Akensides of Eachwick

Plaque to William Akenside, St Andrew's Church, Heddon on the Wall. Photo A Curtis (2015}.

Cadwallader J. Bates wrote about Eachwick in Heddon-on-the-Wall: The Church and Parish (Archaeologia aeliana v11 p240-294, 1886)

The family longest connected with Eachwick were the Akensides. [106] The name of Thomas Akenside, gent., of Eachwick, appears on the list of freeholders in Northumberland in 1628; and immediately to the right on entering Heddon Church is a marble tablet to the memory of "Captain William Akenside of the 14th Regmt. of Foot, son of William Akenside, late of Eachwick, who died 22 October, 1830, aged 49."  Mark Akenside, the poet (1721-1770), belonged to this family, of which his father was a younger son settled in business as a butcher in Newcastle, and it was his uncle of Eachwick who bore all the expenses of his education. [107]

He tells us other things in footnotes:

106 There is a curious petition of Hugh Akenside, of Hawkwell (near Stamfordham), to Quarter Sessions in 1718, for relief for his wife, he being in Morpeth Gaol for debt. He states that 'his ancestors, had beene inhabesters in Hawkwell near 200 yeares.' Extracts Sessions Records of Northumberland, in Lib. Soc. Antiq., Newc. Akenside was the name of a place in Redesdale, mentioned in the Inq. post mortem of Eleanor, wife of Robert Umfreville, in 1363. Hodgson's Northd., II., i., p. 110

107 Richardson's Borderer's Table Book, II., p. 184. The Akensides were Dissenters (see Bucke's Life of Akenside, p. 1) ; their baptisms are consequently entered in the register in the following disrespectful fashion: '3 Mar., 1701/2, Hannah, daughter to Thomas and Ann Akenside of Eachwick, said to be baptized by somebody ;' and ' Abraham, son to Thomas Akenside of Eachwick, a Dissenter, said to be baptized by somebody, 18 Dec., 1716.' Two twins of the family were called Moses and Aaron.

On the south aisle wall in Heddon Church is a marble tablet to the memory of Captain William Akenside of the 14th Regiment of Foot, son of  William Akenside, late of Eachwick who died 22 October 1830.

Sacred to the memory of Captain William Akenside of the 14th Regt of Foot son of William Akenside late of Eachwick who departed this life the 22nd of Oct 1830 aged 49 years. Also died on the 26th of March 1832 Mary Akenside aged 82 years this monument is erected by Hannah Akenside as the last tribute of duty and affection both to her honoured mother and beloved brother.

William Akenside fought as a Lieutenant for 3rd Battalion, 14th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Waterloo on Sunday 18th June 1815.

Nominal Roll of the 3/14th Foot at Waterloo from “A Very Pretty Little Battalion”: The 3/14th Regiment of Foot in the Waterloo Campaign by Steve Brown.

He was one of the 200 soldiers chosen for research by local school-children as part of the Waterloo 200 Project in 2015.
The details about Lt. Akenside were added by students of Whitburn Church of England Academy.

Entry for William Akenside on Waterloo200 website.

Akenside House in Newcastle was built as offices in 1902 and is home to the Akenside Traders public house on the ground floor. Akenside House is named after Mark Akenside (1721-1770), the son of a local butcher who became a physician, classicist, and poet.

Butcher Bank, which linked The Side to Dog Bank, was the location of medieval butcher's shops. They also had shops in Flesher-Rawe.

Akenside House, Akenside Hill, Newcastle upon Tyne. Photo A Curtis (2010).

Mark Akenside is best known for 'The Pleasures of Imagination' (1744), a three volume epic of blank verse, now almost unreadable, and said to have been inspired by a visit to Morpeth in 1738. His eminence as a poet came shortly after but reading his poetry now makes me think he should have stuck to the day job.

I could find little from this work that I would want to quote. However, The Pleasures of Imagination does include this nice descriptive piece about his native countryside near the opening of Book 4:

Would I again were with you, O, ye dales
of Tyne, and ye most ancient woodlands! where
Oft, as the giant flood obliquely strides,
And his banks open, and his lawns extend,
Stops short the pleaséd traveller to view,
Presiding o'er the scene, some rustic tow'r,,
Founded by Norman or Saxon hands.
O ye Northumbrian shades! which overlook
The rocky pavement and the mossy falls
Of solitary Wensbeck’s limpid stream,
How gladly I recall your well-known seats
Beloved of old; and that delightful time
When, all alone, for many a summer’s day
I wandered through your calm recesses, fed
In silence by some powerful hand unseen.

Mark Akenside was clearly an accomplished doctor. In 1761 he was appointed Queen's Physician, to Charlotte Sofia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of George III. There are more details of his career in medicine in A Newly Discovered Manuscript Dedication by Mark Akenside by Robin Dix (2009) Medical History, 53 (3): 425–432.

Robin Dix has also published two books: Mark Akenside: A Reassessment (2000) and The Literary career of Mark Akenside (2006).

A copy of a drawing of Mark Akenside from Newcastle Libraries (Accession Number : 011829)

Tyne and Wear SiteLines (HER 6683) describes Akenside Hill, birthplace of Akenside the poet, from documentary evidence:

No. 33 Akenside Hill, birthplace of Mark Akenside the poet and physician. He was born above his father's shop on 9 November 1721. When he was seven, a butcher's cleaver fell on his foot, leaving him with a permanent limp. According to his contemporaries, Akenside did not have a particularly pleasant disposition and was not proud of his place of birth. He died in 1770 was was buried in St. James Church, Westminster. The house in which Akenside the poet was born is identifiable due to diamond shaped relief on the wall of the first floor. On north side of Akenside Hill (formerly Butcher Bank). Timber, 3 storeys

Birthplace of Mark Akenside from M A Richardson (1842). The Local Historian's Table Book: Historical division, p.184.

The street in which he was born has been re-named "Akenside Hill", and a modern thoroughfare in Jesmond is called "Akenside Terrace".

Unfortunately his birth place in Newcastle has been pulled down, and the house rebuilt. But before it succumbed to demolition the old place was the scene of a centenary demonstration (in 1821), whereat enthusiastic Novocastrians recited turgid verse and dined merrily.

In 2014, Newcastle-born writer Joe Sharkey published  ‘Akenside Syndrome – Scratching the Surface of the Geordie Identity’. It is based on a condition Joe believes many Geordies, grappling with their identities, suffer from. It is named after Mark Akenside, the 18th century son of a Newcastle butcher who went on to become a successful poet and physician to Queen Charlotte in 1761. Akenside was said to be touchy and sensitive about his humble home city.

And Joe believes there are still many Geordies suffering from ‘Akenside Syndrome’ which he describes as; “A condition of feeling ambivalent towards Newcastle or Tyneside despite often retaining a strong emotional bond with and/or sincere affection for the area. A vague sense of unease and feeling of not quite belonging or fitting in.”

Read more in The Journal: What does it mean to be a Geordie: Newcastle-born writer's book deconstructs the Geordie identity published 27th November 2014.

As it states at the end of a very detailed history of Mark Akenside - The Poet Sugeon from Newcastle by web designers, 1st North:

Newcastle is proud of Mark Akenside, although Mark Akenside's pride hindered him from being proud of Newcastle.