Sunderland Antiquarian

Society

Newsletter

July/August 2012

Delivering Anderson shelters in Ford Estate 1939

A busy Fawcett Street 1962

Antiquarian News

WE ARE MOVING!!!! We are pleased to announce that next month the society is moving to new premises at 6 Douro Terrace, Sunderland , SR2 7DX (just up from the Civic Centre). We will be making the move during August and the archives will be open officially from Sat 1st September and EVERY Saturday thereafter from 9.30am –noon. – Once settled in, we intend

opening the archives at least one other morning during the week for both members and visitors. The move had become necessary because of the growing amount of archive material on the city that the society now has. Donations of items from the public continue to pour in and sadly, because of lack of storage space, our premises in the Minster are no longer large enough to allow easy access by anyone wanting to research. Our new premises has a number of large rooms and this means that we will be able to set out and present the archives in a much more user-friendly manner and items will be able to be found more easily for visitors. We also intend to have a number of free-standing photographic exhibitions on display in the premises which will cover different aspects of the city’s heritage e.g. shipbuilding, churches, shops, pubs, sport etc. The venue for the society’s monthly talks is also changing. These will now take place ON THE THIRD TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH at St George’s United Reformed Church which is on the corner of StocktonRoad/Belvedere Road. The time is also slightly earlier with the talks commencing at 7.30pm. Doors will be open at 7.10pm for refreshments. Our first illustrated talk of the new season will commence at St. George’s on Tuesday, 18th September at 7.30pm so please do come along and support the society. Non-members are most welcome. 18th Sept ‘A Look at Wearside’s Murderous Past. The Murderer next door’ by NORMAN KIRTLAN Please note that there is a free car park close by in Gorse Road just up from the church. (free from 6pm) and the Civic Centre car park is also close to both St George’s and Douro Terrace.

6 Douro Terrace

NB The archives at The Minster will still be open fortnightly during August i.e. 4th and 18th August before opening every week in 6 Douro Terrace from 1st September. Do come along and support your society. It is one of the oldest heritage societies in the country, being established in 1899. Our membership is growing rapidly and, at Douro Terrace, we hope to be able to provide the city with a heritage and antiquarian centre that the people of Sunderland can be proud of. The Society’s membership continues to grow, locally, nationally and overseas. The research mornings are very well attended so do please come along – assistance and guidance is always at hand. The monthly evening talks are also being well attended. The society’s website goes from strength to strength and can be accessed at:

www.sunderland-antiquarians.org

The site has a ‘Members Only’ area which current members can log in to with their password. Non-members do not have access to this part of the site. Any members who have not yet received their password should simply send an email to the Secretary of the society, Philip Curtis, at P11cur@aol.com and a password will duly be issued. New articles, photos and features are being uploaded into this area on a weekly basis so do keep accessing this part of the website.

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Sir Walter Raleigh and The Echo Boy

I wonder how many Wearsiders can recall the small carved figures of ‘Sir Walter Raleigh’ and the ‘Echo Boy’ which stood in different parts of the town throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Every day thousands of Wearsiders passed the brightly-painted carving of Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) which stood on the top of a brick column outside the Holmeside offices of John Nelson and Son, roofing contractors, without probably realizing who it was that the figure represented. Actually Sir Walter had stood on his plinth in Holmeside since 1913 whilst the face of the town changed around him. The design and carving of this statue was carried out by John Frazer, a Sunderland carver and gilder and the figure was made in Kyle’s workshop in Back Nile Street for Newbiggin’s Tobacco shop in High Street East. In 1913 around 23 years after John Frazer’s carving was first displayed in Sunderland, Nelsons were called in to repair Newbiggin’s roof. It was at that time they acquired the figure and it was moved then to Holmeside where it was to remain. Sir Walter had a number of narrow squeaks. In 1956 a British Road Services lorry ran into him and

he ended up with severe injuries to a foot. A broken arm was also repaired before reinstatement. Another accident, also involving a passing lorry, loosened his foundations and it was decided to have him overhauled. During repairs, a new cloak, new toes and a new hat brim were fitted. The colours used in painting Sir Walter were authentic. They were checked for Nelson’s from Elizabethan records by the Sunderland Museum. The figure was five feet six inches tall and was a reminder of the sailor courtier, who was apparently ‘a tall and handsome person with caressing manners, a quick wit and pleasing to the Queen.’

