General

Northumberland Archives is a heritage partner to the The Village Halls Heritage project. The project was developed by Community Action Northumberland (CAN) and aims to preserve, record and share the heritage of many of Northumberland’s Village Halls. The project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. On 19 November 2021 a group of nine representatives of Village Halls across Northumberland visited our searchroom at Woodhorn to learn about sources to trace the history of their Hall and how to look after documents in their care. One of the group members, Alison Cowen, has written about her visit.

Twenty one years ago my husband and I moved into Newton on the Moor.  We soon found ourselves joining in events held at the Jubilee Hall and when our son came along we used the hall to host his christening and birthday parties.  When I found out about the Village Halls Heritage Project I jumped at the chance to delve into the history of the building. I love history, so the chance to visit the Northumberland Archives, at Woodhorn, as part of the Village Halls Heritage Project Training was right up my street.

As I stood outside the gates with several other members of the project I felt a shiver of excitement, or was it just the cold?

Once inside we were given a very warm welcome by head of the archives, Sue Wood. She explained Northumberland archives are split over two sites with the one at Berwick upon Tweed covering the area from Berwick in the north of the county as far south as Ellingham and takes in the villages of the Cheviots. If you are covered by the old Berwick upon Tweed Borough Council, then that’s where your records are held. Woodhorn covers the remaining county of Northumberland.

The archives collect a huge range of documents and photographs, sometimes given as a gift for example by a family or as a deposit by a particular body such as a social club. They receive these from both official and private sources with the aim of preserving them future generations and to make them available as a resource for people, such as ourselves, researching a particular topic or investigating their family tree.

We were then able to go ‘back of house’. This took us behind the scenes to the vast secure strong rooms. These are sealed rooms that have their temperature and moisture levels carefully controlled to keep the documents in as good a condition as possible. All the shelves were full of boxes, electronic and moved at the touch of a button. I couldn’t help thinking it would make a great setting for a murder scene, archivist squashed by shelving! (this can’t happen as there are safety features built in). Each set of shelves had a number and each box on the shelf a number. Finding something must be like a giant game of Battleships. Another interesting room was where, subject to copyright, documents, maps, photographs etc, can be copied for a small fee. Apparently TV production companies often use this facility for period detail such as posters.

Back in the public search room we learned how to use the catalogues and indexes which were all linked to the numbers on the shelves and boxes in the strong rooms. If you want to visit the archives you can book a session using the online form via their website. You explain the topic you’re exploring and a researcher will have several documents from the strong rooms waiting for you. It seems quite straight forward.

Sue had put on a display of images and other documents relating to village halls that were currently stored at Woodhorn. I was delighted that several related to my own Jubilee Hall in Newton on the Moor. We were shown how to use various online resources including Northumberland Communities and the British Newspaper Archives. The latter is a subscription service, however if you have a Northumberland Libraries card you can visit this site free of charge at any county library. My own village hall was used as an example as to what could be found and I was amazed to find that the hall had been used as the venue for a music event attended by some quite influential people at the time in the late 1800’s. Fascinating.

If you’ve got any records, pictures etc in your own village hall it may be worth depositing them at Woodhorn. It’s very easy and you still ‘own’ them and the copyright of them, so that if you don’t want them available to the public in a particular time frame because someone is still alive and may be upset by this if it was made public, you can say so. There a uncomplicated form to complete and the staff are both helpful and knowledgeable.

We were encouraged to think about the environment we store our village hall documents in. When you deposit them at Woodhorn they go to great lengths to clean dust and mould from everything storing them in acid proof boxes with brass fastenings. Julia (Plinston) is going to look at potentially buying suitable products in bulk so that each hall can purchase smaller quantities from her. Apparently one of the worst set of documents to clean came from the old Dickson, Archer and Thorp solicitors in Alnwick. The property was almost Dickensian and some of the documents were covered in pigeon poo!

I personally could have stayed all day and can’t wait to get started researching my own village hall in the New Year.

