The Oliphant Family
Dr James Oliphant lived in a house on the Southwest side of the Old Tyne Bridge, (under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Durham), after moving to Gateshead from Perth in 1754. In Gateshead, he met Margaret Erskine who he married in 1755 and later had two children, William James Oliphant and Lawrence Thomas Oliphant. Also living in the house with the Oliphants were Mrs Oliphant’s father Dr William Erskine (until his death in 1766) and servants Mary Shittleton and Dinah Armstrong.
The Oliphants house stood over an arch and had four floors, comprising of a cellar, a shop on the ground floor, kitchen and parlour (whose doors were opposite each other) on the first floor and attics. The cellar hung down in the arch and had half-doors looking down on the Tyne. The river rose to within a few inches of the lower door, so goods could be received and shipped.
At the time of the Great Flood of 1771, the Oliphants were in Scotland. After their home was destroyed, they moved into temporary accommodation in Church Chare, Gateshead, before returning to live in Scotland shortly afterwards.
Murder on the Bridge?
DR Oliphant’s name is associated with a tragic incident, which took place on the Old Tyne Bridge in 1764. DR and Mrs Oliphant left their two children in the care of Mrs Milne, wife of a Newcastle merchant, and their servant Dinah Armstrong when going to Scotland. On their return a month later, Dinah was accused of stealing, which she denied. Her box was searched and possessions belonging to her former employer were found.
Dinah was questioned repeatedly about the supposed theft, but still carried out her normal duties for the Oliphant family under no restriction whatsoever. However, at around 1pm, Mary Shittleton, the Oliphants’ senior servant noticed that the door in the west wall of the cellar (only about 4 feet above the river) was open then saw Dinah lying on the sand. At this point, Mrs Shittleton gave an alarm and there was a rush to the cellar. However, Dinah had disappeared. Five days later, Dinah’s body was found in the river by Joseph Barlow, a keelman, and was taken ashore at Dunston.
A doctor later found that the string of Dinah’s cap had been tied tightly around her neck, suggesting that she had been hanged. After being summoned to the coroner’s court, Mary Shittleton claimed that she thought that Dinah had got up from the sand and ran. Also present at the inquest Dinah’s sister, Jane Armstrong. Mary’s evidence agreed with the statement she had given to her employers, the Oliphant family. At the inquest, DR Oliphant was requested to go to Dunston and ‘justify himself against the calumnious aspersions thrown against him’. He went with Henry Thompson, a shopkeeper who had helped search for Dinah’s body, and was met by an enraged mob. Dinah’s two sisters, Jane and Tamar, had also been inflaming the public that DR Oliphant was a ‘murdering dog’. DR Oliphant went back to the coroner and requested that his evidence and that of his two companions should be taken, but was refused.
At the trial, the jury found that James Oliphant, Margaret Oliphant and Mary Shittleton had ‘wilfully strangled Dinah Armstrong with a cord’, despite the fact that there was no proof that the girl had been strangled at all’. The three were later arrested by John Crosier, the parish constable, and taken to Durham, but were later allowed to return home on bail. The three prisoners returned to Durham a month later where Mr Justice Bathurst tried them. New witnesses for the defence were called, including Henry Thompson. However, no new evidence had materialised. On their testimonial that the deceased was under no restraint in the house, the jury returned the verdict of not guilty.
DR Oliphant tried to take action for damages against the coroner, but was deterred because of a lack of money. Instead, he laid the case before the public in a book published in 1768. DR Oliphant died in 1791, after returning to Scotland soon after the Great Flood on 1771, a martyr to the attack on his life, liberty and character.
The ‘Temporary’ Tyne Bridge
After the disaster of 1771, John Stevenson constructed a temporary timber bridge. While this bridge was being built a ferry ran across the river that was used by stagecoaches running between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
A permanent arch-stoned bridge across the Tyne was later completed in 1781 to replace the bridge lost during the Great Flood. However, John F. Ure, Chief Engineer of the Tyne Commission stated in a 1860 report that due to increased river traffic, it would be necessary to remove it as it was obstructing masted vessels and put a low-level bridge in its place that could be opened. After Ure’s report was approved by the Commission, the stone bridge was removed during the years 1866 and 1873 and the present Swing Bridge was opened in 1876. However, an arch of the Old Tyne Bridge still exists under Bridge Street, Gateshead, over which the Swing Bridge was built.


I hope this may be of use to you
The Dr was my 5x Great Grandfather who had a son by a first marriage who later became a Privateersman Captain James Olifent. If you are related to my line the family went down to Dover. The Name changed in spelling due to a family scandal and the Privateersman changed his name to Smith, but later returned back to Oliphant but spelt Olifent. So the subsequent family were named Smith Olifent in Kent (Deal & Dover)

Kind regards

Robert Olifent