Sacrifice of borough’s families to be publicly marked

'Blue Plaques'

From early in the development of the Tynemouth World War One Commemoration project the idea of placing some recognition of the individual loss of the town’s families, by means of a plaque on the house at which men killed or died were resident, before or during the war, has been under consideration. The necessary work to contact property owners and residents of those houses still standing today has been a complex process. Now, as the centenary of the outbreak of the war approaches we are able to announce that the first of the ‘blue plaques’ we have designed and manufactured will be installed on houses in North Shields in the early part of June, 2014. 

Among the first streets to have plaques installed will be Newcastle Street where 5 casualties of the war lived. The plaque to be placed on 22 Newcastle Street will recognise Colin Miller Jamieson a Second Lieutenant in the 15^th Battalion of the London Regiment – known as The Civil Service Rifles. 

Working in London before the war he had enlisted in another of the regiment’s units - the Artist’s Rifles. Both battalions were a part of the Territorial regiment of London into which men of ability were recruited and who were recognised as potential officers for the future. Educated at Western Board School, Queen Victoria state secondary school on Coach Lane and latterly at Tynemouth High School – the town’s newly built grammar school (opened in 1904) providing the opportunity for boys and girls of ability from all social classes to get an education that would qualify them to seek entry to university. One of 10 children, his parents would have struggled to provide for his need for uniforms and extra requirements of a grammar school education. He went on to become a schoolteacher with South Shields education authority before moving to London. He had enlisted in the territorials in December, 1913 and went to France in March, 1915. Twice wounded he was reported as missing in action on May 21^st 1917 and later presumed killed in action. He is named on the Arras memorial which carries the names of 77 local men killed in action in the battle area who have no known grave. He is also remembered on the Tynemouth High School Roll of Honour Boards which are still in place today in what is now the Queen Alexandra Sixth Form college campus of TyneMet College.

Tickets are still available for the next in our very popular series of talks to be held at 730pm on Tuesday, 27^th May in the Low Lights Tavern, Brewhouse Bank, Fish Quay, North Shields. Ian McArdle MA a regular contributor to these events will recount the experiences of a junior medical officer on the Western Front. Charles Wilson (later Lord Moran) survived the war and went on to become Winston Churchill’s personal physician. Tickets (free) must be obtained in advance and can be got from the Low Lights Tavern, Keel Row Bookshop and the Project workroom at Linskill Centre.

Our Information Centre on Front Street, Tynemouth, next door to the library, showing some of our mini-exhibitions, will be open during the holiday week-end and during the school half-term holiday from 1100 – 1600.

The major public commemorative event we are organising in conjunction with North Tyneside Council to take place in Northumberland Square on 3^rd August from 10am-4pm, with a formal service of remembrance at 2pm will make special provision for relatives of the casualties on the Tynemouth Roll of Honour, Any relative of a casualty who has not been in contact with the project over the past three years as we have published casualties details can contact the project office to register interest in reserved seating for the event, or e-mail to our contact address.

Two events focus on history and consequences of the Great War

The project is supporting the Third Tynemouth (Ritson’s Own) Scout group Open Day from 1-5 pm on Saturday 17^th May, 2014 at their base on Billy Mill Lane near Tynemouth Squash Club and the former Cannon Inn on the Coast Road – access from Lynn Road.

The day will have a focus on Fred Greenacre, who died as a POW in Germany in July, 1918 but who had previously been a significant figure in the establishment of the Scout movement in North Shields. The day will feature the role of Fred and Colonel Ritson, a family owner of the Preston Colliery, who was Lieutenant Colonel of the 16^th Northumberland Fusiliers. This battalion of the regiment was raised in on Tyneside by the Newcastle and Gateshead Incorporated Chamber of Commerce and is one of the battalions commemorated on the famous Response war memorial, which stands in the Haymarket in Newcastle in the grounds of St Thomas the Martyr Church – one of the finest memorials of the First World War. That memorial was funded by the Renwick family, another of the important families on Tyneside, who along with the Ritson family were to play a great part in stimulating and organising the upsurge of local support and recruitment of volunteers for the war. The Ritson family owned three collieries in the North East; at Pontop and Burnhope in the Consett area, as well as the Preston Colliery in North Shields. The miners’ families of Preston colliery paid a heavy price for their sons and fathers and husbands enthusiasm to follow their owner to war - 61 miners from Preston were to die in the war.

The final lecture in our highly acclaimed series, organised in conjunction with the University of Northumbria was delivered by Professor Joanna Bourke of Birkbeck College, London University on Tuesday evening 13^th May, on the subject of Armistice and disability. Professor Bourke’s lecture was a thought-provoking and saddening exposition of the reality of the experience of those who survived the fighting but returned broken in body and/or mind, and who, despite the grand promises of the wartime years, found that they were to be reduced to an inconvenient and burdensome expense in the eyes of governments over the next fifty years. The case history of one North east veteran, Lt. Francis Hopkinson, a son of the Vicar of Whitburn , from a comfortable family of the established middle class was a sobering story of one man’s struggle to receive fair treatment and recognition of the extent of his disability, as he lived out a further 57 years of his life with a severe amputation of his leg, which required three unsuccessful amputations leaving him in mental distress and chronic and daily pain for more than half a century. His case involved numerous unsuccessful attempts to convince the military and pension authorities of the true extent of his disability including shell shock. For Hopkinson and many thousands of others the war never ended up to the day of their deaths, often decades after the war had been reduced in the minds of most people to an episode of early 20^th century history.