Sir Walter on his plinth outside Nelsons in Holmeside

It is believed that there were THREE copies of the Echo Boy statue made. These were carved in the late 1870s by Tom Lackenby, one of two Sunderland brothers who became famous for their sculptures at the end of the nineteenth century. Apparently one wintry afternoon, Bill Lackenby, Tom’s brother was passing the High Street Baths when he saw a boy dressed in a tailcoat which trailed the ground, a torn cap perched on his uncut hair and with toes sticking out of his burst boots. The boy was taken to the workshop and from several sketches, the brothers between them made three of the statues, each weighing almost one and a half hundredweight. One was believed to have been sold to someone in Houghton and was last heard of standing in a garden at Broomhill, Hetton. Another stood for over half a century in John Wilson’s sculptor’s yard in Villette Road and could be readily seen there by passers-by. The third, apparently, is somewhere in the south of England. It was sold to a Mrs Penney in an auction in 1957 for £14. It seems that it MUST have been taken south by someone from Sunderland. For a number of years Mrs Penney had the Echo Boy in her front garden in Cosham, a suburb of Portsmouth, before moving to Gosport and later to Alverstoke in 1963. There the statue formed the central figure of her ornamental garden for many years. HOWEVER, where are the four statues today? Well it appears that one of the Echo boys stands in the foyer of the Sunderland Echo office at

Pennywell, but the whereabouts of the other two and indeed the whereabouts of Sir Walter Raleigh is unknown. They must be out there. Can anyone help? If so do contact the Society’s secretary, Phil Curtis, email: P11cur@aol.com P.S. It was not the Echo Boy alone which brought fame to the Lackenbys. The carvings on the front of the Sunderland Town Hall were among the examples of Bill Lackenby’s work and his brother, Tom, carved the figure of Britannia which stood in Mowbray Park. Tom spent 20 years in the United State , his craftsmanship was much in demand and he did several intricate carvings in the White House. PC

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Corruption in 19th Century Sunderland By George Patterson

Corruption has featured regularly in the news over the last few years and we have all been shocked by the

exposure of fiddling, bribery and general self-seeking that government representatives have been up to.

Perhaps the shock is so great because we have always thought that British Government wasn’t tainted

with the sort of practices which are only too common in many, even most, countries of the world.

However, if we look back a bit, we find that our local government’s clean reputation is comparatively

recent.

In 1842 Edwin Chadwick produced a huge report on the ‘Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring

Population,’ which not only showed the miserable and filthy state of the country’s large towns but also

criticized local authorities, water and gas companies and just about every other body involved for the

worst kinds of corruption and profiteering at the expense of the ordinary people.

The statue of The Echo Boy sold at auction in 1957

His report was a major factor in getting the Public Health Act of 1848 passed which led to a host of local

enquiries which confirmed and emphasised Chadwick’s conclusions. For example, at the end of 1849

Robert Rawlinson was sent to investigate the health of Sunderland and in 1851 his report was published.

The Sunderland Report gives a fascinating picture of how people lived (and died) then – the state of the

houses, the sewerage (or lack of it), the diseases and in general the huge problems in Sunderland, a town

which was growing so fast that it was overwhelming for those responsible for running it.

The Corruption:-

One of the interesting bits of evidence given at the enquiry was from a man called James Williams on the

practices of Sunderland’s local gas company. Williams was then one of the leading radicals in the town

who only a few years before had gone to jail for six months (along with George Binns of the local drapery

family) for his fiery agitation for the vote for the working man. Later on Williams became the proprietor

of the Sunderland Times newspaper and was himself elected to the town council, eventually becoming an

alderman.

So what was the local government situation in the 1840s?

Sunderland had had a town council from 1836 but it didn’t have the powers a council has today. It had

NO responsibility for lighting, water supply, drainage and sewerage or anything like that. These belonged

to much older bodies, The Improvement Commissioners, in each of the townships of Monkwearmouth,

Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland. These Improvement Commissioners levied rates in their areas and

were responsible for providing the services: for example they would contract with the Gas Company to

provide street lights and the gas for them.

So what was James Williams complaining about? Well the cost for a start. At 7/6d per 1000 cubic ft.

the charge for gas was outrageously high and so were the costs of the lights and fittings and nothing the

Town Council could say would get the price lowered. Not surprising really, since a majority of the acting

Commissioners of Sunderland and Bishopwearmouth were shareholders and directors of the Sunderland

Gas Company as well.

In 1845 people were so fed up with the high charges that a new Gas Company was formed. In those days

you had to get an Act of Parliament to set up such a company and the new company’s application to

Parliament was backed up by petitions from gas consumers and ratepayers. But the Commissioners of

Sunderland and Bishopwearmouth united to oppose the bill (and a second Bill attempting to set up a new

water company). The petition against the new gas company was signed officially by 15 Commissioners

and claimed that the old gas company was doing a grand job and that it was quite capable of extending

the supply to meet any future demand. Hardly surprising really, since of the 15 supposedly impartial

Commissioners no less than 13 were shareholders or directors of the old gas company!

