did the queen visit middlesbrough

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What’s your story, visit of queen elizabeth and duke of edinburgh (4 june 1956).

Categories: Events , Royal Visits

Tagged as: Duke , Queen , Royal , Teesport

Date added: March 8, 2018 • 4

Three Photos of Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh’s visit to Middlesbrough on 4 June 1956.

Photo courtesy of Darlington and Stockton Times

Photo courtesy of Mathers of Middlesbrough

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I remember being in the “cubs” attached to All Saints church. I was part of a flag waving guard of honour made up of cubs, scouts, and girl guides near to the Town Hall.

Can any body tell me what the Queen did on visit to Middlesbrough in 1956.

I was a 6 year old in Miss Eileen Martin’s class, St Joseph’s primary school, Grove Hill. My class was crocodile- marched along Marton Road to a point approximately opposite the Baltimore Hotel. (It wasn’t there then.) The Queen did not pass my school. I think the Royal family came via Longlands Road and joined Marton Road at the Nut Lane junction. We kids were all waving our Union flags and cheering, as instructed to. The Royal cars were travelling at roughly walking pace. My view of HM was a good one. She was waving at us children. I was surprised to see her dressed in a light shade of green. I remember it as a coat but, it may have been a dress. I think she may have had some silverware on her head…a tiara or similar. Apart from that, I remember nowt. Amnesia is not what it used to be!

I’m amazed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s both equally educative and engaging, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The problem is something which not enough folks are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy I came across this in my hunt for something concerning this.

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Queen's visits to North East and North Yorkshire celebrated in interactive map from Historic England

• Thursday 12 May 2022 at 9:12am

Iconic images from the Queen's visits to the North East and North Yorkshire over her reign have been featured in a new interactive map.

Launched by Historic England as an education tool ahead of the Platinum Jubilee, the map allows users to click through images from more than 20 royal trips made to the region.

It covers the whole of the UK and tells the stories of the world's long-serving monarch performing royal functions - from opening important civic buildings like town halls and schools to visiting museums, sports grounds and pubs.

Images from the Tyne Tees region include the Queen alongside Alan Shearer while on a visit to Alnwick.

Where has the Queen visited in the North East?

Middlesbrough Town Hall (1956)

Wilton International, near Middlesbrough (1956)

Ripon Cathedral (1985)

Pallister Park, Middlesbrough (1993)

Wynyard Hall (1995)

Tees Dock and Transporter Bridge (1997)

Harrogate Theatre (1998)

Darlington Covered Market Hall (2002)

Millennium Bridge (2002)

Sunderland Park Lane Interchange (2002)

Clayport Library, Durham (2002)

Statue of Neptune, Durham Market Place (2002)

Durham Castle (2002)

Easington Colliery (2002)

Sage Music Centre in Gateshead (2005)

Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade Museum (2005)

Great Yorkshire Show (2008)

Scarborough Open Air Theatre (2010)

Alnwick Castle & Gardens (2011)

Yorkshire Museum (2012)

Gateshead International Stadium (2012)

Sunderland Corporation Quay (2012)

The project forms part of the Heritage Schools programme, funded by the Department for Education, which aims to help school children learn about local heritage and its significance.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said: "This interactive map shows the incredible variety of sites the Queen has visited in the past 70 years.

"We hope schools, teachers, parents and the wider public will explore the map, discover more about their local historic sites and follow in the Queen’s footsteps by supporting their local heritage."

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Queen Elizabeth II in Middlesbrough, 1993

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Picture Stockton Archive

A pictorial history of stockton-on-tees.

A Royal Visit to Teesside – 1917

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17 thoughts on “ a royal visit to teesside – 1917 ”.

My mother has a photo of her mother handing the queen a bouquet of flowers on her visit to Harker shipyard

I have the book with a young girl in it giving the Queen a bouquet on June 1917, Smith’s Dock. It says she was the youngest girl employee

Small correction – it was John Robert Garthwaite who escorted the Queen (not G.R Garthwaite). He was my great grandfather.

