A Grim Almanac of Staffordshire E-Book

Karen Evans

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 324

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

A Grim Almanac of Staffordshire is a day-by-day catalogue of 366 ghastly tales from around the county. Full of dreadful deeds, strange disappearances and a multitude of murders, this almanac explores the darker side of Staffordshire's past. Here are stories of tragedy, torment and the truly unfortunate with diverse tales of freak weather, bizarre deaths and terrible accidents, including the young girl cut to pieces by a machinery explosion, the tragic deaths of 155 men in the Minnie Pit disaster of 1918, and the theatre performance where the gun really did go off, mangling the actor's hand and causing a severed finger to fly across the stage. Uncover tales of fires, catastrophes, suicides, thefts and executions – it's all here. Generously illustrated, this chronicle is an entertaining and readable record of Staffordshire's grim past. Read on ... if you dare!

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

TITLE

INTRODUCTION & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

BIBLIOGRAPHY

COPYRIGHT

INTRODUCTION & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All the grim events mentioned in this book are from contemporary newspaper accounts. Many of the stories differed greatly from one newspaper to the next, including name spellings, so these dark deeds are only as accurate as the accounts I used. When I began the book I was amazed at how unkind, wicked and downright evil people could be to one another and how dangerous the world was before ‘health and safety!’ I am surprised so many ancestors lived to tell the tale.

I would like to thank the following for their contributions with information, illustrations and advice: Peter Higginbotham (www.workhouses.org.uk), Paul Swift (www.west-bromwich-photos.co.uk), Dennis Neale (www.blackcountrymuse.com), Adrian Harvey, Ken and Pat Upton. Those images which are uncredited have been provided by The History Press or taken from free or no-copyright sites. Thank you also to The History Press and particularly my editor Matilda Richards for all the help and encouragement. Much love as always to Pete, Imogen and Pierce for putting up with me over the last few months! Every effort has been made to clear copyright; however my apologies to anyone I might have inadvertently missed. I can assure you it was not deliberate but an oversight on my part.

I’d like to dedicate this book to the memory of Liz Dangerfield, a great colleague and a true inspiration.

Karen Evans, 2014

JANUARY

1JANUARY 1942 Sneyd Colliery in Burslem would not normally have been open on New Year’s Day but, with a war raging, the manager had appealed for workers and the men had responded. At approximately 7.50 that morning a loud explosion was heard at pit No. 4 which caused quake-like tremors to be felt on the surface. Workers and rescuers rushed to the scene where six men were found dead or dying near the pit bottom. Many more men and boys, however, were entombed behind the debris. At first there was hope that the trapped would be rescued alive, as there was no sign of fire, but within twenty-four hours three canaries taken down by the rescuers died from afterdamp (a toxic mixture of gases left after an explosion). Fifty-one bodies were recovered during the following week, the youngest aged sixteen and the oldest sixty-five. Many were married men with children; a Mrs Bennett lost both husband and son. At the inquest it was decided that six full coal tubs had broken free and run down the incline at some 40 miles an hour, pulling the empty up-coming rope and causing it to break. The resultant sparks then set the coal dust alight and caused the explosion.

Sneyd rescue team. (Courtesy of healeyhero)

2JANUARY 1867 At about two o’clock this morning Police Sergeant James Marriott was patrolling his beat in Newcastle-under-Lyme when he came upon a group of men singing ‘Old John Barleycorn’ and knocking on doors in Merrial Street. Marriott, after ordering them to go home, left but returned shortly after to find Edward Tittensor, Richard Leech and Herbert Leech still causing a disturbance. Tittensor began to abuse the policeman but when Marriott went to arrest him, Richard Leech grabbed the policeman from behind and pulled them all to the floor. Once down Richard, Herbert and Edward all began kicking the sergeant in the face and body, striking him with a jug and swearing ‘Give it the b——; kill him’ before running away. The three assailants were quickly arrested and brought before Newcastle magistrates’ court later the same morning charged with assault where, in front of a much-bruised Police Sergeant Marriott, they were found guilty. Tittensor was fined twenty shillings and costs; Richard and Herbert were fined forty shillings each.

