thanks Geoff I have the CD, so willl have to dig it out and read the article you mention Heather <While both those issues of the NDFHS Journal are now long out of print, they are both still available by buying the CD from the NDFHS, which includes all the first 100 issues (Vols 1-25, covering 1975-2000) for what is a very reasonable sum for such a unique and valuable treasure-house of local family history..

Heather: As far as I know, it has never been published. The original is in Durham County Record Office. It is occasionally mentioned here and there as a "new discovery", although its existence is well-known to serious researchers. It is something of a parallel to the other similarly well-known survey of Rothbury parish, of around the same period. The Whickham "Speculum Gregis" was described (but not transcribed) by Alan Readdie for the NDFHS Journal (Vol 3, p100) in early 1978, and published by me, as editor. Alan called his artlcle "The Little Red Book, or The Thoughts of Parson Grice" (Chairman Mao and his "Little Red Book" were still prominent in the minds of those interested in China) and, unfortunately the error in his Latin slipped by me, so it was left to Alan Wight to correct it and add more detail (he had the same Latin teacher as me) in Vol 4, p90, under the title of "Parson Grice unmasked". While both those issues of the NDFHS Journal are now long out of print, they are both still available by buying the CD from the NDFHS, which includes all the first 100 issues (Vols 1-25, covering 1975-2000) for what is a very reasonable sum for such a unique and valuable treasure-house of local family history. Geoff Nicholson PS - For those whose Latin is a little rusty, "Gregis" is not a reference to the Parson's surname ("Grice", as Alan Readdie called it), but the genitive of a word meaning a flock, as in a flock of sheep. Given that "Speculum" is a mirror (you all knew that, didn't you?), the phrase means "The Mirror of the Flock" - very apt! -----Original Message----- From: Heather A Punshon <[email protected]> To: Northumbria Mailing List <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, 4 May 2013 3:55 Subject: [NMB] Whickham 1835 Parochial Survey A friend has sent me an entry from an 1835 Parochial Survey of Whickham (51 pages) by the Rev W Gould, which was headed Speculum Gregis She says - It notes heads of households, numbers of sons, daughters, occupation of head of household, religious denomination, whether able to read, means of religious instruction, where married and a remarks column which, though didn't always have an entry, makes great reading. He didn't pull any punches! There is an entry for a "Harwood Taylor",( I believe the Rev Gould had transposed the surname as my ancestor was Taylor HARWOOD). He lived in Swalwell, with his wife, 6 sons and 3 daughters, occupation Countryman,very poor, belonged to the established church, was able to read, didn't seem to own a bible , had two children in the private school (?possibly a type of 'penny school') and he had been married in Tanfield. No remarks in the end column. I wonder if anyone on the list has come across this Speculum Gregis - and if so where one might obtain a copy. Thanks Heather .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

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The parochial survey is in the process of being transcribed. Google "1835 Parochial Survey of Whickham" which gives you a link to Rootschat & the transcriber. Hazel -----Original Message----- From: Heather A Punshon <[email protected]> To: Northumbria Mailing List <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, 4 May 2013 3:51 Subject: [NMB] Whickham 1835 Parochial Survey I wonder if anyone on the list has come across this Speculum Gregis - and if so where one might obtain a copy. Thanks Heather .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

A friend has sent me an entry from an 1835 Parochial Survey of Whickham (51 pages) by the Rev W Gould, which was headed Speculum Gregis She says - It notes heads of households, numbers of sons, daughters, occupation of head of household, religious denomination, whether able to read, means of religious instruction, where married and a remarks column which, though didn't always have an entry, makes great reading. He didn't pull any punches! There is an entry for a "Harwood Taylor",( I believe the Rev Gould had transposed the surname as my ancestor was Taylor HARWOOD). He lived in Swalwell, with his wife, 6 sons and 3 daughters, occupation Countryman,very poor, belonged to the established church, was able to read, didn't seem to own a bible , had two children in the private school (?possibly a type of 'penny school') and he had been married in Tanfield. No remarks in the end column. I wonder if anyone on the list has come across this Speculum Gregis - and if so where one might obtain a copy. Thanks Heather

