Northumberland At War

One of the aims of our project is to look at previously uncatalogued collections for content relating to the War. One of the unlisted collections that we have looked at is papers of the Sample family, agents to the Duke of Portland and other Northumbrian landowning families (Ref: NRO 2637). In Box 3 of the unlisted papers are some records relating to the Military Tribunals held at Ashington. One of our project volunteers, Jean Wilkinson, has examined the papers and has written this short article outlining some of their content. We hope to catalogue the papers in detail within our project.

An Agriculture Census for England and Wales in 1916 gives an enlightening glimpse of farming life in Ashington. Eight of the biggest farms were owned by Ashington Coal Company whilst Ashington Co-Operative Society owned a couple of Market Gardens. The remaining farms were privately owned.

The Farm Manager for all eight of the Ashington Coal Company farms, one Geo. P. Graham was also responsible for 1115 horses & ponies. He was a widower aged 41.  With so much responsibility he would have had little free time.

The farms too were involved in asking Tribunals to exempt their workers, but unless there were health reasons for complete exemption, they only managed to get a few months deferment. Women were employed in quite heavy farm work although some worked in the Dairy or as house servants.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Jean Wilkinson in supplying this article for the Northumberland At War Project.

James was born in County Durham, but brought up in Northumberland. At the age of three, he was with his mother at Red House Farm, Monkseaton and by age seven, he was living with his grandparents in Ashington where he attended the Hirst North Boys School until leaving at twelve years of age. His first job was as a lather boy at a local barber shop and at age fourteen he was working at Woodhorn Colliery, Ashington.

By December 1914, James had enlisted and was placed in the Northern Cyclists 2/1st Battalion, ‘C’ Company, commanding officer Captain Alister Hardy. The Cyclists Battalions were primarily a Home Defence Unit and also provided trained men for the regular Army – usually the infantry.

‘C’ Company was billeted in Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, for training and for coastal defence both south and north of the Castle. Christmas Day, 1915, saw the Norwegian barque Lovespring floundering off shore with the crew being rescued by the steamer Copsewood and as the Lovespring broke up, some of the cargo was salvaged by C Company.

Early 1916 saw ‘C’ Company being relocated to Chapel St. Leonards, near Skegness, Lincolnshire, where once again, they were used for coastal defence, building trenches and outposts in readiness for a possible invasion. It was here that James met his future wife, Mahala Hunter

It wasn’t long before James found himself being transferred into the regular Army; he was placed in the Somerset Light Infantry and was shipped to the Western Front. Like many infantrymen, he was wounded and was returned to England for recuperation. When declared fit, he returned to France as a Corporal where for a short time he was a guard at a POW camp.

Mid 1917 found James back in England where he was placed in the Labour Corps – a common practice for soldiers who were deemed to be unfit for service at the front line. It is thought that James never fully recovered from the wounds he suffered in 1916. James was stationed in Seven Oaks, Kent and in November 1917 he was allowed to return to Mahala’s home village where they married in the local church. After a very short time together, James returned to his unit in Seven Oaks and remained there until the end of the war.

After demob, James returned to Mahala in Lincolnshire and then in late 1919, he brought his wife and his two young daughters back to Northumberland where they lived in Hollymount Cottages, Bedlington with James working at a local colliery. Circa 1923 found the family moving across to Ashington and to a newly built house in Garden City Villas with James working at Woodhorn Colliery where he worked until retiring at age 65.

Every year in late October / early November, James’s old commanding officer, Captain Alister Hardy, (now a Professor in Marine Biology and later to be knighted in 1957) hosted a reunion dinner for surviving members of ‘C’ Company. James attended each and every year with his final attendance being in 1971.

James passed away at his home in Garden City Villas in December of 1972, having been survived by his wife, Mahala who later died in 1977.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Allan Robinson in supplying this article for the Northumberland At War Project.

In the months leading up to First World War, there was great concern that Zeppelins would wreak havoc on British cities. The other new weapon of war, the submarine was dismissed as being of little threat to the country. The Germans had a relatively small fleet of them in 1914 and it was presumed that the War would be over before they would have time to build many more. The conflict was only a few months old when the Admiralty became alarmed at the increasing number of ships being lost to German submarines. A number of measures were implemented to counter this new menace. They included the construction of a chain of airship stations stretching from Cornwall in the south to the Orkney Islands in the north. Aeroplanes at that time had a very limited range and airships had the advantage of being able to stay airborne for many hours.

