Monthly Meeting Notes March 10

We had a small group meeting this month due to illness, holidays and tradesmen appointments. However there was much to discuss and we spent some time talking about Michael's history class assignments on various topics of the origins of the Second World War. Included in this months Blog we have  an article by Iris Brindley on Chamberlain's role in Appeasement. Michael's comments were:
 'A very pleasing essay which  effectively examined the issues in a well organised and highly readable manner.'
Well done Iris and everyone who contributed can give themselves a pat on the back, I think we can all agree that Michael's class was very challenging but stimulating and edifying in the continuous controversial origins of the Second World War. An interesting account of how Tyneside fared during the war can be found in Craig Armstrong's book Tyneside in the Second World War.

Here is a review from Google Books:

The Second World War remains one of the great communal memories of British Society, yet the majority of writing on the Home Front has been descriptions focusing on the south of England. Accounts of the war in the provinces remain few and Tyneside, as an industrial powerhouse, was responsible for producing vast amounts of material and equipment and was an area of vital significance to the national war effort. Although the cosy image that has formed around the stoic acceptance of the British people to wartime strictures has been questioned in some recent works, this book seeks to analyse how the government, local authorities, voluntary organisations, police and others attempted both to improve and assess morale on Tyneside. Looking at a variety of issues to give an academic overview of how Total War affected provincial communities, this work seeks to analyse the overall effect of the Second World War on Tyneside.

You can get it from Amazon, Waterstones, W H Smith, Blackwell for £17.99 but I got my copy much cheaper at The Works and you may be able to get it on offer at the City Library.

 The next meeting will be held at the Hancock Museum 10:30 upstairs cafe on Wednesday April 6, please bring along any material you wish to discuss.

Things to do

Get on the Metro and take a a hike around Cullercoats and follow the Art Trail, you can download the informative leaflet from here:

Art Trail

I can reccomend the Cafe on the corner opposite the Dove Marine Centre its called Beaches and Cream and has just been redecorated, a nice resting place.

Or  you can go to North Tyneside Council Web site to find out more heritage walks:

I can recommend this poetry workshop by Anna Woodcroft, I went to a venue at the City Library a few years ago when Ann Woodcroft and Linda France gave us an introduction to contemporary poetry, do not worry you do not have to write anything but taking notes is useful as its very informative, you get to read some short poetry from a variety of sources, many modern day snippets some from people who have just started to express themselves who come from all walks of life. Make sure to get Anna's book  Birdhouse she will no doubt have a few to sell very reasonably priced and I am sure she will sign it just like the one I have.

A little bit brief this month but you can help just get researching and see you at the next meeting.

Derek

IRIS BRINDLEY

CHAMBERLAlN'S ROLE IN APPEASEMENT

 

Introduction:

Appeasement is a diplomatic policy, attempting to make political or material concessions to the enemy power, in an effort to avoid further conflict. My aim is to explain Neville Chamberlain as a man and his role in the failed effort of appeasement in 1937, its failure and why it failed.

Neville Chamberlain originally gained a hands-on reputation as a manager of a 20,000-acre estate in the Bahamas, he had a strong interest in the running affairs of business and became a leading manufacturer in Birmingham on his return to the UK. He was elected in that City as a Councillor, going on to be Lord Mayor in 1915. He rose to Director General of the Department of National Service too, though resigned in a year due to bitterness between David Lloyd George and himself. Perhaps a sign that he was not an easy man to get along with.

Neville Chamberlain preceded Stanley Baldwin to become Prime Minister from 28 May 1937 until 10 May 1940. Hitler and all of Germany, even right thinking British people, thought the Versailles Treaty, written after the 1 World war was punitive and unfair, seemingly bent on totally crushing and punishing Germany for their part in that war. Chamberlain being a peace making man believed totally in appeasement and wanted at all costs to avoid another war. Indeed, he publicly spoke of his horror at the thought of the death and destruction of war, in fact one famous broadcast by him on 27 September 1937 he famously said ‘the prospect of war looming in front of him was indeed "Horrible, fantastic, incredible" that Londoners would be ‘digging ditches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing’

Hitler made war inevitable by flouting the Versailles Treaty constantly, breaking peace-making promises which he had never ever had any intention of keeping and deliberately marching ever onward, taking over land he considered rightly belonged to Germany. Chamberlain wanted to avoid war at all cost and was seen by many due to his appeasement stance, as ineffective and by the time he tried to take the initiative, it was too late. 

