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https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/miller/5241321 Those who remember Joyce Miller (and Biffy the dog), please see the attached. She loved Hartford and telling patients “there’s no such thing as can’t - if you say you can’t you really mean you won’t”.

The church did a list of burials / I believe It has been opened for cremated remains . John Grundy did an article on the church yard and graves . I think it was covered in the forum Good luck

I haven't heard of either identity discs or first aid kits for children. However, I do recognise the name Lifebuoy - a soap in common use during my childhood, When the pit-baths opened at Netherton Colliery my father refused to use it. He thought it smelled like 'women's scent'. If I'm totally honest, the words he used were "like a whores handbag". I thought it smelled like carbolic myself. He stuck to the hard, green, Fairy Household soap that was grated (on the cheese grater) to put into the washing machine/poss-tub.

The closure order for burials at St Cuthberts was as late as 1983. There are some very old gravestones so it might be worth investigating further.

Thank you so much for the information Netherton isn’t far from Bedlington perhaps the families knew each other. I believe my grandmother had bedding in the drawers, but China in the top. Now the China it’s still there and the drawers are full of family documents and correspondence from 1906 until 1960 . I am trying to upload it onto my iPad. It is taking me ages as I get so caught up reading stuff that it my progress is dead slow stop. I have all the furniture that belonged to my grandparents apart from their beds. I just love it. And I am sure that your family press was just as beautiful.

That is a PRESS - and a very beautiful one if I may say so. There was one in my childhood home as well, though not quite as elegant as yours. Do you know that they were originally intended to store linen, bed clothes, curtains and such. My mother told me that it was one of her 'jobs' as a youngster (and many other young girls too) to make small pleats in the tapes on pillow cases (used to close them) using the edge of a knife. All of these pillow cases would be placed on the shelves with the pleated tapes hanging outwards. When the family had guests they wanted to impress the doors of the press would be left open. I don't know if this was just something done in Netherton Colliery or if it was a general thing in the north east or even England as a whole.

My uncle Bill of 34 Shiney Row Bedlington was a school child during the First World War and each child at his school was given a first aid kit in case another zeppelin was dropped on Bedlington

