Billiards, draughts and other pub games formed the cornerstone of leisure time in the 19th century, and still persists today though pale in significance to the popularity of darts today. I'm delighted that Peter Welsh has researched the sport through the lens of John Goyne - one of Durham's eminent "draughtsmen".
John Goyne was born in 1853 at St Agnes, Truro, Cornwall to John 46, a copper miner, and his wife Elizabeth. John’s siblings were Lydia born 1852 and Thomas born 1855. In 1871 the same five people were living at the same address with John and Thomas both, now, tin miners.
John married Dorothy Ann (nee Dumble, aged 22, born in Sunderland) in Sunderland, in 1875 and by 1881 they were living at 5, Cross Row, Shadforth, County Durham, with their children - Emily 4, John Robert 2, and Isabella 3months (born Ryhope, Ryhope and Shadforth, respectively. Joseph was born 1884 in Sherburn, and Frederick 1887 in Fatfield, and Helen b 1890 Fatfield, Arthur born 1892 Fatfield, Margaretta b 1896 Fatfield and William born 1894 Fatfield. They’d had 11 children of whom eight were alive in 1911. )
The Census of 1891 shows them at 10, Low Row, Harraton with the addition of Joseph 7, born in Sherburn. John was a coal miner.
So far, so ordinary. John had presumably moved for work, though there might have been a thousand other reasons and circumstances, but from tin mining in Cornwall to coal mining in County Durham seems unexceptional, apart from the distance involved. At what point John became a draughts fiend isn’t known…
A Draughts Fiend, you say? A little context might be in order…and who better to provide it than the IDF – International Draughts Federation. “Draughts, as we know it, probably began as a game called Alquerque, or Quirkat. Alquerque boards and pieces have been found in archaeological digs dating as far back as 600 BCE, and images of Alquerque have been found carved into temple walls dating as far back as 1400 BCE. It was played throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin. It was enjoyed by the Ancient Egyptians, mentioned by both Plato and Homer, and even made its way into India.” As Frank Eley, of Fatfield Draughts Club pointed out, after a match at Mr Gregg’s North Shields Cocoa Rooms, in 1888, ‘Plato had used draughts for philosophical illustration, Frederick the Great spent many hours over it, Lincoln and Garibaldi prized it highly and General Grant used it to ‘clean out the boys’ at West Point.’
An ancient game, then, and it had a resurgence in the nineteenth century. In 1828 you could buy from a show at the Queen’s Head, Durham, if you were a ‘Connoisseurs of Taste and Elegance’, presumably with some spare cash, ‘East India Productions including Chess and Draughts Men, elaborately carved. And in 1840 you could have watched a match, for £50, between Andrew Anderson, of Carluke, and Mr Wyllie the famous ‘Herd Laddie’, of Edinburgh, played at the Clydesdale Inn, Lanark. (Anderson won by seven games to five….which didn’t prevent Wyllie challenging the world in 1845!) The Newcastle Billiards Rooms in Market St had a special room where men could play draughts and in 1862 Chester le Street, just along the road from what was not yet John Goyne’s home, was putting aside a room in the Mechanics’ Institute. As the old saying goes – ‘Where Chester le Street leads, Harraton follows….’ but not necessarily immediately…rather, when John Goyne arrives…
In 1886, at which point he must have only recently set foot in Fatfield/Harraton, John participated in a draughts handicap at the Pelton Colliery Hotel. He didn’t win but, without being too fanciful over his part in all of this, things started to happen. February 1886, the West Lothian Courier included ‘match solution to Problem 141 by John Goyne of Fatfield.’ In May, Blyth News reported that, ‘Ten of Fatfield played ten of South Shields at Fatfield Reading Rooms.’ They had a break for tea and the Shields men had travelled by brake. Fatfield won 19 games to 15 and a return match was planned. In the same month Blyth News printed that the winner of the Chester le Street Draughts Tournament, at the Liberal Club, was …. John Goyne. Where Harraton follows….sometimes it overtakes….Fatfield Draughts Club was established in 1886, with John Goyne as secretary and the pastime was heading for a ‘crown’.
There were regular draughts columns in newspapers – Blyth News and the West Lothian Courier are notable in this regard. They included fixtures, results, full lists of moves made, and problems to solve. And the coverage was international – the English Championship won by Christie of Sunderland was reported, at length, as far afield as Adelaide in the South Australian Chronicle.