On Sunday 17 June 1917 in front of a crowd of 40,000 at Newcastle Saint James’ Park football ground the King and Queen presented medals and decorations to soldiers, and the families of deceased soldiers. This was probably the biggest single crowd that gathered during the 1917 North-East royal tour, and one of the few non-industrial events. The un-interpreted photo number 43 of the Conquest Collection, referred to on this thread, actually shows the King presenting the DSO at Newcastle football ground to Helen Walker Dunford, the widow of Captain Roy Craig Dunford of the Northumberland Fusiliers, with the Queen about to greet his fatherless toddler son. This touching and remarkable photo, or one very similar, first appeared in the Daily Mirror on 19 June 1917, page 7, with two photos of the event described. On 1 July 2010, the BBC Tyne website under the title ‘In pictures: more than 100 years of Newcastle History’ unearthed another photo of a presentation taken from the same spot, but it failed to identify the location, the photographer, and most of the royal party. The King presented the VC medal to Lance Corporal Thomas Bryan, Northumberland Fusiliers, at Saint James’ Park on the 17 June 1917. It is likely all the football ground photos in the Conquest Collection were took at Newcastle and not at the Hull City ground where the King attended on the 18 June 1917 for another medal event. In contrast an estimated crowd of 10, 000 watched the King and Queen pass through Stockton, and walk into Thistle Green ‘the same as you and me’ as some locals reported. The Telegraph described the exploits of a Stockton child with long red gold hair that fell across her face who was determined to break through the wall of people to touch the royal visitors as they passed from the Quayside into Thistle Green. ‘Suddenly with a swift indignant gesture she tossed her hair back from her face and followed with her eyes the movement of the royal party. She would keep them in her view until they had disappeared. They turned and walked straight past her as she stood. She might, as she will tell her children someday, touched them as they passed.’ Chocolate carriages followed empty behind the King and Queen in the brilliant weather, and can be seen in the background of Conquest photo number 11 of the royal procession in the Square opposite Stockton Cattle Market approaching Smithfield. Since the photographer of the Conquest material is clearly talented and had close access to the royal visitors it would be interesting to know his identity. I note the Conquest surname is not unknown to Stockton and this site.

My grandad Robert Casey born 1895 Housewife lane, as a young lad worked for Ropners & Sons as a Heaters lad (Rivets). He was working for them when he joined the K.O.S.B 1912, never saw grandad as he died 1939 from wounds he recieved on the Somme 1916. He was at Gallipoli before re-entering France for the Somme offensive. Anyone out there know the Caseys at all and whether any photos of my grandad, Robert Casey, are still in existence?

Derek, it’s David Birdsall my Male was Mary Casey.

I was talking with Joan and she said you’d seen her recently. Also she mentioned Housewives Lane. Also great great grandad Robert Casey. Joan said you did a write up about Grandad Robert Casey. I’m looking but I seem to be able to find it.

Can you help please. Regards Dave 👍

David ask picturestockton for my email. Derek. Not seen any of you for some many years, I think the last one of you I saw was your Paul, how is every one? Derek

David Birdsall, just re- read our posting again from some time ago, please ask picturestockton for my email, i’ve done all family ancestry on Casey’s & Kirks. I’ve never forgoten aunty Mary, she had a wonderful laugh. Hope all brother’s are well. All the best. Derek.

Hia Derek ☺️. Great to hear from you. Sorry I haven’t replied sooner. I’m rarely on social media these days.

It’s great you got to the do family history. Me & Joan were talking about it just before Covid started.

If you email Picture Stockton ([email protected]) they will send you my email.

Are Paul & other brothers still with us? Hope so, don’t know if you remember me at all but in my younger days I practically lived at aunt Lizzy’s house, 56 Doncaster Cresent. Paul being the oldest its him I remember the most, I do recall you but it was so long ago. I remember your mam & dad so well, our Mary had the most amazing laugh. I’m now 75 yrs old, I can remember your dad Freddy letting me on a steam train he was working on on the pottery railway, I pulled the chain to make the train whistle, your mam and dad lived at granny Caseys in those early days, they moved to Mulgrave Road? They also lived in Doncaster Cresent & Dover Road, by this time I was working and fell away from visiting (sadly) I bumped into you I think at Billingham Forum, I was with our Sandra & Julie waiting to see Billingham Bombers play. I’ve lived up here in Billingham for years now, I did hear you lived near Mill Lane (Billingham). All the best. Derek

Compare this series of photos of the royal party inside the Stockton Ropner shipyard on 14 June 1917 with the photo of their arrival at Stockton Quay and walk through Thistle Green recently placed on the site. All photos from 14 June 1917 can be identified from photos taken on later dates of the 1917 north- east tour (mainly in the Conquest Collection) by Queen Mary’s dress sense. Her blue dress and white feather hat seem to have been exclusive to the Teesside visit of 14 June 1917. I accept the older Picture Stockton photos of this visit are not very easy to locate on the Picture Stockton site as they are currently filed under the ‘people’ section rather than the ‘royal’ section.