3JANUARY 1845 Farmer Thomas Brough lived at New Brent Farm in Biddulph near Tunstall and, due to careful management, had been able to buy the nearby Whitefield Farm which he rented to his mother and brother, thirty-nine-year-old John Brough. On this Friday evening the bailiff visited John Brough for the £20 rent which was somewhat overdue, then sent for forty-eight-year-old Thomas when John complained, hoping that the situation could be sorted amicably. The two brothers were not seen to quarrel but Thomas complained about not being paid his rent and intimated he must have it, saying he would take away two boxes of clothing as collateral, which greatly upset their mother. When Thomas went to return home John said he would go with him as far as the barn and the brothers left together. When Thomas did not return home his wife became alarmed and took steps to locate him but it was not until noon the next day that the body of Thomas Brough was found in a sandpit on Biddulph Moor, his head smashed in with a blow from a hammer. John – who was known for his calm and admirable temperament – was questioned, whereupon he readily admitted to hitting his brother with a stone hammer after his entreaties to return the clothing had failed. He was sent before Mr Baron Platt at Staffordshire Assizes on 19 March 1845. The defence argued that it was a case of manslaughter but the jury returned a guilty verdict of wilful murder and John was sentenced to death. At noon on 5 April John Brough was led to the scaffold at Stafford Gaol and, watched by the assembled mob, was quickly dispatched. His body was then cut down and buried alongside the remains of other murders in the prison grounds.

4JANUARY 1870 Today saw the inquest into the death of Thomas Plimley, a fifty-one-year-old potter from Burslem. On Tuesday, 28 December German Dean was driving his street railway car from Hanley to Burslem when Plimley alighted just after midday. German Dean later testified that it was Thomas’ custom to sit near the front of the car as he was a regular passenger. The day was frosty so German told everyone to hold on over the bumpy crossings, but otherwise the car was running smoothly. As they entered Cobridge, Thomas Plimley suddenly and without warning fell from the moving vehicle, crushing his arm under the car. Thomas was conveyed home where the seriously fractured arm was set. On Sunday, 3 January Dr Oldham removed the bandages and, finding that mortification had set in, he decided to amputate the arm in an attempt to save Plimley’s life. Chloroform was administered but Thomas died within minutes. The jury at the inquest agreed with the doctor that exhaustion and potter’s asthma caused Plimley’s death and returned a verdict in accordance with this evidence.

5JANUARY 1871 Twenty-four-year-old puddler Elijah Moss of Campbell’s Flight, Dudley died this morning from injuries sustained at Messrs Plant and Fisher’s works, Dudley Port, Tipton on the previous night. Elijah unwittingly emptied red-hot cinders from his furnace into a small pool of water, causing steam and cinders to cover his entire body; his eyes were burnt from their sockets and part of his mouth was torn away by the intense heat and scoria (a type of rock made from molten metal). Moss, a married man with two small children, lingered for nearly twelve hours in complete agony before his death. The coroner’s inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.

6JANUARY 1894 The continuing cold weather had caused the River Tame to freeze in Tamworth and on this Saturday afternoon several children were playing on the ice near Brewery Lane. Six-year-old Sarah Ann Elizabeth Lucas and her nine-year-old sister Florence Ada, who lived in New Street, Brewery Lane, ventured into the middle of the river when the ice suddenly gave way and both were precipitated into the water. A young boy ran to the girls’ mother Mrs Emily Lucas, who was at home with her son Henry, to alert her that, ‘Flossy and Sally has tumbled into the water.’ Mrs Lucas and Henry rushed to the river where Henry was able to grab Florence by the hand but the current was too strong and she was swept away; he and his mother then also fell through the ice. Henry and Mrs Lucas were rescued but there was no sign of the girls. The police began dragging the river but Florence’s body was not found until Sunday evening and little Sarah’s body was discovered downriver two days later. At the inquest it was made clear Mrs Lucas had warned her daughters not to play on the ice, but there was no way to stop children gaining access to the river if they wished. A verdict of accidental death was returned and the sympathy of the court passed to the unfortunate family.