In March 1891, Henry Christie won the English Championship at the Polytechnic Institution, London. A month later he turned out for Fatfield against Mickley and, a month after that, appeared for Fatfield against South Shields in the Durham Cup final…. but failed to win either of his games. Drafting in the English Champion may seem to be pushing the rules a touch but competition was competition and in the same match Fatfield claimed a game from Board 3 because Mr Bell was late from work and Mr Bawn didn’t turn up, which forfeited 4 games, Mr John Saxon, of Fatfield declining to play a substitute. ‘This was the first time the time rule had been implemented,’ noted the Sunderland Echo, sniffily.
Henry Christie (having won the English Championship in 1891) refused to go back to London to defend it (his letter in Newcastle Courant of June 4th 1892 said he was being expected to pay his own expenses and lose work and signed himself ‘The Only English Champion Draughts Player) and suggested that anyone who wanted to play him could come to Sunderland. Nor was he interested in attending the Chicago World’s Fair Draughts Congress and Tournament, in 1893, even though there was prize money of $3000 . He was, however, prepared to travel to London in 1894 as part of the English team to play Scotland. And, much later, he was the best scorer in the team that lost to the USA in New York in 1927. He may have been (mostly) content to make his living in local handicaps and tournaments.
Competitions were established for the Durham County Cup and the South Durham and Yorkshire Cup, representatives of clubs from Durham, Hartlepool, Fatfield, Darlington, South Shields and Framwellgate Moor, having met in 1891 at Shakespeare Cocoa Rooms in Durham. John Goyne as Secretary pro tem – and was instrumental in drawing up appropriate rules.
As clubs were formed and competitions began, ‘Places of Draughts Resort’, like those listed below, advertised their existence. So, this in the Newcastle Courant, in August 1895 – Bellingham Reading Room, Fatfield Reading Rooms, Hetton Downs, Croft Spa, Leeds Temperance Hotel, Mickley Commercial Inn, Newcastle Working Men’s Club in Nelson St, North Shields Lockhart’s Cocoa Rooms New Quay, South Shields Brown’s Cocoa Rooms and West Hartlepool Liberal Club.
Pubs, of course, were keen to attract ‘enthusiasts for the silent game’ and their money and were keen to sponsor matches and handicaps and be the venue of choice for local teams. The Bird in Hand, at New Penshaw became, by 1894, the home of Fatfield Draughts Club, several of whose players were actually from Herrington but other Fatfield home matches took place at the Ferry Boat Inn, as well as the Reading Rooms. In 1897 Fatfield Draughts Club changed its name to New Herrington and District Draughts Club.
Champions toured, at home and abroad. In 1886 James Smith, champion of England, visited Fatfield Reading Room – he won 25 and drew 4, losing only to John Goyne. In the same year John also played Robert Dover, the Northumberland Champion, but lost. In 1890 William Campbell of Glasgow, the champion blindfold player, fulfilled his engagement at Fatfield. The main attraction was four blindfold games, played simultaneously, in which he took on Goyne, Miller, Boll and McKinley, ‘the local cracks.’ Campbell won 31 games, drew eight and lost only 1, to Miller.
From the Newcastle Chronicle of 4th November 1895: ‘Mr John Goyne, (our agent) newsagent of Fatfield, died (of asthma and chronic bronchitis). His business was extensive and covered Fatfield, Brown’s Buildings, Harraton and New Penshaw.. He had been secretary of the Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund, honorary secretary to the Durham County Draughts Association and secretary to Fatfield Draughts Club. He leaves a sorrowing widow and seven children. He was born in Cornwall.’ John was buried in St George’s Churchyard, Harraton on 5/11/95, grave 598.
In May 1896, South Shields Draughts Club promoted an open handicap in memory of John Goyne and to raise money for his widow. Eight good prizes were offered. Entries were: South Shields 64, Fatfield 48, Stanley 32 and Hartlepool 32.
Henry Christie died in 1929 and is buried in Bishopwearmouth Cemetery.
And where there was working class draughts in Washington and elsewhere….there was likely to be middle class chess, in Washington and elsewhere. Wiki tells us that the first modern chess tournament was held in London in 1851. The winner was Adolf Anderssen, a German. Other early ‘stars’ were Paul Morphy and Wilhelm Steinitz; the match between Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, in 1886, being regarded as the first official World Chess Championship. Steinitz lost his crown in 1894 to a much younger, also German, mathematician, Emanuel Lasker, who maintained this title for 27 years, the longest tenure of all World Champions.
