the Venerable Bede was born and at the age of seven was sent to the monastery at Wearmouth to be educated and remained there and at the monastery at Jarrow (part of South Tyneside) after it was established. It was here that he wrote the history of the English Church and People (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis) which he completed in 731. He was also to write a translation into English of the Gospel of St John just before he died.

He was also a great originator. His 'on Reckoning of Time' (de Temporum Ratione) in 725 established a new chronology dating from Christ's birth. Bede's influence spread through Northumbrian missionaries into Europe, especially among the Franks. He died on 25th May 735. 

He was heading  for trouble, because at that time, the Newcastle Corporation was very jealous of their right to control the river under the terms of their Charter. They informed him that they would not allow him to start building ships in South Shields and threatened to seize the ship if he launched it into the river. Wallis was not easily intimidated and got his workmen to haul it back onto dry land immediately after launch. This took it out of any pressure from Newcastle as the boat was then on Dean and Chapter of Durham ground and out of their jurisdiction.:

This situation was to be repeated many times, perhaps the most notable occasion was the establishment of the Customs House for commercial shipping  at the Mill Dam in the 1860's after which South Shields was declared an independent port.
 

Thomas Winterbottom died on July 8th 1859 at the age of 93 and to quote Hodgson's History of South Shields', he was buried with all the honours of a public funeral in a circular portion of the groung at Westoe Cemetery  between the two chapels, reserved for the resting-place of those eminent public men whom their townsmen may delight to honour.
 

She was a determined fighter against the Press Gang, famed for hiding fugitives beneath her vast skirts, and when her husband was taken by the Press Gang, she followed him to sea on the man o'war on which he served, working in the ship's surgery. Coming as she did from  sea-fairing stock, Dolly proved an excellent sailor and did a sailor's work like any other man.

'Had she been an educated woman', wrote by a contemporary of  Dolly (under the pseudonym, Canny Shields) , 'she would have been very clever. She liked to write poetry and amongst other serious poems she composed an address in poetry ( 'Hurrah for the Banner of Blue' ) congratulating Robert Ingham, with whom she was a great favourite, on his return as the MP for South Shields in 1841'

Dolly died in 1857 and is remembered by her statue, in voluminous skirts, on the river bank in River Drive at the top of Mile End Road.

Wouldhave amused himself by constructing curious instruments, among which were an organ, a clock, and an electric machine. He died poor and neglected, in a cottage on Nelson's Bank near the Mill Dam, on September 28th, 1821, and buried in St Hilda's Churchyard.

Greathead, after a career of great prosperity as a boat-builder, was also to die penniless.

In 1817 his father died and Jane, William's wife, went back to her old home, Westoe House at Westoe Village, near South Shields, to live with her daughter Eleanor. When his mother died in1824 Robert succeeded to his grandfather's estate and resided thereafter in Westoe Hall for the remainder of his life. He was a neighbour and good friend of Dr Thomas Winterbottom and shared with him a common interest in the welfare of the villagers, the population at that time being about 472. He also shared with Dr Winterbottom and interest in the welfare of seamen, becoming a Trustee of the Marine School in 1836.

The England of the 1830's and South Shields in particular, was in a state of political ferment and radical and urgent change was required to ensure that the new population centres were represented in Parliament. Robert Ingham and his political agent, Thomas Salmon,  were leading lights in the campaign to secure a Member of Parliament. for the town. 

In 1832, Robert Ingham, standing as a Liberal and a Free trader, won the South Shields election with a majority of 97, but it must be remembered that at that time there were only 540 names on the electoral role

After his retirement from Parliament in 1868 a public meeting was convened by the Mayor, John Williamson to determine the most fitting memorial to his 25 years of public service to the town. A fund was set up to build an infirmary, The Ingham Infirmary, its estimated cost being £5,000. It was opened on the 3rd June 1873.

Dr Robert Ingham died a bachelor at his house in Westoe on 21st October, 1875.
  

