The Will of George Nesbitt

22/10/2018 by Northumberland Archives

Abstract of the will of George Nesbitt of Bailiffgate Street Alnwick in the County of Northumberland, Stonemason.

28^th November 1815

By his will of his date George Nesbitt Directed first that all his just debts, Funeral Expenses and probate of his will should be paid and discharged by and out of his personal estate and effects except his household furniture and in case the same should not be sufficient for that purpose he did thereby charge and make chargeable all his messuages(sic) tenements or dwelling houses Hereditaments and premises to and with the payment thereof respectively.

And so charged and chargeable as aforesaid he did thereby give All those two Messuages(sic) tenements and dwelling houses with the Backbuildings yards Gardens Hereditaments and Appurtenances thereto Belonging situate standing lying and being on the south side of Bondgate Street in Alnwick aforesaid and then in the possession or occupation of Mrs Castles and Mrs James Thompson Spirit Merchant as Tenants thereof to and under him and also all that his other messuage(sic)Tenement or dwelling house with the Yard, Garden Hereditaments and Appurtenances therewith belonging situate standing lying and being in Baillifgate in Alnwick aforesaid and then in his own possession or occupation of Miss Richardson Henry Howey Esquire Mrs Garrett and others as tenants thereof to and under him.

And also all that his one undivided priority or full half part and in all that meesuageg(sic) Tenement or dwelling houses with the back buildings hereditaments and appurtenances herewith belonging situate standing lying and being in Cannongate Street in or near Alnwick aforesaid and then in the possession or occupation of Margaret Stage as Tenant thereof to and under him and the representatives of Adam Yelloly(sic) late of Chester Hill in the County of Northumberland aforesaid Gentleman deceased and also all other his hereditaments and real estate Whatsoever situate lying and being in the parish of Alnwick in the said County of Northumberland or elsewhere. Unto Edward Hamp of Alnwick aforesaid Merchant and John Nicholson of Greensfield in the parish of Alnwick aforesaid farmer. Upon the Trusts and two and for the uses intents and purposes thereinafter mentioned (that is to say). Upon Trust that they the said Edward Hamp and John Nicholson or the survivors of them or the heirs Executors or Administrators of such survivor or heir or his Assigns do and should from time to time when occasion should require grant or demise or let the said Hereditaments and premises or any part or parts thereof to such person or persons and for such rents and on such conditions and terms as the said Trustees or Trustee for the time being should seem expedient.

And for the purpose he did thereby give full power to the said Edward Hamp and John Nicholson and the survivors of them and the heirs Executors or Administrators of such survivor on their or his assigns to grant demise and let by Indenture Deed poll or otherwise the said hereditaments and premises or any part or parts thereof to any person or persons for any term or number of years not exceeding seven years in possession or to commence within one year after such granting demising or letting.

~And Upon Further Trust that they the said Trustees for the timed being do and should immediately after his decease enter upon take possession and receive all messuages(sic) Tenements or Dwellinghouses Hereditaments and premises and do and should pay the said Rents and profits thereof half yearly as the same should become due and payable or be received unto his dear wife Catherine Nesbitt or assigns or permit or allow his said wife or her assigns to receive and take the same for her own sole use and benefit during the minority or Day or Days of Marriage of his two daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt which should first happen.

And Upon further Trust that they the said Trustees or Trustee for the time being do and should as and when his two said Daughters should be respectively arrive at Twenty one years of age or be both married as aforesaid pay unto his wife Catherine Nesbitt or her assigns for and during the Term of her natural life one annuity or clear yearly Rent charge or annual sum of Fifty pounds of lawful British out of the Rents or profits arise Or become due and payable from his said Hereditaments and pr4emises full and clear of and from all deductions and abatements whatsoever parliamentary parochial or others by two half yearly payments in the year (that is to say) Martimas(sic) and Whitsuntide the first half yearly payment of the said yearly Rent Charge or annual sum to be made on such of the days and times as should happen next after is said two daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt arriving at the age of twenty one years or to be married as aforesaid and do and should after payment of the said Yearly Rent Charge or Annual Sum of fifty Pounds so given to his said wife pay the remainder of the said Rents and profits unto his said daughter Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt equal between them share and share alike.

