November 2023
Outing to Lady Waterford Hall, Ford Village
Speaker Sue Turnbull
Following a talk on the ‘Ford Estate at the time of the Waterford Family’ earlier in the week, 25 members of the Society enjoyed a visit to Lady Waterford Hall. The visit began with a talk by the Hall curator and concluded with a splendid finger buffet luncheon.
The original village of Ford had abutted the castle, with cottages which over the years had been become dilapidated. It was Louisa, Lady Waterford (1818-1891), who after the untimely death of her husband, the Marquis of Waterford, from a riding accident, initiated the re-modelling of the village a little distance from the castle. In 1860 she built a new and improved school building, used as a school until 1957, and now known as Lady Waterford Hall.
The Grade II listed Hall provides much to admire, particularly its architecture and art. The ornate style of the Victorian era is particularly evident in the variety of decorative roof tiles. The interior is purposely lofty, with high roof beams supported with scissor braces, light and airy. It was cold (as noted by ex pupils) with heating provided by just two open fireplaces. Two doors at the front of the building provide separate entry for boys and girls.
Today the Hall is best known for the panels depicting scenes from the Bible, painted by Louisa, Lady Waterford. The school murals were painted over a 24 year period on canvas in her home, Ford Castle, then mounted and framed with wood. Although largely self taught, she communicated with Pre-Raphaelite artists, including Ruskin, but her remarkable art work was less appreciated and less well known than it might have been at that time. She continued to draw and paint almost until her death in 1891.
We heard of her love of children and her philanthropic nature. She wished to use her wealth for the benefit of the Estate tenantry and she set up industries to promote skills to improve their prosperity. She was a devout Christian and taught children herself at Sunday school. Her art was aimed at helping the school children understand Biblical stories with the text to aid their writing, spelling and reading. Opposite the current entrance one is faced with scenes from the Old Testament, firstly Cain and Abel, followed clockwise to New Testament scenes on the south wall. At the east end, a scene of Jesus with the elders in the temple cleverly incorporates a window and other architectural features of the building. The murals include arches which echo the hall’s architecture. The characters in the paintings are portraits of the villagers, estate workers and their children ─sometimes an individual appears more than once. For example, one female model was the long standing housekeeper, Mary Heslop. Over time most have been identified, often by visiting relatives. The Medallions are also portraits. In addition to her murals, a great variety of Louisa, Lady Waterford’s art work and sketches hang in the small rooms of the Hall.
The Lady Waterford Hall Trustees are concerned to conserve the paintings, so humidity and light are monitored and carefully controlled.
Following this illuminating talk, attendees had time to look at the art work before enjoying lunch and time to socialise. We are grateful to the Hall’s management for enabling this visit.
Rosemary Bell
Outing to Lady Waterford Hall, Ford Village
Speaker Sue Turnbull
Following a talk on the ‘Ford Estate at the time of the Waterford Family’ earlier in the week, 25 members of the Society enjoyed a visit to Lady Waterford Hall. The visit began with a talk by the Hall curator and concluded with a splendid finger buffet luncheon.
The original village of Ford had abutted the castle, with cottages which over the years had been become dilapidated. It was Louisa, Lady Waterford (1818-1891), who after the untimely death of her husband, the Marquis of Waterford, from a riding accident, initiated the re-modelling of the village a little distance from the castle. In 1860 she built a new and improved school building, used as a school until 1957, and now known as Lady Waterford Hall.
The Grade II listed Hall provides much to admire, particularly its architecture and art. The ornate style of the Victorian era is particularly evident in the variety of decorative roof tiles. The interior is purposely lofty, with high roof beams supported with scissor braces, light and airy. It was cold (as noted by ex pupils) with heating provided by just two open fireplaces. Two doors at the front of the building provide separate entry for boys and girls.
Today the Hall is best known for the panels depicting scenes from the Bible, painted by Louisa, Lady Waterford. The school murals were painted over a 24 year period on canvas in her home, Ford Castle, then mounted and framed with wood. Although largely self taught, she communicated with Pre-Raphaelite artists, including Ruskin, but her remarkable art work was less appreciated and less well known than it might have been at that time. She continued to draw and paint almost until her death in 1891.
We heard of her love of children and her philanthropic nature. She wished to use her wealth for the benefit of the Estate tenantry and she set up industries to promote skills to improve their prosperity. She was a devout Christian and taught children herself at Sunday school. Her art was aimed at helping the school children understand Biblical stories with the text to aid their writing, spelling and reading. Opposite the current entrance one is faced with scenes from the Old Testament, firstly Cain and Abel, followed clockwise to New Testament scenes on the south wall. At the east end, a scene of Jesus with the elders in the temple cleverly incorporates a window and other architectural features of the building. The murals include arches which echo the hall’s architecture. The characters in the paintings are portraits of the villagers, estate workers and their children ─sometimes an individual appears more than once. For example, one female model was the long standing housekeeper, Mary Heslop. Over time most have been identified, often by visiting relatives. The Medallions are also portraits. In addition to her murals, a great variety of Louisa, Lady Waterford’s art work and sketches hang in the small rooms of the Hall.
The Lady Waterford Hall Trustees are concerned to conserve the paintings, so humidity and light are monitored and carefully controlled.
Following this illuminating talk, attendees had time to look at the art work before enjoying lunch and time to socialise. We are grateful to the Hall’s management for enabling this visit.
Rosemary Bell
November 2023
Ford Estate at the time of the Waterford Family
Speaker: Linda Bankier
With over three decades of experience as an archivist, Linda Bankier had researched details of Ford Estate for which records during the Marquis of Waterford ownership are scarce. Linda stated that archival work is an ongoing process, often with new facts coming to light at later dates; it must be like being a detective!
Linda laid the foundations of the Waterford family’s possession with an ancestral family tree starting with a William Carr in 1606; later came Sir John Hussey Delaval, who used Ford Castle as his summer retreat from Seaton Delaval Hall. Working through the genealogy, it was Susanna Delaval who married the 2nd Marquis of Waterford and through whom Ford Estate was inherited by the Waterford family. Their son, Henry, 3rd Marquis of Waterford, married Louisa (nee Stuart, of Highcliffe Castle, Dorset) in June 1842 and he brought his wife for her first visit to Ford in September 1842. Articles appeared in the Berwick Advertiser, relating how the couple were welcomed on their visits by the Estate tenants, with fond farewell processions as the couple left for their home, Curraghmore, in Ireland. The noble couple were much in love but sadly the Marquis died from a riding accident in 1859. He had stated that Ford Estate be left to his widow, Louisa, Lady Waterford, for her lifetime, when it would revert to the Irish Waterford heritage.
When widowed, Louisa, Lady Waterford decided to make her home at Ford Castle, but it required refurbishment which she initiated by remodelling the castle in the mediaeval style that we see today. She was an artist of repute and a socialite, thus able to entertain many guests and dignitaries there.
Lady Waterford was a compassionate, benevolent individual, having great concern and care for her tenants. We heard much of the social history of the time – how the cottages were almost uninhabitable, their floors being below ground level, therefore damp and with inadequate ventilation. With her philanthropic outlook, in addition to providing gifts and material support to her poor tenants (food parcels, clothing, blankets), in 1898 Lady Waterford set about redeveloping the village, improving upon the previously neglected and disreputable cottages. She built a new school, which she adorned with her art, thus improving education for children. And she also provided a nurse, whose residence was Jubilee Cottage. There was to be no pub in the village, since Lady Waterford belonged to the Temperance Society.
