A fantastic view of Stockton’s quayside. Hundreds of men mill about the area, are they waiting for work or the ferry? The sign in the distance possibly reads… Imperial Tramway Boat Landing… Can anyone confirm this?
Photograph courtesy of Mrs Denton.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Sussy baka image
My great grandfather William Charlton died working on the quayside of natural causes in 1896. Don’t know who he worked for or what he was doing. Occupation labourer. Any info anybody? He lived in William Street no. 21.
Do you mean quayside or at the shipyards? I have several ancestors who met their fates at the edges of the shipyards (Ropners). I suspect that you have 2 best bets for your info. The death cert and the burial record. The former is available from Stockton Registry Office or the GRO, the latter try Stockton Reference library. If they don’t give you everything you seek then an approach to the Stockton Coroners might help.
If I were to stand where the original photographer stood when he/she took this photo, what would I be looking at today in 2015, do any of the buildings in this photo still exist.
If I’m right the furthest builings would be the ones on the left going down Finkle Street from the High Street.
None of the buildings in this photo exist any more.Pubs like the Baltic Tavern and the Ship Launch Inn lost there licenses in the mid 1920`s and were demolished shortly afterwards. I believe the other buildings were either derelict or demolished by the 1930`s. The sugar House Granary, which is on the far left of the photo survived beyond the 1930`s as a warehouse.
If you stood where the original photographer stood, today. The nearest surviving building of the period would probably be the Riverside pub (now shut down). In the 1890`s it was called the Three Tuns. If you walked towards the Baltic Tavern and turned left this took you through Sugarhouse Open into the Square of Thistle Green. This was where the Three Tuns was located.
If you tried to take the same photo today the main feature would be a multitude of passing cars.
This is a list of the heads of household,from the 1891 census, for some of the properties featured in this photo.The addresses are from left to right in the photo.
Waterloo Mills,Quayside
18 Quayside.William Robson.Licensed Victualler.Baltic Tavern.
18 1/2 Quayside.Charles Atkinson.Rivetter in Shipyard.
19 Quayside.Jack McNaughton.Fisherman.
22 Quayside.William Samuel.Fishdealer.
23 Quayside Jane A Nelson
24 Quayside.John Walker.Labourer in shipyard.
25 Quayside.Thomas Duffey.Lodging House Keeper.
26 William Alkson.Auctioneers porter.
27 Quayside.James Hunter.Publican.Ship Launch.
28 Quayside.Bryan Ward.General Dealer.
29 Quayside.Henry Davies.Ironworker.
The flat derelict looking areas in front of the buildings were a series of Quays with historic names. Running from left to right were – Sugarhouse Quay (named after the Sugar House Granary,which was later Waterloo Mills), Blue Anchor Quay (the original name of the Baltic Tavern) and Hubback`s Quay named after its owner, Mr Hubback.
To the far right of the photo was an area known as the North Shore. This was an area of shipbuilding as far back as the early 18th century. The company occupying the shipyard at this time would have either been Pearse,Lockwood and Co. or Ropner`s (Ropners took over the former business in 1888).
Brilliant piece of historic imagery, I love to see these
I must have been about 1939 when my father took me into town ( Stockton )
Between the town hall and the monument a stall sold ducks and peas we sat on the benches and enjoyed our meal.
We then walked down Finkle Street to see a ship being launched.
In the picture you can see the wooden slipway beside the Ship Launch Inn.
The ship was launched side on to the river and when it entered the water everyone gasped, they thought it would roll over but no the ropes from the shore slowed down the roll and everything was fine and the people cheered.
There must be records of the shipyard and the names of the ships launched around this time.
I remember the Ducks and peas stall Tommy and visited it about the same time you did with my mother, the tent was situated near to the Town Hall on the Same side as the old Church . It had long Trestle tables and served only Ducks and Peas. Wonderful memories of eighty years ago.
Ducks and Peas many people may not know what they were but they were also known as Faggots in other parts of England, They were made of meat and savoury stuffing, mainly cheap meat from the innards of the animal. Very tasty especially with a serving of Mushy peas. a Poor mans banquet.
This could possibly be a photo of strikers from the North Shore Shipyard owned by Ropner`s. In 1892 the yard was at a standstill for 13 weeks due to strikes. Another strike took place in 1894 lasting 14 weeks. At the earliest, the photo is from some date after 1881 as the steamboat landing outside the Shiplaunch Inn had been the property of Dixon Brothers prior to this.
There appears to be writing above the letters “Ship Launch Inn”, unfortunately it is hard to tell from this image what they are. I`m only speculating but if the pub is Hunter`s Ship Launch Inn this would place the photo between 1890 (James Hunter,landlord) and 1898 (Mrs M. J. Hunter,landlady).
I am inclined to agree with the last commentator; this looks like a labour meeting of some ilk. I snipped the picture and tried a bit of editing. The Tramway— sign remains unreadable due to grainage on the print. However after improving the contrast and lightening the background the object of the gathering becomes obvious. Just to the left of the ‘t’ in Picture and slightly above it’s tip stands a speaker. He appears to be the only person present without a coat or hat on – perhaps he was warm with rhetoric?.
