Years of research into coroner gives a glimpse into city's past
| Published date | 18 October 2023 |
| Publication title | Journal, The |
The visit to the Victoria Tunnel in the Ouseburn provided the spark which saw Helen spend five years digging into the 19th century history of the city as part of a PhD study at Newcastle University.
Her research centred on the life and role of the coroner of Newcastle, John Theodore Hoyle.
A career of half a century as deputy and then full coroner saw him confronted with the complex web of issues which Newcastle faced in a time of industrial and population expansion.
Legal historian Helen, who graduated from Newcastle University in 1989, worked as a solicitor and is now an associate professor at Northumbria University Law School, said: "I have devoted several years to uncovering all I can about John Theodore Hoyle."
Her work involved reading accounts of around 700 inquests from the newspapers of the time.
"Hoyle was quite fundamental to the shaping of the town and is a window on life in Newcastle, providing glimpses you don't get anywhere else," she says.
"I came to admire him very much. He was a decent man who was trying to make his community a better place " During Helen's trip to the tunnel, the tour guide told the story of the site's only fatality.
In 1852 W Armstrong Coulson, a staithsman, was killed by a loaded waggon which was sent down the tunnel as he and two other men were inspecting repairs.
Helen says: "I had practised in the coroner's court as a solicitor. I discovered the inquest, held in the Tunnel Inn, Ouseburn, had been conducted by the deputy coroner JT Hoyle, Esq," She Googled Hoyle's name and the first search result was a portrait of Hoyle in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, which had never been on public display.
"That was the beginning, and in the intervening years I have learned more about John Theodore Hoyle's life and family than I know of my ancestors. I have met some of Hoyle's descendants, transcribed hundreds of news reports of inquests and analysed thousands of words.
"My quest necessitated exploring both Hoyle's life and his work, the coroner, who played a pivotal role in the community of Newcastle.
"I wanted to find out more about the humble man in the painting who wore a dark suit and sat, hatless, on a plain chair without holding the gaze of the observer but engrossed in his book. The more I looked, the more intriguing Hoyle became."
As there are no preserved...
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