Last of the Dictionary Men

The North East of England boasts a proud maritime and industrial heritage that has all but disappeared from today’s landscape along the River Tyne. Over the course of 100 years, thousands of seamen from Yemen settled in the small town of South Shields and made it their home. This multimedia exhibition features interviews with and portraits of 14 of these sailors, the last survivors of the first-generation who settled in South Shields.

From the accounts of 800 Yemeni men from Tyneside who died at sea in WW2, to the trade union riots at the Customs House, to the little-known (or long-forgotten) wedding of legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali in one of the country’s first purpose built mosques – this is an inspiring and unheard story!