The History of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1793-1896 ... With ... illustrations

Preface

. A BOOK which must perforce be written in the irregular and infrequent leisure of a busy professional life, is sure to be fruitful in faults. That the curious reader will find more than enough in this book I doubt not, but I pray him to set down some of the frequent repetitions, for example, to the abiding sense of the writer that most persons will but dip into such a work, perusing carefully, at the most, such chapters only as may directly appeal to their special interest. For other faults the reader may find some excuse in the love which I bear for a Society of which I have been a member for forty-three years, during thirty-three of which I have had the honour and privilege of serving it. That its story ought to be told has long been present to my mind, and the attachment of the narrator may perchance be permitted somewhat to condone the imperfections of his narration. I have to acknowledge, with much gratitude, the ready response which the many friends to whom I have applied for A*

PREFACE.

. VI information have made to my requests. Especially must I thank the bodies of management of public and private institu tions, and the ladies and gentlemen, who have enabled me to enrich my little volume with illustrations, many of which are portraits of those who have made our Society famous. I have avoided, as much as may be, speaking of the eminent men who are still with us, and who hand on to the future the fine traditions of the past. In only one case have I inserted the likeness of a living person, but that case is so exceptional that every one will agree in the propriety of my action. Lord Armstrong's services to the Society have been unvarying and invaluable over a period of half-a-century. ROBERT SPENCE WATSON. Bensham Grove, December ioth, 1896. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. Newcastle a Century Ago . . . . i II.

Our Predecessors . . . . .12 III. The Birth and Infancy of the Society . . 33 IV. The Building of the House . . . 65 V. The Society at Home . . . . .88 VI. Its Growth and its Changes . . 115 VII. Monthly Meetings ..... 134 VIII. The Library . . . . . . 173 IX. Lectures ...... 202 X. Lectures — continued . . . . .226 XL The part which the Society has played in the promotion of Education in the City of Newcastle ...... 260 XII. The Mother of many Societies . . . 292 XIII. The Centenary, and after .... 320 Appendix A — Paper by Mr. William Thomas . 331 „ B — Lectures and Lecturers . . 339 „ C — Honorary Officials . . . 367 Index ....... LIST of illustrations. PAGE LORD ARMSTRONG, C.B., F.R.S. . . . Frontispiece By W. B. Richmond, R.A. ; in the possession of Lord Armstrong. VIEW OF NEWCASTLE FROM GATESHEAD DURING SEVERE FROST IN MARCH 1 784 . 4 From a drawing in the possession of the Author.

On the back of this drawing is written : " This view of part of the town of New castle, and representing the Tyne frozen over, is unique. The artist's name is not given, but the date, 1784, marks the time of its execution. In that year there was a severe storm of frost and snow, when the Tyne was three times frozen over in one month, a circumstance not before remembered by the oldest person living. The Castle appears in its original state. Tyne Bridge (with its oil lamps) had been completed some three years. The venerable Chapel of St. Thomas, with the old Exchange, and the famous crow's nest on the pinnacle of its spire, is introduced for the first time in this drawing, sketched from nature. A pair of crows first began to build their nest upon the top of the vane in March 1783. During the severe winter of the following year the crows had a very comfortable home; here they resided for some years, hatching and rearing their young, but not without a very determined resistance from some other crows, who appeared envious of their curious and novel structure.

All on a sudden the birds left, without any apparent cause, and never returned to it again. 'Coming events' had 'cast their shadows before.' Not long after their departure the Exchange took fire. Had they re mained, not only their skilfully-built nest, but its feathered inmates would have been destroyed." — R. Robinson, Bewick's Head — November 1874." By using a powerful magnifier I find the artist's name and the date— "R. O. Clark— March 17S4." LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. X PAGE GROUP OF MERCHANTS ON 'CHANGE (c. 1826) 10 From a drawing belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society, and by Joseph Crawhall. THE VICARAGE, WESTGATE STREET (1856) From a drawing in the possession of the Author. 34 THE FORTH (1840) 5S From a drawing in the possession of the Author. JOHN GEORGE LAMBTON, M.P., AFTERWARDS THE FIRST EARL OF DURHAM ..... 68 From a copy of Sir Thomas Lawrence's (P.R.A.) portrait, by R. R. Reinagle, R.A. , belonging to the Newcastle Liberal Club.

