The Freemen of Berwick-upon-Tweed (Twixt Thistle and Rose)

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The Freemen of Berwick- upon -Tweed

The Freedom Ceremony

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a Freedom Admissions ceremony at the Town Hall. Three members of the Reay family were admitted to the Guild of Freemen of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Admissions of Berwick Freemen are recorded in the borough records from the early 16th century but the tradition dates back to the Middle Ages. Today, the ceremony is presided over by the Mayor and Sheriff of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Freedom is conferred by the Chairman of the Guild of Freemen after oaths have been read aloud. Freemen-to-be must attend the ceremony in person. At the end of the ceremony the Guild Book – that I brought to the ceremony from the Archives – was signed by the newly admitted Freemen. It had been inscribed with their names by calligrapher Barbara Herdman.

Three newly admitted Freemen on the steps of Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Hall with (right to left) Chairman of the Guild of Freemen, Mayor and Sheriff – 28 Jan 2019 (copyright Steve Cozens)

Becoming a Freeman


All claims to become a Freeman must be researched thoroughly and the Berwick Archivist, Linda Bankier, provides this service to the Guild. She produces a descent (a proof of claim) by checking that details the applicant has provided match the Guild Minute Books and Apprenticeship records relating to their forebears.

Guild Book (B1/12)

The new freemen were admitted by birthright. Eligibility to become a Freeman has changed over the years. Originally only the eldest son, on reaching the age of 21, could become a Freeman this way. Younger sons would be apprenticed for seven years to a Freeman to gain their freedom but from 1782 all sons could be admitted by birthright. Now all children of a Freeman – including daughters – can apply to be admitted. However, succession must pass directly from one generation to the next or right is lost. A small number of Honorary Freemen may also be admitted by the Guild “by ticket” but their children have no right of admission.

An apprentice, Richard Swinhoe, petitions the Guild for a new master following the death of his old master Andrew Moore or the right to find one outside the town if the Guild can find no one suitable.

Freeman ancestry and history

If your ancestors came from Berwick, and you suspect they might have been Freemen, have a look at the searchable database of Berwick Families (1800-1940) published by the Guild. A history of the Berwick-upon-Tweed Guild of Freemen can be read on their website in the Green Book.

The historical records of the Guild form a significant part of the Borough of Berwick-upon Tweed collection that the Twixt Thistle and Rose Project team will re-catalogue. The Guild were responsible for the civic government of the town from 1604 to 1835 so their records contain a wealth of unique information.

A Guild Roll

From the earliest records , applications to be admitted Freemen (or apprenticed to a Freeman) are recorded as well as lists of guild members. It was important to be able to show who had a right to trade in the town or attend the Guild courts. There are references to the rules of the Guild in managing their estate. Freemen enjoy a number of privileges and rights that were keenly monitored and robustly defended. For example, the Riding of the Bounds, that has been an annual event almost without a break from 1609 to the present day, was a way of checking for encroachments on their lands and ejecting interlopers.

Orders of the Guild about Meadows and Stints 1754 (B 3/6)

Bringing the world to Berwick


Berwick-upon Tweed has been, throughout it’s history, an outward looking town and part of a huge trading community linked by the sea. It shares it’s Guild history with that of Scottish, English and European confraternities that from mediaeval times sought to protect their commercial interests whilst maintaining amicable relations with other trading communities. There was no profit in creating blocks to trade – instead guilds promoted a common understanding of how to regulate the landing, storing and trading of goods without inhibiting commerce. The records are full of curious details about how the Guild managed these relationships – more of which we will, no doubt, uncover in the process of re-cataloguing .

The Guild negotiates the price of a load of timber with the Master of a “Norway man”, 1667

Police Posters at Berwick-upon-Tweed (Twixt Thistle and Rose)

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Twixt Thistle and Rose is a project funded for one year by Archives Revealed to make the records of Berwick-upon-Tweed more widely accessible.

Twixt Thistle and Rose refers to the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed which sits on the Border between Scotland (Thistle) and England (Rose). The phrase- as Twixt Rose and Thistle – has been often used to describe Berwick. For example, it was the name of a public house in Walkergate (now the Cobbled Yard – the windows are etched with the symbol) and it featured on a railway poster of Berwick around 1920 “The Mecca of All Seeking Health and Pleasure”.

Funding has also been provided by the Berwick Guild of Freemen and the Friends of Berwick-upon-Tweed and District Museum and Archives to enable the participation of volunteers in the project and other outreach work.

If you are interested in volunteering please email us at ttar@northumberland.gov.uk. We’ll add you to the mailing list and you’ll be invited to come along to one of the introductory sessions we plan to hold in March.

Berwick had it’s own Police Force until the 1920’s

One group of records that we hope to make better known is the series of Police Posters and Informations that date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These were sent to Berwick Police Station to alert the local constabulary about a variety of criminals or absconders from the Army or Workhouses.

Currently the records are boxed, arranged in bundles and are clean and dry. However, they require some conservation work to prevent deterioration with use and they are in need of detailed cataloguing. This is an ideal project for volunteers!

Police Posters and Informations, reference M16/1-17

Although the notices were received from elsewhere they may be the only surviving copy. They provide lots of information about all aspects of life at the turn of the twentieth century including attitudes to vagrancy at the time. If you like detective work, volunteering could give you a chance to investigate the background to the story or what happened next.

