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NORTH EAST POPULAR POLITICS PROJECT

Newsletter 4 August 2011

Editor, Sean Creighton New contact details: sean.creighton1947@btinternet.com & new phone number: 020 8764 4301

This T-Shirt was designed by a member of the Tyneside A-A group c 1984 and adopted as the symbol of the national/international campaign. It is owned by Doreen Elcox, a member of A-A in the 80s.

Contents:

1 Diary; News 2 Project Archive Research Sessions; Liz O’Donnell: New Oral History Co-ordinator 3 Popular Politics Walk June 4 Reflections on the Project; Progress at City Library and Tyne & Wear Archives; Flying Pickets – Accelerated

Listing! 5 Why So Much Listing?; How Minute Books Can Tell A Story; 6 The Protestant Association 1780s; Fish Market Petition 6 July 1836 7 The Newcastle Upon Tyne Clergymen’s Memorial To The City Council Regarding The Increased Death Rate in

1889 8 Studying the Contributions Of Women In Popular Politics 10 Some Cultural Pointers 11 Wheels and Movement As Culture 12 Music and Socialism 13 Background Reading On The North East

DIARY

Tuesday 6 September. Daytime. Project Flying Pickets to Teesside. See story below. Tuesday 6 September, 7 pm. The Co-operative Movement. Irish Centre, Gallowgate. The monthly First Tuesday NELH discussion meeting will hear Project member Kath Connolly speak. Wednesday 7 September. 1.30pm. Project Oral History Training Refresher. NE Region WEA Office, Joseph Cowen House, 21 Portland Terrace, Jesmond, NE2 1QQ. See Oral History item below.

Thursday 6 October. 6.45pm. North East Labour History Society AGM and Peter Crookston on The Pitmen’s Requiem. Lit & Phil. See News story below.

Friday 14 – Sunday 30 October. Tyneside Irish Festival. Programme details on www.tynesideirish.com/festival.pdf.

Friday 14 October. A Project Social with a bit of business thrown in. A pot- luck supper at 46 West Lane, Forest Hall (John & Sally’s house). This is a chance for people to meet up with others on the Project they might not know. There will be a chance to discuss project issues and meet Sean and Liz. We will try to have a brief report from each of the archive sites. Please bring a dish. Since we don’t want everyone to bring cordon bleu fish soup we need to organise ahead. We would like you to come hence the long notice but please RSVP to John: johncharlton@blueyonder.co.uk

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NEWS

Summary of Work To-date. A summary of the work carried out in various archives and libraries has been prepared and is being emailed to Project member as a separate document. Project Members Welcome at North East Labour History Society AGM. As you probably know the Mapping Popular Politics Project was the brain-child of Society. It has been around in the North East for over 40 years. It holds regular meetings, occasional socials, history walks with a radical slant and every year since 1968 has published a journal, North East History, with articles on the people’s history of the region. Number 42 is due out this Autumn. We hope that next year’s journal will contain several articles by Project members. We would like all Project members to join the Society this year and if possible attend the AGM at the Lit & Phil on Thursday 6 October. We usually start the evening round 5.45 with tea and goodies. The AGM business starts at 6.45. This year we have an outstanding guest speaker at 7.15. He is Peter Crookston, the author of the acclaimed book, The Pitmen’s Requiem. This is the beautifully reconstructed story of Robert Saint, the Jarrow pitman who composed the splendidly moving anthem, Gresford, after the cruel disaster at a Wrexham Colliery in 1934 which killed 256 miners. It was heard at many miners’ funerals, regularly at Royal Albert Hall brass band concerts and always at Durham Cathedral on Big Meeting Day. There will also be the presentation of the Sid Chaplin Trophy awarded annually to the best essay by a student in North East popular history. You don’t need a ticket but we do expect a large turn out on the day. (The words of Gresford can be seen at www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/2007-08/drama/irf25_gresford/index.html.) North East Women’s History. Plans are underway to hold an open meeting in the Autumn to look at planning the best way to involve the project in North East women’s history. (See Sean discussion piece below) Flying pickets-Accelerated Listing! John will be getting in touch with Project members soon to ask them to join a day trip to Teesside Archives to attempt to advance the work there where we have so far failed to attract much volunteer interest. You don’t have to wait for the call. Contact John: johncharlton@blueyonder.co.uk. (See Flying Picket item below.) Police Spy on Workers’ Education Activist. Rob Turnbull has found the following information at National Archives (CAB/24/76) from a police informer about James (Jimmy) Stewart, a well known lecturer on the National Council of Labour Colleges (NCLC) North East Div 9 Circuit: ‘James Stewart of 15 Woodbine Ave, Wallsend has opened a shop for the sale of revolutionary literature. He is a CO, and member of the ILP. He is an agent of the Socialist Labour Press, and has opened what has been described as shop for teaching, social, economic and industrial history. The classes are attended by youth’ aged 21 upwards. Robert Spence Watson Centenary. Robert Spence Watson is an important figure in Tyneside popular politics. The centenary of his death is being commemorated this year. The Lit & Phil has the following events in its autumn programme: Tuesday 27 September. 6pm. The Philanthropist and the Pitmen Poet. Speaker Henrietta Heald. Free Wednesday 12 October. 6pm. Robert Spence Watson and Russia. Speaker Professor David Saunders. Free Wednesday 23 November. 6pm. Robert Spence Watson and the Lit & Phil. Speaker Richard Sharp. Free To book contact L&P on 0191 232 0192; library@litandphil.org.uk. Northern Region Film and Television Archive Screening. The Project has not yet finalised how it is going to link to the relevant material held by the NRFTA. On Tuesday 13 December at 1pm the Lit & Phil is showing themed programmes from the Archive. Free. To book contact L&P on 0191 232 0192; library@litandphil.org.uk.

PROJECT ARCHIVE RESEARCH SESSIONS

Tuesdays From 11am. North Shields Local Studies From 1.30pm. TWA we will be starting the second phase of our work soon.

Wednesdays From 11am. Northumberland Archives (Woodhorn). Co-ordinated by Peter Nicklin From 11am. Durham County Record Office. Co-ordinated by Dave Tate

Thursdays From 11am. Gateshead Local Studies. Co-ordinated by Dave Tate From 1pm South Shields Local Studies From 1.30pm. Newcastle Central Library. Co-ordinated by Peter Livsey

Sunderland Local Studies will be starting soon. If you want to go to any of these sessions and have not been before please check first with John Charlton: johncharlton@blueyonder.co.uk.

