General

March is Women’s History Month giving us an opportunity to shed light on some of the lesser-known stories of women from our archive. When researching family history, it is common to know what our grandfathers and great-grandfathers did during the Second World War but not many know what their female relatives did during the war. Now, more than ever, it is important to share the stories of those who lived through life changing experiences so that they can be remembered, and others can come forward to tell their own – ensuring they won’t be lost in time. Held in our archive are several collections relating to women during the Second World War. Here is Linda’s story told through her photos and books from our archive and library (she wrote her books later in life).

Linda was born in 1918 to a mining family and grew up in Ashington, living on Station Road then moving to Ashbourne Crescent. In the 1930s the family moved to Eleventh Row then to Dene View in the 1940s. Before the war started, Linda worked in Hirst Grocery, which was part of the Ashington Co-operative Society – she had lots of competition to get this job as she explains in one of her books. At the outbreak of war, in 1939, Linda voluntarily joined the Ashington Air Raid Precautions (ARP), completing an anti-gas precautions test followed by assisting in the recruiting of other women for the service. In her book, ‘From Store to War,’ she describes how she felt when asked to help with recruitment, “I had never felt so important in the whole of my life.”

By early 1940, Linda was volunteering as an ambulance driver around Ashington, where
she was given an old black ford to use as an ambulance, working evenings and weekends
(like many volunteers, they worked their day jobs in addition to these voluntary posts). She
remembers in her book, “There, at my post, often in total darkness and often cold, I sat
gazing at the searchlights and the occasional flashes and being grateful for the Ack-Ack
(anti-aircraft) pounding away defending with all their might this particular corner of our vast
empire.” During her time as an ambulance driver, she only ever took one casualty to
hospital when a land mine fell on Lynemouth one night, injuring a man in his garden. While
trying to take him to Newcastle’s eye hospital, she broke down once and lost a car door on
the way there! She did, however, get him safely to the hospital.

In October 1942, Linda was called up for service – the conscription of women was
introduced in December 1941 – joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). In her book
she says she spent her last day of civilian freedom at a cinema in Blyth where they were
showing Gone with the Wind. She illustrates a vivid picture of the day she left, “Dearly
loved autumn, full of colour and changing pictures, trees beginning to show their dark, lacy
structure against the pale sky, gardens browner than they were, the dew still throwing up
diamond patches on the dark grass. Carrying my suitcase, I scuffed and crunched my way
among the leaves that had fallen from the park trees. At the bus station I met up with
Evelyn Todd. She too was going into the Auxiliary Territorial Service.”

Soon after she was sent to Fenham Barracks where she got her uniform. Like many other
women found, the uniform didn’t fit very well, and she eventually took it to a seamstress to
be altered. Very early into her time with the ATS, she caught Scabies, staying in the sick bay
for a while until she was better. By the time she was ready to leave, she had been told she
had a high IQ and that she would do well in RDF (radar) which would mean working as
close to active service as possible (working on anti-aircraft stations). Across her career in
the ATS, she was promoted to Lance-Corporal, ‘making her a number one’ as she mentions
in her book then transferred to the Army Education Corps where she rose to the rank of
Warrant Officer. Whilst being in the ATS inspired her to become a teacher after the war, the
journey that took her there was risky and dangerous at times.

In 1944, Linda was working not far from London when the threat of V2 rockets challenged
the radar stations, as they were undetectable before they hit. It was when Linda was on
leave in London, however, that she experienced the destruction of these weapons. When
making her way back to a train station to return to camp, the air raid siren sounded. She
hurried back but was stopped by a warden when a bomb fell near them, knocking them
both to the ground. Shaken, she tried to continue but was told to find shelter in a nearby
hut. She describes, vividly, in her book, “There was a loud whistle, the earth shook, toppled
and crumbled. Bricks, it seemed, were raining down. I stood still in a little protected
pocket. I felt my body all over and my face. I was all right.” The warden nearby helped her
out, amazed that she was alive – many weren’t so lucky in the 1944 blitz on London using
V1 and V2 rockets with over 30,000 civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands left
homeless [1].

