Northumberland Archives

The 1915 Zeppelin Raid & 1940 Blitz, through the eyes of one London resident.

07/09/2015 by Northumberland Archives

I hope you as the reader will enjoy this blog. This is in Jean’s own words and retells the story of her family in 1915 & 1940, both dates that are remembered by Londoners.

I was born in London and lived there throughout the Second World War. My most vivid memory was of 7th September, 1940.

Our family were in Hackney, East London that Saturday for the wedding of my mother’s youngest sister. The bride and groom had both been born in Bartrip Street on 7th September, 1915. He, Fred, had been born in the early morning during a Zeppelin raid, my Aunt Doll was born that night during another Zeppelin raid. Fred’s father was later to be killed in France, while Doll’s father, my grandfather, was gassed in France, but came home to die. On their wedding day (and 25th birthday) we had the wedding reception between two air raids, for this was the day that the Blitz started.

My parents, brother and I were each in different air raid shelters during the air raids, but saw and heard wave after wave of German bombers, accompanied by Messerschmitt’s heading for the Docks a few miles away, and being chased by Hurricanes and Spitfires, but these were very much out-numbered. The drone of the aircraft engines, the sound of bullets, the thuds of the bombs and the crashing bangs from the anti-aircraft guns – my first experience of warfare. At 12 years, I was old enough to understand what was happening and I remember feeling my heart beating hard in my chest. It was frightening.

Eventually, we made our way home to Edmonton, North London some 20 miles as the crow flies from the now blazing docks. The huge ball of red fire on the horizon made a mockery of the blackout. As my Dad remarked at the time, you could almost read a newspaper in the street where we lived. I cannot describe nor can you imagine just how big a fire that was.

That of course, was only the first of many bombing raids. The City, the East End, Coventry, Cardiff, Liverpool and many, many other cities in Great Britain were to face heavy bombing.

P.S.
Fred joined the R.A.F. and was eventually shipped out to Northern India, stationed near Karachi in what is today, Pakistan. On his embarkation leave they realised that Doll was pregnant. It transpired she was having twins due on the 5th September – we all hoped they would be two days late! However, due to medical reasons they, Frederick and Patricia, were actually born on 5th August, 1942. Their Dad had to make do with photographs until he actually saw them on his return to the U.K. after VE Day.

BULLETS AND A RAT

I have many memories of events during WW2. One of them is the day Mum & I went shopping to the main shopping area, Fore Street, Edmonton. The “take cover” siren had gone, but frankly, you ignored that until the anti-aircraft guns started blazing or the German planes could be heard coming. One thing we all quickly learnt was to recognise engines – I could tell you whether it was a German bomber, Messerschmitt, Hurricane or Spitfire overhead even if I couldn’t see the plane. So when the “activity” started just before we got to the shopping thoroughfare, we went into Pymmes Park taking the path alongside the small brook that ran through the park and where there were many trees.

We found this huge oak tree and kept our eyes on the planes above keeping the tree between us and the bullets. Unfortunately, for us, there were several stone statues on plinths in that part of the park and the bullets were ricocheting off them making it even more difficult for us to avoid them! So there we were, circling the oak with eyes looking heavenwards and occasionally looking down to avoid the tree roots when we saw this huge white water rat come out of the brook and into a hole at the base of “our” tree!! We were devastated – a rat! Although, we had to keep going round the tree when we got to the hole – we ran!

Watching the planes – the Messerschmitt’s, Spitfires & Hurricanes weaving, diving and twisting while firing tracer bullets and the heavily laden bombers who were not so agile – it was really quite exciting and, to be honest, the really frightening – no terrifying – thing was that rat! We never did see it again and eventually the planes had passed over, we had not been hit (not even a near miss) so we were able to do our shopping and then go home.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Jean Wilkinson one of the Northumberland At War volunteers for writing this blog.