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LIZ O’DONNELL: NEW ORAL HISTORY CO-ORDINATOR

Jo Bath has been unable to continue as OH Co-ordinator. Liz O’Donnell started in late July. She writes: I joined the Project in late July as the new Oral History Co-ordinator. After more than thirty years teaching in further and higher education, I began working as an Outreach Officer at Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn in 2007, where I still work for three days a week. As well as preparing events and exhibitions to raise awareness of the archive and helping community groups to develop heritage projects, I have recorded well over 100 oral history interviews over the past four years. I have also supported various oral history-based projects in Northumberland – from a women’s health group based in Cramlington, to a youth service project about the history of football - through training sessions and general advice. My first priority is to discover which volunteers have expressed an interest in oral history interviewing and what training needs exist:

Some of those (mainly those who are interested in the Co-operative movement) who joined the Project at the beginning have already received some training. Because of a delay in organising recording sessions, a number of these volunteers have asked for a refresher course. A room at the WEA office has been booked for the afternoon of Wednesday 7 September, from 1.30pm, and I will be contacting those who have already been in communication with Kath Connolly to confirm their availability.

A training session was held on Monday 8 August at the WEA office for six volunteers. Because some were anxious about handling the equipment, two people offered to write ‘Idiots’ Guides’ for the recording devices we will use.

As new training needs are identified, I will arrange more sessions (usually for groups of no less than five).

I have also been looking at the procedures which had already been agreed e.g. keeping accurate records, consent and copyright forms, and how to manage such practicalities as making the recording devices available to people who have arranged an interview. All those who have expressed an interest in oral history interviewing will receive a pack (similar to the Volunteer Pack prepared by Sean) which will detail these important arrangements as well as giving some useful guidelines for interviewing and transcribing. I am well aware that there are quite a few volunteers who are champing at the bit to get started on the oral history recording. To help me get a full picture and to make it possible to put people with similar interests in touch with each other, please could those who want to get involved send me the following information (I am adapting these queries from the list which Kath Connolly asked those in the ‘Co-op group’ – if you have already let her know your answers, you do not need to send them to me): 1. have you done some training? 2. would you like a ‘refresher’ or more practice with the equipment? 3. do you need full training? 4. what are your main interests (in terms of who you would like to interview)? 5. are you in contact with others with similar interests? 6. are you interested in oral history interviews but not in a position to record any at the moment? I am confident that we will soon have the interviews rolling in!

Contact details: Liz O’Donnell, 2 Post Office Farm, Middleton, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 4RE Tel: 01670 772486; liz.odonnell2@btinternet.com

POPULAR POLITICS WALK JUNE On Sunday, 26 June, John Charlton and Nigel Todd led a ‘Popular Politics’ walk around central Newcastle. There was a good turnout of Project volunteers and others, with a seventy-odd year age range (counting the baby). We were rewarded with a sunny afternoon and, more importantly, an enjoyable and innovative look at Newcastle’s streets. The walk began at the Discovery Museum and we were reminded of its days as a warehouse and distribution centre for the Co-op. All, except the very

youngest, had memories of this historic organisation and its role in many aspects of working people’s lives. At the Tyne Theatre and his statue on Westgate, the focus was on the radical Newcastle MP Joseph Cowen. He founded the theatre as part of his drive to improve the educational and leisure opportunities of working-class Geordies. As well as domestic causes, he supported liberation movements in continental Europe. Enthusiasm was particularly great for Garibaldi and “excursionists” left the city to join his

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campaign to unify Italy. He, as well as the Hungarian Kossuth and the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, are remembered on a plaque on the corner of Nelson Street, a building once housing a radical bookshop. At Grey’s Monument, our guides showed how it and its inscriptions reminded us of the reform of 1832 and its limitations, and of the social tensions a hundred years later. After a brief nod to the former Marxist associations of the building now housing a fancy dress shop on Percy

Street, we reached the grassed area outside the Civic Centre. There we picnicked and chatted beside the tree planted to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Men from Newcastle went to join the International Brigades defending the Republic, as their ancestors had fought for the freedom of Italy. The group was grateful to John and Nigel for their imaginative planning and fascinating delivery of an afternoon which touched on many themes of the North East Popular Politics Project.

- Peter Livsey

REFLECTIONS ON THE PROJECT Since starting doing voluntary work with the Project I have met some interesting, supportive people who also have interests and passions similar to mine. If for no other reason this would be good enough to say the Project was well worth my time. However the Project is more than meeting great people it’s also given an opportunity to broaden my historical interests. It has also opened a series of new historical worlds which I knew existed but may not have truly appreciated. For instance a couple of months ago in Gateshead Local Studies section while working my way through a set of pamphlets I came across a pamphlet printed in 1838 reporting an anti-slavery meeting held in Newcastle which was looking to abolish the apprenticeship system that was set up in the plantations after the abolition of slavery. It was an eye opener and inspired me to do further research regarding the campaign by the anti-slavery movement throughout County Durham to abolish the apprenticeship system in the plantations. It has already thrown up some interesting material which is contained in the Durham Chronicle regarding the widespread meetings which took place during 1838 throughout County Durham. The most recent surprise came at Durham Record Office where one of the new volunteers Sheila came across a folder which contained material relating to cotton operatives who were attempting to organise a combination to regulate the numbers of apprentices

entering the cotton trade during 1810. The folder contains five items of which three are handbills and one of the most exciting is a legal document drawn up by the operatives outlining their complaints and placing their complaints in the contemporary set up of what it meant to be a skilled worker whose trade was under threat through deskilling. The document contains what the workers were paid, the hour’s workers had to work, 16hrs per day to make ends meet, their outgoings in the form of the taxes they had to pay. There’s also a host of other material regarding the role of women in weavers’ families. What made the document so exciting for Sheila and I was the legal response contained in the document. The QC who was responsible for drawing up the document gives us an insight not only into the legal mindset of this period but also the social attitudes that were prevalent. So in the space of a few months I have met some great people but also been introduced to new worlds which I knew existed but may not have fully appreciated. In fact all the trawling through of what was not all that relevant paid ofF and a few gems hopefully have been discovered which others in the field may also now have access to. If this continues then I am certain that future excitements are almost guaranteed. Can’t wait.

