Nunthorpe Mothers' Union 1957

I hadn't realised we had this photograph - it goes rather nicely with previous posts about Nunthorpe Women's Institute, I think.

Nunthorpe Mothers' Union 1957

Women's Institute Drama Festival held at the Middlesbrough Little Theatre, 5 May 1956

Bolton-on-Swale
In Merry Wives of Windsor

F Crankshaw
J Gibson
R Heylings
R Hills
E Shield
K Barber
H Gibson
J Nelson
K Chapman
N Mason
J Hills
W K Gibson

Melsonby
In Mary Frobisher by F Sladen-Smith

K Dunn
N Hawitt
M Gregory
I Elliott
G Milner
G Simpson
M Dodsworth
J Morton

Guisborough
In Closed Windows by Nora Ratcliff

E Taylor
E Payne
M Pilkington
C Oliver
A Armin
K Jackson

Well & Snape
In Two of Us by Elma Verity and Jack Last

F Bell
G Sampson
F Nelson
M Craddock
J Dawson
D H Owen

Hutton Rudby
In Mad Hatters in Mayfair by Barbara Van Campen

I Shore
C Honeyman
A Atkinson
J Hardcastle
H Carpenter
R Swales
P Deacon
M C Reauley

Nunthorpe
In Staff Room by Albert Claydon

B Colwell
R Masters
J C Marr
M Stubbs
M Ballingall
P Bilton
K Marr
E Winney

North Cowton
In Women within Walls by A J Bradbury

G Stevenson
C Bainbridge
J Murray
M Marley
D Allison
A M Boddye

Hutton Bonville
In One Crowded Hour by Conrad Carter

K Donald
M Duffield
R Donald
M Andrews
M Bosomworth
D Bell
M Foster
D Porritt

Nunthorpe W.I. Drama Society, 30 May 1952

Appearing in Time out of Joint by Gerard McLarnon, The Bakehouse by J O Francis, and Tony by Kenneth Galloway:

Aline Baker
Muriel Ballingall
Kathleen Belas
Alf Blake
Beryl Colwell
Freda Cooke
Mahoney Crosthwaite
Gillian Doel
Jeff Flower
Helen Hastings
Monica Jackson
Donald Lowery
Olga Matthams
Betty Pearce
Tommy Pearce
Lesley Pearson
Molly Stubbs
Angela Winney
Elaine Winney
Sandra Winney

More W.I. drama from Nunthorpe and Great Smeaton

I think this must date from the 1930s as some of the names are the same as those listed in the WI concert of 1936.

Women's Institute drama at the Nunthorpe Institute, December 1936

Appearing in Wrong Numbers by Essex Dane, Mrs Biddlecombe and the Furriners by Geoffrey Whitworth and Symphony in Illusion by James Wallace Bell were:

Mrs H Chester
Mrs J J Hyde
Mrs H Ward
Miss Prince
Mrs G P Cook
Mrs J Ballingall
Mrs H Stubbs
Mrs MacGillivray
Mrs A Whinney
Mrs J Borrow
Mr H Chester
Mrs H Belk
Mrs Hedley

The married women are probably listed under their husbands' names; 'Mrs H Stubbs' certainly indicates Mary Stubbs, wife of Hugh.

The Nunthorpe Institute

An interesting item for those who remember the original Nunthorpe Institute, which was erected in 1920 in Connaught Road.  It had previously been an Army Hut in Stewart Park. 

The costs were met by setting up a limited company and issuing shares:

Share certificate for the Nunthorpe Institute

1851 Ecclesiastical Census for Gt Ayton, Nunthorpe, Stokesley and Hutton Rudby

On Sunday 30 March 1851, two censuses were taken.  One was the census of the entire population, and the other was the Ecclesiastical Census.  This was the only census of religious attendance in England and Wales ever taken by the state; it has never been repeated.

The results were analysed by the civil servant, Horace Mann (1823-1917) and his report was published in January 1854.

