John Orton took up writing following his retirement and found a niche for himself in writing about his home-town of South Shields. His Tales of Old South Shields tell the unofficial history of the town and its characters. The first three, set in the early decades of the 20th Century, are based on the memoirs of Sergeant Thomas “Jock” Gordon, of the Shields Police. In his latest book, He Wears a Blue Bonnet, John went back in time to the 17th century with a ripping yarn set in the salt pans of Auld Sheels.
Young Johnlad used to listen entranced as his Nan, Gertie, sitting in her usual chair in the kitchen, a cup of tea at hand, told stories of her time as a girl in Sheels in the early 1900s: about her Da’, a sailor, John Blot, so called because he could soak it up, who went on to become a North Sea Pilot; about the monkey who jumped on her head from a sailors’ lodging house when she was taking her Da’s dinner to him in a pudding basin when he was in dock; about wrecks on the Black Middens and the dangers of crossing the bar; about the time they burned Kruger in the streets of Shields when Mafeking was relieved; of Dick Burke, the bookie, who would escape the polis by going up the backstairs of a house, (you’d hear him coming as his wooden leg knocked on the steps), through the kitchen, ‘G’d afternoon’..’ G’d afternoon Dick’, down the front stairs and away; of the Lambton Worm, with its ‘Geet big teeth, geet big mooth and geet big goggly eyes.’ The wireless would go on at six o’clock sharp for the latest horse racing results, and Johnlad could remember when she won £13 12s 8d on a thre’penny accumulator. He and his brothers got new shoes.
Johnlad never forgot her stories. He loved comics like the Hotspur, and read books all the time. Against expectations he turned out clever, went to Oxford and became a lawyer, reaching the top of his chosen field in local government as a County Solicitor. But he had not only taken a love of stories from his Nan, who had neurasthenia as a young woman and always suffered with her nerves. Johnlad inherited the gene, had a serious nervous breakdown in his mid-forties and retired from work permanently. He suffered many years with depression trying to find something worthwhile that would give him enjoyment and fill his days.
More than forty years after hearing his Nan’s stories of Old Shields he discovered the memoirs of Station Sergeant Tom ‘Jock’ Gordon who’d joined the Shields Police from Scotland at the end of the First World War. The manuscript, hand written, dog eared and whisky stained, brought vividly to life the characters, good and bad, of a busy coal mining, ship building, industrial port in the 1920s and 1930s where folk took the rough with the smooth and got on with it.
Jock had more tales than Jonlad’s Nan: of one-legged Hughie Ross who’d knocked off an Inspector’s helmet with his crutch; of the publicans who left a small pot of whisky tied to the back gate of their pub for the Bobby on night shift; of the mounted officer whose horse would stop at every pub on the regular route back to the nick, much to the frustration of new riders; of the true story behind the 1926 race-riots when the Yemeni seamen fought with British sailors for the few jobs that were going on the ships; of the day the polis raided the pitch and toss gambling dens on Trow rocks. Johnlad also rediscovered Dick Burke, one of many street bookies - Jock Gordon had been in on the raid on Dick’s house when the Polis confiscated over £800 placed in bets on St Leger Day.
Johlad thought that others should know about the old days and decided to write up Jock’s memoirs, together with his own Nan’s stories. But the tales were short so Johnlad filled in the gaps, and had to learn for himself how life was lived in those days. So, as well as writing the stories down, Johnlad spent as much time in historical research, to make sure he got things right.
After Johnlad’s books were published he’d hear from Shields folk who’d loved the stories and whose own families had similar tales. A woman of Yemeni descent contacted John to tell him that she had wiped away tears after reading the story of Geordie Hussain in Johnlad’s book, A Chill Wind off the Tyne. The same things that happened to him in the 1920s were happening again to people now, she said. Geordie was a foundling, and had been ‘adopted’ by an Arab lodging house keeper. He had been caught up in the 1926 race riots and was under threat of deportation to the Yemen if convicted. He was married to a Shields lass, had three children, and had never been to the Yemen in his life –but he had no papers to prove he was born in Shields. (No spoiler as to how it ends.)
Well, Johnlad thought to himself, ‘If
my stories of the past can move someone to tears, then that is why I write
historical fiction’.
A Chill Wind off the Tyne, by John Orton, UK Book Publishing; illustrated edition (9 Aug. 2018) is available on Amazon (paperback and Kindle).
Blog Host Helena P. Schrader is the author of 25 historical fiction and non-fiction books, eleven of which have one one or more awards. You can find out more about her, her books and her awards at: https://helenapschrader.com
Her most recent release, Cold Peace,
was runner-up for the Historical Fiction Company BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
Award, as well as winning awards from Maincrest Media and Readers'
Favorites. Find out more at: https://www.helenapschrader.com/cold-peace.html
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