Police

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 2 APRIL 1920

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BERWICK POLICE

From yesterday (Thursday) the County Council assumed control of Berwick’s police, and on Tuesday we understand Capt. Fullarton James, Chief Constable for the County, came to Berwick to consider the draft agreement for the transfer. A new Inspector or Chief Constable for the Borough will have to be appointed some day, and there is the question of the Police buildings. We understand that the Borough is bound by law to provide certain cell accommodation, and that if the buildings are taken over the County they will have to guarantee to discharge this liability for the town. Again, the Borough gets an annual contribution of £30 for the use of the Court by the Norham and Islandshire justices. Is the Borough Rate still to get the benefit of that payment? These are only crumbs of information which have fallen from the great men’s table. We are satisfied that the County Council authorities are above trying to steal a march on the Borough, but again, we ask the members of the Council to disclose the agreement to their principals, the ratepayers, in time to give them an opportunity to discuss it before it is sealed.

BERWICK PETTY SESSIONS

Catherine Curry, the two month old daughter of George Curry, hawker, 25 Walkergate, was found dead in bed at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday morning, and as the result an inquest was held on Saturday evening by Mr P. M. Henderson, acting coroner. Catherine Curry, the mother, said she and her husband slept in the same bed as the child, the husband being at the back of the bed and child at the front. The child cried at about 4 a.m., and after she had fed it it went off to sleep again. Witness also went to sleep and at 6.30 was awakened by her husband, who noticed the child was very still, but its body was quite warm. She was very anxious, and went immediately for a doctor. Witness was a total abstainer. George Curry, the husband, corroborated his wife’s evidence. Dr P. W. Maclagan said he was called to the house shortly after 6.30, and found the child dead. There were no suspicious circumstances, and no external marks of violence. On a later examination he came to the conclusion that death resulted from asphyxia. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned.

BORDER O.B.E’s

COMMANDERS (CIVIL DIVISION)

Lieut. Col. C. W. Brims, M.C., T.D., was the Director of Extensions Department of Controller General of Merchant Ship-building. He is the son of the late Mr B. M. Brims, contractor, who was formerly at Berrington House, Beal. Lieut. Col. Brims was awarded the M.C. in October, 1918.

Mr T. W. H. Inskip, K.C., M.P., who has been head of the Naval Law Branch of the Secretary’s Department at the Admiralty, contested Berwick-on-Tweed Division in the Unionist interest.

The Duchess of Northumberland was the Commandant and Donor of Syon House Hospital, Brentford, Middlesex.

Capt. Alistair Houston Boswell Preston, who is Assistant Director of Road Transport, Ministry of Food, is the son of Col. T. H. Boswell Preston, Tweedhill, Berwick.

OFFICERS (Civil Division)

Mr J. Gilroy was Potato Distribution Adviser in the Northern Division. He is the son of the late Ald. Jas. Gilroy, Berwick, and was for some years resident in Ravensdowne before taking up business in Newcastle.

Mr W. T. Rainbow who was Fish Distribution Officer and Assistant Commissioner for Demobilisation, is well-known in Berwick as the handicapper of the Athletic Society’s Sports.

Miss E. M. H. Storey, who was Recruiting Commandant of the Northumberland and Durham Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John, is a grand-daughter of Mr Samuel Storey, of Sunderland.

Miss Annie Louise Simpson, who was made an Officer of the Civil Division, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in June, 1918. She is the daughter of Mr Chas. Simpson, London, and grand-daughter of Mr Alex. Simpson, Coldstream. Miss Simpson is personal shorthand writer to the Prime Minister, and is raised to this high class of the Order for services rendered in connection with the Peace Conference.

MEMBERS (Civil Division)

Dr Alex. Dey, M.B.C.M., who acted as Medical Officer, 12 Northumberland V.A.D., at Fowberry and Heton Hospital, and the 13th Northumberland V.A.D. Hospital at Etal Manor, is the Medical Officer of Glendale, and a well known and popular figure in Wooler, where he has been practising for a long time.

Robert Yelloly, awarded the Order for services as Supt. of Newcastle Police Force, has been associated with criminal investigation work for many years. He is the son of the late Mr Robert Yelloly, High Court Bailiff, Berwick, and is married to a Berwick lady.

THE EDITOR OF “COUNTRY LIFE”

Mr P. Anderson Graham, writing in “The Times” against the proposed removal of the Scotsgate, says :- “The excuse put forward is that this well-known gate was reconstructed in 1858, and the claim is made that it is not an integral part of the wall. The truth about the matter is that in 1850 the Ordinance Department proposed to pull down the ramparts from the Scots Gate to the Flagstaff.

The Scotsgate Arch. @ Copyright: Michael Dibb, Creative Commons License (cc-by-sa/2.0).