It is not possible to calculate from the returns the number of people who attended worship that day.  Instead, the census returns show how many attendances there were at each service (morning, afternoon and evening).

Many people will have attended more than one service and it was quite common for people to attend the service of one denomination in the morning and another in the afternoon or evening. 

The census was entirely voluntary, and not every church, chapel and meeting house sent in a return.  Some vicars felt that the state had no business making such an enquiry, and refused to complete the forms.

The total population was nearly 18 million. 7,261,032 attendances were recorded. 

Chapter 9. Mr Barlow & his Neighbourhood

Robert may have already visited his brother James in Hampshire, but it is possible that he had never set foot in England before his arrival in early 1831.

He was instituted vicar of Hutton Rudby on 3 January [1], and arrived in the parish a short while later [2], a young and energetic man dressed in the usual clothes of a gentleman – it was not then customary for clergymen to wear clerical dress. 

There was no parsonage house at Hutton Rudby.

Mr Grice had lived in Hutton and purchased property of his own in the parish, and Mr Shepherd seems to have rented Hutton House from Lady Amherst.  An earlier vicar, George Stainthorpe, had lived in Rudby "in a house which I farm of the Honourable Colonel", George Cary. 

Accompanied by his wife and possibly one of his spinster sisters to keep her company, Mr Barlow settled into a comfortable house a little way outside Enterpen.  This had previously been known as Suggitt's Grove, and had been the home of Benjamin David Suggitt, the gentlemanly yeoman farmer who had built the Primitive Methodists their chapel.  The planting of an avenue of lime trees had given rise to a new and more genteel name, Linden Grove, and it now belonged to Suggitt's nephew, Dr George Merryweather of Whitby.  Merryweather, who was the inventor of the  Tempest Prognosticator, a device using leeches in jars to forecast bad weather, let the property, with some additional farmland, to Mr Barlow.

The Live Bait Squadron, 1914

Midshipman Duncan Stubbs

Major Stubbs' fifteen-year-old son Duncan died on 22 September 1914.  There is a brass tablet in his memory in St Cuthbert's, Ormesby, and he is commemorated on the Nunthorpe War Memorial.

Duncan and fellow naval cadets had been taken out of Dartmouth Naval College at the outbreak of war and posted to armoured cruisers patrolling the area of the North Sea known as the Broad Fourteens.  When HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy were torpedoed by a German submarine in an action which lasted only 75 minutes, 13 of the 28 cadets lost their lives.

Survivors from the cruisers were picked up by Dutch and British trawlers - 837 were rescued, but 1,459 died.

Many of the men who died that day were reservists, who left young widows struggling to bring up small children.  Their families were to feel their loss for many years; indeed, in some cases the difficult circumstances they suffered left effects that are still felt today.

The wreck sites of the three cruisers are now highly valued, not only by the families, maritime archaeologists and historians but also by divers and ecologists, as they provide a vital habitat for sea life.

There was great concern recently when it was realised that the wrecks were under threat from salvage companies, sparking outrage and a protest campaign from the public in Holland and Britain.

The wrecks are also vulnerable to the debris left by fishing, and divers working with the Dive The North Sea Clean project regularly visit the wreck sites to rescue crabs, lobsters and fish trapped by fishing lines and nets.  A film showing their work can be seen here.

In September this year, Dutch author Henk van der Linden's excellent new book on the disaster Live Bait Squadron: Three Mass Graves off the Dutch coast was published in English and the book launch was held at Chatham, following a memorial service in Rochester Cathedral.  A very moving occasion.

And now a documentary film is being made about the wrecks, their history and their ecological importance today - visit the facebook page for details!

Nunthorpe-in-Cleveland War Memorial

The First World War Memorial for the village of Nunthorpe, south of Middlesbrough, stands near the Stokesley road.

