Morgan Stanley and the Great Britons of 2007

I just came across this from The Daily Telegraph - October 2007. Needless to say a wry smile crossed my face

"Britishness and the state of the union dominate the political agenda. But which Britons make our country truly great? Here Telegraph writers choose their favourites from this year across seven categories as the search begins for the Morgan Stanley Great Britons of 2007

·         Morgan Stanley Great Briton of 2007: Who gets your vote?

·         Great Britons of 2007: Telegraph writers' picks

BUSINESS

 

Our candidates in the business category have successfully flown the flag for Britain in the global economy, from banking to retailing and engineering to telecoms.

Sir Fred Goodwin is the leading British banker of his generation, having transformed Royal Bank of Scotland from a mid-sized provincial player into the world's fifth largest bank.

Seven years ago, he steered the bank through a successful £21billion hostile takeover of NatWest, a bank three times its size.

This year he surpassed that as Royal Bank led a consortium of Belgium's Fortis and Spain's Santander, beating competition from Barclays to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro for £49billion in the largest takeover in banking history."

It is just a shame that Lehman Brothers weren't hosting the award 

And four years later

How the feckless have fallen!

Rose Sanby (1894 - 1986)

I've just found my gran in the 1911 census after more or less giving up hope of finding her. Her mum, my great grandmother died in 1904 and her dad, my great grandfather died six years later in 1910. He literally coughed himself to death!. The supposition was that she went to live with one of her older siblings, but I traced them all and there was no sign of my gran living with any of them. I tried all the ususal variations associated with the name SANBY, and believe me there are a few, and still no success. It was a mystery.

But a relation of mine found her working as a 17 year old general domestic servant at a pawnbrokers shop in Attercliffe. And her surname was LANBY

1911 Census Record
Name     Rose Lanby
Relationship to Head of Household     Servant
Condition     Single Gender     F
Age     17 Estimated Year of Birth     1894
Occupation     General Servant Domestic
Employed     Yes Working at Home     No
Place of Birth     Yorks Sheffield
Enumerator Information
Address     Attercliffe Road Attercliffe Sheffield Parish     Sheffield Town     Attercliffe Sheffield
Type of Building     3 Shops
Number of Rooms     Five
Inhabited     Yes
Reference     RG14PN28000 RG78PN1600 RD510 SD7 ED12 SN258
Administrative County     Yorkshire (West Riding) Registration District     Sheffield
Registration Sub District     Attercliffe Enumeration District     12 

This was due to a transcription error but that is no surprise. The head of the householder (the pawnbroker) completed the form but his writing is difficult to decipher which I suppose was an asset in his profession, but it certainly has wasted a few hours of my life!

And now I've got to get some more information about the owner and his shop once I can find his name out.

 

Walkley Cemetery

As the crowds seemingly failed to appear for the publication of Sheffield's Shocking Past, I spent a few hours the following day in Walkley Cemetery helping the "Friends" clear some of the graveyard that has been inundated with every kind of bramble known to man.

The weather was "mixed" or "changeable" but it was nice to get out in the fresh air in a rather peaceful and tranquil setting. I spoke to Hugh and he passed me the following sheet that lists the forthcoming events in the cemetery

I can recommend the summer tours of the cemetery but would advise visitors to wear stout shoes!

 

Sheffield's Shocking Past

Well after 58 years I have finally managed to get a book into print. On Friday the 13th of April 2012 the publishing world was stunned by the publication of Sheffield's Shocking Past: Forgotten Tales of Murder, Mishap & Gruesome Misdemeanour by Chris Hobbs and Matthew Bell

 

I would like to have reported that queues had formed overnight outside bookshops, and police had to be called in to control the crowds of eager booklovers, but to date no reports have been received to this effect 

I have thought for many years that I would like to write a book but never got around to it. And if it was not for the sterling efforts of my co-author Matt, and publisher Neil, I very much doubt that the book would have come into being. It was a great team effort and what is more important, an enjoyable one.

I am really pleased how the book has turned out. Comprimises have been made with regard to length, format and style but these are inevitable if you want to keep the price of the book down to a level that is "affordable".

There is another similar book in the pipeline that will compliment "Sheffield's Shocking Past" but more about that in a later blog    

 

Secrets of the Past

Holloway's Ointment

From the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent dated 27th April 1899

 

I could just do with some of Holloway's Ointment now!

But I am puzzled how the application of Holloway's Ointment can cure "bad breasts". In fact what are "bad breasts". I would like to know but I fear that putting the search term in Google may open the proverbial can of worms. In addition the advertisement below looks very suspicious - I wonder if it is a Victorian version of the "postal scam" 

Note

Holloways ointments which cured "Cuts, wounds, burns and bruises, inveterate ulcers, chilblains, chapped hands, insect bites, boils, bad legs ... etc" according to the pots addressed 113 Southwark London and "Gout and Rheumatism" (instead of cuts, wounds, burns and bruises) in the later pots from 533 Oxford Street.
From 1842 - 1867 Holloways was situated at 244 Strand Street, from 1868 - 1881, 533 Oxford, 1881-1909, 78 Oxford Street and from 1910 - 1931, 113 Southwark Street. 

George Sanger's Circus

From The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent dated 2nd May 1899.

I placed an article on the site a few years ago which detailed the ill-treatment and eventual death of "The Baldwin Pony". Judging by the advertisement, the circus went from strength to strength.

