James Alban Brown was born on the 1 June 1900 at 39 Jefferson Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. His parents were, Alfred Fordington Brown, a Hotel Waiter and Mary Ann Brown, formerly Riley.
On the 1st June 1916 he was given an Indentured Apprenticeship with Tyneside Manufacturing Engineers, R&W Hawthorn, Leslie & Company, Ltd. of Forth Banks which he completed in the Plating branch of the business on 31st May 1921.
His Indenture Document of August 30th 1917 names his father as Alfred Fordingham Brown, of 20 William Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. This is the third variation in spelling of the family middle name, which has formerly been shown as: Fawdington, (FreeBMD York 1865) and Fordington, (Marriage Cert 1888).
In the first year of his apprenticeship, he was to be paid at the rate of six shillings per week (30 new pence). This would increase by one shilling a week each year so that by the end of his apprenticeship he would receive ten shillings (50p) per week. The working week consisting of 53 hours (after deduction of meal breaks) was worked:- Monday to Friday from 6.00am to 5.00pm and on Saturday from 6.00am to 12 noon. Pay day was on Saturday at 12 noon.
He was addmitted into the Apprentice Section of the United Society of Boiler Makers & Iron Ship Builders on the 27th April 1918.
On the 27th April 1929 he married Ellen McNeill at the Catholic Church of St. Josephs, Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne, but the marriage broke down in the late 1930's and James left and went to live in Kent. Very little was known about him during the next thirty years until 1968 when he returned to Newcastle and the family home.
James died at Newcastle General Hospital on the 13th January 1977.
Ellen McNeill 1902-1974
Ellen was born on 9 March 1902 at Newcastle upon Tyne, she was the only daughter of Hugh & Susannah McNeill.
On the 30th of November 1925 she received a letter from The National Hotel, Upper Bedford Place, Russell Square, London. which was addressed to Miss N McGill, 161 Dolphin Street, Benwell. and read,
Dear Madam,This prompted the question, Was Nellie a guest or employed there? The mistake in the name would suggest that she was a guest and it may be that she was seeking work, was a student or possibly seeking entry into a convent. On December the 16th 1925 she had written to a Monastery in Rome applying to enter the order of Poor Clares, at first the replies she received appeared to be off putting but later there was a clear enthusiasm shown by the correspondence which was still being exchanged in March 1927. On the 25th of July however a letter from Mother Agnes showed obvious disappointment to the news that Nellie wished to marry, as she referred to him, “your Mr X”, and went on to say that she was to become Mother Abbess at a new convent and had been looking forward to Nellie joining her. Her father Hughie McNeill died in 1927.
We are sorry to hear that your Father is so very ill and that you are unable to return.-
A bill dated April 3rd 1928 was sent by Nellie to Lady Atcherly at Fulford Villa claiming damages for the loss of a pair of shoes and a hat as the result of damage caused by her [Lady Atcherly’s] dog. the total cost was sixteen shillings and five pence.
On the 29th of April 1929 she married James Alban Brown of 20 William Street Newcastle A photograph of Nellie and James taken on the 10th of June 1929 had written on the back. ‘What do you think to my husband on this taken last Monday 10 June’.
On the 14th of February 1931 their first son was born, who they named, James Alban Joseph Brown.
In 1933 for an unknown reason, Nellie wrote to the General Register Office at Somerset House requesting a search of the Marriage Indexes for “...James Allan (or Alban) Brown, Baxter or Crosby during the years 1919 to 1922...”!! There is no indication as to the reason, or of the results of this enquiry.
Nell’s second son, Joseph Austin Brown was born with Downs Syndrome on the 12th August 1939 at Salford Lancashire and sometime around this time, her husband left and was not heard of again until 1967.
On the 2nd of February 1940 a letter from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Hammersmith Road London W 6 indicated that correspondence between Josephine M Parrott and Nellie was a regular occurrence and mentioning that they had “...heard from Fenham that James had been there and I was glad to get news of him.” She continued. “How is your Uncle? I quite realise that your duty is now to look after him...”, It seems fairly certain that the Uncle is Tom Gartland who registered the death of Nellie's father, was himself unmarried and was eighty years of age, he died in 1944. This is further confirmed in a post card from her brother Jim, writing from a POW camp, on the 13th of August 1940, Tom Gartland’s birthday, in which he says:
“Wish uncle many happy returns of the day”.
In a later letter (31 May 1942) Jim writes “How is Nunkie, still hale and hearty? and yourself fit and well? tell Nunkie and Auntie and all at 260 that I am asking after them”. No one seems to know who 'Nunkie' was and it is possible that it was John Gartland.
She also corresponded with Gnr. Austin Dunbar, who was a Prisoner of War in Germany, on what seemed to be close terms. Another letter from L/Cpl Andrew Dunbar was sent to Nellie during the war asking her, to ask his mother to send him 5/- and to tell her [his mother] not to worry about him going abroad.
In 1947 living at 157 Dolphin Street was an Edward Farrage and among Nellie’s papers was a marriage certificate for Edward Micklethwait Farrage and Catherine Peverly Stokoe. Several other documents also came to light detailing Edward Farrage’s Boer War service with the Army Service Corps including his Campaign Medals, Pay book and discharge papers.
It appears that for some time Nellie had been looking after Edward Farrage, who had suffered a heart attack in the summer of 1948 and she was finding it difficult to cope with her own family and two houses so she later moved to No. 157, thus accounting for the change of address.
In 1967 Nellie re-established contact with her husband James and some discussion took place regarding his return to Newcastle and Dolphin Street. In a letter from Jimmy to his mother, he writes:
“Understand that you feel it better to discuss the point of Dad’s return when I get home at Easter [1967]. O.K. this is fine by me. Letters and phones are much less apt for such things”.
