BERWICK ADVERTISER, 28 FEBRUARY 1919

01/03/2019 by Northumberland Archives

TWEEDMOUTH JOTTINGS

Another of our West End lads home for good is Seaman Gunner Thomas Binney, R.N.R. Being in the Naval Reserve he was called up on August, 1914, and has been most of the time in the neighbourhood of the Orkneys and Iceland. He worked from the “Kirkwall Base for 2½ years. He saw the German submarines futile attempts to break through the British Fleet, and had numerous adventurers while operating from that Base. His part has therefore been a noble one in defence of his country.

Seaman James Binney, a brother, was also a reserve man, and has an equally good record of service. His work during the war has been chiefly that of minesweeping, one of the most dangerous occupations known. On one occasion his boat was rammed and sunk, fortunately all hands were saved. Afterwards he was on a armed drifter working further south in 1918, and until demobilised.

LOCAL NEWS

The laying of the foundation-stone of Berwick Pier, on February 27th, 1810, was an occasion of great interest to the whole population of the north, the “Newcastle Daily Journal” reminds us. The various lodges of Freemasons from the neighbouring towns joined that of Berwick, and together with the County Magistrates and a large concourse of people,

marched from the Town Hall to the church. After service they proceeded, attended by a band of music, to lay the foundation-stone. The ceremony was honoured by discharges of cannon from the ramparts and the ships in the harbour, and afterwards the Lodge of St. George held a dinner party in the Town Hall.

The Queen’s Rooms have been a great centre of attraction this week, and the bookings for the Revue, “Hullo! Who Are You? have been excellent. The public have enjoyed the Revue which is brim full of fun, and the chorus singing as well as that of the principals in the catchy songs has been bright and tuneful. One of the great attractions was, of course the new Jazz Dance descriptions of which fill the papers, and which is all the rage at present. The four girls who executed this feat are certainly well versed in the art of graceful dancing.

Carter and King Jazz Orchestra in the early part of the twentieth century. American Jazz was the music that inspired the various types of dance of that period around the globe. Wikimedia Commons.

We are quite sure patrons will welcome a return of the Revue or others on similar lines. For next week the great attraction will be Charlie Chaplin in “Shoulder Arms” a film that has never yet been screened in Berwick. Mr T. Nicolls, ventriloquist is sure to thrill the audience with his clever impersonations. In the end of the week in addition to several good comedies the public will have an opportunity of seeing the sensational film entitled “The Failure”. Messrs Lindsay and McIndee are to be congratulated on their efforts to provide such pleasing performances at the Queen’s.

There has been a great scarcity of coal in Berwick during the last few days. The district is supplied from some eight collieries, but the supplies promised have not been forwarded, and on Tuesday Mr Turnbull went to Newcastle and interviewed Sir Johnston Wallace about getting further supplies from the south. He expresses himself satisfied with the result of his interview and has been promised a further supply of 25 per cent from the southern collieries.

The embargo on small quantities of coke has been released, and a good deal of coke has therefore been distributed to supplement the coal supply. The threat of a strike amongst the miners may have something to do with the scarcity, as country people have been drawing their full rations. If the strike does occur, there are no reserves in Bewick at present; but in view of the promise for further supplies from the south, the situation in a few days ought to be easier.

BERWICK PETTY SESSIONS

TUESDAY

Before T. M. Morrison, Esq.

Francis McDady, private, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who was apprehended by the police at Berwick Station on Monday, was charged with being a deserter from his regiment in France.

He pleaded guilty. The Chief Constable said Private McDady had travelled up from London, and at Berwick Station it was found he had no ticket, and for this reason was handed over to the police. He had deserted from his unit in France in November last, and had been going about ever since.

P.C. Welsh said that at 3.15 on Monday afternoon he received a complaint from Berwick Station, and on proceeding there, defendant was handed over to him by the Stationmaster. The defendant admitted having travelled from London without a ticket. He also said that he had deserted on the 17th November, and from that time up till Sunday last, had wandered about in France. He had crossed by boat on Sunday to Folkestone, where he was apprehended as a deserter. He had, however, managed to escape, and reached London, where he boarded the train on which he travelled to Berwick. Defendant was remanded pending the arrival of an escort.

CHATTON

Mourning and gaiety have had their alternate reigns in the village this week. The funeral of R. Muckle was very largely attended, but the laying to his last rest of Private Carr, who, after suffering heavily as one of our brave defenders, came home only to die of influenza, attracted a very much larger gathering. There is little doubt that the gassing to which he was subjected on the battle front weakened the constitution of the noble young lad.