Fortunately their efforts failed and Parliament allowed the creation of a new gas company (and a new

water company the same year which eventually became the Sunderland South Shields Water Company)

However the Commissioners’ opposition had cost the ratepayers of Sunderland £3000and the directors of

the new company another £6000.

But they weren’t finished yet! The old gas company was forced by competition to reduce its charges by

nearly half but it was still the responsibility of the Commissioners to see to the lighting of the town. Now

that there were two companies, it should have been put out to tender, you would think. Not in

Sunderland, it wasn’t. They just carried on getting their gas from the old company. In Bishopwearmouth

they did ask for tenders but then accepted the one from the old company even though it was 10% higher

than that of the new company.

James Williams also gave us another example of the Commissioners way of working. The year after the

above events the Commissioners had reason to believe that they themselves might be abolished and their

powers passed to the Town Council. So they said that they ought to immediately have a ‘pleasant’

winding up of certain claims the old gas company had on them. To the Sunderland Commission the gas

company submitted a claim for £307 allegedly for pipes, lamps, services etc going back 14 years. Initially

this was defeated but then another motion was carried which stated that the bill should be paid

immediately without examination. SURPRISE, SURPRISE – every Commissioner who voted for this was

a shareholder in the gas company!

It was corruption and the situation was a mess with whole areas of Sunderland unlit and other areas lit

only by oil lamps even though the company’s mains were there in the streets. In addition, most lamps

were also turned out well before daylight.

The only remedy was to get rid of the whole rotten system and that was done in 1851 when the Borough

of Sunderland Act swept away all the ancient bodies and put the power where it ought to have been –

with the Town Council, where the providers of services were responsible to the consumers through

regular local elections.

No system is perfect and possibly there will always be people who will fiddle and line their own pockets

but men like James Williams, who at the time were called agitators and troublemakers, helped make

Sunderland a bit more civilized and those running it a lot more responsible.

Ironically one of the early victims of the change was James Williams himself. In 1850 he was elected to

the council and in his election campaign of 1853 a pamphlet was circulated in the town claiming that,

contrary to the law, James Williams was profiteering from printing public baths tickets for the Council

and covering it up by having the bills sent in by another printer.

Ah Well, no system’s perfect.

And Yes it WAS the same James Williams who had a street and school named after him in the east end of

Sunderland. – Jimmy Willies.

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Wetherells

In 1961 the Bailey Organisation opened a new nightclub in 13 The Green in

Bishopwearmouth. The name they decided to call their club was

‘Wetherells’ after the family that had run a school of dancing there for over

a century.

John Anthony Wetherell had come from Durham where he had his school of

dancing in the Assembly Rooms in the South Bailey in 1792. He first opened

his school in Sunderland in the Assembly Garth in the East End and from

there he moved up to 13 The Green with his wife, four daughters and two

sons where he carried on his exclusive school of dancing with the help of all

the family, also forming an orchestra.

After John’s death the school was carried on by his son, also called John

Anthony, who gave lessons on the violin. He was also choirmaster for many

years at St. Peters Church which was situated in Green Street. John Jnr died

in 1918 and his only child, a daughter, Elizabeth Thomasine, decided to

carry on the school. She tried, without much success to teach the more

modern dances such as fox-trot, one-step and modern waltz which her father

had thought much too undignified and would not teach. One of the

neighbours, Mrs Kirton, who lived at No. 12 at that time recalled the school under Elizabeth: “I well

remember as a very small child being taken to look

through a small window, unseen, at the marvelous scene

in the ballroom of the ladies and gentlemen of the town,

in full evening dress with officers of the Army and Navy

resplendent in full dress uniform and dancing to the

strains of music from the orchestra formed by the Lax

family of Sunderland.”

Miss Wetherell carried on teaching until 1932 and then

concentrated on letting the rooms which had been

greatly modernized, for private dances, until 1961 when

she retired at the age of 85 to live in St. Bede’s Terrace

until her death at the age of 92. No 13 The Green was

then leased to the Bailey Organisation, which was

allowed to use the name Wetherell for its club, a name

which for so many years had held such a high reputation in the dancing world. PC

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Non conformist Burial Grounds of Old Sunderland Finding records relating to our long gone ancestors can sometimes be a chore, but once we find that

elusive birth marriage or death, there is another question that needs to be answered – where were they

buried? For Anglican ancestors, this is relatively easy, but for those with non conformist grandparents,

the trail can often go cold. Quakers – or Friends as they were often called had a particularly difficult time during their early years.