Even before it left its birthplace on the Tees in 1917 the SS David Lloyd George had an eventful history. Named after a prime minister by his daughter; viewed by royal visitors, local and national dignitaries; and threatened with destruction by fire; large crowds watched each event. This single deck steamer was constructed at the Thornaby shipyard of Messes Craig Taylor and Co. Ltd for Mr Thomas Mordey of Williams and Mordey, Dominion Buildings, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff. This vessel, official number 139605, about 7500 tons deadweight, net tonnage 2480, gross tonnage 4107 (gross register tonnage 4764), length just over 370 feet, breath just over 51 feet, engine horse power 361 hp, depth of hold 24 feet, was built under the guidance of Mr John David of Cardiff, a representative of the ships owners. As the vessel left the slipway on Thursday 22 March 1917 it was named after the serving prime minister, David Lloyd George, by his daughter Miss Olwen Elizabeth Lloyd George (born 3 Apr 1892). In gratitude for a successful and graceful christening the shipbuilders presented Miss Lloyd George with a silver chain bag. Just before 12-30pm on Thursday 14 June 1917, King George V and Queen Mary, the rest of the royal party, admirals and generals, local civic and industrial dignitaries admired the SS Lloyd George (almost complete) from their tug as it slowed down to dock at Stockton Corporation Quay. Amongst the Craig Taylor staff there was great disappointment that the royal party was not visiting their shipyard, but touring their Ropner rivals. The regal viewing of the SS David Lloyd George was the only royal recognition of Thornaby(South Stockton) engineering establishments that day. This vessel ‘Stockton’s newest ship’ was also seen by thousands awaiting the arrival of the royal visitors at the quayside. The King and Queen were photographed alighting at Stockton Quay with the SS David Lloyd George in the background (Conquest photo 7, Neukol web-site, 23 Jan 2005). In the early hours of Saturday 23 June 1917, one of the biggest and most serious fires seen in a Tees shipyard up to that time broke out at the Craig Taylor yard. Just before midnight a watchman discovered the outbreak in the old joiners shop and a south-west wind spread the fire through much dry wood with alarming speed. The fire brigades of Stockton and Thornaby were rapidly at the scene, but they could not prevent the fire spreading to a sawmill and the new joiners shop (130 yards long and 20 yards wide), both were doomed by 1am, their destruction illuminating the district for miles around as a great amount of seasoned timber burnt. Thousands witnessed the fire from Stockton Corporation Quay, and the Thistle Green district, where many shipyard workers lived. Great effort was then put in to protecting wooden blocks, supports and ribbons around ships being erected, the timber wharf and ships themselves. Mr George Craig, a member of the firm, was soon at the scene directing operations. The SS David Lloyd George was lying in the river near a flaming 50 yard section of wharf. Saving the nearly complete vessel became the primary concern. Mr John David arrived at the yard and secured a number of eager helpers. The ship was cast adrift into the river and then safely secured on the opposite riverbank at Stockton Corporation Quay. The fire brigades managed to extinguish the flaming section of wharf and the fire that had spread to the timber supports of a ship under construction. The exact cause of the fire was not established. The yard was back at full work the following week. Just before the fire, on 19 June 1917, Miss Olwen Lloyd George married Captain T.J. Carey Evans at the Welsh Baptist Chapel, Castle Street, off Oxford Street, London, followed by a reception at 10 Downing Street and a honeymoon in Scotland. The Daily Mirror published photos of this society wedding on 20 June 1917, but the national wartime papers generally failed to report the naming of a locally built ship after the prime minister. On 17 Nov 1917 the SS David Lloyd George had a narrow eacape when it was damaged by U-boat UC-51 (commanded by Hans Galster) on the Havre-New York route.