- Dave Tate -Co-ordinator at Gateshead Local Studies and Durham County Record Office

PROGRESS AT CITY LIBRARY AND TYNE & WEAR ARCHIVES The teams of volunteers working in the Local Studies section of City Library and at Tyne and Wear Archives have made considerable progress since the beginning of the year. Not only have fascinating individual items been turned up, but the archive mapping is making areas of the collections more accessible to future users on all aspects of Popular Politics. At City Library a significant resource consists of bound volumes of local history tracts (pamphlets). Only part of the collection is catalogued on-line. Work is being done to make other relevant items available for the intended Popular Politics database. Those volumes already catalogued on-line are being examined and recorded, with brief notes, where relevant. Important items are given more detailed treatment. We now have computer files on about a third of the relevant volumes. At Tyne and Wear Archives, work has been completed in computerising the contents of 36 volumes listing items not

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yet in the main catalogue. This will enable the most important individual items to be identified for more detailed examination.

- Peter Livsey - Co-ordinator at NCL and TWA

FLYING PICKETS - ACCELERATED LISTING! On the 25 August we had our first ‘flying picket’ visit to Teesside. It was a pretty successful day. We managed to do a lot of listing from the General Catalogues and complete the two volumes entitled Trade Unions, Political Parties and other associations. There is some very interesting material there including a body of items from the collection of a Communist Party woman activist who was a member of Teesside’s best known gentry families, the Pennymans. (The Pennyman Collection runs to 6 Catalogue volumes. Mercifully much of it is already web catalogued via A2A: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a.) We also spent time at the Middlesbrough Central Library unravelling the mysteries of their catalogue system! Both exercises will make future visits much easier. We propose to do a second visit on Tuesday 6 September. I will be getting in touch with Project members soon to ask you to join this day trip. You don’t have to wait for the call. Contact me on: johncharlton@blueyonder.co.uk

- John Charlton

WHY SO MUCH LISTING?

John Charlton explains Listing. A few Project ‘victims’ have raised the problem of the tedious nature of listing sometimes linked to the business of reading interminable TRACTS, TRACTS, TRACTS. A word of explanation might be helpful. Catalogues. Archive catalogues are either on-line or in ledgers. Proportions vary from Durham (DRO) with almost everything on-line to Teesside with only a small proportion (20%?). Ledgers. These are large volumes normally listed according to Accession number [when they were deposited], occasionally according to theme. Web catalogues. These are usually electronic copies of the paper ledgers but with the great advantage that they can be word searched off site. Ledger listing. We do this because it is the only way to detect material relevant to the project. It has to be done on the archive site. The aim is to read the ledgers and enter the Catalogue reference, with a very brief summary, on a listing template. These are sent to Sean who will decide whether the documents need to be read and when. This almost always derives from his assessment of Project priorities. An important question for listers is to decide what goes on to a list. This is not always straightforward. There will be obvious items to leave out, e.g. the flora of Upper Teessdale or architectural styles in Northumberland or No 131 Squadron Air Defence Corps. Slightly greyer areas might be planning

applications and decisions, vast sections of estate records, family papers, property leases and agricultural records (apart from labour issues). It is largely a matter of personal judgement. The best rule is to put an item on the list if there is any doubt. Web catalogues. There are some tricky issues here and we can’t give the last word on some collections because we don’t have enough information yet. However at Durham we have started simple alphabetical searches assigning a letter to a person. It means that a list can be built at your own computer. All archive visits can then be looking at actual material - much more fun! Alphabetical searches have another merit. They can detect material possibly hidden by Key Word searches. An example of this came up recently at Durham where a long series of 19th wage rates for joiners appeared in an otherwise unpromising bulk of family papers under ‘A’ –Adamson. In a similar adventure on the TWA a large collection (20 items) of JPs’ letters pertaining to the 1831 pitmen’s strike were found. Tracts. Several libraries & archives have bound volumes of Tracts [pamphlets]. Such volumes, many compiled up to 100 years ago contain unique material from early periods in North East History. Unfortunately many volumes contain irrelevant material bound alongside gems. There is not real alternative to ploughing through them all! Fortunately most of this work should be completed this autumn.

HOW MINUTE BOOKS CAN TELL A STORY?

Northumberland Archives has a large and interesting collection of political material, the Dawson papers, donated by Alderman Dan Dawson of Westerhope in 1960. It is very wide ranging touching many aspects of life in the Newburn, Westerhope, Walbottle and Lemington districts between the First World War and the 1960s. A couple of weeks ago

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Kevin Dresser and I read the Wansbeck Divisional Labour Party minute book for 1918-1927. You might not expect it to be a lively read! However, though the prose is not D. H. Lawrence it is revealing in the issues raised there wittingly an unwittingly. In the first category here are strong references to the sometimes obstructed development of LP Women’s Sections, the decision to pay men and women delegates to Party Conference the same level of expenses and the start of provision of free medical treatment for pregnant and nursing mothers; that latter almost pre-figuring the founding of the NHS 15 years later. Then there are relations with the Communist Party including the expulsion of LP committee member, John Adams who admitted to dual membership, whom the minutes say, ‘dismembered himself.’ Another ongoing matter was the sickness, partial recovery and death of the MP, the former pitman, MP, George Frederick Warne. This local man was clearly held in enormous affection by his comrades who even contributed to a stay in a Health Clinic in Switzerland. Of course the most momentous event of this period was the General Strike. With 17 NMA (pitmen) delegates on the General Management Committee one might have expected the strike to have featured very strongly in minute book’s pages. On the contrary there is only one oblique (unwitting) reference. The Party’s AGM was being postponed for three months as it was not quorate. A bioigraphical note on F. H. Warne appears in the Dictionary of Labour Biography, Volume 4.

THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION 1780s

Peter Livsey At the beginning of 1780 appeared An Address to the Protestant inhabitants of Newcastle. It was a response to a mild measure of Catholic relief passed three years before. It argued as follows: Protestants who are alarmed at the indulgence shown to Papists have formed an Association. Newcastle should join them.

1. The Church of Rome claims infallibility – all means are justified against those outside it; all oaths can be dispensed with, including the

one in the 1778 Act.

2. They are now free to acknowledge their spiritual allegiance, weakening the King’s prerogative and the Constitution.

3. They can now buy land, and it is cheap because of the war. Then they will influence

elections and get the Test Act repealed.

