ON November 19, 1955, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh signed the Darlington Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Record Book, which provides us with a good opportunity to raise a question from Elizabeth France.
“Please will you settle a family ‘discussion’?” she asks, the inverted commas suggesting this discussion is becoming quite heated.
“Is Edinburgh Drive named after the Duke of Edinburgh because of his official opening of the High School on Edinburgh Drive in 1955, or was it just coincidence because there are quite a few other streets with Scottish place names: Leith Road, Holyrood Avenue and Dalkeith Close, for instance?”
As the record book shows, the duke opened the High School for Girls when it transferred to new premises from Cleveland Terrace.
In the 1968 reorganisation of education, the high school became one of six co-ed comprehensives and it gained a new name: Hummersknott. As such, it still educates, although since 2011 it has been an academy.
So was Edinburgh Drive named for Philip, or was his visit just a coincidence? Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk if you have any clues.
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