7JANUARY 1890 Although Fanny Coxon was sixty-four-years-old she lived close enough to Lichfield Cathedral to visit it on a regular basis and, now her husband was dead, perhaps enjoy the chance of exercise and company. At twelve o’clock, just after morning service had finished, Mrs Coxon went to enter the cathedral by the north transept. The door had stone steps descending quite sharply into the building and, as she opened the door, Mrs Coxon lost her footing and fell heavily. She desperately clung to the door but lost her grip and hit her head hard against the lowest step, losing consciousness. The chief verger, seeing the accident, hurried to her assistance and the unfortunate lady was taken home, but she died about three o’clock that day.

Lichfield Cathedral. (LC-D4-73186)

8JANUARY 1881 At around five o’clock on this Saturday morning thirty-six-year-old potter’s presser Elisha Ellis went downstairs to light the fire at his home in Church Street, Hanley. Once the fire was lit he returned to his bedroom to finish dressing when he was horrified to hear screams from below. Rushing downstairs, Elisha found his six-year-old son Edmund John Ellis enveloped in flames. The flames were extinguished quickly but Edmund received severe burns to his body and neck and he died in great pain early the next morning. At the inquest it was supposed that Edmund had woken up while his father was dressing and begun playing with the fire when his nightshirt caught the hot coals and ignited. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

9JANUARY 1867 While George Bailey, a twenty-four-year-old saggar maker lodged with his grandmother in Marsh Square, America Street, Tunstall he struck up an intimate friendship with thirty-seven-year-old Ellen Bough, who lived next door but one. Ellen, the wife of labourer Peter Bough, had several children but George was infatuated and when he heard that Ellen had been to Tunstall Theatre with another man on 8 January he became insanely jealous. On this Tuesday morning George found Ellen alone in her house and, after arguing for a short while, demanded she go with him. When she refused he pulled out a loaded pistol saying, ‘If you won’t with me you shan’t with anyone else’ and shot Mrs Bough in the head. Running back to his lodgings, George grabbed a razor and drew the blade briskly across his throat, severing his windpipe in a dramatic attempt to end his own life. Miraculously neither Ellen nor George died. George Bailey was charged with maliciously shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm at Stafford Assizes on 9 March, where he was found guilty and sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment.

10JANUARY 1878 Six-year-old John Arthur Bagnall attended Bucknall National School that Thursday after returning from lunch at his home in Bucknall. During the afternoon session John complained of feeling ill and, as his half-brother William Greenfield was sick in another class, the two boys were sent home. However, John and William became so ill they collapsed on the road and were taken into the home of Matilda Craig where, despite medical attention, John sadly died just after four o’clock. Meanwhile neighbour Mrs Allen heard a scream from the Bagnall house and on entering found Mrs Bagnall holding her four-year-old step-daughter Mary Bagnall. Mary was in fearful pain and convulsing – another child, James Bagnall, was also ill in the house. Mrs Allen suggested a doctor should be sent for but poor Mary died at twenty minutes to four. Suspicion quickly fell on Mrs Bagnall who had become a widow only a month previously when the children’s father had been killed in a mining accident. The broth the children had eaten that lunchtime and the stomach contents of John and Mary were analysed but no poison could be detected. The coroner therefore had no other alternative than to return the verdict of death by unknown cause and the inquiry was closed. The reason for the children’s deaths were never uncovered.

11JANUARY 1904 Thomas Hughes was driving a wagon full of iron through the town centre of Dudley, using the paved tramway track to stay away from the mud. Hughes observed a flash from the tram rails and when he dismounted, sustained an electric shock which caused him to reel. At almost the same moment a blue light ran through the draught chains and all three horses fell dead to the ground as if struck by lightning, smoke rising from their bodies where the chains had touched them. The animals’ flesh in places was burnt to a depth of an inch by the escaping current. Examination of the line showed an insulator had been damaged, causing the area to become live, but no immediate steps were taken to ensure the insulators were better protected.

