Consett was one of England's largest suppliers of both steel and iron to the construction and shipbuilding industries, providing jobs to a significant percentage of the town's population, those not directly involved in mining the iron ore and coke often being employed in the manufacturing process. Wages may have been low, and working conditions often horrendous, but jobs were at least relatively plentiful.
[George Orwell's 'The Road To Wigan Pier' paints a grim picture of what life was like in North Eastern mining towns in the 1930s. The conditions exposed by Orwell were unlikely to have changed very much from Jimmy Seed's time.]
 |
| Annandale Paper Mill |
Steel manufacturing and mining were not the only employers in the region however.
The Seeds were a paper making family, both Jimmy's father Anthony, and his father before him, having worked in the long established Annandale Paper Mill at Shotley
Bridge, County Durham.
Anthony Seed had originally lived in Shotley Bridge with his grandmother Isabella Hall in a house next door to his father's, but by the time Jimmy was born, Anthony had relocated his ever expanding family to Blackhill, Consett, a move perhaps enabled by a the higher salary he was now earning as a foreman at the papermill.
However, it seems the story isn't quite as straightforward as it seems, because despite his father Alexander working at the mill, Anthony may have initially been less lucky, as around twenty years earlier he had moved to Snodland in Kent with his wife Elizabeth to work in its local paper mill, one of the biggest in Southern England. Of course it's possible that he just wanted a change of scenery, but back in the late nineteenth century I suspect the move was more likely to have come about through financial necessity rather than a spirit of adventure.
The Snodland 1881 census lists the family as follows:
Head: Anthony H Seed 25
Wife Elizabeth 22
Daughter Isabella 5
Daughter Frances 1.
Five further children were born in Snodland, but the Kent adventure didn’t last long. By 1891 they were back in the North East.
The 1891 census for Ridley Street, Conside & Knitsley, Lanchester:
Head Anthony H Seed, 35, assistant shearsman
Wife Elizabeth, 32
Daughter Isabella, 14, stocking knitter
Daughter Frances, 12
Son Alexander, 10
Son John, 8
Son Anthony, 6
Daughter Margaret, 4
Daughter Jessie, 2
Daughter Lydia, about 11 months. Born in Blackhill, Durham
Lodger James Morrison, 22, stonemason
Their living conditions must have been pretty cramped, as there were ten members of the Seed family at the time of the census and it's doubtful the house in Ridley Street had more than two bedrooms. The two eldest children were girls for whom jobs were scarce in the region, although Isabella was listed as a 'stocking knitter'. As the eldest boy was just ten, Anthony was almost certainly the only solid wage earner, so one can understand the need to board a lodger, despite the lack of space in the house.
As time passed however, the elder boys found work at the paper mill, which was thriving at that time.
But just when things were looking up for the Seeds, the paper mill began to struggle because of the competition from mills using new technology, as detailed in the Consett Magazine website:
'By the 1870’s the quantity of paper being produced at the Annandale Paper Mill meant that they were unable to source the rags needed so the firm began to import esparto grass from Spain devouring almost 50 tons a week in its manufacture.
By the 1890’s the firm was employing some 300 people and producing over 4,000 tons of premium paper a year. At its peak in 1894 the Mill was working both day and night and its quality paper was even supplying Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
However, with their rivals introducing new wood pulping technologies the firm were no longer able to compete, and the business slowly ran down, finally closing its doors in 1907. A small hope was held out that someone would buy up the business, but all to no avail. By 1913 the Mills were demolished leaving only a single chimney standing.'
In 1897 Anthony upped sticks, moving the entire family to
Whitburn, a colliery village on the coast, a couple of miles north of
Sunderland, which also boasted a new paper mill producing paper from wood pulp.
F Whellan wrote 1894.
'Whitburn, is the principal portion of the parish, and comprises the rural village of Cleadon, Whitburn Colliery, and Marsden. The chief industries of this parish consist of coal-mining, farming, and quarrying limestone. Near the Whitburn colliery there is a large paper and pulp manufactory. The coal is worked by the Harton Coal Co., Limited, who have recently acquired the Marsden royalties and Whitburn colliery.
The village of Whitburn, one of the most attractive in the county, is most pleasantly situated on the southern declivity of an eminence, commanding a beautiful prospect of the surrounding country and the sea.'
Whitburn is still a very pretty village, and well worth a visit if you're in the area.
In this studio portrait Jimmy (aged around fourteen) is on the left, with Angus behind him. John is standing behind Alexander.
John, Jimmy & Alexander in the US in later life.
Would Jimmy be wearing Charlton badges I wonder?
