Sir Charles Palmer and First Wife Jane

Born on November 3rd 1822, Sir Charles Mark Palmer a successful shipyard/steel company owner not only gave Jarrow much needed employment he was also responsible for the building of a much needed hospital.

He was married three times. His first wife Jane was the daughter of Ebenezer Robson who hailed out of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Jane gave birth to four children two of the children died one in infancy, and the other in his late 40′s. Charles Mark, and Charles respectfully. The two surviving sons were named George Robson, and Alfred Molyneux Palmer.

His first wife Jane died in 1865, and was more or less the reason he built the hospital. When an injury occurred the individual/individuals had to be taken by horse and cart to the Newcastle Infirmary. The journey was so bad that many of the injured never made it, sadly dying on the way there. Charles Palmer’s wife Jane had expressed her concern many times for the workers, with this in mind he felt the building of the hospital would be an appropriate memorial to her.

The hospital was given the name Palmer Memorial Hospital it opened its doors in the December of 1870. Running cost were met from the workers contributions and a annual grant from Palmer its-self. The staff included a full time doctor, matron and nurses. The hospital was a much needed improvement. As I mentioned earlier the injured were normally taken to the Newcastle Infirmary, and injury’s at the shipyard/steel works were often happening putting the lives of both men and boys at further risk after the initial injury.

In those days nets, hard hats and other safety features found in shipyards of the now where unheard of in those days. Sadly both men, and boys did die in accidents. One such accident saw a young boy of 14 years of age become entangled with a machine and was killed. Another incident saw a 38 year old man die when he was struck by a train as he crossed the company railway line.

Many of the workers working at the yard were Irishmen. These men had left their homeland to find work at the Jarrow yard. As the years went by a large community of Irish as well as Scott’s made there home in Jarrow, adding a valuable contribution to the town’s future and life-style.

Palmers Memorial Hospital

Although intended for the workers and their families by the late 1880′s when a new extension was built on to the existing hospital known as the Jubilee Wing the hospitals facilities by this time had been extended to the other residents of the town.

Sir Charles Palmer himself died on June 4, 1907. not long after the statue of himself was erected in the grounds of the hospital in 1904. However, this did not stop the company from investing more resources into the towns hospital. A new outpatients department was opened by Sir Alfred Molyneux Palmer In the December of 1920. The collapse of the company in 1933 saw the town council take over the upkeep of the hospital. The hospital its-self had stood for over 100 years, sadly as we moved further forward in time it became unworkable, then in November 1983, the closure of the hospital was the signing of its own death warrant and at a later date the hospital was demolished. The now finds us with a nice new hospital standing on the site of the demolished Palmer hospital. In the distance of the below photo you can see the original house that was attached to the old Palmer Hospital. I personally think the view back in the twenties was much more appealing than the cut and dried view of this modern day building.

New Palmer Hospital

That’s the way the cookie crumbles some people may say. I suppose that is the price we pay for modern technological advancement. This new version of the Palmer Community Hospital was completed in 1987 and was opened by HRH The Princess Royal. The hospital is still owned by the South Tyneside Health Authority. The picture shows what the new building looks like to-day. You can see in the distance the original house that was attached to the old Palmer Hospital.

Note:

Sir Charles Palmer is buried at Easington Parish Church, North Yorkshire. As and when I come across more info, I will update this short history of a mighty shipbuilding company and the work force that went with it.

Because I had an embedded link to a Youtube video on this page that contained some copyright content, the short sighted WMG (Warner Music Group) have blocked my, and all embedded links for this particular video on websites. However, if you would still like to watch the video the following Youtube link will open a new page where you can watch the video without fear of it being blocked by Big Brother. It will take you on a journey of The Jarrow Marchers in stills and video, The background song: The Jarrow Song … Singer Alan Price … another Geordie lad.

Notes:

• Charles Palmer and Jane – Image: Bede Gallery (1976)/ Bede’s World
• Palmer Memorial Hospital – Image: Bede Gallery (1976)/ Bede’s World

Sir Charles Palmer

The intention of the two brothers was to open their company in Jarrow, which back then was only a small colliery village, to build ships made from metal rather than wood. Jarrow is also the Monastic home of our earliest English historian the Venerable Bede. The early 1900′s would see the population of this small village grow to a town with more than 40,000 residents. Palmer shipyard would be the backbone of the working community and would become the one most single source of employment in Jarrow. However, sadly in later years to come (the great depression early 1930′s) this fact would lead to an almost living death for the workforce of this now large town.

The ability to build well constructed ships soon earned Palmer worldwide recognition. By 1909 as well as having berths for the construction of ships Palmer had establish blast furnaces, iron and steel works, and a boiler and engine works on the site. The dock it-self Stretched nearly three quarters of a mile along the southern bank of the River Tyne.