This will be long! Make a cuppa and get your feet up! The Gibson family research has had to wait while I've been without specs. The six weeks I was told would be needed before getting new specs after my ops turned into three months. I had the temporary specs only ta few days before I got a bleed inside my eye, another op and an inflammation that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy! However, the Gibson family didn't have i easy either - read on! I left the widowed Henry Gibson in 1881, then aged about 67 years, living in the family home on Front Street east in Bedlington. He is still head of the family and the ironmongery business. Also resident are his two sons Philip Hedley Gibson, aged 34 and as yet unmarried, and William James Gibson, aged 26, who has with him his wife of eight months. She is Sarah (nee Mostyn), born to Edward Mostyn and his wife Anne in Flintshire, Wales, but the family moved to St Helens, Lancashire a few years after her birth and it is in St Helens the marriage took place. Sarah seems to have been a gifted child and was studying to become a teacher at the age of 17. Both brothers, having branched out into the world of banking, give their occupation as “Ironmonger & bank agent” but William James has the addition “nail & chain manufacturer”. The company is now calling itself “Gibson Bros & Co.” The “& Co” bit consists of – or at least includes - the husband of their sister, Jane Elizabeth, whom I mentioned earlier when she married engine wright John Archbold in 1863. Just when the partnership was formed is difficult to say but I can say with certainty that it ended in 1883 when, according to a notice in The Commercial Gazette 24 May 1883, the partnership was dissolved due to debts by William James Gibson and Philip Hedley Gibson to John Archbold. Thereafter, the Gibson family, father Henry and the two brothers, continue to run both businesses and despite being owed money, John Archbold doesn’t seem to have done too badly. On his death in 1897 he leaves to his family £2 871 – worth about a half million today (2025). The dissolution of the partnership is not the only misfortune to be suffered by the Gibsons around that time. William had married in 1880 and now it was the turn of older brother Philip Hedley. Like his brother, Philip Hedley does not marry a local girl but takes his bride, farmer’s daughter Jane Brookes, from Salop (Shropshire). They marry September 27, 1882 in the parish church of High Ercall, Salop. The marriage is, unfortunately, not to be a long one for Jane’s death is registered in the 2nd quarter of the following year. They were married for less than one year and as Jane’s death is registered in the Morpeth registration district it’s fair to assume that she had moved north to Bedlington with her husband. By 1891 we can see big changes in the family. Henry, the father, is now 77 years old and still working but the roles of father and son have now reversed. Philip Hedley, 44 year-old, is now the head of the household and his father, 77 year old Henry, is his assistant in the ironmongery business. Bank House must seem very empty now with only Philip Hedley, widowed, and his father living there together with a live-in general domestic servant. However, as I mentioned earlier, sister Mary Ellen and three of her children return to live at Bank House for a while before her death in 1901. William and his wife Sarah had, prior to 1891, moved to a home of their own, which brings me back to a photograph, posted by @johndawsonjune1955 which appeared in his first post in this topic: John Dawson could date the photo to 1888 and raised the question of where it might have been taken. @Maggie/915 thought it might have been taken at Vulcan Place, in Bedlington. I am now inclined to agree with her as it is in Vulcan Place, a few doors down from the Northumberland Arms, that William James and his family are living in 1891. At that time the couple have five children: Mary 8, Edward Mostyn 7, William Henry 5, Lilian 4 and James 9 months. If the photo is dated 1888 then the child in the photo could be the eldest child, Mary, who would then be about 5 years old, and the woman behind her could be her mother, Sarah. I’d then hazard a guess that one of the two men behind Sarah could be her husband, William James Gibson and the other may be his brother, Philip Hedley Gibson. Just a thought! The clothing of the three persons, 2 male and 1 female, to the right of the group suggests that they are workers and the tell-tale soot above the door behind them suggests to me that this could even be a nailer’s workshop. Could this have been to the rear of the buildings in Vulcan Place? The woman and child look as if they've just stepped out of the house for a minute, rather than being on a visit away from home. The man in the middle is, however, a mystery. Following the death of their 80 year-old father Henry in 1902, the brothers continue to run the business. Philip Hedley continues to live in Bank House on Front Street East and if the following photo is from 1910, as stated by Cympil (Gibson house is first on the left), then it must be Philip who is responsible for the neo-classic details, of which some still remain, on the building, and the new entrance (now blocked up) into the banking agent’s premises. Philip doesn’t marry again and has no children to take on the business after him when he dies shortly after his father, in 1906. Strangely, while Philip Hedley’s death occurs in Bedlington, his address is given as Newcastle on Tyne. He didn’t do too badly either, leaving £1 395 - worth about £216,761 today (2025). William James, on the other hand, has plenty of children and it’s to them I’ll look to see what happens the ironmongery and nailing business. A bit more research to do yet but it’s a fair bit easier now that I’ve finally got my specs! Watch this space!

Just looking through some family stuff and thought I would share it with other members

Thank you. I just tried to message him direct. Can you add this link to the page? https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/miller/5241321

Hi David This is Judi, Joyce's eldest daughter. I remember you, the dinner, which I believe I cooked and of course the cut glass, which she cherished. She retired, almost 30 years ago and moved to Gosforth, where she continued to be a regular gym goer and social butterfly. Sadly she passed this week at the age of 91. A celebration of life will be held in April. As for the grey lady she was definitely a thing. I practically grew up at Hartford and have never seen so many tough men so rattled after one of her visits. I 'me't her once in the Dome room. She was sad, not malevolent. She was the rich daughter of the Hall's owner, who fell in love with a stable boy, and threw herself do her death when she was not allowed to marry him.

Hi James, Yes they were my parents. We left at the end of 1950 and the cottage was pulled down to stop others moving in. Tom

@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.

Thanks for the information . I lived in Bedlington as a child, but moved away, when I was twelve. I spent a lot of time visiting my grandparents who lived in Shiney Row and was delighted after spending yet another holiday up north my husband and I moved back to Northumberland .

Seeing as ab n interest was shown in the Bedlington terrier teapot I thought that I would share another of my grandmother’s teapots with you . i

Have you heard of identity discs for children during the Second World War ? These were like dog tags worn by soldiers , which had the child’s name and address and identity number on These discs were worn round the neck by the child, were as adults had identity cards. Sorry if this is of no interest.

Of course you can share the photos. The biro is just to give an idea of how small the first aid kit is as I couldn’t find a ruler to measure it. All is I know that my uncle was a pious in school in Bedlington and shortly after the Zeppelin crashed there (1915) I think. all the children were presented with one of these.

Your Linen Press looks to be made from Satinwood commonly used for this purpose as its natural oils deterred moths and other creepy-crawlies (fleas). When I have a minute I'll upload some photos of my Satinwood bedroom press and dressing table for comparison ... similar carving. When the fashion for presses ended many were converted into wardrobes but they lacked the depth (front to back) to accomodate clothes hangers on a rail like modern wardrobes, so hooks were usually screwed into the carcassing around the inside. I also have a very large Victorian mahogany linen press in another bedroom which has some 'converted hanging space' but also retains internal drawers for folded clothes; again, a photo to follow. It's good that your linen press seems to be unaltered as much 'old' furniture has been repurposed.