4. Newcastle showed “a laudable zeal against the Canada-bill” (whose provisions included the protection of the rights of the overwhelmingly Catholic inhabitants of

Quebec, acquired from France in 1763)

Act now, or Smithfield fires will return and our posterity will curse us. A copy of the London and Westminster petition, for repeal of the relief act, was appended. A sermon was preached in support of the Protestant Association by the Reverend John Baillie (1740 – 1806), a Scot, who was minister of a Burgher Presbyterian congregation. Another preacher on the same day, William Graham, also a Scot, was minister 1770-1800 of the Anti-Burgher Presbyterian congregation at the Close Chapel. James Murray, of High Bridge Chapel, critic of the

establishment and defender of Thomas Spence, also published a sermon against Popery in 1780. It looks as if the three Scots, although belonging to different Presbyterian sects, had sunk their differences in face of the perceived Papist threat. Usually they would have been found on the side of reform. The Newcastle Protestant Association met at the Guildhall 3rd February 1780. Their petition attracted 7,661 signatures. It was presented to Parliament on 2 June by Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bt., MP for New-castle and Sir William Middleton, Bt., MP for North-umberland. On the same day Lord George Gordon presented the London, Westminster and Southwark petition, signed by 60,000 accompanied by a huge crowd. They demonstrated peacefully, but rioting began that night. Over seven days there were attacks on Catholic chapels, schools, homes and pubs; the houses of sup-porters of relief and other politicians; the prisons and the Bank of England. 100 buildings burned. When the army (including the Northumberland Militia, protect-ing Kenwood House), was finally given orders to fire, 285 rioters were killed. 450 were taken prisoner, of whom 160 were brought to trial, of whom 25 were hanged and 16 imprisoned. Even after the Riot, in Newcastle, the Reverend Mur-ray launched a magazine The Protestant Packet, which continued to support the Association, argued that none of its members had been arrested, and hinted that the Jesuits had started the riots, either to destroy London or discredit the Protestant Associa-tion! On the other hand the Reverend John Rotheram preached a sermon at Houghton-le-Spring against prejudice. He concluded, “Let us think ourselves bound to refrain, not only from all force, oppression and open acts of violence against those that differ from us; but even from all severe censures, and from

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all hard thoughts of them.”

FISH MARKET PETITION 6 JULY 1836 To the Town Council, Newcastle: ‘I take the liberty of calling your attention to the very disgraceful state of the Fish Market at all times, particularly the present season of hot weather, it has become a complete nuicence (sic). The carts which bring the fish to the Market are permitted to stand the whole day occupying valuable ground, as also to sweep out the filth and slime on the pavement in front of the Market, which is added to by the insolance (sic) of the fish-women in throwing the heads and other parts of the fish on the same spot, instead of throwing them into the river, and being removed only twice a week causes such a staunch (sic) from the place as to make it really insupportable to persons living near and very disagreeable to strangers passing. I also make free to point out the necessity of strong orders being given to the police to put a stop to the scenes of drunkennness, fighting and swearing, which daily occurs, the language used by the fishwomen and their assistants are of such a revolting nature as to deter any female from entering the market’. I am, gentlemen, your most obedient (?) servant, Wm Whitaker Spence. From (TWA Acc/564/100)

THE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE CLERGYMEN’S MEMORIAL TO THE CITY COUNCIL REGARDING THE INCREASED DEATH RATE IN 1889

Patricia Hix

In the latter part of 1889 the death rate for Newcastle upon Tyne increased. The Medical Officer of Health, Dr H. E. Armstrong reported on a memorial presented to the City Council by 54 clergymen complaining about the circumstances, which in their views led to this increase. The clergymen included Reverend Canon Franklin, Reverend J. Lister, Dr Rutherford, Reverend William Fraser and Canon Lloyd. The report originally included a list of all 54 clergymen but this list has not survived.

Context Before considering the memorial and the MOH’s response, it is useful to set the context for the clergymen’s concerns. After the Public Health Acts of 1872 and 1875 boroughs had to appoint a Medical Officer of Health (MOH). Their responsibilities were widened in 1890 following the Public Health Amendment Act and the Infectious Diseases (Prevention) Act. Dr Armstrong was appointed before the 1875 Public Health Act. He had been the resident Medical Officer of the Newcastle upon Tyne Dispensary and he was one of the first MOHs in the country. Reports were complied each year and contained information about death, birth and marriage rates, infectious diseases and other matters regarding public health. In 1875 the Artizans and Labourer Dwellings Act led to the collection of information about the unsanitary conditions in the borough’s tenement properties and the closure of some of the worst dwellings had started to take place. Overcrowded tenements were seen as the reason for the prevalence of epidemics in areas like ‘All Saints’ and ‘Westgate’ districts, compared to the less crowded properties in ‘St Andrews’ and ‘Jesmond’ districts.

Old and New Pandon

The 1876 report referred to the unwholesome condition of the Old and New Pandon groups of streets and that the health of the residents there was

of a ‘low condition’, the worst in the borough and that an improvement scheme ought to be initiated. Properties in the New Pandon group were to be demolished and replaced with substantial commercial buildings. This resulted in a residents’ petition. They would be displaced and asked for suitable dwellings to be provided in the vicinity. A revised scheme for new dwellings on the Old Pandon site was later changed to ‘Battle Field’ and again Miller’s Hill, Tyne Street, which was corporation property. The Industrial Dwellings Company had built one new block. Another block was being built by February 1878 but there was a long list of applicants. The Old Pandon Group was pulled down as well in 1878. The state of accommodation in the borough was not the only reason for the poor health and prevalence to disease according the MOH’s report of 1873. The Engineers’ strike of 1871, and the prevalence of drunkenness, caused privation to the wives and children on the men involved and impaired their constitutional vigour.

Reduction in Mortality

By 1880 the reduction of mortality from infectious diseases was seen amongst other things as being linked to the structural alteration to cellar and well rooms. Although some owners converted front and back cellars into one tenement, ventilated well rooms and lit staircases after summons before magistrates, the MOH commented that this did not

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materially alter the health of these streets. More radical changes were needed including the banning of cellars for human habitation, banning sleeping in well rooms and other sanitary improvements. This would displace 362 people, who would need homes elsewhere. In 1884 a survey of 130 households showed that 164 cases of smallpox were linked to tenement living, with 78 of those homes not having a sick room isolated from the rest of the premises or the family had direct access to the sick room. Mortality from infectious diseases was also linked to defective water supplies to dwellings. Between 1874 and 1883, the fifty worst cases were almost all tenements affecting 3,539 people and on average 70 people had to use the same tap. Although water was said to be supplied to some dwellings, in fact the poor had to carry water anything from 50 to 200 yards and in some cases well water had to be used. New homes were being built on average between 1884 and 1889 of 1,120 families per year. However the increase in the population and the defects observed by the MOH in the new homes meant there was still much to be achieved if the homes of working class people were to be regarded as healthy and less likely to contribute to the spread of and mortality from infectious diseases.

