John Wild's rheumatism 1759

John Wild was a tenant of Barkers Row in 1829; this advertisement shows that there was a Robert Wild in the village eighty years earlier.  He evidently suffered from rheumatism:-

Caledonian Mercury, 12 September 1759

ANTISCORBUTIC PILLS

Made and prepared by L. LONG,

SURGEON,

At Mr John Edmonston's Goldsmith, Canongatehead, Hope's Land, Edinburgh,

An effectual Cure for the SCURVY, and all SCORBUTICK HUMOURS ..

and

Also prepared by L. LONG, Surgeon,

His SPECIFICK for the Cure of the RHEUMATISM, SCIATICA, or GOUT,

Which never fails in giving Relief, and for the most part compleats the Cure, when all other Medicines have failed.  It operates by Perspiration, and discharges such Humours as occasion the racking Pains in the Muscles, and restore a regular Circulation through the minutest Canals, and remove obstructions; and is of so innocent a Nature, that a Child may take it without Danger. 

"SIR, I Robert Wild, in Hutton rudby, Yorkshire, was confined in Bed, and not able to move any Part of my Body, being afflicted with the Rheumatism, I got one Box of your Pills and five Doses of your Medicine, and am now free from Pain,

As witness my Hand

ROBERT WILD"

Witness William Moody and John Bell

Haggitt Hill farms in 1805

York Herald, 8 December 1804

To be Let

On Wednesday the twelfth day of December, 1804, at the House of Mr Godfrey Hirst, Innholder, in Northallerton, between the hours of two and six o'Clock of the same day, subject to such Conditions as will be then and there produced; 

All that Farm, consisting of an excellent Dwelling-House, a Barn, Stables, Cow-houses, and other suitable Outbuildings adjoining thereto, with several Closes or Parcels of Arable, Meadow, and Pasture Ground, containing together 150 Acres or thereabouts, now in the occupation of Thomas Brignal. 

Also, All that other Farm, consisting of a very good Dwelling-house, a Barn, Stables, and other Outbuildings adjoining thereto, with several Closes or Parcels of Arable, Meadow and Pasture Ground, containing together 145 Acres or thereabouts, now in the occupation of John Brigham. 

Both the above Farms are situate within a Ring-Fence at Haggatt-Hill, in the parish of Hutton Rudby, in Cleveland, and pay a small Modus in lieu of Hay Tithe. 

N.B.  The Tenants will show the Premises, and for further Particulars apply to Mr Dinsdale, of Middleham, the Owner; or Mr Calvert, Land-Surveyor, in Richmond.

Haggitt Hill lies to the west of the A19 and is near to East Rounton, which was then part of Hutton Rudby parish.

Godfrey Hirst was the landlord of the Golden Lion in Northallerton.

Wheelbarrow theft in 1850

York Herald, 13 April 1850

A Court report:

Henry Muselwaite (36), pleaded Guilty to stealing, on the 22nd of March, at Hutton Rudby, a wheelbarrow, the property of William Farnaby.  To be imprisoned and kept to hard labour one month.

York Herald, 2 May 1868: news from Middlesbrough and Redcar

York Herald, 2 May 1868

Middlesbro'

FATAL ACCIDENT - Yesterday week, an inquest was held at Middlesbro', on the body of Thomas Thompson, aged twenty-four, a painter, who, on the previous night, fell from a scaffold thirty-six feet in height, at the United Methodist Free Church, now being erected in Newport-road, Middlesbro', thereby fracturing his skull, from which injury he died.  A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned.  Deceased has left a wife and two children. 

CHORAL SOCIETY - The first concert of this newly-formed society was given before a large and fashionable audience in the Odd Fellows' Hall, yesterday evening week.  The band and chorus comprised 100 performers, under the conductorship of Mr Groenings, and the leadership of Mr John Wood.  The pieces selected were principally from the great masters, Beethoven, Handel, Gounod, and old English composers, and were ably executed.  The Hallelujah Chorus was given with great force and precision.  A violin solo by Mr Wood was rapturously encored.  The tenor solos were sung by Mr John Hart. 

