Tynemouth in the Great War

By Craig Armstrong

A history of the English seaside town during World War I, from its significance to its sacrifices.

Tynemouth Borough, which included the towns of Tynemouth and North Shields, was an area of strategic value to the national war effort as it contained the mouth of the river Tyne and was the entry point to the most important munitions center in Britain. Industry upriver included the manufacture of munitions, armaments, and military and civilian ships, while the port of Tyne was one of the busiest in the country with its internationally important coal export industry.

Away from its industrial importance, the area was also a hotbed of military recruitment. In common with the rest of the northeast, Tynemouth had large numbers of young men who were serving in the forces before the outbreak of the war. Its record for wartime recruitment was second to none and it lay in a key recruitment area for the local regiment, the Northumberland Fusiliers, who raised over fifty battalions during the war—a record. Given its location on the coast, Tynemouth also had a proud tradition of service in the Merchant Navy and many Tynemouth men had the sea in their blood, whilst North Shields was the home base of a large and active fishing fleet. Many of the men who manned the trawlers saw active service, whilst others were exposed to even greater dangers due to the war.

This engaging book is the first to look at the fascinating social history of Tynemouth during the shattering years of the Great War and charts the huge sacrifices made by the townspeople.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781473865587

Craig Armstrong

Born and bred in Northumberland, Dr Craig Armstrong is an experienced historian with a special interest in the history of the North East of England and the Anglo-Scottish Borders. He has expertise in 19th and 20th century history with a particular focus on social and military history.Dr Armstrong currently splits his time between teaching at Newcastle University and working as a freelance researcher and writer on the history of North East England and Scotland.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

1914

Pre-War Tynemouth

Tynemouth Borough consisted of the townships of Tynemouth, North Shields, Chirton, Cullercoats and Preston and had been incorporated in 1849, while the parish of Tynemouth contained, in addition to the above places, Monkseaton, Murton and Whitley. The town of Tynemouth had several streets, with the central one being the wide thoroughfare of Front Street which runs from east to west and at its eastern end has the grand remains of Tynemouth Priory and Castle. Going north from the eastern terminus of Front Street was the wide Grand Parade which led to the fishing village of Cullercoats. The Grand Parade had upon it an aquarium and Winter Gardens while the Prior’s Haven at Tynemouth was a sheltered bay which was popular for bathing; the beach had numerous bathing machines. Other features were the seven-acre Tynemouth Park which contained a band stand, bowling greens and tennis courts.

As the entrance to an internationally important port the Tyne was protected by two lengthy piers (at the end of which are imposing lighthouses) with the northernmost one being some 2,950 feet in length; the north pier was a favourite promenade for holiday makers during the summer months.

The town had recently lost one of its institutions when the training ship Wellesley was destroyed by fire on 11 March. The old sailing ship had been for many years used as a maritime training school, the ‘Wellesley Industrial School Ship for Boys’. The school, under the leadership of Captain Percival D. Kitcat, RN, was for destitute or homeless boys who had not been convicted of a crime but were thought to be at risk of being drawn into criminality. The sight of Wellesley boys was a common one in the area and the school’s band were often hired to play at civic events. After the fire the 296 boys were housed temporarily in the Tynemouth Palace until suitable accommodation could be found.

The population of the borough in 1911 was 58,816, which included 739 workhouse inmates and 190 military men stationed at Clifford’s Fort, the Spanish Battery and the castle, with a further 1,199 aboard RN vessels. Reflecting the restricted voting rights of the British people during this period the total number of electors in the borough was only 10,155.

The majority of the borough corporation’s civic establishments were in nearby North Shields including the Town Hall, Education Office, Health Office, Inspector of Weights and Measures, Quay Master, and Public Library. Other public establishments included St. Oswin’s Hall, a Coast Guard station and Tynemouth Borough Life Brigade (both of the latter at the Spanish Battery). Given its strategic importance at the entrance to the River Tyne, Tynemouth had a significant military presence with a barracks at the castle yard. This barracks was the peacetime home to 12th and 47th Companies of the Royal Garrison Artillery and was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel H.E. Marsh.

There were four prominent places of worship in the town. They represented the gamut of denominations with one each from Church of England, Catholic, Congregational and Wesleyan Methodist.

The local school in Tynemouth was Priory School. It was a mixed school mastered by Thomas Hunter with 238 pupils and 99 infants under the guidance of Miss Frances Johnson. There were two private schools: Tynemouth School which gave private education for local boys (this became the King’s School in the 1960s, named after the three Kings buried at Tynemouth Priory, and in 2013 merged with Priory School to become an academy known as King’s Priory School); and Jesmond College, under the tutorship of two brothers, James and John Gordon (at Tynemouth Place). There was also a girls’ school run by Miss Sarah A. Jowett (3 Warkworth Terrace).