The reports just days ago of the rapidly rising numbers of referrals of soldiers who have served recently in Afghanistan or Iraq, for counselling and support for the mental distress and effects of service places a duty upon us today to ensure that those men and women do not suffer the neglect and callous treatment of the more than 80,000 cases of mental disability, related by Professor Bourke in her outstanding presentation, who were still recognised in the 1930s but seen then as an uncomfortable burden for the Exchequer rather than a responsibility to make proper provision for the men and women who had in reality ‘lost their lives’ even if they lived on broken in spirit unable to resume a normal life outside mental institutions. Let us ensure that today we do not fall into the same uncaring indifference to the enduring consequences of the horrific experiences of those young men and women who have been sent to carry out the directions of our governments in the recent past.

Project information “shop” opens in Tynemouth village

New Tynemouth 'Shop'

The Project was delighted to be able to speak with many of the Bank Holiday visitors to Tynemouth Front Street as it opened its information centre to callers on Sunday, 4^th May. The shop is next door to the Tynemouth Branch library and has been made available by North Tyneside Council to help the project promote the many commemorative events planned for the coming months.

Many people from across the region and from further away, who were previously unaware of the project were able to talk with project volunteers staffing the shop and gain an insight into our three years researches which have produced the detailed biography of many of the more than 1700 men of the former Borough of Tynemouth who died as a result of the Great War.

The two days of opening produced a number of valuable new contacts for the project and further information to add to our records will be forthcoming in the coming days.

The shop has displays of two of our small exhibitions featuring the story of the loss of the Pilot Cutter Protector on New Year’s Eve 1916-17 together with the story of the Somme Campaign of 1916 and the enormous human cost to the local community.

Information about all of our forthcoming events is available and prominently featured in the windows providing public awareness on a 24 hour basis.

The shop will be open on week-end days from 1100-1600 and we hope to open every day during school holidays through to the end of August.

As well as a number of the project publications, books focussed on the Great War will be available for purchase and volunteers will be on hand to demonstrate our detailed database which will be launched on the internet .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tickets for the play specially commissioned by the project and written by North East playwright Peter Mortimer of Cullercoats are now available from the shop, as well as from Linskill Community Centre reception, North Shields Customer First Centre (library) reception and Keel Row Bookshop, Fenwick Terrace, North Shields. Death at Dawn - a soldier’s tale, telling the story of a young lad, William Hunter from Coronation Street, North Shields, who was executed for military offences in February, 1916 will be directed by Jackie fielding an produced by Cloud Nine Theatre Company at Linskill Community centre in their newly- enhanced and furnished theatre space. Tickets can also be bought on-line from Ticketweb through the project website www.tynemouthworldwarone.org

Tickets for the next in our series of talks at 7.30pm on Tuesday, 27^th May at the renowned Low Lights Tavern, Brewhouse Bank, Fish Quay, North Shields are now available from the Keel Row Bookshop and the project workroom at Linskill Centre. Ian McArdle, who has delivered a number of our talks will relate the experiences of a young doctor in the conflict in his talk entitled: Charles Wilson – a young doctor on the Western Front. Wilson went on to become Lord Moran and personal physician to Winston Churchill in later years.

The final lecture in the series organised in conjunction with the University of Northumbria will be delivered by Professor Joanna Bourke of Birkbeck College, London University on the subject of Armistice and disability telling of the outcome of four years of terrible fighting which and consequences for many of the survivors and their families for decades after the fighting ceased. The lecture will be given at 6.15pm on Tuesday, 13^th May at the City Campus East at Northumbria – opposite Manors Metro station – parking available from 5pm (charged).

ANZAC anniversary prompts new contacts across the globe

ANZAC anniversary

The power of modern communications has been an enormous benefit to the work of the Tynemouth project. Recently the nations of Australia and New Zealand marked the 99^th anniversary of the ill-fated landings by the ANZAC Corps on the Dardanelles peninsular, as their contribution to the plans of the Allies to seize the channel giving access to the Black Sea and thus force the Ottoman Turks to withdraw from the war and thus it was believed weaken the Austro-Hungarian and German alliance of which the Turks held the eastern flank.

The experience of that campaign is credited with forging the national identity of both those newly emergent Dominions of the then British Empire. Each year at dawn on the 25^th of April a vast number of the current populations of both countries gather in silent vigils to remember the heavy losses of the fledgling nations and as a collective affirmation of their sense of who they are.

As a part of those national commemorations many of the millions of current day Australians with family connections to the ‘mother country’ are reminded of their own family history and the contribution of grandfathers and others to the combined military effort that was the tragedy of the Great War.

A recent posting on Facebook in Australia by a relative of Rufus Brooksbank who died of his wounds aged only 21 on 7^th July, 1916, having been struck down in the ill-fated advance of the Tyneside Irish Brigade in front of La Boiselle on the opening day of the Somme campaign, has brought together a number of his descendants who were unaware of the work of the project.

