Tweddell Timeline

Tweddell Timeline

1719 Archbishop Markham (GMT's Great Grandfather) born. Famed for saving the walls of York from demolition in the first decade of the nineteenth century with the help of the author Walter Scott.

1729 Horatio Tweddell (GMT's Great (marternal) Grandfather born. His name is in the surviving book in the family Whistons' translation of the Jewish History of Josephus, The Genuine Works of Flavius Josephus published in Newcastle on Tyne in 1786. Suggesting unconventionality in the family early on. Early in his life he had shown independence of mind by leading the anti-Catholic 'Mass House riot' recorded in John Graves' History of Cleveland of 1808.

1759 Earliest mention of a printer in Stokesley when Bookseller William Buckton's daughter was Elizabeth was baptised.

1770 John Tweddell born (GMT's grandfather)

1783 Elizabeth Walker born. (Elizabeth Tweddell's mother and later Thomas Cole's wife).

1787 Thomas Cole (Elizabeth Cole / Tweddel's father) born. Became Parish Clerk.

1793 Nicholas Taylerson's occupation given as 'printer' in parish records when he married Miss Amelia Clarke. May have printed the first book in Stokesley in this year - Roseberry Toppin: or the prospect of a Summer's day by Thomas P.earson. Another printer replaced him Richard Hodgson of Kirby Sigston (according to a piece on William Mason by GMT in his Miscellany).

1794 John Tweddell (GMT's uncle) born. Grocer / draper shop in West End. GMT worked for him c 1830 as did GMT's mother. Quaker. Built West Villa and some cottages in West End later in 1815.

1797 George Markham (GMT's father) born - becomes Royal Navel Lieutenant.

1800 Elizabeth Tweddell (GMT's Mother - not his wife) was born.

1802 Reverend RW Markham, Rector of Stokesley made Dead of York (GMT's Grandfather).

1802 Horatio Tweddell (GMT's great maternal Granfather died.).

1806

1807 Archbishop Markham died. John Slater Pratt born - (Stokesley's most enterprising printer). William Braithwaite born.

1808 John Graves recorded that Horatio Tweddell had shown independence of mind by leading the anti-Catholic 'Mass House riot' recorded in his History of Cleveland of 1808.

1809 William Fenwick Pratt born - Printer.

1811 John Walker Ord born.

1812 William Pratt (the most commercially successful printer / publisher in Stokesley) was established at this time and began to publish Bibles. Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. William Pratt republished Pamela by Samuel Richardson (said to be the first real English novel) and Pilgrims Progress - John Bunyan.

1815 Methodist Sunday School established. messrs Pratt, Mease, Kneeshaw, Tweddle (sic) and Crummy. Tweddle a GMT forebear. / West Terrace built by Mr T. Tweddell.

1816 George Tweddell (GMT's father) wounded in Siege of  Algiers.

1817 GMT's half brother Thomas Tweddell born.

1819 William Pratt appointed overseer of the poor. The end of the Napoleonic wars had brought in huge wave of unemployment and vagrancy - overseers unable to cope.

1822 George Tweddell (GMT's father) on leave from Navy. Dalliance with Elizabeth Tweddell and GMT conceived and born the next year. Dean Markham (Rector of Stokesley and Dean of York and GMT's Grandfather) died. 3rd June 1822 Robert Armstrong, watch and clock maker and agent for newspapers, on hearing Thomas Mease speak at the Methodist Missionary Meeting, was so outraged that he printed a letter "A Slap at the Prophet'. Thus began the first Stokesley 'Paper wars' between the The Missionary and The Cleveland Illuminator. GMT (only concieved in this year) would have his own paper war in Stokesley in the 1840's. These were based around the revolutionary ideas of Thomas Paine and his Rights of Man.

1823 *** George Markham Tweddell born at Garden House, Nr Stokesley. March / Telegraph coach runs through Stokesley, 6 horse wagon weekly to Thirsk.

1824 Elizabeth Cole (Tweddell) (later known as the dialect poet Florence Cleveland), She was born in Stokesley - daughter Thomas Cole (Stokesley Parish Clerk). (2nd Jan). John Reed Appleton born - intellectual friend, poet and walking companion of GMT.

1825 Stockton and Darlington railway. William Pratt's printing firm became William Pratt and son.

1826

1827

1828

1829 The 'Hope' stage coach - Redcar to Leeds via Stokesley.

1830 Lived in his grandfather's grocery shop in 1830's while working in the town.

1831

1832 Preston Grammar school built. William Pratt died. John Slater Pratt took over his father's printing business - based at No 30 The High Street - now the newsagents - where William Braithwaite would operate from in the late 30's early 40's.

1833 (10yrs old) 1st Education Act. Increased literacy / led to adult educational institutions such as the Mechanics Institute, with their extensive libraries for working people.

1834 William Fenwick Pratt living as a Printer and Publisher in Howden, East Riding at this time.

1835

1836

1837 Prospectus issued for proposed Stockton and Tees Railway issued.

1838 Ord's The History and Antiquities of Cleveland (1838) - printed at Braithwaites.

1839

1840 John Slater Pratt built his house / printing works at Oaklands house with William Braithwaite taking over the shop - No 30 The High Street. The opening of Railway bookstalls like Menzie's during the 1940's led to the increase in the publication and sales of magazines and periodicals.