SIR J. E. SWINBURNE, BART., F.R.S. AND F.S.A. 7- From a portrait by T. Phillips, R.A., belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society. 82 THE DUKE OF SUSSEX, K.G. From a portrait by Richard Wilson, belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society. FRONT VIEW OF THE SOCIETY'S BUILDING 9- CHARLES HUTTON, LL.D., F.R.S. IOO From a portrait by Andrew Morton, belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society. THOMAS DOUBLEDAY 104 From a photograph in the possession of Philip Wood, Esq., Head Master of the Darlington Grammar School. WILLIAM KENNETH LOFTUS 10S From a photograph in the possession of the Literary and Philosophical Society. DR. HEADLAM 120 From a silhouette in the possession of the Author. LLST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XI PAGE 130 JOSEPH WATSON From a photograph in the possession of the Author. 146 GEORGE STEPHENSON From the copy of a portrait by John Lucas made by C. A. Mitchell, and by him presented to the Literary and Philosophical Society. 168 ROBERT STEPHENSON, M.P., F.R.S. From a portrait by John Lucas, in the possession of the Literary and Philosophical Society.

THE REV. E. MOISES J74 From a portrait by Mr. Andrews, belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society. l82 INTERIOR OF THE OLD LIBRARY 196 INTERIOR OF THE NEW WING OF THE LIBRARY FACSIMILE OF DR. KATTERFELTO's BILL OF LECTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS ..... 206 THE REV. WILLIAM TURNER 222 From a portrait by Andrew Morton, belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society. 228 HUGH LEE PATTINSON From a portrait by T. Carrick, belonging to Mrs. W. W. Pattinson. THOMAS SOPWITH, F.R.S. 244 From a photograph belonging to Mrs. Sopwith. 248 JOHN COLLINGWOOD BRUCE, D.C.L., LL.D, From a photograph. JOHN CLAYTON, F.S.A. 256 From a portrait by H. T. Wells, R.A., belonging to the Corporation of Newcastle. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 262 EARL GREY, PRIME MINISTER IN 1832 From a portrait by J. Ramsay, belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society.

T. M. GREENHOW 270 From a photograph in the possession of Dr. Philipson. 2S2 NICHOLAS WOOD, C.E., F.R.S. From a portrait by R. Turner, belonging to the Mining Institute. 296 THOMAS BEWICK From a portrait by T. J. Good, belonging to the Natural History Society. ALBANY HANCOCK 310 From a photograph in the possession of the Natural History Society. JOHN HANCOCK 312 From a portrait by F. H. Michael, belonging to the Natural History Society. 318 JOHN BUDDLE From a portrait by J. Ramsay, belonging to the Mining Institute. LORD ARMSTRONG, C.B., F.R.S. 320 From a portrait by M. L. Waller, belonging to the Corporation of Newcastle. THE RUINS, FEBRUARY 8TH, 1 893 322 From a photograph by Mr. F. Park, of Collingwood Street. It was intended that a portrait of the Rev. James Snape, D.D., should have appeared among the illustrations.

A lithograph was kindly furnished by the Rev. R. W. Snape for this purpose. It has been unfortunately mislaid, to the Author's great regret. The statement on page no, that the Society has no portrait of Thomas Bewick, is incorrect.

Chapter I. Newcastle

A CENTURY AGO. CENTURY ago Newcastle-upon-Tyne was fully recognised as a great industrial centre. Thanks to the proximity of the Northern coal-field, which had from time immemorial been the most important in Great Britain, it had many centuries of more than local fame to look back upon. Since the twenty-eighth year of Henry III.'s reign (1244 A.D.) it had been governed by a Mayor chosen by the burgesses ; and Henry IV., in the last year of the fourteenth century, conferred upon it all the privileges of a distinct county with its own Lord Lieutenant, Sheriff, and Magistrates: it should "be a county of itself with the title of the County of the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne." Although it has possessed this dignity ever since, for seven hundred years, persons may even yet be found who speak of it as in the county of Northumberland !