Thanks Geoff. In recent weeks I read a paper on some research that had been carried out into the Bevin Boys in County Durham. Unfortunately I have not been able to go back to the website concerned but I will keep trying. I believe that there were Bevin Boy's Hostels at Morrison Busty Colliery (Anfield Plain), Plawsworth and Easiington Colliery. In January 1950 I was due to do my 13 weeks underground training and the proposal was to send me to Easington Training Centre and it was explained to me that I would stay in a hostel, I now believe that this would be the former Bevin Boy's Hostel. As it was, if this arrangement had been proceeded with, I would have had great difficulty in attending evening classes at Sunderland on 4 evenings per week so, at the last minute, the idea was scrapped and I was sent to Houghton Colliery Training Centre for my training so I never saw the Easington Hostel. It was about two years later that I met a lecturer at Sunderland Techhnical College who explained to me that he had been a Bevin Boy, unfortunately I did not get any other information but I am guessing that after he was demobbed from being a Bevin Boy he obtained his degree and was then successful in obtaining a post at Sunderland. Alan Vickers.

-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Gallon Sent: 01 May 2013 18:54 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [NMB] BURIAL REGISTERS Hi John, thanks for your reply, I have around 40-50 death dates (years) for my families dating from 1850's to 1940's which would be the easiest route to find which cemy's they are buried in, all intered in newcastle cemy's (too many to contact the civic centre to do a search) need to know in easy steps the'' route'' Thanks edith

Can anyone help with what info I will find in indexes to buriel registers in Newcastle library, I have made enquiries with the library, but no one appears to know what I will find, should there be a ref no where would this then lead me? I live out of county therefore unable to visit at present.Is there some kind of ''route'' that I have to follow to find where my families are buried, I do know quite a few death dates' and possible cemetaries where they may be.Thanks for any help edith Dear Edith, It would help if you gave a name, place & date. >From reading your letter are you looking for the GRO Burial indexes 1837 to 2006. If so, you should see if your local library has free access to Ancestry or FindMyPast. If you live local, then you will have free access. or you could do it the old way and search the Microfiche of the GRO Burial Indexes. Which just give the name, place of death, the quarter they died. .. John Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~littleblobby/ http://www.freewebs.com/littleblobby/

Can anyone help with what info I will find in indexes to buriel registers in Newcastle library, I have made enquiries with the library, but no one appears to know what I will find, should there be a ref no where would this then lead me? I live out of county therefore unable to visit at present. Is there some kind of ''route'' that I have to follow to find where my families are buried, I do know quite a few death dates' and possible cemetaries where they may be. Thanks for any help edith

