Family that died of despair

A Northern Echo report about it in August 1920 had the heading: Drama of Illness and Poverty. William Brown, who was 57 and known by the nickname “Cockney” because he was born in London, lived with three sons and a daughter — Robert, 13, Gladys, 11, Bertie, eight, and Allen, seven — in a house in the Butts area at Stanhope.

His wife, Isabella, had died in 1914 at the age of 36 after 18 years of marriage.

He was admired locally for the way he cared for the young ones following the loss of Isabella.

He was fond of them and did his best to look after them while making as much money as he could as a mason.

But in September 1920, he was out of work and struggled to get enough food for them. He suffered from severe excema, which added to his problems.

Things got so bad that one day he took them to Bishop Auckland to try to get all four of them taken into a home, and to find a place of shelter for himself.

But he had no success and they returned home. That night he settled them down to sleep in a bedroom. He cut a hole through the floor and into the kitchen below, then fed a rubber tube into it from a gas pipe.

He went back upstairs, left two children asleep in one bed, and lay between the other two, cradling them in his arms. Next day a neighbour, Alice Richardson, became worried when she saw nothing of them.

She opened the unlocked front door, went in with another neighbour, smelled gas and eventually found them all dead.

Mrs Richardson said William had always been very affectionate to the children. But lately he had looked very ill, as if dying on his feet. A doctor told an inquest that they were lying in natural sleeping positions and their deaths would be painless.

Another son, Redvers, a mason who lived in another part of Stanhope, said his father had not been well recently.

The jury’s verdict was that he murdered the children and committed suicide while temporarily insane. The five were buried in one grave in the village churchyard.

There was a large turnout of mourners and the grave was covered with flowers handed over by local people.

This peaceful setting beside the River Wear is just a stone’s throw from the Butts, scene of the family tragedy

The clergyman who conducted the funeral said it appeared William Brown’s love for his children, and anxiety on their behalf, must have overwhelmed him.

But it was clear that Weardale folk would have offered support to the family if they had known how serious the situation was, and that their lives could have been spared.

Thanks go to Eric Draper for details of the family’s history.

THE colourful history of Teesdale postal services, which attracted interest from around the world on a website launched in 2006, has been saved from collapse.

It was on a Piczo site which closed, but Dave Charlesworth is now transferring it to Facebook.

This is especially important with the centenary of the First World War approaching, as it includes a roll of honour of postmen who gave their lives and others who served. The roll includes four posties about whom no personal details are known yet — S.J.

Clarkson, T. Stoddart, J.

Wilkinson and H. Hall.

“Any information about them will be gratefully received,” said Mr Charlesworth, former delivery office manager in Barnard Castle. The website was started by Fred Fawcett and his son, Simon. Anyone with photographs or details to submit can email them to dave.charlesworth@btintern et.com or contact Fred Fawcett through the delivery office at Harmire Enterprise Park, on 01833-356121.

Mr Charlesworth said he is more than pleased that the large photographic collection, showing the dale’s long postal history, will again be available for people to read and research online. “People can interact with Facebook, making comments or uploading photos directly to Photos of Royal Mail Teesdale,” he added.

If people haven’t computer facilities I can arrange scanning and uploading for them. The quest to discover even more about Teesdale’s postal pioneers continues.”

The new link is facebook.

com.royalmail teesdale THE Reverend Richard Wilson liked to write some personal details in the parish register at Bowes, where he conducted services for 12 years in the early 1800s. This was his entry for a burial in 1812: “Mary Hammond of New Spital public house, late Harker, a native of Crackpot Hall in the parish of Muker, widow of Richard Hammond, aged 72 years.

Note: She was at the church on the Sunday morning, went home in the evening, complained of indisposition, and was found dead in her bed on the Monday. Note further: On my road to Westmoreland, when I was curate of Gainford, and afterwards when I was at Whorlton, I used to get refreshment at her house and I can truly say of her that her manners were very civil, and her charges very reasonable.

My expenses for myself and horse seldom exceeded one shilling and sixpence and sometimes did not exceed a shilling.”

A shilling was equivalent to 5p in today’s money, but a lot more could be done with it then, when the average wage was under £1 a week.

Wilson was perpetual curate at Whorlton for 29 years, and he also served at Bowes for part of that time. He often made some remarks about his duties in a notebook.

One piece was written in 1785 about Michael Headley, aged 75, of Whorlton: “He was the first person I saw that lived in Gainford parish, having seen him at Bowes on 16th August 1785 (He was the collector of Tithes at Bowes for Mr Harrison) on my road to Gainford, where I was going to be curate. And he was the first person I buried at Whorlton after my appointment to the curacy.”

The clergyman died in 1822 at the age of 60.

APHOTOGRAPH of soldiers lined up at Westgate during the First World War has turned up, much to the delight of village hall officials.

They will be able to put it on show when their large war memorial clock is put back in place to mark next year’s centenary of the start of the conflict. It has been loaned by George and Pat Fairless, who live in Westgate. The back row is thought to include Dixon Coulthard, Albert Gowland, Joe Lee and Mr Manley. The woman second from left is Lena Moore but she and Mr Manley, who later became head teacher of Westgate School, are not named on the village’s roll of honour. It is felt the roll might be incomplete.

Among those in the next row are Septimus Parker, Em Moses, Willie Morley, John Potts, Jos Dalkin and Slater Freeman. The front row includes Tommy Elliott, James Elliott, Ralph Lowes, Vince Parker, George William Nattrass and John W. Walton. Peter Nattrass, treasurer of the village hall, says there is doubt about some of the names, and some men have not been identified so far.

The dale troops lined up outside Westgate School in 1916

He and David Heatherington, the hall chairman, hope Northern Echo readers may be able to correct any names that are wrong, and fill in those that are missing.

Were some of the men home on leave from the battlefields when the picture was taken and were some about to go to the trenches for the first time? Any answers will be welcome.

There is a question mark over Ralph Lowes, who is a little ahead of the others in the front row.

He is shown here as a sergeant, but is named on the roll of honour as a private.

The location of the photograph is known to be Westgate School. None of those named so far were among the 13 who lost their lives in the war. Good progress is being made in raising money to pay over £10,000 for repairs to the clock.