Tweedmouth

BERWICK JOURNAL, 29TH APRIL 1926

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BODY EXHUMED AT BERWICK

INQUEST OPENED AND ADJOURNED

Sensational rumours ran wildly round Berwick on Friday morning when it was learned that the body of the late Mr John Rogerson had been exhumed from the Tweedmouth Cemetery during the night and that the formal opening of a Coroner’s inquiry was to take place later that morning. It was timed to commence at 11.15, but a delay was caused by waiting for arrivals on Newcastle train. Proceedings were entirely formal, and beyond those necessary to the business, no one was present.

Stafford Little / Church Tweedmouth Cemetery

Mr Blakely read the appointment of Mr H. J. Percy as Deputy Coroner by Mr H. R. Peters, the Coroner for Berwick, who, it was said, might be called upon to give evidence. The certificate of the Justices for the inquest was also read.

The jury, compose of Messrs James Richardson, John Smith, Adam Winlaw, John Anderson, James B. Jobson, Peter Mason, J. H. Abbott, W. E. Rutherford and H. Stephenson, elected Mr P. Mason as their foreman.

Mr Percy then addressed the jury. They had been summoned there, he said, to perform a public duty which, he feared must have been a rather an unpleasant nature to them. But it as a legal essential that the Coroner and jury should view the body in order to give complete validity to any Coroner’s proceedings. All that it was necessary to do that day was that they should hear formal evidence of identification and to receive on oath such particulars as were necessary for the correct registration of the death and the re-burial of the body. He did not propose to say any more to t hem about the case at that juncture except one thing. An adjournment was necessary to enable certain medical examinations to be completed. Whether further evidence would have to be laid before them would, to a certain extent, depend upon the result of the medical examination. He then cautioned them not to speak of the case in the meantime. No charge, no suspicion was cast upon any man or woman in connection with the death. They were simply called upon owing to special circumstances which had arisen to inquire into and record the cause of death as soon as evidence as regards the death could be given them.

Giving the formal evidence required, Sergt. Barclay, of Spittal, said he identified the body of the deceased, who was for some time personally known to him, as John Rogerson, late of 14 Dock Road, Tweedmouth, aged 77. He was a retired wheelwright and had died at that address on March 18, 1926.

Dock Road, Tweedmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Mr Percy thereupon said he would issue his order for re-burial which would be out into operation at the time the postmortem was completed.

He then informed the jurymen that he would require seven, including the foreman, at the adjourned inquest, but would welcome them all if they could be present. He then bound them over to appear at the resumption of the proceedings in the sum of £50. The adjourned proceedings were then fixed to take place at 11.15 a.m. at Berwick Court House on Wednesday, May 26.

The postmortem was conducted by Professor Macdonald pathologist, of Newcastle, and Dr J. C. Mackay.

The exhumation was left until the night before the inquest, and then, soon after midnight, Supt. Shell, Sergt. Barclay, Dr Maclagan, and sexton and gravediggers made their way to Tweedmouth Cemetery. The grave is situated on the side farthest from the main road and is not overlooked by any house, so that there was not much likelihood of the proceedings being observed. All the light used was from a pocket electric torch, and this was flashed intermittently until the coffin was uncovered. AS there had been two previous burials in the grave, the coffin was not very deep down, and the work was finished comparatively quickly.

The postmortem examination commenced next morning soon after 11pm. A Police Constable must always be present at such an examination, and the duty on this occasion fell to Sergt. Barclay. The postmortem took some time, Drs Mackay, Maclagan and Caverhill being present in addition to the Newcastle pathologist, Prof. Macdonald. The body was again conveyed t the Cemetery and about midnight the re-burial took place, Supt. Shell again being present.

Next morning it is understood, Sergt. Barclay was dispatched to London with the organs to be examined.

BERWICK JOURNAL, 11 MARCH 1926

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TWEEDMOUTH MAN’S CREDITABLE RECORD

FIFTY-FOUR YEARS’ RAILWAY SERVICE

The above photograph was taken at the Railway Centenary Celebrations last years. Mr Douglas, Tweedmouth the subject of our sketch can be seen on the left facing the camera. Mr P. Waite Tweedmouth is also seen standing in front of the engine.

