BRANCH South Tyneside
The Charles Dickens Room (1st floor),
The Word,
Market Place,
SOUTH SHIELDS,
South Tyneside, NE33 1JF
Contact: Ann Franklin
Email: southtynesidebranch@ndfhs.org.uk

 



BRANCH MEETINGS


Meetings on 3rd Wednesday in the month at 1.30 p.m.
(No meeting in July & August)
Visitors are always welcome

 

Date Subject of Talk Speaker
20th March 2024A TREASURE OF MEMORIESJULIAN HARROP (BEAMISH)
17th April 2024BOBBY THOMPSON – THE LITTLE WASTERBEN HADDON
15th May 2024TRUE HEROES OF THE SEADAVID HASTINGS (RNLI)
19th June 2024BRANCH VISIT – TBC
18th September 2024Branch AGM

Branch Reports

February 2024

The meeting held on the 21st February was a Members Forum which was attended by 11 members plus 1 apology.

The theme was “How did our Ancestors arrive in the North East and Where did they go to”. One member’s research took him to Madras, India where an ancestor was a prominent medical doctor who, when he returned to the North East, was knighted only days before Queen Victoria came to the throne. This story also led to much discussion on the validity of Wills. Another member was born in Barbados and how her parents had ‘criss-crossed’ the Atlantic through the course of their work. As well as Irish ancestry, there were connections to the USA and Canada. We also discussed a family of ‘travellers’ who had settled in South Shields at the time the fairground became a permanent fixture, plus there were links closer to home with Earl Grey and Chillingham Castle.

We closed the meeting with suggestions of where and how to research and one thing became very clear which is something we all agreed on, our research into our ancestry is never finished.

January 2024

The meeting on the 17th January was attended by 11 members, when our guest speaker was Pete Hampson. ‘The Angel of Comical Corner’ is a novel and a play written by Francis Daniel in the late 19th century and it was on this that Pete had based his research.

Francis Daniel was born in Staffordshire in 1864 but by the time of the 1881 census he is a plumber age 16 living in Hebburn. Having held several jobs, including an actor, he becomes publican at the ‘Stirling Castle’, located in Wapping Street, South Shields. Although originally an area of prosperity, the rich moved out and the area along the riverside deteriorated into slum housing. It is believed Francis Daniel drew inspiration for his book from the characters who resided in such streets as Wapping Street, Long Row, Shadwell Street and Pilot Street. There are a number of theories as to how Comical Corner got its name, and although the slum housing was demolished in the 1930s, there is a name plate for Comical Corner attached to a building which is now the home of the Sea Cadets. Francis Daniel married twice, he became the landlord of the Queens Head, High Shields, and died in April 1919, buried in Harton Cemetery, South Shields.

This was a thoroughly interesting talk which, although more local history, certainly brough to life the area and conditions our ancestors were living in.

November 2023

We had 11 members attend the meeting on 15th November plus 3 apologies, when the Branch Secretary gave a presentation entitled “The Stowaway”. From a literal ‘find in the attic’ Ann researched the life of Edith Williams, a young English woman who, having lived in Melbourne, Australia since childhood, she wanted to return to England. Unable to afford the passage she stowed away on a Swedish windjammer, the C.B. Pederson. This turned out to be a somewhat epic voyage as not only was there a stowaway on board, but instead of the usual cargo of grains, there was a selected group of fare paying passengers, plus Captain Dalstrom decided to navigate the notorious Torres Straits, a somewhat ‘graveyard’ for sailing ships.

The find in the attic mysteriously linked Ann’s father to this tale from his days as a Radio Officer in the Merchant Navy. Having spent time in South Shields with the Franklin family, Edith returned to her native Bootle where she married in 1938. On the 20th December 1940, in an attempt to destroy the Atlantic fleet moored in the docks, intensive bombing took place over three nights which became known as the ‘Christmas Blitz’. On the first night of these raids, Edith was among many civilian casualties who sadly lost their lives.

The meeting concluded with a very active discussion on family history research in general.

October 2023

The meeting held on the 18th October was a Members Forum, lead by John Stobbs, on the theme of ‘Life in South Tyneside between the Wars’.

17 members/visitors (plus 2 apologies) took part in the discussion on a time of economic depression, welfare reforms, social unrest and female emancipation. John had methodically researched facts and figures on unemployment and comparable wage rates in industries such as shipbuilding and coal mining. Also discussed was the provision of services such as roads, parks, libraries and health as poor housing and the fact South Shields was a port, lead to high instances of TB.

