North Shields 800 Fact of the Day - March
March 1st, 1871
Following complaints about the effectiveness of the borough police as a fire brigade, a letter published in the Shields Daily News suggests the formation of fire brigade formed of ‘respectable persons’.
One of the functions of the borough’s early police was to attend fires but this was not an organised response from highly-trained firefighters.
Should a fire break out, the ‘fire brigade’ would attend – untrained policemen carrying leather buckets of water and a ladder – and attempt to put out the blaze.
March 2nd, 1895
Uncle Tom’s Cabin plays its last night of a week run at the Theatre Royal, North Shields.
A pub of the same name was established at 26 Bedford Street in the early 1860s. The pub closed on May 14th, 1972.
Both play and pub took their name from the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe published in 1852 which played its part in ending slavery in the United States.
March 3rd, 1805
George Balmer, North Shields artist was born. He was a landscape and coastal painter. The family lived on Stephenson Street although it was said that he was born at the famous Seven Stars pub at the junction of Clive Street and Liddell Street. He started out following his father’s trade as a house painter before turning his hand to fine art. He spent several months studying at the Louvre. His work is held by the Laing, Shipley and National Trust for Scotland galleries among others.
Painting: The Grey Horse Inn, Newcastle Quayside.
March 4th, 1843
Newcastle Journal reports that The Lady Jane whaler is mustering her crew in the coming days to set off from North Shields to the Davis Straits.
The expedition would last until her safe return at the end of October with ‘nine fish’ (whales) and ‘60 tuns of oil’.
Painting: Tyneside marine artist John Wilson Carmichael’s painting of Lady Jane.
March 5th, 1976
The Albion Cinema Closes. The last film shown was Earthquake, featuring Charlton Heston.
The building was demolished to make way for what is now the Anchor Housing Norfolk Court retirement property.
March 6th, 1953
North Shields Skipper, George Peach was steering the ferry from Jarrow to Howdon when it was ‘enveloped by fog’ and became ‘marooned in the Tyne’ for six hours.
It happened after Skipper Peach altered his course to allow a collier, the Westwood, to pass. ‘Visibility was blotted out’ and both vessels drifted a little.
Eventually the ferry was tied up to the collier and tea was handed to those on board.
‘An eerie experience’.
March 7th, 2010
Events were held at Tynemouth and Newcastle to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Admiral Lord Collingwood, the hero of Trafalgar, who had a house at Chirton.
Bells were rung, services held and there was a gun salute from HMS Collingwood as she passed his monument on the previous day. Collingwood commanded the British fleet following the early death of Nelson in the battle. He died on board his ship Ville de Paris off Minorca.
Chirton House, which stood south-west of Hawkey's Lane, north of the present Waterville Road, belonged to the Collingwood family from the late 18th century. Although Admiral Lord Collingwood never lived there, his wife and daughters did.
March 8th, 2016
A sculptured stone was placed over the unmarked grave of North Shields born artist Victor Noble Rainbird at a ceremony at Preston Cemetery. The date marked the 80th anniversary of his death in Sunderland in 1936.
Through an exhibition of the artist’s work at the Old Low Light Heritage Centre, £6,500 was raised from sales of the catalogue, prints and individual donations. The stone was designed by Neil and Richard Talbot and carved by Neil at his studio in Riding Mill, Northumberland.
Rainbird was much loved by the folk of Shields and could have been an even bigger figure in the art world had he not been physically and mentally scarred during his time as a private soldier in the Northumberland Fusiliers during WW1.
You can watch a film made by the children of Wellfield Middle school to find out more about the artist’s life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhs9Zmv0vMk
March 9th, 1794
Press ganged men and volunteers on board the Eleanor lying at Shields attempted to escape but were thwarted by the officers and crew.
Several got ashore but were quickly re-taken and forced into naval service.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, people in maritime communities, including North Shields, lived in fear of ‘press gangs’ who captured local men in this way.
March 10th, 1974
MV Oregis, after a 12-month refit at Swan Hunters, loses engine power and drifts onto the Black Middens.
The crew of the tugboat Northsider was rescued by the inshore lifeboat. The vessel was the last major ship to date to have been stranded on the Black Middens, remaining there for several days.
March 11th, 1914
At 2.30pm a fire broke out in the drying room of the Wellesley Training Ship, moored off the Western Quay, to provide seafaring training for destitute and homeless boys.
