Twixt Thistle & Rose

“ A young farmer who is going through his life and his means at the gallop” – George Whitehead

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As one of their first tasks, the Twixt Thistle and Rose volunteers catalogued our 17 bundles of posters and letters received by the Berwick Police Force between 1880 and 1900. Whilst checking their work for mounting on our electronic catalogue, I came across these two documents in a bundle – a memo and telegram.

They were both dated Christmas Eve 1895 and were sent to Superintendent Garden of Berwick from Inspector Jackson of the Roxburghshire Constabulary in Kelso concerning George Henderson. 

Ref : BA/P/15/2/24

Kelso  3.21 pm sent, received 3.26 pm 24 Dec 1895

Find out quickly if Whitehead of Houndridge is in Berwick. Henderson Red Lion can give you description and some information, Hotels likely, anxious.

Jackson

This was followed by :

Ref: BA/P/15/2

 

Roxburghshire Constabulary

Kelso, 24th Decr 1895

Memorandum to Mr Supt. Garden, Berwick

Sir,

Re Geo Whitehead

This is a young farmer who is going

through his life and his means at the gallop.

His agent here , our Procurator Fiscal was aware of

His having been at Red Lion Hotel prior to 16th and leaving

on that date but he has been told that Whitehead

has returned to Berwick and was drinking at one of the

Hotels probably confined to bed. If you have not

enquired at other Hotels besides Red Lion will you kindly have

Enquiry made and let me know result. Wishing you

The Seasons Compliments.

Yours truly

E Jackson, Insp

I was intrigued by the concern of Inspector Jackson of Roxburgh Police for the “young farmer” and his taking the trouble to send this handwritten memo to the Berwick Police. I decided to see if I could find out anything further about him. The telegram mentioned he came from Houndridge in Ednam  and so I checked the 1891 census for this property. I discovered a George Whitehead, farmer, head of the household, aged 19 living there with a servant. Agnes Douglas, aged 45. There was no reference to his parents and so where were they ? On checking the 1881 census for Houndridge, George was there, aged 9 with his mother and father – William, a farmer, aged 61 and Elizabeth, aged 51. William was described as a farmer of 247 acres, all arable, employing 6 men and 4 women.

http://”www.VisionofBritain.org.uk”

George’s parents must have died between 1881 and 1891 and so, I checked deaths on Scotlandspeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk ) and found that William died in 1881, aged 61 and Elizabeth died in 1885, aged 55. Therefore George was an orphan by the time he was a teenager.

Did George’s lack of direction from parents lead him to drink or was he easily influenced ? Why did he come to Berwick and was known to the publican at the Red Lion Inn

REF: BRO 0426-312

I have been unable to find anything further on George despite searching the newspapers online and the census. He just seems to disappear after 1895. He wasn’t at Houndridge in 1901. 

Does anyone know what happened to him ? Did he emigrate or change his ways ?  If anyone has further information on him, please let the TTAR team know.

Mr John Wood and the Spittal Cafe

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Whilst cataloguing plans in the Berwick Archives I came across Mr John Wood of Spittal who was, in May 1899, applying for planning permission to build a small building in the garden of his house ‘Woodville’, Spittal.

I was immediately interested because not only was he asking permission to put up a building but he was also acting as his own architect and had produced plans with specifications. These plans were very eye-catching because they showed a very individual approach to just how decorative the plans should look. He was obviously a very go-ahead man with his own ideas about planning and business.

Another reason for my interest was that whilst walking along the promenade at Spittal I was pretty sure I recognised his building. Builders were busy doing some renovation and this drew my attention and the building was much the same as the plans but no longer had a door opening on to the promenade.

Woodville is a semi-detached substantial house and interestingly both houses have a patio perched up high on the roof with ornamental railings. Very much rood terraces.

Later Linda brought out John Wood’s diary and there we discovered the building he proposed was to be a café. This is interesting as it is very close to the present café on the promenade which was built in the 1920s or 30s. Mr Wood was ideally placed to provide refreshments to visitors enjoying a stroll along the promenade.  In July he writes, in his diary, that the ‘shop’ is ready to open. Disappointingly he does not use the name café but it seems to be the same building.

JOHN WOOD’S DIARY

Extracts from 1899:

May 8th 1899: Plans passed to build restaurant on promenade.  Began to build in brick taken from the removal of the wash house building, in a situation bordering on the roadway.

July 12th 1899: Opened shop on promenade.

Martha brought out John Woods art books and we all enjoyed looking through the books that contained many highly decorated pages together with local information and the familiar ornate handwriting.

John Wood’s Art Book BRO 1697-1-55
John Wood’s Art Book BRO 1697-1-57

Dinah Iredale-volunteer

No one mentioned the biscuits… (Twixt Thistle & Rose)

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We asked the Twist Thistle and Rose Project volunteers what they were enjoying about the project and this is what they said….

‘The archives project allows you an interesting insight into Berwick’s past history. It’s good fun and it’s nice to meet others’

‘Enjoy having the chance to examine a range of interesting documents, which I would not have call to use for my usual research.’

‘I enjoy learning more about the history of Berwick in a sociable context.’

‘I love volunteering because it gives an insight into the social history of the region and all its quirks.’

‘My favourite part is finding out about odd or unusual incidents in history when looking through the documents.’

‘Volunteering at The Archives has been a fascinating insight into the history of Berwick. In particular the social history of the town in the late 1800s. I have made new friends, learnt how to decipher script from the 17th & 18th century and have had a lot of fun!’

‘The police documents provide a spy-hole on life in Victorian Britain with brief snapshots of life which was for many grim and short.’

‘A terrific way to spend a few hours. Combines relaxation and education!’

‘Making the social part of history come to life through documents.’

‘Finding it very interesting doing ‘Police work’. The crimes, mainly theft of jewelry, animals and young men going AWOL from the army, but information learned is interesting.’

‘Learning new skills, exploring and recording historical documents has been interesting and fun.’

‘Working with old documents when there are helpful people around who can offer suggestions when I get stuck.’

If you are interested in joining the project please contact Twixt Thisle and Rose at the Berwick Record Office ttar@northumberland.gov.uk, we’d love to have you join us!

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