The Estate comprised many tenant farms and, before mechanisation, they required a host of workers. Our speaker illustrated the workers’ itinerant life-style with images of farm labourers ‘flitting’ – usually an annual occurrence in May following the ‘hirings’. A census return showed the birth places of one family’s 11 children – mostly in different localities within the wider area as the father moved employment.
Associated Ford Estate industries included milling, where Heatherslaw Mill, then known as Ford Mills, was modified to house the water-wheel within its main building. The hamlet we now know as Heatherslaw was then known as Ford Forge and supported the Black family’s smithy, famed for spade making – they had a further outlet at Spittal. There was no bridge, two distinct communities existed, one either side of the river, one supported by the mill and the other by the smithy. Coal Mining at Ford Moss supported a small community of workers, evidenced now by cottage remains and clumps of rhubarb; the mine eventually closed owing to water ingress.
Crookham village, part of the Estate bordering Pallinsburn Estate, supported the only non-Anglican, Presbyterian church in the area. Lady Waterford initiated provision of fresh water to the village, to reduce infectious diseases.
Our speaker painted a fascinating sociological picture of life in the 19th century Ford Estate and of the improvements made during the Waterford family ownership, all clearly explained and well illustrated, with far more detail than can be reported here. The talk was followed by a History Society outing to visit Lady Waterford Hall.
Rosemary Bell
Ford Estate at the time of the Waterford Family
Speaker: Linda Bankier
With over three decades of experience as an archivist, Linda Bankier had researched details of Ford Estate for which records during the Marquis of Waterford ownership are scarce. Linda stated that archival work is an ongoing process, often with new facts coming to light at later dates; it must be like being a detective!
Linda laid the foundations of the Waterford family’s possession with an ancestral family tree starting with a William Carr in 1606; later came Sir John Hussey Delaval, who used Ford Castle as his summer retreat from Seaton Delaval Hall. Working through the genealogy, it was Susanna Delaval who married the 2nd Marquis of Waterford and through whom Ford Estate was inherited by the Waterford family. Their son, Henry, 3rd Marquis of Waterford, married Louisa (nee Stuart, of Highcliffe Castle, Dorset) in June 1842 and he brought his wife for her first visit to Ford in September 1842. Articles appeared in the Berwick Advertiser, relating how the couple were welcomed on their visits by the Estate tenants, with fond farewell processions as the couple left for their home, Curraghmore, in Ireland. The noble couple were much in love but sadly the Marquis died from a riding accident in 1859. He had stated that Ford Estate be left to his widow, Louisa, Lady Waterford, for her lifetime, when it would revert to the Irish Waterford heritage.
When widowed, Louisa, Lady Waterford decided to make her home at Ford Castle, but it required refurbishment which she initiated by remodelling the castle in the mediaeval style that we see today. She was an artist of repute and a socialite, thus able to entertain many guests and dignitaries there.
Lady Waterford was a compassionate, benevolent individual, having great concern and care for her tenants. We heard much of the social history of the time – how the cottages were almost uninhabitable, their floors being below ground level, therefore damp and with inadequate ventilation. With her philanthropic outlook, in addition to providing gifts and material support to her poor tenants (food parcels, clothing, blankets), in 1898 Lady Waterford set about redeveloping the village, improving upon the previously neglected and disreputable cottages. She built a new school, which she adorned with her art, thus improving education for children. And she also provided a nurse, whose residence was Jubilee Cottage. There was to be no pub in the village, since Lady Waterford belonged to the Temperance Society.
The Estate comprised many tenant farms and, before mechanisation, they required a host of workers. Our speaker illustrated the workers’ itinerant life-style with images of farm labourers ‘flitting’ – usually an annual occurrence in May following the ‘hirings’. A census return showed the birth places of one family’s 11 children – mostly in different localities within the wider area as the father moved employment.
Associated Ford Estate industries included milling, where Heatherslaw Mill, then known as Ford Mills, was modified to house the water-wheel within its main building. The hamlet we now know as Heatherslaw was then known as Ford Forge and supported the Black family’s smithy, famed for spade making – they had a further outlet at Spittal. There was no bridge, two distinct communities existed, one either side of the river, one supported by the mill and the other by the smithy. Coal Mining at Ford Moss supported a small community of workers, evidenced now by cottage remains and clumps of rhubarb; the mine eventually closed owing to water ingress.
Crookham village, part of the Estate bordering Pallinsburn Estate, supported the only non-Anglican, Presbyterian church in the area. Lady Waterford initiated provision of fresh water to the village, to reduce infectious diseases.
Our speaker painted a fascinating sociological picture of life in the 19th century Ford Estate and of the improvements made during the Waterford family ownership, all clearly explained and well illustrated, with far more detail than can be reported here. The talk was followed by a History Society outing to visit Lady Waterford Hall.
Rosemary Bell
October 2023
Graveyards of the 17th and 18th centuries in Northumberland
Speaker: Mark Hatton
Most of us expect to die, after all it is the last thing that we’ll do, but Mark Hatton brought the subject to our attention in a fascinating talk, ranging far and wide on the subject of death and the memorials thereto which lie in our very accessible graveyards.
The style of these gravestones follows that of the Romans. Mark showed photographs of gravestones in Rochester, Corbridge and Hexham, memorials to Roman soldiers who died on what was to them, of course, a far northern frontier, and which would not be amiss in our churchyards except for the names and occupations of the deceased. He pointed out that gravestones look like doors and that this is deliberate as they are meant to lead to the afterlife.
They followed a tradition of stone carving in Northumberland from the Bronze Age.
In our area gravestones are found largely from the beginning of the 18th century, although a few date from the17th. Mark argued, persuasively in my view, that the catalyst for change was the union of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, which meant that with the Scottish court having moved to London, the higher ranking families left in Edinburgh had fewer ways of showing their status than before but one way that they could do so was in death, especially as the reformation and the reduction in rich benefactors led to a surfeit of skilled stonemasons. Presbyterianism does not countenance burial inside a church, or kirk, but with the purchase of the gardens of Greyfriars Monastery a short distance behind St. Giles cathedral, and the gifting of the land to the Council, a cemetery was established. The style and size of the mausolea of the richer families burgeoned, while the bourgeoisie were buried with less grandiose memorials but still had gravestones. It was the styles of the latter which found their way to Northumberland by the 18th century.
In Mark’s view, most people were buried in unmarked graves. He accepted that it was possible that they had had memorials made of wood or that their gravestones had been cleared but, on balance, he thought that this was unlikely. Of course, a stone memorial lasts longer than other media. Mark showed us the ‘hogsback’ gravestones which depict the tiled roof of a house as well as sarcophagi complete with drain holes. I had not appreciated that the drain holes were to allow bodily fluids to exit so that the bones of the corpse could than be moved to an ossuary and the sarcophagus used for another corpse. A lovely thought, so different to what we think today.
Attitudes to death were very different to ours in the 21st century. There were no antibiotics, women died in childbirth, and many children died in infancy. In other words, one’s grip on life was fragile. One sees this in the paintings of artists such as Caravaggio which depict a candle or condiments in light on a table, but close to its edge ready to be cast into darkness. Death was accepted as part of life, as it were, far more than it is today when the subject is shunned. It was poignant to note how couples are depicted on gravestones being re-joined in the afterlife and even more so to note gravestones which showed the effigies of those of their children who had died young. Death could even be welcomed as a release.