So far the sadness of the village; yet in these days very few live with the dead for long. First the Chillingham girls celebrated the return of their heroes with a dance at the Parish Hall, and then the young ladies of Chatton followed with a ball in honour of theirs. The days of the Canadians are numbered, and without the camps what will the ladies do?

The birds are making music and snowdrops and aconites are looking lovely. But in these racing days who is there to appreciate duly these signs of coming Spring? “O that men would therefore praise the Lord for His goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!”

People behind the Berwick Archives (Twixt Thistle and Rose)

03/04/201921/01/2019 by Northumberland Archives

I’m Teresa Maley, Cataloguing Archivist for the Twixt Thistle and Rose project. I’ll be working in Berwick over the next year, primarily, to create an electronic catalogue of the Borough records. My first job, back in 1981, was with the Northumberland Record Office. In those days the Record Office sent an archivist to Berwick once a week to open the Borough Archives to the public. That was my first encounter with these records and the people who used them.

MANAGING THE RECORDS

Linda Bankier – who is also an Archivist by profession – leads the Berwick Record Office team and has worked here since the 1980’s. The Record Office is based in the Library building in Walkergate. Largely through her efforts, the service has grown from a minimal presence to a full time Record Office for Berwick and North Northumberland. The collections have grown too. Linda is assisted, for part of the week, by Carole Pringle and Martha Andrews. The team prepare and run the busy search room on Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the year as well as delivering a full programme of events and outreach activities.

Researchers and Volunteers in the Archives

Activities include working with local schools, delivering talks to a variety of groups in the area, taking part in Heritage Open Days and other events and festivals in Berwick and North Northumberland. The Berwick Record Office is part of Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn so Linda and the team are also involved in projects organised further afield.

VOLUNTEERS, FRIENDS AND RESEARCHERS

The team has supported a number of local and national history projects that have revealed the richness and variety of the Berwick records – such as Peregrini, Berwick 900, Flodden 1513, Waite and Sea and and From Cholera to Comic. Many of the participants in those projects were keen to volunteer on subsequent projects or support the general work of the Berwick Record Office by transcribing, cataloguing or indexing records.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been meeting volunteers and have been impressed by the skill and dedication they bring to the tasks they undertake. Almost everyone seems to have had some experience of carrying out research before they volunteered – be it genealogical or historical. However, they are given training in palaeography and other aspects of archival practice by Linda to help them to read the records, understand and conserve them.

A list of work undertaken by volunteers would be very long so here is a flavour of what they do:

Indexing local newspapers extracting references to: nineteenth century Coroners reports (to fill gaps in the record series), Ships in and out of Berwick and their cargoes from the early 1800’s, Visitors to the seaside resort of Spittal in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – recording it’s changing character over those years and reports about the lives of local soldiers on home leave during World War I

Indexing and transcribing Board of Guardians records for Berwick, Glendale and Belford – opening up records about poverty and public health

Summarizing, indexing and typing up the Guild correspondence, enrolment books and minutes so that the early history, fabric and governance of the Town is better known

Creating a searchable database of Freeman’s Admissions as part of the Berwick Families element of the Berwick 900 project

Indexing, transcribing and cataloguing the records of the Quarter and Petty Sessions – a mine of information for social historians

Creating a database of the Town Council Planning registers – full of details about major and minor building works – built or not built!

Conserving and cataloguing the music cards of the Kings Own Scottish Borderers Band – providing an insight into popular and military musical taste in the twentieth century

Cataloguing and conserving the Berwick Photo Centre archive – a huge task but unlocking a wonderful resource for anyone interested in a visual record of Berwick, North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders from the 1950’s

A history, in it’s many guises, of the Berwick Corn Exchange

and, more recently, a database created from the card index of Holy Island residents compiled by Professor Sheddick which was a part of the Peregrini project.

Peregrini logo

I was interested to hear the reasons why people volunteer – one person wants to keep up their touch-typing skills now they have retired, another told me it was the joy of handling original documents and others described the thrill of the chase when following a single story through several sources. I also met several people who have carried out their own research – long term projects such as the history of the salmon fisheries on the Tweed or studies of individual buildings and people of the area.

Some of the work the volunteers have done is destined to be included in the new catalogue as it is within the scope of the project and, personally, I’m very pleased that my task will be much easier with such knowledgeable and friendly people on hand!

