describing daily life at sea. It is entitled OHMS or How 1200 Soldiers Went to Table Bay and Valerie was able to study the copy held by the National Library of Scotland.
Several pages are devoted to describing ‘How we were Fed’, detailing the quantities required to provision the Tintagel Castle for her 6,000-mile trip with 1200 troops aboard. Meat and other perishable foods such as fish and fruit were stored in four refrigerating chambers, capable of holding 160 tons of stores. The baking of the bread supply fully occupied, night and day, three ship’s bakers and two volunteers from the ranks; some 1200 lbs of flour were used daily.
Jack Smeaton was very impressed with the catering arrangements and in his journal he described his first day at sea:
‘Reveille on board a troopship is at 5.30, so next morning we had to rise and stow hammocks before 6.0 a.m. Breakfast was at 7.30, it consisted of porridge, fish, marmalade, bread and butter and coffee. It being Sunday no work was done. We entered the Bay of Biscay about noon, had dinner at 12.30 p.m., it being made up of three courses, soup, meat & potatoes, and pudding with stewed fruits. As we travelled southwards the weather became very fine and summerlike, quite a contrast to what we had it just a day before. At 4.30 p.m. tea was served with cold meat or fish, pickles, preserves and bread and butter. There was no stint of any article of food and so it continued throughout the voyage. A plan of diet was drawn up so that the menu was changed each day, and at 7 p.m. supper was put on the tables for those who cared for it, which consisted of cabin biscuits and cheese, and the canteen was open for an hour at mid-day and again at 7 p.m. for the sale of beer and mineral waters. Everybody had to retire at 9.30 as lights went out at 10 p.m.’
Two days later Jack records that the members of the section were inoculated by the ship’s doctor and ‘that night and most of the next day was spent in bed in great pain’. The commanding officer at Chatham had advised all the men to be inoculated against enteric fever (typhoid) and so Dr McLean was kept busy.
From Scarlet to Khaki
On March 21st the Tintagel Castle crossed the Equator.
A few days later Jack makes a surprising revelation in his journal:
‘Sunday got orders to parade in red uniforms but most of us had done away with them, having threw them overboard.’
Even though more than 120 years have elapsed, this sentence still has the power to shock. What can possibly have incited the men – normally responsible and obedient – to commit this act of insubordination? On a visit to the Royal Engineers Museum, Valerie mentioned it to the librarian. She was scathing. ‘Oh well, they were volunteers. Regular soldiers would not have done that. It’s a matter of discipline.’
It is true that Jack and his fellow Newcastle sappers were volunteers, not professionals; but they have been ‘sworn in to serve twelve months, or as long as the war should last’. They take their soldiering seriously. Before leaving Tyneside, they practised bayonet exercises; and while at the Royal Engineers barracks in Chatham they were put through musketry drill as well as being instructed in engineering skills. They were also given a short explosives course, learning how to make up and set charges. This is not a jaunt – they know they are going to be involved in deadly warfare: several thousand British troops have already lost their lives in the first few months of the war. So, what is behind the mad moment of indiscipline when the sappers hurl their dress uniforms into the sea? Perhaps there is a clue in what happened a few days earlier, when the vessel crossed the equator:
‘… at 8pm King Neptune came on board with his retinue and fireworks were let off. And the next day (Thurs. 22nd) the whole ceremony was gone through, shaving and baptizing in the big canvas bath all they got hold of.’
For a day, the strict military routine of life on board a troopship is turned on its head. The men are swept up in the boisterous high jinks of the traditional crossing the equator ceremony, while Neptune reigns as lord of misrule. The temperature climbs to 90 degrees in the shade that day. Maybe one of the men stirs up his comrades, saying that their scarlet jackets will make them easy targets for the Boer marksmen.
‘They’ll pick us off like sitting ducks! We need to be in khaki – it’s proper camouflage. Let’s chuck this red stuff into the sea.’
In the heat of the moment, it all makes perfect sense to Jack and his mates.
Valerie said she likes to imagine the men leaning over the side and cheering as the scarlet tunics, bobbing in the wake of the ship, slowly disappear into the wide blue Atlantic.