Linda described, in her book, an incident at her radar station caused by a power outage
where she had to carry a box to an FFI Mark II plane waiting outside. She describes, “I
hesitated just a moment. All hell was let loose. The noise was deafening. The searchlight
stilts criss-crossed the sky. The lights from the tracer shells. The planes overhead and the
bursts of flame. The fires. The flares. It wasn’t the thought of a bomb that frightened me.
What terrified me was the thought that I wore no hat and any second now a small piece of
shrapnel might come down and pierce my skull ending the life I knew. I ran as quickly and
carefully as I could, panting not from exertion but from the effect of the raid.”

Linda’s experience in wartime changed the course of her career. She talks openly in her
book about questioning the expectation of getting married and settling down after the war,
debating the options of studying and returning to her old life. At the end of the war, she
decided to join a teacher’s training course in Newcastle, completing her training at the
University of Ireland. She married her husband, Ernest, in 1948 and enjoyed a rewarding
career for the rest of her life. In the 1960s, she and her husband ran a boarding school for
girls in Worsley, Manchester, which accommodated over 100 girls. Linda pioneered sex
education in schools and presented radio programmes about human relationships. Her
first book, ‘The Pit Village and the Store’ was published in 1985 and some parts of her
books were dramatised by Channel 4 (even featuring Linda in some of the shop scenes).

After the war, many women returned to their old jobs or domestic duties, as encouraged by
the government. In 1939, around five million women were employed but by 1943, over
seven million were employed due to the war. By 1951, women’s employment had almost
returned to the pre-war level and a bar on married women working continued in many jobs
[2].

Bibliography:
[1] Imperial War Museums, The Terrifying German ‘Revenge Weapons’ Of The Second
World War Blog – The Terrifying German Revenge Weapons Of WW2 | Imperial War
Museums (iwm.org.uk)

[2] BBC Teach, GCSE History resources – Did the war change life for women? WW2: Did the
war change life for women? – BBC Teach

Book referenced –
From Store to War By Linda Mccullough-Thew (1987)

Linda’s other books –
The Pit Village and the Store: Portrait of a Mining Past (1985)
A Tune for Bears to Dance to (1992

Welcome to the fourth and final blog in our series on the unsolved murder of John Thomas Bianchi and the assault on his cousin Elizabeth Philipson in January of 1919. Last time we examined the route the pair were taking on the night of the shooting and the route the murderer took on fleeing the scene. We also looked at some of the witness statements and the £50 reward poster.

This time let’s get to know the Bianchi family a little better. John Thomas Bianchi was the fourth child of Margaret Jane Bianchi, nee Phillipson, and John Thomas Bianchi (Snr). John (Snr) and Margaret would go on to have another three children including a Joseph George.

Joseph George is briefly mentioned in a more contemporary review of the murder case by a newspaper, the Sunday Sun in May 1962. They claim that a younger brother of John’s became a detective-sergeant at Scotland yard. They say that…

“On one occasion he fulfilled a vow by returning to Tyneside and going over the case stage by stage examining every little detail. But he had no better luck than his predecessors.”

Indeed the 1939 register for England and Wales has a Joseph G Bianchi living in West Ham with his occupation listed as “Police Officer Metropolitan Police”. The date of birth given matches other census information for John’s brother. So perhaps we can assume that this is the brother the newspaper was referring to. Despite his brother’s efforts the killer remained at large.

The police file has within it investigations into Elizabeth’s background, who she was friends with and what people thought of her. But as we know this line of enquiry did not produce any firm leads. But curiously they do not appear to have investigated John’s background, who his friends were and whether anyone could have meant him any harm.

We know, from the report of the funeral in the Illustrated Chronicle, that John worked at Hawthorn Leslie’s shipyard at Hebburn. However, none of his colleagues appear to have been interviewed to find out if he had had any problems at work. Or if any of his colleagues wished him ill. Hawthorn Leslie’s yard was just along the river from Palmer’s Jarrow shipyard where the E40 submarine, to which the gun had eventually been traced, was built. Could a worker from the shipyard have been involved?

Photograph showing the drilling of the horizontal joint in a turbine casting at the St. Peter’s Works of R and W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company Limited, Newcastle upon Tyne.