Two series of photographs exist of the royal visit to north-east shipyards between 14-18 June 1917, the uninterpreted Conquest photos on the Neukol web-site and at Newcastle Central Library, and the above poor quality photos on Picture Stockton, the latter took at Stockton’s Ropner Shipyard on 14 June 1917. The two series are connected because on Saturday 16 June 1917 a small number of photos from both series were published in the Daily Mirror. The remaining photos seem to be unpublished as local and national newspapers rarely used photos to illustrate the news in 1917. The royal train departed Kings Cross (platform one) at 5pm and arrived in the district shortly before 11 pm on the night of 13 June. The King and Queen visited three shipyards on the morning of 14 June 1917, beginning with Smith’s Dock at South Bank at 10am, followed by William Harkess and Son Ltd, and finally Sir Raylton Dixon Company, both of Middlesbrough. The most important visit was to the Harkess shipyard, where the Mayor and Mayoress of Middlesbrough and seven shipyard veterans with 350 years of total service were presented to the royal visitors. Here the royal party saw patrol boats under construction, and a beautiful model of these P-class patrol boats about four foot long and complete to the minutest detail was presented to the King. Honorary Vice Admiral Sir Eric Geddes (Navy Controller), Rear Admiral Laurence Power (Director of Dockyards), King George V (the Sailor King), Queen Mary, and Rear Admiral Alfred Ernest Albert Grant (Navy Superintendent of Contract Built Ships) can be seen at the presentation (Conquest photo 34). These powerful navy officers were to visit Stockton later in the day. The cheering crew of a patrol boat, likely P.46, completed at the Harkess yard at the time of the royal visit was close by (photo 37). Conquest photos, 1, 3, 6, 10, 26, show William Harkess (1860-1937), a former pupil of Stockton Grammar School and Mayor of Middlesbrough in 1907, in his shipyard with the royal party. The royal party and the elite of Teesside society left Middlesbrough Dock around noon in the TCC tug William Fallows for a journey up the River Tees to Stockton Corporation Quay/Wharf. Some sources claim a luncheon was given on the tug for local dignitaries whilst they waited to be introduced to the royal visitors. The royal party landed at Stockton at 12-30pm to be met by Stockton’s civic elite and many councillors. The average time the royals spent at a smaller shipyard during the north-east tour was 45 mins with some larger establishments taking one hour and ten mins. It is likely the royals spent around 45 mins each at Stockton’s Ropner Shipyard and the nearby Malleable Works. However their unscheduled walk with the public from Corporation Wharf through Thistle Green and Smithfield to the Ropner Shipyard would have cost them at least ten mins, which contributed to their late departure from the Malleable Works. I walked the old route from the Wharf to the Ropner site last month and it took me 6.5 mins without interruption. At the Malleable, the largest ship plate rolling mill in the UK in 1917, the royal visitors saw pig iron bars being made to fly by collection onto a magnetic crane, and hot metal parts being rolled and moulded like pastry assisted by Mr Benjamin Talbot and Mr C.J. Bailey. The royal party had to be protected from the heat,light and debris from the latter process. Mr Arthur Sladden, company secretary of the South Durham Steel and Iron Co., who had organised the royal visit to the Malleable Works, was presented to the King and Queen. It was noticed that the Queen’s white gloves regularly needed changing as they became grimy due to the number of people that shook hands with her during the Teesside tour. At least 10, 000 people saw the royal party pass through Stockton. Thursday 14 June 1917 was a glorious sunny day in Teesside, but the Queen held on to her umbrella. The royal party departed Stockton Station sometime between 2-15pm and 2-30pm for West Hartlepool.