Thanks Canny Lass, I will. I'll contact St Cuthbert's and take a look at the burial records for the cemetery to see what I can find. Thanks for your help.

No problem, thanks Alan.

@Miner Granddaughter not something I have ever looked into and i think the only active members that I have noticed posting in connection with St Cuthbert's are @Maggie/915 & @Bedlingtonian

Think she just liked china . I have about twenty teapots ,various tea services amazing ribbon plates and loads of jugs all in a piece of her furniture , which I think is called a PRESS. My grandparents were married in 1906 and my grandad worked at the dr pit . Their home in shiney row was typical of the time filled with ornaments, or dust collectors as my mam called them .

That certainly beats Mrs Bucket’s Royal Doulton with its periwinkles! Absolutely wonderful! Was your grandmother a collector of Tea-pots?

I have joined the N E group, and I have mentioned it on there. I simply think that a 200th anniversary is rather 'special'. Only the Dandie Dinmont has an older pedigree. Contact some local papers etc., get your local TV involved........

I did a search John and I the Bedlington Terrier North east Club has a Facebook group but only members can view it and I can't find any way of contacting them outside of that group and i don't want to join the group Found some images online showing phots from the yearly meet up of the group on the 20 acre field in 2021 : 2021 gathering :- Tallantyes have advertised previous gatherings but can't find any notifucation for this year :- 2022 advert Tallantyre 2024 advert :- Facebook group :-

I'm the founder member of that club

Do the people of Bedlington realise that this year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the first ever litter of pups to be called 'Bedlington Terriers'? Joe Ainsley and Ned Cotes bred that litter in the Vicarage in Bedlington. Ned Cotes ended up in an asylum and Joe Ainsley married and moved away, but there were plenty of others in the town who carried on that breeding. Perhaps there should be a 'celebration' of some kind? I might even turn up to it myself.

@Canny lass check out @John H Williams post from 2020 :-

Looking at that tea-pot, the terrier seems to have changed shape over the years. Did it not have it's lovely, cuddly, rounded back then! And .... what wouldn't I give to have a tea-pot like that at my 'afternoon teas' - surpassed only by Mrs Bucket's candlelight suppers!

I remember the spitfire too. I think you may have also tried to help fix my Morris Minor at one point

I’m that daughter and mum has just passed away aged 91.

The 1939 census indicates that Adam Gray and his wife, Elizabeth, resided in Toll Cottage. Were they your parents? What year did you move from Toll Cottage?

Welcome to the forum @Thomas Carr Gray. May I ask what year you moved from Toll Cottage?

@Denice -I see I got the possible schools the McGlen's went to wrong - not Whitley or Westridge but St Bedes. We keep an albm for each of the Bedlington schools under Histric Bedlingto in the gallery section of this group. I have found a c1953 St Bedes class photo, originally thought to be c1949, with Billy McGlen in it. This is a direct link to the St bedes junir and Senior achol album :- The photo is the last one in the album and Bill McGlen gets named in the updates to the photo names.

Hello! I stumbled on this site looking for information on people in my family tree as well. My Great grandmother i was Catherine “Kitty” McGlen born to Michael McGlen and Isabella Dowson.

@Canny lass & @Harry.T.S this is just me trying something different. This is a direct link to a 202 map on the NLS site, same period as the 1921 map CL posted above, but a bit more detail :- https://maps.nls.uk/view/132278981

Hi @Harry.T.S, welcome to the forum. As I said I’m not too familiar with the area but Rutters Buildings starts to appear on maps at some point between 1866 and 1896. It was a long row of housing lining the main road at Scotland Gate (between Choppington and Guide Post). In the 19 11 census there were 15 families living in Rutters Buildings. 13 of them were living in just 2 rooms and the remaining 2 families had 3 rooms each. There were some big families so living conditions for most were cramped, to say the least. Rutters buildings was located between the methodist church at the north end and the Kings Arms public house which adjoined the terrace at its southern end. You can see it on this map from 1924 which is the earliest on which I find its name but there may be others.