12JANUARY 1918 On this Saturday morning, men working near the shaft bottom of the Minnie pit, located at Halmer End, Newcastle-under-Lyme, felt the effects of an explosion which, it was estimated, had taken place a mile away in the Bullhurst seam. The alarm was given to the officials on the surface and rescue teams were sent down. As the rescuers got closer, it was soon clear that survivors were suffering from afterdamp. Although a few bodies were located, the majority of men were trapped behind the rubble caused by the explosion. During the night rescue parties removed the debris and battled against the poisonous air but they failed to reach the trapped miners. By Sunday it was realised that the missing miners would be dead, having perished from carbon monoxide poisoning. In total, 155 men were killed by the explosion, although most were killed by poisonous gas rather than injury. Forty-four of the dead were aged sixteen or younger. A member of the rescue team was also killed. The formal investigation could not determine what had caused the initial flame, but gas and coal dust had ignited, causing the devastating explosion.

13JANUARY 1886 Shortly after eight o’clock on this Wednesday morning a violent wind passed over areas of the Midlands. In Wolverhampton the hurricane took roofs off several houses, windows of the St Peter’s collegiate church were blown in and John Lane, walking to work in Bilston, was hit in the head by a flying slate, causing severe injuries. In Wednesbury trees were uprooted and a 20-ton steam-travelling crane at the Patent Shaft and Axletree Company’s works was blown from the embankment upon which it stood onto Old Park Road, crushing fifty-four-year-old engine driver William Darlington and killing him instantly.

St Peter’s church, Wolverhampton. (Author’s collection)

14JANUARY 1873 A passer-by early this morning, noticing the glow of flames coming from the fanlight of the premises of William Corfield at Bread Market Street, Lichfield, immediately raised the alarm. The fire crew was quickly on hand and entered the building with difficulty through a downstairs window. Inside, to their great horror, they found the whole family dead. From the position in which the bodies were found the deceased appeared to have made frantic efforts to escape but, as the narrow staircase had acted like a sort of chimney and there was no back exit, they had been trapped. Forty-five-year-old clock and watchmaker William was found downstairs, obviously trying to reach his wife and children trapped in the bedrooms above. Six-year-old William, his sister Mary Theresa aged five and their three-year-old brother John were found in a back bedroom with William Senior’s mother Margaret Corfield, aged eighty. Six-week-old Ellen was dead in another bedroom and thirty-seven-year-old Theresa Mary Corfield, William’s wife, lay in the attic room by the window. The inquest found the seven victims had all suffocated due to smoke inhalation but could not determine how the fire began. The family were laid to rest together at St Michael’s church in Lichfield on 16 January, watched by much of the city.

15JANUARY 1897 When thirty-year-old domestic servant Annie Hines returned to Stone in December after an absence of two years her fiancé, Henry Shingler, was delighted and invited her to stay with him and his mother. However, when twenty-six-year-old Henry returned from work on this Wednesday evening he was informed that Annie had given birth to a baby girl and, furthermore, Annie admitted that another man was the father. After his widowed mother left the house Henry barred the doors, went into Annie’s room and shot her dead with a revolver. Shingler then shot himself through the temple, the bullet passing through his head. He was removed to Stafford Infirmary, where he died of his injuries on 22 January. The child, named Annie, was found unharmed in its mother’s arms.

16JANUARY 1875 Eighteen-year-old shoemaker John Stanton frequently argued with his uncle, Thomas Nield. On this particular Saturday night they were both at the Dog and Partridge beerhouse in The Backwalls, North Stafford. An altercation took place concerning family affairs and Stanton, after threatening to ‘give it’ to Nield, left the beerhouse and went to his own lodgings, where he picked up a shoemaker’s knife. Returning to the inn, he sulked in a chair until invited to drink with Nield, who seemed willing to call a truce. Stanton sat down besides his uncle and, without warning, plunged the knife into Nield’s heart. John left the inn, threw the bloodstained knife over a wall and attempted to leave Stafford but was quickly apprehended. Thomas Nield died the next morning. At Staffordshire Assizes the young man was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Executed within the precincts of Stafford Gaol on 30 March, Stanton seemed resigned to his fate but when the drop fell he struggled for life at the end of the rope for nearly five minutes, dying a long and painful death.