1841 GMT's mother (Elizabeth Tweddell) passed away. GMT sought approval to publish his newspaper from Braithwaite. 12 people recorded in Stokesley as printers, 3 as book binders, 2 as book folders and one book sewer. 18 in all. The next decade saw a boom in printing and publishing.

1842  Cleveland News and Stokesley Reporter appeared on the 1st of November 1842 being printed on Braithwaite's presses. Asa Briggs tells us " There was no gloomier year in the 19thC than 1842"

1843 (20 yrs old) Cleveland Repertory and Stokesley Advertiser, appearing on the same day as George's third edition, 1st January 1843. Ended December 1843 after twelve editions. announcement of his marriage to Elizabeth Cole on 31st December 1843. John Castillo's Awd Issac and the Steeplechase published in Whitby by Hare and Richardson.

1844 George's newspaper ended in September 1844, after 23 editions. Tweddell's Yorkshire Miscellany and Englishman's Magazine (1844-46)

1845 Miscellany. John Castillo passed. / Parish Free Library formed - John Slater Pratt a founder member.

1846 Corn Laws were repealed in 1846. Imprisoned for contempt of court - York Castle. Miscellany finished.

1847 Masonic Lodge founded by Mr Handyside. William Fenwick Pratt returned to Stokesley briefly to marry Miss Betsy Dowell.

1848 The fall of Napoleon III in France. George's update of Goldsmith's History of England (Brittain, 1848)

1849 Horatio John Tweddell (1849-1918). Publication of magazines and newspapers increased in the late 1840's. The first paperbacks published  - The Yellow Backs.

1850 Grandfather John Tweddell passed away. (GMT's grandfather). Population doubled between 1800 and 1850.

1851 John Slater Pratt established a Steam Engine for printing at Oakland's house. The year of the Great Exhibition. Printing and publishing in Stokesley reached its peak. 62 people employed in this trade in Stokesley. The majority worked for John Slater Pratt. Poor Law Amendment Act.

1852 The Odd Fellows Reciter and Fireside Companion (1852) / Shakspeare - His Times and Contemporaries (Kershaw, 1852). THE LITERARY PILOT - JOSEPH RICHARDSON -Richarson began printing at the age of 28 at his wife's premises in Commercial St. Middlesbrough. He established a letterpress printer and later added engraving and lithographic printing and made considerable success in all the branches. Alamancks and Tidetables were printed and published annually calcualted and edited by William Mountain, a slendi nautical scholar. In 1852 Richardson commenced in magazine form with the Literary Pilot. A monthly paper which was succeeded about a year later by The Middlesbro' Chronicle, a broad sheet with advertisments, and on the 5th July he commenced a full sized news paper weekly priced 1d. TheMiddlesbro' Weekly News and Cleveland Advertiser. It was the first full sized newspaper published in the North Riding of Yorkshire, a news sheet of four pages, enlarged later to 8 pages.. The paper was published at a loss for at least five years after which it became renumerative. (source Yorkshire Bibligrapher - Yorkshire Printer-Authors p181) It would be interesting to see a copy of The Literary Pilot - if anyone knows where one is located!

1853 (30 yrs old)

1854 John Walker Ord passed

1855 Modern Yorkshire Poets (Marshall, 1855) / George and Elizabeth move to Bury Ito run the Industrial / Ragged School / Mechanics Institute arranged classes 1855 / 56

1856

1857 George applied unsuccessfully for the editorship of the Odd Fellows Quarterly Journal in London and, according to family tradition, applied at this period to join the London police force but proved to be two inches too short. William Fenwick Pratt established as a Printer / Publisher at 30, The High Street - recently occupied by William Braithwaite.

1858 Thomas Cole Tweddell born (1858-1937). William Fenwick Pratt printed Poems in Dialect by John Castillo - The Bard of the Dales.

1859 pilgrimage to Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford on Avon, the social highlight of which was an invitation to dine with Mark Philips, liberal MP for Manchester, who lived close to Stratford.

1860 July 1860 that Bury Industrial School would close on 20th August without any apparent reason. Moved to 11 Commercial Road in Middlesbrough.  SHAKESPEARE - HIS TIMES AND CONTEMPORARIES published.

1861 Railway had reached Saltburn. The heyday of Printing and Publishing in Stokesley was over, although there were still three printers, one bookseller and one author. No employees of the printing works are listed at all.

1862 Uncle John Tweddell - draper - passed away.

1863 (40) Frederica Haviside (1798-1863). In 1859 Frederica sent him two paintings of her house with a dedication recording her gift to him, framed in gilt. By the time Frederica, now widowed, wrote her last will George and Elizabeth were living in Middlesbrough, and when she died in 1863 her will showed she had bequeathed an annuity of £100 per annum for the term of their lives. On the early instalments of the bequest the couple set up a business 'Tweddell and Sons' as newsagent and printers at 87 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough. He decided to prepare a visitors guide on the merits of Redcar, Marsk and Saltburn as holiday places.  TWEDDELL'S VISITOR'S HAND BOOK TO REDCAR, COATHAM AND SALTBURN BY THE SEApublished by Tweddell and Sons.

