HEATHER'S HISTORICAL SOCIETY
HEATHER'S HISTORICAL SOCIETY

HEATHER'S HISTORICAL SOCIETY was launched in 2020 by me (Heather Thomas) and is a site dedicated to the historical and genealogical information and documentation that I have collected over more than fifty years.

My husband and both my sons, Alex and Dom, deserve a special mention as they have always supported me. This entire site, however, is attributable to Alex; without his vision and enthusiasm, I would not have the opportunity to fulfil a long-held ambition of having a website where I can share my research.

With filing cabinets brimming and my computer congested with photographs, downloads, projects in various stages of progress, this website gives me an opportunity to develop structures for the many avenues of my research.

RECENT POSTS
JAN
14
The Old Town Hall is referenced in many of my Posts including Russell Bowlby (1792-1865).
2022 POSTS
DEC
15
I have taken the decision to include this aspect of my research as it was presented in 2013 copying the documents and extracts as accurately as I could do.
OCT
09
I decided to act by writing to the Civic Offices, the MPs for South Shields and Jarrow & Hebburn, David Miliband & Stephen Hepburn respectively amongst others to investigate more into the demise of St.Hilda's.
AUG
29
It was following the Second World War that this burial site, of over a thousand years in the heart of the town, disappeared.
MAY
14
I first visited the grave when I was about five years old.
JAN
30
Over a period of twenty years, this was the home in North Shields of my maternal grandmother, great grandparents, and great grandfather.
2021 POSTS
DEC
27
My connection to both The Parish Church, Whitburn, and the Britannia Inn in Cleadon Village.
DEC
12
From Arctic Whaling to Red Sea Lighthouses; Shipbuilding and Ship Ownership in South Shields and Sunderland to Bottle-Manufacturing and Amazing Properties!
NOV
06
Moving on from Richard Scott's life I have considered in this part to focus on his legacy.
OCT
09
This memorial stone in St Hilda's Church, South Shields is significant to Richard Scott (1740-1804).
OCT
09
First mentioned in James Evans: Part 1, Richard Scott, a fascinating local figure with a life story worthy of a separate post.
JUL
03
I have found it fascinating how I have been able to find so much information about John Crowell Pollard.
MAY
01
It was in a bundle of family records that I came across a receipt for the re-opening of a grave in Westoe Cemetery in 1901 for the burial of my great uncle, Thomas Young (1880-1901).
FEB
28
This painting was noticed, by my husband Nigel, in our local Antique shop in Cleadon five years or so ago.
FEB
22
This part is based on two letters found in the loft of Rowland's marital home in New Malden, Surrey in 2009, fifteen years after he died and a few months before a flood was to devastate the property.
FEB
14
The only information about the death of Thomas William Thomas was retained in a bureau/writing desk in New Malden, Surrey by his son, Rowland in the form of the original death certificate.
JAN
30
This is the Christmas card of December 1958, kept in a writing bureau in the family home in New Malden, Surrey of Nigel, my husband.

UPDATED: 14 JANUARY 2023