Alan: The recent thread about Bevin Boys, and especially your last contribution, has raised many memories for me. During the latter part of the War I lived in a council house which backed onto what was then an open field. In one corner of the field, extending almost to being "over the hedge" from our back garden, there was a Bevin Boys' Hostel built. It had corrugated iron huts rather like mini-Nissen ones, no doubt the kind mentioned in the local press recently (I saw the story but in a different paper to you). The Bevin Boys themselves would have worked in local pits - Stargate, Addison and Emma, all near Ryton. I must have been one of the first people to know that the War was coming to an end! It was Guy Fawkes' night in 1944 (I would have been aged all of 2!) and my mother was standing next to the window on the upstairs landing, looking out for bonfires, fireworks, etc. I remember her shouting to her friend, who was visiting, "Come here and look at this - the Bevin Boys have got Hitler on their bonfire!" Of course, I took it literally and was convinced that if Hitler had fallen into the rough hands of our locally-employed Bevin Boys, and on Guy Fawkes night of all times, then he would get a "right roasting" and would never escape them. Indeed without his dominant leadership Germany couldn't possibly last out much longer. I suppose I was right, as well. My admiration of the Bevin Boys knew no ends. Either that Christmas or, more likely, the one after, when my parents asked me what toy (note that word - in the singular) I would like for Christmas, I confidentially asked for "a Bevin Boys' Hut". A couple of lengths of thin wood nailed to a base, and a piece of bent card between them plus a dash of paint, a tiny amount of time spent on it by my father, and that was that. I had a happy Christmas with my Bevin Boys' Hut and it came in handy for a long time afterwards as a home for my collection of other toys. It seemed to me that it was soon after the War that the Bevin Boys moved on and the Huts became a Nurses' Home for a short while, then a centre for Displaced Persons (DPs, as they were known), a motley and sometimes violent collection of mainly eastern European misfits. After a period as council-owned dwellings fighting the housing crisis, they are all now demolished (c1960) and the site is another council estate. Incidentally, my father, who worked in the munitions works of Vickers-Armstrongs on Scotswood Road (Elswick), spent 18-hour shifts there in the desperate period just after Dunkirk. He normally travelled by bus but he said that at one period it was not unusual for him to have to walk to Elswick from Scotswood Bridge - about two to three miles, because Scotswood Road had been closed to vehicles owing to all the fire hoses laid out across it. Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: alan-vickers <[email protected]> To: northumbria <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, 1 May 2013 12:34 Subject: Re: [NMB] Bevin Boys I think that the records of Bevin Boys seem to be very much incomplete. In recent weeks I have tried to see if one Bevin Boy that I knew was listedi o the records but without any success. On Friday of last week, 26th April 2013, the 'Northern Echo' had an article that the former hostel for Bevin Boys in this region, at Plawsworth near Chestr-le-Street in County Durham, is going to have a £2m makeover. The photo that accompanied the article shows an extensive complex of buildings, one of which - said to be a Romney Hut, is to be rebuilt at the North-Eas Land, Sear & Air Museum which is next to the Nissan Car Factory in Sunderland. Alan Vickers. .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Edith, Why don't you mention the names, dates and places of death on this site? You might find someone who is researching the same line or has some nearby cemetery information. Some cemeteries have indexes online but it means going thru all possibilities. Gail, Canada .. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I think that the records of Bevin Boys seem to be very much incomplete. In recent weeks I have tried to see if one Bevin Boy that I knew was listedi o the records but without any success. On Friday of last week, 26th April 2013, the 'Northern Echo' had an article that the former hostel for Bevin Boys in this region, at Plawsworth near Chestr-le-Street in County Durham, is going to have a £2m makeover. The photo that accompanied the article shows an extensive complex of buildings, one of which - said to be a Romney Hut, is to be rebuilt at the North-Eas Land, Sear & Air Museum which is next to the Nissan Car Factory in Sunderland. Alan Vickers.

I found this newspaper article below about Bevin Boys. They were not considered at the time to be in a reserved occupation and were not given the recognition they deserved until a few years ago. There must have been many of them sent down mines in Northumberland and County Durham as well as in the rest of England and Wales. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3636035/Bevin-Boys-Most-of-us-couldnt-wait-to-get-out.html Regards Jenny DeAngelis

My Uncle Arthur was an apprentice welder in the Naval Yard, Walker. And was classed as a reserved occupation. He asked the foreman, if he would sack him so he could join up. The Foreman refused, so Uncle Arthur punched in the face & was sacked immediately. He then joined the RAF as Navigator/Radio Operator & flew in De Havilland Mosquito's. Sadly in June 1943, Uncle Arthur was killed whilst returning from a bombing mission over Germany. He was 21 years old and is buried in Heaton Cemetery, Newcastle upon Tyne. John Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~littleblobby/ http://www.freewebs.com/littleblobby/

My father was an engineer working on the Tyne Piers in ww 2, this was also classed as a reserved occupation, his father was a lighthouse keeper at Tynemouth and this must have been reserved too in ww1 as he didn't serve in the forces either Margery Sent from my iPad > > .. > Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! > > The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks to those who corrected my incorrect information on Bevan Boys. Childhood memories are not always the safest source. Mildred Robson

