New & Good Things: Alfred Hopkinson, 1930

Alfred Hopkinson (1851-1939)

When Alfred Hopkinson, barrister, academic, MP and keen alpinist, wrote his memoirs in 1930, he ended one chapter with three lists.  He was 80 years old and looking back over the changes he had seen since he was a boy.  Here are his lists – perhaps readers will be inspired to make their own.

New & Good Things

Electric Lighting
New Universities
Short Skirts
Third Class on Express Trains
Telephones
Typewriting
Bathrooms with Hot & Cold Water
Underground Electric Tubes
Trained Nurses
Merciful Administration of Criminal Law
Mixed Bathing
Improved Sanitation
Woollies for Children
Boy Scouts
Girl Guides
Taxi-cabs
Afternoon Tea
Spring Wire Mattresses
The Salvation Army
Improved Anaesthetics
Antiseptic Surgery
Lawn Tennis
Sunday Opening of Libraries and Museums
Grape Fruit
Co-operative Holidays
Push Bikes
Lavatory Carriages
Flannel Shorts for Men
Charity Organization
Better Architecture
More Platonic Friendships
Wireless Telegraphy
Lighter Meals
Less Drunkenness
Workers' Educational Association
Wider Knowledge on Sex Matters
Garden Cities
Sun-bathing
Cushions in Third-class Carriages
More Daffodils
Pneumatic Tyres
The National Trust

Cockfighting in Hutton Rudby & Stokesley

In 1903 Richard Blakeborough (1850-1918), celebrated collector of North Riding folklore, wrote an article for a cheery weekly family newspaper called the Northern Weekly Gazette about cockfighting in the village of Hutton Rudby.

Cockfight in London: c1808

He had written on the subject before and he knew that cockfights hadn't stopped as soon as they were banned in England in 1835 (they haven't stopped yet), but now he had been contacted by Richard Robinson, a 68 year old retired farmer living in Old Battersby, who had anecdotes to tell him.

You can see from his article that Blakeborough enjoys the old North Riding dialect most of all.  He was a dialect enthusiast, well known for his recitations and writings.  

He begins

As late as 1850, many a main was fought in or near to that village on a good Sunday morning.  And one Robert Dorking, a weaver about that date, possessed a bird of such note that on many occasions it was matched to fight some of the best birds in the North.  These contests came off somewhere in Newcastle, whither Dorking tramped from Rudby with his bird. 

(Robert Dorking's name was actually Robert Dalking, so I'll alter the name accordingly from now on)

The people of Hutton Rudby always knew, even before Dalking got out of the bed the next morning, when his bird had won.

"It was like in this way," 

said Richard Robinson, 

"when Dalking's cocks lost, for he sometimes used to hug as many as four on his back – his missus used to come out with her head lapp'd up in a shawl, looking that dowly and never a word for nobody.  She used to creep along with her head down, an' were as cross as a bear with a sore head.  But when Dalking came home victorious, she was out with her best hood, fleeing all over the village to spread the good news; there was no ho'ding her back at such times."

Christmas recipes from Hutton Rudby, 1896

The Northern Weekly Gazette was a cheery weekly newspaper with editions published in Middlesbrough, Guisborough, South Bank, Stockton, Darlington and West Hartlepool.  Advertisements declared that

"The Northern Weekly Gazette is the most interesting and readable penny weekly paper in the North, and contains as much general reading as many shilling books"

It certainly was popular among Hutton Rudby families.  It only cost a penny and there was something in it for everybody – national and local news, local sports reports, household hints, recipes, jokes, serialised stories, pages for children, contributions welcomed and prizes to be won.

Mary Williams and her family were keen readers of the Gazette.  She was born in about 1856 in Hovingham and was married to a Welshman, Thomas Williams, who was coachman for the Blair family at Drumrauch Hall, their country house a little way outside Hutton Rudby.  Some time between the summer of 1895 (when their daughter Gladys was born) and the beginning of December 1896, the Williams family moved from Norton-on-Tees to one of the cottages by the entrance to the Hall on Belbrough Lane.  

Drumrauch Hall, O.S map revised 1911 
National Library of Scotland

These are two Christmas recipes sent in to the newspaper by Mrs Williams in 1896:

Northern Weekly Gazette, Saturday, December 5, 1896 

Christmas Mince Meat

Six nice apples, 2 lb currants, 1 lb Sultana raisins, 1 lb stoned raisins, 1½ lb moist sugar, ½ lb candied peel, 1 lb suet, 1 teaspoonful mixed spice, the rind of two lemons, the juice of one, 2 tablespoonfuls of orange marmalade, 1 teacupful of brandy; chop the apples and suet very fine, grate the lemons, mix all well together, press into a stone jar, cover air-tight; ready for use in a fortnight

A Good Family Christmas Pudding

1 lb breadcrumbs, ½ lb flour, 1 lb currants, 1lb Sultana raisins, 1 lb Muscatel raisins, 1 lb suet, 1 lb moist sugar, ½ lb mixed peel, 6 eggs well beaten, the rind and juice of a lemon, 2 oz powdered almonds, 1 teaspoonful of mixed spice, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 teaspoonful ground ginger, 1 glass of brandy.  Mix all well together; boil for 8 hours.   

Mrs Williams, Drumrauck Cottage, Hutton Rudby, Yarm

Thomas and Mary spent the rest of their lives in Hutton Rudby.  They are buried in the churchyard there.