On the incorporation of the Borough he was unanimously elected Town Clerk, a post he held until his death  on 29th May, 1871
 

Simon Temple was also connected with glassworks and shipbuilding, building many ships for the navy.
 

Readhead opened a yard in Pilot Street in South Shields and in 1975 his first ship, the 'Roll Call', a vessel of 164 tons was launched. The firm prospered and his sons joined the firm. John Readhead and Co flourished: by 1881 they were building ships of 2, 000 tons at the Lawe Yard in Pilot Street. They soon needed larger premises and the West Docks were purchased  in stages from 1880 and the shipyard and engineering works transferred. By 1895 Readheads Yard was opened. It was not long before John Readhead was knighted and Sir John took his sons on the board as each reached the age of 21. John Readhead and Sons was born.

It continued to bring increasing work for the workers of South Shields until the 1980's when the Tyne ceased to be the big shipbuilding river it had known for many years. It went into liquidation in early 1982 and was temporarily saved  by a management buy-out. This however was soon to fail and Readhead's name was only known for the yard's location.
 

For many years Charles Palmer brought much work to the town and the mid-Tyne towns of Jarrow and Hebburn through the Palmers Docks at Jarrow. During the Crimean War they built in three and a half month the first iron warship constructed on the Tyne, H M S "Terror" a floating battery of 2, 000 tons displacement, carrying 26 68-pounders. it was also the first vessel sheathed with rolled instead of forged armour plates.

He entered parliament in 1864 and sat continuously as the MP for Jarrow until his death in June.4th,.1907.
See (http://www.markpalmer.fsnet.co.uk/family-tree/cmpalmer.html  for more details ).
 

1837 

 The cottages were built under the auspices of the South Shields Master Mariners' Society, formed by a group of local ship Masters who got together in 1839 and originally planned them to form 'asylum' basically a home - and pensions for old skippers, as well as their widows and orphans 

In 1930 the post of Secretary to the Society was undertaken by Thomas Lincoln, a former alderman of the town, took over from his father, E H Lincoln who had been 42 years in its service, and 'Tommy' Lincoln remained  in that post until he died in the early 90's. From 1980 he was assisted in this work by Evelyn Drew who was responsible for collecting the rents, maintaining contact with the householders and seeing that necessary repairs were undertaken.

During the 1939-45 war, the well laid out gardens which fronted the cottages were turned into allotments, and it is only since the turn of the c20 that they have reverted to their former glory.
 

It first was published as an daily evening paper in 1855

The foundation stones for both the North and South piers were laid on the 15th June 1854 and a railway was constructed to carry the stones to the South pier. They were completed in 1895.  The South Pier is 5170 ft ( 1553 m) long..
 

The Volunteer Life Brigade story began with the wreck of the Aberdeen steamer Stanley on 24^th November 1864. Spectators stood helpless as 25 passengers and crew perished when a storm drove the ship on to the treacherous Black Middens in the Tyne harbour.

 Two lifeboatmen from Tynemouth’s first RNLI lifeboat “Constance” were also drowned during rescue attempts. This disaster highlighted the need for a shore-based rescue organisation to work with the full-time Coastguard who at that time were the only people trained in the use of the rocket rescue equipment.

Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade had been formed in December 1864 and South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade was formed a year later. Following the lifesaving tradition of the earlier Tyne Lifeboat Society, the Brigade naturally adopted the famous South Shields town motto “Always Ready”. 

Since then and up to the present day, South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade has upheld a highest traditions of volunteer service and without fail has maintained a remarkable and proud record of 135 years of continuous lifesaving service. Every day since 30^th January 1866, 24 hours a days, 365 days a year, South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade has stood ready to help those in peril around these shores. The same spirit that motivated men to put muscle and manila to good purpose in the days of sail and steam continues to inspire today’s team of volunteers. They remain “Always Ready” to use more modern methods and equipment to assist HM Coastguard to provide today’s search and rescue service from their original home in the  Watch House on the South Pier at South Shields

Today it is one of only three brigades remaining in the British Isles.