THE IRISH CHURCH - A lecture on this subject was given before a tolerably large audience in the Odd Fellows' Hall, on Monday evening, by the Rev V H Moyle, curate of North Ormesby.  The Mayor occupied the chair.  The lecture was in substance the same as that given at North Ormesby and noticed in the Herald last week.  The lecturer encountered some little opposition from the Liberals present.  A vote of thanks to the lecturer concluded the proceedings. 

PETTY SESSIONS - On Monday, before the Mayor and H Thompson and J Harris, Esqrs., a number of sailors belonging to the Fatfold of Sunderland, were brought up on a charge of smuggling about five pounds of tobacco on board that vessel.  Thomas Bell, officer of Customs, proved the discovery of the tobacco, which all the men refused to acknowledge.  Ultimately, however, Henry Fish, fireman, owned to having smuggled the tobacco, and the other men were released from custody.  Fish was ordered to pay a fine of £3 18s, including costs. 

James Conway was summoned under the new Masters and Servants Act, for refusing to work as requested by his master, John Rushford, builder, on the 24th ult.  The case was proved against the defendant, who was ordered to pay a fine of 20s., or undergo fourteen days' imprisonment. 

Patrick Hickey, puddler, was summoned for assaulting his wife, on the 25th ult.  The latter proved that she had been subjected to gross ill-usage from her husband, who was committed to two months' hard labour. 

John Hallman, labourer, was charged with stealing a bag of potatoes, the property of John Pickersgill, on the 25th ult.  The case was fully made out and the prisoner sentenced to one month's imprisonment. 

Mary Wade was charged with stealing a quantity of coals from the works of Hopkins, Gilkes, and Company, on the 26th ult.  The bench were of opinion that the parents of the prisoner, who was only twelve years of age, were more to blame than their child, whom they accordingly discharged.

York Herald, 2 May 1868

Redcar

New Schools at Coatham 

On Saturday, Mr Arthur Henry Turner Newcoman [sic] laid the foundation stone of the Turner Free School at Coatham.  For many years, the Turner Schools at Kirkleatham Hall have been in an undesirable condition; in fact, they have fallen into a state of desuetude. Recently, the trustees of Sir Wm Turner obtained land at Coatham for new schools, and conveyed the old buildings at Kirleatham Hall to the present resident, Mr Newcomen.   

A large number of persons assembled on Saturday to witness the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone.  Immediately on leaving the Redcar Railway Station, persons were attracted to the site for the schools by flags flying in a field to the west.  At twelve o'clock, the proceedings were commenced by the Rev Robt Lay Page, incumbent of Coatham, offering up prayer.  A psalm was then sung by the church choir, after which a short service was intoned.  Mr Joseph Dodds, of Stockton, then presented Mr A H T Newcomen, Kirkleatham Hall, lord of the manor, and chairman of the trustees of the school, with a beautiful silver trowel, bearing an appropriate inscription. 

Mr Newcomen then formally laid the stone, after which he said he trusted that the building they had commenced so successfully would be completed in safety, and that, as an institution, it would long flourish.  The intentions of the founder, he trusted, would be carried out in their entirety.  A psalm was then sung, and the proceedings terminated.   

The schools will be erected in the Gothic style, and will be 103 feet 6 inches long, 52 feet wide, and four stories high.  There will be ample accommodation for a number of boarders.  The main front of the building will face Coatham Road, and at the gable end there will be a lofty tower.  A large dining hall and a covered play shed will be on the ground floor, immediately over which will be the school-room, with open timber roof, and class-rooms in the rear to the south.  There will also be a commodious residence for the master.  The entire cost of the building will be under £4,000.

John Richardson of Hutton Rudby (1821-92), proprietor of the Seaham Weekly News

Sunderland Daily Echo & Shipping Gazette, 2 May 1910

Not many readers of the Seaham Weekly News might have noticed on Friday last that that day's issue of that quaint little journal was number 2,601.  Such, however, was the case, and the paper has entered upon its second half century.  Its jubilee was on April 22nd, and so modest is its proprietor that the anniversary was allowed to pass without any reference to the interesting fact in its own columns. 

