I wonder if, in years to come, my children will wish they had known their Grandfather Hewitson as much as I wish I’d known mine. Everyone that has ever known anything about him say he was a lovely man. I once asked my Grandma which of her two husbands she wanted to be with in Heaven and without hesitation she said Matt.
Matthew Henry Hewitson was born on 19th December 1893 at Halton Le Gate, Hartleyburn, Northumberland. I haven’t found a baptism for him, which is strange as the other children appear to be baptised but I wonder if it is because the family lived near the Cumberland border and the parish may have been in that county. Either that or I must try harder!
The census of 1901 finds the family living at Midgeholme. When I was at Kellah in the spring of 2007, where his Father was born and Grandmother lived, I wondered if Matt, as a child, had visited his Grandmother there and played in the fields I was looking over. He moved with his parents and their other children to Chopwell, County Durham, possibly around 1907 when the pit was developed there.
He, like his brothers, became a miner. He was also a keen footballer and played for Chopwell Villa, with match reports appearing in the Blaydon Courier.
He married Eveline Pigg on 30th April 1917 and my Dad was born later that year. They were living at 25 Derwent Street, Chopwell at the time.
On 1st August 1918 tradgedy struck. He was a hewer, working in Chopwell 1 & 2 pit, when a fall of stone fractured his spine. On New Years Day 1919 a football match was played between Chopwell Institute and High Spen Black and White on behalf of my Grandad. The match ended in a two-all draw. The Institute Committee handed over the sum of £20 to my Grandad. Here was his village coming to the aid of my Grandad, how special was that.
I don’t think my Grandfather was totally bed ridden, as my Dad mentioned him on crutches but I find it so sad to think of this handsome, sporting, fit man cut down in his prime. It broke my heart when I got a copy of his death certificate. He died on 29th November 1925, 8 days after my Dad’s 8th Birthday, of exhaustion, due to long standing Syatic Cyothas(not being medically minded I may not have spelt that correctly!) and Chronic Obstruction of Bowel. He was 31. He was buried at St John the Evangelist, Chopwell.