General

LEST WE FORGET: 

Sergeant Kenneth William Johnston

4273778 9th Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers 

1 February 1920 – 3 September 1974

Today, on Remembrance Day, we look at the life of Ken Johnston; a gentleman we have had the privilege to get to know posthumously this year, through the eyes of his children and the memorabilia he left behind…

Earlier this year, we collected a deposit of papers and textiles from the shop J.M. Johnston & Son, Ironmongers & Plumbers, in Glanton, near Alnwick.  Amongst the items we brought back with us to the Archives was the Second World War uniform of Kenneth William Johnston.

Ken was born on 1 February 1920 to John and Mary Johnston, and lived at Norfolk House, Glanton, along with his brother, Reg.  John worked in the business known as William Douglas (and before that Wilkin and Dickman), before later purchasing it.  Attending Glanton Primary School and then the Duke’s School in Alnwick, Ken went on to work in his fathers’ business.  He was a well-known character throughout the county, playing in the Coronation Dance Band from its formation in 1937.

He enlisted with the 9^th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers in 1939, and they were transported to Norfolk to defend the coast before sailing to France.  He was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, having to leave his accordion behind, which didn’t bode well for the band back home!  After Dunkirk, Ken carried out training throughout the UK before sailing towards the Middle East in October 1941.  After Pearl Harbour and America’s entrance into the War, the troops instead headed to the Far East, sailing to Bombay for training, before arriving in Singapore in January 1942.

At this point, the Japanese army were only 30 miles from Singapore, and when the island fell, allied troops were taken prisoner.  Ken served time at various camps in Singapore and Thailand including Changi and Tha Muang on the Thailand/Burma Death Railway.  They were liberated by American Marines in 1945, and Ken began a long journey home via the Phillippines, Hawaii and Vancouver, reaching Southampton on 8 November 1945 – home at last.  

Ken met his wife-to-be, Margaret Frater, at the VE and VJ dance held in Glanton Memorial Hall, to celebrate the men who had returned from War.  They went on to have three children and continued to successfully run the family business, living in several properties in the village, before moving to Crag View, above the shop, in 1971.  

Within the thriving business, Ken carried out the day to day work – electrical, TV rentals and office admin – while his brother Reg worked alongside Arthur Thompson as the businesses plumbers.  Ken’s children remember their dad starting work at 7am and working until late, six days a week, although he was on call 24/7 – he was once called out to a TV problem on Christmas Day!

Ken continued playing music as part of the local band, ‘The Vagabonds’, but loved spending time with his family and travelling to France and Belgium for family holidays.  They also had a caravan at Seaton Point where they spent most summer weekends.

As a result of his treatment as a Japanese Prisoner of War, Ken suffered with poor health and died in 1974, leaving Margaret a widow at just 46.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Ken.  The Johnston family collection of family and business papers are as yet uncatalogued, so access in not available within our Study Centre at Woodhorn. [AccNo.  NRO 12934]

This blog has been researched and written by Dee Love, one of the volunteers on our maternity care project. Project volunteers are researching maternity care in Northumberland with particular focus on Castle Hills Maternity Home, Berwick, and Mona Taylor Maternity Home, Stannington. The blog is based on wider research exploring maternity provision in Northumberland.

As late as October 1972 discussions were still ongoing about the future of the Thomas Knight Memorial Hospital. The House Committee had been told no proposals had been made for replacing the hospital but it’s functions may change in the light of circumstances.

The Committee were adamant that the Beulah House Maternity Hospital should continue to function until the new and extended maternity hospital that was promised for Blyth was in place, then there would be opportunities for all interested parties to have time to express their views re any possible changes for the use or closure of any hospital within the group.

It would appear that, according to figures released by the Hospital Management Board, there was a decline in the number of patients at Beulah House. This may have been due to the G.P.s referring patients to the new maternity unit in Ashington.

Beulah House Maternity Hospital

Service usage 1972                     July   August  September 

 Admissions                                    24         23          23

 Outpatients                                      0         14             3

 Average no. of patients per day     3.6       4.6         2.9

Service Usage October 1973   

Admissions                                        17

Average no of patients per day         3.5

Questions were asked in the House of Commons on 4 April 1973 about hospital provision in Blyth by Eddie Milne the M.P. for Blyth. It was obviously a topic which was very much on the minds of Blyth’s residents.

Eddie Milne: What would Secretary of State for Social Services, Keith Josephs’ policy be towards G.P. run Cottage Hospitals to supplement coverage of patients provided by District General Hospitals?

Keith Josephs:  A decision has been made that this would happen – that Community Hospitals would be complementary to District Hospitals.

They would provide supplementary care which didn’t need the highly specialized care facilities of a District Hospital.

Eddie Milne: Would they provide Maternity Care or would that be centred on the District Hospitals?

Keith Josephs:  Community Hospitals will cater for a variety of patients and will differ from the traditional Cottage Hospitals.

The end finally came for Beulah House on 31 October 1973. On 14 May 1973 the Hospital Board stated that it would inform the public of the closure of Beulah House. They also said that full use of the facilities should be made right up to the closing date and that all those directly concerned would be informed.

When the Blyth Hospital House Committee met on 10 ^.December 1973 they put on record their appreciation of the service given by the entire staff of Beulah House. They stated that all staff either accepted alternative employment or resigned voluntarily. The Principal Nursing Officer stated that he had written to all staff and that all staff had been offered alternative employment within the Group. Three out of ten Nurses employed had given written acceptances. Mr. A. J. Lennon P.N.O. undertook to remind staff who had not yet replied. Some staff had replied that they would not be able to accept alternative employment due to domestic problems involving future hours of work and travelling difficulties.

