Rules! No Party Politics,swearing,derogatory remarks or we will delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'.
A Local History lesson
Posted by Norman Dunn on 15/2/2025, 1:58 pm
A story about the Morris twins in 1903.
OCTAGENARIAN TWINS AT PELAW MAIN
Sept 19th 1903 was the eightieth birthday of twin brothers, John and David Morris, of Pelaw Main, who for 56 years have carried on business at the same place as boat builders and ship repairer’s. They are the oldest existing firm of this kind on the banks of the Tyne. They were born in a farm house which stood upon a portion of the site of the works, and they have never been more than a mile removed from the spot where they first saw the light. The brothers have lived a long and industrious life in what was once a pleasantly sequestered bend of the river and which is now little frequented except by those engaged in the shipment of coal at the adjacent coal spouts. The two veterans are the sons of John Christopher Morris, who was a shipwright, and also served in the Royal Navy, being present at the taking of Java, Batavia, and Borneo. His service medal was long cherished by his son, Mr. John Morris. The twins were apprenticed to be shipwrights and boatbuilders, and they succeeded in establishing an industry, which is carried on to this day with considerable activity. They are hardy specimens of a generation of Tynesiders seldom to be met with now. They are Freemen of the City of Newcastle, and until recently Mr. John Morris took an active part in public affairs. He was a member of the local School Board, and for twenty years occupied a seat on the Hebburn Local Board. He also served as a steward of the Shipwrights' Society. Mr. David Morris has not been a representative on any of the local bodies, but he has always taken a keen interest in the well-being of the neighbourhood. Mr. John Morris is a trifle deaf, but in other respects exhibits wonderful vitality. Neither of the brothers are abstainers or non-smokers, but they have been exceedingly moderate in their potations all their lives, and do not indulge freely in the use of the weed. Mr. John Morris, until quite recently, had never required the attention of a doctor, and equal good health has been enjoyed by David, although it may be mentioned the latter had an illness some three years ago. Mrs John Morris is still alive, but David Morris is a widower. They live as neighbours in cottages of cosy appearance, erected of wood, on an eminence which commands a view of the Tyne for a long way eastward and westward. To-day the twin octagenarians will receive the congratulations of their relatives and, many friends residing at Pelaw Main and the immediate locality. Here below is an addition from my family memories
My mam Marian Dunn nee Rodgers had McNeill’s in her family. When the Tennants Chemical Works on the riverside closed down, property where their chemists & managers lived was put up to be rented out as 3 separate homes called ‘Tyne View Tce’. My aunty Jane McNeill knew the Hebburn ‘Estate agent’ well and because she had a large family he offered her the opportunity of renting the newly vacant ‘Tyne View Tce’. So the McNeill’s moved into ‘Tyne View’ in the 1930s & also a family called Sewell moved in next door. Mrs Sewell became well known as a Piano teacher at Tyne View. As a young teenager my mam Marian Rodgers and her sister Cecilia (Celie) often visited Tyne View. Mam once told me that her aunt Jane McNeill (that we called ‘aunty Jinny) often sent meals along for ‘old Morris’ who lived alone in his wooden house minutes away along the riverside. My mam was born 1922 so ‘old Morris’ she remembered must have been David the son of one of a Morris twin.. Mam and teenage cousin Jenny McNeill often took ‘old Morris’s ‘ meals and sometimes he’d drop a rope down from the upstairs window and haul the bag up with the meal in. Mam said sometimes her and Jenny were invited in and she remembered seeing models of boats in glass cases that the ‘Morris Co’ had built . I wonder what happened to those? ‘Old Morris’ was artistic and one day he asked mam if he could paint her but I don’t think she did or she’d have told me.
Many years later my cousin George Dent the first child of aunty Esther McNeill who was brought up at Tyne view told me a family story from WW2. He said during WW2 someone was walking along the riverside & spotted binoculars being used from Mr Morris’s window, possibly spying on the shipyards, so it was reported to the authorities thinking it could possibly be a German Spy. This was checked out & they found it was old Morris with his binoculars . He said that he had seen some work being done in the ship yards & ‘he wouldn’t have done it that way as there is an easier way;. That remark got back to the shipyard boss’s so they invited old Morris to meet them & a car was sent to take him to their Offices in Wallsend. They knew the Morris’s were an old established boat building business from as far back as the 1800s, and seriously took notice of what he had said. After that they used to send a car for him & started using him as some kind of consultant. Norman Dunn
Norman, a very interesting story. I was born in Hebburn and it was my home for 30 years. Like John, in all the years I lived in Hebburn, I knew very little about the banks of the Tyne area. I remember from school visiting Bridgie Lee’s house, also Mary Riley and Margaret Campbell, but never knew the name of the street or how to get there.
A fascinating look at the past, really interesting and informative, no wonder this is such a fantastic board which I look forward to reading every day.
Rules! No Party Politics,swearing,derogatory remarks or we will delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'.