Death Rates The clergymen’s memorial included observations of death rates from infectious diseases over seven weeks ending 23 November 1889 and the death rate grossed up to an annual rate and compared with 28 large towns during the previous year. There were also complaints that 1,024 people had been displaced in 1884 when 103 houses were demolished at the foot of Westgate Street for railway improvements. Overcrowded houses and middle men profiting sub-letting rooms in tenement were prevalent in the city. The Sanitary Committee asked the memorialists to provide evidence of overcrowding and other matters affecting sanitary conditions and death rates in the city. Only five replies were received and a subsequent meeting only four of the clergymen attended and their general statements did not help to substantiate their assertions. Canon Franklin did give a list of overcrowded houses, which the MOH arranged to be inspected, but proved, either not to be overcrowded in law or, as there was no power of entry, could not be surveyed without the residents’ co-operation. The main fault with the memorial was that the clergymen’s statistical analysis was flawed. Having grossed up the deaths for just seven weeks to a full

year instead of taking the actual annual figure, the death rate was 1,070 not 1,239 as they stated. A similar error had been made with infant mortality figures, with only 42% of deaths occurring in poorer class streets. Deaths from the chief infectious diseases were fairly evenly divided between tenement and other city dwellings. All these facts were contrary to the memorialists’ assertions and they had not properly taken into account the net effect of Novocastrians dying outside the city and deaths of people from outside the city dying in the city’s infirmaries. Finally the accuracy of the memorialists’ population figures was called into question.

No Action

It would seem from the MOH’s and Sanitary Committee’s response to the memorial that the clergymen’s concerns were not to be acted upon, yet all the preceding years reports showed that there was a desire to tackle the poor’s living conditions in the city and to reduce the incidences of and mortality from infectious diseases. The Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 resulted in the City’s Sanitary Authority giving ‘anxious attention to the housing of the poor’. The provision of dwellings for those displaced under the Act was ‘undoubtedly a serious question’. Accommodation still fell short of demand in spite of the large number of tenements and flats built by private enterprise in the previous few years but nothing had been done under this Act by 1893. House building had even decreased compared to previous years. One scheme which did go ahead was the erection of common lodging houses for single, men and women, reported in 1892, yet curiously this was stated by the MOH to have held up the progress of the housing of the working classes under the 1890 Act! By the mid 1890s to the close of the century there had been some progress in implementing this Act with closures of rooms and house building rising to former average levels per year. To analyse whether or not these changes resulted in an overall reduction in mortality in the city per 1,000 of population and the extent to which mortality from infectious diseases was reduced is a study still to be carried out. However the lesson the Victorian clergymen should have taken away from their attempt to bring about changes which in turn could reduce mortality is clear. They should have conducted a more statistically sound piece of research but it cannot be denied that they were at least trying to improve the lot of Newcastle upon Tyne’s residents.

Ed. Note. We are very pleased to report that Patricia is well on the road to recovery from injuries received in the Spring.

STUDYING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WOMEN IN POPULAR POLITICS

Sean Creighton Several Project members have expressed interest in the topic 'women'. Valerie Glass is lookIng at the suffragettes,

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Kath Connolly and members of the Co-op group at the Women's Co-operative Guild, and Patricia Hix and Sophie Fletcher at women in the context of public health. Building on Project Oral History Co-ordinator Liz O'Donnell's work on North East women Quakers, Patricia has already provided a lot more information and analysis on the role of women in the anti-slavery movement, and I on the Quaker activist Anna Richardson. At first sight it seems difficult to see how work on women can be pursued as so many of the organisations that underpin popular politics are male dominated. There is always the danger of simply seeing the topic as 'the suffragettes'. But digging deeper shows that there are many ways to look at the topic over a longer time period.

• Women as workers e.g. as weavers but not tailors, in the mines and other heavy industries, as laundresses, as widows running their dead husband's businesses, as teachers. etc

• Women as religious activists, in charge of their own sections of Dissenting organisations e.g. Quakers and Methodists

• Women's organisations. e.g. female friendly societies which in the period from 1794 could make up between 15% and 35% of all registered societies in different parts of the country

• Women's anti-slavery societies

• Female Chartist organisations, like Newcastle's set up stimulated by involvement in anti-slavery

• Women in social welfare, public health and temperance activities

• Conflicts with men in the home, in the neighbourhood and over the issue of work or domesticity.

All these led not just into the suffragette movement, but also the female anti-suffragette movement and the mass Tory organisation, the Primrose League.

Chartists and the Family

A book like Jutta Schwarzkopf's Women in the Chartist Movement (Macmillan) makes the point strongly about 'how the working-class family operated as an institution providing support for its members. Solidarity and mutual help, however, extended well beyond kinship networks into the working class community.' (p. 25) In the 1842 strike for the Charter 'female power loom weavers were active in large numbers often displaying a higher degree of determination and militancy than their male fellow-strikers.' (p. 80) She cites Dorothy Thompson’s argument that where communities and localities with one or two major industries, shared leisure and recreational activities 'made for speed of communication, common concerns in work and in political action and the kind of mutual knowledge and trust which was essential for the maintenance of organisations which were always on the very frontiers of legality.' (80)

Female Friendly Societies

Female Friendly Societies appear to be a very important form of organisation. 'Women set up their own all-female Friendly or Benefit Societies or Box Clubs, which members were entitled to sickness, unemployment or funeral benefit. Many of these societies enforced a rigorous moral code and refused money to any member falling ill of venereal disease or any other disorder contracted by a 'loose' lifestyle, or to unmarried mothers. The emphasis on thrift, self-help and sobriety indicates the extent to which these societies were influenced by Methodsim. Felony, elopement and living in open adultery all led to the exclusion of the member thus guilty.'(p, 205) 'The 'sisters' were expected to maintain a certain level of respectability and to refrain from swearing, drunkenness, lying and gambling. Female Friendly Societies may be interpreted as the formalisation of women's neighbourhood support networks, which had long not only dispensed material aid to neighbours in need, but had also kept a close watch on people's morals. Any transgression of the community's moral code incited women's disapproval, and the charivaari was perhaps the best known means of enforcing adherence to community customs.' (p. 206) They 'laid the foundation for women’s expertise in running associations, which Chartist women displayed to such a remarkable degree.' (p. 206)

Laundresses

Women as workers in laundries or as small scale business women were an important section of what was an important occupational group. In 1861, 167,607 people were employed as laundry workers, the 11th occupational group in England and Wales. By 1901 there were 205,015. It was not just middle class families that patronised laundries, but such services were needed by the growth in institutions such as hospitals, hotels and restaurants. Laundry services were important not just in London but the large ports. (Patricia E. Malcolmson. English Laundresses: A Social History. 1850-1930. p. 7).