Fifty-four years is a long spell out of a man’s life, and when this period has been spent in the employment of one firm or company it enhances the value of credibility service. This is the record of Mr Thomas Douglas of Kiln Hill, Tweedmouth, who has now the longest service of the footplate staff of the London and N.E.R. in their North Eastern area No.7, which includes the Depot at Tweedmouth. Mr Douglas was only 14 years of age when he entered the employment of the old North Eastern Railway Coy. In 18871 as a cleaner. He is now in his 68th year and is still carrying on his everyday work with energy. After two years’ service Mr Douglas took up work as a Fireman, and in 1886 he be- duty as a driver.

In his long experience as a railwayman Mr Douglas has naturally had numerous experiences, but according to himself his most thrilling was in March 1886. At this time, he was acting as fireman on a pilot engine. On Monday 1st March of that year, the pilot, who it is interesting to note, was also a Tweedmouth man named Patison, along with Mr Douglas received orders to take the midnight north express to Newcastle. On the way they encountered what the older members of the community will recollect was one of the most severe snowstorms the country has ever experienced. Huge snow drifts made the progress of the train difficult and slow. The largest drift was met near Amble Junction, and here it was found impossible either to go back or to go forward with the result that the driver and his fireman had to wait with as much patience as they could muster until the breaking of the day. Then they realised the seriousness of the position. It was not until the following day that it was found possible to clear the other line, and by this means some of the passengers were transferred to a relief train and conveyed to Acklington Station. Some of the passengers preferred to take their chance with the train in which they were travelling, amongst these being the late Marquis of Tweeddale, who was a Director of the Railway Company. The little company did not want altogether for food. Several rabbits were caught and made into a very welcome stew. It was not until the following Thursday that the line was cleared of the snow, and the train was able to continue its journey. Newcastle being reached without further mishap or incident.

A STRANGE COINCIDENCE

Another thrilling experience of which Mr Douglas still retains a vivid recollection was the great snowstorm of March, 1888. On that occasion when he reached Alnwick he was informed that the main line was snowed up. Shortly afterwards he received orders to take a special mail train from Alnwick to Newcastle, as the ordinary mail train from Berwick was already snowed up. “We went through several very heavy wreaths of snow,” said Mr Douglas in the course of conversation with a representative of the “Berwick Journal,” but ultimately wwe reached Acklington Station. Here we were brought to a stand still because by a strange coincidence the train in front of us was snowed up exactly the same spot as I was snowed up at two years previously. We remained at Acklington from the Monday night until Wednesday forenoon when they got the line cleared and we were able to get through to Newcastle.

Mr Douglas has a very clear recollection of the Morpeth railway accident of 1875 when five persons were killed, about 30 injured. The passengers on that occasion included a Berwick lady who was amongst the injured. On that occasion Mr Douglas was sent from Tweedmouth to Morpeth to help in working the carne, and the extraordinary feature of the accident was that  neither the driver or the fireman of the wrecked train were injured. We had much longer hours to work in those days, continued Mr Douglas. 14 hours would have been considered a fairly short day, and often we had to work 161/2 hours. I have finished at 2 in the  morning and been out again at 5 and carried on until 2 the next morning and then been back to work again three hours later. That pf course was only when there was a special rush of traffic requiring to be handled. We were paid differently in the old days on what was called the trip system. For instance, the journey from Berwick to Newcastle and back was considered a day. In those far off days Mr Douglas used to wonder if ever the railwaymen would get the then existing state of affairs altered. He considers that the railway strike of 1890 helped railwaymen considerably as it brought about a Government inquiry into the hours of railwaymen and the conditions under which they worked. Since then, the conditions have greatly improved.

A TERRIBLE GALE

Mr Douglas has also an interesting story to tell of the terrible gale of Oct. 1881, when between 200 and 300 fishermen lost their lives along the Berwick coast. It was a fine morning said Mr Douglas, but a terrific gale sprung up suddenly just about dinner time. We got our train to Heaton and prepared the engine for the homeward journey. When we went into the hut for our dinner, slates from the roofs were flying about like bits of paper, and tress and telegraph poles were falling all around. It took us six hours to do the journey from Newcastle to Berwick instead of three. It was not until we arrived home that we heard of the disaster that had overtaken the fishermen.