John had another interesting brother Francis or Frank Bianchi born 10^th June 1898. Frank was 15 years old when he enlisted in 1914 for 4 years in the Territorial Force, although he claimed to be 17 years old. He was attached to the 5^th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. His Army record shows that he served from the 21^st of May 1914 to the 5^th of February 1915. Searching for his Army service record online tells us that he was discharged from the army due to…

“Having been claimed by parent [unreadable word] para 392 VI (a) Kings Regs”

Paragraph 392 VI (a) of the Kings Regulations states

“Having made a mis-statement as to age on enlistment-soldier under 17 years of age at date of application for discharge-The C.O. after satisfying himself that the birth certificate produced refers to the soldier in question, will proceed with the discharge.”

We also promised you a resolution to the case and it comes to us from the editor of the Daily Chronicle, a Fleet Street publication. Who in February of 1919 received an anonymous letter purporting to give the name of the killer. A copy of the letter is contained in the file and is reproduced for you below.

The police in Morpeth, North and South Shields, Newcastle and Blyth looked through what they called their “Aliens Register” to try and find the person named in the letter and the response came back that they

“Have not such a name registered and cannot hear that such a person as ever been in their towns.”

So sorry to lead you up the garden path on that one, but unfortunately the unsolved murder is still unsolved.

John Thomas Bianchi’s funeral was held at Benton cemetery on February the 2^nd 1919, six days after he was shot. Newspapers of the day report that there were “hundreds of sympathisers”

So, in conclusion what have we learned from the police file? We know that several witnesses saw a man on the lonnin just before the incident, including Elizabeth Philipson who survived the attack and could have identified the man. We know that the weapon he used was issued to the submarine E40 in 1917 and that the killer made off over fields in a southerly direction from the shooting. We know that the police pursued a number of lines of enquiry including mistaken identity and ultimately, we know that a young man tragically lost his life. What we don’t know, of course, is why.

Please note that the file about the murder and assault at Bigges Main is currently uncatalogued so is not yet available to the public in the Study Centre.

Welcome back to our series of blogs on the murder at Bigges Main in 1919. Last time we looked at the theory of mistaken identity as a motive for the murder of John Thomas Bianchi and the assault on Elizabeth Phillipson. We also looked how the investigation moved to the E40 submarine.

This time, let us have a look at the route that John and Elizabeth were taking on the night of the shooting, and the route that the shooter took when fleeing the scene.

We know that John was escorting Elizabeth from his house in Chapel Row, Bigges Main to her place of work at Walkergate Hospital. The close-up image below is from the 1952 edition of Ordnance Survey maps and shows the highlighted route the pair would have taken. Setting out from Bigges Main village in a south westerly direction the lonnin bisects open fields towards the recreation ground. They would have been aiming for, what is now known as, and recorded on the map as Benfield Road (then called Benton Road). Just south of what local witnesses called the three arch bridge and onto the hospital on that road.

From Elizabeth’s statement she describes walking along the “Walker lonan” [1]…when about 200 yards along the road” she saw a man standing on the outside of the footpath and “when we were about two or three yards from him, he swung round and fired a shot.”

This information tells us that the shooter had only a very quick view of the pair and, bearing in mind that it was about a quarter to ten at night in January, and the lane was unlit, the view he would have got would have been very poor indeed. So, was he relying more on his hearing than his sight to identify his target? Or had he already observed them, perhaps further up the footpath? Or had he followed their routine on previous nights?

Elizabeth’s statement continues…

“I screamed and run round the man towards the Benton Road when he seized me by the shoulder, pulling me round, he then struck me in the corner of the left eye and I fell to the ground.”

Perhaps this description gives us a clue to the assailant, was he right-handed? If he held the gun in his right hand and went to hit Elizabeth, he would have naturally struck her in the left side of her face.

To hear how he made his escape let’s have a look at another piece of evidence and this time we are using a contemporary report in the newspaper. The Newcastle Daily Journal dated 29^th January 1919 reports an interview with Elizabeth in which they claim she says,

“Dazed, I fell to the ground and feigned death. Next I heard a sound, as though he were jumping the fence, and, looking up found the man had crossed into the field.”

Elizabeth says she would know the man again by his back, as he was of a particularly solid build and positive his back would be unmistakable. The same publication claims to follow the route the murderer took from articles left behind, firstly the gun, then the newspaper claims that cartridges were found towards a reservoir and more still towards Walkergate hospital.