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

The sorry saga of the Hartford Hall gates. These Grade 11* listed gates were made by the world leading makers Coalbrookdale for the Vienna Exhibition in 1873 to demonstrate their craftsmanship. Anecdotally I was told you can even see the fingerprints on the cast hands included in the design of these gates, a feat which cannot be reproduced even today! It was agreed as part of the renovations to Hartford Hall that these gates would be renovated and English Heritage became involved. They even gave a grant towards the renovations and insisted there was only one place in England that could be trusted with this significant renovation project. The gates were dismantled and shipped off to the specialist down in Yorkshire. Things now take a turn for the worse! During the renovation project the developer went bust and the Administrator was called in. The Administrator sequestered all monies in the account including the grant funding for these gates and paid out debtors of the company. So the money disappeared and the gates which had been started were now left languishing somewhere in Yorkshire. There were many calls for their reinstatement and I decided to do a bit of digging myself. I found out where they had been shipped off to and rang the company up to find out what was going on. I was told there was an outstanding bill for work done, about 1/3rd, and until that was paid the gates remained, never mind about getting them finished. After making more ‘noises’ about them over the next few years and a BBC Inside Blog about them I found out they had been moved and were actually in the old fire station at Morpeth. So I presumed that part bill had been paid and moves were afoot to get them sorted? Asking about them now and I was told they had been moved again, where I wasn’t allowed to know, but moves were afoot to get something done with them. I persisted and eventually I received a phone call to tell me they were in the possession of NCC (good) they would be renovated (great) they would probably be encased in glass or plastic to stop any further degeneration (great) and would be on public display (great!). There was even a cost estimate of around £500K and I was asked to help find that money. I agreed but then asked where exactly would they be displayed, even suggesting several places in Bedlington where I thought they might work. I was told they had to be displayed in…….Ashington? Ehhh! Why was never explained and after a lengthy heated argument I said I wouldn’t be helping them to see them end up in Ashington, which I felt would be yet another slap in the face for Bedlington! So that’s the tale of woe yet again but as far as I know NCC have them stashed somewhere and that £500K estimate could well be in excess of £750K now, never mind where they might end up! (As an addendum to this one.........The Gates are now in safe storage in a NCC depot where they are being kept as dry and moisture proof as possible. )

Yes 7, Whitsun Gardens a time of no cares and total innocents.

Bella’s married name was Wilkinson. Billy McGlen is 74 & lives in Haig Road not far from the old address in Beatty Road

Back in about 1962 I was around 9 year auld and I had a paper route with Taits doon at the station, the alarm hadn't gone off but I heard such a clamour outside the window on Hirst terrace, I looked oot and the sky was filled wi jackdaws, mebbees a hundred or so and they wor aal dive bombing this baby jackdaw on the roof across the street and pecking at him, it was still pretty dark but I run outside in me Jarmas an bare feet an tried ti help the poor bugga,... he comes flutterin off the roof and lands on top of the hedge an aah gan ti pick him up when Aal the bords start divin at me an tryin te giv is wot fer so Aah tucks him in me jarmas an runs for my door. I found a cardboard box and give him some bread and milk, then I dress an hop on me bike te pick up an deliver me papers before school starts. I came yem after school an gan reet te check him out an he,s deeing just fine, day after day I stick with him and he starts growing bigger so I build him a hoose out of aad crates in me backyard and I begin to train him to hop to and then fly to me..... The strange thing was that every time I took him to fly in the park or doon the Hapenny woods a group of jackdaws would show up and start attacking him, it happened every time, and then a jackdaw or two would always sit on the gutter at 31 Gladstone terrace across the way and if I left the yard with jack they would start raising the alarm and 20-30 of them would show up. He only liked me and my older brother David was always jealous that jack would not do anything for him at all except fly back ti me!!! I would go swimming in the Blyth river wi him aal the time an he would sit on my hand and flap his wings in the wetta and shake his head aboot and hev a nice drink too. The Sentinel Jackdaws never stopped following us ever and for about 3 years we were best mates and he knew that if he got back on me shoulder I would protect him, we would gan up ti the market place on Saturdays ti get me comics at Carrs and he would like ti dive bomb the cars in the road an give them a Glif or two, he learned ti talk a little and could say mebbees 6 or 7 words and he had a real personality about him. But then one day I was very late getting out of school and as I came into the back yard jack would usually call to me but not today........ David was standing next to the open cage as white as a sheet and mumbling about how it was an accident!!!!! I turned and ran like hell down to Wades farm to the tree that was Jacks favorite and as I ran I could see dozens of jackdaws flying back up towards the market place..... I got to the tree and looking down he lay dead at the base of the tree...... My heart broke into pieces that day and I never said a word to David about it until many years later. And I never knew why he was marked for all that time by the other Jack daws True story... Sad but True