With regard to the royal visit to the North East from 14-18 June 1917, there are two series of photographs that I am aware of that show the royal party in Stockton. The first series are the poor quality photos on Picture Stockton(PS) above, the second series are the superb quality images donated by Mike Conquest from Australia to songwriter Steve Thompson, who thankfully placed them on the North East UK community web-site (Neukol), and also donated them to Newcastle Central Library, a total of 39 images. Both series are without interpretation, but by using the National Portrait Gallery(NPG) image database it is possible to identify many of the dignitaries in these photos. Their names, initially obtained from old newspapers that described the royal visit, were searched on the NPG web-site to secure their images. The Times and its index provided a chronology of the tour, ie establishments visited by date, order and location. On the Neukol site the photos are titled King George V and Queen Mary visiting Tyne and Tees Shipyards in 1917, but some images actually show the King at Hull City football ground presenting medals to officers and NCO’s or their next- of-kin on the last day of the royal tour. In fact many of the Conquest images were taken on the first day of the royal visit 14/6/1917 at Teesside, as indicated by Queen Mary’s attire. It looks like different photographers captured the same Stockton events, hence the two series of photos. The Conquest images clearly taken at Stockton are image numbers 7-royal party disembarking from the TCC tug at Stockton Corporation Quay, 41-an astonishing photo of the royal party in Thistle Green( note the street sign, top left corner) showing buildings from the entrance to the Square down to Burton House (this section not available on PS as a photo), 11-the royal party passing the Quayside Mission Mens Home in the Square approaching Smithfield, and 5, 12, 22, 23, 38, 40- inside the Ropner Shipyard with Robert Ropner on the extreme right of 23 and in the centre of 38. Both series of photos show the King and Queen meeting the same munition girls and shipyard veterans at Ropners. The PS photo denoting yard number 520, just to the left of Queen Mary’s impressive hat, probably refers to the building berth of SS Sedgepool, launched on 14/12/1917, the ship at an early stage of construction during the royal visit. The PS photo of the Queen (with works manager Mr Garthwaite by her side) shaking hands with a shipyard veteran, also shows two senior navy officers facing the camera, standing side- by-side. On the right is Honorary Vice Admiral Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, Controller of the Navy, and to his left with the white naval beard possibly Rear Admiral Alfred Ernest Albert Grant, born 1861 in Barbados, the NPG hold a photo of him, but not online. He was Navy Superintendent for Contract Built Ships, North East, Liverpool and Belfast in 1917, a past President of the Admiralty Organisation for Building Merchant Vessels 1914-16, a former Captain of the battleship HMS Lord Nelson, and an ADC to the King in WW1. He is close to the King in most of the Conquest photos. Sir Eric Geddes, born 1875 in India, became First Lord of the Admiralty on 18 July 1917 and a cabinet member. He was elected Unionist MP for Cambridge in late July 1917 and remained Deputy General Manager of the North Eastern Railway. He pioneered the use of the police dog in railway service. As an expert on transportation he was one of the ‘get up and go’ men brought in by David Lloyd George to improve wartime supply to the army, particularly munitions, and then moved to the Admiralty to develop shipbuilding capacity and ‘sort out the admirals’. He famously dismissed Lord Jellicoe as First Sea Lord on Xmas Eve 1917. The Conquest photos are some of the best images of Geddes and likely Grant online. The veteran meeting the royal visitors in both sets of photos may be Thomas Spark, but it is certainly not Ralph Nicholson of 8 Hunters Lane, aged about 70 in 1917, whose photo appeared in the Stockton Herald soon after the royal visit describing his long years of service in the shipyard. Mr Spark of 23 Hill Steet West was described as a house joiner in the 1911 census aged 70, so it is likely he returned to the shipyard for the duration of the war, as did many skilled veterans. Other military officers attached to the royal party for the Tees visit, and visible in the Conquest Stockton or PS photos (some seen better at other locations) include; Rear Admiral Laurence Eliot Power, Director of Dockyards and Repairs in 1917, (born 1864, the NPG database holds many photos of him and he is clean shaven, hence bearded Grant can be identified by difference as the only other Rear Admiral present on 14/6/1917). Power was a former ADC to the King in 1917; Rowland Thomas Baring (of the banking family), ie the 2nd Earl of Cromer, Grenadier Guards, and Lt-Col Clive Wigram, both were Equerries and Assistant Private Secretaries to the King in 1917; Brig-General Arthur John Mullins, Commander of the Tees Garrison mainly various Yorkshire Regt units; and Major Reginald Henry Seymour, Equerry to the King in 1917. Finally, Lady Bertha Mabel Dawkins, lady- in- waiting to Queen Mary can be seen close by the Queen in some photos often holding her flowers or bouquets.

After leaving the Ropner Shipyard the royal party motored up Maritime Street into Brown Street and along Portrack Lane to the Malleable Works of the South Durham Steel and Iron Companies, Rolling Mills Department, where Lord Furness, head of the company, received the royal guests. Mr Arthur Sladden of 88 High Street, Norton, was company secretary of the South Durham Steel and Iron Co and was presented to the King and Queen. Mr C.J. Bailey and Mr Benjamin Talbot assisted in explaining the process of making steel plates, most destined for wartime shipbuilding. A slab weighing 3.5 tons and 8 inches thick was taken from a furnace and put through the new plate mill, the largest in the UK, where the slab was rolled to ten feet in length and 3.5 inches thick. Mr Tom Pugh (of Victoria Avenue, Norton, later a JP) a well- known trade unionist and member of the wages board was presented to the King and Queen. They readily shook Mr Pugh’s grimy work laden hands. After completing their inspection of the Malleable Works the royal party was fifteen minutes behind schedule, and they briskly departed for the railway station. They motored along Portrack Lane, through Garbutt Street, down Norton Road, across the end of the High Street and into Bishopton Lane, all packed with hundreds (some reported thousands) of cheering people. Although shops in the High Street were encouraged not to close, many did until after the royal visit. At the station a nine coach royal train was waiting to take the royal party to West Hartlepool, where it was due to arrive at 2.55 pm for further visits to shipyards and marine engineering establishments. The royal train was also scheduled to stop at Billingham where in a siding luncheon was taken. This gave Lord Furness time to travel to the Hartlepools so he could receive the royal party again at Irvine’s Middleton Shipyard in his capacity as chairman of the company. Lord Durham was also on hand at West Hartlepool to greet the royal visitors with the Mayor and Mayoress of that town. From the time the royal visitors arrived at Stockton Corporation Quay, likely about 12.30 pm, to the time they left Stockton Station, likely soon after 2 pm, the weather was dry and sunny, but Queen Mary held on to her wrapped umbrella during the visit, with her lady -in -waiting, Lady Bertha Dawkins, carrying the Queens recently presented bouquet. A number of presumably military aeroplanes flew over Teesside during the royal visit to ensure the protection of the royal party from the air.