It maintained its leading position for 25 years. until, in 1984, the miner's strike helped to precipitate its downfall and at one time the strike brought down the number in the band to only three and local school children were recruited to keep the practices going. 

Previously the Westoe colliery had re-opened and as the Harton and Westoe Colliery Band it continued until 1968 when, with the closure of Harton Colliery, it dropped the name Harton from its title. The end of the band was feared when the Westoe Colliery closed in 1991 but the determination of its members kept it going until1993 when the South Tyneside Health Care Trust came to its rescue as a sponsor by providing rehearsal facilities for them, and they in turn provided fund-raising concerts for the benefit of hospital patients.

It increased the vigour of the band and was to quickly improve their position in the league, In 2000 they were to perform in the National Brass Band Championship at the Albert Hall in London and have performed in three finals in 4 years, band returned to the Brass Band world's premiership league in 2003.

For fuller details visit www.westoeband.org

John Barbour was born in Galloway in 1849 and his experience on the family farm meant that he was to know what was needed to protect a person from the extremes of weather that he had faced tending sheep in the bleak landscape of his home country. At the age of 20 he left home, crossing the border to NE England working as a travelling draper. John married in 1871 and they settled in Newcastle where he established the firm of J Barbour & Sons. The firm prospered and in 1894 John Barbour established himself in the burgeoning port of South Shields, supplying oilskins and other garments to protect the growing community of sailors, fishermen, rivermen and dockers from the worst of the North Sea weather.

His type of clothing soon caught the eye of the country gentlemen who realised their benefit as  practical fashion clothing for the outdoors. The waterproof jacket has become so well known that the term 'a Barbour' has become the generic name for such outdoor clothing.
 

During the first world war he served in the Special Brigade of the Royal Engineers and it was then that he turned to socialism. Chuter Ede stood for parliament in 1918 as a Labour candidate but lost. In 1923 he held the Mitcham seat for a short period after a bye-election  but lost it at the following general election. 

In 1929 Ede was elected M.P. for South Shields and broke the Liberal tradition of the town. The seat was again won by the Liberals in 1931 but he regained the seat for Labour in 1935 which he held until his retirement in1964.

During his political career he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Education from 1940-1945 and became Home Secretary from 1945 - 1950. In 1950 Chuter Ede was made a Freeman of South Shields and was made a privy Councillor in 1953 when he was awarded the Companion of Honour.

He was made a life peer in 1964 and died at the age of 82 in November 1965.
 

During the Gallipolis campaign in the 1914-1918 war Private Simpson, a stretcher bearer, and his donkey, Murphy, carried upwards of 15 wounded soldiers through the enemy fire every day for 24 days  from the front line in the battlefields to the dressing stations. Several of his donkeys were to die from enemy fire and 'the man with the donkey' was finally shot in 1915 by a Turkish sniper.

 He was  hailed as a hero in his native South Shields and in his adopted country, Australia. He is honoured every year in that country on ANZAC DAY as well as having a statue  depicting a 'Man with his Donkey'  honouring his memory, both in Melbourne, in front of the war memorial and in the capital, Canberra, in the national museum. A smaller version of this statue can be seen in the South Shields Museum, and a modern version of it stands across the road from the museum in Ocean Road outside the Kirkpatrick Public House.
 

During an attack on a German position in 1914 Pte. Robson left his trench and, whilst under heavy fire, rescued a wounded non-commissioned officer. He later tried to bring another wounded man to cover while exposed to fire. He was awarded the Victoria Cross

Pte. Robson died in Canada in 1964 and was the first soldier in the war to be made a Freeman of the Borough in October 1915
 

For over 50 years she captivated theatre and cinema audiences, appearing in 113 stage plays in London and on Broadway, and starring in more than 60 films.

Her movies included 1936's "Fire over England", in which she gave a towering performance as Elizabeth I.

