Newcastle Local History Group: June 2016

This month we had a wide variety of topics to talk about. We started off with the Ouseburn which is where Eric took guided walks for many years and he will be often be remembered for his informative and enthusiastic tours.

Byker, Newcastle, September 1970

The Ouseburn and Glasshouse Road Bridge can be picked out on the right edge of the image with Brough Park dog stadium on the left. Spillers Flour Mills is the building reflecting the light in the lower middle of the image. Tyne and Wear Archives

Bigger Image here

We followed on with a talk about the churches around the area and nearly everyone had a mention about a particular church and for those of us who did not know it was a surprise to find out how many there were that sprang up in the 19th Century for all denominations.

John mentioned in his Parish there were up to 5000 catholics in and around Byker until the redevelopment which left only 1000. Shelagh told us a little bit about Coffee Johnny the Blacksmith from Winlayton. She had a great portrait of him which she showed us and promised to do a write up of his history in the near future.

Shelagh told us a little bit about the old Bonded Warehouses that were down near the Ouseburn and what it was like to work there.

If you are interested in guided walks along the Ouseburn here are some up and coming events:

You can find the rest on their April News Sheet:

ouseburntrust.org.uk

Local History in a letter

An article by Ian Macrae

I brought along a letter from Andrew Laing the great benefactor for the Laing Art Gallery, it was dated 1865 and was from a wine supplier in Edingburgh. I was given this letter as a present from my friend Ian Macrae who has written a small piece below.

This is entire letter from Alexander Laing in Newcastle to Messrs J Jeffrey & Co. Brewers in

Edinburgh and is dated 12th June 1865. The letter relates to a bankers draft for £463. I suspect it is payments received, by customers of J. Jeffrey, by Alexander Laing and F M Laing.

Here are some questions relating to the letter:

l.) What does pro mean in front of Alexander Laing signature?

2.) Who is F.M. Laing ?

3.) Where did Alexander Laing live ?

4.) If he could afford to donate £30,000, how did he accumulate his wealth ?

5.) What else did he do other than sell beer for an Edinburgh brewer ?

1.)

Pro is most likely to stand for the Latin Pro I For. So is this a letter signed by Both Alexander

Laing and F.M. Laing. Or is it F.M. Laing signing for Alexander Laing. I am not sure. You

would need to see an original signature by Alexander Laing. Maybe “Clue 3 “ can lead you in

that direction.

2.)

F.M. Laing....Farquhar Milne Laing..... Alexander Laings younger brother. He has a social

history in Newcastle, see attached biographies from Central Library below. Bet you did not know that

F.M. Laing had the Eldon Grill and reputed to have introduced the idea of a Grill in a pub. He

also had hotels, The Empire Music Hall ,( Used to be in Newgate Street where the Swallow

Hotel now stands ) . He and Alexander Laing had there own Beer Bottle manufacturing plants.

3.)

Best I can ﬁnd is that both Alexander and F.M. Laing lived in Corbridge but when working as

representatives for J .Jeffries, they had ofﬁces in Market Street, Newcastle.

4.)

Interesting fact was that Alexander Laing died in 1905, a year after the Laing Art Gallery was

opened and his will left his estate to his Nephew and to his “adopted” son. Not sure how much

he left in his Will. Might be worth trying to ﬁnd out.

5.)

I was able to ﬁnd out a bit more on F.M. Laing than on Alexander Laing. The key bits l could

ﬁnd was that F.M. Laing came to Newcastle to work with his older brother c1860 and worked

with him for ll years. The Jeffreys Brewers in Scotland moved from its GrassMarket site in

Edinburgh in l867. I do not know if in the ll years that FM Laing joined his brother they were

merely representatives of J Jeffreys. F.M. Laing went on to become a Representative in his own

right for another Edinburgh brewer, Usher. I came across articles which showed that there were

two beer bottling businesses in Newcasle and you could get beer bottles stamped Alexander

Laing and F.M. Laing. I do not know if the brothers owned their own factories or merely

commissioned the bottles to be made with their stamp. The brothers also appeared to invest in

Pubs, Hotels , Music Halls, Brewery in Newcastle. There is a comment in a Thesis at the

following URL: - https1//theses.ncl.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/l0443/199/1/bennison92.pdf

ALEXANDER LAING (1828-1905) WINE MERCHANT AND PATRON OF THE ARTS

Image from Laing Art Gallery's Companion Guide Book
blog.twmuseums.org.uk

In 1900 Newcastle Corporation, aware that Newcastle lacked the sort of art gallery possessed by other important town and cities, earmarked a site next to the Free Library in New Bridge Street and began to seek subscriptions. When only £1200 was raised the project seemed doomed. At this point Alexander wrote to the Corporation to announce that ‘in commemoration of a successful business career of ﬁfty years in your midst, I am prepared to erect and present the City a building to be known as the Laing Gallery for the use and enjoyment of the public in perpetuity having no doubt, that by the liberality of the inhabitants it would soon be supplied with pictures and statuary for the encouragement and development of British Art’.

