Reuben Thompson and Sir John Bingham - Barkers Pool Sheffield 1905

Another photo-card that I came across recently does have a family connection. The card shows the taxi driver a Mr. Reuben Thompson and the noted Sheffield industrialist Sir John Bingham in Barkers Pool Sheffield 1905.

 

Reuben Thompson was to become the owner of a major transport company in Sheffield and was the employer of my grandfather Sid Hemsworth. Sid worked for the company up until the end of the Second World War. Here is a photograph of Sid admiring his handiwork!

 

 

The company had offices on Queens Road Sheffield which are now demolished. They were opposite the Earl of Arundel public-house 

 

A Sheffield Postman - 1909

I came across this postcard a couple of days ago. It depicts a Sheffield Postman. On the reverse of the card dated 20th July 1909 it states that he is their "village postman" but unfortunately does not state which village in Sheffield. The inference is that he may have been a local celebrity given the row of medals on his uniform

 

It is a shame that there is no further information available but that often is the case with photo-cards of this nature  

  

Henry Swan's Grave - Walkley Cemetery Sheffield

Henry Swan was a notable figure in late nineteenth century Shefffield - he was the sole curator of the Ruskin Museum in Walkley from 1875 - 1890

Th following report is from "One Who Knew Him" and was wriiten on the day that Henry was interred in Walkley Cemetery.  

The grave and its memorial had deteriorated over the years - this photo was taken on 24th June 2012 and the grave is barely visible in the lush foliage. 

However interest in John Ruskin and his legacy in Sheffield has increased in recent years and on Saturday 27th June 2015 the Master of the Guild of St George used a ceremony to mark the creation of a new commemorative stone for Henry Swan, the extraordinary curator of St George’s Museum in Walkley

These photos were taken on Sunday 24th April 2016

There is an excellent website that covers Ruskins Legacy in Walkley  

Cossey Road Burngreave Sheffield - 25th September 1916

Whilst I was researching the 29th victim (see previous blog) I came across this photograph that was published on 25th Sepember 1920, the fourth anniversary of the Zeppelin Raid on Sheffield.

No's 26, 28 and 30.Cossey Road Sheffield

"Two high explosives bombs fell in Cossey Road causing dreadful loss of life. The first landed on a block of three terrace houses comprising No's 26, 28 and 30. In No 28 Alice and Albert Newton were killed as they lay in bed. Luckily, their infant son was spending the night with his grandmother in a nearby street and was unharmed. George and Eliza Harrison lived at No 26 with their two daughters and two grandchildren. After the warning had sounded they were joined by their neighbours from No 24, William and Sarah Southerington. George and William stayed in the living room while everyone else took shelter in the cellar. All eight were killed in the explosion. The Southeringtons' house suffered only minor damage and had they stayed at home would probably have survived. The second Cossey Road bomb landed on No 10 killing Levi and Beatrice Hames and their one year old son".

George Ineson - The 29th Victim - Sheffield September 1916

I've just posted an update to the article I wrote many years ago about the Zeppelin Raid on Sheffield in September 1916. Due to wartime restrictions and censorship the newspapers at the time only printed an outline of the attack and its aftermath. But after the cessation of hostilities in November 1918, a far fuller account emerged.

The account was published in the Sheffield Independent dated Tuesday 3rd December 1918. And at the end of the report it made a brief mention of a casuality of the raid. It gave me a lead on a matter that had puzzled me for quite a while. The raid claimed the lives of 28 civillians - 8 men 10 women and 10 children and these were named at the subsequent inquest. But on the memorial plaque at the Baltic Works it states that 29 civillians were killed 9 men 10 women and 10 children. Who was the missing man?

Two days later the paer carried this report which included the reason why the person concerned was missing from the initial total.

George is also unusual in that he is buried in Sheffield's City Road Cemetery. All the other victims with the exception of the Hames family are buried in Sheffield's Burngreave Cemetery

INESON, George (Machine Driller, age 28).

Died at Royal Hospital; Buried on October 5, 1916 in General Portion ground; Grave Number 10172, Section Z of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield. 

George was the last victim of an air-raid on Sheffield until the summer of 1940 when three persons lost their lives when the Luftwaffe dropped their first bombs on Sheffield.