17JANUARY 1934 The inquest was held today into the death of fifty-six-year-old market gardener George Herbert Moulton, found shot dead in Long Wood Fazeley near Tamworth. Yesterday afternoon, at about 2 p.m., George, of Sutton Road, Mile Oak, Fazeley, had taken his gun to shoot rabbits. However, when his son Joseph came to the house at 5 p.m. his father still had not returned. Joseph set off in the direction of Long Wood and hearing the sound of his father’s dog barking, followed it until he came upon George’s body. George Moulton had apparently been climbing a fence when his feet had caught in the wire netting at the bottom. He had slipped and the right barrel of his shotgun had discharged, firing shot into his chest and heart. The Deputy Coroner, Mr J.L. Auden, returned a verdict of accidental death.

18JANUARY 1892 Sixty-year-old Margaret Dale had been living at No. 22 North Street, Wolverhampton with saw-sharpener Edward Stanbrook for several years. On Saturday night the couple were drinking heavily before Margaret went to buy some meat, so, when she was found insensible near the Market Hall at eleven o’clock, Margaret was locked up at the police station on the charge of being drunk and incapable. During the night Margaret became very ill and a concerned police surgeon took her home where she sadly died this Monday morning. A post-mortem examination revealed Margaret‘s skull was fractured and a witness came forward who had seen Dale fall down the Market Hall steps and then lie insensible. The inquest jury felt Margaret Dale’s death was accidental since the police could not have known she had fallen, but recommended people found unconscious should be examined immediately by a surgeon to ascertain their condition.

19JANUARY 1895 Diglake Colliery at Bignal End, Audley, near Newcastle-under-Lyme had been extensively mined and an underground lake had formed when rainwater drained into parts of abandoned mine workings. On the morning of Monday, 14 January, 240 men were at the mine when the underground water suddenly broke through and began sweeping through the workings. It would seem a miracle that by nightfall 149 men and boys had managed to escape but many more were trapped and the water was still flowing. Rescuers descended into the treacherous pit and fourteen more survivors were located – these were the last to be found alive. The pumping engine battled to remove the water but it seemed to have little effect on the water level and, by Saturday, 19 January, it was decided to stop all rescue attempts until the flood waters had abated and so the mine workings were abandoned. Seventy-seven miners were still unaccounted for and, except for five skeletons discovered in 1932 when new mine workings broke through into Diglake, the bodies remain where they died, a decision being made to seal up the road and leave the remains of the dead miners in peace.

20JANUARY 1881 Thomas Langley worked at Messrs Edwards’ Griffin Edge tool works in Wolverhampton. This winter morning the nineteen-year-old was engaged in polishing spades when the banding on the pulley caught Thomas’ work apron. The banding, which was made of leather, dragged the young man up and round the shafting before he had a chance to free himself and Thomas was whirled around the machine several times before it could be stopped. By then nearly every bone in his body was broken and life was found to be extinct.

21JANUARY 1860 At six o’clock on this Saturday morning seven miners entered the cage which would take them down the shaft into No. 15 pit at the New Cross Colliery, Wednesfield Heath near Wolverhampton. The four men, John Cheese, Emmanuel Giles, Thomas Kelly and Henry Perry, along with three boys, John Jones, George Jones and Samuel Stych, had descended about 10yrds when the drum suddenly went out of gearing, causing the cage to plummet to the bottom of the pit and bringing the chain down on top of them. Miners rushed to the scene but it was another four hours before the victims were reached and all had perished. William Johnson, the day engineer, was taken into custody when it became clear that the drum of the engine had not been properly secured. The inquest jury found Johnson guilty of manslaughter and also expressed the opinion that the head engineer should be severely reprimanded for negligence of his duty. William Johnson was later tried at Stafford Assizes and sentenced to four months’ hard labour.