The negotiations were divulged at a meeting of the council held in July of 1850, but public opinion took fire at once, and in deference to the remonstrance made the scheme was abandoned and the walls handed over to the local Board of Health on condition that they should be maintained as a walk for the public convenience. If the proposal had been  to rebuild or widen the gate no fault would have been found with it. But it is an unhappy proposal to destroy this feature in Berwick for the purpose of putting up a war memorial on the stumps of the mutilated wall.”

LOCAL NEWS

The Compton Comedy Company from all we can hear reached high water mark last week in “The School for Scandal.” We cannot recall a performance which gave more pleasure, and  the writer has seen Forbes Roberston, Mrs Patrick Campbell, Mr Charles Terry, Lewis Waller, Walter Farren, and Cyril Maude, all appearing together one evening at the Lyceum in this immortal comedy. We were particularly pleased with Rowley, and Joseph Surface was also very well done.

Playbill for Sheridan’s ‘The School for Scandal.’  Scanned from The Dramatic Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. © In public domain

Generally Joseph is made so oily that any one can see through him, but on Thursday he was bluff enough to deceive a saint. Sir Benjamin Backbite was a real maccaroni, and the behaviour of Sir Peter Teazle, with all his temper and in all his mistakes could not fail to command the sympathy of the audience. Here was an English gentleman. We also much enjoyed Sir Oliver Surface, – we should imagine a fairly easy part to play. The costumes of Sir Peter and Sir Oliver were also most artistic. Both of them looked like old masters when the curtain drew up. In our opinion the gentlemen were superior to the ladies, but that was all. It was an excellent company, and we hope Mrs Mather will be able to arrange for their return. We feel sure that, even if it were necessary to raise the price of the seats, Berwick people would support companies of a similar standard.

Police Posters at Berwick-upon-Tweed (Twixt Thistle and Rose)

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Twixt Thistle and Rose is a project funded for one year by Archives Revealed to make the records of Berwick-upon-Tweed more widely accessible.

Twixt Thistle and Rose refers to the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed which sits on the Border between Scotland (Thistle) and England (Rose). The phrase- as Twixt Rose and Thistle – has been often used to describe Berwick. For example, it was the name of a public house in Walkergate (now the Cobbled Yard – the windows are etched with the symbol) and it featured on a railway poster of Berwick around 1920 “The Mecca of All Seeking Health and Pleasure”.

Funding has also been provided by the Berwick Guild of Freemen and the Friends of Berwick-upon-Tweed and District Museum and Archives to enable the participation of volunteers in the project and other outreach work.

If you are interested in volunteering please email us at ttar@northumberland.gov.uk. We’ll add you to the mailing list and you’ll be invited to come along to one of the introductory sessions we plan to hold in March.

Berwick had it’s own Police Force until the 1920’s

One group of records that we hope to make better known is the series of Police Posters and Informations that date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These were sent to Berwick Police Station to alert the local constabulary about a variety of criminals or absconders from the Army or Workhouses.

Currently the records are boxed, arranged in bundles and are clean and dry. However, they require some conservation work to prevent deterioration with use and they are in need of detailed cataloguing. This is an ideal project for volunteers!

Police Posters and Informations, reference M16/1-17

Although the notices were received from elsewhere they may be the only surviving copy. They provide lots of information about all aspects of life at the turn of the twentieth century including attitudes to vagrancy at the time. If you like detective work, volunteering could give you a chance to investigate the background to the story or what happened next.

12 year old child “used to being on tramp”

They used the technology of the time – photography and telegraphy – to convey detailed descriptions of criminals or items stolen

Photographs of wanted men, 1896
Telegram issuing order to check premises and carriers for stolen pigeons

There are scams that seem very modern – such as a the circular from the Hawick Police reporting a false collecting agent for Miss Stirling’s Orphanage operating in the area. Miss Stirling was a well known philanthropist in Edinburgh who pioneered the sending of pauper children to Canada. Her Charity was involved in a scandal that revealed the lack of supervision of her child migrants after they were placed abroad.

False charity collections in Hawick

There are instances of local crimes such as the malicious damage of salmon nets in Spittal. The wording of the poster and the offer of a reward strongly suggests that this kind of activity was perceived as economic sabotage.

Malicious damage to nets at Sandstell Road, Spital

There are also dramatic depictions and accounts of individuals wanted for serious offences. The artist’s sketch in this poster – raising the alert for a man wanted for an horrific murder – alongside the detailed character note creates a very sinister image!

Wanted – Donald McDonald – for Murder

And postcards were used to inform the constabulary when a search could be called off.

Job done – thanks!

This is just one small example of the wealth of information found in the Berwick Borough collection. If you feel inspired to help please get in touch.

