Appeal for information over Hutton Magna's long lost WW1 machine gun

PEOPLE in a Teesdale village are asking: “Where did our machinegun go?”
In 1919, Hutton Magna vicar Revd Arthur Close accepted a German machinegun from Startforth Rural Council in honour of the 12 men from his parish who were killed in the First World War. He gave a stirring speech that brought loud applause.
The weapon has since vanished from Hutton Magna. The search for it has been instigated by John Hay and Marian Lewis, of Barningham Local History Group.
Mrs Lewis said: “I’ve never heard of this – not even from my dad who lost three brothers in the war. Nobody seems to know anything about it. It’s a peculiar thing to give, especially because the vicar lost his own son in the war.
“He was so meticulous in keeping records but there it’s not mentioned.
“Apparently Hutton Magna was one of three villages which applied to have the gun, along with Barningham and Romaldkirk, but we got it because of the high proportion of the population who died.”
The quest began when Mr Hay and Ms Lewis spotted a story in the Teesdale Mercury’s archives of October 15, 1919, after a county archivist pointed it out.
The Mercury reported how the gun had been captured from the Germans and was presented to the vicar as “a memento of the toll of the youth of his parish who had sunk to rest”.
The Mercury reported how the vicar was deeply moved but regretted the loss of so many men from the area in gaining that “war trophy”.
But he said: “I hope that when the villagers or their children look on this gun, they will look on it as a memorial of what has been done and suffered by the brave lads of the place on behalf of freedom’s cause.”
The Mercury reported how one day people would ask the “why and where of this gun” and would be told that in England brave men – some of them “only boys” from Hutton Magna – responded to the call of duty and did it “nobly and well”.
The vicar retired to live in Darlington a few years later.
Archivists at the county’s record office are investigating and the history group has appealed for information from present and former residents of the village. They believe it may have been appropriated by the Home Guard in the Second World War.
Members of the area’s Dad’s Army were known to be a little trigger happy and are remembered for once using the remains of Scargill Castle for grenade throwing practice.
If anyone has any details of the gun’s whereabouts, contact Jon Smith of the local
history group on 01833 621374.