BERWICK ADVERTISER, 11 APRIL 1919

12/04/2019 by Northumberland Archives

BERWICK PETTY SESSIONS

Before the Mayor (Ald. Plenderleith), A. L. Miller, and A. J. Dodds, Esqs

CHILDRENS’ COURT

A Berwick message boy and three school children, one of whom was a girl, appeared on a charge of having discharged missiles on the New Road, Berwick, to the danger of passengers, on the 3rd April, 1919. They pleaded not guilty.

The Chief Constable said this was one of the cases they were obliged to bring before the Bench, in consequence of the enormous amount of complaints which had been coming in. People using the road near the Old Castle were frequently annoyed by boys throwing stones and bottles down on to the road. He wishes it to be known that if this case was found proven that in future he would ask for a heavy penalty. He was sorry to have to bring these cases forward, but it was necessary for the safety of the public.

Complaints had also been received of damage done to the Old Castle, and no less than 25 boys had to be cautioned last week. The four children charged were on the night in question on the embankment near the Railway Bridge, where they had been in the habit on gathering pieces of coal thrown over by the railwaymen. They were raking amongst the stones for the coal, and dropping stones, which rolled down the bank on to the New Road. The fact was they had no business to be there at all, for it was a case of trespass, and they had no business to dislodge the coal or stone.

P.C. Spiers said he saw the four children kicking at the rubble in their search for coal and stones were falling down the embankment and bouncing on the footpath. If anyone had been passing they would certainly have been hit. As he was taking the names of the children a lady and gentleman came up and said it was a disgrace that such thing were going on.

Mr Miller – Is this the first case brought here?

The Chief Constable – Yes. I don’t think the children went deliberately to throw stones, but they had no right to be there at all.

P.C. Cruikshanks generally corroborated the previous witness.

All the children adhered to a statement that another boy had been there sliding down the bank on a carpet, and dislodging the stones, but he had bolted when the police came.

The mayor said the ends of justice would be made by the payment of half costs – 2s 6d in each case- but if the defendants should come back again they would not get off so easily.

SPITTAL NOTES

Whippet racing appears to be coming to the front in the village, as we hear it rumoured that another handicap is shortly to take place in the Side Cutting. On this occasion it is expected that dogs will be forward from the mining villages of South Northumberland. Some good straight-out racing may therefore be expected.

TWEEDMOUTH JOTTINGS

Welcome home to Church Road, Tweedmouth, Trooper Tom Brown, son of the late Mr Alex. Brown, passenger guard, who was killed accidentally at Berwick Station a few years ago. Trooper Brown, who joined the army in 1910, has almost nine years’ service to his credit, seven years of which he has spent in India. Tom took part in some very strenuous fighting in Mesopotamia, and was present at the capture of Bagdad. He was also in the heavy fighting around the neighbourhood of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. He returns to his regiment, (14th King’s Hussars) on the expiration of his furlough, and as he is on the Reserve for another four years, we trust that he may enjoy the best of good luck, in whatever part of the world he is destined to travel.

LOCAL NEWS

Having once decided to re-open the course the committee of the Magdalene Fields Golf Club are not losing any time in getting started. As will be seen from an advertisement in our columns, play will commence on Good Friday, April 18th, with a stroke competition for gentlemen in the morning, followed by a Mixed Foursome in the afternoon, when tea will be served in the clubhouse. With the exception of the first hole, the course to be played over is practically the same as the “old nine” before its extension to 18 holes in 1915. Meanwhile, of an evening, a good many of the old enthusiasts are to be seen on the course trying to recover their former skill. It is wonderful how easily it all comes back, though judging from the amount of turf removed already the shots have not all been “clean hits.” The Course which was originally opened in June 1903 when the Mayor, Mr A. J. Dodds drove the first ball, was successfully carried on until 1917 when owing to wartime conditions it was thought advisable to close down.

LOWICK

The Parish Council at its meeting on Friday last agreed to reply to a communication from Glendale Rural District Council, that in their opinion more houses for the working classes were required in the village.

We are pleased to see home discharged Cpl. J. Ord, Isley Hill Cottages, Beal, and Pte. J. Black, Berryburn Mill, Ancroft.

The weather has been good of late and garden work is now in full swing.

The “flue” [sic] seems to be abating in our village, and we hope there will be no more cases.