Of course, such an attitude was as a result in the firm belief in an afterlife which could be looked forward to. Mark explained much of the symbolism on gravestones: a head with wings either side depicting the soul going to heaven; the green man signifying that life goes on (although the green man is a relatively rare phenomenon in Northumberland); the circle showing a serpent devouring its own tail indicating birth, life, and death in a continuum; cherubs blowing bubbles indicating that life is transient; and pregnant women hitching up their skirts nearly to their crotches showing that life will defeat death.
The skull and crossbones represent death and Christ on the cross; a scallop shell shows the deceased was a disciple of Christ (again something often seen on 17th Century paintings); and Father Time with his hour glass and scythe is an obvious metaphor.
Mark pointed out that stonemasonry was local and suggested that each stonemason seemed to have a signature way of carving skulls; the ultimate memento mori. These could be explicit such as in the words: ‘All that you come my grave to see as I am now, so you must be’.
In concluding his talk, Mark suggested that the symbols on gravestones show
In summary, it was a wonderful talk which was both entertaining and enlightening.
Peter W. Davies
Graveyards of the 17th and 18th centuries in Northumberland
Speaker: Mark Hatton
Most of us expect to die, after all it is the last thing that we’ll do, but Mark Hatton brought the subject to our attention in a fascinating talk, ranging far and wide on the subject of death and the memorials thereto which lie in our very accessible graveyards.
The style of these gravestones follows that of the Romans. Mark showed photographs of gravestones in Rochester, Corbridge and Hexham, memorials to Roman soldiers who died on what was to them, of course, a far northern frontier, and which would not be amiss in our churchyards except for the names and occupations of the deceased. He pointed out that gravestones look like doors and that this is deliberate as they are meant to lead to the afterlife.
They followed a tradition of stone carving in Northumberland from the Bronze Age.
In our area gravestones are found largely from the beginning of the 18th century, although a few date from the17th. Mark argued, persuasively in my view, that the catalyst for change was the union of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, which meant that with the Scottish court having moved to London, the higher ranking families left in Edinburgh had fewer ways of showing their status than before but one way that they could do so was in death, especially as the reformation and the reduction in rich benefactors led to a surfeit of skilled stonemasons. Presbyterianism does not countenance burial inside a church, or kirk, but with the purchase of the gardens of Greyfriars Monastery a short distance behind St. Giles cathedral, and the gifting of the land to the Council, a cemetery was established. The style and size of the mausolea of the richer families burgeoned, while the bourgeoisie were buried with less grandiose memorials but still had gravestones. It was the styles of the latter which found their way to Northumberland by the 18th century.
In Mark’s view, most people were buried in unmarked graves. He accepted that it was possible that they had had memorials made of wood or that their gravestones had been cleared but, on balance, he thought that this was unlikely. Of course, a stone memorial lasts longer than other media. Mark showed us the ‘hogsback’ gravestones which depict the tiled roof of a house as well as sarcophagi complete with drain holes. I had not appreciated that the drain holes were to allow bodily fluids to exit so that the bones of the corpse could than be moved to an ossuary and the sarcophagus used for another corpse. A lovely thought, so different to what we think today.
Attitudes to death were very different to ours in the 21st century. There were no antibiotics, women died in childbirth, and many children died in infancy. In other words, one’s grip on life was fragile. One sees this in the paintings of artists such as Caravaggio which depict a candle or condiments in light on a table, but close to its edge ready to be cast into darkness. Death was accepted as part of life, as it were, far more than it is today when the subject is shunned. It was poignant to note how couples are depicted on gravestones being re-joined in the afterlife and even more so to note gravestones which showed the effigies of those of their children who had died young. Death could even be welcomed as a release.
Of course, such an attitude was as a result in the firm belief in an afterlife which could be looked forward to. Mark explained much of the symbolism on gravestones: a head with wings either side depicting the soul going to heaven; the green man signifying that life goes on (although the green man is a relatively rare phenomenon in Northumberland); the circle showing a serpent devouring its own tail indicating birth, life, and death in a continuum; cherubs blowing bubbles indicating that life is transient; and pregnant women hitching up their skirts nearly to their crotches showing that life will defeat death.
The skull and crossbones represent death and Christ on the cross; a scallop shell shows the deceased was a disciple of Christ (again something often seen on 17th Century paintings); and Father Time with his hour glass and scythe is an obvious metaphor.
Mark pointed out that stonemasonry was local and suggested that each stonemason seemed to have a signature way of carving skulls; the ultimate memento mori. These could be explicit such as in the words: ‘All that you come my grave to see as I am now, so you must be’.
In concluding his talk, Mark suggested that the symbols on gravestones show
- death, to remind us of our mortality
- the resurrection of the dead
- the occupation of the deceased and/or their status in life with depictions of the tools of their trades. Mark’s examples included a cordwainer, farmer, stonemason, and blacksmith. He drew out attention on one grave in St Mary’s which depicts the square and compasses which show the deceased was a freemason. (As an aside, the ‘Victory’ stamps of George VI also indicate that he was a freemason.)
- the virtues of the deceased, to demonstrate that he or she is worthy of admission to heaven.
In summary, it was a wonderful talk which was both entertaining and enlightening.
Peter W. Davies
September 2023
Plants through geological time – how the underlying geology influenced the flora in Glendale
Speaker: Elizabeth Devon
Some of us already know Elizabeth Devon’s passion for Geology from the lectures she gives to the Geology group of the Wooler u3a, but at the GLHS September meeting she surpassed even those with a talk on the evolution of plants and life. Her best analogy is the human arm: if one stretches out one’s right arm to demonstrate a timeline of life, the earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago on the ‘left side of one’s neck’; mankind arrived at the end of one’s middle fingernail; and if one cuts that nail it is as if mankind never existed.
Elizabeth made the point that without plant life nothing could live on land, and that this was the state of the world for billions of years. Indeed, all life was in the sea until ‘only’ 500 million years ago.
Photosynthesis involves the chlorophyl in leaves to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and glucose and probably began about 3.4 billion years ago in a primitive form wherein the first photosynthetic bacteria absorbed infra-red light was absorbed and produced sulphate compounds. There is the first rock evidence of oxygen from 2.4 billion years ago. Thus, we must remind ourselves that given the timescales involved, rounding errors involve tens of millions of years, which should make us think of the significance or otherwise of our own lives in the history of the cosmos in general and of earth in particular.
The first cyanobacteria formed about 2.7 billion years ago; they absorbed visible light using a mix of pigments including chlorophyll. Red and brown algae were followed by green algae which do better in the strong light of shallow water. The first land plants, mosses and liverworts descended from the green algae, arrived about 0.475 billion years ago. They lacked a vascular structure (roots and stems) so could not grow very tall. Barely 50m years later, vascular plants such as ferns, grasses, trees and cacti evolved, and grew canopies to catch more light.
Plants and animals divided and there is some debate as to whether fungi divided from animals or plants but the largest living organism on the planet is the honey fungus in Oregon covering 2,600 acres. This was typical of the fun facts that Elizabeth threw into her talk. She explained how a mass extinction 250 million years ago wiped out 95% of species living in the sea and 75% of those living on land.
What passed as the British Isles began near the tropic of Capricorn south of the equator some 500 million years ago and the carboniferous forests which gave us our coal grew as they moved north past the equator some 300 million years ago. Our sandstone was laid when the Islands migrated further north and became desert. So it was eventually, that the British Isles arrived where they are now and the first evidence of habitation is from 850,000 years ago. This explains the resonance of the ‘arm’ analogy of Elizabeth’s talk.