The sappers’ fears were not unfounded. Some of the older troops on board could have told cautionary tales of the Redcoats who were slaughtered in the First Boer War of 1880 to 1881, when their vivid jackets made them all too visible to enemy snipers. Soon after that campaign, khaki began to be adopted by the British Army. At first, soldiers experimented with mud and tea leaves on white cotton, but in 1884 an effective dye was developed. The change was gradual, and traditionalists disapproved of the innovation – for instance, Queen Victoria describing khaki as a ‘café-au-lait shade quite unsuitable for uniform’. But despite resistance from the Queen and other non-combatants, the benefits were obvious to ordinary soldiers. The Second Boer War of 1899-1902 – Jack Smeaton’s war – was the first all-khaki campaign, and in 1902 it became standard battledress.
Cape Town Sights
Saturday Mar 31st [1900] we sighted Table Mountain and dropped anchor in the Bay at 7 a.m. We lay in the bay until noon on the Sunday when we then went into the harbour and disembarked at 3 p.m.
The Tintagel Castle docked at Cape Town
In the afternoon [of Monday 2nd April] we had a march through Cape Town. A very nice town with electric trams in full working order and lots of hansom cabs, no four wheelers to be seen. There are also a great many rickshaws drawn by Zulus, who adorn themselves with pairs of horns and feathers round their heads. It is marvellous the pace these men travel with their fares along the street. We returned to dock at about 5 p.m., being fairly tired out. It was a bit strange walking through the streets after having been three weeks on board ship.’
No wonder Jack feels strange walking the streets of Cape Town. Just a few weeks earlier he’d been in sooty Newcastle, trudging to the carriage works each morning in the January sleet. Now here he is under a baking African sun, strolling under trees full of exotic blossom. As he breathes in their strange perfume of sweetness and spice, he must wonder what the coming months hold in store.
To be continued…
Acknowledgements
Researched and written by Valerie Moffit, Heaton History Group.
Sources
Jack Smeaton’s journal (unpublished)
OHMS or How 1200 Soldiers Went to Table Bay / by W McLean and E H Shackleton; Simpkin, Marshall etc, 1900.
Wikipedia and other online sources
Can You Help?
If you know any more about anyone mentioned in this article or anyone else with Heaton connections who sailed on the Tintagel Castle or had connections to Shackleton or to polar exploration, we’d love to hear from you. You can contact us either through this website by clicking on the link immediately below the article title or by emailing chris.jackson@heatonhistorygroup.org
Why has Shields Road got so many public houses and Chillingham Road so few? Is it merely because of the limitations and restrictions stemming from the nature of land ownership, most notably that of Lord Armstrong, which then became part of property deeds and covenants? Or is the truth much less certain but more interesting in that it encompasses wider themes and controversies of late nineteenth century Heaton, Newcastle and beyond?
This article will concentrate on the granting of licensed status to the East End Hotel (the earlier name of the Chillingham Hotel) in 1892 which became the first public house in Heaton proper but the story will also involve the burgeoning temperance movement, religious passions and educational ambitions within the general context of rapid urbanisation. This became known in the local press as The Heaton Question.
Chillingham Hotel in 1966
Licences
From 1552 local Justices of the Peace had been given the power to decide who should be given a licence to run a ‘common alehouse’. Partly in order to tackle the increasing popularity of wine and spirits, especially gin, and what was considered to be their more pernicious effects on family life and employment, the government of the Duke of Wellington decided to encourage the drinking of beer. The 1830 Beerhouse Act meant that any ratepayer could brew and sell beer on their premises without the need for a magistrate’s permission as long as they purchased a licence costing two guineas. Unsurprisingly this era of ‘free licensing’ led to a steep and rapid rise in the number of ‘beerhouses’ but would have been restricted in those areas where landowners prohibited this via the property deeds. The low population together with the existence of alehouses nearby may be enough to explain the lack of facilities in Heaton itself before the 1880s, rather than the importance of any land ownership covenants.
Heaton’s expansion in the 1890s started from the south and west (OS Second Edition, 1894)
The popularity of ‘beershops’ attracted some criticisms from magistrates and religious groups especially those with links to the growing temperance movement.
