A Year in Madness

28/07/2021 by Northumberland Archives

The Northumberland County Lunatic Asylum first admitted patients on 16 March 1859. It was the duty of the Superintendent to issue an annual report where he would reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of the year. The first report was written by Superintendent Richard Wilson and was dated 1 January 1860.

Mr Wilson stated that the report would embrace the conditions of the asylum and its inmates, their employment, means of recreation and their general state of health. He was happy to be able to speak favourably of the asylum considering that it was still not fully operational and that many of the attendants had yet to be taught their duties. At the time the report was written, 154 patients had been admitted. This consisted of 81 men and 73 women. Of these, 106 were transferred from other areas including asylums in Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Although there were some difficulties admitting the transfers due to the lack of a proper entrance road, there was minimum disruption to patients due to the professionalism of the staff. Most of the cases transferred were long stay patients and many of an advanced age. This concerned Mr Wilson as he believed it gave him little hope of doing any great good. He did however feel that he had achieved something in relation to the use of restraints as no restraints were used on patients during 1859. Some force was needed on occasions but only a small number of patients were placed in seclusion (forcibly placed in a locked room for a period of time). In general, the bodily health of the patients was classed as good.

As regards the general design of the building, it was found to be, with the exception of a few slight alterations, to answer satisfactorily. The Superintendent was rejoiced to find that the upper floors were devoted only to bedrooms, the patients living entirely below. This ensured much better supervision of patients during the day and more perfect ventilation of the dormitories. He was also pleased that open fireplaces were adopted giving a much more cheerful and homely aspect to the wards as well as affording more warmth than the old plan of heating by hot water would have done.

Mr Wilson was a strong advocate of employment as a mean of ‘cure-occupying’. He believed it gave patients a focus while at the same time, it was conducive to their bodily health. The men were chiefly engaged in agricultural pursuits and were also employed to assist with creating the approach road to the asylum. A few were also engaged in tailoring and shoemaking. Full employment was likewise given to the women in the washhouse, laundry, kitchen and sewing room. During the summer season they participated in hay making. Patients with suicidal tendencies were kept away from machinery but others were trusted and no accidents occurred. Patients who worked as mowers and reapers pursued their work with little or no supervision and would rise as early as early as 4am.

Considering that there was no boundary wall or protection of any kind to the grounds of the asylum (nearly 100 acres) escapes on the part of the patients very rarely occurred; and those who had escaped were quickly recaptured. One case noted was that of a man who in the past had been confined in the Morpeth County Gaol for poaching. One day he suddenly recollected that his gun was in pawn and that the time for it being redeemed was drawing near. He escaped in order to acquaint his brother with that fact and then returned to the asylum by himself the same day just in time for tea!

The full service of the Church of England was performed twice every Sunday and the marked attention of the patients testified to their appreciation of the services of the Chaplain – Rev. Thomas Finch. Mr Wilson praised the Chaplain and claimed he seconded his endeavours in every way to improve the mental condition of the patients. The Matron kindly presided at the Harmonium so everybody could sing accompanied by music. The presence of friends and neighbours was also encouraged in the hope of overcoming any prejudices, as well as to remove any impression on the part of the patients, that the service was confined solely to themselves.

In relation to recreation, cards, draughts, dominoes and quoits were provided together with a stock of useful and entertaining books. Various periodicals and newspapers were likewise freely distributed throughout the wards. Almost since the opening there was a weekly dance in which many of the inhabitants of the town also took part. Mr Wilson believed that this had been extremely beneficial to the patients. In addition to exercise it also acted as a means of control, a mode of bestowing reward or punishment by giving or withholding permission to attend it, according to their behaviour during the week. Yet again though, it allowed patients to mix freely with people who lived outside the asylum environment.

QAL

Archibald Matthias Dunn, Architect

22/07/2021 by Northumberland Archives

Archibald Matthias Dunn has been described as being amongst the foremost Catholic architects in the north-east of England during the Victorian era. Born in 1832 in Wylam, Northumberland, his father Matthias Dunn was a mining engineer and inspector in the region who worked with John Dobson drawing up an unsuccessful route for the railway from Newcastle to Dunbar.

