Arthur Wilson & William "Bill" Stephenson
Meet the family
Mary Stephenson, the mother of William Gordon Stephenson, and Ellen Stephenson (Soulsby), the sister of William. Circa 1940.
(Image credit: Glynis Douglas)
Glynis Douglas sent this account of Arthur Wilson and William "Bill" Stephenson.
Before I found the notification on Arthur Wilson’s ancestry notes, I knew nothing of the family connection to this important incident in 1926. Having been a miner's wife through the year-long strike of 1984/85, the loss of the mines and the treatment of the miners still hurts. I supported my husband and three small children (and myself) for 12 months.
The following is my connection to two of the Train Wreckers, which is through my late mother’s family.
One of the miners involved was Arthur Wilson who was married to my great aunt, Rose Dixon Stephenson, whom I never met, unfortunately.
The other miner was William Gordon Stephenson, my great uncle, who I also do not recall, but I have vivid memories of his wife, my Aunt Ada.
My great-grandfather, grandfather, father and brother worked in the mines and lived in Cramlington, Dudley and nearby villages until my father had to move to Yorkshire in the 1950s, where I was born.
I married and, subsequently, my husband became a miner.
I don’t understand why my mother never said anything about her family being involved in this unless they believed the jailing was so terrible.
We visit the Rothbury/Alnwick area at least four times a year. I feel it must stay in the blood even though I was not even born in Northumberland!
Arthur Wilson, taken from a newspaper article
Audrey Chisholm is a sprightly and alert 92-year-old born in Newcastle in 1932 but moved to Dudley with her new husband, Thomas, when they were married in 1953.
While living in Dudley, Audrey got to know two of the Cramlington Train Wreckers, William "Bill" Stephenson and Arthur Wilson.
We are in the Whitley Bay home of Janette (Jan), Audrey's daughter, who was born in 1962 and who remembered her Great Uncle Arthur from her youth.
Now a widow, Audrey (nee Richmond) explained her family background and the relationship to the two miners imprisoned in 1926.
"My father-in-law was Thomas (Tom) Chisholm (senior). He lived from 1886 to 1958 and married Catherine Stephenson, who was the older sister of William "Bill" Stephenson.
"Catherine's younger sister Rosie married Arthur Wilson, so Bill and Arthur were brothers-in-law.
"They, and my father-in-law Tom, were all very close friends.
"The first time I met Bill was at my wedding in 1953. He was a bit of a joker, always laughing. He loved to dance and was very musical. He played the concertina, which has been handed down the generations from Bill's dad Andrew. It is still kept within the family today.
“Bill would play the concertina at family events and social gatherings. He never spoke to me about his imprisonment.”
Audrey knew Arthur better. Her husband (Thomas Chisholm junior) was the nephew of Arthur and his wife Rosie.
Arthur was married to Rosie when he was imprisoned in 1926. Rosie had a daughter called Mary from a previous relationship.
"Arthur and Rosie had a son called Albert, who was a toddler when Arthur was imprisoned," explained Audrey, "but it was his step-daughter Mary whom Arthur seemed to get on best with. They were very close. When Mary moved to Manchester, Arthur regularly visited her. He'd wrap up a toothbrush and toothpaste in a shirt and stick that in his back pocket. He was ready to travel; no bags or anything like that.
“Of his dirty shirt, he'd say, "Mary'll wash it."”
Rosie and her brother Bill attended Audrey's marriage to Thomas in 1953 and it was thanks to Arthur that the couple moved into their flat in Dudley six months later. The address was 25 Wandsbeck Road, where Audrey and Thomas would remain until moving to Fordley 15 years later, in 1969.
Audrey explained: "Arthur had five or six houses in Wansbeck Road. He'd buy up properties as they became vacant and let them out to family and friends. He charged us a peppercorn rent of 8s 6d a week. He installed a bath and sink in his houses, but I don't think he ever got planning permission!
"Another thing with Arthur was he lived very frugally. He'd shop late at the corner shop [Jackie Bradford's] buying old bread and bacon. He lived on bacon sandwiches. And, according to Rosie, Arthur hid his cash in a safe in the bedroom.
“Mind you, Arthur celebrated when one of the people who's turned King's evidence died. He'd pay for the celebratory whiskies at the "Old" club in Dudley (on the Seaton Burn side), where he was a regular. His refrain was "another one down, only [number] to go!”
Jan also remembers Arthur's generosity and sense of humour.
"I knew him well when I was a child in the 1960s and he would buy us clothes and sweets. He was lovely. Arthur and Rosie were very special and like grandparents to me as I never knew my parental grandparents, both had died - Thomas in the 1950s and Catherine in 1963.
"Arthur always read the Racing Post, He was a smart man who wore a Tweed jacket, sported a trilby with a feather and smoked a pipe.
"He never forgot the generosity of the Communist Party who sent food hampers to his family when he was imprisoned.
“Arthur also loved mince and dumplings, and my Mam would feed him when she made that particular dinner.”
Arthur briefly went back down the pit after his release in 1929, after nearly four years' imprisonment, but he didn't stay there long - probably put off by having to work side by side with those who had tuned King's evidence.
“He learnt hairdressing in prison," Audrey laughed, "and decided to give that a go. Because he was so popular, people flocked to have their hair cut by him.”
She continued: "Arthur and Tom, my husband, built a shed which became Arthur's "barber shop". It was behind his house in Wandsbeck Road, on a piece of wasteland, up against the railway line embankment. How ironic is that?
"The shed became a haven for local men to chat and pass the time of day while Arthur cut hair.
“It was always busy, more like a men's den, to be honest. Rosie just left him to it. She loved the bingo and trying to spend Arthur's money! Rosie always joked that when Arthur died she would sell the flats and spend all the money.
"Sadly, Rosie had a stroke and passed away in the mid-1960s. She was 61 years old. Arthur lived until 1979 aged 80.
"Arthur had leg joint problems in later life and his movement was restricted, something Audrey said could have been related to life inside.
“As a prisoner, Arthur told me, his leg was always tightly bound to another inmate as they walked together in the exercise yard. This could have caused him long-term problems.”
All these years later, sadly Arthur's "den" in Wansbeck Road doesn't exist, and neither Audrey nor Jan when it was taken down.
“However," beamed Audrey, "I'm sure the memory of it still remains for many of Dudley locals from that time.”
Jan, aged six months, held by Arthur's step daughter, Mary, outside the shed in Dudley
(Image credit: Janette Packer)