Hebburn, United Kingdom

Humphry Davy stayed with Cuthbert Ellison at Hebburn Hall in 1815 and took samples of the explosive methane 'fire damp' gas from the Hebburn mine which were taken to London in wine bottles for experiments into the development of a miners' safety lamp. Davy's lamps were tested in the Hebburn mine and remarkably the gauze that protected the naked flames could actually absorb the fire damp so that the lamps could shine more effectively.

In 1853, Andrew Leslie arrived from Aberdeen, Scotland. He expanded the Ellison estate, further, with shipbuilding, and in 200 years of industrialisation, Hebburn grew into a modern town of 20,000 inhabitants. When the railways arrived in Hebburn in 1872, further growth took off in the Ellison estate, with the growth of the brick, metal and chemical industries.

Andrew Leslie's shipyard launched two hundred and fifty-five ships before 1885. In 1885 the shipyard merged with local locomotive builder W Hawthorne, and then changed its name to Hawthorn Leslie and Company, and grew even more.

Hebburn also hosted its own Highland Games, with the first one being held in 1883, which were usually held annually in July or August, spanning over three decades and with professional sportsmen coming from Scotland and as far as Oban to compete.

In 1901, Alphonse Reyrolle's, Reyrolle Electrical Switchgear Company opened. In 1932 Hebburn colliery closed. 200 miners were killed during the life of the colliery. The youngest were 10 years old. In 1936 Monkton Coke Works was built by the Government, in response to the Jarrow Hunger March in 1932.

In the Second World War, the Battle of Britain occurred in 1940, and Hitler had planned an amphibious attack that was predicated on defeating the RAF in the battle. Hitler's planned first wave of attack, in his Operation Sea Lion plan, was to try to capture Aberdeen and Newcastle. Hitler's Operation Sea Lion documents had detailed plans to capture the Reyrolle Electrical Switchgear Company.

Hawthorn Leslie built everything from liners to tankers. Many Royal Navy battleships were built at Hawthorn Leslie shipyard. In WWII the yard built 41 naval vessels and repaired another 120. In 1944, the yard also built D-day landing craft, including the Landing Craft Tank (LCT) 7074. In April 2020, the craft was housed in the D-Day Story museum. In 2020, the boat was only one of ten craft of its kind to survive postwar.

One ship built at the shipyard was HMS Kelly, launched in 1938 and commanded by Lord Louis Mountbatten. The ship, a K-Class destroyer, was commissioned just eleven days before WWII. The ship was hit three times. In December 1939, she was damaged by a German mine not far from the river Tyne. On 9 May 1940, she was torpedoed off Norway with the loss of 27 lives. Badly damaged, she crawled back to Hawthorn Leslie on a 92-hour journey to be repaired. In 1941, HMS Kelly was sunk off Crete. One hundred and thirty men were killed in the disaster and they are remembered in memorials at Hebburn Cemetery, which were erected by surviving members of the crew and workers from Hawthorn Leslie. The ship's story forms the basis of the 1942 film In Which We Serve. The shipyard is now owned by Hebburn Riverside Development Limited and construction has commenced for a landmark residential development called Kelly's Wharf.

The Monkton Coke Works plant closed in 1990, and was demolished in 1992. The former British Short-Circuit Testing Station in Victoria Road West within the town, owned by A. Reyrolle & Company provided the backdrop for the Gary Numan video "Metal". The facility was demolished in 2011.

In 2012, the BBC commissioned a television series Hebburn to be set in the town. It was created and co-written by Jason Cook, who was raised in Hebburn. The first episode was broadcast on 18 October 2012.

4th Battalion the Parachute Regiment and 23 SAS Reserves have bases in Hebburn. The Air Cadets have a unit located at Hebburn TA Centre.

Hebburn has an ecology centre powered by wind turbines. It is the location of a shipyard, operated by A&P Group.