The people of South Shields designed and built the first lifeboat in response to seaside tragedy. Their town motto still keeps us afloat today.
In September 1789, a ship called the Adventure ran aground on the Herd Sands, the treacherous banks where the Tyne meets the North Sea. The wreck sat close enough to shore that the South Shields town folk watched helplessly as it happened. The sea was too rough for the boats they had to be of any use. Everyone on board the vessel was lost.
Though grief-stricken, the town would not accept that outcome twice. A local committee formed and offered a prize for anyone who could design a rescue craft built to survive those elements. William Wouldhave, a parish clerk, entered the contest. So did Henry Greathead, a local boatbuilder. Neither design won outright. The committee took the best of both and asked Greathead to build it. Simply called the Original, the first purpose-built lifeboat launched within the year. Its successor, called the Tyne, is credited with saving over a thousand lives. Greathead went on to build roughly thirty more.
“Always Ready” made for good seafaring advice long before it was made an official motto. When South Shields became a municipal borough in 1850, the new coat of arms included the phrase, along with a lifeboat, oar, sailor, and anchor. The “new” town hall opened in 1910, making Nurse Aird and her loved ones present in a time of prosperity just before the Great War.
A resilient spirt has been evident throughout our time in the Teeside region. We first visited Redcar more than a year ago, then another pair of cards had us admiring the old seaside mining town again. Sorting further turned up an unexpected glimpse of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra when they opened Kingsway.
Reading Nurse Aird’s own cards gave us her voice directly—work, faith, family, and the small pleasures of an independent life. Last week, we heard from fellow nurses, patients, and friends writing back to her between cases.
No doubt Liz knew of her hometown’s historic tragedy and the innovative response that followed. It remains a matter of pride in South Shields today. She seems to have applied the principle in her own life, too, as much as one can tell from a stack of old postcards.
We find the same heartbreak at a smaller scale, and an accompanying readiness formed into habit. Not sorrowfully bracing for each impending disaster, but rather cheerfully building up the ordinary qualities that come before whatever might be next: caring for people, going where connections take you, keeping faith and family in good repair, and staying generous and attentive toward others. More than a century later, Nurse Aird is still prepared.
To Read More
RNLI, “1785: The First Lifeboats” — Account of the Adventure wreck, the Lawe House design competition, and the rivalry between Wouldhave and Greathead.
Nurse Aird moved from case to case, and was never one place very long. Her friends always managed to catch up.
Over several weeks, we have been learning about Elizabeth Rowen Aird, who worked as a private nurse in the Teeside region of England in the early part of the 20th century. Her distinctive handwriting boldly appeared among a collection of vintage English postcards from 1902 to 1916. Two cards charted a course back to Redcar and an earlier essay about an unusual seaside stroll. Another single card happened to be in the right place and time in regal roadworks.
This week, we examine the postcards Liz received from fellow nurses, faithful friends, and grateful patients. This view expands the territory, too. Her friends write from Glasgow and Isle of Wight, and from more familiar stations. The cards also follow her from case to case, often forwarded to a new address where she was working.
Nurse Aird was not attached to one hospital ward. She took private cases one at a time, perhaps through a nursing registry or through established relationships with convalescence homes. She picked up patient cases on a weekly or monthly basis, often staying in the family’s home and moving on when each case ended.
William Smart’s mother still in great pain, no hope of decreasing it. Am with very pleasant people. I am keeping very well but get well tired. Went to Unity on Sunday evening – hope you both keep well. Expect to be here till away case – it only came off a week ago. Bob Payhrs is not so well. Will get direct train when it comes out. Liz
Fellow nurses kept in touch, perhaps to ease the loneliness of a stay away in a family home that may have seemed unfamiliar.
So glad to receive your letter – will answer it later. Came here on Saturday; an old lady again. This is a very old town, but we are quite in the country & it is so lovely. Am quite well & hope you are Yours, B.E.W.
Or, simply to gossip!
Thanks for pretty P.P.C. Can’t think of how P. delaying so long. Probably could not forgive herself for the ‘ride’ not coming off, sort of penance. I am wondering if you have got any fresh storyettes about ‘nurses’ now don’t keep them all to yourself you know I enjoy them immensely. Weather lovely, no work of course. how can a mere student? Ta Ta you N.S.