The fire quickly took hold, despite the efforts of the boy firefighters and Tyne Commissioners’ fire tugs. One of the boys remarked: ‘Most of us were glad that she was burning’.
The boys were transferred to a temporary ship, then moved to the Tynemouth Palace (later Tynemouth Plaza) where they stayed throughout WW1. After the war a permanent home was found at Blyth, where the school remained for the next 86 years.
March 12th, 1932
Theatre Royal in Prudhoe Street closes. Although it was sold to a cinema proprietor, it never reopened as either a theatre or cinema. The building was demolished in 1939.
It was located on what is now a three-storey block of flats on Theatre Place. It was managed at one time by Arthur Jefferson, father of Stan Laurel who ran a number of theatres in the area.
March 13th, 1905
The ‘Kilties’ Band of Canada play two performances at the Boro’ Theatre, North Shields. The band had played twice on command of the King at Balmoral and Sandringham.
Acknowledged as the greatest Scottish band in the world, it was made up of veterans from the Gordon Highlanders.
March 14th, 1838
Favourite, an old Tyneside tug which for many years served as one of the ferries between North and South Shields, received a new lease of life when her owners believed her to be of no further use and sold her to Thompson & Son, tug and wherry owners.
At the age of 55, she was fitted with feathering floats (blades on a paddle wheel) at Hepple’s Yard on Liddell Street. The boat made the trip to Newcastle and was greeted on both banks by the loud cheers of the many wherrymen who welcomed her to their ranks.
She was the first ferry to run between Whitehill-Point (a hamlet in the township of Chirton) and Penny Pie Stairs on the south side.
March 15th, 1935
The Shields Daily News reported that gardeners were busy planting out privet shrubberies at the New Alexander Scott Memorial Park, which was rapidly nearing completion, with entrance gates in Coach Lane, Waterville Terrace, and William Street West.
The late Mr Alexander Scott, in whose memory the land was gifted, was a ship owner in the town. He lived at Waterville Terrace and died on March 31st, 1879. He took a keen interest in the town's affairs and was a member of Tynemouth Town Council from 1865 until his death, as one of the representatives for the old Percy Ward.
March 16th, 1935
The Shields Daily News reported on the boxing match between North Shields based Tommy Steele and Billy Sheldon (Newcastle). Steele won the contest.
Steele was a strong contender for the GB Featherweight championship during the 1930s, winning 97 of his 147 fights.
Many of his matches were fought at the Albion Boxing Stadium on Albion Road. The stadium, built on the site of the John Hunter & Co carriage works, was a well-known North East boxing venue, re-opened by Messrs Cook & Georgeson in August 1924.
Shields produced many professional fighters during the 1930s including Bobby Magee, Johnny Regan, Johnny Kilburn and Johnny Quinn.
March 15th, 1935
The Shields Daily News reported that gardeners were busy planting out privet shrubberies at the New Alexander Scott Memorial Park, which was rapidly nearing completion, with entrance gates in Coach Lane, Waterville Terrace, and William Street West.
The late Mr Alexander Scott, in whose memory the land was gifted, was a ship owner in the town. He lived at Waterville Terrace and died on March 31st, 1879. He took a keen interest in the town's affairs and was a member of Tynemouth Town Council from 1865 until his death, as one of the representatives for the old Percy Ward.
March 18th, 1923
The North East playwright Tom Hadaway was born on Howdon Road, North Shields. Tom was a well-known personality of the town. As well as a gifted writer, he ran a wet fish shop on Rudyerd Street and also had premises on the fish quay.
His two most famous plays, The Filleting Machine and God Bless Thee Jackie Maddison, were performed at the Live Theatre, Newcastle. The latter production was also performed on TV and won a Bafta nomination. In 2018 the actor Tim Healy, a friend of Tom, unveiled a blue plaque at his former home on the anniversary of his birth.
March 19th, 1793
A riotous assembly on the New Quay of around 500 seamen attempt to seize the Eleanor, a naval press service ship.
At that time, the Eleanor and other such ships wreaked fear in maritime communities, press-ganging men for enforced naval service.
Unable to release the ‘pressed men’ they consider marching on Newcastle, but after hearing that the North York Militia and Dragoons are assembling there they disperse near Howdon. This was not before causing great alarm to the population of Newcastle.
March 20th, 1936
The flats on Howdon Road, built by the Square Building Trust, were officially opened by the Minister for Health, Mr Kingsley Wood MP.
The development was pioneering as it included a nursery school between the two blocks.
