14 Victoria Street (previously 4 Victoria Street), Seaham
Functioned as officers' quarters during the First World War
Type: Officers Quarters
Victoria Street (or Victoria Terrace) was likely erected between 1906 and 1911 in the same phase Maureen Street was erected. It directly overlooked the Playing Field.
Not much is known about 4 Victoria Street except some photos taken at Victoria Terrace when it was used as a billet during the First World War. It is likely that the photos included servicemen billeted in the very nearby Maureen Terrace, which was immediately behind Victoria Terrace.
The privates pictured were of the 4th Battalion Durham Light Infantry:
D/DLI 2/4/406
Back Row: [Unidentified], Blackie, Bacon, Jefferson, Brittain, Mars
Front row: Southwell, Dixon, Panton, Bailey-Hawkins, Wood
D/DLI 7/35/1(63)
Back Row: Private Corr, [Unidentified], Second Lieutenants: HJ Bacon, F Jefferson, E Brittain, Private Blackie
Front Row: Lieutenant H Southwell, Captain JE Dixon, Captain H Panton, Major AG Bailey Hawkins, Captain GL Wood
Immediately after the First World War, 4 Victoria Street was occupied by Richard Edward Hall Miller and Elizabeth Jane Miller.
While always marked as Victoria Street on Ordnance Maps, the street was known informally as Victoria Terrace in First World War records. Additional buildings were later added, resulting in a shift in house numbers. 4 Victoria Street became 14 Victoria Street and still stands today as a house with a Georgian-style façade, overlooking a primary school playing field.
Cited Sources:
CC/Cl 1/226 M67/154
1919 October
Seaham
(Seaham and Dawdon)
CC/C1 1/184 M67/139-140
1915 January
South Eastern Division
(Dawdon)
Plans and Images:
D/DL1 2/4/406
Group photograph of officers and soldiers of the 4th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, outside Victoria Terrace Billet, Seaham Harbour, August 1918.
D/DLI 7/35/1(63)
Group photograph of officers of the 4th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, and their servants, taken at Victoria Terrace billet, c.1918.
Keys to the Past
http://www.keystothepast.info/article/10339/Site-Details?PRN=D47219
Civil Parish: Dawdon
Contributed by Durham County Council Archaeology Section | Tullia Fraser