Thankfully, they were a pretty wealthy bunch with big back gardens. Just as well, as this was where

many of them were interred when the not-so-Christian clergy closed their doors to them.

John Anthony Wetherell in

1863

The orchard of Christopher Trewhitt in West Boldon, was probably the first official burial ground for

the Quakers, and in 1657, a Sunderland couple, Roger and Elenor (sic) Harper, were laid to rest

underneath the apple trees there. They were two of thirteen other souls who were later found reposing in

this quiet haven.

In 1670, a parcel of land was purchased for burials at the Pannfields, in Bishopwearmouth, (later

accessed from Garden Street) but while the Friends could rest in death, in life their torment continued

unabated. A new Meeting House at the north of High Street was demolished by a lawless rabble in 1688.

Tolerance came grudgingly, and at the beginning of the eighteenth century, new premises were built,

although the windows were conveniently placed around twelve feet from ground level – just in case. Over

300 Friends were interred in the new burial ground, and its service stretched for a period of 153 years.

These remains were later exhumed and in 1923 reburied in Bishopwearmouth Cemetery.

A word of warning for those searching the headstones of Pannfield Quaker ancestors – don’t! Thinking

that the practice of fancy headstones distinguished between rich and poor, they were all removed in 1766.

In 1822, new premises and burial grounds were opened in Nile Street. This served until 1857 and

around 100 bodies were laid to rest here.

Congregational ancestors are more central in their resting place, but no less elusive when it comes to the

laying of flowers. The Bethel Chapel was erected in 1817, in Villiers Street, complete with a rather novel

way of disposing of their dearly departed. Underground vaults, long and narrow, with alleyways arched

over by brickwork, were accessed by one set of steps concealed under an iron plate.

It was once speculated that the vaults were built thus to deter body snatchers, but as half the brats in the

East End knew, it was a simple matter to force the grate and meet the dead face to face, laid one on top of

the other as they decomposed. Six feet of earth on top of a coffin was a far more secure means of

protecting one’s ancestor from Burke and Hare’s boys. During the summer months, when the vaults were

opened to accommodate a recently departed body, the stench emanating from within was one of the

biggest nuisances that existed in Sunderland.

Around 409 persons were interred here in a period of only 23 years. The first, on 14th

November 1826,

was spinster Jane Hardcastle of 26 High

Street. Her neighbour Robert Finkle of 22

High Street was the last occupant in 1854.

Dundas Street Independent Chapel was built

in 1833. It had a small burial ground which

was used until 1850. Records are elusive, but

some of the Barbary Coasters buried here

include: “Mr. Leithead,

shipbuilder, buried under the window at the

top end”; “Mrs. Thompson, a member of the

church”, “George Spraggon, mariner”,

“Several children of Mr and Mrs Wrightson,

buried in a vault,” and the last occupant:

“David Kitts, the eldest son of John Kitts,

librarian,” in 1850.

Years later, the site was cemented over and

the Thompson Memorial Hall built in its

place.

Baptist ancestors were present in

Sunderland from around 1797, and their first

meeting place was on the Low Street, near

Black Bull Quay. They were buried to the east

of the Quakers burial ground, but during the

building of new shops in High Street East, the

bones of long gone Baptists were uncovered

and shamefully disposed of in a most

unorthodox manner. A cart full of jumbled ancestors were collected and used as foundations for one of

the new shops, much to the annoyance of the more superstitious of the new occupants.

On 25th

September 1798, a new chapel was built in Sans Street, and the pastors there (Mr. Bigg, Mr.

Alexander Wilson and latterly Mr. Alexander McCormack) enjoyed the privilege of being interred

behind the building.

In 1853 it was decided by the Baptist Elders that burials should continue there for all but those who

died of “pestilential diseases.” Also resolved was the fact that each new grave be eight feet deep, to make

room for the next chap, and that the gravedigger be give two shillings for digging the hole. A shilling was

Sans Street Baptist Chapel

paid for cleaning up a house after a body had been removed. The chapel was rebuilt in 1853 and a

schoolroom later built over the top of some of the graves. In 1882, the grounds came into the possession of

Saint Thomas’ Parish, and the buildings used as a mission hall.

A brass founder, Mr. W. Surtees, later built his works over chapel and graveyard. Nowadays we drive

over the site without a thought for who lies beneath as we take advantage of the new bypass twixt High

Street and Borough Road. Sadly this fate seems to have befallen many of our long gone ancestors, and

life carries on today without much consideration being given to those who may be trying to rest six feet

below us.

