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Thomas M. M. Hemy
datapages
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&
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I sincerely thank Brian Wharmby of Leicestershire, U.K., for providing the
fine work that appears on site page 40
& also for the second work which is presented on this page. Both are sepia etchings of the River Wear in
Sunderland, & both are 50 cm x 35 cm in size.
Only one of the two
Wharmby works
is titled, specifically the image on this page. It is entitled 'Old Sunderland'
& is marked 'From a
Painting
by Tom M Hemy and Etched by the Artist', as indeed you can see below. It was published by Hills and Co, Printsellers,
of Sunderland, on November 1, 1888.
The work has not been removed from its frame, so
it is possible that more data is recorded on the rear of the print. Brian
acquired both prints at a Newcastle upon Tyne auction in May 1974. Both were, I understand, framed by J. Burnham, Gilder and Picture Frame Maker, of 1 Derwent Street,
Stockton Road, Sunderland.
OLD SUNDERLAND
Now a work similar to the above is located in the Tyne and Wear Museums - indeed the image can be seen and enlarged in sections
here at the Tyne and Wear Museums' Collection On Line. It
may well be the original work depicted in the above print, because it is entitled
also 'Old Sunderland' and while not identical is most similar. It would be good
to be able to show the Museum painting on this page in full size. I do show,
however, the large thumbnail of it which appears on the Museum site. And trust
that the use of that thumbnail image on this non-profit & informational site
is in order.
The original work in the Tyne and Wear Museum is very large indeed. And most impressive. Almost 8 ft wide in
fact. Far more impressive than
I can impart via this page. These are the words with which the Museum described their work,
which is
an oil on canvas of 232.7 cm by 154.0 cm (about 92 x 61 inches):
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'The busy River Wear at Ettrick's Quay, Sunderland is pictured
in this scene. Huge anchors with their chains lie in heaps on the quay, and the
keel (barge) at the front of the picture is also filled with anchors. Smoking
chimneys add a haze to the subdued evening light. The area shown here was
cleared in 1932 for the construction of Corporation Quay. Thomas Hemy lived in
Sunderland for some years, before moving to London in about 1885. This is one of
his most important pictures.'
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Now Ettrick's Quay was, Andy Dennis advised having consulted
an early map, at the mouth of the river. Where the looming building is at left
in the painting would seem to have been the Custom House, on 'Custom House Quay'
in 1897 (and Corporation Quay today). So the painting must be of the 1888 view
from the south bank looking inland & westward (maybe south westward considering the course of the river there). The two chimneys in the background of the image are from
a brewery, I understand. But we are not yet sure which brewery it was. It
probably was of 'Sunderland or
Robertson's Brewery' however. Does anyone
know for sure?
The two works are different, witness the
angles of the ships' masts at the right edge of the images. So is the painting
in the Museum truly the original? The webmaster does not pretend to be an expert
on such matters, but suspects that it IS indeed the original.
Such an etching would
not have been produced by a mechanical process. Lines in an etching are
eaten into the plate by the action of an acid rather than being gouged into the
plate with a tool. One can imagine the artist
working in his studio on the etching plate & looking up constantly to the
original painting perhaps sitting on an easel beside him. He would look at the painting
& incise the wax coating or ground on the plate. And look again & incise
again. When sufficiently advanced, the plate would be submerged in an acid bath
& the acid would eat into the metal plate where the wax had been removed.
Lines cut as deeply as required would be coated with stopping-out varnish, &
the process would be repeated to incise other areas or more deeply incise
existing lines to the depth thought desirable. There would
have been multiple dippings of the plate into the acid as the etching advanced to finality.
And then there would be multiple proofs, with the plate being cleaned, ink
applied & an impression taken. And the plate recoated & incised again. A
lengthy process I suspect & truly a labour of love. Who is to say that when
Thomas Hemy worked on the area with the ships' masts at the
extreme right of the image, he did not think that the masts looked better at an
angle. And changed that detail.
There are many WWW sites which define what an 'etching' is, & should you have an interest in
pursuing that matter you should
best read them all.
The word is applied, I read, to both the image etched onto the plate & to an impression
from the plate. I was interested to read, but only in the Wikipedia description,
that 'the process is believed to have been
invented by Daniel Hopfer (circa
1470 - 1536) of Augsburg, Germany, who decorated armour in this
way, and applied the method to printmaking.' To me that sounds rather suspect. I would
truly be surprised if an armourer skilled in the forge would himself apply that process to the most
different discipline of printmaking. But if he didn't, certainly others did.
We sincerely thank Brian Wharmby for images of both of
his etchings, i.e. the one on this page & also the one on page 40. If YOU
could add more information, do please
contact the webmaster.