Hitler had risen to great power in Germany and had the perhaps rightly aggrieved population behind him. Despite settlement being reached at the Munich Agreement between Germany, Britain, France and Italy, which permitted German annexation of Sudetenland, Hitler then planned to take Czechoslovakia and the Czechs looked to France for military assistance as they had an alliance with them, the Soviets also had a treaty with the Czechs and were willing to step in with France and Britain if they came to Czechoslovakia's defence the Soviets were ignored and neither Britain nor France were prepared to defend Czechoslovakia. 

Both wanted to avoid military confrontation with Germany at almost ANY cost. Chamberlain offered to go back to speak personally to the Fuhrer and Hitler again made an agreement of no military action without further discussion. A further meeting was held in London with the French head of state and a proposal stipulating all areas with more than 50% Sudeten Germans be returned to Germany. The Czechs were not consulted but were reluctantly forced to accept on 21 September. Chamberlain STILL believing in appeasement was horrified to find Hitler again wanted more than previously agreed and a new proposal was put to the Czechs who understandably rejected it, as did the French and the British cabinet. 

Chamberlain proposed a four power conference immediately to settle the dispute, Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini met in Munich. Mussolini produced a written plan accepted by all which was called the Munich Agreement. Czechoslovakia was informed to either resist Germany alone or submit. They submitted. Before leaving Munich, Chamberlain and Hitler signed a paper resolving to peacefully settle their differences through consultation. When back on British soil Chamberlain told the public he had achieved "Peace with Honour. I believe it is peace for our time”. His words were immediately challenged by Churchill who said "You were given the choice between War or Dishonour. You chose Dishonour and you WILL have War! This proved true the

following year. The Munich Agreement became a byword for the futility of appeasing totalitarian states.

 Conclusion:

Though Chamberlains efforts of appeasement had failed, being an unmovable man of fixed ideas and beliefs, he insisted on having his ‘own way’, refusing to countenance advice from others even dismissing them, or forcing their resignation. This made him a formidable politician, but one with a closed mind and perhaps naive. I believe he was often self-deluded but perhaps he was privy to the knowledge that Britain had neither the monetary resources nor military capability to go to, war at that time? Following the Munich Agreement he believed he had won” Peace for our time" because of diplomatic persuasion and could not see that all it did was feed Hitler's megalomania and enormous appetite for territories new. All that Chamberlain's Appeasement did was strengthen Hitler’s political position. The appeasement failed because he had no understanding of the psychology of a Dictator, Hitler came to expect an utter lack of resistance to his acquisitions from both Britain AND France who had through their inaction effectively ‘encouraged’ further aggression. l believe Chamberlain died in 9 November 1940 six months after retiring perhaps a broken man.

Works cited

Book (on internet) Origins of the second world war A.J.P TAYLOR

Encyclopaedia Britannica (on internet)

BBC — GCSE Bitesize History” Why appeasement"? (internet)

Class Handout "Appeasement" (Perspectives) Richard Cockett

Monthly Meeting Notes February 3

Apologies from Val, Dorothy, Iris and Eric who could not make it. We all wish Eric a speedily return to health. Our regulars were a little bit short for us to take Peters challenging quiz on general history but I am sure we will be prepared for our next meeting. We had several contributions to our meeting starting off with a talk by John on the life of Gertude Bell. Gertude Bell is currently a topic at the Hancock Museum and her exhibition is on until Tuesday 3 May. For those of you who can not make it we will post Johns small contribution later on in this blog; when he read it out we were quite surprised by some of the things he had found out.

Joan mentioned The parish Church of St Mary & St Cuthbert at Chester-le-Street and the visit she had there to look at a copy of the Lindisfarne Gosbels. We all agreed that this should be one of our spring - summer outings but if you are interested in going in the near future you can find more information on the following web site:

St Mary and St Cuthbert Church

We were again amazed at how Newcastle City Learning could come up with some of the ridiculous payment schemes for courses. Several of our members were paying different prices for courses. Even though they were receiving Pension Credits two of our members were paying different prices and when querying these prices were given conflicting information. It appears that some  of our work in September has been ignored and we need to make it clear that front line staff should be make aware of funding and course provision details and that those details should be made consistent. Our advice until this gets sorted out is to make sure when you enrol for the next classes in Easter that you are getting the best deal in terms of concessions, ask them what concession you are entitled to and do not be put off by un helpful staff any inconsistencies should be reported either to us as a group or to Caroline Miller.

