Berwick Advertiser

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 2ND OCTOBER 1924

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BORDER MEN AND THEIR BUSINESSES

Berwick Journal and North Northumberland New Special Series

MESSRS KNOX BROS., ELECTRICIANS, BERWICK

“Light, and yet more Light!” That is the cry in these modern times. People cannot get too much of it – some dearly love the dazzling glare of the spot light – but the poor, old out-of-dater, and others, who lived the simple life in far off by-ways, still stumble and stave their toes in the darkness.

But there is a good time a-coming for these dear folks. No more need they nurse their knees in the dim light of the ingle neuk, or pore over the prophets and proverbs of the auld, auld book by the flickering blink of a smoky, ill-smelling, greasy oil lamp or the uncertain glow of the tallow dip. There’s a good time coming, John! Messrs, the Patent Lighting Co., Ltd., New Broad Street, London, have invented and put on the market, a new electric lighting plant, which can be rigged up quite handy in the back yard, and provide ample light for 20 to 30 watt Electric Lamps.

These are great days of progress! One could not have credited such a thing, even a few years ago, but there it is! A few miles from the centre of old Berwick town, just a step beyond the bounds at Canty’s, Mr Robert H. Knox, of Knox Bros., Electrical Engineers, Bridge Street, Berwick, demonstrated this most clearly. Mr Knox is the sale agent for the North of England and the South of Scotland for the Patent Lighting Co. He has had installed in a small bungalow on the banks of the Whitadder a standard electric lighting plant for demonstrating purposes to possible clients.

Knox Bros, Electrical Shop, Bridge Street, Berwick dated 1959. Ref: BRO 1250-134

The main features of this plant are simple, in fact, they are actually, what one might describe as “fool proof.” The owner of the installation needs no mechanical knowledge, whatever the generating system, like the humble bee, gathers its electric current in a simple automatic way. A standard, made of special, hard creosotic wood, about 16 feet high, is firmly planted in the ground, and supported by four strong steel “guys” to the ground. On the top of the standard is the dynamo, attached to which is a propeller, consisting of two blades, fashioned, from 3 ply mahogany, like the propeller of an airplane. These blades are about 3ft. square, and the span is about 8ft. Everything connected with the propeller is worked on the ball-bearing principle so that all that is required is a little grease, now and then, to keep them running.

Fitted to the propeller is a “governor”-vane. Like most governors we know, this governor takes care, when one gets the “wind up” rather nasty, that no pranks can be played by the propeller. When the wind rises to a speed of over 25 miles an hour, the vane is automatically thrown over and turns the blades of the propeller so that they are edge on to the wind. This allows the dynamo to work at a nominal speed.

The dynamo which works on a bevelled gear begins to generate on a wind of from 5 to 7 miles per hour – just the slightest of puffs. The dynamo is connected by wires to a Ventimotor Switchboard. This is an important part of the outfit. It is nicely proportioned and takes up little room, yet it is strongly made of iron and so securely fastened that inquisitive, little fingers could not tamper with it. The voltage is shown in a simple manner by colour bands, the white band showing when fully charged (30 volts). When the dynamo is out of action there is an automatic “cut off” which prevents the electric current, generated in the batteries, from flowing back to the dynamo. Thus, while preventing any mischance to the dynamo, it also provides a store of current for a windless day.

The batteries (12 cells) are also constructed on a simple plane. There is no occasion for testing with volt meters. Each cell has a gravity ball, showing clearly the state of the battery. These batteries are guaranteed a storage sufficient to supply a lighting system from 8 to 10 days with recharging. As there is scarcely a day passes without a capfull of wind, there seems to be no doubt of an ample lighting system. Calm days moreover generally occur when the light of day is in its plenitude.

The cost of these plants is estimated to be about £140. This outlay covers all the initial cost, and, thereafter, the upkeep is a mere bagatelle – a matter of a handful of grease each month. The lamps used are the ordinary 30 candle power type which with an appropriate reflector, has sufficient power to light a large room. Larger plants can be supplied, if necessary, but this stock size is more than ample for the farmer’s needs.