EARLY INDUSTRIAL SUNDERLAND
IN WORDS AND IMAGES
The webmaster hopes that in the near future more material can be
presented on this page & site of early industrial Sunderland. The contrast between what the River Wear looked like through to the
mid 20th century, & what it looks like today is truly astonishing. The past - the docks
& warehouses,
the shipping, the dingy plants, the
coal loading facilities & their railway lines, the shipbuilding yards, the glass works, the rope factories,
the dirt, the grime, etc. etc. are all
long gone,
& only through old photographs & the work of artists such as Thomas Hemy can one envisage what it
once looked like. Is it
important to know? I think it is else I would not provide this page. And perhaps
you also may think it is important since you have found your way to this very
page.
The few Sunderland scenes that the webmaster has so far seen are
reminiscent of the sights of the east end of London of the mid-fifties & of
the then dirty Thames river & its industrial bleakness. I recall as a young
man the dock area of east London & the dingy rows of slum houses stretching
into the distance in every direction, every one of them belching smoke from its
chimney stack (just maybe burning coal that came from Sunderland!). There
has indeed been giant progress. But that does not mean we should forget the past.
So bear with me as
data re Sunderland is located by the webmaster. But the webmaster is not a
researcher. He lives far away in Canada & has no access to local image archives or museums. So if you, a visitor
to this page, can provide material, it would be most welcome. And would help
advance, I believe, a page or pages that deserve to be written.
My inclination is that over time, this page or maybe
in time many pages,
will evolve into sections specifically directed a) to the shipbuilding history
of Sunderland b) to the coal mining industry of the Sunderland area and c) to other areas
of activity. But that
is all in the future as this was first written.
Before advancing to the images which follow, I should advise you of a WWW site that
features 400 or so postcard images of Sunderland, the postcard collection, I learn, of former Sunderland Fire Officer Tom Marshall.
That collection can be seen here on the
site of James Bryce (of the Southwick History And Preservation Society), whose front door is here. Do drop by!
The sources of the images which
follow? Just eleven images at this moment. I present the best versions of the images I can today. If you have a better image of
any item, do
please consider providing it to the webmaster for inclusion here.
Hold your mouse over each image item to see
the image number coding. The images will surely, with time, not end up numerically sequential. As
re-sequencing is required.
Items 1), 2)
and 12) are from expired e-Bay items. Item 2 may be a postcard 'by GD & DL as part of their Star Series.'
Item 3) is from this site where usage for
educational purposes was permitted. I say was because I cannot find the image
there any more. The image itself would seem to date from 1897
(that site said 1900). The original photographer's name? Don't know. The image
was republished in the 1970s by 'Pamlin' of Croydon in the form of a postcard
which postcard refers to the
beached vessel being the 'Lady Katherine'. But are there not two beached vessels
in the image? Perhaps the vessel at centre is the 'Lady Katherine'. I somewhat darkened the pale image which is available on that page
for a slightly better presentation here, & resized it. And I added it in a larger size, scanned from an actual postcard, though I
can see the result has less detail than the smaller image.
Item 4) is from an expired e-Bay
item which did not sell. Should you have an interest in acquiring the postcard,
perhaps you might contact the e-Bay vendor via that link to request re-listing.
Item 5) I don't know today. I found it somewhere on the WWW, most probably on e-Bay, but I do not know where exactly.
Item 6) An image by C. J. Kenyon dating from 1966. It appears low on this interesting railway history
page about the
Lambton Railway & appeared originally
in the Mar. 1991 issue, # 124, of the 'Industrial Railway Record'. Should C. J. Kenyon or 'The Industrial Railway Record' prefer
that the image be removed from this page, I will of course, do so. You can obtain a copy of that issue at the address at the foot of
that linked page. I lightened the image somewhat for use on this page. It was quite dark in the original.
Item 7) is from an expired 'Delcampe' item. A postcard that dates I believe from 1966, since
it was postmarked 'World Cup Sunderland Jul 13 - 23'. The postmarked date was not perfectly clear but I believe read 1966, when 3 preliminary World Cup matches were in fact played in Roker Park, Sunderland.
A couple of copies of it were available on e-Bay in Sep. 2006.
Item 8) An image by Peter Proud dating from Oct. 1966. It appears
here, in full size, on the fine
site of the
Lambton Locomotives Trust Limited - a group of enthusiasts whose purpose is to ensure that the Lambton locomotives are
preserved in perpetuity - a great purpose indeed!
Item 9) is from a 'Valentine's Series' postcard entitled 'River-View,
Sunderland.', which postcard sold on e-Bay in early Oct. 2006 for GBP 2.99 or approximately U.S. $5.99. I say 'from' because I was not pleased with my earlier
efforts in resizing the card for presentation on this
page. And, since the prime purpose is to show early images here, I have now essentially used
only the image portion of the card, after removing some black marks. The postcard,
as it was listed, can be seen here.
A beautiful card, indeed.
Item 10) is from an e-Bay item that sold in early Oct. 2006 for GBP 0.99, approximately U.S.
$1.85. Most similar to image # 4 beside it, but showing the south side of the river better.
Item 11) is from an e-Bay item that sold in mid Oct. 2006 for GBP 4.99, or approximately U.S.
