Newcastle's Archaeology

If, like me, you're interested in the history of Newcastle, you'll know that there really isn't a great deal out there on the internet concerning our little hobby. What is available is mostly unsatisfactory in one way or another, and, well, you have to look pretty hard to get high quality content. 

A great many of the classic texts on Newcastle's history are available via Google Books or archive.org - and you can actually build up a fairly comprehensive digital library using these resources. But one especially underused and underrated online historical goldmine is that of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne - specifically their vast online collection of Archaeologia Aeliana (the society's annual journal). Click here for the society's homepage, then hover over 'Publications' and click on 'Archaeologia Aeliana'. All but the most recent journals are available to anyone - and, boy, is there a lot of quality material about Newcastle and the wider North-East to tap into. There are several ways to utilise the resource, but what I usually do is conduct a 'search' then click down through the results, and when I find an article I like the look of I click on 'download' - and all for free.

It's an amazing resource. Wander off down this rabbit-hole and you may be gone for days.  

The Dangers of Book Fairs

Nothing delights a sad little local historian like me more than a second-hand book fair. For the first time in ages, I was able to get along to the quarterly event at Tynemouth Station on Sunday 19th June, and I am delighted to say I went over the top a bit. Still, £50 for sixteen books is a canny deal, isn't it?

As you can see, my taste is skewed towards Newcastle's history, of course; but it is very difficult to resist buying all sorts of stuff when my wife lets me loose amidst the stalls unaccompanied. Whilst she busied herself with the general 'flea market' on the opposite side of the tracks, I delved headfirst into the tomes. You know how it is.

I struggled at first. I've got quite a lot of books as it is, and I just kept seeing fanciable items that I already owned. Then, just past the half-way point, it started. One here, a couple there, then my head went into a spin when I encountered an elderly-ish couple who were offloading a stack of tasty-looking goods due to them having to 'down-size'. The husband looked a little sad. It was, he said, the first time he'd put out a stall to this effect, but his "hand had been forced" (or so his eyes told me). Most of his books were woefully underpriced (I recommended that one in particular should be marked up - and he did so!), but, egged on by his enthusiastic wife, I filled my boots with a few bargains. The wife was practically placing items in my arms as I circled the stall, and I once overheard her say to her husband: "Well, if you don't want to sell it then you shouldn't have brought it!" Poor owld fella.

When I returned home I discovered, though, that I had made the classic book-purchasing error. Yes, I had bought a book that I already owned! It happens sometimes, doesn't it? Still, two books are better than none.

Cracking book. So good that I bought two

If you'd like to emulate me, then the next Tynemouth Station Book Fair is on 21st August (10am-4pm), followed by 16th October (see here).

YouTube: 'Newcastle History' Playlist

Though I've used YouTube for years, I've never taken the drastic step of making anything I do on there public. I have created little playlists of stuff I like and want to 'save' for whatever reason, but have never made anything accessible to the masses. And, obviously, I have not given even the slightest thought to actually making my own videos, and/or creating a 'channel'. Maybe some day. Or perhaps not.

Anyway, of late I've been collecting a few films pertaining to the history of my hometown, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I've been popping them into a private playlist entitled 'Newcastle History', and I thought it'd be kinda nice to share the same with all of you out there who may be interested in the same.

In my own cack-handed way I have now tried to make the playlist 'public' - so I hope it works OK ... it can be found HERE. If anyone has any problems accessing the same then do let me know. And if you find anything else of interest out there to add to the collection, then please drop me an email at micksouthwick @ blueyonder.co.uk (I've deliberately put gaps either side of the @ which don't really exist, for obvious reasons).

Hope you enjoy it.

P.S. If anyone can suggest a way of sharing this sort of thing in a public manner in another, more appropriate, way, then do enlighten me!

The 'Newcastle Programme': A Political First for the City

The party conference season every autumn has been a mainstay of political life in the UK for over 150 years. The idea for such get-togethers began to emerge in the 1860s, though they took some time to really get going. In the distant days when the Liberals were genuine contenders, party devotees gathered in Newcastle in 1891 for the annual assembly of the National Liberal Federation. And there they agreed on the adoption of a set of policies known as the ‘Newcastle Programme’. This was the first time, effectively, that a party conference had agreed on a manifesto (and a one that had been formulated largely by the party’s grass roots), thus setting a precedent for the habits of political parties thereafter. 

The event took place during 2nd & 3rd October 1891 at the old Town Hall in the Bigg Market, with leading local lad (and president of the NLF) Robert Spence Watson in charge of proceedings. At the time, the Liberals were in opposition, with the great William Gladstone as their leader. Gladstone was obviously the star of the show – he arrived in the city to great acclaim on the evening of 1st October, before leaving on the afternoon of 3rd. And at the half-way point of the conference – the evening of Friday 2nd – he gave his great ‘Newcastle Programme’ speech at the Tyne Theatre, Westgate Road.

The programme – a promise as to what the Liberals would be offering at the general election of 1892 – was an innovative political manoeuvre. The delivery of such a detailed ‘shopping list’ was unheard of, offering, as it did, the following: Home Rule for the Irish, land reform, reform of the Lords, shorter parliaments, district & parish council reforms, registration reform & the abolition of plural voting, local veto on drink sales, employers’ liability for workers’ accidents, and Scottish & Welsh disestablishment (religious separation). It was a remarkable statement.

Not that Gladstone was particularly keen on most of it. But he let the federation have their way on the minor stuff so long as he could deliver (or so he hoped) on Home Rule for the Irish, which was the burning issue of the day. This was a rare success for the main body of the NLF, which had struggled to impose its will on the leadership previously. Such stringent policy goals initially proved successful with victory at the general election, but ultimately led to splits in the party from which they never really recovered. In many ways, the ideas of the ‘programme’ were ahead of their time, with their hints of the beginnings of state-funded benefits such as pensions and unemployment benefit.

Gladstone, pictured in 1892

As it transpired – and as is so often the case – virtually none of the elements of the sensational manifesto were put into force. Gladstone and the Liberals were in power between 1892 and 1895, and Irish Home Rule dominated the agenda. When a bill in support of this was defeated in the Lords in September 1893, Gladstone and his party began to fall from favour. The 84-year-old resigned in 1894, the Liberals were ousted from power the following year ... and the vast majority of the much acclaimed ‘Newcastle Programme’ faded into the ether. Only the introduction of employers’ liability, elected parish councils and a slightly sympathetic 1894 budget gave any sort of nod to the promises of that historic evening at the Tyne Theatre in 1891.

[this article is taken from my book Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Fragments of the Past, vol.1 - click on the image/link in the left-hand column for further information]