MR ROBERT H. KNOX

Mr Robert H. Knox, the sole partner now of Knox Bros., is a young Berwick man, who gives promise of going far in the electrical trade still at the dawning stage. Educated at Berwick Grammar School, Mr Knox in his school days showed a proclivity for football, favouring the carrying code. He, however, had little time to spend on Britain’s playing fields. Of a mechanical bent, he served his apprenticeship with the Berwick and District Electrical Supply Co.

Like so many more of our young lads, Mr Knox saw active service in the Great War. He was in the very thick of the fighting and came through many a ghastly carnage. Enlisting into the Machine Gun Corps, he was a unit in that desperate fight at Delville Wood on the Somme River. What a carnage was there! It was a death trap! Out of the whole company that went into that fight, only 17 survived the day. Robert Knox was one of those, shall we say, lucky ones, who came through. But he did not come scatheless. He found himself transported to hospital in the south of England. There was more adventure awaiting this Berwick lad. He was transferred, after recovery, to the Tank Corps in 1916. In 1917 he was back once more in the holocaust, this time at Cambrai. In November 1917, came that stupendous feat of arms, which spell bound the nations of the world. The “impregnable” Hindenburgh Line was battered and broken through by the attack of the “Tanks”. Mr Knox took part in that engagement, and in that heroic achievement. What an experience to come through! But Mr Knox does not care to dwell upon that. He says he prefers to forget the war!

Returning to civil life again, he completed his electrical training with the Supply Co. at Berwick. But he had still to adventure in life, this time in business life. He started the business of an electrical engineer in partnership with his brother Douglas, as Knox Brothers in Bridge Street, Berwick, in March 1921. The partnership was split, however, two years ago, his brother going into the motor trade in London. Mr Knox is now sole partner and has gradually developed the business to its present high state of utility. He specialises in lighting, heating, and power electric plants, and at present, he has the contract for the installation of the electric light plant in the buildings of the Liverpool and Martin Bank in Hide Hill, Berwick, which are under reconstruction. Mr Knox is the official agent in the North of England for the C. A. V. Coy., Ltd., Acton, London, and, in his works, repairs C. A.V. batteries and fits new plates. He makes a feature of the equipment of Wireless sets of all kinds, and being an expert in that branch of electricity, the novitiate in the “listening in “pastimes is in safe hands when he trusts Mr Knox for his crystal or valve set. Mr Knox will only rest content when he has positive proof that the best possible results are obtained. In his premises is an experimenting wireless call station – official call No. 5IP – on which he makes frequent tests for wave lengths, etc. A tireless worker – from early dawn to dewy eve – he is ever at the beck and call of them he serves. With him the old saw is gospel truth – “It is never TOO LATE to MEND!”

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 4TH SEPTEMBER 1924

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THE GIRL GUIDE MOVEMENT IN BERWICK

LOCAL ASSOCIATION FORMED

For some reason or other the Girl Guide movement has never in the past been taken up as keenly in Berwick as the Boy Scout movement. There has been a company of Guides in the town for some years connected with St. Ronan’s School, but it was not until this spring that an effort was made to spread the movement and give the girls of the town the same advantage as have been extended to the boys for some years now. In February, mainly through the influence of the Rev. S. E. R. Fenning, County Scout Commissioner, eight girls in the town set to work to make themselves efficient “Guiders.” They have trained regularly every week, have gone whole-heartedly into the movement, and some time ago were enrolled by Mrs Milne Home, Paxton House, County Commissioner for Berwickshire. They also joined the Berwickshire Girl Guides” Camp at Cockburnspath during the summer, and being now trained, they are ready to take command of companies of Guides. A further step forwards the success of the movement in the town was made on Friday evening, when a meeting was held in the Council Chamber for the purpose of forming a Local Association. The Sheriff presided, and there was a good attendance present. Mrs Milne Home was present to explain the aims and objects of the Girl Guide movement, and the “Guiders” in their smart navy uniforms were also present. Miss Lulu Thompson acting as Secretary and Miss Lettice Darling as Treasurer. The Rev. S. E. R. Fenning was also present and others who showed their interest. The “Guiders” present were:- Misses J. peacock, Tweedmouth; L. Darling, Bondington; C. F. Grey, Moorside; A. Hogarth, Castlegate; H. Webster, Ravensdowne; L. Thompson, Bridge Street; and E. Edminson, Tweed Street. Miss L. Thompson, as Secretary, read a list of apologies from those who had promised to help with the movement. (full list within original newspaper article).

