WITH the dark clouds of war gathering on the horizon, King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, came north 83 years ago to launch a warship on the Tyne and then they penetrated into the deep, economically depressed areas of south Durham.
“Tow Law is one of the blackest spots in a black area, but the people today showed no signs of depression,” said the Evening Despatch, the Echo’s sister paper 83 years ago this week. “It was the first time that a king and queen had visited the town, and the people went all out to make the occasion a memorable one.”
The royals’ three days in the North East had started with launching HMS George V from the Vickers Armstrong yard in Newcastle. It was, said the Echo, a “great streamlined battleship which has brought millions in wage money to the Tyne”.
HMS King George V, Britain's first battleship built in 15 years, is launched by King George VI. All of today's pictures are taken from 1939 newspapers, rather than prints, so they are a little grainy
The George V was the first battleship that Britain had built since singing an international treaty in 1922 when all the major powers had agreed to a warship-building holiday. The treaty had expired, and as the George V slid into the cold, grey waters of the Tyne, it was announced that work would immediately start on a second £12m battleship as the country steamed straight towards the war.
After a day inspecting industrial sites in Sunderland and Gateshead, the royal train arrived at Durham station at 10.32am on February 23, 1939, for a day looking at how the county was trying to beat unemployment.
The king and queen appeared on the Durham Town Hall balcony (above), to great cheers, and then headed to the new Sherburn Road estate which was replacing the city centre slums. At 22 Fir Avenue, they encountered Mr Albrighton, a roadworker who had lost his eye at the Battle of Loos. Mrs Albrighton was impressed by the queen – “She is beautiful. She is a little angel,” she said – and Elizabeth was, like Kate today, the glamorous star of this show.
They then motored through the heart of the coalfield – Oakenshaw, Stanley, Sunniside – towards Tow Law. In all the photos of the day, the rear hood of their Daimler Landaulette is folded down so that the crowds can get the best views possible – but the king and queen must have been very exposed to the chilly Durham weather.
“As the royal car approached Oakenshaw, there was an insistent clanging of hammers in the busy fitting shops of the prosperous colliery,” said the Despatch. “The approach of the royal car was the signal for a wave of tremendous cheering. Miners with grime on their faces and clad in mining garb cheered as lustily as their wives and daughters.”
The king and queen find a balcony in Tow Law from which to wave to the crowd
As they climbed to Tow Law, the grim February rain turned to snow, but still a large crowd greeted them. They came to open “a social service centre”, which 40 unemployed men had built as a community centre. It was, said the Echo, “one of the most ambitious amenity schemes ever completed by workless men”.
It had central heating and fitted shower baths, plus outside a recreation ground, including a cricket pitch and bowling green, had been created.
“Four years ago the site was marked by the presence of an ugly blast furnace heap, the only relic of Tow Law’s once prosperous days,” said the Despatch. “The major part of the ruins have been removed and it is estimated that 100,000 tons of refuse have been cleared from the site by voluntary labour.”
The king and queen leave the social service centre in Tow Law
The evening paper also said: “It was apparent that the object of the royal visit, which primarily was the concern of the Ministry of Labour, was not to show the king and queen the grim side of depression but rather the bright side of social service, and the royal visitors quickly realised what was uppermost in most Tow Law people’s minds was that ‘one can be happy though poor’.”
The royal party motors through Hamsterley on its way to lunch
After much cheering and waving, the king and queen were driven to the Ministry of Labour’s Instructional Centre at Hamsterley, for lunch, and then on to the county council’s land settlement scheme at Toronto on the edge of Bishop Auckland.
The royal party arrives at the Toronto land settlement scheme near Bishop Auckland
This was, said the Echo, “a most remarkable example of what workless men are doing to earn a living on the land. About 40 men have been settled on five acre smallholdings…
The royal party watch a pig in action at Toronto, near Bishop Auckland, in 1939
“It is doubtful whether anything they have seen during their three days’ tour could compare in interest with this experiment in land settlement. As well as seeing the various poultry centres, the king and queen visited the homes of two settlers, Mr JE Allison and Mr T Little. Both men, who are ex-miners, told the Queen they would not go back to the pits.”
Queen Elizabeth in Durham in 1939
Round the houses they went – Witton Park, Phoenix Row, Toft Hill and West Auckland – before arriving at the new industrial estate at St Helen’s, where Ernest & Henry’s button factory was visited. “The Queen was exceptionally interested in the coloured clasps and combs which are turned out in large quantities,” said the Despatch. Her Majesty’s interest deepened when she learned that the combs were made from a milk compound.
The final engagement of the day was at the Boys Junior Instruction Centre in Bishop Auckland, where Leslie Jefferson of Shildon presented the king with a walnut stationery cabinet that he had made.
Saying farewell to Durham on platform 3 at Bishop Auckland station
Then the party dashed in their Landaulette to Bishop Auckland station, where they arrived at 4.30pm ready for the royal train to leave at 4.35pm and take them direct to King’s Cross. And so the last visit to Bishop Auckland by a reigning monarch came to an end.
John Askwith's copy of the royal train details issued to staff at Bishop Auckland station
JOHN ASKWITH notes that the royal train that day was headed by a Class A4 Pacific No 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley with another loco from the same class standing by just in case the Sir Nigel Gresley should fail.
In his collection, John has a letter written immediately after the visit by the District Superintendent of the LNER to the Bishop Auckland stationmaster, Mr T Walls, thanking him for the “excellent arrangements”.
“I was very struck by the excellent team work by the whole of your staff,” he said. “I think it is satisfactory to all of us to know that our efforts were appreciated.”
The Bishop Auckland policemen put their backs intop keeping the crowd at bay
The royal train swishes past Darlington on its way back to London
How The Northern Echo reported on the royal visit 83 years ago
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