Market Place houses early 20th century

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@Canny lass amogst all your research have you any info on the houes/flat numberng in the Market Place?

 

On the Bedlington Remembered Facebook group a member asked :-

 

I had a Google of the shops that are there now and checked the addresses but the last shop in that area, Market Cafe, is given as No 20A :-

 

I had a check on a 1896 map and as expected the Market Place is not filled with buildings that would not have been present when we were runing around there in the 1960s :-

I'm guessing that many of the old buildings in that row house multiple families in the early 20c and I suppose it's possible the building were renumbered when the families in 'multiple family' dwellings were rehoused.

 

[Canny lass]

The Market Place 'dwellings' didn't have numbers in the 1911 census. Could Mark & Margaret be confusing the schedule number with a house number? Ask if her relative's surname started with the letter T? If so I can probably pin-point the right house for her.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

On 26/02/2025 at 22:19, Canny lass said:

The Market Place 'dwellings' didn't have numbers in the 1911 census. Could Mark & Margaret be confusing the schedule number with a house number? Ask if her relative's surname started with the letter T? If so I can probably pin-point the right house for her.

I have asked the question, on Wednesday, but still no response  

[Canny lass]

We do our best! I'm now sure that T is correct and I've located the place.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@Canny lass - reply from MarknMargaret :-

 

[Canny lass]

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)Make yourself a cuppa! This is going to be long!

It’s quite easy to mistake schedule numbers with house numbers. Another common mistake is to think that every schedule number is a house. What the census documents record are the number of ‘households’ and it is these ‘households’ that are given a schedule number. Space was at a premium and living space could be rented out by the room so that several households often lived in the same house. This was very common practice in Bedlington.
At the time of the 1911 census, the ‘Market Place’ had 33 households of which one was a common lodging house with 25 male residents and one private house which was unoccupied. If we look at the enumerator’s summary book these 33 households, with the exception of the Post Office, the Turk’s Head public House and the Howard Arms Hotel all had the same address – Market Place Bedlington. This, you could say, was the ‘formal’ address at which the household resided. This was the address written by the enumerator on the census form which he delivered to the household to be filled in by the head of that household. It was also the address he used when transcribing the completed form to his summary book.
While this system worked well for the enumerator, who had a set route to follow, it wasn’t the ideal system for the people who lived there should they, for example, need to impart the whereabouts of their home to intended visitors or tradesmen. The residents of the Market Place (and many other places) found their own way of describing their location and this was usually by means of easily identifiable features in the vicinity of their home.
One of the wonderful things about the 1911 census is that the forms filled in by each household were not destroyed once the enumerator had transcribed their content to his summary book. The householders, regardless of what the enumerator had written on his part of the census form, often wrote their address in the manner in which they would give it to would-be visitors. So is the case with MarknMargaret’s relative, Mr John T, which greatly eases the task of identifying where he lived.
The schedule nr 26 refers to this address written by the enumerator:

Mr John T, however, gives the following address as his place of residence:

In other words, John’s household comprising himself, his wife and his grandson, lived in the yard of the Rawlings family home. There were a number of such yards all along Front Street, Vulcan Place and Glebe Row. The main family home, in this case the Rawlings, faced the main street and the yard faced away from the street at the rear of the house. Basically, anything in the yard that was deemed ‘habitable’ could be rented out. They could be small houses to accommodate employees but equally well they could just be small outhouses or lean-to buildings.
Mr William Rawling lived in the Market Place in a building facing the main street and in this building was also his business - Merchant Tailor & Mens Wear. The location is easily identifiable from its location, next door and to the east of the Howard Arms hotel, as recorded in the summary book. As I said, the enumerator had a set route to follow:

Here is the Rawling family home and business, arrowed red. I’ve also marked a doorway, adjoining the tailor’s shop, in blue. This opened into a passageway leading to the yard:

If you look closely at the angle between the house which I’ve arrowed and the larger building to its right, you can just make out the roof and chimney of the yard buildings where Mr John T lived.
I don’t know the date of this photo but the map below is from 1910 and you can clearly see that there are two small buildings in the yard. These had each two rooms, one of which served as kitchen/livingroom/diningroom (and at times even as bedroom). In the first of these two buildings (marked green), adjoining the tailor’s shop, lived Mr William Errington, the previous occupier of the tailor’s shop. It was in his day, however, a grocer’s shop. He occupied just one room. In the second of the two houses (marked red) lived MarknMargaret’s relative, Mr John T, who occupied two rooms – probably one up and one down.

