North Shields 800 Fact of the Day - February
February 1st, 1772
Shields harbour was blocked by a ridge of sand for some time so that large vessels were unable to get out to sea.
February 2nd, 1914
Albion Cinema opened. Designed by North Shields architect William Stockdale and built of red brick with white glazed Hathernware detailing. Seating in the auditorium was in stalls and circle levels.
The proscenium arch that separates the audience from the stage was 28ft wide and the stage 18ft deep. There were dressing rooms provided for artistes.
February 3rd, 1915
A meeting of the Tynemouth Society for Women’s Suffrage (National Union) was held in Gregg’s Cafe (no not that Greggs!) on Saville Street, North Shields.
The address delivered by the main speaker Miss G.M. Gordon was an explanation of what suffragists were doing for the country in times of war.
February 4th, 1825
Myles Birket Foster was born into a well-known North Shields Quaker family. Myles, who could be described as the darling of the Victorians, was celebrated as one of the most popular watercolour artists of the era.
Noted for his rural scenes, many with children at play. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Newcastle Arts Association and the local Bewick Club.
February 5th, 1948
Shields Daily News reports that experts believe Chirton Cottage ‘Treasure Trove’ parchment is a hoax. The cottage was being demolished to extend Ralph Gardner School when workmen uncovered a document.
The document dated May 22, 1653 told of an attack on the house by armed magistrates’ excise men and told how after the attack they had been beaten off with the aid of the captain and crew of the ship Elizabeth. It said it was decided to bury 900 guineas under a young sycamore tree in the grounds of the cottage.
No coins were found there. The chief reason for doubting the authenticity of the document is that there were no guinea coins in 1653!
February 6th, 1755
Press Gang comes in force to North Shields, going through pubs and alleys. 70 men were rounded up for forced naval service. They were taken to Custom House Quay then transferred to the sloop The Peggy, lying off what is now The Gut. Today, the area is known on nautical charts as Peggy’s Hole.
February 7th, 1917
Apprentice (Fourth Officer) MN James Forsyth Fell (age 17) lost in the torpedoing of SS Vedamore. He gave his lifebelt to another man who could not swim.
He was last seen searching the ship to help others into boats. Shields Daily News said: “A noble son, whose conduct gives him a place among the bravest to have gone forth from Shields.”
February 8th, 1974
Hull-based deep sea factory ship the Gaul is lost in the Barents Sea, north of Norway, with all 36 crew on board – including six men from North Shields.
Following the tragedy, strong relationships have been built between fishing communities in Hull and North Shields.
February 9th, 1861
Construction of the North Pier can be seen in background of John Scott’s ‘Wreck off the South Pier’.
The lifeboat is the Providence, involved in a disaster with loss of 20 men more than a decade earlier. On this occasion the Providence was rescuing a survivor from a brig from Whitby that had been blown onto rocks.
February 10th, 1888
Considerable alterations are being made at Clifford’s Fort, Low Lights, North Shields, due to the expansion of the Tynemouth Submarine Mining Engineer Volunteers whose headquarters are at the fort.
The openings in the walls for firing towards the river have been built up and a gateway is being made. Some internal alterations are being made. Recruits for the new corps are now being enrolled.
February 11th, 1865
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade holds its first practice drill at the Coast Guard station on Spanish battery with 30 men attending.
One week later they learn how to assemble apparatus and breeches buoy rescue equipment.
February 12th, 1777
Local men who had been seized by the Press Gang and imprisoned in the Union tender anchored in the Tyne at Shields overwhelmed the crew and sailed out of the harbour despite being fired on from Clifford’s Fort.
Two days later they reached Scarborough where 17 fled ashore.
February 13th, 1945
Death in a house fire of North Shields young hero Thomas (Tommy) Brown, who helped shorten WW2 by capturing vital Enigma code books from a sinking German U-boat.
Tommy was awarded the George Medal but sadly died before receiving it due to the high level of secrecy surrounding the operation.
The new North Shields town square was recently named in his honour.
February 14th, 1823
John Fairfax, a hero of the Crimean War, was born.
Quarter Master Sergeant Major John Fairfax lived within Clifford’s Fort at the Low Lights before moving to Albion Road. He was in service for 46 years.
Among his awards for ‘coolness and courage’ at the Battle of Inkerman were both the French Military Medal and the Turkish War Medal. He is buried in Preston Cemetery.
February 15th, 1900
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade made their largest rescue when 26 Spanish crew and two pilots were taken off the ore carrier, Lebeito.
Pictured here is one of the TVLB captains who supervised the rescue efforts.
February 16th, 2006
Death of Dennis Kirkland, born in North Shields and best remembered as Producer/Director of the Benny Hill Show from 1979. He also worked with other famous comedians such as Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd, Jim Davidson and Eric Sykes.