12 year old child “used to being on tramp”

They used the technology of the time – photography and telegraphy – to convey detailed descriptions of criminals or items stolen

Photographs of wanted men, 1896
Telegram issuing order to check premises and carriers for stolen pigeons

There are scams that seem very modern – such as a the circular from the Hawick Police reporting a false collecting agent for Miss Stirling’s Orphanage operating in the area. Miss Stirling was a well known philanthropist in Edinburgh who pioneered the sending of pauper children to Canada. Her Charity was involved in a scandal that revealed the lack of supervision of her child migrants after they were placed abroad.

False charity collections in Hawick

There are instances of local crimes such as the malicious damage of salmon nets in Spittal. The wording of the poster and the offer of a reward strongly suggests that this kind of activity was perceived as economic sabotage.

Malicious damage to nets at Sandstell Road, Spital

There are also dramatic depictions and accounts of individuals wanted for serious offences. The artist’s sketch in this poster – raising the alert for a man wanted for an horrific murder – alongside the detailed character note creates a very sinister image!

Wanted – Donald McDonald – for Murder

And postcards were used to inform the constabulary when a search could be called off.

Job done – thanks!

This is just one small example of the wealth of information found in the Berwick Borough collection. If you feel inspired to help please get in touch.

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 31 JANUARY 1919

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BERWICK ADVERTISER, 31 JANUARY 1919

LOCAL LAD HONOURED

Gunner George Percy Pringle, 10th Battalion, Tank Corps, son of Mr and Mrs Pringle, Murton Farm, has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field, the honour having only recently come through. Last October when his crew were all casualties or wounded and the Tank had two direct hits, he stuck to his gun and kept the enemy at bay until further assistance arrived. Gunner Pringle joined up in December 1914 in the K.O.S.B., and was at Dardanelles on the memorable 12th July, 1915, was invalided home with dysentery, and was transferred to the Tanks a year ago. His brother William was killed 1916, and another brother, Richard, is serving in a Labour Battalion.

BERWICK’S WAR MEMORIAL

ANIMATED DISCUSSION

Berwick War Memorial in Castlegate

A public meeting was held in the Townhall, Berwick, on Thursday evening, 23rd January, for the purpose of considering the question of a War Memorial. The Mayor presided, and, if the audience for a Borough the size of Berwick was disappointingly small (there were perhaps fifty present), it was a distinctly representative one and keen interest was manifested in the discussion. We were glad to notice such a strong representation from Tweedmouth, whose sons have certainly not been lacking in service to their country.

At the commencement the Mayor referring to the special object for which the meeting had been called said the idea of a War Memorial was a laudable one. A visible memorial might not be needed for the present generation, as there were few homes in which there was not resting the sad consciousness of a shadow, caused by the War. It was only fitting that some memorial should be reared to be handed down to future generations, as a reminder of the sublime heroism displayed on the part of our men who had all through shown such an utter disregard to personal danger. The idea of a War Memorial had been considered by the Town Council who resolved to call a public meeting. Suggestions as to what form the memorial should take were to be invited, and, should, so as to be embodied in concrete form, be submitted in writing.

BELFORD AND DISTRICT

Former Belford Lad Honoured

Sergt. Andrew Tully, 15th D.L.I., has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field. In civil life he was employed as game keeper on the Haggerston Castle Estate and resided at Berrington Law, Beal. Enlisting in 1916 he trained at Redcar, going to France in July of that year, and took part in the great offensive at that time. He was wounded in September 1918. His parents resided for many years in the Belford district but have now removed further south. He married a daughter of Mr and Mrs W. Clark, Belford Station, and has a younger brother in the Army.

SPITTAL NOTES

Private J. Purvis, D.L.I., is once again back to civil life. He went through a course of signalling, this course being rather lengthy it remained incompleted at the time when the Armistice was signed. Being a pivotal man he was amongst the first to be released from military duties. We wish him the best of health, and hope that he will be able to carry on in the usual way a Spittal Spade Works, where he is employed, for long years to rome.

Corpl. B. Lough, T.C’s., has been demobilised. Bart, who joined the N.C.B.’s at Berwick in 15, had the majority of his training in this country, being located in the county of Lincoln. From that training camp he was sent to France, and subsequently transferred to the Tank Corps, and saw a good deal of heavy fighting in that unit. He was sent home on sick leave, and hostilities ceasing in the interval, he was permitted to remain in this country until demobilised. He commences his trade of cooper shortly, in which we wish him every success and robust health to carry on.

TWEEDMOUTH JOTTINGS

We are pleased to see home to Main Street, Tweedmouth, Lanc-Corpl. B. Marston, having received his discharge. He was in Australia at the commencement of the war and came home to do his bit on the battle fields of Europe or elsewhere. He has been in the Labour Corps, and has done much good and useful work with that unit. His eldest son, Private Harold Marston, of the M.G.C., was killed in the St. Julien battle, where so many of our local lads fell.

We notice on leave, Private John Swinney, of the Tank Corps, whose home is at West End Tweedmouth. When mobilization took place he was in the Territorials, after training at Gosforth and Cambois he went to France with his Battalion in 1915, taking part in many actions in which the 7th N.F. were engaged.


A World War One, British Mark V (male) tank. Private John Swinney from Tweedmouth, would have seen service in one of these.  © Copyright expired.

He was wounded on the Somme front in November, 1916, his wounds not being of such a nature as to send him to Blighty. He was treated at the Base Hospital. After his recovery he was transferred to the Tank Corps, where he has had some rough work to do with this crawling complex contrivance which has played such a prominent part in the war. We understand he is demobilized and we welcome him back to civil life.

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