She trained at RADA and in 1919 won a bronze medal at the acting school: she later became president of the academy. Her first part was the ghost of Margaret in Clemence Dane's play "Will Shakespeare" in 1921. She then performed in repertory companies until 1924, when she left the theatre because of dissatisfaction with her professional progress. She thought her prospects looked bleak when the acting jobs dried up, so she quit London and went to work for four years as a factory welfare officer in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.Whilst in this job in this food-processing factory, she formed an amateur theatrical group among the workers there. She later credited this experience with enlarging her view of dramatic structure and acting.

But she later bumped into theatre director Tyrone Guthrie, and that chance meeting led to a return to the stage. Appalled that her talent was going to waste, Guthrie got her back on to the boards at London's Old Vic . . . and she never looked back. In 1959 Flora Robson was given the award for the best actress of the year.

 She will always be remembered for her role as Elizabeth I in the film "Fire over England" (1937). Her speech as the Virgin Queen to the navy on the eve of its departure to fight the Spanish Armada, included the immortal line: "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king", is still one of the most memorable in cinema history. She also received an Oscar nomination for "Saratoga Trunk" (1946).

In 1952 she was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 1960, for services to the English theatre, she was elevated to the British peerage as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire - Dame Flora McKenzie Robson. No fewer than five British universities awarded her honorary degrees. In the early 1970s she went into semi-retirement. Flora never married and died alone in Brighton in1984. Although Flora Robson left South Shields when she was young, she retained strong links with the town and with Tyneside in general.

In 1962  the old Jesmond Playhouse was renamed the Flora Robson Playhouse and she appeared in its opening production, The Corn is Green, written by Emlyn Williams. Unlike other celebrities of the town there is no memorial nor plaque on the wall to honour this well-loved talented actress: the best the town could do was to name a street, Dame Flora Robson Avenue, in Simonside in June 1975.
  

It was there, in 1987,  that Ron Drew, the Chairman of the local League of Hospital Friends of which Catherine Cookson was President, together with his wife Evelyn and Rene Hub the League's Secretary,  visited Catherine and Tom. It was a beautiful home in delightful grounds, and her conservatory and art studio displayed many of her paintings at which she was quite skilled.  We spent over and hour sitting in front of a real coal fire with Tom and Catherine chatting about the old Shields she knew so well.

Finally she move back to a house in Jesmond to be near the hospital to which she, by then, had to make frequent visits. 

Tom and Catherine Cookson died within weeks of each other in 1998. Catherine will be remembered by many around the world, but none more so than by the people of her town of birth, 'Catherine Cookson Country' as South Shields is now publicised.

Right up to the 1950's it was possible to take a nut or bolt to the counter and be served with a copy of it or else a bolt or nut for it as required. The strength of the shop was the fact that you could purchase the number of items you required even if that number was only one! The onset of plastic packaging of small items soon overtook this excellent service.

Unfortunately for the public who enjoyed this personal service, the onset of the supermaket and DIY stores with their self-service and cheaper prices meant that if any shop couldn't adapt to the changing times, they were doomed to go down the slippery slope to extinction.

Thus 'Lakes', which at one time was Shields favourite ironmongers, didn't manage to modernise. They maintained the personal service for which the shop was renowned right up to the last, albeit in a much reduced capacity, but fate won in August 2001 when the 'Frank Lake' shutters were finally pulled down with hardly a whimper. It was a sad end to a once popular store.

He had been Lord Commissioner of Treasury for 10 months from August 1945 when he became Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Pensions 1946-1949 and Ministry of Health 1949-1951and was opposition spokesman for Health until 1959. He served as Chairman of the Committee for Social and Health Questions of the Council of Europe 1968-1970 as well as Chairman of other groups and Associations.

Arthur Blenkinsop died 23 September 1979.
 