This Week in World War One, 3 September 1915

08/03/201804/09/2015 by Northumberland Archives

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 3 SEPTEMBER 1915

MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN P. W. MACLAGAN

Marriage of Captain P.W.Maclagan. – The numerous friends of Captain Philip Whiteside Maclagan, R.A.M.C., son of Dr C.G.Maclagan, Ravensdowne, will be interested to learn of his marriage, which took place on Wednesday in the Erskine U.F.Church, Annan, the bride being Miss Jane Scott, second daughter of the late Mr William John Robinson and of Mrs Robinson, Cluden, well-known and much esteemed citizens of Annan.

The bridegroom, who has been acting as assistant to Dr. Hunter, Annan, joined the R.A.M.C. at the beginning of the war. Dr Maclagan has been much thought of during his stay in Annan, and has made a large circle of friends and acquaintances. The presents were numerous and costly. There was a large attendance of personal friends at the wedding, the interior of the church being adorned with many pretty floral decorations. The officiating clergyman was the Rev. Archibald A. Campbell, and the bride was given away by her grandfather. Miss Robinson, the bride’s sister, acted as bridesmaid, and Dr Hunter officiated as the best man. At the conclusion of the marriage the happy couple left on their honeymoon per motor car.

A TWEED ANGLING STORY

The autumn season of salmon angling in the Tweed properly begins in the middle of September, when the nets are taken off at Berwick, according to law, as the phrase goes. Last year the stretches of the river belonging to the riparian properties were poorly let. The war called away many potential lessees, and those who remained did not care to enter on the sport. This year (writes a correspondent of the Glasgow Bulletin) there is an improvement. How the season will turn out nobody can tell. The weather is a great factor – a big flood in September or October being absolutely necessary to bring up the fish from the sea. But the more important question of supply arises. A venerable and experienced angler informed me that salmon are very scarce at Berwick this year up till now. I asked the reason, and added, half jocularly, “Owing to the war?” he replied in all gravity: “Weel, that might be sae. Thae submarines an’ torpedoes an’ other things mann hae had an unusual effeck. The sea about the East Coast has been greatly disturbit, an’ it’s juist possible it mav hae changed the coorse o’ the fish. Mind ye’ salmon’s queer beese.”

Salmon net fishing Paxton House, 2013 — Salmon net fishing on the River Tweed below Paxton House, 2013. Copyright: Les Hull, Creative Commons Licence.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Forbidden Postal Packets – The Press Bureau issues the following:- Attention is called to the fact that it is a punishable offence to send through the post any explosive substance or any article or thing likely to injure other postal packets or officers of the postal service. Cases have recently occurred of shells, pieces of shells, fuses, and cartridges being sent through the post. This dangerous practice has already caused loss of life, and has been forbidden by the military authorities.

LOCAL NEWS

The Last of an Old Spittal Family – Mrs G. Forsyth, late of 20 West Street, Spittal, died last week, in her eighty-fourth year; the last of a generation of a long lived family named Richardson. Nine of them reached maturity, and their ages when added together amounted to 726 years. We noted, some time ago, that one of them, Elizabeth Richardson, married to Thomas Elliot, fisherman, Spittal, who died aged 94, had 222 descendants, children, grand-children, and great-grand-children. The country which has most of that kind of citizen will quickest and best get over the ravages of the war.

SALE OF WORK AT CORNHILL

Sum of £43 Realised

The interior of Cornhill Schoolroom on Saturday afternoon wore a bright and fascinating appearance – just the very opposite to the rainy weather outside – for it was arrayed in all the splendour of an eastern bungalow, and it certainly well maintained the reputation to the title of an Oriental bazaar. The various stalls were laden with a most artistic selection of all kinds of fancy and embroidery work, worthily sustaining the labours of Mrs Holland, of the Rectory, and the other ladies in the district who were responsible for the effort. There was a beautiful display of embroidered and decorative napery, Chinese and Japanese tables, Chinese lacker tables, Thibet and Lhassa tables, Indian rugs, Chinese, Venitian, and Jerusalem jewellery, besides Indian chutney, Java jelly, foreign stamps.