Two years ago the News Guardian featured Rufus Brooksbanks’ name as part of the weekly listing of casualties by the paper which was so helpful in making connections today for the project and which was picked up across the world in 2012 by two of his descendants who got in touch. They were able to provide some interesting family memorabilia about Rufus and his only daughter who was born just five days after his death in a military hospital. Now, alerted by a story from a social media posting two more relatives have become aware of the project and the work we have been carrying out. His granddaughter was abroad when her brother made contact with us in 2012 and did not learn of the project until just 6 days ago. We have now received additional information to add to Rufus’ entry in our database and which will be available, with the more 1700 biographies of local casualties we have researched, on the internet from 28^th June, 2014.

The last lecture in our very popular series held in conjunction with Northumbria University will be given by Professor Joanna Bourke of Birkbeck College, London University who will conclude this acclaimed 8 part programme looking at the aftermath of the war in a lecture entitled ‘Armistice and Disability’. The lecture begins at 6.15pm on Tuesday 13^th May, 2014 at the City Campus East site of Northumbria University (opposite manors Metro Station) with parking (charged) available from 5pm).

 Pace of commemoration activity quickens as centenary approaches

The whole nation is now being alerted to the massive planned programme of commemoration and reminiscence of the events of 100 years ago when the country was plunged into a conflict the tragic outcomes of which the population could have had no imagination in the warm summer of 1914.
Locally, the Tynemouth project has an on-going range of activities which have awakened a strong interest in the local community in many aspects of the Great War. These events include academic lectures at Northumbria University, where we will conclude our landmark series of 2013/14 in May, when Professor Joanna Bourke of Birkbeck College of London University will deliver the final lecture; appropriately entitled ‘Armistice and disability’ –her conclusion of the series will review the aftermath of the conflict.  These lectures are free to attend and the final one takes place at 6.15p on Tuesday, 13th May at the City Campus East of the University opposite Manors Metro Station.

Anthea Lang will be looking at two local men of the area who had interesting parts in the conflict. Her talk to be given as part of the very popular series at the
Low Lights Tavern on Brewhouse Bank, Fish Quay, North Shields is entitled ‘Saint or Sinner – but which was which?  Anthea is looking at two local men from Gateshead, Brigadier Roland Boys Bradford VC the youngest man to achieve ‘field rank’ in the war (aged only 25) and a man named Rix unknown to almost everyone. We shall learn the answer to her question at 730pm on Tuesday 29th April, 2014. Tickets for this talk are free but must be obtained in advance from the Low Lights tavern, our workroom at Linskill Centre or Keel Row Bookshop, Fenwick Terrace.
Anyone interested to learn about the sources of World War One materials which have been assembled by the Europeana Project across the continent, from all nations involved in the conflict can hear a free talk from Alun Edwards of the University of Oxford’s Academic IT Services at 530pm on Thursday evening next week (24th April), again being given at the City Campus East of Northumbria University. The vast archive of materials gathered (mostly free to download) includes material of a local nature as well as from the battlefields [picture].

As the project’s major events approach we are preparing to open a public information point on Front Street Tynemouth in the vacant property adjacent to the Library. This will, when open, be a place where local residents and visitors to the very popular street can learn about the project’s work and forthcoming events.
Initially it will be open on week-ends and Bank Holidays from 3rd May but we hope that it can be open during week-days in the schools’ holidays if sufficient volunteers are willing to give a few hours to staff the information desk we will have to advise about our many activities. Anyone who might be able to offer a few hours a week is asked to contact the project at our workroom at Linskill. The shop will display some of our small exhibitions of materials we have gathered over the past three years as well as giving visitors an opportunity to view our critically acclaimed database of family biographies of local men killed in the conflict..

Memorial Garden – project appeals for your support

Despite the atrocious weather of the preceding few days the members of the Tynemouth Venture Scouts were on hand all day on Saturday 29th March, to work with volunteers from the project to plant out the hundreds of shrubs, roses and other plants generously donated by Brambledown Nurseries and now awaiting some warm spring days to flourish and provide the backdrop for the planned memorial wall  which we intend will contain the details of the more than 1700 men of the Tynemouth Borough who died as a result of the Great War, to be recorded street-by-street to form the town’s only public memorial naming the victims of the war.

We hope the garden- with a large paved area - will be provided with memorial bench seats and other furniture, bird boxes etc. It will become a haven of peace and a space for quiet reflection for visiting family relatives of those named on the wall or anyone interested to see the details of the loss suffered by the community 100 years ago. However, the creation of the garden and wall is only possible if we have the support of the population today just as in the early 1920s when the Jubilee Infirmary extension and memorial in Hawkeys Lane was funded by public donations (see News Guardian story 27th March).

The funding we received from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2012 for the many activities we have carried out did not provide for this more recent proposal. Therefore we must raise the money for this development before we can complete the full memorial project.    
 
The full programme of commemorative events we have planned for this summer, will provide the fitting culmination of the three years of dedicated work by over 70 local volunteers and our many supporters in the community, including North Tyneside Council and its staff; the news media (particularly the News Guardian and The Journal); and many local businesses and individuals who have generously donated their time and resources, as the project has developed into possibly the largest WW1 commemorative programme in the country.

Now we are appealing to the public today to help us by donations, however great or small to support our programme of commemoration including the memorial garden and wall.
The Borough of Tynemouth suffered twice the national average loss of life in the Great War which our nationally commended ‘casualty map’ has demonstrated to great effect. We hope that relatives of the casualties as well as those with no direct connection to the local victims of the war will wish to help us to establish a lasting memorial and reminder today of the terrible events of 100 years ago which had profound consequences for the town and its families.

