Photographs showing Harold Macmillan, former conservative MP for Stockton attending the last meeting of the Town Council before it became Teesside Corporation, 23 March 1968. Included in the photographs are Mr George Chetwynd; former Stockton MP, Dr. Horace King; speaker of the House of Commons and Mrs Helen Bott, a social worker who devoted her life to the Stockton people. They are all receiving the Freedom of the Borough. The ceremony took place in the Council Chambers, they later attended a banquet held at the Billingham Arms.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Teesside “Corporation”. I thought it was to be called Teesside County Borough. Stockton Corporation was the outgoing name. A rather ominous starting date for the new conglomeration. 1 April 1968. The demolition of a major part of Stockton-on-Tees High Street started with a year of this date, April Fool’s Day, 1968. It could possibly be shown that the decline of the High Street, Stockton-on-Tees, commenced at this date.
Derek, the book is available from Amazon.
On a related matter, it is a little known fact that George Orwell and his wife, Eileen, who came from Durham, lived in a house near Stockton before the war. “Greystone”, near the village of Carlton, to be specific.
Orwell was aware of what was happening in the town, as somewhere in the Road to Wigan Pier he mentions that people who had been moved out of the slums in Stockton, into Council houses, were finding it more difficult to make ends meet. I have always thought this must refer to the demolition of slums near the river and people moving to the Swainby Road estate, but this is supposition on my part. Wasn’t Swainby Road the first Council estate in Stockton? Perhaps Frank Mee might help?
I also wonder if someone could go up to Carlton and get a picture of Orwell’s former residence for the website?.
In retrospect, Harold Macmillan was a more than decent Prime Minister, who never forgot the experiences of the depression years in Stockton. On acceding to the House of Lords, he became the First Earl of Stockton, where many of his speeches, criticising the Thatcher Government,, were based on his days as Stockton’s MP.
Macmillan was swept aside in the 1945 General Election, which produced a huge majority for the Labour Party. But I understand that part of the reason foe the loss of his seat was the boundary change that led Thornaby from being split off from Stockton.
For Macmillan, losing his seat worked to his benefit. As one of the group of MPs who had supported Churchill during the interwar years, he was favourably regarded by the Conservative Party, despite his progressive ideas on state intervention. He was found a safe seat in Bromley, London. This put him right back in the swim, resulting in him becoming Prime Minister in 1955 after the Suez imbroglio.
Fred, an interesting book called “The Social Effects of Unemployment on Teesside , 1919-1939” by Kate Nicholas paints a picture of the area, with lots of stats. about unemployment , health, politics etc. One thing it contrasts the views of Labour and Conservative yet they both wanted the same thing, more employment. It’s probably well out of print now as it was published way back in 1986 mind it’s not everybody’s “cup of tea!”
Forget his Politics, One of the last Great Leaders, Harold Macmillan, I have his autograph – probably on the same visit.