The Sheriff, introducing Mrs Milne Home, told the audience that the day before he had had the pleasure of entertaining the Boy Scout Commissioner from Berwick in Victoria, Australia, who had come across with 240 boys to the Jamboree at Wembley. Coming from Berwick, the naturally wanted to see the old Border town. In the course of conversation, they talked about the international Jamboree which had recently been held at Copenhagen, and Mr Redpath asked his visitor whether he considered it had been worth while. In reply the Commissioner from Berwick had remarked on the good fellowship which had, existed between the Scouts of the various nations, how Germans and French and boys from other nations had fraternised, and Mr Redpath was sure that with such good fellowship between the Scouts there was a better chance of a world peace.

Berwick Girl Guides, 1920’s. Ref No: BRO 1569/30

MRS MILNE HOME EXPLAINS THE AIMS

Mrs Milne Home, at the outset of her remarks, said it was very necessary to get the Girl Guide Movement in Berwick on to a good business footing. The Berwick Guides should properly be under the County of Northumberland, but as the county was so big and the organisation so large, it had been considered more advisable to do as the Boy Scouts had done, and work with Scotland. That was the reason why as County Commissioner for Berwickshire she was present to do what she could to help to form an Association. In outlining the aims of the movement, Mrs Milne Home remarked that one of the most unlooked for results of the war was the increased importance of women’s work. They all knew how much women did to help; how they helped the Army, the navy, and the Air Force; how they became gardeners, worked in banks, and helped in many other ways. It seemed to her that in the very difficult years through which the country was passing that there was a more urgent necessity than ever that girls should be trained to do their very best for the country and for themselves. It was with this idea that Baden Powell started the movement, even in the days before the war.

Brownie Pack, 1960’s. Ref No: BRO 1852/1/186

One of the great aims of the Girl Guide movement was to encourage girls to develop in themselves, as girls were rather too inclined to run about in flocks and do what others did. The movement did not in any way aim at taking the place of school training, and they had such good schools in the North that they could not achieve the aims of the Guide movement in a better way than by working in co-operation with the schools. The very fact that the movement had so many members showed how well the system was working. The Girl Guides were a large and happy family of girls of all classes, creeds and politics. They were a very large family, as at the end of last year they numbered 585,000 Guides, in all parts of the world. There were a great many in this country all over the world, and they were of all ages from 7 up to 81. (Laughter). From 7 to 11 the girls were called “Brownies,” and at this age they were so keen that they must take a good deal of looking after. From 11 to 16 they are Girl Guides proper and were always very neat and tidy. After 16 the girls became Rangers, and Mrs Milne Home felt that it would be very useful if the Ranger movement could be started in Berwick, where there must be a good many girls of that age who were at a loose end to know what to do with themselves, girls in service who might be got to take an interest in the Rangers’ meetings, and be kept from the many dangers which beset young girls of that age.

People asked what girls did on becoming Guides. Each Guide, first of all, makes three promises:-

  1. She promise to do her best to do  her duty to God and King, which means that she will do her best to make her own little bit of the world a better and happier place; to work against everything bad and ugly and hateful, and to work for everything which is good, and happy and bright; to try to do her very best to live the life for which God put her into the world. She has to live up to her religion to bring her religion into everything, not only to go to church on Sunday, but to bring her religion into her daily life.
  2. A Guide promises to help others at all times, and in order to do so has to live up to the Guide motto, “Be Prepared.” Especially must she help her home people first, and there are lots of ways in which she can do this. There is cooking, first aid, child nursing, sick nursing, and a great many other things like that. When a Guide can pass her tests in these things she gets proficiency badges. In addition to all these things and others that a girl in the town is likely to be interested in, there are also things which a girl in the country may be interested in, such as keeping chickens, bee keeping, writing, or even an authoress’s badge. There was not really anything which was likely to be of interest to girls in their lives for which tests could not be passed and badges obtained.
  3. A Girl Guide had to promise to keep the Guide Laws, which Mrs Milne Home read to the gathering, explaining that they were practically the same as the Boy Scout Laws.