The Jews When we consider the relationship between the living of the twenty first century, and the dead of past

generations, perhaps our Hebrew neighbours may feature in our minds when next we next shop at that

large DIY store in Deptford. Below us, where once Crescent Row gave way to an enclosed parcel of rough

ground, the Jews once laid their loved ones to rest.

From earliest times, a three storey house in Vine Street, once the dwelling of the Lilburnes, was used for

worship. In 1861, a new synagogue was built in Moor Street, but as surrounding land was at a premium,

a long trek to the Ayre’s Quay burial ground was the best option open to the Jews, who paid £1. 10

shillings per year for the privilege.

The upkeep of the burial ground was subsidised by payment of four shillings a year by every head of a

household and adult over the age of eighteen years. Any Israelite not being a member of the local society

would pay two pounds to bury an adult in the grounds and one pound for a child. The last burial took

place in 1856, but the ground was maintained for many years thereafter.

The Methodist New Connexion once enjoyed neighbourly relations with the Jews down on Moor Street.

Their Zion Chapel was built in 1809, and in what became a bit of a trend among the non conformists, the

Reverend John Grundell, a popular cleric at the chapel, asked that his earthly remains be buried under

the pulpit where he had spent most of his Sundays. Grundell was only 55 years of age when he died in

1815, and despite losing his sight at an early age, he never allowed his disability to prevent him from

becoming one of the most knowledgeable men of his time.

Sadly, our chap was not to rest for long, because when the chapel was bought by the Coop bakery, the

thought of leaving behind their favourite son while sliced loaves were being churned out above his head,

was too much to bear for the old congregation. His remains were duly removed and relocated to the

swanky new premises in Park Road Church. He sleeps there still.

At the Presbyterian Union Chapel in Coronation Street, another

popular cleric, The Rev. David Duncan, was also laid to rest

beneath his pulpit. At only 40 years of age, Duncan passed away in

1829, but when the premises were sold as a school to the Catholic

Church in 1870, he was exhumed and removed to a less sheltered

spot in Bishopwearmouth Cemetery.

Across in Monkwearmouth, one building with a colourful history

saw a favourite son buried in its draughty old porch. Hamilton

Street Church (pictured) was built in 1827, and two years later,

Reverend Charles Johnson began his ministry of Barbary Coast

souls. His sudden death in 1850 stunned the congregation and

there was only one spot that he could be laid to rest – right beneath

their feet.

The building later became St. Cuthbert’s Church (1872) and

Johnson’s tenancy went unchallenged. But in a strange twist of

fate, at the turn of the century, the building fell out of favour and

the proprietor of a fish factory saw it as an ideal spot to gut his

smelly North Sea catches.

When the Reverend Johnson’s son, himself a senior cleric, heard about the proposed takeover, he

boarded the first available train from Aberdeen and made his way to Saint Peter’s Church, where he

appealed to Canon Miles for help. It was agreed that if Johnson purchase the old church out of his own

pocket, then the premises could be used as a mission to Saint Peter’s. The church was finally closed for

worship in 1903, but the good reverend slept on, unaware of the eleventh hour victory that his son had

secured on his behalf.

Our non conformist contemporaries are now, with records aplenty, buried in established church or

town cemeteries, but all too often, either by bigotry or wanton abandonment, our ancestors were interred

in the strangest of places. Many lie there still.

Norman Kirtlan

Remember the society’s archives are packed with documents, maps and

photographs that may be of assistance to members in their family or

subject research. Where we are able, we will provide help and assistance

for research. Contact our map archivist, Norman Kirtlan, email:

oldsunderland@yahoo.co.uk or our Chairman, Douglas Smith, email:

douglassmith2007@aol.com

The Society is keen to add to its growing collection of copies of Wearside

family trees and would be delighted to accept any details for our files. These

may be handed in on any research Saturday or emailed to our President,

Douglas Smith, at the above email address.

Donations of anything relevant to the heritage of Sunderland are very

welcome. They will be made available to the people of Sunderland. Just

contact Douglas Smith at the above email address or tel: 01915220517 or

Norman Kirtlan at the above email address

SUBSCRIPTIONS

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Go to www.sunderland-antiquarians.org

NEW MEMBERS ARE MOST WELCOME and should send subs to the Treasurer (address below)

who will arrange for a welcome pack to be sent. Alternatively you can join through the website

(PayPal)

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Looking up Green Terrace from junction with Chester Road c.1900

The Lighthouse on the end of old North Pier at Roker – March 1953

Demolition of old blacksmith’s shop in Southwick Road at Wheatsheaf Dec 1951

The French Onion man – a frequent visitor to Sunderland in late 1940s and 1950s