Thus, she explained that the vegetation we now see around us is very recently derived. Although Cheviot was a volcano {about 400 million to 350 million years ago} when the British Isles lay on the edge of a volcanic plate {as is Japan now}, our vegetation has been largely determined by the effects of the ice age. The Millfield plain is the dried sediment of a glacial lake surrounded by sandstone {Doddington, for example} and outcrops of volcanic rock which has been eroded by ice only about 22,000 years ago. Although it seems hard to believe, as there is ice at the poles, we are still in an ice age.
It was such a fascinating talk with so many nuggets of information, it is difficult for a poor scribe to do it justice.
PWD 14/9/23
Plants through geological time – how the underlying geology influenced the flora in Glendale
Speaker: Elizabeth Devon
Some of us already know Elizabeth Devon’s passion for Geology from the lectures she gives to the Geology group of the Wooler u3a, but at the GLHS September meeting she surpassed even those with a talk on the evolution of plants and life. Her best analogy is the human arm: if one stretches out one’s right arm to demonstrate a timeline of life, the earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago on the ‘left side of one’s neck’; mankind arrived at the end of one’s middle fingernail; and if one cuts that nail it is as if mankind never existed.
Elizabeth made the point that without plant life nothing could live on land, and that this was the state of the world for billions of years. Indeed, all life was in the sea until ‘only’ 500 million years ago.
Photosynthesis involves the chlorophyl in leaves to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and glucose and probably began about 3.4 billion years ago in a primitive form wherein the first photosynthetic bacteria absorbed infra-red light was absorbed and produced sulphate compounds. There is the first rock evidence of oxygen from 2.4 billion years ago. Thus, we must remind ourselves that given the timescales involved, rounding errors involve tens of millions of years, which should make us think of the significance or otherwise of our own lives in the history of the cosmos in general and of earth in particular.
The first cyanobacteria formed about 2.7 billion years ago; they absorbed visible light using a mix of pigments including chlorophyll. Red and brown algae were followed by green algae which do better in the strong light of shallow water. The first land plants, mosses and liverworts descended from the green algae, arrived about 0.475 billion years ago. They lacked a vascular structure (roots and stems) so could not grow very tall. Barely 50m years later, vascular plants such as ferns, grasses, trees and cacti evolved, and grew canopies to catch more light.
Plants and animals divided and there is some debate as to whether fungi divided from animals or plants but the largest living organism on the planet is the honey fungus in Oregon covering 2,600 acres. This was typical of the fun facts that Elizabeth threw into her talk. She explained how a mass extinction 250 million years ago wiped out 95% of species living in the sea and 75% of those living on land.
What passed as the British Isles began near the tropic of Capricorn south of the equator some 500 million years ago and the carboniferous forests which gave us our coal grew as they moved north past the equator some 300 million years ago. Our sandstone was laid when the Islands migrated further north and became desert. So it was eventually, that the British Isles arrived where they are now and the first evidence of habitation is from 850,000 years ago. This explains the resonance of the ‘arm’ analogy of Elizabeth’s talk.
Thus, she explained that the vegetation we now see around us is very recently derived. Although Cheviot was a volcano {about 400 million to 350 million years ago} when the British Isles lay on the edge of a volcanic plate {as is Japan now}, our vegetation has been largely determined by the effects of the ice age. The Millfield plain is the dried sediment of a glacial lake surrounded by sandstone {Doddington, for example} and outcrops of volcanic rock which has been eroded by ice only about 22,000 years ago. Although it seems hard to believe, as there is ice at the poles, we are still in an ice age.
It was such a fascinating talk with so many nuggets of information, it is difficult for a poor scribe to do it justice.
PWD 14/9/23
April 2023
The Bainbridges: from Newcastle Department Store to Eshott Hall
Speaker: Eleanor George
Entrepreneurship and philanthropy: these qualities gave origin and rise to the retail business and well known department store in Newcastle which was taken over from the Bainbridge family in 1954, later becoming known as John Lewis.
The founding figure was Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, born in 1817 at Cragside Farm, Eastgate, County Durham. His initial apprenticeship was at ‘The Side’, Newcastle, in 1830, from where he progressed to Regent Street in London. However in 1838 he returned to Newcastle, where he opened a retail drapery store called Albion House.
Newcastle had changed considerably from that of his younger years but being entrepreneurial he took advantage by stocking the latest London fashions with sales based on his ideals of fairness, inherent from his family’s staunch Methodist faith (the family had many famed Wesleyan friends). In that era there was much haggling over costs and payments with stores becoming bankrupt owing to allowing payments of goods being on account and not always forthcoming: in contrast, he charged fixed prices and immediate payment.
Despite this his active management led to business expansion and opening a second store with 34 different departments. In subsequent years the business expanded further, developing into a vast enterprise to include French fashion, silks, furriers, hosiery, drapery, haberdashery, carpets and carpet cleaning and much more. He joined with a cousin in 1856, forming Bainbridge and Company. The Company became known for their improved working conditions for all staff ─ for example, closing times were established. He founded a Benevolent Society to support those in distress and initiated educational and recreational activities.
Emerson Bainbridge had married Annie Hudson (famed as a ‘Fisher Girl’ in a poignant painting by Henry Parker); over time their family grew to some 15 children (plus others who died). Their growing family necessitated a series of moves to ever larger houses (including Shielfield Park and Dissington Hall). Eventually three of their eldest sons, who were well liked, joined the business as Company Secretary and Directors and it became a Limited Company. It continued to grow and improve, with premises in Leeds for the manufacture of clothing, boots and shoes. In Newcastle they enjoyed a competitive liaison with the Fenwicks, while always attempting to cope with society’s social problems well before the welfare state was initiated.
The Company was show-cased at both Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Exhibition, held in 1887 on the 200-acre Town Moor site, and in the early C20th at the ‘East Coast Exhibition’ where it was promoted as “The Great Bainbridge Store ─ one of the sights of Newcastle” since by this time it occupied a vast array of impressive buildings.
In 1887 Emerson Bainbridge achieved his ambition to become a gentleman farmer, purchasing Eshott Hall with its 1000-acre estate. He added extensions to the hall and gradually re-possessed all tenanted farms to improve the estate. He built cottages and a Wesleyan Methodist chapel and took responsibility for the welfare of his tenants. He funded improvements to the local parish church in Felton. He died aged 75 and was buried in the family tomb at Jesmond Old Cemetery. His extensive estate was divided between his sons, his wife (who remained at Eshott Hall until her death) and several charities.
World War 1 had an impact with two officer sons being killed. Later, further family members ─ grandsons ─ branched into coal mining and ship building. World War 2 caused reduced staffing levels together with reduced trading, and finally the decision to sell came in 1952 ─ but only in 2002 was the name Bainbridges abandoned by John Lewis.
It was apparent that the speaker, Eleanor George, had undertaken a huge amount of research to present this well illustrated historical talk, including genealogy, and sociology ─ we could not help but be impressed by the sheer volume of information shared with us.
Rosemary Bell
March 2023
The life and times of a GP practising in Wooler
Speaker: Dr Noel Roy
An outstanding number of members and visitors came to hear this extremely popular retired local doctor’s talk, which was to span his long medical career.
Dr Roy began his talk with his training in the 50s at King’s College, from which he graduated in 1959. He explained that at that time women were allowed to take up only 20% of the places at Medical School. He amused his audience by telling us that students had to have a microscope and a half-skeleton. The students’ first 18 months were spent in the school, before they saw patients.
