Category Archives: Redcar

Redcar Heritage

Redcar Mayors

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A question was asked on the Redcar Memories group about a list of Mayors, I have pulled this together from Janet Cockrofts book which covered until 1968, Redcar.org and Evening Gazette reports.

I have tried to source photos of as many of the Mayors as possible, any mistakes are my own and I would welcome any missing photos or corrections.

YearMayor
1922 – 1968 Mayor of Redcar
1922Benjamin Owen Davies
1923Benjamin Owen Davies
1924Benjamin Owen Davies200Benjamin Owen Davies
1925William Wardman
1926Walter Sacker Hill 
1927Walter Sacker Hill 
1928William Metcalf
1929William Metcalf
1930John Emmerson Batty
1931Isabel Lonsdale
1932William Charlton
1933William Morris
1934William Morris
1935John William Farren
1936John Robert Nixon
1937David Roddie Semple
1938Richard Spellman 
1939Joseph Coupland
1940Charlie Harris (Killed in Zetland Club Air Raid)
1941William Arthur Place 
1942George Cruddas 
1943Albert Walker Chaplin
1944James Thomas Fletcher 
1945John Spurr Dixon 
1946Robert James Gillingham
1947Sydney George Shillito
(Term of Office moved from May-May to Nov-Nov)
1949Fred Laidley Wilson 
1950James William Coles 
1951Thomas Alexander Dougall 
1952Robert Hodgart Cowie
1953William Atkinson 
1954Reginald Kistler 
1954George Fall Andrew
(Took over after unexpected death of Kistler, hence two mayors for 1954)		 
1955Edward Bradburn 
1956Charles Rand
1957Stanley Linford
1958Ronald Hall 
1959Henry Armstrong Darling
1960George William Thorne
1961Philip Harvey
1962Albert William Kidd
1963Stanley Brotton
1964Joseph Coupland
1965Gordon Timperley Thornton
1966Lancelot Harold Barker
1967Hannah Cunningham 
1968 – 1974 Mayor of Teesside
1968John Appleby Brown 
1969Frederick Talbot Webster
1970Gordon Timperley Thornton
1971Ronald Hall
1972Maurice Sutherland
1973Leonard Poole
1974 – 1988 Mayor of Langbaugh
1974Gordon W Hodgson
1975J Morgan
1976Jack S Dyball
1977Leonard A Douglass
1978Pat J Zoryk
1979Ivy M Cole
1980Terry Collins
1981Norman Lantsbery
1982William Herlingshaw
1983Ron Jones
(thanks to Linda Jones for the image of Ronald and Muriel)
1984Steve Kay
1985Arthur S Seed
1986Les Morgan
1987Neil L Loughran
1988 – 1996 Mayor of Langbaurgh-on-Tees
1988D.W. Lane
1989Doug Moore
1990Beatrice S Lythgoe
1991Arthur F Harvison.
1992Brenda Forster
1993Vince Teasdale
1994Sam Tombe
1995Peter Todd
1996 – present : Mayor of Redcar and Cleveland
1996Frances E.W. Christie
1997Kath McBride
1998Garth Houchen
1999Mike Stephen
2000Robert Arthur Dobson
2001Vilma Collins
2002Eric Michael Jackson
2003Norah Cooney
2004Marjorie E Moses
2005Peter G.E. Spencer.
2006Mary Ovens
2007Wendy Wall
2008Mike Findley
2009Brian Briggs
2010Ray Goddard
2011Olwyn Peters
2012Denise Bunn
2013Vic Jeffries
2014Carole Simms
2015Brenda Forster
2016Barry Hunt
2017Karen King
2018Dennis Teasdale
2019Billy Wells
2020Carole Morgan
2021Carole Morgan
(Re-invested due to Covid in 2020)

The Redcar – Saltburn Border, Coast Road

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Saltburn Urban District Council has existed since 1894, while Redcar only became a Borough in 1922, so this marker post must have been placed after that date. Neither have existed since the formation of the ‘County Borough of Teesside’ in 1968.

Redcar Saltburn Boundary

It may have been required to mark the boundary when the Coast Road was first opened in 1923, although this could be a later marker.

Coast Road opening.

St Peters Redcar, Foundation Stone

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The foundation stone for St Peters in Redcar was laid on Monday 30th June 1823, with the events of the day being reported in detail in the Durham County Advertiser.