Direction that if the Yearly Rent Charge or annual sum of Fifty pounds or any part thereof should be in arrear and unpaid for the space of twenty one Days next after said Days or times whereupon the same was therefore made payable then and as often as the case should happen then it should be lawful for his said wife and her assigns into or upon the said messuages(sic) Tenements or Dwelling houses Hereditaments and premises or into or upon any parts or parts thereof in the name of the whole or otherwise to enter and there disclaim for the said yearly Rent Charge or annual sum of Fifty pounds or as much thereof as should be then in arrear and also as much thereof as should then be then in arrear and also such further sum or part thereof if any as should be or might become due during her possession under or by means of such entry and distress or distresses then and there found and taken to detain and keep until the said yearly Rent Charge or annual sum of Fifty Pounds.

After such distress or distresses should be so taken to appraise sell and dispose of the distress and distresses or otherwise to deal therewith according to Law in like manner in the case of the distresses for Rent received by lease or common demise for the purpose of paying the same.

Declaration that the said Rent Charge or Annual so given and bequeathed to his said wife was in lieu and satisfaction of all Dower and Thirds at Common Law she might so claim.

And from and immediately after the deceased of his said wife Catherine Nesbitt. He gave and devised all his said messuages(sic) Tenements or dwelling Houses Hereditaments and premises unto his said two Daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt and their Assigns for and during the term of of their antural lives and the life of the longer liver of them without impeachment of or for any manner of waste. And from and immediately after the determination of the Estate in the lifetime of his said two daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt by profiture or otherwise. To the use of Thomas Grey of Hope House near Alnwick aforesaid Farmer and Thomas Russell of Alnwick aforesaid Builder and their heirs during the lives and longer liver of his aforesaid Two Daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt. Upon Trust to preserve the Contingent uses and Estates thereinafter limited from being Defeated and destroyed for that purpose to make entries and bring actions as occasion should require yet nevertheless to permit and suffer his two said Daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt and their assigns to receive and take the rents and profits thereof during their lives and the life of the longer liver of them to and for their own use and benefit. And from and immediately after the deceases of his said two daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt. He gave and devised all his said Messuages(sic) Tenements f Dwelling houses Hereditaments and premises unto the child or children of his said two Daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt lawfully to be begotten to be equally divided between and amongst them share and share alike as Tenants in Common and not as joint tenants.

Proviso that in case his two daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt should happen to die without issue then in such case he gave and devised all his said Messuages(sic) Tenements or Dwellinghouses Hereditaments and premises unto his said wife Catherine Nesbitt he heirs and assigns forever. And gave and bequeathed unto his said wife Catherine Nesbitt for a during her natural life all his silver plate China Linen Woolen household and furniture of what nature and kind soever and from and immediately after the decease of his said two Daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt to be equally divided between them and shall share and share alike.

Declaration that all his said Household goods and furniture should be freed and donated of and from the payment of all just debts Funeral Expenses and probate of his will and he gave and bequeathed unto His said wife Catherine Nesbitt and his two Daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt after payment of his just Book Debts and Money and Securities for money also all other the rest residue and remainder of my money personal Estate and effects of what nature or kind soever o be equally divided between and amongst them share and share alike.

Direction that the said Trustees or either of them or their or either of their Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns should not be answerable or accountable damage which should or might happen or befal(sic) at his said real or Personal Estate of them or any part or separate parts thereof or any sum or sums of money they should respectively receive or disburse by virtue of the Trustees thereby in them reposed respectively unless the sum should happen to be their Wilful default nor one of them for the other of them but each of them for his or their own acts Deeds receipts Disbursements and conduct only and not otherwise.

And that it should and might be lawful for them and each of them by and out of the monies which should respectively receive and also to his and their Trustees and Co Trustee all costs charges and Expences which they or any of them should or might sustain expend or be put onto in and about the Execution of the Trusts thereby in them respectively reposed or in anywise relating thereto.

And he did thereby name and appoint the said Edward Stamp and John Nicholson Trustees and Executors of his Will and also Trustees and Guardians of the persons Fortunes and Estates of his said two daughters Mary and Cecilia Nesbitt by revoking all other Will and Wills at any time therefore made by him and he declared present abstract writing to be and contain his last Will And testament.

