Canny lass

I'll get on to it this evening, Malcolm. It can't be worse that what's on telly!

Not sure of the spelling for this surname but I'm trying to find out what happened to Mac McGregor. I don't know his first name as he always went by the name Mac. I think he would have been born 1930ish and he used to play the piano around the Bedlington pubs and clubs in the 50s and possibly into the 60s. At that time he was unmarried. Always smartly dressed and in particular when on stage - maroon smoking jacket, black trousers and sometimes a bow tie. I think he was a miner and may have lived in the Hartlands area. Any information welcome: married, children,adress, deceased etc. Everything of interest.

I made it to the recess. Well done Malcolm that's a real labour of love.

Hi again, @Stephen Clark I've now had a chance to go through the Evening Chronicle and the Journal but even there I didn't find any reports of mining accidents for the date or name you gave. I think HPW's detailed account of the accident involving "Dusty Miller" may well be the nearest we get.

Hi Anne, that would seem to be the Journal as it's written by a Journal reporter. Fatal accidents were more easily reported on than non-fatal accidents as information was freely available to reporters through the coroner's courts, as in your dad's case. I haven't had a look at either the Journal or the Evening Chronicle for Stephen's relative yet but I'm hoping to get a bit of time next week.

I've now searched the local newspapers as they usually have good reports of mining accidents in the area. I haven't been able to find anything in either the Blyth News or the Morpeth Herald. This suggests to me that it may have been a minor accident with only one person involved. Something similar happened to my father at Netherton pit when he was the only man injured in a small roof fall. That never made the newspapers either. I'll keep searching.

Good idea, Eggy! Consult the 'oracle'!

Welcome to the forum, Stephen. Would you be able to give us the name of your great uncle? If you don't want to post it on site you can send a direct message.

I can agree that membership was predominantly male - throughout the country as a whole, not just in Bedlington, and for just those reasons you give. I may have misunderstood your statement "and it was only for men" as I thought you were referring to the movement's general regulations. Perhaps women became more involved with the social side of the movement. I have vague recollections of my mother attending beetle drives at the 'mech' during my early childhood and I believe it was something she started doing way back in the 30s when the family lived in the Arcade. Your gran sounds like my type of woman and having a penchant for all things Victorian, especially those related to the working classes, I'd love to read about her. I don't suppose life was too different in any parts of the north east so there is a certain relevance to her story. Get it posted!

Hopefully in all the right places, Vic!

Bike! Shanks's pony more likely.

There was also a fine of a few pounds for those who didn't register and that would probably cost more than the busfare.

Registrars also continued to do 'rounds' of villages just as they had done since the 1836 act when registration became their responsibility.

Eggy, the Registration of Births and Deaths Act of 1874 became effective the following year whereby it became the parent’s responsibility to register the birth of their child within 42 days. Prior to this it was the registrar’s responsibilty.

Update: Birth registered April 1936 so leslie could have been born in the first quarter of the year.

Leslie born 2nd quarter of 1936.

Karen, do you have a date of birth, or even a birth year, for Bill and Leslie (or any others you've mentioned)? I also went to school with a John Muldoon - born abt. 1947.

No, no, no! They are just saving the best bit till last - like you'd do with your Sunday dinner.

Hi Douglas, welcome to the forum! It's amazing the value that's placed on photos. Ask most people what they'd save first if the house went on fire and they'd say 'photos'. They can never be replaced. Have a look through the gallery photos here. You may find some relatives on school photos or mining photos. Most have some, or even all, names added. It's a fantastic resource for research.

Is that where I got it from! It's been filed away on my PC for ages. Looking at the date of the download it's only 2 days after you mentioned it. It is certainly an extremely good and informative account of the movement in the north east. I had no idea that it was anything other than a watering hole. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it either but I have to disagree that it was only for men, working or otherwise. (Stockdale outlined nicely a period in the movement's history when there were more white-collar then blue-collar members). I've come across plenty of instances while reading about it that show women were admitted to the MI early on in its history: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-mechanics-institutes/heag187-mechanics-institutes-iha/ ”Originally, few Mechanics’ Institutes encouraged or allowed female members, although this changed towards the end of the 19th century. Where women were admitted, they often had restricted access: at Shrewsbury, for example, women paid half the subscription of men but were only allowed to attend lectures and use the library. After 1850, many larger institutions started to offer special classes for women, particularly in English.” https://dangerouswomenproject.org/2016/08/17/bradford-female-educational-institute/' ”One thing is certain: the girls and young women who attended the Institute were made of stern stuff. Unlike the mainly middle-class women attending daytime classes at Manchester Mechanics’ Institute for instance, the women of the Bradford Female Educational Institute worked for a living.” http://blogs.bbk.ac.uk/bbkcomments/2020/01/08/the-london-mechanics-institute-its-foundation/ The Institute’s egalitarian ethos even extended to women who could attend lectures from 1825 and were able to become members in 1830. It's certainly a fascinating history and must have done a lot to improve education and literacy in Bedlington. Worth a mention on our timeline perhaps?