The Weird World of Icy Sedgwick

Just a quick one this time.

Although I've been aware of this website for some time, only recently have I had time to have a proper look. It's the website/blog of Icy Sedgwick, see here or here.

I'm not sure where Icy is based, but she is certainly a Novocastrian - complete with Geordie 'twang'! Her forte is folklore and the supernatural, so there are plenty of ghosts, myths and legends - including loads from our corner of the country. There are blog posts, a podcast and books to be had, too - so do have a look.

If you're looking for something in particular on the site then scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and you'll see a 'search' bar. Easy.

Oh, and she's recently been interviewed on YouTube, and you should check out her Twitter feed ( @IcySedgwick ).

If any of you have any other website recommendations for me, then do get in touch at micksouthwick @ blueyonder.co.uk (without the gaps, of course).

Newcastle's Last Executions: Remarkable Coincidences

The final two executions in Newcastle took place on the same day, on 26th November 1919 within the walls of Newcastle Gaol. Strangely, both cases, though unconnected, bore several similarities (names, weapons, motives, etc.) and the crimes themselves took place within two days of each other.

The first related to the murder of Rebecca Quinn by her ex-sweetheart Ernest Scott on 11th August 1919, in Bebside, near Blyth. It was a simple case of a spurned lover not being able to live without his former companion - so he devised a plan to tempt her out into the open (the road from Bebside to New Delaval), attacked her and cut her throat with a razor. There were witnesses (including Rebecca's friend who was walking with her), and Scott admitted his guilt. The trial, therefore, was brief and definitive; and Scott’s life was cut short, by hanging, at 8am on the morning of 26th November.

The second murder was that of Elizabeth Quinn by her husband Ambrose Quinn on 9th August 1919. Serviceman Quinn, suspicious of his wife’s behaviour during his time away from home, embarked upon a campaign of accusations and threats during his leave period over the summer of 1919 - culminating in a brazen cut-throat attack in front of witnesses in Hawes Street, Scotswood. His trial was held at the same Newcastle Assizes as that of Ernest Scott’s case, and the result was identical: guilty, with the sentence being to be hanged at Newcastle Gaol. The execution - the very last in the city - took place at 9.15am on 26th November 1919, a mere 75 minutes after Scott’s demise.

Obviously, there was the coincidence of the repetition of the surname Quinn (both victims and one of the felons). Then there was the two-day gap between the murders - which themselves were remarkably similar as regards motive, and method of killing - and the ages of the respective couples were also identical. The two killers were then convicted at the same Assizes session, and executed on the same gallows a little more than an hour apart.

Criminals who were sentenced to death in Newcastle after 1919 were executed at Durham.

[for most of the detail above I have leant heavily on Maureen Anderson's Executions & Hangings in Newcastle & Morpeth (2005)]

Dr Ruth Nicholson, FRCOG: Medical Pioneer

In August 2021 a commemorative plaque was unveiled at 32 Kenilworth Road, Elswick, in honour of Dr Ruth Nicholson. The soon-to-be prominent surgeon was born in this modest terraced house on 2nd December 1884, being the eldest child of Margaret and the Rev.Ralph Nicholson, a local Church of England cleric. Supposedly, she chose to study medicine after her father took her to see an exhibition in Newcastle on the subject of medical missionary work. Her mother, too, was quite determined to secure for all her children a sound and independent future.

This ground-breaking individual was educated locally, first at Newcastle Church High School in Jesmond, then at the city’s College of Medicine. She was the only female graduate from the institution in 1909. Her medical career began in a local dispensary in Newcastle, before she moved on to Edinburgh, followed by a stint at a mission hospital in Gaza.

By the outbreak of World War I she had gathered a fair bit of varied surgical experience, but her gender prevented her from working in British military hospitals. So instead she joined an all-female unit backed by the French government. This organisation, which was run by the Scottish Women’s Hospital (founded by Scotswoman Elsie Inglis, with whom she had worked in Edinburgh) was based at Royaumont Abbey, north of Paris. For the entirety of the war Nicholson worked there as a surgeon, operating on allied casualties, and often working with barely any sleep for days on end (indeed, the number of beds at the hospital peaked at 600). Her considerable efforts earned her the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille d’Honneur des Épidémies.

Post-war she worked for a time as a GP in Birkenhead, then threw herself into obstetrics and gynaecology, eventually becoming a founder member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1929 (and thereafter a fellow in 1931 – hence the letters after her name). A prominent position at the University of Liverpool came her way in 1930, and she took on consultancy roles, whilst at the same time running her own private practice. In time, Nicholson rose to become the very first female president of the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society.

After a long and successful career, Dr Ruth Nicholson died in Exeter on 2nd July 1963, aged 78.

[article taken from Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Tales from the Suburbs - see left-hand column for further details about this book]