22JANUARY 1882 Just before midnight a short man looking pale, miserable and soaking wet walked into the police station at Greet’s Green, West Bromwich. He told the officers that his name was William Fryer and he wished to give himself up for the murder of sweetheart Susannah Jones by pushing her into the canal. The police, after initially disbelieving William, visited Susannah’s father, who told them his daughter was missing. Immediate steps were taken to drag the canal and the body of the twenty-year-old girl was located at 8.30 that morning. On the 23rd at Tipton Police Court William, a twenty-three-year-old shearer, was charged with causing the death of Susannah Jones. William sat in a wretched state and continued to do so through the proceeding days. Rumours of Fryer’s state of mind began to circulate and policesergeant Chatham stated, ‘this would not have happened had they sent him away earlier.’ When the coroner’s jury found William guilty of wilful murder he began to cry that he loved Susannah and when he had pushed her into the canal he had not been aware of what he was doing, even trying to save her. Fryer was committed for trial at the Assizes where he was acquitted; medical evidence showed he was suffering from impulsive mania. William Fryer was ordered to be detained during Her Majesty’s Pleasure.

23JANUARY 1860 Emma Bird had been an ‘unfortunate girl’ for about eighteen months after leaving the home of her ironworker husband. Emma later told the police that she was standing on the canal bridge at Great Bridge near Tipton at about ten o’clock this evening when twenty-one-year-old journeyman butcher Henry Paget came up to her, threw her on the ground and sexually assaulted her. Emma reported the attack but said the next morning Henry’s sister Elizabeth Boulton appeared at her house and offered money not to appear at court; Emma took ten shillings for ‘expenses’ but refused to drop the charges and Henry was tried at Staffordshire Assizes in March 1860. Paget said Emma had made up the charge to extort money from him and brought several witnesses who gave evidence to that fact – the jury found Henry not guilty.

24JANUARY 1890 Farmer John Myatt and his wife Mary left the Royal Oak Hotel at Cheadle at about eleven o’clock on this Friday night and made their way home by horse and trap to Hatchley farm, about 3 miles away. When they reached the private road leading from the highway to the farm the Myatts found the gate locked. Before sixty-year-old John could get down there was a violent explosion from a shotgun behind a nearby hedge; Mary was hit by several stray pellets in the head but John sustained the full blast which hit him in the neck and shoulders – luckily the shot bedded itself in a thick muffler which John was wearing against the cold. The couple were able to make their way to the farm where a doctor and the police were called. The officers found the shattered remains of a double-barrelled muzzle-loader gun behind the hedge which John identified as one he owned. At the same time the couple’s twenty-year-old son Simon appeared at the farm with facial injuries caused by a gun, which Simon claimed had occurred when he was shot at by a mystery assailant when he went to meet his parents. Examining the scene, the police found only clog marks which corresponded to Simon’s and the injury indicated that Simon had been the one holding the weapon. Simon was arrested and charged with ‘shooting with intent to murder’ at Stafford Assizes in March 1890 where he doggedly stuck to his original story. Although there was no obvious motive, Simon Myatt was found guilty and the judge, taking into account the prisoner’s youth, sentenced him to eight years’ penal servitude.

25JANUARY 1881 At Newcastle-under-Lyme magistrate’s court on 26 February of this year stonemason Thomas Mason was charged with assaulting his wife Ann on the previous afternoon. Ann alleged that Thomas had come home drunk and seeing Ann nursing one of their children had, without provocation, struck her, knocking out a tooth. Thomas had been before the magistrates many times for abusing Ann and had already spent six months in Stafford Gaol for beating her and throwing their son over a wall. Thomas however complained that Ann was constantly drunk and on the day in question he had dragged her from a public house when she attacked him. The magistrates heard that the couple were often seen drunk, their home was in a wretched condition and the young children were often tied in their chairs. The court decided that the couple were as bad as each other but Thomas would be fined ten shillings and the police instructed to watch the house.

26JANUARY 1895 Twenty-five-year-old Mary Ann Connolly, a single woman living in Charles Street, Wolverhampton, had known twenty-six-year-old James Collins of Oxley Lane for about a year, so felt no concern in spending this Saturday evening in his company. Mary Ann and James had a drink together at the Pack Horse Inn, Dudley Street before going to two other public houses. The couple were invited back to a friend’s house but on the way James made an indecent proposal which Mary Ann refused indignantly, whereupon James struck her down and knocked her helpless before raping her. Mary Ann was found in the street and taken into a house where a doctor was called for. James was arrested and tried at Staffordshire Assizes in March 1895 before Mr Justice Grantham for criminal assault on Miss Connolly. James, however, denied the charge and said Mary Ann consented to the encounter; the judge summing up remarked that Mary Ann’s testimony could not be relied upon due to her drunken state. The jury therefore found James Collins not guilty of the rape and he was freed.