The 1869 Wine and Beerhouse Act reimposed the necessity for the possession of a magistrate’s licence for any type of property selling alcoholic drinks either ‘on’ or ‘off’ the premises. Thus, by 1870, the justices had the power to refuse to grant or renew licences for all types of retail outlet. The magistrates’ decision making was arrived at via the public occasions known as Brewster Sessions which were also opportunities for interested parties to make their voice heard.
Changing Heaton
The growth of housing centred upon Chillingham Road was of course neither even nor instantaneous. Initially the area bordering Byker was seen as being part of that district rather than belonging to Heaton which stretched further away north and west. As Alan Morgan points out in ‘Heaton from Farms to Foundries’ the rise in population and associated need for housing only began in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. There were 257 people living in Heaton in 1871 but by 1901 the number had soared to 22,913. Previously urbanisation and industrialisation had been features of areas closer to the Tyne than in Heaton itself. The opening of the North Shields railway in 1839 with a passenger station near Heaton Road and the concomitant marshalling yard at Heaton Junction created employment and demand for housing. The area along Heaton Road had of course already been the scene of some house building though this was for a more up market clientele with views across the parks and easy access to the local churches that had also sprang up. In 1878 Byker Road Bridge saw a massive increase in traffic in comparison to the earlier toll footpath along the railway viaduct. It is interesting to note that the impact of the railways on the movement from farming to residential use also became a significant factor in the opposition to, and the need for, licensed premises within the district.
William Turnbull
It is worth noting that before William Turnbull began the quest to gain a licence for a new institution to be called the East End Hotel he had already embarked upon a range of initiatives and entrepreneurial activities. Although born into a farming family in Northumberland, by 1871 he was living in All Saints parish and was described in the census as being a wine and spirit merchant. Ten years later he is the licensee of the Trafalgar Inn, 84 New Bridge Street. By the late 1880’s he was the occupant of Meadowfield House (now social club) which is immediately behind what is now the Chillingham Hotel.
There had been some attempts to gain permission for licensed properties in Heaton prior to the involvement of William Turnbull but these had been sporadic and relatively small scale. The Brewster Sessions of 1 September 1886 were attended by deputations from the United Temperance Societies as well as Byker and Heaton Ratepayers. A provisional (i.e., subject to later confirmation) beer and wine licence was asked for a house which was about to be constructed at 5 North View (the property of John Wilson). The application was refused and it is worth noting that one aspect of more successful bids in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was that the premises would be hotels rather than mere ‘beershops’ or off licences. Part of the more specific opposition to this application was the existence of a School of Science and Art nearby on Heaton Road which had been established as part of Dr Rutherford’s educational expansion from his College on Bath Lane.
The strength of feeling within the city but with a particular emphasis on Byker and Heaton is demonstrated by the meeting of temperance inclined ratepayers on 8 September 1886 which took place in the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Heaton Road. Councillor James Birkett occupied the chair.
He began by congratulating the recent Brewster Sessions in their decision to refuse any new appeals for licences in Heaton. It was reported in the Daily Chronicle that Councillor Birkett ‘condemned the idea of granting a licence to a public-house on the main road to a Board School, and on a road which the majority of their workmen traversed to and from their work’. He noted that any drinking establishments would be close to ‘one of the most beautiful parks in the kingdom’ the approaches to which needed to be protected ‘as a duty to our fellow citizens’. The plea to assess the strength of local feeling amongst ratepayers and other inhabitants was also strongly expressed and, as we will see, did soon play a part in further appeals. Whilst the general aspects of concern and opposition can be well understood today what makes these protestors more particular is their adherence to the notion of ‘temperance’ itself. Birkett did look forward to a time when the ‘legislature passed a bill abolishing public houses altogether’. Other contributors to the meeting included Rev May and Rev Dr Rutherford who observed that ‘Newcastle was still a city largely given up to intemperance. They were worse than Liverpool.’ (sic)
Drunkenness
Did Newcastle have a particular problem with alcohol abuse? Brian Bennison in his 1994 article ‘Drunkenness in turn of the century Newcastle’ noted the number of criminal proceedings for drunkenness in the period 1896 – 1900 with England recording 62 convictions per 10,000 inhabitants and Newcastle upon Tyne standing at 207. A report from Rowntree and Shadwell in 1899 found that Newcastle had one public house for every 43 dwelling houses or 307 persons.
