This photograph shows a group of men, including two soldiers, at a house in Hallifield Street, Norton in 1916.
Courtesy of Alan Boardman.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
This photograph shows a group of men, including two soldiers, at a house in Hallifield Street, Norton in 1916.
Courtesy of Alan Boardman.
Steve, just a little: Name: George Blair Snowdon. Residence: Norton. Death Date: 11 Apr 1918. Death Location: France & Flanders. Enlistment Location: Stockton-on-tees. Rank: Private. Regiment: Durham Light Infantry. Battalion: 1/5th Battalion. Number: 200374. Type of Casualty: Killed in action. Theatre of War: Western European Theatre.
Would anyone have knowledge about GEORGE BLAIR SNOWDON named on the memorial plaque?
Hi Steve,
George Blair was elder son of Robert Wardle Snowdon & Isabella Wallace White, who lived both at Trent St. & Grange Road, Norton. My dad Robert W. was his younger brother, George’s father served his time at Blair’s and his brother, my dad, at Head Wrightsons, across the road. I had a brother George & have a sister Doreen. I don’t recognise George B. in the photo, that is compared to family ones in my possession .
R.S.
I now have copies of the WW1 service records for my grandmother’s brother, Frederick Charles Curry. They came on-line on 1/10/2010 and are listed under Chelsea Pensioners! Fred Curry was Manager of the Stockton-on-Tees branch of Montague Burton for many years and lived in Askrigg Road.
The Norton butcher, James Dodsworth Robinson, born 1858, of Prospect Terrace and Kirby’s Corner was a respected councillor ‘whose sudden death in 1923 was a loss to public service’ claimed a local newspaper. His funeral at Saint Mary’s Church, Norton was a large gathering attended by many members of Stockton Council and most of its principal officers, such as Councillor Richard Gaunt (Deputy Mayor, and a former Mayor), Mr. Thomas Downey (Town Clerk) and Alderman Frederick Thomas Nattrass. A commemorative plaque to James Dodsworth Robinson was attached to the nave inside Saint Mary’s Church.
Joe Sarginson and Olive (Groskop) had 2 sons, William (Billy) the elder, and Leonard. Billy was a twenty year old 4th Engineer in the Merchant Navy when he was lost at sea on
30th Nov 1941. His ship the Ashby was sunk by German submarine U43 off the Azores. ASHBY – tons 4,868; type Steam Freighter; nationality BR; built 1927; voyage MIDDLESBROUGH for FREETOWN and PEPEL; Convoy OS-12; cargo in ballast; casualties 17 crew lost. total crew 50; attacker U 43;
date 30.11.1941; time 1926; fate torpedoed; square reported CE8234; position 36.54N/29.51W.
I remember the Sargisons from Stanley Street. Their son Leonard would be about 4 years older than me. I think he was the only child. I heard that he now lives near Nunthorpe.
Joe Sarginson (above) and his family lived at 50 Stanley Street, Norton when I was young. For years this property and neighbouring houses were owned by the Kirby family of Norton (via the Barker side of the family from Wolviston), and my family inherited some of the maintenance, rent and valuation books for these properties. As a block 50/52/54 Stanley Street were valued at 720 pounds in 1939. Some documents were enclosed that relate to the building of the street. I suspected Joe was in the army in World War One as we have photos of him with Arthur Kirby and many others at what seems to be a military reception camp. However they are dressed in civilian clothes, thus I could not be certain whether the photos were took at a military camp. Other photos from the same era show only Arthur Kirby with fellow trainees in Royal Garrison Artillery uniforms, possibly at Ripon Camp. Joe like Arthur married into the Groskop family and I remember Stanley Street and Oakwell Road fondly decades ago, also trips from Stockton to visit the Groskop’s in Wales. I remember the Summers family at the end of Stanley Street near Mrs Snell’s shop, both recently mentioned on this site.
Joe Sarginson eventually served in WWI as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery. Regm. No. 270535. After the War he lived in Stanley Street Norton. He died in 1962.
The photo came from William Terrace, but it may have been taken elsewhere such as Norton Road. The eldest Thomas Kirby was the butcher and Christopher Kirby was the grocer, both born in Snape, Yorks. I incorrectly reversed the occupations on my last comment. I think the former lived at 8 Hallifield Street for a short period, but mainly the Hartlepools, while another son David (a butcher) lived at 4 Hallifield Street, c. 1909. A further son William became company secretary at Ropner’s. According to an old family address book, another William Kirby of 28 Sydney Street, Stockton provided some members of the Norton Kirby family with work through his domestic servant agency (see 1911 census). I have not yet established whether William and his Stockton relatives (all born in Maltby near Yarm) were more removed relations of the Norton family. One, Mary Kirby, was caretaker of Stockton Town Hall in 1911.
