Posts by venue: Military History

Dazzle Painting of ships in the First World War and the model of ss Hindustan

Although we have hundreds of ship models in our collections, only one of them is dazzle painted.  The tramp steamer ss Hindustan was launched in July 1917 by Bartram and Sons Ltd., Sunderland and completed for the Hindustan Steam Shipping… Read more

Some Assembly Required

Every so often you come across a story so extraordinary that you can barely believe it really happened.  Such is the saga of the ss Baikal, which I stumbled upon whilst innocently cataloguing a box of old photographs… By 1895… Read more

First World War stories: A Headmaster’s view of the War part 2

In an earlier blog I looked at the first two months of the First World War through the eyes of Alfred Grundy, Headmaster of Whitburn Junior Mixed School. Grundy’s weekly entries in the School log book give us a fascinating… Read more

First World War Stories: Bringing the Unknown Warrior home

    The shipyard of R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn built many fine ships, perhaps none as admired as HMS Kelly. However, during the First World War the firm built a torpedo boat destroyer, which also has a… Read more

Family memories – a soldier’s Great War sketchbook

Recently, one of our visitors has shown us some interesting First World War drawings by his grandfather, Private James McGarrigle. A coal miner at Seaton Delaval before he joined up, Private McGarrigle was a soldier with 7th Northumberland Fusiliers Observation… Read more