Berwick Station c.1900

Mr Douglas is at present engaged on the Kelso line, which he says is sometimes known as “the one lung line” owing to the fact that so many of the old employees are employed on it. During his long career he has naturally witnessed many changes and improvements in railway administration, not only on matters appertaining to the wages and conditions of labour of railwaymen but also regard to the increased facilities afforded the travelling public. Like the majority of railwaymen, Mr Douglas is keenly interested in ambulance work, and for many years he has been Chairman of the Tweedmouth Branch of the London and N.E.R. Ambulance Corps. Mr Douglas is also well known at Tweedmouth as the Chairman of the Ratepayers” Association. He is a keen Burns enthusiast and has acted as President of the Tweedmouth Burns Clubb, and at the annual dinner has been frequently called upon to propose the “Immortal Memory.” He also takes a deep interest in Berwick Infirmary, and for three years was a member of the Committee of Management. Mr Douglas is a Trustee of Tweedmouth Scotch Church. His recreations are rod fishing and gardening. In 1923 Mr Douglas was presented with a handsome silver-mounted walking stick from the members of the Tweedmouth Branch of the Railway Ambulance Corps in recognition of his long and valuable service to ambulance work. Mr Douglas started work when he was 10 years of age, and for four years he worked as a salmon fisher at East Ord before joining the service of the Railway Company.

It is interesting to note that last year Mr Douglas was chosen to represent the Locomotive Sheds at the Centenary celebrations of the London and N.E.R. at Stockton and Darlington at which the Duke and Duchess of York were present. Our photograph shows Mr Douglas standing near his engine on that occasion just prior to the start of the procession of engines past the Duke and Duchess.

Tweedmouth Shed layout, 1963

When Mr Douglas was a fireman, he was firing a through goods train from Tweedmouth to Newcastle. At Ashington Junction, on the main line, they ran into the rear end of a train of empty coal wagons, struck the van of that train and knocked it clean over a steep embankment. The van was full of pitmen living at Pegswood and travelling to Ashington to their work. The van toppled over and over, and when Mr Douglas went to the van, inside resembled a shambles with blood. He helped these men out one after another and found that although all had received bruises and were considerably shaken, none of them were seriously injured. It was daylight at the time.

In connection with the Railway Centenary, Mr Douglas received a fine bronze medal specially struck for the occasion. One side bears portraits of Edward Pease, Chairman and guiding influence in the management of the first public railway, and of George Stephenson, who built the first engine on the railway, and actually drove it on its historic journey on Sept. 27th, 1825. On the other side is a figure of Vulcan holding in his hand “Locomotion No.1,” the first engine to be employed on a public railway, with, in the background, one of the London and North Eastern Railway Company’s famous 1925 type “Pacific” express locomotives.

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 2ND JULY 1925

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NORHAM BOAT RACES

Norham Boat Races were held on the Tweed on Saturday, fine weather favouring this popular annual event in the district. The cold wind was not felt on the riverside, where it was nice and mild, and though the sun only shone in blinks, it was very pleasant throughout the day, and the beautiful woods on the Ladykirk side of the river made a fine background for the racing events. There were, however, fewer people at the races than last year, and the gate unfortunately was down by some £5. This was no doubt owing to the many other events on in the district- Coldstream Sports and the Workers’ Gala at Wooler, etc. Sport was better than last year, and there were some very keen races. The river was divided into the two courses- English and Scotch, by means of floating buoys, and this plan worked well, there being practically no fouling owing to one competitor getting out of his course into his opponent’s. There was the old keen rivalry between Norham men and their neighbours from “Hurklie” and great was the rejoicing in Norham when it was a Norham man who carried off the Championship stakes, wresting the honour from its Horncliffe holder, the stalwart Tom Robertson.

Norham Castle on the River Tweed. Ref: BRO 515-178

Berwick Pipe Band, looking very smart in their fine uniforms, played selections down by the river side during the afternoon, to the great enjoyment of spectators of the races. One of the most interesting features of the races was the great keenness of the small boys who had come to watch. The youngsters not only helped by selling programmes, but took keen interest in the races, swarming round the good-humoured judge to ask time and again in anxious tones “Have they rowed for the cup yet?” The older ones kept their programmes marked up to date, and in between races discussed among themselves who was going to win the next event as well as debating whether to spend their last coppers on another bottle of lemonade or a pie. The tiny tots wee perhaps more interested in the gaily coloured balloons being sold on the river side, or the coloured canaries which fluttered in the breeze, worrying their mothers till they bought them either a balloon or canary to amuse them.

