Richard H Nesbit
Richard Heckels Nesbit
(gold miner, farmer, brickmaker and builder)
Richard
Heckels Nesbit was born on 27 Mar 1830 at Cramlington, Northumberland,
the eighth of eleven children of James Nesbit, a coal miner, and his
wife Elizabeth Heckels (the daughter of Richard Heckels and Sarah
Morgan). His mother died when he was nine years old and his father two
years later. His older brother James became head of the household and
the younger siblings lived with him in Cramlington. Like his father and
brothers he became a coal miner.
However
in 1857, at the age of twenty seven, he decided to seek his fortune in
Australia and after landing at Melbourne he travelled to the
goldfields. He was recorded as having a splendid physique and
constitution and made his fortune. When news of richer goldfields in
New Zealand came his way he travelled there and continued to be
successful. He had been away from home for ten years when he took a
ship for home, intending to make a brief visit. When he arrived he met
Mary Jobling, who he had known from earlier times. He soon changed his
plans and they were married on 13 Jun 1866 at St. Nicholas Cathedral,
Newcastle on Tyne.
He
became an entrepreneur engaging in a number of business ventures,
firstly as a publican at the White Swan Inn in Newcastle, then as a
brewery owner. He then ventured into the building trade and
was offered work in the form of the erection of Hartford Colliery for
the Cramlington Coal Company. He continued this venture and carried out
work at Thornley and Hollywell Collieries. Now a successful
businessman, in 1875 he purchased Bygate Farm in Monkseaton and set up
a brickworks on land at Hillheads which had formerly been a limestone
quarry. He formed a partnership Alfred Styan a Yorkshire man who lived
in Tynemouth and together did a large amount of work for the local
council and also built a considerable number of houses. At that time
Whiltley Bay was becoming popular as a seaside resort and dormitory
town for Newcastle. They built part of the Esplanade, Staion Road,
Albany Gardens, Clarence Crescent, Laburnum Avenue, Mafeking Street,
Edwards Road and Fern Avenue.
During
this time Mary gave birth to two sons Edward Jobling and James. In
addition in 1877 they adopted Mary Nesbit Hindmarsh the daughter of
Richard’s cousin John Hindmarch, who had been orphaned at the age of
three. Richard built four cottages near to the brickworks at Hillheads,
Monkseaton where the family lived. The quarry was ninety feet deep and
there were one hundred and thirty four steps descending from the main
road to the rear of the cottages.
The
quarry for the brickworks became exhausted around 1889 but he continued
his work as a house builder with his sons joining the enterprise. The
quarry itself was converted into a park, West Park. Mary died at West
Park in 1903. Richard continued to live there until he died on 28 Mar
1911 at West Park at age 81 years and 1 day. He was buried on 31 Mar
1911 at St. Paul’s church, Whitley Bay. His son Edward was too ill to
attend the funeral and died only a month later at the age of forty
four. His other son James had died in 1893 at the age of only twenty
three. Neither son married so Richard Heckels Nesbit left no direct
descendants.
His
obituary was published in the Whitley Bay Seaside Chronicle. He
was said to be one of the fathers of Whitley Bay and it recorded: “so
long had he been a resident, so greatly was he identified with it in
his business as a builder and contractor, and so much, for many years,
did he identify himself with its public concerns. In his disposition
the departed veteran was one of the most kindly and genial of men, and
to this was added a practical sympathy and a boundless generosity when
such was of benefit to his fellows. His hand was ever ready and his
purse ever welcome to the unfortunate or the necessitous”
After
his death West Park was sold to George Steel a florist and nurseryman
from Park View who used the area as a market garden and also built
stables. In 1924 Whitley Council made a compulsory purchase on the
land, the cottages were razed and the council began infilling the land
and in 1931 refuse tipping began. In 1940 part of the area the area
became the site of the Whitley Bay football club, followed by Whitley
Bay Ice Rink in the 1950s. Eventually the remainder of the land was
raised to the level of the nearby Hillheads Road and grassed over to
become the home of the Whitley Bay Cricket Club.
Further Reading
Monkseaton and Hillheads by Charles W. Steel (Images of England Series) Tempus Publishing 2000: ISBN 075242064X
Obituary: Whitley Bay Seaside Chronicle, 2 April 1911