Hello Listers Mildred Robson touches on an aspect of WW2 that I have never seen fully explained or documented. My father too worked at Hawthorn Leslie but in the marine engine works at St. Peters. Apart from the normal 5½ day work week until noon on Saturday, there was mandatory overtime until 7-30pm at least two evenings a week. During the early years of WW2, particularly in 1940 and 1941, night air raids were frequent and all able-bodied men had to act as air raid wardens for the duration of a raid until the 'All Clear'. I remember my father getting home on these 'overtime' evenings about 7-45pm after walking from St. Peters, sitting down and eating immediately, then wash and shave and go to bed. Somewhere around midnight the siren would signal an air raid and he would be on duty until 3am or later patrolling the area close to the house. After the 'All Clear' he would be able to lie down for a couple of hours of sleep before rising again at 6-30am for breakfast and walking to work for 7-30am. This schedule of interupted sleep was common for the early war years. Every Sunday afternoon was devoted to sleep and I often wondered why until I realized that it was the only time during the week for an uninterupted rest. Undoubtedly, this tough schedule over the span of several years led to exhaustion among many tradesmen, particularly those in heavy industry. On the subject of reserved occupation, my father was an apprentice at Hawthorn Leslie during WW1 but was still conscripted into the Army and served in France. He had to complete his apprenticeship after demobilization. Charles Atkinson, Niagara Falls, Canada. At 06:51 PM 30/04/2013 +0100, you wrote: >My father John E. T. Heslop worked at Hawthorne Leslie shipyard and during the duration of the Second World War told me he was in a 'reserved occupation' and worked two extra half- shifts and one night shift on top of his normal hours each week; in addition he was an air raid warden and when the siren sounded he would put on his tin hat and go out to patrol the area. >Mildred Robson

Reserved occupations continued for some years following the end of WWII. I srtarted work as an apprentice electrician at a local colliery in September 1949 and was immediately in a reserved cccupation. In May 1953 I was transferred to the Area Centtral Workshops to complete my apprenticeship there and gain further experience. Within a matter of a few weeks I received my call up papers as the authorities believed that I was no longer in a reserved occupation. I was instructed to give the call up papers to the manager of the Area Central Workshops who returned them to the authorities with a covering letter to confirm that I was engaged in the installation, overhaul and repai of underground mining machinery and equipment and I heard nothing more from the authorities. In fact during this period more than 50% of my time was working underground at collieries other that the one at which I was originally employed. Some years later I worked with a man who had been employed as a shipwright in a local shipyard and he had been employed during WWII in fixing special elctric cables around the hulls of destroyers. These were used to combat the magnetic mines and the cables were used for 'de- gaussing'. His occupation was classified as a reserved occupation. Alan Vickers.

John Gallon wrote: Dear Maureen, Being born in Ireland was not an exemption if you then moved to the UK. If you stayed in Ireland then you could not be conscripted. Yes, I was aware of this John, My great-aunt's Irish husband was living on Tyneside and moved back home to Mayo as soon as there was a danger of being called up. On 30 April 2013 13:17, John Gallon <[email protected]> wrote: > As stated by John Gallon, Irish birth was no exemption to conscription. > > I have been told this was the reason my great-aunt's husband returned to to > Co.Mayo from living in Hebburn, expressly to avoid it and taking his new > bride with him. > Maureen Davison > > Dear Maureen, > > Being born in Ireland was not an exemption if you then moved to the UK. If > you stayed in Ireland then you could not be conscripted. > > Over 200,000 Irishmen fought in WW1 and sadly 30,000 were killed. > > John > Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne > [email protected] > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~littleblobby/ > http://www.freewebs.com/littleblobby/ > > .. > Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any > reply...... Thank you! > > The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at > http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

I am not sure if this will help but I think Bevin boys may have been both as my father volunteered for the Army and told me he was refused (much to his disgust) for being flat-footed and told he would not be able to do the marching required (offered to outwalk the recruiting sergeant). He became a Bevin Boy but perhaps this was later. > Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:00:18 +0100 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [NMB] Reserved occupation in WW11