I assume if you have read this far then you may have an interest in the past history of shipbuilding or the mighty industry of Sir Charles and his brother George Palmer who established their shipbuilding industry on the south banks of the River Tyne. I recommend a visit to the family website of Philip Strong he has some impressive photographs of the Palmer shipyard engineering works, machine shop, a foot print of the Palmer’s Works, 1897/1907 OS maps of the area, aerial Views of Palmer’s Shipyard, photographs of Jarrow back in the 1960′s and for those who are also keen on genealogy he walks you through his family tree and shows what can be done when you put your mind to it.

On and off for almost 9 years in the late 1800′s the Palmer Shipbuilding company went on to have the highest output of ships in Britain. During the company’s life-time of some 80yrs. Palmer shipyard would launch more than 900 ships, keeping careful details of each ship built.

Prior to the construction of the John Bowes launched on the river in June 1852, a iron paddle tug called the Northumberland launched in April 1852, was the first of his ships, small and of little consequence in an industry that would develop into a major supplier of ships.

Next Page: The John Bowes Steamship

Charles Palmer was born in South Shields in 1822. He was born into a family of ship owners and timber merchants. He received his education in his home town for some years then attended the much esteemed Dr Bruce’s Academy in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He joined the firm of John Bowes as a managing partner in 1847. With the development of railways, coal from other areas of the country could be sent to London a lot quicker. Those parts of the country that still relied on sailing ships, like the north, were at a great disadvantage. The average sailing collier, from the Northern pits, would take a month. That was until The John Bowes was built she had a speed of eight, or nine knotts, did not need to rely on winds and could do the round trip within one week compared to a sailing collier that would take a month. Here maiden voyage was on 27th July 1852, Arriving in London on the 30th July, she was back on the River Tyne by August 3rd taking three weeks of the standard time of a sailing ship.

The ability to build well constructed ships soon earned Palmer worldwide recognition by 1909 as well as having berth for the construction of ships Palmer had establish blast furnaces, iron and steel works, a boiler and engine works on the site. The dock it-self Stretched nearly three quarters of a mile along the southern bank of the River Tyne.

During the late 1800′s the company went on to have the highest output of ships in Britain. During the company’s life-time Palmers would launch 900+ ships, keeping careful details of each ship built.

Prior to the construction of the John Bowes launched on the river in June 1852, an iron paddle tug called the Northumberland launched in April 1852, she was the first of his ships small and of little consequence, yet the industry would develop into a major supplier of ships.

Next Page: Palmer makes it a first

The success of the ‘John Bowes’ brought more work to the Palmer yard by the building of many more steamships. Those that launched in the early 185o’s. To name a few here the ‘William Hutt’, the ‘Countess Strathmore’, ‘Sir John Easthope’, ‘Northumberland’, ‘Jarrow’, ‘Durham’, ‘Phoenix’ and the ‘Marley Hill’. In the latter half 1853 the company provided a dinner for some of the Palmer workforce. Held in the Golden Lion Hotel in South Shields this was to celebrate the first engine built at the Palmer yard. The ‘Jarrow’ previously launched in the early 1850′s was the first ship to have the machinery fitted. The ‘Jarrow’ went on to prove it’s worth many number of times delivering something like 18,000 tons of coal to London in her life time.

The first flat-iron colliers were built at the Palmer shipyard these ships had very low superstructures specially built with hinged funnels and masts which could be lowered at the appropriate time enabling them to pass under the numerous Thames bridges. This meant that coal could be shipped further up the Thames river given an almost door to door service to industry.

The ‘Westminster’ and ‘Vauxhall’ both launched in 1878. The ‘Vauxhall’ carrying something like 1,000 tons of coal made regular trips to London averaging about 60 trips a year. It should come as no surprise to learn that making that many trips between the Tyne and the Thames the ‘Vauxhall’ had her fair share of accidents. One such collision was in October 1888 the ‘Vauxhall’ collided with the ‘Prudhoe Castle’ in the mouth of the River Tyne. History tells us that the the ‘Prudhoe Castle’ although badly damaged came off best, the ‘Vauxhall’ on the other hand sunk, to be re-floated sometime later.

Blast furnaces where built at the yard in 1857, rolling mills were quick to follow. Having acquired the rights to mine ore near to Saltburn, on the North East Coastline, he set about constructing a harbour known then as Port Mulgrave, which he had built close to the mines, this was at a cost of some £30,000, this was in response to no suitable nearby port being available to safely load the ore onto his own steamships destined for his own blast furnaces in Jarrow.

