Stories
Lights Out
General Stories
“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime” Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, August 1914 On 4th August 2014, The Bowes Museum hosted a shared evening of remembrance as part of the nationwide initiative LIGHTS OUT, led by 14-18NOW.......
Places: Barnard Castle, Bowes
Belgian Refugees in Teesdale
Stories from Home
The latest focus of The Bowes Museum World War One Commemoration Project concerns the arrival of some Belgians in Middleton-in-Teesdale. The people of Middleton were praised for their lavish welcome to the “poor, persecuted Belgian refugees”. The British government was called on by its Belgian counterpart to take 500,000 refugees......
Places: Barnard Castle, Middleton
Belgian Refugees in Teesdale: A Warm Welcome
Stories from Home
The Bowes Museum World War One Commemoration Project is discovering the warm welcome given by the people of Teesdale to the Belgian refugees who arrived in Teesdale during World War One. Funding and hospitality were two areas in which the people of Teesdale were specifically commended by the Belgian visitors, as......
Places: Middleton
Army Chaplain Rev George Wilkinson
Biography
The latest Teesdale individual whose story the Bowes Museum World War One Commemoration Project is exploring is that of Army chaplain Rev. George Robert Wilkinson. Having served as Vicar of Ingeton in the Diocese of Durham, Wilkinson applied for chaplaincy work in 1916.Despite being intriguingly described by his interview Taylor......
Places: Ingleton
Mrs Smith and her six sons
Biography
The story of Barnard Castle’s Mrs Margaret Smith and the loss of her five sons in the First World War is a well known story which is worth revisiting. Many cannot imagine the loss of one child, let alone five. Yet this was the reality with which Margaret and John......
Places: Barnard Castle
Your Country Needs You…to collect fruit stones and nut shells!
Stories from Home
As part of the Museum’s World War 1 project, a group of volunteers have been visiting the Durham County Records Office and researching a range of documents concerning the impact of the war on the Barnard Castle and Teesdale area. My first item to research was less a document, more......
Places: Barnard Castle
Teesdale's Florence Nightingale
Biography
The adventures of a heroic Teesdale nurse is the latest story to grab the attention of the Bowes Museum’s World War 1 Commemoration Project. Lizzie Winpenny, Teesdale’s very own Florence Nightingale, was from Barnard Castle, where her parents, Mr and Mrs Albert Winpenny, of HorseMarket, owned a tailors/clothiers, Winpenny and......
Places: Barnard Castle
Corporal Herbert Dixon of Evenwood
Biography
Corporal Herbert Dixon is commemorated at the Evenwood War Memorial. He married Rose Oldfield of Evenwood and lived in Shirley Terrace, Evenwood, with their two sons named Tom and Cresswell. Corporal Dixon supported the war effort by going to France as part of the 5th Battalion of the Border Regiment......
Places: Evenwood and Barony
Two Sisters in Court
Stories from Home
Today, as part of my research project about Barnard Castle during World War 1, I came across a rather interesting article from The Teesdale Mercury, dated 5th May 1915. Jane E. Okey of 7, Baliol Street, Barnard Castle, charged her sister, Martha Okey, with having assaulted her on 23rd of......
Places: Barnard Castle
The Story of Walter Heslop
Biography
Walter Heslop was born in 1891 and was raised at 1 Coronation Street, Barnard Castle, with his father William and brothers, Albert and John. After war broke out, he and his brothers joined the Durham Light Infantry and Walter was sent to the Aegean port of Salonika to help the......
Places: Barnard Castle
Lieutenant Oswald Walton of Bowes
Biography
One young man whose name is not on the World War 1 Bowes Museum Memorial is Oswald Walton. Although he lived in Bowes for a short time as a child, his family had a deep connection with the parish,at least to the middle of the 17th century. His father, Rev.......
Places: Bowes, Langton
What's in a name? The problem with Charles W. B. Hall.
Biography
Recently, I have been using documents supplied by Cockfield School to update the Roll of Honour. With the bare minimum of information recorded, and over half of files from The First World War having been destroyed in The Blitz, it often proves difficult to follow each individual’s story. However, a......
Places: Cockfield
Teesdale Volunteer Training Corps
Stories from Home
Teesdale Volunteer Training Corps The Bowes Museum is a beautiful spot situated in Barnard Castle - Teesdale, County Durham , attracting the general public from far and wide. With its intriguing history and breathtaking landscape, when offered the chance to spend time and make use of the archives we were......
Places: Barnard Castle
Football Favourite George's Memorable Match
Stories from Home
A community’s sorrow and support for a Teesdale First World War widow is witnessed in the story of a New Year’s Day football match in honour of Barnard Castle soldier George Stout. A popular Teesdale football player, a football match was organised in George’s honour as a means of supporting his......