Unfortunately, time ran out on us and John has kindly agreed to do a follow-up on this topic at one of our meetings in 2024.

September 2023

We had 13 members plus 2 apologies attend the meeting on the 20 September which commenced with the Branch AGM. Current Officers agreed to stand for re-election and were unanimously accepted.

From conversations with our members earlier this year it became apparent that there was little, if any, of our members making use of the NDFHS website. Therefore, our Chairman made a splendid job of showing how the Membership Section can be accessed and the extensive records which can be used with their family history research.

June 2023

At the meeting held on 21st June, Catrin Galt, the Community Librarian, Family History and Heritage, gave a very detailed and comprehensive talk, on not only the resources at The Word, but other areas which could be of interest to those researching their family history in South Tyneside. 12 Members present at the meeting.

Following the move to The Word, much of the material such as parish records, Shields Gazette have now been digitised and are available to view on microfilm, whilst the more valuable documents have been retained either in The Word or Jarrow Town Hall and these cannot be accessed by the general public. The Local History section at The Word also welcomes donations or will purchase books written by local authors.

Some of the suggested websites for viewing at home were South Tyneside Births, Deaths and Marriages, National Library of Scotland, Richard Kelly collection as well as the Remembrance site to those from South Tyneside who served in the war which includes over 9000 names.

No meetings July and August.

May 2023

11 members plus 2 apologies attended the meeting on the 17 May when the speaker was Susan Lynn whose talk ‘California Calling’ relates to her own family history.

Having been contacted by an unknown American family member, Susan started her research with the story of John Craster Gunn who was born 1814 in Dotwick Street, North Shields. He became a Master Mariner, but having lost a ship in the Atlantic and unable to find another ship, he travelled to New York then on to New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was here he married, became involved in the whaling industry and where he settled for 14 years during which time he became a naturalised citizen. John and his family then moved to the west coast of USA where they settled in Oakland, California. John became the owner of the ‘John J’, a ship initially used for the transportation of people but then became a whaler. Having run aground on the mud flats at Oakland, John Craster Gunn lost his life in 1878 when he fell into the hold of the ship.

Susan then went on to recount how several members of the Gunn family had followed in the footsteps of John by travelling and settling in the USA. As always a most interesting and informative talk from Susan.

April 2023

The meeting held on 19th April was attended by 13 members plus 4 apologies. The speaker, Jane Gulliford Lowes, whose talk “The Horsekeeper’s Daughter”, had been highly recommended to the Branch and she did not disappoint.

Jane’s story begins with a box of old photographs which she had been given to look through as a small child whilst visiting family. It was one particular snap that held Jane’s fascination and which lead her to research the life of Sarah Marshall. Born in West Rainton, Co. Durham in 1863, Sarah was the first child of Thomas and Margaret. Thomas’s occupation was that of a ‘horsekeeper’ who was responsible for looking after the pit ponies and like many mining families, the Marshall’s moved from village to village within the Durham coalfields in search of work, finally settling in the Seaham area. Times were harsh and Sarah went into service in the village of Seaton.

As part of a drive to recruit single females into domestic service in Australia, Sarah obtained an assisted passage, arriving in Brisbane on 13th December 1886. There she went into service before marrying William Campbell, a man considerably older than herself. They had a son but when Brisbane suffered an economic decline, the family moved to a station in Queensland. Whilst living in a slab hut in the rain forest in Tamborine Mountain, Sarah passed away in 1911 leaving William and their son to run their farm. This was a thoroughly enjoyable talk which is recommended to other branches.

March 2023

Branch member John Stobbs was the speaker at the meeting on 15th March which was attended by 14 members/visitors. This was an extremely well researched presentation on life in the Holborn area of South Shields in the early 20th century.

The Edwardian era brought with it social and economical changes. Being located along the riverfront, the Holborn workforce consisted mainly of seamen, miners, factory workers, labourers and clerical workers. However, following the end of WW1 there was a significant effect in North East trade which resulted in a high unemployment rate in many of the N.E. industries, a fact which is highlighted by the 1921 Census. Edwardian social reforms included the Education Act, drafted by Arthur Balfour in 1902, which brought in free education and abolished the school boards in England and Wales. The first Arab boarding house for seamen opened in Holborn in 1909 as many of the seamen arriving in South Shields were employed as stokers (firemen) on board British ships.

For those in the group who have family history in South Shields, John’s talk gave us a good insight of how our ancestors had lived in the early 20th century.


Last updated: 4th March 2024