Image from http://blog.twmuseums.org.uk/laing-art-gallerys-companion-guide-book-marks-110-years-of-history/

Born in Forfarshire, Alexander Laing served his time in the drapery trade and worked in Belfast and

Edinburgh before arriving in Newcastle in 1849 to represent Jeffrey & Co., the well-known Edinburgh brewers. He later set up on his own account as a bottler then expanded into wines, spirits and the licensed trade, operating for many years from ofﬁces in Market Street.

The Edwardian Baroque Laing Art Gallery, with its Art Nouveau elements was designed by Messrs

Cackett and Burns Dick, and was opened in 1904 by Viscount Ridley.
In recognition of his generosity in spending over £30,000 for the beneﬁt of his fellow citizens, Alexander Laing was given the Honorary Freedom of the City. The Art Gallery was not built to house an existing collection (Laing had not been a connoisseur or collector). At the opening it did not possess a single work of art and wood shavings were displayed to highlight the gallery’s plight.

Messrs J Jeffrey & Co.

A brewery was reputedly operating on Heriot Bridge, Grassmarket, Edinburgh, Scotland, from the early sixteenth century. By 1800 the brewery was owned by Baillie Gordon, trading as Gordon & Hume, and in about 1820 it was acquired by Buchan & Co. Thomas Stewart took over the brewery in about 1830, followed by John Jeffrey and his younger brother David in 1837, trading under the name of John Jeffrey & Co. The Grassmarket site soon became cramped and land was purchased in 1865 at Roseburn, on the westem outskirts of Edinburgh, where new maltings, an ale store and a cooperage were built.

A new brewhouse was added to the Rosebum site in 1880 but brewing continued at the Heriot Brewery until 1900 when the site was sold to Heriot—Watt College for GBP 2,500. The firm was one of the pioneers of lager brewing in Scotland and had a large export trade and tied trade in Scotland and northern England, with deposits in Glasgow, Scotland, Newcastle~upon~Tyne, England and Manchester, England.

John Jeffrey & Co Ltd was registered in July 1934 as a private limited liability company to acquire the business. The company acquired Edinburgh United Breweries Ltd in 1935 and was converted into a public company in 1938. It supplied ale to James Calder Co Ltd, Alloa, Scotland, from 1951 and a new bottling plant was built at Sighthill, Edinburgh, in 1955.

ln February 1960 the company merged with Hammonds United Breweries Ltd, Bradford, West

Yorkshire, England, and Hope and Anchor Breweries Ltd, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England,

through Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd, York and London, England. United Breweries Ltd, as Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd was renamed, merged with Charrington United Breweries Ltd, London. Brewing continued at Heriot Brewery until its closure in the 1990s.

F.M. LAING

Farquar Milne Laing was born at Forfar in 1841 and initially came to

Newcastle c1860 to work with his brother, Alexander Laing. Around 1871 he

moved on to become northern counties agent for Edinburgh brewers, Usher

& Co. As F M Laing & Co. he began to build up his own portfolio of

licensed premises in Newcastle, South Shields and the Tyne Valley.

Amongst his Newcastle properties were the Royal Scotch Arms, the

Punchbowl, the Eldon Grill and the Pineapple; and at a presentation in 1915

As Laing was acknowledged as the person who introduced the restaurant and

grill system into the city. He also bought the Empire Theatre in Newgate

Street which was up-dated and eventually sold on to the Thornton-Moss

chain. F M Laing died in 1917 and the company's properties were ﬁnally disposed

of ten years later.

References

References to Alexander Laing ( From Central Library)

Obituary Weekly Chronicle 12.10.1905 & 14.10.1905

Newcastle Journal 28.5.1915 & 11.8.1917 & 6.10.1927

Newcastle Chronicle 20.12.1915

References to Farquhar Milne Laing ( From Central Library)

Obituary Weekly Chronicle 11.8.1917

Newcastle Journal 12.10.1905 & 7.10.1907 |& 6.8.1917

The Central Library also supplied me with the photocopies attached from a couple of books they held in archives. I wondered if Laing Art Gallery had any documents so I could compare signatures and was advised I could contact the following to inquire :-

Sarah Richardson, Keeper of Art, Laing Art Gallery 0191-232 7734

Ian Macrae June 2016