1864 Status high enough to be worthy of note in Slater's 1864 Yorkshire Directory.  GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL set up in business as a newsagent and printer in 87, Linthrope Rd. and lived at 11, Commercial Street, Middlesbrough.

1865

1866 Wealthy Durham landowner, John Reed Appleton of Western Hill, befriended the family, one of his earliest acts was to propose George as a member of the 'Society of Antiquarians of Scotland'. George was elected Fellow in 1866

1867 Thomas Cole passed away. 'Royal Nordic Old Language Society' honoured him with a diploma. John Slater Pratt passed away.

1868  Tweddell's North of England Tractates was started in 1868.

1869 1869-70, George published a six-part History of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Elizabeth - she published an important pamphlet of five short Rhymes to illustrate the North York Dialect appearing as Tractates Number 4 using her nom-de-plume name, Florence Cleveland.
MIDDLESBROUGH DAILY GAZETTE - emerged out of the Weekly Gazette edited by poet, author and editor W.H. Burnett. The forerunner of the current Evening Gazette.

1870 the 1870 Married Woman's Property Act. Horatio John Tweddell (1849-1918) partner in tweddell and Sons (Compositor).

1871 abolition of cat-o'-nine-tails as a punishment in the Royal Navy in 1871. From 1871 to 1872 a new enterprise was produced to help the finances of Tweddell and Sons, a Middlesbrough Directory, and through which it is possible to track changes in the business. Its novelty was the extensive sale of advertisement space in each part published. Beside the growing list of streets covered and useful information such as the price of rail tickets, there was a 'miscellany' of literary and topographical articles. (George's description of his journey to Stratford on Avon was published in parts 1 and 2). Horatio John Tweddell married Jane Elizabeth Clark (1850-1934) and she brought a new idea for income - an agency to introduce customers to potential domestic servants and advertised in the second issue of the Directory. GMT moved to Rose Cottage, Stokesley.

1872 Bards and Authors of Cleveland and S. Durham and the vicinage of Cleveland published. The People's History of Cleveland begun.

1873 (50yrs old) Elizabeth's mother passed away

1874 George resigned from the many learned societies around 1874 (of which the Scottish Antiquarians must have been the most grievous for him)

1875 Rhymes and Sketches to illustrate the Cleveland Dialect in 1875, which included an extensive dictionary/glossary. Florence Cleveland. / last thatched roves removed.

1876

1877 Son Horatio John, with a growing family, started looking for alternative work. from Hull, William Andrews, persuaded a number of prominent people, both around the region and nationally (from as far away as London, Exeter and Glasgow) to join an appeal for financial support for George's work. A 'Purse of Gold' was collected and given to him: "to help him through heavy losses and family affliction over which he had no control, and to aid him in completing those literary labours in which he has been so long engaged".

1878 Horatio John Tweddell (GMT's son) publishes Stokesley Monthly record time table and general advertiser. GMT published Poems of John Castillo.

1879

1880 took on the responsibility of their orphaned granddaughter Annie Hodgson (born 1878) from their son-in-law after their oldest daughter (and grandson) died of Typhus in Whitby.

1881

1882 Horatio John found job as a compositor in 1882 with a printing and publishing company in North Wales.

1883 (60)

1884 universal franchise (from 1884)

1885 Half brother Thomas Tweddell passed away. Health began to fail. William Fenwick Pratt died.

1886

1887 W.H. Burnett in his 1887 book Songs and Sketches. A HUNDRED MASONIC POEMS - Sonnets published by George Markham Tweddell.

1888

1889 Horsfall Turner Interviewed George and Elizabeth Tweddell at Rose Cottage, Stokesley. John Reed Appleton died.

1890 Tractates ceased publiscation.In all 36 pamphlets were produced and thrived until it ceased in 1890 achieving success with the very first pamphlet, a small collection of sonnets, with five printings each of 1,000 copies in the following few years. History of Middlesbrough that continues to be widely used by contemporary historians and was used as the basis of his long article in Bulmer's 1890 North Yorkshire Directory. Among the many acknowledgements to George Markham Tweddell by historians, he would be very gratified best by a comment made about this manuscript in Victorian Cities by Asa Briggs. Only one of their eight surviving children were still living in the town. The last book George wrote was Cleveland Sonnets.

1891

1892 Rhymes and Sketches republished. His publication business based at Rose cottage ended.

1893 (70 yrs old) Masonic Lodge foundation stone laid by Bro Handyside with 40 members.

1894 Thomas Cole Tweddell married after returning to Rose Cottage after living in Middlesbrough.

1895

1896

1897

1898

1899 Elizabeth Tweddell  (Florence Cleveland) passed away aged 75.

1900

1901

1902

1903 (80) GMT Passed away