There was a large airship station at the entrance to the Firth of Forth at East Fortune. Their machines escorted convoys along the coast as far as Northumberland.  Airships from Howden, Yorkshire would then take over responsibility. It was not until 1918, that an airship station was established in Northumberland at Chathill. It was one of several “mooring out” stations that appeared during that year. Sometimes the weather would change when the airships from East Fortune reached the vicinity of Holy Island and they would have difficulty in returning to their base. This problem was alleviated by the construction of a base at Chathill. They could divert here if the prevailing wind was against them or wait to rendezvous with a north bound convoy of ships.

Chathill was commissioned on 31st July, 1918 and lay a short distance to the east of the railway station of the same name. Unlike its parent base of East Fortune it was a very primitive affair. There were no sheds to house the airships. Instead clearings were made in the local wood where they could then be moored. The personnel were housed in tents. On 2nd November, 1918, Submarine Scout Zero S.S.Z.59 had to be quickly deflated when a gale blew up. By this date Chathill was being used frequently by this class of small non rigid airships. It was intended to erect two small portable airship sheds here and have three Submarine Scout Zero and two Submarine Scout Twin airships operating from this location by the summer of 1919. The end of the War put paid to these plans and Chathill was abandoned shortly after the end of hostilities.

In 1917, the Admiralty drew up an ambitious plan to create a large fleet of rigid airships which would be the British equivalent of the Zeppelins. Large sheds to house them would be built at a number of locations including Northumberland and Yorkshire. The lack of enthusiasm in some quarters of the War Office coupled with the shortage of steel for new sheds ensured that these plans never became a reality.

Some rigid airships were built and operated from a small number of sites. A modest scheme was given approval to create further bases for the smaller non rigid airships at Killeagh (Southern Ireland), Moreton, (Dorset) and Cramlington, (Northumberland  see image). At the latter site, an airship station was constructed next to the London to Edinburgh railway. On the opposite side of the tracks was Cramlington Aerodrome.

 

Most major airship bases and aerodromes in First World War, were in fact located close to a railway. A siding lead off from the main line to serve the airship station. A single Coastal class airship shed was constructed which was 358 feet long and 110 feet wide. It was reportedly painted a brownish colour. There was a small hydrogen gas making plant in a building behind the shed. It was intended to eventually base four non rigid Submarine Scout Twin airships here. The complement of the airship station was to be 20 officers and 281 men. the First World War ended before Cramlington became operational. Like most other airship stations in Britain it was hastily abandoned.

 

In the early 1920’s a company considered using the facilities to operate an airship service to Norway but nothing came of this plan. Some of the buildings were used as a hostel for miners. The closing years of that decade saw a revival of its fortunes. A small enterprise which went by the name of British Airships Ltd.; which later changed its name to the Airship Development Company thought it could revive the fortunes of the small non rigid airships. They constructed an airship designated the A.D.1 in the airship shed at Cramlington. The machine was 138 feet in length and maximum diameter of 29 feet .It was advertised as being suitable for private flying, passenger flights, instruction, advertising , aerial photography and surveying. The main revenue was anticipated to come from advertising and for this role it had panels on its side measuring 76 feet by 24 feet.

The A.D. 1 first flew on 13th September, 1929 bearing the registration G-FAAX. The following month it appeared at the Newcastle Air Pageant where it circled with its engine throttled back and was so quiet that the spectators could hear the two crew talking to each other. During the following summer it left Cramlington for the south of England to demonstrate its capabilities. Construction was also started on a second airship, the A.D.2.

 

The Airship Development Company, however was liquidated at the end of 1930 having overestimated the demand for its services. Britain at the time was in deep recession. The two airship envelopes were sold to be made into dust sheets for furniture and the airship shed at Cramlington vacated  ,never to be used again by airships.

 

Towards the end of its days, the airship shed was used by a firm called Concrete Utilities Ltd ., to make concrete lamp posts. It was eventually demolished in 1967 having outlived its contemporaries by many years. Most other airship sheds had in fact disappeared by the outbreak of World War II.

 

 

 

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Malcolm Fife in supplying this article for the Northumberland At War Project.