"Nothing Ever Changes"

As the current incumbent of 11 Downing Street is delivering yet another budget that will favour the rich and hammer the poor, he will no doubt remark how well he is steering the UK economy through treacherous waters, and that he must be vigiliant in ensuring that the workers don't get "uppity" and start demanding living wages. And furthermore he will also maintain that by pursuing the current course of belittling the working class , he will ensure that one day, every rich person will reap the rewards of his stewardship.

BUT if you are middle-aged and had "life experiences" the chances are that you will find yourself under-employed or unemployed as the economy follows the traditional Conservative course of low growth, high prices and rampant unemployment.

But this is not a new phenomina. Mr John Crisp, a sixty two year old Walkley resident from Highton Street notes of his census form that he was "formerly a spring-smith but now thrown on' scrap heap for old age"

He said it a hundred years ago though!!

A chorus of "Nothing Ever Changes" is called for

A Double Wedding in 1920 Walkley Sheffield

A great photo showing a family wedding in Woodview Road Walkley Sheffield that was taken in 1920.

I could not find any trace of "Bullors" in the 1911 UK census but enter the name "Bullers" and there are quite a few entries inj the Crookes/ Walkley area. But what I can't find are any entries for the marriages in the BMD registers. If her maiden name was Bullors/Bullers then you would expect her father and uncle to have that name but so far I have not been able to trace them    

Thomas Huntley Wood

Just come across a cutting from the Daily Mail dated 30th May1998

It appears that there is quite a lively correspondence in The Guardian's Notes and Queries column with regard to the face of Players Navy Cut.

It appears that the Mail may have obtained the story from a local paper The Argus

"

GRANDPA, AN OLD SALT WHO PLEASED PLAYER'S

WHEN the Robinson children watched their grandfather light his pipe, they did not realise they were gazing at one of the tobacco world's most famous faces.
But as they grew older, the five youngsters began to look at his portrait on packets of John Player's cigarettes as that of a family member. And 50 years after Thomas Huntley Wood died in Portslade, Bert, Ron, Bill, Les and Rene still fondly remember the face that was familiar around the world. Born in Lyme Regis in 1868, Thomas was in the Royal Navy for 24 years, latterly as a chief petty officer, before becoming a Southwick coastguard. It was while serving on HMS Edinburgh in Galway Bay that he was offered two guineas and some tobacco to be photographed as the Player's mascot. Since then, the nameless portrait based on his photo has become an institution among smokers worldwide. Thomas's family history came to light after Argus antiques expert George Greenway appealed for information about the mysterious Player's sailor. His identity was revealed in a letter from Vera Robinson, the wife of one of Thomas's grandsons, Bert. now 74 and living at West Hill Place, Brighton, used to smoke Player's himself. And he was the only one of Thomas's grandchildren to follow in his seafaring footsteps. He says: "My father was in the Navy, serving on HMS Hercules in the Baltic in World War One, and he always smoked, so we were used to our grandfather's image being used on cigarette packets. "All my brothers were in the Army but I was in the Navy." Younger brother Bill, 71, of St Leonards Avenue, Hove, says Thomas never spoke of his claim to fame. And though his face graced cigarette packets the world over, he always preferred a pipe. Bill says: "I remember him as a nice old chap who used to collect pipes." Younger brother Ron, 65, of Trafalgar Road, Portslade, recalls that even in retirement, Thomas was unmistakable as an old sea dog. He says: "He used to wear a peaked cap but he only had a moustache when I remember him, not the beard." Thomas died in Portslade in 1951, aged 83, leaving six sons, five daughters, 18 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. He is buried in Portslade Cemetery alongside his wife Rebecca and one of his sons who also became a sailor, Petty Officer William Wood. Granddaughter Rene Baird, 65, of Shelldale Crescent, Portslade, still visits Thomas's grave while going to and from a senior citizens' club at Portslade Town Hall."

James Welch VC

I've just updated an article on James Welch VC who was awarded awarded the VC for his actions in WW1.Like many articles on the website I update them as and when information becomes available but James' details are thin on the ground. Wikipedia have a small article which states that James was cremated in Bournemouth in 1978  - information I think they may have obtained from the Dorset Advertiser

.But as these two photos show that may not be the case. From the wording on the grave it seems to me that James was intererred alongside his wife Daisy. The inscription does not mention "cremation". Of course his cremated remains may have been placed there, but I get the impression that is not the case.

But from my point of view the information on the incription has enabled me to trace the family and update the article. In fact the 1911 Census shows James' future wife Daisy working as a servant for Mr Tasker (Solicitor) in Cairns Road Crosspool

Tasker, Arthur Abney (, Solicitor & commissioner for oaths).
     Residing at 22 Bank Street h.Holmedene Cairns Road Cross Pool, in 1905.
     Recorded in: Whites Directory of Sheffield & Rotherham.

Let the Good Times Roll

" New financial figures released in conjunction with the 2011 Cambridge University Annual Report last Friday, 2 March, have valued the combined endowment assets of all Cambridge colleges and the separate Cambridge University Endowment Fund at £4 billion.
This makes the University the wealthiest institution of higher education in the UK. In addition, if the endowments of Oxford (£3.3 billion from combined college and university endowments) and Edinburgh (£200 million) are excluded, Cambridge’s wealth stands as larger than double that of all other UK universities combined".

 

The staggering wealth values the university – with a staff and student population population of 30,000 – at more than £130,000 per head. It eclipses Monaco, the richest country in the world, which was most recently calculated to have a GDP per capita of £108,409.

The reason for the size of Cambridge’s wealth is the success it has in securing donations among alumni who have gone on to make large fortunes upon leaving the University. Mmmm.. and nothing at all to the benign and relaxed regime it experiences under each successive UK government