Mrs Milne Home further explained that girls who joined companies of Girl Guides were expected to attend the weekly meetings of the company. These meetings lasted about an hour or an hour and a half, and the Guides played and worked together very happily, never wasting any time, but even in games learning something and always trying to do the very best they could. Mrs Milne Home also explained that Guides were divided into Patrols, a Patrol consisting of from 3 to 16, but usually 3 to 8 girls. The girls in a Patrol usually choose their own leader, and leaders have a lot to do in the management of a company.

In conclusion, Mrs Milne Home, read extracts from a letter written by the Rev. R. W. de la Hey, in which he suggested that some of the existing Church organisations, which had for their object the bringing of young people together in fellowship, and training them to be good citizens, might be affiliated to the Girl Guides. Mrs Milne Home offered to answer questions if anyone wanted further information on the Guide movement.

Berwick Girl Guides outside Berwick Grammar School, 1963. Ref No: BRO 1944/1/3636/45

The Rev. T. P. Allan said that those who hoped to form companies would like to know details as to expenses, class or children, etc. In reply Mrs Milne Home pointed out that there was no class in the Guide movement, this being one of the things which helped to make it such a tremendous success. So far as expenses were concerned these would be very little. The uniforms were paid for by the girls themselves, and in cases where a girl cannot afford to pay for her uniform all at once, she can pay it off by paying a small subscription each week. The belts and ties usually belong to the company, and when a girl leaves the Guides, these go back to the company. To purchase these the Guides need to have a small fund, and as they are not allowed to beg, they may get up some sort of entertainment to raise the funds.

The Rev. S. E. R. Fenning, Commissioner for the Boy Scouts, said he felt it was a very excellent thing to have a sister organisation in the same Borough. One of the great difficulties that the Scouts had had to contend with was the supply of officers. (Hear, hear.) This was a difficulty which had to be met in all voluntary work. He had found this a great difficulty since he took over from Major Tower Robertson, who had done such good work in the past. In regard to the Girl Guide movement, they would be very well situated in the initial stages, as they had so many excellent officers who were ready to go forward and take their part in the movement. There was Miss Thompson and the other ladies who had been working so hard since February and had made themselves efficient to take charge of the companies which were about to be formed. They had been through the mill and understood all that they would have to impart to the young people they would be in charge of in the future. They had attended the Berwickshire Camp at Cockburnspath, and Mr Fenning understood that they were so efficient as to be almost the “star turn.” They were so good at pitching and striking tents that they had been asked to remain after to see to the clearing up of the tents. That spoke well for their efficiency. Mr Fenning stated he was very keen to have a company of Girl Guides in connection with St. Mary’s Church, and he suggested that one of the points the Association might consider, was whether it would be better to have Church companies or open companies, not definitely connected with Churches; whether they should have open troops or closed troops. He thought that this was one of the points that it would be as well to get decided at the outset, so that they could go forward knowing exactly where they stood. Mr Fenning expressed their indebtedness to Mrs Milne Home for her kind presence and the tremendous amount of thought, energy and care that she had expended on launching the Girl Guide movement in Berwick. (Applause).

Mr Allan referring to the question of open or closed companies, said that for Spittal, where they hoped to be able to organise a company it would have to be for the whole of Spittal. Mr Allan said he was struck by the rule of the Girl Guides which enjoined that they must “smile under all circumstances.” This was a very hard rule – (laughter) – and he thought that he himself would have great difficulty to smile under certain circumstances. He also remarked on the rule that a Girl guide was expected to do her duty to God and man. he did not think that there was anything that required to be impressed upon the youth of our time more than duty. Duty and discipline were the great things lacking in the children of our time. If the Girl Guide movement could do anything to bring our young people to a sense of their duty, rather than a rush after pleasure it should do a great deal to help not only churches, but also the hoe life of our girls. It was most important to put duty to God first, as though the Girl Guide movement could not be regarded directly as a religious organisation, yet to have religion as the very centre of things must be a very great help to the movement. He hoped that they would be able to organise a company in Spittal, and that they would have one of the ladies who had trained as Captain. This work would, like every other kind of work of a similar character, depend for its success on the officers. If they got good officers, and a really efficient person at the head of a movement of this kind, it would succeed, but if they got inefficient people it would go down.