Industrialistaion

The 1890s and 1900s saw industrialisation of the processes with the introduction of large steam laundries and mechanisation in the smaller ones. It appears that in Newcastle the 'laundries worked very long hours in response to large volumes of ships' laundry'. (p. 9) The period from 1906 sees increasing action to improve working conditions in factories, including laundries, and broad alliances of trade unions, philantropists and feminists could work together in organisations such as the Anti-Sweating League and the Women's Industrial Council. p. 46) There were divisions over these trends so the 1890s saw the anti-extension views of the Factory Act

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Women's Employment Defence League later the Freedom of Labour Defence Association. (p. 51) Even the 1891 provision to prevent women being employed in the last four weeks of pregnancy was regarded with concern by Eunice Lipon, Secretary of the Laundrywomen's Cooperative Association, because of her loss of income. (p. 52) The Women's Industrial Defence Committee was also against the measures under the Factory Act, and from Emma Paterson, the founder of what became the Women's Trade Union League, which later took a leading role in unionising women laundresses, and lobbied successfully for the employment of female factory inspectors. (p. 55). While the study goes into detail about London laundresses, the Project clearly needs

to see what was happening in the North East. Laundries came under the 1895 Factory Act. Becoming subject to inspectorate visits. (p. 72) Needless to say the legislation was an unsatisfactory compromise and needed further lobbying to get strengthened. Attempts at trade unionism and collective bargaining were countered by employers’ organisations and their lawyers e.g. the Northern Counties Laundries Association. (p. 111) Where might we find information about the North East: Parliamentary papers such as the reports of the Factory inspectors, and inquiries into sweating, the employment of women, the Factory Acts, newspapers, minutes of trades councils, oral history reminiscence

SOME CULTURAL POINTERS

Sean Creighton What is England but the outcome of the interaction between economic, political, social, cultural and intellectual development and conflict, in interaction with each other, and with local, regional, national and international dimensions.

European Cross-Fertilisation

Throughout the medieval period the main cultural forms of expression were provided through Roman Catholicism. The growing questioning of its hegemony harnessed printing to bring about the Protestant Reformation. Printing also created a cultural revolution by making books and printed material more widely available and as time went by cheap enough to reach down to the mass of the population through material such as street ballads. Because England was part of Europe, especially in the links with what became France, there was cultural cross-fertilisation. Chaucer was heavily influenced by French and Italian poets, but was the first vernacular writer of spoken English, whose works benefitted from the print revolution.

Protestantism

The Protestant Revolution did not replace one all-embracing church authority by another. Protestants fragmented from the start and went on doing so, each with different economic, political, social and cultural values. The Renaissance had already shown in Europe how new forms of wealth generation and power bases could fund a high level of new cultural activity and innovation. While artists come out of the context within which they find themselves, some transcend that and found new forms and issues that pushed the boundaries of convention, fashion and time. In England by the late 16thC there was an explosion of creative creative writing talent, especially in the

theatre; Marlow, Shakespeare, Jonson.

Revolution

The Civil War and English Revolution enabled another cultural and intellectual revolution. The period's most symbolically revolutionary act was the execution of Charles I; an act signifying that monarchy was human and not divine. It marshalled in a period of republicanism, and a coup d’etat to restore the monarchy, the dethroning of James II and the import of a Dutch Prince and his English wife to rule the country as constitutional monarchs at the peak of a political system based on aristocratic monopoly and a narrow franchise. It is this very period that saw some of the major cultural and intellectual developments in English history. On the negative side was the mass destruction of churches and church ornaments. On the positive: John Milton, John Bunyan, Samuel Pepys, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Isaac Newton and Henry Purcell. These men were not intellectuals divorced form the real word. Milton and Pepys were Government servants, Bunyan was a soldier in the Civil War and went to prison for his beliefs. The contribution to English literature includes: Paradise Lost, Pilgrim’s Progress, Gullivers Travels, the Pepys Diarys, the Essay on Human Understanding and The Leviathan.

18thC Economics

The economic boom of the 18thC, associated with agricultural and industrial innovations, and the slavery business provided the wealth for the late 18thC and early 19thC Industrial Revolution. The excess wealth generated funded a cultural explosion, in the development of towns like Liverpool and Bristol, and the buildings of the Georgian period. But the art of Hogarth shows the downside and misery as well.

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An aristocratic elite society which could not cope with the rumblings of social discontent and demands for wider democracy could not be expected to understand the demands and aspirations from the American colonies, where a different intellectual world was being created. But although England lost one set of colonies, it became increasingly bitterly divided over the issue of democracy resulting to repression during and in the years following the Wars with France.

Positoning the North East

Where does the North East's cultural and intellectual history fit in with the national picture? To what extent did it have its own unique culture, or a set of unique cultures reflecting different class, occupational and religious groups? How much was it influenced by cultural development elsewhere in England and Scotland and from its trading contacts with Europe? To what extent was it able to influence aspects of culture and intellectual life elsewhere in Britain? Were the Thomas Bewicks and John Martins marginal within the general development of British culture, or men who influenced it? One of the problems with trying to understand culture relates to how we define it: narrowly or very broadly. There are problems of what survives, and

what is or is not fashionable. Popularity may defy the alleged rational logic of critics and reviewers. How much cultural change is influenced by what the cultural elite decide is fashionable or by a popular thirst for continual change and new stimuli. What is culture meeting: investment opportunity, philanthropic accolades, deep seated human need to express thoughts and feelings in ways that mean something to others? Why is it that within the politically progressive circles:

• William Blake's Jerusalem is an important song even though it is also seen for different reasons to be so by the Church of England and the Tory Party;

• The Red Flag, written by Jim O'Connell on a train from Waterloo to New Cross, remains highly symbolic, and has been adopted all over the world;

• Robert Tressell's The Ragged Trousered Philantropists remains a continuing seller?