Durham County Advertiser 1823

I wonder if the ‘time-capsule’ of documents and coins is still inside the building, or whether it was disturbed by later changes, a rough translation of the Latin inscription is :-

The first stone is placed
Feast of St Peter 1823

King George IV Ruling
Edward Venables Vernon, Archbishop of York
Baron Lawrence Dundas, Lord of Manor
Joseph Harrison, Vicar

Fund raising and completion was a major a problem and the £1100 costs had become £2700 by it was finally finished in 1829.

This etching is said to date from 1826, so the church was incomplete at this point and it may have still been an impression of what it should look like.

1826 etching

Things to notice about this compared to St Peters today are that no clock is visible (this was added in 1835) and there are only 4 sets of windows at the side not 5 (the church was extended in 1848) and no Lady Chapel at the rear (built much later in 1926)

Redcar Rinkeries – Roller Skating Rink

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This wonderful photograph from Redcar is regularly mis-identified as either Redcar Pier Ballroom or Coatham Pier (The Glasshouse / Regent Cinema)

Redcar Rinkeries

Fortunately, Fred Brunskill is in possession of a glass-plate negative which is labeled “Redcar Rinkeries” which gives us the clue to the actual location. An advert for Redcar Rinkeries is shown in the 1910 Bennetts Directory and gives the address as Redcar Lane

1910 Bennetts Directory

This Gazette article from May 1909 describes the opening day again with a location on Redcar Lane that is away from houses. The manager was T. B. Freeman and the building was erected by Henry McNaughton

Adverts for the Redcar Rinkeries appear throughout 1909, with Miss Jobbing named as the ladies instructor and special events with late trains arranged from Grangetown and South Bank.

However the Rinkeries don’t seem to have been a success, perhaps due to being quite a distance out of town at the time and there are no further mentions after 1910, due to the short-lived nature of the business, perhaps the people in the photograph include Mr Freeman and Miss Jobbing?

Historic mapping shows only one possible location. A large structure on Redcar Lane is shown on the 1913 map (marked in red) that wasn’t there in 1894. By 1927 it has been removed and replaced by 65-75 Redcar Lane. So the Rinkeries stood between the end of Ings Road and the Furlongs

Redcar Working Mens Unionist Club, 1926

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Redcar Working Mens Unionist Club was opened by the Marquess of Zetland on the 11th August 1926. The “KT” indicates he was a member of “The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle”

Dene Grove 1926

Also present that day were local MP at the time Sir Park Goff and Mr W. C. Fawcett

Lawrence Dundas, 1st Marquess of Zetland (16 August 1844 – 11 March 1929)
Sir Park Goff, 1st Bt, by Bassano Ltd - NPG x74944
Sir Park Goff, 1st Bt
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 30 June 1920
NPG x74944
© National Portrait Gallery, London

Borough of Redcar Grate and Manhole Cover – Anderston Foundry

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I don’t think it’s possible to stay any closer to home as this is outside my house and I had never noticed it. Most grates have been changed and modernised over the years, but I seem to have an original from the Borough of Redcar. The 1934 date ties in with the construction of my street in Redcar East.

Redcar Grate
Borough or Redcar 1934

Anderston Foundry was based in Glasgow, but expanded to Middlesbrough in 1874, being based at Port Clarence on the North bank of the Tees, next to the Transporter Bridge.

Anderston Foundary

A couple of steps further away is a Borough or Redcar manhole cover, presumable also an original from 1934, i’m going to hazard a guess that the central AFC logo is for the Anderston Foundry Company.

Redcar Manhole

East Cleveland Baptist Church 1928

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The current travel restrictions mean i’ve been able to take a closer a look at things very close to home in a lot more detail.

East Cleveland Baptist Church

The East Cleveland Baptist Church has a large number of inscribed stones on the Stanley Grove side that I had never noticed before. Mr A R Doggart J.P is named as the President in 1928, so I suspect that’s the date the building was erected.

East Cleveland Baptist Church
Members of the Church Mrs M J Agar, Mr A R Doggart J.P President 1928

Arthur Robert Doggart was President of the Baptist Union at this time and remained so until his death in 1932. Doggarts owned a chain of department stores based in Bishop Auckland.