Placed upon the northern side of a steep, deep, and richly wooded glen ; connected with its opposite neighbour, little Gateshead (inaptly, perhaps, described as "a dirty lane leading to Newcastle"), by a handsome stone bridge crossing the broad, clear, and beautiful river Tyne, the abode of lordly salmon and delicious trout; rejoicing in a bright and dry atmosphere ; swept by bracing but not unkindly breezes ; and with a variable yet, on the whole, genial climate ; it was truly a pleasant habitation. in x759> John Wesley had written of it: "Certainly, if I did not believe there was another world, I would spend all my summers here, as I know no place in Great Britain comparable to it for pleasantness." At that time there were probably some thirty thousand people in the canny old town and Gateshead, who had, as they best might, to reconcile the spending of all their summers there with such belief in another world as was vouchsafed to them.

Nearer to the close of last century, another writer called it " an ancient, large, disagreeable, and dirty town." Even at the present day those who are so fortunate as to inhabit it would dispute the accuracy of such a description. But no one could deny the correctness of the "Town Improvement Act" of 1786, which declared in its preamble that "the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is very large and populous." It was a walled town, and had been walled since the earliest years of its existence. We know, indeed, nothing of it when it was the Pons Ælii of the Romans or the monastic Monkchester, but most of it may well have been contained within the walls which surrounded the castle garth, the yard of the new castle which Robert Courthose began to build in the year 1080.

Finished by William Rufus, that new castle soon looked down upon a spreading town, the growth of which was savoured and fostered by succeeding monarchs. Its position near the " gate of Scotland " gave it a special importance, for the restlessness of their Scotch neighbours demanded constant care on the part of the dwellers in the chief Border town of England. In the reign of Edward I. the Newcastle people began to construct new walls, eight feet thick and twelve feet high, which had strong turrets at every angle, and important towers, of pleasing variety of design and dimensions, at each of the different en trances to the town. At least one of these, the Newgate, was itself a great castle, having its moat and drawbridge, as well as the heavy gate and portcullis which were common to all the towers alike.

Writing in the middle of the sixteenth century, Leland says, "The strength and magnificense of the waulling of this towne far passith al the waulles of the cities of England, and most of the townes of Europe." Excepting towards the river, these walls and towers were still perfect a century ago. The Quay side portion had been removed in 1762. The last to be completed, in Edward III.'s reign, it was the first to be taken down ; the Privy Council ordering its destruction upon the petition ofthe Corporation, which stated that it was no longer of any use for defence, but a very great obstruction to carriages and hindrance to the despatch of business. Some of the town gates began to give trouble upon market-days and during festival seasons, and our Scotch neighbours acquired the art of getting the better of us by gentler means, so that only a few relics of the ancient defences of the town now remain.

There was but little building outside the walls a century ago. The town might fairly be described as having been enclosed by them ; and within the enclosure there was room for the crofts, fields, and gardens, which, with their abundant trees, gave the quaint old Border stronghold its unique charm. It was indeed, a few years earlier, " a place of broad rivers and streams." Where Dean Street now stands, the Lorke Burn flowed down to join the Tyne, its steep and dangerous banks being crossed by stone bridges, the Upper Dean Bridge and the Low Bridge, the latter not being removed until the year 1788 to allow of the opening ofthe new street. Grey states in his Chorographia that the Picts Wall came over the " neather Deane Bridge, and that boats came under it from the river, and so along into Pandon, as appears by the rings that in many places are to be seen at this day" (1649).

These boats brought wares and commodities for the merchants whose shops and warehouses were in the Flesh Market. The site of the arch still bears the name of the " Low Bridge," and Bourne thinks that the adjoining Painter Heugh preserves the memory of the time when boats used to be moored to the heugh, haugh, or steep side of the stream by ropes fastened to their bows, and yet known as painters. But so far as I have been able to ascertain, there is no evidence that the term "painter" was applied to boat ropes until a comparatively recent date, whereas the name " Paynter Hugh" is said to have occurred in a deed once preserved in the vestry of All Saints' Church, and of the year 1373. On the other hand, a place at the north of this lane still known as Painter Heugh was called " Pencher Place," and the Paynter of 1373 may well have been the Pencher of a yet earlier date.* A century ago, the Sandhill — once a naked hill of sand " where were wont to assemble the inhabitants for their recrea tion " — was the great market-place of the town ; and round it, and along the Close, many of the principal inhabitants of the town, and some of the county nobility and gentry, had handsome dwelling-houses.