What then of Washington and the wider district? The first meeting of Northumberland and Durham Chess Association was held in April 1866, at the Central Exchange Hotel in Newcastle and lasted two days - President Lord Ravensworth. His Lordship had been unable to attend the meeting but, according to the Illustrated London News, there were ‘ a large number of amateurs attending’ and they played several tournaments and then drew up a list of rules and appointed a committee of nineteen. The next meeting was scheduled for North Shields at Easter 1867; it took place at the Commercial Hotel and four tournaments were played. In 1868 the AGM was at the Golden Lion, South Shields. I was unable to find further references to the Northumberland and Durham Association until the death of Lord Ravensworth, in 1878, at which point the Newcastle Courant stated that ‘when the Counties’ Chess Association met a few years ago’ … perhaps the game was more about the local clubs, or individuals, and their matches. The growth of chess in the 1880s saw the foundation of new clubs such as Washington, Durham, Gateshead, Boldon, Tynemouth, Spennymoor, Middlesbrough , Stockton, West Hartlepool, South Shields, Jarrow, North Shields, Beal and Hexham – or at least players from those towns participating in the tournaments.
The Northumberland and Durham Chess Association was, apparently, re-formed in October 1891, the Newcastle Chronicle printing letters from Mr Wallbank (Washington) and Henry S Wallace (Newcastle Art Gallery Chess Club), suggesting that a Northumberland and Durham Association be formed in the hours leading up to the Chess Fete of 24th October. The preferred venue seems to have been Newcastle, presumably because of the ability of the two clubs in that city to attract larger numbers of players, and the likes of JH Blackburne, British Champion in 1868, and in the world’s top five from 1871-1889, who played exhibition matches there.
Washington Chess Club seems to have been formed in the late 1880s, the first mention of it I can find being in the Newcastle Chronicle, of January 1888, when they reported on a ‘Chess Tournament at Washington Village, between Durham and Washington and District, at Mr Bainbridge’s Cross Keys.’ Mr Foggin of Biddick 2, Mr Walbank of Usworth 2, Mr Lee of Washington 2, Mr Nance of Usworth 2 – score 8-0. A great start. Other games were played at the New Inn. In December of the same year, Washington played the newly-founded Boldon Club and won by 101/2 – 31/2 and, in January of 1889, Washington visited the Mechanics’ Institute at Gateshead and beat Gateshead 10-6. Messrs William Foggin, Henry Watkinson Walbank, Robert Lee, Dr Nance, Rev Michael Maud(e) Simpson, Frank Threlkeld, S Gray, Joseph Percy Gray, Cook JJ, T Proud, JJ Hall, T Coates, Miller, Whittle, Dr (David) Wilson, F Snowdon, JS Turnbull, Dr Alexander McCune, Dr Charles Mann and Dr James Clark Gardner played in some or all of these games and in later matches.
The identity of some of these men isn’t known but, of those tracked down in the Census and other documents, five were medical men, either doctors or surgeons, one was a clergyman and four were teachers. Henry Wat(d)kinson Walbank was born in Bingley in 1852, his mother ‘Binns’, trained as a teacher at Lord Mayor’s Walk Training College, in York, married Ann Lee (born in York in 1849), in Chester Le Street in 1874 and, by 1881, was employed at Usworth Board School as an elementary teacher. Henry and Ann had two children, Annie and John, and a female elementary teacher was living with them as a boarder, in 1881. By 1891 Henry had been appointed Headmaster and they had added Irene (5) to their family and another daughter, Lilian Elizabeth, had been born and died, aged 1. The 1901 Census listed the family at Number 3, School House, with Annie, now an assistant teacher and Irene a monitress. William Jordison, attendance officer, lived, handily, next door. Henry died in 1916 and was buried in Usworth Churchyard. In 1878 he had produced for the North of England School Furnishing Company ‘A Penny Geography of County Durham.’