February 17th, 1984
‘Supergran and the Supermatch’ aired on TV. Filmed at the old Appleby Park home of North Shields Football Club.
Supergran came on as substitute for Chisleton FC who beat the Mighty Rovers on the day. George Best appeared in one of the dug outs but didn’t actually play in the game itself.
February 18th, 1827
The ship ‘Betsy Cairns’ is breaking up on the Black Middens. Having sought shelter in a storm shortly after leaving Shields, and returning over the Bar, she was driven in a gale onto the Black Middens. Although the crew was rescued by the lifeboat Northumberland, the ship began breaking up and could not be refloated.
Previously the ‘Princess Mary’, in 1688 she brought William of Orange to England to take the British Crown. Many requests were later received from Loyal Orange Lodges for pieces of the wreckage.
February 19th, 1937
Tynemouth Council proposed a scheme to cover the Hawkeys Lane Baths as well as installing apparatus to heat the water.
How many North Shields folk of a certain age remember being taken to the baths by school?
The temperature chalked on the board as you went in was allegedly 25°C to 28°C.
How naive we were. Once you jumped in your body turned blue and you were fighting to breathe the water was so cold. The changing room was a simple tarpaulin pulled over the seating area (separate one for girls and boys).
February 20th, 1823
Died in North Shields, Henry Taylor, a native of Whitby and friend of Captain James Cook, he assisted in placing many of the floating lights on the British coast (Goodwin Sands).
Author of ‘Instructions to Mariners Respecting Ships at Single Anchor’.
Later, Trinity House (London and Newcastle) gave him rewards of money. He was a member of the Society of Friends.
February 21st, 1916
Private William Hunter (age 20) of Coronation Street executed at dawn for desertion (third occasion), at Mazingarbe near Loos, France.
Subject of Peter Mortimer’s award-winning play, Death at Dawn. Contrary to widely held myths concerning men executed, Hunter has a Commonwealth War grave at Maroc cemetery, Grenay.
February 22nd, 1860
Frederick Douglass, world-famous abolitionist and advocate of slave emancipation, addressed a large audience at Albion Assembly Rooms, Norfolk Street, North Shields on the final of three visits to Shields.
An African-American abolitionist, he was also an orator, newspaper publisher, and author. He became the first black US marshal and was the most photographed American man of the 19th century.
February 23rd, 1825
A meeting of ‘numerous respectable residents’ of North and South Shields met at the Northumberland Arms, New Quay.
They resolved to erect an iron bridge across the river. Capt. Samuel Brown RN, a proponent of suspension bridges had surveyed a site and estimated a cost of £93,000. Also consulted was famous engineer, Thomas Telford.
Never built, two ferries were later introduced.
February 23rd, 1965
Death of Stan Laurel, one half of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, whose family lived in North Shields from 1895 to 1905. Their home was in Dockwray Square where today there is a blue plaque on the wall of a house indicating the site of their home and a statue installed in the park opposite.
February 24th, 1918
Louis de la Cherois, aged 17, last member of an old Huguenot family, lost at sea by enemy action.
Former pupil of Jubilee School and Tynemouth High School. Choirboy at Christ Church, where Parish News reported: "The eighth member of the vicar’s bible class lost to the war."
His father died as a result of enemy action just a few months later.
February 25th, 1764
Early in the morning a fire broke out in the forecastle of the ship European of Whitby lying in Shields Harbour, but it was extinguished before the vessel was entirely consumed.
February 26th, 1918
Steam Trawler Rambler (North Shields), fishing under Admiralty control, blown up by a mine four miles off Blyth. Six of crew from North Shields aged from 32 to 61.
W Pyner (age 51) and C T Vyse (age 47) have graves in Preston Cemetery. Their bodies washed ashore near Hesledon, Co. Durham.
Other crew members, unrecovered, are named on the Tower Hill Memorial to more than 12,000 Merchant Navy and fishing crews lost in WW1 who have ‘no grave but the sea’.
Vyse should not be on Tower Hill Memorial as he has a grave in North Shields.
February 27th, 1863
Birth of Dame Maud Burnett who in 1910 became the first woman municipal councillor in Northern England when she was elected for the Dockwray Ward in North Shields.
She remained the only woman councillor for Tynemouth Council for 20 years.
It was not until 1919 that any women councillors were elected in Newcastle and 1920 in Gateshead.
February 28th, 1912
Novelty football matches were popular as a way of raising funds to support local causes.
One such match, at Hawkeys Lane, between teams representing North Shields Fish Quay Eleven and Tynemouth Garrison, raised funds to support Alexander Craig, a fisherman who had been out of work for a year due to sickness.