There, too, stood the stately Mansion House, built in 1691 at a cost of £6000, with its terrace overlooking the * It is, perhaps, dangerous to remind the reader that we have a Penshaw, or Pencher, in the County of Durham, which, it is claimed, derives its name from the British word Pen, a hill, and the old English word Scua, a shade, and thus a shaded place, a wooded place; or, possibly, the British word Sceach, a bramble. view of Newcastle from gateshead during severe frost in march, 17S4. river, and the broad flight of steps leading down to the spot where the somewhat gaudy Corporation barge lay moored, which proved so dangerous an attraction to "my Lord 'Size." Here did successive mayors exercise great, and at times inconvenient, civic hospitality, towards which the town contributed £2000 a year and an extensive cellar of choice wines.

The Guildhall, in which the courts were held, stood between the Sandhill and the river, almost exactly opposite to the picturesque house whence "on the night of the 18th November, 1772, Miss Bessie Surtees descended by a ladder into the arms of her lover, from a window," and the future Lord Eldon, then plain John Scott, bore her safely "o'er the Borders and awa'." That early hours were the fashion in those days is shown by one of the old rules of the Burgess and Non-Burgess Courts, which provided that solicitors attending them were not to appear in their dressing gowns and slippers. The town was for the first time lighted by oil lamps and a regular nightly watch established in 1763. I have said that at times the hospitality of the Mansion House was so great as to be inconvenient. I may illustrate this by the tale which used to be told about a worthy alderman who, having built a house on the top of the steep bank north of the Close, and near Hanover Square, with a garden running down the bank, found himself seriously inconvenienced by the volumes of black smoke which constantly issued from the Mansion House chimneys.

Remonstrances having proved of no avail, he at length sued the Mayor and Corporation for damages. The great Henry Brougham, or " Hairy Brum," as the Newcastle folk fondly called him, was then the leader of the Northern Circuit, and he was duly retained for the defendant authorities. But alas ! when injured Alderman S. was in the witness-box, and was arousing the sympathies of his fellow-townsmen in the jury-box with a detailed recital of how his health and that of NE WCASTLE A CENTUR Y AGO. his wife and family had been rudely shattered by the perpetual smoke, the learned leader seemed to be wrapped in profound and peaceful sleep. His wig was over his eyes, his hands were where his pockets would have embraced them nowadays, his head nodded gently as though in unconscious acquiescence. At length, the examination in chief being finished, it was time for the alderman's cross-examination to begin.

His junior must at all hazards arouse the chief, and gently whispered into the ear of the all-but-lost leader, who was at once on his feet. Pushing back his wig and staring strangely round the court as one who awaketh from a dream, his eye fell on Alderman S., whom he had met once before at an Assize Ball. " Ah! Alderman S., I hope you're very well ? " Delighted at the friendly recogni tion, the unsuspecting alderman replied, " Quite well, sir, quite : thank you very much." " And Mrs. S. ? " The yet more delighted alderman, " Oh yes, sir, indeed : it's very good of you to remember her. She never was better in her life." " And your family?" "Yes, yes, perfectly well, perfectly well. I shall never forget your kindness." " Ah, yes ! you may stand down." The damages are said to have been nominal.

Nearly all of the traffic by land between Scotland and that part of England which is now served by the East Coast railways had to come down the precipitous Bottle Bank in Gateshead, and up the narrow and tortuous Side, the principal street of Newcastle, picturesque enough, but decidedly inconvenient. At the top of that steep and difficult thoroughfare stood the " Cock " tavern, whence the mail, the only coach between Newcastle and London, started three times a week, making the journey in two nights and three days. Nearly two days were required to reach Edinburgh, and eighteen hours were all too few for crossing the island to Carlisle. Gigs or comfortables conveyed passengers by land to the towns near the mouth of the river, and wherries carried those who preferred the passage by water. Persons who could not walk or ride on horseback were borne in sedan-chairs from one part of the town to another.

