Pitman poet Tommy Armstrong was said to be a drunkard and a thief. Gavin Havery reports on a new book by his grandson that dispels the myths about the Bard of the Northern Coalfield.

FORMER detective Ray Tilly used the same painstaking sleuthing techniques to investigate his family background in the North-East as he would a police case. To his surprise, he discovered that he was related to the miner known as the Bard of the Northern Coalfield.

His work didn’t stop there. He was determined to find out if pitman poet Tommy Armstrong was as bad as he’d been painted.

Armstrong began writing songs and poems reflecting the harsh realities of industrial life in Victorian and Edwardian England when he was 15. He wrote poems – with titles such as Stanla Market, Dorham Jail and Trimdon Grange Explosion – in “pitmatic”, which used the vocabulary and dialect of the mining community of the day.

He became a popular figure in the community as a poet, songwriter and entertainer, often putting on concerts to raise money for hard-up pitmen.

But there were other less pleasant stories about him. “Tommy was reputedly a drunkard who spent six months in jail for allegedly stealing from Stanley Co-op,” says Mr Tilly.

“Like any family historian, I was pleased to find a skeleton in the cupboard. I started looking into this and the more I dug, the more I began to realise it wasn’t true.”

Mr Tilly spent two-and-a-half years researching Tommy’s life through all available records and local newspaper files, but found no evidence of Tommy’s wrongdoing.

“It was alleged that he committed the theft in 1882, the same year as the Trimdon Grange explosion, but there’s no mention of it in the local papers – but there are other news items about him,” he reveals.

“If Tommy had been sent to prison, that would have been in the newspapers.”

Mr Tilly grew up in the North-East, was educated at Chester-le-Street Grammar School and, after 18 months as a police cadet with Durham Constabulary, enlisted in the Army.

After being discharged, he re-joined the police service, rising to the rank of chief superintendent, before retiring from Thames Valley Police in 1985. He now lives in Buckinghamshire.

He began researching his family history ten years ago. He was born illegitimately in Eighton Banks, near Gateshead, to Margaret Tilly in 1934.

When he tried to discover the identity of his father in 2006, he also learnt of his famous grandfather – Tommy Armstrong – through 95- year-old Betsy Hawkins, who knew his late father, William Hunter Armstrong.

“I must be honest, I hadn’t heard of Tommy before and it came as a bit of a surprise, but a pleasure, as he’s a great character,” says Mr Tilly. “It’s a bit humbling in some respects. I can’t express the thrill I got out of researching Tommy and finding out all about him.”

TOMMY ARMSTRONG was born in Shotley Bridge, near Consett, in 1848. He suffered from rickets as a child, which left him deformed with bow legs, but despite his condition, he went to work in the pits of the Durham coalfield.

He began writing songs and poems when he was 15 that reflected the harsh realities of industrial life of the time. He died following a series of strokes in 1920.

His work is kept alive today by Allen Crawford, 58, who performs his work in the same traditional style every Tuesday night at The South Causey Inn, in Stanley.

“Tommy was a great observer of people and very funny. For a man of limited education, he was a genius in terms of what he managed to achieve in his life,” he says.

“He had a great sense of humour and it’s important that young people learn about him and his songs. Instead of listening to American rap music, they could be listening to some traditional Geordie songs.”

Gerald Ash, 76, chairman of the Tommy Armstrong Society, hopes schools in the area will introduce pupils to the book to preserve the region’s industrial and cultural heritage for future generations.

“There wasn’t a lot of money about in those days and normal people were hard up and had to count their pennies,” he says. “If a pitman had been thrown out of the colliery house with his family after a row with the manager, then Tommy would go and perform in the pubs and have a collection for him. He was a very benevolent man and did a lot of good.

“This is local basic history and it’s important that people know we have such a jewel as Tommy Armstrong.”

Mr Tilly was so thorough in his research that he had DNA tests with Tommy’s known greatgrandson, Paul Armstrong, to prove their family links.

Now he’s written a book about Tommy, which contains a compilation of the poet’s work and more than 100 photographs. It was launched at the Lamplight Arts Centre, Stanley, with Mr Crawford performing some of his work, and Tommy’s relatives, Diane Ward and Bettie Armstrong, among the 100-strong audience.

Mr Tilly hopes the book will set the record straight about his relative. “I enjoy watching Who Do You Think You Are? on television. It’s a wonderful show, but condensed into a onehour programme. The research and the time taken in the background cannot be portrayed properly, but it is worth it – especially when you get results.

“I hope people get half as much enjoyment from the book as I have doing the research.

Most of all I hope they find out the truth about Tommy for themselves.”

■ Proceeds from the sale of the book, which costs £9.99, will be divided between The Tommy Armstrong Society and the North-East division of the Stroke Association. The book can be ordered online at summerhillbooks.co.uk