General

One of the aims of the Northumberland Archives Charitable Trust is to improve and promote access to documents held within Northumberland Archives.  Projects have been funded to list collections as well as adding descriptive content to existing collections.  This additional information is added to our catalogue making the content available and searchable via the Online Catalogue on the Northumberland Archives website either at home or in the search rooms.  The current cataloguing project focuses on a collection of deeds relating to lands owned by members of the Clayton family in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 

John Clayton, Town Clerk and namesake of Newcastle’s Clayton Street, was an instrumental part of how we see Hadrian’s Wall today.  The obituary read by his long-term friend and fellow Wall enthusiast and author Rev. J. Collingwood Bruce at a meeting of The Society of Antiquaries Newcastle upon Tyne (SANT) sums up many of his achievements as well as providing some more personal anecdotes.  It appears in the Society’s publication ‘Archaeologia Aeliana’. 

Clayton’s first published article for SANT was published in 1844 and it was an account of the excavation of chambers near the station of Cilurnum (Chesters Roman Fort).  A later article covered the excavation at the mile-castle at Cawfields which was held in high esteem by Bruce.  It was Clayton’s work that showed that the gateways opened north, “showing that [the Wall] was not a mere fence to exclude the Caledonians, but was a line of military works for the better managing their assaults upon them”.  An excavation at the mile-castle at Housesteads lead to enlightening information, it was during this dig that “fragments of the inscriptions [were found] bearing the names of Hadrian and his legate Aulus Platorius Nepos – inscriptions which bear strongly upon the question, ‘Who was the builder of the Wall?’”.   Clayton wrote many articles for SANT’s ‘Archaeologia Aeliana’ between 1843 and 1889, mostly about archaeology and descriptions of his excavations.   

Reading the obituary, it is clear that Clayton and Bruce have been lifelong friends, he specifically states that he is not going to detail Clayton’s many other non-archaeological achievements.  We learn that at school, Clayton enjoyed reading the Classics and gave up his play time to continue reading, he later tutored his sister when she wished to learn Latin.  He enjoyed fishing but not shooting.  The one occasion he did actually shoot a bird Clayton then realised that he did not have the appropriate license and hurried to buy one the following day, realising that it would not look good if the Town Clerk of Newcastle was found to be shooting without the correct paperwork! 

John Clayton’s obituary in ‘Archaeologia Aeliana’, 2nd series, Volume 15, 1892, pp90-95, and ‘The Handbook to the Roman Wall’ by [Rev.] J. Collingwood Bruce are both available at Northumberland Archive’s Woodhorn site.  The documents and deeds relating to the Clayton family that have been the subject of the Northumberland Archives Charitable Trust’s funded listing project can be found on the electronic catalogue using Ref.No ZCY* and are also available to view at the Woodhorn search room. 

On completion of the initial papers another smaller collection was listed relating specifically to a property called Lincoln Hill on the Chesters Estate owned by John Clayton.  The documents date from 1689 to 1955 and provide details of the owners of the property and land prior to the Clayton family connection, Ref. No NRO 12643.

The Clayton cataloguing project has now come to an end.  Details of the next project will be available soon!   

In part one of this blog, we met PC 148 of Northumberland Constabulary. He joined in 1930 and was
posted to Wallsend, then he has subsequently worked at Lynemouth. We rejoin the story in the
early 50’s and he is now based at Kirkwhelpington.

PC 148 attended another Refresher Course (number 25) in 1952, which was held in Yorkshire, as the
paperwork is headed Northallerton, North Riding Constabulary. He is complimented as having been
a good influence, due to being one of the senior members of the course.

In early 1956, reports record that PC 148 was stationed at Amble, but on 20th July that same year he
was posted to Berwick Upon Tweed and he and his family occupied a house in Castlegate.

By October 1962, PC 148 was approaching his 55th birthday, which was retirement age for
constables. He submitted a report requesting to extend his service past the age of 55. He was asked
to attend Morpeth to be medically examined by the Constabulary Surgeon at a surgery on Bridge
Street. The request to extend his service was authorised, but PC 148 only served an extra few
months before retiring in November of 1963 – which also required another trip to Morpeth for yet
another medical examination.