The Seaham Weekly News, and Seaton, Murton, Hetton, Rainton and Houghton-le-Spring Advertiser, to give it its full title, was begun in 1860 by the late Mr John Richardson, when the harbour was filled with sailing ships and the Rainton Collieries – now laid in – were in all their glory and contributing materially to the prosperity of the port.  As years roll on they bring their changes, and the changes in newspaper production during the past half century have been among the most striking in our national progress, but the Seaham Weekly has gone serenely on its own way, and is the same to-day as it was when it first appeared.  It is a local paper and claims to be nothing more, and it, at least, cannot be accused of sensationalism.  On the death of Mr Richardson it was carried on by his widow and their son, the late Mr Harrop Wight Richardson, and it is conducted to-day, together with an old-established printing and stationery business, by Mr Stephen Richards.  It is now printed by a machine driven by a gas engine, but there is still in the office on the North Terrace the old hand press from which it was first sent forth.  As a record of passing events it fills its place in the town it has served so long, and though it may be, in some respects, obscure it is posted to many parts of the world where former inhabitants of Seaham have made homes, and is by them highly valued.

I was recently contacted by a reader, Clare Abbott, who told me of an interesting family diary in her possession.  Her own piece on the diary in the Journal of the Northumberland & Durham Family History Society can be read online here, and it tells the very interesting story of the diary of Eleanor Richardson (1825-1905) of Seaham Harbour, wife of the John Richardson mentioned in the piece above.

But for the purposes of this blog, the main interest is John's link with Hutton Rudby – which might incidentally help anyone trying to disentangle the Richardsons who lived in the village in the mid 19th century!

Eleanor Wight recorded that she married John Richardson of Hutton Rudby on 20 June 1848 in the church of Dalton-le-Dale, the Revd J Brown officiating.  John was then 27.  The following year, on 7 July 1849 at 2.30am, his mother Elizabeth died at Hutton Rudby.

John and Eleanor settled at Seaham Harbour where they ran a shop and started the Seaham Weekly News.

I think John was probably the son of John & Elizabeth Richardson who lived in Enterpen.  The 1841 census shows:

John Richardson 45, general mechanic
Elizabeth Richardson 45
John Richardson 20
Jane Richardson 15
James Richardson 13
Robert Richardson 8

(All were born in Yorkshire)

Clare tells me that when Eleanor died in 1905 she left £50 each to her nieces Hannah and Emma Richardson of Darlington.

I think there are two prominent figures associated with the Seaham Weekly News.

Thomas Summerbell (1861-1910), first Labour MP for Sunderland, was one of them,  His story is told by Chris Mullin (author, journalist and former MP for Sunderland) here.  Summerbell was, he says, "apprenticed to a printer on the Seaham Weekly News".  This printer must have been John Richardson himself; in the 1881 Census he is described as a "master printer".

After serving his apprenticeship, Summerbell went to work as a journeyman printer in Felling and then Jarrow.  He became interested in politics and was elected in 1906 as one of the 29 original members of the Parliamentary Labour Party.  His main concerns were, explains Chris Mullins, "the dreadful condition of the labouring classes":

"A glance through Hansard shows him asking questions about the education of paupers, deaths by starvation in Whitechapel, the wages of labourers at Kew Gardens and the incidence of TB in the army."  

He died untimely at the age of 48.

The other significant figure was the journalist and independent Irish Nationalist MP, Captain Daniel Desmond ("D.D.") Sheehan (1873-1948).

The Seaham Weekly News was one of the local newspapers to carry his anonymous weekly column ("The War and Westminster") during the 1914-18 War.  Sheehan's party, the All-For-Ireland-League Party, aimed to achieve Home Rule through reconciliation and consent of the people, but he nevertheless believed it was his duty to fight in the War and he and four other Irish Nationalist volunteers joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers.  His story is told in the stories of Parliamentarians in the First World War.

For more on Seaham itself, visit the the Seaham Family History Group website.

Women's Institute Drama in the 1930s and 1950s

I have posted previously on the Nunthorpe Women's Institute Drama Group – here, here, here and here.  (I should add that this is Nunthorpe near Middlesbrough, to avoid any confusion).

