Berwick-upon-Tweed - A World War I Military Service Tribunal

In this video, Maltings Youth Theatre present a World War I military service tribunal in the setting of Berwick-upon-Tweed jail hearing 2 applications for exemption from conscription into the British Army, based on research by the Berwick 900 Our Families project.

Dr Philip MacLagan is presiding.

Berwick’s First Mayor’s Parade on Sunday 24 May

The May Fair Street Markets take place on Marygate, right in the centre of Berwick, from today to Monday 25 May from 11am to 4pm each day.

Other events are a talent competition and a ceilidh on Saturday 23 May.
On the Sunday, there’s the first Mayor’s parade with horse-drawn vehicles, pipe bands, vintage vehicles, historically-themed floats and characters representing themes from Berwick’s history and the town’s guild and trades through the ages, Deans of Guilds in their ceremonial robes from Aberdeen, Arbroath, Ayr, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Brechin, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lanark, Perth and Stirling.

It starts in Castlegate at 11.45am at the War Memorial, goes down Castlegate, into Marygate, up Church Street, to the Parade ground.

Also on Sunday there are local bands playing on the Parade in front of the Barracks, pipe bands and Highland dancing, and a church service. More information. .

Some of the historical characters including George Manuel a crab fisherman; John Crombie; Dr Philip MacLagan and his son, Dr Charles MacLagan are played by actors in this Maltings Youth Theatre video.

The picture shows George Manuel; his wife, Margaret; and John Crombie.

Come to our Easter Family History Surgeries at Berwick-upon-Tweed

This weekend is the start of the Berwick 900 Festival that celebrates 900 years of Berwick’s history.

The theme of the Easter weekend, 3  to 6 April is “Our Christian Story” that celebrates Christian institutions, religious life and a few of the great Christian leaders in the town.

At St Andrews Church, Wallace Green, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1ED as well as the “Moments in Time” Flower Festival, inspired by the church’s history, there will be display panels about Robert Balmer, an inspirational minister at Golden Square, Dr John Cairns and Berwick’s well known physician, Philip MacLagan, a church elder.

Although all these men were born in Scotland and at times lived elsewhere, they all had strong links with Berwick. Like them, John Hamilton Hall, a freeman, was born in Coldstream, moved to Berwick as a child where his father was a doctor, left the town to fight in India, returned when he retired from the army, aged 40, got married and then moved to Edinburgh.

Did your family move into or out of Berwick ?
Why did they do that ?
If your family is associated with Berwick, Tweedmouth or Spittal, the Berwick 900 Our Families Project would love to hear your family stories.

Normally you need to visit Berwick Record Office to consult the transcripts of church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for Berwick and Tweedmouth. However, over the Easter weekend, you can look at some of the registers in the churches where the events took place – Berwick Parish; St Andrews and Berwick Roman Catholic churches and Tweedmouth Parish Church. Look on the Berwick 900 website for opening times.

Are you wondering how to start your family history ? Perhaps you’ve started researching your family but have hit a brick wall.

If you need any help why not come along to our Family History surgeries in St Andrews Church from 12 to 2pm each day from Good Friday to Easter Monday and speak to experienced genealogists.

More on Philip Whiteside MacLagan

Following my blog, Thomas Fraser's Neighbour, Dr Philip Whiteside MacLagan, Linda Bankier of Berwick Record Office sent me some research she did on his memorial statue a few years ago.

Dr Philip Whiteside MacLagan,a popular and well respected doctor in Berwick died on 25 May 1892, aged 73. He was a native of Edinburgh but had lived in Berwick since 1853.

After his death, the town's people decided to erect a memorial to Dr MacLagan.
A public subscription was started and on 14 June 1893, a statue, designed by DW Stevenson of Edinburgh and costing £150 was unveiled in Marygate, Berwick.
There is an account of the opening ceremony in the Berwick Journal, dated 15 June 1893. In the article, there is a verbatim account of the Mayor's speech at the opening ceremony which indicates that the statue was handed over to the Urban Sanitary Authority, part of the Council.

Councillor Young, ladies and gentlemen, subscribers to the MacLagan Memorial Fund.
On behalf of the Corporation and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I accept this monument - a monument erected to perpetuate the memory of Dr Philip MacLagan, of this town.
Again ladies and gentlemen, permit me most heartily to thank you all in the name of the Urban Sanitary Authority of Berwick for this handsome monument you have erected to the memory of the beloved Dr MacLagan.

The memorial remained there, beside the bus station until 1922, when the Town Clerk wrote to Berwick Infirmary saying that they wished to move it to a more suitable site.
The Infirmary committee agreed to this proposal and after June 1922, it was moved to the open space in front of the Infirmary buildings. At the meeting dated 16 June 1922, it was agreed to place the monument in front of the laburnum tree in front of the building and that the tree would not be removed. The memorial remained there until 1993 when alterations at the Infirmary caused it to be moved to its present site.