Devils Toenails

I brought along a curiosity which has more to do with Local Natural History than our normal local history but interesting enough to amuse us. It was a Devils Toenail which I collected on the beach at Recar, Teeside may years ago when I was a young lad interested in Geology.

 The specimen I collected is about two and a half inches long by one and a half inches high but they come in all sort of sizes. They are not rare and I am sure you could beach combe the area and find them along the shore.  So what is a Devils Toenail?  Here is Wikipedia description:

Gryphaea, common name Devil's toenails, is a genus of extinct oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Gryphaeidae. These fossils range from the Triassic to the Tertiary periods, but are mostly restricted to the Triassic and Jurassic. Wikipedia

The Triassic period ran from 251 million to 199 million years ago and the Jurassic period ran from 199.6 to 145.5 million years ago. The Middle Jurassic of the Yorkshire Coast is probably where its origins are around 170 million years ago . At that time the  ocean receded from this area. The region became a coastal area with deltas, scrub and forest. The sandstones and mudstones formed in this period contain plant remains and the traces of land animals as well as marine fossils. Dinosaurs left their mark here too in the form of footprints and the occasional bone.

Devils Toenails can be found all along the coast south of Recar, including Robin Hoods Bay and Whitby. You can buy them on Ebay for around £8 but there is nothing like finding one yourself.

The Square & Compass

Maureen told us about a music and Local History Project by John Bushby and Gordon Phillips  called the Square and Compass which was the local name for the Freemasons Arms the only pub on St Mary's Island. John and Gordon have created a Folksong Cycle for St Mary's Island and its surrounds, North Tyneside which is available on CD. It comes with a little book giving a small history of the island and the lyrics to the folk songs. It has been described in the web site folking.com that John and Gordon were making songs out of small moments from history. To read the review of John and Gordon's work and see their web sites check out the links below:

Foking.com-John Bushby and Gordon Phillips

John and Caroline Bushby

Gordon Phillips

Gertrude Bell

Assignment. G.Bell. March 2015 by John


10 Minutes walk from where I lived for 5 years in Washington Village, is Washington Hall , near the
more famous Old Washington Hall.

On the wall of Washington Hall now divided into separate apartments is a plaque telling us that
Gertrude Bell, scholar, archaeologist, poet,mountaineer and gardner was born here. After my
stay in Washington that is all l knew about Gertrude Bell. This assignment has prompted me to
find out more. I now know that the short description on the plaque understates her achievements.

Start:

Gertrude Bell was born in 1868, at Washington Hall, Co Durham. Her grandfather was Sir Isaac
Lowthian Bell one of the most influential industrialists of the mid 19c. who played a large part in the
growth and development of Teeside. Gertrude was born into privilege and influence.

At the age of three her mother died following the birth of Gertrude’s brother Maurice. The family
moved to Barnes House in Redcar and five years later her father married again, into a family with
diplomatic contacts.

Gertrude was sent for private schooling to London and at 18 went up to one of the 2 colleges for
women at Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall. Noted for her independence of thought, after 2 years in
1888 she became the first woman to gain a first class honours degree in history at Oxford.

Over the next 10 Years her step - mother's ,brother- in- law, Sir Frank Lascelles had posts as British
Minister at the Embassies in Bucharest, Tehran, Berlin and Jerusalem. Gertrude Bell took
advantage to spend valuable holiday time in all four places. She studied Persian, Arabic and
German. Staying for a while in Baghdad, she discovered the wonders of Arabia at this time under
the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and nurtured a desire to travel the Arabian Desert. She learnt
Mountain climbing in the French and Swiss Albs, and would later earn the title of foremost woman
climber in the Alpine Journal 1901-03.  At the time there was no special clothing for women
climbers. This did not deter Gertrude Bell, when climbing she just removed her skirt. In 1901 she
became the first person to climb all nine heights of the Engelhorner range in the Swiss Alps. One
mountain was name "Gertrudspitze" after her.

ln 1913 she returned to Damascus prepared with a caravan of helpers to explore the Desert. Her
journey would last over 4 months and included names, familiar to us today, Aleppo, Basra, Baghdad
and the Kurdish mountains that lay between Persia and Mesopotamia.