In terms of the Project how do we analyse the growing cultural material we are identifying in terms of its contribution, its role in popular culture, and occasionally its linkages with popular politics?

WHEELS AND MOVEMENT AS CULTURE

Sean Creighton From about 1908 to 1914 there was an explosion across Britain of a fascination in wheels and movement: cycles and roller skates involving physical participation and spectator interest, with moving pictures which only required people to be spectators taking over. Cycles and roller skates were forms of cultural expression that could be indulged in by large numbers of people, both men and women, as individuals or in pairs, and many joined clubs. In terms of Popular Politics the most famous organised cyclists were the Clarion cyclists (see my Organised Cycling and Politics: www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/SportsHistorian/1995/sh15h.pdf).

Roller Skating

The new wave of interest in roller skating was in a sense artificially manufactured. In the vanguard were the salesmen for American skate companies looking for new markets for their goods, These salesmen persuaded British investors to put their money into setting up rinks. Others not connected with the Americans did the same. By 1911 there were over 500 different types of rink across Britain. The new rink buildings were designed to enable 200 or more to skate, plus 100s to observe especially the organised competitions, races, carnival nights and other events, and visits by star performers. The public flocked to these rinks until the economic downturn associated with the Great Unrest meant young working men in

particular did not have the spare cash. By the beginning of the First World War many companies had gone bust. Many rinks had been taken over as cinemas which provided audiences with escapism from their daily woes. It was not the end of roller skating. South London club activists met up on the Western Front, and those who survived became active again in the 1920s. The North East had several rink companies set up. e.g. in 1908 the Newcastle Skating Company; struck off the companies register in 1912; Middlesbrough (Skating Rink Ltd). 1909 saw the Middlesbrough Pavilion (to 1914); Whitely Bay American Roller Skating Rink (to 1912); White City Rd (Newcastle) (to 1914); Durham Skating and Entertainments Ltd (to 1912); Hartlepool Skating and Entertainments; Shotton Skating Rink and Recreation Hall (to 1912); Redcar Rinkeries Ltd (to 1911); and Consett Olympia Rink. In 1910 the Gateshead Olympia Rink opened.

Consett & Gateshead

Details of the openings of the Consett and Gateshead Rinks were reported in specialist journals.

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‘The Olympia roller skating rink, erected at Kritcley Lane, Consett, through the enterprise of Mr. Jonathan Stephenson, was formally opened on December 8th. Mr. W. J. Foreman complemented Mr. Nicholson in providing the local inhabitants with the rink. The entire building is capable of accommodating 5,000 people and should prove serviceable for meetings, concerts and similar functions. The Rev. J. Hudson Baker, Vicar of Consett, admired the enterprise of the organizer, Mr. Stephenson.' (The World of Wheels and Roller Skating Record. December 1909, p. 55)

'The Olympia Rink at the end of Sunderland Road, Gateshead was opened on March 2nd. It is built of brick and the floor area is 3,6000 square feet. Two hundred skaters can move with comfort at once. The floor is rock maple and all arrangements for the comfort of patrons has been made.' (The Rink Owner & Rink Manager. 22 March 1910. p. 16)

Given that there does not appear to be major competition in the same towns, a major cause of failure elsewhere, could there have been special factors operating in the North East?

MUSIC AND SOCIALISM A lecture Music and Socialism was given to and then published by the Newcastle Socialist Society. The lecturer Edgar L. Bainton was Professor of the piano at Newcastle Conservatoire of Music, and was honorary conductor of the Postal Telegraph Choral Society. In a preface W. G. Whittaker, also a musician, says that Bainton's 'sympathies with the democracy are deep and sincere, and his interest in the progress of the movements towards the practical establishment of a purer and freer humanity is whole-hearted.' Bainton had been born in London in 1880 and studied at the Royal College of Music in pianoforte and composition. In his lecture Bainton argues that 'music as a developing power in civilizing nations has been immense'. It 'was the first language to be employed by mankind to transmit their feelings to each other.' He regrets what he sees as music having lost its significance. 'It no longer holds a firm place in the lives of the people, but has become practically the plaything of the leisured classes. The people, as a whole, are indifferent to it; many are actually hostile to it.' He refers to 'the impossible prices charged for admission' to the good concerts, while ''people's concerts' consist, for the most part, of appallingly bad and inferior music, which has no reference whatever to the life that we live.' He talks about the words of songs being 'twaddle' (p. 5) 'Better have no art at all than bad art. Our modern art has almost entirely lost touch with life. But it hasn't always been so.' (p. 6)

Historic Review He then does short reviews of the roles of music among the ancient Eygptians, the Chinese, the Hindoos (sic), the Hebrews and the Greeks. From what we know now, he wrongly associates these civilisations with living a 'common life together either as nations or in tribes, equally sharing in every thing' - communism. This was swept away under the Roman Empire 'and for a time we lose trace of music.' (p. 9) It revives under feudalism in three parts: peasant folk-songs, and the music and song of minstrels and troubadours for the amusement of the nobility who went on to develop music 'as a specialist art instead of an expression of feeling, emotion and life.' (p. 11) The third element was the 'dry and barren hotchpotch, devoid of all feeling and beauty' of the

Catholic Church, which developed schools for trained singers and musicians. (p. 11) Under capitalism music came into 'the far worse clutches of commercialism, the holy god of 5 per cent.' (p. 12) Music has become the plaything of the leisured classes, so much so, indeed, that millionaire capitalists engage the chief singers and musicians of the day to perform at fabulous prices in their drawing -rooms rather than in the concert-halls.' (p. 13)

