APPALLING DISASTER AT SHEFFIELD - Matthew Street, Sheffield - 25th August 1886 - An Update

Many years ago I posted an article to the site recalling a terrible disaster that occurred in Sheffield in August 1886

It was titled "APPALLING DISASTER AT SHEFFIELD - Eight children killed Matthew Street, Sheffield - 25th August 1886"

The Friends of Wardsend Cemetery have organised a series of events on Sunday 28th September 2025 in the Cemetery to commemorate this tragic episode in Sheffield's history,  

'In August 1886, a wall on the grounds of Messrs, Daniel Doncaster and Sons, supporting 200 tonnes of steel, collapsed on a number of children playing below on Matthews Street. Eight children lost their lives. Despite the failure to consider the impact of the weight and the insufficiency of the wall to carry it, no one was held responsible, and the story of the children and their families has been lost.

Of the eight children, four are buried in unmarked graves in Wardsend Cemetery, with the remaining children buried across our city, in Burngreave and Sheffield General Cemetery.

On Sunday 28th September, between 12pm - 3:30pm, Wardsend Cemetery will be hosting a memorial event, to honour the lives of the children, their families, and the often forgotten deaths of working-class people in our area during a celebrated period of industrial progress.

• Tour the graves of four children buried in Wardsend.

• Learn about the disaster, the aftermath and lives of the children lost.

The event will also feature a performance of ‘The Children of Furnace Park’, a piece dedicated to the Matthews Street Disaster, written by  Alice Collins, at 2:30pm on the Chapel Ground.

We hope to see as many of you there as possible. For any enquiries, please contact us by email (wardsendcem@gmail.com)' 

Have you heard of the unsolved murder of shopkeeper Eleanor Hammerton in Sheffield in 1945? - An update

I was checking some information earlier this week and purely by chance I came across an article in the Sheffield Star dated Monday, 13th July 2020 with the headline

"Have you heard of the unsolved murder of shopkeeper Eleanor Hammerton in Sheffield in 1945?"

The writer of the article was Andy Done-Johnson.

Well readers of this blog and my website will have known about the murder of Eleanor before it appeared in the Sheffield Star. Many years ago I posted an article about the murder to the site and in the interim posted a few updates. In fact the article in the Sheffield Star does bear marked similarities to my article but with one noticeable exception - the murderer of Eleanor was apprehended and sentenced to death for the crime. As far as everyone was concerned the crime was solved and the perpetrator brought to justice

 I posted a blog to this effect on 9th February 2018 when I announced that I had finished an article entitled "The Confession of Ernest Bramham - March 1945". 

Bramham was not arrested for the murder until 28th March 1945, fully two months after the murder of Eleanor on Saturday 27th January 1945. It was this time period between the murder and the arrest that thwarted me at the Local Studies Library - I only checked the local and national press until the end of February 1945 when the police inferred that they were no nearer finding the murderer.

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury dated Saturday 28th April 1945

In the article "The Confession of Ernest Bramham - March 1945" I expressed my doubts about the whole case from start to finish - it is most unusual if not unique that a "callous and brutal murderer" is spared the death penalty but Ernest was, believe it or nor, reprieved.

I did make an oversight in that I failed to place a link in the original article ("Who Murdered Eleanor Hammerton") relating to the apprehension and conviction of Ernest Bramham. If I had done this , I am sure that the journalist who wrote the Star article would have amended his article and removed the word "unsolved" from the headline and text.  

It is a problem to ascertain the facts surrounding an event when you are relying on just one source. Over the years I have had to shelve or delay a number of articles relating to Sheffield as I was not convinced about the authenticity and veracity of the source.    

   

Crookes Junction - Then and Now

 Another postcard that is simply entitled "Broomhill, Sheffield"

But to be more specific it shows the junction of Crookes with Glossop Road at Broomhill probably circa 1910.

I took a similar photograph in November 2006 although unlike the photographer in the above photo I stood on the pavement!

But the whole scene is better expressed in the George Cunningham painting "Crookes Junction"

  

The staff of Attercliffe Road Railway station, Sheffield - date unknown

There is an informative article on the station on Wikipedia. Attercliffe Road station was situated on Leveson Street between Attercliffe Road and Effingham Street at Norfolk Bridge (Sheffield).

According to Modern Railways Magazine, March 1995(page 137) Attercliffe Road station closed on Saturday 28th January 1995.
 

Ebenezer Wesleyan Reform Chapel, Bramall Lane, Sheffield

I am starting to get worried now as this is the second time in less than a month that I have posted a blog that relates to Wesleyan Reform Chapel's. A sign from above perhaps?

But like the one I posted on the Weselyan Chapel at School Road, Crookes this does include a photograph that has not been seen before

Ebenezer Wesleyan Reform Chapel, Bramall Lane, Sheffield

This photograph appeared on the Sheffield History Forum and shows the chapel in its prime.

The above photograph was taken by a family member whilst the chapel was in the process of being demolished. I have not got an exact date but the photograph is circa 1979 - 80. I believe that the reason for the demolition apart from declining attendances was that it stood in the way of the now-fabled Bramall Lane dual-carriageway.

A full list of Wesleyan Methodist and Wesleyan Reform Chapels in the Sheffield area appears on the Sheffield Family History site 

473 - 481 Crookesmoor Road, Sheffield

In November 2014 I received this e-mail from someone who is seeking information on the following

"I have just been on your excellent website. Regarding the Crookes area I was wondering if you have any photos of the buildings next to the Unity church on Crookesmoor Road when the shops were there.My grandfather & father owned a shop there after the war up until 1968.I would be grateful if you have anything as I have been searching for many years"

The only photo I can find is on Picture Sheffield which was taken on 17th November 1966 from a vantage point high up Conduit Lane
.

The buildings in question are 473 - 481 Crookesmoor Road, Sheffield. None of the buildings are shops now - they all seem to be multiple-lets

  

Photographs taken 18th June 2015

If any reader can supple me with any additional information about this row of properties especially photographs, please contact me. 

The Hemsworth Family - Sheffield

As this is the first post of 2013 may I take this opporunity to wish all my readers health and prosperity in the forthcoming year.

It has been a while since my last blog but I've hardly been slacking - far from it. After the publication of two books in the last year, I have rather a large back log of material to sort out. One of the main items was a scrapbook my late mother kept, in which she stuck family photos going back over a hundred years.

Many of these photographs I had never seen before, but thankfully my mother had labelled most of them and I have been able to tie them in with my reasearch. The problem was the actual scanning. My mother stuck then in a large scrapbbook with glue, and so I was unable to remove them. this meant manipulating each page a number of times until I could scan all the photos on that page.

They then had to be cropped, enhanced etc which took even longer. But the effort has been worth it. I have now started posting some of the photos of my ancestors to the website using

The Marriage of Fred and (Gertrude) May HEMSWORTH

12 Broughton Road Hillsborough Sheffield 1907

as an index. 

 

It is an absolutely fantastic photo of an Edwardian wedding that features the Hemsworth family in their wedding finery

The house was owned/rented by the brides parents John and Elizabeth Travis. The house still stands and a search reveals that the property was last sold in 2005

12 Broughton Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S6 2AS

£139,000     Terraced, Freehold     27 May 2005    
£31,500       Terraced, Freehold     14 May 1999

I have not been to the house which is adjacent to Hillsborough Park but it is on the list!