Tynemouth was essentially a holiday resort town. It enjoyed great popularity due to the wide sandy beaches and the many attractions from bathing and open-air concerts to music hall and theatre (at the town’s Palace Theatre on Grand Parade). The town possessed a remarkably ornate and grand railway station the size of which demonstrates the popularity of the town for its size. Tynemouth also contained a large number of small businesses which catered directly to the tourist and day-tripper. These included numerous rental apartments, refreshment rooms, bazaars and hotels. Visitors could certainly enjoy themselves given the attractions and the number of public houses, hotels and inns.¹ These included:

Adjoining Tynemouth approximately a mile to the west was North Shields which was a primary port and which had a very large and spacious harbour. The importance of the port can be demonstrated by the sheer size of the Albert Edward Dock which stretched across 22½ acres, had a 3,000ft long quay, a large coal staith, thirteen miles of rail track and a modern grain warehouse with hydraulic equipment which was capable of holding 30,000 quarters of grain. Further expansion was available to the west where a further twenty acres had been earmarked.

North Shields was a hive of activity with many industries including a salt works, marine engineering works, iron foundries, shipbuilding yards, a brewery, and an earthenware manufacturer. The main industries in North Shields, however, were the fishing industry fed by the large fleet based here, and the coal export trade. The port’s almost sole export consisted of coal or coke, while imports consisted primarily of corn and timber.

There were fourteen religious houses in North Shields in 1914, including a Jewish synagogue, a Scandinavian Lutheran church and a Society of Friends meeting house. As mentioned above the majority of civic buildings for the borough were in North Shields. There was also a considerable military presence, including HMS Satellite, of the RNVR (Tyneside Division) which housed 2 and 3 Companies of the division; Tynemouth Royal Garrison Artillery Territorial Force, comprising four garrison companies commanded by Major J.H. Nicholson, which had a large drill hall on Military Road; and the Tyne Electrical Royal Engineers Territorial Force, comprising four companies under the command of Lieutenant Colonel F.G. Scott, which was based at Clifford’s Fort. The 16th Company, Coast Battalion, Royal Engineers, under the command of Captain Herbert Edgar Burton was also stationed at Clifford’s Fort.

In terms of healthcare there was the North Shields & Tynemouth Dispensary in Church Street (where the number of cases treated in 1913-14 was 5,797), the Tynemouth Victoria Jubilee Infirmary in Hawkey’s Lane (capacity of 42 in-patients), the Master Mariner’s Homes (Tynemouth Road), and the Tyne Sailors Home (New Quay).

There were also twelve public elementary schools and a number of tutors and other educational premises including a cookery centre and a housewifery centre.

There was however a darker side to Tynemouth Borough as was shown by the large capacity of the workhouse at Preston Lane which could hold 1,119 inmates. The workhouse also contained a male hospital pavilion which had four large wards, four isolation wards and two day rooms. The facility, built only in 1909, could hold 250 patients. Clearly this level of provision was thought necessary. North Shields had a large number of slums, and poor residents who all too often fell victim to circumstances beyond their control and who ended up in need of public support.

Given its importance as a port of entry into Britain, the borough held several diplomatic missions. These included the Belgian and German Consuls and the Austro-Hungarian, Brazilian, Greek and Ottoman Vice-Consuls.

The fishing village of Cullercoats, lying just a mile up the coast from Tynemouth, was reliant on both the fishing industry and tourism for its livelihood. The wide promenade from Tynemouth to Cullercoats was immensely popular with visitors and the wide sandy beaches of King Edward’s Bay and, especially, Long Sands were a great draw. They contained large numbers of bathing machines, pleasure boats and hot and cold salt water baths on Harbour Beach. As befit a coastal fishing community there was an RNLI lifeboat stationed at Cullercoats and a large number of men served in the Life Brigade (110 men in total) which had a large house in the village for the use of its members. Reflecting the relative prosperity which had been visited upon the otherwise quiet village, Cullercoats had a large number of rental apartments, shops and businesses which catered to the visitor and had suppliers such as butchers, bakers and even a toy shop.

Other villages and hamlets in the local area included Murton and New York which had a combined population of 1,263 in 1911. The local children were schooled at the architecturally attractive Murton School (where the writer also attended primary school) which had been built in 1874 and had a capacity of 400 children with an average attendance of 346. Shamefully, the school was demolished to make way for a housing estate in 1991. Much of the surrounding land was split between agriculture and collieries – the two hamlets, along with establishments at Shiremoor and West Allotment, catered for these industries. There was also a quarry at Billy Mill.