Girl Guides, Ref No: BRO 1852/1/178

Mrs Milne Home intimated that Miss McCreath had agreed to become District Commissioner for Berwick. (Applause.) as such Miss McCreath would act as Chairman of the Local Association. Miss McCreath was shortly going to America on a visit, and had suggested that she ought to withdraw, but Mrs Milne Home did not see any necessity for this, as during her absence, the Vice-Chairman could act. She explained that the objects of a Local Association were to encourage the movement and to help the companies if any funds were wanted.  An executive committee would be appointed, but this had no control over Patrol funds.  The executive committee would have to appoint a Badge Committee to examine Guides for their proficiency badges. Mrs Milne Home further explained that feeling the Berwick patrols would rather be called 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Berwicks, like the Scouts, and not have anything to do with Berwickshire, she had applied to headquarters in Scotland asking if this would be allowed. She had hoped to have had a reply before the meeting but unfortunately this had not come, but she felt that there would be no difficulty in regard to this. According to rules, however, it would be necessary for the Secretary of the Berwick Association to apply for literature, etc, through the Berwickshire County Secretary.

Girl Guides, Ref No: BRO 1852/1/179

ASSOCIATION FORMED

On a motion being put to the meeting that a Local Association be formed in Berwick this was unanimously carried. Miss Margery Holmes, bridge Street, agreed to act as Secretary to the Association, temporarily, and Miss M. Gray, Bankhill, was appointed Treasurer, and Miss Ruth Darling, Spittal, as Vice-Chairman. All those present at the meeting, those who had sent apologies, and those who had promised to help, were all elected members of the Association. The following were elected to form an Executive Committee: – Berwick: Miss Caverhill, Ravensdowne; Mrs S. E. R. Fenning, St. Mary’s Vicarage; and Mrs P. M. Henderson, Bankhill, Tweedmouth; Mrs J. Grey, Moorside House, and Miss M. Riddle, Turret Villa. Spittal: Mrs T. P. Allan, The Vicarage, and Miss Chisholm. The election of Vice-Presidents was left to the Executive Committee.

Mr Allan proposed a vote of thanks to Mrs Milne Home and the Sheriff for presiding. The Sheriff had acted up to the Guide law, as he had smiled all through the meeting (Laughter.)

The Sheriff thought that Mrs Milne Home deserved a special vote of thanks. Without her presence at the meeting, they would not have been able to get the information they required.

Mrs Milne Home, in reply, admitted that though she had felt very nervous she had tried to keep the Girl Guide rule and “smile every time.” (Laughter.)

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 3RD JULY 1924

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BORDER MARRIAGE HOUSE

THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION

The celebrated Border Marriage House at Lamberton, on the Great North Road, between Ayton and Berwick, was under discussion at the east District Committee meeting at Ayton on Thursday last. This historic relic passed some time ago into the hands of the Scottish Board of Agriculture when they acquired Lamberton for the purpose of a small holding settlement. It was then in rather poor repair and more recently, at the instance as is understood of the occupants, it was condemned by the Medical Officer of Health for Berwickshire as unfit for human habitation. Correspondence between the East District Committee and the Board of Agriculture followed, and the subject of what was to be done engaged the attention of the Committee on more than one occasion. The position taken up by the Board practically amounted to this: they had no use for the house in connection with their scheme and could not or would not see their way to expend anything upon its repair for letting purposes. In the long run they virtually asked the Committee to issue a closing order and put an end to the matter.  On Thursday this came before the Committee in the usual course.