I've just come across some press cuttings relating to the group, which might be of interest.

Unfortunately, they're not dated!

There is a 1930s clipping relating to the performance of Nine till Six – which featured in the programme shown here and starred Mrs Hedley, Mrs H Stubbs, Mrs Baker, Mrs Steel, Mrs Ballingall and Mrs Borrow – which says

Nunthorpe produced A. and P. Stuart's Nine till Six, revealing a real sense of the stage, with a poise seldom shown by amateurs.  The adjudicator said she had nothing but praise for the performance.  Each of the characters held the balance, so that real unity was achieved, and there was a gratifying absence of over-acting or exaggeration.

 Another 1930s clipping from the W.I. Drama Festival is headlined "Adjudicator praises Nunthorpe Team", and begins

Nunthorpe team was praised for the ease and spontaneity of its acting by the adjudicator, Mr Jack Charlton, of London, at the non-competitive Women's Institute inter-county drama festival in the Rowntree Theatre, York, on Saturday.  They presented Symphony in Illusion, and Mr Charlton said that by bringing their imagination to bear, they had made effective a play that was an attempt to be clever, but that did not quite come off. 

Two other Yorkshire teams, Escrick and Ingleby Arncliffe, took part.  Escrick gave The Thrice Promised Bride, which, Mr Charlton pointed out, required an extremely difficult technique.  He praised the settings, costumes and acting, but said it would have been improved had the mime been as firmly handled as the words.  Ingleby Arncliffe performed Michael. 

West Auckland, who produced the first scene from King Lear, were criticised for their choice, the adjudicator remarking, "Of all the scenes in the whole of Shakespeare's plays I cannot imagine any that needs the heavier music of the male voice more than this one,"

 Another clipping (a very grainy newspaper photograph, I'm afraid) from the 1930s:-

Caption:  Members of Nunthorpe Women's Institute in a scene from Martha and Mary, a New Testament play which they presented in St Mary's Church, Nunthorpe, yesterday.  On stage are Muriel Ballingall (as Martha), Olga Matthams (Mary), Lesley Hownam (Sara) and Molly Stubbs (Ruth).

The full newspaper caption for the 1939 photograph shown below is

Nunthorpe W.I. members in Paolo and Francesca, which they presented in the Yorkshire Federation of Women's Institute's drama competitions which concluded at York on Saturday.

Nunthorpe W.I. members in Paolo and Francesca 1939

and underneath the photograph Molly Stubbs has written

Drama Cup for Yorkshire won by us for 3rd time 1939

M. Stubbs as Paolo with E. Cameron as Francesca & E. Whinney as Giovanni

Another cutting (with a grainy photo) is captioned 'Rehearsing for the Festival'.  It looks as though it dates from the post-War period, 1940s or early 1950s:-

Kathleen Belas (as Sister Paul), A. Blake (Patsy), Mahoney Crossthwaite (Sister Gabriella), and Molly Stubbs (Sister Annunciata) in a rehearsal scene from Time Out of Joint, which Nunthorpe Players willl present at the British Drama League (Teesside area) annual festival of one-act plays, starting in St John's Hall, Middlesbrough, tomorrow and continuing for the rest of the week. 

This cutting from the 1950s is captioned

Nunthorpe W.I. in a scene from There's Rue For You, presented at the Yorkshire Federation of Women's Institute's drama festival at York on Saturday

and I find that we have a good photograph of it in an old family album, but I'm afraid I have no names to attach.  There's Rue For You was a one-act play by Margaret Turner, published in 1950.

Nunthorpe Women's Institute Drama Group
in 'There's Rue For You'

Revd Barlow advertises for a farm manager, 1855

Even in this short advertisement, somehow Mr Barlow's distinctive voice can be heard:

York Herald, 7 April 1855

Wanted, at May-Day, a HIND, to take Charge of a FARM.  A Man and his Wife only, would be preferred.  No Stock but his Horses to attend to. - Apply, Pre-paid, to Rev R J Barlow, Rudby Vicarage, near Yarm