Archibald’s education was a religious-based one, attending Ushaw College in County Durham and Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, before becoming an apprentice architect with Charles Francis Hansom in Bristol. Archibald went one to form a partnership with Hansom’s son, Edward Joseph Hansom opening a practice in Eldon Square, Newcastle in the 1850s. The practice, and Dunn himself, were responsible for a number of architectural designs in Northumberland and beyond often reflecting his Catholic upbringing. A small number of examples include St Andrew’s cemetery, Hexham (1858); Our Lady and St Wilifrid Roman Catholic Church, Blyth (1858); Mining Institute/Wood Memorial Hall, Newcastle (1868); and Castle Hill House, Wylam (1878) which Archibald kept as a private residence until it was sold in 1901. Archibald also provided designs for the tower and spire of St Mary’s Cathedral, Newcastle. The Dunn family made a number of bequests towards the Cathedral, William Dunn was Secretary to the Committee for the erection of St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Newcastle. The Dunn family are remembered in a number of the windows. Papers between William Dunn as Secretary and Augustus Welby Pugin (architect of the Cathedral) are amongst the Dunn family papers [NRO 02988].

Archibald was also a keen watercolourist, sketching whilst travelling in Europe with this wife, author, Sara Armstrong. In 1886 “Notes and Sketches of an Architect” was published. At Northumberland Archives amongst general family papers are two sketches that Archibald did; one an unidentified building viewed from Newcastle Road and another showing the planned interior for a ‘new Catholic Church and Presbytery, Gateshead’, possibly St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Gateshead.

Despite retiring in 1897, Archibald continued designing including an unsuccessful design for Westminster Cathedral in 1906. Dunn “never sought professional qualification but was elected an honorary ARIBA in his retirement, which may be unique”. Archibald’s death in Bournemouth in January 1917 was reported locally in the ‘Newcastle Daily Chronicle’ and ‘Shields Daily News’; he was remembered as “an architect of national reputation particularly of ecclesiastical architecture” as well as a “charming companion”.

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 15TH JULY 1921

16/07/2021 by Northumberland Archives

SPITTAL WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED

STIRRING ADDRESSES BY COLONEL RIDDELL, C.M.G., D.S.O., AND LIEUT.COL. N.I. WRIGHT, D.S.O

Spittal War Memorial shortly after construction 1921. REF: BRO 1895

Unequalled in the district for beauty, simplicity, environment, and chaste design was the memorial unveiled at the Spa Well site, Spittal, on Sunday in commemoration of the sacrifice made by the thirty-seven good men and true who fell during the agonising period of the Great War. The site had, if anything, a sentimental attraction. How many times in the calm and piping days of peace had the children of the township treaded the long path to the Spa well to quench their youthful thirst in the heat of the day. Now, many years afterwards, when the flower of the country’s manhood had been swept away by the devastating tide of modern warfare, on the same old place hallowed in the memory of childhood, a tapering obelisk marks the passing of a land where there is no eventide of many who were daily there in their boyhood days.

Tropical conditions prevailed during the proceedings, which were characterised by an earnestness which showed that the speakers felt the need for a general resolve to bring the old country into that state of civil and industrial prosperity, so that the ideals for which these men fought and fell might be realised.

The Mayor of Berwick (Councillor Bolus) attended, and he was accompanied by the Sheriff, (Mr R. Carr), Councillors Hadley and Edminson, Ald. Wilson, Councillor Redpath, Mr Robt. Dickinson, the Town Clerk (Mr D.S. Twigg), and the Revs Fergus Chambers, W. Brown, J. D. Bowman, J. H. Cuthbertson, and Wm. Jardine were also in attendance. Officers present, in addition to those taking part in the ceremony, were; – Col. W. B. Mackay, C.M.G., Major H. R. Smail, Capt. P. W. Maclagan, Capt.D. Hebenton, Capt. E. H. Crow, Lieut. J. P. Huffam, V.C., Lieut. Eric Mackay, and Capt. F. B. Cowen, M.C.