Lamberton Toll Postcard. Ref: BRO 1550/52

Mr Coupland, Sanitary Inspector for the County, on being asked his opinion, said he considered it would be rather a pity to issue a closing order in this case and that it would have been preferable if means could be employed to compel the proprietors to put it into order. The Chairman asked if they were obliged to issue this closing order, to which Mr Coupland replied that it was unfortunate that the Committee had not taken action under Section 25 of the Housing and Town Planning Act (Scotland) 1919 and issued an order to the proprietors to have it put into order. If they failed to do so, the Committee could then proceed to execute the necessary repairs and charge the proprietors with the cost. This statement appeared to cast a new light upon the matter and Mr Usher remarked that he did not see that the Board of Agriculture should be allowed to neglect its duties any more than a private individual. It was also pointed out that a closing order, if carried out, involved demolition, and also threw upon the Committee the onus of providing alternative accommodation. The question arose as to whether the Committee could rescind its former minute on the subject, out of which the present proceedings arose. The Joint Clerk (Mr T. P. Doughty) gave it as his opinion that the Committee could not there and then do so, but he was under the impression that this could be done at next meeting, by there being put on the agenda in a regular way a notice to rescind the minute in question. The Board had said they were not prepared to carry out the repairs required to make the house habitable, and on June 23rd, 1923, the Committee practically resolved that a closing order would be granted. The Chairman (Mr K. G. Turnbull) said the Clerks might look into the matter and see if it was practicable to proceed under Sec.25, and thee matter could be taken up fresh at next meeting.

Dr McWhan said he had formerly represented the house as uninhabitable, and he was of the same opinion still. He did not think it was necessary to take any action until certain circumstances changed.

Mr Campbell Renton – if any accident happens, whose is the liability?

This set the discussion o another task. Mr Anderson stated that the gable had sagged away 1 ½ feet from the roof, and Mr Doughty in allusion to the legal aspect of the matter said he did not think it was ever contemplated when the Act was passed that an owner could come to an Authority and ask for a closing order. Dr McWhan said there was for too much tinkering with old property. The place would have to be practically rebuilt. Mr Coupland said that as matters stood they would have to find the occupants a house.

The Chairman – But we can’t find them a house.

Mr Campbell-Renton – I understand they are simply “squatters.” They are paying no rent.

Mr Hogarth protested against taking down an old landmark if it could be helped and was supported by one or two members. Eventually Mr bell moved that a closing order be issued and was seconded by Mr Russell. Mr Hogarth moved that the Committee do not issue a closing order, and was seconded by Mr Patterson, Chirnside, who said that in view of the admitted scarcity of houses in the district the Committee should not do anything to lessen their number unless they had no other course.

Mr Anderson – Closing the house does not mean demolition?

Mr Coupland – Yes it does.

Mr Usher moved that the matter be continued until next meeting and that in the meantime the Clerks should look into the question of the practicability of another line of procedure. This was seconded by Mr Cockburn and the other motions being withdrawn, became the finding of the meeting.

MARRIAGES AT LAMBERTON

Lamberton got its name – like many other places in the Southern shires of Scotland – from an early Saxon settler, Lambert, whose “tun” it became (says “Weekly Scotsman”). He must have squatted here early, before the reign of David I, as in the charter which that king gave to Berwick one of the witnesses is William de Lambertourn.

Sheldon Historical Sketches, 1849

“On each side of the road,” says Sheldon in his Historical Sketches (1849), “stand two old houses in which the Hymeneal knot id tied a la Gretna. Here comes many a bachelor and spinster, and to avoid the expense and delay of a church marriage are instantly buckled together by the priest of the Castle gate, who for a crown piece and a gill of whisky ties many couples fast…… Half a mile to the north of the dry dyke once stood the ancient church and village of Lamberton.”

Lamberton Toll weddings are very interesting, as the show, perhaps better than any, how popular and extended were Border marriages at a certain period. From distant towns and scattered villages from isolated hamlets and farms, a wonderfully large number of young couples made Lamberton the Mecca of their desires, a Mecca only to be reached after a long and weary journey over roads none too well kept in those days.

