Legend has it that during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, a shipwrecked monkey was hanged by the people of Hartlepool, believing him to be a French spy! To this day, people from Hartlepool are affectionately known as ‘monkey hangers’.
A French ship was spotted floundering and sinking off the Hartlepool coast. Suspicious of enemy ships and nervous of possible invasion, the good folk of Hartlepool rushed down to the beach, where amongst the wreckage of the ship they found the only survivor, the ship’s monkey which was apparently dressed in a miniature military-style uniform.
Hartlepool is a long way from France and most of the populace had never met, or even seen, a Frenchman. Some satirical cartoons of the time pictured the French as monkey-like creatures with tails and claws, so perhaps the locals could be forgiven for deciding that the monkey, in its uniform, must be a Frenchman, and a French spy at that. There was a trial to ascertain whether the monkey was guilty of spying or not; however, not unsurprisingly, the monkey was unable to answer any of the court’s questions and was found guilty. The townsfolk then dragged him into the town square and hanged him.
So is the legend true? Did the good folk of Hartlepool REALLY hang a poor defenceless monkey?
There could perhaps be a darker side to the tale – maybe they didn’t actually hang a ‘monkey’ but a small boy or ‘powder-monkey’. Small boys were employed on warships of this time to prime the canons with gunpowder and were known as ‘powder-monkeys’.
Over the centuries the legend has been used to taunt the residents of Hartlepool; indeed still today, at football matches between local rivals Darlington and Hartlepool United the chant, “Who hung the monkey” can often be heard. Most Hartlepudlians however love this story. Hartlepool United’s mascot is a monkey called H’Angus the Monkey, and the local Rugby Union team Hartlepool Rovers are known as the Monkeyhangers.
The successful mayoral candidate in the 2002 local elections, Stuart Drummond, campaigned dressed in the costume of H’Angus the Monkey, using the election slogan “free bananas for schoolchildren”, a promise he was unfortunately unable to keep. However this appears not to have dented his popularity, as he went on to be re-elected two more times.
Whatever the truth, the legend of Hartlepool and the hanged monkey has endured for over 200 years.
Hattix on July 6th, 2021 at 17:54 UTC »
This has passed into local lore, and few in Hartlepool haven't at least heard of it.
Keigh Gregson, author, historian, and retired schoolteacher from Hartlepool concedes "There is no evidence whatsoever that the people of Hartlepool hanged a monkey."
We first pick it up with travelling entertainer Ned Corvan, who lampooned every town he visited with a song about it. In 1825, he wrote one called The Baboon, about a baboon which visited Newcastle with some Cossack soldiers. He also reused a lot of his material in his later shows, such as the one in 1855 in Hartlepool.
West Hartlepool was a new industrial town, while Old Hartlepool was a wealthy fishing port. The people of the new town were stereotyped as stupid working class people, so of course they were stupid enough to hang a monkey. The Old Hartlepool populace were wealthier (and the only ones who could afford Corvan's theatrical shows) and quickly latched on to this symbol of their supremacy. Over time, the two towns merged and the myth endured.
penguinopusredux on July 6th, 2021 at 16:37 UTC »
When Hartlepool elected its first mayor in 2002, the local football club mascot - H'Angus the Monkey - ran as an independent candidate. He beat opponents from the major political parties and was elected by a slim margin. He ended up being elected three times before the post was abolished.
jake106 on July 6th, 2021 at 16:20 UTC »
I’m not going to deny that this happened, but I find it difficult to believe that they actually thought the monkey was a Frenchman. I find it more likely that they killed the monkey as an effigy for France. That’s just my opinion though.