And lastly he did thereby desire and recommend to his said wife Catherine Nesbitt to be kind and attentive unto John Nesbitt and Richardson Nesbitt late of Bitton in the County of Northumberland aforesaid deceased.

Signed and Sealed by the said

George Nesbitt in the presence

Of and attested by 33 witnesses.

Under an Artificial Sun

23/10/201819/10/2018 by Northumberland Archives

This guest blog is written by Debbie Ballin

I am a filmmaker and writer based at Leeds Arts University and was recently granted a Wellcome Trust Bursary Award to research materials in the Stannington Children’s Sanatorium collection at Northumberland Archives. I plan to use the research as inspiration for a new art work called, ‘Under an Artificial Sun.’ I am at the very early stages of the research so don’t, as yet, know exactly what form this will take, except that it will include creative writing and film. My interest in developing a project on childhood tuberculosis was initially inspired by an interview I found with the musician Tom Jones. In the interview he talked about how childhood TB had shaped his life.

‘Oh yeah, I would have been a coal miner, I would think, if I hadn’t had tuberculosis when I was 12.’ Tom Jones, Singer-Songwriter

I started to think about that experience from a child’s perspective and to wonder whether other similar stories of childhood tuberculosis existed. I began doing some online research and discovered the Stannington Children’s Sanatorium archive. This collection contains a wealth of material including: patients medical records and reports, radiographs, educational logbooks from the Sanatorium School from 1906 – 1970, a Matron’s Day Book from 1906 – 1933, photographs, ephemera and a collection of twenty-six oral history interviews with former patients recorded in 2013. I approached Sue Wood, Head of Collections at Northumberland Archives and she kindly supported my Wellcome Trust funding application and has helped me begin to navigate this wonderful collection along with the other archive staff.

My research focuses on the first fifty years of the sanatorium – 1906 to 1956. The period before antibiotics were widely available to treat tuberculosis. Most of the children hospitalized at Stannington at this time, were from working class backgrounds. A lot of them came from Newcastle and the nearby towns of Ashington, Blyth and Morpeth, but some from as far as Yorkshire and Wales. The children were aged from tiny infants and toddlers to young adults of seventeen and eighteen. They were often hospitalized for very long stretches of time, in some cases four or five years. The regime at Stannington was very strict, parents were only allowed to visit on one Saturday and treatments included fresh air, rest, healthy food and sunlight therapies.

I am interested in the emotional legacy of this experience and the way it shaped these children’s lives. What was it like to be isolated and separated from family and friends? What did it feel like to be confined to your bed for long periods of time? Was it boring? Or was it fun having lots of other children on the ward to play with? Did the experience make you more resilient and stronger? Or did the effects of the illness still persist in later life? Was it lonely? How did all that time to think effect your creativity and imagination?

I have started my research by reading the educational logbooks from the Sanatorium School (1906 – 1970) and the Matron’s Day Book (1906 – 1933). Through these, I am beginning to build a vivid picture of the day to day life of the sanatorium, the daily rhythms and routines, the nursing staff, teachers and doctors’ the development of the building and resources and the shifts in medical approach and educational thinking. Threaded through these records are the key historical events of the early twentieth century: the declaration of the First World War in 1914; the armistice celebrations in 1918; the Spanish flu, which led to the deaths of four of the children and the evacuation of the sanatorium to Hexham during the Second World War.

Stannington Childrens Hospital School Log Book

I have also started listening to the oral history testimonies which bear witness to deeply personal memories and experiences. Stories of the strangeness of arriving at Stannington and of homesickness and loneliness are interspersed with fond memories of individual nurses and doctors. There are tales of friendship and adventure, of nature rambles and pet rabbits and of dressing up for plays and pantomimes. There are stories of children being pushed out on the verandah in their beds no matter what the weather to take in the fresh air. Huddled up in warm clothes, red rubber blankets wrapped tightly around them, while snow piled up on the foot of their beds. Recollections of huge plates of tasty food and school in the garden sit alongside traumatic memories of pain, illness, sadness and fear.

In November, I plan to interview some of the former patients again to try and understand more about what it was like to have tuberculosis as a child and to be hospitalised for a long period of time. I want to weave their stories into a wider story about the life and history of the sanatorium. Whatever form the final project takes I would like it to enrich our understanding of historical TB and childhood hospitalisation and the way it shapes us as adults.