One marriage certificate I have shows the parties lived in the borough of Tynemouth; another, South Shields; and one came from the little cluster of houses – Rochester-on Watling Street. This latter pair had to walk miles to the south before going east through Rothbury to reach Longframlington, where they turned left-handed to get on the Great North Road – even then they were 60 miles from the Borders. These are only a few of the several cases which could be brought forward to prove that distance was no object to the old-time lovers.

Some would no doubt get a kindly lift, others would go by the stagecoach, or other cheaper stage waggon. The majority went there is little doubt, on “Shanks, his pony.” The principal reason for this pilgrimage seems to have been that a deeply-rooted objection to marriage in a church prevailed in the northern part of England by night.

An amusing story is told of a pair who arrived at the house with the priest before a fire had been lighted in the “parlour.” A match was hastily put to the “coal fire,” but the chimney being cold and damp, refused to draw, and belched out volumes of smoke into the room, until it was like to choke them all. The bridegroom being touched in the wind, bore it worst of all. He became so distressed with the smoke and the slowness of the priest that he shouted. “Hoots, man: that’ll de. How much de ye want?” and, after throwing down the fee, he seized his bride and rushed for the open air -half-married.

Lamberton Toll Marriage Certificate, dated 1846. REF: BRO 1766/1

Like most of the other places where Border marriages were celebrated, Lamberton provided cases for the Courts of Law. Some were of bigamy, largely through ignorance. How an obliging disposition, when it runs counter to the laws, may end in disaster, was demonstrated in a case which came before Mr Justice Cresswell at Durham, when Jospeh Atkinson pleaded guilty to having married William Brown and Catherine Cossar at Berwick-on-Tweed. The couple had made their way to Lamberton, but on arrival found that Atkinson had gone to Berwick. They followed and ran him to ground in the Old Hen and Chickens in bridge Street. At first, he refused to tie the know unless they returned with him to Lamberton, but they declared that their relations were possibly following, and further pressed argument and drink on him until, when the night was far spent, he complied. On returning home he entered the transaction as having been performed at Lamberton. At his trial all his pleadings were of no avail, and he was sentenced to transportation for seven years.

According to an informant, most of the priests were either tailors or shoemakers living in Berwick. An old weaver told me of a wedding at which after a supper and a taste of the tollman’s whisky – which seems to have figured largely both before and after the ceremony-the newly-wedded couple were rolling merrily away in their carriage when the candles in the lamps set fire to the woodwork. “it was a bonny hullabaloo,” in his words, “on fire and no water anywhere near.”

The Lamberton Toll marriage certificates possess are in several forms. Some, neatly printed, have been taken from a book with counterfoils. Others have been given an important legal look by the heading “This is to certify,” or “Whereas this witness,” in highly decorative penmanship. Others again are on any odd piece of paper which might be at hand. Still, they served their purpose as well as if they had been signed by a bishop or an archdeacon and were quite as much thought of years ago as any very special license is today.

They were perfectly good legal evidence, and were accepted as such in the law Courts, and as evidence of presumptive age, I know of at least one case where a Lamberton Toll marriage certificate secured the old pension for a man who could not produce a certificate of his birth and who did not know where he had been born.

As a regiment of soldiers was stationed at Berwick, to say nothing of the militia, Lamberton came in for a handsome share of their marriage fees. So did the Berwick Magistrates. These extracts from the Register of Marriages at Berwick in the 17th century show the mayor or a Magistrates officiated.

“Thomas Houghes, Captain under the command of Colonel George Fenwick, in the Garrison at Leath, in Scotland, and Grace, daughter of Mr John Saltonstall, late Alderman of Berwick, before Stephen Jackson, Miar for this year.”

The entries generally are “quaint” as regards spelling, and it is very noticeable that a very large number of officers and men took away wives as souvenirs of their stay in the Border town which is neither English or Scottish.

In the last week of the last year when toll marriages were valid the local press contained a paragraph indicative of the rush to be in at the finish.

“There were, we are informed, no fewer than 13 marriages celebrated on Sunday week, and 8 on last Sunday, while we have no doubt that a large number are still pending to be completed before the departure of the present year.”

The priests actually did a roaring trade up to the last legal day, and numerous announcements appeared in the first numbers of the local “weeklies” of the next year.

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