Notice informing emplyees that they had to go and see Dr Gourley in the event of an accident or illness.

E. Withy & Co., Notice to workers concerning their work day.

Notice to staff regarding fire precautions at Middleton Shipyard owned by Edward Withy & Co.

Hartlepool Ferry 1853, For Regulating the Working of the Boatment (sic)

The company rules for employees dated 1867.

Hartlepool Mutual Marine Insurance Association, Notice of A.G.M. 1876

Notice of the first A.G.M. of Hartlepool Rolling Mill Company in 1864.

A very sombre report to the Directors.

A notice requiring tenders for the levelling of Sand Hills.

Letter regarding the export of coal.

A notice to shipyard employees regarding the payment of subscriptions towards medical care. 

A notice to employees informing them that they can vote for any candidate in forthcoming elections. 1868

Messers Denton, Gray & Co. PreMessers Denton, Gray & Co. Presentation of gold watch, guard & locket to Mr. A. McLean in 1870.

Messers Denton, Gray & Co., Site Rules & Regulations.

Notice of a meeting of the creditors of Messers Richardson Brothers in 1857

Messers Richardson Brothers, Creditors meeting result.

Middleton Shipyard, Printed Rules.

Mutual Marine Insurance Association, Notice of meeting 1851

Notice requiring the names of companies to be displayed.

Rowell and Richardson, Notice of Dissolution. James Richardson to carry on the business in his own name.

Official notice of the dissolution.

Rules on S.S. Missouri.

Robert Wood was a West Hartlepool-based local historian who acquired a collection of local ephemera (posters, leaflets, etc.) in 1958. This came into Hartlepool Museums Service’s collections in 1977 after Robert Wood’s death. Along with the ephemera, there are other books that contain the results of some of Robert Wood’s research. He also passed on items to Hartlepool Reference Library, which are now in the Library’s collection.

He was a teacher by profession, becoming the headmaster of Rossmere Junior School, West Hartlepool, during the 1950s and 1960s, retiring in 1973.

Robert Wood collected the ephemera from Ord’s, a local printing firm. The firm had been storing all the paperwork from a 19^th century printer, John Procter. Originally this had been stored in Mason’s printing works at old Hartlepool, (F. Mason took over the works after the deaths of both Procter and his son). Ord’s took over the firm from Mason. They had been ordered to remove it during the Second World War, because it was a fire hazard.

According to Robert Wood, the then owner of the printing works had taken all the paper out of the attic, and left it in the back street. Some people took away posters, to frame up and hang as decorative items. So the owner removed the remaining paper into a shed at the rear of the printing works, where it stayed until he had a conversation with Robert Wood. Mr Ord told Robert Wood he was welcome to take away all the old papers. By the time Wood rescued the collection, some of it was in a very bad state. However, the papers three or four layers down had been protected (the roof of the shed leaked) and there were still many fascinating items that had survived. Wood said he would take the collection off the printer’s hands, and from then on Robert Wood spent the rest of his life sorting through the enormous collection (about 40,000 items).

After Robert Wood’s death, the theatre posters were bought for a theatre and music hall museum in Sunderland. That project was short-lived, all the theatre posters are now in Newcastle Archives. All of the remaining collection, including all handwritten items, came to Hartlepool Museums. Many are on display in the Museum of Hartlepool.

A notice from the company informing people of a court case, in 1871, involving the employment of boys under the age of 13. One can only presume it was a rival company.

Robert Wood was a native of West Hartlepool who lived there all his life except for his years in the Armed Forces during World War II. He was born in the Public Market in 1908 in a room which looked out on the Market Yard, so his interest in the history of the development of the town was by no means an academic one.

He attended Newburn and Church Square Schools before winning a scholarship to the Grammar School. After receiving his professional training at the City of Leeds College, his first appointment as a qualified teacher was to Jesmond Road School in 1929, where he stayed until 1940. He was Head Teacher of Ward Jackson School before he took charge of Rossmere Junior School from 1953 until his retirement in 1973. He was always interested in the history of the North-East in general and Teesside in particular, and frequently wrote, lectured and broadcast on these subjects.