Individual donations will be recorded in an on-line Book of Remembrance, at the discretion of donors, which can be made in respect of a family relative or merely as a mark of thanks today for the sacrifice and hardships endured by hundreds of men, women and children of the community as a result of the war.


Donations can be made in person (10am to 4pm) or sent by cheque to the project, at the Administration address at: Essell Accountants, 29 Howard Street, North Shields, NE30 1AR. Donations can be accepted by debit/ credit card in person or by telephone (subject to a small merchant fee) – Tel: (0191) 259 2743 Please do not send cash donations by post. Cheques should be made payable to: ‘Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project’.
If you wish to make a donation in memory of a particular person please include details of the casualty and his date of death and home address at the time (if known). Our volunteers at the Linskill Community Centre may be able to assist you in this but they cannot accept cash donations.
Anyone who might wish to make a special donation to provide for an item of garden furniture or other special cost can contact the Administration office and a member of the project will get in touch to discuss this further with you.

Sage September Concert

 Commemorative Concert will reflect the War across the North East

Planning is now well advanced for the staging of what will be the biggest event of its kind in the North East this year to mark the contribution of the people of the region to the national struggle over the years 1914-18; as the entire population was affected by the demands of the government to sustain an all-consuming juggernaut of military effort, that changed the nation; both the patterns of employment and social structures, over the four years of conflict.

The concert, in the imposing venue of Sage Gateshead will take place on Saturday, 27th September, 2014 at 7.30pm in Hall One. The Project has joined forces with the ABF – the Soldiers’ Charity to organise this event under the title of The Response which reflects its theme of telling the story of how the communities of the North East played a strategic and pivotal role in the national war effort as well as providing recruits for the armed forces in far greater numbers proportionately to the majority of other parts of the country; and suffered some of the worst losses of life in the many great campaigns on the Western Front and elsewhere over the period of the war.

The project will be using many images drawn from its research findings to illustrate the concert, which will feature popular music of the time, military airs and soldiers’ songs together with poetry and writing of the wartime era.

Young people of today will play a big part in the event with the Northumbrian Ranters school orchestra of Northumberland alongside traditional dancers reflecting the Scottish and Irish cultural mix of the population of 1914; a time when the region was the industrial powerhouse of the nation attracting a huge influx of migrants from elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

The story of the Tyneside Scottish and Irish Brigades and the other local ‘Pals’ battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry will be reflected as we remember the tragic consequences of the First Day of the Battle of the Somme (1st July, 1916) and its consequences for thousands of North East families.
Tickets for the event will go on sale from the Sage Box office from 1st June, 2014 and demand is expected to be high for this very special event. All proceeds from the event, one of the ABFs Salute our Heroes concert series, will go to the Soldiers’ Charity and SSAFA  Forces Help

More immediately the seventh in our series of key lectures on the Great War and its consequences will take place at Northumbria University, City Campus East on Tuesday 8th April, 2014 at 6.15pm when Professor Andrew Lambert of Kings College, London University will deliver a lecture on the Royal Navy in WW1.
This is a free event. The City Campus East is located opposite Manors Metro Station and parking is available on site from 4pm in the University car park (chargeable ). Details of this lecture and the final event on 13th May, when Professor Joanna Bourke of Birkbeck College, London, will conclude the lecture series looking at ‘Armistice and Disability’, can be found on the project website.

Growing local interest

Story of the Great War now engaging the population

The Public Information Day organized by the Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project in collaboration with North Tyneside Council Customer First Centre in North Shields on Saturday 1st March demonstrated the widespread interest of the local population in the story of the Great War as it affected the local community.

Now as the centenary of the outbreak of the war looms, the work of the Tynemouth Project receives recognition across the region as an example of outstanding community involvement and the excellence of its work, in recording the stories of the hundreds of men of the borough who paid the ultimate price in the war.

So far our work in schools has been limited but those that have been willing to engage with us have found that pupils are fascinated by and very respectful of the work of the project. Teachers who have grasped the opportunity, find that our casualty map and access to the database allows them to engage children by reference to the casualties who lived in the streets in which many of them are living in today.

Our work with schools is funded by our Heritage Lottery Fund grant and allows us to provide the services of a qualified teacher/ creative practitioner to go into schools and  work alongside teachers and pupils to learn about the war through art, music, painting and poetry, Some of the work produced has been commented upon as outstanding and allows the pupils to engage with the subject of the war at a personal level by exploring in depth some of the fascinating stories of the men of the borough, uncovered by our work over the past three years

The breadth of our activity has been recognis

Our entry has been submitted and we will hear more on progress of that in June. If successful it could mean a £2000 boost to our funds as a contribution to the many activities we have planned for the coming months. I will have more to say on this next week.

Just before writing this column I was at Northumbria University discussing our potential participation and contribution to a two day seminar being organized to look at the digitization of historical records with a particular focus on the Great War.

It is gratifying that the hard work of our more than 70 volunteers over the last three years is now recognized widely as an exemplar of good practice in the collation and presentation of materials in an accessible format through the means of modern digital technology.

The seminar will also have a public event in the evening of Thursday 24th April, in Newcastle. Further details on this will be given in the coming weeks.

Open Day success

Success of WW1 Information day prompts repeat of event

The Public Information Day organised by the Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project in collaboration with North Tyneside Council Customer First Centre in North Shields attracted a huge number of visitors to the centre on Saturday 1st March. So much so that it has been agreed already that the event will be repeated on Saturday, 28th June, 2014, when the Project’s highly acclaimed database will be opened to general public access via the internet.