For his bravery during this attack Lieu. Annand  received the Victoria Cross, the first to be awarded during the land fighting. He was given the Freedom of the Borough in November 1940
 

His father, in the building trade, worked away 6 days a week but at week-ends would come home to put on his Sunday best, reach for his 'clarionet' (as his dad called it) and join the family circle around the piano playing, singing or just listening to music. The instrument fascinated Jack, a 5 year old, as they gathered there with his elder sister Beatrice,15 and Molly aged 9. The temptation to play it was great and one day he climbed on a chair and took it from its resting place at the back of the sideboard. At his  first attempt he was able to get the sound of notes from it. Not long after that that his parents bought him his first 'clarinet', and Jack soon leant how to play tunes onf it. So much so that by the time he was 10 he was playing with other 3rd clarinets with the 1st Battn. of the Durham Light Infantry which had a drill hall in the town. The following year, 1926, saw him playing solo clarinet with the cadet band in the Market Place of Ypres the town of Belgium's great disaster in the First World War. 

In the early 1920's it was not surprising that youngsters in the North East were interested in music. It was the land of shipbuilding and coalmines: it was a time when every colliery had its brass band and the local St Hilda and Harton Colliery Bands were top notch. Playing for St Hilda Colliery Band at that time was Jack's hero, Jack Macintosh, a virtuoso of the cornet and it was many schoolboy's dream to play like him. 

When 11 years old, Jack Brymer started at the High School for Boys in Mowbray Road, the local grammar school where boys were prepared for Matriculation by studying mathematics, a language, a science and a subject which was known as a 'Humanity'. Unfortunately the brief music lessons only involved singing Handel, Haydn, Bach and Stanford written in something which was strange to him, the tablature Tonic Sol-fa. So his interest in the clarinet soon found other outlets and at the age of thirteen he joined a local amateur orchestra which involved a trip every Tuesday evening  on the ferry to North Shields and up to a school at Tynemouth for their weekly rehearsals of the music of such composers as Beethoven - his Egmont overture being Jack's favourite piece at that time.

He soon advanced to playing playing with a good concert orchestra of 35 players in Whitley Bay with rehearsals on the Sunday afternoon and the concert in the evening. During this period in the 6th Form at the grammar school he also played with a local 8-piece dance band.

He also played schoolboy football most Saturday mornings and taking part in boating regattas, racing at the estuary of the Tyne: he had a keen interest in sport. Despite all this music and sport at the week-end he Matriculated at seventeen, gaining 'Subsidiary Higher Schools' in geography and English. This led to a year as a pupil teacher at St John's Higher Grade School in Beach Road in the town. This proved to be the outlet for his earlier ambition, for in his memoirs he states that at quite an early stage he wanted to become a Physical Education specialist, no doubt influenced by his dad's prowess as an oarsman, winning a silver cup in the Single Sculls championship when in the Royal Flying Corps.

Evelyn Drew, a pupil at St John's School at the time, can remember Jack Brymer taking the younger boys to play football on 'The Dragon', a reasonably flat field near to the sea front about half a mile from the school. She can also remember the trips at first lesson of the day down to the freezing salt-water baths on the seafront (long ago demolished) where amongst the activities was Life Saving Drill.

But, as he recalls, what he thought was to be a future of an easy life in teaching was not to last and instead of going to college to pursue this career, he changed his frantic life by going instead to the life of a humble Fresher at Goldsmith's College. His music career was to continue and in1947 was working as principal clarinet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and The London Symphony Orchestra. He became a most sought after musician and will always be remembered for his recording of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A regarded by many as the definitive version of this popular work

Jack Brymer was appointed OBE in 1960 and died on September 16th 2003, aged 88

He had started  painting portraits in oils at the age of 15 , but soon discovered watercolours which became his favourite medium. Tom painted many  pictures in and around South Shields, particularly at the sea front. Many.homes in the area will have a copy, or possibly an original, of his work on their walls. A large number of people in South Shields will have found their talent for painting through the many art classes he ran or was connected with.