When he began his training on the wards, a nurse was required to carry a hot water bottle, since “no self-respecting doctor would examine a patient’s abdomen without first warming his hands”. Six-month stints in various specialities followed. Operations were carried out swiftly, with two trainee doctor assistants. In Casualty, doctors worked night and day. Nurses taught them how to apply plasters. When it was the turn of midwifery, they were provided with bicycles as half the births were at home. Dr Roy’s first job was as a houseman in London. There were no shifts, just every other weekend off. But the nurses were kind, and meals were free.
Ultimately Dr Roy knew he wanted to go into General Practice. As a qualified doctor, he worked with a Polish GP, in conditions which by today’s standards seem primitive, such as patients sitting in a deck chair which could be raised or lowered for the doctor’s examination.
Dr Roy spent two years doing National Service, during which he married. Subsequently he began his GP work a very rural part of County Durham. Dr Roy regaled his audience with stories of long hours, little relief, dependence on wives acting as unpaid receptionists, and only the most basic equipment. Snowed-up roads and a lack of telephones compounded the difficulties.
In 1963 Dr Roy came to Wooler. He described his colleagues, dedicated and hardworking men who supported him as he gained experience. He often did his own dispensing and was regularly on call day and night. Local hospitals, to which patients were referred with hand-written letters, dealt with a whole raft of problems, leaving only the most serious cases to go to the RVI in Newcastle.
At the beginning of his career, patients were private: 1s 9d for a surgery visit, 2s 3d for a home visit and medication. The NHS brought in free health care, but patients were still treated on the spot: doctors set bones and made diagnoses. They had antibiotics, morphine, gas and air, pethadine and ether.
All in all, Dr Roy conveyed to his audience that the work of a GP was extremely hard, yet he was able to take pleasure in the foibles and strengths of his colleagues, and it was apparent that his life as a doctor must have been immensely successful.
The life and times of a GP practising in Wooler
Speaker: Dr Noel Roy
An outstanding number of members and visitors came to hear this extremely popular retired local doctor’s talk, which was to span his long medical career.
Dr Roy began his talk with his training in the 50s at King’s College, from which he graduated in 1959. He explained that at that time women were allowed to take up only 20% of the places at Medical School. He amused his audience by telling us that students had to have a microscope and a half-skeleton. The students’ first 18 months were spent in the school, before they saw patients.
When he began his training on the wards, a nurse was required to carry a hot water bottle, since “no self-respecting doctor would examine a patient’s abdomen without first warming his hands”. Six-month stints in various specialities followed. Operations were carried out swiftly, with two trainee doctor assistants. In Casualty, doctors worked night and day. Nurses taught them how to apply plasters. When it was the turn of midwifery, they were provided with bicycles as half the births were at home. Dr Roy’s first job was as a houseman in London. There were no shifts, just every other weekend off. But the nurses were kind, and meals were free.
Ultimately Dr Roy knew he wanted to go into General Practice. As a qualified doctor, he worked with a Polish GP, in conditions which by today’s standards seem primitive, such as patients sitting in a deck chair which could be raised or lowered for the doctor’s examination.
Dr Roy spent two years doing National Service, during which he married. Subsequently he began his GP work a very rural part of County Durham. Dr Roy regaled his audience with stories of long hours, little relief, dependence on wives acting as unpaid receptionists, and only the most basic equipment. Snowed-up roads and a lack of telephones compounded the difficulties.
In 1963 Dr Roy came to Wooler. He described his colleagues, dedicated and hardworking men who supported him as he gained experience. He often did his own dispensing and was regularly on call day and night. Local hospitals, to which patients were referred with hand-written letters, dealt with a whole raft of problems, leaving only the most serious cases to go to the RVI in Newcastle.
At the beginning of his career, patients were private: 1s 9d for a surgery visit, 2s 3d for a home visit and medication. The NHS brought in free health care, but patients were still treated on the spot: doctors set bones and made diagnoses. They had antibiotics, morphine, gas and air, pethadine and ether.
All in all, Dr Roy conveyed to his audience that the work of a GP was extremely hard, yet he was able to take pleasure in the foibles and strengths of his colleagues, and it was apparent that his life as a doctor must have been immensely successful.
March 2023
Mary Somerville: women can become great mathematicians too!
Speaker: Isabel Gordon
GLHS marked International Women’s Day on March 8th with a talk about one of the 19th century’s most impressive scientists, born Mary Fairfax in Jedburgh in 1780. She lived until she was over 90, by which time she was well-known not just as a mathematician, but also as a philosopher and general polymath. Our speaker gave an account of someone driven by a thirst for knowledge, which enabled her to overcome the prejudices against women’s capabilities which prevailed well into our day.
Mary’s father was in the navy and later became an Admiral. Mary spent her early years in Bruntisland in Fife but she was born in Jedburgh when, with her father away at sea, her mother was staying with her sister who lived in the Borders. She seems to have often visited Jedburgh, where her uncle, Thomas Somerville, was a minister and there were cousins to meet as well.
To begin with, little attention was paid to Mary’s education. Girls were expected to learn to sew and to dance. She was not taught writing and accounts until she was ten, spending her time instead observing the natural world. Mary learned Greek, Italian, German and French, and was helped in her explorations by the tutor of her younger brother, who provided textbooks which were otherwise denied to women. Reading seems to have opened up a vast world of knowledge to her absorbent mind and mathematical brain. She found she had a talent for drawing, and for a while studied under the great Scottish artist Alexander Nasmith, who introduced her to geometry.
In 1804, she married an officer then in the Russian Navy, and they moved to London and she had two children. Her husband was not interested in her intellectual pursuits, so it was perhaps fortunate for Mary that he died three years later, though she was left with two small children but luckily a reasonable income. She had already begun a correspondence with leading Scottish mathematicians of the day, and was beginning to have a reputation for her acute understanding.
Her personal life took a more positive turn in 1812, when she married one of her cousins, Dr William Somerville, Inspector of the Army Medical Board, who had overseas experience and an appetite for knowledge. They clearly became an ideal academic team, although there were four more children to look after too. By this time her work was attracting scientific recognition, and when she and her husband lived in London she was able to move on equal terms in the scientific circles in which he moved. It was a time of very lively scientific inquiry and practical invention, and she found herself at the centre of a stimulating circle of friends. She not only published academic journal papers on her own account but, with her language skills, took on the work of translating scientific texts into English. She made a major contribution through her translation of Pierre-Simon Laplace’s Mécanique Celeste (The Mechanism of the Heavens). Published in three volumes in 1831, this was much more than a translation, as Mary added clear explanations and diagrams. The work was a very great success and Mary was asked to do more translation work as a result.
When her husband became ill in the late 1830s, he left his army appointment so that they could move to Rome. He died in 1860, but Mary continued to publish texts and take an interest in new developments well into her 80s. She was always deeply committed to promoting women’s education and Somerville College in Oxford, founded in 1879, was named after her. When in 1868 John Stuart Mill was organising a petition to demand votes for women, he asked her to be the first signatory. Sadly, this petition failed. She may have been very sad to know that women had to wait another sixty years to get the vote. More recent recognition includes an asteroid belt and a satellite named after her, and she now features on a Royal Bank of Scotland note. Surely Mary Somerville is an inspiring beacon of what women can achieve.
Mary Somerville: women can become great mathematicians too!
