Posts by venue: Social History

Great North Greats – a guest post by David Wright

Great North Greats is an exhibition exploring the history of individuals that have made the North East what it is today. One of the region’s less well known individuals was Rachel Parsons, as revealed below by David Wright from Tyne… 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

Did your ancestors own shares?

I’m pleased to report that work is progressing well on the ‘Workshop of the World’ project to catalogue our Vickers Armstrong archives collection. I’ve recently been working on the Executive records of Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company Ltd, which… Read more

Ebola and Plague in Newcastle in 1636

We’ve all become aware of the recent awful effects of the Ebola virus in West Africa and its impact on the people of that area.  A range of responses have been put in place to try and help those affected and… 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