Arthur Robert Doggart
Doggarts 1917 advert
East Cleveland Baptist Church
Dr Wynne Williams, Alderman J Morland
Alderman J Morland, died in 1934
East Cleveland Baptist Church
Mrs McGregor, Mrs Hickson, Mrs S Foster, Mr T Potter, Mr J. W. Slack
East Cleveland Baptist Church
Miss Anderson, Miss Murray, Children of the Sunday School , (Angus Stewart ?)

Fortunately I have found a news report about the ceremony in which these stones were laid on Saturday 15 December 1928. The building cost £3170.

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer – Monday 17 December 1928

Athina Livanos at Coatham 1937

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The rocks and beach at Redcar have witnessed hundreds of shipwrecks and groundings over the years. So I took a gamble when I purchased an unlabelled photo album at a local auction, hoping that what I was looking at were previously unpublished photographs of one such incident.

Athina Livanos at Coatham 1937

With just the sea in the background, the only clue was some Greek writing visible on the back of the ship. “AΘHNA ΛIBANOY  XIOΣ” which after a little research I was able to translate as “Athina Livanos Chios”

Chios is the fifth largest Greek island and was the birthplace of Greek shipping magnate Stavros Livanos. The ship was named after Athina, his second daughter. Despite the Greek name and ownership, the Athina Livanos was a 4824 ton steamer built by Grays of Hartlepool with a yard number of 1065. The engines came from the Central Marine Engine Works which was also part of Grays. She was launched on 3rd September 1936 and completed during October 1936 at a cost of £75,000.

The beaching at Redcar which was near Tod Point took very soon afterwards on 28th February 1937. It was a major story at the time as a Pathe News clip exists of the incident at http://www.britishpathe.com/video/coatham

Athina Livanos at Coatham 1937

Athina Livanos was just one of a series of ships built by Grays for the Livanos Maritime Company. There were ships named Eugenie Livanos, Evi Livanos, G.S. Livanos, George M. Livanos, Mary Livanos, Michael Livanos and Theofano Livanos after other family members.

The Athina Livanos was lost on 29th November 1943 while carry coal from Lourenco Marques in Mozambique (now known as Maputo) to Beirut and Tripoli. She was torpedoed in the Gulf of Aden by the Japanese submarine I-27, nine sailors and two passengers lost the lives. Submarine I-27 was itself sunk in the Indian Ocean on 12th February 1944 by HMS Paladin and HMS Petard but not before it had attacked and sunk the SS Khedive Ismail killing 1,297 people.

The real-life Athina Livanos went on to be the first wife of shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis who later married Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Her second husband was John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, cousin of Sir Winston Churchill. Her final husband, before her death in 1974, was another Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos.

I originally wrote this article for the Evening Gazette back in July 2013.

Smugglers take potshots at Coatham – July 1780

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Newcastle Courant – Saturday 05 August 1780

On the 20th past a smuggling Lugger, under Dutch colours, carrying two six-pounders, six four-pounders, a number of swivels, and 30 stout men, each armed with a long pistol and a cutlass, was taken by two of her majesty’s Cutters, as she was rising at anchor near Marske and Saltburn, in Cleveland. When the cutters appeared, the lugger sent off a coble with 80 tubs of gin, (the remainder of 1000) each tub containing from 17 to 20 quarts, towards Marske, which being observed by the headmost cutter, she sent out her long boat, well manned, to seize it, which they did. During the chase, the smuggler fired two pieces of cannon at the long-boat without effect. On seeing the other cutter coming up, all the smugglers, ; except two men and a boy, escaped in their longboats to Saltburn. Had not the smuggler fired on the cutter’s men, she could not have been seized, as no uncustomed goods were found board. The same evening the two cutters’ sailed with her for Shields, where it is thought she will be condemned. She is a fine new vessel, built Flushing (Vlissingen) by a company of gentlemen, and this was only her second voyage. There was 20 shillings in cash found on board. About two days before she was taken, she was lying off Redcar, she had the impudence to fire a four-pounder at a bathing-house near Coatham, where some young ladies were going to bathe, and the ball was taken by a young gentleman within twenty yards of the house.

On the 23rd past 90 bags of tea, each containing about 12lb were seized at Coatham by some Custom-house officers assisted by about a dozen of the Light horse from Stockton