The Spooky coincidence of Chris Broom’s Christmas Quiz and William Robson of 17 & 18 Mistletoe Road, Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1911
By Sheila Herd
When the December newsletter dropped from IHGS I had a free afternoon and decided to have a go at the Christmas Quiz.
Question 2 was “You could have bought your sprouts from William Robson, aged 51, who was living alone in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1911. But what was his exact address?”
The answer was 17 & 18 Mistletoe Road. (and he was a grocer).
This was such an extraordinary coincidence, of all the grocers in 1911, and there were about 209,000 of them up and down the UK, it was this one, although he was probably the only one living in a festively named street.
You see I know William Robson, I’ve met him on my travels in family history research, and what Chris Broom would not have known, was the extraordinary events that unfolded in this grocer’s life 15 years later.
William Robson was born in Farnborough, Surrey in 18581, his father was a Colour Sargent with the 86th Regiment, originally from Durham. Both William’s parents died when he was very young and he grew up with his Robson family in Barlow, Durham.
In the 1891 census2, he was recorded as 32 and single, a grocer’s assistant, and living with his aunt, Margaret Hewitt, a grocer, at 17 Mistletoe Road, Newcastle.
In the 1901 census3 he was recorded as aged 42 and living with his Aunt Margaret at 17 Mistletoe Road, running a grocery business.
In 1908, William’s Aunt Margaret died4 and left William £910 7s 8d.
In the 1911 census5, William was recorded as being a widower, 51, living alone and running the grocery store at 17 Mistletoe Road.
Because “William Robson” is a common name in Northumberland, we (the customer and myself) didn’t narrow down who his wife was as there were a few candidates and it was going to cost money to send off for multiple certificates, so that avenue was left unexplored, but, whoever she was, she died soon after the marriage and in between census years).
“The Evening Chronicle” in Newcastle reported the following story on 23rd September 1926:
Tale of Fire in Shop
Charge Against a Housekeeper
Newcastle Case.
Woman Who Was Under Notice.
The Newcastle magistrates had before them an extraordinary case this morning, when Margaret Noon, aged 28, of 17 Mistletoe Road, was charged with having wilfully and maliciously set fire yesterday to the grocer’s shop and dwelling house of her employer, William Robson, aged 70, at the same address.
The woman who was under notice to leave, was remanded for a week.
Case for Prosecution
Mr Phillip Harrold, in outlining the case for the police, said that accused was a married woman. She had one child aged four, and another aged three months. The father of the latter was the prosecutor, who had employed her as housekeeper. Mr Robson gave her notice so that it would expire at the end of the present month. On September 21, accused asked him if she could stay. Prosecutor replied “No”. whereupon accused answered, “You’ll be sorry.”
“The Shop’s on Fire”.
About 9 o’clock the following morning she entered prosecutor’s bedroom, and said “the shop’s on fire. You’d better get up”. Prosecutor went downstairs, and found a mass of paper blazing. The fire brigade promptly dealt with the outbreak, and the damage was not very serious, but that did not of course lessen the gravity of the charge. It was in the woman’s favour that she had warned prosecutor about the fire.
PROSECUTOR IN THE BOX
Why He Gave Accused Notice To Leave.
Accused, who was in a very distressed condition, was accommodated with a seat in the doc.
Prosecutor, giving evidence, said that he had met accused before Whitsuntide of last year. She became his housekeeper, and on June 7 last a child was born.
In July he went into a nursing home and was there for a month. He had given instructions that the shop was to be kept closed during his absence. When he got back he found everything “topsy-turvy”. He had heard while he was away that accused had been selling goods out of the shop.
On returning from the nursing home in August he was still unwell, and was looked after by the accused.
Witness added that he told accused to leave, as he “could not keep her straight”.
“Under Great Provocation”.
Constable Pybus, describing the arrest, said that he went, in company with Det. Sergt. Hogg, to the house yesterday afternoon. Asked what had set the shop on fire, accused answered “It must have accidentally caught on fire from a match that I had dropped”.
Pressed as to what she was doing with matches at that time of the morning, when it was broad daylight, she replied: “I admit what I did under great provocation. He was going to turn me out of the house today. I could only go to the workhouse, and I was not going to go there”. At the detective office accused answered: “I have nothing to say”.
Mother’s Evidence.
The mother of accused, living at Howdon, was asked if she could say anything about her daughter’s mental state.
Witness added that she was prepared to look after the baby, but would be unable to take her daughter or the elder child, as she had only 17s a week to keep her family on, and there were three children going to school.
A brief adjournment was made while the Salvation Army Home was communicated with, and Chief Supt Carr later announced that the Army was quite willing to take care of the woman and the younger child in the meantime.
On this assurance, a remand for a week was ordered, accused being admitted to bail, herself in £10 with a surety of £10.
This story came to light because the baby whose parents were William Robson and Margaret Noon, who was born in June 1926, was adopted into a family in Suffolk, and his granddaughter approached me for help in unravelling the confusion around his surname, he had gone by the name “Robson” and “Noon” and no one had any idea why.
As for his biological parents, William Robson, the grocer of Mistletoe Road, died a few years later in August 1931, as per the snippet of news in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle dated August 28th, 1931:
Aged Recluse’s Suicide.
Newcastle Man’s Cancer Fear.
A verdict of “Suicide, with no evidence to show the state of his mind”, was returned at the inquest in Newcastle last night on William Robson, 74, a retired grocer, who was found dead with a tube connection to the gas bracket near his mouth, at his home in Mistletoe Road, Newcastle.
It was stated that Robson, a recluse, had a sore on one leg. He was worried about this as he thought it was cancer.
Robson’s body was found by a dairy roundsman, John Edward Richley who, through the kitchen window, saw Robson lying on a couch with a piece of tubing attached to the gas bracket near his mouth. The gas bracket was on.
As for Margaret, she was disowned by her husband and his family, she died at Sedgefield Public Assistance Institution in Durham on 7th Aug 19376 aged just 39. She was described as “Formerly of West Park Mental Hospital, Epsom, a domestic servant, wife of Henry Noun, a coal miner, coal filler below ground”.
End Notes
[1] GRO Farnborough, Surrey 1858 Q3 Vol 2a; Page 88,
[2] 1891 Census TNA; 1891;RG12; Piece 4219; Folio 8; Page 9.
[3] 1901 Census TNA; RG13; Piece 4782; Folio 94; Page 10
[4] England & Wales National Probate Calendar 1858-1995 Probate date 11 Jan 1909 Gateshead, Durham.
[5] 1911 Census TNA; RG14; Piece 30574
[6] GRO Margaret J Noun death in 1937; Q3; Sedgefield; Volume 10a; Page 145
