Southwick Green

The Southwick Green is a small park which was donated by the sons of Robert Thompson (1819-1910), in 1912, as a memorial to their father In the centre of the Green is the Robert Thompson memorial.

This photograph was taken in 1913, shortly after The Green had been laid out. The Robert Thompson Memorial is in the Centre of what was known as 'the park'. Dr. Carruther's house and surgery are on the right

Photos by T. Grant White

The Robert Thompson Memorial

The above inscription is:

SOUTHWICK GREEN In Memory of Robert Thompson, ESQ. J.P. of West Hall, Whitburn For 26 Years Chairman of the Local Council This Green Was Presented by his Sons R. C. Thompson, J. L. Thompson and V.T. Thompson A.D. 1912

Letter to the Editor, The Sunderland Echo for 4 May 1983.

Lamp Post is his Memorial Reference the face on the old lamppost in the centre of Southwick Green (Echo, April 27). It would be more accurate to describe the lamp post as the Robert Thompson Memorial. The face is the man himself, Robert Thompson Jun., born in 1819. He left his father's shipbuilding firm at North Sands, Monkwearmouth, to start on his own account at Southwick in 1854. He took an active part in village life and was a member of Southwick's council for 26 years. During the severe depression of the 1880s he provided food and clothing for destitute children, and, at this time while his yard was going through a slack period he created work for the villagers by having them remove a ballast hill within his premises. His second wife laid the foundation stone for the old "Town Hall" in 1893 in The Terrace, now Southwick Road. The building was for many years a health centre and has recently been taken over by SNAP. Surely someone must hold photographs of this ceremony and the unveiling of the memorial, two important events in Southwick's history. Robert Thompson Jun., formerly of Carley Lodge, Southwick, and later of West Hall, Whitburn, died in 1910 at the age of 91. He was buried with his first wife in Holy Trinity churchyard, Southwick. A prominent gravestone marks the spot. This photograph was probably used by the artist who created the face on the memorial, which, I think was deliberately faced in the direction of his shipyard. Peter Gibson Sunderland.