During the event last Saturday more than 100 persons were given demonstrations of the project’s database and its rich sources of family history; with project volunteers on hand at four dedicated computer terminals in the first floor Library area.

Provisional figures show that more than 1000 people visited the range of stalls and exhibitions on view from 10am to 4pm.

One of the most popular stalls featured the food and rations of the British and German soldiers in the trenches, as well as some of the improvised recipes forced upon the civilian population, as shortages and rationing took a hold of the depleted food supplies available in Britain and Germany.

For differing reasons food was in short supply and the lack of it probably hastened the end of the war in Germany’s case.

For Britain the effects of u-Boat action threatened the continuation of the war at one point and in 1917 it was estimated that the country was down to only three week’s supply of imported foods. For a German family the effects of the Royal Navy’s blockade of European ports around the North Sea meant many staple items became very hard to get. Further pressure on food supplies was caused by the failure of the potato crop in Germany in 1916. In the notorious ‘Turnip winter’ of 1916/17 the staple diet was reduced to numerous variations of very bland inventions around the humble Swede.

Visitors to the event on Saturday were able to sample the delights of Turnip marmalade at the fascinating display on the stand brought by Richard and Jan Crouch which offered many samples and examples of the realities of wartime food and soldiers rations (picture). Richard said “The free recipe sheets went like ‘hot cakes’.

The history of the role of the Scouts in the Great War was on display from the
3rd Tynemouth (Ritson’s Own) Scouts – a troop originated through connections with the Ritson family who owned and operated the former Preston colliery until its closure in1929, situated in the area of Regency Gardens, of North Shields today.


Members of the NET group, preparing to open their new Fishing and Maritime Heritage Centre in Clifford’s Fort on the Fish Quay later this year were on hand to show materials connected to the occupation of the fort by the
Tyne Electrical Engineers (Submarine Miners) in the early years of the 20th century. The group was able to make many contacts and recruit new volunteers for its exciting venture which will celebrate the maritime history of the Borough.

Three of the project’s popular talks given monthly at the Low Lights Tavern on the Fish Quay were repeated during the day.

The overall reaction of visitors was evidence of the strong interest in the story of the war in the community; stimulated no doubt by the increasing attention being paid to the forthcoming centenary of the start of the war in the national and regional media.

The Customer First Centre staff all enjoyed the day with the centre management
commenting:-

   ‘We have had fantastic feedback from the public and staff. Customer comments included “very interesting”, “Thoroughly enjoyed the day, looking forward to future events”, “We loved the WW1 songs”, “I’ve learned so much today”


The Project will be repeating the event on the occasion of the launch of the database and hopes to bring along additional groups and further interesting aspects of the story of the war for public information.

Public Information Day

Plans well in hand for forthcoming events

Our Public Information Day will be held at North Shields Customer First Centre (Library) on 1st March, 2014 when a number of local and regional groups will be on hand from 10am to 4pm to demonstrate the resources available to help anyone wishing to learn more about the war and the part that a relative may have played in the momentous events of 100 years ago.

The NET (North Shields) will be present with a wartime themed display and information on progress towards the development and opening of the Fishing and Maritime Heritage Centre now being created in the Old Low Lights Building on the Fish Quay.

The next talk at the Low Lights Tavern, on Tuesday 25th February, featuring Dr James McConnel of Northumbria University, talking on trench songs of the Irish soldiers is ‘sold out’. We are sorry if you have been unable to obtain a ticket for one of these very popular FREE events but limited space at the venue prevents our issuing more than 40 tickets. The March 2014 talk (illustrated) will be given by Dr Cecilia Holmes of Newcastle College- ‘The Avant-Garde versus The Old Guard: British painting and the Great War – at 7.30pm on Tuesday 25th March.2014.Tickets for that event will be available from 4th March, from the usual outlets.

For anyone unable to attend some or any of these talks we are repeating three during the Public Information Day on 1st March, 2014. They are; ‘Britain in Crisis’ – Dr Dan Jackson of the project surveys the state of the nation in the years immediately before the outbreak of the war. (11.30); John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville will look at the poetry of the serving men, drawn from their recently published book ‘Tommy Rot’ – the poetry they didn’t let you read (1230); and finally Ian McArdle MA will give his talk ‘Cruelty and compassion’ – a comparative review of the war literature of the French and German fighting men (1430).

At 1.30pm Alan Fidler will be reviewing the development and range of the Tynemouth Project as we approach a summer of activity to mark the launch of our Database as well as Death at Dawn the full-length play by North East playwright Peter Mortimer, to be Directed by Jackie Fielding and premiered at Linskill Community Centre from 1st to 6th September; and culminating in the regionally focussed commemorative concert ‘The Response’ being staged by the project jointly with the Army Benevolent Fund in the magnificent venue of the Sage Gateshead at 7.30pm on 27th September.

Tickets are now available for ‘Going over the top’ on Sunday, 23rd March, 2014 when the Project will be having a fundraising evening with superb entertainment provided by the regular musicians at the Low Lights Tavern -  North Shields oldest surviving pub. Tickets for this event are £5 (includes light supper); available from: Keel Row Bookshop, Preston Road (opposite Christ Church), the Low Lights Tavern and the Project Workroom B9, Linskill Centre.