We don’t know if Nurse Aird had formal training or even if she chose the nursing profession. Nurses in her era had to remain unmarried to be employable, and unmarried women often became nurses. Liz must have offered a kind word to a young woman thinking about her options.
Dear Nurse, Thank you very much for P.P.C I have not been through Darlington twice. Yes, I am still thinking of going in for nursing. I shall soon be old enough. They will take them at 22 at Aston. So I shall not have long to wait. I will write you a letter in a day or two and tell you all the news. Hope you are keeping well. When are you coming over to see us. Yes I think we are all pretty well. Harry is getting married soon. I will tell you when in my letter when I write. We are having a concert next Saturday. Shall be glad when it is over. Hoping to hear from you again, I remain your loving friend. S.
Nursing would not become a registered profession in Britain until the Nurses Registration Act of 1919. Liz worked steadily for at least two decades before that law existed. Though she moved within a firm social architecture, there were few legal protections, and no patient meant no pay.
Will stay here next week & then if nothing turns up will come over during race week. Nurses are all on holiday, as there is nothing doing. Glad the belt is alright. This weather is very relaxing – the country is lovely just now – went for a drive with Miss Lucas yesterday. Liz.
Rest and relaxation came through friendships, church, and a seaside social calendar. Alice A. Lucas belonged to Liz’s own circle in Darlington, built around the Unity Society there. Her December 1906 card included good news of her mother’s health, and also her evening plans.
It was kind of you to send such a pretty P.C. to Mother. She is not quite ready yet to need you to nurse her, but has only just escaped that fate!! We have had her in her room since Friday, by Sunny Jim’s orders (a slight internal bother) We hope to have her down tomorrow. How are you, dear? We shall be glad to see you back. I am going down to the singing practice now. Mr Side is doing very well. We are arranging for a “Unity Church Society” for study of social & other questions. Goodbye – with our united love, affectly yrs, Alice A. Lucas.
This congregation met in Darlington from 1873 to 1922, part of the Unitarian church in England. It was a big part of Liz’s social world during her time there, from 1906 to 1915. Over the years, she attended concerts and lectures, walked in the park, and traveled to see friends connected through church.
6 South Ter Harrogate, Thanks for card. We wondered how you had got on. Rev S.S. Brettell comes 14 Sun Oct – fear you may not get here – we do not record.
Her mother attended a separate Unity congregation back home in South Shields. Through their correspondence, we see the bond between mother and daughter, and also the goings-on of a socially progressive faith community. A 1912 card confirms a standing weekly commitment in South Shields.
Dear Mrs Aird The U.S. meeting will be at the above adress tomorrow night. The N.E. Cafe is let for the whole of the winter for Thurs. if it suits the members I hope you will be able to be there.
Mother and daughter each had their own circles, engagements, and schedules, which sometimes overlapped.
Going up to Tyne Dock to see Harmonium to-night. Come down as soon as you can to-night. I may go to park. Liz
Despite the typical brevity and levity of postcards, they do sometimes deliver devasting news. Liz’s cases were not always easy.
Hope you are keeping better! Last Sunday I had blue baby at church in the afternoon. She had a convulsion at 11 at night & died Monday morning. It was very unexpected. The patient is alright but her mother is ill and not expected to recover – I miss the baby more than anyone she was such a sweet little thing. How cold here the weather is, a great change, you must be careful not to get cold. Much love to both, Liz.
The postcard she sent from Sedgefield Asylum comes with an ominous chill. Also known as Durham County Lunatic Asylum, it was built in 1858 and expanded in the 1880s until it held 700 patients under one roof, with its own chapel, stables, and water supply. That same building was absorbed into the newly formed National Health Service in 1948, renamed Winterton Hospital in 1949, and continued treating patients into the mid-1990s.
Bark House, Sedgefield. Hope you are all well. Have been very busy – patient still in bed. Have you read the failure of Mr Stopkus. I was with them a year ago – regular fraud – I expect to go thro the asylum next week. Hope they wont keep me in. Send me a few lines this week, not sure if I can get next week. Much love to both. Liz
Other patients wrote to Liz with the encouraging and frustrating details of getting better. Given the number of these messages, we have to assume she stayed in touch with some patients and families long after the case was over and she had moved on.
