After college, she moved to Hartlepool to work at the maritime museum and enjoy the coastal views.

The town's museum dedicated an exhibit to the Hartlepool monkey, recounting how, according to folklore, the monkey — the only survivor of a French shipwreck — was allegedly tried and hanged as a spy during the Napoleonic Wars.

West Hartlepool was originally a separate borough from Hartlepool itself, with its own docks and civic institutions.