$5.65. Stated to be a page of 8.25 x 10.5 inches from 'The World: its Cities and
Peoples, edited by W. W. Birdsall' Dating from 1892. Entitled 'Looking up the river, Sunderland.' Most similar to the item a
row or so below it today. Except for the coal hopper cars, all of which are horse drawn.
Item 13) is image # 9 in a number of images provided by the BBC available here. We thank
the photographer whose name, however, seems not to be stated.
Item 14) is from an e-Bay item that sold in early Dec. 2006 for GBP 7.52, approximately U.S. $14.73. Of the Toll House of the 1796 Iron Bridge
photographed in 1870. Taken
in the evening or early morning (length of shadows) & maybe on the north bank looking east?
1870 / 1890
1890 / 1900
1900 / 1910
1910 / 1920
1960s
1990s
THE SUNDERLAND
FLYING BOAT
As I add this next item and image, I must confess that I am not 100% sure that it
should even be on this page. I think it
IS a neat image and I think that it relates to the City of Sunderland though perhaps distantly. But I like it. And I hope that you do also.
In searching for items re 'Sunderland' there are lots of references to the
'Sunderland' or 'Short Sunderland'. Related to the flying boat of that name. The word 'Short' does not relate
to the aircraft's size but rather to 'Short Brothers', a pioneer British aircraft manufacturer with major experience in marine aircraft design. The company would seem to have been
then based at Rochester, on
the River Medway,
in Kent, about 30 miles east of London. With the name of 'Short Bros (Rochester
& Bedford) Ltd.' But in the pages I have checked, quite a lot of them
in fact, and at my library, I can see no reference as to why the aircraft
came to be named the 'Sunderland'. There would seem to be an association with
the city, however. Since there was a shipbuilding company in Sunderland of
the very same name and probably of common ownership.
Can anybody tell us, definitively, whether the two businesses were in fact related and why the aircraft was called the 'Sunderland'?
Should
you be interested there are a great many WWW pages about the aircraft, and a great many books, and a great many photographs, as is
befitting such a brilliant and successful aircraft. A search via Google or on e-Bay,
or a visit to your local library, will produce a wealth of information.
My conclusions may prove to be quite wrong. But the image that follows is most attractive. It is from a 1940's poster,
sold on e-Bay
in Sep. 2006 for just U.S. $0.99 - a 15 x 20 inch print by artist P. E. Davies. A bargain indeed
for the purchaser, it would
seem, since the poster is also available, on the date this page is amended,
at U.S. $200. But the print is available with some frequency via e-Bay.
DATA SOUGHT
A listing of items that would, if available, add to my
presently limited
body of knowledge of Sunderland. I do not really
want the following, per se. Just to read them in order to see whatever new data that they might prove to contain. If you could help in any way,
drop me a line.
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1 |
'Where ships are born: Sunderland 1346-1946 ; a history of shipbuilding on the
River Wear' by J. W. Smith and T. S. Holden. |
Was originally published (Thomas Reed & Co. Ltd.) 97 pages, in 1946 or 1947.
But would seem to have been republished 1953 (also Thomas Reed) with 191
pages. But an edition seems also listed (Treed & Co.) of 160 pages only and
an edition published privately. |
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2 |
'Bridges of the River Wear' by Keith Cockerill. |
128 pages illustrated. Published 2005 in the 'People's History Series'. |
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3 |
'A Wearside Mining Story, including
an account of the sinking of Wearmouth Pit, Co. Durham, and the birth of the
Durham Miners' Association at that Colliery' by John Elliot McCutcheon. |
Published
in 1960 by the author at 2, Ambleside Avenue, Seaham,
Co. Durham. 101 pages with over 30 photographs. |
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4 |
'Sunderland - A River of Life'. By Jack Curtis. |
96 pages illustrated. Published 2003 in the 'People's History Series'. |
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5 |
'Sacrifice , Achievement , Gratitude (Images of The Great Northern Coalfield in Decline)' by Aidan Doyle. |
116 pages illustrated. Published 1997. Publisher name presently unknown.
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6 |
'Adventures in Coal'. The beginnings of the
coal mining firm of Henry Briggs, Son & Co. in Yorkshire c. 1826 to
1890. By John Goodchild. |
96 pages.
A monograph of 'Northern Mine
Research Society', published August 2000. British Mining No. 66.
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7 |
'Railways in England, 1826 & 1827' - by C. von Oeynhauser & H. von Dechen. |
98 pages illustrated. Observations collected, I read, during a study of the railways at Darlington, Sunderland,
Liverpool/Manchester, Bolton-le-Moors/Leigh, etc. Published by the Newcomen Society by W. Heffer & Sons Ltd. of
Cambridge. |
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8 |
'Port of Sunderland 1950'.
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120 pages, illustrated with photographs and maps. Published by the Port of Sunderland, it would
seem. |
Thomas M. M. Hemy
datapages
01,
02
&
03 are now on site. Plus all
of the other image pages, accessible though the index on page
05.
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