RECORD KEEPERS OF OLD

Berwick is particularly lucky to have a full and almost unbroken series of records from the sixteenth century onward. It is clear that, from earliest times, protection of their records was of high importance to the Guild and Town. I have started to look at the some of the earliest Guild Books (more about them next time) and was heartened, as an archivist, to see such a robust record keeping system documented, monitored and practiced. When a Head Guild met, the clerk noted down first those present but the next item of business was usually a list of charters and other writings of the town that were securely held in the “Town Chist”. The clerk recorded when a document was removed (the reason why and to whom given) and when it was put back.

This prompted me to think about another group of people that should be mentioned here and who are relevant to this project – those writers and keepers of the records that set a precedent for the custodians of today.

The series of records Berwick has inherited would not be so complete had the Guild been less vigilant in the protection of its rights. From earliest times, the Guild knew that the key to a solid defence of those rights was the existence of authentic, written records and so ensured they protected and were in possession of their archives at all times.

However, the clerks who penned the town records must have tired of copying sometimes and this week, as if to remind me they shouldn’t be forgotten, I came across some of their less formal writings and doodles.

“Vox audita perit, sed Litera scripta manet”

I was also intrigued by this little pencil sketch

Marginalia in Draft Guild Book 1784-1793 (B2/8)

It reminded me of the sign manual that Scottish notaries were obliged to place on the instruments they wrote as one part of authenticating the document. The sign manual was a pen and ink seal unique to them. Alternatively, the doodle has the look of a coat of arms or it might just have been added later by someone reading rather than writing the records.

If you know what it is please get in touch!

This Week in World War One, 23 August 1918

24/08/2018 by Northumberland Archives

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 23 AUGUST 1918

Grandson of Holy Island Man’s Heroic Act

GIVES LIFE BLOOD FOR COMRADE

The war has produced many acts of heroism and gallantry. Among Britain’s citizen Army are found thousands of men with no outstanding characteristics but with the same stout heart and firm spirit, who reck not the danger when a comrade is to be dragged back from the grave. A story which has reached us gives further evidence of this fact. The hero of the episode is a young Northumberland Fusilier, who, literally, gave his life blood in order that a “chum” from overseas might regain his strength. That the effort was in vain is the only sad incident in the whole, which is bright with the steadfast courage shown.

Lance-Corporal John Markwell, Northumberland Fusiliers, grandson of Mr Ralph Markwell, Holy Island, Beal, and Private J. Hempshill, a son of Mrs Hempshill, 12 East Thomas St., Edinburgh, were lying in adjacent beds in a base hospital in France. Private Hempshill was severely wounded, and had lost an extra ordinary amount of blood, so much so, in fact, that the doctors came to the conclusion that unless some new life-giving fluid could be transfused from another living person the soldier would certainly die. Markwell, on being asked if he would submit to having some of his blood transfused, at once acceded, and this plan was at once carried out. The blood was removed from Markwell’s right arm to the left arm of Hemshill, but the operation had apparently been delayed too long, as success did not attend the efforts of the doctors. Hempshill died shortly afterwards, but before he passed away he asked that due recognition should be made of the heroic act of Lance Corporal Markwell. Almost his last statement was a request that a record of the incident should be published in the “Edinburgh Evening News.”

Lance-Corporal Markwell, it may be added, is at present in hospital in this country, and is making good progress. In writing to the mother of the deceased soldier he put the story in a nutshell, and expresses volumes when he modestly says, “I did my best.” No one could have done more.

BERWICK PETTY SESSIONS

THURSDAY

Before the Mayor, Alex. Darling, Chas. Morgan, T. Purves, and R. Boston, Esqrs.

THEFT OF SOAP

George Edward Wardle, Robert Patterson, and James Douglas, privates in the K.O.S.B., were charged, on remand, with having, on Saturday, stolen twenty two bars of soap, valued 14s, from a store in the yard of Mr John Stoddart, grocer, 84 High Street. The circumstances were fully reported at Monday’s Court, and to-day defendants all pleaded guilty, Capt. Collingwood was present and watched the proceedings.

John D. Patterson, a boy employed by Mr Stoddart, and P.C. Wm. Watt again gave similar evidence to that tendered at last Court. The soap, the latter said, was a considerable distance from the entrance door of the store, and could only have been taken by someone going right into the premises.

Capt. Collingwood said that two of the defendants had a clean sheet, while some minor fault was against the third man; but on the whole the defendants had given the military authorities no trouble.

