Mr Chamberlain's "Squalor in Our Time" - Sheffield late October 1927

 This article is from The Guardian dated 27th October 1927and relates to a visit made by the Minister for Health Mr. Neville Chamberlain when he visited "some of the worst slums in Sheffield" and was accompanied by the Lord Mayor and no doubt other local dignitaries.

Sadly the article does not reveal which districts Neville visited but there were no shortage of filth and deprivation to chose from. Needless to say he offered no solutions to this blight on humanity. He did however offer an upbeat note on Sheffield's inter-war housing estates that where being built on the outskirts of the city. And so he should have. Compared to the slums these were absolute palaces  

But a couple of things puzzle me inasmuch as he visited on a Wednesday and was bedevilled by rows of drying shirts. I was always told by my gran that washday was always a Monday. Perhaps it rained on Monday and Wednesday was the first "dry day." And when I put a shirt out in late October it takes forever to dry unless it is blowing a bit!  And trying to keep a shirt clean amongst all that muck and grime beggars belief.  

 

Sheffield's Slum Millionaire - Mr William Fox Tibbetts (1842 - 1927)

This cutting is from the Daily Mirror dated 18th June 1927 and relates to the estate of the late Mr William Fox Tibbetts, a Sheffield Solicitor who left an estate valued at £1,522,687 which is nearly £67 million at todays prices. The death duties on the estate equate to between £22 million and £26 million at todays prices. 

I hope Rachel from Accounts is not reading this as it may give her an idea which would not bode well for any of us.

As I had never heard of  Mr William Fox Tibbetts and was fascinated to find out how and when he accumulated such wealth I put his name in a well known search engine and found this excellent article on Sheffielder,net written by David Poole 

It certainly answered all my questions but at least this blog clarifies how much William left in total. A staggering amount for the time and yet he remains more or less unknown  

The East House Murders New Years Day Sheffield 1960 - An Update

This is the first post of the year and also number 700 since the blog was started in November 2010. It is also a landmark inasmuch as it is the first time that I have appeared in a podcast. 

The East House Murders was one of the earliest articles I posted to my site and also the latest in terms of date. I have always adhered to the "forty year rule" and do not publish articles of a contemporary nature, The simple reason being is that it makes life easier. In fact the only living person that appears on my website is its owner!      

In the summer of 2023 I was contacted by the grandson of one of the policemen who arrested the perpetrator after the murders. He had read the article on the website and wanted to find out more about the events that led up to the murders and also the aftermath.

He asked for an interview  and I was delighted  to assist in the project.

The outcome can be found on the BBC Sounds site. I am very pleased how the project turned out and hope that the readers of this blog will find the podcast interesting and informative. And it does have a pleasant surprise at the end!