A SET of 100-year-old postcards featuring famous fire on a training ship and a huge Suffragette rally on the banks of the Tyne are going under the hammer in Newcastle.

The collection of rare postcards will be part of the Anderson & Garland Town and County Sale in Newcastle on May 6, but very nearly ended up in the bin or donated to a charity shop.

Keith Durrant came across the cards while clearing out his late aunt’s house in North Shields.

He said: “We had no use for them and I was just going to throw them out but my wife stopped me.

“These postcards belonged to my aunt’s father. He was an avid collector of postcards, and he was a keen photographer so he may have taken the pictures of the ship fire.”

There are two cards showing the blaze on the TTS Wellesley from different perspectives.

The ship, which was part of the nautical training school preparing boys for life in the Royal and Merchant Navies, was destroyed by the fire in March 1914.

All the boys were evacuated safely and the school was moved ashore to Tynemouth and later Blyth, where it remained until it closed for good in 2006.

The Suffragette rally card is also a scene from the banks of the Tyne, entitled Sunday Morning, Newcastle upon Tyne.

It too is believed to date from 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War, and aptly is going under the hammer the day before the General Election. The card’s subject matter is particularly unusual for the North-East.

Anderson & Garland auctioneer, Fred Wyrley-Birch, said: “I have never come across a Suffragette postcard from the North East, let alone one on the Tyne, which was really packed for that rally. You can see lots of figures stationed on the Quayside campaigning for votes for women.

“A lot of people collect topical postcards and many specialise; there will be people who only collect Suffragette postcards or shipping postcards – or even just TTS Wellesley cards. We are expecting a lot of interest from the collectors’ market.”

The Anderson & Garland fortnightly Town and County sales bring together collectibles from across the North East and the Scottish Borders. For more information, please visit www.andersonandgarland.com.