Henry was, apparently, the best of the Washington and District chess players, managing a draw against Joseph Henry Blackburne when that champion played 17 simultaneous matches, at Newcastle in 1891. Known as ‘Rio’, Henry was top, by 14 clear points, of the Newcastle Chronicle ‘chess solutions table’ in July 1892. In Washington’s matches against other clubs Mr Walbank would normally win his 2 games and, on occasion, would turn out for Felling Church Institute in their matches.
Another star in the local chess firmament had visited Washington in 1890 when, ‘At the invitation of members Mr Louis Zollner (born in Denmark but in 1891 living in Newcastle, a merchant in Icelandic produce and Danish Consul) paid a visit to Washington and District Chess Club on Saturday evening, when he played all-comers simultaneously. There was a contingent from Gateshead Club. Eighteen games were contested, of which Mr Zollner won 14, lost to Dr Nance while two were drawn by Mr Wallbank and Mr Thompson of Washington.
Anyway, back to the subject of teachers: Frank Threlkeld was another who sometimes played chess. He’d been born in Bradford in 1863, was married with a child and taught at an elementary school. He’d studied at the British and Foreign School’s Society, London, and lived at New Rd, Washington. In 1891 he was ‘Master of Elementary School’. By 1899 he’d moved to Manchester, as a Headmaster but by 1921 he was a patient in Manchester Royal Lunatic Hospital, at Cheadle. He died in 1922 at that hospital.
Frank died, apparently insane, in 1922, but, eight years before that, one of his colleagues in the teaching profession had met a more gruesome fate, at Washington Station. John Sewell Turnbull, born in Shildon in 1864 and married to Margaret (Bell Garthwaite from 1896, Margaret was a Head teacher at a Council School by 1911), was an elementary schoolmaster, according to the Census of 1911, and had become Head Teacher of Biddick Council School by 1911, living at School House, close to the Victoria Inn. He and George Arthur Patterson (57) a rate collector of 47, Station Rd, had gone to the station on 17th December to await the arrival of the 7.17pm train, a Masonic meeting at Penshaw beckoned.. As the train approached, Turnbull, standing with his back to the line, turned, appeared to stumble and, as Patterson grasped him, they both fell on to the line. The driver had no chance to stop. They were found under the first carriage, Turnbull’s legs having been amputated and Patterson having sustained severe head and arm injuries. Both were taken to Newcastle Infirmary, Turnbull dying on the way and Patterson soon after arrival. Robert Tower was the witness at the inquest, held at the Infirmary, and the jury recorded a verdict of ‘accidental death’.
Robert Lee, born 1856, was another chess-playing teacher and, by 1871, he was already Head of a Washington School. His brother, Henry, was also a pupil teacher, perhaps at the same school. In 1881 Robert’s address was given as National School House. By 1891 his daughter, Ada, had become a pupil teacher and, by 1901, another daughter, Annie, had qualified as a Certificated Schoolmistress. Robert had retired by the time of the 1911 Census; he lived until 1932 and on 23rd October 1933 the Sunderland Echo reported that a stained glass window had been erected in the south transept of Holy Trinity, Washington, by Alfred Lee to his father, Robert (died 1932), and his (Robert’s) mother, Mary. The paper noted that Robert had been an ex-student of Bede College and then Parish Clerk and organist at Holy Trinity from 1868 – 1924, fifty six years. The service was carried out by Canon Lomax.
Of the medical men we can dispose of, so to speak, Dr Nance, very quickly. Though present at the Usworth Pit Disaster of 1885 and at various other inquests and accidents, and a leading light in the provision of a Reading Room in the Peareth Room at Usworth Institute in 1890, I am unable to track him down in any documents. Moving on: Dr Mann, was listed in the 1897 Electoral Roll as living at Glebe House and in the 1901 Census as Charles Mann Charles Francis Grant MB, CM son of Alexander Mann, b Nairn 4/3/65, Washington, Died 29/5/1904 – from Aberdeen alumni book) (36), born Scotland, a medical practitioner, with his wife, Ella (34) born Scotland, with Arthurina McKenzie (35) on her own means, born Scotland, as a visitor and William McLean (31) visitor, an iron monger born Scotland… and a servant. Charles had earlier (1881) been a medical practitioner in Medomsley, living as a lodger with a coal miner at Dene Bank. He’d graduated from the University of Aberdeen. On 29/9/1893 the Consett Guardian noted his marriage to Ella, second daughter of Roderick McLean Esq, late Factor at Ardross, the wedding taking place at Grantown on Spey. Charles Mann (39) was listed in the Ross-shire Journal of 3rd June, 1904, as having died at Craig-Lutha, Dulnain Bridge, Strath on 29th May – Charles Francis Grant Mann, MB, CM of Washington, County Durham, youngest son of the late Alexander Mann (JP for Nairn and lessee of a salmon fishery employing 16 people) of Nairn and Ballintomb and the Sheffield Telegraph noted his will of £2,173. He was buried in Cromdale Churchyard.