Speaker: Isabel Gordon
GLHS marked International Women’s Day on March 8th with a talk about one of the 19th century’s most impressive scientists, born Mary Fairfax in Jedburgh in 1780. She lived until she was over 90, by which time she was well-known not just as a mathematician, but also as a philosopher and general polymath. Our speaker gave an account of someone driven by a thirst for knowledge, which enabled her to overcome the prejudices against women’s capabilities which prevailed well into our day.
Mary’s father was in the navy and later became an Admiral. Mary spent her early years in Bruntisland in Fife but she was born in Jedburgh when, with her father away at sea, her mother was staying with her sister who lived in the Borders. She seems to have often visited Jedburgh, where her uncle, Thomas Somerville, was a minister and there were cousins to meet as well.
To begin with, little attention was paid to Mary’s education. Girls were expected to learn to sew and to dance. She was not taught writing and accounts until she was ten, spending her time instead observing the natural world. Mary learned Greek, Italian, German and French, and was helped in her explorations by the tutor of her younger brother, who provided textbooks which were otherwise denied to women. Reading seems to have opened up a vast world of knowledge to her absorbent mind and mathematical brain. She found she had a talent for drawing, and for a while studied under the great Scottish artist Alexander Nasmith, who introduced her to geometry.
In 1804, she married an officer then in the Russian Navy, and they moved to London and she had two children. Her husband was not interested in her intellectual pursuits, so it was perhaps fortunate for Mary that he died three years later, though she was left with two small children but luckily a reasonable income. She had already begun a correspondence with leading Scottish mathematicians of the day, and was beginning to have a reputation for her acute understanding.
Her personal life took a more positive turn in 1812, when she married one of her cousins, Dr William Somerville, Inspector of the Army Medical Board, who had overseas experience and an appetite for knowledge. They clearly became an ideal academic team, although there were four more children to look after too. By this time her work was attracting scientific recognition, and when she and her husband lived in London she was able to move on equal terms in the scientific circles in which he moved. It was a time of very lively scientific inquiry and practical invention, and she found herself at the centre of a stimulating circle of friends. She not only published academic journal papers on her own account but, with her language skills, took on the work of translating scientific texts into English. She made a major contribution through her translation of Pierre-Simon Laplace’s Mécanique Celeste (The Mechanism of the Heavens). Published in three volumes in 1831, this was much more than a translation, as Mary added clear explanations and diagrams. The work was a very great success and Mary was asked to do more translation work as a result.
When her husband became ill in the late 1830s, he left his army appointment so that they could move to Rome. He died in 1860, but Mary continued to publish texts and take an interest in new developments well into her 80s. She was always deeply committed to promoting women’s education and Somerville College in Oxford, founded in 1879, was named after her. When in 1868 John Stuart Mill was organising a petition to demand votes for women, he asked her to be the first signatory. Sadly, this petition failed. She may have been very sad to know that women had to wait another sixty years to get the vote. More recent recognition includes an asteroid belt and a satellite named after her, and she now features on a Royal Bank of Scotland note. Surely Mary Somerville is an inspiring beacon of what women can achieve.
February 2023
The life and times of Admiral Robert Roddam, Admiral of the Red (1719–1808)
Speaker: Dr Tony Barrow
Dr Tony Barrow, local Maritime and Naval Historian, delivered a fascinating lecture on Rear Admiral Robert Roddam of Roddam Hall, a few miles from Wooler, no less. Tony is a founder member and now trustee of the Collingwood Society, and it was a pleasure for GLHS to welcome several members of the Collingwood Society to the lecture.
It is fair to state that the audience were expecting a talk on Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood who led the ‘Royal Sovereign’ into battle at Trafalgar, beating Nelson’s Victory to the proverbial ‘punch’ given that the ‘Sovereign’ had a clean copper-bottomed hull and was therefore faster than most of the fleet. That Collingwood led the British fleet after Nelson’s demise is well known in the North but less so in the South, of course. There were many heroes that day, not least Collingwood.
The Roddams could trace their ancestry back to Saxon times, and King Athelstan granted Pole Roddam land in Northumberland in the 10th century. That a Saxon thegn or possibly an ealdorman managed to retain his land after the Norman Conquest and their rule says something about the family’s political nous although it was some years before the Normans secured Northumberland which was excluded from the Domesday book.
Tony emphasised the inter-connections between the landed families of Northumberland: the Blacketts, Ogles, Lilburns, Calders, Collingwoods and, of course, the Roddams. The latter name is spelt without the ‘h’, unlike Hilary Clinton, nee Rodham (see below), and Tony suggested that this may mean she is descended from a Durham branch of the family.
Of course, the British Empire was at its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries and many families’ younger sons were despatched to the service of the Crown. A second son, Robert Roddam joined the Royal Navy as midshipman in 1735 and rose steadily through the ranks. By 1741 he was a 3rd Lieutenant on HMS Superb under the command of William Hervey, a bullying Captain. Hervey was later court martialled and it was Roddam’s evidence which proved critical in the resulting guilty verdict. Court Martials were serious affairs and held under the auspices of an admiral. That the evidence of a junior officer was decisive indicates that Roddam was noticed by the senior ranks. In 1746, as Master & Commander of the sloop ‘Viper’, Roddam sailed from Portsmouth to Plymouth against heavy winds, carrying an order to the Plymouth fleet not to sail until Admiral George Anson arrived. He displayed first rate seamanship when more senior officers had baulked at the challenge. Roddam went on to captain ever larger ships and to engage in battles of the Austrian War of Succession, becoming a post-Captain (a Captain in ‘post’ on a ship, as opposed to one ‘on the beach’ – on half pay without a command).
In 1750, when stationed at New York, he married a Clinton {as Hilary Rodham was to do}. His wife, Lucy, was the daughter of the Governor, Admiral Sir George Clinton. At the time there were the first stirrings of the movement for independence. It seems that when Roddam was ashore a private yacht failed to dip its flag to Roddam’s ship and the 1st Lieutenant required a shot to be put across the yacht’s bows which, unfortunately, killed a maidservant on the yacht. There was then a judicial stand-off between the Chief Justice, James de Lancy, who was trying to reduce the power of Governor Clinton and thus of the Government in London which was only resolved with the promise that the Lieutenant would face trial in England.
During the Seven Years’ War between the UK and France, Roddam was in command of the 50-gun HMS Greenwich. During a reconnaissance in July 1757, his ship was attacked by a superior French squadron consisting of one ship of 64 guns, another of 74 guns and a frigate, so he felt obliged to strike his colours in order to save life. He was paroled after three months and in October there was an inevitable Court Martial. Given the odds he had faced, he was cleared of all charges and then took command of another 50-gun vessel, HMS Colchester.
Robert returned to life at Roddam. He had obtained substantial prize money as a lieutenant with the capture of Spanish merchantmen in 1743 and 1759, plus several privateers in 1746. He was already rich, and more so when in 1776 he inherited from his brother the Roddam estate, including the farms at Calder, Roddam Rigg and Mount Athelstan; some 1,200 acres which together generated rents of £1,000 a year (say, about £125k now, but without taxation). Lucy died, and he married Alithea Calder, sister of Admiral Sir John Calder; another local family. Roddam served as Deputy Lord Lieutenant and as a JP in Northumberland before returning to sea. Brothers Wilfrid and Cuthbert Collingwood Roddam were to serve under him on the 74-gun HMS Lennox from 1770 to 1773.