Places: Barnard Castle
Jack Beadle, Poster Boy
Biography
The story of the poster boy of the “To Serve King And Country” project is well illustrated by a number of pictures showing his time in the war. John Robert Beadle’s image has been used to promote the First World War project and to encourage others to come forward with......
Places: Eggleston
War and Peace
Biography
Last week we were visited at The Bowes Museum by Jennifer Sterland. Having travelled north to us from Nottinghamshire - it just goes to show how far spread relatives with Teesdale connections have travelled. Jennifer was very keen to introduce to the stories of her two maternal grandparents Roy and......
Places: Romaldkirk
A Prisoner of War
Biography
Ralph Hutchinson, born in 1891 at Low Beckhead, Ettersgill, Forest in Teesdale, was the 9th of ten children born to John Hutchinson, a lead ore miner and farmer, and Margaret Nichol. Ralph attended Forest School and when he left he worked for John Kipling, a farmer of Stackholme in Lunedale. In......
Places: Lunedale
Fergus Bowes-Lyon
Biography
Last week, Fergus Bowes-Lyon, son of the 14th Earl of Strathmore, elder brother to the Queen Mother and uncle to Queen Elizabeth II, was added to our Roll of Honour. Killed amongst the 20,000 men who fell at the Battle of Loos in 1915, his remains were not found until......
Places: Bowes
Found in a WW1 German dugout
Stories from the War
An intriguing folder of First World War material has recently come to light, and we’re still unravelling its story. In December 1917 Owen Scott, Curator of The Bowes Museum, received a letter from Lord Gainford. As Jack Pease he had served as one of the trustees for the museum since......
Places: Barnard Castle, Bowes
In Memoriam
Poetry & Letters
As part of our on-going student internship with Northumbria University, participants Gavin, Katie and Hannah were tasked with exploring the grounds of The Bowes Museum - and to give voice to the war memorials that lie within the gardens. // KATIE ARNOLD The cold November wind whipped against my pale......
Hens on active service
Stories from the War
Recently, The Teesdale Mercury printed an article from one hundred years ago that recalled ‘Eggs for the Wounded’, a national campaign that aimed to send eggs to wounded soldiers in order to improve their nutrition. The initiative was launched in November 1914 and initially aimed to provide 20,000 eggs a......
Places: Whorlton, Winston
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Stories from Home
The age old riddle about chickens and eggs, and which came first, has been around for ever, and confounds all who try to give an answer one way or the other. But during the First World War, both the chickens and the eggs were of vital importance in helping the......
Places: Bowes
Zeppelin raid on Evenwood
Stories from the War
On April 5th 1916, Evenwood was victim to a Zeppelin attack that destroyed 15 houses and damaged 70 more. Mistaking the blacked-out lights of Bishop Auckland for those of Leeds, the Zeppelin aimed at the burning colliery waste heaps that surrounded it. Randolph Colliery at Evenwood became the first target.......
Places: Evenwood and Barony
Tomatoes for Tommies
Stories from Home
In 1917 in the greenhouses at the back of The Bowes Museum, a group of gardeners led by Frederick Delgano - Head Gardener - worked together to grow tomatoes and other vegetables to show their gratitude to those who served our country in wartime. These tomatoes would be sent......
Places: Barnard Castle, Bowes
The Fallen Servicemen of Southwest County Durham
General Stories
As a local historian and contributor to The Bowes Museums own on-going research into the First World War, Kevin Richardson was a huge support as we first began our project - offering guidance and advice - as well as countless names and pieces of personal information that he had uncovered......
Places: Evenwood and Barony
Follow-up to Fergus Bowes-Lyon...
Biography
Isn’t it strange how stories can sometimes take on a life of their own? Following the publication of the story of Fergus Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother’s brother, in the e-newsletter and the Teesdale Mercury, somebody suggested to me that his link with Teesdale was rather tenuous. But the appearance of......
Places: Bowes
The VAD Carter Sisters of Barnard Castle
Stories from Home
Alice Eleanor Carter and her sister Eva Gertrude were found on the Branard Castle Absent Voters list for 1918. This is what we discovered when we dug a little deeper... Alice Eleanor was born in 1878 in Barnard Castle and Eva Gertrude in 1887, two of the ten children of George and......
Places: Barnard Castle, Barforth
The Battle of Jutland
Stories from the War
Last week saw centenary commemorations of the Battle of Jutland (31st May – 1st June 1916). This sea battle, fought in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark, was a very important battle. It was a material victory for the German High Seas fleet because they had fewer losses......