These chairs were still occasionally used half a century ago, and had certain advantages. The lady who, "going out to cards or tea," wished to avoid damp feet, stepped into her chair in her own hall, and out of it in that of her entertainer, without the least exposure to the elements — a luxury unknown in our advanced days. It seems to us, as we look backwards, that life a century ago must have been a quiet, slow, rather easy performance, with neither telegrams nor telephones, with eightpence to pay on every half-ounce London letter, and only weekly newspapers. But, as I have said, Newcastle was already, and had been for centuries, an important industrial centre. She had almost as much communication by land with the rest ofthe country as any other large town, and much more by water than even most seaports.

The water transit was better adapted for goods than for persons, for the delays were sometimes prolonged. Thomas Bewick was a month upon the voyage when he first visited London in 1776. The custom was to make a bargain with the captain of a " coaster " to take you up for a certain sum (usually a guinea), all found, and, when the chances of contrary winds or calms are taken into consideration, the charges were not exorbitant. It is difficult to speak with certainty of the actual amount of work done by sea in connection with the port of Tyne a century ago. I find it stated in 1772 that no fewer than 950 ships then entered our port annually; but our fine local song, "Canny Newcassel," was written in 1818, and it says— " Wiv uz, man, three hundred ships sail iv a tide." Perhaps we might take a medium course between these two statements to get at a reasonable approximation to the fact for 1793.

At all events, at the earlier date it was also written : — ■ "The trade and shipping of this place are very considerable, and have always made it of the utmost consequence. Besides its necessary services in supplying a great part of the nation with coals, etc., and the very great revenues arising from thence it is of the greatest consequence as a nursery for brave and hardy seamen who have always struck such a terror into the hearts of all the enemies of Great Britain, that, whenever a rupture happened with any foreign power, attacks upon this branch of commerce and body of men were always studiously avoided. " Besides the home and coast trade, the foreign trade of Newcastle, in general, is with Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Poland ; besides occasional ships to and from America, the West Indies, etc., and four or five fitted out every season for the Greenland fishery.

The manufacture of steel and both cast and wrought iron in this neighbourhood are very considerable ; that for wrought iron, at Swalwell, about three miles from Newcastle, up the river, commonly called Crawley's Works, being the greatest in England. Here is also a considerable manufactory of broad and narrow woollen cloth (in Gateshead), and two sugar-houses which have been established here for some time. Likewise two public offices of insurance upon ships and merchandise, and three printing offices whose weekly newspapers circulate several hundred miles." There was also a dark side to the life of this district at the time of which I write. The punishment of death was inflicted with startling frequency for crimes against property. The stocks were in frequent use. On 23rd October, 1790, "a woman was exalted on a pillory erected on purpose, in the centre of the Sandhill, for perjury.

She was exhibited from twelve o'clock to one o'clock." The terrible scourge of the pressgang was constantly at work, at times arousing bitter but ineffectual resistance. On the 26th April, 1793, "most extraordinary preparations for impressing were made by the crews of the armed vessels lying in Shields harbour. That night the regi ment at Tynemouth barracks was drawn up and formed into a cordon round North Shields to prevent any person from escaping. The different pressgangs then began, when sailors, mechanics, labourers, and men of every description, to the amount of two hundred and fifty, were forced on board the armed ships." How many of those stolen men ever again saw wife, or child, or home ? Only the year before, "a petition to parliament was agreed on by the inhabitants of Newcastle and Gateshead, for the abolition of the slave-trade.

The whole kingdom appeared at this time to be interested in the degraded state of the poor blacks. Newcastle, in particular, has ever been foremost in craving parliament to exert its powers, and do away with that traffic in human flesh." But there was no petition for the poor whites, the " brave and hardy seamen," and yet the poet had said — " Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same." Highwaymen were not unknown : so near to us as on Gates head Fell even the royal mail being robbed. And in public places in our city quack doctors were permitted to place them selves, and young women " troubled with a scorbutic disorder," naked in the earth, and covered up to their lips, from noon to six o'clock at night, in the presence of "great numbers who attended to see this curious exhibition."