The growth in the number of ‘beershops’ had however helped to occasion a rise in the opposition to licensed premises more generally. In 1858 the North of England Temperance League was founded under the slogan ‘Total Abstinence for the Individual and Prohibition for the Nation’. The local strength of feeling against the growth of licensed premises is exemplified by the origin and popularity of the North of England Temperance festival which began on the Town Moor in 1882, the first year that saw Newcastle Races decamp to Gosforth. The estimated attendance over the three days was at 150,000 much more than other similar events in England. It is interesting though unsurprising that some of those who became involved in The Heaton Question were also participants in what became an annual celebration and promotion of temperance.
Opposition
The Brewster Sessions of 4 September 1888 saw a licence application from James Mackey for a house to be constructed and called Station Hotel at the corner of Heaton Grove and Heaton Hall Road as well as from William Turnbull for a new house at the south end of Chillingham Road. It is interesting to note that the seeking of licences was often for premises which had not yet been built.
The Temperance party objected to both East End applications with Mr Edward Elliott, a handrail manufacturer of 20 Stratford Grove, presenting a petition which was 23 feet in length and contained 700 names. There was also a record of the formal objection of Hawthorn, Leslie and Co, engineering works. The opposition of local employers as well as religious groups is a feature of these occasions. After 15 minutes the magistrates returned and refused both Heaton applications. No explanation or justifications needed to be given.
On 7 August 1891 Temperance Federation meetings were held at Jesmond, Elswick, Shieldfield, and Heaton. Arthur’s Hill, Heaton and Jesmond were remarked upon as being ‘free or nearly free from licensed premises’ till now. Reference was made to Sharp versus Wakefield in the House of Lords as being evidence of the legal possibility of reducing the number of licences by their withdrawal over time.
In 1891 Joseph Bell, a key figure in the foundation of Newcastle United and later the club’s chairman, made an application for a ‘beer shop’ off licence for 41 Rothbury Terrace and this led to some interesting debate regarding the nature of the covenant within the property deeds. It was observed that Lord Armstrong had given his approval for this application though without the presentation of any evidence. A Mr Robinson, in his opposition to the plea, inferred that the covenant would be broken on payment of some pecuniary reward to Lord Armstrong. This brought a rebuke from the Chair of the Bench who said that the transgression of the covenant may bring some financial cost but that Lord Armstrong was not the beneficiary of this. After a short discussion the application was granted. At this point Margaret Bagnall from 6 Rothbury Terrace withdrew her application.
Declined
Early September 1891 also saw an application by Turnbull for an ‘alehouse’ at 7 and 9 Chillingham Road. This was granted by Sir Benjamin Browne, the Chair of the Bench, despite the opposition of Thomas Barker, a temperance missionary. Discussion had been relatively brief with an observation that otherwise the nearest licensed premises was 600 yards away. This decision was however reversed on the 9 September 1891. Speaking for the application were J K Joel, barrister, and Mr E Clark on behalf of householders in the vicinity. Opposing the confirmation of the provisional licence was F J Greywell, barrister, acting for Mr Thomas Barker, a temperance missionary.
Mr Joel noted that on the previous occasion there was little determined opposition and that if, as Sir Benjamin Browne stated, each case should be judged on its merits (outside of the temperance question more generally) then the licence should be confirmed due to population pressures and the suitability of the premises which Mr Turnbull believed would be used for ‘concerts and entertainments’. Mr Clark spoke in favour of the application stating that on the Meadowfield estate and several streets adjoining it there were 280 houses with 270 occupied. A petition signed by 206 occupants was presented again to the Bench with the remark that some of those who signed signifying their support for the licence were teetotallers themselves. There was then some seemingly good-natured laughter in court when Mr Clark somewhat ironically observed that Mr Barker was a ‘very worthy man who wore his badge of office quite visibly’ but as an advocate of local opinion would do well to accept the popularity of this licence being granted.