“Have been here five weeks. Am feeling much better & stronger & staying a little longer. Kindest regards. E Beaumont”
Maud, recovering in Nottinghamshire in August 1907, wrote with wry humor.
“Thanks for card – Am improving everyday – Can walk splendidly! Plenty of fresh air of course – unfortunately can’t get away from nurses – there is one visiting here just now – Are you not sorry for me? Yours”
A few messages indicate that Liz was generous, too. Gifts and parcels were exchanged regularly, including some little bonnets that seem to have been for sale. Messages nearly always offered a health update and wishes for her own wellbeing, and her parents.
My dear Nurse, Thank you very much for your nice parcel. The little bonnets are lovely. They will sell I am sure. Hope you are feeling better. Father has been ill but is better. Love from all. E.S.
Dear Miss Aird, I received your letter thanking you very very much for the present it was quite a surprise. I am enjoying myself very much and having beautiful weather. Hope you are keeping better and also your mother. Gertie.
Dear Miss Aird, Thank you very much for the biscuits. we are sorry your father & you are so ill. Mother on the improve but not able to go about yet. She will write to you as soon as she can. With love from all, Rachael
A few cards taken together trace a long friendship. Rennie, writing from Whitley Bay in July 1910:
15 Park Parade, Whitley Bay. We arrived here yesterday. Hope you will be over to see us. We are here for 10 days with Yeoman Eli. Love from Rennie.
A missed meeting the same month:
Very sorry I can-not meet you tomorrow, hope you will have a nice day at Whitby. Love from Rennie
An invitation the following September:
Cherryburn Gardens Fenham, Thanks for your invitation, shall be pleased to come on Monday leaving here 2.0 but must return 5.30. Hope your Mother is keeping better. With love from Rennie.
And a week at Langholm in 1913, with her own mother:
Mother & I have been here a week. Leaving Monday. We are enjoying the rest, a change. The weather is good, rain this afternoon for the first time. How is your father keeping? I hope better. Love from us both, from, Rennie
These cards we first approached as places—Alnwick, Nottingham, Newcastle-on-Tyne—were not scenery chosen at random. They were where Liz and her circle actually spent the free time that their arduous work allowed them. The seaside villas, the castles, and parks were the landscapes for their lives.
Read together, these cards describe a social system built almost entirely on goodwill and improvisation. The National Health Service, founded in 1948, was built to respond exactly these gaps: free care for all, a regulated nursing profession, hospitals and asylums brought under one public system. Liz’s world and her own work preceded what we think of as healthcare now. What came after was far from perfect, and it is worth appreciating what it replaced.
If you wanted to know the first thing about Nurse Aird, it could be found in her handwriting.
Research efforts for the past several weeks have been to disambiguate an album of 200+ English postcards from the early 20th century. Having organized them alphabetically, we took a quick trip back in Redcar Revisited and mapped out a single important intersection between our collection and the King & Queen themselves.
To explore the collection further it was necessary to shuffle the neatly organized cards, scattering them out again to look for different attributes. Knowing that this would happen a number of times, I paused to carefully catalogue and transcribe each one. For two days, I took comfort in the tedium, resting my eyes on each address, all the postmark dates, and the easy-to-miss cancellation details with clues to rail stations and delivery lines.
Sorting the cards by handwriting was the break I needed. A run of cards in a bold, loose, inky script with a distinctive salutation turned out to be Nurse Aird herself. Easy to pick out once I had seen it a few times, this is Liz writing to her own parents, over a period of about eight years. Read in sequence, her letters cover work, friends, faith, and small pleasures in the Teeside region.
The 1891 census places Elizabeth R. Aird, age 22, born 1869, in a South Shields household with her parents, John and Mary Aird, and two younger brothers, John, 18, and William, 10. We’ll learn more about them as we go, but today let’s get the story from Liz in her own words. She is 34 years old when this series of postcards begins.
September 22, 1903.Mrs Nightingale wants me to stay till Monday – but I want a few days at home before going on outing – so will come on Saturday – the weather is lovely. We have been to the Braid Hills to-day. I would like to see the Forth Bridge. I think I will walk part of the way. It comes so expensive taking cars. Hope you are better. With love to both, your affectionate daughter, Liz.