Defendants each attributed their condition to the effects of taking drink.

The Mayor said that the Bench were very sorry to see the defendants in their present position, which was a very serious one. They took into consideration that the defendants had served their country and been wounded, and would therefore deal leniently by imposing a fine of 10s each, or seven days’ imprisonment. This was the first case of its kind which had come before the Court, and it was hoped it would act as an adequate warning, as shopkeepers and others must be protected from conduct of this kind. The fines were paid.

LOCAL NEWS

The demonstration of hooliganism and violence given by five soldiers, who, as reported in our columns of page 4, created a great disturbance on the Spittal Motor Ferry boat last Friday night, has made people in the town furiously to think of what protection is afforded from these “roughs.” Evidently as the police did not see the occurrence happen they are powerless to bring a case unless the assaulted parties issue summons.

(c) Berwick Record Office BRO 1887-2-4 Spittal Ferry

In a case of this kind no private individual cares to summon the offenders who in all probability would have their revenge as only “Redskins” can take it. Surely there is a kink in the law which forces one to come into the lime light of police court proceedings with the off chance of getting “done in” later, to protect oneself from having the experience of “kipper slapping” and rowdyism. The military no doubt will punish the offenders, but the feeling in the town is that a few months “hard labour” would do the culprits a considerable amount of good.

BERWICK TRIBUNALS

HAIRDRESSER TO SERVE

William D. McColgan, hairdresser, Hide Hill, Berwick, described as a Grade 1 man, was an application by the National Service Representative for withdrawal of the existing exemption, as he was not doing national work, and might be more usefully employed in some branch of the Army.

Mr McColgan stated that this was entirely a one man business, and he urged that exemption should be continued owing to domestic circumstances and a young family of four. He was in grade B2 last time.

The Tribunal decided that he should serve, but that he should not be called up till the end of September.

A LOW GRADED MAN

William Johnston (31) rope and twine spinner, residing in Coxon’s Lane, and employed by Mrs Wilson, Castlegate, was a Grade III, man. He had been fourteen years in her employment, and claimed on occupational grounds that he was useful in supplying the fishing industry, and in making material that was used in munitions. The only other man employed was about seventy years of age.

The National Service Representative – In view of this man’s grade and occupation I am not prepared to oppose his exemption.

The Tribunal accordingly allowed three months’ exemption.

BERWICK COMPANY CHURCH LADS’ BRIGADE

KING’S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS CADETS

This Company went into camp at Warkworth for the August Bank Holiday week. Berwick lads were attached to “D” Company, along with Blyth Company. About 400 lads were in camp under Cadet Lieut. Col. W. H. Arring.

The camp was conducted on lines of strict military discipline as the following account of the daily routine shows.

Saturday, the day of arrival, the lads were placed in their tents and acquainted with their camp duties.

Sunday, the battalion marched down to Warkworth Church at 7a.m., and a large number of the lads partook of the Holy Communion, the service being conducted by the Bishop of Newcastle. At 11 a.m. a short service was held in camp, and in the afternoon there was a drum head service with an address by the Bishop.

Warworth Church © Mick Knapton. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

The lads contributed liberally to the collection in aid of the Church Army Hut Work in France.

Daily reveille at 6 a.m., fall in at 6.30 for a short march and physical drill, breakfast at 8 a.m., C.O.’s parade at 10.30, consisting of company drill and battalion movements, dinner 1 p.m., after which the lads were free for the day. Excepting those who were detailed for guard, etc. tea at 4.30, and “light out” at 11 p.m.

A very noticeable feature in camp was the three minutes silence after reveille and lights out were sounded. The interval being devoted to prayers.

Wednesday was devoted to the Battalion sports, and Thursday was largely occupied with the inspection. The inspecting officer, who we understand came from the Tyne Garrison, and was sent by the General of the Northern Command, spoke highly of the smartness of the lads and complimented them on the way they marched past. He afterwards inspected the camp and was present at the distribution of prizes by Miss Deuchar.

On Friday everyone was busy doing his share in striking camp and leaving the field clean and tidy. Berwick boys arrived home on Friday afternoon, after having spent a most enjoyable and instructive week.

The Company, which will resume drills in September, bids fair, under the capable leadership of Lieut. R. D. Harvey to add lustre to its already noble history. Recruits will be enrolled any Wednesday evening at the Boy’s School, Ravensdowne.

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