Places: Evenwood and Barony
Blackberries
Stories from Home
In 1918, food rationing was introduced by the British Government and a Committee set up to look at ways to utilise natural resources due to crop failures in the same year. Rural schools were encouraged to ‘employ their children in the gathering of blackberries during school hours’ for a Government......
Places: Lynesack and Softley
The Story of Charles Edmondson
Biography
While researching at the Durham County Records Office, I came across mention of Charles Edmondson, Head teacher of Whorlton School. During the early weeks of the First World War he was to be found serving with the Expeditionary Forces in Belgium. He wrote weekly letters back to his family in......
Places: Whorlton
Reverend Philip Crick
Biography
Military Chaplains were appointed during the First World War to provide spiritual support to the many troops serving in all aspects of conflict. The Reverend Philip C T Crick was a military chaplain, and also the son of another Reverend Crick, the vicar in Whorlton from 1912 to at least......
Places: Whorlton
A Teesdale Business and the First World War
Stories from Home
By Judith Phillips The war affected so many aspects of life in Teesdale. The Roll of Honour on our project website (www.thebowesmuseumww1.org.uk) continues to grow with names, images and information about men and women from Teesdale who served during the war. Life at home changed, too, as the war made......
Places: Barnard Castle
The Bell-Irving Ladies
Stories from Home
For a period of eighteen years, including those of the First World War, the Bell-Irving family lived at Rokeby Park, near Barnard Castle. While many of the women of Teesdale played an important part in keeping the ‘home front’ running during the War, the roles that Mrs Bell-Irving and her......
Places: Barnard Castle, Rokeby
A Far Cry from Teesdale
Stories from Home
By Gail Bishop On 14th December 1914, a young soldier with Teesdale connections boarded a military transport ship on a voyage from which he would never return. Nothing unusual about that, you might think. Except, Frederick Thomas Cameron was from New Zealand and was off to fight for a country......
Places: Holwick, Middleton
More Roll of Honour Responses
Stories from Home
By Judith Phillips A volunteer with the project, working on material in Durham county Record office, has identified some more completed Roll of Honour forms. In 1915 Owen Scott, Curator at the museum, circulated a letter to the townships in Teesdale Union, and asked for information about people serving in......
Places: Startforth
Cockfield School Roll of Honour
General Stories
By Judith Phillips A year or so ago, staff at Cockfield School unearthed an illuminated Roll of Honour recording the names of staff and old boys who had served in the First World War. There were seven members of staff (present and past) and forty-two old boys. One member of......
Places: Cockfield
The Boys from Poor House Yard
Stories from Home
By Judith Phillips On 19th September 1916 Private Robert Smith of 1/6th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry was killed during the Battle of the Somme. He was the first of five sons of John and Margaret Smith of Bridgegate in Barnard Castle to die in the First World War.......
Places: Barnard Castle
The Village with no M, N or O
General Stories
By Judith Phillips The 44 townships that Owen Scott originally contacted for roll of Honour information included several places south of the River Tees in North Yorkshire but in the Teesdale Poor Law Union. There is a list of the townships on the project website – click on the link......
Places: Cotherstone
Pte Fred Waters
Biography
By June Parkin, volunteer Fred Waters is listed in the 1918 Absent Voters List for Lynesack & Softley as Pte. 205127 of the Northumberland Fusiliers. He is an example of the many men who served and survived and this is all we know about them. The search for more begins......
Places: Barnard Castle, Startforth
Joseph Brunskill Kearton
Biography
By June ParkinJoseph Brunskill Kearton, Pte. 205149 Northumberland Fusiliers, appears in the Lynesack Absent Voters list for 1918, address 15 Lane Head. An 'Ancestry' search shows that he was born in 1890 in Muker, Swaledale and in the 1891 Census his father, Foster Kearton, was a gamekeeper. By 1901 Foster......
Places: Barnard Castle
An unexpected WWI connection with the Museum
General Stories
By Judith Phillips Some time ago Rachel Wood kindly gave the museum a copy of the ‘Cockfield School Roll of Honour Soldiers’. This was the result of some fantastic research Rachel had done on the names that appear on the Roll of Honour scroll found in Cockfield School. As well......
Places: Barnard Castle, Cockfield
Amendment: Charles Edwin Hardy
Biography
By Judith Phillips A knowledgeable volunteer – the Reverend David Youngson - has emailed to point out that in last week’s newsletter we referred to Hardy’s regiment as being ‘The Inns of Court Regiment’. It was, in fact, an OTC (Officer’s Training Corps), in many ways similar the Territorial......