Housebreaking in the Parish of Rothbury

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Housebreaking in the Parish of Rothbury

The Northumberland Michaelmas Quarter Sessions were held on Thursday, 17th October 1889, at the Moot Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne. Presiding over the court was Sir Matthew W Ridley who was supported by seven magistrates and the Under Sheriff for Northumberland. After the grand jury were sworn in, the chairman of the bench (Sir Matthew W Ridley) addressed the jury saying that the calendar only consisted of nineteen cases and, with the exception of two cases of alleged indecent assault, the rest were ‘ordinary alleged offences of larceny’.’

Thomas Smith did not have to wait very long before he was brought from the cells and placed at the bar in front of the bench. He was charged with two counts of housebreaking in the Rothbury area of Northumberland. The court clerk stood to state that Thomas was a bookmaker, aged twenty three years of age, and believed to be from Newcastle.

The Charges

The charges in the two cases against Thomas Smith were read out to the court.

Firstly, ‘For that the said Thomas Smith on the twenty eighth day of August now last past at the Parish of Rothbury in the said County feloniously did break and enter the dwelling house of George Robinson there situate and therein feloniously did steal one five shilling piece, one shilling, one sixpence, one half rupee, one twenty five cent piece in silver and two half pennies in copper of the monies, goods and chattels of George Robinson’.

The brief for the prosecution. REF: NRO 11343/B/DAT

Secondly, ‘For that the said Thomas Smith on the twenty eighth day of August now last past at the Parish of Rothbury in the said County feloniously did break and enter the dwelling house of John Starrs there situate and therein feloniously did steal one silver Geneva watch of the goods and chattels of the said John Starrs’.

Thomas was asked if he was guilty or not guilty to which he replied ‘I am not guilty of stealing but I am guilty of having them in my possession’.

The first charge related to Thomas breaking into the house of George Robinson, a farmer who lived with his spinster sister Mary at Sandilands in the Parish of Rothbury. The second charge was breaking into the house of John Starrs, a general labourer, who lived at nearby North Chirnells with his wife Mary.

The Proof in the first case

Thomas’s trial commenced with the prosecution calling Mary Robinson who, under oath, stated ‘My brother was out and I left between 1.30 and 2 o’clock in the afternoon. I got back between 9 & 10 o’clock the same night. When I left the house in the afternoon I locked it up. When I returned the door was not locked. The drawers downstairs were turned up. The boxes and bed upstairs were also turned up. Everything was right when I left in the afternoon’.

George Robinson was then called and under oath confirmed that he had left the house at about eight o’clock that morning and returned with his sister between nine and ten o’clock that night. He went on to say that the door into the house was unlocked and that on entering they found drawers downstairs had been forced open and emptied and on going upstairs found that boxes had been broken into with their contents lying on the floor. In addition to all of this one of the beds had been ‘turned up’. Continuing, he was able to confirm and describe items that were missing – ‘I missed a five shilling piece, a half rupee, a 25 cent piece, a sixpence worn with a hole in it, some old halfpennies one of which was dished on the edge and was of the reign of George III. I also missed a shilling that that had a lion in it and a number of three penny pieces. I identify clearly the five shilling piece produced by a nick in the edge. I also identify the sixpence produced by the hole on it by it being so worn and 2 Gs on the man’s neck on it as being mine. I further identify the George III halfpenny produced by being dished in the edge as being mine. The lion shilling produced, the half rupee produced and the 25 cent piece produced, and the old halfpenny produced are like what I had. I had several 3 penny pieces and in the money produced there are several 3 penny pieces but I can not identify them. The money was in a box in a drawer downstairs altogether. The lock of the box in the drawer had been wrenched open’.

Further statements were given by Police Constables Metcalf and Aitchison, Police Sergeants Bowmaker and Ewart, and Police Superintendent Dobson. But, as these overlapped with the second case, the contents of their statements will be explored together.

The Proof in the second case

Mary Starr was called by the prosecution and under oath she stated that her husband had left the house at about nine-thirty that morning and she at a quarter-to-two in the afternoon. She confirmed that she had fastened the windows and shutters and had locked the door as she left. Mary continued – ‘I returned a little before 9 o’clock in the evening. When I put the key in I could not unlock the door but when I turned the key the other way I locked the door. There was a false sneck on the door which still prevented the door opening. I forced the door open. I noticed nothing particular downstairs but when I went upstairs I found the doors open and when I left in the morning I had closed them. On going into my bedroom I noticed the bed had been turned up. I then looked round to see if my watch was hanging over the mantel piece but I found it was gone. The watch was hanging there in the morning when I left. I identify the watch produced as my property. Half of the small pointer is off. In the other rooms upstairs the locks of 2 boxes had been forced open and the contents had been ransacked. A cupboard upstairs had also been ransacked’.

For whatever reason Mary’s husband, John Starr, was not called by the prosecution.

