54 High Street

The home of both Charles Merz and William McLellan until 1913. Charles Hesterman Merz was born in Gateshead in 1874. He was brought up in Benwell. He studied at Quaker Bootham School in York, later Newcastle University. He was taken on as apprentice by the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company at Pandon Dene Power Station. In 1897 Merz was Manager and Engineer for Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company. Here he met William McLellan and they formed the company Merx and McLellan in 1909. William McLellan CBE was born in Palnackie, Kirkcudbrightshire in 1874. He attended Birkenhead College and Liverpool University. In 1896 he became an assistant at Siemens. McLellan started work for Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company in 1898. Merz and McLellan went to work for the North-Eastern Electricity Supply Company (NESCO) and were members of the Literary and Philosophical Society. McLellan died in 1934. Merx and his twin children were killed in an air raid in London in 1940. A plaque was unveiled at 54 High Street on 23 April 2013.