Mr Arthur Sladden of 88 High Street, Norton, was company secretary of the South Durham Steel and Iron Co., who met the royal visitors in 1917.

This was a hastily arranged five day tour of mainly North East shipbuilding establishments, the first day being devoted to the Tees. Being wartime this was arguably one of the most important royal visits to Teesside, since it was accompanied by senior military officers and government officials charged with improving and simplifying the war effort, especially shipbuilding (more later). Arriving at South Bank at 10am on Thursday 14 June 1917 for a visit to Smiths Dock, and then other Middlesbrough shipyards, King George V and Queen Mary concluded at Middlesbrough Dock, where they were received by Sir Hugh Bell, Chairman of the Tees Conservancy Commission(TCC) and Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding. They boarded a steam tug of the TCC for a river trip to Stockton with the rest of the royal party and local industrial dignitaries, including the Ropners, Dormans, Whitwells and Pickerings, and high council officials, such as the Mayor and Mayoress of Thornaby. Boats lying downstream of Stockton gave a loud signal when the royal party was seen approaching. As the tug drew near to Stockton, groups of workers standing by the river became bigger and more numerous, and the cheering grew louder. Hundreds of munition girls dressed in blue trousers and overall jackets waved hankerchiefs and added higher shouts to the deep hurrahs of workmen. Right on time, probably soon after mid-day, the tug turned the river bend at Blue House Point and the royal party admired the SS David Lloyd George(more later), Stockton’s newest merchant ship nearing completion in the Craig Taylor shipyard. The tug slowed to dock at Stockton Corporation Quay where the loudest cheer of the visit rose up. Lord Durham, John George Lambton, in the uniform of Lord Lieutenant of the County was first to greet the royal visitors, followed by Alderman J. Harrison and his wife, the Mayor and Mayoress of Stockton; Alderman Edward Stephenson, Deputy Mayor; and Mr Thomas Downey, Town Clerk. The King and Queen were photographed alighting from the tug with the SS David Lloyd George likely in the background. The King was dressed in a uniform of Admiral of the Fleet. The Queen wore a pale blue dress along with a black and white hat trimmed with a large white feather. The King had visited Stockton 24 years earlier as Duke of York to open Ropner Park on 4 Oct 1893. The Mayor reminded the King of this, and ensured him he would see something of interest on this visit. Officials had deliberately leaked the route the King and Queen would take through Stockton before their arrival to ensure a large crowd. Because of wartime security the route was not disclosed in newspapers until after their visit. The route became densely lined with a well-behaved crowd numbering thousands, all controlled by regular police and special constables. The civil guard was called up. Superintendent James was responsible for policing the visit at Stockton. Mr Morant, the Chief Constable of Durham, joined the royal party at Stockton. Although motor-cars were waiting the tugs arrival, the royal party decided to walk half a mile through the oldest, most populated, and least attractive part of the town to Messes Ropners Shipyard. This was the biggest royal success of the day and delighted the huge crowd, allowing hundreds to closely see and follow the royal visitors without interrupting their progress, many exchanging verbal greetings and some handshakes with them. The royal party moved from the quay, up steeply sided Calverts Lane into Thistle Green and then turned into the Square. The whole area was packed with cheering men and women, some with small children on their shoulders. Small children in bright clean pinafores waved tiny flags and strained their excited voices in welcome. From windows of shops and houses, pavements and doorways, women cheered. Surviving photographs show the royal party passing through these streets and past the Quayside Mission Mens Home. As the King and Queen passed into Smithfield and turned into Hunters Lane the residents of these narrow old fashioned throughfares gave them a rousing reception. My grandmother claimed the royal party passed by her parents pub, the Shakespeare Arms run by Henry and Annie Groskop, close to the junction of Smithfield and the Square. She remembered pupils massed outside St. Thomas’s School eager to watch the procession. At the end of Hunters Lane, by the shipyard entrance, the royal visitors were met by William and Leonard Ropner, and the founder of the company Robert Ropner, they accompanied the King, while Mr G.R. Garthwaite, the general works manager, escorted the Queen. The Queen conversed with a line of munition girls and later asked about their working conditions. On being told they worked a nine and a half hour day, she replied it was a long day for them. After inspecting some hydraulic and pneumatic riveting machines, the King met shipyard veterans with long service records. The King went over to Mr Thomas Spark with 48 years service in the yard and shook his hand and said he hoped he would do his bit for many years longer. The King and Queen met Ralph Nicholson, a blacksmith, aged 70, with 60 years service in the yard, having started as a boy, but still able to hold his own against younger men. Mr Nicholson lived in Hunters Lane right next to the shipyard. Mr Spark lived in nearby Hill Street West. The royal party saw the bending of stern frames hot from the furnance and the actual construction of ships. Mr S. Stamp, the overall works manager, and all departmental foremen were presented to the King and Queen. After passing through the companies offices the royal party left by motor-cars up Maritime Street for a visit to the Malleable Works of the South Durham Steel and Iron Company.