My name is Matthew Bradley and I live in Choppington, Northumberland. I live with my Mam, Stepdad, Brother and our three dogs. I joined the council as a Digital Marketing apprentice with the team at Northumberland Archives. So far it has been very enjoyable to work with the team, get to know everyone and get involved in different jobs that we must do on a day-to-day basis. Some jobs that I have been doing so far are scanning archives and using infinity photo to jpeg them, photocopying, creating social media posts and more. I have got to grips with how to do some of these jobs comfortably, however, with others it may come with a bit more time, practice and experience.

I was given the opportunity to go to Alnwick Castle with my colleague John Thompson too. We went up there to collect some documents to bring back to Woodhorn and do work on. Their library is open to researchers, so we sometimes bring stuff back to make copies for the public. With regards to the scanning jobs, I have been able to work with a few different types of documents. To start off with I was scanning postcards to get used to it and since then I have been scanning negatives and glass slides. With the slides I must wear white cotton gloves because handling them with bare fingers could damage the slides and possibly harm myself.  

I enjoy lots of different things outside of work as well. Some of my favourite things to do are visit friends and family, walk the dogs and watch sports. I have a big interest in music too so going out with my friends to watch gigs and go clubbing is great fun. I have also recently passed my driving test so going out on drives with my brother is very enjoyable too.  

I had been looking to work as an apprentice since I left college and I saw that the council were taking on new apprentices, so I went onto their website and looked at what they had to offer. I saw that there was a digital marketing post which is something I thought I would thrive in due to my passion for creating videos and content with my friends when we were younger. It has been great so far being able to think outside the box and look at future possibilities for content creation with the archives team. We have been focusing on trying to gain more of a younger following recently so the use of Tik Tok has one of the bigger chances of catching a younger audience’s eye. We uploaded the first Tik Tok a couple of weeks ago which was “A day in the life of an archives apprentice”. In this I just got a few short clips together to give people an insight into what we do and it managed to get us around 10 new followers and 60 likes. I am going to keep coming up with ideas which will hopefully keep getting a positive response. Recently I suggested the idea of a Christmas themed Tik Tok where me and Alison would put up the Christmas tree and showcase other decorations around the site too.   

I have also been helping put stuff back into the strongrooms with Susan. This has given me the opportunity to familiarise myself with the process of matching the slips and using the location indexes. It is very important to fill out the slips carefully and make sure they’re secure in the place I have retrieved an item from. This is so that when I have finished doing whatever I need to do with that item it is easy to spot which box or shelf it needs to go back into. On Wednesdays me and Susan have been getting the requested items our customers want to look at and put them on the desks ready for when they arrive. After each session we have to take the items away and bring out the next lot of items. Once the day is finished we usually bring them back into strongroom 4 and put them on the tables relating to which specific room they belong to. This makes the process of putting them away much easier. 

It has been a great start to my job with Northumberland Archives and I have loved throwing myself into challenges and different jobs. I will continue to learn and improve my skills with the guidance of my colleagues.  

Northumberland Archives hold male & female patient case books for St. George’s Hospital. Beginning in 1890, these volumes can provide researchers with a wealth of information about their ancestors. This blog looks at the first entry in the female case book and charts the progress of this lady throughout the years. Some patients were in the asylum for short periods of time or were repeated admissions. Sadly, some patients were admitted and spent the rest of their life in the institution. Elizabeth Jane Meggeson falls into the latter category.

Elizabeth starts out in the case books but once it is established that she will probably never be released, her patient notes are transferred to the Chronic Case Books. Due to the length of her stay, not every entry in the books could be included in this blog. However, as the years went on there were larger gaps between entries or short comments such as “no change” so not as much information was recorded.  

