Watch: How Sunderland’s naval hero Jack Crawford was forgotten for decades

Name: How Sunderland hero Jack Crawford was feted and forgotten - then celebrated all over again
Uploaded: 2023-07-31T15:56:15.000Z
Duration: 362 s
Description: Professor Angela Smith, of the University of Sunderland, recounts the story of Sunderland naval hero Jack Crawford - and how a Victorian-era revival of interest in his story led to his memory being commemorated with a headstone in an east end cemetery, and a statue in Mowbray park

By Graham Murray

Published 1st Aug 2023, 15:18 BST

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He’s a local lad who became a hero.

His statue stands in Sunderland’s Mowbray Park, and his heroic actions in a famous battle at sea created a figure of speech that’s still in use today.

But after the glory days of his youth, Jack Crawford fell upon hard times.

Worse, he was an early victim of a deadly cholera outbreak on Wearside.

And were it not for a revival of interest in his story, decades after his death, he might not even have been remembered today.

Watch to find out more.

Sunderland Echo

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