Local stories to feature in Remembrance Concert

Local stories to feature in Remembrance Concert

The Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project has joined with the Army Benevolent Fund to stage what will be the most significant event in 2014 to recognise the response of the North East to the call for a massive increase in the country’s armed forces in the summer and autumn of 1914. The concert, The Response to be staged at Sage Gateshead on Saturday, 27th September, 2014, in the magnificent auditorium of Hall One, will be an event not to be missed. Tickets for that event will be on sale from the venue from June, 2014. In the meantime there is an opportunity to get a preview of some of the remarkable stories of the involvement of local men in many aspects of the war on land and at sea.
At 8pm on March 1st 2014 the launch of the Commemorative CD ‘Only Remembered’, featuring words, songs and music of the Great War will take place at Sage Gateshead. In the intimate surroundings of Hall Two, local singer Vicky Guillory, well-known columnist Denise Robertson and Colonel Alasdair Hutton will recall the experiences of the fighting men through music and verse, all featured on the new CD produced by the Army Benevolent Fund in aid of forces charities. As a part of the programme on the 1st of March, the Tynemouth Project has assembled a few of the many fascinating stories that have been uncovered in the course of the three years of our research and contact with living relatives of those who served. These will be presented with readings by current relatives of the men whose stories illustrate the realities of the conflict. Tickets for this event are available from the Sage Gateshead box office - (0191) 443 4661 or www.sagegateshead.com
The second half of the programme features music of later years with the ‘Little Sisters’ harmony singers, recreating the music and songs of the forties.

Further diary dates to note are the Public Information day to be held at North Shields Customer First centre (Library) on 1st March, 2014 when a number of local and regional groups will be on hand from 10am to 4pm to demonstrate the resources available to help anyone wishing to learn more about the war and the part a relative may have played in the momentous events of 100 years ago.
The NET (North Shields) will be present with a wartime themed display and information on progress towards the development and opening of the Fishing and Maritime Heritage Centre now being created in the Old Low Lights Building on the Fish Quay.
The project invites you to join them ‘Going over the top’ on Sunday, 23rd March, 2014 when they will be having a fundraising evening with superb entertainment provided by the regular musicians at the Low Lights Tavern -  North Shields oldest surviving pub.
Come and have an evening of good company and good music; all in the surroundings of a real pub with real ales, real fires and real atmosphere.

Tickets for this event are £5 (includes light supper); available from the usual outlets: KeelRow Bookshop, Preston Road (opposite Christ Church), the Low Lights Tavern and the Project Workroom B9, Linskill Centre.

Leading film director/ producer to speak at local Video Group meeting

Leading film director/ producer to speak at local Video Group meeting

Since its formation in 2011The Tynemouth WW1 Project has enjoyed immense support from the local news media, not least from the News Guardian which has afforded the project the opportunity to inform the public of its activities and progress on a weekly basis, as well as the ability to reach out to the local community to seek information about the almost 2000 casualties of the Great War.

The approach of the centenary of the outbreak of the war means that many special interest groups of local enthusiasts are also looking to feature materials related to the conflict in their programmes and meetings.

We were particularly interested to receive notice of a meeting of The Tynemouth Video Group, who meet at the premises of the Tynemouth Photographic Society above the Library in Front Street, Tynemouth. On Monday 17^th February, at 7.30pm they will be hosting a talk by well-known speaker, historian and producer Ed Skeldon, which will be illustrated with film excerpts featuring the Ypres and Somme battlefields from his film ‘Walking the Western Front’.

Interest in this talk is expected to be widespread. If you wish to attend the event please telephone the Group (0191) 253 3536 for further details and to register interest. The event is free but advance reservation is recommended as the venue has limited capacity.

The next in our series of lectures at City Campus East, Northumbria University, New Bridge Street, (opposite Manors Metro Station), will take place at 6.15pm on Tuesday 18^th February, 2014 when Dr Edward Madigan of Royal Holloway and Bedford College, University of London (and until recently historian in residence at the CWGC) will be speaking on the subject of The better part of valour: British understandings of courage in WW1’. The eight lecture series is now at lecture five, with four very interesting and stimulating topics and speakers due to address us from now until May. These lectures have all been very popular – see our website for details of all the remaining talks and registration to attend (not essential but it helps us with planning). - www.tynemouthworldwarone.org

Tickets are now available for the next in our series of informal talks at the Low Lights Tavern, Brewhouse Bank, Fish Quay, North Shields. Dr James McConnel, Head of History at Northumbria University will be talking about the trench songs of the Irish soldiery in the Great War. These were men who came from a part of the British Isles which had been, in the years before the war (and would remain) in a state of political unrest. A huge number of Irishmen served in the armed forces and all were volunteers. The government in London feeling it wise not to introduce the compulsory conscription of men into the army which was applied on mainland Britain. Tickets (Free) are available from the Low lights Tavern, The Project Workroom (B9) at Linskill Community Centre and from Keel Row Books, opposite Christ Church, Preston Road, North Shields.

HMS Viknor

New light on Viknor loss 

Two years ago (12^thJanuary, 2012) I noted the loss of HMS Viknor near Tory Island off the coast of Northern Ireland. Four local men were among the 295 casualties as all contact with the ship was lost. There were no survivors.

