Sometime during 1871 George Pritchard (1842) and his wife Margaret left North Wales again with their three children and headed for County Durham.  This time they settled in the Tyne Dock area of South Shields and George again found work as a miner.  They lived in a cottage on Back Row but soon moved to 33, Slake Row and remained at that address for more than ten years.  Another five children were born there, four girls and a boy.  The two oldest boys David and Robert both became miners like their father whilst they lived there.  Eventually they were able to move into a new house at 76 Stevenson Street, South Shields. Subsequently George and Margaret lived in Marsden Street (1898/1900), Imeary Street (1900/1901) and finally Wawn Street where they both ended their days.

South Shields stands at the mouth of the River Tyne opposite North Shields and is 9 miles from Newcastle and 12 miles north east of Durham.  In the 19th Century South Shields developed from a small village to an important seaport. Similar to Bagillt only larger, the town had coal mines, docks (staithes), glass works, railways and chemical manufacture.   When our family arrived there in 1871 the population was 32,539.  It was growing fast and twenty years later it had more than doubled to 78,431.

Robert (1868) started work at the age of 12 in the new colliery at Whitburn.  He took up boxing as a boy and as a bantamweight became well known in the North East of England.  He met his future wife Margaret Longstaff who lived just around the corner in Imeary Street and they married at South Shields Register Office.  The couple were living in George Potts Street in 1896/97 and then moved to Byron Street.

Robert and Margaret had six children whilst they lived in South Shields, three boys and three girls.  They named their first boy George after his grandfather but he died as an infant.  Their second boy was born in the house on Byron Street in 1897 and they called him George too.  In 1901 the family were living at No. 5, Robert Street.  In 1903 Robert decided to seek a new life for the family in Canada on the understanding that life in the mines there would mean an improvement in pay and conditions.  He left the family behind with a view to them joining him once he was established.  Meanwhile young George (1897) had started school in the town and another son William was born after Robert had emigrated.  Margaret was born in the Low Fell district of Gateshead and her mother lived there at this time. So during the time Robert was in Canada and the United States the family moved to Low Fell.