The Rush to the Colours

Although Tynemouth Borough contained a large amount of rural land it also contained substantial urban developments and, perhaps because of this, the area did not suffer from the slow initial recruitment that affected rural areas but experienced the initial burst of recruitment that was found in towns and cities throughout the North East. Although it has been convincingly argued that many similar areas saw very limited initial recruitment with no great ‘rush to the colours’ it would seem that in these areas, for example large portions of north Wales, there were other factors, such as Non-Conformism, which influenced recruitment negatively.

Although recruitment was handled by a central government committee in Tynemouth there were extensive early meetings and rallies to convince men to join up. Factors such as the depressed economy, the rate of unemployment, and industrial strife in the fishing industry all ensured that there were many men in the borough who were willing and, indeed, eager to volunteer for service in the Army. These men often enjoyed better conditions in the Army than in their civilian lives with regular, nutritious, if often unappetising, meals, a roof, a bed and a regular routine. Besides, a significant proportion of those joining up early expected that the war might end before they were sent abroad and entered into army life seeing it as a short adventure from their otherwise boring lives of workplace drudgery.

The majority of those joining up in 1914 and the first half of 1915 were joining the many service battalions of Kitchener’s New Armies. The make-up of these volunteer battalions was incredibly varied with units such as the Tyneside Irish being initially quite fastidious that recruits, if not Irish, should be of at least Irish ancestry. Others, such as their compatriots, the Tyneside Scottish, allowed men from practically any background to attest in order to fill up to capacity as quickly as possible. Some of the first service battalions to be raised in the area were made up of clerks, professionals and middle class volunteers. The most famous of these was the Tyneside Commercials who were largely recruited from those who worked in Newcastle, especially in the offices of the Quayside businesses. In some cases employees were encouraged to join up by their employers with promises of their positions being kept open and in some cases their wages being made up to compensate them for any loss of earnings. In many cases such inducements were made in the belief that the war would be a short one. There are also instances of men being threatened that they would lose their positions if they did not volunteer.

The excitement over the war and the enthusiasm for the chance to join up were clearly displayed during a recruitment meeting held on the evening and night of 1 September in North Shields. The Recruiting Committee of Mr George Renwick held the meeting at Borough Road. The only advertising of the assembly was a small paragraph in a local paper, but despite this the Newcastle Journal in its headlines the following day described the meeting as ‘THE CALL TO ARMS. REMARKABLE MEETING AT NORTH SHIELDS. ENTHUSIASTIC PROCEEDINGS.’ The wide thoroughfare between Railway Terrace and Saville Street was packed with a huge crowd of at least 10,000 people; an incredible display for a borough the size of Tynemouth. Lest it be thought that people simply attended for the thrill of it, the paper described that the crowds ‘enthusiasm became most marked … it was impossible for even the strongest voice to be heard all the time in the more remote parts of the crowd.’

The Mayor of Tynemouth, Councillor H. Gregg, presided with speakers including Mr Renwick, Mr Vincent, Alderman Isaac Black, County Alderman J.R. Hogg and Mr N. Grattan Doyle. At the close of the meeting the crowd sang Rule Britannia and the National Anthem followed by three cheers for the Army, Navy, Allies and the King. The meeting did not finish until almost 10.30 pm which meant that it was too late to go to the recruiting office.

Despite the 10,000 strong crowd the next morning the recruiting office reported that some 395 men had been sworn in with a further 60 (most with prior military experience) enrolled and sent to various regimental depots. In an effort to encourage recruitment the local recruitment officer, Major McGill, Royal Artillery, stated that ‘young men who are chums can join in batches with the assurance that they will be allowed to serve together in the same company.’ Clearly this was in the spirit of the appeals that were being made by the likes of Mr Renwick to recruit community based battalions.²

Recruitment continued apace throughout the first months of the war with numerous meetings and events to publicise recruitment and to encourage young men that it was their duty to join up. A great many young men who were connected to the great and good of Tynemouth were amongst those to volunteer at this early stage of the war; the Mayor, Councillor H. Gregg, announced proudly that his son had received a commission in the Army in mid-September.

Lieutenant Noel Mather, 6th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, appealed for more men to come forward to complete the battalion which had been cleared for overseas service but was still 100 men short. The response from the Tynemouth Training League was instant and twenty-three of its members immediately volunteered for the 6th. The men of the Training League had so far made a substantial contribution with at least seventy-four of their members having already joined HM forces.

Towards the end of October there was a frenzy of recruitment meetings to fill the proposed 2nd Battalion of the Tyneside Commercials. A meeting, presided over by the Mayor, in North Shields at the Albion Assembly Rooms, was attended by a very large audience who enthusiastically cheered a jingoistic speech by the Reverend J.W. Ogden. He outlined the point that while Britain