Now two years on and as a result of research by the Project the story of one of those lost can be told. Frederick Shaw Monks had an eventful life being born across the world in Australia in Maryborough, Queensland in November, 1887. However by the time of the Census of 1891 the family is back in England living at Monkton near Jarrow; and in 1901 we find them living in Wallsend at 85 Vine Street. Young Frederick is not with them then having been committed to the Training Ship Wellesley moored off the Fish Quay in North Shields. He had been ordered to be detained for 3 years and 9 months charged with ‘frequenting the company of thieves’. He was discharged from the Wellesley on 6th November, 1903; probably around his 14^th birthday.

His period of schooling and nautical training had obviously been taken to heart for by the time of the 1911 census he is recorded as living at the family home in Vine Street and his occupation is given as ‘Second Mate Merchant service’. As was common at that time members of the merchant navy were often listed as Royal Naval Reserves for employment in times of emergency. He was called for sea service in the Royal Navy on the outbreak of war and was commissioned on 20^th November, 1914 as a Sub-Lieutenant (Temporary). He was serving on HMS Viknor when she was lost with all 

hands .He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval memorial.

The Navy records tell us that when commissioned his address was 126 Park Road in Wallsend.

That property still stands today and we will if possible place a plaque on the building noting his service and death – one of the almost 600 homes we hope will bear witness to the losses of the war from those listed in the Tynemouth Roll of Honour. Despite his troubled start in life he had obviously made something of himself and the fine photograph shows a confident man who had earned the respect and confidence of his employers and latterly the Royal Navy which called upon his abilities to serve his country in its hour of need.

The naval records show that the ship was lost off Tory island in severe weather, all those on board being drowned. No firm evidence of enemy action was found but a considerable number of bodies were washed ashore. An enemy submarine had sown a minefield nearby recently.

The loss of Frederick came soon after his uncle Frederick Richard Monks (aged 43) had been lost in the tragedy of the sinking of three cruisers on 22^nd September, 1914 (News Guardian-

22^nd September 2011). He had spent four hours in the water after his ship HMS Cressy was sunk – the last of the three victims of U9 off the coast of Holland - and died only minutes after being rescued.

Link to worldwide community

Link to worldwide community of commemoration aids project again

Just before Christmas the Prime Minister, David Cameron and the Irish Taosaioch, Enda Kenny made an historic visit to the battlefields on the Western front – the first by a leader from the Republic of Ireland; the more significant because it was made in company with the current Prime Minister of the former ruling government of the territorial area of the southern Irish state. The part played by the men of the whole of Ireland was extremely significant and was an aspect of the history of the south which has been largely ignored officially for almost 90 years in the modern state of Eire but is now being reassessed as the centenary of the Great War approaches. The huge Irish diaspora which settled on Tyneside and in the north east of England in the latter part of the nineteenth century is strongly represented in the sad catalogue of loss in our local communities. A further link across the Irish Sea for the Tynemouth Commemoration project was revealed over the Christmas holiday when we were able through our Twitter connections to secure a photograph of the gravestone of a local seafarer buried in the Old Church Cemetery at Cobh in County Cork on the southern coast of the Republic, where many if the victims of the ss Lusitania ‘outrage’ are also buried.

Benson Leck Blacklock was 3^rd Engineer of the tanker ss El Zorro lost through enemy action off Kinsale Head. A well-known local rugby footballer his sporting ability was celebrated in obituaries in the Shields Daily News. -4^th January, 1916: ‘News has been received of the death at sea of Mr Benson Blacklock, the well-known forward player of the Percy Park Rugby Football Club, thus adding to the already considerable list of the members of that organisation who have laid down their lives in the service of their country during the last 18 months. Mr Blacklock was not a member of His Majesty's Forces, but as engineer of an oil-carrying steamer carrying fuel for the fleet he was undoubtedly in the service of his country. The ship.. the steamer El Zoro,.. was carrying oil from Port Arthur to the United Kingdom, was lost off the coast of Ireland… Mr Blacklock and another member of the crew lost their lives,.. [he] was 32 years of age [and] was a son of Mr Benson Blacklock, an engineer employed at Smith's Dock, and served his time at the Shields Engineering Co.'s premises before going to sea. He was an enthusiastic football player, ever one of the foremost in the rushes of the Percy Park pack, and was a great favourite at Preston Avenue. He still kept up his connection with the game after going to sea, and when home from a voyage would don the jersey if the winter game was in progress.

SDN 11^th January, 1916. The funeral of Mr Benson Blacklock … took place at Queenstown on Friday. An Appreciation from an Old Percy Parkite. 'Bennie' Blacklock! What memories of many hard-fought Rugby matches does his name conjure up… Home and abroad he loved to chase the ball. Alas he and others who helped to make the name of Percy Park famous are gone from us. We mourn his loss but appreciate the fact that we had his friendship.

Now, through modern media, undreamt of in his day, we have been able to get a picture of his CWGC headstone in Cobh. The men of Tynemouth Borough lost in the Great War are commemorated across the globe. Those memorials link the communities in which they rest with their hometown to this day. We are grateful to Caoimhe NicDhaibheid of Sheffield and Cobh for her help in securing a picture of Blacklock’s gravestone to add to our database.