Thank you for the very detailed information Alan. Its a long time since Gran told me about her younger days, but the middle initial ‘A’ must be Ann rather than Alice. The Frank I’m named after would have been Frank Arnold, the stove enameller as he’s described on my Mam’s birth certificate and I’ve been confused over who Gran’s father was. Gran Arnold (Beatrice) lived at 36 Hallifield Street, which I’d always believed she owned until I found that upon leaving the Navy, my father bought it from a Mrs. Smith. The photograph says that the soldiers are photographed at a house in Hallifield Street. That window looks a bit too grand for any of the houses there or in William Terrace. I suspect its taken in a house on Norton Road, perhaps a photographer’s home based studio?
Locals have used the name Kirby’s Corner for years to describe the area around the junction of Hallifield Street with Norton Road, especially bus stops around this region. Travelling along Norton Road on the O-bus in the 1960’s it was still common to here passengers asking the driver to stop at Kirby’s Corner, similarly the Fiesta, and occasionally Blair’s rather than Hill’s, despite the demise of the engine works nearly forty years earlier. Various records from 1850 onward show that John Kirby from Snape and Well, Yorkshire and his family settled in the ‘Hallifield Street area’ (William’s Row, Metcalfe Street, Wesleyan Place and finally Hallifield Street), because of work at the nearby pottery and later Blair’s engine factory. Further brothers Thomas and Christopher Kirby (and descendants) became successful grocers and butchers, respectively, in the Hartlepools from the 1850’s, having settled there during the 1840’s. Another brother William was resident in Darlington by 1851. Considerable interchange between the Norton and Hartlepool strands of this family occurred during the Victorian era. Such movements were due to marriage, retailing, but mainly work in the marine engineering industry then associated with the towns. Norton Saint Mary’s Church records and census data show that Thomas (b. Hartlepool, son of Thomas above) and Rose Kirby (b. Bradford) were grocers, wine and spirit merchants at Cambridge House, 1 South Cambridge Terrace (likely Snowdon’s grocers by 1938, now Coral’s betting shop at 331 Norton Road) from about 1895. Neighbours James Dodsworth Robinson and his wife Jane Elizabeth (nee Kirby, both b. Hartlepool) were butchers at 2 South Cambridge Terrace (now the general dealers shop at 333 Norton Road) from at least 1891. Thomas and Jane Elizabeth were brother and sister. The Robinson’s employed at least one Norton born Kirby, Mary Ellen. Even today these premises promote businesses that dominate the vicinity of Hallifield Street. It is likely the description Kirby’s Corner arose from the Kirby’s Victorian businesses in busy Norton Road, whereas the later Kirby’s Dairy by the railway bridge only reinforced the ‘Kirby’s Corner’ tag for future generations. Kirby and Kirby related families have occupied houses in William Terrace; Hallifield, Edgar, North Mount Pleasant and Grey Streets for nearly 110 years declining in the 1960’s. Kirby families have lived in the Hallifield Street, William Terrace and Row area
from c.1850 to 1940. By the 1930’s they were branching out into the newer estates being built at Norton. All three Kirby’s of the WW1 Yorkshire Regiment on the war memorial inside Saint Mary’s Church, Norton are family members, Mark (parents William and Eleanor, thus a John descendant), plus half brothers Thomas Gordon and Horace Dodsworth Robinson Kirby (Thomas descendants). All are commemorated at Stockton as well, with the two brothers also honoured at Saint Peter’s Church, Redcar, since they lived in the seaside town for a while. Thomas Gordon took over the family shop at Norton Road from his father Thomas before WW1. Horace DR was lost in the last month of the war (and appears to be a late addition at the bottom of the Saint Mary’s memorial). The unidentified soldiers in the above photo could be any of the family members just described, or non-family members recruited into the Yorkshire Regiment from in or around Hallifield Street. Arthur above was a younger brother of Mark.
I have a Beatrice Ann Kirby as the first daughter of John Jackson and Elizabeth Ann Kirby (nee Warner, from Norfolk). Beatrice was baptised at Stockton Parish Church (of St. Thomas) on 19 Nov 1879 with no address given, but possibly Hallifield Street based on the nearest census. Bea married Frank Arnold, the Norton stove polisher. Arthur(above) and Bea are cousins despite the 17 years age difference.
