This image shows historian and ex headteacher Robert Wood signing copies of his book West Hartlepool. Sponsored by the council, the book was released in 1967 to coincide with the end of the Victorian town West Hartlepool and the beginning of the amalgamated Hartlepool.
The book is still very regularly consulted today by anyone with an interest in the town's past And many homes have a copy. the mayor, Councillor George Groves is looking on.
Date (of image) : 0/3/1967
Donor : Hartlepool Museum Service
Creator : NDM
Location
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.
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