The same publication, two days later, interviews Charles Finlayson, the first person on the scene who helped carry John to his father’s cottage about 200 yards from where the shooting took place. Through Finlayson we hear some of John’s last words.  John asked about the man who came from the direction of “Cartman’s” and returned the same way. The paper explains that “Cartman’s” is a cottage very near to the Benton Road end of the lane. Indeed, searching the 1921 census a family by the name of Cartman were still living at White Cottage, near Walker Gate, almost at the junction of the lonnin and Benton Road.  Finlayson tells the Journal that the man is thought to have made off in the direction of Walkergate Hospital across a ploughed field.

Newcastle Daily Chronicle dated the of 20^th February 1919 however reports from the inquest and quotes the deceased as saying the man had gone towards “Carville” is this a mis-hearing of Cartman’s? Or vice versa? Carville station was a railway station on the riverside loop of the Newcastle and North Shields railway. The loop ran between Byker and Willington Quay serving the heavy industry of the Tyne. From the scene of the murder escaping southeast over the fields you would naturally arrive at Wallsend Station on the main Newcastle to Tynemouth line before reaching the loop line and Carville station.

The staff of fourteen local inns or hotels were interviewed, conductresses on the Newcastle Corporation trams and the ticket collector at Walkergate Railway station were also interviewed but no one reported seeing any suspicious men that evening.

There are many witness statements in the file who did see a man in the “lonnin” around the time of the shooting, they describe the location in relation to the three-arch bridge. Rosy Cottage is mentioned by some, as pistol cartridges were found 50 yards north of Rosy Cottage stuffed into a hedge and others lying in the field adjacent to the hedge cache. One witness says she saw a man standing on the outside of the footpath just as Elizabeth said,

outside of the footpath just as Elizabeth said,

“opposite the little white gate leading into the old football field”.

She estimates the time of the shooting as about 9.45 pm, the same time as Elizabeth states.

Another witness saw a man at about 9:20pm midway between White Cottage (where the Cartmans lived) and Bigges Main and then claims to have seen the same man on the 8^th of February pacing up and down outside the Colliery Engine Inn at Walkergate. The pub was at the junction of Shields Road and Benton Road/Benfield Road, just off the bottom left of the map above and very close to both the Walkergate hospital and the scene of the shooting. Unfortunately, the Colliery Engine Inn was not one of the pubs where staff were interviewed.

Another witness says that at about 8pm near the end of the gardens adjoining Cross Row, Bigges Main he passed a man who turned his face as the witness approached and the witness said that “I think I will know the man again” he was with another witness whose statement is very similar to his friends but added that the man had dark eyebrows. All the other witnesses have stated the man was wearing a cap so there has been no prior indication as to hair colour. Another clue then, we are perhaps looking for a man with dark eyebrows, and therefore perhaps dark hair?

Another witness says about 9:40pm she was walking with her “young man” from Walkergate to Bigges Main and saw a man opposite the football field and she says that he

“looked at us as if he wanted to see who we were.”

When they were at the end of Strawberry Terrace, Bigges Main she heard a shot, about two minutes after they had passed the man.

The gun was found 160 yards direct south of where the shooting took place according to PC James Sweeney’s statement, this perhaps shows the shooters direction of travel. PC Craghill states he found the gun and magazine cartridges partially concealed in a bush in a field. Possibly stashed to be collected at some time in the future?

So, we can see that there were a number of witnesses who saw a man on the lonnin just before the shooting some of who seemed to get a good clear look at him, but still the murderer could not be identified. So, the police tried another tactic. We have in the file the agenda item of the Standing Joint Committee meeting on the 3^rd of February 1919 where it is agreed to issue a reward for information.

A poster was printed and issued as follows.

The Chief Constable of Durham County 150 copies, Newcastle City 50 copies, Gateshead Borough 30 copies, Tynemouth borough 20 copies, South Shields Borough 30 copies, Sunderland borough 30 copies, Hartlepool borough 20 copies, Middlesborough 30 copies and the River Tyne Police 10 copies.

One of those copies survives and is in the file, see the photo below.

Did this tactic work? Join us next time for our fourth and final blog in this series, where the identity of the killer is finally revealed.

Please note that the file about the murder and assault at Bigges Main is currently uncatalogued so is not yet available to the public in the Study Centre.

[1] A lonnin, according to Heslop’s glossary of words used in the County of Northumberland and on the Tyneside is “a lane, a narrow road”.