"Monkey hanger" is an affectionate term by which Hartlepudlians are often known.[1][2]
According to local folklore, the term originates from an incident in which a monkey was hanged in Hartlepool. During the Napoleonic wars, a French ship of the type chasse marée was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey, wearing a French uniform (allegedly)-(presumably to provide amusement for those on board the ship). On finding the monkey, some locals decided to hold an impromptu trial on the beach; since the monkey was unable to answer their questions, and many locals were unaware of what a Frenchman may look like, they concluded that the monkey was in fact a French spy. Just to make sure, the animal was thus sentenced to death and hanged from the mast of a fishing boat on the Headland.
The term was originally derogatory, and is often applied to supporters of Hartlepool United Football Club by supporters of their arch rivals Darlington. However it has been embraced by many Hartlepudlians, and only a small minority still consider the term offensive; indeed, Hartlepool United F.C.'s mascot is a monkey called H'Angus the Monkey. In 2002, Stuart Drummond campaigned for the office of Mayor of Hartlepool in the costume of H'Angus the Monkey and narrowly won; he used the election slogan "free bananas for schoolchildren", a promise he was unable to keep. He has since been re-elected twice.
An alternative theory is put forwards alongside the above on the This Is Hartlepool town guide (read to the bottom of the page).
It states that; "Then there are some who point to a much darker interpretation of the yarn. They say that the creature that was hanged might not have been a monkey at all; it could have been a young boy. After all, the term powder-monkey was commonly used in those times for the children employed on warships to prime the cannon with gunpowder."
Hartlepool residents frequently claim that the monkey was captured in Hartlepool but actually tried and executed in Darlington. Another defence is that the mascot counted as a member of the crew and that if it had survived they would not have been eligible for salvage rights under the terms of maritime law. This is, however, wholly erroneous as the English law of salvage did not require the crew of a ship to be dead in order for salvors to make a claim.
However, the most telling evidence in the debate is to be found in the satirical cartoons of the period which frequently portrayed the French Jacobins as grotesque creatures with monkey-like features, fangs, claws and tails.