BERWICK PETTY SESSIONS

THURSDAY

Before A. J. Dodds, C. Forsyth, D. H. W. Askew, G. N. Broadbent, Esqs., Miss Henderson, and major A. Tower Robertson.

RIDING ON THE FOOTPATH

John Fleming, Norham, was charged with unlawfully riding a bicycle on a footpath set aside for pedestrians, on the Ord Road at 5.30 pm on 24th June.

P.C. Lindsay proved the case. Defendant said the road was rough. Witness thought the road in fair condition.

Defendant said his chain was liable to come off and the road was rough. He did not intend to do any harm.

The Bench reprimanded defendant but dismissed the case.

A DANGEROUS PARACTICE

Mr. Dodds said, before the press retired, he wished to remark on the dangerous practice of riding cycles at extreme speed when going round corners, particularly Bridge Street, and into Sandgate and round by the Garage.

Bridge Street, Berwick-upon-Tweed, dated 1959. Ref No: BRO 1250-147

Perhaps the Police would keep an eye on anything of the kind for at any moment a child crossing the road might be run over and killed.

1st K.O.S.B. BAND VISITS BERWICK

The Band of the 1st K.O.S. Borderers visited Berwick on Thursday, and by permission of Col. P. A. V. Stewart, C.B.E., D.S.O., and Officers of the Regiment, gave two performances in Berwick Corn Exchange. In the afternoon the attendance was very poor, owing no doubt to the many other attractions on in the town. In the evening there were a few more present, but the building was more than half empty. Among those present were Major C. F. Kennedy, Commanding Officer at the Depot, Berwick, and Mrs. Kennedy, Capt. B. C. Lake, Lieut. Watt, Lieut. J. B. Vans Agnew, Lieut. D. V. Kennedy. The band is well worth going to hear, and Berwick people missed a treat by not turning out in larger numbers. The items at the evening performance were greatly enjoyed and several were encored with great enthusiasm.

Corn exchange, Berwick-upon-Tweed. Ref No: BRO 1636/4/11

The conductor is Band master M. T. Kingston Jarvis. The selections from Tannhauser were very fine and also the selections from Greig. Very amusing was the wedding ceremony introduced into the descriptive piece by Lotter, the parson being represented by the bassoon, while the responses of the bride and bridegroom were taken by the flute and trombone. The Musical Jig-Saw cleverly worked in some 52 melodies ending with that fine Selenelle “1812” Overture by Tchaikovsky. The evening programme was: Grand selection from “Tannhauser,” Wagner: xylophone solo, “Orchid Blossoms.” Underhill, soloist, Musician barber (encored0; first selection of gems from Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, arrd. Godfrey; descriptive, “A Southern Wedding,” Lotter (encored); excerpts from “Greig’s Works” selection, “A Musical Jig-Saw,” arrd. Aston; a Military Tattoo by Col. Mackenzie Rogan, late Director of Music, Coldstream Guards; regimental march, “Blue Bonnets o’er the Border.”

TWEEDMOUTH NOTES

The annual picnic of the Tweedmouth Scotch Church Sunday School took place to Hawick on Tuesday (Mid-summer Day), by char-a-bancs. Never before has a Sunday school trip made this journey by buses, so one can imagine how pleased the youngsters greeted the idea and how they looked for the day to come. At about 8.30 in the morning the children began to gather at the church, and at nine o’clock about a hundred were marched down to the “Alley” in the West End, where eight buses were lined up. Never before has any party had a better send off than the 200 adults and children who made the journey. The West End was like a Feast Monday.

The journey was made via Coldstream, Kelso, Denholm and the outskirts of Jedburgh. At halt was made just a mile out of Hawick for dinner, but owing to a misunderstanding other arrangement had to be made and dinner was served in St. John’s Church Hall, in Hawick about one o’clock. After this the company adjourned to the Public Park, where races were held for the children and adults. The tug-of-war caused much excitement, especially among the older members. During the afternoon many took advantage of other amusements in the Park, such as bowling and putting. After the races many took the opportunity of visiting the War memorial and the Wilton Museum. About 5pm all sat down to tea in St John’s Hall.

Shortly after six a start was made for home after everybody had spent a most enjoyable day. A short halt was made in Kelso, and home was reached shortly after nine.

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