This is one of those posts that was lost when we moved to the new site.
It shows the Quayside Mission Hall and Rescue Home c1905, we believe this to be the same building which became the Quayside Mission Mens Home on The Square, Stockton. Is the wall on the right part of the Parish Church boundries?
We have tried to recreate as many of the original comments as possible…
Picture Stockton Archive 
In September 1910 a great lock-out in the federated shipyards of England and Scotland began. It was caused by a dispute between the employers and the Boilermakers Society. Unfortunately a lot of the related jobs in the shipyards were affected as the construction of the ships was held up. By October 1910 Ropner & Sons shipyard in Stockton had laid off 500 men, whilst in Thornaby the shipyards of Richardson, Duck & Co. had laid off 400 men and Craig, Taylor & Co. had 800 men idle. A large number of these men lived in the streets situated on the quayside at Stockton.
In November 1910 the Quayside Mission put an appeal in the North Eastern Daily Gazette for money towards a fund to provide a free breakfast on Sundays for 250 children affected by the acute distress caused by the lock-out.
The costs of providing a breakfast for 250 children was £1 11s 6d.
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Around 1892 the Stockton Slum Working Mission was formed. Every Sunday they visited the common lodging houses and slum dwellings in the quayside area to hold religious services for those who were not regular church goers. In 1900 they launched a building fund for a meeting house and rescue home in the quayside district.
By 1904 they had become the Teesside Mission and had raised £350 by subscriptions enabling them to gain a mortgage for the Old Manor House in the Square, Stockton. The total cost was £700 including furnishings. In November 1904 the Quayside Mission and Sunday school were opened by the Mayoress of Stockton ( the Old Manor House had been the home of Frank Brown JP, Mayor of Stockton 1904-5). In 1905 the Sunday school had 124 scholars and a teaching staff of 16. The Rescue Home and a lodging house for workmen were opened later, in March 1906.
The mission was undenominational to be used by the whole of Stockton religious life. A representative of the mission said its purpose was “to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. It was designed to endeavour to reach the vast numbers of people in the slum neighbourhood who had the thought that no one cared for them.”
These words may seem like an exaggeration but this was at a time before the Welfare State. It would not be until 1908 that Old Age Pensions were introduced (for people over 70). In 1911 the National Insurance Act provided insurance against sickness (this did not include hospital only simple doctoring) and unemployment (only for specific trades). A large proportion of the poor were only a week away from destitution.
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In 1906 the North Eastern Daly Gazette explained the objective of the Stockton Quayside mission.
1- Temporary rescue home for fallen women.
2- Better lodging house accommodation for working men.
3- Mission Hall & Sunday school for destitute children.
The rescue home was a comfortably furnished apartment under the control and guidance of a caretaker and his wife, set aside for the temporary isolation of rescued girls. The girls could use it free of costs subject to a signed order from either a magistrate or minister of the town.
The lodging house accommodation was to be for weekly boarders & casuals. The weekly boarders quarters comprised of a private cubicle fitted with comfortable bed, with clean bed clothing each week; the use of a private locker for his clothing etc.; the use of the public dining rooms; the use of cutlery and crockery for his requirements; bath and lavatories; the washing and repairing of his clothing. These will only cost him 3s 6d per week. The cubicles were to be let by the week only.
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Next door to the mission was a Sunday school. One of the teachers was called Celia. I remember doing a Sunday school concert, but can’be sure which building it was in. This would be in the late 1940’s.
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The building was on the Square with the Cattle Market to the left and Housewifes Lane running off to the right behind the children not sure but didn’t Remploy take over the building as a clothing factory.
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It was the Cattle market.
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I believe there was a clothing factory near the mission or the factory took the mission over..
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According to Wards Directory 1928/29 (which fits the 1899 map in this inst) ‘The Square’ has only numbers from 1 to 25. 25 is the Quayside Mission. Somewhere between 16 and 22 was the St. Thomas C.O.E. School (hence the school kids). Out of interest 16 was a pawn broker. 15 was Kelly the ferryman (famous). 11 the Half Moon Inn. Number 1 began at Church Row and the Cattle Market. In 1899 The Square, was square shaped around the Cattled Market and the Parish Church and graveyard was to the west of the whole. The Square had houses on the North, East and South sides, but none on the west; the road was tree lined both sides and the graveyard was opposite the cattlemarket.
My great Grand father is recorded as working as a butcher in the cattle market in the 1880’s, so the marker must have existed long pre 1899.
Re John Bateman’s query; residents can be found on the 1911 census.
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On zoom, it can be seen that the building in the centre of the photograph (with the dormer windows to the roof) appears to have a greater antiquity than the late 18thC-early19thC Georgian properties on either side. The dormer structures certainly seem oversized to the windows they accommodate, as though the upper floor, or roofspace has been used as a store-room for goods. The window at pavement level seems to be merely a cottage window, whilst the larger windows to the 1st floor, look like a later addition. There also appears to be a bowed corner ‘entrance’, or window, to the alleyway entry between this and the property opposite, which again appears to have a narrow bowed window at ground floor level. Is this a remnant of when The Square may have been simply a common, or ‘village green’ with cottages to the perimeter as at Egglescliffe?
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The entrance to Housewifes Lane can be seen just after the 3rd building from the right, today this lane would cut through the middle of the council cctv building, heading down towards the riverside. The photographer must of been stood just about opposite the entrance to Cherry Lane. Could all those children be from the school that’s just out of shot at the far end of The Square ?
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No, there was a road through and they were opposite the Three Tuns Pub later The Riverside.
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This I believe is the south side of The Square, which having previously been a tree-lined open ‘promenading’ space, opposite the large houses on Paradise Row, was converted to become the town’s dedicated Cattle Market in the late 19th C. The cattle-market retained the original tree line to the perimeter of The Square and the gated stone entry posts. This view today, would contain the main entrance to Stockton Police HQ, i.e. to the rear of the Central Library/Municipal Buildings on Church Rd.
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I remember doing a concert here for the residents with the 1st Norton Scout Group, 1949ish.
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My Great-great grandfather Matthew Bateman was one of the “lodgers” listed in the 1911 census for the Mission, 25 The Square. I beleive the Mission was founded in 1906 and closed 1973. Anyone know of any records existing for residents?
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Opposite this building was Stocktons cattle market. My friends and I would gather on sale days to help and watch the sales.
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My Grandparents, Fred and Sarah Butler looked after the Quayside Mission in about 1909 (over 100 years ago). The address was 24, The Square. There is mention of another Mission off Housewifes Lane, I’m wondering if this is the same building? The only building overlooking The Square is the Parish Church.
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