North makes its mark on history

Nov 22 2007 By Tony Henderson, The Journal

THE North-East was – and is – a special place for many reasons.

They range from the great days of King Coal and shipbuilding to today’s diversity of unspoilt landscapes and heritage.

But the place has also been a prolific producer of individuals who were either hugely talented or made their mark on history – and often both.

It is a measure of just how many outstanding figures have emerged from the North-East that there are as many who I have, unwillingly, been forced to leave out of the top 10 as actually made it on to the list.

Any top 10, after all, that can’t find a place for St Cuthbert or St Aidan, who made possible the Golden Age of Northumbria and helped produce the Lindisfarne Gospels, has to be pretty special.

Nor could I find room for Charles Parsons, inventor of the steam turbine, Richard Grainger, the property developer who turned Newcastle into the “city of palaces”, or electric lamp pioneer Joseph Swan.

My final 10 is a highly personal list but I am sure readers will remind me of those I have forgotten.

Tony's top 10 northerners

The Venerable Bede

Born in 673, the Venerable Bede spent his life from the age of seven at the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow, currently in the running for world heritage site designation. His scholarship made what is now the North-East the centre of European learning in the Eighth Century, and his works are still being published 1,300 years later.

His greatest undertaking was the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which covered 800 years and spanned five volumes, earning him the title of England’s first historian and is of key importance in the understanding of the early history of Britain after the end of the Roman occupation.

George Stephenson

George Stephenson and son Robert are inseparable as a pioneering team in the development of the railways, which were to change the face of the world.

George built 15 locomotives while enginewright at Killingworth Colliery, and in 1815 he invented his miner’s Geordie safety lamp. He went on to plan the Stockton and Darlington railway and he and Robert opened their locomotive factory in Newcastle.

George directed the building of the Liverpool-Manchester railway, the world’s first public line, and MP Robert designed the High Level across the Tyne.

Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook undertook three epic voyages of discovery. Cook’s first voyage was around the world, east to west, including the charting of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. The second voyage was again around the world, west to east. He sailed far south towards Antarctica and completed the first crossing of the Antarctic Circle.

Lord Armstrong

Inventor, engineer and industrial magnate William – later Lord – Armstrong was born in 1810 in Shieldfield, Newcastle. He was fascinated by the motive power of water and invented an efficient hydraulic crane. His country seat at Cragside in Northumberland was the first house to be lit by hydro-electricity and was known as the “Palace of the Modern Magician.”

Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick was born in 1753 at Cherryburn, near Mickley in the Tyne Valley and his birthplace is now a National Trust property. At 14 he was apprenticed to the Newcastle engraver Ralph Beilby and excelled at wood engraving, becoming an illustrator of national importance whose work is still used across the world.

Catherine Cookson

Catherine Cookson’s novels are not to everyone’s taste, but there is no doubting her prodigious output and her immense following. She wrote almost 100 books, selling 123 million copies. Many causes have benefited from her generosity.

Lord Collingwood

Born in Side, Newcastle, Cuthbert Collingwood went to sea in 1761 at the age of 13 to be trained as a naval officer. Collingwood became a firm friend of Lord Nelson, and the Tynesider’s ship Royal Sovereign was the first into action at the Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Lord Collingwood took command after the Nelson’s death and his skill meant that not a single British ship was lost during the terrible storm which followed Trafalgar.

Lancelot Brown

Lancelot “Capability” Brown was born at Kirkharle in Northumberland in 1716 and went on to transform the landscape of England. His skills at combining landforms, trees and water bodies had the aristocracy and King George III clamouring for the services of the largely self-taught former Northumbrian village lad.

Arthur Henderson

Arthur Henderson started his working life in a Tyneside iron foundry. After becoming a Newcastle councillor for Westgate North in 1892, he graduated to being an MP and by 1908 he was leader of the Labour Party. He was a member of Lloyd George’s war cabinet, and his distinguished political career was crowned when he presided over the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva in 1932, for which he was given the Nobel Peace Prize.

Grace Darling

The fact that a museum in Bamburgh, Northumberland, is devoted to Grace Darling is a measure of the heroism which made her an international celebrity. She was 22 when she risked her life rowing more than a mile in an open boat to help the survivors of the wrecked SS Forfarshire off the Farne Islands on September 7, 1838.