Masie Grace Maddison, aged 10, visited the Heugh Battery Museum with her dad and told us about the research she had been doing into her family tree, and thought we would be particularly interested in the information about her Great Great Aunt Eleanor Necy.
Eleanor Necy was the youngest fatality of the Bombardment of the Hartlepools on 16th December 1914. Eleanor’s sister, Annie, survived the Bombardment and went on to have 4 children, one of whom, Anne, is Maisie’s Grandmother. Anne has passed on the Bombardment story about her mother and Eleanor, the aunt she never knew, to Maisie.
This was written by Masie Grace MADDISON aged 10.
‘Annie Necy, aged 6 and a half, lived at 2 Pilot Street with her sister Eleanor Necy aged 6 months. Annie woke up on the morning of December 16, 1914 to loud noises and sounds she had never heard before. Her mother, Agnes, quickly dressed her and grabbed Eleanor and ran into the dark street guided by the hot flames of the shelled houses. A male shop keeper grabbed Eleanor from her mother’s arms, only to be killed by an explosion with Eleanor in his arm’s.
Annie was so frightened she ran, leaving her mum. She ran all the way to Hart where she couldn’t hear the sounds that would later cause her to be deaf. She vividly remembers being brought back on a horse and cart. Later her mother was very saddened hearing about Eleanor’s death.
Annie returned to the old town to find her mother. The next morning Annie had to go to the market in Lynn Town, Hartlepool to identify what was left of young Eleanor, as did hundreds of other people, causing Annie to never forget what happened on that day.
Annie lived until 1991 and had four children: Shelia Hardcastle, Peter Stevens, James Steven and Anne Maddison. Anne Maddison is the only child left to tell the story of Annie and Eleanor.’
We asked Maisie if she could find out where Annie and Eleanor’s father was on the day of the Bombardment. She tells us:
Peter NECY, Eleanor and Annie’s dad was in the Royal Navy, which he joined despite being unable to swim. He was at sea in 1914 when the Bombardment started and to make things worse, the ship he was on was sunk by a submarine. He survived and was picked up by a nearby ship. He survived WWI and returned home.
Peter’s life came to a sad end during WWII. Aged 63, Peter was a donkeyman aboard the Empire Bison, which was sunk off the coast of Liverpool on 1st November 1940. Peter was one of the many men on board who lost their lives that day.