This Week in World War One, 18 October 1918

19/10/2018 by Northumberland Archives

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 18 OCTOBER 1918

FUNERAL OF CAPT. NORMAN

A LARGE AND REPRESENTATIVE FOLLOWING

SERVICE IN ST. MARY’S

The funeral of the late Captain Norman took place to Berwick Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, when local gentlemen who had sat with the deceased on public bodies, or had been associated with him in Church, School, and social movements, attended in large numbers to pay their last tribute to a life spent in the public service.

At Cheviot House a large company of mourners had gathered and at two thirty the cortege moved off down Castle Terrace to the Church of St. Mary’s, where a short service was held. The blinds of all residenters on route were drawn during the passing of the cortege while here and there could be seen groups of people in the humble walks of life anxious to pay the last respect they could to one who had been a true friend in life.

Heading the procession was a detachment of the Borough Police Force, under Chief Constable Nicholson, and behind walked the sergeant at Mace (Mr Blakie) carrying the halbert draped in crepe. Following in procession walked the Magistrates and Council, and immediately behind the hearse and mourning coaches were members of the Bible Class which for so many years was conducted at Cheviot House, and then followed the boys of Berwick Grammar School, at which centre the Captain was chairman of Governors.

NEWS FROM THE LADS IN GERMANY

Mrs D. Bryson, Kiln Hill, was cheered this week to receive a post card from her son, Private Dan Bryson, H.L.I., from Gustrow Camp, Germany. He was taken prisoner in the March drive by the Germans, but he is evidently quite happy, and writes that he has some fine fellows in the camp along with him.

A group of allied prisoners at Gustrow POW Camp, Germany, where Private Dan Bryson, H.L.I. was a prisoner. © Expired.

Private Davidson, son of Mrs Davidson, Well Square, who is prisoner at Stammlager, Germany, writes that he has been in hospital, but that he is now much better and hopes to soon be out of the hospital cot.

Private John Dawson, N.F., grandson of Mrs Ogilvie, Well Road, who is a prisoner at Stargard, Germany, has sent a letter card to his grandmother, stating that he is quite well, but would welcome a letter from her every week. The letter card he sends is rather a clever made affair and can be used again by the recipient when replying.

A PREMATURE PEACE REPORT AT BERWICK

On Sunday morning, as people were coming out of Church, a report spread like wildfire that Germany had accepted President Wilson’s terms, and peace was to be signed at mid-night. It was said that an official message was on view at the huts. We immediately set out to find if it was true. Ongoing to the huts, there was no notice to be seen, and we were told that it was on view at the Barracks, and ongoing to the Barracks, we were referred back to the huts. The fact of the matter seemed to be that some soldier had out up a notice to the effect at the huts on his own account, and later had taken it down again. We also enquired at the Police Station and at the Post Office, but nothing was known. In the evening, however, definite news came to Berwick, as it well might for the news had been known in London on the Saturday night at ten o’clock.

BRO 1944-1-149-1 CROPPED. The army huts in front of Berwick Barracks, where a soldier prematurely posted President Wilson’s peace terms accepted by Germany. © Berwick Record Office.

LOCAL NEWS

On Wednesday morning a Berwick lady was rather surprised to find herself stopped by another lady who was carrying a young baby in the full array of christening clothes. She was even more surprised when she was asked to accept a paper bag containing a piece of cake, a piece of money, and salt. This she did and for the benefit of readers who have not heard of this old custom before, we may say that it is one which is quite usual in some parts of Scotland. When the mother leaves the house to attend Church where the “baptism” is to take place it is lucky if the first person met is fair. The gift of cake, money and salt is then handed over and the future welfare of the child assured. We were permitted to examine the “gift offering” and in so doing the cake broke in two. This we are informed is symbolical of good luck and a double event next time.

Fuel and Lighting economy is responsible for several alterations in church services, St. Andrew’s Church, Berwick, and the English Presbyterian Church, Tweedmouth, are doing away with a second service on Sunday. Wallace Green and the Primitive Methodist Congregations are uniting for a week day services, and Bankhill Church, during the absence of its minister on six months sick leave, is uniting with St. Aidan’s, Church Street. A large number of the Wesleyan Methodists are worshipping with the Primitives, and several are attending Wallace Green, each individual or family deciding entirely for itself.

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