W.T. Stead by his daughter, Estelle

The name Stead is of Swedish origin. I believe one branch of the family came over in the fifteenth century and settled in Yorkshire. Father had the blue eyes and rugged features of the North, quite a Viking type. His mother belonged to Northumberland. As a boy he was fond of birds and painted them. The story that in Northern Echo days he used to ride into Darlington on a donkey is not quite correct; it was a pony! He read the Spectator to us on Sunday afternoons, ending up with the Bank Rate! My mother followed with stories. To ensure that we had been listening, each of us in turn had to fix on some name or episode mentioned; also after chapel at our meal we had to do the same, taking the sermon as our subject. It was a game very much in the manner of 'Twenty Questions'. Every morning each child had to bring to the breakfast table an interesting fact chosen out of the morning newspapers..