Blyth Hospital House Committee met for the last time on Monday 11 February 1974. The minutes recorded that a Community Hospital was to be built on Laverock Hall Road in Blyth which would have at least 100 beds but no completion dates were given and no specific mention of a maternity unit was made. The minutes end with the stark statement, “Committee disbanded.”

The Development of Ashington Hospital

On February 18 1966, The Northumberland Gazette printed a statement from Mr. J. Bernard, the Secretary to the Wansbeck Hospital Committee.

“After 25 years as a Maternity Home the Mona Taylor Unit at Stannington will be absorbed into The Thomas Taylor Homes.

Patients and staff will be absorbed into a Maternity Unit planned as part of Ashington Hospital’s £11.4 million extension programme. Until then it will continue to provide a service. The new maternity unit will have 74 beds, a Nurses’ Home and a Midwifery Centre.”

The County Welfare Committee’s Annual Report for 1961 announced that a further record had been established when mothers brought 28240 children to Child Welfare Clinics. This was an increase of 30% (7000 children) since 1951. It also noted that the infant mortality rate was still below the national average and that a major factor in this improvement is close co-operation in antenatal care between Family Doctors, Midwives, and Health Visitors.

When The County Medical Officer of Health published his Annual Report in1962 he reported that the co-operation between the three parts of the Maternity Services was maintained at a high level. The 1962 report also recorded that the birth rate had reached 8,416. Live births had fallen slightly from 19,3% to 18.25% per thousand of registered births. Of the 159 still births recorded in Northumberland, 80 were premature. In 1964, 83% of confinements were in hospital and the infant mortality rate had fallen again.

All of which attests to the success of the NHS approach to joined up Maternity Care but the law of intended consequences struck. The success of hospitals in coping with such a large proportion of confinements in itself raised a problem. Mothers discharged from hospital would then receive post-natal care from Domiciliary Midwives but the number of home confinements has fallen and actual experience of home deliveries was reduced.

The first hospital in Ashington was built in 1913 and served the town until 1993 when Wansbeck General Hospital was built. In the 1960s the hospital underwent extensive redevelopment and after years of campaigning and complaint it was at last to include a maternity unit.

Finally, in 1967 the redevelopment of the Hospital was near completion. The Hospital Secretary’s report on the progress of Phase 2 of the project noted that the Nurses’ Home had been taken over and occupied the previous week. The contractors said they would hand over the new maternity unit building by the end of June and the department would open on 1^st August1967. After a very long wait women in and around Ashington finally had a local maternity unit.

While many in Northumberland mourned the loss of the small, local maternity units the centralization off the service in the1960s, did for the most part, improve  both ante natal and post-natal care mothers and their children received.  No system is perfect but M.O.H reports prove that huge improvements had been made in the provision of Maternity Care in Northumberland.

In an earlier blog, we looked at the different planning applications which were being submitted in the early part of the 20th century. Our work in cataloguing the planning files for Castle Ward Rural District Council has now reached the 1940’s and it is not surprising to note that the nature of applications began to change, to prepare for war.

We have come across the planning application, dated July 1940, from the Newcastle Education Committee, to install air raid shelters in the houses on the Cottage Homes site. Interestingly, these shelters were not below ground but were reinforced rooms on the ground floor of each building, beside the external side wall. They were only 5-6 feet wide, and each shelter had an emergency exit to the outside. I suspect these rooms were used as stationary cupboards or storage when the site became Police Headquarters. Another interesting point to note is that the plans cover all the houses occupied by the resident children, but the Masters House (which became the Chief Constable’s Office) was not included. Perhaps the Headmaster received an upgraded shelter!

It is also quite apparent from the applications, that the Ministry of Agriculture was keen to maximise home food production. In August and September of 1941, they made three separate submissions of plans to build hostels for agricultural workers at Whalton, Stamfordham and Ponteland. The plan for Middle Drive, Ponteland is dated 14th August 1941 and marked with the official stamp from the planning office, however the word ‘approved’ is clearly crossed out. We have no indication that any of these hostels were built.

However, in 1943, the same Ministry submitted plans for houses this time, planned for Capheaton, Belsay, Whalton and Stamfordham. The plans were approved on 8th April 1943, however using Google Maps & Earth, we can see that the Capheaton and Belsay plans never made it off the paper. The other plans were both for a pair of semi-detached homes at Stamfordham and Whalton. Stamfordham is easy to confirm, as the location was marked on the plan and the houses can clearly be seen at this location on Widdrington Drive in the village. Whalton was more difficult as the plan of the location does not appear to have survived, however further detective work suggests that these are the four houses appropriately named Castle Ward Cottages on the edge of Whalton, as the road heads towards Belsay.

Having planned for safety, and to house the agricultural workers, there was one slightly more unexpected matter to take care of – that of increasing numbers of prisoners of war. In May 1942, The Ministry of Works and Buildings submitted a plan for a proposed P.O.W. Camp, No.69 to be built on Middle Drive, Darras Hall. Records show that the camp was in use between 1945 and 1947. Once the prisoners had been repatriated, the development of housing in Darras Hall could continue and these days there is almost no sign that the camp ever existed. We say almost because the existence of this camp probably explains why some residents of Darras Hall have found German coins when digging their gardens.