The Effect of Money

Music's 'religious purpose is now the gaining money. Nearly all the principal musical societies in this country are run avowedly for the purpose of making a profit.' (p. 13) 'There is no place in our public concert-halls for the masses of the people, the wage-earners. Nor is it the fault of the artists themselves. They have their living to earn, and must accept conditions as they find them.' (p. 14) He bemoans the fashion of 'bored' 'shallow' people going to concerts. 'There is still a worse side to the picture. There is another class of people, the charitable sort, who desire to make the working classes contented and keep them in their places, A short time ago I was asked to join the committee of a society whose aim was the “betterment of humanity.” The scheme included the founding of a few musical scholarships for children of the poorer classes, It was hoped by these and similar means to make the working classes more contented, and to keep away revengeful Socialism.' (p.13) In the next part of the lecture Bainton turns his attention to what can be done to change the situation. 'The fact that music still exists in the hearts of a few reveals the necessity for it in our life,

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if life is to be complete and full.' (p. 14) Referring to the 'extraordinary growth of democracy in recent years, the rapid rise and development of the Labour movement' he argues that given 'all the great world movements have been accompanied by great developments of music, so to-day we are witnessing signs of a great re-awakening of the spirit of music.' (p. 15)

Choral Singing

He cites 'the tremendous development in choral singing all over the country ... especially in the great northern industrial centres where the Labour Movement is strongest.' 'Choral singing is one of the finest developments of music, where the feelings of each individuality can find expression, while all are bound together by the one common purpose.' Similarly with 'the rise and development of orchestras' often with the support of the municipal authorities. (p. 15) He then outlines the role for socialists in their 'work of propoganda'. He understands why socialists 'may not see the necessity of music as one of the most serious and important elements in life', and see 'it merely as an amusement, and unnecessary luxury,

which, though pleasant to the ear, is unworthy of the attention of serious men and women'. Assist and help develop the Clarion Choirs. 'No revolution has ever cast its cleansing waters over the rankness of corruption without' music's aid and inspiration. Without music, there can be no real education, no genuine culture, no full complete joyful life.' He quotes Richard Wagner 'greatest of musicians and greater democrat'. ' Bainton concludes: 'And only by allying itself with Art, which is the noblest of all human instincts, can the Socialist Movement attain to its highest completion as the fulfilment of all the best desires of the people. ‘Music and the Socialist movement will each of them evolve out of its own inner necessity, but they will march together hand in hand to their ultimate goal., that goal common to both, the goal of brotherhood. The Socialist movement will restore to man the freedom, strength and dignity of life. Music will restore to him its beauty.' (p. 17) The fact that the Socialist Society published the talk as a pamphlet suggests they agreed with what Bainton said and wanted to preserve that in print and reach a wider audience than those who were able to attend the lecture.

Note: The pamphlet was published by The Fellowship Press at 50A Market St. The address for the Society was Leazes Park. A photocopy was found in the papers of Sean’s parents.

BACKGROUND READING ON THE NORTH EAST

Remainder Books

Burt Feintuch (comp). Northumberland Rant. Traditional Music from the Edge of England. 2009. CD & booklet. £8.95 (Note 1) Ed Geldard. Northumberland and the Land of the Prince Bishops. Breedon 2008. £5.99. Photographs with notes and stories. H. T. Gratton. The Ancient City of Durham. Amberley 2009. £4.99. Originally published in 1883. (Note 2) Richard Lomas. An Encyclopaedia of North-East England. Birlinn 2009. £12.99. (Note 2) Wendy Prahms. Newcastle Ragged and Industrial School. 2006. £4.95. (Note 1) Note 1. Academic Book Collection. 9845 658 0088. abc@bebc.co.uk; www.acedemicbookcolection.com. Note 2. PostScript. www.psbooks.co.uk Tyne Bridge Publishing An Alarming Accident, or Every Glass Tells a Story: the forgotten engraved glass of North East England by John Brooks and William Cowan. What started out as an antique glass collector’s curiosity has led to the rediscovery of fascinating accounts of working-class communities in Victorian and Edwardian North East England. During the later years of the 19th century a unique fashion grew up in the region for commemorating mining and other accidents – and celebrating happier events – by engraving on cheap, everyday glassware such as tumblers and pub rummers. Many of these modest memorials survive today in cupboards and antique shops, but the stories behind their inscriptions have often been forgotten. An Alarming Accident explores the background to these stories, opening a window on the world of northern mining towns and villages, from the tragedy of the Usworth Colliery disaster to the unexpected Alnmouth Riot, and the scandal of the man who broke the bank at Blyth. The book includes comprehensive information for the glass collector. Beneath this Green and Pleasant Land. One of John Graham's proudest moments came when he handed his first pay packet from Prestwick colliery to his mother in 1953. He was just 15 years old. That pride in hard and honest work followed John right through a mining career that took him from Prestwick, Northumberland, to the vast

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undersea colliery at Westoe. John encountered many dangers in his 34 years underground including roof falls, methane gas explosions and flooding. He also had to live with the fear of redundancy as pits were closed. Humour, friendships, and a general impatience with officialdom saw him through it all. And if you've ever wondered just how all that coal reached the surface, John explains the mechanics of the coalface and its machinery, from hewing and putting to the massive technology of the super pit. This book is now also available as an ebook. Its My Life! 1960s Newcastle. Edited by Anna Flowers and Vanessa Histon. 'They say that if you remember the 1960s you weren't really there … but many people who lived, worked and played in Newcastle during the 1960s have vivid memories of that exciting decade. Newcastle experienced huge changes as old landmarks were swept away and new ones rose in their place. Especially for the young, post-war austerity was replaced by a new energy and freedom, not always appreciated by the older generation. Everything seemed possible and everything was changing - the fashions, the music, the way we lived our lives. From the Club A 'Gogo to the high-rise flats, Newcastle was a city on the move. With contributions from John Steel of the Animals, Lindisfarne's Ray Laidlaw and many more, this book shares all kinds of memories and images from that elecrtifying era. The Great Northern Miners by Jean and Ken Smith. Dig beneath the surface of any North Easterner and you will probably find coal. The miners made the North-East. Their contribution to the region's social and economic development was fundamental. The Great Northern Miners tells the story of the men and boys who toiled underground beneath the streets and fields of Northumberland and County Durham to win the coal and daily faced appalling hazards such as gas, flooding and roof falls. Beginning with the early pits of the 13th Century and ending with the closure of the North-East's last deep mine, Ellington, in 2005, it is a story of courage and unequalled comradeship, highlighting the grassroots of the region's people. Jean and Ken Smith interviewed many former miners and their families who generously contributed their memories. Generously illustrated with archive photographs. Further details on the above and the texts of its ebooks, including two by Project member Peter Livsey on William Fifield and on the Waldies, can be seen www.tynebridgepublishing.co.uk.