I”m sure Mr Spark appreciated the monarch”s comments after 48 hard years grinding labour with probably very low pay and a pittance of a pension to look forward to. At least Queen Mary appreciated that the working class worked very hard to help prop up the social order of the day.

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Gallery: Remember When memorable visit from Queen Elizabeth II to Teesside

• 15:36, 20 MAR 2015

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Images from the Middlesbrough street that was the 'heart' of the town

Take a trip down Memory Lane and revisit a part of the town that will never be forgotten

By InYourArea Community

Self-Written stories submitted by the InYourArea community.

St Columba's Parish Church and the May Queen procession in the 1950s in Cannon Street, Middlesbrough

While delving in the archives this week I came across photographs  of an area that will conjure up fond memories for many people.

Mention Cannon Street in Middlesbrough and you'll be hard pushed to find a soul who doesn't remember something about it.

The original "heart" of the town was one of the toughest streets in the ironmasters district of Middlesbrough. It ran parallel to Newport Road, an area better known today as Cannon Park.

Streets included Marsh Street, Queen Mary Street, Arthur Street, Edith Street and Frederick Street, shops included Pybus, Cromacks and Walker’s butchers to name just a few. Most of the houses were two up, two down.

The Cannon Street area,built in 1865-82 to accommodate workers from the Ironmasters’ District, they soon became vibrant family homes and a tight-knit community developed.

To be “from Cannon Street” meant more than just living on the street itself. For wherever you go, you are guaranteed to meet someone who was “from Cannon Street”, leaving the impression that every man, woman and their dog had some connection to the area.

There was a sense of pride and belonging among those who lived and worked there, who lived in the streets that ran off it, who attended the churches and schools and those who were connected to the community through family members.

Although the houses were demolished in the late 1960s and early 1970s due to poor living conditions, the people who lived there - many of them children at the time - still feel a sense of loss for the community and have a connection to it.

These days the same area forms part of the car park at Sainsbury’s. What remains of the actual roadway of Cannon Street comes to an abrupt end just outside the church of St Columba’s.

Take a trip down Memory Lane and revisit a part of the town that will never be forgotten.

To see more images, visit Memory Lane , where you can turn your black and white pictures into glorious technicolour.

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The Queen's visits to the West Midlands in the 1980s and 90s

From her cousin's ancestral home to a revamped football stadium, the Queen made several visits to the West Midlands during the 1980s and 1990s.

Her Majesty kept it in the family when she came to the region in June, 1980, visiting Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire.

The mansion, between Stafford and Rugeley, was the ancestral home of her cousin, the late Patrick, Lord Lichfield, and she was taken on a tour of the palatial building, where she presented a new guidon – pennant – to the Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry.

She also called in at Saxon Hall School in Lichfield.

She returned to Lichfield in 1988, when she marked Maundy Thursday on March 31 by distributing the traditional Maundy money at Lichfield Cathedral.

She arrived by train at Lichfield City station, where scouts and guides from across the county formed a guard of honour.

She was driven to the Civic Hall where, after being greeted by district council chairman Councillor Charles McEwan and his wife, she went on a walkabout, She joked that she didn't think there could be many daffodils left in Lichfield after being presented with so many by well-wishers.

On reaching the Cathedral, the Duke of Edinburgh helped eight-year-old Emma Court, from Whittington, over a barrier so she could present the Queen with flowers.

Nine-year-old Claire Lorden, of Jeremy Road, Wolverhampton, and her five-year-old brother Peter, also presented her with flowers.

Inside the cathedral, she handed out the Maundy money to 124 elderly people – 62 men and 62 women – from across Staffordshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands.

Tipton, Dudley Zoo, Molineux and Dunstall Park were all on the royal agenda on June 24, 1994.

But the visit also prompted a security alert after a suspect package was found outside the MEB base in Tipton on the day of her visit.

