"Gateshead, Co. Durham"

"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"

The following brief summary of a period of Gateshead's history provides a useful backdrop to the conditions experienced by the early ancestors of this branch of the family in the early 1800s: "The first record of coal being mined in the Gateshead area was in 1344 and there were staiths at Pipewellgate in 1349.   The manors of Whickham and Gateshead became the best coal mining areas in Europe and were, of course, the envy of Newcastle merchants.   Eventually there was a take-over.   John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, had had a distinguished military career, but planned to become Lord protector of new bishoprics of Durham and Newcastle and then, possibly make an attempt on the throne of Edward VI.   Bishop Tunstall of Durham was imprisoned and an Act to annex the manor of Gateshead became law on 30 March 1553.   Fortunately, Dudley's plans ended abruptly.   Mary became Queen on Edward's death and the conspirator was beheaded. After some opposition, the bishopric was re-established and united with Gateshead on 2 April 1554.   In return for his bishopric, Tunstall leased the Saltmeadows on the east of Gateshead to Newcastle for 450 years from 1555. With the coalmines of Gateshead under the control of Newcastle, the impetus to take over the town was removed and only one other weak attempt was made in 1647.   Although Gateshead people had been afraid of control from the north of the river, the town now enjoyed considerable prosperity.   The coalmines were exploited as never before and in the hundred years from 1574 coal shipments from Newcastle increased eleven-fold while the population of Gateshead doubled to approximately 5,500.   However, the lease and the abundant coal supplies ended in 1680. The pits were shallow as problems of ventilation and flooding defeated attempts to mine coal from the deeper seams.  Gateshead was now in a state of depression, rents were low and in arrears, the fields were scarred with pit heaps, hindering the cultivation of crops. The economy of the town was not revived until the growth of the industrial revolution in the mid-eighteenth century.   Steam engines were introduced to clear water from the lower coal seams; glassworks and ironworks created more jobs and Gateshead's fortunes began to improve steadily.   The 1830s saw the greatest change in administration of Gateshead.   Cuthbert Rippon became the Member of Parliament, the first for Gateshead, a Town Council was elected in 1835 and the Poor Law Union was set up in 1836.   During the same period the Dispensary opened (1832) as did the Mechanics Institute (1836) and a newspaper was published for the first time, the Gateshead Observer (1837). Throughout the nineteenth century the population expanded rapidly; between 1801 and 1901 the increase was 101,291.   This expansion resulted in the spread southwards of working-class houses.   Terrace upon terrace of houses and flats were built over what had been large country estates and the character of the town changed from rural to urban.   The descriptions of Gateshead as a dirty lane leading to Newcastle' and 'huge dingy dormitory' were partially true during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but the rows of houses which today seem drab were a big improvement on the eighteenth and early nineteenth-century slums down by the river. Gateshead was and is an industrial town and is easily affected by any recession in trade.   An added problem during the nineteenth century was that several thousands worked outside the town but when unemployed, claimed relief from Gateshead's poor rate, even though their previous employers did not contribute to it. "A Short History of Gateshead". © Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council, 1998.

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