Roddam stoutly defended Admiral Calder, who did not engage the enemy on the second day of the Battle of Finisterre and was subsequently severely reprimanded , Roddam argued that Calder could scarcely be expected to attack against difficult odds in difficult conditions and that his actions on the first day had mauled the French fleet sufficiently that Villeneuve had sailed his fleet to Cadiz and not to the Channel where it was to support the crossing of Napoleon’s ‘Armee d’Angleterre’ for the invasion of England. (Napoleon was severely critical of Villeneuve’s lassitude as the French army would have easily overcome the untrained militias in England}. Moreover, had Villeneuve’s fleet not sailed to Cadiz, the battle of Trafalgar would never have happened, at least not at Trafalgar!) Nevertheless, Calder did not go to sea again.
Roddam served as Commander in Chief on the fleet’s flag vessel ‘Royal William’ at Portsmouth, and the town asked him to become its Member of Parliament, an offer which he declined. After the death of his second wife, Alithea in 1792, Roddam resigned from the service and returned to Northumberland. He married Ann Harrison, who was co-heiress of the Colpitts estate based largely in Killingworth, but even Ann, who was much younger than Robert, pre-deceased him. He had no heirs, died in 1808, and was interred in the Roddam Mausoleum at Ilderton which is there to this day; although in need of restoration which is being supported by the Collingwood Society.
Of course standards were different in the 18th century, and Tony drew our attention to a list of expenses which show that Roddam bought slaves while serving in the Caribbean. He was evidently not a slave trader or plantation owner, it seems; but it is galling to see that this was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing good can be said of the practice. Roddam appointed Dr Thomas Trotter (1760–1802) as ship physician on the 74-Gun HMS Berwick. Trotter had been on the Brookes, a slave trader in 1783-4 and drew the now widely known picture showing how slaves were kept in the hold which he and others used to campaign against the vile practice. Trotter was a prolific author of tracts on subjects such as scurvy and, after his experience on the Brookes he was a fervent abolitionist and supported Wilberforce. Trotter served as physician in Wooler in the 1780s before becoming physician to the Channel Fleet from 1784 to 1789. Tony also drew our attention to the matter-of-fact references made by Roddam to the executions of servicemen. Different times, different standards….
…………………………………..
Many of Roddam’s papers are available for inspection at the Northumberland Record Office and at the National Maritime Museum.
The life and times of Admiral Robert Roddam, Admiral of the Red (1719–1808)
Speaker: Dr Tony Barrow
Dr Tony Barrow, local Maritime and Naval Historian, delivered a fascinating lecture on Rear Admiral Robert Roddam of Roddam Hall, a few miles from Wooler, no less. Tony is a founder member and now trustee of the Collingwood Society, and it was a pleasure for GLHS to welcome several members of the Collingwood Society to the lecture.
It is fair to state that the audience were expecting a talk on Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood who led the ‘Royal Sovereign’ into battle at Trafalgar, beating Nelson’s Victory to the proverbial ‘punch’ given that the ‘Sovereign’ had a clean copper-bottomed hull and was therefore faster than most of the fleet. That Collingwood led the British fleet after Nelson’s demise is well known in the North but less so in the South, of course. There were many heroes that day, not least Collingwood.
The Roddams could trace their ancestry back to Saxon times, and King Athelstan granted Pole Roddam land in Northumberland in the 10th century. That a Saxon thegn or possibly an ealdorman managed to retain his land after the Norman Conquest and their rule says something about the family’s political nous although it was some years before the Normans secured Northumberland which was excluded from the Domesday book.
Tony emphasised the inter-connections between the landed families of Northumberland: the Blacketts, Ogles, Lilburns, Calders, Collingwoods and, of course, the Roddams. The latter name is spelt without the ‘h’, unlike Hilary Clinton, nee Rodham (see below), and Tony suggested that this may mean she is descended from a Durham branch of the family.
Of course, the British Empire was at its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries and many families’ younger sons were despatched to the service of the Crown. A second son, Robert Roddam joined the Royal Navy as midshipman in 1735 and rose steadily through the ranks. By 1741 he was a 3rd Lieutenant on HMS Superb under the command of William Hervey, a bullying Captain. Hervey was later court martialled and it was Roddam’s evidence which proved critical in the resulting guilty verdict. Court Martials were serious affairs and held under the auspices of an admiral. That the evidence of a junior officer was decisive indicates that Roddam was noticed by the senior ranks. In 1746, as Master & Commander of the sloop ‘Viper’, Roddam sailed from Portsmouth to Plymouth against heavy winds, carrying an order to the Plymouth fleet not to sail until Admiral George Anson arrived. He displayed first rate seamanship when more senior officers had baulked at the challenge. Roddam went on to captain ever larger ships and to engage in battles of the Austrian War of Succession, becoming a post-Captain (a Captain in ‘post’ on a ship, as opposed to one ‘on the beach’ – on half pay without a command).
In 1750, when stationed at New York, he married a Clinton {as Hilary Rodham was to do}. His wife, Lucy, was the daughter of the Governor, Admiral Sir George Clinton. At the time there were the first stirrings of the movement for independence. It seems that when Roddam was ashore a private yacht failed to dip its flag to Roddam’s ship and the 1st Lieutenant required a shot to be put across the yacht’s bows which, unfortunately, killed a maidservant on the yacht. There was then a judicial stand-off between the Chief Justice, James de Lancy, who was trying to reduce the power of Governor Clinton and thus of the Government in London which was only resolved with the promise that the Lieutenant would face trial in England.
During the Seven Years’ War between the UK and France, Roddam was in command of the 50-gun HMS Greenwich. During a reconnaissance in July 1757, his ship was attacked by a superior French squadron consisting of one ship of 64 guns, another of 74 guns and a frigate, so he felt obliged to strike his colours in order to save life. He was paroled after three months and in October there was an inevitable Court Martial. Given the odds he had faced, he was cleared of all charges and then took command of another 50-gun vessel, HMS Colchester.
Robert returned to life at Roddam. He had obtained substantial prize money as a lieutenant with the capture of Spanish merchantmen in 1743 and 1759, plus several privateers in 1746. He was already rich, and more so when in 1776 he inherited from his brother the Roddam estate, including the farms at Calder, Roddam Rigg and Mount Athelstan; some 1,200 acres which together generated rents of £1,000 a year (say, about £125k now, but without taxation). Lucy died, and he married Alithea Calder, sister of Admiral Sir John Calder; another local family. Roddam served as Deputy Lord Lieutenant and as a JP in Northumberland before returning to sea. Brothers Wilfrid and Cuthbert Collingwood Roddam were to serve under him on the 74-gun HMS Lennox from 1770 to 1773.
Roddam stoutly defended Admiral Calder, who did not engage the enemy on the second day of the Battle of Finisterre and was subsequently severely reprimanded , Roddam argued that Calder could scarcely be expected to attack against difficult odds in difficult conditions and that his actions on the first day had mauled the French fleet sufficiently that Villeneuve had sailed his fleet to Cadiz and not to the Channel where it was to support the crossing of Napoleon’s ‘Armee d’Angleterre’ for the invasion of England. (Napoleon was severely critical of Villeneuve’s lassitude as the French army would have easily overcome the untrained militias in England}. Moreover, had Villeneuve’s fleet not sailed to Cadiz, the battle of Trafalgar would never have happened, at least not at Trafalgar!) Nevertheless, Calder did not go to sea again.