Ten days before the retirement date, the Chief Inspector at Berwick submitted a report to the Chief
Constable, asking for permission to carry out a collection from staff at the station. Naturally, this was
approved, but there is no record of what retirement gift was purchased.

There are documents recording the process by which PC 148 applied for his pension. He was entitled
to the sum of £660 8s 2d per annum, but as is frequent practice today, he chose to commute (give
up) 1/6 of his full pension to give him an immediate lump sum payment. By choosing this option,
upon retirement, PC 148 received a deposit into his account at the Berwick and Tweedmouth
Savings Bank of £1309 7s and 4 pence.

One of the final documents in the file is a record of sickness. In 33 years of service, this officer had
only six periods of sick leave, totalling 64 days off work and his character was described as
Exemplary.

The answers to the two example questions in the first part of this blog are as follows:

The fraction of the book remaining to be read is 13/60ths

The time taken to walk the 16 miles from Rothbury to Morpeth is 5 hours, 7 minutes, and 12
seconds.

Northumberland Archives hold police records for Northumberland but please note that they are subject to a 100 year closure period.

Have you ever been filling in an application for a new job and had to decide who you should ask to
give a character reference? To apply to join Northumberland Constabulary in 1930, you were
required to give the names of five persons who would testify that you were a “sober, honest and
good-tempered person, who would be likely to make an efficient police officer”

One of our Archives Assistants found his grandfather’s file [the gentleman is now deceased] in our records from Northumberland Constabulary. All prospective applicants were asked to attend the Chief Constable’s Office in Morpeth, where they were tested on dictation (spelling) and arithmetic. Some of the arithmetic
questions certainly look difficult to us now because they involve pounds, shillings, and pence.

Things seem to have been very efficient in the past, when there were not any large HR departments
– this candidate did his tests on the 7th June 1930, and was invited to take up his new appointment
five days later, on 12th June where he was allocated his collar number and became PC 148.

The next document in the file is a year later in 1931 when PC 148 is back at Morpeth for his
probationer’s course. He was tested on knowledge of the law, geography & general knowledge and
finally some more arithmetic. Here are a couple of sample questions for you to try:

1. A person reads 1/5 of a book in one day, 1/3 the next and ¼ on the third day. What fraction of the
book remains to be read?

2. A person takes 110 steps every minute, each step is 2 ½ feet long. How long will it take to walk the
16 miles from Rothbury to Morpeth?

In 1936 the records show that PC 148 wished to get married, and therefore submitted a report to his
Superintendent. The Supt subsequently sent a report to his opposite number across in Gateshead,
asking if enquiries could be made as to the character and antecedents of the young woman and
whether “she was considered to be a suitable person to become the wife of a police constable.”
Fortunately, the reply confirmed that the lady was “of good character and her parents and
associates were all very respectable people.”

After the couple married, PC 148 was posted to Lynemouth where he set about getting to grips with the local thieves. In 1940 he received a Chief Constable’s Commendation for the investigation into crimes of shop-breaking and larceny which resulted in six arrests and both crimes being detected. He was also commended by the Ashington Justices in 1941 for the part he played in handling a case of indecent assault at Newbiggin which resulted in the conviction of a Cresswell man.

The next record in the file shows that in 1946 PC 148 was at a joint training school for Newcastle
City, Northumberland, and Tynemouth Borough. This was refresher course number 11. He passed
the course and the remarks from the Inspector described him as “keen and steady.”

In April 1947, the Chief’s office sent a report to the Chief Inspector at Morpeth, requesting him to arrange for PC 148 to receive instruction on the riding of a motorcycle and the driving of a car. So, this officer had to wait 17 years for his driving course!

PC 148 was transferred to Kirkwhelpington sometime in 1947. In the October of that year, there is a
memorandum to remind the officer to cease the practice of soliciting lifts from local Magistrates
when proceeding to court as it “may lead to adverse comment in certain circumstances”

In part two of this blog, we will follow PC 148 in the second half of his career, and we will give the
answers to the sample questions.

Northumberland Archives hold police records for the county but please note that they are subject to a 100 year closure period. Permission to publish this blog was granted by Northumbria Police.