It was unveiled on Saturday, 27 August 1921 by Sir Hugh Bell, Bart., C.B., the Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding.

The pencil notes in the right hand corner were made by Mr T.D.H. Stubbs, who had served as a Major during the War and lived with his family in Nunthorpe.  He was Company Secretary of Dorman, Long & Co and a friend of Sir Arthur Dorman.

He has sketched the positions to be taken by those participating.  Guides and Scouts were to stand on the left.  'Buglers' is written beside the small square.

Prayers were led by the Archdeacon of Cleveland, and Sir Arthur Dorman and Mr Burton spoke.  Another prayer followed the Unveiling by Sir Hugh Bell - and a prayer was inserted into the order at this point, according to the pencil note.  Buglers of the 4th Yorkshire Regiment played the Last Post.  

The hymns were 'O God, our help in ages past' and 'Onward, Christian Soldiers'.  The Rev. J. W. Roberts gave the blessing.  The buglers played the Reveille and the assembled company sang the National Anthem.

On the back of the service sheet, the names of the dead are listed.  They include Major Stubbs' 15 year old son, Midshipman John Duncan Stubbs.

Northumbrian (North Riding) Heavy Battery RGA before the War

Snapshots from Major Stubbs' album.
Unfortunately they are not dated and only a few names are recorded, but they are thought to be from a pre-War Camp some time in 1913 or 1914.

George W.W. Barnley (Middlesbrough solicitor) is second from left.
Francis Dalrymple (adjutant) is seated on the gun

Major Stubbs' daughter has added (years later) a note to this photograph:

"The Hairy Heels" (Horselines) (eight of these to each gun)

War Horse

Major Stubbs' horse, Jess.

Jess joined the North Riding Heavy Battery August 1914 at Monkseaton as the Battery Commander's Charger at the outbreak of war.
She went overseas with the Battery in April 1915.
She was wounded by a splinter of shell in May 1918.
She died at the Veterinary Clearing Station in May [or June, according to the note on the reverse of the photo] 1918.
Photo was taken at St Omer, February 1917

Driver J.F.S. Wallace was her groom.  He took her down to the Clearing Station and stayed with her till the end.

Nunthorpe in the early 20th century

Photographs and a sketch map of old Nunthorpe (Station - not old Nunthorpe Village) can be found on the Nunthorpe History Group website.

The sketch map identifies the houses of Duncan Stubbs and Gerald Cochrane, while the surrounding area can be seen more clearly on the old maps page of the site.

War begins - Nunthorpe, 1914

Thomas Duncan Henlock (“Duncan”) Stubbs was a 42 year old Middlesbrough solicitor when war broke out.  He lived with his wife and family in the little rural hamlet that had grown up around Nunthorpe railway station.  As a Captain in the Territorial Army in the Northumbrian (Heavy) Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, he was called up immediately.  

He began to keep a diary.  It begins on Tuesday 4 August 1914 and it is written in ink and pencil on lined foolscap paper.  It appears to be a fair copy, with additions and alterations, presumably (given the detail involved) from notes made at the time.  He was a methodical man.

Extracts from the first ten days of the diary follow.  They give a vivid picture of public reaction at the beginning of the War, on Teesside and Tyneside.


It begins with a summary of events in Europe:

1914.
Tuesday 4th August

For a week past there has been talk of war.  Austria’s declaration of War against Servia has started the ball rolling […]

Britain calls upon [Germany] to declare that the neutrality of Belgium shall be preserved.  Germany declines stating that to do so would disclose an important part of her plan of campaign […] 

The British fleet is fully mobilized, the reserves, even the Dartmouth cadets, are called up and about 7pm on Tuesday 4th August 1914 the order goes forth for the general mobilization of the whole British Army.

and then Duncan Stubbs begins to document his own experiences:

This is a purely personal account of my own doings as Captain in the Northumbrian North Riding Heavy Battery, which Battery I have had the honour of commanding for about 12 months past.