On the map I’ve also arrowed in blue the doorway to the passageway which I marked in blue on the above photo This is the same doorway shown on Alan’s photo (reproduced below):

Hope this is of help. If MarknMargaret would like copies of the original documentation let me know. If they could pass on an e-mail address through yourself, Alan, that would be ideal.

Edited March 1 by Canny lass

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@Canny lass I had two cups of tea and 2 Ringtons ginger snaps.

Brilliant work and explanantion - thanks CL 

I can't post all the above on one post on the Facebook comment/question that 'MarknMargaret Johnson' raised so I will give them a direct link to this topic.

My memory is saying the margaret joined this grouop not so long ago. I checked the 'Margaret' names and there is a @Margaret I Johnson so this will 'Tag' her.  

[Margaret I Johnson]

Hi, thank you both for your help regarding my question, I would love to have copies of the original documents.  John Tait, I think was estranged from his wife Mary Jane (my 2x great grandmother) at the time as she is living in Shiny Row with some of the children, I can't find him in 1901 but it was after 1891 where they lived in Front Street, Bedlington schedule 162 that they separated, as I have a newspaper article where they went to court, he was accused of striking Mary Jane.  It's all very interesting so I would love to know who the other people are in the house with him, possibly not wife but one of the daughters and her son?

My email address is [redacted]

Regards Margaret 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

6 hours ago, Margaret I Johnson said:

Hi, thank you both for your help regarding my question, I would love to have copies of the original documents.  John Tait, I think was estranged from his wife Mary Jane (my 2x great grandmother) at the time as she is living in Shiny Row with some of the children, I can't find him in 1901 but it was after 1891 where they lived in Front Street, Bedlington schedule 162 that they separated, as I have a newspaper article where they went to court, he was accused of striking Mary Jane.  It's all very interesting so I would love to know who the other people are in the house with him, possibly not wife but one of the daughters and her son?

Regards Margaret 

@Margaret I Johnson as this site is visible to everyone online I would suggest that you ask the Admin ( @AndyMilnethe remove your email address from view.

If you want to contact a member with personal info, eg email address, then it is best to use the Messages, envelope at the top right of the screen so only the two people see the message.

The photo that Canny lass posted of the Market Place showing the entrance to the yard is probably the only one wee have seen with a full view of the building. There are other old photos showing the Market place area but not with a full view of the Rawlings buildings. The oldest photo of the area I have seen is one that was popsted on a Facebook group by @johndawsonjune1955 and he has the date as c1903. I have put that photo, one without a date  and the 1910 map extract and photo Canny lass posted together :-

 

[Canny lass]

@Margaret I JohnsonI have disappointing news! The John Tait recorded at Rawlings Yard (schedule 162 Market Place, Bedlington) in 1911 is married and his wife is with him. John was born at Holy Island and is 77 years old. His wife, Catherine, was born at Kelso and is now 73 years old. None of these details correspond to the information given on the census returns of 1891 for John Tait - husband of Mary Jane.

However, the 3rd person in the household is John and Ann's grandson  - John T Tait aged 21 years born about 1890 in Alnham, Northumberland.

The John Tait being searched for by Margaret was born in Pasture Hill, Northumberland. That's about 20 miles as the crow flies from Alnham so they may well be related. I had a quick look in the 1911 census this morning and found a John Tait of the correct age (born 1855) with the same profession (mining) lodging in Hirst, Ashington. He, however, states that he is single which wouldn't be strange if he was separated. He gives his birthplace as Low Mill Northumberland which is less than 10 miles from Pasture Hill. Could it be the same person?

 

[Canny lass]

@Margaret I Johnson Hi again! Am I right in thinking that John Tait was Mary Jane's third husband?

[Margaret I Johnson]

Yes he was 

[Margaret I Johnson]

10 hours ago, Margaret I Johnson said:

Hi, thank you both for your help regarding my question, I would love to have copies of the original documents.  John Tait, I think was estranged from his wife Mary Jane (my 2x great grandmother) at the time as she is living in Shiny Row with some of the children, I can't find him in 1901 but it was after 1891 where they lived in Front Street, Bedlington schedule 162 that they separated, as I have a newspaper article where they went to court, he was accused of striking Mary Jane.  It's all very interesting so I would love to know who the other people are in the house with him, possibly not wife but one of the daughters and her

Regards Margaret