 

Name – Elizabeth Jane Meggeson Age – 35  Admitted -12 July 1890  Diagnosis – Disappointment in Marriage

Case Book  12 July 1890  She talks incoherently and imagines people come into the house from underground and annoy her, pull her hair back and speak into her ears. She thinks that she has an electric machine at the ends of her fingers. She says that men follow her and “draw her eyes together.” Churchwardens follow her yet she never sees them. She said that she saw her sister and sister-in-law sitting in the ward but that was untrue.  She is violent at times and often noisy and sleepless at nights. She uses obscene language. She is a single woman and has been affected mentally for the past ten years about which time it is said that she had a disappointment in marriage which is said to have been the turning point. She was never bad to deal with until about two years ago and since then she has become changed and is quiet and has threatened suicide.

24 February 1891  Much better. Industrious and cheerful and she often plays the piano in the ward. No delusions and her health is good.

16 June 1891  She is full of delusion she said that she saw the ghost of a little man standing at the foot of her bed last night.

18 February 1892  She is unchanged in every respect but not so excitable as before. Making herself very useful at dormitory work.

12 October 1893  Recently the patient has taken to applying such rigorous friction to her face and neck that the skin on these parts and on her ears is in a state of acute eczema. The nurse thinks that she rubs her face with her urine.

Chronic Case Books  15 June 1897  She labours under Delusional Insanity. She states that some kind of machine is put on her which pushes the top of her head. This machine is constantly talking and answering itself. She believes that one of the female patients is married to another female patient. She has many hallucinations of sight and hearing.

13 December 1897  This patient has been having [Trional?] daily for a fortnight. She is up & quieter than she was before the administration of the drug.

12 February 1898  She has been worse again lately. Restless, excitable and crying. She has disturbed nights. Today, she has again been put upon [Trional?]

26 January 1899  She continues to talk to people under the floor.

10 January 1901  No mental improvement to note. Patient scolds a great deal. She hears voices speaking to her day and night. The voices come through the telephone, and they call her bad names. She does a little sewing but is inclined to be lazy.

13 June 1902  She labours under Delusional Insanity. She states that an evil spirit lives in Cottingwood. This spirit speaks through her and causes her to use bad language and when she moves her head, she forgets everything. Her bodily health is good and she is well nourished.

6 April 1903  There is no change mental or physical in this chronic maniac. She sits in Ward 1 and sews. Has a good appetite. Is in fair general condition. Sleeps well. Weight is 122lbs.

8 April 1905  This patient works in the dormitories and sews. She talks to herself a great deal. She uses two different tones of voice and appears to be conversing with some imaginary person. She mistakes the identity of those around her.

15 June 1906  This patient has hallucinations of hearing. She frequently shouts abuse with a very rapid utterance to invisible people. Bodily health good. She works in the laundry.

20 April 1907  Patient labours under Delusional insanity. She states that the shadow of a man comes into the room at night. He is called Dr McGregor. She talks to herself and calls herself a bad girl.

11 June 1912  She labours under Delusional Insanity. She states that she hears night and day, voices of men who live at Rothbury. She also says that these men attempt to ‘get into’ her here at night.

18 October 1914  Patient is idle and lazy and has taken to lying about on the couch all day. Health is good. Habits and dress clean. She is noisy in the dining hall at meals.

21 July 1916 Physically she remains well. She has periods of great talkativeness when she argues fiercely with imaginary people; but lately these periods have been rare. As a rule, she is a quiet, pleasant, well behaved old lady who does a little needlework for the ward.

12 June 1917  She is constantly talking to invisible people. She states that a woman and two men are constantly taking to her from the ceiling.

10 May 1918  Is losing weight a little but is well otherwise. She has been much quieter lately, often sits and converses pleasantly. Smiling to herself.

30 September 1920  Sits in ward muttering incoherently to herself. Is failing somewhat.

7 January 1922  Patients condition is very serious her heart is greatly enlarged. Both mitral and aortic valves are incompetence. Heart action is feeble and irregular.

15 January 1922  Death Statement: Elizabeth Jane Meggeson – admission 12 July 1890.  Age 66 – died 15 January 1922.  Cardiovascular Disease – many years  No PM [Post Mortem] – no unusual circumstances.  No injuries  No restraints