Two pictures that apparently should have no connection with North east shipbuilding and marine engineering: William the Conqueror who is allegedly responsible for William Doxford.
The story is that after conquering Britain, William rewarded his knights with land. The knights are named in Hastings Abbey in what are known as the Battle Abbey Rolls. Two such knights were Sire de Gaugy and Sire de Menville. De gaugy was rewarded with land at Doxfordham south of Alnwick, De Menvilles near by. A de Gaugy (de Gaugi) married a de Menville and a generation or two later changed their name to de Doxford after the land they held. Later again they became plain Doxford one of them becoming the first rector of Ellingham. All went well for them for about 679 years when, in 1745 they fled from their family seat because of the Jacobite rebellion. One of the Doxfords is recorded as settling at Kinley Hill,(some records have Haseldon, Kinley Hill Low House), Dalton, which because of parish boundary changes is now part of Easington. From there he established a timber yard at Sunderland's North Dock and the business eventually began wooden ship building at Coxgreen, near present day Penshaw Monument, over the river from Nissan. From there Doxfords moved to Pallion where they remained until the yard closed.
Charles Doxford commissioned the Sunderland family pedigree historian James Watson Corder to determine if the link between Doxfords and William the Conqueror was factual. The conclusion of Corder's research was that whilst he had been unable to prove the link he believed that it was most likely to be true.
My own research left me unable to find irrefutable documentary evidence and I wasn't prepared to travel to Morpeth to research records there that may contain the truth. I was concerned about the number of Daltons in the north east and wondered if Dalton le Dale was the place that a Doxford settled. The specific address, apparently a farm (?) still in existence, was the most convincing record.
Sentimentality, sadly, has got in the way of fact and there are some Doxford devotees whose minds are made up and they wouldn't like to be confused with mere facts, that assert that the link has been proven beyond doubt but are unable to provide the evidence. But what a fascinating story if it is true, how William the Conqueror was responsible for William the Con Rod.
Incidentally, Doxfords had been bought by Northumberland Shipbuilding Co before the first Doxford oil (diesel) engine had been installed in 1921, (thanks to the famous Workman of Workman Clark, Belfast fame), so it was only Doxford in name. The Doxford AGM minutes in Tyne and Wear Archives make interesting reading, where in one instance, not enough people turned up for the meeting in Newcastle for it to be legal and it was abandoned. The account of how Northumberland Shipbuilding had a value of only about £500,000 when Workman bought it which quickly increased to several million pounds, allowing Northumberland to buy other shipyards that eventually included Workman Clark itself at a reduced value and resulted in a court case against Workman, is also in Tyne and Wear Archives in the form of reports in the Belfast Whig newspaper.
- William The Conqueror, Bayeux tapestry
- william the conqueror.jpg (20.66 KiB) Viewed 9087 times
Sadly William's camera was broken in the skirmish, so the war historian had to do a sketch instead. Apparently the Bayeux Tapestry image is of William lifting up his helmet to prove he was still alive, the fact the he was still standing would have been convincing enough for me.