The Trust was led by businessman and philanthropist Rowland Lishman. He was head of the men’s bible class at Northumberland Square Presbyterian Church – now St Columba’s – and after hearing about the appalling conditions of some local housing, the congregation began selling ‘shilling bricks’ to raise money.
In just one week, they raised an outstanding £2,400, (around £120,000 in today’s money).
March 21st, 1911
North Shields artist Victor Noble Rainbird enters the Royal Academy as a student.
He was nominated for entry by Professor George Hatton of Armstrong College (now Newcastle University) where he had studied. He was the only artist from the North to be accepted by the Royal Academy that year.
He was winner of the coveted Landseer Scholarship in 1913.
North Shields’ most technically gifted painter, he died in poverty.
March 22nd, 1876
A new synagogue opens at 29 Linskill Street, North Shields. An earlier synagogue was reported in 1827 to have stood "on the declinity of the bank in which Tyne Street was built”.
There were two early 19th century Jewish burial plots in North Shields, at Hawkey’s Lane and Chirton. A later plot, established at Preston Cemetery in 1924, still exists today.
March 23rd, 1918
Second Lieutenant Cyril Buglass aged 20, who lived in Milton Terrace, North Shields, formerly of Tynemouth Garrison Artillery RA, died of wounds serving with 12/13th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers.
Served in France at the Somme. December 1916, sent to Cambridge University for officer training. Commissioned in May 1917, becoming a ‘Temporary Gentleman’ as they were condescendingly known, not being from the ‘officer class’.
A small blue plaque was installed on his North Shields home by the Northumbria World War One Commemoration Project.
For a detailed record of his service see www.northumbriaworldwarone.co.uk
March 24th, 1779
The “Heart of Oak” privateer, mounting 33 guns belonging to Newcastle, sailed from Shields on a six-month voyage.
She was extremely well fitted out and carried a 150-man crew.
March 25th, 1928
Casimir Gomoszynski died, another of the great people whose legacy in North Shields is still evident today.
Although he only lived in North Shields for about ten years, as Borough Surveyor, he designed Northumberland Park, the eastern extension of North Shields Fish Quay, the Ralph Gardner obelisk memorial at Chirton Green and the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House.
He was also a member of the Tynemouth Artillery Volunteers. For a time, he lived in Linskill Terrace.
March 26th, 2015
Official opening of the heritage gallery at the Old Low Light Heritage Centre, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields Fish Quay, by Alan Campbell MP (now Sir Alan).
This followed a major programme of restoration of a derelict building, once one of a pair of leading lights guiding ships through the treacherous mouth of the River Tyne.
It is a heritage centre with a café, gallery and space for community groups.
March 27th, 1930
Shields Daily News: At a meeting of Tynemouth Town Council the previous evening, it was announced that the Ministry of Health had appointed Messrs Mott, Hay and Anderson Engineers (Designers of the Tyne Bridge) to advise the Tynemouth and South Shields Corporations “as to the possibility and practicability of linking up the two harbour boroughs by a bridge or tunnel capable of carrying all manner of road traffic”.
The agreed fee of £1,575 (£132k today) included bore hole samples. Their report was to be presented by the following September.
March 28th, 1850
A terrific gale visited the North East coast and 500 colliers bound from London to the Tyne were detained at Yarmouth.
When the wind dropped, they left but on the 29th the wind increased to violent gale and 30 vessels crowding into the Tyne were stranded on the rocks.
March 29th, 1935
The Shields News reports that former prime minister David Lloyd George had driven along Albion Road, North Shields on a visit to the area.
He viewed many places of interest including Collingwood’s Monument. The visit was all part of his UK ‘New Deal’ proposal inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s similar scheme in the United States.
The Lloyd George proposal would involve large-scale public works to help with the economic depression which has taken a great toll on Tyneside.
March 30th, 1878
The North Shields Club opens in Northumberland Square, near to where the library is today.
Following a meeting in 1877 of a group of gentlemen at the Albion Hotel on Saville Street, £5,000 in £50 shares are subscribed.
It was later the offices of the Board of Guardians who administered Poor Law relief and finally became offices of North Tyneside Council.
St Andrew's United Reformed Church in Stephenson Street joined with St Columba's Church, Northumberland Square.
St Columba’s was designed by John Dobson, the region’s most eminent architect who was involved in nearly 450 projects including Newcastle Central Station and his work with Richard Grainger transforming the centre of Newcastle.
He designed 20 projects around North Shields, including several around Northumberland Square and Howard Street.