He was to try his hand in many other artistic ways: as a cartoonist (including 'Brassie' for the Shields Gazette) and as a woodcarver - with much of his work to be seen in his church, St Lawrence, and in St Paul's Church at the monastery in Jarrow. Tom was also a puppeteer working with his wife, Emma. He helped many charitable causes in this way and for many years he was to be seen helping at the annual South Shields Flower Show. 

Tom was also an accomplished singer and sang with a number of choirs and choral groups in the area.  Tom Finch died in 2003 after 84 eventful years.

One of his most popular books was 'The Only Child' an autobiography of his first 5 years in the back streets of South Shields. This was followed by 'Sorrows, Passions and Alarms' which described his boyhood life up to the age of 18 in the South Shields of the inter war years.

In 1957 Kathy was introduced to Humphrey Littleton and for a while she was a member of his band from 1957. She joined his band again in 1991 and is still touring with him.

In a recent TV play about an all girls band on the road, Kathy had the job of teaching Judi Dench the technique and fingering of playing the sax. She did it to such good effect it appeared that Judi Dench was really doing the playing!

 As a young boy, Ridley was an avid comic reader but his interest centred on the technical aspects of them. As he grew older he had the idea of being a stage designer. But it was his frequent trips to the cinema which interested him, not so much in the plot, but the reaction of the audience. It was this pseudo-audience participation which captured Ridley Scott's imagination which was to start his career with the BBC as a set designer progressing to being the director of Z-cars.

In 1958, aged 20, he had graduated from West Hartlepool's College of Art and because conscription was compulsory at the time, Ridley joined the Marines for his 2 year service. On completion of his service, he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Arts in London (RCA) and as the course had diverse areas of study he was to discover the possibilities of the cinema. He was to come across a 16mm Bolex cine-camera which had been abandoned in the Theatre Design department and receive permission to borrow it. With a budget of about £65 to cover all his costs he produced a 27 min. film called "Boy and a Bicycle". It was hardly the epic of his later days, but he story-boarded the whole film and with the help of his family and friends produced the finished film in 6 weeks.

A far cry from his 2003 epic which costs about £100million and used an army of 1000 soldiers and extras. The project is filmed in Morocco and covers the period of the Crusades.

In the 2003 New Year's Honours Sir Ridley Scott was named a Knights Bachelor for his services to British film. He now lives in Los Angeles.
 

The 1st bomb dropped on the town  was on 21 June 1940 and the last on 24 May 1943. The worst raid was on 2 October 1941 which left the Market Square derelict after 1¼ hours of continuous indiscriminate bombing.
 

Lord Clark was born in south west Scotland 19 October 1939 and grew up in rural Cumbria. His first job after leaving school at the age of 16 was in private forestry and maintains this interest of rural affairs being Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Forestry and sat on the Shadow Cabinet with responsibility at times for Defence, Environmental Protection, Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Affairs and until recently he was also Chairman of the All Party Group on National Parks.

He was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Civil Service in Tony Blair's first Cabinet in 1997. In this capacity he had responsibility for the administration of Her Majesty's estates in the North of England.

He is author of a number of books covering history, management and politics and in 1992 wrote 'We do not Want the Earth' - The History of South Shields Labour Party.

His hobbies include fell-walking, gardening, bird-watching and watching football. He and his wife, Christine, have one grown up daughter.
 

David Miliband M.P. has a house in the constituency and spends much time meeting the residents. He takes an interest in the activities of the Borough and this was highlighted when he asked a question in the House of Commons concerning an apparent unwanted change of use of a popular cafe  in the town. He is President of South Shields Football Club, and a member of the Whiteleas and Cleadon Social Clubs.

In May 2003, David wrote his second Annual Report, which can be read on his website - http://www.davidmiliband.org.uk/site.htm
In this he details his activities in the previous 12 months as M.P. for South Shields. The Report was delivered to 40,000 households in the constituency, and was followed up with a public meeting open to all constituents.