Project moves into 4th year

Project moves into fourth year as centenary nears

The Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project began with a huddled meeting in the back courtyard of the Oddfellows Arms in North Shields in December, 2010. We were huddled outdoors, under infra-red lamps, as the worst winter in 50 years tightened its grip, because the Quiz in the bar prevented any discussion above a whisper. From that icy beginning, the outline, of what is now perhaps the nation’s largest community-based commemorative project dedicated to remembrance of the loss and suffering of a town in the First World War, began to take shape.

As 2014 opens and the centenary of the outbreak of the war draws near we are about to begin the major tasks connected with the staging of a number of community events. There are three important dates for the diary of anyone who wishes to participate in the marking of the great struggle of the years 1914-18. On 3^rd August we shall have a whole day event in Northumberland Square, including a formal service of remembrance.

From 1^st to 6^th September, at the Linskill Community Centre, we shall be staging the premiere performances of a play commissioned by the project and written by North East playwright Peter Mortimer. Death at Dawn is a fictional play based on certain of the true facts surrounding the life and execution in France, after court martial on charges of desertion, of William Hunter of Coronation Street, North Shields

Supported by the Arts Council England, North Tyneside Council and The Heritage Lottery Fund the play is a full-length drama which will engage audiences of any age from 14 years upwards- tickets available from 1^st May, 2014.

Finally, on the 27^th September, at The Sage - Gateshead, in conjunction with the Army Benevolent Fund, we will commemorate all the recruitment and service of the men from across the North East who responded in vast numbers to the call in autumn of 1914. A wide programme of music and readings with audience participation will include materials drawn from the project’s researches. Tickets for this event will be sold through the Sage- Gateshead from spring 2014– details to follow through this column.

The concert will be the culmination of our four years of research and activity, by which time we shall have opened our extensive database of biographical information to public access on the internet (anticipated launch – 28^th June, 2014) which will be available for viewing in North Shields Customer First Centre (Discover North Tyneside – Local studies section) for anyone not able to access the internet easily. The project will also have a major exhibition running on the second floor of the Customer Service Centre from early in July throughout the summer until late September.

Nearer at hand we have two events in January. At 6pm on Tuesday the 21^st of January, at Northumbria University, City Campus East, Emeritus Professor John Derry of Newcastle University will deliver the fourth in our landmark series of public lectures – ‘Ludendorff and Hindenburg – a brilliant partnership?’ Details of all the remaining five lectures can be found on our website.

The next in our very popular series of talks at the Low Lights Tavern, Brewhouse Bank, North Shields will be given by D. John Sadler at 730pm on Tuesday 28^th January. John will speak on ‘The Northumberland Hussars at the first battle of Ypres -1914’ – tickets (free) can be obtained from the Project workroom, Linskill Community Centre, The Low lights Tavern and Keel Row Bookshop, Fenwick Terrace – opposite Christ Church, North Shields. The Northumberland Hussars (nickname – the Noodles) were the first Volunteer Yeomanry Regiment (cavalry) to see action in the First World War.

Sad sequel for Shields families

Sad sequel for Shields families of first attack on British mainland in December, 1914

On the 16^th December, 1914 a substantial German naval force set out across the North Sea to test the Royal Navy’s response to their movement and to carry out a number of raids on North Sea coastal towns. An earlier attack on Great Yarmouth had been ineffective but this later incursion along the east coast was to prove more devastating, and an embarrassment for the Admiralty.

After separating as they crossed the Dogger Bank area, one element of the German raiders approached Scarborough, where a relatively unimportant seaside town was subjected to a bombardment which killed several people and caused damage to a number of significant buildings, including the Grand Hotel. The effect however was more psychological – here was an enemy able to penetrate the defensive cordon of the Royal Navy which ‘had ruled the waves’ for one hundred years.

The more significant target in military terms was Hartlepool, and while the ability to decode German signals meant the navy was aware of an approaching incursion by the the second substantial German force, the response from the land and naval defences of the town was to prove ineffective.

The Hartlepool attack killed 86 civilians and injured 424. Seven soldiers were killed and 14 injured from the garrison at the Heugh and harbour batteries – the first British soldiers to be killed on the UK mainland in the war. 1,150 shells were fired at the town, striking targets including the steelworks, gasworks, railways, seven churches and 300 houses. As in Scarborough to the south, people fled the town by road and attempted to do so by train. Retaliatory fire from the British forces killed eight German sailors and 12 were wounded At 08:50, the German ships departed, the British naval forces at Hartlepool had been unable to engage the enemy for reasons of size and range.

As a subsidiary part of this probing mission the German Light Cruiser Kolberg, part of the force attacking Scarborough, had laid a field of mines off the Yorkshire coast near to Flamborough Head which over the coming months was to cause the loss of several ships which disappeared without trace after setting off from North East ports for the south.

The ss Glenmorven left the Tyne on Boxing Day, 1914 and was lost with all hands – presumed to have struck a mine laid by the Kolberg. Crew members lost and connected to North Shields were William Bower aged 17 of Coburg Street, John Roberston aged 46 (born in Ceylon) whose address was given as Albert Edward Dock, John Todd aged 17, until recently an inmate of the TS Wellesley, who had been born in Morpeth and lastly Julius Charles Wedderkopp aged 44, a Steward on the ship who was born in Copenhagen and lived at Linskill Street with his wife Winifred (nee Nicholson).

The wide-ranging of origins of these four men is indicative of the very cosmopolitan and transient nature of the population of North Shields at that time. Tracing their histories is very difficult - any information relatives can provide is vital to the work of the project.