Jimmy's three elder brothers, and their eldest sister Frances were still listed as 'paper makers' in the census of 1901, presumably at the Whitburn paper mill. But for whatever ever reason, by 1911 for Jimmy and Angus at least, their work was to be found underground.
In this photograph from around 1899/1900 Jimmy is standing in front of his father Anthony Hall Seed. His brother Angus, who also enjoyed a career in football, is to Jimmy's left, next to their mother Elizabeth.
Bottom
right is little Minnie Seed, herself a successful footballer who played
in front of 30,000 crowds at major grounds, including St James's
Park. She, like Jimmy, was to become an England international.
Anthony, on the left, later became Jimmy's chief scout in NE England, only resigning from the role in 1956, when Jimmy was sacked.
You can see from the photograph that the Seeds were by now a relatively well-to-do family, as five of them were now in employment. On the back of the photograph is an address written in pencil: 9 Marsden View, Marsden.
The 1901 census for Augusta Terrace, Whitburn, South Shields:
Head Anthony Seed, 46, papermaker
Wife Elizabeth, 43
Daughter Frances, 22, paper mill worker
Son Alexander, 20, papermaker
Son John, 18, papermaker
Son Anthony, 16, papermaker
Daughter Margaret, 13
Daughter Jessie, 11
And enter our footballers…
Son Angus, 8
Son James, 6, born in Blackhill, Consett, Durham
Daughter Minnie, 4, born in Marsden, Durham
Sadly Lydia has died.
By this time Jimmy had become obsessed by football. In The Jimmy Seed Story he tells of playing for his school side, and of his disappointment when that team had to withdraw from school league football.
'So my only chance to see Roker was to go with my brothers to the big games. When I was ten or eleven they decided to give me a treat and take me with them to Newcastle for the match against Sunderland at St James' Park. Nothing much happened in the first half and the score stood at 1-1. But after half-time things began to happen. In less than thirty minutes Jimmy Lawrence, the Newcastle goalkeeper, had been beaten eight times and our team won 9-1. Yet, being a kid, I was disappointed because my own particular hero - Arthur Brown, the Sunderland centre-forward, did not score. My brothers pressed home to me that it didn't matter who claimed the goals as long as your team won. From that day onwards I took a more intelligent view of the game, studying Arthur Brown's unselfish distribution of the ball to his colleagues. It had a bearing on my own style in later years.Sunderland had some wonderful forwards in those days . . . Jacky Mordue, Charlie Buchan, Arthur Brown, George Holly and Arthur Bridgett. This formation was backed up by a splendid half-back line consisting of Frank Cuggy, Charlie Thomson and Harry Low. I have never seen the equal of the superb triangular play of Buchan, Mordue and Cuggy.When we are young we are impressed by the players we watch, and we never miss a point. I was always fascinated by the visits of the famous winger Billy Meredith, mainly because of the tooth-pick that was always in his mouth while playing. One of my school chums decided to ape the Welsh Wizard until one day the tooth-pick stuck in his throat!The giants of soccer came and went as week after week I went to Roker Park, but the man who held my attention longer than any among my schoolboy heroes was Charlie Buchan. His tricks and subtle moves impressed me so much that I would spend hours trying to copy him. I didn't wait until I arrived home. The lesson began as soon as I had turned down some side street to avoid the crowd. Then for two miles with the help of a small rubber ball I would attempt to reproduce the latest Buchan move.When I left school I was too young to play for the local team, so my soccer education was kept up by my visits to Roker. My parents were anxious I should become a school-teacher, but it isn't everybody who can walk into the teaching profession and my early teens were spent in the pit. I wouldn't recommend coal-mining to any youngsters today, but I had no grumbles because it gave me plenty of time for soccer. I began to shoot up when I reached sixteen and was beginning to think of football as a full-time profession.'
The 1911 census for Adolphus Street, Whitburn, Sunderland:
Head Anthony Hall Seed, 55, papermaker
Wife Elizabeth, 52
Daughter Jessie, 22
Son Angus, 18, ‘miner drivers’ in colliery
Son James, 16, also ‘miner drivers’
Daughter Minnie, 14.
Miner drivers were often younger boys whose job it was to handle the pit ponies that pulled the coal wagons in the underground tunnels. Jimmy had started work as a 'driver' at 14, but by the time he 'escaped' to sign for Sunderland was working at the coalface.
So by the 1911 census the elder boys had left home, and at some stage Alexander and John both emigrated, John initially to South Africa, creating a link that would eventually result in several South African players having very successful careers at Charlton Athletic.
But life wasn't all about football:
Their instruments were extremely expensive, so it looks like these dandies were enjoying the high life!
The Four Seeds maybe?
 |
Would Jimmy be wearing Charlton badges I wonder?