The hoarding puzzles me. There is no obvious sign of demolition as suggested. The way that the wooden ‘wall’ parallel to river and near the Ship Launch is braced makes it look much like the props holding the side of a ship–odd? The hoarding itself clearly has someone dressed in tails: could this have been Harold McMillan when he ran for MP for the first time?
Harold Macmillan was born in 1894 and I believe he didn`t become MP for Stockton until 1924.This would seem to discount him as the person on the advertising hoarding.
Probably the most fascinating photograph that I’ve yet seen on this site. So many questions as to what is exactly happening! Why are people seen descending into a ‘pit’ on the left hand side and just what has been excavated, resulting in a pile of rubble? What is the bill-postered, massively reinforced hoarding, next to the ‘Ship Launch Inn’ in the centre, concealing? In the distance on the r/hand side, down river, there also seems to be a veritable ‘forest’ of ships masts berthed-up.
The huge crowd of men could certainly be attending some form of quayside labour-hirings, or even a union/ strike/ political meeting, though the shadows indicate that this is not an early morning gathering, in fact it seems around mid-day. Before the age of mechanical cranes or lifts, each ship would often require a large ‘gang’ of men to unload the cargos by sheer physical effort, in dangerous conditions. Such was the sheer back-breaking nature of this work, that many men were unable to continue in this capacity past the age of 45.
Imperial Tramways Ltd were established in 1878 and operated tram-systems in various English towns, as well as in Ireland and Wales. Over the years many of it’s systems were sold off, however the Stockton/ Middlesbrough routes did not come under local-authority control until as late as 1921. Perhaps the company had temporarily provided a ferry from Middlesbrough to Stockton prior to the tramlines being laid across the ‘new’ Victoria Bridge from the Thornaby side of the Tees in 1887?
Chris, the “forest of masts” that you refer to comprises the tops of the wooden scaffolding poles that surrounded all ships whilst they were being built in the 19th and early 20th century. The men gathering at the quayside appear to be coming from the shipyard. The meeting might have been to do with one of the many shipyard strikes of the 1890s which were reported in the Evening Gazette.
It all depends upon when you date this photo. I do not think that it is as late as the 1920s, but if it was, the wooden hoarding may have been erected to keep the public out of the Housewife Lane area which was scheduled for demolition ?
Cliff; Many thanks for that info regarding the scaffolding, I should have realised that my ‘in the distance’ was indeed the opposite bank, where the shipyards were situated. The name of the pub, might even have given me an even better clue!!…something about ‘Spec-savers’?
I agree Chris, a fantastic image, shame there isn’t a higher quality version available as it may reveal more detail (…hint… hint… Picture Stockton). I think the “forest” on the right may be scaffolding in the (North Shore) ship yard. A clearer image might just clear up if the people on the left are stood/sat in amongst some demolition rubble. I like the young man sat in the foreground, seemingly deep in thought and oblivious of what is going on around him. It seems the great mass of people are mingling in front of the Baltic Tavern and entrances to Housewife Lane and Sugar House Open.
You can see a good example of the scaffolding in use at North Shore here http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2002/11/26/ferry-boats-on-the-tees-at-stockton
My supposition regarding the photograph, i.e. that Imperial Tramways were offering a temporary ferry service across the Tees whilst the Victoria Bridge was being constructed in 1886-7 would now seem to be incorrect.
Whilst Imperial Tramways had begun operating in the UK during 1878, they did not take over the Norton-Middlesbrough line until 1897, after the failure of the existing operators Stockton & District Tramline Co. It was at this point the line went from steam-driven cars to an electrically powered system.
Around the same time the busy Stockton to Middlesbrough steam-paddleboat ferry service operated by Duncan Brothers, which started in 1869, also got into financial difficulties. This service operated from about the same position that the Imperial Tramways Boat landing is seen. The Imperial Co. may therefore have seen a profitable opportunity to take-over this ferry service as a means of transporting hundreds of working-men each day, down river to the shipyards at Haverton Hill and Port Clarence. In this way, they would almost be operating a monopoly as to much needed workers-transport within the burgeoning industrial areas on the banks of the Tees.
Imperial Tramways central M’bro to Linthorpe line, was not extended to the banks of the Tees (via ‘under’ the Albert Rd railway-station bridge) until 1901. At which time another river-ferry was in operation across to the Haverton Hill side. This of course ceased when the Transporter Bridge was erected in 1911.
My guess is therefore that the photograph dates from around 1900-1905.
As to the huge hoarding next to the Ship Launch Inn, it’s purpose remains a mystery. For in this archive photograph dated 1928 (immediately prior to the pub’s demolition) the same enclosed area remains vacant, with no structure built upon it whatsoever.
http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2002/08/15/the-ship-launch-inn-the-quayside-stockton-c1928/
Sorry to ‘bang on’ about the date of this interesting panorama, but I’ve discovered another comment on this site by Martin Dunhill wherein he indicates that the Imperial Tramway Co.of London were operating a Middlesbroughb-Stockton river ferry as early as 1878, some 19 years prior to taking over the actual Middlesbrough-Stockton tramway service. This in effect, means that the photograph could in fact be taken as early as that date, rather than around the turn of the century, as I’d supposed. The posting is to be found on this page:
http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2002/09/26/shipping-and-river-traffic-on-the-tees-c1900/