Daily facts from 800 years of history
Researchers are trawling through eight centuries of a town’s history to post a daily illuminating fact for the whole of 2025. Tony Henderson reports
Bridge builder and retired naval captain Sir Samuel Brown will soon be playing his part in a Tyneside town’s 800th anniversary celebrations.
It was 200 years ago on February 23, 1825, that a “numerous and highly respectable meeting of the inhabitants of North and South Shields was held at the Northumberland Arms inn, North Shields, when it was resolved to erect an iron bridge of suspension over the River Tyne, between these towns”.
Capt. Brown, a pioneer in suspension bridge construction, had made the necessary surveys, and submitted his estimate of £93,000.
He will feature as the February 23 contribution to a year-long project in which three North Shields researchers will post a daily fact reflecting the history, culture and social character of the town.
The task of unearthing 365 facts for daily consumption on social media including Facebook and North Tyneside Council’s 800 website is being undertaken by Alan Fidler, David Young and Rachel Chapman.
Alan led the Northumbria World War One Commemoration project, which was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2016. David is secretary of the North Shields Heritology Project, which works to involve schools in heritage learning, and Rachel is a trustee of the Old Low Light heritage centre on North Shields Fish Quay.
“We are looking for facts from the offbeat and light hearted to the serious, which reveal the long and diverse history of North Shields, which has been a rum old town and was a very cosmopolitan place in the 19th and early 20th centuries,” said Alan.
Another link between Samuel Brown and the North Shields area was HMS Royal Sovereign, the flagship of Admiral Lord Collingwood – whose statue looks out to sea from Tynemouth – and which was the first ship into action at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Before turning to bridges, Samuel Brown had a successful naval career, including serving on HMS Royal Sovereign until just before Trafalgar when he was transferred to the frigate HMS Phoenix, which captured a French warship
Sir Samuel was consulted on the Tyne bridge project fresh from the 1820 opening of his Union Chain Bridge over the River Tweed, which used his innovative wrought-iron eye-bar chains and links.
The oldest operational chain suspension bridge in the world still carrying vehicles, the bridge from Horncliffe in Northumberland to Fishwick in Berwickshire also features a brass statue of Samuel Brown which was included as part of the span’s restoration.
It was determined that the North-South Shields bridge should be financed by shares of £100, plans and elevations were engraved, and reports were commissioned from civil engineer William Chapman, of Newcastle, and leading engineer Thomas Telford, of London. But the bridge was never built.
Daily facts being shared also include:
1896. A Greco-Roman wrestling match was held at the Albion Assembly Rooms, Saville Street between Greek George (Champion of the World) and North Shields based Charles Shultz (Scandinavian Champion). The match was won by the Greek.
1827. The ship ‘Betsy Cairns’ was driven in a gale on to the Black Midden rocks at Tynemouth and wrecked. Previously the ‘Princess Mary’, in 1688 she brought William of Orange to England to take the British crown. Many requests received from Orange Lodges for pieces of the wreckage.
1900. The domestic comedy The Orphan Heiress is playing at the Theatre Royal, North Shields. Written by and starring Arthur Jefferson, Stan Laurel’s father, who based his family in the town for 10 years.
1940: North Shields received one of the most unfavourable reports in the country when the Ministry of Labour reviewed conditions in British ports. Mr R S Heaton of the British Sailors Society of North Shields described some of these establishments as ‘a menace not only to the seaman but to every member of the public. There is no need to enlarge upon the vices of Clive Street’.
1976. Episode 2 of series 1 of When the Boat Comes In. Set in fictional town of Gallowshield - based on North Shields - where many scenes were filmed. The only episode written by North Shields playwright Tom Hadaway.
1765. The first Freemasons Lodge is founded in North Shields. Ir meets at the Old George Inn on King Street, one of the first streets laid out in what would become the enlarged town above the riverside.
1870. Public library opens on Saville Street. The Mechanic’s Institute gives its building, the Literary and Philosophical Society donates its book collection. This is the first free public library on Tyneside.
1841. Methodist minister James Egan Moulton was born in the town. He established the Tongan College in the Tongan Pacific islands. His translation of the Bible into Tongan is still used today.
1937. Dudley Gray, secretary of the North Shields Communist Party, issues a statement in support of the striking North Shields Trawler men for a living wage.
1865. Eminent architect John Dobson dies at home in Newcastle. Born at the Pineapple Inn in Chirton, North Shields, he designed several buildings in the town.
1986. The ‘Pet Shop Boys’ had their first number one hit with West End Girls, The song was co-written by North Shields born Neil Tennant.
1880. Tynemouth Aquarium and Winter Gardens with roller skating rink, later called The Plaza, sold at auction for £27,150. It had cost £90,000 to build.
1928. A public lecture at the Co-operative Hall on Howdon Road, North Shields by Miss Mansonon the subject ‘Theosophy in Everyday Life’ - a philosophical system combining mysticism, spiritualism, and metaphysics. Its practitioners include the inventor Thomas Edison and the poet William Butler Yeats.
2021. Hilton Valentine of The Animals died in Wallingford, Connecticut USA. Always remembered for the famous arpeggio chords he played on the group’s 1964 hit ‘House of the Rising Sun’. A blue plaque was placed on his birthplace in Coburg Street, North Shields, in 2023.
The year of celebration is being organised by the community-led North Shields 800 Committee, chaired by Tynemouth MP Sir Alan Campbell. Its members include heritage groups, the fishing industry, the arts and cultural sector, charities, churches, community groups, local venues and businesses.
Sir Alan said: “We want North Shields 800 to bring together the different groups and communities that call North Shields home, attract visitors and raise the profile of the town. We want as many people from the town on board as possible.”
See also northshields800.com and www.facebook.com/northshields800/