Another chess-playing medical man was James Clark Gardner, listed by the 1891 Census at Glebe House. He was 39, a surgeon, born Benwell, and he was living with Henry Waddington (29), a surgeon’s assistant, born in Yorkshire and Ann Gawman (35) a servant. James was the son of Cuthbert Gardner, contractor, of Winlaton, and had been in Washington some 10 years. The Census does not mention James’ wife but he had married Kathleen Elizabeth Morgan at Islington in 1890 and she had a son in 1894, in Hastings, but her husband’s address was given as Washington. JCG died November 1893, at Glebe House, aged 40. The report of his death noted that he was a Lieutenant in 4th Volunteer Battalion, DLI, and that he had died of injuries sustained in a carriage accident on 28th October, near the Springwell Inn, at Wrekenton, thrown from his trap on the turnpike on the way back from Newcastle. The horse had taken fright and bolted. On the Sunday he was attended by Drs Galloway, Davis, Wilson and (the untraceable) Dr Nance. The coachman was called Hamilton.
On 25th March 1896 The Globe noted the marriage of Edward Craig Hall to Kathleen, daughter of Captain RW Morgan of Mountain Ash, Ore, Sussex, the widow of James Clark Gardner of Washington, County Durham. Kathleen and Edward were living in Hove in 1901, he a timber merchant, with their two young children and his stepson, James Clark Gardner, aged 7.
Alexander McCune, this time a Scottish doctor who played chess and died young, died at his mother-in-law’s at Blackpool, on 19th January, 1909. He was in practise in Washington (and Dr Jacques sent a wreath) and died at his mother in law’s. Alexander was 42, born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire and had qualified in Edinburgh. (In 1890 he was listed as having a triple qualification at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh) In 1891 he was described as a surgeon and was living as a lodger at Pegswood, with the family of a coal miner. By the time of the 1901 Census he had moved to 45 Speculation Place, Washington, and was lodging there with William Blenkinsop (56) a coachman, with wife Catherine (both born Scotland) and Alex McCune widower, no occupation (72) born Scotland, Alex McCune (34), a boarder, single, surgeon, and Matt O’Halloran (39) boarder, surgeon, born Ireland. Alex was a Vice President of Washington Cricket Club, played tennis in the Washington Hall tournament that was raising money for Dame Margaret’s in 1894 and helped ‘christen’ the billiards table at the newly refurbished St Joseph’s Institute for Young Men in 1899.
Alex, of New Washington, had married Dinah Ogden (23) in Fylde, in 1908. The marriage certificate stated that his father, by then deceased, was a missionary, and the marriage was witnessed by Wm McCune, probably a brother. Dinah’s father was a caretaker. Alexander, who had been in declining health, left £430. Dinah, if it’s the same woman, appears to have been a talented singer appearing in various musical events in the Blackpool area in the first decade of the 20th century.
The last of the medical ‘chessmen’ was Dr David Wilson, a surgeon, born 1852 in Scotland who, in 1891 was at Harpsdale House (two addresses away from the Red Lion) Birtley. David was a son of Bailie David Wilson, a draper and town councillor at Irvine. He was described as a General Medical Practitioner and was married to Elizabeth McGregor Wilson, born Irvine, Scotland. Their children were Elizabeth M (11), David (8), Agnes K (6) and in the same house were Jessie Holman (38) a Professor of Singing, a visitor born Aberdeen, Robert C Cruickshank (31), a medical assistant and student, born Torquay and two servants. Dr Wilson and family, in 1901, were living at Brookside House, Birtley. Their servant was from a Mr Man story, Lily Tickle. In 1911, David Wilson and his wife were living in the same house but with a different servant. Lily had gone elsewhere to tickle or be tickled.
