Postman fought in war

He is named on a roll of honour as one of the postal staff from Barnard Castle who survived the conflict, but for years nothing more could be discovered about him.

Royal Mail historian David Charlesworth has now unearthed the fact that he was Thomas Stoddart, who was aged 31 when the war began in 1914.

He was assistant to his widowed mother, Margaret Jane Stoddart, at her sub-post office and newspaper shop at 84 Galgate.

It is pleasing that news about him has come to light so near the centenary of the start of hostilities. Mr Charlesworth has also been able to provide an excellent photograph of the shop with the name Stoddart above the door.

Among the people in the picture, who seem to have been carefully placed by the cameraman, is a man in postman’s uniform.

Might this be Thomas before he went off to join the colours? Alas, it is thought that Thomas didn’t wear a uniform, and that the postie pictured may be John Blenkinsop.

This shop had been in the family for some time, as a directory for 1894 lists it as being in the hands of George Stoddart, a boot and shoe maker.

He was probably Thomas’s father.

After George’s death it seems his widow turned it into a post office and newsagents.

The postal section has long since gone, but the newspaper side is still flourishing on the premises after more than a century.

There are now hopes that thanks to this family connection being revealed some relative will come forward with information about Thomas’s war service and what he did once he got back to Civvy Street.

His official records may have been among those destroyed when London was bombed in the Second World War. Of the 24 names on Barnard Castle’s roll of honour only two – SJ Clarkson and H Hall – have had no personal details about them uncovered so far.

THERE seemed no hope for fiveyear- old Billy Gregory when he fell into the Tees on a Sunday afternoon.

The river was in spate after snow melted in the hills in January 1867.

The lad was swept away from the bank in an instant.

Many people had walked down from Barnard Castle to look at the torrent and were dismayed to see what looked like a dreadful tragedy.

They believed there was no chance of the poor boy surviving. But they were startled when George Clementson appeared on the scene.

The 17-year-old labourer plunged into the water fully clothed and swam strongly towards Billy.

He grabbed hold of him, and held his head out of the river.

The pair were washed downstream and it looked for a time as if both would be drowned.

But George managed to manoeuvre towards the bank on the town side and struggled up onto it.

Despite being thrown around over sharp rocks neither of them was injured.

It happened near Thorngate, four years before the first ill-fated footbridge was built there.

The hero had swum in the Tees often, so the thought of going straight into the torrent held no fears for him.

He was cheered by the watching crowd, but claimed modestly that he had done nothing much.

One certainty was that without his brave act, Billy Gregory would have died.

George was given a certificate later to record his remarkable effort.

A month later there was another rescue nearby. Bernard Bailey of Bridge End was walking when a small girl told him an elderly woman was in the water.

He hurried to the spot and saw her struggling before sinking below the surface.

When she reappeared he realised she was clutching a large bundle of sticks.

When he held out a hand to get hold of her she shouted: “Tak ma sticks first.”

He grabbed the bundle, threw it onto the bank, then got hold of the woman and pulled her to safety. She explained that she was gathering sticks for her fire when she slipped into the river – and was determined not to lose them.

It was felt that if the small girl hadn’t spotted her she would have been swept to her death. The bridge was opened in 1871 but was swept away in a flood 10 years later.

Two men who were standing on it – watchmaker William Thwaites, 39, and gamekeeper Richard Gargett, 58 – were hurled into the river and drowned.

Money was quickly raised to build a new sturdier footbridge, which is still in use after more than 130 years.

HISTORIAN Mike Stow, who surely knows more about Gainford than any other resident, who love to discover who embedded a whalebone arch there many years ago.

It stands out of public view in a garden that belonged to Gainford House for centuries.

But since the property was divided over 30 years ago it is in the grounds of the part now known as Newton House.

It is 9ft tall, but it is believed it goes another 9ft into the soil. It could have been placed there any time in the last 300 years when the house was occupied by a series of distinguished families.

It seems possible it was brought home by a seafaring man in the boom era of whaling in the 18th and 19th centuries, when a number of similar arches were erected around the country.

Great value is now put on them.

An appeal for £60,000 has been launched to restore one which has stood in an Edinburgh park since 1886.

The Gainford one would have become a notable feature, like the one in Whitby, if it had been in a public spot, say the village green.

But it seems that for a long time few people knew it existed, and no mention of it has been found in old documents.

Even folk who visited the garden in the past were unaware of it as it was hidden by bushes.

Mr Stow, who would have the skill to track down its origins if anyone could, suggested it may have been put up as a Victorian folly.

Well-known occupants of Gainford House in the past, such as members of the Fife, Hett and Edleston families, would have been expected to talk about the arch if they were involved.

But J. Walker Hartley, a government inspector who lived there in the 1890s, may have been the type to do it and keep it private. That’s just a guess, however.

It was discovered in the 1990s by the then occupant, and the people who live there now would like to know the story behind it. “They feel it is a bit of a mystery, and I am also anxious to find the answer,” said Mr Stow.

MANY parents took a close interest in their children’s education in Weardale in the old days.

This was certainly the case in Stanhope in 1886 when an election was held to choose seven members of the local school board for the following three years. There were no fewer than 22 candidates.

There is no doubt just as much interest is taken these days, but there is never likely to be so many folk seeking to take on this sort of role.

A sign of the times back then was that all 22 were men.