Lhasa style antique Tibetan Buddhist Altar table

A feature was the Sowers’ Band Stall, the labours of the Cornhill children, which was devoted to the Cornhill Cot in Quetta hospital. The remainder of the sale was for the benefit of the Church Army Ambulance Fund, and Foreign Missions. Mrs Holland, the respected mother of the Rev. Mr Holland, and the several ladies who assisted her certainly deserve all credit for the splendid result of their labours as was witnessed in the display on the various stalls. A refreshment and tea stall was also tastefully arranged at the end of the schoolroom for those who wished to have a quiet cup and friendly crack.

Among those who assisted at the various stalls were Miss Low, Mrs Collingwood, Mrs H, St. B. Holland, Miss Rand, Mrs. J. Logan, Miss Murkin, Mrs Matthewson, Miss Hoyle, Mrs Fleming, Miss Tristram, Misses Collingwood, Fenwick, and Fleming, and Messrs Blake, Collingwood, and Fleming.

During the afternoon the sale was visited by a considerable number of representative ladies and gentlemen and among those present and who kindly sent donations were :- The Countess of Home; Sir Francis Blake, the Honourable Mrs Baillie Hamilton, the Hon. M. Joicey, the Misses Milne Home, Mr and Misses Selby, Mrs Neligan and party, Mrs Rea, Miss Fleming and party. Mrs Little, Mrs Maling, Mrs Swan, Mrs Shotton, Mrs Mackay, Mrs R. Carmichael, Mrs Mangin, Miss Baker Cresswell, Miss Sellar, Rev. W. I. Moran, Mr Swanston, Mrs Bell, Mrs Dickson, Misses Raines, Mr H.J. Swanston, Marshall Meadows, etc.

During the evening patriotic and other glees were well rendered by members of the choir, and Miss R. Jeffrey’s solos were much appreciated.

The proceeds amounted to over £43.

News from the Archives!

21/12/202001/09/2015 by Northumberland Archives

We are pleased to announce that the Wellcome Trust have awarded a second grant to Northumberland Archives to continue the amazing work they have done through the Stannington Sanatorium Project.

The ‘Stannington: From Sanatorium to General Hospital: Opening Up Three Decades of Paediatric Care’ Project has been awarded £49,100. This money will allow us to digitise the main series of case files from the Stannington Sanatorium collection covering the period 1944-1966. These files comprise 100 linear feet of records – that’s a whopping 122,000 pieces of paper to be digitised! We will redact the key documents in each file – the patient progress notes, x-ray card and discharge sheet and append the redacted copies to the catalogue entry. The files span the life of Stannington from it being a tuberculosis sanatorium funded by the Poor Children’s Holiday Association (now Children Northeast), including the introduction of the National Health Service, (1947) to its final conversion to a general children’s hospital (1953), which it remained until its closure in 1984, opening up three decades of paediatric care.

The Stannington Sanatorium Project ran from August 2014-July 2015 and allowed the full cataloguing and part-digitisation of the records from Stannington Sanatorium. However, the digitisation element of the project was primarily focussed upon the original and microfiche radiographs that made up a sizeable portion of the collection and only the early case files up to 1943 were digitised at this stage. This grant will fund the digitisation of the remainder of the individual patient files included in the Stannington Collection and will fund full re-packaging of the original files in conservation grade materials.

Through this project we will utilise digitisation as a preservation tool thereby minimising further handling and potential damage to patient files through the creation of a digital surrogate which can be viewed electronically. In turn the project will increase accessibility to the collection via the redaction and web-mounting of the files. It will benefit members of the academic community who have shown a vast interest in the previous project and wish to access the files as a teaching resource or for their own research. This new digital content will be added to Northumberland Archives electronic catalogue where the c.20,000 images created in the first project can now be viewed.

The project will commence in November 2015 and will run for 12 months. Two new members of staff will be employed, one full time the other part time, to undertake this arduous task and they will endeavour to blog about their progress from November onwards so make sure you keep a look out for new postings!

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