David’s medical career included the following: appointed as Public Vaccinator for the Chester le Street Board of Guardians from 1886 and then appointed briefly, in 1888, to the Board of Guardians (a problem arose because his brother, R.K.Wilson, was a member of the Board but it seems to have been overcome). He had qualified as a doctor at Glasgow in 1877, and then took over the practice of Dr McLish in Washington before buying Dr Bain’s practice at Birtley. He kept both practices going until the one in Washington was bought by Dr Jacques. In 1908 he became Compensation Surgeon to Birtley Ironworks and Pelaw Main Colliery. He was also Chief Surgeon to the local ambulance division. Dr Wilson, ‘The Little Doctor’ died at Brookside House in April 1915 and was buried in Birtley; his obituary pointed out that he had played football, refereed significant matches in the North but had also had a great interest in cricket and other sports – neglecting to mention chess! He used a ‘machine’ to get to some of his appointments and fell off it in 1894, breaking several ribs, while returning from Kibblesworth. A bicycle rather than a motor bike? At the time of his death his son and his daughter, Elizabeth, were both in Australia, while Agnes had married Captain Newton of the Army Veterinary Corps, who was then serving in France. Elizabeth, his wife, moved to Syson House, Tynemouth, to be cared for by Agnes and she died in June 1919. A cortege brought her body for burial in Birtley.
The story doesn’t quite end with their deaths because after his demise a memorial fund had been set up under a committee led by Philip Kirkup (manager of Craghead Colliery and Commander of 8th DLI during the Great War) and, what with one thing and a war, they found it difficult to decide what should be done with the £115 raised. A letter to the Chester le Street Chronicle from ‘a subscriber’ asked about it in 1919. A drinking fountain was the suggestion but who would be expected to pay for the water – the Parish Council or the Water Company? In 1923 ‘a subscriber’, perhaps the same one, suggested the money ought to be returned. Finally, on 18th October 1928, a Reading Room was opened at the Joseph Hopper Aged Miners’ Homes, Leybourn Hold, Birtley, by Dr Wilson’s niece, Mrs BM Johnson of Hamilton. Philip Kirkup, as Chair of the Fund, was thanked for putting in £94.
Teachers, medical men and a Vicar…..The Reverend Michael Maud(e) Simpson (32) was listed as Rector of Usworth in the 1881 Census, living at the Rectory with his sister, Ellen G Simpson (28), his brother Basil C (18) and a servant girl, Margaret Potts. He had been born in Lincolnshire, son of the curate of Barton on Humber, later Thornley and then Tow Law, County Durham, completed his studies at Oriel College, Oxford, in 1874, and came to Usworth in 1879. He and his father were two of the very many clergymen who were invited to dine at Durham Castle when Bishop Lightfoot was enthroned in May 1879 – but no menu appears in the report of the event. Michael married Francis Elizabeth Lever, widow of Thomas Goldie Scott, in Edinburgh Cathedral, in August 1883 and was awarded an MA by Oxford in 1885. In 1891 Michael was living at the Rectory with two servants, his wife not mentioned. Michael died at Ilkley in January 1904 and left £964 gross. I can find neither him nor his wife in the 1901 census. Frances Elizabeth Simpson died 12th September 1904 in Edinburgh and her funeral took place at Balmaclellan, New Galloway.
Having covered the medical men, the churchman and the teachers, all fairly easily identifiable, we can move on to the others. John Frederick Snowdon (son of John M Snowdon) was a farmer, at High Washington, as was Samuel Gray. The other names are so common in the Washington area that it’s problematic to offer details. JJ Cook (JP) may well have been Joseph Cook, the ironfounder, of North Biddick Hall, or indeed his son, (but on one occasion the newspaper called him John J Cook, so perhaps not, or did both men play?), William Foggin was a colliery engineer who lived, for a time, at Washington Villa, next door to Dame Margaret’s Hall. There was a James Percy Gray/Grey, a signalman at Usworth Junction whose two daughters went on to be pupil teachers – correct class? Who knows. About Messrs Proud, Hall, Coates and Whittle it would be merely guesswork.
Check…..and out.
Peter Welsh taught history in Sunderland for 37 years. He is the author of Washington in the Great War (Pen and Sword) and now devotes his time to watching cricket, his allotment, hoping for a trophy for NUFC before he dies and local history – not necessarily in that order. I’ve attached a passport photo but it should be noted that I do, occasionally, smile.
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