But we need not dwell too much upon this dark side of our NE WCA S TLE A CENTU R Y A GO. RO local life a century ago. Where and when shall we look upon the shield of human existence which is gold throughout? No doubt in some things we are better than our fathers. It would take away the chief inducement to endeavour, if this were not so. More especially has the lot of the poor amongst us gone through a mighty change for the better. But we are constrained to admit that we have lost something in making the gain — '• E'en though better follow, good must pass," and with the disappearance of the quaint old houses, and keels, and hustings, and stately processions to meet the judges, much of the picturesqueness has gone out of life. Look at the delightful old picture of " Some Newcastle Worthies," which is one of the recent acquisitions of the Literary and Philosophical Society, and see the 'Change as it once was, and you will be constrained to admit that this is really so.

Thus then, a century ago, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, without railways, steamers, trams, hansom or other cabs, penny post, telegrams, telephones, gas, electric light, daily papers, lucifer matches, primary schools, workhouses, policemen, grain ware houses, docks, slipways, High Level or Redheugh bridges, Elswick works, public libraries, town council, board of guardians, school board, trade unions, household franchise, building societies, co-operative stores, gin palaces, lunatic as) Iums, or other nineteenth century fin-de-siecle joys or sorrows, was a busy and important place, with, for that period, somewhat unusual facilities of communication with the rest of the world. She had abundantly shown that she was fully abreast of other places in the mental activity of her inhabitants. At one time, about the date of George III.'s accession to the throne (1760), there were at the Newcastle Grammar School, under the tuition of the Rev. Hugh Moises, two brothers Scott, William and John, and " a group of merchants on 'change (c. 1826).

Several of the gentlemen depicted above have been identified. On the extreme left is Sir Thomas Bunion, next him Mr. Job liolam, Mr. Ralph Naters, Mr. Thomas Logan, Mr. Thomas Cookson, Mr. Nathaniel Clayton (Town Clerk and father of Mr. John Clayton) leaning on his stick, and Alderman Forster, with hands in pockets, in the centre. A little behind him stands Alderman Cramlington, then Alderman Clayton, and Mr. Bewick in black ; whilst Mr. Crozier and Mr. Surtees flank, on either side, Mr. Cram, who is making the liberal display of pocket-handkerchief common to snuff-takers. The famous Recorder, Mr. Hopper Williamson, is the prominent figure on the right. NEWCASTLE A CENTURY AGO. 1 1 pretty and gentle boy," somewhat their junior, Cuthbert Colling wood. They were all to achieve great things, and to attain high rank amongst England's noblest sons.

William Scott, better known to history as Lord Stowell, presided over the High Court of Admiralty at a time when " England became the sole occupant of the sea, and held at her girdle the keys of all the harbours upon the globe." He framed and established a just and comprehensive system of maritime law, in decisions which are remarkable alike for their logical acumen and their classical style, and which have been accepted as having authority by every civilised nation in the world. His younger brother, John Scott, who became Lord Eldon in 1799, when he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, held the proud office of Lord Pligh Chancellor of England for a longer period than any other person before or since, "and, during a quarter of a century exercised an influence almost unprecedented in the Cabinets of successive Sovereigns."

And Cuthbert Colling wood, — the simple sailor, the stainless soul, the great admiral, who sleeps in St. Paul's Cathedral by the side of his not greater comrade, Lord Nelson, — combining loyalty to duty with courage and gentle courtesy, gave to our history one of the most heroic and beautiful lives which its pages record. But, a century ago, a change, undreamed of by any of the men whom I have named, was already beginning to show itself — a change which was to pass over the spirit of the world. The mighty deeds of the suture were to be those, not of the lawyer or the warrior, but of the man of science, still looked upon but as an idle dreamer or a machine-maker a century ago. No small share in those mighty deeds was to fall to our good old town, and in the brilliant scientific achievements of her most distinguished sons, the Society whose story I am to tell has borne an honourable part.