Police cleared back the crowds on the corner of Brick Kiln Street as an explosives expert was called to the scene. The package turned out to be a child’s school bag full of books and sandwiches.

The Queen arrived by train at the newly refurbished Tipton station, before being driven to Dudley Zoo where she opened a new visitor centre at the castle – making her the first monarch to visit the 11th-century fortress since her namesake Elizabeth I in 1575.

Her Majesty was given a tour of the centre before unveiling a piece of commemorative glass and receiving a crystal key to the castle as a gift from the borough.

Schoolchildren then performed a concert in the courtyard in her honour.

She later unveiled a plaque at Walsall probation centre – where the handle dropped off the curtain – before attending a special service in at St Peter's Collegiate Church, which was celebrating its millennium.

She then moved on to the nearby Molineux football stadium, where she unveiled a plaque marking the completion of redevelopment work, before wrapping up the day at the official opening of Dunstall Park's new £13.5 million racecourse.

Further afield, she visited Telford in 1981 and 1982, and Redditch in 1983.

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The True Story of Queen Elizabeth's Final Visit with the Duke of Windsor

The Queen met with Wallis Simpson and the former King Edward VIII in Paris, shortly before his death.

As The Crown 's third season winds down, it reintroduces a familiar face (albeit with the visage of a new actor ): the Duke of Windsor, better known as former King Edward VIII. He's still living in Paris with the woman he abdicated the throne for, Wallis Simpson , who's now a bonafide duchess. But these days, he's moving a little slower.

In the show, Queen Elizabeth at first recoils from the idea of visiting the Duke—he is, after all, the man whose actions catapulted the Queen's ill-prepared father onto the throne, placing her first in the line of succession —but the monarch eventually concedes. During her trip to France, the Queen stops by the duke's Parisian manse, and gets a bit more than she bargained for from her ailing uncle: a packet of letters, written by her son and heir, Prince Charles.

The Crown 's story is based in fact, but takes plenty of liberties, too. Here, what really happened during the Queen's final meeting with the Duke of Windsor—and what didn't.

Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, and Prince Charles met the Duke and Duchess for tea in May 1972.

During her state visit to France, the British monarch made time to visit with her uncle and his wife at their home on the edge of Paris's Bois de Boulogne.

Whereas The Crown depicts the visit as a meeting with just the Queen, she actually brought along her husband and eldest child.

The duke was too ill to properly receive them.

While the duchess went outside to greet the royal trio, and pose for photographs alongside them, the duke waited in a sitting room. His doctors advised him against going downstairs, and he was said to be "dreadfully disappointed" about it, per the BBC . The group had tea together in the downstairs drawing room, which the duke was also unable to attend.

He did get to spend a short time alone with the Queen, though.

He reportedly had a 15-minute private chat with his niece, after the duchess hosted tea. There's no evidence that the duke gave the Queen some of Charles's letters during that time, as he did on The Crown .

He did, however, manage a bow. "With great difficulty [the Duke] rose from his bed to give his bow because, of course, she was his Queen now, as well as his niece, and it meant a great deal to him that she paid him this final courtesy," Vickers said in the TV documentary Elizabeth: Our Queen .

Accounts vary as to how the visit went.

Some claim that the Queen become emotional during her conversation with her "Uncle David." In Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch , Sally Bedell Smith notes that the Duke's doctor saw tears in her eyes as she was leaving.

Vickers, however, also mentioned that the Queen was not pleased with the couple's dogs, who were apparently badly behaved. "The dogs jumped up and that rather annoyed the Queen because the Queen doesn’t like badly behaved dogs," he said.

In 1986, the Duchess of Windsor's friend, the Countess of Romanones, opened up in Vanity Fair about the pair's life together—including that meeting with the Queen. (As she is a close friend rather than an impartial historian, this version of events should be taken with a grain of salt.) According to the countess, the duchess said of that day, "I greeted the Queen at the door downstairs. She was not at all warm to his wife of thirty-five years, but then, I shouldn't complain. She was just as cold to him. I escorted her upstairs. Her expression was hard when she entered the room."

The countess also quotes the duchess as saying that the Queen showed "no compassion, no appreciation for his effort," when the duke managed to bow, with great difficulty, adding, "Her manner as much as stated that she had not intended to honor him with a visit, but that she was simply covering appearances by coming here because he was dying and it was known that she was in Paris."

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch

It was the last time they saw each other, as the duke died later that month.

In a telegram, the Queen wrote , "I know that my people will always remember him with gratitude and great affection and that his services to them in peace and war will never be forgotten."

Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com , where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markle’s staff to Queen Elizabeth’s monochrome fashions ; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve .

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