September 22, 1903. We have been to Roslin to-day it is beautiful – have you ever been? It has been a lovely day – hope you are feeling better! Sorry to hear that Mr is no better. Did Jack get his musical cards? With love, Liz.
October 13, 1903. Hope you are keeping better. I am much better, thank you. I will be coming in on Friday. May get the night but am not sure. With love from Liz.
April 4, 1905.William Smart’s mother still in great pain, no hope of decreasing it. Am with very pleasant people. I am keeping very well but get well tired. Went to Unity on Sunday evening – hope you both keep well. Expect to be here till away case – it only came off a week ago. Bob Payhrs is not so well. Will get direct train when it comes out. Liz.
October 20, 1906.Hope you are keeping better! Last Sunday I had blue baby at church in the afternoon. She had a convulsion at 11 at night & died Monday morning. It was very unexpected. The patient is alright but her mother is ill and not expected to recover – I miss the baby more than anyone she was such a sweet little thing. How cold here the weather is, a great change, you must be careful not to get cold. Much love to both, Liz.
October 27, 1906.Bark House, Sedgefield. Hope you are all well. Have been very busy – patient still in bed. Have you read the failure of Mr Stopkus. I was with them a year ago – regular fraud – I expect to go thro the asylum next week. Hope they wont keep me in. Send me a few lines this week, not sure if I can get next week. Much love to both. Liz.
November 18, 1906.Very wet in town today. Wish November was out then we might have some sunshine. Liz, everyone sends their love to both.
May 30, 1907.Hurworth-on-Tees. Hope you are both well. Weather makes one feel melancholy. Am still on holiday. It is raining here, been pouring down all day, expect we’ll get hot weather all at once. Will run over in a fortnight time if I’m still at liberty. Much love, Liz.
June 15, 1907. Will stay here next week & then if nothing turns up will come over during race week. Nurses are all on holiday, as there is nothing doing. Glad the belt is alright. This weather is very relaxing – the country is lovely just now – went for a drive with Miss Lucas yesterday. Liz.
January 11, 1908. Just going to station to see if there is a decent excursion next week. Will let you know what day – Trust you are well – love to both. Liz.
January 27, 1908.33 Ocean Road, Monday morning. Mr Robinson going up to Tyne Dock to see Harmonium to-night. Come down as soon as you can to-night. I may go to park. Liz.
November 6, 1908.Many thanks for paper & letter – glad to hear all news. Have not much time for writing – expect to finish next Thursday. Glad you have a private circle. I felt the other was no good, no sympathy – write again – want to know when you go off. Much love, Liz.
December 7, 1908.Expect I’ll be over in time to go to meeting. Leaving here early to-morrow. Love to all. Liz.
December 29, 1908.Thanks for letter. Expect baby to-morrow and money to assurance Wednesday – snow very deep here just came last night, bitter wind. Glad you got to concert. Am just going out before dark. Much love, Liz.
March 20, 1909. Trust you are well, we are having better weather. Having a quiet time, will write to Will Sunday. Does poppy still come to you? Liz.
August 22, 1909.Expect to be here another week – am very busy don’t get any time to myself – may have more time next week. Hope you are well, getting ready for the wedding, I suppose, you will be very quiet when he goes – very cold here – lots of rain – church closed – have you been to any meetings lately? With love, Liz.
May 13, 1910. Friday morning, just got in, been up all night with a patient – am taking night duty till the crisis is over, a few nights or a week perhaps – so am all right this week – don’t do too much – love to both, Liz.
November 12, 1910. Nursing Home, Langholm Crescent, Darlington. Glad to hear from you. When the Hygiana is done let me know and I’ll get you some more. Hope things will soon be settled one way or the other. I’m still busy, very cold and wet to-night. This is a photo of the home, my lodgings are opposite. Much love to both, Liz.
August 8, 1911. Will be with you as soon as I can get things ready here, just left case, so have not much time – love to both, Liz.
Next week, we’ll look at correspondence to Liz from other nurses and the working conditions of private care in that era. Miss Lucas appears again, going to singing practice, concerts, and Unity Society meetings. The cards ahead also reveal the recreation and respite available in these seaside villas more than a century ago.
One day, a long time ago, we saw the King & Queen on a famous road. It was certainly something to write home about.