She learnt how to present herself to Arab sheiks, learnt the language, became an accomplished
archaeologist, cartographer, and photographer. She carried binoculars, and also a gun for self
protection hidden under her petticoat. Her wealth enabled her to bring gifts with her to present
to sheiks and tribal leaders on the way. She became known as Queen of the Desert able to
impress on occasion with lavish meals. A table would be laid out in the desert, covered with linen
tablecloth, silver candlesticks, wedgewood dinner set and crystal glasses.

 Not wasting her time, she mapped some of the unknown desert, marking wells and unknown ruins,
invaluable information for the future.

At the outbreak of World War 1 with her fluency in French and German, she volunteered to work
with the Red Cross and was sent to France, later to be brought back to London to help reorganise
the Office of Identification.

In 1915, aware of her knowledge of the Middle East she was appointed to Military intelligence in
Cairo with the rank of Major - the first women officer in the history of British Intelligence. She
was then moved to Basra as Oriental Secretary to liaise between British and the Arabs and help in
the reorganisation of the Middle East following the defeat of the Turks by the British and Arabs
under Lawrence. In 1917 she was moved to Baghdad where she set up her home and took an
active part in organising education for women and girls, assuring the Arabs that Britain desired their
freedom and independence.

lt was in the immediate post war years that Gertrude Bell had her greatest influence. In 1920 she
produced a White Paper, the first woman to do so entitIed:"Review of Civil Administration of
Mesopotamia" it was applauded by both houses of Parliament.

She helped create the new state of lraq and define its boundaries with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and
Turkey. She was influential in having her friend Faisal Hussein appointed 1st king and ruler. He
made her Director of Antiquities and it has been said "she deserves praise for having preserved the
remains of the "cradle of civilisation"

A Museum of Antiquities was created and King Faisal dedicated a room, the Gertrude Bell Room -
"whose memory the Arabs will ever hold in reverence and affection."

The Arabs gave Gertrude Bell the title ”Mother of the Faithful" — the last to have the title was
Mohammed’ s wife.

Along with King Faisal and TE Lawrence, leader of Arab rebels against the Turks, Miss Bell attended
the 1921 Peace Conference in Paris which endorsed the natural aspirations of the Arabs and the
establishment of National Government.

Amongst other awards Gertrude Bell was made a Companion of the British Empire and received the
Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

She died in Bagdhad 1926, from a drugs overdose, no husband, alone, fed up, family fortune lost,
depressed.

She was given a full Military Funeral in the city attended by lraq and British High Commissioners and all their staff along with lraq and Arab Bedouin troops.

The story of Gertrude Bell is the story of first amongst women. lt may come as a surprise to know
that she was also a founder member of the Anti-suffragette movement. Women should educate
themselves and not make fools of themselves she said.

She had the benefit of privilege but it was a benefit she used with maximum effect. She had an
insatiable thirst for knowledge and experience and a great spirit of adventure and courage.




What she effected in the Middle East has had major impact on events there to this day. As
someone said ‘she must take some responsibility as the architect of an unstable Iraq in the middle
of an unstable Middle East.

A recent commentator says: Bell's biographers have generally ignored her intriguing combination of
creativity, honesty, intelligence and wrong headed idiocy in favour of celebrating her as a female
genius.

Sources: Encyclopaedia of N. East England by Richard Lomas
Gertrude Bell by Ann Talbot in Lives to Remember series 1958
A woman in the Desert by D Cowen 1967
The extraordinary life of G. Bell by James Buchan
The Queen of the Quaqmire. Rory Stewart 2007

Numerous references on the web.
Apart from books she herself wrote there are 16 volumes of letters including 1,600 to her parents in
the Newcastle University Library, and available on the University Web. www.gerty.nc|.ac.uk

Next Meeting

 

Our next  meeting will be in the upstairs cafe of the Hancock Musuem on Wednesday 9 March at 10:30am. Please bring yourselves along and bring with you any material you want to discuss.