Christmas comforts for the troops
Stories from Home
By Judith Philips & Julie Marmont As you may tell from the book group report, we have found several books relating to different aspects of Christmas during the first World War, ranging from the early optimism –‘it’ll be over by Christmas’ to the relief of Christmas 1918 when the armistice......
Places: Holwick, Lunedale, Mickleton
Robert Donald, Royal Navy
Biography
By June Parkin WW1 must have broadened the horizons of many Teesdale men. One such was Robert Donald of Startforth, who signed up for 12 years' service in the Royal Navy in September 1915. Robert was born on July 6th 1894 and in the 1901 Census is living in High......
Places: Startforth
WW1 and food
General Stories
By Judith Phillips Just to whet your appetites (or not)! Several project volunteers have been reading the Teesdale Mercury to pick out references to any war-related items – not just notices of death or wounding or soldiers home on leave, but also more local events, often fundraising concerts or a......
Our first 'munitionette'? UPDATED
Biography
By Judith Phillips We’ve recently been sent some photographs of Elizabeth Anne Hogget – known as Lily in the family - from Barnard Castle who worked in a munitions factory during the First World War. There were munitions factories in Newton Aycliffe and Darlington and it’s not clear yet where......
Places: Barnard Castle
Elizabeth A Waine
Biography
By June Parkin, Volunteer WW1 saw women taking over many activities formerly the responsibility of men. Here 20 year-old Miss Elizabeth Annie Waine white-lines the rinks at Barnard Castle Bowling Green in 1914. Elizabeth Waine was the daughter of prominent townsman Walker Waine. In the 1911 Census the family are......
Places: Barnard Castle
Centenary of a Teesdale victim of Passchendaele
Stories from the War
By Judith Phillips In a previous newsletter, I asked for information about Teesdale men involved in the fighting at the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). There will have been many Teesdale men who fought in that battle, and many who died, including two of the Smith brothers of Barnard Castle,......
Places: Cockfield
‘My amazing Dad’
Biography
By Judith Phillips That’s how Suzanne Davies began her email – I couldn’t resist that. So here’s the story of William Tarran... William Tarran was born on 27th June, 1898 in Butterknowle. He served in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry regiment where he was awarded the Military Medal on......
Places: Barnard Castle, Startforth, Butterknowle
1918 - Food Rationing comes to Teesdale
Stories from Home
By June Parkin On the 6th February 1918, `The Mercury’ reported that George Bell, a Staindrop farmer, had appeared at the Police Court in Barnard Castle, charged by the local Rural Food Committee Inspector with selling butter “at a figure beyond the maximum price laid down by the Food Controller.”......
Places: Barnard Castle, Cockfield, Staindrop
Frederick Dalgarno
Biography
By June ParkinSecretary, Barnard Castle Bowling Club, and The Bowes Museum volunteer In April 1918 conscription was extended to men up to age 51, so great was the toll that the war had taken on the armed forces. There was also pressure on those who had been exempt from military......
Places: Barnard Castle
Nurses
Stories from Home
By Judith Phillips Edith Cavell is probably the most famous nurse from the First World War and we learned a lot from Ian McArdle’s stimulating talk a few weeks ago. When I realised that this is Nurses Week, it seemed a good opportunity to look at nurses on our project......
Places: Barnard Castle
Herbert Muschamp Lingford
Biography
By June Parkin Herbert Lingford was born in Bishop Auckland in 1891. His father, Ernest, was the second-generation owner of the family provisions supplier business and manufacturer of Lingford’s Baking Powder. In 1910 the family moved to Cotherstone, to Lancelands, their newly built country house. They are recorded there in......
Places: Barnard Castle, Cotherstone
John Warwick DCM
Biography
By June Parkin “I only did what any of our chaps would have done.” This was the modest reply from a 1914 local hero when he was lauded for retrieving wounded comrades from the line of fire. John Warwick was born in Barnard Castle in 1885. In the 1911 Census......
Places: Barnard Castle
After the Armistice
Stories from Home
By June Parkin For many people in Teesdale the armistice was not an end to their worries and their suffering. Armed forces personnel were only gradually demobilised. Some were prisoners of war who returned home in poor health. Moreover, the population had to cope with an influenza epidemic, mistakenly called......
Places: Forest and Frith, Langton, Startforth
Teesdale's First World War Legacy
General Stories
In 1915, Owen Scott, the curator of The Bowes Museum, sent out a letter to the 44 townships of Teesdale suggesting a Roll of Honour be created to record all those individuals who served in the First World War – ‘whether in the Navy, the Army, or as Nurses –......
Places: Barnard Castle