Cataloging a postcard album doesn’t happen in one pass. I might yearn for an efficient process that handles each card only minimally, but in the beginning even the most obvious information is so dense it can only be processed in stages. When it comes to the narratives on the reverse, the details are even more subtle. Look closely. Look again. Slowly build a theory, and an alternate. Be prepared when evidence says otherwise.
I have made three passes so far on the English album I mentioned last week. First, we sorted them alphabetically by place, then grouped by handwriting, then ordered by date. Each pass asks a different question: Where are we? Who is writing? What happens? And, for this set especially, when is the train?
This card collection was first assembled by Elizabeth Rowan Aird. Called Lizzie by her family and close friends and known professionally as Nurse Aird, she signed most of her own messages simply, Liz. Her postcards span nearly a decade, from 1903 into 1912. They have the rare benefit of including both sides of the correspondence.
Liz and her colleagues wrote to one another from nursing posts in the region. Liz organized her work scheduled by postcard and wrote home to her parents regularly. Luckily, she kept all of those cards many years on. They trace her friendships, her patients, and her long devotion to family back home in South Shields. The essays ahead will follow her travels closely: the places she stayed, the people she nursed, her life between shifts.
Some of her stops include Darlington, Middlesbrough, and West Hartlepool, which sit inside the Teesside region, built around the River Tees. Iron drove the area’s growth during the nineteenth century. Bridge building, railway manufacture, shipbuilding, and engineering all grew mightily from the local pride that ran deep in each trade in that era.
The roots of rail travel began in Darlington in 1825, when Edward Pease founded the Stockton and Darlington Railway. By the time Nurse Aird traveled regularly for work, the North Eastern Railway had knit these towns into a dense network. A nurse could move from patient to patient along the same rail lines built to move coal and iron.
These same railways also carried visitors to the coast. Holidays became easy fare for middle-class families as the railway network opened the seaside to them. The Stockton and Darlington Railway reached Saltburn from Redcar in 1861, and day trippers and holiday travelers followed almost immediately. Cheap excursion trains ran regularly. Whitley Bay, further north on the Tyneside coast, developed the same way.
Nurse Aird’s family and friends enjoyed the view from these places, too. The postcards tell of short trips to the coast, days off between assignments, a postcard sent home to signal a railway return. There is so much territory to explore in Nurse Aird’s travels more than a century ago. We’ll get there.
For now, we start on one very special day for the country as a whole. Nurse Aird’s younger brother John Aird and his companion were visiting London on holiday when they witnessed King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra open “The New Road.”
Seen King & Queen opening The New Road today. This is the 3rd time we have saw them since our arrival.
The London County Council first published its plans for Kingsway in 1898, though talk of a new route between Holborn and the Strand had circulated for years before that. The project became the largest road-building scheme in London since Regent Street in 1820. Building it through one of the most crowded corners of Victorian London meant that 3,500 residents lost their homes. One-hundred feet wide, it was one of the broadest streets in central London with a rail tunnel running under it. The road took the name Kingsway, honoring the reigning monarch.
The formal opening came on 18 October 1905, six years almost to the month after the LCC first laid out its plans. A royal procession led by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra moved through the street. A souvenir program printed on a decorative napkin laid out the day’s schedule and doubled as a keepsake. Alongside the pageantry, a petition from the Poplar Borough Council on behalf of the area’s unemployed.
John Aird and his companion stood somewhere in the crowd watching the procession go by. We know they were on holiday, having just visited Westminster and Big Ben. It was the third time they had seen the King and Queen on their short trip. Could that be true?
The Court Circular could settle the question. This daily official log of the sovereign’s engagements has run in The Times since 1803. If the King and Queen appeared twice more that week, the Circular would name the place and hour. Bound volumes covering this period sit in the Royal Collection Trust’s archive. The daily printed record itself lives in the Times Digital Archive.
It’s easy enough to believe John’s claim, though. The King kept a famously full public calendar. A visitor spending real time in London that October had a genuine chance of crossing paths with the royal couple more than once.
There’s another small clue in the postmark that reads: LONDON NW OCT 18 05 No. 19. Before modern postal codes, there were local office units. So John mailed this notable card home on a date and from a location that fits his story.
We will get one or two more glimpses of John Aird in this collection. Expect two or three more passes through the postcards at least, too, as we ride the rails in this river region. All thanks to Nurse Aird, who so often sent word ahead.