Mr Greenwell acting on behalf of Mr Barker declared that a counter petition had been assembled and that he would like to present this to the court. This petition contained 613 names, 310 of whom were householders. Mr Clark made the accusation that Mr Barker had sought the names of servants and children to add to his list with the Chair adding, to some laughter in court, that he could discern some names on both petitions. After retiring for a time, the Bench returned to declare that the provisional licence was not being confirmed.
31 August 1892 saw an application from John Harper Graham (at the time the licensee of a public house at 4 Burden Terrace, Jesmond) regarding a proposed hotel at the corner of Heaton Road and North View. Graham’s proposal was criticised in terms of reducing property prices as well as it being a ‘source of annoyance and temptation’ to attendees at Sunday School and associated meetings of young men at the nearby Primitive Methodist Chapel. The application was refused.
Board School
It was announced that Mr Turnbull had delivered an application for a licence for 5, 7 and 9 Chillingham Road. It was pointed out that Mr Turnbull owned the land where the Board School was to be built and although his original plan was to build houses there, he would give the plot for nothing if his application was accepted. Turnbull’s Assembly Rooms already existed on the site and had eighty members who paid an annual subscription. The application was opposed by Newcastle School Board, Bath Lane Science and Arts schools, and Councillor Flowers on behalf of young people more generally. Mr Dunnell of the North Eastern Railway Company as a local employer added to the voices against by remarking that the nearby sidings were to be extended and 400 men employed (with the signal cabin being right opposite the proposed venture).
The licence was granted as long as the large hall was separated from the licensed premises. As Brian Bennison says in Heavy Nights ‘The opening of the East End Hotel was an exceptional occurrence’ .
East End Hotel shown on Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Environs OS Town Plan 1:500, 1896
William Turnbull became ill after inspecting some building works and died in 1897. His son, Adam, a builder had died in 1894 with his other son, Robert, only outliving William by a few months.
Turnbull family grave, All Saints Cemetery
The Heaton Question resolved?
Apart from a veiled threat to refuse the building of a Board School on his land there are other aspects to Mr. Turnbull’s eventual success. East End FC, who played on land owned by William Turnbull, had held a public event at his Assembly Rooms in 1892 as well as taking part in the Temperance Festival in June 1883 where the junior team won a trophy. This continued after the establishment of the East End Hotel with a Rural Fete to support the move of St Gabriel’s ‘Iron Mission Chapel’ from Chillingham Road to Heaton Road as well as hosting the Byker and Heaton Conservative Club Ball.
Beyond the 19th Century?
In 1897 the Heaton Anti Licencing Council declared that any new public house would ‘destroy the character Heaton had had in the past for moral perfection and purity’. It is worth noting that similar debates and disagreements were features of twentieth century applications for licensed premises though that may be a tale for another day.
*The title of this article was inspired by the Tom Waits song ‘Town with No Cheer’ which is ostensibly about Serviceton, a town in the Australian outback that lost its railway station and, as a result, its only bar.
Can you help?
If you know any more about anyone mentioned in this article or the history of the Chillingham Hotel or other public houses in Heaton, we’d love to hear from you. You can contact us either through this website by clicking on the link immediately below the article title or by emailing chris.jackson@heatonhistorygroup.org
Acknowledgements
Researched and written by Karl Cain, Heaton History Group
Sources
Ancestry
British Newspaper Archive
Drunkenness in turn of the century Newcastle / B Bennison; Local Population Studies (52), 1994
From Byker to Heaton – the origins and history of Heaton Methodist Church / N F Moore and W K Robinson; 2000
Heaton from farms to foundries / A Morgan, Newcastle City Libraries, 2012
Heavy Nights A history of Newcastle’s Public HousesVol 2 The North and East / B Bennison; Newcastle City Libraries, 1997
Methodism in Newcastle upon Tyne 1742 – 2010 / G Fisher and Rev T Hurst; North East Methodist History Society, 2010
‘The Town Moor Hoppings’ Newcastle’s Temperance Festival 1882 – 1982 / F Baron; Lovell Baines, 1984
The Hoppings Newcastle’s Town Moor Fair / P Lanagan; Books of the North, 2010
Heaton History Group 