JOHN WRIGHT & HIS SONS – THE MEN WHO MOVED NORTH SHIELDS UPHILL

We are delighted to welcome David Scholey, a new speaker to our talks programme who will share his research on how North Shields moved uphill.

David, a writer and genealogist, will explain how when North Shields was celebrating its 800th anniversary last year, while he was aware that much had been written about Prior Germanus in 1225 and the building of seven shiels on the riverside, he could find very little about ‘how the town defied gravity’ and the town centre we know today was created.

This spurred him on to do some research which led him to explore how during the late 18th and early 19thcenturies, John Wright laid out the streets from Borough Road to Norfolk Street and from Albion Road to as far as Tyne Street. He will bring with him an artefact dated 1797 – a perpetual general ticket of admission to North Shields Theatre which was on Howard Street.

His talk will include the work of John Wright’s sons in completing their father’s project and, also a little about their own lives and achievements. While one son was the man who brought the Egyptian mummy to Newcastle which now resides in the Great North Museum: Hancock, the other was a local politician who played a part in achieving the Great Reform Act of 1832.

David, who lives in Wallsend, said: “I have always been fascinated by history, genealogy and writing but it is only in my retirement that i have been able to fully indulge my passion. Six of my seven local history books relate to North Shields & Tynemouth, a place I find fascinating.”