Johnson Patterson's Family Story and Other Stories from the Berwick 900 Family History Festival

A major part of Berwick 900 has been the many family stories discovered during the festival.

An unusual start to the video about the Berwick 900 Family History Festival weekend has two volunteers, Trevor Bird and his son, Andrew Bird, talking about Northern Spirit, Berwick, a peer support group for people suffering from health problems like depression and anxiety issues.

Hear Gordon Elliot, born in Spittal, Peter Guthrie, Carol White and Terry White, glimpses of the exhibition in Berwick Town Hall and a couple of speakers (Fred Kennington about researching family history across the England/Scotland border and I about harnessing search engines for family history research), Derek Sharman talking about the legacy of the Berwick 900 Festival, Linda Bankier talking in detail about family history research and using Berwick Archives.

You'll see Linda Bankier in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church talking about the gravestone of Charles Younghusband Patterson, son of Johnson Patterson, born 1763 and Isabella Patterson; about checking the burial registers and the parish registers. Using church records, Linda discovered that Johnson and Isabella had 7 sons and 2 daughters, but that Johnson had an earlier wife, Ann Dumble. The 1841 census showed a son from that marriage. The Freemen of Berwick Guild records showed that Johnson was a Freeman and several of his sons became Freemen, too. Linda established that Johnson had 15 children in total.

You can also see a small boy helping artist, Carl von Weiler, making part of the Great Performing Rope.

The Errington Inquiry, 1715

Here's another video from the 1715 Northumbrian Jacobite Rising weekend with John Nicholls, MBE, talking about the Northumbrian Jacobites and what happened to the unsuccessful rebel ringleaders, Kendal Leask about the reproduction printing press, excerpts from poetry readings in English and French in Berwick Literary Festival, Derek Sharman about the Berwick 900 Festival and a drama, The Errington Inquiry set in the Court room above Berwick Guildhall.

The inquiry was presided over by the Mayor of Berwick and features Mrs Wilson, a tavern-keeper on Holy Island,  Corporal Francis Amos, Alexander Unthank, the jail-keeper and tavern-keeper of the Berwick Arms. Most of their evidence is about Lancelot Errington, the principal ringleader who seized Holy Island castle with his nephew.

A Replica 18th Century Printing Press in Action

This is a replica of the type of printing press used in the 17th and early 18th century used to produce a reproduction of the Berwick Patriot broadsheet about the capture of Holy Island by the Jacobites.

It was set up at 2 Hide Hill, Berwick-upon-Tweed on the 1715 Jacobite Rising weekend, 10 & 11 October.

The ink should have been chimney soot mixed with boiled linseed oil but they didn't have any apprentices to mix it, so they used a modern water-based ink.

It was interesting that they were using an engraved steel plate rather than blocks of type and while I watched, it was rather slow production; though the printer claimed that an experienced 18th century printer with a full staff could produce 180 printed sheets an hour, which is somewhat faster than my dot-matrix printer, on my computer system, could produce in 1985.

The initial narrator is Derek Sharman, the subsequent narrator, talking about the press is Kendal Leask.

Berwick-upon-Tweed’s Fascinating Food History

If you had lived in the Scottish Borders in the 1840s and had a modest income as most people did, your diet would have been mostly oatmeal and potatoes with the addition of milk (and in a few parishes cheese) and garden vegetables. Bread was occasionally used, but butcher-meat very rarely. In the Scottish Borders, the most common meat was pork (or bacon or ham), the labouring classes rarely saw beef or mutton, except for dead or diseased sheep, though I suspect many may have eaten fish or rabbit.

Borders Family History Society's next meeting is on Sunday, 27th April, at 2.30pm in Coldingham Village Hall, Coldingham, TD14 5NL, when Derek Sharman will talk about Berwick-upon-Tweed’s fascinating food history. 

The Victorian period was a period of change and innovation in farming, fishing and the producing, processing and selling of food and drink.  It was also the heyday for Berwick’s trade in barley, herring and salmon. The town is full of reminders of its food-producing heritage - old salmon fishing shiels, ice-houses, herring yards, smokehouses, breweries, granaries and maltings. This talk offers fascinating glimpses into that time through a selection of extracts from local newspapers and photographs from the Berwick Record Office collection. 

I think you'll find this a very interesting talk whether you're interested in family history, local or social history and you're welcome to attend the talk whether you are a member or not.

Doors open at 2pm; the meeting begins at 2.30pm. It’s free to come in.

They'll have a range of family history publications available to buy, and there’ll be light refreshments (donation expected) available after the talk.
If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it (no charge) with one of their volunteers.