Common Proof in both cases

Police Constable William Metcalf was called and under oath he stated that on the twenty eighth of August last, he had been on plain clothes duty with Constable Peter Aitchison for the annual Rothbury flower show. He went on to say – ‘In the forenoon about 11.30 when the train arrived, we saw the prisoner Smith and Williams and other 2 men go through Rothbury towards Thropton, shortly afterwards they returned into the town and from information having been received of a shop in Rothbury having been broken into, we visited the Station Hotel [now known as the Coquetvale Hotel] and saw prisoner Smith with Williams and another man in the bar’. Continuing, Constable Metcalf said that he approached the three men and told them that he wished to speak to them outside.

An aerial view of Cragside, near Rothbury, and its surrounding area. This picture was taken in 1910 and, from the high angle, it shows the Coquet Valley in Coquetdale. This photograph is part of a larger collection taken by local commercial photographer John Worsnop. 
NRO 01449/541

Once outside of the hotel, they were met by Police Sergeants Ralph Ewart and James Bowmaker. Sergeant Ewart apprehended Smith on suspicion of breaking into a shop at Rothbury. Williams and the other man were apprehended by Sergeant Bowmaker and Constable Aitchison. The group then started to make their way to the police station.

Constable Aitchison under oath stated ‘I saw Sergt. Ewart take hold of the prisoner Smith. I and Sergt. Bowmaker took hold of the other men. We came towards the police station, Sergt. Ewart was first with Smith. When on the bridge, the prisoner Smith made his escape from Sergt. Ewart and ran along the river side. I followed. The prisoner jumped into the water’. Constable Aitchison continued under oath to state that as he followed Smith into the river, he saw Smith throw a purse; a crowbar and a watch into the water and as he reached Smith ‘he attempted to stab me with a knife which he afterwards threw into the water’. Aitchison stated that Sergeant Ewart and Constable Metcalf came to his assistance and that he witnessed Sergeant Ewart recover the said items from the river.

Constable Metcalf, under oath stated ‘When Smith was in the water I saw him throw several articles into the water. Before P C Aitchison got a hold of him in the water, Smith drew a knife and attempted to stab P C Aitchison. Aitchison then got hold of the prisoner’. Metcalf went on to state that ‘I searched the prisoner and found in his possession a five shilling piece, a 25 cent piece, one half rupee, a lion shilling, one sixpenny piece which are now produced. I also found 16 three penny pieces, 5 pennies and 6 halfpennies and 2 farthings which are also produced. I handed them all to Supt. Dobson at the Rothbury police station’. Smith was escorted to the police station where a further search of Smith by Sergeant Ewart found a leather bag containing ten skeleton keys and another shilling in Smith’s boot.

The prosecution then called Sergeant Ralph Ewart who, under oath, confirmed his part of the apprehension of Smith and of the other men and subsequent events as told by Constables Aitchison and Metcalf.

Sergeant James Bowmaker was called on the twenty ninth of August, the following day, and under oath said that Superintendent Dobson gave him the skeleton keys and crowbar to see if they matched evidence at the crime scenes. Bowmaker stated that one of the skeleton keys operated the door lock at John Starrs and that ‘an indentation on the front side of one of the boxes exactly corresponded with the turned end of the crowbar’.

The final witness for the prosecution, Police Superintendent Thomas Dobson, was called and under oath. He confirmed that all of the recovered stolen items had remained in his possession since receiving them at Rothbury Police Station on the 28th August. He also confirmed that on the same day, he had been given the crowbar and bag containing the skeleton keys. Both had remained in his custody except when, on the 29th August, he had given them to Sergeant Bowmaker for comparison to evidence at the crime scene at John Starr’s house.

The prisoner was then asked if he wished to say anything in his defence and he reiterated that he did not break into the houses but that he had been in the company of a man who did.

The jury were then instructed by the chairman of the bench to retire from the courtroom and to return when they had decided on their verdict.

The Verdict and Sentence

When the jury returned, their verdict was announced. Smith had been found guilty on both charges of housebreaking.

The chairman of the bench responded by saying that the man the prisoner spoke of was a professional burglar and bad company. He went on to say that there was no evidence that the prisoner had been convicted before and that he hoped that Smith would not appear in front of the bench again. He then pronounced sentence, Thomas was to serve six months imprisonment on each charge with the sentences to run concurrently.

Thomas was then led back to the cells below the courtroom and later that day he was returned to the Newcastle Gaol situated in Carliol Square where he served his sentence.

Searches of various records have been made to try and find out what happened to Thomas after his release from prison but it was found that there were a number of Thomas Smiths in the region all of whom were of a similar age thus making it impossible to pinpoint ‘our’ Thomas.

 

We would like to give a special thanks to the volunteer whom tirelessly researched and produced this blog piece.

 

 

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