THE Prince of Rome is probably the North East’s greatest homing pigeon and his stuffed body has just been rediscovered in the storeroom of a museum in Derby more than 100 years after his greatest race.
Last night, a Go Fund Me Page was launched to raise £300 to erect a blue plaque in his memory close to his loft in Tudhoe and, if there's time, the unveiling of the plaque will feature in a documentary film, in which the Prince will star, which is due to be released later this year.
READ MORE: HOW THE PRINCE OF ROME WAS FOUND MORE THAN 100 YEARS AFTER HIS MOST FAMOUS FLIGHT
And since Memories 615 told his amazing story a month ago, we've been contacted by descendants of the pitmen who bred him before the First World War.
The bird, a blue checker known by his number J5093, was bred by three fanciers from Tudhoe Colliery – Henry Vester, Richard Scurr and his son William – and from 1906 caused a flap in the local pigeon world by consistently winning long distance races from the northern continent.
On June 29, 1913, he was one of the 1,653 of Europe’s best and bravest birds to be released in Rome to start their journeys home. Tragically, they flew into a blizzard over the Alps and nearly all perished.
Of the 106 English birds released, on July 29, one made it back to his loft in Derby, having taken 31 days to cover 1,001 miles. As all the other British birds were feared lost, he was crowned the “King of Rome”.
But then, on August 18, J5093 dropped in at Messrs Vester and Scurr’s loft in Attwood Terrace, Tudhoe. He had covered 1,093 miles and 1,186 yards in 51 days. Although he had flown further than the King of Rome, his average speed was slower and so he was crowned the Prince of Rome.
The King and the Prince became coo-ing celebrities and were feted across the north. The Spennymoor fanciers kept the Prince for stud but at some point must have passed him on to Charlie Hudson, the owner of the King. When Charlie died, he presented the stuffed bodies of both birds to Derby museum. The King, a local hero, has ever since been on display while the poor Prince languished unseen in a storeroom until Derby historian and all-round enthusiast Kal Singh Dhindsa rediscovered him last year and got in touch with Memories.
Kal Singh Dhindsa and the Prince of Rome in Derby Museum
Kal recently visited Tudhoe and has been granted permission to erect a plaque to the Prince of Rome in the Black Horse pub opposite Attwood Terrace.
“I hope it will be a talking point and a source of local pride,” said Kal, who last year raised £500 to place a plaque recording the feats of the King of Rome near his loft in Derby.
Daniel-John Williams, of Nova Mundi Studios, Kal Dhindsa Singh, from Derby, and Chris Lloyd filming the story of the Prince of Rome from the Home documentary in the Black Horse pub in Tudhoe, opposite Attwood Terrace
Kal was accompanied on his visit by a crew from Nova Mundi Studios, in Darlington, who have spent the last three years making a feature-length documentary "about the love, passion and pigeons” of Redcar fanciers. They are including the story of the Prince of Rome in their film, Home – hopefully, its closing scenes will show the unveiling of the Tudhoe token.
And we’ve been contacted by descendants of the men – Richard Scurr and his son, William, and his friend Henry Vester – who bred the Prince of Rome.
“Richard Scurr was the brother of my great-grandfather,” says Alison Harrison, in Newcastle. “Richard died in 1916, aged 73, and as well as dealing with pigeons, he was a brick-maker.
“His son, William, then moved to New Zealand where he died on May 11, 1974. He, his wife and son are all buried in Taranaki and there seem to be no living relatives.”
Tudhoe Colliery, where the pitmen who bred the Prince worked
The Scurr story shows us how the pitmen kept pigeons as a way of escaping – of flying free – from their underground lives. Tudhoe Colliery is remembered as the site of an explosion in 1882 in which 37 men and boys were killed, and tragedy also touched our family of pigeonmen.
Charles Scurr, 27, who was Richard's son and William's brother, was in charge of an electric coal cutter on May 8, 1911, at the coalface when a piece of stone 7ft by 3ft by 15 inches thick fell on him. He is buried in Spennymoor cemetery, near the memorial to the 1882 disaster, which is only a flap of a pigeon’s wings from the loft where his father and brother bred the Prince of Rome and from where the new may, with a bit of luck, be unveiled.
- To contribute to the plaque, go to gofundme.com and put "prince of rome" in the search box at the top left and it should come straight up. Or CLICK HERE
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