The early ships made at Palmer were all built of iron, but from 1880 onward steel became the way of the future. The Albatross was the first ship built from steel, and was launched by Miss Price, daughter of the company’s general manager John Price back in January 1884. By the late 1880′s Palmer was an impressive sight. Lined up along the southern shore line was the iron ore quay, behind that lay the blast furnaces, then came the rolling mills, foundry and boiler erecting shop, behind them lay the steel works.

As I said, a very impressive line up and to top it all off a little further on could be seen a 440ft dry dock, used to repair ships, behind this could be seen the engine works and a smiths’ shop. There was also a shipbuilding yard with eight berths two jetties more workshops and a 600ft slipway which was also used to repair ships. With its own railway layout linked to the main railway system. Sir Charles Mark Palmer, and his brother George had brought great prosperity to Jarrow, by 1927 the yard was at its peak with more than a 10,000 strong workforce, and a promise of more to come. Little did anyone realize that in a few short years Palmer was to come to a stand still, and the people of Jarrow would be plunged into what must have been for them a living nightmare. Proud men and women from a by-gone age.

Next Page: HMS. Terror

The Jarrow March/Crusade

Jarrow Marchers

This then the gathering of 200 hundred soul’s bent on (one thing) taking their plight of unemployment and extreme poverty to the capital, London. The day was the 5th of October 1936, a day that would go down in history, a day when 200 hundred individuals would take their place in our history books.

The global Great Depression in the 1930′s brought mean, lean years, particularly to North East England. Many families/people had to tighten their belts as unemployment and poverty became almost the norm. No town suffered like Jarrow. At one time there was more than 74% of the workforce unemployed. The latest figures issued, at the time, in March by the Ministry of Labour had put the work force at a staggering 51% out of work. Many towns up and down the country were also suffering high unemployment and poverty.

Situated on the North East coast between Hebburn and South Shields, Jarrow was in the grip of high unemployment and poverty so much so that the people had decided to take action, and so it was after a Service at Christ Church, the 200 hundred strong men and a dog, would walk the 282 miles to London to present their petition to Parliament.

Today this journey would take us about 4-5 hours by car, yet here were individuals so sick and tired of no work they were willing to walk the distance to have their voice heard. A distance of almost 300 miles (482.8km). Their march would take them through many towns, eventually arriving at Marble Arch on the 31 October, almost a month after leaving their home town of Jarrow.

Their life problems were not imagined. Only a few years earlier in 1933, the author J.B. Preistley on a visit to Jarrow commented on what he saw

“I have seen nothing like it since the war. There is no escape anywhere from its prevailing misery. One little street may be rather more wretched than another but to the outsider they all look alike. One out of every two shops appears to be permanently closed. Where ever we went there were men hanging about, not scores of them, but hundreds and thousands of them. The whole town looked as if it had entered a penniless bleak Sabbath.” (J.B. Priestly. English Journey, London 1934)

March Route Map

Back in the 1850′s when Jarrow came into being, it was little more than a village if that. When brothers Charles Mark and George Palmer established their shipbuilding firm on the River Tyne Jarrow became a hive of employment, so much so workers from as far a field as Ireland came looking for work. Some years later in December of 1870 Charles Palmer would go on to build a hospital for the use of his workforce and success upon success would bring prosperity to the town. By the end of the century the population had grown ten-fold. The Palmer brothers expanded their business to include iron and steel manufacture which soon become recognized worldwide and from 1851 to 1933 Palmer’s built 900 vessels keeping well dated records of each transaction.

For more information and photographs I would recommend a visit to the family website of Philip Strong he has some impressive photographs of the Palmer shipyard engineering works, machine shop, a foot print of the Palmer’s Works, 1897/1907 OS maps of the area, aerial Views of Palmer’s Shipyard, photographs of Jarrow back in the 1960′s and for those who are also keen on genealogy he walks you through his family tree and shows what can be done when you put your mind to it.

Good fortune and prosperity lasted until around 1920 when slowly but surely, things went from bad to worse. In 1931 Jarrow lost its steel works followed by the loss of shipbuilding a few years later. This was yet another blow to the workforce and left Jarrow with literally nothing. The loss of the steel industry had been the first nails in her coffin but losing the shipbuilding three years later brought the workforce to their knees. Poverty and deprivation brought shame and sadness to a once proud workforce, who now through no fault of their making were forced to beg or ask for credit. Credit that no one knew how or when it could be repaid. This was the forerunner to the crusade. They had had enough,… their town was dying,… they needed work.

Notes:

Follow the Marchers: Jarrow To Ferryhill.

• Fig.1 – Jarrow Marchers © Bede Gallery (1976)/ Bede’s World