A guard of honour was provided by the 7^th N.F., and this body, under command of Capt. Cowen, lined up in the street in front of the memorial. They were inspected prior to the ceremony by Col. Commandant Riddell. Crowds lined the street and the high ground behind the memorial, the enclosure being reserved for relatives of the fallen and invited friends. A choir, under Mr John Moffat, led the singing of the fine old hymns chosen, and Mr Nicholson ably presided at the organ.

LOCAL NEWS

Mr Walter Clarence Holloway, an actor well known in Scottish theatrical circles, is on 2000 miles walking tour through Scotland for a wager. He is expected to arrive in Berwick about the week-end. Mr Holloway set out from Glasgow on 20^th April without a copper in his pocket, his only means of subsistence throughout the tour being derived from the sale of water colour paintings, which he executes enroute. He has already covered 1300 miles, passing through the West Highlands, Skye, and John O’Groats, and has only encountered bad weather on one day of his walk, when he walked into a wind and rainstorm at Cape Wrath.

BELFORD DISTRICT COUNCIL

A FIRE ENGINE

Mr James Clark, with a few to ascertaining the feeling of the Council, raised the question of the need for a fire engine in the district. There had been a good many fires in the district and considerable damage had been done to property. He brought forward the subject to have it discussed. He suggested that the Clerk write to the Norham and Islandshires and to the Glendale Councils and ask them to consider the question of a joint fire engine for the three Councils, and that a conference on the question at a future date be held. Sir E. C. Haggerston agreed, and the Council supported the suggestion.

BELFORD HIGH STREET, 1900S. REF: BRO 1519-007

Mr Johnson thought that as rates were now 200 per cent. Higher than before the war, they should let the mater be, even though there was no doubt a fire engine was needed. If Belford was to faced with a new fire engine as well as a new sewage scheme, the rate would be higher.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS’ VISIT TO WOOLER

Members of the Committee of the North of England Commercial Travellers’ Benevolent association thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Wooler by a char-a-banc on Saturday. The arrangements were carried out by Mr Harry J. Welford and Mr James Laing. The luncheon was presided over by Sir Arthur m. Sutherland, Bart., and the vice-chair was occupied by Mr J. Laws, the vice-president.

Mr E. Taylor, the chairman of the Executive, proposing the health of the President, expressed hearty congratulations to Sir Arthur Sutherland upon the recent honour conferred upon him by the King.

Sir Arthur Sutherland, replying, thanked the gathering for the reception they had accorded him. Work, he said, was a grand thing, but some of them could get too much of it and too little recreation. Latterly, however, he was afraid that there had been a tendency to have too much recreation and too little work. He hoped that all would make up their minds to do their duty to the country, which at the present time needed work so much. We had had a tremendous set-back with the coal dispute, and it behoved everyone, commercial magnates included, to do all they could to redeem what we had lost, not only in the war, but since the war. We won the war by sacrifice, and we could not win the peace by selfishness, and he hoped that people would recognise that.

OTTER HUNTING

The otter hounds, which are at present having good sport on Tweed and its tributaries, met at Cornhill on Saturday. There was a very large following, which included Capt. And Mrs Collingwood, Capt. And Mrs Goodson, Mr G. Henderson, Mr J. Robertson, Mrs J. R. C. Cowan, Capt. Blake, Capt. Brummell, and many others. A fine otter was raised in the mill race on the Lees, which made for the river Leet. He was chased up this stream through part of the Hirsel policies. Just below the mansion house, where the overflow from the lake enters the leet through a built conduit, he gave hounds the slip.

The Northern Counties’ Hounds had a very fine day’s sport at Norham-on-Tweed. Casting off the master drew up the Tweed for a mile and finding the “sport” of an otter pointing downstream, he returned to the bridge and drew down the river. He soon hit off a catchy drag and the hounds carried it forward and below Norham Castle, where Rallywood and Garlie marked at an old weiring. The otter at once swam off and entered the back-water of the Tweed. After being hunted here for nearly an hour, the pace was too hot for the otter and he swam into the Tweed, and for over an hour a rare swimming hunt took place. The hounds had a fine “wash” on the stream and they gave their quarry no rest whatever, driving him from root to root and hover to hover. Eventually they killed a well spent dog otter of 28lbs, after a splendid Tweed hunt of two hours and a quarter.

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