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Miscellaneous documents

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• Miscellaneous documents
  • Sir Charles Starmer and Lady Starmer of Darlington (Ref: D/X 2019/1-23)
  • Guest Book (Ref: D/X 2019/1)
  • Visit of Prince George to Darlington, 1933 (Ref: D/X 2019/2-4)
  • Sir Charles Starmer's work at the Northern Echo (Ref: D/X 2019/5)
  • Lady Starmer's Wedding Dress (Ref: D/X 2019/6-7)
  • Lady Starmer's work after her Husband's Death (Ref: D/X 2019/8-11)
  • Obituaries, Sympathy Letters and Related Records (Ref: D/X 2019/12-18)
  • Sir Charles Starmer Home (Ref: D/X 2019/19-22)
  • Miscellaneous records (Ref: D/X 2019/23)

Catalogue Description

Charles Starmer was born in Lincolnshire on 12 July 1870. When he was young, his family moved to Cleveland. He left school at 13 and went to work at the West Hartlepool offices of the Northern Echo, working particularly in sales and advertising. In 1902, he moved to their head office in Priestgate, Darlington.

When the newspaper fell on difficult times in 1903, he was instrumental in raising support and finances to keep it running. He became managing director of the new North of England Newspaper Company, also known as the Starmer Group. The new company fared well and continued to grow.

In 1903, he was elected to Darlington Town Council and became mayor in 1907. When his daughter, Freda, was born in 1908, he became the first mayor to have a child whilst in office. He became an alderman in 1915 and was knighted in 1917 for his public service.

In 1918, he tried and failed to be elected MP for the Sedgefield constituency. In 1923, he was elected MP for Cleveland but lost his seat at the next election in 1929.

In 1922, he bought Danby Lodge, Ashcroft Road, Darlington. The house had originally been built by Sir John Scott in 1902-1904 and he lived there until his death in 1922.

His first wife, Ada Cornforth having died in 1922, he remarried in 1929 to Mary Cecilia Wakefield Willink, daughter of the Dean of Norwich. She was twenty five years his junior.

The 1920s were a period of expansion for Starmer's company and it acquired newspapers as far afield as Oxford and Swindon.

Starmer died suddenly on 27 June 1933 at his London residence, 57 Tufton Street, Westminster. His daughter Freda died in 1935.

Following her husband's death, Lady Starmer embraced many good causes and became involved in many local charities and other organisations. By the time of her death in 1979, she was president of 38 local organisations and vice president of 37 more. For this work, she was awarded an OBE.

In 1958, she became the first woman to be given the freedom of the Borough of Darlington.

On her death, she left her home, Danby Lodge, to the Abbeyfield Society, who converted it into a home for the elderly, providing family style accommodation for those who no longer wished to live alone, but who wanted to maintain their independence. When it opened in 1983, it housed 9 people. Later, the stable block was converted and a new wing added to raise the capacity to 27 people.

These records belonged to Dorothy Finch, the daughter of Lady Starmer's housekeeper, who died in c.2000, leaving them to her friend, Elsie Willis.

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