Roddam served as Commander in Chief on the fleet’s flag vessel ‘Royal William’ at Portsmouth, and the town asked him to become its Member of Parliament, an offer which he declined. After the death of his second wife, Alithea in 1792, Roddam resigned from the service and returned to Northumberland. He married Ann Harrison, who was co-heiress of the Colpitts estate based largely in Killingworth, but even Ann, who was much younger than Robert, pre-deceased him. He had no heirs, died in 1808, and was interred in the Roddam Mausoleum at Ilderton which is there to this day; although in need of restoration which is being supported by the Collingwood Society.
Of course standards were different in the 18th century, and Tony drew our attention to a list of expenses which show that Roddam bought slaves while serving in the Caribbean. He was evidently not a slave trader or plantation owner, it seems; but it is galling to see that this was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing good can be said of the practice. Roddam appointed Dr Thomas Trotter (1760–1802) as ship physician on the 74-Gun HMS Berwick. Trotter had been on the Brookes, a slave trader in 1783-4 and drew the now widely known picture showing how slaves were kept in the hold which he and others used to campaign against the vile practice. Trotter was a prolific author of tracts on subjects such as scurvy and, after his experience on the Brookes he was a fervent abolitionist and supported Wilberforce. Trotter served as physician in Wooler in the 1780s before becoming physician to the Channel Fleet from 1784 to 1789. Tony also drew our attention to the matter-of-fact references made by Roddam to the executions of servicemen. Different times, different standards….
…………………………………..
Many of Roddam’s papers are available for inspection at the Northumberland Record Office and at the National Maritime Museum.
January 2023
The History of Lindisfarne Castle
Speaker: Nick Lewis
Lindisfarne Castle, on Holy Island ─ or Insula Sacra as the Normans called it – is a well-known, iconic feature of northern England and has a remarkable history. Our speaker, Nick Lewis, a post-graduate historian, had researched its history and explored the fabric of the building in fine detail, unearthing new material and historical evidence hitherto unknown.
Nick revealed some new evidence in a gallop through the centuries. He began with the building in later Tudor times of the castle we know, on an outcrop of whin sill rock, and he showed an early sketch dated 1680 (there was an earlier, smaller fort nearby, dating from 1548/9). The castle was built by government as a military garrison to protect Holy Island harbour from attack and was strategically linked with Berwick. Holy Island was often under seaborne attack leading to frequent exchanges of cannon-fire, and stories of intrigue and siege were not unknown. In 1715 the Jacobites, aided by the French, briefly captured the castle in the name of James, the Old Pretender. In 1798 all cannon were removed, but three new guns were installed by the Royal Artillery in 1858.
By 1893/4, lack of interest in the castle as a military base led to its decommissioning as a garrison. Edward Hudson, a wealthy Edwardian gentleman (the publisher and founder of Country Life magazine) bought the castle and in 1903 recruited the leading architect of the period, Sir Edwin Lutyens, to convert it into a private house. Lutyens’ design changed it from a utilitarian, defensive structure into a romantic, Arts and Crafts style holiday home where Hudson could hold house parties for his circle of renowned guests. One such guest, Gertrude Jekyll, contented herself with populating the castle’s rocky foundations with wildflowers, the seeds for which were distributed from a gun she fired, and scattered by a small boy who was lowered in a basket from the high castle walls! She also designed the small walled garden that had been used by soldiers to grow vegetables, turning it into a flower garden to complement the castle’s new look. The renovation of the castle was featured on pages in Country Life. Hudson befriended a local fisherman family, the Lilburns, who acted as caretakers of the Castle until it was sold to the National Trust for posterity.
The castle has been challenged on many fronts: by political factions, church authorities – Henry VIII’s Reformation saw the end of Holy Island being governed by the Durham Prince Bishops ─ but perhaps its greatest challenge comes from the weather, since easterly storms batter the castle on a more regular basis than cannons have done. Much of the castle is built with sandstone, which is subject to erosion, from the ruined Anglo-Saxon priory on Holy Island. Foe example, the Lutyens window frames have failed to secure the fabric of the castle from indurations of lashing rain.
The National Trust initiated a plan for restoration with work beginning in 2013. Employed by the Trust for fifteen years, now as Collections and House Officer, Nick cares for historic buildings and their collections at Lindisfarne & the Farne Islands, and he has overseen this renovation of Lutyens’ work, which has been modified and adapted by skilled craftsmen to better withstand the rain.
The programme of work aimed to ensure the castle could withstand longer term climate extremes – it was hoped there would be no need for remedial action for at least a decade ─ but five years later it is already being tested!
Good luck and thanks to Nick and the team who care for this invaluable part of our history.
PR 15/01/2023
The History of Lindisfarne Castle
Speaker: Nick Lewis
Lindisfarne Castle, on Holy Island ─ or Insula Sacra as the Normans called it – is a well-known, iconic feature of northern England and has a remarkable history. Our speaker, Nick Lewis, a post-graduate historian, had researched its history and explored the fabric of the building in fine detail, unearthing new material and historical evidence hitherto unknown.
Nick revealed some new evidence in a gallop through the centuries. He began with the building in later Tudor times of the castle we know, on an outcrop of whin sill rock, and he showed an early sketch dated 1680 (there was an earlier, smaller fort nearby, dating from 1548/9). The castle was built by government as a military garrison to protect Holy Island harbour from attack and was strategically linked with Berwick. Holy Island was often under seaborne attack leading to frequent exchanges of cannon-fire, and stories of intrigue and siege were not unknown. In 1715 the Jacobites, aided by the French, briefly captured the castle in the name of James, the Old Pretender. In 1798 all cannon were removed, but three new guns were installed by the Royal Artillery in 1858.
By 1893/4, lack of interest in the castle as a military base led to its decommissioning as a garrison. Edward Hudson, a wealthy Edwardian gentleman (the publisher and founder of Country Life magazine) bought the castle and in 1903 recruited the leading architect of the period, Sir Edwin Lutyens, to convert it into a private house. Lutyens’ design changed it from a utilitarian, defensive structure into a romantic, Arts and Crafts style holiday home where Hudson could hold house parties for his circle of renowned guests. One such guest, Gertrude Jekyll, contented herself with populating the castle’s rocky foundations with wildflowers, the seeds for which were distributed from a gun she fired, and scattered by a small boy who was lowered in a basket from the high castle walls! She also designed the small walled garden that had been used by soldiers to grow vegetables, turning it into a flower garden to complement the castle’s new look. The renovation of the castle was featured on pages in Country Life. Hudson befriended a local fisherman family, the Lilburns, who acted as caretakers of the Castle until it was sold to the National Trust for posterity.
The castle has been challenged on many fronts: by political factions, church authorities – Henry VIII’s Reformation saw the end of Holy Island being governed by the Durham Prince Bishops ─ but perhaps its greatest challenge comes from the weather, since easterly storms batter the castle on a more regular basis than cannons have done. Much of the castle is built with sandstone, which is subject to erosion, from the ruined Anglo-Saxon priory on Holy Island. Foe example, the Lutyens window frames have failed to secure the fabric of the castle from indurations of lashing rain.
The National Trust initiated a plan for restoration with work beginning in 2013. Employed by the Trust for fifteen years, now as Collections and House Officer, Nick cares for historic buildings and their collections at Lindisfarne & the Farne Islands, and he has overseen this renovation of Lutyens’ work, which has been modified and adapted by skilled craftsmen to better withstand the rain.
The programme of work aimed to ensure the castle could withstand longer term climate extremes – it was hoped there would be no need for remedial action for at least a decade ─ but five years later it is already being tested!
Good luck and thanks to Nick and the team who care for this invaluable part of our history.
PR 15/01/2023