27JANUARY 1797 Although Thomas Wilmot Oliver was an apothecary surgeon at Burslem, his suit for the hand of farmer John Wood’s daughter was not looked on favourably by the Wood family or, indeed, the girl herself. Thomas, however, felt that it was John who was preventing the match and on the morning of Friday, 27 January 1797 went to the farm on the pretext of wanting payment for some medicine. When John entered his parlour Thomas followed him and shot him dead with a pistol before turning it on himself. Thomas was not fatally injured, however, and was arrested for the wilful murder of John Wood. Brought before Baron Perryn at Stafford Assizes on Wednesday, 23 August 1797 Thomas’ defendants entered a plea of hereditary insanity but this was dismissed and Oliver was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out at the front of Stafford Gaol on 28 August where Thomas ‘acknowledged his rashness but solemnly disclaimed all malignant design against the life of Mr Wood and died with a spirit of perfect resignation’.

28JANUARY 1882 Sarah Gilbert was on her way from Tamworth market to her home at Coton on this Saturday afternoon, walking alone along a quiet road, when she met Samuel Payne, aged twenty-one, and nineteen-year-old John Cane, two soldiers stationed at Whittington Barracks. The two men grabbed Sarah and, while Cane held her, Payne raped the girl. Sarah was able to give a good description of her attackers and the soldiers were quickly apprehended. Tried at Staffordshire summer Assizes, they were found guilty of the ‘gross, wicked and dastardly crime’ of rape and each sentenced to penal servitude for seven years.

Tamworth Market Place. (Author’s collection)

29JANUARY 1860 A good fall of snow lay on the ground at Horton near Leek, tempting a servant girl at the public house at Harper’s Gate to throw snowballs over the garden wall at three man who were standing on the other side. The men took it in good part and began throwing snow back at the girl; this continued for about ten minutes and ended in amusement to all parties. It seems, however, that Enoch Ford who, unbeknownst to the other men, had been standing with the girl, took umbrage at the snowballing because he snatched a pistol from the house, opened the garden door and fired at the three men, hitting John Ball in the face and neck. Enoch was arrested and tried at Staffordshire Spring Assizes for unlawful wounding. His defence argued that the shooting had merely been a foolish act intended to frighten not to harm, but the jury found him guilty and Mr Justice Keating sentenced him to two months’ imprisonment with hard labour.

30JANUARY 1879 Hearing gunshots on his land at Whitemore Wood, Biddulph, at ten o’clock on the evening of 29 January 1879, John Cotterill roused farm servants James Beswick and Frederick Heathcote to help him apprehend the poachers. The three men separated across the field but, when Heathcote was threatened with a gun by one of the poachers, James ran to his aid. Another poacher then beat fifty-four-year-old Beswick with a gun stock, fracturing his skull in several places before the gang made good their escape. James was taken back to the house but died of his injuries at about ten o’clock this Thursday morning. Cotterill and Heathcote recognised the poachers and four men were quickly arrested for the wilful murder of James Beswick. Twenty-six-year-old weaver Herbert Dale, forty-eight-year-old miner William Barton, thirty-four-year-old labourer John Slater and Thomas Jones, a forty-year-old silk thrower were tried at Staffordshire Assizes on 28 April 1879 where their defence tried to argue mistaken identity, but the jury found the four men guilty of manslaughter. Mr Justice Hawkins passed a sentence of life imprisonment on John Slater for the actual killing, twenty years’ servitude on Herbert Dale for threatening Heathcote and fifteen years’ gaol on Barton and Jones as willing accomplices.

