They appear to date from the second decade of the 20th Century, which might explain why there are so many carnivals and processions: people may be celebrating the end of the First World War.
“Florence (nee Booth) (1895-1989) married my grandfather, Harry Jennings (1893-1954) at Hebron Hall in Newtown, Stockton, in 1921,” says David. “He was bridge engineering draughtsman working for Teesside Bridge Engineering Company.
“Florence was a member of numerous local organisations including the Stockton Vocal Union, of which she was a founder member in 1936.
“Apart from a spell in South Africa in the early 1930s, the couple lived throughout their lives in Stockton, most latterly in Coniston Road, and then, after my grandfather’s death, in Marshall Grove.
“They had two sons, Gordon, an RAF pilot who was killed in action in 1943, and Alan, my father, (1928-1998), who worked for the National Provincial, later National Westminster Bank, in, among other places, Middlesbrough and Richmond.”
But, of course, Florence never fully captioned the pictures in her albums – who does? So if you can give us any information about any of the locations or happenings in any of the pictures, we’d love to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
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Dovecot Street in Stockton with the Spread Eagle Inn being the tall, thin building on the left with the Alma Hotel beside it, the Lit & Phil in the middle, and the Market Café Temperance Hotel on the right boasting that it sells Bovril. This street was redeveloped around 1840 when the bishop’s dovecot, which was near the Spread Eagle, was demolished and the Lit & Phil was built as the Corporation Hall. The hall became the Mechanics Institute in 1851 and from 1883 was grandly known as the Stockton Institute of Literary and Science. The Stockton Literary and Philosophical Society had its meeting rooms on the first floor while their were commercial premises on the ground floor including, from 1900, The Northern Echo’s office. The area was cleared in 1964Showing the corner that Florence photographedThe Lit&Phil occupied by The Northern Echo was demolished in 1964This carnival float is paying tribute to America, with the statue of Liberty standing proud on the moving vehicle, which has a registration plate, BB1590, suggesting it comes from NewcastlePeople have opened up their upstairs windows to watch the fancy dress parade go by – we know it is a fancy dress parade because the placard next to the Union flag says “fancy costume” on it. The street seems to have been paved with stone setts rather than the more typical scorriae blocksThis picture shows how amazing Robinson’s Coliseum looked on Stockton High Street when it was new. The Coliseum had first opened in 1896 when Matthias Robinson expanded his business from West Hartlepool and opened Stockton’s first department store. He enlarged his premises so that they included a shopping arcade in time for Christmas 1899, but on Sunday, December 17, an electrical fault in the new restaurant caused the whole lot to burn down, along with neighbouring premises. The fire did £60,000 worth of damage – that’s about £6.5m in today’s values.Mr Robinson was not deterred. He was back in business from a wooden stall within two weeks, and the site was cleared so his new Coliseum was ready to open in May 1901. It had nearly 50 departments, plus a restaurant and a café, and it featured all the latest technology. It was one of the first multi-story steel framed buildings in the country while inside it had a pneumatic tube cash dispensing system so beloved of classy department stores.Perhaps because he had already had his fingers burned, Mr Robinson installed an elaborate sprinkler system fed by a watertank on the rooftop that became a local landmark.His business traded until the 1960s when Debenhams bought it, and his name survived into the 1970s. Debenhams closed in 2020.The Coliseum became Debenhams and is now emptyA family and friends outing from Stockton perhaps up on to the North York Moors around 1920. Second from the right is Florence Booth, David Jennings’ grandmother, who got married in 1921A Stockton scout parade. Can anyone tell us where?A bicycle parade in Stockton. In the years before the First World War, bicycle parades were very popular as bicycles were brand new and affordable. Fancy dress bicycle parades added novelty to the proceedingsIn this picture from the Jennings archive, flags fly and bunting is draped across the front of Stockton Town Hall, a landmark building which has graced the High Street since 1735
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