I was brought up in 36 Hallifield Street and often used to play with Frankie Connelly. There were two corner shops – Connelly’s down near William Terrace and Carter’s (later Green’s) at the junction with Imperial Crescent and the railway bridge. My Gran was born Beatrice Alice Kirby, daughter of Frank Kirby, but became an Arnold when she married. She was born and brought up by Norton Green, opposite St Mary’s, but moved to Hallifield Street after she married. She would often say that Kirby’s Corner was named after her grandfather, but we always took that with a pinch of salt. It seems there may, after all, have been a grain of truth in her claim .
Interesting to see the name Kirby mentioned in connection with Hallifield Street in Norton. If my memory is not failing me wasn’t the bus stop at the end of the road on Norton Road called Kirby’s Corner? Or was this somewhere else on Norton Road, no doubt one of the old Nortonians will correct me if I am wrong. I remember the bus conductor calling it out on the "0" bus route. I used to get off at the end of Hallifield Street as we lived on Norton Road in the Victorian terrace between there and Imperial Avenue. I used to play with the Connelly twins Joan and Joyce, whose parents owned the little corner shop in Hallifield Street, which has now been converted into a house. I still see Joan and Joyce. I have a photo of my grandfather Willian Storr, who we lived with on Norton Road, in his WW1 uniform on this site, but could not say what regiment he was in. Tried to get some more info on his war records but no success.
How many more photos are still surviving of soldiers from the great war, I’m searching for a photograph of my grandad Robert Casey who joined the K.O.S.B 1912. He was sent to 3rd battalion special reserve, joined the 2nd battalion and sent into France, he may have been hurt or injured as he ended back at the depot hospital Berwick upon Tweed, he was then sent with the 1st battalion to Gallipoli. After they were all withdrawn he was sent back into France for the Somme offensive, he was wounded very badly by bullet and shrapnel left leg, put in French hospital for opperation then returned to Uk. He had a spell in a Birkenhead hopital, then sent to Newcastle hospital, he was discharged in 1918.
My grandad passed away in 1939 aged 43 because of the wounds he recieved all those years before, before he passed away he joined the Old Contemtables Association in 1938. We, his grandchildren, never got to se our grandad. I have been told recently of a photo taken some time between 1912-14 of grandad and his mate Patrick Sullivan, still trying to discover if this photo still survives today. I have also found several other Stockton lads were in the K.O.S.B same time as my grandad, wondered if when these lads were home on leave just before the war broke out other photos may have been taken. Of course if photos are not named (on back) it would be hard to know whos who, but would like to ask if any old photos of K.O.S.B survived will you please check for names in case any signed. My grandad was Robert Casey pte 6371 K.O.S.B. Please ask picturestockton for my e-mail if you can help or wish to contact me.
The back row from left to right shows Arthur Kirby of 2 William Terrace, Hallifield Street, Norton, and his friend Joseph William Sarginson of 5 Butler Street, Norton. The front row shows two unknown soldiers of the Green Howards, the Yorkshire Regiment. All are local friends or relatives. The soldiers are not named on the back of the photograph, so any identification is welcome. One could be Arthur’s brother Mark who died of wounds in France on 4 September 1917, hence the survival of the photograph in good condition. Mark is remembered on the war memorial inside Saint Mary’s Church at Norton, a churchyard where some Norton Kirby’s and related Hartlepool Kirby’s are buried. For almost 90 years Kirby and Kirby related families lived in and around Hallifield Street, some associated with Saint Michael’s Church. The Sarginson family had its roots in Barrow-in-Furness. Joe and possibly Arthur are wearing brass, economy grade, 1915 ‘On War Service’ badges, because they were engaged on vital war work in the metal finishing (shipbuilding related) industries. The badge identified the wearer as being exempt from call-up to military service. War worker badges were controlled by the government and supplied to companies for issue to employees on critical war work. The badge would have been stamped with an identity number and the holder issued with a certificate. If your badge was withdrawn you became eligible for call-up. Arthur joined the army close to the end of the war or just after. Arthur was posted to the Royal Garrison Artillery and served in Belgium (from postcards at a camp close to Antwerp Docks) and briefly in Germany (Cologne), but this base was found to be unsuitable and his unit soon returned to Belgium. Arthur and Joe married sisters from the Groskop family.
Can any one say which regiment these lads belong to? My grandad Robert Casey was in the K.O.S.B joining 1912, he was at Gallipoli then into France falling badly wounded 1st day battle of the Somme.