31JANUARY 1892 When forty-one-year-old labourer George Keeling returned to his home at Hanbury Wood End near Burton-on-Trent this Sunday afternoon, he was accompanied by a friend called Hines. George explained to his wife, thirty-seven-year-old Emma Keeling, that he wished to show Hines the gun which hung over the mantelpiece in the living room. George took the loaded gun from the wall but Emma protested and made a grab for it; the gun exploded and, in front of four of her six children, the charge passed through Mrs Keeling’s right breast, killing her almost instantly. George sent for the police, who found him sitting by his wife in a pool of blood protesting that it was an accident. George was arrested on the charge of killing his wife but on 2 February 1892, after hearing the evidence, the coroner’s jury returned a verdict of accidental death – although they did censure George for struggling with his wife over a loaded gun.

FEBRUARY

1FEBRUARY 1881 Reverend Thomas Cocker of Stoke and Reverend David Horne of Hanley met by chance at a mutual friend’s house in Northwood near Hanley. At midnight, after an evening of pleasant company, the two gentlemen decided to go to their respective homes, heading towards the Bucknall Road via St Ann Street. However, the night was foggy and they mistook their route, instead taking West Street, which ended in a sharp descent of broken ground and a sheer drop of 10ft. It seems that, in the poor visibility both men fell, but while Revd Horne scrambled back up the bank, injured but able to get help, forty-year-old Revd Cocker suffered concussion of the brain and died of shock. Sadly Revd Cocker left a wife and three children, for whom he had made only an inadequate provision.

2FEBRUARY 1867 As head farrier at Mr Llewellyn’s veterinary practice, Henry Rainford of Newcastle-under-Lyme had always enjoyed good health until September 1866 when he began to have stomach problems, with vomiting and violent purging. Henry noticed that his illness occurred after he drank his morning pint of beer at work, particularly when fetched by fellow workmate James Machin, a thirty-four-year-old under-blacksmith. On this morning Henry noticed James tampering with a bottle of gin that he had left in the forge; Henry drank some of the gin and immediately began to feel ill. Highly suspicious, Henry had the contents of the bottle analysed by the local chemist, where it was found to contain chloride of zinc, used at the forge to dress horses’ feet. James Machin was arrested; the motive for the attempted poisoning seemed to be a desire to take over Henry’s job. At Stafford Assizes in March 1867 James Machin was found guilty of administering poison to inflict grievous bodily harm and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

3FEBRUARY 1869 The heavy rains, coupled with high winds on Sunday, 31 January, caused a portion of the wall opposite Wordsley church near Kingswinford to fall. Luckily on this occasion no one was injured; however, on 3 February, two children were not so fortunate. At about ten past nine, fourteen-year- old gardener’s son Willoughby Green was walking with friend Joseph Gill along the turnpike road which ran parallel with the wall. Joseph stopped to talk to an acquaintance so Willoughby walked on ahead. Suddenly a noise alerted Gill and he saw the brick wall begin to topple; he shouted to warn Willoughby but, as Green turned, 6yrds of the wall fell onto the road and buried him. Willoughby was killed instantly, his head crushed with his brain visible. Two other boys, Henry Poole and Joseph Collins, were also caught in the collapse but, although badly injured, were expected to make a full recovery. Tragically, about an hour and half after the accident, as workmen were clearing the rubble, they found the crushed and lifeless body of six-year-old Selina Collins, whom no one had realised was also on the path. Selina had been with her brother Joseph but had been forgotten about in all the confusion. The inquest found the children’s deaths to be accidental but felt more should have been done by the road trustees to secure the wall on Sunday and warn the public that it was in danger of further collapse.

4FEBRUARY 1913 Fifty-eight-year-old Thomas Wynn, from Lichfield Street, Tamworth had been a boiler maker for over forty years and was currently working for Mr J.H. Henton. On this particular morning Wynn and colleague Harry Wedgewood had gone to Hopwas near Tamworth to rivet shoes on a traction engine wheel, which was not attached to the body of the engine but standing on its thread. To prevent it from falling, blocks had been placed in front and behind; however, the two men had to turn the wheel (which weighed about 2 tons) so the blocks were also moved. At 2.45 p.m., Thomas and Harry were standing by the wheel when it suddenly toppled over. Wedgewood jumped out of the way but Wynn had his back to the wheel and had no time to escape. The wheel was removed but Thomas Wynn was already dead, his spine crushed by the weight. A verdict of accidental death was reached by the jury.

Hopwas. (Author’s collection)

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