One of the largest aeroplanes which has been seen in the neighbourhood came down at the New Haggerston Aerodrome, owing to some engine trouble. This being repaired, the machine continued her journey southward on Thursday, April 3rd. Her weight, it is said, was something like 13 tons. Rumour has it that this was one of the aeroplanes to be used in the forthcoming attempt to cross the Atlantic.

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 14 MARCH 1919

15/03/2019 by Northumberland Archives

GARDENS AND ALLOTMENTS

HOW TO GROW POTATOES AND ONIONS

At the annual meeting of the Berwick and District Gardens and Allotments Association held last month, Mr Carmichael, hon. treasurers, suggested it would be a good plan to have lectures on the cultivation of vegetables. The committee took up the suggestion in a practical manner, and the first of these lectures was delivered on Tuesday evening in the Long Room, Corn Exchange, by Mr J. Jackson, gardener to Lord Joicey, at Ford castle. The subject of Mr Jackson’s paper was “Potatoes and Onions and their cultivation”. There was a splendid turnout of members and those interested in gardening. The Mayor (Ald. J. Plenderleith) President of the Association was in the chair, and was supported by Councillor Elder and Mr R. Bradford, chairman and joint hon. secretary of the Association respectively.

CHATTON

Reference was made under the Lowick news of our South West Edition last week of the flight over the district of the airship N, S. 7. Since then a fatality has occurred in connection with the airship. When rising from Newcastle Town Moor on Tuesday, 4th March, Sergeant Johnstone having seized the rope the airship unexpectedly rose through a burst of sunshine having caused extra buoyancy.

The thrill of the spectators can be imagined when the saw the unfortunate man clinging to the rope till some sixty feet from the ground his strength failed and he crashed to his death, which took place a few minutes from his fall. The Air Service is full of perils, and it is to be hoped that these will be diminished by science before that much talked of aerial posts are established.

A large body of the Canadian troops has left the camp, which is now very small in its proportions. They have not only left their mark upon the landscape, but also upon the roads. It is to be hoped that the road authorities will be alive to the interests of the ratepayers, and get the Government to recoup a fair share of the enormous expenditure which will be required to restore the highways to their normal condition.

HOLY ISLAND

The engagement was announced on Wednesday of Mr Edward Hudson, of Queen Anne’s-gate and Lindisfarne Castle, Northumberland, and Mme. Guilmina Suggia, the famous cellist, who is of Portuguese nationality.

Mr Hudson, who is the chairman and managing director of “Country Life,” is well-known in the north as the owner of the Castle at Holy Island, which dates back as far as 1500. Mr Hudson has furnished the Castle in a most tasteful manner, which is quite in keeping with its romantic history.

LOCAL NEWS

A Glasgow Herald correspondent, in an article on the Old Border Bridge at Berwick mentions, that Cromwell and his army crossed the Tweed by the bridge when in 1650 they marched to Scotland in order to persuade or compel the nation to the rule of the Commonwealth.

The Restoration of the Monarchy brought benefit to Berwick, for Charles II allowed the corporation an annuity of £100 from the Customs of their town or from those of Newcastle for upkeep of the Old Bridge. In 1700 William III ordered the sum to be paid from the Exchequer, and this arrangement is still maintained for the repair of the now ancient structure.

SPITTAL NOTES

Private Andrew Wood, K.O.S.B., is one of Spittal’s war veterans who has been recently demobilised. This gallant Tommy joined up at a period of life when he was far beyond military age, but the irresistible spirit was there, and forced him to action. Since joining up he has passed through the hottest of the fighting on the Western front; and without hesitation we can affirm that the fault would not be his if many a “Jerry” did not pay the full penalty of his misdeeds at the muzzle end of Andrew’s rifle. He has all the pluck and keenness of the true British fighter. We regret that since his home-coming he has been confined to bed, and sincerely trust that his recovery will only be a matter of days, and that renewed health and strength will be his, and a bright and lengthy future in which to enjoy life.

Sergeant George Brigham, Dental Section, R.A.M.C., is now demobilised after having been with the forces since hostilities commenced. On joining up he took up duties as a dispatch rider, admittedly a dangerous occupation, yet George stuck it, placing many hair-breadth escapes to his credit, until finally the strain so told upon an otherwise robust constitution that his removal from the work became a necessity, and he was placed at his own profession in the dental section of the R.A.M.C., where he held the rank of senior sergeant, and had charge of one of the departments. Prior to enlistment he was an assistant with Mr R.R. Riddell, Surgeon Dentist, Quay Walls. We wish him good health and luck in the future.

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

03/04/201904/02/2019 by Northumberland Archives

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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