In another letter Nellie suggests a meeting with James at a Hotel in Birmingham, “...which is near to Jim’s college and he could come up, if you wished to meet him, he would like to see you but only if you want to”.
By May 1968 it looked as if James was about to make the move because in another letter from Jimmy, he writes.
“...send regards to Dad when you write. Selfish point too, don’t, if you have any say at all, let him get rid of that TV, cos I can get rid of it so very easily for him if he doesn’t wish to keep it. However that's up to him I suppose and best left at that, but if he should ask what to do with any of the stuff, tell him to bring it, or let me know and I can deal with it, OK.”
She died on the 21 August 1974 at 94 Cedar Road Fenham.
| The Family of James Alban Brown & Ellen McNeill | ||||||||
| James Alban Brown | = | Ellen McNeill | ||||||
| of Newcastle | of Newcastle | |||||||
| 1900-1977 | 1902-1974 | |||||||
| _____|_____ | ||||||||
| | | | | |||||||
| James | Joseph | |||||||
| 1931-1998 | 1939-1993 | |||||||
James Alban Joseph Brown 1931-1998.
Jimmy Brown was born on the 14th of February (St Valentines Day) 1931 and was the son of James Alban Brown and Ellen McNeill.
His early life was spent at 161 Dolphin Street Benwell, which had been the McNeill family home, but he later moved with his mother and brother Joe to 157 Dolphin Street. This was the home of Edward Farrage who in the summer of 1948 had suffered a heart attack and was being looked after by Jim's mother Nellie Brown.
On leaving St. Joseph's School in Benwell at the age of 14, he was offered an apprenticeship with A. Reyrolle & Company Ltd. of Hebburn-on-Tyne as an electrical fitter. A formal five year agreement was drawn up on the 22nd of November 1947 at which, Edward Farrage acted as a witness to the contract between Nellie and the Company. He joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union on the 30th of October 1950 and his apprenticeship was completed on the 14th February 1952.
On the First of April 1952 he was called up for National Service and applied to enlist as a 'regular' for a three year term with the Royal Air Force, but it would seem that this was not taken up because his service number was that of the series given to National Servicemen 2564285. He completed his initial training at RAF Padgate and on the 8th of August 1952 whilst at the No.13 School of Recruit Training, RAF Innsworth, he attended a Commissioning Board at RAF Hornchurch for the purpose of being accepted for training as a pilot. No more details are available, but we know that he didn't receive a commission.
On the 29th of May 1953 he signed on as a regular for a period of eight years having recently been accepted into Air Crew training as a Cadet Signaller.
At the No. 2 Air Signallers School he was entered on a 42 week course, No. NS 22 where he failed his signalling in spite of finishing overall in fourth place out of a class of 15. He was then transferred to course No. 23 where he passed in all eleven subjects finishing fourteenth out of an entry of 22 with a final percentage of 68 and the rank of Sgt.
A five year British Passport was issued to him on the 26th of June 1957 and during this time, whilst serving with the RAF, he visited many countries, including Libya, Nigeria, Cyprus, Aden, Fayid and Singapore, to name but a few.
He was discharged on the 28th of August 1961 but his interest in flying continued and he later joined the Newcastle Aero Club, taking lessons for his pilots licence. It was during the latter years of his RAF service that he considered a call to the religious life and was accepted by the Bishop of Portsmouth for training as a secular priest, having been rejected by his own bishop on the grounds of his age. He trained for the priesthood at Campion House, Osterley in Middlesex and in 1963 moved to St. Thomas's Seminary at Grove Park, Warwickshire Then he entered a course of studies in September 1963 at Oscott College, Sutton Coldfield., comprising two years of Philosophy and four years of Theology. After some five years of study and examinations he found it difficult to come to terms with certain aspects and after discussions with his novice master and Bishop left the Seminary and returned to Newcastle. He began to spend more of his time looking after his brother Joe who had Downs Syndrome and in addition helped out other frail and elderly neighbours with their shopping and other tasks.
He died on Wednesday 9th of September 1998 at the age of 67 and following his cremation at a ceremony attended by relatives and friends his ashes were interred in the family grave at Fenham Cemetery on Tuesday 22nd of September 1998.
Joseph Austin Brown 1939-1993.
Joseph Austin Brown was born on the 12th of August 1939 at 91 Eccles Old Road, Salford. Lancashire and was born with Downs Syndrome. At the time of his birth his mother was living at 61 Broom Lane Broughton, in Lancashire, where she was working as a Domestic Servant.
On his return to Newcastle he later attended St. Josephs R.C. School where his summer term results for 1953 gave him above average grades for Attendance,Punctuality and Conduct with an average mark for Diligence. In writing he received 6 out of 10 and for mathmatics 25 out of a possible 25. The Headmaster remarked that he had worked hard and made some progress.
On leaving school he attended full time adult training at the Westerhope Training Unit at 3, Pilton Mews in Newcastle. Whilst at the Training Unit his Instructor, who was a keen football fan, encouraged Joe’s support for Newcastle United.
Joe was issued with his own five year passport on 11th April 1958 having previously been included on his mothers passport since 1949. He and his mother made two trips abroad to Boulogne from the 4th to the 11th August 1949 and again on the 24th of July 1958.
In the latter years of his parents life, and following the death of his mother Ellen in 1974 and his father James in 1977, he was looked after by his brother Jimmy and was totally dependent upon him.
They later moved to 67 Baxter Road Fenham as this property was thought to be more amenable to Joe’s increasing physical disability.
In 1992 Joe undertook a visit to Lourdes as part of the Diocesan Pilgrimage from the 25th to the 31st of July.
He died on the 22nd of December 1993 and was buried in the grave of his parents at Fenham on 6th January 1994.