Brian Pears

Brian Pears  – Gateshead, U.K.

These pages are an archive of my posts and pages written over the last few years. The menu button can be found on the top right of each page.

Genealogical information about my own family and relations is online as are a number of my efforts relating to World War Two in the area:- Index to the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour (which covers Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire); North East Diary 1939-1945 (which I co-authored with the late Roy Ripley of Cramlington); When Bombs Fell on Rowlands Gill (which looks at the air raid of May 1st 1942); Rowlands Gill and the North-East 1939-1945 (which covers many aspects of life on the home front) and Wartime Incidents in Allenheads and Allendale.

All of my local history essays are now online including: Blaydon Council’s Water Supply to the Rowlands Gill Area; Eighty Years, the story of Rowlands Gill’s electricity supply; From Roller Skates to Bingo, the story of Rowlands Gill’s two cinemas; and Telephone Rowlands Gill One, the story of Rowlands Gill’s postal and telephone service. I’ve also edited and published my late father’s history of High Spen entitled High Spen and District; this is available as an e-book.

A series of articles – Our Ancestors, Conceptions, Misconceptions and a Paradox, The Ancestor Paradox Revisited and The Ancestor Paradox Yet Again – is also now available, as is Where There’s A Will… an article about the trouble that wills have caused in my family. This topic is also addressed in great detail in my paper, Greendikes – A tale of forgery and greed, which is available in PDF format (921 Kb).

Fans of murder and mystery may be interested in three articles describing murders in and around Rowland Gill. The Mystery of Doctor Robert Stirling and The High Spen Murderer were written by my late father, Thomas William Pears, and The Lintz Green Murder is by a friend, Terry Middleton, a very able local historian.

Still available are my survey of Plaques and Memorials in Gateshead Borough and my selection of Photographs taken at the North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish, Co Durham.

Also online is an article I wrote back in 1996 entitled Police on Medium Wave which looks at very early police communications in England and Wales.

I’ve placed a few small collections of photographs online, mostly for the benefit of ex-pats I’ve kept in touch with through mailing lists. These include:

Larkin Poe at the Caedmon Hall 12 April 2015 – Gilded Thieves at the Caedmon Hall 12 April 2015 – A Visit to the Pathology Centre, QE Hospital 18 March 2015 – Fenwick’s Xmas Window Display 2011 – Family Reunion 23rd October 2011 – Smith Family Memorabilia – Fenwick’s Xmas Window Display 2009 – Red Kite over Hookergate Cemetery – Local Scenes by Tom Waters (1907-1990) – A Nostalgic Visit to Highfield School – Tall Ships’ Races on the Tyne 2005 – Newcastle Quayside 2 July 2005 – Town Moor Hoppings 2005 – Vindolanda Roman Camp 2004 – Fenwick’s Christmas Window Displays 2003 – Brandling Coal Drops – Demolition of the Union Debating Chamber at Newcastle University in 2003 – High Spen in 1977 with some old maps – Marlborough Crescent Bus Station in December 1976 – Exploration of the Victoria Tunnel, Newcastle.

There’s also a little bit about me.